Mercury Magnetics - Vox AC4 TV Upgrade Kit

Description:

The Mercury Studio-Pro Upgrade for the Vox AC4tv

Experience the lush vintage tones that only Mercury transformers can give your amp. Whether you use your VOX AC4tv for practice, gigging or recording take it to the pro-level with this superb Upgrade Kit!
Small affordable tube amps are everywhere. But aside from meeting the most basic requirement of any amp they're typically uninspiring to play -- and seldom suitable for the professional musician.
That's exactly why Mercury created the Studio-Pro Upgrade for the VOX AC4tv. They took this nicely made but entry-level amp and gave it a toneful new soul.

Here's what you can expect from this incredible upgrade:

• The soul of a vintage VOX -- the Upgrade effectively restores all the range, chime and tonal distinction that originally made VOX amps so unique.
• Boutique-quality tone -- tone at a level you'd only expect from a high-end custom-built amp -- with a price / performance ratio that goes way beyond anything else out there!
• Tons of headroom -- this Upgrade gives you the freedom to re-discover and re-explore the sonic potentials of all your pedals. The AC4tv Studio-Pro loves pedals!
• Quiet-running -- a radically lowered noise floor makes the Studio-Pro Upgraded AC4tv ideal for recording.
• Cutting-edge Mercury Axiom-series transformers -- real tone-based designs, THE best guitar amp transformers money can buy. An investment no tone arsenal should be without.

The Studio-Pro Upgrade kit includes everything you need to fully professionalize your AC4tv amp -- including an all-out user-friendly manual. But please note that although you may be able to perform this upgrade yourself, Mercury and Tonehenge recommend that you have it done by a qualified amp tech. Contact Tonehenge if you would like us to do this for you.

BONUS: When does a 12AX7 sound more like the rare EF86 used in the original VOX amps? When Mercury alters the 12AX7's DNA by re-modulating its circuitry to give you more of the legendary EF86-like VOXY tone. We've included this trick piece of innovative engineering with the kit.

Mercury Studio-Pro Upgrade Kit for the VOX AC4tv amp. Includes everything you need to make the Upgrade (except "donor" amp and tools): Mercury Axiom power transformer, output transformer & Mini-Choke, a parts bag of all new and changed components, along with a very detailed "how-to" instruction manual on CD-ROM.

This Upgrade Kit works with either the VOX AC4tv combo, head or AC4tv8 combo!

In the combos we highly recommend replacing the budget stock speaker with either a Celestion 10” Alnico Gold or Weber Alnico Blue Pup. The AC4tv Mini would benefit with this kit but we do not have an upgrade 6" speaker with 16 Ohms for it at present.

We realize that some will say, “The upgrade costs more than I paid for the amp!”, but you will be getting Boutique Amp tone for a fraction of the cost. If “Killer Tone” is important to you then this upgrade is more than worth it. Just ask Carl Verheyen.

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SAFETY WARNING! Working inside a tube amplifier can be dangerous if you don't know the basic safety practices for this kind of work. You could damage your amplifier. You can seriously injure yourself or get yourself killed! Please get a qualified technician to carry out the work for you.

Customer Reviews:

I've been using my upgraded Vox AC4TV for about 9 months now. rnThe amp sounds better & better as the transformers burn in. Needs about 25 hours of ON time. Every day I played it I noticed it getting sweeter & sweeter.rnI have to admit I was a little worried to start with.rnAfter about the first 5 hours I started to notice the difference each time I switched it on.rnThe Original AC4TV was quite honestly unplayable & very disappointing before the upgrade. rnThat is to be expected considering the price of the original unit.rnI felt I was taking a bit of a gamble to start with. That turns out to be incorrect, no gamble at all.rnI thought I would attempt the upgrade myself to start with, but once the kit arrived I decided that it was a bit beyond me. I have some experience with building simple electronic circuits. rnI could have probably have done it but I suspect it would have been quite stressful and time consuming. rnI believe it takes about 3 hours for an experienced technician.rnI contacted Stonehenge and they said they could do the upgrade for me. rnSo I sent the kit and amp back to them and it was upgraded. An excellent service.rnI would suggest if you buy the upgrade kit, just send Tonehenge the amp, it will save you some cash.rnThe amp will go to distortion a little at maximum volume. rnI primarily use it with pedals with the amp set at volume about ½ power, tone about ½ to ¾. rnThe amp is very clear, clean and smooth now. rnI replaced the speaker with a Celestion Gold 10 - 40W 10" Guitar Speaker 16 Ohm.rnI probably didn't need to do this, but I believe it was worth it, as it has that really creamy, smooth sound now. rnIt's also really quite loud, if you need it to be.rnI would highly recommend this upgrade, as you will end up with an amp that sounds great, is easy to transport, still at a fraction of the cost of full boutique amp. rnAC4TV's can be picked up cheap on eBay hardly used.