The Best AC30 Nobody Wants

The AC30 amplifier is the iconic guitar amp; used by The Beatles, Tom Petty, Stone Temple Pilots, Radiohead, etc.. but sadly outside of a buying vintage Vox AC30, it's hard to find the AC30 in its original form today. The amp Dick Denney and Tom Jennings brought to market in the mid-60's is NOT the same amp you get when you buy a modern production AC30. Since the 60's more than six companies have owned the Vox name and built AC30s completely different internally from the original 60's Vox AC30. In the early 2000's, a vintage guitar dealer in the UK sought to correct this. Against surprising odds, they resurrected the early 60's AC30 and AC15 circuits and it was a huge success; UNTIL scandal brought the company to an unexpected end. This is the wild story behind the Music Ground iteration of JMI (1997-2014) and the origin of the best AC30 amp nobody wants: the JMI30/6 TB.

Gear & Settings

Guitars:
• ’17 Mario Martin Tele (Don Mare Hayride pickups),
• ’19 Fender ’62 Reissue Strat (Custom Shop Fat 50’s pickups w/ Ilitich SSCS),
• '60 Gibson ES-345 (Ron Ellis Signature Humbuckers)

Pedals:
• Paul C Audio Timmy V2 (only during 2:25 - 2:47)
• Strymon Timeline (only during 2:25 - 2:47)
• Strymon Deco (only during 15:20 - 16:17)

Amp:
• '08 JMI30/6 TB


Microphones:
• Beyerdynamic M160 ribbon mic (guitar left)
• Neumann U87ai (guitar right)
• Earthworks SR-25 (voice)
• Universal Audio OX Box (only during 15:20 - 16:17)

Audio interface:
• Universal Apollo x8p

Recording Software:
• Universal Audio Luna (audio)
• Ecamm Live (video)

Mic preamps:
• Capi FD312 WHR4 (left)
• Capi FD312 WHR4 (right)


Audio Plugins:
• Universal Audio LA-3A compresssor
• Oeksound Sooth 2
• FabFilter Pro Q eq
• Liquidsonics Seventh Heaven reverb
• iZotope RX 10 Standard (voice processing & single coil hum elimination)

Master bus
• Universal Audio Precision limiter

Video Gear:
• Sony A7 IV mirrorless digital camera with Tamron 28-75mm lens, f/2.8
• Aputure 120d for key lighting
• GVM-672S-B for backlight
• LIFX 80” LED strip + 40” LED strip for background lighting.
• Adobe Premiere


Chapters
0:00 - Intro
0:50 - Tele + Amp
1:15 - AC30 Story
2:25 - Strat + Pedals
2:47 - JMI Reborn
3:54 - Strat + Amp
4:28 - JMI30 Born
5:34 - ES345 + Amp
6:03 - JMI Success
7:17 - Tele Clean
7:45 - JMI's End
10:09 - JMI Today
10:58 - JMI30 VS
12:05 - AC30 Options
12:54 - JMI30 Cons
14:52 - Fane Speakers
15:20 - Fane VS Celestion
16:17 - Tonecast Approved
17:35 - Under the Radar
18:42 - Final Thoughts