If you look at the schematic in the service manual, the voltages present on the EL84 do not indicate true class-A operation...do you want true class-A?

 

I'd prefer true class A for my purpose but the reasonable facsimile provides the main part of the benefit I want over ss. I have a small fleet of good condition to fabulous 60's and 70's alnico speakers in various diameters, frequency and power ranges. Some are in this power range and it boils down to sound quality and dollar per watt for me. For guitar I prefer tube pre/tube power and any sub type. I'm always happy to work with what I have within that range. For bass, tube pre and A/B power for the clean headroom per dollar in the power side. I want excess clean headroom at the power amp for bass guitar, always. I'd love to have an early McIntosh too, for a class C vocal/mic system power amp, lol
I have a 112 open back combo with an RSC/Jensen P12N in it that an amp like this amp should be a good match for, plenty of rms cushion in the speaker but not so high that the amp wouldn't bring the speaker to life. These might make nice small suitcase amps with an alnico or two in the 6" - 10" range as well Two of the combos on Kijiji atm in the 200 - 250 range but then you add the cost of a Holy Grail Nano and it's 300 - 350.
I like the lack of digital bells and whistles, although I would have settled for digital reverb.
Great information, as always

 

I had the blue AC4. It was awesome, mean little amp. I upgraded to the AC10 only for the reverb. I need gain and reverb in an amp to play with no pedals.

 

The mean part I like, exactly what I want in a low watt amp for guitar. I'd buy a Holy Grail or HG Nano for it most likely, another 100 or so but worth it for a stand alone instrument reverb.

 

I had an AC4-TV head a few years ago, and later found the matching 1x12. I didn't much like what it did. The AC10 was 100x better for me.

 

It may come down to a love/hate for single-ended amps.

 

The top of my amp short list atm is a Traynor YGL-2. I have a showroom condition TS-140 combo cabinet with the matching vinyl cover waiting for a YGL-2 chassis and reverb tank. I have two or three matched pairs of alnicos that would be suitable for it. That would make it the second YGL-2 twin combo in existence, in TS grey tolex for the additional vintage factor. The lone prototype is still somewhere in the GTA or London area I think, the 212 version didn't make it past the accounting dept and only one made, as far as I know.
I'd use a different Traynor tube chassis if the price were right but that one tops my list for that cabinet. 30w rms of Traynor/Hammond class A into the right alnicos would be world class in an open back twin cab. I lean towards using P-90's or P-100's with older design period amps but have an NS-2 I use for a powering my tuner and any 9v pedals I might add. I prefer not to use noise suppression but it has a nice one if I need it for single coils or dirt pedals. I don't use drive pedals except for maybe a Joyo Sweet Baby, which I liked with my YBA-3 guitar rig or my Tube MP preamp for an additional gain stage in front of the preamp.

 

Ive tried these, and wasnt too impressed. I did like the little Super Beetle,

 

The AC4 TV isn't terribly Voxy. I have one with the BillM mods and it really brings it to another level that's more Voxy and I think sounds great, but it's still not really the place to find that sound.

The coloured AC4's with the luggage handle I found a bit anemic, but the AC4 HW delivered the goods. That being said, it's a 12" speaker and pricey so shifting to an AC10 which really seems to be the base level to get the Vox sound is probably the place to start.

Edit: Confused the mods - it's actually the Bitmo mod. Very simple but big results. Don't think they're available anymore but should be easy to replicate.

 

You may prefer the original AC4 design minus the tremolo.
The tube rectifier will loosen it up and the pentode preamp will enhance the compression, with a softer pinch-off.

Edit: Like so:

 

 

I had one for a little while. Looked great, but wasn't a fan. Might be a good amp with a master volume, but it was either too quiet, or too loud. Really weird phenomenon, tbh. My Fender Twin RI was more usable at home.