VoxAD30VT

[Steve206]

Hello folks,,

I have had one of these amps for about a year. I am real happy with what it does. The small amount of time that I use it.

I tend to get caught up in blocks of time that do not include electric guitar. The ones that I have, honestly, I have been playing accoustically for quite some time.

Anyway, I have seen that there are a lot of you out there with this amp. I do not know if I got the "patchtronics and Valvetronics" websites from this forum or another. All I can say is, If you have one of these amps, get to these websites.

For no other reason than GAS, and the fact that I have one of each guitar that I want, I went looking for upgrades for the amp.

Being a home player, I did not need a gigging power plant. I am more than satisfied with the amp modeling and effects that come with this amp. But,
I started to think that I could make it sound better, somehow.

I am in the process of finding out which replacement speaker would be best suited for my needs. Figuring that the company would not put real, quality speakers into a budget product. I think that I have found a way to spend a little more money.

My mind is garbled up with the differences between ceramic and alnico magnets. Celestian and Emminence. I have read posts where the member has opened up the back of his AD30. Others, where the poster has modded his amp to accept a 2-12 cabinet.

The little bit I am learning seems to confirm that the stock speaker in these amps, is a chinese workhorse, not bad and not good.

I believe that I have fallen into the ditch that leads to the Trail of Tone. A place that some folks never come back from. They just keep going forward, searching and replacing equipment along the way. Not, that there is anything wrong with that. A lot of us do the same thing with cars and women.

Now: since I cannot justify spending $100.00 or more on a Celestian, or the $85.00 for the Emminence, I have read where a few members are very happy with a certain model Jensen.

I think that it is a P-10R. Do not hold me to that. About half of the cost of the Celestian. My thinking is, if I wanted the very best, I would not have gotten the Ad30. Also, to put another fifty bucks into it, still leaves open the option of an extension cabinet, somewhere down the line, in the ditch of Tone.

So, does anyone here have any experience with this sort of thing?

Before I make this leap, I will be looking at separating the head from the stock cab and building/buying a 1x12 cabinet. But, then again, the worms in my brain say that a 2x12 cab is not that much bigger. And if two aspirin are always better than one?????

Looking for input and ideas,,,

Steve

[tot_Ou_tard]

Many of us have swapped the stock speaker with a Celsestion Vintage G10 & are quite happy with the switch (eh Vood).

I was such a newb on guitar when I made the switch that I would be hard pressed to identify the differences at this point.

I suppose that I could put the stock speaker back in & listen to the change, but frankly I'm spending most of my time with my Fender Champion 600.

I believe I paid about $75 for the Celestion.

[wingsdad]

Steve-
I think TS808, in post#6 of this thread today makes a good point for you to consider:
Modeling Amp Speaker Tip (http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php?t=4941)
Whatever you do, I think a 2x12 would be overkill for playing in the confines of your home setting, besides asking too much from a 30W Solid State amp. A single 12 would potentially give you a 'fatter' tone than the 10...but TS808's point is well-taken and relevant to your amp.

[TS808]

Steve-
I think TS808, in post#6 of this thread today makes a good point for you to consider:
Modeling Amp Speaker Tip (http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php?t=4941)
Whatever you do, I think a 2x12 would be overkill for playing in the confines of your home setting, besides asking too much from a 30W Solid State amp. A single 12 would potentially give you a 'fatter' tone than the 10...but TS808's point is well-taken and relevant to your amp.

Thank you for the quote. I replaced the speakers in my AD50VT 212 with Celestion G 12 Centuries. At first, I didn't want to spend as much either on replacement speakers for such a low cost amp, but in the end, it was well worth it.

Keep in mind that any time you replace speakers in a modeling amp that don't have a flat frequency response, it will alter the tone of your amp. For example, a Vintage 30 might sound great in a Blues Jr., but it will definitely give you a much darker tone in your Vox AD30VT.

My advice is save up for the right speaker and don't cut corners. You don't want to wind up disappointed AND stuck with a speaker. Look on ebay for some Celestion G-10's, you might find a good price.

[aeolian]

I am one of those who swapped out my AD30VT speaker for a Celestion G10. To my ears the amp sounded a lot better than the original equipment speaker. The whole speaker swap took less than half an hour, and that is being extra careful with everything.

I got my G10 from this vendor (http://www.svvintageamps.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=25&products_id=191&osCsid=7fbcf509bf67dcdb42abed64b3a2784b).

[fendermojoman]

I am one of those who swapped out my AD30VT speaker for a Celestion G10. To my ears the amp sounded a lot better than the original equipment speaker. The whole speaker swap took less than half an hour, and that is being extra careful with everything.

I got my G10 from this vendor (http://www.svvintageamps.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=25&products_id=191&osCsid=7fbcf509bf67dcdb42abed64b3a2784b).

Thanks for the tip- I may have to try this myself! I love the cool stuff you get on this forum, thankyou Robert!! :AOK:

[duhvoodooman]

I did the G10 replacement, too, and have been very happy with it. It's a nice clear sounding speaker that is a little brighter than the stock speaker and with a tighter bottom end. Quite neutral in its overall character, which is good for a modeling amp.

I suspect the Jensen that you are referrring to is the C10R (ceramic), since the P10R (AlNiCo) is more expensive and not all that much cheaper than the Celestion G10. The C10R can be had for as little as $32. But it's a little low in power rating (25W) for the AD30VT, so the 35W C10Q model might be a better match. However, the issue I see with using a Jensen is that they have a pretty distinctive "Fendery" tone that may adversely color the sound of some of the amp models.