Hello fellow guitarists of the world…
I’ve had alot of people asking about my amplifiers and the various settings I use for them…so here they are.
For playing live at church, albums, studio and conferences I use a Matchless Spitfire 15 watt 1×12 and an older, English made Vox AC-15 1×12 (not CC!). The Matchless is a more brighter, sparkly amp with a tight low end punch to it, whereas the Vox has a bell-like chime with a more pronounced midrange. They compliment each other well!
I run both amps simultaneously in stereo. I don’t A/B them or anything like that. Sometimes in the studio, I’ll do different takes with different amps separately so to get different tones.
As they’re both 15watts they break up quite easily (and nicely!) at a lower volume. This is why I can afford to run the Master at about half way.
The Input Volumes on both amps are set just below half way. At this level, my guitar signal (no pedals on) remains mostly clean. The amps will begin to break up slightly when the strings are hit hard, especially when the bridge pickup of the Duesenberg is selected. (Vintage Humbucker)
I use these settings in the studio as well. I often will have the RC Booster on to further ‘push’ the amps and to help shape the tone between guitars (Gretsch, Strat etc…) as they have varying outputs, tones…
Hope this helps!! Turn it up loud….
Droff
Vox AC15 Live Settings
Matchless Spitfire 15 Live Settings
Thanks droff for showing this. Do you set your volumes so high on your drive pedals so you can push the amp into break up?
Henny, Thanks for showing us this, I love that you take time to help us out! On a different and less guitar-ish note, on United’s latest album what does that crowd yell in between the chorus of “Your Name High”? Its driving me crazy trying to figure it out!!
God bless.
Josn
Hi Nigel,
Just have two questions:
Why do you now use the ac15 instead of the ac30?
I was wondering if it had something to do with the fact getting a warmer, even more tube-like sound at a lower volume, or am I wrong?
And the second question; is your true bypass switcher buffered/active or passive?
I was considering making one myself, do you have any advice or important things to know about it?
Oh that are three questions, but thanks anyway!
Greets Sander
great stuff man… love your guys stuff
Thanks Nigel! Is amazig how you can take that amazing sound through simple setups!
haha
God Blessyou!
Droff, why are you now using an ac15 instead of the ac30?
Thanks,
Sander
What do you guys think of the heritage handwired Vox AC15? I use a G2D Custom as my drive pedal and I’ve heard it can be harsh when using it with that amp. I want to know if you guys have any experience with it of know anything about it. I know it’s not a UK AC15 which I’d love to have but I believe these are a bit cheaper. I love the sound the Hillsong/United guys get with there Voxes, that chimey clean. I currently have a Blues Jr. but wouldn’t mind upgrading. Thanks.
Hey Nigel, i know you used to use Vox AC30 and a mactless DC 30, i wondering why did you change from 30 watts to 15 watts?
Thanks again for this
Olivier
@Andrew, the heritage ac-15 sounds great but has no headroom. It can not be used unless its miced practically speaking in my opinion. I found it had a lot less headroom than even the regular ac15’s
Hey Mr. Hendroff–
I have two quick questions– what do think of running stereo with two amps that vary somewhat significantly wattage-wise… I ask because I want to run my AC15 and Orange AD30 (which is a great amp btw) in stereo… The AC15 is currently in the shop, but once it’s out I want to give it a go..
Is there anything to be worried about?
Also, do you have any trouble with ground loop hum? If so, how do you resolve it?
James thanks for the info. Currently I have a Blues Junior and it has enough headroom for what I do and it is also a 15 watt but I also understand that there are many other factors. I do mic up my amp at church but I still need to hear it on stage. Currently I’m borrowing a UK Vox AC30 and I love the way it sounds but it is really heavy and cost a bit more so I’m hoping either a UK AC15 or AC15 Heritage Handwired would sound similar. What do you think?
finally! thanks droff!
@andrew the heritage ac15 has noticably less headroom than the blues jr ( id say almost half). I would definantly go with an UK AC15 if you can get your hands on one. Even the new ac15 custom classics are great if you swap out the tubes for JJ’s and have a blue speaker in it
For those with the AC15 Custom Classic, check out this guide on how to modify it a little bit and get it sounding better.
The amp will take drive pedals a lot better after these mods as it smooths out the top end and eliminates the harshness that occurs with drive pedals.
http://www.guitarpug.com/2008/06/vox-ac15cc-mod-guide/#more-179
@Josh
The end of the chorus? You mean when they say “We are free?” It’s just like a chant, Oh oh oh
Hey Droff,
Thanks. This post really helped give me an idea of what settings I should use on my amp. However, I was wondering, what power tubes and preamp tubes do you use on your AC30 and Matchless???
hey droff this is great, do you rekon that you could do the same sort of thing on another page but with your pedals?
@Mark
i think its the part in the chorus where they go “we are living to make your name high” and then the audience shouts something, then the rest of the chorus “living to make your name high…”
Droff.. would you do an acoustic post? I’ve got a Cort, I reckon it looks awesome, but it sounds bad. I’d love some suggestions
To anyone who understands this, up this blogspot nigel said about breaking up the amp”they break up quite easily (and nicely!) at a lower volume.”, what does that mean, does it mean raising your volume to the point the amp screams… or sqeeks….?What good does it do when your amp breaks up…? Help me understand
Olivier
@josh, @mark
They sing - We are living to make your name high, “ONE JESUS” living to make your name high, “ONE JESUS” you… so on and so forth…
Hey. Right now I play an AC15 with a Greenback, and I’ve also tried a couple other celestions I have kicking around or stolen from other old amps. So tow questions- how important is it to keep the speaker wattage close to the amp wattage when swapping speakers around? I know never to go lower wattage than the amp is rated for but what about a 40w or 75w speaker in a 15w amp? I know the stock wharfdales on the cheap CCs are 30w but just not sure how far you can push that envelope and what effect it would have on the amps lifespan and sound quality. secondly what do you think of running stereo through amps of different wattages? I’m thinking of running an AC30 and AC15 simultaneously and playing with the settings a bit to fill out the sound.
Patrick-
I don’t know what droff uses but JJ’s will get you a long ways in tone and price. Somewhere to start. Getting into NOS and such will raise your price significantly.
Oliver-
Breaking up is when amp naturally distorts. Basically what happens is you send the signal through the tubes and when they reach a “break up” point they start to clip the signal. Now this clipping is what is replicated in stomp boxes but this sound from the amp is what the boxes are replicating.
Now the point at which a amp breaks up is different for each amp and player. Some you have to crank the amp all the way up. Some its in the middle. Now for Nigel’s purposes its about halfway up and when you strum you get a good clean sound but if you really hit the strings hard they will come through the amp with a natural distortion. This is what most tone guys are looking for when going with tube amps. Hopefully that helps.
Rob-
Going up on the speaker wattage will basically give you more headroom (at the speaker) as the speaker will not break up as quickly. It won’t really effect the life of the amp at all. I mean look at marshall cabs they are usually like a 300-400w cab. Now in my honest opinion the best sounding combo for a ac15 is paired with the celestion blue alnico. That pairing is what made Vox famous. if you don’t want to splurge for that speaker look at Weber’s more specifically the Blue Dog or Silver Bell. Both are great speakers and more reasonably priced.
So basically if you are at your current volume and wanting less break up try a higher wattage speaker. You could put a 75w speaker in there however it will change the tone and headroom but no affect on the life of the amp.
I don’t got, do Droff use 2 amps at same time or just one 15 watt when playing live? Throught a 15 watt wouldn’t could make it, in a church with bout 12.000 people at one time..?
Simon-
Live he uses both but even a single 5 watt head and cab could work for 12000 its all about micing it up. the amp is not being heard directly but instead is being reproduced through the pa.
Hey Droff, hope you and your family are doing well.
I was wondering why you’ve gone for the AC151X and expressly stated that it’s not an AC15CC1X? I’m loving the Vox sound and am about to purchase the AC15 Custom Classic, but after reading this post, you’ve got me second guessing. What’s the difference in your opinion? Why not the Custom Classic?
Be blessed man, I hope to see you at Mens Conference,
Wayne.
Wayne-
I’m not droff but i will take my crack at it. The version he has is made in the UK, the version your looking at is made in China. Now I have played a couple and you can get them sounding pretty decent but they won’t quite get the same sound hes getting. What I would recommend is doing some of mods that are out there. Somewhere its referenced on this blog like guitarpug.com or something like that. They are pretty easy and straightforward. The other biggest and most drastic change for your tone will be the speaker. Buy a weber blue dog or a celestion blue if you want the vox sparkle. Those are the speakers to be in a vox. The wharfdale that comes in it are not as good as they should be.
If you can afford $1200 or so for the UK version then go for that. I myself went with a used Heritage series combo for about $850 save some bones but still gets a quality sound plus gets another channel.
Wayne,
He doesnt use the custom classic most likely for the same reasons i dont…
1. Made in China… cheaper components… not as quality sound.
2. Custom Classics in my opinion are not as responsive… mainly because they use different components now… thats why everyone is going for the older model vox amps.
3. The custom classic does not have nearly the head room that the older vox models do… mainly because of different components.
So the cheaper the amp is made, the cheaper your sound will be… now the vox custom classics sound amazing compared to anything on the modern market.. and the price isnt too bad… so unless you have the cash to shell out for an older model vox… (i’d say prob about $1,000 (US) more) the custom classics will get the job done.
Now droff is in a very different situation then most musicians… his sound and tone need to be impecable because he is performing on the world stage, and recording world class music. If most of us were at that level, we would be able to spend the extra cash to get that world class sound.
But, if your not making world class recordings, and playing at your local church, custom classics will work great! I used to own a couple myself, and they worked fine… now i’ve upgraded to a 62′ AC-30 and a matchless dc-30, mainly because i’ve been doing a lot of studio work here in the US… but seriously, the smart way to go would to be to get the custom classic, save some cash… buy some great cables with the extra ie. george l’s… and get some great tone!