Vox AC30BM Brian May Limited Edition Handwired Guitar Combo Amplifier (30 Watts, 2x12 in.)

"You, like me, are unimpressed by dozens of controls on a guitar amplifier. You want ONE knob, and IT SOUNDS PERFECT - right? Well, this is it. To the best of our capability and belief, here is an amp you will never have to mess with. If it sounds great for you today, it will always sound great. Power up, plug in, turn up the ONE volume knob, and play. We hope you love it - the concept and the Amp." -- Brian May

The AC30BM is Vox's tribute to one of their long-standing ambassadors of rock history -- namely Brian May. As long as there has been Brian May playing guitar there has always been a wall of Vox AC30s standing proudly behind him. Between Brian's unique style and the AC30's princely tone, there has always been a "kind of magic" that has wooed audiences worldwide for more than 30 years.

Legendary Tone
The mainstay of Brian's tone has been the AC30's Normal Channel fed from a small treble/mid boost pedal both usually played flat out and, of course, Brian's infamous home-built guitar - the 'Red Special.' Over time Brian's equipment has been stripped to the bare essentials and fine tuned to give him the best and most reliable performance without the extra bits of circuitry that were not needed. With Brian's valued help and encouragement Vox has created the AC30BM, which is a re-creation of Brian's stage amp and boost pedal set-up, and is a limited edition run of only 500 combos world-wide, never to be repeated.

Enhanced to Perfection
To be able to make the complete package, and to make it slightly more versatile, we have built the boost circuit into the amp itself rather than a separate pedal and made it foot-switchable. They have also incorporated a 15-watt switch on the back panel. The 15 Watt switching circuitry is a unique Vox circuit that not only changes the number of output valves that are in operation and the value of the output cathode resistor that bias the valves, but also changes the impedance of the output transformer. Many amps have ?half power? switches fitted, but none of them do it this way -- the right way!

The construction of the amp chassis itself is predominantly handwired using components mounted on turret tags in the time honoured way, although where this is not suitable, for a variety of reasons (such as the booster circuit), there is also some printed circuit board construction.

Technical Info

Cabinet: Custom built AC30 2 x 12 in. combo using Baltic Birch plywood fitted.

Chassis: Steel/Aluminium chassis finished in red paint and white silk-screen legend

Internal speaker: Celestion/Vox Alnico Blue 12 in. 15-watt loudspeakers

Valve/tube complement: 2 x 12AX7/ECC83, 4 x EL84 and 1 x GZ34 valves (tubes)

Dimensions: (W x D x H): 27.75 in. x 10.4 in. x 21.25 in.

Weight: 70.5 lbs.

Here it is: the Brian May sound! He collaborated with Vox to put his entire, fine-tuned setup into one amp for foolproof, consistently perfect sound. In fact, it has only one knob--volume! Footswitchable treble/mid boost. Half-power switch for 15 or 30 watts. Two 12" Celestion/Vox AlNiCo Blue speakers. Includes footswitch and cover.