Any Boogies that'll give me a Vox AC30 tone/vibe?

[tele_jas]

I posted this in the "modern amps" section
, but it may get more response here.

Any Boogies that'll give me a Vox AC30 vibe? I'm looking to buy a new amp and the AC30 and Dr. Z Maz Sr are the two I'm looking at... but I'm leaning more towards the AC30 (only got about $900).

Thoughs, sugggestions?

PS. yes, I'm selling my Genz Benz El Diablo to get a new amp (don't worry, I'm not getting rid of the RK!).

 

[Boogiebabies]

None that come to mind. I went the Matchless route witht the Phoenix 35.
You will probably have to stick with the AC-30 top boost circuits, or the early circuits with the EF-86. With that in mind DR. Z, Matchless and Badcat are the highest forms of a quality AC-30 circuit. The Phoenix is amazing and has a bit more power using EL-34's instead of EL-84's and is louder with more headroom, but even using EL-34's the clean channel is amazing. The onlt bad thing is that having a $ 900.00 range, you will probably be in the used Dr. Z market, which is not a bad thing. Dr. Z has by far the highest value for performance over it overpriced competitors. IMO, even the current limited edition handwired AC-30 does not compare to a Dr. Z or the Matchless and Badcat. The real problem is finding one and even if you do, they are over priced.

 

[Shep]

mk iv A rhy2...with el34/6l6...if you push the fat in and turn the gain down and presence up yeapo it really does sound nice...( i Say A becasue the 2nd channel has less gain than the B and alittle more vintage..)

Tom

 

[treedroppings]

doesn't the Maverick or Blue Angel have 4 EL84s or, doesn't one of the 50 Calibers has 4 el84s ??

and the Voxes are cathode biased, so I think the Blue Angel would be the corresponding Mesa product (Haven't heard it yet, though)

 

[Antoine]

The Lonestar Special ?

 

[plumptone]

If you haven't tried a studio .22, you should. I used to own one, and I am kicking myslef for unloading it. On the clean channel if you push the gain you get VERY close to an AC30 sound. If you can find one with the graphic eq even better, because you can tweek the hell out of it by playing with the middle slider.

I now have a DC-3 and an F-50. The DC-3 comes close (it's got a quartet of EL84s in there), but it's a much more pushed sound than the Studio 22 and the mid-range isn't quite right for a true AC30 clone. I got the DC-3 trying to recapture my studio .22 days.

The only issue with the studio .22 is headroom - in fact that's pretty much how I doscovered its Voxiness - I had to drive it hard to keep up, and that opened it up big time. Run a studio .22 through a 2x12 and you're pretty much dead on.

 

[RR]

Not to rain on the party but everyone (except Boogiebabies which he's comparing boutique amplifiers in Dr. Z, Matchless and Bad Catz) is thinking EL84s equates to AC30 Vox tone ... yes, sort of, but remember that AC30 Vox has an 5AR rectifier tube giving that extra "sag".

Maverick, Blue Angel, LoneStar Special does has this rectifier tube. I personally yet to own any of these amps (I wish I did or I plan too) so I can't say if it does the AC30 "jangle".

Then we have to think about those Celestion Blue Dogs too.

 

[Boogiebabies]

Dr. Z's are so reasonable though. You can find a good used one and know it's basically bullet proof. I just loved the way the Matchless sounded with the mixed aged Celestions and I honestly bought it for the clean channel.
The overdrive is great for chording and single note soloing, but without pushing it with an OD, it just did'nt scream Brian May. It sure has the jangly thing down.

Next on the hit list is to try a Maz. 38 jr.

 

[RR]

Dr. Z's are so reasonable though. You can find a good used one and know it's basically bullet proof. I just loved the way the Matchless sounded with the mixed aged Celestions and I honestly bought it for the clean channel.
The overdrive is great for chording and single note soloing, but without pushing it with an OD, it just did'nt scream Brian May. It sure has the jangly thing down.

Next on the hit list is to try a Maz. 38 jr.

Yeah, Dr. Z makes affordable boutique amp, "no frills", a few knobs but sounds so sweet.

Matchless has great sounding amps too, its that after Mark Samson left the company (did some designing for Bad Cats before starting his own company "Star Amps") I have issues with them.

Not with their amps but their business practice. Otherwise great sounding amps.

 

[Russ]

Old Matchless.... Yummmmmy. Tasty tone and well built. Handbuilt and handwound. I remember those when they came out. My jaw dropped and I nearly shat myself when I heard the sound coming from it. At the time, I had been playing early high gain stuff (other end of the spectrum with a JCM800) and the tone just floored me.

tele_jas -
Why not just look for the real deal? If that is the tone you are looking for, it only makes sense to buy the amp that makes that sound. Why not buy the originator instead of someone else's rendition of it? This is something that I myself had to come to terms with. I tried to get Marshall and then Mesa tones without having to spend on them. Through the course of my searches, I found that you can only ever get the feel of a particular amp from "that" amp when it comes right down to it. All other people's takes on it never really get it right. They can come close and even offer more of this or that but you really get the essense of the original amp by buying "the" original amp. There is a reason why some people still play those older antiquated amps.... tone.

 

[tele_jas]

Well, I took the plunge and got the real thing on ebay last night.... Should be here the first part of the week (next week). A Vox AC30cc1 the 1x12 version......... the original owner put a Weber Blue Dog Alnico speaker in it and swapped out the stock preamp tubes with JJ's. I was wanting the 2x12, but for some reason when I seen the 1x12 it seemed more of what I was looking for...... I sure hope it's not too "small" sounding being only a 1x12?