I bought this amp after much deliberation, and some serious comparison shopping. I alresdy own a vintage ac30 top boost and a Marshall TSL 100 The vox, while the perfect size and sound for the cover songs my band 86'd is playing, Tom Petty the Stones, Bush all the way to White Zombie and Rage against the machine, is simpley to valubal and fragile to expose to the bar scene. I love the Marshall, very versitile, but too powerful for a bar gig. Big amps turned down sound like crap. So I bought the Vox ac50 plus and at first ran it thru my Marshall 1960A cab, which is closed back and loaded with celestion 80's. The 1st channel which is basicly an ac30, but with 50 watts sounded amazing, with rich cleans all the way to creamy Queen like drive. The 2nd channel though was way too bassey, no matter how much I cut the bass on the e.q. This channel is quite gainy, in a good way and having seperate gain controls and channel volumes is a great feature on an amp at this price point, but again the bass was just overwhelming. The tubes are Ruby's and JJ's so I knew that wasn't the problem. I checked the bias and everything was fine, so i simpley switch to my open backed Randall 4-12 cabinet thats loaded with jensen jet speakers that are rated at 100 watts for a little extra headroom, and MAN what a difference!! This rig sounds amazing!! I run a ts9 tube screamer and a keeley compresser thru the front of the amp, and a boss vintage c-2 chorus, a vintage boss dm-2 analog delay and a newer boss dd-3 digital delay through the effects loop. While there is no return level there is a send cut or boost on the loop. Now the first channel just sparkles, very versitile, and the bass problem on the second channel is gone, replaced by tight bass authoritative mids ans shimmering, almost 3-d highs. I run both channel e.q's pretty flat, and use the tone cut on the 1st channel to either cut or boost the treble. Another nice feature is reverb control on both channels, so no more dirty rythems caked in verb! I love this amp, although it is quite heavy, its the perfect wattage because you can set the master volume high to cook the tubes, than use the channel volumes to act almost like an attenuater. I've had so many compliments on my sound its amazing. BUY this amp

This amp rocks. Only bad thing is that I also had the plastic nut fall off and my input jack fall into the head with no way of getting it out except my friend had $3,000 bucks worth of Snap-On Tools and we finally fished it out. Other than that its built like a tank and sounds out of this world. I don't even use the heavy channel. I don't know why you'd need the 100 watter cause this one gets louder than human ears can take set on about half volume. Definitely one of the best purchases I've ever made!

This amp gets a great tone through my Genz Benz G-flex 2x12 cab. The sound is fantastic, though not quite as loud as my Peavey JSX 2x12 combo. The build quality however is lacking. The input jack is secured only by a single nut on the outside of the head. This nut is plastic. I plugged in my cord one time, pulled it out one time and the nut snapped and into the head went the input jack. It was 20 minutes before band practice. I spent the next hour trying to get it out and get it fixed. I ended up replacing the plastic nut with a metal one I bought at Home Depot.

Other than the build quality I really do love the tone of the amp. Its darn hard to beat for the price. Just replace that stupid nut before you plug in.

I run mine through a 2x12 cab with V30's and this is a nice match particularly if you enjoy the AC30 sound and who doesn't - really. It is better than most amps that I have owned a clear exception is a Laney G100L which was an excellent amp but a totally different animal. I love the clean chanel set for crunch, it can really sound sweet but strong if that makes sense? I have had a problem with an intermittant reverb, I opened it up and wriggled the connection lead for better purchase and its been ok since??? This amp is hard to beat for the money, that's the advantage of Chinese manufacturing I guess but there are a few amps I would rather own. I've just paid a deposit for a JCM800 2203 which is nearly twice the price out here. My advice, if you have the money go for a more traditional amp, AC30 handwired, Marshall JCM or a Mesa Boogie if that suits your taste. But if cash is tight this amp will let you enjoy the gigs until you can afford better.

I purchased this amp about a year and a half ago. At first I was delighted with it, except for the fact that you can't get a decent clean tone at any volume (this soon would become my pet peeve with this amp after a while). However after about 8 or 9 months, the problems started. And they continued right up till the time I got rid of it. First the fuses kept blowing, then the pots started to go, then my volume would drop away to nothing. I'd bring it in to an amp tech, and they could not find out why!!. Finally after its third trip to the repair shop in 4 months, I got fed up and traded it in on a hughes and kettner statesman, and I could not be happier with the choice. I went into the store where I traded it a week later and they told me that they were showing it to a customer and the master volume pot blew!! So, if you are looking at spending $1,500 on an amp, DO NOT BUY THIS!! you will regret it. Vox should go back to making their amps in Britain because the Chinese build ones don't cut it!