Members zinzin Posted April 2, 2012 Members Share Posted April 2, 2012 so the C2's are out for a while now. anyone made a comparison between the new C2 and the older C1 models? differences? it's hard to find a C1 model nowadays in a shop and do a head to head comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cirrus Posted April 2, 2012 Members Share Posted April 2, 2012 When you say C1 do you mean CC1; Or the CC series in general, so either this with wharfdale speakers; Or this with blues; Or is there a one speaker version of the newer C series that I've never heard of? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members The Lou-Dog Posted April 2, 2012 Members Share Posted April 2, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zinzin Posted April 2, 2012 Author Members Share Posted April 2, 2012 yes, i am more interested in a AC30. my bandmate has a vox ac15CC1 with wharfdales and it's good, but it's no classic ac30 sound. i am just interested in the MAIN difference from the last two edition of the AC30's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cirrus Posted April 2, 2012 Members Share Posted April 2, 2012 Ah cool just wanted to be sure I wasn't talking about a bunch of stuff you weren't interested in! The current AC30 series is the C, and the previous one (2004-2010) was CC, which is pretty retarded and confusing. The C series comes with two greenbacks or two alnico blues, and the CC series came with two wharfdales, two alnico blues, one neo-dog, or a head version. The main differences are; - CC series has a valve rectifier, C series is solid state. One isn't necessarily better than the other, the '60s AC30s had valve rectifiers and it supposedly makes the amp a bit smoother at high volume, which I think is true based on my experience of my CC amp with both a valve rectifier and solid state drop in replacement. - The CC cabs are birch, the C cabs are mdf. That makes the CC cabs a little more resonant and lively sounding and also means they'll probably last longer, whereas MDF is a deader sound and can age more quickly. - The stock speakers are better on the C series - the lower price option is Greenbacks, and they sound much better than the Wharfdales that came in the lower priced CC amps. I hated those speakers. And the Celestion Blues are made in England, whereas the CC series Celestion blues were made in China with cones that were a bit brighter and stayed a little fizzy once they were broken in. - The valve/ chassis layout. CC amps are like vintage AC30s with L shaped chassis and that makes it a little harder to get to the tubes (though I don't think it's as big a deal as people make out). C series amps have the valves hanging down behind the speakers, which makes them easier to access but means they're being shaken about a little bit more. - Early CC series amps had some stupid design/ production flaws, with some incorrect value components used and a few silly decisions like soldering the speaker cables directly into the chassis, and incorrectly adding a standby switch when it's not needed on GZ34 rectified amps and can in fact blow the rectifier tube, which did happen - a lot of users learned not to use the standby (vintage ac30s don't even have standby). There were various revisions to the design so that after around 2007 the CC amps were very solid and reliable, but they never recovered from the early reputation as unreliable, which is IMO why they redesigned them with the "C" series. - There's a superficial difference in the control panel/ input jacks layout. On the C series to jumper the channels you need a patch lead, on the CC you just flick a switch. Also the CC series has some switches on the back that adjust the filtering (basically how tight or loose the amp is to get either a "vintage" or "modern" sound), and the biasing of the power valves to give either 22 or 33watts output power. Doesn't make a big difference to the volume but does let you get a little more breakup early on. If you want a stock amp that sounds great out of the box the C series is better purely on the basis of how important speakers are to the sound and the fact that there aren't any reported design flaws. If you want an amp to tinker into something amazing I think that a modded CC series amp into good speakers is incredible (but of course I would, I've got one ), but not everyone wants to bother with that! Hope that helps you anyway matey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zinzin Posted April 2, 2012 Author Members Share Posted April 2, 2012 judging by the panel the older CC1 maybe is more flexible as it has a lot of switches (bright, top-boos and normal channel link), 22w and 33w switch, standard and modern. but the newer C2 has 4 inputs, so maybe it's more authentic ac30 sounding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zinzin Posted April 2, 2012 Author Members Share Posted April 2, 2012 ups, you were quicker with your response so forget the post above, thanx a lot. i am gonna try and find a CC one to try 'cause they are a bit cheaper now and with the right speaker it could be very interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cirrus Posted April 2, 2012 Members Share Posted April 2, 2012 but the newer C2 has 4 inputs, so maybe it's more authentic ac30 sounding. A lot of people were commenting on the four input thing when the C series was released but unless you want to use the low gain inputs I can't see how it'd make a difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zinzin Posted April 2, 2012 Author Members Share Posted April 2, 2012 only point in favor of the ac15 is the damn heavy weight of a ac30! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thom Posted April 2, 2012 Members Share Posted April 2, 2012 I'm no expert or anything, but fwiw: My C2x sounds noticeably better (shimeyfatcreamywhatevery) than the older CC2 my friend has. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members plawren53202 Posted April 2, 2012 Members Share Posted April 2, 2012 Just echoing a couple of comments from above about the CC2, which I have owned for about 3 years: The standby switch is a mystery. When I was using it in the "typical" way (turn main power on, let it come on, then turn standby switch on), I was blowing tubes and fuses fairly frequently. When I stopped using the standby switch--now it is always in the "on" position, and when I power up I just turn on the main, with volume all the way down, and let it warm up for a minute or two--I haven't blown a tube or fuse in 1.5+ years since. My CC2 came with the stock Wharfdales and (I bought it used) chinese tubes. Different tubes (I used JJs) and, especially, different speakers really brought the amp to life. I put in an alnico Weber Blue Dog and an alnico Eminence Red Fang. I can't overstate how much those speakers really livened things up. I haven't played one of the new ones, but having heard them, my personal opinion is that CC2 with good tubes and speakers > the new C2. YMMV, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Z*Z*Z Posted April 2, 2012 Members Share Posted April 2, 2012 Ive had older CC1 with 1x12 Neodog - sounded great, replace speaker to Celestion Gold ---> pure heaven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cirrus Posted April 2, 2012 Members Share Posted April 2, 2012 Just echoing a couple of comments from above about the CC2, which I have owned for about 3 years: The standby switch is a mystery. When I was using it in the "typical" way (turn main power on, let it come on, then turn standby switch on), I was blowing tubes and fuses fairly frequently. I disabled the standby switch on mine so I didn't need to worry about people "helping" me at gigs by using it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thom Posted April 3, 2012 Members Share Posted April 3, 2012 Does your friend's CC2 have celestion blues in it as well? They really do make a difference from the Wharfdale speakers that came stock in the cc2. I disabled the standby switch on mine so I didn't need to worry about people "helping" me at gigs by using it. Nope, it's the 'regular' version, without the celestion blues. Which is why I can't tell to what extend the tonal difference is due to the different speakers, I don't even know about all the other differences in specs, I'm sure most of em have been mensioned here already. I think I remember reading somewhere the older ones have real birch plywood cabs, but if I compare my old hiwatt cab (birch plywood) with a new a new Marshall 1960 cab (exact same gtr/amp/settings), I'd have to conclude that the "better" cab construction/material makes a very subtle difference, at best. I'd also assume the blue alnico's are a better match for the AC30 though, I guess that's indeed the main reason why I like my amp better than my friend's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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