So, we’ve had the VOX AC4 Combo Amp in-stock for about two weeks and shipped TONS of ’em out with glowing reviews from our customers. We’ve had several customers still waiting on the half-stack option to come in and they arrived today!
If you haven’t heard about these amps yet, they’re uniquely-voiced low-wattage tube amps dressed in a very cool vintage white color scheme. I personally got the pleasure of spending some time with the combo amp and it really blew my mind.
The Vox AC4 Family
The “low-watt tube amp” thing is really popular right now and just about everyone is trying to snag a corner of the market. I think that’s great – we’re finally seeing some nice sounding tube amps for about the same price as their equivalently powered solid state counterparts. However, the problem I have with a lot of these amps is that they don’t have their own “voice” or personality. I won’t cite any examples but I’ll tell you that the AC4 certainly bucks that trend.
The AC4 offers a unique take on that top-end British tone Vox is so famous for. Where as it doesn’t sound particularly like an AC15/AC30, it shares many of those familiar tonal characteristics all while maintaining a distinct sonic personality of its own. Using a P-90 equipped single-cutaway guitar – I quickly dialed up a variety of inspiring tones that made me want to play more and more. I cruised through some blues riffs and country leads before slamming the AC4 with some grungy/fuzzy sun-kissed garage rock riffs and then backing off a bit for some traditional classic rock and funky grooves. I flipped through all the power settings and found that there wasn’t too much tone alteration between them, which was a wonderful surprise.
I know it might sound like I’m talking a lot about such a simple amp but this one really hit home with me and sometimes, simple is beautiful. I’ve included links to some official Vox AC4 sound samples below.
Vox AC4 Guitar Amp Sound Clip – Chime (4 Watt)
Vox AC4 Guitar Amp Sound Clip – Grit (4 Watt)
Vox AC4 Guitar Amp Sound Clip – Humbucker Rock (1 Watt)
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