The Vox AC30 is one of the classic tube guitar amplifiers that shaped the sound of popular music. Introduced in 1958 by Vox, the original AC30 amp featured 30 watts of Class A power into a 12-inch Goodman 60-watt speaker. The amp used a GZ34 tube rectifier, three ECC83s in the preamp section, and EL34 tubes in the power amplifier. However, the later AC30s used the now-classic combination of a pair of Celestion 12-inch speakers, EL84 tubes in the power amp section, and a “top boost” (or “brilliance”) circuit that added an additional gain stage and tone controls for bass and treble.
The Vox amps of various types are probably most associated with the Beatles, but the AC30 is also the amp of choice for Brian May of Queen, Tom Petty, Peter Buck of R.E.M., The Edge of U2, Brad Paisley, John Jorgenson, and many, many others.