Great for clean sounds, laughable for anything else - unless you bring a nice pedalboard. I've seen similar results with house Twin Reverbs. The JCM worked great, the Vox was dreadful for all but a couple. You had some people playing blues, some funk/gospel, some classic rock, and even some metal. It absolutely crushed the Vox, and really excelled for the purpose: covering as many sounds as possible. In its stock and dry form, it's a one-trick pony that works for a couple of sounds. Note, I'm not saying that it's a bad amp - you can make it sound good with some work, but it should IMO never be part of a backline where you can expect a wide variety of genres and sounds. Just came home from a jam session, and like MANY others jams I've been to, the backline had consisted of a trusty AC30 - and like always, it made 90% of the guitarists sound terrible.
Ok, so the tittle is a bit overboard, but here it goes: A good player could sell you that song on a clean acoustic, given the right attitude. The quote above is just an example of deficient communication and planning. "Today I listened to a band play two Metallica songs during a open mic / jam session, one guitarist had to play through a Vox AC30 with no OD pedal." Lots of Voxes do not have reverb, that can be a problem for some players, but I wouldn't think a rocker would feel that way? The normal channel has no EQ but it's fat, top boost is trickier, but one does have the option of using the guitar's tone control. One backline gig I did, I was fired up to find a 4 x 10" Bassman there for me, but it was weak, no headroom at all, ailing and gooshy, sort of frustrating. I can see the possibility that the amp could have been damaged or worn out, it happens. I sold both of my 2210 amps, but kept the Vox AC30, truthfully I let my first one go, regretted it, got another. I spent many years with the Marshall 2210 and it is a great amp, very versatile, but so is a Vox AC 30.
If playing a backline gig, is it not common knowledge that if you rely on distortion, you'd better bring your own? I have not played too many backline supplied gigs, but usually I've found some clean Fender on hand.
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