vox ac4tv

docplayer · 09-02-2009, 01:35 PM

I have a LP studio, currently using a line 6 spider 75 - I play mainly at home, once every few months at church (in a high school auditorium, around 300 capacity ), the amp is then miked to the pa. We play the standard Hillsongs, Chris Tomlin, etc worship songs.

I'm considering buying a tube amp - seeing my current playing needs as above, I was wondering if the Vox AC4Tv would be too small, since it is a "practice amp". I hesitate to go bigger(i.e AC 15), since i wouldn't want it too loud at home, and wondering if miking it would have enough output to hear myself, and be heard over the pa.

thanks

S.B.Nichols · 09-02-2009, 02:15 PM

If it's mic'd, there really isn't such a thing as too small. I've been wanting to pick on of those up myself. The only thing I would be concerned about is the lack of tone shaping features on the amp....you might need an EQ stompbox...coming from a Line 6, you'd definitely want to invest in a good stompbox or two.

LWatford · 09-02-2009, 02:44 PM

I played the 8" and 10" versions yesterday. The 10" is the way to go. Really surprising amp for the money. Parts of it look a little cheap, but overall I was extremely impressed. Put a mic on it, and you've got plenty of volume...and your stage volume will probably sit better with everyone else.

metropolis4 · 09-02-2009, 04:10 PM

It depends on how clean you like your cleans.
The one thing you may run into is limited headroom with a Les Paul. You should be ok though if you're mic'ing it.
I don't think you'd have volume issues with an AC15 though. It's not that much louder, mostly those extra few watts are just gonna give you a bit more solid midrange and low end. Of course, it also costs about $300 more...

**bread man** · 09-02-2009, 06:03 PM

Yeah, the AC4 I played got dirty very quickly.

Major Tom · 09-02-2009, 08:00 PM

I tried one out recently (the 10" version), and did not like it enough to recommend it or buy it for myself. It was ok at lower volumes, but IMO was reaching output tranny saturation at around halfway up on the volume, or maybe even less, like so many single output tube amps do. Single ended amps, by nature of the design, have DC present in the output tranny, and therefore need a more "robust" transformer in comparison (watt for watt) with a typical dual or quad tube output amp, due to the core saturation that occurs. Transformers use copper, which is expensive, so that is one place to cut cost on an entry level ( practice ) single ended amp I also did not think it was very loud - some of that is the closed back, some is the 10" speaker (as opposed to a 12" would puts out more SPL per watt) but mainly, my guess is from the too-small output tranny.

I tried it in a guy's living room, and my first thought was "would it be loud enough for the church band?" Conversely, my AC15CC (with the Blue speaker) is hard to tame the volume for my church application; I use a power attenuator with it. As far as the AC4 I tried, and the AC15 that I own, there is no comparison volume-wise. The 4 has virtually no clean headroom.

I give it a thumbs down, but YMMV.

metropolis4 · 09-02-2009, 09:10 PM

If you're looking for a happy medium the Night Train is a fantastic sounding amp and it has 15 and 7 watt options. There really is a big volume difference between those two settings on that amp. I'm not really sure why, but the 7 watt setting is almost half the volume and it still puts out a great full sound and you can get a decent amount of headroom too. It's a little more expensive, but it would fit well with what you're looking for

Major Tom · 09-02-2009, 09:27 PM

That Night Train is getting great reviews - I'm hoping that Vox will come out with a 1x12 combo version with reverb (a good sounding reverb).

***BillSPrestonEsq*** · 09-03-2009, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Major Tom

I tried one out recently (the 10" version), and did not like it enough to recommend it or buy it for myself. It was ok at lower volumes, but IMO was reaching output tranny saturation at around halfway up on the volume, or maybe even less, like so many single output tube amps do. Single ended amps, by nature of the design, have DC present in the output tranny, and therefore need a more "robust" transformer in comparison (watt for watt) with a typical dual or quad tube output amp, due to the core saturation that occurs. Transformers use copper, which is expensive, so that is one place to cut cost on an entry level ( practice ) single ended amp I also did not think it was very loud - some of that is the closed back, some is the 10" speaker (as opposed to a 12" would puts out more SPL per watt) but mainly, my guess is from the too-small output tranny.

I tried it in a guy's living room, and my first thought was "would it be loud enough for the church band?" Conversely, my AC15CC (with the Blue speaker) is hard to tame the volume for my church application; I use a power attenuator with it. As far as the AC4 I tried, and the AC15 that I own, there is no comparison volume-wise. The 4 has virtually no clean headroom.

I give it a thumbs down, but YMMV.

I played a production one recently, and sadly it was nothing akin to what I played at Namm. I played the head there mostly through a nice cab, but unfortunately, I think it was a Namm special.

thats what gets me... I want the one I played at Namm.

docplayer · 09-03-2009, 12:33 PM

thanks for all the opinions - some of the electronics lingo goes over my head - is there some "guitar electronics for dummies" book i can get ? our did you guys just learn as you go?

***BillSPrestonEsq*** · 09-03-2009, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by docplayer

thanks for all the opinions - some of the electronics lingo goes over my head - is there some "guitar electronics for dummies" book i can get ? our did you guys just learn as you go?

learn as you go, and ask questions. Major Tom can likely answer any question you would have in this thread.

S.B.Nichols · 09-03-2009, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillSPrestonEsq

I played a production one recently, and sadly it was nothing akin to what I played at Namm. I played the head there mostly through a nice cab, but unfortunately, I think it was a Namm special.

thats what gets me... I want the one I played at Namm.

hmmm....I wonder how many things could have been different between the NAMM and production versions. Different tubes...different and/or broken in speaker...

Major Tom · 09-03-2009, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by docplayer

thanks for all the opinions - some of the electronics lingo goes over my head - is there some "guitar electronics for dummies" book i can get ? our did you guys just learn as you go?

The output transformer is a device in tube amps that converts the high voltage/low current output from the tube(s) to a low voltage/high current output that can be used by a speaker. If the output transformer is under-sized, like in the AC-4 and many other low watt low cost amps, what happens is that a lot of the output from the tube is wasted - it chokes the output from the tubes and the result is a form of compression that does not sound good, has a lack of any headroom (even dirty headroom, if you know what I mean), or actually to be more accurate, it sounds very bad, IMO. I would also say that in general, output transformers are an integral component of a tube amp's "tone".

Quote:

I played a production one recently, and sadly it was nothing akin to what I played at Namm.

10 seconds after I plugged in to that one I tried, I thought " the one BSPE tried at NAMM must have been a special one made for the show" Probably the only thing different was the tranny, and maybe some hand-picked tubes.

I am pretty sure that a "competent" replacement tranny would make that amp into a little beast. You should have heard the before and after with my Epi Galaxie - it became a 'real" amp with a new tranny. Before I would have ranked it like 1 notch below a little Crate 15 watt SS practice amp.