Vaughn....I know that you like the Blackhawk for the 5E3 and I also know you're not wild about VOX amps. That said, what do you think about the following possibilites for these two amps....
5E3: Retro 30 or G12 C
AC 15: G12 C/S or ET 65
Let me know.
Alternatives fo rthe 5E3 & AC 15
04/11/2019 7:06am
I'm not down on Vox... they certainly have their place in the fabric of guitar tone!
For the 5E3: A ret 30 will really turn it into a full-range monster ... it'll still have the earl breakup of the tube stages, and the inherent woody/woolly/smoky tone of that circuit ... but with a BIG helping of extra bottom end ant top ... and yep, I'd love that personally!
The G12C would be very bright and would help keep the 5E3's habit of "farting out" on the bottom when driven under control ... but overall would be quite bright/stiff/sterile ... so I wouldn't like it.
For the AC15: I personally think a smooth cone G12C/S would be a marvelous fit, it would really keep the amps tendency to get progressively harsher as it breaks up under control while also keeping the bottom solid. You would, of course, find the tone controls in territory they generally had never seen before!
The ET65 would be all the same ... but less so ... kind of a gentle governor on the top end, but still allowing the amp to sound decidedly like an AC15!
Thanks so much. Very helpful. You have confirmed what I suspected. Within about 5 minutes of posting this this, I realized that some of it had already appeared several times on the forum. I actually did some searches and did read the note about asking repetitive questions but somehow missed a number of posts on the subject. Sorry for the redundancy.