Vox AD30VT Combo

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