Vox AD30VT Combo

Price Paid: 249,- (€)

Features: 9
Bought mine in december 2004. (Yes, a christmaspresent from me to me..)
Won't repeat the features, known by now.
Versitale enough for any style, including my kind of music. (i'm playing for fun with a few guys in a coverband, 70's - 80's, etc.)
It has a lot of power for a 30w hybride amp, but I wouldn't recommend the AD30vt for using her/him in a band. (Still, until this moment,I do, but I have to mike the amp) We have a very loud drummer, the Vox won't keep up with him. A pity that there is no connection for a cabinet. This month, i want to buy a tube-amp for playing with the band. 30 tube watts must do!
Anyway, the wattage controle on the Vox is a great future. Also having the choise of many different amps (Vox, Fender, etc.)is fun to play with.
I also use a Boss ME-50 and a Cry Baby, wich means that I don't use most of the effects on the amp.
For playing at home or just a small gig, (a party f.e.)it will do the job very well.

Sound Quality: 8
I use a Fender Strat Highway with Kinman pickups. (great sounding, and NO! hum) We play all kind of styles, except for metal. The Vox can cover it all. The clean channels are great,(dumble, fender)the vox channels (of course)are also very realistic and usable. I do find the amp in the distortion channels (marshall UK80, soldano US high gain etc.)a bit over the top. A clean channel with a good distortionpedal would be a better option. But for the price, (and it is a fair price, imho) you get a good sounding amp.

Reliability: N/A
own it for a year now, no problems so far. (knock, knock)
I use it every day. Still, i heard about the "reliability" from the VOX AD-series. Until now, the amp has never let me down and i use it without a backup.

Customer Support: N/A
never needed it.

Overall Rating: 8
I'm playing for 14 years now, the last few years very intensive. I also play a Yamaha LJX6, wich is a fine acoustic jumbo! As said before, i use a BOSS ME-50 and a Dunlop Cry Baby. With this set-up, i can make almost any sound i'm looking for. (except for the real tube vibe!)
This little VOX is a great versatile amp for homepractising en even for a very small gig. For the money, it's a bargain and a winner in it's range. If stolen, i would be very pissed, because probably my strat is also taken away by those lowlifes. I don't think i would buy it again, because i don't use all those options on this amp and do payed for them. I guess that i would buy a small tube amp. (15w or so) Still, i'm having lots of fun with my VOX!

Submitted by Jeroen at 01/06/2006 15:39

Price Paid: £139

Features: 8
2005 Vox amp, moddeling amp has eleven amp models, two channels plus a manual option, also presets for each of the eleven models and digital effects, valvestate (but valve in the poweramp) FINALLY someone has made a valvestate amp with the valve in the right place :) i give it an eight because while the features are great some of them arent that useful in my opinion and there is always room for improvement

Sound Quality: 10
Ibanez RG series (so both single coil, coil taps and humbuckers) and a Crafter copy of the gibson 335 due to the modelling it suits a wide variety of styles, for me rock pop and church worship stuff are the main uses however the high gain gets a lot of use for solos. also have used a vox distortion booster infront of the AC30 and uk 70's just to up the gain, again this works well if you take time to find the settings

noise wise (aside from the noise its meant) i have not heard any so it gives a good signal to noise ration with the guitars i have used when cranked there is a slight background hum but this has always faded into nothingness in a band situation

The sound quality is great i particuarly like the model of the twin 2x12 in my opinion this is very accurate and also the AC30 and the uk 70's are my other two models i use a lot. sound is amazing fopr what this is (a practice amp and maybe a small gig if you mike it up) but obviously you cant expect the world from it the 10 given is based on the price range NOTHING sounds anywhere near as good as this in the price range

Reliability: N/A
had no problems yet, however is only three months old.

Customer Support: N/A
one year warranty has been no need to use this yet

Overall Rating: 8
I have been playing for three years this is A great practice amp, but you musnt expect miricales of it bear in mind it is only £139 for something to give you a real quality sound you would need to pay a lot more. Overall does the valvestate better than any othe valvestate amp i have played, also is the best modelling amp i have played (i owned a line six spider and this wins hands down) i would replace it without second thought if it was nicked... however in future i will be looking at a full on valve amp

Submitted by Drew at 12/31/2005 08:06

Price Paid: 287 (€)

Features: 9
The amp is very flexible because it have much digital effects and lots of different amp modells!

Sound Quality: 10
The best sound iv`e ever heard in this priceclass.

Reliability: N/A

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: N/A

Submitted by Zakk Wyde 369 at 12/27/2005 05:18

Price Paid: 139 (GBP)

Features: 9
Mentioned many times before, so I won't go into detail. Needless to say there are enough features, effects and amp sounds so that you should find something that you like.

Sound Quality: 10
I use it with a Dearmond Gibson Les Paul(ish!) copy and also a Vintage PRS copy which has Coil-tap humbuckers. The amp sounds fantastic. It has a good range of clean tones through to heavy distortion. The Nu-metal (rectifier) is particularly good for a good distortion sound. The effects are also good, although a minor gripe is you are limited to certain combinations of effects, but these are intelligently thought out and Vox have chosen a good mix of combinations. The delay is particularly good and has a nice tape echo vibe to it. Some people have moaned about the noise gate, but I find it useful. It is adjustable and if you do not like it, it can be turned off altogether. I use it as a household amp and have hardly turned it up for any length of time but it can go very loud and I imagine it would cope with a smaller gig. The amp also pulls off the slightly overdriven, "just breaking up" sounds nicely which I imagine is due to the valve.

Reliability: N/A
Fingers crossed-have'nt had it that long. It seems fairly sturdy though!

Customer Support: N/A
1 Years warranty-hope I don't need it!

Overall Rating: 10
I have been playing for 15 years and own 2 amps prior to this one. This sounds the best and I would replace it if stolen. Compared it against a Line 6 and thought this sounded more organic and responsive. I am very please3d with this amp and would recommend it without hesitation.

Submitted by Gazza at 12/27/2005 05:05

Price Paid: US $249

Features: 8
This amp was made in 2005. It is plenty versatile enough to play most styles. I like the wattage control knob on the back of the amp...nice feature. Most of the features have been gone over pretty well. Tube/solid state hybrid, switchable channels and effects, ten inch speaker. I wish it had a good reverb and delay and none of the other effect that are offered. If you are buying an amp to play with your buddies on the back porch or in the basement, this is a good choice. I would not consider it professional quality by any means, but if you're looking to have some fun playing gittar with your friends or if you are looking for a GOOD bedroom practice amp, this is a good buy.

Sound Quality: 7
I mostly play a custom Strat, and occasionally a Standard Tele with Lindy Fralin p'ups. Since it has so many amp simulations, it is easy to find a sound to fit your style. I play mostly blues, but other kinds of music, too...country, gospel, rock, but I'm too dumb for jazz. The higher gain models are noisy as all get out. There is a noise reduction feature for these models, but I have found that I like the AC15 model for channel one and the UK 70's model for the second channel. Neither of these models require noise reduction and there is not a big difference in the volume as compared to some of the higher gain models. The effects are so so. I sometimes use the adjustable delay and a wee bit of reverb. For the most part, these effects are not that high in quality but on an amp this size and at this price, they are a good deal.
The sounds that I am able to get are very pleasing. It's a great little jammin' amp. You can get some very decent clean tones, but the high gain models leave a lot to be desired, in my opinion.

Reliability: N/A
I have toted this amp around in the back of my pick-up to play at friends' houses or bbq get togethers with no problem. I have not played out much in the past 20 years, just in church and occasional parties. Wouldn't think it would hold up as a gigging amp, though, and there's no way it is loud enough unless you are micing it.

Customer Support: N/A
Besides a wah pedal, this is the first Vox product that I have owned. So far, I haven't needed to contact them and have not heard whether or not they give good support

Overall Rating: 8
I've been pecking around on an electric gittar since 1962. Currently I own a custom Strat, a Tele, Washburn semi-hollowbody, Reverend Slingshot, an old Squire and a Martin acoustic. Other amps are a Fender Blues Jr, Reverend Hellhound, 20 watt Marshall tube/ss hybrid, 15 watt Marshall ss, and a new Peavey ValveKing1x12. I am not sure if I would replace this amp with another one just like it if it were stolen. I've got a few smaller amps for playing around the house and at work. There are some new tube amps at bargain prices available now, and more to come i'm sure, so I would probably lean more towards one of those. This is a nice, fun little amp, though, and for the price and features it's a darn good bargain.

Submitted by sloweddie at 12/26/2005 17:05

Price Paid: US $240

Features: N/A

Sound Quality: N/A

Reliability: N/A

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: N/A
I don't have this amp yet, I just bought it and am waiting for it to be delivered. I am submitting this comment because I can't goddamn stand it when a bunch of ametures review something, and you have to weed past all of them to get the good reviews from people who understand what a product is meant for.

Anyone who gave this amp a bad rating because it didn't work out for you at a gig or at band practice is a moron and deserves to have been let down when it blew up on them. Corky from Life Goes On would know enough to know this thing is meant for bedrooms and direct line to recording ideas and such on a multitracker or computer.

By no means is this amp meant to play any gig bigger than a small coffee house with a dozen or two sized audience. By no means is it meant to keep up with your bandmate's 50/100w Marshall half stack, a bass amp, drums, and mic'd vocals. And by no goddamn means is it meant to record that professional $6000 demo.

If you buy this amp for any of the above purposes, you are a cheap bastard and a certified retard who obviously is too much of a newbie to know you need real equipment for real life situations. Good luck replacing it in a month when you blow it up playing bar gigs.

I will give a real review once I get it in a few days.

Submitted by I Hate Bad Reviews at 12/20/2005 10:02

Price Paid: US $230.00

Features: 9
As mentioned before. Lots of great sounds an features. The power tube really helps give this amp a tone that is well above anything in its class...but... read on.

Sound Quality: 6
Sound and tone is great... when it worked right. the presets on mine had a mind of their own. I would turn it to reverb, and get flange. Change over to Flange and get hi-gain. If I flipped a few knowbs around it would settle down usually, but started all over agin next time I turned it on for practice sessions. Very frustrating. This is the main reason I sold it. The Sound is a 9-10, but the difficulty to select and hold the sounds gets it a 6

Reliability: 5
Not good. Very noisy as mentioned before. Lots of buzz even when playing a humbucker equipped guitar. Although the power never konked out or anything, the spastic nature of the controls made it maddening to use. Would not gig with it. would not buy another.

Customer Support: N/A
Never called them. for $200, it wasn't worth the hassle. I sold it to a kid (clearly forwaring him of the idiosyncracies) rather than deal with Vox or GC. Better to get a new amp in my opinion.

Overall Rating: 6
I've been playing guitar since 1966. Everything from vintage Fenders and Voxes to Marshalls, Traynor, etc. Solid state and Tube. As much as I love Vox due to my childhood with the Beatles and British Invasion, I just couldn't get past the quality issues on this new Valvetronix.
My little 15w Vox Patfinder is a killer little amp, though . Never a lick of trouble with that one!

Submitted by Portlander at 12/19/2005 14:35

Price Paid: US $239 + $29 for Vox footswitch

Features: 8
This amp has a lot of versatility, and it seems there is something for everyone somewhere between the different amp emulations and effects. It als has a nice warm valve (tube) tone.

One serious shortfall mentioned by a few other reviewer is that there is NO line out. Vox designers, why in the heck did youleave this out?! As a consequence, I only play this at home, but cannot use it with my band because I can't run it through our sound board.

Sound Quality: 9
The AC30 emulation is worth the price alone! It is a perfect match for my Rickenbacker 330. My Fender custom tele sounds awesome on the more overdriven amps. The cleaner-sounding amp emulations are perfect for my hollow-body Ibanez AFS75 with 2 humbuckers. You can get almost any sound out of this amp, although I agree it would be helfpul to be able to mix and match the various effects more.

Reliability: 10
I've had it for a year without any problems whatsoever. Solidly built as any amp.

Customer Support: N/A
I have not had to worry about this category (fingers crossed).

Overall Rating: 9
I've been playing 20+ years, blah, blah, blah. I'd have to say that for the very affordable price, you are getting a lot with this amplifier.

Submitted by Ricky Racoon at 12/11/2005 13:37

Price Paid: 287 (EURO)

Features: 8
I play anything from dark Dimmu Borgir to light and clean songs from White Stripes.

I would say it is very useful for all kinds of music styles you have several nice warm clean channels and you've very nice distorted ones too... In the nu-metal setting and with a lot of treble it's distorted to hell, I like it!

11 channels 11 effects, noise reduction.

The effects are ok for the price I guess. But I never use them. I'll aim for some quality pedals soon and after that a bigger and not-so-cheap amp.

I use it mostly for bed room practice and a little for jamming, ive used it a bit live too but only on a very small show... It is certainly loud enoguh. It's got a headphone jack and when you plug it in there the speaker is silenced.

Sound Quality: 7
I use this with my nice Ibanez Iceman (IC400). Stock pickups.

Its quite noisy sometimes but it has a noise reduction, youve got to be careful not to set it too high tough, cause the high notes and bends tends to fade out real quick.

The clean channels maintains their clean sound at high volumes. The less clean the channels you select are and it gets more distorted but you want it cleaner, you could always turn down the volume knob on your guitar. It works quite well.

As I said earlier it distorts to hell with the right settings!

Many people has said it before: Yes, it does vary in volume in the different channels, wich is extremely annoying sometimes!

Reliability: 2
Well...

I would not use it on a gig. I have but that was before it got fucked.

Sometimes when i play it drops real low in volume but it goes up to its normal volume with a small puff. This happens in a very short period of time. And it makes a noisy sounds and crackles like a fire and acts like a tremolo in volume. I dont know what is wrong but its not like this on the clean channels!

I'm gonna send it back to germany, or maybe get it fixed at a music store somewhere near.

Customer Support: N/A
I live in Norway, and as far as I know there are no Vox officials here. The warranty is 12 months. I sent a mail to Vox yesterday using their support form. Waiting for a response.

Overall Rating: 7
Ive only been playing for a couple of months. If it were stolen I would buy maybe a Roland Cube 30 watt.

I hate that it got fucked, and that the volume varies so much in the different channels.

If you would like to discuss it or you have any information that would be help me out, it would be greatly appreciated.

Submitted by Ragnar at 12/09/2005 05:10

Price Paid: £140 (GBP)

Features: 10
11 amp models, 9 effects, built-in attenuator (nice one Vox), 10" speaker, 12AX7/ECC83 preamp valve in the power section. Amazing features for the cash IMO. I replaced the Electro Harmonix valve with a JJ High Gain ECC83S.

Sound Quality: 10
I use a Strat copy with Bareknuckle pickups in. With this amp (now it has a better valve) I can get some really, REALLY good sounds. Anything from warm jazzy cleans to chunky metal, sooaring leads, chickin pickin' tones. All the Strat tones are there too. Amazing versatility. The effects aren't bad. Their parameters don't stretch to the ends of the earth, but for £140 they're fantasic. They're WARM, not sterile like some digital effects. The valve that was in the amp before wasn't bad, I just felt that there wasn't enough push in the metal tones. The amp now sounds darker, which suits the stuff I play. It was a bit brighter and grainier with the stock valve. The breakup tones are absolutely jaw dropping in this amp. Great fendery style breakup and the Vox tones are spot on. For £140 + £10 for the new valve I really think I've got an amp I'm going to have for years to come. I'm a bedroom guitarist but this amp would be good mic'd up for a gig methinks. I'm giving it a 10 because a) it sounds wonderful and b) I can't think of ANYTHING in this price range that comes anywhere near this amp. It works well with my cheapo Behringer OD100 pedal too.

Reliability: 8
It's worked fine for me in the 2 months I've had it.

Customer Support: N/A
Never dealt with Vox.

Overall Rating: 10
Great amp. You need to take a while to find the best tones but once you do you'll be amazed that you paid so little for them.

Submitted by Danny Vernon at 12/01/2005 09:58

Price Paid: US $240

Features: 8
This story is well known.

Sound Quality: 8
See below

Reliability: 8

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 8
I'm following up to a review I did over a year ago. I rated the amp a "10" then and give it an "8" now. It's not because I've lost confidence but more because "10" should be reserved for the best of the best. I will say that at $240 it's absolutely impossible to go wrong with this amp. When I reviewed below, I hadn't gigged with it. It's been over a year now and a lot of gigs later. The band loves the little thing. I'm not too loud and I can dial in whatever sound required for a song (... a cover band thang). I've also used it in my production business exclusively over the Hot Rod Deluxe I bought about 6 years ago. The bottom line is this- if you want a great sounding modeling amp, don't want to spend a lot of money, you wont go wrong buying this thing.

Submitted by Pershing Wells at 11/26/2005 17:09

Price Paid: 139.99 (£)

Features: 8
Already been told many times before

Sound Quality: 9
I use an Ibanez RGT42 (two humbuckers, double locking trem) and a Yamaha Pacifica, Pedal wise I use a Vox Big Ben Overdrive on the UK 70's model (1959 Marshall I think) and get a lovely tone, lots of sustain and nice for bluesy rock with either guitar. There are many distorted sounds, personnally I like the numetal emulation (this I think is a Mesa Boogie, probably Dual Rectifier), some of which can sound far too much like the gnat in a jam jar.

There is a huge range of very good sounds available on this amp, from a nice clean, bluesy tone, to a crunchy rock rhythm to a full on metal tone. The emulation of a valve amp is very good, its not perfect, but this one seems to do the "I'm several difference amps" thing better than ANY else.

Reliability: 8
Contrary to a lot of revievs here, I've not had a single problem. I have played with it very loud (in my bedroom it seems loud) for over half an hour and it has'nt shown any signs of struggling at all, so far, very pleased with it.

Some of the controls do seem very cheap, but then again, it is a budget practice amp, so that is possibly to be expected.

I only give it 8 based on what others have said, I dont think this would be loud enough to gig with

Customer Support: N/A
Never dealt with, and the store I got it from has an excellent amp tech anyway/

Overall Rating: 9
I have found that this amp is generally very nice to play. There is a possibility that I will be joining a band soon, and I think I will take it along and see how it goes. If not, then I am going to look into getting a Mesa Boogie F50 combo secondhand.

I've been playing just over a year now, started out on a POS Marshall MG15DFX, the Vox is another world in comparison (I gave the Marshall to my brother in order to get rid of it). Compared to the Line 6 or the Marshall AVT, the Vox seemed more organic and felt right to me.

Submitted by daniel2001 at 11/24/2005 11:52

Price Paid: 179 (GB Pounds)

Features: 10
Valve/solid state hybrid with 11 amp models & effects, etc. Can't complain about the number of features, especially at this price.

Sound Quality: 8
I play a mexican strat with a set of fender's vintage noiseless pickups in it. I mainly play blues, classic rock, funk. The AD30 VT handles these very well, the fender blackface model with the reverb at 5 makes for a great clean tone for blues or jazz. The AC30 model is great for Rorry Galagher immpressions and, with the bridge pickup on my strat selected, the UK80's (Marshall JCM?) model gives a great, tight sounding rock distortion, great for lead, and with my friend's Gibson SG plugged in, you're instantly in Angus Young territory. Adequete volume for practice, but struggles in band rehearsals and becomes rather harsh sounding as the volumeis wound up, also suffers from huge variation in volume when channel hopping.

Reliability: 3
Ok, this is where things take a turn for the worse; I've had this amp since October 2004, after about four months while rehearsing with my band the amp suddenly started to crakle loudly, completely obscuring the sound of my guitar, in fact it was so intrusive, that playing on was impossible. Sent the amp off to get it sorted. Got it back around June (!). It's been fine since then, untill. . . Last night, playing with my band it started it's old tricks all over again! I've also had the problem of the input jack falling into the cabinet. At bedroom practice volumes levels it's behaviour is impeccable, but my new band has it's first headlining gig in a month and I can't stand the thought of beeing booed off stage mid-solo because my amp has just errupted again. So as a result I'll be after a new amp for gigging, thinking about getting a fender blues deluxe re-issue, anybody got any other suggestions?

Customer Support: 4
My amp was under warranty when it broke down first time, but isn't any more, so ultimately I've been left out of pocket. The place I got it from; Guitar Amp and Keyboard in Brighton were pretty dissorganised and as I mentioned above, took litterally months to fix the amp. In fact, when I actually drove the thirty something miles to Brighton, I disscovered the amp being used a display model on the shop floor!!!

Overall Rating: 6
I've been playing a little over two years so this was my first decent amp.I will keep this amp when I get my new one, because at bedroom practice levels and for recording, its simply unrivalled for the money. However, If you intend to play at anywhere with the power level above halfway, you'd better have a rabbit's foot or a fourleaf clover because it might just spring a nasty suprise on you, this makes it's 30w power rating seem a little academic. The bottom line is that this amp is a great design, but the build quality and reliability are such that for any kind of live playing, you'd be better off finding annother more reliable amp, but be prepared to pay twice as much as the vox for one that sounds as good.

Submitted by Tej Lander at 11/21/2005 13:43

Price Paid: £160

Features: 7
Made in 2004.Good for clean and blues, possibly good for other styles but I havn't tried.The various amp models all sound the same to me, but I like being able to store sounds and not have to look for them every time I plug another guitar in.I use it in a small (8 foot square) room. It is easily loud enough.I was attracted by the modelling pre amp, valve in the power amp.
The speaker needs replacing straight away (in my opinion). The bass was a bit mushy wooly and indistinct. I fitted a Jensen.

Sound Quality: 9
I use mainly Strats ( with Van Zandts,seymours, Fender '54s) a 335, Heritage Jazzer.
It is good for blues when you find that sweet spot just before beak up ( easily found) and add compression or possibly reverb if the volume you select gives enough compression. You cant select compression and reverb together and these are the only two effects I use.
Fairly easy to use but you need to keep the handbook/instructions and never buy one without, you will never fathom it out.
Easy to get an excellent sound from it.After a year using it I am sarting to find the limitations but thats always the case isn't it? Good low volume, inspirational slightly overdriven sounds.

Reliability: 10
It has never let me down, but changing the valve is a long fiddly process. Loads of screws to remove, hard to get the back off and awkward removing and replacing the valve..

Customer Support: N/A
Never tried.

Overall Rating: 9
I have been playing for 40 + years. I own Orange, Laney, Peavey amplification.If I lost it I think I would replace it with an identical one.

Submitted by Gordon Rennie at 11/14/2005 11:32

Price Paid: US $280

Features: 8
Features have been covered in other reviews... no need for redundance.

I will say, however, that the attenuator feature is fantastic, but changing settings becomes a bit tedious after a while. Like other reviewers, I have found that the volume will vary from setting to setting and sometimes some quick fiddling with the gain or volume knob is necessary to bring the sound back when switching settings.

Sound Quality: 8
I used a MIM Fender Telecaster with this amp that is stock, except for a switch to the vintage style bridge with compensated brass saddles. I also played many guitars from 335's to les pauls to strats through this amp while testing it out at the store. I do get a fair amount of buzz when the amp is turned on but not playing, but I think it is mostly due to my tele. When touch any metal on the guitar, the sound goes away... tele probably needs better grounding.

This amp has some great sounds in it! As other reviewers have said, the AC30 setting sounds the best, but there are some really usable marshall tones and fender tones in there as well. The flexibility of this amp is wonderful. The effects are decent.. I used the compression and reverb settings quite a bit. The other wonderful thing about this amp is the attenuator. There is a lot of tone avaliable at low volumes with the attenuator set low. This, in my opinion, is the finest budget practice/apartment amplifier avaliable. It's lots of fun to mess around with all the different tones and acts as an inspirational piece of equipment. Its also fun to listen to your favorite tracks and try to emulate the tone with just the different amplifier settings. I found that this thirty watt version was barely loud enough to be used for rehearsal with a drummer and bass player though. If I were to do it again, I'd probably opt for at least the 50 Watt version for that type of use. HOWEVER....

Reliability: 2
Oh boy...

I bought this amplifier from www.northcoastmusic.com One of the reasons I did that is because I heard that reliability on these things was not too great. Lots of DOA's etc... Northcoast claims they "burn in" the tubes and ensure that the amps are working properly before sending them out to customers. I thought this would largely eliminate any problems I may have.

Wrong.

I used this amp in my apartment at VERY low levels for the first month and a half that I had it. At this volume it sounded fine and I had no complaints. But when I joined up with a band my brother was forming and decided to bring it over to use, I turned the attenuator to perhaps 3/4's volume before turning it on and when I plugged in, the sound was AWFUL! Strong static noise, very muffled, fuzzy sound no matter what the setting or whether it was clean, distorted. It was unplayable. I turned the amp off, turned the attenuator down to around where it was before and turned the amp back on. The sound was fine.. . just as it had been in at home.

Desperate to play, I turned the attenuator back up and messed around with the noisegate, turning it on and off to see if that would change anything. No change, but after five minutes of high volume playing, the sound just quit. The power light is still on, but it does not make any sound whatsoever. Don't know if it's a tube gone bad, speaker that is bad, bad connection on circuit board, etc... but it doesn't work! The amp is only two months old and has been played a total of ten minutes at 3/4's volume and maybe 8 hours at very low volume.

I still have to take it in to the local Vox service center for repair...I hear it normally takes a couple months before these are fixed/replaced.

I'll give it a 2 since at least it worked at a #2 volume level for a few weeks!

Customer Support: N/A
This I have not had the time to investigate yet. There is a service center about five miles away from me and I will try to take it in in the next week or so. I believe the warranty is a year long. Hopefully it will not take much time to fix.

Overall Rating: 5
I am debating on what to do with this amplifier once it gets fixed under warranty. In the mean time, I have purchased a Fender Blues Jr. (all tube, 15 watt) and I can say that that amplifier is about twice as loud as this one, despite having half the wattage. I will have a review on that amp when I get another couple weeks on it. I think I will be happy enough with the Fender to consider selling the Vox. If I do keep the Vox, I think it will just be used for at home practice, because as said before, that is clearly the best use for it. It really is a great amp for that purpose.

I wish that there were more banks for storing tones that I have made (there are only two) because that limits the amp as a gigging amp (also due to the various volume levels of different settings). I wish it worked for longer than a month too!

I'd also like to say...for those contemplating the Vox grill cloth upgrade at northcoast music, think about this: When I emailed the owner of the company (Dr. Vox or whatever he calls himself) to tell him what happened and to ask if the grill cloth would be replaced in the event of amp replacement. He basically told me that he installs the grill cloth with permission of Vox, but it is between me and Vox as to whether or not I get the cloth back after the servicing. If they replace my amplifier rather than repair it, there is a strong chance that I will get a regular, metal grill model in return. Wish North Coast had told me that ahead of time...before I spent $40 extra for the cloth! Also, I'm disapointed that the amp did not work despite North Coast checking each one for proper operation before leaving the facility. I wonder how complete these tests are. I believe that something was wrong with my amp when I got it, not afterwards considering the light use that it had. The only two reasons I bought the amp from northcoast were for the cloth and to get an amp that worked right the first time. Looks like both of those reasons were in vain.

I believe that if you get a good AD30VT, you will be very happy with it. As said before, I may even keep mine for around the house playing. I think that once my amp is fixed or replaced, chances are I will have a reliable one. Basically, I'd give the amp a 9 as a practice amp, but take away 4 for reliability. So a 5 it is.

Submitted by Rory at 11/10/2005 12:26

Price Paid: US $239

Features: 7
Lots but needs a speaker out. effects are quite limited.

Sound Quality: 6
Decent sounds. Lots of fun at low volumes but sound changes for the worse when turned up. It becomes very harsh and tinny and you cant eq it out cuz the tones controls are very subtle, way too weak to vary the sound much. Tends to make my guitars sound the same like a bad multi-effects pedal. Also, the tube thing is a gimmick. No way does this thing have any thing in common with a tube amp. Basically its a decent practice amp with effects. I write after owning for a year. Dont believe the honeymoon reviews. Not an amp worth (upgrading). The cleans are o.k. but lack punch. The soldano, marshall, and trip rect. are pretty awesome at low volumes.

Reliability: 1
Input is plastic! broke after a month. To open this thing up takes like 30 screws! Cheap stuff. I am afraid it wont last long. Effects malfunction occasionally as said by others.

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 6
Been picking for 17 years. This is the best practice amp i have had and its great for plug n play. I would have got the 15 watt version if I knew the amp was not going to be good for jamming.

Submitted by SKRATCH at 10/10/2005 19:00

Price Paid: US $245

Features: 7
30W Vox Modeling amp, tube/solid state hybrid - 11 amp models, 11 effects. Has an attenuator on the back. No effects loop. Has input for a footswitch. Good for the bedroom/late night. Has a line/phone jack for output.

Sound Quality: 7
I'm playing it thru an Epi Les Paul copy, with Seymours (jazz in the neck, distortion in the bridge). It's OK, nothing stunning - actually pretty cool little amp for the money. Distortion hasn't really blown my hair back but I'm looking for metal stuff - if you like more warm vintage style sounds, this box has it. I got some great Texas rockabilly out of it and also got some pretty sweet blues sounds. Lots of things to play with. I'd consider replacing the speaker with a Celestion - the stock speaker sounds like crap.

It's a closed back amp, kinda neat. Very compact versatile package. This is not for gigging or rehearsal with a band.

Some cool sounds, and it can be fun messing around with them, but this is definitely NOT for you Slayer/Metallica/Pantera fans. I got bored with it after a while.

Reliability: 7
The electronics on this amp kinda suck. The presets jump up and down in volume levels which is a pain in the butt if you're playing something late night at a decent level and you switch it...could be blowing your ears off all the sudden. ANNOYING. It just feels unpredictable. The switches are pretty cheap too - they don't really "click" into place and you can easily go sailing by your desired preset. Just doesn't feel very well made, which I really don't care for.

But, then again, it's not a hugely expensive amp. GREAT if you're on a budget and you have the patience for this amp. I think it would make a fantastic first or second amp for a student. I'd have been thrilled to have this starting out.

Customer Support: N/A
Never dealt with em.

Overall Rating: 7
It looks very sharp, is easy to set up and play, and I think it's a grat first or second amp for someone learning how to play. It's got all kindsa settings, etc. May help an aspiring guitarist find their sound? The attenuator is really nice, as is the closed back design and general compact efficiency of the unit. Electronics are sketchy. You can't gig this amp.

I'm replacing this with a Mesa-Boogie DC-5 if that's any indication of my likes/dislikes. Not a bad little amp, but I won't be going with any more modeling amps.

Submitted by J. Lightnin' at 10/06/2005 09:09

Price Paid: 130 (pounds)

Features: 8
1. Its a modelling amp and it models vitage to modern amp.
2. It has two user slots that can be selected by the footswitch emulating two channels.
3. It has a range of effects aome on combination but the adjustment of them is cryptic and the compressor will almost always be selected since it always seems to improve the sound.

Sound Quality: 9
The valve emulation actually works. I find the fender and vox models very useable and superior to my j-station modelling amp, which is impressive when you consider the j-station cost twice as much and is not too bad in itself for recording duties. Very quiet if used with a decent cable, I think that previous users must have had a faulty version or duff cable. The sound is brilliant in combination with my SG. If you can't get a decent tone from this then something is seriously wrong. The quality of tone is there which is remarkable considering its got all the different models as well. I can't comment on the more modern models because I prefer a cleaner sound and they seem over the top to my ears. But the fender and vox emulations make me smile!

Reliability: N/A
IC's so it is not going to be as reliable or fixable as simpler amps. At 130 quid I will just replace it with a new one.

Customer Support: N/A
Haven't tried them yet since its not broke.

Overall Rating: 10
Fantastic value. Brillaint for practice and mike it up for gigs. You might want to buy the next version up to play it through cabs but the weight consideration mitigated against this for me. Just mike it up. This one is a no brainer.

Submitted by Robbi Iobbi at 09/23/2005 08:10

Price Paid: N/A

Features: 9
Bought new in 2004. Play everything from rock, alternative, heavy rock on this thing. For this price its hard to beat, and it takes my fulltone overdrive pedals easily.

Sound Quality: 10
Ac-15 and AC30 sound are the best on this thing. I'm sure Vox took extra time to make sure those stood out... its their amp! One thing I have up graded on the amp is the 10" speaker. The speak is cheap and nothing special, so I replaced it with a Celestian Vintage 30 (60 watts) 10". Its a new speaker by Celestian and about $100...half the price of the amp...but it tightens the amp up at reheasal volumes. For alt. rock/ that needs clean to overdrive sounds, in a small package this is really hard to beat now.. If you have $1500 for a Bad Cat 15 watt amp, good for you...but its not that much better than my Vox with Celestian V-30 speaker in it. Warm, focused, tight, clean 3-D sound. No farting out at higher volumes now.

Reliability: N/A

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 10
Great value for the price and wattage. Upgrade the speaker and its an amazing little amp.

Submitted by Anonymous at 09/09/2005 17:03

Price Paid: US $240.00

Features: 10
Purchased new from G Center. 30 watt, 10" speaker, 11 amps, 11 effects, presets, 2 user settings, line/phone out, footswitch option, 8 ohm ext speaker plug. Gotta like that ‘power level’ dial – an attenuator, I guess. At full power, there’s a bit of hiss - dial power back about 1/8, to around 25 watts perhaps, and bye-bye hiss (also has noise reduction adjustment).

Sound Quality: 9
Had the amp for only 3 days, and guess I’m still on the honeymoon. But it’s hitting all the spots for me – nicely. I’m blues, jazz, rock. Metal-seekers may also like the available tones in a small package. This is so much better than the Fender comparable – Champ 30, same price – it’s no contest. The models are fun to goof with, easily adjustable. No compound-building the effects, but I only use a bit of reverb. The best feature – you can dial in surprisingly good tone for this class of amp. Nice blues tones – good classic rock – and acceptable practice jazz-tone with proper settings on amp and archtop. Tweek presets for best tones - save your 2 favorites.

Reliability: N/A
?

Customer Support: N/A
?

Overall Rating: 9
I was looking for an inexpensive, versatile practice amp - want something larger than an 8” speaker. This is it. Tweek presets for best tones. Has a tight sound – not the open Fender clean – but leans in that direction with the ‘Black 2x12’ option, and some tweeking. My first Vox, and lovin it.

Submitted by Anonymous at 09/09/2005 11:16

Price Paid: N/A

Features: 8
This is a second review from my very negative one last year.

Sound Quality: 8
OK - it now sounds great - I have to say that thing at the back people are calling an attenuator is a volume control. I just have at 30 watts and turn the master volume down - I find you get a much better sound that way than playing with the tiny knob at the back.

As to the emulations - they are not too bad - I wouldn't treat them as emulations but as 'in the style of'. Which is cool - by the way the AC15 sound on this is rocking - it has huge tonal variation.

However, there is volume drop between the models and the effects change when you change amp model (eg verb becomes a phaser). Which is just a software error. Another problem is that if you turn the drive and volume full up you suddenly get a new order of volume that stays when you turn it down. So someone should have a look at the electronics on this thing

Reliability: 2
Now here is the beef - I gave it to my Guitar shop - they waited 3 weeks for Korg to pick it up. Then Korg said, you haven't got a reciept (despite the fact it was registered on the Vox website). So I found the receipt and off it went back to Korg. Six weeks later Korg telephoned the guitar shop and said they had ordered a part to repair it. 3 more weeks later it came back.

That is just not good enough!

In the mean time I bought a guitarport as a practice amp - very good it is too. Although the sound of the Vox is better.

Customer Support: 1
See above

Overall Rating: 5
Great practice amp - I would think too quiet and hissy for gigging or band practice.

Beware of the electronics - I dont buy one from e-retail and try out the model you are going to buy.

Submitted by EV at 09/08/2005 00:50

Price Paid: US $239.00

Features: 9
This is the 2004 version with 30W, 10" Speaker, 12AX7 tube and everything else the other reviewers stated. Great value for the money. Could use a 12" speaker but it is loud enough for small clubs and bedroom practice. It has 11 amp models and 11 effects. The models are very versatile but only about six of them really are usefull. The effects are great for being digital but they would be much more useful if it were possible to mix the different effects.

Sound Quality: 8
Using the amp with a Fernandes Revolver from the 80's and a cheap strat copy. The revolver is a H-S-S guitar and is very versatile with this little amp. I play rock, blues, grunge, funk, and a little bit of metal. This amp is not as well suited for metal as the Line 6 Spider models but it will give you a much better blues/rock sound because of the 12AX7 tube. My favorite amp model is the AC30TB, the model has a very good clean sound but distorted well at higher volumes. All in all the sound that this amp produces is the most versatile you'll find in the price range.

Reliability: 8
The amp is built very well with good materials. I espicially like the metal grill used instead of the classic Vox cloth grill. The problem i've had has been the input jack. It wiggled and felt weak and eventually it actually fell into the amp. This was an easy fix however, all that was needed was to open up te amp and tighten the screw that holds the jack in place. Good as new now.

Customer Support: N/A
Never had to deal with Vox.

Overall Rating: 10
I've been playing for six years and this has been my first "real" amp. It is a great little amp that is well worth what you pay for it. If it were lost or stolen I would certainly buy a new one. I tried the Line 6 Spider amps and countless other amps that were way out of my price range just to compare and this was the best fit for me. If your looking for something with a little bit more distortion than get the Spider but this is the best all around amp in its price range.

Submitted by Bryant at 09/07/2005 15:05

Price Paid: US $179 used

Features: 10
You know the features of this amp from the other reviews. I want to tell you about some very simple and cool mods for this amp.

Sound Quality: 9
I think the Vox sounds good, not great with the built-in 10" speaker. A bit midrangy, but this is my go to amp when I don't want to hassle with my tube amp and a bunch of pedals. I use it a lot at church with a Squire Custom Tele. The effects are nice and with the footswitch, you can effectively have 3 options available.

But- my buddy and I recently added a DPDT switch and 1/4" inch jack to be able to run the amp out to an 8ohm load. And WHOA!! This thing rocks through any of my 12" speakers (Celstion G12H30, Jensen, you name it). It sounds especially cool through a beat up old 15" speaker I have. And with the attenuator on the back, you can dial in that "tube crunch" at any power level. Very cool. Also added a jack to use the Vox speaker in the cab, which allows me to use the amp with the speaker only (no power) as another extension for more sound options.

Reliability: 9
Built solid. Have had it for 6 months with no issues. Careful with the plastic input jack....

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 10
This is a great amp for the price and features: the attenuator dial on the back (where you can go from 0-30 watts) is worth the price of admission.

Submitted by Anonymous at 08/31/2005 13:18

Price Paid: US $239

Features: 9
30 Watt tube amp with modeling capabilities and effects. Check the website for the full specs. Lots of features for the price. The only thing really missing from this amp is more channels to save programs to. It only has two + 11 presets. I typically go through anywhere from 10 to 20 or so different sounds per gig & would have liked to been able to program that many. The solid state Behringer modeling amp allows you to do this, but it doesn't sound as good.

Sound Quality: 9
There is only one reason I did not give this category a 10 and that is the amount of hiss present. I DO NOT LIKE HISS. We live in the 21st century, not the 70's. Vox should work on increasing their signal to noise ratio by about 20 db and this amp would totally blow away all competitors in this price range. The hiss is there and I can live with it since I am using it for live gigs where it won't be noticed as much. You can adjust the gain on many of the models and get rid of most of it for a more prestine sound.

Now for the good part. Even with the hiss (remember, I am a HISS hater), the sounds from the amp models are fantastic, incredible and freakin awesome. I don't know why I didn't buy a tube amp earlier. I can go from blusey to chunky to smooth and creamy with a twist of the dial. I have owned solid state amps for 15 years and thought that tube amps were noisy and expensive. While they can be both, the difference in sound really makes it worth switching to. This amp was about $75 more than the Behringer amp and $50 more than the Line6 and Crate 30amp models, but even with the hiss, this thing blows them away. It was worth the extra money.

Reliability: N/A
No sure - just got it. Others have had problems with the input jack unscrewing, but so what. It's an easy fix. The metal grate on the front is a bit odd looking, but I am getting used to it and it really protects the speaker well.

Customer Support: N/A
1 year warranty except 90 days on the speaker. Never had to deal with Vox (Korg).

Overall Rating: 9
If this were stolen, I would replace it. The other amps in this category (30 amp modeling w/ effects) just don't compare. I thought about the Behringer for awhile, but the sound just isn't there. It sounds good for a solid state amp, but I really got attached to the tube rumble after playing it for about 5 minutes. I give this a 9.4 because of the hiss and lack of programmable channels.

VOX HERE THIS. I would sell this amp and buy a newer model (next year's edition - hint hint) if it had more programmable channels and slightly less noise. Other than that, great product guys!

Submitted by Steve Wright at 08/19/2005 10:10

Price Paid: US $230

Features: 9
got this amp earlier this year. i played it at the local superstore for about 1 minute and couldnt believe what i was hearing -from a 10 in speaker nonetheless. especially for being 90% transistor driven. this puppy rocks. i dont care if youre into country, jazz or thrash, theres going to be a tone youre gonna be happy with if not totally dig on. ive got several desirible tones and like them all. i just wish i had the footswitch for the added flex factor. as far as jamming at home or the local dive, this thing will do the job. and you can always curt cobain it by just miking it into the p.a. like he did a few times with the micro marshall stack. besides the louder you crank it up, the better it sounds. any kind of seasoned player will see that its an easy unit to use.

Sound Quality: 10
i like it the most when im using humbuckers, but sings work nicely as well. it just depends on what you like to hear. it can be noisy but there is the noise gate (which im not fond of too much) so you wont lose your grip. dist is smoking and the clean options are warm and moist for the most part. i may just have to look into the option of getting one of the EH tubes as another post mentioned doing and see if i can get more woodiness out of the fender sims as even another poster reported as i wasnt in agreement with what vox likes to claim is a bassman/tweed, but then again you've got to remember that all this sound is coming from an 8 in. speaker.

Reliability: N/A
i havent had any problems with this amp and i hope it stays that way. there really isnt much to break down other than the 1 tube and the cab and speaker. therefore i really cant give it a number rating. put it this way: so far so good.

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 10
this amp rock for either the beginner (had this amp been around for this price in the late 70's when i got my 1st elec guit, id sound like segovia on steroids by now)
a parent would be a fool to not let their kid talk them into buying this amp. this is an amp for everyone. country to ripcore.
i'd get another in a second if ripped off.

Submitted by jfist at 08/16/2005 21:03

Price Paid: US $250

Features: 4
This is an update to my last review of this amp, after contacting Vox several times they did finally get back with me. Then the problem started, since I had went to their website and regestered my purchase, I did not keep the receipt. They told me to take it back to the store I got it at, which had gone out of business, well after about 6 weeks of emailing, S#, where bought etc.. they autherized it to be serviced, I had to ship it to a repair place since there are no Vox repair places near me. After about a month I started calling the repair shop since they would not answer my emails or give me an update on when they would get to it. Finally they said that they could not figure out what was wrong and were going to contact Vox and see if they could find out anything. The VOx guy started contacting me, and finally decided to just have that amp returned to them and sent me a new one. Which finally arrived last week and seems to have no issues. So they did stand behind their product, but between the hassle of getting the ok, the extramly poor service from the repair shop, and the amount of time it took and energy it took to get this resolved, I doubt that I would buy another Vox product, unless this amp holds up better than any I've owned. I was without an amp for so long I broke down and bought a Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue. So this VOx 30 is now a back up, goof around amp.

Sound Quality: 9
This is a real good sounding amp for the price.

Reliability: 5
I am a little scared

Customer Support: 5
You can win if you are willing to out last them

Overall Rating: 7
THis would be a great amp for a newbie. Its loud, verstal, and has a lot of features. Or a good small gig amp. It does have a decent tube sound and response for the price

Submitted by Kraig McCluskey at 08/09/2005 04:12

Price Paid: N/A

Features: N/A
An addition to a previous post

Sound Quality: 10
I submitted a review a few days ago and mentioned that I had replaced the supplied Electro-harmonix 12AX7 tube with several from different manufacturers. I have had this amp for over a year and have played it hard almost every day. Lately , I thought, I had become a bit bored with the tone and thought it sounded a little less alive, which is why I started fooling around replacing the tubes. I tried several comparable tubes from different manufacturers before I settled on a different tube (the 12AT7) from the same manufacturer. This one has a bit less gain and it did sound better than the old tube I had pulled out. I still wasn't satisfied, so I ordered another new Electroharmonix 12AX7, which is what the amp came with. HOLY CRAP!! I have always heard that preamp tubes like this don't gradually go dead, that they either work or quit, but WOW. The new tube made a HUGE difference in the sound of all the models. The fenders had their sparkle and woody flavor back. The vox models had their top end chime and shimmer back. The high gain models are HUGE, thumping, and scorching again. I now remember why I fell in love with this little thing in the first place. I was in such disbelief that I put the old tube back in to make sure, and it obviously deadened the sound again. I will be replacing this tube religiously once a year from now on. The Electro harmonix tubes are some of the best around, but they are still cheap (around 7.00) I have them in another fender and a peavey tube amp.

Reliability: N/A

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: N/A

Submitted by 69strat at 07/20/2005 09:08

Price Paid: US $239

Features: 10
WOW! what a great little practice amp for the money. You'd have to go to the website to read about all the amp models, and effects it contains, because I'm too lazy to type that much. The little Fender G-DEC is also kinda cool, one of my students had one and it is terrific for practicing rhythm along with the built in rhythm machine. The actual tone of the G-DEC amp, although it has quite a few different sounds sounded fake, unlike this unit. I chose this Vox.

Sound Quality: 9
This little amp (FOR WHAT IT IS) sounds great! I can go from playing a very clean twangy fender clean, to 80's marshall growl, to scorching rectifier sounds in a second. I bought this amp as a "kick around" to haul back and forth to a guitar club I teach at a local high school. I already had their bigger 60 watt Valvetronix amp and I love it. No, this one does not sound as good as it's big brother, but it also sells for one fourth the price and I am Very surprised how good it does sound. I played all the lower priced amps in my search for a versatile practice amp that wouldn't break my back. This thing DOES warm up like a tube amp and sounds better after you've played a while. The amp models sound close to what they are mimicking and they sound REAL. This is what really sold me on this amp. A lot of little modeling amps may have features and amp models, but the sounds seem mechanical or sterile or something. This one has a lot of flavor and sound like a real amp. And listen to the manual when it says turn it UP. It actually sounds better cranked just like a completely tube amp. BTW I have experimented with replacing the Electroharmonix tube with other 12AX7 tubes from other makers (Sovtek, JJ TESLA , Ei, and another whose name I can't recall) This amp is definately voiced for the electroharmonix tube. I did find that an electroharmonix 12AU7 (lower gain) gave the clean fender and vox models more clean headroom and sounded good, but took away from the high gain models. I then tried an Electroharmonix 12AT7 and I think I will leave it in. It made the clean channels sound better and didn't take away from the high gain channels at all as far as I can tell. It also lessened some of the noise without having to use the noise reduction setting on the amp. I also think I like the sound of the amp with the back wood panel removed, although I'll probably put it back on when I start hauling it again. The little 10 inch speaker can deliver some volume, and I never crank the volume more than halfway up before it's too loud.... if there is such a thing...... oh god..... am I getting old?? The effects are fairly useful. I miss not having the overdrive on it's 60 watt big brother, sometimes the 80's marshall model needs a little kick. Some of the effect combinations are a little limiting, you can't run delay and reverb together, or the phaser without compression. But, you can get most of the most common combinations for playing most music.

Reliability: N/A
The metal grill on the front is not pretty, but I'll tell you this, I can't count the number of times a kid has bumped into it during class and I have been happy to hear a safe "clank" instead of a "rip". My high school age guitar students and I have played this thing for four and five hours straight at times without a break. I have banged it right good several times myself trying to haul it back and forth and it had not so much as dinged it. It's a year old now.

Customer Support: N/A
never had to use

Overall Rating: 9
I'll tell you, this amp and it's big brother have changed my guitar playing forever. When I got the first one i was excited about playing a marshall stack sound and a fender tweed for blues. After I got the amp, I started wondering, hey, who used all these other amp models in the past and what sounds did they get out of them? This has sent me on a quest for several years to survey great guitar tones from the 50's til now and the great thing is I have found so many great sounds, from 50's rockabilly, to the beatles to 60's surf, to 70's psychadelic, to 80's hair bands, to 90's grunge, to 2000+ nu Metal, and I can play them ALL on this one little amp. You name it and I can get pretty darn close to the sound. Unfortunately this has led to my acquiring quite a few different guitar styles to compliment the models. My wife is threatening divorce if I take up one more corner with a guitar. (I will be filing the divorce paperwork and buying a Paul Reed Smith as soon as I have save up enough.) For around two hundred thirty dollars, you can't beat it. I have not played the 15 watt model with the 8 inch speaker, but if I had a kid interested in guitar that is what I would buy them. For 170.00, with all the features this one has that is a real bargain. I have heard all the lower priced amps which my guitar students bring in for guitar club, and they are all fairly terrible. This is not that much more that a cheap crate or ibanez or frontman and it is infinately more playable and versatile.

Submitted by 69strat at 07/19/2005 16:56

Price Paid: US $250

Features: 9
just got the amp about 5 mos ago. its flexible as hell soundwise if you want my $.02. the hedphone jack is handy. i wish it included the footswitch, as its another 30 bucks. never use the preset settings, they blow.
i use this amp at home to small gigs and its working great. mic it up to the pa and its on. an extra 30 W would really shred. i would think the ad50 is a blast to use. i kinda like not having to bring my 4x10 and head to every gig anymore.

Sound Quality: 8
i have a GL legacy and ibanez es style semi hollow axe that ive been using lately, and i really dig the semi howllow guits sound with this amp. as to the amp suiting my style, it works great for metal and bluesy licks as well. the clean sounds are there but i was a little dismayed that you cant get too much hair out of the fender models, and the 4x10 tweed is a frickin joke. id like to know who said "thats the sound!" cause it aint. the Ac30TB model is fun as hell. everything from that point on is a blast as far as im concerned. it really does sound like a tube amp on all but the fender mods which i find to be weak on their own. havent put anything as to od in front of the amp, so maybe that might make the fender mods sound better... the us higain smokes and if you take some hair off the gain, crank it up nice and its like a tube ampand a blast. you can get death to blues to jazz with no prob, and using your guits vol knob you can tame it down pretty nicely.
one thing i dont care for is the "preset button" where vox puts what they think each amp sounds good with, most of which are pure shite.
as a few others pointed out, there is a slight problem with what sounds like 60 cycle hum even when using humbuckers. this can be annoying, but there is a noise gate, which i would prefer not to use at all. also, even when your in the manual mode where you can dial in whatever you want, the frickin noise gate is automatically on every amp model, but you can turn it off pretty easily, but if you decide to switch amp models, you gotta do it all over again. HEY VOX! PRETTY LAME MOVE!
but the amp makes up for it on the sound quality level.
the fx are pretty versatile i think as it is a small amp and theres a limit as to tweakin paramaters. the wah is a waste of time unless you like that garcia kind of fart noise. the combo fx -like flanger/reverb or rotary/reverb can be tweaked to shut off one or the other effect. thank vox god for that. another cool option is the power brake so you can play at low vols with full on settings if you dont have earphones or dont wanna use em. but the amp does sound best when fully slammin.

Reliability: 8
you can dsepend on it. it takes a beatdown excellently. hasnt let me down once, but remember that ive only had it for 5 mos or so...
nothing wrong yet.

Customer Support: N/A
N/A no reason to call em yet. but im gonna ask about the hum.

Overall Rating: 10
been playing for 24 yrs. ive got more gear than you can shake a stick at so im not gonna list it all. if this got ripped off id get another one or the ad50. i love to tone for a 98% transistor amp. since i was looking for a cheap but good sounding amp i checked out the berhinger 2x10 model. that amp sounds pretty good but not like the vox, and theyre made so cheap i wouldnt even put it down too hard. any amp that has plastic pot shafts aint my cup of tea.
if you want a cheap and versitile amp youd do yourself a favor by checkin out the ad voxes. the value really cant be beat, and the amp just makes you wanna play cause its so easy to whip out and sounds great.

Submitted by dan host at 07/13/2005 18:36

Price Paid: US $240

Features: 9
this amp is pretty versatile for being a supposed "solid state". i plan on getting the foot switch soon because i absolutely love the color and texture of the distortion, this is what i use when i record, i tried a few pedals on a plain, loud solid state about 50 watts, and i just couldn't get the crisp clean uk metal sound without getting muddy, getti feedback or get an annoying background buzzing noise. i use this amp for just about everything, i can't really say that i find any situation where i wouldn't use it. the only thing i wish that i had on there where to individually mess with, and have more range of the controls of the effects. thats the only reason it is not a 10.

Sound Quality: 9
I have a yamaha eg 112 (first guitar) with god knows what inside them, but suprisingly, if you open up the garage and play, i get no feedback problems what so ever. I also have a Schecter C-1 classic with 'tone-pro' pick-ups i believe inside.i mainly do the rock thing, but i have wandered into country rock, metal and country as of late, and this amp pretty much gets me all i need for that. if i want metal, ill just turn the delay time down to 0 and turn the volume of the delay up to 10, and it simulates (not a 100%) a 'walll of spears' sound that u get from say a bogner ubershall. but if you want maybe lynyrd skynard, turn it to the AC15 or the AC30TB, and if you want blues go to the Tweed or Black.

Reliability: 10
i have taken this thing everywear, spilled just about everything on it you can, and ive never had to replace anything in it, granted its only about 2 years old, im very sure i will soon. i would take it to a gig, but if something like a tube broke instide, it would take atleast 30 minutes to fix because its shut up like a coffin. but other than that, this amp is my one and only at the moment, i will keep this amp till the day i die.

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 9
ive been playing for about 4 and a hlaf years and i have been looking for something cheep that is a louder version of my little love bug, but it seems to be a jem. this is a jem among the 3-400 dollar amps out there, the ext thing up in vox is alteast 1000 dollars used, so, i would just got find a fender twin reverd with a good distortion pedal if you don't like your vox, and i don't know what to tell ya. The only thing that i would take of this would be a mesa-boogie 4x12 slant cab with a bogner ubershull head and a somethign with a fender twin good crisp bluesy clean channel.

Submitted by nickelman1 at 07/10/2005 15:11

Price Paid: US $300

Features: 8
This would be a 2004 model that I found locally at mike's music in Canada. I tried the 30 and 15 watt models and really liked the flexibility and added fullness in the 30. I've had it about 8 months now.

*********One of the main complaints I hear is that people wish it had a line out for PA, that mainly how I have used my amps in the past aswell, although sound guys usually want to mic, I find it easier to send it out to them. the AD50 has both phones and line. I brought this up to Mike and he had his Vox repair guy change the phone line to a line out (for free with the purchase), so now I can't use phones, but I get the line out I use far more often. You may want to try it.

Personally, I really wished it had 4 channels like the Line 6 Spider, but realistically, for what I play it more than suits my needs. I play rock and acoustic styled worship music, and cover tunes. In general I use the delay/echo, reverb and chorus alot, and find them versatile due to the tap tempo and the footswitching avaialbe for turning effects on and off.

Also, the tubes sold me which the Behringer or Line6 didn't have.

Sound Quality: 8
Presently i use it with a cort acoustic w/ a fishman prefix plus and a Stellar knockoff hollowbody.

None of the other lower end models have the vox amps, which i really wanted being an EDGE wannabe.

I also use the marshalls and fender amps on it alot aswell. I really like the boutique distortion aswell.

I found when using it in line out mode(see above), if I didn't have the back watt volume selected full, It would be quite noisy out the pa, as soon as I turned that up and the master down, It was quite as a mouse. I don't use alot of distortion, so this is a good thing.

For effects, I couldn't careless about the flanger, compressor or autowah, but really enjoy using the rest.

I think it would be suitable for most any style, I'm not sure about jazz, but everything else.

Reliability: 7
I have to gig with it without a backup!

Never had a problem with breakdown, with the exception of the input jack losening and falling through. It should have been tighter from the factory. I can probably blame my 2 year old on that though.

Customer Support: 9
I dealt with there authorized seller, and again, what me to get what I wanted (the line out) and was more than eager to please, and I was pleased that it would still be covered under warrently rather than me wreck it trying to do it.

Overall Rating: 9
I'm embarassed to say I've been playing for 11 years, but more regularly and improving the last 4. I've owned strat copies, an ibanez artist series (that I stupidly got rid of not knowing what I had), a yamaha pacific, samicks, etc. low end stuff. I got rid of a zoom pedal for this that sucked.

I love the vox sounds and classic looks. Major plus.
I could have gotten more flexibility with line6 or Behringer, but not tubes, and the vox tone. Way better tone.

For the price I couldn't beat it. I would definitely buy another, and probably the 30 again, the 50's to big to lug arround.

Submitted by Phil at 06/22/2005 05:18

Price Paid: US $240

Features: 8
Already covered. Minuses include plastic corners and no speaker out jack.

Sound Quality: 8
Does this sound as good as a $2500 boutique tube amp? No, it doesn't. But it costs only 1/10 of that. This amp puts out good basic tones. It sounds much more "in-your-face" than that distant sound of a POD into a tube amp! It seems to excel the most on bluesy blackface clean or for shredding high gain marshally sounds. I think my Reverend Kingsnake gives smoother voxy impressions than this vox. Here's my detailed nitpicking:
1/ On the clean settings like blackface, the speaker distorts when you pick low E to A string riffs.
2/ This amp can put out way more high end than you'll ever need, but I couldn't seem to get a good jangly tone for REM/Smiths type music.
3/ The amp seems to get much louder with the high gain sounds than with the clean sounds.

Reliability: N/A

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 9
I give it a 9 for supreme value. Nothing else out there gives this many good tones for the price, even with the drawbacks mentioned.

Submitted by gearhund at 06/18/2005 10:27

Price Paid: US $260.00

Features: N/A
This is an update to an earlier review I made concerning this amp, dated 05/23/2005 06:01. A guy from Vox did finally get back with me, it seems to take about a week to a week and a half, per response, after several emails back and forth over the last month, they have autheized the repairs, but since there are no Vox service centers near me (only 3 in my intire state) I have had to ship it approx 200 miles for the work to be done. It was shipped yesterday, so I will see what happens.

Sound Quality: N/A
More Rattles than a baby toy store. Plenty of background hum even with HB's , and a Random effects mode where it selects which effects its going to use. I hope that they fix it. I was kinda surprised that they did not just have me ship it back for a replacement, since it is only a $250 amp, it seems that it would have been cheaper to replace than repair. Oh well, I am glad that it is getting worked on.

Reliability: N/A
I stated all of my problems with this amp in my last review of it

Customer Support: N/A
Very slow to make contact, but are working with me on getting the unit repaired

Overall Rating: N/A
I will probably just sell it once it comes back repaired and in proper working order. I belive that they are decent amps, I just got a lemon. Keep looking on ebay, it will probably be going for $125.00

Submitted by Kraig McCluskey at 06/17/2005 02:53

Price Paid: US $230

Features: 6
This amp has a mediocer set of built in effects, and you're very limited in the ways you can use them. The WAH is particularly bad (use your own WAH pedal) and the flange is too overpowering. The others are ok. Effects are sufficient given the price, but they are clearly the weakest part of this amp.

Sound Quality: 8
I have a few guitars I play with (mostly Heavy Metal and Funk). My main axe is an ESP Les Paul with EMG's and my secondary axe is an Epiphone Les Paul with Seymour Duncan's.

The distortion settings on the amp range from acceptible, to pretty damn good. Once again, you get good bang for your buck in a nice compact size, but don't expect to sound like Eddie Van Halen. It handles both guitars fairly well, however, the Epiphone sounds a little muddy on some settings. This amp likes EMGs.

As I mentioned above, effects are passable but limited.

I have not yet been able to tease a great clean sound out of this amp. You have to back off the volume on the guitars to keep the channels from distorting. The clean sound is ok, but could be better.

Finally, the amp puts out a good amount of noise and volume for it's compact size, and I have yet to hear it flub or buzz.

Reliability: N/A
So far I've had no problems, but haven't had it long enough. It's pretty sturdy, however, it has an awfull smell when it first comes out of the box. :)

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 8
I've been around the block a few times, and I can honestly say that this amp is a great value for it's price and it does sound good. If you need a small amp to tote around to small gigs or a friends house, this is a fantastic choice.

If all you care about is tone, go buy a Marshall and a rack of effects instead.

If it was stolen, I would probably buy the next model up.

Submitted by Bryan Murphy at 06/05/2005 15:40

Price Paid: US $260.00

Features: 10
I just bought the voxad30vt so it's brand new, I was looking for an inexpensive amp packed with value. I tried the barhringer which was impressivly much bigger and had a few more whistles, but carefully eliminating, the vox out performed anything in it,s price range.the amp modeling is terrific. I dont need any of my stomps just my wah and I'm set. very easy to program. and the power is amazing. very loud. I jammed with a guitarist he was using a fender acoustic amp which is big and loud.. and the vox stood up to it.2 channels 1 input headphone jack.the only drawback is the 30vt does not have a external speaker output like the 50vt

Sound Quality: 10
I have played my fat strat single coils sound good and so do the humbuckers this amp suits my style and then some I mostly play hard rock. but I switch it up when i'm playing alone. the guitarist I jam with love to get down and dirty so I stuck with his style but I have tried contemp and blues works great I not quite experienced for jazz so I cant comment on that.Distortion is brutal alright I like it loud and this amp pleases.it can damage your ears for sure

Reliability: N/A
Dont know!!! I have cranked it full blast quite a few times... and so far.. I have only blown my ears out!! there still ringing********la-la-la-

Customer Support: N/A
dont need them yet

Overall Rating: 10
I have alot of amps and I'm happy with all my choices.the amp is attractive, loud, and full of tone.I have micked it to the p.a and no problems I can play little venues with eez.there was a slight buzz or rattle, but I simply tuned the bass level down and that fixed that.For the money! you will not be disappointed.

Submitted by buddy at 06/02/2005 11:12

Price Paid: US $260.00

Features: 8
I bought this amp about 6 months ago, and was really impressed with the features for the price, I play mostly blues and older rock, it uses a tube preamp and models several different amps and has a bunch of effects. One really good feature on this amp is a dial on the back that lets you lower the output to the speaker while still having the amp cranked up so that the tubes are firing at full juice.

Sound Quality: 2
It has a lot of rattle and buzz when turned up, and a constant humm when on. It does have good tone etc... but the first things cancel any decent rating.

Reliability: 1
After 6 months, the hum increased, the effects knob sometimes plays delay when it is set on reverb, and several other things like that. Its really crap.

Customer Support: 1
These people have to be the worst in the indestry. I have been trying to get it repaired for over a month. I went to their web site and it said first I have to take it back to the store where I bought it and then they will decide what to do. Otherwise they will charge me an adminastrative fee????? The store I bought it at had gone out of business, so I went back to their website and used their form to explain what was wrong, what has happened to the place I bought it at, showed them that I had regestered the purchase on their web site when I bought it etc... I have refilled out the form 4 times now in the last two weeks, and they still have not responded.. I would suggest avoiding this product at all cost, unless you can do all of your electronic repairs yourself and don't mind buying your own parts... VOX SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Overall Rating: 1
AVOID THIS AMP, If the quality control is this poor and the company service is this bad, I would avoid VOX period. They use to be a good outfit. Now they are selling junk and avoiding taking care of their problems.

Submitted by Kraig McCluskey at 05/23/2005 06:01

Price Paid: US $230

Features: 8
No need to re-hash all the features. Easy enough to find elswhere.
Really could use a speaker out to drive a 2x12 or maybe even a 4x12.
Has more models than one needs, thus anyone should be able to find one or two they really like.

Sound Quality: 10
Here's where this amp shines. I just got it this week, plugged it in and tried the tweed first. WOW! Then I tried the AC30. WOW! They all sound good. I couldn't put the damn thing down. In fact, I played til my fingers blistered.
I was really not expecting a 10" to sound this good. I almost bought the SpiderII 30 instead. I'm glad I didn't.

Playing a '69 Strat reissue with EMG active electronics. 81 bridge & single SVs in teh mid and neck. Great with this amp because I can really control the amp with the volume knob on my guitar. The active electronics add just enough to push the milder models to crunchy. I can really make the tweed model crunchy and the ac30 rocks. The recto actually sounds good as one can expect fromn a single speaker(of course here's where that speaker out would be great). With other modeling amps, I've found that EMG's just drive them too hard. Not this thing.

I'm a metal head, but can't stop playing with the tweed and ac30 models. Awesome blues to classic rock tones. I tried to get some more modern grunge/alternative sounds out of this, but it actually doesn't sound fuzzy enough. It almost sounds too "tubey".

Responds very well to pick attack. Can go from clean to very dirty with just fingers. It handles the transition from clean to dirty very well ( I'm sure the 12AX7 has a lot to do with that). Every other modelling amp I've owned did clean and crunchy well, just not in between. it's like they can't model the breakup quite right. Vox has really nailed it with this amp.

Reliability: N/A
Dunno, had it three days.

Customer Support: N/A
I was a little pissed at Musician's Friend at first. They advertized Blem AD30VT's for $191. I bought one and a week later they inform me they aren't available. I almost bought another Line6 out of spite. I'm glad I ponied up the extra $50 and got the VOX anyway.

Overall Rating: 10
Unless you're all about thrashing or pure metal, this amp is IT. Buy it, you won't be disappointed. I've gone through a dozen modeling amps from Behringer, Tech21, Line6 & Digitech in the last 10 years... I'm done searching.

LOUD! I cranked every knob on the thing, recto setting, plus I have active pickups and it still sounded really good. Strange... I haven't been able to hear anything else since.

Submitted by Rangerdoc at 05/21/2005 21:59

Price Paid: N/A

Features: N/A

Sound Quality: 10
I entered my opinion and the powers to be found it adequate to publis, there is some I forgot that was my highest praise. For any players out there BLUES and maybe JAZZ or COUNTRY that play solo as I do, this may be sigificant as it is to me. It is no secret that argueably tube amps are some what flabby on the bottom. When your bass player is your thumb, I've practically had to do bench presses with my thumb to strike the fatty's hard enough give me a bottom and because of this my bass lines were always simplistic compared to same tune on acoustic... This small amp side by side with my other 2 main amps "tube" has a bass which is bigger then one would expect from the speaker size and it because of the modeling can be smooth, thumpy or accurate to the string, plus, and this is a biggy in my opinion, with my six "go-to electrics', the volume is linear from fat to skinny, first I thought it was my great ability to set uo the guitar I was playing, then I tried the others, I'm not saying it would be a linear line on a spectrum anilyzer or however you spell it, but to my ears its (with all controls flat and by-pass effects) pretty even. I'm thinking of selling my 2 tubeys and trying a higher end VOX. Ironically, my 1st amp was a VOX Super Beatle, the problem with that monster was I couldn't play for crap, after 40 odd years I am glad to say I can play for crap now. The only concern I have to be serious is that I have heard a few rumblings that maybe QC could be better.. have heard of various gremlins, nothing major but enough to need the doctor, but all and all I have seen the light of one triode and a well thought out output stage.

Reliability: N/A

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: N/A

Submitted by Dupruis at 05/03/2005 10:15

Price Paid: US $220.00

Features: 10
Well documented below

Sound Quality: 10
This is mostly meant to be read by the (like myself) tube snobs. This amp is a hot little item, its not creamy high end Fender or fat and gritty Orange but if You do smallish venues and want to have it both ways, sound compact and versatile, this could be your answer. I played for lack of anything better to do in locsl music store a Jay Turser another shocker (335 style), tuned for R.L. Burnside "Long Haired Doney" as done on DVD and I swear I was able to (bypassing gizmoes) the same fat bottom slipper high freq with just all settings at flat. Something I have to work hard to get with my high end guitars and tube amps. I ended up buying the Turser guitar and Amp and its been great, no worry about my high end stuff to gig and I am happily surprised at the interest because of its sound the little VOX gets. Its not for everyone for all things but what is? I never ever though I would purchase an amp like this and frankly use to wonder who would.. It is true I was a snob with new technology, but at least with this am and R.L. Burnside type tunes, some John Lee Hooker and stuff you don't need class A sonics this is great. The Turser guitar was a shock but thats another story for another review.

Reliability: 9
3 months isn't a long time to give an honest account and I read where some of the players have had some bumps in the road but for me, no nothing to complain about, I hardly ever shut it off, I mean almost never.. of course it shuts down to travel for gig but nothing to report except believe it or not it seems to be warmer then when I bought it, the sound that is. I don't think I have enough brain cells left to be to experimental with the modeling (60's ya' know) but what I have used is vibrato, reverb and the straight ahead stuff and they are as effective if not more then in my tube amps, reverb sounds like tube unless you push it, vibrato is reminicent of back in the day when it was used to conjure up mojo, maybe I'm overwhelmed because I have been unaware of what technology can accomplish these days, not all that long ago when I tried a solid or a hybrid, it seem to be sterile with any headroom lacking.. Well You guys can really play and have to admit, are pretty knowledgeable about the gear, its good, us old dinasours need a little help because alot of us are still coming out of the purple haze of the 'SUMMER OF lOVE"

Customer Support: N/A
From where I bought the amp, I was told they are very eager to please but I have no experience with VOX

Overall Rating: 10
been playing for, ahhh, I don't remember but I remember playing GLORIA and LOUIE LOUIE when they were cutting edge. I have too many amps from old VOX's to so called botique amps. I would purchase another in a heart beat. For the sonics, Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde ability, the versatility for smallish venues its great, can get loud but it does have its sweet spot in the middle volume range. I haven't heard a rig like this sound as warm. It dos have more then I need, unless I start taking ACID again but that is not likely cuz drugs are a quick way to end a pomising misic career.

Submitted by Dupuis at 04/30/2005 12:15

Price Paid: US $191.20

Features: 8
This is a modelling amp which incorporates a valve/tube to give you a more organic sound as opposed to straight digital. I believe my amp was made in 2004. I got it in November 2004. It has two footswitchable user channels and one manual mode.

Some features I wish it had was a speaker out, FX loop, DI, and independent reverb effect. I normally use this amp for playing emo/bluesy-rock worship music at church. I normally keep the attenuator at 75%, max the master volume and mic it up for the sake of the PA and the drummer's monitors.

Sound Quality: 9
I use this with a Japanese Squier Strat with stock everything. Sounds pretty good with the Bassman model (my default clean sound) and the AC30 for a mildly overdriven sound ala Keith Richards. Of course, the Marshall JCM 800 model is the guilty pleasure on this baby. Crank it up and you start getting visions of the 80s hair bands we all idolized back then. The distortion, on this model especially, is really good, organic and responds to your playing well---not like so many Marshall wannabe stomp boxes out there.

Reliability: 8
I can rely on it. I do use it without a backup a lot. I've never had the jack fall in as some have noted. I first bought a blem from Musicians Friend, but the top part and back panel was totally smashed-in on arrival (BUT IT STILL WORKED!), so I returned it and got a brand new one AT THE BLEM PRICE from a local Guitar Center. Those guys are so cool. Anyway, this mishap is a testimony to how this sucker will take a beating!

Customer Support: N/A
Never dealt with them.

Overall Rating: 10
I've been playing since 1990. I also have a Marshall AS50R acoustic amp, an EJ160e and a Chet Atkins SST which I use with it. And of course the '92 Squier Strat from Japan I got in 1995. Someone said this amp did not like pedals. I can say mine hates "effects processors" like my Digitech RP-1. It totally sucks the tone right out of it. Think analog. With the money I saved from the deal I got on this thing, I picked up a Voodlab Sparkle Drive. Used with the Bassman model, it is absolute music to my ears! Perfect TS-9 sound with the ability to blend in all the organic coolness of the guitar-straight-into-my-amp sound. With this sound, and the Marshall model on the AD30VT, there's not a distortion or overdrive I need to use for my music that I can't achieve. This amp's a blessing from God.

Submitted by Mikel Del Rosario at 04/14/2005 20:23

Price Paid: £180 (UK Sterling)

Features: 10
Okay, this amp has just about everything:

11 amp sims with their traditional matching cabinets,

11 effects with full control,

Built in selectable noise reduction,

Full Master, Volume, Treble, Bass, Mid, Gain controls storable in 2 flash-memory channels, which are footswitchable by a 2-way footswitch which also has a switch whitch bypasses the effects. This is also compatible with the Marshall 2-way footwswitches, which is what I use, since they were out of stock of VFS2's at the shop.

The "valve Reactor" power amp circuit which uses an ECC83 valve, configuring itself depending on the amp selection to class A, class AB, along with the Negative feedbck cirtuits reproduced.

A power attenuator on the back to select the output wattage, from 0.1 to 30.0 watts. This is independant from the master control, so it allows you to drive the Power Amp and valve hard without all the volume.

10" Vox original speaker. The original AC30VT used Celestions, but for a modelling amp, the EQ has to be flat so that the speaker simulator can work properly. In other words, a "better" speaker would ruin the whole point od the amp.

Line Out / Headphone socket, taken right before the Valve Reactor, so the speaker cabinet modelling is applied, allowing you to connect the amp into a mixing desk for straight-off recording.

Sound Quality: 9
I use it with a Squier Standard Jagmaster from the 2003 batch, so 2 humbuckers, as well as my own custom "Dragon" superstrat with 2 humbuckers and a single coil. It's designed for every style, which is what I try and play. my favourite sounds are the Marshall UK 80's with the Rotary Speaker sim for Heavy-Metal in an Iron Maiden-gone-mad style (my channel 2 preset), the AC30TB preset for general crunch, and the Blackface with alot of mid and some reverb as my clean channel (Channel 1) The AC30TB can sometimes sound a little wedy, and doesnt like distorion pedals so it drops a mark there, but hey, who'se complaining? Great sound!

Reliability: 8
This thing is solid. Dragging it back through the train service after buying it, my bassist and I just used it as a stool on the platform, one on each side. no movement. the jack sockets feel like they've been welded into place, so they're not gonna move and snap the soldering. you can see through the back that the valve and surrounding circuitry have been well-put-together and the (CHICKENHEAD!!!!) knobs are all tight on their potentiometers. My only worry is that if it DOES go down, it'll take me a while to get a replacement because they're selling faster than shops can get them in!

Customer Support: N/A
NO idea. but the shop I bought it from will send it back if necessary, so the moral of the story would be to buy it from somewhere you can trust.

Overall Rating: 10
Brand new with a footswitch, I overpaid a little, but I like the shop so why not? it's a DAMN good amp, ESPECIALLY for the money. ALL the sounds are accurate, and ALL are useable. (Try AC-DC on the UK70's preset with the effect changed to reverb, you'll see what I mean). I'd love to buy a second so i could run them in stereo, but my parents would kill me and the shop cant get them in, because of high demand. This is a giggable, friendly and easy to use amp that sounds amazing, costs pennies, has every feature under the sun and even LOOKS good. if you ever wanted a good hybrid amp, this is it. Because of the traditional control deisgn, anyone who hates multi-effect pedals or the line6 spider will be happy with one of these (although the effect controls are a litle confusing at first, you get used to them quickly) If you can get one of these amps, do. They suit every guitar, every style of music, and although 30 watts isnt as loud as a marshall mode four, you're gonna mic-it up if you gig anyway, so what's to stop you? look what Brian May gets away with!
Just buy it. Now.

Submitted by Graham Simpson at 04/09/2005 01:33

Price Paid: US $239

Features: N/A
2004?

Sound Quality: 10
this amp for the money kicks ass!!! It has some bitchen tones, clean, overdrive,nice chunk and crunch. I put a maestro fuzz tone in front of it and with some knob turning it was 60s old school this amp seemed to like that fuzz box,I put a zoom 505 in front of it, and it was death to the tone sucked the life right from the amp(weird). I think a fuzz face will be next, mabie a big muff. I play a esp viper with duncan pickups It sounds sweet but a buddy of mine has a tele single pickups that gave this amp a new range of sounds. so I guess Im getting a tele ,strat or going to the custom shop to get the coils split. Its a lot louder than you would think the EQ is lively. what can I say that has not been said if you need a small amp this is it!!! GO TRY ONE OUT!!!

Reliability: 8
I had the input jack fall in but that's it. It is a little on the cheaply made side of things but it was $239 so im not bitchen about it.

Customer Support: N/A
N/A

Overall Rating: N/A
I can't say enough nice things about this amp like I said if you need a small amp. This is a real good one and lots of flavors to get you through that muti personality disorder. If you must play country, It might just get you throught that. Thank God its just a faze.

Submitted by Add69 at 04/04/2005 17:35

Price Paid: 250 Euros

Features: 9
I don't normally write reviews but what happened to me yesterday was compelling enough to submit a review (see reliability).

The amp is I guess from 2004. The features on the amp are amazing, you can choose from 11 different amps, and 11 different effects (that can also be changed in many ways). You won't need all 11 of those amps, but I've found 4 or so that I find sound really nice (read: excellent). Of the effects I'm especially stoked with the delay, the reverb and the rotary.

What's really convenient is that you can adjust the watts on the back from 0 - 30 watts, so this amp will sound terrific at a manageable volume. (The neighbours downstairs from my penthouse had been complaining about my previous amp's volume). When onm full volume it can be used for our more intimate club gigs...

Unfortunately there's only a headphone output, so when my band "The Fisticuffs" perform in stadiums I find it a bit annoying that I can't hear my amp anymore when hooked up to the band's speaker installation...

As mentioned I use this amp for practicing and I also plan to take it with me on our upcoming "Does the collar match the cuffs" tour later this year, although I'll be sure to take a back-up (see: reliability).

Sound Quality: 10
I have an Epiphone Casino with single coil pick-ups and in combination with this amp the sound is amazing. It's a very punchy tone that will make me delay taking my next snort by at least 10 minutes...
I also have a Les Paul with hump-buckers [sic] that I don't use that much but also sounds brilliant.

When switched on it has a slight buzz but I think that's pretty normal considering the tubes.

Clean sounds will not distort even at the highest possible volume. I haven't found a good distortian yet but considering the endless settings I can adjust I'm sure I will soon.

Reliability: 1
Yesterday the input-plug fell into the amp. I had to unscrew 20 screws before I reached the insides and was able to put the plug back up. I am seriously disgusted that Vox decided to save those few measly cents by making the inputs from plastic. Tip: when you get the amp make sure the inputs are really tight as when they're not the slightest push will make them fall inside.

As for the rest of the amp I'm not too sure. No problems yet but considering the cheap manufacturing I'm not really that sure. I'm definitely taking a back-up for my upcoming tour. Vox get your shit together!

Customer Support: N/A
Haven't dealt with them, don't think I will. Any more problems and I'll just take it to my local guitar shop and get it fixed there.

Overall Rating: N/A
If it were stolen I'd definitely replace it as I am very impressed with the sounds.

Submitted by BDB from the Fisticuffs at 03/26/2005 08:15

Price Paid: US $239

Features: 9
Brand new from Sam Ash. Others have posted features here before, so I won't re-list them. I'll mention what features I like:

* The power control knob on the back--nice to keep the pre-amp tube cooking without blowing one's ears out. For a guy like me who plays mostly for myself in the living room with others around, being able to turn the output down to conversation levels without losing the tone is nice. But then for the rare occasions of either jamming with friends or playing alone, you can crank the output back up to a full 30W.

* The amp models are pretty good--I love the '59 Fender Bassman version for clean sounds, and the UK modern model for high-gain distortion sounds. I'm impressed with the pains Vox went through to make each model true to the original's personalities--well explained in the manual. However, if you're an amp novice like I am, it takes a little time to learn what works and what doesn't. But no complaints there--learning and listening has been fun.

* Effects--love the Reverb, tremolo, flanger. Several effects have been paired, mostly with positive effects.

* Channel switching is a plus--and the channels are programable. And the metal 2 button footswitch is a deal at $29.

Features I could do without:

*Regarding the effects: Auto-wah. It's fun for the first 2 minutes, then I feel like it's really useless compared to the real thing. It uses your attack on the string to control the wah, and really limits your sound....

*As others have mentioned, the adjustments for the effects are somewhat limited, but for the casual player, this shouldn't be a problem...

Wow, the more I think of it, there is very little regarding the features of the amp I don't like.

Sound Quality: 10
I play a Fender American Standard Strat, 3 single coils. I play mostly classic rock, a little bit of blues.

I'm amazed at how versitle this amp is. I can get sparkling cleans with the '59 Bassman model, then flip over to the UK Modern model, crank the gain and get some really warm, full distortion with the UK Modern model.

I was considering replacing the pickups in my Strat before the AD30VT came along, but now they're not going anywhere....

Others have raised concerns about the 10 inch speaker. Well, I don't gig, but this amp really moves some air when it is cranked. I can feel quite a bit of low end when it's humming. More than meets my needs. I find it has plenty of steam to keep up with a drummer and bass player when I jam.

Vox has done a great job of incorporating the tube pre-amp to give this combo the warm sounds associated with an all-tube amp. It's amazing--when you roll off the volume on your guitar, the sound cleans up just like a tube amp. Neat.

For my needs, this amp fills all the bills......

Reliability: 10
To be fair, this amp is new, but I have no issues so far. It works the way it's supposed to.

Customer Support: N/A
No problems, so no dealing with the company so far.

I was suprised that the amp carries only a 90 day warranty, which is slightly unsettling.

Overall Rating: 10
I've played off and on for 25 years. I don't have tons of gear, and I certainly don't claim to be an expert, but:

I played a number of amps before buying the Vox. NONE had the amazing versitility of this one. You can get warm tubey sounds without going deaf, you have a full pallet of effects at your disposal, and all the amp models is like having a room full of amps. The fact that these amps are only $239 is incredible. I believe that the selling price overcomes the few shortcomings this amp has.

I love it, and would reccomend it!

Submitted by Anonymous at 03/22/2005 13:26

Price Paid: US $239

Features: 8
This is a follow up from my review of a few months ago.
Please see the Sounds and customer support sections for the story.

Sound Quality: 9
The amp I have now is a warranty replacement for the original which developed major problems.
This one sounds better than my first one ever did. I suspect there were problems with it from the start.

Like some others here, I have been rather unimpressed with the stock speaker, and it's flabby bass and dull presence. After a lot of research I ordered a Reverend All-Tone 1025 for it. I had never heard one live, but the 12" version seems pretty highly regarded, so I took a chance. The speaker dropped right in and suddenly this amp was transformed. The whole sound is clearer, brighter and more open. The bass and the highs are tight, snappy and focused, yet smooth. The sound, while having dramatically better character, is pretty stark right now, but from what I've heard a couple of hours of playing it pretty loud will cure that. Once broken in, I imagine it will be fabulous in every way.

The A-T 1025 is discontinued, but Reverend still has them offered on their website for now. It was $57 including shipping, and I think it was well worth it. I was surprised because the speaker is a little shallower and lighter than the one it replaced, but it sure puts the stock one to shame tonewise.

I highly reccomend upgrading the speaker in this amp, and I personally endorse the All-Tone 1025, but other high quality speakers should yeild similar results.

Reliability: 3
See story in Customer Support.

Customer Support: 10
The amp had been making a noticable hiss since I left it turned on overnight once. It later became progressively worse and would envelop each note in a nasty fuzz. The bass became so flabby that the amp was really unusable. I contacted Korg and was given the warranty service center in town. Took it in and after a week they called and said they could find nothing wrong with it. They sent me back to customer service for Korg and after a couple of phone calls I was connected with a guy named Eddy. In short he was awesome!! After explaining the situation he sent a pickup for the amp and shipped me a new one as soon as they received my old one. Absolutely no out of pocket expense for me, and only the inconvenience of packing it up and dropping it off. Eddy would have had a pickup arranged, but with my schedule, it was quicker for me to take it in. He stayed in regular contact during the exchange, letting me know when my old amp arrived and again when the new one shipped, and a follow up call to see if it was working out for me.

This is very different from the stories I have heard about Korg customer service, and I was pretty surprised to have such an experience. Everyone I dealt with was helpful and curteous, and Eddy exceeded all expectations.
I really felt compelled to share this story with you all.

Overall Rating: 10
With the cost of the replacement speaker included it gets a bit pricier, however the tones coming from this amp now are very satisfying. It's still under $300 and allows plenty of variety in tone and volume.

Submitted by Mike Bignon at 03/13/2005 00:03

Price Paid: 129 (£)

Features: 8
This is the little amp that could. The key 'selling point' that Vox is pushing is the "Valvetronix" technology; using a tube preamp (to get that smooth distortion and warmer tone rather than the typical dodgy transistor sound) with digital models to get a variety of sounds. To their credit, the amp succeeds in this regard very well. The wattage control on the rear is brilliant, allowing the tube to run hot to get that wonderful sound at a very unassuming volume. I had been looking for an amp for a while which was good enough at lower volume to let me practise without disturbing the neighbors, but had enough thump to fill a typical small gig room.

The effects are all accessed from a single knob, which limits you entirely to the eleven combinations they give you. I would have preferred some more customizability, but if that were the case, the amp would end up with either twenty or thirty knobs on the top, or a tiny indecipherable LCD screen and five or six confusing multi-function buttons.

Sound Quality: 9
The eleven amp models on offer are pretty broad, which do a very good imitation of the sounds most guitarists would be looking for (marshall , fender, mesa boogie etc), without being carbon-copies. I play an Ibanez SZ520, which is a lot warmer and less harsh than your typical jem or rg. With some patience and tweaking, you can coax some brilliant sounds out of this amp. It has been criticized a lot of having the "blanket syndrome" where the sound is all muffled (almost like there was a big top end scoop EQ), but this can usually be solved by rebalancing your guitar volume knob, the wattage control knob, the amp volume knob, the amp gain knob, and the master volume knob.

Admittedly that is a difficult assortment of things to get your head around, but like all amps you need to spend the time getting to know it, and being able to shape your sound well without simply relying on the "plug in, set gain to 11 and rock out".

It is not as rich as the fender princeton amp I have been using for a while, but it is far more versatile. Some of the "metal" sounds are a little lacklustre, and the brit overdrives are a little inconsistent (or maybe thats just me), but with a good overdrive pedal through one of the better channels (the AC15, AC30 and Boutique CL are brilliant) you can get a fantastic sound.

Reliability: 8
The amp is very solidly built out of thick chipboard, and although a little on the heavy side, it is not going to fall apart easily.

That said, I had one issue with the input jack coming unscrewed and falling inside the amp. I had to remove about thirty screws to get at the back of the main panel to fix this, but it was probably a one off. From the inside, it looked very sturdy with thick corner bracing and and liberal use of epoxy glue and huge screws to hold most of it together.

This thing is going to outlive me for sure. Only difficulty could be tube replacement, but I suspect the tube will last for a very long time yet.

Customer Support: N/A
Havn't had any problems yet, the amp came with an ownership registration card which was reassuring.

Overall Rating: N/A
This is an excellent value all-around amp. If you want some modelling capabilities but are intimidated by the typical line6 fare, then this is for you. It is loud enough when cranked to play a small gig, and when mic'd its an absolute scream. Fantastic for home-studio recording, general jamming, or for someone who isn't sure what sort of sound they're looking for. You will not be disappointed in the little amplifier that could.

Submitted by Ben at 03/05/2005 07:11

Price Paid: £140.00 (sterling)

Features: 8
I think that this ground has been well covered so just the basics 11 amp models 11 effects selections.

Sound Quality: 8
i'm using this with my sz twin and i gotta be honest it does some very credible sounds. there was some noise initially and an odd sort of distortion but a quick whirl around with a screw driver and the culprit was found the valve was not seated properly problem one solved.
by the way ... Hey vox is it really necassary to make an amp that needs 18 screws takin out to change a valve ... lol
Still once you have twiddled about a bit i think you can get most sounds you'd want and a dam sight more than you'd expect for £145.00
nice cleans and some usefull distortions ....

Reliability: 9
I have to own up to leaving this amp on by accident on numerous occassions and never had any problems it seems fairly rugged for a practice amp and i dont think they aimed it at a hard life of roadies really .. lol

Customer Support: N/A
I have never contacted vox the screwdriver is always closer than the phone ....

Overall Rating: N/A
I've had this little amp about 4 mnths and got it for messin around at home as the niegbours get a bit sick of the plates fallin off their shelves when the mesa went on.... lmao
Loves : versatility ya can get a good variety of sounds enough to keep ya out of trouble for ages.
Hates : way too many screws to access the valve. which by the way is an electro harmonix 12ax7
Last bit of info you might like to consider .. the speaker its jank not sure who makes it. I changed mine out for a jensen c10q £32 mucho improvmento especially in balance and treble response almost a different beast.

Submitted by Anonymous at 03/04/2005 10:01

Price Paid: US $239

Features: 9
Already well covered here. For the price the features are incredible. I pretty much just use one channel set on the AC 30 model and use the reverb effect-pretty simple.

Sound Quality: 10
I've used several guitars with this amp but I think single-coil pick-ups sound best with the Vox models-so I mainly use a cheap tele. For the money, the Vox AC15 and AC30 models sound incredible with the tele. I have it set for a slight pre-amp overdrive when the guitar volume knob is all the way up, and I can then back off the gain with the volume knob-like you would a real tube amp and it sounds perfect for my band's style. It produces a great chime-y, detailed midrange sound that works fine for rootsy, Americana or Tom Petty/Mike Campbell-ish rock sound.

I have spent some time with the other models and don't really like them much-the fender models don't really sound like the real one's (I have a Princeton and a black face bassman) and the Marshall emulations are a bit rough (I have a JCM 800 and 900). The boutique models are fun though. I bought this amp to have a cheap, portable amp for smaller gigs and I use it all the time for practice. It has enough power to compete with the drums and bass and for larger clubs we just mic it through the house system. I have used it with my 800 for a stereo rig and have had great results. For a cheap, portable AC30 you can't go wrong.

I do run a pedal board in front of it and usually use a Keely modified original TS-808 in front for some additional sustain and grit for solos.

Reliability: N/A
I have had this thing for maybe 5 months or so, threw it in the back of the van countless times-so far so good. Held up so far.

C