Vox AD15VT Valvetronix

Price Paid: US $179.00

Features: 9
This is considered a hybrid amp, half Solid State, half Tube.
I'm not going to go much into the features. You can read the other reviews for that.

It has the basic features you would expect in a small practice amp.
Does not have an effects loop, but most this size don't anyway.

All the amp models sound great, effects sound good, but I'll never use anything but reverb. I use mostly the blackface, AC15, and AC30TB. Hey, it's a Vox. I use it for the Vox sound.

It has as close to a tube sound as you can get without being a full on tube amp. If you have no experience with tube amps, you are not going to get it. Tube amps have a saturated, multi-dimensional sound you just can't duplicate very easy.

This amp can do the tube thing.

The only reason I'm not giving this amp a 10 in this category, is that you can't separate the time-based effects from the pedal type effects. They separate them in the internal chain, but far as selection, you can't do that. Other versions of Valvetronix amps separate the pedal from the time-based effects, but this is a low cost amp. They had to cut somewhere.

We did some research into the amp models.
To avoid copyright infringement some companies are no longer stating which amps they are emulating. So, they give it a
generic title, but put a few descriptive words in the documentation so you can figure it out.

Here is the list:
Boutique CL: Dumble Overdrive Special
Black 2X12: Fender Blackface
Tweed 4X10: Fender Bassman
AC15: Vox AC15
AC30TB: Vox AC30 Top Boost
UK 70's: Marshall Super Lead
UK 80's: Marshall JCM800
UK Modern: Marshall JCM900
Numetal: Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier
US Higain: Soldano SLO100
Boutique OD: Dumble Overdrive Special

I may be wrong, but most feel the list is accurate.

Sound Quality: 10
First off, you really have to understand how this thing works. It does not work like other modeling amps where they digitally try to mimic the sound of a tube amp. You just cannot get there that way. There is some initial digital shaping of the basic tone, but the real magic comes later.

It also, does not work like other hybrid amps that have a tube preamp. Anybody familiar with tube amps knows that the preamp is just part of the circuit.

In a full tube amp, you have a tube preamp and a tube power amp. What they do in the Valvetronix is take a 12AX7 duel triode tube and use half of it for the preamp, and the other half for a low wattage power amp. Then in simple terms, they amplify the tube power amp output via a second Solid State power amp.

The simplest analogy is if you took a tube amp and put a microphone in front of it and then amplified it through your PA system. In essence, this is what they are doing.

If your looking for tube tone, this amp can do just about anything you want. I you want anything that sounds like a solid state, then forget it. If tubes are what you crave, then this is it.

With the selection of amp models, you can't go wrong. Any style of music you want to play, as long as it sounds good on a tube amp, will sound great with this amp.

Reliability: N/A
So far, so good. Had it about a month now.

Customer Support: N/A
N/A

Overall Rating: 10
I bought this for my 10-year-old son. Now I wish I had bought it for myself. This is THE practice amp. You need not look anywhere else.

I use a Fender Telecaster made of parts, an American Series Stratocaster. My son has a Squire hot rodded butterscotch Tele, and a black Gibson Les Paul.

I spent a lot of time last year evaluating small practice amps. Marshall, Fender, Kustom and a few others I can't remember. I even pushed into the Fender DynaTouch series, but none had the tone and warmth I wanted for blues, jazz and classic rock.

The hands down winner at that time was the Vox Pathfinder 15R. It sounded so much better then any of the other small maps. However, after I got this amp for my son, I put them side by side, and it made the Pathfinder sound like a toy.

Don't get me wrong, the pathfinder is still a great amp, but the AD15VT is a phenomenal amp. It gives you a huge sound you would only expect in a much larger amp, and I'm not talking about just volume, it is that multi-dimensional tube sound.

The down sides to it are:

* The time-based effects can't be separated, but that is the way all onboard effects are.
* Does not come with a foot switch, but most small amps don't anyway.
* Comes with a metal grill instead of the traditional Vox diamond cloth.
* It would be nice if it had a CD input.
* It belongs to my son, instead of me.

Submitted by Photoweborama at 05/10/2005 03:22

Price Paid: US $179

Features: 5
This review is simply my impressions after spending about a half an hour with this amp, demo-ing it in a guitar store, so take it for what it's worth. It has alot of features, but I'm not sure how useful they really are.

Sound Quality: 5
My general impression was that it's a very cheap amp that sounds pretty good, especially for the price, but after discussing it with the salesperson, I went away very skeptical of the amp's long-haul durability. The sounds were generally good, although truthfully I could only see using two of the amp models. The effects were "okay," but not nearly as tweakable as on your basic stompbox version of the same thing.

Reliability: 5
Salesman told me that he had three returned for repairs in recent memory, two of which with the input jacks fallen through the cabinet.

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 5
I think that if this amp was to never leave your house and you wanted a decent practice rig with some easily-attainable effects, you'd probably love it, at least in the short term. And the price is damn attractive for that purpose. But if you aspire to use it for any "real world" applications, my impression is that this will fall short of expectations, especially over time. Like I said, this is after a half an hour of use, so I don't claim to have an in-depth understanding or a detailed experience with this model. I went to the store to buy one, but I left without it, deciding to save a little more cash for something more substantial.

Submitted by Anonymous at 04/19/2005 08:01

Price Paid: US $179.00

Features: 9
Probably made in 2004. Extremely versatile amp. All the features have been covered quite well, so I'm not going to repeat them. You can play any kind of music on this amp. Best $179.00 I ever spent. I keep this amp in my living room but it has more than enough power to play small gigs with if that's what you want it for. Now, for more stuff. I laughed my ass off when I read the one review where the guy says a Marshall MG15 is better than this amp. What a crock of shit. Either the guy is sniffing glue or he doesn't know anything about amps, or both. Comparing these two amps is like comparing apples and oranges, and I also have a Marshall MG10CD, a Marshall MG15CDR as well as a Marshall AVT100 as well as a Peavey Bandit 112. Now, I'm certainly not going to say this amp sounds better than the AVT100, but it IS more versatile and definitely sounds better than my other amps, including the Peavey. This has a tube pre-amp, and while the FDD on the Marshall MG10CD and MG15CDR do make it sound richer than most solid state amps, they still both sound solid state. This AD15VT sounds like a tube amp in every respect. Now there are advantages and drawbacks to tube amps. Tube amps only sound good when they are cranked to the max. At low volumes, ALL tube amps sounds shitty, because they are not made to be played at low volumes. So, because of this, to be kind to my neighbors, I don't play this AD15VT at night. Only in the daytime. The advantage to the solid state amps is that you can play them at low volumes and still get some good sounds, and good sustain, however they still sound like toy amplifiers compared to ANY tube amp. I do know though that some of these young people today with their nu-metal think solid state sounds good. They will grow up someday. Nuff said about that. I am going to dock this amp 1 point for one reason only. If this had a line out for speakers, you could rock a big club with it. Since it doesn't have one, I'll take a point away.

Sound Quality: 10
Man, I spent 30 years in the Army and had guitars before I went in and bought one or two a year the whole time I was in, so I've got too many guitars (more than 60 to mention here). Mostly, I play my Gibson Les Paul Standard, which my father gave me in 1967 and still looks, plays and sounds great, my Fender Standard Stratocaster and Standard Telecaster on this amp. I also have an Epiphone Les Paul Special that I bought for my son, but his tastes turned to things other than guitar, so I play it a lot too. The Les Pauls have double humbuckers and the Strat and Teles of course have single coils. Suits my music style very well, which is everything from country, to classic rock, blues rock, electric folk, native american music, whatever I'm in the mood to play. It isn't noisy at all, and does indeed have a noise reduction feature. Only buzz I ever get is with the Strat and Tele because of the single coils. On that note, that's one big difference between a tube amp and a solid state amp. Tube amps are generally quiet unless you are playing, solid state amps generally have a big hiss or buzz, regardless of whether you are using humbuckers or single coils. As I said above, you can play ANY kind of music on this amp, from twangy country, soft rock to extremely heavy distortion and yes indeed the distortion can be brutal. Some of the clean channels will distort with higher volumes, as they should, giving a nice crunch perfect for Rolling Stones type stuff. I gotta max it out on sound.

Reliability: 10
It's a VOX. I figure it'll be around for 100 years. Yeah, I know I'll have to change the tube someday, and I will upgrade the tube when I do.

Customer Support: N/A
Never dealt with VOX. Warranty I think is 5 years.

Overall Rating: 10
I've been playing around 35 years. I have what I mentioned above in the review, plus a shitload of other electric and acoustic guitars. As I said, I had several when I went in the service and bought one or two a year for the whole 30 years I was in. I'm addicted to guitars and amps. I love everything about this amp. Nothing else to say......I think its all been said with this review and the others.

Submitted by Mike at 03/03/2005 16:09

Price Paid: US $179.00

Features: 9
Made in 2004. 15 watt tube/digital modeling combo amplifier. Eleven different amplifier models with 11 different preset effect combinations. User-defined sound settings can be saved to two different channels, so that when you find that magic tone you've been seartching for you can save it for instant recall at the touch of a button, or click of the optional foot switch. There are tons of options for tweaking your tone.

One gripe I have is that you can't combine certain effects, like have compression and reverb going at the same time. I also wouldn't mind being able to write more than two sound settings. Even still, there is plenty of delicious tone to be had inside this amp, which is quite a good value at $179.00

Sound Quality: 9
I'm using this amp primarily with a Squier '51, which has a neck-position single coil and a bridge humbumbucker with coil tap. I generally go for a clean bluesy tone, with just a bit of tube breakup when the strings are played hard. It took a bit of experimenting, but I've finally dialed in some beautiful tones using the manual settings.

While the presets are interesting and a quick way to start playing in a variety of sounds and effect styles, I found that there's a lot more under the hood, so to speak. There seems to be an infinite variety of tonal variations between the amp emulation modes, effects modes, and all the adjustments you can make to each, not to mention the controls on the guitar.

The downside to all this flexibility is that it's just as easy to get a terrible, stuffy tone as it is to get that glassy tube sweetness.

I think those who have complained of this amp's terrible sound either played a defective unit or they didn't really take the time to experiment and find the sweet spots.

This amp does a spectacular job of sounding like expensive all-tube units, yet it can do so at living room volume levels. The closed back can make for a punchy, focused sound when the dials and guitar are set right. But if you don't take the time to find the sweet spots, this amp can also sound quite bad, like there is a heavy blanket over top. It can also get quite loud if you need it too, though you may find the bass overloading at louder volume levels.

Reliability: N/A
While the amp looks plenty sturdy, it's still too new for me to comment on reliability. I hope it holds up over time. I may take it out to jam with friends occasionally, but I won't be playing clubs with it, so I would think it should hold up.

Customer Support: N/A
Thankfully, I haven't needed to use customer support.

Overall Rating: 10
I'm primarily a hobbyist, but also jam with friends occasionally just for fun. I own a bunch of guitars and amps [a Squier '51, Fender Aerodyne Strat, Fender Jimmy Vaughn Signature Series Strat, Fender Special Edition Flame-Top Tele, an Epiphone Dot Studio, a custom mahogany-body strat with solid rosewood neck, a Fender Mexican P-bass, a Taylor Big Baby, and a Fender Lead II]. In the amp department I have a Fender Blues Junior, Marshall ValveState V65R, Marshall BassState B-30, a Park G215RCD, Crate practice amp, Gas Can portable amp, in addition to my newly acquired Vox.

To put the quality, versatility, and value of the Vox AD15VT into perspective, if I could only keep one of my amplifiers this would be it. It's like having nearly a dozen good amps in one.

Submitted by Todd at 02/28/2005 10:55

Price Paid: US $140 used

Features: 10
I fought the urge to write this review and lost. I got this amp two days ago, and have played through it for exactly 6 hours and 5 minutes. Five minutes when it arrived, to make sure it was working. Then 3 hours for each of the last two nights at a gig. All I can say is, "oh my stinkin' goodness!" I love this thing. It sounds great, it's got features out the wazoo, it's lightweight, and it didn't cost must at all. Am I dreaming? The only thing I could possibly want on it is a line out that didn't mute the speaker. I was hoping to use it as a stage monitor. But I miked it instead and it worked out perfectly.

Sound Quality: 9
I'm a meat 'n' potatoes kinda guy. I don't have a bazillion guitars, I have one - a '96 USA Strat with DiMarzio Virtual Vintage pickups. I don't have a gajillion amps, I have two - this, and a Pathfinder 15. I play classic rock in a cover band. This AD15VT flat-out blew my socks off. Out of the box, it sounded as good as any live set up I've ever had. No, I've never owned any $2,000 amps or $200 stomp boxes. But I've had an Ampeg Reverberocket and a Peavey Classic 30. The clean sounds on the AD15VT were as good as either of them. The distorted and overdrive sounds were just a tad transistor-y. But they cut through the mix perfectly. I couldn't say the same for the POD and V-amp I ran through my Classic 30.

Reliability: N/A
Just got it - can't say.

Customer Support: N/A
Haven't dealt with them; hope I never have to.

Overall Rating: 10
For the money, a fantastic value. I want to sell my Pathfinder 15 and pick up another one of these. Nothing against that amp, because it's great for the price. But for another $50 or so the AD15VT beats it, and every other amp in the same range, senseless. Unless the some of the reliability issues posted here raise their ugly heads, this is one of the best bang-for-the-buck deals I've seen in 30 years of playing.

Submitted by kevin at 02/27/2005 00:57

Price Paid: US $171

Features: 9
This amp is the best NYC amp you can buy. By that I mean an excellent amp both for small clubs and apartment practicing. I have a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe (45 pounds and too loud), a 15 watts tube Marshall (perfect sound but a collector's item) and a Peavey Bandit 60 (too heavy as well and too solid-state-ly ).
I was looking for:
1-small-light amp (no more than 25 pounds);
2-some effects;
3-good sound;
4-no more than $175.
I got everything. This amp is just lovely. At least for a NYC musician.
I tried the roland cube 15 (characterless), the marshall G15FX (very very good sound, but only a marshall sound); and the spider ii 15 (good cleans, too digitalized overdrives).

The effects are great, the amp models do mean something in this amp, the change in character from one to the other is incredible. The eq character changes so much from one model to the other that you believe that there is something wrong with the amp (what happened?), but no: it is just meant to be that way.
You have to do your homework to nail down YOUR sound, there so many good sounds that you really need to tweak to find a good sound that is YOUR sound. Very fun amp. Excellent. I feel very smart at this moment.

Can be loud.
NO FOOTSWITCH? Please VOX. get real.

This was probably made in 2004.

Sound Quality: N/A
I am using two guitars: a Shergold Masquerader and a Fender Strat.
the sounds of this amp are just exquisite. Very very good, smooth. It is just awesome. I am thinking about buying the 50watts for large gigs. This is the best amp I ever had for the money. Period.

Reliability: N/A
seems well built and sturdy.

Customer Support: N/A
N/A

Overall Rating: 10
If it were stolen I would shoot myself and then buy another one. The 15 could have used the wattage knob that the 30 watt has.

Submitted by monxo at 02/21/2005 14:54

Price Paid: N/A

Features: 10
My response to this category reminds me of the age old question:

"If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody's there to hear it, does it make a sound?"

See below for explanation.

Sound Quality: 10
Sounded awesome ....for about 10 seconds!

Reliability: 1
After reading all off the great reviews of this amp (AD15VT), I drove out to my local Guitar Center with my heart set on picking up one of these things, despite the few negative reviews posted here concerning reliability. When I got there to try it out (along with the 30watt AD30VT), I couldn't get a signal out of the floor model. Not only that I couldn't get a signal out of the 30 watter floor model either!!! Nothing. Even with all volume and level knobs all the way up and trying every possible knob and button selection.

Now I know what your going to say, and trust me I wasn't doing anything wrong. I even tried a variety of guitars and cables. Also I have a Bachelor's Degree in Music Production and Engineering from Berklee, and in my day job I work with advanced multimedia technology 8 hours a day, so I think I at least know how to turn on an amp.
To back me up, the Guitar Center kid couldn't figure it out either. We screwed with these things for a good five minutes and finally got one amp model to work by turning the amp on and off repeatedly; the blackface 2x12 (with reverb) on the AD30VT. At one point it stopped giving me reverb and internally switched to tremelo all by itself! To be fair it sounded pretty kick-ass for the few seconds I had it working.

Needless to say I didn't get one of these amps. If a product doesn't even work on the showroom floor how long can you expect it to last once you get it home?

I just wanted to get a little practice amp, so after trying out all of the 15watt models, I finally decided on the Pathfinder 15R, ironically another VOX product. What can I say, I have to admit I liked the sound of it better than all of the other amps of that class. I'm banking on the fact that it will be functional for a long while simply because it doesn't have all of the electronics that can mysteriously stop working someday. I hope.

To sum up, I really wanted to get one of the modeling VOXes, but they just weren't working in the store! Oh well, at least I saved myself 60 bucks on the Pathfinder, and it's pretty good for a practice amp.

Customer Support: N/A
If someone from VOX is reading this, I hope you're there for me when my new Pathfinder breaks down!

Overall Rating: 1
What a hunk of junk!

Submitted by dummy_who_bought_a_VOX_anyway at 02/20/2005 16:13

Price Paid: 230 (CAD)

Features: 8
Extremely versatile amp, however I find myself using mostly the Boutique CL (silverface model) and AC15TB ("jangely" VOX model). I've got an 80 lb silverface 100w at home, but needed a portable practice amp for small jams and in-home portability...this amp fit the bill very well. Regarding the built-in effects: read the manual, especially the NOISE REDUCTION. I see too many reviews here talk about "noise" or "limited controls" on the effects, when I believe all they had to do was spend more time learning how to adjust the controls. The range of feature of this VOX are very good, but I should've got the AD30VT for adjustable power switch.

Of course, after I purchased this VOX I then learned that Fender have a new modelling amp that also does MIDI loops/sounds, so that's why I didn't give this little VOX a 10.

Sound Quality: 8
I use a Fender Strat which seems to pair up nicely with this little VOX. Again, the BOUTIQUE CL is in my opinion as warm and punchy as my silverface Twin. You'd be surprised at the volume you can achieve from this 15W RMS....the cabinet is ported, not open-back so the sound projection is HUGE.

The AC30TB model is just amazing...that pretty much sold me on the amp in the store. Playing any song from AC/DC Back in Black is right on the money for tone/sound. And with the GAIN control and other available models you can go from "edgey" to "death metal" if you so desire.

One critical comment....even after trying to adjust the noise reduction, I still notice a slight "buzzing" noise (on distortion models) during decay/fade-out of any note played, or maybe it's just my imagination (?)

Reliability: 5
I've had this amp for a couple of weeks and played it probably over 20 hours.........once for 3 hours straight. Most of the time this amp performs as expected.

However....on two seperate occasions, this AD15VT has unexpectedly cut the volume and distortion whist I was playing/practicing. The first time scared the crap out of me, as it occured within the first 3 days. I thought I did something wrong while adjusting the NOISE REDUCTION. The second time it happened I was just playing....not adjusting a damn thing. Would I consider giging with it? Probably not. Is it OK for practicing....sure.

Customer Support: 6
I haven't tried to deal directly with the company over this volume/gain cut issue. Their web-site is weird...they assume that the purchaser is either from the US or UK when you want to register online. I guess they don't figure anyone else is important? (LOL) I'll be contacting VOX soon to report the symptom above, once I have more info on the failure mode.

They do have the Operating Manual online (PDF), which is a nice supplement to my hardcopy that came with the amp.

Overall Rating: 7
I've been playing guitar for over 30 years and mainly Strat/Silverface combination. This is a great little practice amp that will give the tube lover that punchy tone that solid state amps cannot deliver. I compared this amp to Tech21 (too flat), Line6 (too abrasive) and Marshall (yeah.....it sounds like a Marshall, what else can it do?).

I am a bit concerned about the reliability (spontaneous volume/gain reduction) and would not recommend it to anyone for gigging based on this alone.

It's a fun little toy that suits the bill for having FUN. But it's not a serious amp for serious musicians. But then again, I'll have to try the new Fender modelling/MIDI amp soon to compare.

Submitted by Kent at 02/19/2005 08:49

Price Paid: 105 (pounds)

Features: 10
Amps are so different these days! built in effects? I wasn't too keen on that idea? but this amp doesn't disappoint! in sound and features, Its very versatile! ive been playing for 14 years and this amp is the most fun ive played with

Sound Quality: 10
I use a 1993 USA Strat Plus with gold Sensor Lace pick-ups (geek!!) anyway, This amp shocked me! is it really 15V? and not just that, its so warm and full of character (or should I say characters?), u can go from Blues to heavy, I don't think the modern metal player will like it so much, its your into classic rock such as Led Zeppelin, Queen, AC/DC, Hendric etc. you must try this amp out

effects: are very warm and above average, I was very pleased to find that the delay does 1486 msec!! its based on a tape more than digital, and the sound DOES go lo-fi on repeats, the Chorus sounds are lush!

I think those who slag this amp off are players (or teens) who are getting too hung up on sounding like their fav artists! bad thing to do! good to be influnced but guitars/amps/effects don't get u those sounds, the guitartist does! its about how he/she uses their stuff, u can get lots of different sounds out of this amp, I personally like to keep myself focused on 1 or 2 sounds, a clean and driven sound, not flick through stuff all the time, get hung up on effects! I bought this amp because I wanted something small that sounded good, I have a Laney TF300 and thats heavy to move about! plus! when I heard this Vox had a valve! I had to check it out, Sounds Awesome, dont worry about power, it has some but if u need more with live stuff, try to mic it up, I hope to do that soon, see how it goes? I avoid effects boxes such as Pods, I like the idea of amps simulating amps alot more and Vox betters this in my books

One last thing, I have my USA Strat plugged into an RMC Picture Wah (seriously decent wah, u must hear it to believe it) then into the Vox, this little set-up is bliss for me, simple and effective

Reliability: N/A
Its a Vox, I expect this to last as I will be looking after it well, if a tube blew, thats ok, their not hard to replace

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 10
I think if you are looking for a practise amp or something with quailty sound! this amp is hard to beat for the price! both Pro/beginner will have fun with this amp and find some serious sounds, I would consider buying another Valvetronix, they look and sound good! buy one if ur starting out and is not sure on what sounds u want, this amp is something great to play with to find some direction, I feel it will really encourage you with learning as well, I can't wait to see what the VOX future is going to bring next?

Submitted by Anonymous at 02/01/2005 09:46

Price Paid: US $179.00

Features: 10
Don't know what year it was made in, but these are relatively new amps, so I can't see it being much more than a couple of years old. I've had it for a year. All the stuff has been covered, so I won't go into it again. This is a fucking awesome amp.

Sound Quality: 10
I have a Yamaha Les Paul Copy, a highly modified Fender Squier Series Standard Telecaster and an Ibanez RG350DX through it. Suits my music style which is basically everything from classic to hard rock and heavy metal to jazz, blues, punk, grundge and country. It's a modelling amp, so you can flip a switch and play whatever style of music you want. Not noisy at all, again since it is a modelling amp it is incredibly versatile. Clean channels don't distort, with volume, only with gain. Distortion on the distorted amp imitations can be extremely brutal, especially on the UK Modern, Nu Metal and American High Gain settings. It's a tube amp, so you have to crank this fucker up to get the most out of it, but don't worry, the 8 inch speaker handles the volume quite well - just keep in mind that your neighbors may not tolerate the volume anywhere near as well as the speaker.

Reliability: 10
Seems to be tough as a tank. All my VOX's have been. I don't gig with this amp, have a Peavey for that, but it is quite loud enough to gig with.

Customer Support: 10
Never dealt with VOX. Bought it through guitar trader and they are great.

Overall Rating: 10
Been playing 45 years. Have what I mentioned above, as well as a bunch of acoustics, a Pathfinder 15R, a Marshall AVT20 and a Peavey Studio Pro 112. I'd get another one if it were stolen or lost. I love it - pure and simple.

Submitted by Mike at 01/18/2005 15:42