Vox Cambridge 15

Price Paid: US $139

Features: 8
I bought this for a practice amp because dragging out the Marshall just to play by myself is a real pain in the ass. However, this amp has some great features: line out, footswitchable gain and tremelo, and external speaker out (8 ohms). It's pretty versatile; I'd say you can play virtually anything on it except metal or anything else requiring high gain.
I took one point off because it has no built in reverb (would've much rather had reverb than tremelo) and another point because though the gain is footswitchable, since the amp is only one channel, there is a large jump in volume when switching from no gain to gain. Maybe enough that it isn't practical at all.
Oh, yeah. 12ax7 preamp tube, woo hoo!

Sound Quality: 9
Running a Fernandes strat into it with stock pickups and a Samick quasi-strat (the best name I can think of for it) that I'm fixing up: sounds great with both. Someone mentioned that they thought it sounded better with humbuckers; if so, I can't wait to hear that. (Though both my guitars have humbuckers in the bridge positions and I think the single coils sound better. Could be crappy pickups but I think this amp just works a lot better on the neck position for the sound I like.)
Clean channel is awesome: 9.
Gain also awesome, regardless of the setting: 9.
Not noisy at all, even with my halogen lamp on (that usually results in tons of hum from the rest of my equipment).
The Cambridge can get a great variety of tones. I play mostly hard rock and blues, works pretty damn well for both.
If you really want to know how "brutal" the distortion is (as the prompt asks), it's not. Like I said, not a metal amp.
My only complaint is once again the imbalance in volume when the gain is switched on. I guess that's the nature of the beast, though; it's called "gain" for a reason.

Reliability: N/A
Seems pretty dependable to me. I haven't had it but for a few days, though, so I can't say for certain. I doubt I would use it without a backup, but that's because I'm paranoid.

Customer Support: N/A
Don't know. Hope I never have to find out. Says it has a limited warranty, but for only 90 days.

Overall Rating: 9
I think this is an awesome sounding amp, especially considering the price. I have a slightly larger setup that I've been using, consisting of a mini rack (ADA MP-1 and Rocktron Exciter/Imager/Hush) going into an old Marshal 40 watt valvestate amp's power amp input. It sounds great and is actually very portable but I guess I'm lazy or something cause I wanted something samller to practice with. I think I'll likely end up using the Cambridge for jam sessions now and then when I'm feeling lazy, though, because it sounds mopre than satisfactory to me.
I had originally bought a little Kustom Tube 12, which sounded great (especially for blues, it had a killer gritty tone), but reneged when I thought about it and decided I'd want something with a little more power (for jam sessions) and more versatility.
Get one of these before it's too late because I heard they discontinued them. That would explain why there's no info on Vox's website about it and why it was on sale for so cheap.
Great practice amp and more for under 140 bucks. Just needs reverb.

Submitted by Dennis at 04/23/2002 21:02

Price Paid: US $149.00

Features: 8
Amp was made in 2001.I play mostly blues but if i turn down the volume knob on my strat I can pull some nice Jazz tones out of it. You know the features so I won't go there you can read the other reviews. I love the tremelo but I added a Holy Grail Reverb pedal and it sounds great. I use it mainly in the house But this thing can kick BUTT!!
The preamp tube is a Sovtek but I had a USA 12ax7 and the amp took on a whole new personality!

Sound Quality: 9
I have a '91 Japanese Strat that's my main guitar for the blues with no mods. The amp has a little white noise but no more than my '73 Princeton Reverb. The amazing thing is I get a better distortion sound with this amp than I do with my 1980's TS9 tube screamer and the only reason is the changing of the preamp tube to a good one-and I mean do it you won't regret it! The clean channel is a 8 out of a 10
the distortion is fabulous!!!

Reliability: 9
You can gig with this amp but you might have to mic it or use the line out which is a nice feature. So far so good as far as dependability.

Customer Support: N/A
Haven't had any problems!

Overall Rating: 10
Been playing for 15 years.I also own a '73 Princeton Reverb that's my pride and joy! But i bought a Electro Hamonix 12VBR speaker and this is pretty dam close to my Princeton-NO LIE

Submitted by Paul at 04/07/2002 09:22

Price Paid: US $180

Features: 8
Made in 2001, 15 watts, one channel, volume, gain, treble, bass, gain boost switch, mid boost switch, tremelo. A very good amp for all music styles except heavy metal. Loud enough for practice at home, or for recording (its not noisy). It has a tube in the preamp section to warm up the sound. The Celestion 8 inch speaker sounds pretty good.

Sound Quality: 8
Sounds better with humbuckers than with single coils. With my Fender Strat it sounds good but a little thin- with my Gibson Les Paul the mid range frequencies are boosted in a way that the mid-boost switch on the amp cannot duplicate- sounds very full and warm with the humbuckers, and works VERY well with chorus or flange pedals. This amp is a little choosy as to which distortion pedal sounds best with it- Out of my collection of a half-dozen fuzz pedals I believe that the Austone Fuzz Nutz sounds the best with this amp because that pedal has a ton of warm smooth bottom end that makes the Vox amp sound a lot bigger than it is. I can get some Allman Brothers sounds using that pedal pretty much with any amp, including this Vox.

Reliability: 9
I have used this amp nearly every day for two months and have had no problems. I have played it very loud for up to an hour at a time and all that happens is that the amp heats up a little, but it sounds great. So it passes my durability test as far as I am concerned. I really did crank the amp and put its 15 watts through the paces.

Customer Support: 9
Very responsive to e-mail questions.

Overall Rating: 9
Great practice amp that doesnt have the guts to cut over a drummer in a real live situation, but is perfect at home in an apartment. You can turn it up and get that sense of push and strain without it being too loud that your neighbors would complain. It would sound to them as if you were just playing your stereo system- the amp's 8 inch speaker is the same size as most stereo woofer speakers anyway.

Submitted by Jerome Wilson at 02/10/2002 04:15

Price Paid: US $179

Features: 9
2001 Model. Great for classic rock, blues, and jazz. Not good for metal or when a lot of distortion is needed. Single channel, headphone jack, ext. speaker jack, line out, foot switch. Has tremelo, but no reverb. Volume, gain, treble, bass, tremelo rate, tremelo depth, mid range boost, and gain boost. This amp is used mainly for home practice only, but I gigged with it the last 2 nights! Had to mic it, but plenty of power for practice at home. Has 1 tube in the preamp section. The 8 inch speaker sounds better than most 12 inch speakers I've heard. A lot of features for a 15W practice amp. Much better that my Fender Pro Jr. at 1/2 the cost. If it had reverb I'd give it a 10.

Sound Quality: 10
I play Strats with the standard pickups, nothing special, and the amp fits my style just fine. I can't get that power tube compression tone that most everyone craves, but then again I didn't pay $800 for it. Before I got this amp I thought that my Fender Ultimate Chorus had the best clean sound I've ever heard. This Vox is better! It's more glassy and fuller, very bright yet warm at the same time, thanks to the 12AX7 in the preamp. As you probably know the Fender has a 2 X 12 config, this Vox only has a 1 X 8 and it's better sounding! It stays clean all the way up too. The tremelo speaks for itself, true to the Vox legend, very delicious. The gain control is very useful when your after just a touch of clipping, kinda like Stevie Ray V. to Angus Young, but don't expect Mick Mars to come out of this rig. I've played it through a DOD Grunge pedal, and it wasn't bad really. But I'm not into thrash anymore. It's too bright of an amp for BB King, but just fine for Clapton. Of course you could always soften it up with the treble control. I only use 2/3's of it. Lenny Kravitz plays through a Vox on most of the songs on the "V" album, listen to "Mr. Cab Driver", that's Vox! I played a lot of Lenny and AC/DC the last 2 nights gigging, it's very close! I had the volume and gain both 3/4 way up, gain boost on, bass and treb 2/3, and it sounded great!

Reliability: 10
Hasn't failed me yet, and I've driven it hard!

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 9
Been playing for 20 years. I have a Marshall, 2 Fenders, a Kalamazoo, and the Vox. The Kalamazoo is for the "pure tube cravings", but the Vox is the main amp in the practice room. My Marshall sucks, but it's the MG series, so it's not a real Marshall anyway, but it still sucks! One Fender is the Ultimate Chorus, very nice, and the other is the Pro Jr. I wouldn't recommend the Pro Jr., it sounds like a little amp. Unless your driving the balls out of it, it sounds muffled and undefined, and it ain't cheap! Anyway the Vox is the way to go for a inexpensive practice amp with great tone. Again, the only reason for not giving it a 10 rating is because there is no reverb.

Submitted by S. Carr at 01/11/2002 21:37

Price Paid: eur (215)

Features: 7
15 watt amp with tube pre-amp and tremelo. Never use the latter though, as in my opinion tremelo sucks.

Sound Quality: 9
Great clean sound, nice smooth bluesy distortion. Be sure to buy this amp instead of the pathfinder! I compared both in the store for several hours and this one has a far better sound, clean as well as distorted. Especially when playing chords the you will notice the difference between the two as sounds get lost with the pathfinder. With the cambridge you're able to distinguish the different strings.
Difference is probably largely due to the quality celestion speaker featured in the cambridge.
Also compared the cambridge to a more expensive Marshall ATV20, liked the cambridge far better. Great sound for the price paid.

Reliability: N/A
Only had it for several months, did not give up on me. What can happen though it that every once in a while it generates a cracking sound (does anyone else have this?). Perhaps this is caused by the tube pre-amp?

Customer Support: N/A
N/A

Overall Rating: 8
Nice practice amp, great sound. Be sure to buy this instead of the pathfinder! (if case you were wondering whether the price difference is justified).

Submitted by Likkafella at 01/07/2002 12:59

Price Paid: US $175

Features: 9
HEAD PHONE OUT! My wife loves this feature. Gain, Volume, Base, Trebel, line out, and external 8Ohm cab out. Not shabby. Oh yea, tremelo. As others have expressed, I would much rather have had reverb, but this is a practice amp so I will cut it some slack.

Sound Quality: 10
I use an American Strat, one with standard pickups (to be remedied soon), and one with Kinman's. The amp makes a decent clean to a fairly tough distortion depending on the gain setting. I replaced the standard Sovtek tube with a JAN PHILLIPS tube from thetubestore.com. With the tube replaced (which was quite a chore since they burried it) it makes a musical buttery distortion that is a pleasure to play in my practice room. It is certianly no match for my gig rig, but it is tiny, and cheep.... and really has a nice tone! It is actually better sounding than some stage amps I have heard played live (not mine). Very nice VOX. This amp really utilizes the tube. Spending the $16.00 on the new tube was well worth the money.

Reliability: N/A
I haven't had it long enough to say how robust it is. I won't gig with it unless my main rig dies, and then it would BE the backup (with a mic of course).

Customer Support: N/A
Never talked to them.

Overall Rating: 10
I have been playing nearly 30 years. My main rig consists of a Digitech 2120 rack mount pre amp and a Fender Hot Rod Delux which has a Celestion Vintage 30 speaker replacement. While the little VOX that could is easily a match for the many amps I tried at the store, it isn't in the same class as my main rig. That is OK though. It is TEN TIMES LESS EXPENSIVE!

I love the tube amp sound. It is warm and buttery and everything one could ask for in a practice amp (except reverb).

I will never have to crate my main rig around again. This little amp is perfect for practice. I really love it.

Submitted by Scott Bolt at 01/05/2002 20:05

Price Paid: £125 (Sterling)

Features: 8
I believe this amp was manufactured in 2001. I bought it for home practice and it meets this need admirably. The features of this amp have been well detailed below, so I won't bore you with listing them again. Generally, the features are OK. However, as others have observed, it is true that it could do with a reverb and an effects loop would be nice. Though I do feel the tremelo compensates somewhat.

Sound Quality: 10
I use a Yamaha SG700 with coil tapped humbuckers, a Samick "superstrat" and a Fenix strat. I like to play rock, country, rock & roll, blues etc.

I feel that this amp is extremely versatile and provides superb tones. I can't tell you that I've AB'd it against Twin Reverbs and AC30's and that it smokes them. What I can tell you is that the tone and gain controls on this amp easily allow you to tailor your sound in a way that's really pleasing on the ear and makes playing your guitar the pleasure what it should be. The gain control in particular allows you to dial in anything from the lightest of crunches to some reasonably heavy distortion and if you experiment with the settings you will quickly find a level that will enable you to back off your guitar volume control for a cleaner sound, whilst giving you a nice lead sound with the guitar volume on full. The quality of such sounds, IMHO, at all times remaining musical and far from muddy.

With the gain on low, the amp has an excellent, warm, clean sound, throughout its volume range, which the mid range boost fattens up nicely. I really like the tremelo, but, like others, feel that it may be a little under-powered. The amp itself is capable of being very loud, but can be tamed very nicely for entertaining in the bed-room.

Reliability: N/A
I haven't had this amp long enough to have suffered any reliability issues. However, when buying this amp I did notice that it, and its brothers and sisters, did have a tendancy to resonate/vibrate when played at maximum volume. It doesn't do this at neighbour friendly volume levels and so it wasn't an issue to me, but it's good to be aware of this potential problem and check it out before purchase if you are concerned.

Customer Support: N/A
Never dealt with them.

Overall Rating: 10
I've been playing guitar for about 8 years. I love the tones of this amp and I also love its looks, but rest assured, even if it looked like sh*t, on tone alone, if it were lost or stolen I would be gutted. I feel this amp is great value for the money. However, if you're on a tight budget, check out the Pathfinder, as I feel that it is pretty close to the Cambridge and, pound for pound, it may offer even better VFM.

Remember, one man's meat is another man's poison, so check this amp out in person and let your ears do the choosing. Also think realistically what you want the amp for. If you want an amp for playing stadium gigs, you don't want a practice amp. Equally, if you want an amp for the bedroom/home, you don't want a hundred watt monster, no matter how many valves its got in it.

I wanted a practice amp and was persuaded by the positive reviews here to go and look at the Vox. I tried it in the shop and liked it and now I've bought it I am absolutely in no way disapointed with it.

Submitted by Anonymous at 12/17/2001 11:47

Price Paid: US $180

Features: 7
1 channel 15 watts 8 inch Celestion speaker and a tube preamp, gain and tremelo, made in 2000. Great for practice at home or for recording- very nice quality tones.

Sound Quality: 9
I use a 1981 Strat and it sounds very good and very loud- with all the gain up to max I get a ZZ Top/tube sound- a smooth distorted sound which I enjoy. Clean sounds good also.

Reliability: 8
Seems OK if you dont intend to move it around much.

Customer Support: N/A
Not sure but I hear VOX is a bit stuck-up.

Overall Rating: 10
Great amp- best on the market under $200- sounds warm and loud and you dont need reverb on a practice amp. Get this amp and not the Cambridge 30 which I did not like and which is getting really bad reviews.

Submitted by Anonymous at 12/10/2001 19:58

Price Paid: US $179.00

Features: 2
One channel, volume and gain, gain boost switch, mids boost switch, treble and bass, tremolo speed and depth. Can't use the tremolo at all. You can barely hear it. Why bother putting it in there?

Sound Quality: 1
I play through a standard telecaster (stock pickups), and a Gretsch Duo-Jet reissue. I need an amp with a bright clean tone and warm natural overdrive. I couldn't find this in this amp (doesn't help that there ain't two channels). The clean is dull and colored and the gain is too modern.

Reliability: 2
I would say that the Korg company that makes it doesn't even think it's reliable with the ninety-day warranty they put on it.

Customer Support: 3
The warranty center is nearby, but I got rid of the amp fast.

Overall Rating: 1
If this box said Korg on it, like it should, nobody would be talkin' about the AC-30, or the Beatles and Brian May. They're just looking at the name. This amplifier has nothing to do with Vox except the looks. People in these reviews talk about the 'Vox Tone'! Watch out-- that's when you know they're listening with their eyes! What is the Vox tone? If it has anything to do with bright, sparkley, chiming clean tones and a warm tube overdrive; then it has nothing to do with this amp...

Submitted by Chas Roberts at 12/08/2001 12:20

Price Paid: $315 (Australian)

Features: 5
Bought in 2001, I usually play blues, constantly searching for that old sound, Ive only been playing for a couple of years.

Delivers on old 60s tone, but rockers and metal boys best look else where.

I bought it because I needed a portable pracice amp for blues guitar classes, I played it instore it sounded warm and mellow and it was great value for the money.

At the time I was comparing it to a Squire 15 and a Fender Frontman 15, Drive 15w and a Yamaha 10w. This just had a fuller, warmer, more welcoming sound and it was on sale.

I love the way it looks!

As a practice amp its great, the tremolo is crap so it stays off. Doesnt really like the gain much higher than 1/4,so I run it clean and use a TS9 to fuzz it up a bit.

The gain boost is always off, unless I need a little extra volume then I have it on with the gain knob right down, to deliver a clean warm sound. Pretty grunty for a 15w valve amp.

The midrange boost is nice, adds alot of warmth to the sound, so its always on. I run the bass on 3/4 usually, with the treble on 1/4.

The headphone outlet sounds pretty bad, could be my headphones, so I dont use this much. Havent used the external speaker plug yet.

Forget the fancy features, they arent that good, keep it simple, enough power for the price, good practice amp.

Sound Quality: 7
Epi Les Paul with Gibson 57 Classic PUs, running thru a modded TS9, then to the Vox Cambridge 15.

Nice warm tone, clean and can still crank out a clean warm tone when turned up.

Doesnt like too much distortion or being overdriven too much, which is weird for a tube amp. It just gets muddy and the guitar gets lost in there.

I bought it because it could deliver the clean, old, warm tone I was after for blues, I didnt need too much volume as it was just a practice amp.

Doesnt like being turned up too much anyway, as the chassis and cabinet starts to buzz a fair bit from the vibration. More on that below.

Reliability: 2
Hmmm I was very dissapointed when I got home after buying it, I craked it up to 1/2 volume and there was a horrible loud buzz, that came from inside the amp head somewhere, only on bassey notes. I tightened all the screws on the cabinet and it didnt help.

Its not an electrical type buzz, more like something is loose and vibrating. This was expecially bad playing a 12bar in G, so basically it had to be fixed.

I returned to the shop the next day and tried all the other Cambridge 15s they had, ALL 4 made the same buzzing noise on bass notes, in fact mine was the least buzzy, probably cuz I tightened the cabinet screws.

I returned home with the same amp and opened up the amp chassis section, tightened all the nuts and screws, I think the screws on the transformer were not tight enough. Checked all the wires for rubbing. Bolted everything back together again with some sponge in the joints holding the amp section and the noise was gone or at least reduced to a bearable level.

This buzzing is the only reason I would recommend someone NOT to buy this amp, but it did deliver the sound I wanted for the price, so I felt it was worth fixing. Test it up in the shop before buying it, use a guitar with a humbucker in the neck position, see if you get the same thing.

If looked after it would give years and years of service, but its not going to be a Korean classic. Reliable (probably), but it scores a 2 because of the buzz.

Customer Support: N/A
Pretty sure its a 1 year warranty.

Havent had to call the support line yet.

Overall Rating: 8
Ive only been playing for 2 years, so Im no expert guitarist, but I have 11 years messing with competition high-end car audio, so I know good sound when I hear it

If it was stolen or lost I would probably look around for another small valve amp that was portable and sounded this good, but then I would probably get another Vox15, because its the best(possibly the only one)at that kind of money.

I love that sound when driven clean, just about everything else I can do without(except the mid-range boost).

I hate the buzzing, this was the only reason I decided to contribute this review, but its fixed and bearable now.

Still kicks ass over the Squire 15, Fender Frontman 15 Mexican, Yamaha 10 and Drive 15w, which I tried at the time.

Overall rating is 8, because for the money it delivers great clean, warm sound (if thats what you are looking for). Its great value for money, so in the category there is nothing else that comes close. Vox really need to fix this buzzing.

I consider the features like the Tremolo, headphone jack, ext speaker, foot switch control as extra bonus items that I dont use.

Its portable and just about perfect for a biggish practice amp. There are heaps of better amps around, but they are bigger, heavier and more expensive.

Submitted by Turbo_Groove Rob at 12/08/2001 06:43