GEAR REVIEW
VOX AC30S1 | Doug Doppler
KEY FEATURES
• 30 Watts
• 1x12” Combo
• Effects Loop
• Reverb
• External Speaker Jack
From Hillsong to Tomlin, the chime and jangle
of the Vox AC30 has played an undeniable role
in the sound of Worship guitar. Seriously, when
you take away the lovely wash of delay and
reverb, if you don’t have a great guitar sound
underneath, all you’re left with is a wash. While
this amp is a bit of a departure for the hardcore
AC30 ‘purist’, there is a lot to love about this
little amp, so let’s dig in!
1x12” COMBO ONE CHANNEL a pedal. While I’d be inclined to put the Volume
At the top of the list of significant differences The next adaptation that I personally don’t mind control on eight or ten and turn the Gain control
between this and the other current AC30 is the fact that this amp has just one channel. up for volume for a Sunday service, Worship
offerings is that like the AC15, it sports a While I’m a huge fan of using an A/B box to musicians don’t just play at church. As noted
single 12” speaker. While Vox offers a range of toggle between two differently voiced channels in the video having the ability to manipulate the
speakers from Celestion and Warehouse Guitar in an amp, this is not a standard practice for Volume and Gain controls reveals a fine array of
Speakers, they don’t blend them in their 2x12 most players, and while the amp does not sport organic, tube-driven tones that are the essence
combos. Weight aside, unless you play really a Cut control, the single channel is voiced to of what players strive for when stacking
loud, chances are you won’t miss the extra sound like Vox’s famed Top Boost channel. drive pedals.
speaker. Tonally speaking, the stock Celestion With Tele in hand, the minutes sped by as I was speaker in the AC30S1 sounds a lot like a blend reminded why so many Tele players love an EFFECTS LOOP + REVERB
between a Greenback and an Alnico Blue. AC30. That combination is blissful. In case you didn’t know, the Effects Loops is
an insert point in the amp’s circuit between the
Speaking of weight, the single 12” speaker MASTER VOLUME preamp and power amp sections that allows
makes for an amp you won’t dread when Having a master Volume control is another you to capture the sound of the drive section of
it comes to load-in or load-out. Seriously, feature that the purists might hate, but I love the amp before it gets amplified. While there are
there’s a reason that my hand-wired AC30 about this amp. There was a time when players lots of great sounds to be had running a delay
(2x12” combo) has three handles on the top didn’t just you use pedals to drive their amps. into the preamp section, after a certain amount
– at seventy plus pounds it’s a back breaker. Between the volume control on your guitar, an of amp breakup the headroom you need to
I absolutely love, repeat love the fact that I overdrive pedal and a slightly overdriven amp make your delay sound cool and groovy starts
can carry this AC30S1 amp with one arm and (and speaker), that combination is the essence to disappear, leaving you with the kind of
a guitar with the other. Impossible with my of what makes Classic Rock classic. The sound artifacts that most people don’t find pleasing.
hand-wired! is in the touch and your guitar’s controls, not in As noted in the video, having the Effects Loop
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May 2019
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