MusicRadar

Controls are clearly laid out.

1 of 3 » View in gallery

• Related News
• Review
• Manufacturer's Description

For its legions of devoted fans, the Vox AC30 will always be the definitive British guitar amplifier. Its sound comes from a mixture of many things: the EL84 cathode-biased power stage, oddball EQ circuit, transformers and loudspeakers all play a part in creating that unique Vox tone which has been a part of so many memorable signature sounds over the years. From George Harrison and Hank Marvin to Status Quo and Brian May, it’s all there.

However, in the modern world the AC30’s quirky features are something of an anachronism, frequently at odds with the needs of many players. How, then, do you update one of the world’s most iconic guitar amps without losing its traditional appeal?

A couple of years back, we saw a sign of things to come in the shape of the AC30HW: a limited production hand-wired amp with a traditional appearance but featuring a totally new circuit design that blends vintage and modern sounds and features to devastating effect.

With a lot of positive feedback from this toe-in-the-water, Vox has released the Custom Classic range – designed in England but made in China. The AC30CC is Vox’s new vision of what a modern production AC30 should really be like, combining vintage looks with modern features and a much wider range of sounds.

The AC30CC’s cabinet design hasn’t strayed from the original. Those who like the ‘big suitcase’ styling of this amp won’t be disappointed and the materials are decent quality too. Cabinet construction is up to a good standard and the traditional basket-weave vinyl is fairly well applied, with neat finishing around the tricky control panel area.

The chassis follows the original AC30 L-shape layout, with preamp valves mounted horizontally and power valves (including a GZ34 rectifier) mounted vertically. The electronics (including all the controls) are PCB mounted on a mixture of double and single-sided boards connected by neat wiring. Preamp valve bases are soldered into the main vertical PCB, while the power valves are hand-wired. Just like an original AC30, to replace any valve means taking the chassis out and you may also need a soldering iron to disconnect the speaker leads.

The Custom Classic’s controls are an interesting mix of old and new with a number of cool ‘boutique’ features. There are two input jacks – one for the normal channel and one for the Top Boost channel. Next to these is a small toggle switch that allows you to ‘jumper’ both channels together, replacing the patch lead many players use on standard AC30s, to thicken up the sound and widen the amps tonal range. The normal channel has a single volume control with a toggle switch marked ‘brilliance’ that adds extra highs.

Then there are volume, treble and bass controls for the Top Boost channel and another switch that allows you to swap between standard and ‘custom’ EQ types. As it was with the AC30HW, reverb is an integral part of the Custom Classic, featuring tone and level controls combined with a useful Dwell switch that varies the reverb circuit’s input level. Tremolo has been retained, with speed and depth controls, and finally there’s a master volume and the traditional backwards ‘cut’ control, which takes out highs as you turn the knob clockwise.