Hi, I bought a few months ago an ac30 jmi non top boost that was completely degraded.
It is being restored and needs some new speakers, because the old blue ones were no longer there. I have no possibility of buying 2 alnicos because they are very expensive and I need that money to restore the amp.
My favorite band is the Queen and that's what led me to buy this amp. Is there any WGS speaker that gives me that sweet and bright sound at the same time that Brian has when he cuts off the guitar volume and the creamy distortion when it starts saturating the amp? (Clean sound for example as Edge has in Where the streets etc.) Or do I just have it with some alnico? (Sorry for my english).
Vox Ac30 Jmi 62´ - New speakers
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As for speakers, maybe the Retro 30 with an Invader 50, Vet 30 or ET65 would get you there? Otherwise, you could try the Weber 30W ceramic 'Blue Dog', maybe with a 30W ceramic 'Silver Bell'. It's supposed to be a great combo. The Blue Dog has a sweeter ~3kHz range than the Celestion AlNiCo Blue. The Silver Bell deepens the low end and rounds the high end of the Blue Dog. You can select various power, cone, doping and dust cover options as well.
Brian May now uses a Treble Booster device (probably Germanium transistors) b4 his Wireless unit. Other than using a sixpence coin with his guitar and those fat sounding Burns Trisonic pickups with the phase switching options, the low input impedance of the Germanium transistor is a big part of the sweet tone and dynamic character of his sound. The most economical way I know of to get a good Germanium Treble Booster in an expandable/tweakable pedal is to build yourself a BYOC 'Crown Jewel' with the 'Germanium Treble Booster' module: https://buildyourownclone.com/collections/crown-jewel/products/crown-jewel
You could easily pay the same price for just a Germanium TB pedal as for a fully assembled Crown Jewel. The CJ pedal is a great design with several color options (you'll want purple ;-)) with a boost and/or distortion option, including the ability to swap in new modules that don't cost much.
I don't know how much C (Capacitance) BM has b4 his Treble Booster. The C affects the high end resonance peak of the pickups. If you are using the Trisonic pickups (which measure ~1.9H), I'd try a cable with a t0tal capacitance of ~200pF. Assuming the pickups don't have high internal C and you have ~250k pots into a typical 1M Ohm input, that should give each pickup a mild sweet ~6kHz peak when the TB pedal is bypassed, and a more rolls off high end when the TB pedal is engaged. Two pickups in series would then have a pretty flat high end when the TB is bypassed, and roll off at like ~4kHz. Anyway, that would be a good C value to start with. A 10' "George L" brand cable would do it.
You also don't need a sixpence to get that scratchy picking sound. The white "Tusq" brand picks will cover it with the edges roughed up with the red side of an emery board. I use the 2mm thick ones, but I prefer the smoother sound and feel of the yellow ones.
I learned a few valuable things about Brian Mays core sound upon further research. First, the strap mounter TB device he uses is always on and has a certain boost level and tonal quality according to his preference. The sound he gets with his guitar volume down is very much dependent on that device, as the low impedance input affects the tone depending on the guitar signal level. It's also dependent on the fact that he runs his Vox amp/s very loud. They sound fairly dark up loud and hence the use of a TB in the first place. It might make more sense to get something like this that allows to alter the tonal focus depending on how loud you have the amp: http://www.buyanalogman.com/Analog_Man_Beano_Boost_p/am-beano-boost.htm
There are surely much cheaper devices that will do a great job. Don't know if it's Germanium, but here's a good cheap Klon Centaur clone that might do the trick for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR0my8I20Nw
I'd seriously consider this more expensive JHS moded EHx 'Soul Food' pedal though.