Vox AD30VT Combo

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