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Quite a few months back, I spotted an AC30 chassis on Gumtree. Now I've always been a fan of Vox amps, and specifically the old 1960's AC30's. I decided to take the plunge and buy it.

When it arrived, it was obvious that it had been standing for a while. It had Woden transformers as well as a few nice old tubes, kindly checked by the seller (Mark from Bloem).





I did quite a bit of digging around trying to find more information about these amps, and how I could repair or restore this one to both a visually pleasing and a reliable state (I plan to use it for gigging).

In my opinion, the best look for a Vox is fawn. Seems it was a pretty rare colour scheme in the early 60's, but there are a few great pics online of what they can look like.







I sent the chassis down to Karel Mars in Paarl and he started sorting out the electronics. Meanwhile I contacted Graeme Hayward (lapdawg), after seeing one of his beautiful cab builds, to build a new cabinet for the Vox. More on that later..
    Will definitely be watching this one 8)
      Which Gumtree do you people use??? I'm on Gumtree like every day and I don't find any of these nice things.... ☹

      Do you guys have some sort of Gumtree cheat codes or what?? >☹

      But yeah I'll follow ?
        Cool. You can be sure lapdawg will do a great job. We're lucky to have him available to us.

          Congrats Nico.

          The chassis is in good hands with Karel.
          The transformer dates to January of 1964. This is going to be one great sounding amp I bet.

          :goodtimes:
            Looks Stunning... Chocklit_Thunda I wonder the same thing I never find these deals on gumtree and even if I do find something worth buying I can't afford it either way. Haha
              The secret code is simply being on Gumtree ALL THE TIME. :'(
              Vic wrote: The transformer dates to January of 1964. This is going to be one great sounding amp I bet.
              I did some reading in the Vox service handbook and it seems like the rest of the chassis might be a late 1963 - not quite sure? I guess the latest item would be the defining factor. Interesting to note though is that this was one of the early Top Boost AC30's, where the Top Boost panel was fitted afterwards in a slightly crude way. An example:



              Unfortunately, this is what mine looks like.


                20 days later
                Karel began to recap the amp. Unfortunately he soon realised that the Woden transformer had a short in it. This would require a re-wind and unfortunately also add to the expense.

                After the OT was repaired, Karel still had issues with the amp shorting continuously. He eventually found a short in the one EL84 socket. He had warned me before starting that shorts in the old valve sockets were common, and had recommend replacing them all, but budget constraints led me to decide against that.

                  Chocklit_Thunda wrote: Do you guys have some sort of Gumtree cheat codes or what?? >☹
                  :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:
                    Wizard wrote:
                    Chocklit_Thunda wrote: Do you guys have some sort of Gumtree cheat codes or what?? >☹
                    :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:
                    It's true though :-\ I trawl gumtree and OLX whenever I get the chance and never see stuff like this...
                    All I get is those,

                    "Grate Aquistic gitaar for sale!

                    Sanchez red gitaar for sale! It makes good sound! It's got one wire on it so you'll need to put more wires on it.
                    Come try it out!
                    R2400 with bag or R2300 without "

                    Cheat codes I tell you....
                      I just picked up the finished cab yesterday from Graeme. It's even better than I hoped for - but let me first finish telling the story before I post pictures 8)
                        Graeme went to a lot of trouble to get the colour right. The fawn colour that was used in the 60's is more of a beige/cream than the white colour that's available nowadays. That said, the combination we settled on was pleasing and available without breaking the bank.





                        Now it's seriously starting to resemble an AC30!






                          Looks great so far. Congrats.

                          Nico, have you decided on the speakers yet ?
                            It is looking good so far. I'm interested to see how much this whole process is going to cost you in the long run - whether it's worth it in comparison to buying a good condition one.
                              That cab is absolutely awesome! Call me weird but it makes me happy to know that we have a cab builder of that calibre as a member of our forum!
                                Alan Ratcliffe wrote: It is looking good so far. I'm interested to see how much this whole process is going to cost you in the long run - whether it's worth it in comparison to buying a good condition one.
                                Doesn't matter. It's a labour of love by various people and that is priceless.
                                  Looking good!
                                  Graeme is the man.
                                    Vic wrote:
                                    Looks great so far. Congrats.

                                    Nico, have you decided on the speakers yet ?
                                    Thanks! I have one Blue currently and will probably be combining it with a Greenback I have lying around, unless I can source a second blue someplace...
                                    Alan Ratcliffe wrote: It is looking good so far. I'm interested to see how much this whole process is going to cost you in the long run - whether it's worth it in comparison to buying a good condition one.
                                    It's currently about 15% more than the mintest AC30 that I've been able to find on gumtree in recent times. Short in the OT put it over budget unfortunately.
                                    shaunf wrote: That cab is absolutely awesome! Call me weird but it makes me happy to know that we have a cab builder of that calibre as a member of our forum!
                                    No, it makes sense. Graeme knows his stuff!
                                      11 days later
                                      Two different options for the handles... the leather one looks better but is too wide..

                                        But Graeme decided to try his hand at making a slimmer leather hande himself.. And this is what he sent me. ?