VOX

REVIEW
T
he word ‘icon’ is
frequently over-used in
the guitar industry, but
few would disagree that
Vox’s AC30 is the
quintessential British guitar amp,
used by a diverse list of equally
iconic musicians including Hank
Marvin, Rory Gallagher, Brian May
and, of course, The Beatles. This
year is Vox’s 60th anniversary, and
to mark the occasion, it’s pulled
out all the stops to tempt us with a
cornucopia of new products,
including this amp, the AC30S1.
The original AC30 was
developed from Hank Marvin’s
request for a more powerful
version of the AC15, so he could be
heard over hordes of young girls
screaming for Cliff Richard –
although another of the amp’s
main selling points proved to be
the six inputs on later versions,
which meant a whole band could
plug into one. In contrast, the new
AC30S1 is an amp for those who
like to keep the best to
themselves. To quote Vox, it has
one channel, one loudspeaker and
one purpose… that is, to our
minds, to put some of the best Vox
tones ever into the simplest of
packages around.
Take a quick glance at the
AC30S1 and you probably wouldn’t
notice the slightly narrower
cabinet and centrally-mounted
single 12” loudspeaker lurking
behind the brown diamond grille
cloth. The cosmetics are pure
vintage Vox, with a grey/black
control panel and cream chicken
head knobs. Robust build quality, a
custom 12” Celestion speaker and
a massive pair of transformers
mean the AC30S1 is no
lightweight, although it’s easier to
carry than a traditional 2x12 AC30.
The electronics are contained in
a tough steel tray chassis, with one
large PCB supporting the front
panel controls and smaller boards
for the quartet of EL84 power
valves and the AC30S1’s digital
reverb. A single input jack feeds a
preamp inspired by the legendary
Top Boost channel, featuring
controls for gain, bass, treble,
master volume and a reverb level
control, while on the back panel
there’s a series eff ects loop and an
extension speaker outlet. The
AC30S1 also feature’s Vox’s
Euro-friendly energy-saving
power supply, which can detect if
the amp isn’t in use and turn it off
(mercifully, this can be disabled).
This design change means the
traditional mains toggle switch is
replaced with a momentary action
version, so there’s no ‘clunk’ as
the mains is turned on. There’s no
footswitch jack on the AC30S1
either, because there’s nothing to
footswitch – you just plug in and
turn up.
We tried out the AC30S1 with a
variety of guitars, including a
PAF-loaded Les Paul Standard, a
custom shop ES-335 and our
regular testbed Strat, equipped
with Duncan Alnico Pro single
coils. Like all cathode-biased
amps, the AC30S1 takes a few
minutes for its voltages to
stabilise, after which a slight initial
hum fades away to practically
TYPE: Valve preamp and
power amp, with
digital reverb
OUTPUT: 30W
SPEAKER: 1x Celestion
VX12 custom
VALVES: 2x 12AX7, 4x EL84
CONTROLS: Gain, volume,
bass, treble, reverb
SOCKETS: Guitar in,
effects send/return,
extension speaker
WEIGHT: 24.5kg
DIMENSIONS: [HxWxD]
550 x 658 x 265mm
CONTACT: Vox
01908 304600
www.voxamps.com
ONE CHANNEL, ONE
LOUDSPEAKER, ONE PURPOSE
1
CONTROLS
Straightforward controls
make the AC30S1 easy to
use. All of the great classic
and modern Vox sounds are
right here – just a few twists
is all it takes
2
SPEAKER
Behind the diamond grill
cloth is a custom Celestion
VX12 loudspeaker. Lots of
volume and bass makes the
AC30S1 sound bigger than
many 2x12s
3
DIGITAL SPRING
The AC30S1’s reverb is a
superb digital spring that’s up
there with many studio
effects for quality and
versatility, from subtle
ambience to full-on cavern
Photography: Olly Cur tis
VOX AC30S1
Bad to the bone: Vox strips the AC30 down to its essentials
£735
AT A GLANCE
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SEPTEMBER 2018 ToTal GuiTar
TGR310.gear_lead.indd 91 14/08/2018 17:23