I'm looking for some advice on which amp to get. I used to have a Blues Jr., which was my first tube amp, and I loved the sound. I ended up selling it in search of better sound. Now I'm back looking for a 15 Watt amp with two EL 84s and three 12 AX7 to get the sounds & tones that inspired me. I have it narrowed down to these two. I feel like the Vox would be a great match for my strat, but the blues jr is still a contendor.... What do you guys think would be the better amp to go with? (I Don't care about weight) I'm looking for great cleans with crunchy drive. Any ideas?

A few weeks before Christmas I sold my Blues Jr. to buy an AC-15-CC1 and I don't regret it one bit.My Strats sound deadly through it and I still can get as much raunch as I want by turning down the master and whacking it to the Top Boost volume.The AC-15 has way more oomph than the BJ and with the Tone Cut you can dial in even more "presence" and really get some punch from your Strat.A Tele sounds amazing through the AC-15 too-in fact the AC-15 makes any guitar sound like a million bucks.As much as I love the tone of the Blues Jr.,the Vox just has this certain je ne sais quoi that just brings out a little something extra to a guitar's overall tone.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Depends.
If you play Shadows material and nowt else, The AC15 is THE one to go for...
Me, I'd get a 15 watt Blackstar in preference to either of them, though.
I use a Mesa Boogie based rack set up, though.
Cheers

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"As long as I stay Between The Sun And My Shadow, I guess I'm doing well."

Vox AC15...

I played through both last weekend at GC, and the Vox beats the BJr in volume, tone and flexibility...it can be super clean or downright skanky...

The only thing the BJr has up on the AC15 is the (lesser) weight and the Fender name...

I am 99% certain that my next amp (whenever that happens) will be a Vox AC15. As much as I love the "Fender Sound," I'm diggin' the AC15 just as much.

The only thing that would get in the way of a Vox AC15 being my next amp is if I run across a cheap Fender Bassman Ten...

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

vox. if you can find one get a used ac30c2 or ac30cc2 for about the same price as a new ac15. you will like the master volume and how you can get crazy distortion with out the wall shaking volume(actually on both ac models) and the headroom. stick a treble boost in front of the normal channel and hang on (listen to Rory Gallagher with Taste and early solo career). you can't go wrong with either. i'm a big fan of them both. look at the ac15 "twin". strats rule through an ac.

Thanks for all the advice.. Looks like my next amp will be the AC15, I've been through a few amps, Blues Jr, Roland JC-90, Fender Super 60 and I just couldn't find a tone that I enjoyed when playing...I'm hoping the AC 15 is the last combo I ever buy. Thanks

That's a good decision to come to,About the only amp that you could go to to outperform the AC-15 would be the AC-30,which has the same tonal footprint but considerably more volume and punch.The Stones used AC-15s and 30s exclusively in their early days to get the raunchy dirty tones they got on their first few albums and as already mentioned Rory Gallagher used one.I was fortunate enough to see Rory live circa 1975 and 2nd row center and heard first hand the amazing tones he got from just his old Strat and old AC-30 and his Treble boost.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Not to mention the awesome tone acheived when turning down the Master with the two channels jumped, and cranking each channel to taste. No pedals required, though it will accept them gracefully. The clean tone is also excellent when diming the master.