Guitar Gear Forum

Hello,

I just bought a second hand Vox AC30CC2 at a bargain Price £375, the chap I bought it off said he bought the amp in 2010 and only used it a few times at home he has never took the back off or done / had any Mods done to it, which is exactly what I was looking for.

I have just joined the wires together on the standby switch so the standby is in the always on mode as I have read it blows the rectifier.

also i have read the amps run hot, so I have installed two 120mm computer Case fans to the Amp Chassis one beside each Transformer so they are not blowing direct on to the tubes\valves.

I hoping this will help with the overall life span of the amp's internal workings.

will this be ok to keep using, I have tested the amp reassembled with fans running for around 2 hours, i would say the amp chassis and cab feels about half as hot as it was before I fitted the fans.
The front of the amp only gets slightly warm now.

so again is it safe to run the amp with the fans in ?

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I guess im asking are there any disadvantages to keeping the transformers cooler and better circulation of the warm air in this amp?

some people say its ment to run hot although I cant help feeling the amps circuit board and other parts surly would be better off running cooler ? or am I totally wrong here?

why didn't Vox fit the amps with fans if they run so hot ?

I don't think you are going to hurt anything, unless it adds some noise or hum.

I think I would position the fans so they were both blowing OUT, not blowing the hot air into the amp, but extracting the hot air from the amp.

yea I was thinking about exhaust heat, although I didn't want to start cutting in to the cab it's self, so decided the next best thing would be to cool the transformers while at the same time have better circulation of hot air.

as long as it wont do any harm, I think that will do for the time being.

I was thinking of installing the fans on the side of the cab its self, one fan to push cool air in and the other fan exhausting the heat, but I just cant bring myself to cut the holes lol :/

oh btw the fans use there own 12v transformer and I get zero effect on sound from the amp no hum or anything while running them.

Ah - I thought you did cut into the cab. You are right though, any air movement is better than none.

im not too sure I will cut into the chassis although I may build a new back panel with vents.

also the chap I bought the Amp from told me he bought the AC30 brand new in 2010.

although I noticed on the Transformers it says production date 2007.08

could or does this mean the Amp was manufactured in 2007 not 2010 ?

stevevonicks wrote:I have just joined the wires together on the standby switch so the standby is in the always on mode as I have read it blows the rectifier.

huh? care to elaborate on that?

stevevonicks wrote:why didn't Vox fit the amps with fans if they run so hot ?

they always have, its due to the L shape chassis setup. fans couldnt hurt, but i doubt its helping much at all. this isnt an x box with a wave soldered motherboard. the heat is fine.

Gigged mine for years and never needed a fan.

ah ok thanks

its just that I read people saying these amps overheat and blow rectifiers, bought mine second hand and just decided to bridge the standby switch because every site I read on say that the standby switch is not needed with a tube rectifier and that's the main reason the ac30cc2 keeps blowing them and fitted cooling to help circulation of hot air around the Amp, would of thought keeping the transforms cooler will only help with the life span of the amp but who knows, as long as it cant harm the amp then all is good.

its just hard to know, what to believe on the good old WWW.