Vox Amplug 2 AC30

I wanted a small headphone amp for practice and something to hook up on a P.A. as a backup or for rehearsals.

specs

It?s supposed to be model after the classic Ac30. It has many features, volume, gain, tone pots, 9 presets for chorus, delay, reverb, and 2 presets for tremolo. The construction is not rock solid, the input jack is a bit fragile and the inputs are direct connected to the pcb board, so as the pots. Careful operation is required. You don?t have to replace batteries all the time.

Sounds

With headphones the sounds is excellent, with full gain it has a nice crunch with more open high mids. Rolling off the gain you can enjoy some nice clean sound. This is not a high gain design. The fx presets are usable. Chorus is very good, especially with a dirty sound. The 3 delay presets are a classic slap back delay, a more rock lead tone delay with 3 repeats and finally a strong one repeat delay for those who want to mimic Gilmour or U2 delay dot eight riffs. Reverb has a short preset perfect for surf, and two longer presets the third is too pronounced. Tremolo first preset is nice mild sound; the second is intense, more like a helicopter sound. So all the presets are enjoyable, you can have the tremolo always on and combine it with the other 3 (as I do). When using the FX, sound becomes a little noiser.

connect to P.A.

The surprise is when you connect this amp to a home stereo or a P.A., the eq and the general feel is just right. You can use the volume pot as a second gain pot to get some more saturated overdriven sounds. Perfect for rehearsals, and with the onboard fx you don?t need to carry pedals. Very convenient.

Conclusion

This is a great little amp with so many useful applications. Nice for backup, for rehearsals, or as a headphone amp. Finally, I have never played a Vox amp, I realized that after I played with the amplug, I started to realize, recognize and enjoy the classic vox sound (especially from U2).