Vox AD120VT Valvetronix 212 Combo

Price Paid: N/A

Features: 8
I'm using the ad120 for rock,pop,metal,country,and jazz music. It has enough range to cover all of these styles with some tweaking. I do wish it had midi capability to sync with my other gear. I had hoped that the stereo line outs would give an accurate signal to the board to eliminate miking hassles, but the sound was a bit fizzy and flat. I added a ART microcab II to tweak the house sound, and it worked great. If you can find one of these discontinued units, they can be used in many different applications.. The wattage selector is very useful for practice, though I find that the lowest setting is a little dull sounding, maybe because the speakers respond differently when they are not "pushed" I will usually keep the amp on the higher two settings to keep up in a loud gig situation.

Sound Quality: 9
the amp is very clean, the noise gate helps a lot with high gain amp models, and can be set to extreme levels for fast start/stop kinds of riffing. The super-high gain tones are very aggressive with good clarity, but to go completely over the top d8}, you might need an external pedal to goose it... I have found that the amp does not agree with all pedals, but that might be my tweaking skills..

Reliability: 10
Mine has not had the cut-out problems many others have had, but I understand that this is a computer/amp hybrid, not an old bulletproof fender or mesa-boogie (which I also own, but the vox gets more playing time because it is much more versatile) I baby this amp, and bought a flight case for it immediately. The case makes a nice amp stand, and the amp looks nice sitting on it instead of some old chair or milk crates..

Customer Support: 10
Never had to deal with them, I do enjoy the voxtalks forum for info on vox amps and related music stuff - you should check it out, mitch colby, one of the designers, is a regular on the forum http://www.voxtalks.com/cgi-bin/UltraBoard/UltraBoard.pl

Overall Rating: 9
I own fender,gibson,hamer,fernandes,prs,line6,danelectro,harmony,and dyko electric guitars, yamaha,taylor,harmony,and ovation acoustics, univox,spector,and fender basses, Line 6, vox, digitech, behringer, ART and peavey processors, fender,marshall,mesaboogie ,tubeworks,vox,peavey,SWR,harmony,ART,Line6 and supro amps. The ad120 can approach or match the sounds of all the amps, and it compliments all of the guitars. I feel the vc-12 footswitch is a must, as it is so solid and easy to use. The two control pedals are a plus, and it looks cool! I've got all kinds of compliments from audience members and fellow musicians on this amp. One drawback is that it is heavy and bulky, but that is the nature of most 2-12 combos, I play regular gigs in an orchestra pit for a local actors guild, and in those settings, I use the vc-12 with a vox tonelab and send it to the board. the tonelab is a bit more versatile as you can mix and match cabs to the amps, whcih the ad120 cant do. I wish one could choose multiple effect pedals at once on the ad120, such as wah and distortion, I understand the tonelab se has this ability. I haven't tried different tubes in the reactor section, but I've heard others have liked the change. Right now, my main rig is a variax 500/xtlive/peavey 50-50 tube amp/flextone stereo 2-12 cab rig because it is so versatile - guitar,amp,effect,guitar tunings can all be switched on the fly - strat in Eb through a marshall to a les paul in drop d through a boogie to a d-28 in g tuning to a sitar to a banjo...... It's pretty scary.. I still feel the vox series has a slight edge in tone .. It will never happen, but it would be interesting to see what Line 6 and vox could do if they got together.. Hope this helps! Joe

Submitted by smokinjoet at 11/11/2005 12:59

Price Paid: US $1395.00

Features: 5
It is a modeling amp and has some cool sounds in it.

Sound Quality: 9
I play an ErnieBall Music Man Axis and a Gibson SG.
This amp is fun to play with if you don't really want to hear what you are playing. No dynamics and the effects seem to take care of hearing any note definition or your mistakes for that matter, but the good thing is, you can sound good without really even being any good. THAT is the key to a great amp !

Reliability: 2
Half of the amp doesn't like to work, but if I lift it up in the air and drop it, usually it will come back on. I really hate doing this during a gig because it sometimes messes up the harmony with the other players, but we have lately been able to work it in as part of our act, so it works out swell! These amps are disposible, so when the other half quits, I will just dump it off in my neighbors lake and go buy something else. I hear the reissue AC30 is pretty nice.

Customer Support: 1
The service center is a waste of time. They don't want to actually troubleshoot the amp but rather just spray tuner cleaner over the whole thing and hope it helps.

Overall Rating: 1
If it were stolen, I would figure the guy had it coming to him.

Really, it is a fun amp to screw with, but it just doesn't have tone and dynamics of a real tube amp and that is what I am after.

Submitted by Professor Zorpk at 10/25/2005 13:57

Price Paid: US $1,100.00

Features: 10
Great features...very user friendly. No big glitches in changing banks from clean to dirty like the line 6 stuff...very smooth

Sound Quality: 10
I play Ernie Ball Axis and Peavey Wolfgang guitars in a christian rock band. We play out weekly and I continually recieve compliments on my sound ( that's no lie...I am a christian remember? ). For what it is the amp just rocks. I love the tone from this amp. It's alot easier to lug around than a half stack and a rack box.

Reliability: 5
Well since I am a christian I must tell the truth...I too am starting to have these "cut-out" problems. Facing the amp it is the right speaker that cuts out. I bought it on Jan 3,2003 and it's been acting up for about 6 mos. Never during a show or service thank God. I found that when I grab it by the strap on top and SLAM IT on the ground it would usually work fine for a while...seriously..I know you've tried this. Even men who love Jesus can get in the flesh sometimes and an amp acting up will do it sometimes. Well anyways, I finally took it to a Vox dealer to have it looked at. These amps are like dogs you want to do tricks for people...they never perform when you want them to. The amp worked fine for the guy!! He was gracious enough to let me watch as he did a "cleanup" on it. basically took apart some connections,sprayed them and re-connected them. I should've asked more questions but I didnt...I paid him the $39.00 he wanted and tipped him another $10.00. I love this amp,this amp is "me" but unfortunately I'm now shopping for a new rig...too many horror stories...cant afford train recks in this kind of ministry.

Customer Support: 1
Local repair guy was a joke but I blessed him anyway with a tip...The Vox/Korg guys are pretty pathetic too

Overall Rating: 9
I've been playing about 24yrs. I bought this amp for Sunday morning worship at our church. I've since joined formed a band and play live shows and services every week. ( Go to cornerstonefmc.org to the Sunday Night Live page and hear the amp on our new cd) I love effects...When used properly they can be very "tasteful". When set-up right this amp will fool alot of people. I'm not looking forward to replacing it. Email me if there is a cure!!!

Submitted by Tom Tarter the band " Providence" at 10/24/2005 20:22

Price Paid: N/A

Features: 10
I play in a covers band, and the songs we cover have quite a few different guitar sounds which I wanted to sound as close to as possible, so it seemed a good idea to get a modeling amp rather than lots of amps and stomp boxs on stage, which of course would have been stupid to say the least. I heard only good things about the Vox, it sounded great when I tried one in a shop, and the reviews on here were good, so I bought one along with the VC4 floor board. I did buy the VC12 as soon as they came out, which I don't regret one bit, although I wouldn't have bought the VC4 had I known the VC12 was in the pipeine.

Anyway, the amp has loads of features, and I can't think of any additional features which could improve it. Not being lazy, but you would be better off checking Vox's web site for a full list of features, as there are far too many to list here.

However, the power selector is very useful, although I did read on here that it can burn out if your don't turn your amp off before moving it. So from now on, that's what I'll do. Better safe than sorry I guess.

With regards to the fact it's stereo, perhaps someone could help me here. For live work, I mic up the amp, but with only one mic, on one speaker. If the output to the in-built speakers is stereo, I'm guessing there will be different sounds coming out of each speaker, which isn't good if I'm only micing up one speaker to put through the PA. Or, is it only when you use the left and right line outs that it's stereo? It dosen't seem clear from the manual. I did email Vox this question some time ago, but got no responce!

Sound Quality: 10
This amp sounds amazing. If I wasn't in a covers band, but was looking for my own sounds, I would have no problem.

There is one problem when using the amp live though. The pre-set sounds the amp comes with are pretty good, and in most cases I have just tweaked them, before writing them to the bank/channel.

However!!! As I said, the pre-set sounds are all pretty good with a nice tone, but if you run through the pre-sets, before tweaking them, the difference in volume between them is enourmous, so there is no way you could leave them as they are for gigging live.

Unfortunately, you can't write in the master volume for each bank/channel setting, so the only way round this is to adjust the volume and/or gain with-in the bank/channel you are using to get all the volumes about the same (allowing of course that you would probably want a lead sound louder than say an acoustic sound), but on some settings this does adversly affect the tone.

I have thought about getting the tone right, regardless of what the volume is, and simply adjusting the master volume while playing. I concluded however, that the chance of changing bank/channel, the master volume, AND my hand position on the guitar all at the same time was between zero and near impossible, so I have shelved that idea.

Although, if all the presets were bought down in volume to the least loud setting, that may help, but it would mean an awfull lot of work to find out!

One last point on sound. I have a friend who has a Line 6 modeling amp, so we put the two amps side by side, and even he had to admit the Vox had a much warmer tone.

Reliability: 2
The reason for writing this review. My amp which is 2 to 3 years old (serial number 1227), has cut out at least four times now, not for long, so each time I put it down the my guitar lead, or my guitar. As it's now cut out with different leads (all good quality), and different guitars (Fender and PRS), I have reluctently come to the conclusion:

IT'S THE AMP!!! (High or low input)

When you're playing live, the last thing that should be going through your head is:

WILL THE AMP CUT OUT, AND IF SO, WHEN, AND FOR HOW LONG

I have managed to download my settings onto my VC12, and then up-loaded them in to a AD60VT, so for the moment, I'm okay, but I don't want to write-off my amp. I am going to email Vox to see what they say, but at the moment I'm not holding up much hope.

I'm going to read all the reviews again, and take onboard all the advice given, as I really would like to make my amp work, even if I have to spend some money on it doing the mods, even though I shouldn't have to.

Just for the record, I position the amp pretty close to me at the side of the stage behind the PA, not as a back-line, but just so I can hear what I'm playing, which means I don't need it very loud, and normally I have the master volume set somewhere around 1 o'clock, and the power selector on 2x15 or 2x30, depending on where we are playing.

I probably use it about 8 hours a week max, so I don't think it's had a hard life!

Customer Support: N/A
Only emailed Vox once, but didn't get a reply!

Overall Rating: 5
Been playing guitar about 30 years now, and can't think of anything else I have owned that has stopped working, so I'm really ennoyed this amp is playing up.

I have always raved about this amp to everyone, until now that is. It seems pretty obvious to me however, having read all the reviews, that my amp is not an isolated case.

My overall rating is 5, which is just for the sound and features.

Even if I give VOX the benefit of the doubt, and say that they had no idea there would be a reliability issue when they designed and manufactured the amp, I wish they would now put their hands ups, accept there is a problem, and work WITH their customers, NOT against them, and tell us how to sort these problems out.

IT'S VERY HARD TO WIN CUSTOMERS, BUT EVERSO EASY TO LOOSE THEM!!!

Submitted by Jem at 09/05/2005 18:25

Price Paid: US $750

Features: N/A
N/A. It's all been said before. This is a very versatile amplifier.

Sound Quality: N/A
N/A Sounds great

Reliability: 1
This is why I'm leaving a review. Had the same speaker cutting in/out problem as everyone else after a year or two. I was sunk, and was ready to trash this thing, but tried the Deoxit Spray and jumpering solution mentioned several times. Low and behold this FIXED THE PROBLEM......FOR A WHILE.... For two months after this, it worked great, like new again. Now, there's a ridicously loud crackling hiss sound that has somehow developed. The spray/jumpering has no effect on this. Looks like I've ran out of options. This is a MAJOR P.O.S.

Customer Support: 1
J-O-K-E

Overall Rating: 1
I cannot express my utter dissapointment in this product. When it works, it is the most versatile amp I've ever used in my 15 years of playing. The built in power attenuator is a great feature. But unfortunately, this amp is a dud as far as quality control goes. I cannot express how deeply I feel that no one should ever get suckered into buying this. Too many of us have been stung by this, and the first time, as well as the second time(after I thought I had the magic fix) this thing wigged on me, it was both during shows. Mighty MIGHTY embarrassing. Shame on Vox for cheaping out on key components on this amplifier. I would have expected this from a shoddy low end Crate, but not on something this expensive, with the name "Vox" on it. Shame...

Submitted by Anonymous at 08/16/2005 10:57

Price Paid: 750 (GB pounds)

Features: 10
This is a Modelling Amp and I like half of the modelled amps that you can choose from. The rest just are not for me.

This amp comes with built in effects which are worthless in gigs but are alright if you are just playing at home.

There is a built in tuner which is also a nice feature.

Sound Quality: 10
Sounds really really good at any of the wattage settings on the back of the amp (from 1 watt per speaker to 60 watts per speaker).

I've never disliked the sound that comes out, the controls have good range so you can play most styles with this amp.. especially clean sounds.

Reliability: 1
OMG! Where to start!
If you want to gig with this amp FORGET IT!
Here goes my story.

Bought 1 and half years ago, within a year both speakers barely worked, smoke came out of the top of the amp at the gig, cannot express how gutted i felt.
After that they had a crackle, fizzing sound and would be very quiet so I replaced them with some Celestion GT12s and it worked again.. Yay
Then shortly after that (few months) the amp would break up at loud volumes. Still haven't sorted that out.
And last week the left speaker stopped working.

I'm sure this time though that the speaker is okay, its probably something inside the amp which is only sending the signal to one speaker.

Customer Support: N/A
Not bothered with them after hearing what others have already said

Overall Rating: 3
For the large sum of money spent on this amp I feel like i haven't quite got what i paid for. Perhaps if it cost ¿400 ($600) I wouldn't be too angry that it broke so much.

Unfortunately enough is enough and I'm going to try to get rid of the amp. I don't know who woul take it for ¿300 but thats what I want for it which doesnt seem very much for a 2 year old Vox amp but thats the point.

VOX YOU FAILED US! SHAME ON YOU!

Submitted by Jake at 08/14/2005 05:30

Price Paid: dont own one.

Features: 7
This looks like a new amp to me not sure of the year. The amp has loads of features and effects. This would be the perfect amp for me being that it is so versitile with the sound quality. Very warm sounding too, can be used for rock, blues, or Jazz good. It seems to have plenty of power for me, two 12's at 100 watts. I've always wanted a "Mesa Boogie" but this one sounds just as good to me. Maybe not as solid but it's a great sounding amp.

Sound Quality: 10
I tried using an "Epiphone Studio Dot" and an "Epiphone Regent Zephure". The pickup styles were humbucking and my style is basically Jazz and Rock/Blues. Very versitile sounds, very good clean and great distortion. Beautiful!

Reliability: N/A

I dont own one yet, I'm a little scared from the reviews but I may just take the chance on purchasing one. I would love to have one if it will hold up. I would not know where else to go, I dont like Line 6.

Customer Support: N/A
Never dealt with them.

Overall Rating: 10
I'm gonna give it a ten until I actually buy one.

Submitted by Anonymous at 07/25/2005 11:26

Price Paid: AU (1900)

Features: 10

Sound Quality: 9
I run a Epiphone Les Paul with a Rio Grande Crunchbox in the bridge and a Seymour Duncan phat cat in the neck position. I use this amp as my main amp and play mostly hard alternative rock, ala Smashing Pumpkins. The presets on this sound ok, but once you tweak around with it, and run an external EQ through it thats when it really shines. I can't imagine getting much closer to "the tone" that I have been looking for. Absolutely love it.

Reliability: 4
Very poor. I, as many other people did, experienced the problem of sound cutting in and out and left speaker problems. This is very fustrating, as I love the sound of this amp.

This is the main reason why I decided to post, I always had my amp at 60w. I changed it to 30w and now it WORKS FINE. For the moment anyway. I'm looking forward to seeing how it handles with the band this saturday though.

If this amp was more reliable it would be a dream machine, sadly it lets it down.

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 6
Best digital modelling amp. This amp kills the competition in this category/price as far as tone is concerned.

The only problem is the bugs it has! Rargh. I have a feeling its going to stay fine at 30w rather than 60w. Which might be ok for me, but its really not fair to have a 2x60w amp that doesn't run effectively at that output.

Submitted by Jay at 07/14/2005 20:07

Price Paid: N/A

Features: 9
+ features are wellknown and I¿m happy with most of it.
- The tap-button, you can¿t turn the blinking LED off - quite nerving.
- Has no Line in - so I can¿t plug in my drumcomputer or CD-player.

Sound Quality: 5
I wanted to use it with my flying V (Humbuckers)for Blues and Rock to play on stage.

It would suite pefect with my style if it would work properly...

I got the amp one week ago, and this weekend I started to test it at home.
I was NOT impressed by the loudness..even in my living room fully cranked up, I expeted a bit more output with 2X60 Watt.. so I went closer with my ears and noticed that the right speaker is only half as loud as the left and also lacks in sound-quality.

In my opinion both speaker should sound similary in soundquality and loudness - but they do not! - I don¿t know why - is that normal???

Reliability: N/A
I¿ll have to send it back before I¿m getting started.

And I wonder what¿s the better choice - ask for money back? or getting it repaired.
I think it would be a great amp for me, but what¿s the point to wait for a repair and get it back with the same or even another flaw.

Customer Support: N/A
I bought the amp in Germany via the internet.
There was no Vox Warranty in the package but in Germany we¿ve got a 24 month kind of warranty by the seller so a solution for repair or replacement should be worked out by my dealer with his distributor.

Overall Rating: 5
I¿ve been playing for 30 years now and have owned and tested all sort of gear, so I thought this amp will be all I need in the future.
Now, and the more after reading the comments on Harmony-central I have my doubts if it¿s possile to get an ad120vt which works properly and which is reliable in the long term.
To receive a factory-new item, that¿s not working perfect as I can expect - and not even knowing if a replacement will be better - it¿s a nuisance.
I¿ll have to make up my mind.. and possibly will wait for a repair.
Depending on the outcome - we¿ll see.

Submitted by Sunshinesigi at 07/11/2005 16:16

Price Paid: N/A

Features: 10
Extremely versatile piece of gear. Does so many things well. I've use(-d) it for band practice and playing live. That is...until...read below...

Sound Quality: 10
Best sounding SS amp I've ever heard. Leaves Line 6 in the dust. If it reliably worked, I'd never need a tube amp again...

Reliability: 1
Here we go again. I've had this for a year and half without worries. I started becoming a bit skeptical about all the bad reliability issues I saw in HC (only really really happy or really really disgruntled people post....right?). But, then it happened to me.... About three weeks ago, the sound started cutting in and out. I tried some of the home remidies suggested in this forum, and got it working again at max volume for a few days, and then it started cutting in and out again. Vox has a major design flaw in this amp. They REFUSE to acknowledge it, as I've emailed them about it. But, when a large percentage of folks who've posted here have experienced the same exact thing, it is pretty obvious. For all you folks who gave high marks for reliability, I wonder how many of you waited a year or two before posting? This is a trainwreck.

Customer Support: 1
I've tried contacting them via email with no sucess. They don't acknowledge that there's a design flaw with this. Opening up the back, and looking at the circuit boards, it looks pretty shoddy (I have an EE background...). Such a waste for such a good sounding amp. The warranty is a joke.

Overall Rating: 5
So yeah, this is a fairly bipolar review. The pros are that it sounds great, and is the most versatile SS amp I've ever owned. I have a Fender Twin, and a Marshall JCM602 (sorry...), which have both been put on the shelf since I got this. But, those amps have never ever failed. This went kaputz in the same exact way that everyone elses here in HC went. The conundrum I have is that I want another one. But I refuse to pay Vox a dime until they upgrade this model with a more robust one, or they acknowledge what a sh*t job of circuit board engineering this is, and offer to fix it for everybody (yeah right...) regardless of their weak warrenty. Vox had a winner here, but they cheaped out. I hate it when companies take customers for granted because of their 'brand name' and 'history'. An engineering abomination like this should not be tolerated by consumers today. We guitar players get snookered too often by history and vibe associated with a brand. If Vox feels like they can continue to rely on this, they should pay the price. I car company with this kind of track record would be out of business. DO NOT PAY MONEY FOR THIS KIND OF CR*P!!!! Been playing for 15 years, and have never experienced something like this before. I won't buy a Valvetronix again, until they prove to me that they've changed there business practices. This is a Pinto masqurating as a BMW. Don't get snookered! Rant over....

Submitted by blind_sublime at 06/27/2005 09:05