Vox-like builds

[Thiago.zanato]

I'm really impressed, it looks beautiful, good job! Do you mind telling us where you got the parts and the schematic you're working from? That would be great! Thanks

[Mr. dB]

I'm really impressed, it looks beautiful, good job! Do you mind telling us where you got the parts and the schematic you're working from? That would be great! Thanks

The chassis came from Blind Lemon Chitlin, a member at the Plexi Palace board. The cabinet was made by Jeff Swanson. Faceplate (not shown in photos) came from a fellow in New Zealand who had some reproductions made up, and occasionally releases them one at a time on eBay for very high prices. Tagboards, mustard caps and Allen-Bradley resistors were all eBay finds. Schematic for the AC15 is on just about every online schematic library on the Internet, including Vox' own site. Transformers are Mercury Magnetics, and came from www.jmimusic.com.

Heyboer also makes Vox-style transformers, which are available from Mojotone.

Blind Lemon Chitlin builds replicas of Vox amps, and will occasionally let go of a chassis if you ask him nicely enough. He's done batches of AC15, AC30, AC50, and maybe AC100 too.

[jelle]

Hi guys,

I have posted a bunch of pics of a great sounding blonde AC30 head in the trainwreck section today.

BTW that must become a great amp! Nice new build!

Have fun!

Jelle

[KT66]

Someday I am going to build an AC30 and I came across this guide to repairing them that has a bunch of info including layouts:

http://www.thevoxac30guide.com/

It was worth much more than the $20 it cost. My 2 cents: If your gonna build an AC30 you gotta use the cellestion blues and building only part of the circuit (like the Hoffman board) isn't going to cut it, partly for the reasons explained here:

http://tone-lizard.com/Vox_Myths.htm

Also, weber sells a chassis and Mercury has clones of the many different transformers that were used in this amp.

Somewhere I have a link to a site that sells a kit to build the treble boost pedal That Brian may used which I can't remember the name of but I can't find it, oh well.

Cheers

[kiteflyer]

KT66-

I'm not so sure about his theory on the notch filter. As he sort-of points out, if the volume of the tremolo is zero the notch filter is AC ground. Does fiddling with the tremolo volume make the Bright and normal channels much different? Not that I've noticed...

[KT66]

Kiteflyer- Thanks for the feedback on that. I have no experience with the actual amp itself, just what I can glean from the web. I think his point is that most people use the tremolo channel and that notch filter is what gives it the characteristic "honk". But I don't know if this is true or not, some feedback from actual users on this forum would be nice. Maybe the circuit could be built without the trmolo channel but you could put the notch filter on the brite channel or something because I do admit that a build without the tremolo channel wouldbe much simpler.

[Mr. dB]

I think all the stuff about the thump filter for the vibrato channel being the "secret" to the magic AC30 tone is a bunch of hooey.

I haven't made any progress at all on my build since winter. Been working too much overtime. I need to get off my lazy ass and finish it.

[dartanion]

Remove the Blues from the equation, and the honk will be removed too. That is unless you replace them with other AlNiCo speakers.

[Roe]

I'm considering building an ac30/4/6

[krash]

sorta OT ...

my Roxie amp is a lot like a Vox.

I think I have some ideas on what makes the Vox mojo work but I have not done enough experimenting to say for sure. However I think it's a lot simpler than a legit AC30 clone would be.

You should be able to pull this off with a regular 18W/plexi type chassis 17.5"x6.5"x2.5" and even start with an 18W turret board.

Anyone wants my thoughts on what makes a Vox do its thing, email me. I might even share a layout that could help get you started, but with no guarantees.