Question:
I am looking at buying myself one of these. Anyone here own one and how do you like it? Is the built in distortion any good? Thanks
Answer:
Originally Posted by spyrotheleo I am looking at buying myself one of these. Anyone here own one and how do you like it? Is the built in distortion any good? Thanks
Hi. I'm new to the forum and I recently bought one of these amps. I play guitar in our blended worship services and after hauling in my "Windows 95" ancient rig at Christmas I decided it was time to lose the pedals and the twin sized tube amp. I liked what I heard online and finally got to hear one at a Guitar Center store. I loved it immediately! I think the onboard OD is great and there are several flavors you can get. Never having owned most of the modeled amps I can't say how accurate it is but there's a definite familiarity there compared to what I've heard all my life. You can even ride the guitar volume and clean the sound up just like a real amp. My church bought one on my suggestion from another dealer and to be honest, it came in with a problem. Mine has been fine but the other one is still waiting on a part to come in. However, it's light as a feather and hauling mine in has been no problem (especially compared to my Peavey Classic 50 ).
Part of my reasoning in buying this amp was that all the effects are included. This has good and bad points. The effects are generally good but they come in certain combos. You can't have delay and reverb simultaneously for instance. It just takes some planning ahead. I rarely need more than the 3 available channels at any one sitting anyway. (Note: the footswitch is extra but it's good to have. The store didn't carry them and wanted to sell me a simple, 1 button channel switcher. However, with the Vox switch you can use it to switch between 2 preset channels plus add a third, manual channel or program it to turn effects on and off.) Programming is very simple even for old guys like me. I generally set up a Twin-style clean channel, with or without chorus, a semi-dirty channel using the AC30 or '70's Brit sounds and then either the '90's Brit or U.S. Hotrodded mode for what I think is a nice, creamy lead sound. (I don't generally use the "scooped mid Metallica" sound but there is a "Nu Metal" setting. Haven't really tried to work on that much.)
You can hear the amp on the Musician's friend site or the Vox site. Another note: there's no effects loop and none of the effects I've tried running through the front end sound very good, owing I suppose to their position in the chain. But, as I said I got it for convenience and never really intended to use outboard effects. I run it directly to the board from the headphone/preamp out jack which cuts the speaker sound (a plus since I'm onstage with a large choir and orchestra) and it sounds pretty good that way. It's loud enough to practice too.
All in all I'm very pleased with the amp. It does what I intended it to do and sounds great. We did Michael W. Smith's "Secret Ambition" at Easter and I covered the watery chorus sound on that plus the '80's style solo. I also covered all the clean sounds needed on the other tunes. I tried several other amps and I liked this one best. Plus, for the price you get a lot o' bang for the buck. Good hunting and hope this helps!
Answer:
yes, i would recommend this amp, in spite of some issues... i'll get to that in a min.
similar to what macsim said, this is a great 'band for the buck' amp. the way it works is brilliant. tube amps have both a preamp and a power amp... both very important in how the tone is shaped... specifically when distorted. most modeling amps today are completely digital. this can produce very accurate results, but usually, they still feel and sound 'cold', rather than capturing the 'warmth' known to tube amps. the valvetronix amps have a digital preamp. preamps are typically the easiest to model, and this makes for an appropriate match. to simulate the power amp, this is where the valvetronix stands out. there is tube (12AX7), normally used as a preamp tube, but connected as a power tube, which is hooked up to an output transformer and a dummy load (mocking how a real tube amp is set up). the poweramp of a tube amp is known for getting that creamy, full distortion. vox did a great job at mimicing this trait. after this 'tone' has been produced, the valvetronix's 'real' poweramp is solid state, which doesn't distort and cleanly amplifies the signal.
with 11 models, there are a lot of good sounding models. the cleans are clear and full. when the gain is turned up (on the amps that can be overdriven), the sound breaks up as one would expect from a real tube amp. and, although probably the least accurate in modeling from this amp, the high-gain distortions still sound good.
effects, as said by macsim, are good, but could be laid out better. i rarely, if ever, use effects... so this section is of little importance to me.
power-wise, this amp is more than enough for a typical guitarist. i would even say that this amp wouldn't need to be sent to the PA for typical gigs. never had problems staying over the drummer. also, the way the amp is built, the amp doesn't have to be cranked to get the distortions. the poweramp is solid state. with a tube amp, to get the power amp distortion, one would hae to crank the master volume, and then use an attentuator to drop the sound back down... so this amp has no problems playing at bedroom levels.
moving on... from the good to the bad.
so far, i've had moderate trouble from this amp. first, setting up for a winter percussion performance, i went to plug into the amp (btw, we had 2 min to set up everything... so if something went wrong, no time to fix it) and the nut came off the top of the jack and the jack itself fell into the amp. there was nothing that i could do, having litterally no time to do anything. problem 1.
the next one was the 'bypass' button for the effects. you can either have an effect selected or you can bypass that section altogether. as i said before, i don't use effects, so not being able to turn them off is annoying... i soon found that when the section was turned to 'delay' and the parameter was turned all the way down, the effects were effectively 'off'. could be a faulty button, a faulty connection (wire, etc) between the button and the corresponding circuit, or part of the circuit itself. i tried a hard reset (and i then found that i could bypass the effects through the footswitch). so, at least the main part of circuit for this is OK. i changed my footswitch's function back to switching to the manual channel.
lastly, the amp has been acting up. the distortions have lost their fullness... they sound 'fizzy' and 'digital'. i'm guessing that this could be from a couple things... could be a bad analog to digital converter at the beginning of the amp... could be a bad chip elsewhere... could be a problem with the tube (someone on harmony-central mentioned a 'wierd distortion' and that their 12AX7 tube was not seated properly in the holder, and that, when moved back, the amp functioned normally). i checked mine; the tube was tilted a little, but wasn't causing the mentioned problem. i even changed out the tube for another... which just made it sound worse... so i put the original back. the line-out sounds especially horrible (because of this problem).
so, i was easily able to fix the first problem. took the screws off of the back (which there are a lot of them) and put the jack back through and screwed the nut back on, making sure that it was tight. that was fixed. the other two, i'm going to either ship my amp or take my amp back to sweetwater (about 2 hours from here). unfortunatly, it would appear my (short 6 month) warentee is up... its been around 8 months, i'd guess. no idea what it'll cost to fix...
i'm a bit bummed about the amp... its absolutely awesome when it works right... but vox probably had to cut some corners to make this affordable. the amp has had its share of bumps and jostles. i even dropped it once, which could very well be the source of the latter-most problem... couple inches, but it came down fairly hard.
in spite of the problems that i've had, i still recommend this amp. people have had probelms with reliablility... it seems that there are many more people that don't experiance problems than those that do. as long as you take good care of it, you'll have a great amp.
here's some samples... well worth listening to (i wish mine still sounded like these )
http://www.voxamps.co.uk/support/list_demos.asp - these are specifically labeled of what product they come from and, with some, even the models played
http://www.voxamps.co.uk/products/va...t_audition.htm - flash format - clips from their 'higher end' valvetronix amps
http://www.voxamps.co.uk/products/va...view_movie.htm - flash movie - more clips from their 'higher end' valvetronix amps.
feel free to ask any questions... i think i've covered everything i wanted to.
Answer:
I was noticing that the reviewers had some problems either with their own amps, or with the churches amp. The tricky thing with these modeling amps is that they are more sensitive to bangs, and drops. Because they have digital circuit boards, they have certain parts that are more sensitive then say Tube amps.
Answer:
Originally Posted by snakecraig I was noticing that the reviewers had some problems either with their own amps, or with the churches amp. The tricky thing with these modeling amps is that they are more sensitive to bangs, and drops. Because they have digital circuit boards, they have certain parts that are more sensitive then say Tube amps.
I think that may indeed be the problem Snake. I bought mine in a store. The church had theirs shipped in. I think something may have happened in shipping (although obviously mine was shipped to the store too). The first time I turned it on it sounded like thunder and lightening with loud pops. We're still waiting on whatever part went bad and it's been several weeks. The above-mentioned jack problem seems to be something that happens a lot so all I can say is, keep that jack tight! I haven't had mine long enough to say how it will perform for the long haul but I think I will stop putting it in the back of my truck when I carry it to church just to be on the safe side. To be fair though, I've had a number of other amps, all tube, that had problems right from the start and I spent a lot of time shipping them back and forth. We're talking about some sensitive little beasties here and as my old friend Murphy says, "If it can go wrong, it will go wrong."
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i have played the Vox and it is the best! although i went with the Johnson JT50 - because of price and a lesser need. i was playing it in church but because of what ya'll mentioned -tanking it around -up and down is not good for them - so it stays at home for recording and such....fyi
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Originally Posted by Rocket i have played the Vox and it is the best! although i went with the Johnson JT50 - because of price and a lesser need. i was playing it in church but because of what ya'll mentioned -tanking it around -up and down is not good for them - so it stays at home for recording and such....fyi
Gosh, I haven't played through a Johnson in YEARS! Digitech was actually the company that made those. I remember wanting a Johnson Millenium (built back in 96?). There was some problems with the 60 watt version if I remember correctly. I personally think that the 50 watt and the Millenium were the best ones.
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Originally Posted by macsim I think that may indeed be the problem Snake. I bought mine in a store. The church had theirs shipped in. I think something may have happened in shipping (although obviously mine was shipped to the store too). The first time I turned it on it sounded like thunder and lightening with loud pops. We're still waiting on whatever part went bad and it's been several weeks. The above-mentioned jack problem seems to be something that happens a lot so all I can say is, keep that jack tight! I haven't had mine long enough to say how it will perform for the long haul but I think I will stop putting it in the back of my truck when I carry it to church just to be on the safe side. To be fair though, I've had a number of other amps, all tube, that had problems right from the start and I spent a lot of time shipping them back and forth. We're talking about some sensitive little beasties here and as my old friend Murphy says, "If it can go wrong, it will go wrong."
Yeah, what your saying is true. Line 6 has serious problems with their amps breaking down. I think I posted earlier at some time that every Vetta amp I sold (I worked within Swedish distribution for Line 6) came back for repair within the first month or so...
Answer:
Originally Posted by macsim I think that may indeed be the problem Snake. I bought mine in a store. The church had theirs shipped in. I think something may have happened in shipping (although obviously mine was shipped to the store too). The first time I turned it on it sounded like thunder and lightening with loud pops. We're still waiting on whatever part went bad and it's been several weeks. The above-mentioned jack problem seems to be something that happens a lot so all I can say is, keep that jack tight! I haven't had mine long enough to say how it will perform for the long haul but I think I will stop putting it in the back of my truck when I carry it to church just to be on the safe side. To be fair though, I've had a number of other amps, all tube, that had problems right from the start and I spent a lot of time shipping them back and forth. We're talking about some sensitive little beasties here and as my old friend Murphy says, "If it can go wrong, it will go wrong."
yes, and another thing to note about the jack- a while before it let loose, i had noticed a buzz when playing at high volumes... something vibrating on the inside. after the jack was put back together, the buzz was gone. the entire time, i never noticed the jack comming loose, but the buzz was a warning sign that i noticed... in hind-sight, of coarse...
Answer:
i sent the amp back to where i bought it, sweetwater, and they resoldered the switch. apparently, it was just a loose wire, but i couldn't get to it without taking a giant and intricate circuitboard off. they repaired it under warranty and shipped it back for free (although the warranty should have expired long ago...).
when i got it back, the amp's 'funny tone' was gone, so i'm happy about that. i'm not sure what was causing it, but its acting normal again.
so, i just thought that might be useful to know. it sounds great again!