Vox AD120VT Valvetronix 212 Combo

Price Paid: N/A

Features: 9
This is a first generation, first amp in town after they were introduced. Everyone knows the features by now, so I wont waste your time with theat stuff.

Sound Quality: 9
I use a wide variety of axes, all work well with the amp, great vox and Marshall sounds, good effects, overall love the sound of the amp.

Reliability: 5
Here we go. I have not experienced the problems with the pedal board, but sounds like insufficient power supply to me, I just never play that loud as I mic the amp and use in the ear monitors. The problems with volume changing appears to be one or the other channel dropping out, and I believe that the problems with my amp have been located and repaired! All of the effects loop, headphone and speaker jacks are Switching types. Forinstance, if you use an extension speaker, it is wired in Series with the internal speaker via the jack. This means that with no extension speaker plugged in, the jack completes the circuit to the internal speaker. Similarly, if you are not using the effects loops, the jacks have switches which complete the circuits. All of these jacks are British style, similar to original later model Vox, and just plain suck. So, either clean the jacks (I opened the amp, removed the plastic cover from the jacks and cleaned them all with Deoxit Spray aka Cramolin, problem fixed) or jumper the effects loops using short 1/4 in cables, and make a speaker jumper, a 1/4 inch plug with the two contacts shorted, yes indeed, this fixes the contact problem with the speaker jacks, I keep a pair in my spares box incase the cleaning I did goes south at a gig (has not yet). I suggest cleaning the rest of the jacks with cramolin as well, the stuff is magic! There you go hope this helps!

Customer Support: 1
Yaeh Right, try getting a human.

Overall Rating: 8
Been playing thirty years, 15 seriously, I am, in the words of my bassist, "queer for gear" so what equipment don't I own is a shorter answer.

By the way, just got a used Carvin Nomad 112 with the extension speaker. I am very impressed, and will review it after a while

Submitted by Richard at 06/14/2005 08:55

Price Paid: 1800 (AU)

Features: 10
I use this amp 2 to 3 times a week but I baby it to the extreme. It has more than enough grunt to play any venue.
The vinyl covering feels like paper and damages even if touched by a feather. Garbage and cheap materials. Dissapointing quality from such a giant in the amp world.

Sound Quality: 9
I use A ric 360 and a Squier custom tele (my favourite believe it or not) I pretty much concur with most of the positive Feed back.

Reliability: 2
OK OK, here is the sticking point (as my fellow sufferers will understand) I bought one new off the floor and on the first night the thing just gave up, like turning off the switch. I got another one replaced (thank you guys at Guitar world Parramatta) only to find a year later that i had to get the wattage selector replaced.......YES YOU DO HAVE TO TURN IT OFF BEFORE USING THE WATTAGE SELECTOR!!!!..... Apparently, this is a VERY cheap swith that runs at 240 Volts (in australia) and turing it creates an arc that burns out the pathetically cheap and tiny switch. I have since bought another one as back up and it sits in my room waiting to be called to duty.

Customer Support: 5
I had no real drama but i took it straight to a guru in sydney. Forget the so called Authorised Service centre.

Overall Rating: 8
If you look after it I do believe it will serve you well. It is however pot luck as to wether you buy one with gremlins or not.

I sounds VERY close to the real thing I AB'd it with a real ac30TB (pre china) and it held it's own.

Submitted by will siska at 06/10/2005 23:55

Price Paid: 450 (UK Pounds)

Features: 9
I got my AD120VT in 2004 after seeing and hearing a friends identical model. The ideal of having all the effects and a tuner in one stereo combo seemed ideal. The amp can pretty much cover all styles of music, some with astounding reality.

Sound Quality: 10
With care you can get just about every sound you will ever need. In particular you can get very convincing Van Halen and U2 tones so ideal for me.

Reliability: 2
This is the amps downfall. Mine went wrong a few months after purchase with one channel (It's a stereo amp) cutting out. As it was out of warranty I took it apart and fixed it myself. I wasn't impressed with what I found and I can see why so many others are having problems.

The cabinet isn't strong enough and allows to much movment, this means the actual metal enclosure the electronics are housed in sags down causing the mains transformer to hit the speaker if the amp is set down roughly.

The electronic construction is also pretty poor and is built like this.

At the top you have the Korg REMs pre-amp board. This is made quite well with reasonable soldering and good intelligent PCB layout. After this however it's all down hillz

Below the Korg REMS board you have another quite small PCB for jack sockets and stuff. Not much to go wrong here but the jack sockets are also switches in the signal chain so problems will arise due to poor contact. If you do get problems spray some WD40 on an old guitar lead and push it in and out a few times to clean the inside of the socket.
The socket for the footswitch is an Ethernet socket, normally used for network cables and totally unsuitable for use on this type of product. Yes, it gives a lot of connections in a small socket footprint but it won't withstand constant gigging.

Finally we have the main power amp PCB with their "Valve Reactor" technolgy. This PCB is where most problems will arise from. The soldering is sub standard, mine had several bad joints.

Some of the audio signal wires are tied with cable ties to the A.C output of the mains transformer, no wonder the things noisy.

The valves (2 x 12AX7) are hung upside down from the PCB meaning they work loose when the amp is moved around.

Not enough thought has been given to protect some components against damage through over heating. Some of the tranistors in the driver stage get too hot due to no heat sinks being used. The main output transistors are on a huge heatsink so no problems there. It is not good design to put 2 X transformers and 2 x valves on the same PCB. This is done for cheapness, built to a price rather than a standard.

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 5
I have been playing 20 years in covers bands. An amp like this is a godsend because you don't need to carry a load of pedals and leads about as all the effects you need are built in. The valve pre-amp helps it sound like a real valve amp despite the ouput stage being completely solid state. Trouble is as a gigging guitarist I need an amp to be reliable and the AD120VT isn't. If you only ever play in your bedroom you may never have a problem. If you amp gets loaded in and out of the band van all the time however you will.
I will be buying another amp as soon as I can. I will keep the VOX but I will modify the design, ie move the valve transformers, change the ethernet sockets on the amp and controller for robust sockets, panel mounted and wired to the PCB. The wooden box will have to be braced to stop all the movement as well. Once all thats done I will try it at a few gigs but will take a spare amp (Tech 21 Trademark 60) The reason I can be bothered with the VOX is it does sound very, very good !! (when it works :)

Submitted by Danny G at 03/12/2005 13:34

Price Paid: US $900

Features: 6
My amp, was made in 2004.I think my amp is versatile for the style of music that I play.I play in a rock band,we have our songs and also covers like guano apes, anouk, alanis morissette, pink..It is a modelling amp with some cool effects.But only problem is the power it has 2x60 watts but iam not happy with power, because it doesnīt have much power this is the biggest problem.

Sound Quality: 7
It has a lot of cool sounds, a lot of different distortions, like high bright, uk high gain, recto...Iam using an ibanez AR 300 hs(husu series).My pickups are super 58.For my style of music, but the bigest problem is the power that it made. I donīt know if only my amp works like this or it is the same in the other 120 vt amps?You can create some good sounds, your amp can sound like Brian May, or others rockers.The clean channel is distorted at high volume it is a little bit crunchy.Distortion it dos not have a metal sound. For rock it is ok.

Reliability: 3
Well, I bought it 4 months ago, and after this period it dos not work good, the sound was not clean.It was crunchy.Then my service repaired it and after one wekend it happened the same shit.I hope they would give me a new amp.I hope so!!

Customer Support: 8
After damage i sent an e-mail to my dealer about my problem.They answered me in 2 days, so this is ok.And they told me how to help me, and what could be wrong.

Overall Rating: 8
I have been playing the guitar for about 7 years. I tried a lot of different guitars and amps, and I have to say that I found that everything that i bought didnīt work good. I had a lot of problems with my gear, Iam disappointed with products bought in the music shops.Iam thinking of an hand made-custom made amp.I wouldnīt buy this vox again.If i had enough money I would buy a hand made amp.My friend make good guitar amps.I love the effects but not enough power is the problem of my amp.Before i had an fender roc pro 700 it had 65 watt, but it had much more power than this amp.

Submitted by Matej at 03/08/2005 12:36

Price Paid: US $950 w/footswitch

Features: 10
I believe it was made in 2002. I purchased new back in '02, October.
The features are incredible. The wattage adjustment is handy, although you lose some of the tube saturation feel if you try to play it on the 1 watt setting. Someone said in an earlier review that
it sounds thin and has characteristics of a solid state only. I disagree! Another cool feature besides the ones everyone else has already listed is a good realistic impression of a tube amp in sound and feel. I set the amp on each of the Fender models, and compared it to my Princeton '68 reverb silverface. I'd say the Vox captured the tone and sting dynamics to about 90% accuracy. If you are conserned that you might not get the same string sag/glorious tube saturated feel, this Vox doesn't disappiont!

Sound Quality: 9
The styles the amp can do? More like what can't it do? I play a Carvin dc-127 strat style, but it has humbuckers in it. I've also used Strats and the Vox handles them well. I mostly play classic rock
and I believe it does these sounds the best. I have a friend that has a rig I really respect, a Sovtek 50 watter that crushes. He plays a lot of over the top metal grind kinda stuff, and he thinks the VOX IS AWESOME sonding on the high gain models. The caps on awesome are from his expession, not mine as I don't really get into that kind of music. Overall the amp is pretty quiet. Obviously you will start to get more noise if you use more gain and effects etc. as you would on any set up.

Reliability: 8
I've landed a consistent gig at various VFW halls and play benefits for three weekends a month for the entire time that I've owned this amp(around 2 years now). I guess I'm lucky because i haven't yet had any of the cutting out or hissing problems that others have described. I agree this a delicate amp. I baby this amp horribly,changing the tubes every 3-4 months, and use a flight case.
It is my main stage amp and I leave the Princeton at home,so at my gigs I have no back up-so far the Vox has not let me down.

Customer Support: 2
I don't know what I would do if some thing did happen, The company doesn't seem approachable at all! I believe you're on your own after the warranty. 1 1/2 yrs?

Overall Rating: 9
I've had a lot of pleasure from this amp. I really believe in kick ass tone machines that can have a special relationship with your soul. I know this is all subjective, but IMHO after playing for 12 yrs. I think about 90% of the guitar players that have also played for 12 yrs. or more even, would agree with this review.

Submitted by t-rex trav at 02/03/2005 17:32

Price Paid: US $650

Features: 10
I've had this amp for over a year now so i think i know it pretty well. The word 'versatile' is an understatement with this amp. As everyone knows it can model many different amps from different eras as well as most every effect imaginable, including going overboard with offering multiple styles of reverbs, delays, etc. Realistically, i probably don't use 80% of the effects, but it's nice to know they are there. The only feature i can think of that would be nice to have is an adjustable level on the line out. I've used this amp to record, as well as play live shows. Live, it had plenty of volume playing without being mic'd...with good room acoustics this sucker can really roar in a live setting. I've received many compliments on this amp and how loud it gets while still sounding great.

Sound Quality: 7
I play a Rickenbacker 330 and 360 through this. It was used in a previous band which played hardcore and the Vox was able to keep up and hold its own against Marshalls and Mesa Rectos. Now it is being used in a rehearsal studio setting for a punkish-powerpop band as we can record our sessions via the line out for an accurate reproduction of the guitar tone. The variety is great, esp i would imagine if you're in a cover band. But nowadays i am pretty much playing one style that i don't foresee changing from so a "one trick pony" amp suits my style better. As good as the Vox is, if you know what sound you want exactly, then it's better to get a tube based amp that will give you that tone. As warm as this gets, if you compare it to a good tube amp side by side, you will realize how thin the Vox is. It's the nature of solid state, even with a tube preamp. But if you need that versatility, you can't go wrong with this amp.

Reliability: 5
I dont mistreat my gear but this amp has a tear in the cover (don't know how it even happened) and a corner protector plate is coming unscrewed (it's like the screw hole is stripped because the screw wont re-seat in place). that is minor stuff i can live with. The BIG PROBLEM is one i've head quite often and that is the volume cuts off/on intermittently. I'll lose a good 10-15% volume suddenly and then at some point it kicks back on, then off etc. DAMN ANNOYING! esp if you're playing live. but recently i ran a EQ pedal thru the effects loop and the volume seems to have stabilized and fixed the problem. (??)

Customer Support: N/A
never tried to contact Vox

Overall Rating: 8
If you need versatility, i dont think anything else can beat this amp. But if you know what sound you want, then get *whatever it is* rather than this amp. i think you'll be happier in the long run.

Submitted by Anonymous at 01/26/2005 20:26

Price Paid: US $799.00

Features: 8
you know all the features. serial #849.

Sound Quality: 9
I bought this amp new a few years ago. I am in a cover band and play every weekend. this amp sounds great. no complaints there.

Reliability: 5
Okay!!!! I have had the same problems as everyone else. I have been keeping up with reviews since this amp was introduced. this amp eats tubes if played alot at high volumes. I replace my tubes about once every 2 months. I also run a cheap fan in the back of the amp to keep it cool. this amp will get hot and start acting buggy. I also bought a $40.00 computer backup power and surge protection unit. this seemed to solve all of the problems. This is kind of a fragile tool. It must be taken care of.

Customer Support: N/A
whatever.

Overall Rating: 6
been playing 21 years. own too much shit to list and who cares. I really love this amp. when it started to act up a year ago I started to look for a repacement. I now mainly play Bogner Shiva. I keep the vox at the rehearsal space. Will never buy one again.....

Submitted by E. at 01/07/2005 14:48

Price Paid: 575.00 (GBP)

Features: 8
same features as that have been mentiones before, no point repeating them again.
exteremley versatile, i play in a covers band, anything from the jam, clash, 80's indie to the black keys (dirty blues), it's perfect can get all the sounds i want.
i would like to see a cheaper pedal that just switches between patches which is why it only gets an 8, i don't need the full vox all singing pedal.

Sound Quality: 9
i've had this amp for 11 months now, that shuold be long enough for a decent review i think. (why do people review things without using them for a while) to those of you who reviewed this after playing it in a shop, you really haven't got a clue so stop posting stupid reviews that mean nothing to anyone.
i play with a thinline tele (72 reissue with HB's), a les paul special dc with P90's, a modified kay jazzer with P90's and an ibanez les paul special dc lawsuit copy with P90's (ok i like P90's).
i think it suits the P90's more than the humbuckers (maybe that's just the pick ups on the tele), i run mine with just a lead, dunlop cry baby wah and a tuner.
i like the fender sounds especially with the tube overdrive engaged and the 70's and 80's sounds, typical marshall.
i won't comment on the recto sounds, i don't like them.
also think the vox sounds are good.
a really usable range of tones and very responsive to pick dynamics.
i won't comment on all the effects because i don't use many, only the chorus which sounds fine, great reverb and the treble boost is good as well.
i do find it very strange that people keep A/B testing this amp with the originals, it's not an all tube amp so it isn't going to sound exactly like one (which really doesn't bother me) if you want a fender twin, go buy a fender twin !!!!
One point, you really need to play with the eq to get the exact sounds you want (as with any amp) and they are very interactive.
i think some people tend to give amps a bad review just because they don't seem to know how to use the eq properly.

Reliability: 8
it's been gigged regularly, without a back up, dropped once (it still worked) and it's been run at full throttle for quite a while as well.
no reason to believe it won't carry on doing so.

Customer Support: N/A
haven't had to use them

Overall Rating: 9
i've been playing and gigging for close to 25 years and this is the most versatile amp i've come across, warm, punchy, loud and it has some truely great sounds on board, would definately buy another.
to all those tone heads, if you want a vintage valve amp go buy one.
i doubt in a blind test most of you wouldn't know the difference anyway.

Submitted by Andy H at 11/27/2004 07:23

Price Paid: US $650 used

Features: 8
This is a very good amp. I've had it for 6 months or so and have traveled throught the mid west with it. I'm an active musician playing out 8 times a month with a rock band. I'm the only guitarist and use the effects quite a bit. It has stomp boxes built in to it that are very useful however you can only use one at a time. I wish that you could select compression and a tube screamer at the same time but you just can't. Don't rely on the fuzz, tube screamer or any other distortion if you want to add auto wah or compression or some other really cool stompbox to it because you just cant.

However there are 16 amps to choose from. The delays, modulations and reverbs are all set up as if they are running through a loop. and thats cool. All of these work just like you want them to in the right order. as follows:

stompbox - amp - modulation - delay - reverb

Sound Quality: 9
I use a Les Paul with this amp and is sounds excellent. It does what i want it to when i want it to. As long as i have the master volume set between 2:30 and 3:30. don't worry about the volume because you can change the wattage on the back of the amp, just be sure to turn it off before switching. I've read about others that didn't turn their amp off before changing wattage and later their vox would cut out intermittantly during shows. I've never experienced such and i don't want to.

This amp sounds 97% true of a real tube amp. I can only say that it must be the valve reactor and the loud volume settings (very key).

Reliability: 10
Has never given me any problems.

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: N/A
The vc-12 is a must. I look forward to buying another ad120vt to add on so i can have 2 tones at once controlled by 1 pedal.

Submitted by www.liptocoal.com at 11/03/2004 16:59

Price Paid: US $900

Features: 9
32 programs,16 amp types,22 effects. Only problem is wah, compress and o.d. effects are on the same dial so for each patch you can't use these effects together.

Sound Quality: 10
I use a american deluxe strat with stock pickups in neck and middle position and dimarzio hs3 in bridge. I play rock, funk, blues and I also play for church. I can pretty much get any sound I am needing with this amp.. sounds great.

Reliability: 5
I have been having the same problem that a lot of the reviews have noted cutting in and out etc. I got a computer power backup unit at best buy and my amp has been working fine. the unit is cyberpower425sl. It works like a power conditioner but is a lot cheaper.

I ended up getting cyberpower 425sl a power backup surge protecter from best buy in the computer section . The amp has been working fine eversince. 3 months so far.

Customer Support: 6
I sent it to
the shop and they couldn't find the problem. they suggsted a power conditioner

Overall Rating: 9
I've been playing on and off for 16 years. If it were lost or stolen I would propably replace it or get a good all tube amp. If your having problems with your valvetronix try the cyberpower power backup although it's meant for computers it fixed my amp problems for 40 dollars It's worth a try before you give up on such an awesome amp.

Submitted by Anonymous at 10/09/2004 15:19