Vox Ac30 Midrange

N

neale dunham

Experienced
Just experimenting with the Vox Ac30 Model in the Axe 3 and noticed that the Midrange control can inject a reasonable amount of gain into the signal?

Having never owned an Ac30, I was just wondering if this was indeed a feature of the real amp or do i have a setting out of place somewhere causing this?

I don't have a drive block connected and my Block chain is simply

Input> Amp Block > Cab Block > OUT
 
Real AC30's don't have a midrange control.

cp.jpg
 
What Mr Fender said. Leave it at default if you want to get original settings.

You're experimenting with a new amp design. Enjoy it and trust your ears.
 
The AC30 also has multiple channels, and the Top Boost channel sounds significantly different from the Normal channel, especially in the midrange. I have a 90s version LE AC30 2x12, but I think the FAS model is from a more recent handwired head version. It’s cool to have the option of a mid control, just realize it wasn’t there on the originals.
 
The fact that this particular amp doesn't have a midrange control is no doubt the reason for the behavior on this model i guess?

Thanks for the pictures guys. Excellent visual information and scope.

Just thinking....If the FAS model is based on a more recent Version..... Would that amp have had a Midrange control fitted as standard?
 
Look in Yek’s amp guide. That will tell you what they used. Then you can Google that model to see what it has. Mine was 94 ac30 with the typical controls, and I haven’t kept up with what some of the newer models offer. Also on all the amp models there is an “ideal” page and a page with the normal controls the real amp has (can’t recall what that is named). That will give you some direction.
 
neale dunham said:
The fact that this particular amp doesn't have a midrange control is no doubt the reason for the behavior on this model i guess?

Thanks for the pictures guys. Excellent visual information and scope.

Just thinking....If the FAS model is based on a more recent Version..... Would that amp have had a Midrange control fitted as standard?
Click to expand...
Also, I think Edge’s back up does have a mid control. I think that’s what “middle” means and the “weight” setting must/might be an additional mid parameter control. @edo would know for sure.
 
Toopy14 said:
What's the knob under the middle label, is that the master volume?
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No, that’s to adjust the mids. When he had it tweaked he had a midrange EQ added to the backup amp. I’m more curious about the “weight” switch, labeled “less” and “more”.
 
DallasGlenn2005 said:
No, that’s to adjust the mids. When he had it tweaked he had a midrange EQ added to the backup amp. I’m more curious about the “weight” switch, labeled “less” and “more”.
Click to expand...
I think that has to do with how heavy the amp is.... Its more of a identifiable visual aid to the roadies....If its switched to the "heavy mode" The roadies know to bend their knees and keep their backs straight before lifting or grab a partner to help. When set to "less" its a one man job.

👍
 
I have two equally bemusing switches on my amp, One labelled "Talent" and the other "Play Better". However, I've yet to get round to switching them both on as I'm really struggling to get a decent sound out of the amp??
 
macky7tyseven said:
Do you know if someone ever managed to replicate the sound of Mysterious Ways satisfyingly in the Axe? I have never heard a patch that really nailed the Korg A3 tone.
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Edo has come as close as I’ve heard, but that old FunkWah preset is tough to replicate exactly. I did just get Edo’s Cygnus updates, but haven’t played the Cygnus MW yet.
 
DallasGlenn2005 said:
Edo has come as close as I’ve heard, but that old FunkWah preset is tough to replicate exactly. I did just get Edo’s Cygnus updates, but haven’t played the Cygnus MW yet.
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Yes, I'm also going to try Edo's new MW patch soon. Would love to finally get rid of the old A3 - which is kept just for this song.
 
As far as the mids, technically speaking a stock ac30 doesn’t have a mid knob, but the mids are heavily affected by the way you set bass and treble. Also, the volume of the normal channel affects the treble boost channel to some extent, but I never liked what it does, it adds some sort of unmusical crunch (to my taste at least). I have no way to know for sure if the edge’s amps mods include a dedicated mid control (I did ask the guy who made the mods, but like for everything U2 related, it’s more secret than anything from the CIA lol). However, owning the same ac30hw2x which technically speaking is the edge’s amp before any mods, I think his “mids” knob might either be a level knob at a given freq (upper mids) or a frequency knob to choose the mid frequency that gets affected by bass and treble. At same settings, my amp boosts the low mids (400hz area), while his amp has this nasal boost around 1500khz. I think the mids on the axe fx mode boost frequencies a bit higher than that, around 2200-2500, but still, I like to add some mids (6-8) in the U2 presets I use live, it just cuts through any mix with authority!

As far as mysterious ways, I believe my preset is pretty decent, but you might have to adjust the envelope filter settings according to the guitar you’re using, because the instrument’s output will affect the swoosh amount and length.
 
As far as the wight switch, not sure what that does, but usually "weight" refers to the lows / low mids, it could either be some sort of "deep switch" or tone shift. As a matter of fact, on Edge's vox1 weight is on "more" and on vox2 it's on "less", and if you listen to them, vox 1 sounds much bigger, while vox2 sounds thinner.
Check out this clip (this is from the ie2015 production rehearsals), you can hear vox 1 in 90% of the presets, and vox 2 is on a few of them. A good example is comparing iris (min 18:50, vox1 with Strat) and raised by wolves (19.45, vox2 with les Paul), where you can hear vox2 is brighter and thinner than vox1 even though its with humbuckers vs single coils:
 
I’ve posted this once before will put it here in case someone missed it. I cannot recall where I found this - I think on a vox forum. Interesting nonetheless ....

The guy who posted it is named Michael Dumond.

“I have a schematic and specs of the original Vox 1 when i was working with Vox to build him a backup amp for the 360 tour. We used an ac30cc2x back then as a base and tweaked it to his specs which is pretty much similar to his more recent Vox 1 replacement which he uses now. The reason why his Vox 1 sounds different from other 60s is because his isn't a early 60s, its a 1969 model which sounds different from the early ones. The cabinet is the original cabinet that came with the amp. In the 360 tour backup, we used a MM transformer, changed some resistor values, speaker recone to vintage spec (cc2x came with Chinese blues), and added the mid knob per his request to adjust mid eq. In all honesty, his amps are definitely modded, but nothing too different than what you can buy off the shelf.”
 
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