Vox AD120VT Valvetronix 212 Combo

Price Paid: N/A

Features: N/A

Sound Quality: N/A
this is an update on my earlier review and a responce to all the dogging this amp has been taking. the only problem i've had with this amp is that one of my speakers started cutting in and out on me. this was due to a flaw in the headphone jack. it was easily fixed by simply pluging and unpluging a cord in the headphone jack. i haven't had anymore problems with it since. i've also added the valvetronix 4x12 cabinet with it and it is so loud at about 6 or 7 you can't stand to be in the same room with it. i also tested it against my singers marshall jcm 2000 with the vox on the uk modern setting. i set all the knobs on the vox exactly the same as the jcm 2000 and if you weren't looking you wouldn't have known the difference. it reacts like a tube amp should. if i roll back the volume on my guitar it cleans up and the clean amps react to picking style. i've never had any problem with excess buzzing and have never heard one with this problem. that sounds like it would be a bad tube or loose or dirty socket though. as far as the volume pedal not having any range mine is fine.it works better than alotof volume pedals i've seen. if you don't believe me go to www.mp3.com/soberrocks and listen to something in the air. i used the volume pedal on the foot controller to record the lead line. as a matter of fact all the guitars on all three songs are the vox.

Reliability: N/A

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: N/A

Submitted by moon at 08/13/2003 00:07

Price Paid: US $750

Features: 9
See numerous full descriptions in the other entries below!

Sound Quality: 9
I play a Tele Nashville, and a PRS EG3 (The PRS version of a strat -- now sadly discontinued). I like rock, blues and country, and this amp suits all three types of music very well.

First -- a comparison to the other brands of ling amps. I've owned 2 line-6 s (Flextone plus, AX2), and this one certainly beats both of those by a big margin. The AX2 could indeed get some good sounds, but only after mind numbing hours of tweaking, and even then I could get just 2 decent amp s worth playing in public, out of a list of 12 or more! And it's true that the AX2 sounds shrill and harsh at volume. I sold mine and don't miss it a bit.

The Vox, on the other hand, gave me a whole slew of really nice tones after just an hour of playing around, and still serves up surprises after a couple weeks of ownership. It's really simple to operate and to find good and even great sounds -- which is what we're all after in the first place! You DO have to give it a few minutes to find good sounds --- so don't just go to GC and twiddle the knobs for 3 minutes and give up. Spend a little time with it and it will be worth it.

I've also tried the Marshall and the Fender ling amps, and they just aren't as good sounding to me, and are much more annoying to use.

Now -- a comparison to tube amps. I've owned several of these as well (ampeg reverberocket, Fender twin, Fender super, V-series (crate) and others. The Vox compares very favorably to tube amps, In my opinion. I note a slight drawback to the Vox Valvetronix in that the sound from real tube amps seems to spring forth more freely and richly, and contains more a little bit complex overtones and wider ranging dynamics, etc. That is, the best of the tube amps inspire you to get totally lost in the instant gratification of playing. The Vox comes very close to this at times, too, but is still a tiny bit less satisfying to listen to. I'm not a tube snob, but want to be honest about the difference to tube amps. If you want to put a number to it, I'd say the Vox Valvetronix gives you 95% of the good stuff that a good tube amp offers. For the money though, the sounds are REALLY really good, and I'm very selective in my tastes. Which is to say that you'd have to be just insanely picky to find significant fault with sounds from this Vox. I give the sounds a 9 out of 10, only because tubes offer just a tiny bit more richness. Note though that I no longer own any tube amps, and am totally happy with the Valvetronix.

In the deal, you'll get a whole stable full of different amp sounds, compared to just a couple sounds with typical tube amps. I've really had some fun with the Fender Tweed simulations, the Marshall s, and even the Vox AC30TB . I'm not a thrasher, so the hi-gain US s aren't my cup of tea as I'm not into that type of music, but the Vox can certainly serve up some great metal overdrive as well.

So I regard this amp as a really great piece of work --- congrats to VOX for making a ling amp that sounds so diverse and so good, while being simple to use!

Reliability: N/A
Too soon to say.

Customer Support: N/A
Too soon to say

Overall Rating: N/A
I've had the amp for a couple weeks, and I'm very satisfied with it. I may do another installment after a couple months of ownership, to see how my opinion develops as the honeymoon wears off!

For now -- great amp!

Submitted by Russ at 08/11/2003 20:01

Price Paid: N/A

Features: N/A

Sound Quality: N/A
For you "hiss/hum" guys
Is the problem there even if nothing is plugged to the amp?(like on mine)
Iīm interested in knowing that, because I want to be sure if it is the same thing we are talking about here.

Altso I want to mentoin the VC-4 foot controller. I donīt like to be negative (on purpose) but,but,but... Letīs call it constructive critic.
First it is way to small. With normal sized foot youīd be very lucky to hit the right button, -most likely you will push two buttons at the same time.
Next thing may not be such a big problem, but still it seems a little bit unfinished, that you canīt switch between all 32 programs from the controller. It gives the impression that maybe there are other tings about these products(amp/contrl.) thatīs unfinished. Maybe something inside you canīt see?(what about the hiss/hum?)
Last issue though,is really the thing that makes this unit almost unusable to me. The problem is that the pedal only responds within the last 30-40% when you push it downwards. It reacts almost like a switch. When used as expression pedal ex wahwah, the whole idea of the word "expression" is lost when the limit of your expression lays within 2 cm of movement of the pedal. As volume controll there is absolutly no way it can work. If you ex after a solo try to lower the volume a bit , well it is practically impossible just to move your foot so little that itīs just adequate, and the result is that you turn the volume totaly down.
So too me this is a switch, not a expression pedal and not a volume pedal.
The manual describes a procedure to calibrate the unit. Iīve done exactly that, and guess what! -it does not help what so ever.

Iīve sometimes been attempted to push a schrewdriver into the little hole at the back of the unit and turn it around and see what happens.
This schrew is not mentoined in the manual. Does anyone know what it there fore??

The only good thing I can say about this controller , is the tuner. Because there are two more leds than on the amp, you can tune more exactly an steady. But still, if a tuner is what you need, then buy a tuner so you donīt have to pay for the extra features thatīs supposed to be on this unit, wich I find practicly unusable.

Reliability: N/A

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Overall Rating: N/A

Submitted by tj at 08/11/2003 10:18

Price Paid: N/A

Features: N/A

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Thank God others have had the "hissing" problem. I think it has something to do with grounding. When I purchased mine 6 months back and brought it to my practice space I heard zero noise. When I brought it to a studio for recording it hissed/hummed really loudly. The studio techs originally blamed it on my single coils / semi-hollowbody Hammer Vanguard, but I tried it with a series of PRS's, a Les Paul and an SG with the same results. As a result, I was unable to use it on the recording. Since then, I've had no issues with it hissing back at the practice space - but I'm afriad to bring it to a gig until I get this settled. Anyone have any thoughts?

Reliability: N/A

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Submitted by Anonymous at 08/07/2003 10:51

Price Paid: N/A

Features: N/A

Sound Quality: 9
This is in reply to the guy with the hiss, mine does not hiss!! My amp is quiet as a mouse!! And just to add, I solved the hiss problem with the OD pedal models by using the low sensetivity input instead of the high. Mine's from the UK though, so whether there is any difference I do not know.

Sorry if I sounded condescending in my review, I did not mean to.

Reliability: N/A

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 9

Submitted by Mark Adams at 08/01/2003 14:05

Price Paid: N/A

Features: N/A

Sound Quality: 9
Hi
First I have to admit that iīve searchīd the internet and these rewiews, if I could find anyone with the same problem that I experiensed with my valvetronics 120 ad, from the very first time i switced it on.
The problem is hiss.
The last rewiew I read on this board could the same have been written by me.
The hiss has nothing to do with the gain settings or amplifier type(though some amp.types are a little quieter)or adjustment of the noise supressor. I have tried all that.
Even when nothing is plugged to the amp an the master volume is fully down, there is such a loud hiss that I really canīt belive it is expected to be there on a amp produced past year 2000 by a serious company like Vox.
To me, it seems like the nature of the hiss has something to do with 50 hz buzz from the power supply. Iīm not sure, but my suspicion is directed to the trafo that is mounted only a few millimeters from the right speaker.
Any way I have to say that the overall sound of the amp itself is really good and I like the versatility witch pleases almost all the needs of a guitarplayer that plays many styles(like me) - but still..... if I ex wanted to go to a serious sounsdudio to record something with my new amp(2 months), they would kick me and my gear out the same minute the amp was switched on.
So now I wonder if it is only me and the person that wrote the previous rewiew that experiense this problem?

My rating of the sondquality will only be for the overall impression(without hiss)

Reliability: N/A

Customer Support: 1
I called the store where I bought the amp, immidatly after I first exp. the problem(hiss/buzz),-ca 2 days after I recieved it.
When I was hangin in the phone, he(the salesperson) tryed out an amp in the store and came back to me and said, -yes I can hear this hiss and he was sorry but this was normal for the valveronics.

Well what can I do? I am the owner of a noname amp that my father bought to me 15 years ago. When set on the floor side by side, my noname and my Vox, I can say that the Vox is 3-4 times more noisy. Quite disappointing

This rating is a bit difficult because they tried to help, but to me the help was worthless.

So I really donīt know what to do.
The only thing I can do is maby to find somebody who ownes a valvetronics and and then compare them together. This way I can find out if it is just me(and the writer of the previous rewiew) that have a problem or this is a general to all the owners in the world.

Overall Rating: N/A

Submitted by Terje Johannesen at 08/01/2003 05:41

Price Paid: US too much

Features: N/A

Sound Quality: 6
Hi, This is for the guy who posted this comment about the hiss being a simple case of adjusting the noise suppressor. Hello don't you think I tried that?! I can read you know and it was one of the first things I tried. I also exchanged emails with many owners of this amp and they have the same problem and all have sent them back. IT SUCKS for recording unless you like hiss for an Effect. It is NOT a simple case of a noise suppressor.

Can you read? It happens even on clean setups...I don't call that high gain! LOL. Even on the pre-programmed settings I got the hiss and I don't call that manual mode.

GET THIS STRAIGHT: I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT HIGH GAIN HISS WHILE PLAYING, BUT WHEN THE AMP IS IDLE OR PARTS OF A SONG WHERE YOU DONT PLAY for a second or two then continue playing! HELLO!!!! The sound is kick ass and the best I heard, but that idle hiss is such a drag. I played on high game amps that cost 1/3 the price of this one with NO HISS at pauses OR during playing! This guys quote is BS and redundant. It's not my guitar either. I have 3 other guitars that do the same thing. The guitar is not the issue. I'm not playing with crappy non-shielded imported-crap-pickups on a slab of plywood.

FOR THE RECORD AGAIN, It sounds great when playing, BUT SUCKS BECAUSE IT HISSES WHEN IDLE OR A PAUSE IN YOUR PLAYING.

Here is his quote:
"The review below mentions a lot of hiss, well, if you're in manual mode, then yes you will get a lot of hiss as manual mode resets the Noise Gate, all you need to do is adjust it and the hiss is either quiet or goes away completely depending on your gain/volume settings."

There is, however, an issue when using the OD pedal models along with some amp models. For example, kick in the tubescreamer pedal model along with the UK Modern amp model and you get a fair bit noise and, if close to the amp, some microphonic feedback, and that's with my EMG pickups! God knows what it would be like if I had passive pickups! This is the ONLY bad thing though.

Reliability: N/A

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: N/A

Submitted by J at 07/28/2003 20:48

Price Paid: Ģ529 UK (The Pedal was Ģ135 so call it Ģ664 in total.)

Features: 9
I'll only run through the best features as all of them have been mentioned in the gazillion other reviews below.

Auto-Wah - a lot of people don't like this, and yeah it's not a patch on a proper wah-pedal, but it IS really funky and you can get a lot of usable tones from it.

Virtual FX loop - The Chorus in particular is very good, nice choices of three delay type (digital, tape & multihead) all of which sound great.

Noise Gate - yes there is a built in noise gate and you CAN adjust the amount of noise reduction to stop hiss (see more on this below).

Chromatic Tuner - No need to borrow my brothers tuner anymore, got my own now!!

The Power selector - This is the BEST feature on this amp, you can stick the wattage down to 1 watt per speaker and practice at stupid o'clock without annoying anyone, and then pump it up to 60watts to really roar!! It's fantastic.

There is the issue of the pedal-board however, it costs an arm and a leg and is pretty much essential, is it worth Ģ135? Doesn't look it to me, Ģ75 maybe, but not Ģ135, especially since the expression pedal isn't that great and the setting for turning the wah on and off is on the other end of the pedal (major flaw!!). So I'm rating the features a 9, not 10.

Sound Quality: 9
Ok, I'm playing an Ibanez RG470L (lefty!) with EMG pickups (81-SA-85) straight into the amp. Now I believe there is something in this amp for EVERY style of player, from country music (which I hate) to screaming metal (which is what I love and play).

I'm a big Metallica Fan, there's a pre-set patch called "Puppet Master" which attempts to emulate Metallica's sound, and I'll be honest, I was impressed when I first heard it, not a bad attempt, I tweaked it though (added more gain, treble and presence) to get it sounding better. Word of warning to anyone who wants a good Mesa/Boogie Rectifier sound though, if you ask me, the Recto amp setting is crap and is the worst of all the amp models. BUT, the other models are great for ALL kinds of metal, from 80's hair metal to the nu-metal of today.

The review below mentions a lot of hiss, well, if you're in manual mode, then yes you will get a lot of hiss as manual mode resets the Noise Gate, all you need to do is adjust it and the hiss is either quiet or goes away completely depending on your gain/volume settings. There is, however, an issue when using the OD pedal models along with some amp models. For example, kick in the tubescreamer pedal model along with the UK Modern amp model and you get a fair bit noise and, if close to the amp, some microphonic feedback, and that's with my EMG pickups! God knows what it would be like if I had passive pickups! This is the ONLY bad thing though.

The clean sound is great, the Dumble model (Boutique CL) sounds great with some chorus and a little reverb for the clean Metallica sound. Or, if you’re into U2, the Vox models with some delay are great for The Edge's clean tone. Also, Nickelback use this amp for their clean tone, if it's good enough for them, it's got to be good enough for pretty much anyone!

I mentioned the great metal sounds above, and yes the distortion really is great!! I prefer the UK Modern, UK '80S and US HIGAIN settings, but the Boutique OD is a nice sound and if you like the sound of the Marshall JCM 900 amps then the UK '90S setting should suit you as it sounds exactly like my brother JCM 900 Dual Reverb amp.

I'm not rating this 10 because of the problems when using the tubescreamer and rat pedal models with higain amp models. But don't let that put you off, this amp sound AMAZING!

Reliability: N/A
Only had 4 days so I can't really comment much here, I have read several of the reviews below and the main issue seems to be the amp cutting out. One guy seems to think it may be due to changing the watt setting while the amp is still on, which makes sense to me as there's a reason the control for it is on the BACK of the amp, if it was meant to be fiddled with along with all the other knobs it would be on the main panel but it's not. So, if you're gonna change the wattage, turn off your amp and wait a little while, change the wattage, turn back on.

Customer Support: 1
I e-mailed Vox about the possible problem with it cutting out, I asked if they were aware of it and if so had they fixed it, no reply, so they get a 1 rating here as I sent that e-mail almost a fortnight ago.

I'll also mention the manual here, its MEGA cheesy, to go as far as saying its downright insulting (as someone did say in their review) is going too far I reckon as it really is helpful to the layman. They could have just toned down the cheesy quips. But it's not a BAD manual by any stretch. You want to see a bad manual? Get a Roland amp, their manuals SUCK!

Overall Rating: 9
I play at home only (rarely to I jam with anyone), before I got this amp I was using a Roland Cube30, which is a great little amp, but I wanted more features, more control over the effects etc. So I first looked at the Roland VGA-7, never managed try one out or the Vox as the music stores never had them, and even if they did, with me being a lefty I'd end up testing them on a pathetically set up piece o'crap. I went for the Vox because they have valves, which ALWAYS add to the tone.

If it were lost or stolen I'd probably buy it again, or maybe try a Line6 Duoverb.

What I love about this amp is the great metal tone and the fact that I can practice at really LOW volumes, I don't hate anything about it as it hasn't pissed me off yet. If there was something I would wish for it would be a better pedal-board, it's quite basic for the price you pay for it.

A word about the price of this amp, you shouldn't have to pay any more than Ģ550 for the amp, one music store I went into wanted Ģ799 for it, I told them I'd 'think about it'. I bought it online from www.soundslive.co.uk and they delivered it the next day!

Submitted by Mark Adams at 07/20/2003 16:02

Price Paid: US $1000

Features: 7
You should know all the features by now. The most noteworthy are the tubes and output selector. While it has nice sounding effects they are very basic, but sound good. The foot pedal is crap. Don't waste your money. IF you bought a package deal and it came with one sell it on ebay. As for the controls and the way they work it kind of limiting... It doesn't like other distortion pedals too well, but it depends on your taste. This was the best partial tube mimic amp I had less the noise. I cant stress that enough. This IS NOT A GIG AMP!!!!!!! Crappy footcontroller=no way in hell for gigging.

Sound Quality: 7
It has a great sound to it HOWEVER this damn thing has a low audible noise when idle. I tried contacting Vox and spent time swapping emails on the forum. I had the combo version. I also got the head and cab version. It was 'rumored' the hiss was from the speakers being too close to the transformer. It sounded like the problem because you could get close to the speakers and where the transformer was(right side) that speaker put out more hiss than the left. So I went ahead and sold the combo and got the head+cab version. To my disappointment the thing had the same damn hiss. I put in some electro harmonix tubes and it helped that problem a tad, but still not good enough for a freaking $1000 amp setup. The replaced tubes also enhanced its clarity. For those who say they don't have a noise problem are VERY forgiving! Just because it's drowned out when playing doesn't suit me. I mean come on! even on freaking clean sounds it does this. I have high gain solid states that are dead quiet when not playing. It's not a freaking 60 cycle noise or anything that can fix it. I've tried monster speaker cables on the head version.. Don't get me wrong the sounds from this are incredible. Also, if this bastard doesn't give you enough metal sounds get a BBE-362 Sonic Maximizer. It will give you a hard on. Also ad a Eq in the effects loop. You'll be surprised... but not good enough to make me settle for a noisey ass bitch. If it had no noise it will be untouchable.

Reliability: 8
First off the stupid ass gold pinstripes are a joke. You pick it up and they rub right off. It's pathetic. While I had no problems from this operating I rate the construction as cheezy. Please note... Swapping tubes are a breeze on the head and a little harder on the combo. All you do is turn it over and get double stick tape and pull. The BAD thing I noticed is if you F' up the socket you're screwed. They go right into the circuit board. Also, the warranty is one freaking year! I say work the hell out of it and try everything out the first month to make sure it's gonna last. I take care of my stuff, however I'm nervous about the plastic crap knobs and such. The cab for the head is sweet! It's built well and is like a feather compared to the head. Seriously! I was like woah!!! BTW, these are made in korea... also they are built better than fenders as far as the woods and such.

Customer Support: N/A
They don't give a shit. I sent them people many emails and not one damn word. ignorant jerks.

Overall Rating: 6
ATTN: Both the Combo version and the head+cab have audible noise. It kind of ruins the rest of the amp. The foot pedal does that too. Sorry if there are any typos.. I'm not writing a paper for an english teacher so go figure.

Submitted by Anonymous at 07/16/2003 23:18

Price Paid: US $1200

Features: N/A
amp was built 2002
the specifics are already well published here

Sound Quality: 2
I play older rock and blues with a bit of new and original material
I play a G&L Bluesboy, Stinger ( a tele knockoff) and a washburn strat type guitar (heavily modified with humbuckers, coil splitters, piezo pickups, effects loop switched from the guitar. 1 meg pots...)
the sounds are fine.
but mine is very noisy the hiss is unbearable. I took it to a tech who says all of them he has tried are the same ???
the amp also breaks up at high gains, not a desirable breakup.

Reliability: 3
I had the amp three months before its frst visit to a tech.
4 months to the second trip.
only had it for five months.

Customer Support: 5
company was freindly but unable to help.
I waited months for the foot controller.
In my opinion they over sold the line and have been running to fast to try to keep up with demand.

Overall Rating: 2
I have been playing for 40 years. I have owned fenders, and Marshalls I currently own a Marshall JCM900 with a vintage cabinet and a fender Por junior. The little fender is not as loud as the Vox but I think its twenty times the amp. I bought it for portability.I will be going back to a Marshall probably a DSL 40 as soon as I can find some unknowing soul to buy this amp. I am being nice calling it an amp too by the way. As I think it barely qualifies as a toy.

Submitted by Anonymous at 07/15/2003 14:15