Vox AD15VT Valvetronix

Price Paid: US $130

Features: 9
See below

Sound Quality: 10
I thought i was really getting a good sound out of my POD and my studio monitors, but this amp has reminded me of what a real amp is supposed to sound like: not a recording of the amp that its supposed to be modeling, but the amp itself. Don't be afraid of the 8 inch speaker. It really pushes enough air for any practice session.

The effects are a mixed bag. The compression and auto-wah are great, but the reverb sounds like its modeled after a very strange sounding spring reverb. Since i'm usually just a reverb man, I had to deduct one point for that. I'd almost prefer a benign sounding digi-verb sound that any cheap effects unit can create. Another thing is the tonal variety. I play a lot of blues and the Boutique Clean sound with full drive and a little compression is almost heaven. But if I was a metal player, I might be a little disapointed with the amp. There is a very respectable Van Halen type sound (British modern full volume and 1/3 gain) but the Numetal settings lose out to my Line 6 and Behringer desktop units/amps. But these are probably petty criticisms for what is otherwise one of the most important things to happen to small amps in a while.

Reliability: N/A
Too soon to tell.

Customer Support: N/A
Haven't had a chance/reason to call.

Overall Rating: 10

Submitted by Anonymous at 01/17/2005 11:35

Price Paid: US $180.00

Features: 10
I guess mine was made in 2004. It's an extremely versatile amp. All the features have been covered so no need to be redundant. I use this amp in my living room and it has more than enough power, in fact, it will get you in trouble with your neighbors. I think it is loud enough to do small gigs with. I know you can hear it over the drums because I mess around in the house with it and my wife plays the drums and you can definitely hear it over them. I guess it would be best to say this amp can very LOUD.

Sound Quality: 10
I am using a very old 68 Gibson Les Paul with two humbuckers, as well as a 70's model, made in USA Fender Telecaster with 2 single coils and an 80's model, made in Japan Fender Stratocaster with 3 single coils. Between this amp and my guitars, I can get any sound I want. My passion is blues and classic rock, but I also get into some hard rock (wouldn't call it heavy metal - more like Guns n Roses type stuff). The amp does great. It is awesome on all the clean channels as well as the AC 15 and AC 30 modes with the single coil guitars. The UK 70's, 80's and modern distortion sounds are great with the Les Paul and the USA High Gain screams for harder stuff, has a nu metal channel for all the metal heads. Great amp, tune sound, nothing I can complain about or ding it on at all.

Reliability: 10
I've had many VOX's over the years including the old AC15 and AC30 tube amps and I also have a Pathfinder 15. I've only had this amp for about 2 months, but my others are still hanging in there (although I have sold the AC 15 and AC 30 they are still working well for those I sold them to) and I never had a problem with any of them. I suppose someday I may have to change the tube, but I think it is reliable as all VOX's are.

Customer Support: 10
Never dealt with the company itself. The music store I buy from always makes problems with anything I have bought from them over the last 30 years good, so I will give them the rating.

Overall Rating: 10
I've been playing 30 years. I have what I mentioned before and a shitload of acoustic guitars from various brands, mostly Takamine's for my acoustic electrics and Martins for my regular acoustics. I'd get another one if it were lost or stolen. If you want great tube sound in a small package, this is a great amp. Be warned, it is very loud, much louder than any other 15 watt amp out there. I compared this to several inexpensive tube amps, and it came down to this or the Kustom Tube 12, which is also very nice and half the price but I chose this one because I've always used VOX amps, like the sound and I guess out of loyalty. Great amp for the bucks.

Submitted by Anonymous at 01/14/2005 00:32

Price Paid: US $142.75

Features: 10
this is a great amp for the money...very versatile...i'm writing because i feel that strong about it...and was miffed by the 20 min. tone experts review...this amp has 11 different models that respond very differently to gain and eq tweaks on each setting..i use it for practice and recording...sounds very good direct into or mic'd...with pro tools or analog tape...it's powerful and the tube does make a difference; though i don't always run it hard enough to get the full tube benefits; i maybe should have bought the 30 watt that has the switch to run it on low volume...

Sound Quality: 9
great sounding amp...i like the ac15,tweed 4/10 (tweek with) uk 80's, and both boutique's for something's ...the other settings are great too; but not my thing...the effects are fun and i think the wah is very original and unique...my big complaint with the amp is the reverb...is't sounds very digital to me or fake sounding whatever the word would be....i have had a couple vox pathfinders in the past and the reverb is better on that practice amp...but this is a minor point...for recording i sometimes like to add reverb in the mix anyway....my other thing here sound-wise...i think this amp likes humbuckers better...i can get more good sounds on any model with humbuckers...but i get great strat or tele sounds too...i just have to tweak more...the preset sounds are great jumping points and watching the red light and being able to tell how they are acheived is an awesome function....last point: noise reduction is a great feature...but watch how it's adjusted because at first my notes/chords were just fading and then cut off and i couldn't figure out what was happening and I almost returned the amp! then i read the book as i should of...felt pretty stupid when i figured out that the reduction was up all the way....for this price range sounds unbelievable...my points are minor...

Reliability: N/A
i don't think reliability will be an issue...maybe if i had gotten the 30 or 50 watt model it could be a gig or band amp...

Customer Support: 10
very good...i registered online and sent an e-mail asking what the expexted life of the tube was and if it should glow...they emailed back in 24 hour a nice detailed e-mail...(couple of year lifetime...and compared it to a lightbulb that the lifetime is kind of hard to answer...IT WAS KINDA A DUMB QUESTION ANYWAY...they also said that it probably wouldn't glow much and depended on use and how hard it was working...ALSO A DUMB QUESTION)...but i wonder if a tube change could hot rod this amp at all or upgrade it...it's an electro harminex tube so THATS GOOD RIGHT? -I HAVE TUBE AMPS IN THE PAST AND HAD THEM BIASED CHANGED REPLACED WHATEVER AND HAVE USED TUBE MIC-PRE'S AND TUBE MIC'S...BUT I'M PRETTY IGNORANT ABOUT TUBES...

Overall Rating: 10
I'VE PLAYED ALL MY LIFE...AND HAD ALOT OF ALL THE OTHINGS AT ONE TIME OR ANOTHER...NOW I MAKE ALOT OF MUSIC NOBODY WILL EVER HEAR...I WENT IN TO BUY A PATHFINDER FOR A LITTEL PRACTICE RECORDING AMP...I THINK BOTH VOX MODELS ARE GREAT LITTLE AMPS FOR THE MONEY IF THATS WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR...THE PATHFINDER I THINK LOOKS COOLER...THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS HOW IT LOOKS ANYWAY...I DON'T THINK ANY OF THE OTHER AMPS MENTIONED IN THIS REVIEW ARE AS VERSATILE OR THE VALUE THAT THE AC15VT IS...THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE $150 MUSICAL PURCHASES OF ALL TIME...I THINK THE SOUNDS ARE EQUAL TO THE POD IF THAT REFERENCE HELPS ANYONE...AND THIS HAS A SPEAKER...THE BERIHNGER VAMP THATS 50 WATTS AND AROUND $250.00 IS A DECENT AMP TOO...AND IF YOU LOOK AT THE AC50VT YOU SHOULD COMPARE THOSE TWO AND SEE WHATS BEST FOR YOU....THIS WOULD BE A GREAT STARTER AMP BECAUSE OF THE WAY YOU CAN WORK AT TESTING A BUNCH OF SOUNDS AND FIND YOUR OWN VOICE/STYLE...AND IT REACTS MUCH LIKE A TUBE AMP AND A BUNCH OF DIFFERENT AMPS...AND YOU COULD LEARN ALOT ABOUT SETTING GAIN VOLUME MASTER VOLUME AND THEN YOUR GUITARS VOLUME AND PICKING ATTACK/DYNAMICS ECT....I WISH I HAD THIS OPTION WHEN I WAS A KID...CAN ANYONE BELIEVE THE GEAR STARTERS CAN CHOOSE FROM NOW? OLD CRAPPY 4 TRACKS VS. UNLIMITED TRACKS ECT. ECT....BUT OLD PRO'S WILL LIKE THE VALUE OF THIS AMP TOO...

Submitted by LONELY A at 01/11/2005 09:58

Price Paid: US $140 used

Features: 8
Fairly new amp that seeks to emulate 11 different popular amplifiers AND 11 effect/effect combinations. It not so much has 2 channels as 2 seperate programmable presets. Cool look, cool price. I do wish it had a jack for an extension cab, but for how this thing sounds, you can't have everything. This amp reacts a lot like a full tube amp, and if this is how the future of hybrids is going to sound, sign me up.

Sound Quality: 10
This amp has an 8" speaker but trust me its not a real issue. I'm fairly prejudiced against anything but 12" speakers, and I find myself flat out amazed. I am very glad Vox didnt try and squeeze in a knob on the panel letting you select speaker emulation. Give some people to much 'control' over their sound and the whole thing goes to hell. Vox realized that if you give simple folk too many options, the amp WILL sound like crap after a cursory listen. All of the amp emulations are very well tuned to the speaker so unless you're used to a Soldano SLO this is the real deal. The only gripe I can realistically make is the effect combinations seem kind of odd. I would prefer a seperate reverb control independent of the others, but for $140, oh well. I've had 1,000 lb. Twins and this does a damn good version. Make no mistake, this is no little shredder amp you see the 14 year old boys abusing at Guitar Center. It does a good version of a Marshall but the Clean settings are really good.

Reliability: 8
No perceivable cabinet or speaker shuddering, I'm happy.

Customer Support: N/A
n/a

Overall Rating: 10
I've been playing around 25 years, started with metal/rock and am finding my tastes running jazzier than anything else. I would most definitely replace. I love the clean sounds and found the distorted amp emulations VERY accurate. Best job I've ever heard an 8" speaker do In my life. I might just get another and run miked into a P.A. next time I play out. My advice would be to give it a chance. Forget about the chrome and black tolex. This thing is a damn good deal and sounds very very good.

Submitted by Jason at 01/10/2005 20:44

Price Paid: US $179

Features: 8
11 models on tap, digital effects, two footswitchable channels (no footswitch included), bass/mid/treble, and in addition to the gain and volume for each setting, there is a master volume. 15 watts into a four ohm 8" speaker. preamp out does not pass through the power section which employs th 12AX7, so in this design it is not "modelled" fully until it's coming through the speakers. plenty of control considering the pirice and size.

Sound Quality: 9
again, considering it's price and size, it sounds just amazing. i have not played through and compared all of the amps that were modelled in this unit, but there are a lot of great sounds on tap, and it "feels" like a tube amp to an impressive degree. i think the clean models are the better ones overall, through the overdrives are impressive on the whole. looking at it, you would think it's all mids/treble, but the truth is the opposite - it has tons of low end and, if anything, is dark sounding. i wouldn't recommend it if you have primarily dark-sounding guitars for this reason.

Reliability: N/A
only two weeks old - no marks

Customer Support: N/A
no experience with their customer service - no marks.

Overall Rating: 10
if you need a small practice amp that is inexpensive and as flexible as hell, then i can't imagine being unhappy with one of these - it delivers and then some. i have the boutique clean set up on channel one, and the American high gain set up on channel two, and i can't help but smile as i switch between the two... Vox shoots and SCORES. :D

Submitted by Anonymous at 01/04/2005 18:22

Price Paid: 130 (pounds)

Features: 9
11 different type of amps and digital effects - great!

Sound Quality: 9
You must know how to set the settings properly to get good sounds. If set badly, it will sound crap. If it is set properly, it will sound fantastic. You must play around with the tone controls and master volume and volume to get right amount of effects and tones, and this amp sounds like very expensive valve amp.

Reliability: N/A
So far no problems!

Customer Support: N/A
Not sure about this.

Overall Rating: 8
I went in to buy Roland Cube, but for another 40 pounds, this VOX was offering 11 different amp sounds and loads of digital effects. It sounded also quite good, so I thought yeah this is better value for money. I took it home, and play with USA Strat Plus and Telecaster. Sounds great! I also have Fender HotRod Delux, and this one is a killer amp, but it is about 4 times more expensive than ADT15, so it is expected. But for 130 pounds, it is a great amp. I wish I had Marshall 1974X, but it is way too expensive for me. As all yous know, Amp is very important factor in producing good tone, and if you have a shite amp, then your guitar will sound shite.

Submitted by Anonymous at 01/02/2005 02:08

Price Paid: US $179

Features: 7

Sound Quality: 9
LOL!...Kris's review below is pretty typical of a noob. 20 mins of playing and he knows the amp totally sucks. Thats just priceless.

You really have to crank the master volume up around half way or more to get this amp to open up. Yes just like a tube amp. For a 15 watter, I see very little wrong with the tones I hear from this little monster. It gets a great AC/DC crunch and a decent Van Halen tone. That alone makes it for me. You gotta crank the volume knobs for the UK 70's setting to get it pumping.

Reliability: N/A

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: N/A
Read the manual and learn how to tweak the effects. 20 mins aint gonna cut it on any modeling amp.

Submitted by Anonymous at 12/25/2004 09:33

Price Paid: 14,000 (Filipine Pesos about $250 US dollars)

Features: 10
Well, I'm one of those retirees living in the Philippines that has to put his two cents worth in on this amp. Mine was made in 2004, assembled in China, designed in UK. Won't go into all the details, they have been quite well covered. In short - this amp is FUCKING AWESOME for a 15 watt amp. You cannot beat it for the bucks, shit, you can't beat it for two hundred more bucks. Makes the Marshalls and Peavey's in the price range sound like shit. I won't mention Fender and Crate because all of their little amps suck. This fucker is great for home, but you can gig with it too. The tube in this rascal makes this fucker SCREAM!!! Crank it up and rock. Like the guy before said, it has more voices than Sybil. The schizophrenic or multi-personality disorder amp with a purpose. EXCELLENT!!!

Sound Quality: 10
Well, I use a Gibson Les Paul 56 Goldtop with P-90 pickups, a Fender made in Japan Strat with Texas Special Pickups, a 72 Custom Telecaster with a vintage noiseless at the bridge and humbucker at the neck, and an Ibanez GRU270DX. This amp suits my music style quite well. I play in a variety band with another american, his filipina wife, my filipina wife and her sister. We play mostly 60's and 70's country and classic rock but I like to get down to some hard rock too and this amp does it all. I use this amp at home to practice and I gig with a Peavey Studio Pro. I have taken this amp though as a backup and have used it to gig with and it did extremely well. Extreme wide variety of fuckin sounds here boss - we talking everything from Hank Williams to Linkin Park and everything in between. Distortion can be brutal if you want it to be on the UK 80's, UK Modern and US High Gain settings.

Reliability: 10
I've been using VOX amps for 30 years. No problems ever encountered. This one is as tough as the rest.

Customer Support: 10
Great.

Overall Rating: 10
Been playing 40 years. Have what I mentioned above, a VOX Pathfinder 15R which is also GREAT, and several old Gibson Acoustic and Acoustic Electric Guitars. I love this amp. Best bang for the buck.

Submitted by Bear at 12/12/2004 04:15

Price Paid: N/A

Features: 1
This is a short review, 20minutes of playing in a shop.
First, the fx section is very dumb: you must chose between compressor or reverb ! This makes it VERY unpractical.
Connections are very poor if not non-existent, so you're stuck with the sounds inside, read on.

Sound Quality: 1
Bad news here, especially if you consider the price of the thing.
There is a bad flavour always present, whatever the sound you chose, be it clean or overdriven, and it sums up to one sound with more or less eq/drive preselection.
No way to get rid of it. If it were a colour, I would say it dark flat brown. It is always there, as if you had a thick blanket on the amp.
Apart from that, it sounds pretty much the same as my ex-behringer ultraroc 30 combo. Only a bit better on the clean sounds, and a far bit worse on the drive settings.
I found the fx section to be better, fresher, on the behringer.
As for this very one, you have to make use of compressor to have usable clean sounds, and since you also can't have reverb with comp...
A big disappointment, this vox is a fake, it farts more than anything on drive sttings.

Reliability: N/A
It seems to be ok, but who knows. The lack of connections means you don't have much chances to fry something by yourself, though

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 1
I play since late eighties, own a lot of stuff, and my ear is well trained. I can show you a good practice amp, and it is not this vox nor the mentioned behringer. The winner is very clearly the little mg15cdr from Marshall, clever connections and an overdriven sound to die for (please don't forget the price, we're not talking big amps here...).
And if you're more on the clean side, the crate gt15r is better than the vox too.
What I say is: a good trannie practice amp lets you feel what you're actuallly doing, you get a better control of your guitar, and most important: a real tone, even if not loud or sophisticated.
This vox misses it all, I do advise you to spend your money on the marshall and a better guitar and cable.
Thanks for reading, yougsters!

Submitted by kris at 12/11/2004 16:13

Price Paid: US $179

Features: 9
I like guitar. This thing has more voices than Sybil. That's nice. My wife likes the headphone jack. I needed something smaller than my Roland BC-30 to take back and forth to my guitar group at church. This one is smaller, but not much. But, the sound makes up for it. In a big room, it has a big sound. I'd like a lighter amp, but it probably wouldn't sound like this.

Sound Quality: 9
The sound, yeah it's nice. I have a Dean Avalanche, Strat lookalike. I replaced the pickups with Seymour Duncans. I have a Stack in the Bridge, the other two are Alnico Pro II's. My other electric is an Ibanez Artcore, all original. It's pretty sweet, but puts out too much signal for this amp. Sometimes, that's fun. I can't get real carried off about some of the effects since the flanger and rotary are louder than the acutal guitar output. It only took me a few minutes to learn to play the flanger, but hours to learn the guitar. If you're better than me you would probably wouldn't like that. I don't. Effects are okay, but I want to play guitar, not pedals. Thank goodness for a by-pass. The Boutique setting isn't even that bad.

Reliability: 10
So far, it's been solid. I move it at least once a week. It stays parked in my dining room right by the table so's I can play after hours (remember the headphone thing) And is in the target zone for being a spill victim, chair mauled or toe stubbed. It still lights up when I hit the switch. That's cool.

Customer Support: 1
I sure wish I had the original instructions that should have come with it. I hear they're on the web page. The web page won't load up from my computer. I'd like to be able to turn down some of those effects. It's like having a digital watch. You can't use all the features if you don't know what to do. Any body got a copy? So, I can't really reach Vox for help. Ouch, that's gotta hurt. Okay, maybe I'm almost a rocket scientist, I still like to at least have a clue.

Overall Rating: 9
I've been playing off an on for a couple o' decades. More seriously about 2 or 3 years. I wanted to sound like Stevie Ray, but I'm getting a kick out of just trying. And then there's Joe Walsh, Lighting Hopkins . . . I can usually get what I want out of this one. If it were stolen, I'd definitely get another one. I've always been a little leary of Brit reliability. So, I can't say I'm really relaxed that this thing is bulletproof. But until it craters, I'll enjoy it while I can.

Submitted by relic at 12/08/2004 22:26