Amp Builders - Recommendation for something Vox-y?

coltonius

coltonius

Well-known member
After a handful of amp builds (mostly tweed, nearly all Fender-based), I'm Jonesing for some Vox tones. I recently had the pleasure of cranking a buddy's AC30C2, so I'm blaming him for this GAS.. Yes, I know I could purchase one for relatively cheap, but where's the fun in that??

The options seem to be limited compared to the F-type kits.. Not that I'm opposed to building from scratch, but I like the pro look of a screen printed chassis!

Here are some options I've found, along with the perceived benefits:

Mojotone NC3015 (15w)
- AC30 preamp married to a 15w power amp
- 2 channels, one with trem (meh..)

www.mojotone.com

British Style NC3015 1x12 Combo Amp Kit

Kit Build Difficulty: Easy Difficult This kit has a lead time. Check here for more information.Please read our article 'Mojotone Amp Kit Building Primer' along with our amp kit disclaimer located in the Specs tab before buying this kit.INSPIRATION Inspired by some of history's most iconic...
www.mojotone.com www.mojotone.com

Trinity Amps TC15 (15w)
- 2 channels, one Matchless-inspired (EF86)

www.trinityamps.com

Trinity TC15 Kit

The Trinity TC15 faithfully reproduces both Matchless and VOX amp tones. The two channel, TC15 is a 15 watt amp with two very different VOX derived channels. One is sweet and one is tough.
www.trinityamps.com

Weber 6V30 (30w)
- Looks pretty much like an OG AC30 with a Normal and Top Boost (trem, no reverb)
- Super cool screen printing options, quality seems to have improved in the past few years

6V30 Amp Kit – Weber Speakers

tedweber.com tedweber.com

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The Trinity seems to be the most interesting to me, and (bonus!) it won't require an arm full of tubes to keep running. But hey, I'm willing to be convinced..

Anybody have experience / opinions on these 3 options?
 
Harry Klippton said:
I just got my TC15 kit last week but it'll be a while til I have it completed. Stephen at Trinity was great to deal with
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That's good to hear! I haven't read much chatter about these amps in the past few years. How was the shipping from Canada? Did it take very long?
 
Not a kit guy myself---but if it was me would look to build a Matchless Spitfire or Lightning. Might even head over to ampgarage.com and look into a Trainwreck Rocket.

Ag
 
jubal81 said:
The TC15 is on my wish list. I'm hoping they'd drill the chassis for octal output tubes since I'm really tired of replacing EL84s.
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I feel your pain! EL84s are the disposable razors of power tubes. 😑

I've been thinking about a Marshall 18w with 6V6s, like the Mojotone Blackout. It would be an excuse to buy a punch or two from Greenlee to make that happen!
 
It is a bit odd that there aren't more Vox-style chassis available. I suspect part of the issue is that (a) there aren't so many Vox variants to choose from as there are with Fender, and (b) if you build a Vox in the way they were originally built they are a PITA! Fenders and Marshalls are very straight forward, easy to visualise and have a simple structure. Everything bolts onto the chassis. There isn't a simple everything-bolts-onto-the-chassis option for Vox - you'd have to design your own. And a tagboard or turretboard kinda tells you where to put everything. A bunch of terminal strips doesn't!

I like the way Ceriatone approach the Matchless builds. And you could probably use a Ceriatone Matchless chassis and board for a Vox build because the schematics are much the same. It's mainly the transformers and filtering which are different.
 
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