Vox AD50VT 112 Combo

Price Paid: US $359

Features: 10
This is a brand new AD50VT I just bought 2 days ago. This is a very versatile amp for any style you play. It's got 11 amps in it and 11 effects as well. It also has channel switching, line out/headphone and speaker out. Some people complain that you can have delay and reverb but who cares? This amp has plenty of power, you can even control the wattage which is sweet. It is a tube hyrbid amp. I have two tube amps and I hate taking them out of the house.

Sound Quality: 9
I play 2 Epiphone Firebirds and a Sg Junior, this amp seems to like any pickup. I mostly play country, punk and metal,it has everything I need. I will be using this live for sure. I have an Ampeg and Kustom tube amp and I hate taking them to shows because we get rowdy. I have only had this amp for 2 days but let me tell you something, it rocks! I decided to plug it into my hard disk recorded via the line out. It sounded amazing, the sustain and tone was so good.
The clean sounds are clean but the volume seems to vary depending on the amp you choose. The best setting are the Black Face, the Bassman and the Ac30. For metal, the JCM 800 setting is kicking my ass! It's got plenty of volume, my Ampeg is 15 watts calss A which is really loud but not enough. This seems to maintain tone at any volume.

Reliability: N/A
I have only had it 2 days so I can't tell. The warranty is for 90 days so let's hope I don't need it. It's build rugged from what I can tell.

Customer Support: N/A
Haven't dealt with them yet, however their web site looks very helpful.

Overall Rating: N/A
Overall this amp is exactly what I needed. I have been searching far and wide. My friend has a Marshall Jubilee combo which is what I originally wanted but they have become overpriced. I have been playing for 17 years, I think I finally found my amp. For any tube snobs out there, soundmen hate cranked tube amps in places that only seat 500 people. This amp will get a good tone at any level, I want to sound good, not try to look cool(even though I already did before I got this amp). That was a joke.

Submitted by alex at 01/14/2005 19:28

Price Paid: 480 (CAD)

Features: 9
8 Amp models, 8 effects and 2 writable and foot switchable channels to save your settings.
Single input, Gain, EQ, rythym and level setting for effects. They are easy to use once you read the manual and dial in your sounds.
One thing I would add to this amp would be an option for more footswitchable preset settings, it wouldn't be too difficult to do.
They are the old style chicken beak knobs which give it a nice vintage look like the old AC combos.
There is also a built in attentuator, or power sucking output knob at the back, which is GREAT for gettting heavy, cranked tube distortion at very usable levels - great feature that it's competition lacks.

Sound Quality: 9
I use a Les Paul with Seymour Duncan SH-1 '59 low output pickups, and a Charvel strat copy. This thing is completely silent with the effects bypassed, but if you are sitting right beside it, with a thin patch cord, and the effects all the way up, you can hear the effect (phaser for example). This noise goes down when you move away but isn't completely silent. There is also some fan noise but if you think it will affect your stage noise, it is so little that no one will be able to hear it.

The sound variety is FANTASTIC. 8 amp channels gives you blackface, bassman, ac15, ac30, jmp, JCM800, soldano, and boutique cleans and overdrive. They are all great, distinct amp models. They all do a really respectable job in modelling each amp. I'm not exactly sure how the 12AX7 helps create a better sound, but whatever it's doing, it works very well. My favourite tones are AC30 and the JCM800. AC30 model is ballsy and crisp with tons of high end. JCM800 is tight with killer distortion. I felt the cleans were slightly heavy on the bass though.

The effects are good. From compressors, delays, reverbs, univibes, tremelo, flanger, again a wide variety of stuff to play around with to get your sound.

This thing has enough power to do full volume cleans, and good enough to sound like real tube distortion and overdrive - especially combined with the power output knob, it gives you a bunch of tones at usable volumes, both in your bedroom and on stage at a gig. It has plenty of power for a bar or a venue.

Reliability: N/A
Don't know yet...

Customer Support: N/A
Warranty is 1 year. It is mostly solid state, with pre-amp tube - should be reliable. Haven't tried customer support yet.

Overall Rating: 10
Absolutely the best value amp for your money. These days, something that will sound this good is going to cost you more. Vox really has made a fantastic affordable line of amps cheap enough for beginners, and good enough for pros. I think that this Vox is a better value than every competition amp out there - Roland Cube 60, Peavey Classic 30, PV Delta Blues, and has some gadgets that other amps don't have, or just don't recreate as well. If you are looking for a 400-600 dollar amp, the Vox AD50VT the best thing you can possibly get.

Submitted by S. Wurtle at 01/01/2005 19:51

Price Paid: US $360

Features: 10
I purchased this amp from Guitar Center on December 1, 2004 after they received an awaited shipment. I liked the fact that a headphone jack was available for those late night practice sessions. I wasn't sure, however, if i would like all the bells and whistles but, hey, I thought i would give it a try on their 30 day money back offer.

Sound Quality: 8
I play mainly blues and jazzy styles. not a music reader...a self taught product of the sixties and a little bashful about volume. I had been playing my american made Strat through an old Crate 15 watt with a distortion channel that didn't work and thought I deserved an upgrade. After taking the AD50VT out of the box and playing with the "bells and whistles", my first impression was that I favored the clean sounds, bypassing the effects. I almost brought it back that day, not that I had any problems with the amp other than the predominant fan noise that others have made reference to. I decided to give it a chance so I kept it the full 30 days and grew to love the amp, the amp model options and some of the effects. Ultimately, I returned it because of the fan noise...like sitting next to a noisy computer inside a wooden enclosure.

Reliability: N/A
Didn't own it long enough to make a determination.

Customer Support: 5
I tried to find an email address for customer support on the internet. Finally found an email address to inquire about the fan issue but haven't received a response. Since some other users have mentioned a huge heat sink on the quiet models, and being that the price of steel is through the roof right now and a little scarce, I'm thinking the fan was a quick fix to keep the production line going. Another local music store that carry these told me they are manufactured in China now, they are aware of the "problem" and there is a fix in the works. I sure hope so because I really liked the amp and would buy the "quiet" version in a heartbeat!

Overall Rating: N/A

Submitted by Dennis in AZ at 12/31/2004 01:32

Price Paid: N/A

Features: 8
Others have covered it fully, but what you get is 11 amp models
and a bunch of editable effects (although you need the manual as
editing involves combinations of buttons to access FX parameters)
Line out, headphone out and external speaker. No FX loop or
auxilliary in (for CD rehearsals using headphones).

Sound Quality: 6
Using a variety of guitars - mostly Seymour Duncan pickups but
one 80s Ibanez Artist semi with tremendous Bare Knuckles Stormy
Monday pickups. A Laney LC30 all-valve combo was used for comparison
- 1x12 and 4xEL84s. Nice punchy amp.
Firstly, that fan is intensly irritating in home/studio environment.
Please put a bigger heatsink on it and lose that noisy fan!
Secondly, this amp may claim to be 50 watts, but it is nowhere
near that. The Laney simply blew it away. It's fine in reherasal/
studio or home, but live on stage it simply doesn't cut it for
volume. A quick check on the rating plate on the back revealed what
I suspected - power consumption of 53 watts. At best an amp is
60% efficient, plus a fair chunk of those watts will be feeding
the DSP section. I'd reckon it's probably putting out around 20 -25
watts at best.

Sonically it produces some decent sounds although as others have
noted, you need to tweak it a bit.
Noise gate suffers a bit from charge pumping.
At full bore, the speaker begins to flap and there are cabinet
resonances causing ugly overtones.

Reliability: N/A
No issues yet, but it has made the occassional odd volume fluctuation.

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 5
This is a decent enough practice amp spoiled by a lot of hype. It
simply doesn't have the power to cope with a live gig. My 30 watt
Laney blew it away and I would guess that a Roland Cube 60 would
do likewise, having tried one. It does have a lot of decent sounds
and FX for bedroom/recording use, but oh! that fan!!!

Submitted by Anonymous at 12/30/2004 13:16

Price Paid: US $350

Features: 9
*Brand new 2004
*Very versatile for anything
*two "channels"
*No effects loop
*Great for recording
*True tube sound. I mean, it's stunning

Sound Quality: 9
Playing with Custom tele with a p90 neck and mini-humbucker bridge. I had a few telefunken 12ax7 laying around, so I decided to put one in to see if it would make a difference. I really didn't think it would, because the circuitry of this amp sorta "samples" the tube to correct its tube emulation algorithms. The tube itself is not an actual component used for amplification. Surprisingly, it made a huge improvement! I've had issues with microphonics with the telefunkens in the past, especially in a combo amp. I don't think it's going to be an issue, and sure as heck didn't notice any problems. Probably because the tube isn't actually being used to drive an amplification circuit. It does make a huge, positive difference. I could hear it immediately with the AC30 model. Not to slight the electo-harmonix 12ax7eh. It's a fantastic tube. Much better than the JJ's, and the other russian stuff.

The line-out is awesome. It sounds very true. I've already used it to lay down some tracks. You basically have, at your fingertips:

a dumble clean amp
two blackface fenders
an ac15
an ac30
a jtm45
a jcm800
a slp2000
a dual rectifier
a soldano
a dumble overdriven

How true are the sounds? VERY. Much better than Line6. I have no doubt a double blind test would end up 50/50 with people chosing the ad50vt as the real thing.

So what about the reviews where people say it doesn't sound *just* right?

Two caveats:

The built in speaker (some vox/celestion partnership thing) doesn't do any style particularly well. I guess that's all well and good for a do everything amp, but speakers are a huge part of good sounds. The line out sounds dead on. The speaker, however, can't accurately produce the sounds completely. If you put a Vintage 30 in this thing, then MOST of the amps would sounds better, but the tweeds would not. They decided to try to make amp/cabinet models for the fender emulation. The "tweed 4x12" sounds great line-out, but sounds iffy through the speaker. I'm going to order an avatar 2x12 special (one v30, one G12H30) for miked recording and gigs. It should be the perfect speaker combination to satisfy all things. That, and that particular combo covers most of the sonic range, and will be the best bet to accurately reproduce what happens at the line-out.

Reliability: 9
Well, they did cut some corners (no pun intended, I'll explain). It has plastic corners. I'm going to replace them with metal. They kinda cheated on the inside and didn't make a full metal chassis for the electronics. It's more like a shelf. It's particle board and not voidless plywood. But hey, what do you want for 350 bucks? As long as you aren't a stumbling drunk retard, this amp should last forever. Just be slightly more careful with it. It is nice having huge, accurate tube sound with only one tube to worry about.

Customer Support: N/A
No idea.

Overall Rating: 9
It's a great amp. It's a much better option than the AD30VT because you have the speaker out, and it's loud enough to gig over a drummer. The stock tube sounds great (and is really a great tube) but you can upgrade to a telefunken for about 40 bucks via ebay. The stock speaker isn't too bad, but you'll want an external cab for a gig if you are hell bent on accurately hitting those vintage sounds.

Submitted by Anonymous at 12/27/2004 11:01

Price Paid: US $340

Features: N/A
It looks like there are two different version of the Vox AD50VT. One with a fan and one without. This is my second Vox AD50VT since the first one made white noise/static noise when the power level goes past 35W. This one doesn't produce white noise/static noise but instead you hear the fan noise. I am not sure why there are two versions but I am trying to find out if the fan can be disabled. Please either post here or email me if anyone found any information on which version is their later one or found a way to disable the fan.

Sound Quality: N/A

Reliability: N/A

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: N/A

Submitted by Dave at 12/26/2004 11:08

Price Paid: US $329

Features: 8
Ive played out with this once so far. More later

Sound Quality: 9
I will review more thougholy in future. Mine must have a fan. I purchased it at Jackson Music on Grand Island, NY. Good People. Better than guitar center yuch. In the bedroom it sounds very amazing. I have about 10 amps, mesa dc3, gibson rvt 55, ga-6, br-6, skylark, alamo jet, 1959 sears with 2 12s, superreverb with 1 12", a couple solid state fenders. I use a limited edition 335 and a 50th anniversary strat, danelectro, u-52, tele. Ive been playing 40 years blues and the blues rock. The 335 sounds a little better. strat sounds very good. overdrive pedals don't respond as well as through a regular tube amp but not to bad.

Reliability: N/A
who cares its cheap. Bring a Marshall stack for the dives I play make a lot of sense. Just plug the guitar into the pa head if necessary.

Customer Support: N/A
Who knows?

Overall Rating: N/A
It be good so far. Ill give amore informative review in 6 months. Try it you'll like it for what it costs.

Submitted by Anonymous at 12/23/2004 15:30

Price Paid: US $333

Features: N/A
In response to Gary, I wrote the 2nd review, and my amp doesn't have a fan. I've looked and listened all around and haven't heard one or seen one.

In regards to how I got mine so early, well, I really really wanted this amp, so I sent Vox an email as to when they'd be available in my neck of the woods (North Carolina). They told me they should be in shortly, and to call Guitar Center as they usually get them in stock before anyone else. So I called them every day for a week until they finally had some, went to the store, picked it up, and $360 later, I'm a happy guy.

Sorry you got a bum one :(

Sound Quality: N/A

Reliability: N/A

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: N/A

Submitted by Ryley at 12/18/2004 11:36

Price Paid: US $360.00

Features: 8
I won't repeat what has already been stated by the other owners. this amp is one of the better digital modelling amps I have experienced.

Sound Quality: 7
This amp Is used with a RiC 360, Fender Toronado w/ P90 P'ups, Schecter C/SH-1, Strat Hwy 1, and Gibson LP Studio. It works well with all, playing alone in practice most of the presets sound great, but like most transistor or hybrid amps, its sorta like driving a vehicle with an automatic transmission... You lose overall control of things. Example, compared to my all tube stuff, distortion due to varying levels of pick attack are subdued, not non-existant, but crippled compared to what I get with my Ampeg Reverberocket or Fender Twin and Vibrolux Re-issue. Not a show-stopper, but something to consider if you are a guitar player with a predilection to needing ultimate control over your tonality. This aside, I have to say I enjoy this amp's versitility since I need not carry a ton of stomp boxes to provide different voices.

Reliability: N/A
I can't comment at this point, but build quality seems exemplary.

Customer Support: N/A
No idea, Have not contacted.

Overall Rating: 8
I purchased this particular amp based on press it has received and the fact I am sick to death of lugging around heavy tube-based stuff ( those damn transformers weigh a lot !!). if lost, I would probably get another, but as far as playing a serious gig, this would end up as a back-up unit to my tube driven stuff. I guess I am somewhat of a control freak... Don't take these comments as a negative review to a decent amp, its just that my age I have grown up with all-tube shit and have not quite learned to out things into solid-state "auto-pilot".

Submitted by Older than the hills at 12/17/2004 16:10

Price Paid: N/A

Features: N/A
This is an update on my review of the AD50VT amp, that reviewer Gary H. replied on. Here's where it gets interesting...I checked my Guitar Center receipt, this was the day I picked up the amp, and it was dated 11/26. I actually saw the amp in the Guitar Center two days before, on 11/24 (I was there with a co-worker who was looking for a distortion pedal so he could sound like Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath--rock and roll, baby!!), so they definitely had stock of these amps before mid-December. So I spent ten minutes with a flashlight looking into the vents on the back of my Vox amp. I checked every inch I could see, through the vents on top. the vent on the back all the way in behind where the Vox logo is, all around inside, and sure enough, THERE IS NO FAN IN THIS AMP. So I think Gary's take on this is correct, the first run on this amp has no fan, but maybe they got worried or had a bad one on the first production run that overheated (funny enough, my amp runs very cool, probably due to that enormous heat sink under the top vents on the amp). So they put in a fan, they figured that was the most practical (or cheapest) solution. That lack of a fan is why my AD50VT is so quiet, I guess. It's as quiet as the AD30VT, I've used it at rehearsals, it hasn't overheated on me, it runs very cool. As far as the fan, since I don't know how large it is and how noisy it is (maybe I'll go back to Guitar Center next week and check it out, I'm curious, and besides, it's high time for me to bug some salespeople again, ha ha ha...), I realize that Vox was being as careful as they could be to prevent any kind of thermal runaway (fancy electronic term for blown transistors), but since you can actually purchase a silent fan for this type of application, this can definitely be a problem for some users of this amp. So much for "all specifications subject to change without notice," eh? Soon you'll probably see people on eBay listing their Vox AD50VTs as the "rare pre-fan" model. If they do, I hope someone spams them until their PC crashes...

Sound Quality: N/A

Reliability: N/A

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: N/A

Submitted by Santos Menendez at 12/17/2004 12:50