Vox SSC33TB Guitar
I recently had a chance to play the new Vox SSC33, and it’s a thing of beauty. This is the mid-priced 33 series guitar, in the single cutaway, teaburst finish, with an ash top, mahogany body and neck, and rosewood fretboard. It’s an incredible value when you consider it shares the same MaxConnect aluminum bridge, CoAxe pickups, and super-smooth tuners as Vox’s higher end 55, 77 and Virage guitars. And it comes with a really nice padded gig bag.
The neck is very comfortable and playable, with a 12” radius and 25 1/8” scale length. I’ve updated my Neck and Neck chart with all the measurements and details.
As you can hear in the video, you can get an incredibly versatile range of sounds out of the pair of CoAxe pickups, with the Clean and Lead modes. The volume pot is an Alpha 500k audio taper, with no treble bleed- but you can hear in my volume examples that it maintains brightness pretty well when turning down. It has a really uncommon 4PDT switch in there for the pickup mode selector. The tone cap is a .015uF poly film, which provides a nice useful tone range.
Total quality workmanship, perfect setup, excellent sound. It’s a winner.
Update May 18, 2011: For more about the CoAxe pickup system, see my interview with Vox R&D’s Eric Kirkland.
Here’s some pretty photos:
May 15, 2011 @ 5:03 am
May 17, 2011 @ 10:00 pm
Vox CoAxe interview with Vox R&D - Planet Z
May 18, 2011 @ 8:33 pm
[…] you can hear in my recent video review of the Vox SSC33, the Vox CoAxe pickups sound amazing. They’re dynamic, noiseless in all modes, and most […]
New Guitars From Vox - Planet Z
May 18, 2011 @ 8:57 pm
[…] May 18, 2011: Also see my in-depth review of the SSC-33, and for more about the CoAxe pickup system, see my interview with Vox R&D’s Eric […]
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November 11, 2013 @ 8:15 pm
the sound is pretty much more on the Rock sound?
Thanks!
What channel you used on your Vox amp?
November 11, 2013 @ 8:16 pm
August 10, 2014 @ 2:30 pm
hardly anyone ever does at all! Both thumbs up!
January 12, 2015 @ 11:50 pm
chicks but you got money but not much money as this guitar aint expensive
January 26, 2015 @ 12:08 pm
couple of questions…\
ssc vs sdc?…maybe the sdc would be lighter? ..also 33 vs 55…same weight guitars? anyone know if the 33 series is lighter then the 55
January 26, 2015 @ 12:37 pm
SSC vs DDC is really a personal preference. I guess it’s conceivable that the dual cutaway would be a tad lighter since more wood has been carved away. I wouldn’t expect 33 to be that different from 55 in weight. But there’s a natural variation in guitar weight, no matter what- even between the same model. Natural variations in wood density from board to board.
For example, go browse through some Les Pauls at Sweetwater- compare all and look at the weights:
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/LPCS15HSNH-15
You’ll see quite a wide-range of weights for otherwise identical guitars!
Note that was just an example- the Vox guitars are much lighter than a Les Paul!
-John
October 19, 2016 @ 9:57 am
The SSC33S are noticeably lighter than the ssc55’s – I had a chance to compare a few of them at a shop a few years ago. I see no reason to have the 55 when the 33 is cheaper, and I don’t think most people would miss having the extra switch.
The single cut SSC33s sound more solid and stay in tune better than the double cuts.
April 3, 2017 @ 11:03 am
Yes the ssc33 is well made and light to me. I also use the sdc22 which is a sweet guitar
May 23, 2018 @ 1:59 pm
I love the Bridge- Will it work on other kinds of guitars? Is there a way I can order one of those Bridges? It loads from the back which is what I’m looking for. Just don’t know if it will work in a Jes Paul Jr style situation. Thanks.
May 23, 2018 @ 5:08 pm
That’s the VOX MaxConnect bridge. After these guitars were discontinued, Parts Is Parts acquired the remaining VOX parts inventory. I see that this bridge is available here:
http://www.guitar-parts.com/catalog/vox-bridge-assem-sdc33-and-virage-530000001017
May 23, 2018 @ 5:32 pm
Oh that is perfect! That will work for exactly what I need it for, and it’s within my price range only problem is they are out of stock right now, are these bridges being made by somebody or we have to wait until they come across a bunch of used ones? I’ll just have them email me they get anymore. Thanks a bunch
May 23, 2018 @ 8:42 pm
Yeah, unfortunately they probably won’t get any new stock. VOX certainly won’t be making anymore. I guess another option would be to find a cheap used VOX guitar, and harvest it for parts. Good luck! -John
May 23, 2018 @ 9:00 pm
look for the sdc22 guitars as they are cheaper but hate to ruin a nice guitar just for the bridge
May 24, 2018 @ 8:17 am
Yah it’s too bad. I would not want to wreck any guitar just for the bridge. Maybe a different model bridge is available.
What I need it for is I bought a Chinese Replica of a Dan Armstrong- it’s a beautiful copy, but of course has no replaceable pickup and the only bridge they could use is a Leo Quan BadAss Intonated Wraparound. Unfortunately, it’s butted up against the pickup- so forget about breaking one string and replacing it- you have to string it up all at once. Bridge loads from the front. It kind of worries me that if I pull the bridge out to load the strings it might go out of true.
I’ve seen Schaller 455/6/7/8’s that would work there, but they always cost $200! And also an Ovation Breadwinner, almost as expensive- but those too, you have to remove it from the guitar in order to load all of the strings in.
It’s not expedient, just something I want to do. The Leo Quan is a good bridge, and the instrument is Intonated well. If I was adventurous I would try to have a real Dan Armstrong bridge put in if I could find one of those, but that would involve drilling into the acrylic, and I’ve seen some Dan Armstrong Mod abominations!
Thanks, these Vox guitars are just too beautiful to vandalize just for a Bridge. Maybe if somebody finds a stash of replacement bridges.
Be Well- if anybody finds something that might help, I’ll be right here.
May 23, 2018 @ 6:27 pm
wow thats pretty cheap for that bridge..doubtful they will be in stock again.I also love them.
May 24, 2018 @ 8:33 am
Do most bridges have the same spacing (distance between posts) as the average Gibson Les Paul Jr? My Leo Quan BadAss was designed to slap into the spot for one of those old non-tunable wraparounds. I’ve had a couple of European guitars, Italian Vox Bulldog (I gutted that guitar to stick humbucking pickups in, and I sanded off that beautiful laquer finish! I’m guilty!) and a Hagstrom III, which I disassembled to paint, then lost all of the parts! But both of those had completely different bridge systems, and the Hagstrom bridge posts were not the same as a Gibson. I was a kid when I ruined those guitars, didn’t understand what I had. Back then you could get interesting guitars from Finder’s music for cheap. Never realized that at one point, those guitars would become more valuable. But the prices for Guitars and guitar parts have gone through the roof these last 10 years, 20 years. I even have a Hamer XP SP-J, that cost $300 into thousand 13, it’s now worth 600, and Hamer actually went back into production to make more of those (Fender had bought Kaman, and part of the deal was that Hamer could no longer make Guitars. So no more five neck guitars for Rick Nielsen!)
May 24, 2018 @ 8:47 am
I’d make no assumptions about the post spacing. Always measure! That said, worst case, you can always fill the post holes with dowels, and drill new ones, but that’s a bit of an undertaking.
A Fender Tele in 1953 was $189. Now, an original 53 might go for $25,000! 🙂 https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/17148-fender-telecaster-and-1953-fender-deluxe
May 24, 2018 @ 3:03 pm
Well on this instrument that’s not an option, it’s Plexiglas!
A regular Gibson wraparound bridge/tail piece is 3 1/4 inches. Which is the same as this Dan Armstrong replica that I have. There won’t be any drilling into this guitar, it’s very heavy, very well-made Plexiglas.
It has two bridge posts, it’s possible that the cavities in the body have all been routed. But the cavities could have also been put in when the acrylic was poured, I’m not sure how the guy is building these. He makes several really nice replicas of fenders and Gibsons and a couple of other kinds of guitars, he even has mandolins and some other instruments. He’s a custom shop so he’ll make Guitars to certain specifications if he can do it, but it mostly means that he has to use whatever parts that he can get in Korea or China. Which was why he could not obtain a real Dan Armstrong bridge, not to mention that the latest Dan Armstrong re-issues all had strings through the body. If I can find somebody to drill strings through the body, I could try that. But the tools required to do that kind of drilling are usually only available in a well equipped shop. My neighbor actually has some of the equipment needed, a drill press in particular. Maybe he could do it. Or if I could find some kind of plate that could be attached back there to hold the strings in place but I don’t know the best way to secure a mount on plexiglass. Drilling into the thing, it’s not really an option. There is a webpage that has common Dan Armstrong modifications that have gone wrong and boy have they gone wrong! Lol!
That’s why I am trying to find this simpler solution oven already available bridge piece that has string loading from behind. it appears that most of these vox models from this era I’ll have that specific kind of tailpiece unless it was built with some kind of tremolo.
Just right now I thought about those old Gibson tailpieces that attach to the back strap pin, they were on some F-hole models, and I have seen them on SG’s too, sometimes with a whammy bar. It’s usually a flat trapezoid piece that fits against the rear of the guitar and then the strings go through that. I’ll have to take a look, maybe I can find something that I can attach to the back strap pin. I used to have a big fat F-hole guitar that had a tailpiece like that, but it’s long gone.
May 24, 2018 @ 3:05 pm
“Of an”, not “oven”! Lol!
May 24, 2018 @ 3:27 pm
Yeah, I’d be a bit nervous about drilling a plexiglass body! You can find those trapeze tailpieces at All Parts, Stewmac, etc.
June 6, 2018 @ 8:57 am
http://www.guitar-parts.com/catalog/vox-bridge-assem-sdc33-and-virage-530000001017
bridges are back in stock
June 6, 2018 @ 9:14 am
Wow- great news! I honestly didn’t expect these parts to come back in, as i don’t think any are being manufactured. @XweAponX – get one before they’re gone! -John
June 6, 2018 @ 10:30 am
Thanks a lot! Yes, I got an email notification. Wasn’t expecting it. I had bought a hip shot baby grand bridge, I may get this one too, the price is very good.