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Vox Brian May AC30 £1599

The most authentic Brian May tone yet, but be warned, it's very loud indeed

The MusicRadar Team, Tue 23 Oct 2007, 12:10 pm UTC

Input and footswitch jacks located on the rear panel

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Manufacturer's description

“You, like me, are unimpressed by dozens of controls on a guitar amplifier. You want ONE knob, and IT SOUNDS PERFECT – right? Well, this is it.

To the best of our capability and belief, here is an amp you will never have to mess with. If it sounds great for you today, it will always sound great. Power up, plug in, turn up the ONE volume knob, and play. We hope you love it – the concept and the Amp.”

– Brian May

The AC30BM is our tribute to one of VOX's long-standing ambassadors of rock history – namely Brian May. As long as there has been Brian May playing guitar there has always been a wall of VOX AC30s standing proudly behind him. Between Brian's unique style and the AC30's princely tone, there has always been a “kind of magic” that has wooed audiences worldwide for more than 30 years.

LEGENDARY TONE

The mainstay of Brian's tone has been the AC30's Normal Channel fed from a small treble/mid boost pedal both usually played flat out and, of course, Brian's infamous home-built guitar – the “Red Special.” Over time Brian's equipment has been stripped to the bare essentials and fine tuned to give him the best and most reliable performance without the extra bits of circuitry that were not needed. With Brian's valued help and encouragement VOX has created the AC30BM, which is a re-creation of Brian's stage amp and boost pedal set-up, and is a limited edition run of only 500 combos world-wide, never to be repeated.

ENHANCED TO PERFECTION

To be able to make the complete package, and to make it slightly more versatile, we have built the boost circuit into the amp itself rather than a separate pedal and made it foot-switchable. We have also incorporated a 15 Watt switch on the back panel. The 15 Watt switching circuitry is a unique VOX circuit that not only changes the number of output valves that are in operation and the value of the output cathode resistor that bias the valves, but also changes the impedance of the output transformer. Many amps have “half power” switches fitted, but none of them do it this way – the RIGHT way!

The construction of the amp chassis itself is predominantly hand wired using components mounted on turret tags in the time honoured way, although where this is not suitable, for a variety of reasons (such as the booster circuit), there is also some printed circuit board construction.

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MusicRadar rating

3.5 of 5

Pros

Authentic tone. Ultra-simple design.

Cons

It's very, very loud.

Verdict

There's no doubt that when used faithfully, this amp offers a tone of wonder. However, if you have to turn it down there's really no reason to get this amp. If you imagine you'll be constantly reaching for this amp's volume pot and thus compromising your tone, we suggest opting for the AC30CC.

Review Policy

All MusicRadar’s reviews are by independent product specialists, who are not aligned to any gear manufacturer or retailer. Our experts also write for renowned magazines such as Guitarist, Total Guitar, Computer Music, Future Music and Rhythm. All are part of Future PLC, the biggest publisher of music making magazines in the world.

Specification Show

Brian May AC30

Price:
£1599
Additional Features:
Footswitchable boost circuit, Power reduction switch, Boost gain switch, Boost on/off switch and boost link output
Audio Output Power:
30
Available Controls:
Volume
Available Inputs:
Input Jack
Cabinet Material:
Baltic Birch Plywood
Channels:
1
Country of Origin:
China
Depth (mm):
265
Height (mm):
540
Loudspeaker Size:
12
Loudspeaker Type:
1 x 12-inch Vox/Celestion Alnico Blue
Weight (kg):
31.9
Weight (lb):
70.5
Width (mm):
705
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