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As you can see this cool AC-30 had seen better days. It had the worst case of woodworm I have ever seen and was in danger of falling apart. The original Tan finish had been cover with a strange black quilt material and where this had been removed the cabinet was covered in sticky glue. All the handles had been replaced and several holes had been cut in it with a jigsaw?! Electronically it was working on one channel but sounded pretty dreadful. It was running very hot and made all sorts of popping an crackling noises. |
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Amazingly all the original brass vents and knobs were still in place as were the original Wooden transformers and the Blue Celestion speakers with original cones. The first step was to strip it down and remove the covering. Personally I like to keep things as original as possible so if it wasn’t for the woodworm, glue residue and holes, I would have kept the grille and Tan Vynide. Once stripped the cabinet was treated for woodworm and left to dry. Next all the holes were repaired by setting in new ply. Sadly the back panels were so weak new ones had to be made. The baffle was badly infected but still sound so luckily this could be salvaged. When the repairs were finished both the cabinet and baffle were sprayed black as per factory spec before the new tan Vynide was fitted along with a new scrim and grille cloth. |
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Next the original gold stringing and trim were refitted along with the re-polished brass vents, a new set of original spec reissue handles, logo etc. |
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Restoration of 1962 Vox AC-30 |
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Now came the amp’s electronics. All the pots and switches were cleaned along with the valve bases. Sadly one power valve had arced so badly the base had to be replaced. Next the whole circuit was check through and any components that were damaged, noisy or had drifted out of tolerance were replaced. Finally a nice set of period valves were fitted and the amp baised before putting the whole thing back together. |
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The finished amp both looks and sounds fantastic! It now runs very smoothly with a tone to die for. It should now be good for another 45 years! |
