Trade for Vox AC30cc2 or keep the Fender Hot Rod DeVille 410?

[Strelnik]

Hey guys I'm trying to decide whether or not to get a Vox AC30cc2. I've got this Fender Hot Rod DeVille 410 that I got a year ago but haven't exactly played it a whole lot just a few jam sessions so I'm kind of caught between which would better to get. I know this would mostly be a matter of opinion but could I get some outside advice? Thanks.

[Alan0354]

I tested the Vox AC30 but I don't know the exact model. I tested the Fender HRD410, I have no doubt the AC30 sound much better clean. But the HRD410 is no dog and it has channel switching and good distortion. I believe the AC30 use 4 EL84 so you can remove a pair and get 15W.

If I were to do it, I'll get the AC30 and another amp like a small Marshall or a Cheap Fender Blues Jr. and use a pedal to route the guitar to different amps for clean and distortion. But that's just me. Point is I want my distortion to be cranked, not cascade gain.

[soundguruman]

The Fender is built and supported much better.

[Alan0354]

Yes, Fender's reliability is hard to beat. I don't know Vox, but I can tell as former owner of a Plexi stack and current owner of a JCM900, they are not reliable. The Plexi rectifier burned in the first year and burned again a year later before I sold it. They used 1N400x which is only 1A diode and it don't survive the turn on surge well. The JCM900 use small plate resistors that burned. I heard complains on even the transformer had problem.

[soundguruman]

So far we have re-soldered a few of them, that seemed to make em work again.
besides the one that had beer in it, that one blew chunks.

[Alan0354]

They might have change to beefier parts now, I had mine in 1973!!! I regret selling that. I sold it to buy a used car, at the time, having wheels were more important, you don't get girls by hitching a ride!!

[Gtr_tech]

The OD channel on both is not too impressive, but I'd expect the Vox to sound better with pedals. As with all the newer Vox stuff, there will be problems with the lead free solder. But any decent tech knows what to do to fix the problem areas.