VOX AC30VR Hybrid Guitar Amp

Contact Number: 01912-946970

Product: Hybrid (i.e. mix of tube and solid state technology) 2x12 combo guitar amplifier

Model: VOX AC30VR

Purchased: July, 2012 from Singapore

Condition: Perfect. It’s as good as new and has been used exclusively at home for a year.

Market Price: This amp is not available in Bangladesh. If you want to individually order it using a third party Bangladeshi service that helps you buy things off Amazon then it will cost you minimum of Tk.70,000 with shipping charges included. I’m not sure of the current customs charge on amps but the total price is likely to shoot up beyond Tk.80,000 after taxes. You can try contacting Guitar Store BD for a more reasonable price but it’s unlikely they’ll have the amp.

Asking Price: Tk.63,000 (you’ll also get a VFS2 footswitch that I bought for Tk. 2,000)

Reason for Sale: I’m leaving the country, and I can’t take the amp with me.

Specifications: There are two 12” Celestion custom speakers. The 2x12 combo amp format is very popular formats with professionals because of its specific acoustics. This is a 30 watt amp. Note that it’s a lot louder than a pure solid state amp of the same power rating. There are two channels – normal and overdrive. There are two types of overdrive - a light crunchy one and a much heavier one. The channels have their own volume controls and there is a master volume control for the amp as well as a reverb and a tone cut knob. Each channel has bass and treble knobs, and there are also mid and gain controls for the overdrive channel. For more details and a video - http://www.voxamps.com/valvereactor/ac30vr/

Note: This is not an amp for beginners or amateurs. If you don’t have the knowledge to appreciate the amp’s quality and the difficulty of obtaining it in Bangladesh then it’s probably best to do little research first.

The VOX AC30 is arguably the most iconic amp in the history of rock music. The list of big names from the past and present who’ve used the amp is nearly endless. The Beatles, Brian May(Queen), The Edge (U2), Johnny Greenwood (Radiohead), Ritchie Blackmore, Noel Gallagher(Oasis), Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters) and Mike Bellamy(Muse) are a few examples. Even now the amp is still considered by a significant number of musicians as the greatest tube amp in the world - http://bit.ly/12eZgte.

The VOX AC30VR is a lighter and more affordable version of the AC30. The AC30 is a full tube amp. The AC30VR is a hybrid; the pre-amp (which is largely responsible for creating the tone) is tube while the power-amp is solid-state. The solid-state portion simply amplifies the sound the tube portion has already created. So you get a tone similar to the legendary tone of the AC30 in a lighter package. The AC30VR is still quite heavy at a weight of 23 kg (29 kg according to Amazon with a 34 kg shipping weight). This is very different from a modeling amp which tries to digitally recreate the sound of a tube amp.