AC15 and SoundDrive612R

TripleNick

New member
Need some help here. Confused to which I should buy! Can AC15 play with headphone on? Cause I often jam in the night. And have not decided on what general I specifically want to concentrate one, from Eric Johnson to Dave Mustaine. And my budget is bout $600+ or less.

AC15 - Full Tube
*Can AC15 jam with headphone on?
*Is it versatile to play most general of music?
*Easy to mantaine the amplifier?
*Will it sounds as good with multi-fx?
*How long do I need to let the tube warm up before I could use, cause sometimes I just want to have a quickie then its troublesome.

SoundDrive612R - Solid State
*This is a versatile amp but will a tube amp a better choice?


Preferable someone with afew years of guitar playing, that have used the amp before or currently using it. And I wouldn't mind listening to someonelse that have any better amps to recommand. =)
 
eh...using the AC15cc1 now...normally i let the amp warm up for abt 2-3mins as directed on the instructions manual..its simple..turn on and go toilet,get a drink from the kitchen and when u return,you're ready to go..it is an amp with great cleans and able to take certain gain pedals well..there isnt a headphone jack for u to jam silently though..not sure how it will sound with a multi-fx..hope this helps...can't say anything abt the sounddrive cos i havent heard about it...
 
Oh ok! Thanks for your respond. But I think the clean with a little OD will do ok. Cause I play classic rock and abit more heavy stuff but at the same time I love song like "Manhattan". Btw issit too loud for a room to handle?
 
haha...lets just say when i put it above 10 o'clock,the stuff on my computer table starts to move by themselves...imagine what i could do when fullen driven..:twisted:
 
DjThug:

What drive pedals work well for your ac15?

Right now i have an ac30 and i'm looking for something to push it to hard rock territory if that's even possible haha.
 
i shall attempt to make your decision an easier one...
if u play 51% of rock/metal and 49% clean things, go for the sound drive.
if you play 51% clean stuff and 49% of rock and metal, go for the vox.

sidetracking, the sound drive features a celestion speaker... the vox 600$+ version doesnt feature that.
hopefully some users of the vox amp can share..
 
- Headphones?
No.

- Ease of maintenance?
Relative, tube amps are considerably more troublesome, and delicate, in a way. You can just switch on your solid state and begin playing immediately, you can't with a tube amp. If you happen to forget to switch the power off a tube amp, it might burn out or something. The tubes need changing every long while or so. There are heat issues to consider as well, but not such a big deal.
But hey, it's worth it.

- Versatility?
On it's own, the ac15 will give you great cleans, and will get you into the classic rock category when cranked. But definitely not any Megadeth stuff, since you mentioned Mustaine. But it takes pedals well, and as such versatility is greatly enhanced.

- Will it sound as good as a multi-fx?
You must be kidding. There's no comparison. The best multi-fx unit will get you pretty close to the tones a tube amp can produce. But there's nothing like the real thing.

- How long it takes to warm up?
I have the ac15cc1, I let it warm up for a couple of minutes before playing. Especially with the new tubes I have inside, seems to need more time 'warming-up'. Shutting it down also requires a few minutes, switch it to standby for a while before powering off completely.

I used to use the ac15 in conjunction with a Skreddy Mayo and a M.I Audio Tubezone. I've managed to coax a whole palette of tones ranging from chimey cleans to sweet mild overdrive, thick muff-like tones to scooped mids chug. Good choice of amp, if I had a say.
 
playing through headphones? better responses can be had from portable units which specify this application eg: Pocket POD/ KORG Ampworks/ etc. regular combo amps which allow headphones access sound very lacking through headphones simply because they do not manifest the driver output.

a tube unit should never be compared to a solid-state counterpart in terms of critical tone as they are conceived to serve different masters.
 
hey can reccomend slightly cheaper pedals which work well with the AC15?


i own one. and personally. all the DS-1s and the like, especially boss overdrives sound terrible with the AC15


looking for a distortion pedal or heavy overdrive pedal that will work well with the AC15...

play mostly in church, and my influences include for eg. switchfoot.

any suggestions that suit the above context?

thanks!
 
drives for the AC15

hey can reccomend slightly cheaper pedals which work well with the AC15?


i own one. and personally. all the DS-1s and the like, especially boss overdrives sound terrible with the AC15


looking for a distortion pedal or heavy overdrive pedal that will work well with the AC15...

play mostly in church, and my influences include for eg. switchfoot.

any suggestions that suit the above context?

thanks!
 
Personally, based on your choice of wanting headphones, easy maintainance, versatility with good support for analog or digital pedals, go for the Sound Drive 612R. I've tried the amp in cleans, and overdriven, and it shines in all aspects. Sounds greats on cleans and on distortion. The best part is i've tried it with all types of pedals, from Boss, MXR, Crunchbox, Ibanez, Beta Aivins, Wamplers, Biyangs, Dan Electro and VOX, and they all sound great on the amp. My latest pedal, the Satchurator sounds good on Sound Drive too. For its price, its the amp for you if you want a good amp that is hassle free and versatile enough to do all types of music from cleans to hard hitting heavy metal.
 
hey can reccomend slightly cheaper pedals which work well with the AC15?

this pedal is recommended:

200863103223947.jpg
 
Personally, based on your choice of wanting headphones, easy maintainance, versatility with good support for analog or digital pedals, go for the Sound Drive 612R. I've tried the amp in cleans, and overdriven, and it shines in all aspects. Sounds greats on cleans and on distortion. The best part is i've tried it with all types of pedals, from Boss, MXR, Crunchbox, Ibanez, Beta Aivins, Wamplers, Biyangs, Dan Electro and VOX, and they all sound great on the amp. My latest pedal, the Satchurator sounds good on Sound Drive too. For its price, its the amp for you if you want a good amp that is hassle free and versatile enough to do all types of music from cleans to hard hitting heavy metal.

have u tried the MXR dist III on it? how does it sound?

thanks
 
Don't worry so much about whether the AC15 can take pedals well,
cos it does! And the 12" speaker, though not a Celestion still sound
pretty freakin full and awesome.

Strangely, or maybe not so strange, the only problem I had was with a fuzz face, these pedals are problematic to begin with anyways.

At that price bracket, I'd say that the AC15CC1 is hard to beat
in terms of value.
 
I've heard the Sound Drive SG-612R in person and it is plainly the best-sounding solid-state amplifier I've ever heard. It actually sounds like it has tubes inside.
 
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