VOX AC-30 The king of the all valves class A amplifers This is the kind of amplifer used by Brian during all his carreer.
From "Queen" to "Innuendo", including his solo works, this is without doubt the amplifer that Brian has always preferred.
This is an all valve Class A amplifer giving that vintage sound of British invasion with a little distortion if the volume is increased or clean breathless tone simply diminishing the volume.
Brian uses a treble booster to increase of 10db the signal going into the amplifer and to cut the low frequencies in a way that the valves are pushed harder giving distortion.
Valve configuration This is the valve configuration of the AC-30:
ECC83(x5),ECC82,EL84(x4),GZ34 rectifier AC-30's Brian May settings by Greg Fryer 
VOLUME KNOB SETTINGS Vib-trem and Brillant Channel volume knobs are turned off.
Normal Channel volume control is set on FULL volume. TONE KNOB SETTINGS Treble, Bass and Cut controls are all wound fully off.
Only the Cut control directly effects the Normal Channel, however the Treble and Bass (which function with the Brillant Channel) still have some bleed-through tonal coloration. Speakers Normally the AC-30 comes with two 12" CELESTION G12M "GREENBACKS" (AC-30 TB) or with two 12" CELESTION BLUE ALNICO SPEAKERS (AC-30 TBX).
Brian has always preferred the Blue Alnico ones (so called because the magnet of this speaker it's an alloy made of Aluminium, Nickel and Cobalt), but the Greenbacks are good too.
By the way to do the right choose go to the nearest Vox dealer,plug your guitar into these two kind of amplifers and happy listening! |
