Incoming NAD: 1964 Vox AC30 Super Twin TB

[Icandrive55]

I made a much more expensive decision than I intended, but I'm very excited about it lol. I have a grey panel Super Twin that I've been trying to find a vintage 2x12 cab for with alnico blue's. Everything I found had an issue. So I came across this pair, which happened to be the extremely rare copper panel with Top Boost integrated on the panel. And the cab is also 100% intact with the original Blue's (no reconing.) I'm assuming it's a 1964 based on the specs but could possibly be a 1963.

The head has been recapped but still has the original tubes and transformers. The voltage switch was also bypassed so I asked to have it set to 245 volts. I think it's best to run it this way with a step-up transformer than drop the voltage. There was nothing that was any kind of deal-breaker for me and the seller was phenomenal to deal with. I figured the odds of running into that pair again were next to zero so I bought it.

It will be interesting to A/B with my grey panel head (which is essentially identical.) Except the grey panel hasn't been recapped. If they sound virtually the same, I will probably sell the grey panel because I can't really afford a redundancy like that. But if they sound noticeably different, I would have to hold on to it.

I'm curious how these sound compared to the combo's for anyone who owns both? For recording, I had to go with the head version. It's just so much easier to have a head in the control room. Instead of running back and forth to tweak between parts.

 

[Greywolf]

the sweet sound of EL 84's ENJOY

 

[Icandrive55]

the sweet sound of EL 84's ENJOY

Thank you! This will be the first time actually hearing them through alnico blue's. I've been running my other head through a 1971 4x12 Marshall cab, which sounds phenomenal. But obviously, different.

 

[fernieite]

Congrats man!
I also bought a Super Twin and 2x12 cab recently. Mine is an early '65 trapezoid head, and the speakers are silver bells with the original H1777 Pulsonic cones.
I'm too old to lug an AC30 combo these days, so the head and cab versions are the way to go for me. Enjoy!

 

[Icandrive55]

Thank you! I love the look of those trapezoid heads. The blue's on mine have the original Pulsonic cones as well. The cab sounds incredible. It's definitely worth it to have instead of the greenback's I was using. And yes, the head and cab is so much easier to deal with. It's not a pain to move at all.

Unfortunately, the seller pulled some shenanigans on me, which I am very not happy about. The amp has significant volume loss so I suspect the power tubes are bad. He implied in the listing that it came with original tubes. But the power tubes are some cheap Russian variant. The wooden chassis holding the amp is also badly cracked throughout and needs to be replaced. And almost most annoyingly, he removed the casters from the flight case and didn't include them! That drove me nuts. Why on earth would he do that?? Who wants a flight case without wheels? It's going to take some work and $ to get the amp in proper working order and condition. So I escalated the problem with Reverb. I am getting really tired of sellers pulling stuff like this. It's happened to me numerous times lately. It's fraud to deliberately leave out issues that devalue the amp and mislead a buyer into paying more than something is worth. I hope Reverb does the right thing and heavily penalizes him for it.

 

[fernieite]

That's disappointing! I hope you get everything straightened out. Sometimes those chassis support boards get damaged in the shipping...
You can make a new one or buy one from North Coast. (but you probably already know that)

Replacement Chassis Mounting Slider Board for JMI era AC-30 Vox Combo and Rectangular Head Cabs | Reverb

Replacement Chassis Mounting Slider Board for JMI era AC-30 Vox Combo and Rectangular Head Cabs (1960 - 1967) - SOLD OUT - Just before I closed the woodshop at North Coast Music in 2019, I made 48 JMI AC-30 slider boards for 2x12 combos and rectangular amp heads so I could c...

reverb.com

 

[Icandrive55]

That's disappointing! I hope you get everything straightened out. Sometimes those chassis support boards get damaged in the shipping...
You can make a new one or buy one from North Coast. (but you probably already know that)

Replacement Chassis Mounting Slider Board for JMI era AC-30 Vox Combo and Rectangular Head Cabs | Reverb

Replacement Chassis Mounting Slider Board for JMI era AC-30 Vox Combo and Rectangular Head Cabs (1960 - 1967) - SOLD OUT - Just before I closed the woodshop at North Coast Music in 2019, I made 48 JMI AC-30 slider boards for 2x12 combos and rectangular amp heads so I could c...

reverb.com

Thanks. I just ordered a replacement from North Coast. It's nice they make them so I don't have to deal with fabricating one that looks right. He shipped the amp with only one screw from the metal chassis barely attached to the wooden slider. Totally unacceptable.

I tried different power tubes and that fixed the volume issue, which is good. But he definitely owes me something equivalent to the Mullard's I was expecting. The amp is going to turn out great. The seller was just very careless with it. I am lucky it's just the chassis that got damaged and not the original tubes or something worse.

 

[yeatzee]

I came very close to buying that amp on reverb before finding mine locally! Bummer to hear about the seller, I always get so sketched out with overseas sellers, particularly with vintage stuff and even more so big amps like that.