VOX AC15 C1 VS C1 X - My 2 Cents

[Jojo22]

Hallo Zusammen!

Ich habe gerade eben ein kleines Review für ein englisches Forum gemacht, vielleicht interessiert es ja auch jemanden hier. Cheers liebe Leute!


I just wanted to share my thoughts about 'playing in Stereo' and also make a little comparison of the two VOXes.

If you don´t want to read my thoughts about 'playing in Stereo' just skip the text to the point: " *****The comparison:***** "

Currently I own a H&K Tubemeister 18 Twelve Combo and a 1978 Fender Twin Reverb which isn´t mine unfortunately.

About a month ago I rewired my pedalboard in Stereo - just for fun - and played with it on two sunday services in my church. I don´t know why I did that, it was just a "why not? " impulse.

Just for reference:

Our church plays with In Ears and the In Ear System 'MyMix', so my amps are miced off stage.

I´m so glad I did try it! I knew that playing in Stereo is fun, but I didn´t expect that it is THAT good - especially in a band context - I know that this sounds kind of cliché but it´s true - people asked me afterwards why my guitar sounded so good and assertive.

Due to the fact that the difference was immense I decided to →leave← my pedalboard wired in Stereo. I added a Strymon El Capistan (for more Stereo goodness ) and a Boss RC-3 which is capable of summing my signal to Mono like the Neunaber Pedals, I e-mailed Boss beforehand and they confirmed that the RC-3 is capable of doing that.

Like I mentioned before the Fender Twin isn´t mine and my buddy who owns it asked me kindly to get it back in the next months with no rush.

I also played through a VOX AC15 months ago and decided to sell my Tubemeister and replace it with a VOX at some point in the future.

So a few weeks ago I decided to finally sell my Tubemeister and buy a VOX AC15. And now that my buddy asked to get back his Twin I also decided to buy a Fender amp in the next time. I thought about just getting another Twin, but it is freeeeakin heavy and also way too much power for me, so I decided to buy a smaller one - my plan for the next months is to buy a Fender Blues Deluxe.

So at first a new VOX, then a new Fender, haha.

So I jumped on the VOX AC15 train and at first informed me about the different versions, speakers etc.

I decided to order both - the AC15 C1 with the standard G12M Greenback Speaker and also the AC15 C1 "X" with the Alnico Blue Speaker - play them intensively through my rig and then send one back and keep the other.

So I did that and last week I made my decision.


*****The comparison:*****

The VOX AC 15 C1 X is around $290 more expensive than the standard VOX AC 15 C1 here in Germany.

First of all I have to say that comparing these two amps wasn´t that easy because they are indeed really similar. Every time I tested them I made sure that I hadn´t a clue which one was which so that the comparison wasn´t biased in any way.

I made the experience that it is absolutely important where I place the amps in front of me while comparing them. The tiniest change really made a huge difference in sound. And so it occurred that I preferred at first the amp which in the end I didn´t keep - because it stood a little bit more near to me and so the sound was better/more directly.

So I had to at first figure out the spots were both amps were absolutely equally far away from me in distance and angle.

Once I figured it out it the perfect spots it was REALLY obvious to me - I preferred in any aspect (clean & overdriven, with & without pedalboard) the C1X over the C1.

In the past I played just a VOX AC15 C1 and thought that this amp is so lively and dynamic - but the C1 X is just waaay more lively and more dynamic, there is no comparison imho..

I read a comment in a forum with which I agree to 100%:


"Side by side, a Vox with Blues will have more clarity, treble response, and punch that are the hallmark of these amps than a Vox with Greenbacks.

Greenbacks sound dry, dull, and less lively by comparison, and with their smaller magnet they don't retain the clarity and punch as well when the amp is pushed hard."


I made the exact same experience.

So what´s the conclusion?

The conclusion may be that if you are interested in buying a VOX AC15, you could also check out the 'C1 X' and compare it to the standard 'C1'. For me it was worth the extra ~ $290. So I just sent back the standard 'C1' and kept the 'C1 X'.

The next steps for me are to sell my Tubemeister (I didn´t find a buyer yet) and to try the Fender Blues Deluxe side by side with my brand-new VOX.

The VOX and the Twin together just sound sick!

So dear people, thanks for reading my long text - I hope you enjoyed it a little bit.

You are welcome to share your thoughts regarding to my post & experiences.



Additionally to my VOX comparison-post here is a photo of my current rig.

Gerne dürft auch Ihr im Musiker-Board Eure Gedanken zu meinem Post teilen, ich würde mich freuen!


Beste Grüße,
Jojo