I have a chance to buy a used Vox AC30 tube amp.

Anyone have experience with these amps with Cajun accordion,and/or triple row and piano accordion...and how would it compare to a Roland keyboard amp which we're currently using...our back up amp is my Marshall AVT100 but that's a bit brutal.?

Just trying to evaluate if the deal is worth going ahead with.

you mixin your accordion sound with the amp settings or post ? Your best bet is to find a Vox ac30 at your nearest guitar store and plug your accordion in and see how it goes, that is if the amp is not already accesible to you

i use an AC60, most of the times with 2 micophones. One is a dynamic with a transformer in to the jack input, the other a phantomized condenser. Bought it 4 years ago and was then the best sounding one for acoustic instruments within my budget. Fixed some bad soldering work a year ago at the mic inputs.



- Nout

My GUESS is that the Roland is probably cleaner but
would have less amp-character than the AC30?

I believe that George Harrison used Vox along with a
Gretch guitar. Additionally, I think that the Vox
amps were biased "Class-A" vs the more conventional
Class-B/push-pull system.

This creates a different set of overtones and a
charactertic AC-30 sound. Very cool for guitar.

But, this is all from memory: "My memory works
as well as it ever did .. It just doesn't last
as long!"

As was mentioned, your best bet is to try your accordion
thru the amp to see if it's the sound that you're
looking for.

Let us know how it comes out

--big

Will you be using the Amp for crossing over to any other insytruments? In my opinion the Roland has the cleanest sound for a Accordion. The Roland AC33 is a fine little unit that produces 30 watts of stereo output, and can be mic'd or run out to a mix board. It has a bulit in looper for adding in sounds, like a bass beat, to help you reherse or play a small venue. The AC33 also runs on 8 AA batteries for up to 10hrs , so you can take to a small place, or park your car, take out the Amp plug and play. I also have experience with VOX AC 30,Custom Limited Edition. This is a fine amp I also own and has a great tremelo for guitar or fiddle. Not such a great box for Accordion however, gets muddy after several hours of playing somewhat distorted sound after heating up on a gig etc. British influenced reverb, not such a good match, but just a opinion. Sam Ash has great deals on both.
Happy playing! Dano, Prairieville, La.

Yeah Dano..that's sorta what I was suspecting would be the case.
I've heard this AC30 amp used at gigs with the guy playing a telecaster and fiddle and it sounds GREAT...and has stacks of output for a relatively small amp.
But the ' earthy' punchy sound of the cajun box would seem to be a bit incompatible with the subtleties of the tube amp.....
The Roland amp sounds interesting..I'll have a look and listen to one. In the meantime I think I'll stick with the Roland keyboard amp that my fellow band member uses and my back up would be my Marshall AVT100.

BTW..anyone know what the Vox series 33 and 55 electric guitars are like??..I just sold my Ibanez semi-hollow body and want to get into a solid body electric...not necessarily Fender.

i wouldn;t get a guitar amp
the sound is too colored

i;d get something for 'acoustic guitar'

but i also have to ask, don;t you have a PA with monitors?

if so why have an accordion amp?

i;ve never used one for anything

wle

Copy/paste from an old discussion topic..

Yeah..I use a Roland Keyboard Amp on stage with a wireless set up...that amps also DI'd through the main desk.
I'm not sure it matters what type of amp you use....the main thing is to be able to hear yourself at the level YOU want, IMHO.

The reason I now use the amp is that I think I play poorly when I can't get that 'punchy' on-stage level....
If the foldback level is weak, and foldback happens to be all I have for that gig, I tend to play less well...and, conversely, as a result I attempt to compensate by playing too hard to get the output I want...it's tiring.

The guys in the band ( 6 guys all electric gittars, keyboards, drums, etc etc ) also seem to get overwhelmed with the sheer output of the accordions when it's played solely through foldback monitors...so, the way I get the level I want, and the punch and drive I like, is to have the amp behind me at the level I want ...and the other band guys, being at almost 90 degrees to my amp are only getting the edges of it's output...and foldback can be reduced to a level that's appropriate.

As you'd appreciate, single row and other accordions with inbuilt mics can be HOT, signal wise...and sound engineers at the main desk ( when you're lucky enough to have a sound guy) , always seem to struggle with balancing the levels....and I always find that they have me down in the mix no matter how much I complain...perhaps I'm going deaf !!! LOL..anyway, these days I have the last laugh..I provide my own foldback, albeit right up my backside !

I wonder if for the cost of a good guitar amp you could buy a used PA head like a peavey 600 and one small pa cab and get a bigger cleaner tone than a guitar amp, thats what I have done and it works great, and you can then go out to main PA