The most impressive thing is the way the C1 captures the harmonically loaded and slightly blurry chime that characterises the classic Vox sound. Compared to the old one, the treble isn’t quite as sweet, but the C1’s bass response is considerably tighter and better defined. With the reverb turned off, the C1 can sound very much like a vintage AC10’s normal channel. Despite all the construction changes between the C1 and the vintage AC10, the tonal similarities were more apparent than the differences. Better still, the vintage example was retrofitted with a top boost module and the input resistors had been changed to AC15 spec to make it louder and brighter. It was fortunate to have an original ’63 AC10 on hand to compare with the C1. It also means there is a greater range of tones than you might normally get from a regular two-band equaliser. So some familiarisation is required before you can start to get the hang of the tone controls, which means dialling in a sound can take a bit longer than you’d usually expect.

There also appears to be some degree of crossover between the controls, which changes the timbre of the midrange. Turning up the treble control increases high-frequency response much as you might expect, but beyond the halfway point the bass begins to roll off as treble is increased. Bass response seems to be fairly neutral about halfway up, so you can roll it off or boost it.

The C1’s tone controls respond and interact in a peculiar and slightly unpredictable way that’s not dissimilar to the old Vox top boost arrangement. So there’s plenty of air moving around inside the cabinet to keep things cool. Standing over the amp and playing a powerchord, I felt a blast of air from the top vent hit me full in the face. Cathode biased Vox amps are known to run hot, but fear not.

Black jack the orange vox