Vox Concert 501

Price Paid: 200 (UK£) used

Features: 5
Not a particularly versatile sound.

Sound Quality: 6
It has a very warm sound which doesn't really suit my Vox Maple Custom 24, but would probably be very good for something with a thinner sound. It is not noisy and is very loud. I used it for live work and practice. It's a good size. The two speakers are Celestions. I do not use the distortion as it sounds a bit cheap and I prefer pedals anyway.

Reliability: 7
Has broken down once on me after two years of gigging. Actually, it is still broke becasue I haven't had time to find a good workshop to look at the pre-amp. Any recommendations in the London area, anyone?

Customer Support: N/A
I got this 2nd hand, so no opinion here.

Overall Rating: 7
Compared to other amps I have used I do find thsi one to be a bit limited, but is you like the sound, which is warm and valvey, you will be very happy.

Submitted by John Morgan-Evans at 07/31/2004 05:55

Price Paid: 150 (UK pounds) used

Features: 7
Think its a mid 80's model... guess at 86.... 2 channels... clean and dirty... both with 3 band eq and vol... amp also has master vol and spring reverb. Round the back it has send and return, foot switch and output for another speaker

Sound Quality: 6
I play mainly blues rock with guitars that have single and humbuckers. I went for an all valve because "thats the sound you need".. but I ain't found it yet. I am sure its there, but I haven't located it. I find the clean channel to be too quiet and the dirty channel to end up sounding like a wasp in a jar. It has become a love hate relationship and a challenge. I am positive that there is one setting that will bring this amp to life......

Reliability: 3
Oh dear... what can I say... From my research I would say this was the worst amp Vox ever made... infact the Vox name is all it has going for it.... Poor workmanship all round... this amp has failed twice for me and has been to the repairs 3 times... BUT I do believe that now it is stable and ... touch wood.... all will be ok again.

Customer Support: 8
Never spoken to Vox.... but... when I needed PCB diagrams I did find them very easily on their web site..... so I would say great customer support...

Overall Rating: 6
If I have my time again I don't think I would buy this amp.... If it was stolen I wouldn't go out of my way to find another... Its heavy.... I've found it unreliable and to find a good sound is gonna take some time.... BUT... it is an all valve VOX and that sound must be in there...........

Submitted by Anonymous at 06/05/2003 07:24

Price Paid: 450 (euro)

Features: 7
A mid 80's twinchannel amp, with clean and drive channel. Reverb, D.I output, send and return. Very modern for a mid-80's.
Master volume, and both gain and volume adjustment on the drive channel.
Fane loudspeaker 12 inch, Mullard EL34 x 2 - and 4x 12 ax7.

Sound Quality: 2
I play mostly blues and jump or chicagostyle bluesmusic, and looking for a brown tone. This amp doesn't convince me at all. The clean channel gives you very little headromm, and start to distort very quickly, good as you might think but think distortion is very harsh
and not smooth.
The drive channel is soft to medium. When you use the send and return, the signal becomes distorted, so this feature is not usable at all.

Reliability: 4
Having a vox is like having a Jag. You must have 2 of them.
One to drive (play) with and one for the spare parts to repair them.

Customer Support: N/A
Never dealt with them, because I work on my own amps.

Overall Rating: 4
I am playing for about 30 years. I am a real bluesman, so trying to nail those great blues sounds.
Have several guitars (8)Gibson as well as Fender, but recently I felt myself turn into a Telecasterman instead of les paul or 335's.
I have several brands of amps, I had a ac30, ac50 and ac100.
This is the worst vox amp I ever owned. Maybe this one was made on a monday.
You really should avoid the 1980 period of vox.

Submitted by Lefty Freddie at 02/23/2003 22:36

Price Paid: US $450 used

Features: 9
I think it is made in 1979.

Sound Quality: 9

Reliability: 9

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 10
I bought it third hand. I spent 500$ more to make it brand new. Changed all the tubes (4 ECC83 in preamp and 2 EL34 in power amp), reverb spring (from a 20 years old Marshall amp) and etc. Now it sounds just great. Unbeliavable reverb, fabolous gain and beautiful clean tones. And now both, the first and the second, owners of the amp want it back. But no way. I love my amp and will take it to the grave.

Submitted by mert at 07/31/2000 16:54

Price Paid: Irish pounds 170 used

Features: 9
This amp is a 1x12 50 watt all tube combo with four ECC83 in the preamp and 2 EL34s in the power amp. And from the responses to my queries on alt.guitar.amp, a little known VOX (no replies!). For me it has all the features on an amp I (currently) need:
Channel switching between a 'normal' channel and a 'higher gain channel/lead channel' (footswitchable)
Spring Reverb (which I probably won't use live but it does give some interesting sounds in each channel). Also footswitcable.
Each channel has it's own dedicated 3 band EQ and volume. The 'higher gain' channel also has a gain control. So there are a lot of possibilities for setting up the channels.
There is then a 'master volume' and a shared reverb control.
The amp has two 'lighted' switched, a red light one for power and a green for standby. When switching off the and leaving the standby switch on you can 'watch' the power drain from the tubes as the green standby light fades out.
Round the back, there's one effects loop, a DI out socket with a level control, the footswitch socket, two power amp out sockets with an impedance selector (4 or 16 Ohms) a fuse for the amp, a 'kettle type' socket for the power lead with power selector (240, 230 and 120? Volts) and a mains fuse.
The onboard speaker is a 12" fane. (That's all I can remember off the top of my head).
I've given a 9 in this category as I have not used the amp at a gig yet and maybe there's something missing I don't know I need yet! Though I have played it at all volumes at our band practices. Otherwise it's a 10 for me now.

Sound Quality: 8
I use a 1980 Ibanez Artist, which is a twin humbucker solid mahogany (damn heavy) guitar. The Humbuckers are very high output. I play mainly rock (1960s to present day and 'indie') style music. I use a Crybaby Wah and Boss SD-1 Super overdrive between the guitar and the amp.
The amp is very quite, with just a very slight hum from the power amp transformer that you can only hear if you stand right beside it with your ear inches from the transformer!
I use the guitar volume knob(s) to control the sounds on the amp as well as the pick (strength of picking etc). This amp responds very well to this method.
The clean channel is 'ultra' clean at all volumes if you keep my guitar's volume below 7, above this the channel will begin to overdrive very slightly. This can be controlled by pick attack though.
The 'higher gain' channel is just glorious to my ears. All the right harmonics. The gain is not 'heavy metal' league, but rather a heavy blues overdrive. At high volumes this is fantastic, I can get controllable feedback in almost any key (so far). At lower levels, kick in the SD-1, hey presto. The SD-1 sounds good on both channels...giving almost infinite sustain.
So, just what the doctor ordered. But I'm only giving an 8 here as the clean channel overdrives slightly when I'd rather it gave me more clean headroom.

Reliability: N/A
I've only had the amp since just before Christmas. No problems yet.

Customer Support: N/A
Haven't dealt with VOX yet, but they have a web site that seems well run.

Overall Rating: 10
I've been playing guitar on and off for about 12 years now, consistantly in a band for 3 years now gigging since last April.
I also own a Peavey Classic VT 2x12, a 1978 Marshall JMP 2203 (head) with a 2x12 cab and a practice amp (Washburn VGA 7). This VOX is currently my most loved amp. I just can't get enough of hearing it. If it were stolen I'd go on a Rambo rampage then buy another one, if I could find one. I was so lucky to find this lying in the corner of a guitar store in Dublin. They had an original 60's AC30 on proud display for 1000 pounds Irish, and I couldn't really see the justification in the 830 pound difference in price. It's a bit battered cosmetically, but I didn't buy it for it's looks! If you see one, snap it up!

Submitted by Peter Mandal at 01/21/1998 08:01