Tung Sol - SRSLY
If you do any googling around Vox AC15's, you will almost immediately find people talking about mods and upgrades. I have to admit to being a bit of a sucker for this stuff. So, as much as I am loving my AC15C1, I have been fiddling with it. It's a learning thing.
The first thing I bought was an A/B switch pedal. This amp has two independent channels, but it doesn't have a switch -- just two inputs. So switching is an outboard deal. After trying out a used ART -- which was horrendously noisy in my basement -- I went all-in on a Boss Line Switcher, which is an amazingly flexible switching pedal: the simplest application is an A/B line split, but it will also do interesting things with two effects loops, and it's also a two-channel boost pedal if you want that. It was a hundred bucks, but the user reviews were fabulous, it has a zillion applications, and it's QUIET.
The second thing I did was upgrade the reverb tank in the Vox. The stock reverb tank is a bit of a joke... it has a really long tail (or whatever), so it can make very spaaaaceyyyyy sounds, but it's not a very useable reverb sound for a guitar. Nothing like a Fender reverb at all. Happily, these things are incredibly simple little electromechanical devices, and they're standardized. So, for seventeen dollars(!), I ordered a new MOD reverb unit. Four screws and two RCA jacks are all it took to swap out the old one and put the new one in. The MOD unit (8EB2C1B) still doesn't sound like a Fender, but it's much more useable. Sounds like it belongs in there.
Third was tubes. People talk a lot about tubes. I read a lot about tubes, and came to a couple of conclusions. In the AC15C1, there are two EL84 power tubes and three 12AX7 preamp tubes. These things are generic -- almost all guitar amps use 12AX7s or close relatives -- so they're readily available. Of course, being mid-20th century technology, vacuum tubes are not made in North America anymore. All the tubes either come from Russia or China. So there's endless discussions online about the relative merits of one brand or another -- they're all slightly different.
The stock preamp tubes in the Vox are no-name "Made in China" ones. Presumably, they're cheap and readily available at Vox's Chinese factory. Whoever had my amp before me had upgraded the V1 preamp tube -- the first gain stage, which everyone says is the one that makes the biggest difference to tone. So there were two of the stock Chinese ones in there, and then a Mesa Boogie tube in the V1 socket. I played around with this -- traded the Mesa and one of the stock tubes -- and I can report there is certainly a difference. The Chinese tube had more clean headroom (you have to crank the gain higher before it breaks up) but less dynamics and a flatter, less interesting tone. The Mesa was significantly "gainier" but also had -- to my ears -- a harsh top end. The preamp distortion was pretty spiky, and the bottom end was flabby. Not so bad when kept clean, but the breakup wasn't so useable.
So I went with the recommendation that everyone seems to make -- a Tung Sol 12AX7, for $20 -- leaving the two stock tubes in V2 and V3. And yes, it is significantly, noticeably better. The high end is either tamer or at least more musical sounding. The bottom end is way tighter, meaning the tone is better balanced all around. The dynamics are excellent, at least as good as the Mesa and way better than the stock tube. Most importantly to me, a big full power chord sounds big and full and crunchy, rather than spiky.
That should hold me for a while. I don't have plans to replace the speaker (the other thing that people online recommend). We'll see how it holds up at drummer volume, but for me solo, the speaker seems fine.
The first thing I bought was an A/B switch pedal. This amp has two independent channels, but it doesn't have a switch -- just two inputs. So switching is an outboard deal. After trying out a used ART -- which was horrendously noisy in my basement -- I went all-in on a Boss Line Switcher, which is an amazingly flexible switching pedal: the simplest application is an A/B line split, but it will also do interesting things with two effects loops, and it's also a two-channel boost pedal if you want that. It was a hundred bucks, but the user reviews were fabulous, it has a zillion applications, and it's QUIET.
The second thing I did was upgrade the reverb tank in the Vox. The stock reverb tank is a bit of a joke... it has a really long tail (or whatever), so it can make very spaaaaceyyyyy sounds, but it's not a very useable reverb sound for a guitar. Nothing like a Fender reverb at all. Happily, these things are incredibly simple little electromechanical devices, and they're standardized. So, for seventeen dollars(!), I ordered a new MOD reverb unit. Four screws and two RCA jacks are all it took to swap out the old one and put the new one in. The MOD unit (8EB2C1B) still doesn't sound like a Fender, but it's much more useable. Sounds like it belongs in there.
Third was tubes. People talk a lot about tubes. I read a lot about tubes, and came to a couple of conclusions. In the AC15C1, there are two EL84 power tubes and three 12AX7 preamp tubes. These things are generic -- almost all guitar amps use 12AX7s or close relatives -- so they're readily available. Of course, being mid-20th century technology, vacuum tubes are not made in North America anymore. All the tubes either come from Russia or China. So there's endless discussions online about the relative merits of one brand or another -- they're all slightly different.
The stock preamp tubes in the Vox are no-name "Made in China" ones. Presumably, they're cheap and readily available at Vox's Chinese factory. Whoever had my amp before me had upgraded the V1 preamp tube -- the first gain stage, which everyone says is the one that makes the biggest difference to tone. So there were two of the stock Chinese ones in there, and then a Mesa Boogie tube in the V1 socket. I played around with this -- traded the Mesa and one of the stock tubes -- and I can report there is certainly a difference. The Chinese tube had more clean headroom (you have to crank the gain higher before it breaks up) but less dynamics and a flatter, less interesting tone. The Mesa was significantly "gainier" but also had -- to my ears -- a harsh top end. The preamp distortion was pretty spiky, and the bottom end was flabby. Not so bad when kept clean, but the breakup wasn't so useable.
So I went with the recommendation that everyone seems to make -- a Tung Sol 12AX7, for $20 -- leaving the two stock tubes in V2 and V3. And yes, it is significantly, noticeably better. The high end is either tamer or at least more musical sounding. The bottom end is way tighter, meaning the tone is better balanced all around. The dynamics are excellent, at least as good as the Mesa and way better than the stock tube. Most importantly to me, a big full power chord sounds big and full and crunchy, rather than spiky.
That should hold me for a while. I don't have plans to replace the speaker (the other thing that people online recommend). We'll see how it holds up at drummer volume, but for me solo, the speaker seems fine.
posted by jmax at
9:18 PM
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