Vox AD15VT Valvetronix

Price Paid: N/A

Features: 10
I don't own one of these. I just played a gig through a borrowed one. However, on the night there was too much choice on offer. I just settled for the AC15 and Marshall Major models and used the guitar's volume control. Pretty responsive.

Sound Quality: 8
Played a rock/ pop gig with it, hence wish for cleanish sounds with a bit of filth here and there. Did deliver it up.
Pre gig did a bit of fiddling around with the other settings and they were nice sounding. The problem I found was that with some of the high gain settings that were meant to model large stacks (like Rectifier and Marshall) it'd sound like you were running a head into a small cabinet that started to rattle around all over the place. The quality of the combo models more than makes up for this anyway, so it's not a problem to my ears. If I had one of these I'd hardly ever use the metal type settings. But buyer beware. If you want the heavy stuff try and judge before you buy.

Reliability: N/A
Can't say over time, but it got me thorugh the gig okay.

Customer Support: N/A
N/A

Overall Rating: 8
Good fun and a useful gigging and recording tool if you need variety. I suppose my experience of playing with this was like the person whose just bought it: You go through a wild honeymoon period, overjoyed and overwhelmed at at the quality and variety of sounds on offer.

As mentioned, I only borrowed this amp so I can't tell if the honeymoon period would last with me. Pretty quickly I honed in on the sounds I needed and stuck with them.
k aod looproduct. I've got all the effects I want and they're better than the generic- but truly excellent- stuff on offer here. I know the key three or four sounds I like and use and this amp more or less delivers them. But I'd recommend that you have a look at this amp if you want a serious 'one size fits all' amp that is superb value for money.

Submitted by Anonymous at 01/05/2006 02:16

Price Paid: 134 (euro) used

Features: 9
Its pretty versatile! Lots of Sounds in this little Cabinet!!!

Sound Quality: 10
Bought this Combo used over ebay. As I had the Pathfinder 15 for years, and knew, that vox is able to build good amps, I was wondering, what improvements vox could bring in such a little
Cabinet. I use a Fender Strat USA Standard, and a Vision Strat Copy, which is very cheap (50.- Euro) I couldn-t believe it first, what I heard. The Vox Valvetronics can do the tube Thing. This is no joke. What I like most, is the AC 30 Model, the clean sound is awesome, and the crunch sounds also. This amp rocks! It has a drive, you will not believe your ears. While playing I always was askin myself:
Can this little Speaker bring out such a full sound? This is a sound Monster! Whitout doubt. I got it for 134 Euro. Its really worth 200.-or more! Its the best practise amp I-ve ever had. Second best ist my
pathfinder, but its not so versatile. The AD15vt is astonishing loud!
The wood its made of, seems not so sturdy. In comparison to my pathfinder 15, which is a very good amp, (bout 130 Euro new) I can say: Buy the Valvetronix. Great sparkling tube Sounds and Clean Sounds you have always dreamed about! I enjoy it very much. Its hard, to stop playing. I-d buy it again in a moment.
wiedema

Reliability: 7
Seems not as sturdy, as I would like to have it.

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 10
It's phantastic. Full tone. And: Its full of Quality tones. Effects
are good and useable. This amp can replace a tube amp. Instead of that you get a lot of tube amps in one Combo. No joke.

Submitted by wiedema at 12/26/2005 07:18

Price Paid: US $167

Features: 8
I bought this new recently (2005) for a practice amp for my daughter and me. It models various older amps, and has built in effects. It has a preamp tube in, but is solid state otherwise. We use it at home, and it's plenty loud for that, but I doubt it would be suitable for gigging with a full band.

Sound Quality: 7
The amp is pretty versatile, as promised. I think most of the settings sound surprisingly good for the price and size of the amp. It has a model setting for "UK 80's", which I assume is supposed to sound like a Marshall JCM 800 of the era -- I have one of those too, and they really don't sound the same, but the Vox does sound interesting and good. I suppose the one tube helps, but it's evident that this is a solid state amp, albeit an unusually good-sounding one. I don't like the effects much, but then I never really liked digital effects, which I assume they are. Some of them are fun, like the "auto-wah".

Reliability: N/A
No real opinion here, because I've only had it a few months, and it's been safley at home the whole time. No problems yet, though.

Customer Support: N/A
Never dealt with the company, or considered the warranty

Overall Rating: 8
This is a great value for a small practice amp, and I highly recommend it.

Submitted by antichef at 12/23/2005 20:43

Price Paid: $450.00 (Australian)

Features: 8
we know that by now

Sound Quality: 6
Good clean sounds but very hard to find a good distortion sound, I am playing Gibson and Fender and the guitars get lost in this amp. The effects are not the best but are useable. The modelling factor is somehow a nice tool for practise at home but I would not gig with it. I still think it's one of the best bedroom amps out there for the money.

Reliability: 7
8 monyh old, so far so good

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 7
As I said, good amp for the money but do not expect too much from it

Submitted by norm at 12/23/2005 17:15

Price Paid: US $175.00

Features: 8
Everyone's posted the features already so I'm not going to regurgitate it back. Lots of features. Takes awhile to get used to the tweaking.

Sound Quality: 7
Sounds are decent. Lots of effects to work with. Headphones to practice without driving people crazy. It's not tube quality but it's decent.

Reliability: 3
Well...it was great for the short period of time I was able to use it. It's weird in that sometimes the amp just doesn't work right away. Sometimes I just have to fiddle with it a bit to get it to work. One day, I went to practice a bit. Whipped out my guitar and plugged the guitar cable in and jammed on it. Afterwards, I unplugged the guitar cable and guess what? The guitar input broke and fell into the amp leaving a little hole there. I suppose I'm going to have to open it up and try and fix it. Cheapo stuff.

Customer Support: N/A
Haven't talked to them yet. Going to try and fix the guitar input myself. Otherwise, I'm going to try to take it back to the shop and exchange it but the shop I bought it from kind of stinks. They have a 3-day cash refund policy. I'm not sure what their policy is on exchanges.

Overall Rating: 5
Wasn't happy with the purchase. I guess you get what you pay for. I'm in need of a good practice amp and leaning towards one of those nifty low wattage all-tube amps. Maybe a Little Lanilei, Bumbox, Zvex Nano or Gilmore Jr.

Submitted by MoRawk at 12/19/2005 21:28

Price Paid: US $60.00

Features: 9
this is the latest practice amp out by vox the ad15 valvetronix ..it has one channel 11 amp models from clean , to down n dirty rectifiers, and marshall distrtion...and all the effects you need for almost any musical situation...i walked into a pawn shop to get something else , and saw this little thing sitting down on the floor...picked it up for $60.00 , in almost new condition and took it back to my place.when i plugged it straight into a slave p.a. , and then into a randall 4 x 12 cabinet, i was blown away!!! i thought vox amps were tinny stale outdated brit tone boxex??? this little thing surprised me...

Sound Quality: 10
i use a epihone les paul copy ,and and ibanez les copy , and a epiphone semi hollowbodyw/bigbsy trem...i plugged it in and hid it behind the 4 x 12 cabinet and called some old buddys to come by and jam...played for about an hour before they caught on to this little amp...none could beleive all those amps and effects were coming out of this little 15 watt vox!!! now they all want one!! ive owned many marshall tube amps,carvin tube amps{rule!}, and tons of solid state crap...this thing has some pretty convincing amp models ...most people wouldnt now the diffrence, i would use this live!!

Reliability: N/A
built like all other vox amps , sturdy and kinda dated looking , but.....im in love now! gotta get the advt 60 watt next!!!and the matching 4 x 12w/ celestions!!

Customer Support: N/A
not had to deal with em, hope i never do! i guess korg/ marshall owns them now???!!

Overall Rating: 10
pick one of these babys up at a pawn shop near you!!! okay , i originally bought this for my daughter to play with , but it never made it to her, i got greedy!!!unless your a true tube amp tone purist{snob}, you will be near that tone heaven , and closer to your goal of acheiving the perfect tone with one of these babys!!! check it out man!!

Submitted by big daddy at 12/18/2005 23:18

Price Paid: US $179.00

Features: 10
This little amp has many bells and whistles. It has a tube preamp, but I beleive the power amp is solid state. It's versatile and could be used for virtually any kind of music. I generally use the clear sounds with reverb (surf music style), but it can get a myriad of overdriven sounds (from blues to metal.) I use it for recording and practice. It has a selector for amp modelling and another for effects, which allows for a very versatile sound.

Sound Quality: 10
The sound quality is excellent. I use it mostly with a Strat. I've never had this little amp's volume past the mid-point. It's plenty loud at that setting for around the house, but I've never gigged or used this amp with a band.

Reliability: 2
This is one area I've had problems. In about 3 or 4 months the effects module went out. I took it back to Century Music where I bought it, where it stayed for about a month. I kept getting the run-around with them. I'd call, one guy would say it was fixed, I'd drive 15 miles to get there to find out from another guy it wasn't fixed. Finally, I bitched at 'em enough they just gave me another AC15 VT Valvetronic amp, which I'm still using without any problems for about 5 or 6 months now. The tech was never able to solve the effects problem on the original.

Customer Support: N/A
I didn't deal with VOX directly.

Overall Rating: 7
I've been playing for about 25 years. I own or have owned crap-loads of guitars over the years. If I lost this amp I probably would not replace it, just because of the dependability issue. A friend of mine had a VOX AC30 which was very dependable, so I'm not completely turned off of VOX yet. I can't deny the sound quality of this amp is probably the best I've heard for its size, and it's reasonably priced.

Submitted by RC Phillips at 11/12/2005 22:41

Price Paid: N/A

Features: 9
Vox 15 Watt modeling amp with a 12ax7 tube in the power amp circuitry for supposed tube warmth & feel. It uses a DSP to simulate 11 classic tube guitar amp models, plus digital effects. This amp is part of the current Vox line up (2005), and sells for $179 new at www.musiciansfriend.com and guitar center.

Sound Quality: 6
Unfortunately this amp fails to deliver on its promise. It lacks the warmth & feel of a real tube amp. I used an American Standard Strat & a Gibson Les Paul Custom to audition this amp. None of the amp models sounded inspiring or authentic with either guitar. I think most people that review this amp have never played through a real classic tube amplifier. The built in effects certainly help to cover the sterile tone. Overall the sound is very comparable with all the other modeling gear out there.

Reliability: N/A

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 6
The Vox AD15VT is a cheap practise amp with a lot of bells & whistles. I would not buy it, nor would I recommend it for anyone who is serious about guitar tone. If you have a tight budget check out an Epiphone Valve Junior amp. You'll have to add pedals for effects, but it is a much better base sound to build on. It also looks better IMO.

Submitted by DS at 11/09/2005 10:28

Price Paid: US $179

Features: 10
amp models of the classic fender marshalls etc. im not real impressed with the fender models which make up maybe 20% of the amps but it doesnt matter since the others are soo good.

Sound Quality: 9
i play a epiphone casino and a fender fat strat through it and they both sound great. the amount of tones/styles is amazing. i play mostly rock and mellow stuff. cleans are great distortion is full. the settings i use most are the ac30 amp model with the delay...very nice.

Reliability: N/A
no problems yet after 6 months of almost daily playing

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 10
ive been playing for 8yrs. and feel this is the most inexpensive /valuable piece of gear i own. i love it. you can seriously create any sound you want no joke. there are those that will say this is o.k. not fit for pro use etc. dont listen to them, many people think that having a $2000 marshall rig makes them jimmy page. it doesnt. if you can play you can get good sounds out of all but the lamest amps. if you want an amp for home, practice,and recording try this you will be impressed. by the way id mike this through a p.a. for shows. i saw u2 and the stones this year both keef and the edge were using amps 30-50 watts max. this is an all around great piece of gear.

Submitted by kevin at 11/05/2005 23:01

Price Paid: US $179.00

Features: 5
See the other reviews. For the price, the level of features is excellent. I wish there were a way to bundle the effects differently (I like to use phase/reverb together which I cannot do with this amp). Also, I wish there were more memory settings.

Sound Quality: 6
In my opinion, better than anything in its price range, in fact, I was really impressed with the range of this under $200 USD amp. This is a wonderful home amplifier. That being said... I really enjoyed this amplifier when I bought it but am now finding the sounds to be a little artificial. The Fender sounds are a bit nasal for example and I much prefer my Blues Jr. (I use that example because I consider the Blues Jr to be a home/studio amp). BUT, that is really not a fair comparison because, first of all, my Blues Jr was 3x the price and second, my Blues Jr is no where as versitile. The high gain sounds are a lot of fun.

In short - I like just about all of the sounds from this little guy, but, there is a certain drynesses overall. That being said, even at twice the price, I wouldn't be disappointed.

****QUESTION: Has anyone swapped out the speaker in one of these - would that make a difference?****

Reliability: N/A
No problems - have owned it for about a year

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 8
I have too many guitars (says my wife) so I have experimented with many configurations. I don't know how else to say it other than I like this amp so much that I wish it were a little better. I honestly don't think you'll find a better amp for the price. Maybe its the 8 inch speaker but overall, the sounds are all a litte dry. The "modeling" concept is a little far fetched though and, in the spirit of truth in avertising, each model should be followed with the suffex "ish"... Tweed-ish, Marshall-ish, Boogie-ish...

Still, if were lost or stolen, for the price, I'd buy another. Great value.

Submitted by D at 11/02/2005 08:47