Vox Pathfinder 15R

Price Paid: US $89.00

Features: 9
Mine is a brand new floor model from Guitar Center. I paid a whopping 89 dollars for it!

I use it for practice in my little studio. I am VERY impressed with the tone. Even though it is a little offshore made solid state amp it is obvious that someone did their homework on this amp to make it sound as good as it does.

I use the footswitch as well which switches from a soft overdrive to a harder overdrive. This way I can back off my guitar volume on the softer setting and get a nice clean tone. The amp is very versatile or what it is.

Sound Quality: 10
I typically play with a Fralin equiped 20 year old American Strat or a 1981 Gibson ES335. Sometimes I bring my 74 Les Paul into the picture as well - but for the most part I use my Strat. The Lindy Fralen pickups are just simply incredible.

I play upbeat blues and some jazzy stuff mixed in with the blues. The amp really sounds like a VOX for a solid state piece of gear. I am very impressed. So impressed that I am writing a review when I have other things to do! This is the first review I have ever written.

When I am playing at times I look up to remind myself that this thing does not have any tubes in it. And, I am a tube amp person having owned multiple Boogies and Marshalls through the years. The tone of this amp really impresses me. Sometimes I could swear that I am pushing a couple of EL84's. And when I think of what I paid for it I am truly blown away. I love the hotter overdrive settings as well as the middle of the road bluesy settings - this thing covers a lot of territory.

The other day I cranked it through a different speaker cab. I think that this little amp could hold it's own with my band. I have not tried - but I intend to try it out with a full band and I would not be surprised if I am able to use it in a gig setting. Of course it would have to be set to overdrive if kept up loud - but I think it would make it.

Reliability: 10
Appears to be well put together. I like it so much that I am planning on buying the new VOX AC30 all tube model that recently came out for around 1500 dollars.

Customer Support: N/A
Never dealt with Korg - but my take is that they are easy people to work with, from what I have heard.

Overall Rating: 10
I have been playing for over 30 years. I have played in studio envir onments where I had to read. I own and or recently have owned: Mesa Stiletto, Mesa Mark III Blue Stripe, Marshall RI Plexi 100, Marshall JTM 45 Head, Sundown 50 watt all tube. The list goes on and on. My favorite amp that is a keeper for me is a black face Fender Super Reverb which I use for stage. I front it with two pedals from Fullone. I use the Fulltone Fulldrive II and the new Fulltone OCD. Both pedals have their place and the OCD is a mind blower in conjunction with the Black Face Super! I crank my Super up a bit to get a blend of distortion with the pedals. I also have and at times use a Maxon TS9 Tube Screamer. (Maxon was the original company behind the Tube Screamer), and a DOD 250. I also use the new Hendrix Pedal which is just incredible for getting authentic Hendrix sounds.

Submitted by Kirk Hargreaves at 01/06/2006 12:41

Price Paid: US $119

Features: 10
2005 Model. Apparently these are now discontinued.
I've been playing badly for about 13 years. My nice guitar is a Rickenbacker 360; my beater is a $75.00 DeArmond. Both sound great through the amp. I like the headphone option. The amp has a LOT OF BALLS! Very Loud for what it is.
It's got everything I need in a practice amp; actually more--the reverb and tremolo are nice touches to someone used to playing through a no-frills tube combo.

Sound Quality: 10
Goes from clean to biting with a few knob twists. The extra gain channel is fun to play with, but it's a bit much. I am amazed at how good this amp sounds. Honestly, with the gain up, it sound comparable to my Hiwatt SA112OL 50-watt combo. It's got a bark to it that I find very similar. Conversely, the cleans sparkle nicely.

Reliability: N/A
Only had it for a few days. Seems very sturdy.

Customer Support: N/A
Not applicable

Overall Rating: 10
As I said above, I'm pretty much a hack, but over the past few years I've been acquiring quality gear as opposed to buying throw-away junk. I got a great vintage tube amp, a great guitar, and I wanted a quality practice amp for short money. The Pathfinder fit the bill, and I am completely happy with it. I never thought that an amp this good would be available in this price range. Grab one while they still exist!

Submitted by GeeBeeVee at 12/28/2005 12:00

Price Paid: ¿75

Features: N/A
Single channel (with a footswitchable boost), reverb and trem. 3 band EQ, M.Vol. & gain. Also has an extension cabinet out jack. The internal speaker is OK, but farts a bit at high volumes. I never give a rating in this categories, as you get what you pay for.

Sound Quality: 10
I am, frankly, amazed by this thing. I play an Orange AD30 as my main amp, and wanted something smaller to play at home, but this thing has been twinned up with it now for gigs.

Minus points - the reverb is OK up to a very small amount, where it then sounds odd and way too boingy. The high gain capability is OK, but that sound doesn't interest me. No one buys a Vox looking for death metal. I presume they just included it to tap into the nascent teen guitar market who were looking for high gain sounds to cover their mistakes and play Limp Bizkit or whatever.

The trem is OK. I don't have a huge amount of experience with them, and tend not to use it, so effectively no comment here.

The sound... whilst of course, it doesn't sound like a full on AC30, I think it's as close as any SS amp is ever going to get: that pretty much tells you all you need to know about the sound. Ignore the high-gain capability on this, because where it excels is at the cleans, and greasy, chimey mildly overdriven sounds. The amp itself is absolutely fantastic, although it's let down by the speaker not being able to be pushed too hard. I ran it through the Orange 2x12 with some Vintage 30s one day, and oh my life, did it sound good.

As I said, I now twin it with my Orange, which has quite a dark and rich voicing, put the two of them together, and it's an incredible overdrive sound when set up right. Going to make an extension cab with a V30 for this fella.

For the category marked "Practice amp" this thing beats the snot out of anything else within that range. To be honest, if you can run it through an extension cab, it sounds better than a lot of more expensive SS amps, and valve amps i've heard, and i've heard a few.

Reliability: N/A
I take decent care of my gear without mollycoddling it. This has survived so far. I wouldn't go throwing it off buildings, because I think that's asking for trouble, but in my experience, you tend to get trouble with any amp if you do that.

Customer Support: N/A
No problems, haven't had to contact them.

Overall Rating: 10
Big thumbs up for this little fella. When I started playing guitar, I went through a couple of Park & Marshall practice amps, got a bigger Marshall Valvestate, and ended up with my Orange AD30 (valve amp) which is a good 'un. The Pathfinder quite happily in terms of amp sound quality beats any other SS i've owned or played. The other day, I actually took it out gigging with me and left the Orange at home, as I was doing funk stuff. Miked up, it was fine. Give it an extension cab, and it rocks, big style.

As for me, i've been playing 10 years on acoustic, electric and bass. Been in a few different bands in that time ranging from simple church worship, to very rocky contemporary stuff, funk, jazz and my old band's own individual style which was somewhere around Rage Against The Machine meets Red Hot Chili Peppers meets Mojo, Portishead and some beat-based funk. For electric I play G&L ASATs through an Orange AD30, and this amp, and a suitcase-full of effects on occasion.

Definitely buy it again, unless someone were offering me a full AC30 for approximately a twentieth of the price. Gigging musos can take this out with them knowing that if anything goes wrong with their main amp, you can run this through the speaker cab, and get a great sound. Hell, you might even prefer it. Some days I prefer this over my Orange. I'm serious. For the money, it's an absolute no-brainer.

The only other thing i'd say as one muso giving a shout out to another ... go check out the claims of Jesus. I think he's God, he also rocks, and I believe i'll go to heaven through him.

Submitted by Joe at 07/16/2005 02:39

Price Paid: US $95 new

Features: 5
2005 production. Features have already been listed many times here.

Assembly/covering was only fair.

Sound Quality: 3
Really bad hiss, tremolo depth control had no effect past about 2/10.

Reliability: 2
I have no idea. As far as I'm concerned, it was bad out of the box, but probably not enough to get repair under warranty.

It worked, just not well.

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 2
I bought this amp because of many recommendations from other owners, but it was junk, right out of the sealed box. It's the first product I've ever returned to the retailer, which I did the next morning.

Probably a bad example, but I wasn't going to screw around with sorting through them to find a decent one.

Submitted by Anonymous at 07/10/2005 16:35

Price Paid: US $120

Features: 9
15 watts, 8" speaker, clean and boost channels with same bass and treble controls, tremolo and reverb, headphone jack, line out and jack for 15w ext cab. it would have been nice to have the footswitch included. it doesn't have an input for a cd player if you wanted to play along like on the marshall 15w ss. also i find it kind of weird that the headphone jack is in the back and points downward, but that a minor gripe.

Sound Quality: 10
im using a 2002 or 2003 MIM strat HSS with stock pickups for now. it pretty much plays anything i've tried to play from rock in the bridge position to some more bluesy sounding stuff at the neck with the treble rolled off a little. the amp isn't really noisy since its a solid state unless your pickups are noisy like mine seem to be. clean channel stays pretty clean when turned up, but then again it doesn't go THAT loud at 15 solid state watts. good at relatively low volumes for practice at home which is what i use it for mostly. the distortion isn't that bad. it kind of lacks definition but with some eq adjustment im sure its manageble. i use a boss ds-1 pedal in front of it to play more contemporary stuff. it has a nice overdriven sound if you turn up the gain to more than half and keep the volume a bit lower. i've tried playing with a drummer just to see what kind of volume i could get but i got drowned out easily. you might be able to cut thru with the volume maxed and with substantial gain but you'll need something bigger for playing with a band.

Reliability: 10
i've had the amp for a bout 2.5 years and haven't had any problems with it. very reliable and well built. there's really not much to break since its a solid state.

Customer Support: N/A
n/a

Overall Rating: 10
i've been playing on and off for 2 years trying to play outside of classes and stuff. i think this is the best amp if you're looking for a 15w solid state practice amp. my brother has the marshall 15w solid state (mgcdr15?) and its definitely not as good as the vox. the clean on the vox sounds much better as well as the distorted sounds. the vox sounds more unique. the overdrive channel on the marshall sounds cheap and flat. play them for yourselves and you'll see. also the vox has the nice oldschool look while the marshall looks like a weird shrunken version of those amp heads and cabs you see. i wish it had the pedal included but it doesn't really matter since i use the boss pedal with it anyways. one minor feature that the marshall has over the vox is the cd line in so that you can play along with your favorite band coming out of your amp. i probably wouldn't use this, and my brother definitely doesn't so its not a factor to me. i give the pathfinder a 10 because i believe its the best in its class (sound as well as look) despite lacking the foot switch.

im actually looking into upgrading and buying a low wattage all tube amp. im looking at the traynor ycv20-wr (15w class A, all tube, 12" greenback) and probably going to replace the tubes with jj's from eurotubes.com. from what i hear the results are great. i read alot of problems people are having these days with the big name companies (fender, marshall, peavey, etc) and will probably go with a small name well made amp. the traynor also has a 2 year "even if you break it" warranty.

Submitted by anonymous at 06/29/2005 10:05

Price Paid: US $85 used

Features: 9
the features are covered territory...

if i were the project manager and had to compromise for cost, i would get rid of the headphone jack and add an effects loop. if i had to compromise even more i'd lose the line out. tone comes from the speaker pushing air, and if you really like a direct sound, get a pod et. al., or even a direct box. amps don't need them. they're usually a let down.

a lot of these reviews talk about a "clean channel". there is no "clean channel". there's "gain" and "volume", just like a tube amp. problem is, with no gain, maxing the volume is barely a whisper. you have to set the gain at 9 o'clock before you really hear anything. this is as clean as it is going to get. as a couple others have mentioned, to get it loud, you have to crank the gain. bottom line: clean and loud? forget it.

Sound Quality: 8
it sounds really good, overall. i've had an hour work-out on my most versatile guitar -- solid body with coil-tapped dual humbuckers. i seemed to prefer the neck p/u, with or without the tap (which makes it sound more like a single coil).

high gain gets buzzy. i don't dig it. a little crunch or modest-volume clean does the trick.

the trem is nice, usable, moderate. the reverb is moderate too, but not as nice. after 12 (half-up) it gets noisy to the point of being usable. at lower settings, sometimes i didn't even notice it.

the two eq knobs seem to have ranges where they're not really affecting the sound. i think someone else mentioned this. but between the other controls and your guitar's, there's always a workable tone correction, so long as you don't expect good blistering distortion.

Reliability: N/A
too soon to tell

Customer Support: N/A
n/a

Overall Rating: 10
to my experience, for the price, this amp has no peer. other amps i've considered are the trademark 10 and the roland cubes (blues, which needs reverb, and the 30, which is bit overladen with features). but these amps cost about double.

Submitted by alwaysjam at 06/28/2005 00:06

Price Paid: 7200 (pesos)

Features: 10
Made 2005. The specifications has been mentioned by other users.

Sound Quality: 10
I'm using a Ibanez RG450GX and a Fender Telecaster. I was looking for a smaller practice amp, i already own a Fender tube amp and a Peavey tube amp. The clean tone i get from this amp is more that what i expected.

Reliability: 8
I think it's a dependable practice amp, i'll never use it for gigs. The Hot Rod Deluxe and the Classic 30 can do the gig job.

Customer Support: 8
nope

Overall Rating: 10
I always loved the sound of tube amps but easily bummed waiting to heat them up before using. That's why I decided to get a small practice amp since i don't play at higher volumes at home. I just to the store hoping to get a Marshall MG15 but instead I got this amp without even testing it. I was blown away how this amp sounded when i first tried it at home. This amp is a keeper for tube amp owners.

Submitted by arjinted at 06/16/2005 03:54

Price Paid: US $120

Features: 10
Really good features for a amp of this price and speaker size. Tremelo, reverb, gain, and master volume. Has Bass and treble pots, no middle. Line out, headphone out, extension speaker out and footswitch connection. 15 watts into a 8" speaker. Oversized cabinet for the speaker size and traditional Vox looks.

Sound Quality: 9
I'v had this amp for over a year and am really liking it. I use it just for home practice and recording. Very good clean, mild distortion. Sounds very Voxie on clean, alot of chime and with the trmelo engaged. Reverb is rather weak. If you need a fuller sound, I engage the boost and lower the volumne and gain and you get a really thick clean sound. The filtered line out works really well into a recorder or mixer. I've plugged into a 212 cab and it sounds really good. Again, very good sparkling cleans and can get a little dirty if need be. Tremelo is very nice, reverb weak.

Reliability: 10
Has held up very well. I have traveled with it alot. No negitive issues. Do be aware it has plastic jacks and the tolex is somewhat thin. If you're careful, these should be a non-issue.

Customer Support: N/A
Haven't had to deal with them.

Overall Rating: 10
Excellent value for a good sounding practice amp. Wonderful sparkling cleans. I've been playing for over 35 years and own a variety of instruments and amps. If it were lost or stolen I would pick another one up. I'v looked at the new Vox Valtronix series of amps and the Roland Cubes and although they sound nice, I still would buy the Pathfinder. Easier to use, and really great sound.

Submitted by Kiersten at 06/06/2005 11:59

Price Paid: 200 (Canadian)

Features: 7
Vox 15 watt solid-state amp, with an 8-inch speaker, reverb, tremelo, and gain boost button. Also has standard gain, bass and treble controls. Vintage styling with 'chicken head' knobs. Amp has one line in, plus a line out, headphone out, footswitch input, and external speaker output.

The gain boost and tremelo are both footswitchable, though I almost never use the tremelo.

I bought this amp mostly for practice and jamming around where I don't want to lug a big stack with me. It easily handles the volume required for playing with another guitar, bass, and drums.

Sound Quality: 8
The clean sounds are awesome! I've never played through a solid-state practice amp with better clean sounds. In fact, this rivals some of the valve amps I've played through. With the gain turned up it gets pretty fuzzy. You can get enough dirt for metal, but it's not really a good metal sound; it's too fizzy. I don't really turn the gain more than halfway up. That gives me a nice crunchy sound that's good for blues, or any other style where you don't need tons of gain. The amp doesn't have a 'fat' distorted sound at all. Even with a distortion pedal in front of it I don't get a big metal sound. But then, that's not why I bought it.

Let's talk about the reverb. It sucks. It's the worst sounding reverb I can ever remember hearing in my entire life. Not only does the sound of it suck, but the decay isn't at all natural-sounding. I normally love reverb when I play leads, but I turn this one down because it just ruins the sound. Still, the amp sounds great without much reverb.

I'm a bit of a fanatic when it comes to tone. And I can easily pick the difference between, say, a PODxt and a real amp in a blind test (I've done so more than once), but I still like the sound of this amp. Of course, you get what you pay for; it ain't gonna give you just as good a sound as a multi-thousand dollar amp setup, but for the money it's very good.

Reliability: 5
So far so good: I've only had it for one week and it hasn't let me down. I can't say how it will last. Like I said above, I expect to get what I pay for in terms of build quality as well as sound.

That said, the amp looks pretty cheaply made. I expect the vinyl and other covering to start to peel off before too long with the wear and tear that comes with transporting it.

Customer Support: N/A
I haven't dealt with Vox, but their manual for this amp was well-written and done with a sense of humour. If their customer support is in the same vein then I have some hope that they will treat me reasonably well. Of course, I'm an optimist.

Overall Rating: 9
I've been playing since 1990. I played in a band doing all kinds of music for a while - 1920's jazz, through to modern thrash metal - so I'm used to needing diversity in my gear. I have done studio work, production, teaching, touring - you name it. I've played all kinds of guitars, from vintage Strats and SGs, to pointy guitars like Ibanez RGs. The most expensive guitar I have heard up close was a mint-condition pre-war Martin that was selling for $225,000 AUS.

I can't say that this amp is very versatile, but for what I bought it for, and combined with the Vox Tonelab SE, it will be fine.

The last decent amp I owned was a Marshall DSL 2000 half stack. My next amp will be either a Bad Cat, a Hughes and Kettner, or a Kingsley. I have expensive tastes.

Submitted by Mark at 06/02/2005 11:35

Price Paid: US $119

Features: 8
I bought this amp in 2004...SS, one channel...a boost button i never use...reverb, tremelo...yada yada...nothing fancy, which is a good thing. I've always wanted a Vox, because i love their sound and look, and since i will probably never be able to afford an AC-30 unless i hit the lottery, i thought this would make a nice replacement for my utterly horrible 30w Crate.

I wanted a nice simple small amp that i could screw around with at home and get fairly decent sounds out of. I play mostly 60's and 60's influenced rock...Beatles, Dead, early Floyd, Velvet Underground, Radiohead, etc. This little amp excels at those kind of sounds. I played in a band in the 90s, but just started playing guitar again for fun in 2003. I mostly just play at home for fun now to relax, although i would happily take this amp to a rehearsal if i could find some halfway interesting people to play with. It's actually a lot louder than my Crate, which is twice as many watts, which surprised me. It has a line out for a bigger speaker cabinet, which i would really like to try sometime, because i hear these amps are awesome with bigger speakers...

Sound Quality: 9
I play an Epiphone ES 335 and a Fender Telecaster into a Digitech RP100 pedal and a Rat distortion, then i set the gain on the Vox fairly low, at about 10 o'clock. Generally i use the 'Fender Tweed' model on the Digitech for a borderline dirty sound, using the Rat for higher gain stuff. The Digitech is a very versatile little pedal, but that's another review...

This amp is REALLY, REALLY loud for 15 watts. I live in an apartment building, and if i turn the volume knob past 10 o'clock i feel like i'm probably annoying people.

I play my Epiphone 335 through it and it sounds nice, but sometimes a little muddy...but with my 1992 Telecaster it really shines. For some reason this amp just LOVES Teles! If you're into clean twangy country sounds, you won't be disappointed. The distortion is kind of ugly, [and not GOOD ugly]...but if i want high gain, i use a Rat pedal anyway. The reverb is not bad, and the tremelo is nice. I didn't get a foot pedal with this amp, but that's ok, because as luck would have it, the pedal i got with my POS Crate works the boost and the tremelo!

It's fairly quiet, just normal amp hiss...although i've noticed at times it seems to pick up a bit of 'interference' or static...not sure what's up with that...it's just like a few seconds of intermittent loud hissing that goes away. Could be picking up radio interference or something through my guitar.

Reliability: 10
It seems fairly solid...haven't had any real issues with it.

Customer Support: N/A
Haven't had to deal with Vox...there is a tech nearby who is an authorized service center, and he really knows his stuff, so i wouldn't worry about taking it to him if i had a problem. So far so good!

Overall Rating: N/A
I've been playing on and off since i was 12, and i'm 39 now. I've owned everything from a late 50's Fender Princeton my uncle gave me, to an early 80s Tusc tube amp, both of which i foolishly sold...:( I also am the not so proud owner of a Crate GX 30m, which i hate like poison. Overall i love this little amp...it totally beats the underpants off anything at it's price point. I found the clean tones on the small SS Marshalls kind of flat, and the newer Fender SS amps didn't really do it for me either. If i find a band to play with, i will certainly look for something bigger, either a Marshall or Peavey Classic, but for my purposes, mostly playing at home for fun and recording on my 4 track, this little Vox is perfect.

Submitted by Rob at 06/01/2005 22:39

Price Paid: US $119

Features: 10
This is a 2005 model Pathfinder 15R. The amp is great for 60's and classic rock vibe and country, most everything except super hard rock. Has one channel. Everything but an effects loop but who needs it? Effects work great straight into the input. I use the amp at home and the hospital. Has more power than I really need. I think the 15 watts match the 8" Bulldog speaker perfectly. It is solid state but I like it better than my [read on]

Sound Quality: 10
I use it with my Gibson SG and Epi Casino and play mainly Beatles and 60's 70's stuff. This amp is what I've been missing since I sold my Vox Cambridge twin 30 reverb! Wow, what bass and vibe! It is very quiet and very clean but can get down and dirty for blues and rock. I run a little tremolo 1/4, treble 1/2, bass a little over 1/2, gain off and volume barely when using it with my Digitech RP 2000. I like this amp better than my Fender Champ! It really sounds this good! It has plenty of distortion for my needs and the vibe and bass--I can't get over it. It also sounds better than the mini-stack. I think the twin 10's in that mini-stack draw too much power; so, I believe the 8" speaker to be best. You will be amazed.

Reliability: 10
No problems with this amp or any other Vox I've ever owned.

Customer Support: N/A
Can't answer this. I will say that the instruction manual is about the corniest written manual I've ever read. The writer of the manual writes like he is high on dope or something. I think I'll mail a copy to Jay Leno for the Tonight Show. It is really silly.

Overall Rating: 10
Been playing 30 years. Own Microcube, Vox AC-1, Digitech RP 2000, Fender Champ, Gibson SG, Casino, other odds and end guitars. I would buy it again in a flash. In fact, I kick myself for not already having bought one. I see why it's overall rating from 60 someodd people is 9.6! It is really that good. I love everything about it. I compared it to Rolands, Marshalls, Peavey's and Fenders and it is the best bang for the buck and many more bucks. All I can say is give it a try. By itself it is not a huge distortion amp nor will it stand up to 50 or 100 watt amps, but for clean to mild distortion styles I don't see how this amp can sound so good and be so cheap and....be a solid state! With sounds like this--who needs tubes!

Submitted by mike baggett at 05/30/2005 19:48

Price Paid: US $113.00

Features: 9
I picked up this little guy about six months ago. For it's price and size I have to give it a nine on features. Spring reverb, tremelo, boost button. It also has a filtered line out, headphone out, extension speaker out and footswitch jack. That's a heck of alot of stuff for the price. I've used all of the outputs and they work just fine!

Sound Quality: 8
I have been a gigging musician for over forty-five years. Yea, I know, I'm old! My first real gig was in 1959. I usually play clean with just a little break-up. I bought this amp for one reason and one reason only: I wanted a small lightweight amp that I could throw in the car and go or just move it easily from room to room. I looked at the other Vox offerings (AD Series) as well as the Roland Cubes. This little amp has very good cleans and with gain up a bit you can get a little dirty. It can get loud but lacks gigging headroom. I mean, what do you expect from 15Watts & a 8" speaker. Tremlo and reverb sound nice but don't expect Eventide effects for 100 dolars. In all, it has nice cleans and can get decent dirt for it's size but again don't expect JC-120 cleans or 5150 distortion.

Reliability: 9
Has held up well. Input jacks are plastic so you have to treat them as such. I don't baby my equiptment but I am careful with it. If you take care of it, it will take care of you!

Customer Support: N/A
Haven't had to deal with them.

Overall Rating: 10
As stated earlier I have been playing a long time and I currently have some super gear. My amps consist of a Two-Rock Custom Reverb, two Traynor CV40's, Bad Cat Hot Cat and a few others. I have the normal assortment of Strats, Teles and two Gibsons (135, 175). I couldn't see spending the extra hundred dollars for the Roland Cube or Vox AD series amps when this little guy really met my needs. All I wanted was a small , light amp that sounded good. With the tremelo and reverb as an added bonus, I can't see how you could go wrong with this little amp.

Submitted by Vincent at 05/26/2005 18:00

Price Paid: US $88.00 used

Features: 8
I bought this amp slightly used but in mint condition.I have owned it for several months. I use it at home for recording, and practicing. It will put out enough volume at 15 watts to keep up with a full band unless you play at high volumes using Marshall stacks or 100 Watt Mesa Boogie's.
It has two channels one clean, and one boosted with increased bass response. The lead channel sounds good if you can turn the amp up, however in my small practice room/studio I have to use a pedal. As I said it's a loud 15 watts.At lower volumes it's not very pleasing to my ear. The amp also has a Headphone out, and line out which I never use.I do use the tremolo sometimes though, and the speaker out to drive a 12" speaker.
The amp is really great for clean sounds, and for the price of an effects pedal I'm quite pleased. I wish they made one like this with just a clean channel, and bass and treble controls.I'll rate it down a little for it's headphone out and line out, but as I said I really like the amp clean.

Sound Quality: 8
I own several guitars, but mostly play and Eric Clapton Strat. (That guitar makes everything sound good in my opinion.)I play Blues, and Rock and am currently writing songs.At 55 the band thing seems to be over after almost 40 years. I did use it for a few practices with my last group.(drums, keyboard, bass, and two guitars.)It worked fine and the gain was about 1/4 up with the volume at 1/2.I also found the amp to be very quiet.The distortion cleans up nicely when you turn the guitar volume down, and sounds better at higher volumes.I forgot to mention the reverb it's definatley not a Fender Super Reverb, more like Marshall reverb.If it was a $2,500 amp I'd rate it lower, but it's a $100 solid state amp.

Reliability: 10
So far it seems to be built quite well no problems, and no tubes to deal with.

Customer Support: N/A
I've never dealt with the company.

Overall Rating: N/A
I've been playing since a band called the Beatles came out. For amps I own a Paul Reed smith Harmonic Generator(Extremely rare, A 35 watt Fuchs overdrive supreme, A old brown Fender Princeton, A silvertone piggy back bass amp. (Danelectro). For guitars. Avery old Fender telecaster, A martin acoustic,1990 Paul Reed Smith CE 24,A 74 Telecaster Custom, and a Bass I put together from parts.
You may ask why do I need a under $100.00 Vox with all those other amps.I ask myself that to but to be honest it looks cool, and it puts out a decent clean sound.

Submitted by rockndawg at 05/23/2005 12:09

Price Paid: US $120

Features: 7
Solid State 15 watt. Gain, Volume, Bass, Treble, Tremelo depth and speed, Reverb. Has headphone jack and effects loop capability. one channel.

Sound Quality: 3
I play Classic rock Blues and Jazz, and this amp does not really handle any. I play it with an Epiphoen Casino with P-90 pickups. The reverb is extremely weak, although the tremelo is ine. The distortion can get very brutal, but does not sound natural at all. Clean sounds sound sythesized with absolutley no sag.

Reliability: 9
Pretty damn durable. It is solid state.

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 5
The amp is slightly more worth it than its sound indicates, only because it is so cheap (which is why I was fofrced to buy it in the firts place). However I bought a low value tube amp (a Fender Blues Jr.) as soon as I could and was far more pleased.So, get this is you absolutley have no money, but if at all possible get a low end tube amp instead.

Submitted by Nave at 05/14/2005 18:54

Price Paid: US $120

Features: 7
I got this amp new from Zzounds in September or so of 2004.

The reason I only give it 7 stars is that it has only one channel, and the headroom is fairly limited.
Besides that, it has tremolo, which is a quite lovely feature, two tone controls (Bass and Treble), and reverb. The reverb is quite subtle compared to most, so take that into consideration.

It has a headphone jack, which is a 1/4" socket. Most consumer headphones come with 1/8" inch plugs, but you can get an adapter pretty cheaply.

There are also outputs for an external speaker cabinet, and one for a line out. I have not used these, but I'm sure they work fine.

I'm in a band that plays rock/blues and it gets loud enough for practice, but in bigger gigs it gets drowned out by our other guitarist who has a Fender Deluxe Reverb. I don't usually play guitar for my band because I'm their vocalist, but ocasionally I'll whip it out to play. The main power consideration that I have, is that it's pretty limited in clean headroom, so don't expect to play clean very loudly.

Sound Quality: 8
I use this with a cheap-o Yamaha Pacifica with stock pickups. Naturally, these don't sound the best, but I still think it does pretty well. I especially like the clean tones, which are crisp and clear. I don't really care for much of the driven tones, but I've found a spot with the gain at half, and the bass and treble at about 9 o' clock, that suits my bluesy-rock style. Anything up to about halfway on the gain is pretty good, but after that, it starts sounding pretty lousy. If you get a decent overdrive pedal, your problems will be solved here.

It has a "boost" switch, which I rarely use, because it generally sounds pretty bad. If I need a kick up in the volume though, it gets me over the cliff. The optional footswitch has a button to control this boost switch.

As I mentioned before, the reverb is really subtle. You don't get any concert-hall style effect, or anything. It's just two short (4" inches or so) springs hooked up to a pair of transducers in the chassis. I sometimes will rock the amp back and forth to get wild sounds out of the reverb unit, because it makes the springs rattle around in the back.

I don't use the tremolo much, but it seems pretty good. It's got a depth control and a rate control, which are pretty much all you need. It's sine-form tremolo, so don't expect to get any square-form stuttering effects out of it or anything.

Reliability: 10
Well, it seems to be built really well. I was riding my bike to band practice and I dropped it to avoid a collision with a car, and it still sounds fine.

After the infamous dropping from the moving bike senario, I took the chassis off, and looked around inside to make sure I hadn't dislodged anything. Everything seemed fine, and the speaker was still intact.

The reverb unit looks a little flimsy, but it's on a weird spring shockmount thing on the chassis, so it's made to bounce around a bit.

Customer Support: N/A
I've never actually dealt with Vox, and I don't plan to.

Overall Rating: 10
The scoop is: For the price, and for what it is (a practice amp) it's amazing!

I definitely recommend this as a practice amp. Pretty much unbeatable price for the quality.
You can use it for small gigs, and you could mic it, or use the line out for bigger ones.

So remember, the dirty tones are not very good, so think about investing 60 bucks or so for a decent overdrive pedal.

Also, for you guys who are starting out, your tone is mostly dependent on your technique and your ear, so don't discount an amp on the fact that you can't get a good tone out of it while learning.

Submitted by Trevor at 04/18/2005 23:34

Price Paid: US $120.00

Features: 9
Now that I've been using my Pathfinder for exactly a year, playing small club gigs approximately three times per month, with band rehearsals approximately once per week, I just wanted to supplement my previous reviews on this little gem of an amp. In my opinion, it's the best-kept secret out there!

Sound Quality: 9
I use a standard Fender Stratocaster that I bought in '73. The Pathfinder allows the unique character of the Strat to shine through. The vocalist in our band often describes the sound of the guitar coming through the Pathfinder as "shimmering." Although I use a Digitech RP-50 processor to get some more pronounced distortion, or other effects, for certain solos or certain tunes, the Pathfinder does very well all by itself, simply by making adjustments of the "Gain" knob relative to the "Volume" knob. I also run a good quality cable from the external speaker jack into an old banged-up 1x12" cabinet with a Utah speaker in it, and the doggone amp just pushes that cab superbly. After playing numerous gigs with this setup over the past year, I'm very satisfied with the way this amp performs. I have never felt like I've had to stress it out in the small club venues we play. For larger gigs, I'm sure it'll mic up just fine thru the big P.A., but I haven't had occasion to do that yet. I'm not a huge fan of using "line out" for live performances, although the Pathfinder does have that feature too. My bandmates still can't believe that this little guy is doing the job so well for me. I always show up at rehearsals with the Pathfinder on the front passenger seat of my car, with the seatbelt around it, and they like to call it my "date." It's so lightweight, and such a great change from the heavy stuff I used to lug around!

Reliability: 10
Totally reliable. Never a hint of a problem!

Customer Support: N/A
No contacts with manufacturer to date.

Overall Rating: 9
Overall, just an amazing little package. Again, it may only be 15 watts, but remember-- these are VOX watts!!!!
And just a little "P.S."-- After I had owned this amp for a couple of weeks, I decided one day to get some brass cleaner and clean the built-up grime and tarnish off my cable plugs. I was shocked at how dirty they had become after years of use, and pleasantly surprised to notice a substantial jump in the volume of my guitar! Suddenly I didn't have to turn up the amp as much, to get the volume I desired. So, consider cleaning up those cables. It truly does help your amp perform more efficiently!

Submitted by Bill Sheehan at 04/03/2005 10:08

Price Paid: US $119

Features: 10

I bought it brand new the end of January'05 It was built in September '04. As most of you have stated it's the best practice amp out there. I made my decision to buy soley on what i read on these reviews. It has the single channel as well as line out, headphone, speaker and footswitch jacks. I'm really amazed at the clean sound's with single coils. What really impresses me is the way it relate's each guitar's individual voice. This amp was bought to be used for every purpose it's capable of and fill's the bill in every aspect.

Sound Quality: 10
I own two Gretsch's G6129T, G6118T, RIC 360, DeArmond M77T,a Dot, Paul two Strat's, a Dean Boca 12 string and EPI acoustic electric and every one of them sound's great through the Pathfinder.I'm thrilled I can get those Brit-invasion tones that I was missing from my Marshall and Fender amp's are also solid state. I prefer solid state for thier consistancy, I live in Florida and the weather play's havoc with tube amp's, at least to my ear. I've gone through most of the major brand's tube wise and just find it frustrating to hear a difference every time the barometer changes. Although I am toying with the idea of getting one of the new VOX AC30 models coming this spring. I'm that impressed with the pathfinder's look and tone, having it's big brother might be a must have. I basically use the cleaner sound's on the hollow bodies with just a hint of gain, the RIC sound's incredible...

Reliability: 5
Now the bad new's, When I recieved the amp it had a malfunction with the boost switch. It would jump from boost to clean after a few minutes of operation. I'm not into dealing with manufactures with warrenty issue's. So I pulled it apart and checked it out and it revealed a cold solder joint on the boost switch, resoldered, removed all flux residual with contact cleaner, let it dry and I'm in business. I also found that the speaker sounded a little tight and mid-rangy so I installed a Jensen C8R and to my taste it's perfect. My Strat now has that clean HENDRIX wind cries mary tone that I wasn't getting out of either of my other amp's. I don't gig anymore, I'm in my mid fifties and find that I just like to fool around recording and playing along with records like when I started playing back in the sixty's. Would I gig with it? Yes if it were miked up, sure! Because I had the problem with it I have to drop the mark but I still love it...

Customer Support: N/A
Like I said, I try to handle these thing's myself so I wouldn't know about customer support. If the problem wasn't corrected it was going back to the retailer.

Overall Rating: 10
In my forty year's of playing I've pretty much ran the gamut in gear. If it were stolen ? It would be out of my house and I'm sure there would be a whole helluva lot of other gear gone with it. But for what I paid, definetly I would buy it again. I love the sound , the look and the size. That new AC30 weigh's in at about 70 pound's and this thing goes about seventeen. At my age that's an ass saver but it tempt's me I must admit.
Basically I was looking for it to fill the bill as far as the Brit tones as I stated earlier, and it does that in spades.I highly recommed it, even with the slight problem. Prop's to this forum for people to get some great info before they throw thier money down...Thanx!

Submitted by Doug at 03/27/2005 19:59

Price Paid: US $9.95

Features: 9
Made in 8/04. This little screamer is versatile for what I use it for and would make a great recording amp. Very ballsy sound for an 8" speaker, especially with the boost on. Nice tremelo, not too over the top and quite useable, as is the spring reverb . I've been using a Behringer GX110 and the Pathfinder is soooo much better than the Behringer. I use this around the house and to take to friends places to jam with . Just the right size and power for jamming .... My only complaint is the lack of a foot pedal ... but, I'll get one .

Sound Quality: 10
Playing a Tele , Silvertone 1 pickup and a Strat copy I built with S/S/H pickups. This amp handles each one fine and allows each guitars tones to shine through . Both channels have their own sounds and can be used with most music styles. This amp handles pedals well too. I use a DS-1 and Big Muff along with the built in gain channel. The gain channel can get pretty nasty without eating your tone to much.

Reliability: N/A
Just got it, but I expect it to last quite a while .

Customer Support: N/A
Haven;t dealt with them, so don't know !

Overall Rating: 9
This is a kickass amp for the bucks. No digital crap ( like the Behringer ). Sure it's solid state, but who says that's a bad thing ? If this one was stolen I'd buy another . Like i said, i wish they would throw the footswitch in with it.

Submitted by Anonymous at 03/20/2005 15:50

Price Paid: US $119.00

Features: 9
These little powerhouses are the best kept secrets out there.......

Sound Quality: 9
For a solid state amp these guys are spectacular....clean or crunch....reverb or none....with trem/without ..whatever your choice.Excellent.

Reliability: 10
Havent had any problems with either....I own 2 ....run in stereo...nice!

Customer Support: N/A
Never had to deal with them

Overall Rating: 10
I used to lug my fender twin to "jam sessions".....now I use 2 pathfinders and a vox tonelab and that covers all my needs. I just love these amps...They are built great...they look great ....and they sound great.Been playing 20+ years.....use Fender Guitars and amps......but I seem to use these little wonders more and more. So Versatile.

Submitted by BPV at 03/20/2005 13:21

Price Paid: US $119.00

Features: 8
Made in 2002. Very simple, yet versatile amp. All the features have been covered well, so I'm not going to repeat them. I truly believe this is THE best solid state practice amp out there. For $120.00, you can't go wrong with this amp. I am only docking it points because it is solid state, and it doesn't come with a footswitch.

Sound Quality: 9
I have a Gibson 1967 Les Paul, with two humbuckers, an Epiphone Les Paul Special with two humbuckers, a Washburn X Series Professional Model with one humbucker and two single coils, and a Fender Standard Strat and Standard Tele. Sounds great on all the guitars, but shines the most on single coils on clean and humbuckers for crunch. I play basically whatever my mood is, country, classic rock, native american indian music, hard rock, blues, whatever. This amp handles all that very well. It is NOT a heavy metal amp, but with a good petal, I'm sure you could get some metal sounds with it. Clean channel is clean...turn the gain up and you get crunch, push the boost button and you get a moderate distortion. Distortion is not brutal, but then again, that's not what I want for tone.

Reliability: 10
Had it for several years and it's still chuggin along. Never broken down.

Customer Support: N/A
Never dealt with VOX.

Overall Rating: 9
Been playing well over 35 years. I've got too much shit to mention. I've been addicted to collecting amps and guitars for 30 years. I'd get another one if it were stolen or lost. Didn't compare it to anything. Decided I wanted it and ordered it online.

Submitted by Mike at 03/08/2005 03:24

Price Paid: US $119.00

Features: 10
This is a great little amp for practice at home or wherever. I keep the amp in my office so that I can practice during lunch or sometimes late in the evening if I'm still at the office. I have other amps (59 Fender Bassman reissue, Mesa Boogie 2x12 Lonestar combo with a 2X12 extension cab and a Fender Bassman 200) I just got tired of lugging the amp to and from church on Thursdays. This amp is light and portable and does the job. Believe the reviews. It's the best small sounding amp I have ever heard with plenty of features including tremolo and reverb. If you can put aside your big ego and go with it, you'll really love this amp.

Sound Quality: 10
Good clean sound. Good distortion sound. What else can I say. I'm not the featured musician at church so it is plenty loud for my purposes.

Reliability: N/A
Don't know. Have had it for less than a week. I never have had a problem with any of my gear but then, I go out of my way to protect my gear.

Customer Support: N/A
Hope I never have to find out.

Overall Rating: 10
Don't look any further. For $119.00 (plus a footswitch which is handy), you can't go wrong. This isn't brain surgery. When it comes to the high end amps and guitars, I don't mind doing some homework to get the best for the least. I didn't shop around but went into my favorite music store (Sodja Music in Cleveland, Ohio) and Tony Martin belted out a few tunes and I took it back to my office. The guys at Sodja music know their stuff. Again, it's only $119.00. Have fun with this neet little amp. Yes, I would buy another one if I had too much wine one night and fell on the amp and crushed it.

Submitted by Anthony Lukianowicz at 02/25/2005 13:30

Price Paid: US $120

Features: 10
My reveiw is for a Pathfinder which I purchased new in the autumn of 2004.

I am a blues player who likes to occasionally dabble in the rock side of things. My main amp is a Fender Deluxe Reverb RI so the features on the Vox parallel what I enjoy on my Fender, but on a definate lower scale of course.

The amp's purpose for me has been to be a toting, lesson-giving, light-weight and reliable amp. And, to add good meaure, I think it looks pretty cool. Not that the look of it adds anything to the sound, but it might add something to the feel of playing through such a "pretty" amp. All in all, this amp fits my desired bill very well.

The Vox's single channel opperation is no big deal for me and what I want to use it for. I pretty much set the thing at 1/3rd gain and mess with the volume, reverb and tone controls based on the room environment, etc. The back panel options of headphone, line-out, ext. speaker and footswitch jacks make this little amp even more versatile - if such options appeal to your needs. As for me, I don't use any of them and don't really plan to - outside of my desire to play through an extension cab - I did it once and man, it was awesome! But, to lug a cab around kind of defeats the purpose of the small amp concept for me. I gave the line out a whirl through a computer recording device. The sound was ok enough for fast idea tracking but not too acceptable for me - I would prefer to (if necessary) mic it was an SM57 and catch how the speaker breathes a bit.

If volume is a factor for you, this monster keeps right up with a majority of my Fender Deluxe 90 solid state volume. The 12" speaker in the 90 makes a big difference in sound of course, but as for volume, there's nothing to worry about if you need am amp for jamming.

Sound Quality: 8
I have been privilaged to experience many kinds of amps, especially the small solid-state jobs that beginning guitar students often bring in. In my opinion, the Fender 15w jobs are WAY to bright and have just awful gain circuits (though the bigger models gain a better clean sound to them, yet still stink in the drive area), Marshalls are marvelous in higher overdrive settings in the 15w arena yet just lack a good clean, bluesy vibe about them, Peavey's are great in-between the clean and drive settings yet kind of noisy and then we get to the Vox Pathfinder... Marvelous feel and vibe about the sound, wonderful clean to bluesy grit drive. The higher level OD get's pretty brutal, but... I would prefer a Boss DS-1, SD-1, etc. over the clean settings instead of the drive section.

What about the no-mid control? Ah - forget it man! You won't need it!

This amp handles a variety of guitars very well. It loves a Strat and plays well with a Gibson Les Paul Studio. The 8" speaker sure has to work harder with the Paul.

Finally, the tremolo and reverb are ok. They do the job to a degree but will leave you wanting the real tube-driven thing, as it should in a $120 package.

Reliability: N/A
As a solid-state little guy, I pray it is reliable and it is my backup amp. This amp has never broken down, but I haven't used it to a large value yet.

Customer Support: N/A
Never had to deal with Vox.

Overall Rating: 10
If you desire a small, great sounding, rather similar-to-tube breakup, "pretty" amp, give this one a test drive. Compare the sounds you get out of this small job with any other amp in the 15w - 8" class. I think you'll enjoy what you hear! If you dig roots material and blues music and desire a cheap toter, this is a great one.

If I could change one thing, or add another amp to the Pathfinder line, would be a 10" speaker. The amp is plenty loud but I wish it had a bit more "push" and bottom end drive.

Submitted by Vineyard at 02/02/2005 19:19

Price Paid: US $120

Features: 9
Mine is a 2004 model made in Korea. Has the basics described elsewhere. The feature most unusual for the price ($120) is the tremelo.

Sound Quality: 10
I just got this and I've really only used it so far with my jazz box which is a Tradition 650 (full hollowbody with two humbuckers) a very nice guitar by the way. I've got an Ibanez 335 copy that I just strummed a few chords on to see how it sounded. I have not tried my Telecaster on it yet. I am trying to learn jazz style playing now and I think that is what I will use it for the most now. I have a Fender Blues Junior as well, and I don't want to burn up the tubes by practicing on it all the time. Plus the Pathfinder is easy to move to another area of the house if I need to later at night so I don't keep others awake. I am frankly amazed by the sound of this little amp. It truly does have a tube sound, much more so than the transtube amps of Peavey. When I say it has a tube sound what I mean is it is very "warm" sounding. And when I put a little tremelo and reverb on I get a sound that reminds me of some of the classic jazz guitar sounds from the fifties and sixties. I am very impressed by the sound of this amp. For any baby boomer who wants to relive some of their teen years as a player I think this will probably do the trick. For a first amp it should be an excellent choice (unless you are a metal player then you probably need something else). But I think this will work well for jazz, classic rock, blues, country. Seems to be very versatile. My main point point is that it seems to be a good amp for the classic jazz sounds that I remember hearing when I was younger and when I put a real record on the turntable!

Reliability: N/A
Can't say since I haven't had it very long. My major concern would probably be the jack inputs which I think are all made of plastic so I would be very careful when plugging and unplugging!

Customer Support: N/A
Never dealt with them

Overall Rating: 10
I have been playing over 30 years (off and on, mostly off)but I have played in a couple of bands at various times, the most recent about 20 years ago. I would definitely replace this if lost or stolen. I really love the tone that is possible with this amp and my jazz guitar. I did look at some other amps but I never tried my guitar in them. The reviews on Harmony convinced me to give this amp a try. And I am very happy with the sound, hopefully it will be a durable amp as well. For a practice amp I don't think there is anything that has this warm sound but I haven't looked at everything so I may be wrong about that.

Submitted by Anonymous at 01/28/2005 19:51

Price Paid: US $119.00

Features: 10
Don't know what year it was made in, but I've had it for a 2 years. All the stuff has been covered, so I won't go into it again. This is a fucking awesome amp. Absolutely the best solid state practice amp I have ever heard and it is FUCKING LOUD like the other guys say. More than enough power for home practice, studio recording or even small gigs.

Sound Quality: 10
I have a Yamaha Les Paul Copy, a highly modified Fender Squier Series Standard Telecaster, a Fender made in Mexico Standard Strat and an Ibanez RG350DX through it. Suits my music style which is basically everything from classic to hard rock and heavy metal to jazz, blues, punk, grundge and country. This amp does everything well, except metal, which it is not intended to be used for. However, I do occasionally hook my ZOOM 606 up to it and it will give excellent heavy metal sounds then. This amp can be extremely loud for a solid state amp with an 8 inch speaker but the 8 inch speaker handles the volume quite well - just keep in mind that your neighbors may not tolerate the volume anywhere near as well as the speaker.

Reliability: 10
Tough as a tank, been abusing the hell out of it for 2 years now.

Customer Support: 10
Never dealt with VOX. Bought it through guitar trader and they are great.

Overall Rating: N/A
Been playing 45 years. Have what I mentioned above, as well as a bunch of acoustics, a VOX AD15VT Valvetronix, a Marshall AVT20 and a Peavey Studio Pro 112 as well as more acoustic guitars than I can count. I'd get another one if it were stolen or lost. I love it - pure and simple.

Submitted by Mike at 01/18/2005 15:49

Price Paid: US $100

Features: 10
Mine was made in 2001. I've had it 4 years now. It suits my music style just fine, which is classic rock, blues and some hard rock. Two channels, all the features have been listed a bunch of times, so no use in going through all that. It is a simple amp and that is what is attractive about if. Doesn't have a mid range eq, but don't need it. Reverb and tremelo are neat and if you get the footswitch, you can turn the reverb on or off or switch to boost and for 29 bucks, it's worth it. In my opinion, this is aboslutely the best "solid state" practice amp that money can buy. Very "tube like" sound even though it is totally solid state. Sounds better than my Marshall AVT50. I use it in my bedroom and it is VERY LOUD for a 15 watt amp with an 8 inch speaker.

Sound Quality: 10
I am using a Gibson '68 Les Paul with two humbuckers, a 70's made in USA Fender Telecaster and an 80's made in Japan Fender Stratocaster. The tele and strat have single coils. Suits my taste of music just fine, and I don't use any effects, the boost being plenty good enough for me. You can go from a very nice clean sound to a great crunch just by using the gain control and if you want metal turn the gain all the way up and hit the boost. It'll do whatever you need it to do. Clean channel stays clean even at high volumes. If you want crunch, just turn the gain up a little. I would not call the distortion brutal, but I'd call it "just right".

Reliability: 10
Been abusing it for 4 years now and it still sounds just as good as the day I bought it. It has never broken down.

Customer Support: 10
Never dealt with the VOX company, but I've used the same music store for 30 years and they are great. The rating is for them.

Overall Rating: 10
I've been playing for 30 years. I have what I mentioned above, as well as a bunch of acoustic guitars, mostly I use Takamine Acoustic Electrics and Martin Acoustics. I'd get another one if I lost it or it got stolen. I love everything about it. I compared it to the Fender Frontman 15R, the Marshall MG15R, the Crate 15 watter and the Ibanez 15 TBR and no contest. I love the VOX sound.

Submitted by Anonymous at 01/14/2005 00:42

Price Paid: US $119.99

Features: 10
Since I bought this amp in 2004, I assume it was made in or around 2004. It's a 1x12 combo with one Celestion Blue speaker, volume and gain knobs, gain boot switch, bass, middle, and treble controls and two knobs for the built in trem. It also has a knob for the reverb.I use this amp for recording, and at 15 watts, it's PLENTY loud....15 watts of Vox is louder than 10 watts of a lot of other amps. I play mostly in the style of Blur/Suede/Beatles with some Zeppelin/Who/Cream/Hendrix thrown in, and this amp can handle it all with the right twiddling of knobs on it, the pedals, and the guitar. Simple to use and great sounding. The built in trem is weak, but I have a tremolo pedal so I don't even use it. With the gain boost switch, you can get some NASTY tones out of this. There is an accompanying footswitch for this amp that isn't included. I use this amp for recording, so I don't really need it.

Sound Quality: 10
My main axe right now is an Epiphone 335 Dot with Bigsby and a board full of pedals (Vox Wah, MXR Stereo Chorus, Ibanez TS-9, Dunlop Uni-Vibe, Dunlop TS-1, MXR Blue Box, MXR Dyna-Comp, Danelectro Dan-Echo). My musical style has lately been leaning more towards textured songwriting, like the Beatles, Blur, and Suede. This amp fits that style perfectly. I haven't found the amp to be noisy at all, although I don't push it to its limits since I am using it for recording. As I said before, the built in gain boost, coupled with my Tube Screamer, can give me paint-peeling distortion, and the clean channel is ok, although as a technique thing, I always turn down the volume of a pickup with my distortion pedal on to get a meatier clean sound.

Reliability: 10
So far, it's been a tank. No problem whatsoever. I am using this for recording, but if I ever did play a gig with it, I wouldn't be worried. This is a well-made little amp. It's solid state so I don't have to worry about tubes, although it gives tones close to (but not quite) the AC30.

Customer Support: N/A
N/A

Overall Rating: 10
I've been playing guitar for 15 years and this is the best little practice/recording amp I've owned. I've owned Marshall ValveState amps, a Marshall 1962 reissue combo (which I *NEVER* should have gotten rid of) as well as a bunch of axes. This is a great amp for what it is (as good at what it does as it's big brother, the awesome AC30).

Submitted by The_Insatiable_One at 01/07/2005 10:05

Price Paid: US $119.00

Features: 10
Had this amp for two years now, so I guess it was made in 2002. Very versatile amp, everything from pristine clean to hard rock distortion and all the in betweens. All the features have been covered quite well, so no use in going into all that. I purchased the footswitch with mine, so that is great for switching from clean to dirty. I use this amp in my living room for practice only. I used to gig years ago, but just play for enjoyment now. It has more than enough power, in fact this little thing is LOUD...truly loud enough for a small gig and doesn't lose sound integrity with the volume cranked. It's solid state, but it sounds like a tube amp, a lot like the old VOX AC15's or the small version of an AC30. Controls are simple and I'm not troubled at all by only a gain, volume, treble, bass, tremelo and reverb knob. You can get any sound you want from this and the reverb is excellent. It outshines any practice amp in its price range and in my opinion, even those practice amps that cost a hundred bucks more. You can't even compare the 15 watt Marshalls, Fenders, Crates and Peaveys to this.

Sound Quality: 10
I have only two electric guitars, a made in Japan Fender Telecaster, that has the vintage noiseless pickups (which for the tele are stacked humbuckers) and a made in Mexico Fender Stratocaster which I have upgraded the pickups to Texas Specials. My music taste is mostly late 60's and early 70's rock, both classic rock like beatles and stones to hard rock and psychadelia like Hendrix, Cream, Zeppelin and Sabbath. This amp can do it all. It is NOT noisy at all and if you want to really increase the capabilities a good pedal such as a ZOOM 606 will expand your horizons incredibly, but personally, I like the amp just as is. Clean channel will not distort at high volumes unless you turn up the gain, which gives it a very nice crunch. You don't need the boost for crunch and moderate distortion, just crank the gain, so for most rock, all you need is the gain cranking. For hard rock, things like Zeppelin and Sabbath, cranking the gain all the way up and pushing the boost button will get you there. Distortion can be semi brutal, which is what you want for hard rock, but it is not a "thrash metal" distortion.

Reliability: 10
Been using it for two years now and it is as good as the day I bought it. It has never broken down. I don't gig anymore, but I used to and never gigged without a backup of some kind - ever.

Customer Support: N/A
Never dealt with VOX

Overall Rating: 10
I've been playing since the 60's. I have the guitars I mentioned above and several Epiphone and Takamine Acoustic Guitars. If it were stolen or lost, I would get another one. I love everything about it and there is nothing I hate about it. I compared this to the Fender Frontmans, Crate 15 watters, Marshall MG15RCD, Peavey Bandit 158 and several other 15 watt practice amp and this one won for me hands down, both because it is simple, and because is sounds GREAT!!!!

Submitted by Robby at 12/14/2004 12:20

Price Paid: US $120

Features: 9
Bought it new about 2 months ago........made in 2004. All the features have pretty much been described by many reviews here. Would have been cool if the Reverb was footswitchable on and off but no big deal. Having the Tremolo is very cool......it's part of what sold me on this amp.......as well as the reviews here.

Sound Quality: 9
I'm currently using this amp for practice in my studio at home and for recording. Damn if this thing doesn't sound like a tube amp !! Playing my Les Paul thru this thing with my Boss SD-1 Super OD just sounds killer !! I play lots of stuff from clean sounds to Distorted stylistically: Led Zeppelin, Floyd, The Doors, Rainbow, Uriah Heep, Hendrix, The Who, Whitesnake, etc. This amp definitely suits my style of playing.....this has got to be the one of the best small format Combo Amps ever !! My Tele sounds fantastic thru this thing as well !! I'll probably be using this as my backup amp until I can afford another Marshall Head. I plugged it into my Vintage Re-Issue Marshall Cabinet (w/greenback 25's) via the Speaker Out.......sounded quite good. Almost loud enough to jam with Drummer........amazing for 15 watts !!

I really don't use the Boost channel though......sounds a little to Solid State. I just crank the gain and level on the normal channel and it sounds like a moderately broken up Tube Amp from the 60's or 70's. Then just add a Tube Screamer or OD Pedal and you have a Kickin' Hard Rock tone !!

I currently have 4 electric guitars: Les Paul Standard (1987 Tobacco Burst), 50's Tele Re-issue, 60's Strat Re-issue (Japanese), and a Custom Warmoth Strat w/Floyd Rose and Humbucker). I mainly play through a Marshall JCM 800 Model 2210 100 watt channel switching head into a Marshall vintage re-issue cabinet. I also have a 1962 Supro 1-12 Combo Amp with 2 channels and Tremolo.

Reliability: 8
So far, so good. Not much can probably go wrong with the amp since it's Solid State.

Customer Support: N/A
Haven't had to call them for anything

Overall Rating: 9
Have been playing for 20 years. I've been a Semi-Professional musician for most of that time. I currently have 4 electric guitars: Les Paul Standard (1987 Tobacco Burst), 50's Tele Re-issue, 60's Strat Re-issue (Japanese), and a Custom Warmoth Strat w/Floyd Rose and Humbucker). I mainly play through a Marshall JCM 800 Model 2210 100 watt channel switching head into a Marshall vintage re-issue cabinet. I also have a 1962 Supro 1-12 Combo Amp with 2 channels and Tremolo.

I would definitely buy this amp again if something were to happen to it. Even though it's solid state, it has that Vox Tone that sounds like tubes. Definitely a welcome addition to my arsenal. It sounds different than my Supro.......it sounds like a Vox !!

Submitted by John Lyell at 12/07/2004 12:26

Price Paid: US $119.00

Features: 10
I don't know when mine was made, but I assume 2003 because they haven't been making this amp in China for that long. All the features have been covered so no need to be redundant. I want to say that only having a treble and bass control does not limit the versatility of this little beauty at all. It fuckin rocks and it is extremely loud for a 15 watt solid state amp with an 18 inch speaker and will drive a 4x12 cab with ease. It is versatile enough for any style of music and for $119.00, I truly believe it is the best solid state practice amp out there. Excellent amp in every way.

Sound Quality: 10
Well, since a bad divorce in the mid 1990's that cleaned my clock, I don't have nearly as many guitars as I once did. I have a very old, Yamaha Studio Pro, made in 1972, which is one of the original lawsuit Les Paul Copies, which is awesome. When I got my divorce and had to get rid of my Gibson Les Paul or this one, I kept the Yamaha because it played and sounded better than the real thing. It has two humbuckers. Since that was all I was left with, I have been collecting cheaper guitars. I have a Squier Standard Stratocaster with three single coils, which have been upgraded to Texas Specials. I have an SX SST 57 Stratocaster clone, which sounds exactly like my old Fender 57 Stratocaster, and it is stock, with 3 single coils. I also have a Squier Affinity Telecaster, which has been modified to string through body and the pickups have been replaced with Vintage Noiseless Pickups, which are stacked humbuckers. Finally, I have a Washburn X-21 Pro, which I just purchased not so long ago and it has a humbucker at the bridge and two single coils. All of these guitars are fine for my music tastes, each one adding something to my arsenal. The amp suits my music styles very well, which varies. I am a child of the sixties, so I love the old Beatles stuff, Rolling Stones, Hendrix, Zeppelin, Cream, Sabbath and also like 70's and 80's classic rock. I love blues and blues rock as well as rockabilly, country, folk and electric folk. I also have heavy metal moods, as well as punk and grunge moods. This amp handles all of them extremely well except heavy metal. This isn't the amp for you if you are a heavy metal freak, however with a good pedal you can get the type of distortion you would need for heavy metal. I have other amps that satisfy my heavy metal urges. It is a fairly quiet amp, makes a little noise on my single coil guitars, but at the same time, I think this amp really shines on single coils. The distortion isn't brutal but more like an excellent crunch which is exactly what I want it to be. The clean channel does distort at higher volumes but then again, it's supposed to. For the bucks and size, and being a solid state cheap amp, I just don't think you can find a better practice amp, for the bucks.

Reliability: 10
Seems to be built tough as a tank. I've had a lot of VOX amps over the years and never had a problem with them. This amp is LOUD and I believe it could easily be gigged with, but I still use it as a practice amp at home and gig with my Peavey Studio Pro. I do take it along as a backup and warm up amp though, and like I said, I believe it is loud enough to gig with, especially in a smaller nightclub environment.

Customer Support: 10
VOX has always been good to me. Always answered my emails promptly and always corresponded with me promptly by phone or mail back in the days before computers.

Overall Rating: 10
Been playing all my life basically, 50 years. I have what I mentioned above and several Epiphone Acoustic Guitars. I also have a VOX AD15VT Valvetronix Amp which is friggin awesome as well as one of those little Squier SP10 amps which is an ok travel amp. I keep the AD15VT in the living room, this Pathfinder 15R in the Bedroom and take the Squier SP10 when I have to travel (non music related). I would get another one if it were lost or stolen. Great amp all the way around.

Submitted by Anonymous at 12/03/2004 23:18

Price Paid: US $119

Features: 7
Everything has been covered about this thus far. If you are looking for distortion, this amp isn't the one for you. However, if you've got some pedals, I'm sure it would do just great.

Also, I've found that I get a bit of rattle, even at low volumes. I imagine it's even louder when turned up. Not a big deal now, but might be annoying at higher volumes. Someone might want to comment on this.

Sound Quality: 10
I've got a lefty Music Man Silhouette Special and a bunch of effects: Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive, MXR Phase 90, Tube Screamer, Danelectro Delay, Ibanez Chorus and a Vox Wah.

I've only had this amp for a few days. I have a Tech 21 Trademark 10 that's not sounding too hot right now. I'm going to have to ship it out to get repaired. I didn't want to have to wait a month to get it back so I went out and got this Vox amp for $119. I don't regret it.

What a fantastic clean sound! The amp appears to be very bright, so I chill out with the Treble. It's also pretty darn loud! I probably should have gotten the Pathfinder 10 as I'm living in a one bedroom apartment in New York City! So I can't really rock out too much with this amp. However, if I was going out to play, this amp would be great. For my purposes now, practicing the guitar in my apartment, this amp is perfect. I can't believe it's so cheap. Definitely a must buy for someone just starting on the guitar. If only I had had an amp this good when I started playing, I would have stuck with the electric guitar. I hated amps so much that I just played acoustic!

I haven't had this amp long, so I don't know what it sounds like cranked with a Tubescreamer hooked up, but I'm dying to know! Certainly a very bright, glassy, sparkly clean tone that is to die for. Definitely a no brainer. Another good amp in this category is the Trademark 10 by Tech 21. I get some good sounds out of that one too, and the eq controls are better and more sensitive. One thing about the Bass and Treble controls on this amp is that there isn't much difference between 9:00 and 11:00. Same goes for the Gain knob. The Boost....I don't know...doesn't seem to be all that useful. Better to stick a nice pedal in front of the amp and rock it out than to use the Boost.

No FX Loop...too bad. My Trademark 10 has one and I like it for Delay, Chorus, and Phaser effects. No biggie though. This amp is still awesome and a tremendous value. This is my first HC review and I decided to write just cause all the reviews on this site helped me to get my butt down to Guitar Center and pick one up!

Reliability: N/A
N/A

Customer Support: N/A
N/A

Overall Rating: 10
I'm not sure yet whether I like this better than the Trademark 10. Honestly, I don't have much experience with amps, but when I first played through this thing clean I knew it sounded great. It also looks cool.

Submitted by Chris at 11/28/2004 21:42

Price Paid: US $120

Features: 9
I purchased this amp new in 2004. This amp is quite versatile in its range of sounds. I like to play many styles of music, the clean with tremolo gives a good, classic jazz guitar sound, but can really rock when the boost is kicked on. The optional vfs-2 footswitch switches both boost on/off, and tremolo on/off. without the footswitch you can only turn the trem. on or off by turning up or down the depth knob. has a headphone jack, line out for direct recording, and an extension speaker jack. I play in a small bedroom, and this thing has more than enough power for any basement or garage. solid state, but a very warm sound, and real spring reverb. there is no good reason not to buy the model with reverb, unless you do not like reverb.

Sound Quality: 10
I have a squier cyclone, and play everything from dropped-d doom riffs to sparkly jazz improvisation. slightly noisier with single coil activated, with just the bridge humbucker, it is quiet. It has quite a bit of crunch in boost, and if you add an external pedal, you can get some wild distortion and controllable feedback.

Reliability: 9
Have not owned it long,but the construction is very solid.

Customer Support: 9
Bought this amp as a floor model, so it did not have the manual, but I downloaded one for free from the vox website, nothat you need a manual, this amp is simple to use, well labeled, but a helpful website, with many replacement parts available.

Overall Rating: 10
I have been playing for a few years, and it is pretty much for fun, I play alone, and do not gig. I wanted an inexspensive amp, and if you like tube sound, thick reverb, and the added pulse of tremolo, you can not beat this amp. I am speaking to those looking for entry level gear, and not a lot of money- you will probably not do better.

Submitted by Anonymous at 11/26/2004 07:48

Price Paid: 150 (euro)

Features: 9
featuring gain volume 2band eq tremelo (depth and speed) and verb
speaker out and headphone out muting the 8" buldogspeaker, line out not muting the speaker

Sound Quality: 10
I recently got the fender lite ash strat and previously played a squiertele. Normally I play a 100watts peavey who's clean channel is good to rock with some (all dan electro) pedals. This one has a lot of possibilities that are usable. The peavey's "leadchannel" is useless p.e.
Since out drummer plays funky without having to go over 120db the 15watts transistors are enough to fill the 4x4 meter rehearsal space. I like it with a bit of belly
The clean sound is really clean and humless, if you turn up the gain and press the boostswitch you get a range of crunchy sounds which are rich compared to my previous vacuumcleaner-sounding 100watts.

Reliability: 9
For a gig I'd probably root the speaker-out to something. Have to trie things.
It looks well and solid built

Customer Support: N/A
na

Overall Rating: 10
Paid more and waited weeks for it, but in all this part of the country it was the fastest way to get it. It will probably suit me for a while allthough it is so small. The fun thing is I can go rehearsing b bus again if i want to

Submitted by PT at 11/12/2004 15:02

Price Paid: US $95.00 used

Features: 10
Mine was made around 2000, had it for 4 years and I have to concur with most of the reviewers here. This is the best fucking practice amp money can buy. So what - it don't have a middle control, it is still VERY versatile and you can play anything from country to hard rock with it as it stands, with the footswitch you can buy for it (well worth the $30.00), or you can hook an effects pedal up to it and get AWESOME distortion. This amp is fucking incredible. It is loud enough to do "small" gigs with. For example, my wife plays the keyboards, and sometimes during the bands break, her and I will do some of the stuff we write, and I will use this little VOX. If you like the classic rock, rockabilly, blues or country, then this amp is awesome. Not a heavy metal amp but a good effects pedal will handle that. Reverb and tremelo are great.

Sound Quality: 10
I have a Fender made in Mexico Standard Telecaster and a Fender also made in Mexico Nashville Power Tele. This amp suits my style very well, which is usually a blues rock/classic rock sound. You can get great Hendrix and Zeppelin tones from this amp and also Stones, Beatles and of course Clapton and Dire Straits. For country, the clean channel is beautiful and twangy. Gets a great Queen sound too. Not noisy at all. Clean channel will distort into a very nice crunch at higher volumes, but isn't that what it's supposed to do? With an effects pedal the distortion is brutal, especially with a ZOOM 606. I don't like that kind of music though, I personally like the boost channel on this amp, which is more like Zeppelin, Hendrix or Townsend. I tell ya folks, if you are into 60's and 70's classic rock (not fucking pop) then this amp is unbeatable. By the way, I tried one of those new Valvetronix AD15's against this Pathfinder. The Valvetronix sucks in comparison. The Pathfinder sounds more like a tube amp than it the valvetronix does.

Reliability: 10
Tough as hell. It's been dropped, kicked, rolled down the stairs and even fell out of the back of my pickup truck (going slow of course) and other than some nicks and scratches - no change in tone at all. It has never broken down.

Customer Support: 10
Never dealt with the company, and I bought this in a Pawn Shop. The lady at the Pawn Shop was nice though so I will give them a 10 too.

Overall Rating: 10
Been playing long as I can remember. Have a few acoustics other than what is mentioned above. I love this amp and would definitely get another one, but I ain't gonna lose it or let anyone steal it. Well, I also have a Fender Frontman 25R, a Peavey Envoy, a Marshall MG15RCD and at the practice level this amp blows them all away. I gig with a VOX AC 30 (which I don't own, but is provided at the club we gig at).

Submitted by Karl at 11/10/2004 22:02

Price Paid: US $119.00

Features: N/A
I think mine was probably made in 2002 or 2003. The amp is very versatile in many respects. It is good the British Crunchy sounding overdrive as you would get from the Rolling Stones or an American Crunch sound like you would get from someone like Steve Earle, as well as Classic Rock, Beatles, Rockabilly and awesome for country music. It is NOT good for heavy metal. My music style varies. I write my own stuff which would be more oriented towards electric folk or country music with heavier distortion which is what I guess they call alternative country these days. I also play a lot of classic rock, blues, rockabilly, hard rock and have my metal moods. This amp does very well on all these styles of music except heavy metal. The Marshall is much better for heavy metal or hard rock in my opinion. I bought this amp to go along with my Marshall MG15RCD, which between the two gives me every sound I wish to make. Since this does not have a separate volume control for the overdrive and clean channels, I am going to assume it is single channel. It has a push button "boost" switch, which really gives you that old British Invasion Crunch, much like early Stones. It only has treble and bass controls but that doesn't trouble me one bit. It has an awesome tremelo as well as reverb. It does have a headphone jack but I don't believe it is footswitchable. It has all the features I need for practicing at home, I guess my only wish is that I could find an amp that would give me everytype of sound I want without having to use an effects pedal. I use this amp strictly for home practice as I do have a Marshall AVT 100 and a VOX AC30 for gigs. It has MORE than enough power for home practice, this mother fucker is loud, and it would definitely work in a gig situation because it is MUCH louder than the Marshall MG15 and doesn't lose it's sound integrity. Be warned it is indeed loud enough to get your neighbors calling the cops and that's the voice of experience speaking. It is solid state, but it sounds like a tube amp. I will rate the amp for what it is intended to be which in my opinion is a 10, but don't compare that to a VOX AC30.

Sound Quality: 10
I have four guitars. I have a Yamaha Studio Pro, which is a Les Paul Copy which was so good, I got rid of my Gibson Les Paul and kept the Yamaha. I have a Squier Standard Strat, that has been souped up a bit with Texas Special Pickups and since that change is a kick ass mother fucker. I also have an SX SST 57, which is a strat style guitar based off the Fender 57 Strat, which in my opinion sounds as good as the real thing at a fraction of the price. I also have a no name, Rockstar Telecaster copy, which has been altered to string through body and I replaced the single coil at the neck with a Duncan Destroyer Humbucker and it is also kick ass now (it sucked when I bought it, but it only costed me 50 bucks). I use this VOX amp when I have my classic rock, beatles, stones, yardbirds, rockabilly and pure country moods, which are frequent. I have had VOX Amps for 40 years and they are all very quiet, haven't seen an exception. The clean channel is very clean and you can set it for bright and twangy for country or warm for soft rock type stuff. Turn the gain up without the boost switch and you get a very nice "crunch" similar to the Stones, Steve Earle and Springsteen. It has a very good variety of sounds, unless in my opinion you are trying to get that heavy metal sound. You can get it on this amp, but you will need a pedal for it. Sometimes a pedal is a hassle though and personally I like the boost sound distortion of this amp, reminds me of the old "Who" stuff. For metal, if that is solely what you are into, go for the Marshall. The clean channel does NOT distort, even at full volume unless you crank the gain up. The distortion is Vintage distortion. Cream, Hendrix, even Zeppelin stuff you can do fine with it. Don't expect Metallica, Iron Maiden or Sabbath from this amp. Great amp for Queen, Brian May stuff, especially on a strat or telecaster. This is an awesome little fucking amp and the sound is pure classic VOX. I can't really tell the difference between it and my AC30 except of course for volume.

Reliability: 10
It is built like a tank. Have had many VOX amps and never had one break down on me. It isn't what I use to gig with but for practice, this amp will suit most everyone's needs. Nothing to change, burn out or break as it is solid state. I've played the shit out of this for over six months and it still kicks ass and it has been knocked about a bit too.

Customer Support: 10
Never had to deal with VOX. I bought the amp from music 123 and have dealt with them for several years, and they aim to please.

Overall Rating: 10
I've been playing for 40 years. I have the gear I mentioned above, plus a bunch of acoustics and acoustic electrics. I would get another one if it were lost or stolen, but that ain't likely. I ain't gonna lose it, and I have two rotweillers that love to eat people. I compared this to all the other amps in it's price range. Crates, Fenders and Peavey's are no match for it in a 15 watter. The Marshall MG15RCD is equal. I chose this one because between it and the Marshall I can get any sound I want.

Submitted by James at 10/25/2004 19:16

Price Paid: NZ$305 (New Zealand (Approx US$129))

Features: 9
Look at the website for these details or above at the other reviews for the specs. Personally I think you get a lot on this amp for the low $$$ laid out. I bought amps costing three times as much that don't have the tremelo...sure they may have a middle eq knob, but I can tell you which I'd rather have!!

Also, the thing looks fantastic, nice and old school!! She's got character.

Sound Quality: 10
WHAT?
I'm using and Epi Les Paul with Seymour Duncan pickups jazz at front / medium gain bridge pickups. And the Vox Pathfinder 15r of course. I play soft rock / ballad stuff / bluesy stuff.

WHY?
I've previously had a Marshall AVT150, a Fender Stage 112 and a small peavy 'Rage'. A few years ago I ditched all my amp gear as I wasn't using it and bought a dirt bike instead. Jee wilikers, those things are fun. Anyhoo - got tired of not being able to jam my epi in the bedroom, so thought about getting a small amp, and figured I could just mic it up if I go on stage.
I purchased the Vox based soley on the reviews on this website and........I'm NOT dissapointed! YES, this is a really nice sound...read on....

SOUND - CLEAN
At first, you plug in and think "It's not bad at all", then, you fiddle with some knobs, and you think "It's actually a little bit vintage sounding or something - I really quite like this..", then, you play some more, fiddle around a bit more with the settings, and by the end of half an hour, you can't believe the mint clean tone that's clean when you want it to be, breaking up perfectly when you want it to, all coming from this ridiculously cheap amp!! And the tremelo - heaven I tell you! Believe the reviews, the clean is really impressive for an amp this size. And....it just get's better the louder you go!! I love it! In fact, I think I prefer the clean to my AVT150 I had. More vintage sounding, more character. You'll need to play with the settings depending on your guitar, but spend the time, it's worth it.

SOUND - OVERDRIVE
Haven't played a huge amount yet on OD but can vouch for the fact that it's a nice overdrive sound, but isn't hardcore. PRETTY darn good though given the speaker size, again more vintage rock sound, I've heard others say it's got a hendrix / queen sound and I'd agree. It's not a tube marshall though, so if you're into that big grunty tone, might not be the one for you (although haven't tried plugging into a cab as other have suggested). Overall quite acceptable though.

VOLUME
This thing is LOUD. It will mic up well and act as a stage monitor perfectly. Why spend more $$ on a bigger amp that a hassle to lug around??

Reliability: N/A
No probs yet. Haven't had it long!

Customer Support: N/A
Haven't had a problem so no need to call them!

Overall Rating: 10
I've been playing around 10 years. Dig this little amp, would highly recommend it to others as a great practice or even small gig amp.

It's rare I feel like I've got a bargain, with this I feel I have! It's just too good sounding for the $$. VERYY HAPPY CUSTOMER HERE.

Submitted by Anonymous at 10/11/2004 21:11

Price Paid: US $1219

Features: 10
I bought this new after trying out a used Pathfinder Mini-stack in a loacl music store. The tremelo and reverb features are what made me want to try out the amp. The sound of this little solid state amp rivals the classic tube amps. Trust me. I know.

Sound Quality: 10
I'm plugging a stock Stratocaster in to the Pathfinder and setting the Volume knob all the way up then using the Gain to adjust the output. It starts out clean and by the time you've turned it up 3/4's of the way it sounds ridiculously amazing. I'm not using the Boost function. I use an old double footswitch (from a Fender Deluxe Reverb)
to control the Tremelo on/off. I can plug this into an extension cab, but the little Vox speaker sounds pretty good. The Tremelo and Reverb sound great for such a little amp, but surfers will not catch the big one on this little dude.

Reliability: N/A
An amp this good must have an application outside the home somewhere, but I am using this for making recordings.

Customer Support: N/A
I registered the warranty after I bought it.

Overall Rating: 10
I'm an old timer and over the years have owned and used the classic amps that young guys slobber over. I currently have a Fender Pro Reverb, a Deluxe Reverb and a Princeton. In my opinion this Vox Pathfinder 15R sounds as good as any old Deluxe Reverb just not as loud. I would never have believed that a solid state amp could sound this good.

Submitted by Hank at 10/11/2004 08:24

Price Paid: US $119.00

Features: 9
Amply covered previously (no pun intended there!)

Sound Quality: 10
I use a stock Strat made in 1972. I play with a rock/jazz group which does primarily small-club venues. I agree that the gain "boost" switch kicks in a sound that's a little harsh for my purposes, and I don't use it. I get a nice sound, however, by blending the Volume knob with the primary Gain knob, which gives me a nice tube-like tone. I'm running the external speaker jack out to an old Vox Cambridge cabinet which one of my band-mates is loaning me. The "combo" amplifier portion of the Cambridge has been removed, leaving only this nice 2 x 10" lightweight cabinet, and my buddy has wired an input jack into the speakers (Celestions). It seems very compatible with the Pathfinder. I also use a Digitech RP-50 processor, into which I have programmed three main settings: clean; mild distortion; and heavy distortion.

Reliability: 10
I'm playing about two or three gigs per month, and it has worked consistently well.

Customer Support: N/A
Haven't needed it yet.

Overall Rating: 10
This review further supplements a couple of earlier reviews I had done on the Pathfinder. Primary purpose of this review is to re-emphasize that, at least with the particular setup I've applied to it, this is one awesome little amp. Just played in a crowded small club over the weekend, and it's amazing how relatively little I have to turn up the Volume and Gain knobs (Volume at high noon, gain at 10 o'clock). I'm definitely NOT stressing the amp out at all! It is really getting the job done for me. I can see where that might not be the case if I was using the amp without the extension cabinet, but when you plug it into the extension-- WOW !! It really pushes it nicely!

Submitted by Bill Sheehan at 10/04/2004 09:46

Price Paid: US $120

Features: 8
Reverb is "okay" but for the price it's very good. Don't use the gain button. It's way too harsh and brittle sounding. If you need a lot of distortion get a good pedal (Tube Screamer, etc.)

Sound Quality: 10
I've used this to rehearse with my band for the last 6 months using a Marshall 2X12 cab extension. We play classic rock, blues, and some newer stuff. This amp is unbelievable. I have a Mesa Maverick that I use for gigs but I would not hesitate to use this with an extension cabinet for small rooms. It is simply stunning. Put a few pedals on it and it can do almost anything (Well, not metal but then you should be using a Line6 anyway). What a bargain! If you can't afford a Mesa or Fender tube you cannot go wrong. Get this amp, a used 2X12 and you will be amazed.

Reliability: 9
6 months of getting beat up at our rehearsal space and not one hiccup. It's a little tank.

Customer Support: N/A
Dunno.

Overall Rating: 9
I've played just about every amp under $2000. Obviously, this won't replace your Twin or Matchless but for around $100 it is amazing. Again, hook it up with a decent extension (I prefer a 2X12) and it will humble your drummer - I don't care HOW loud he is. I'd also recommend a good distortion pedal as the gain button is pretty harsh. I have not played any amp under $800 - $1000 that could compare to this one with my Marshall cab ($250/used) and Tube Screamer ($50/used). For $400 the total package compares close to my $1600 Mesa. And it weighs less than my ES335 and fits on the front seat of my car!! Now THAT's a bargain.

Submitted by Mike in Downingtown at 10/03/2004 19:05

Price Paid: US $120.00

Features: 6
Pathfinder has reverb, tremolo, gain knob and gain boost button.
The reverb works really well I will add. Enough power for a small room I suppose. Looks are a major plus. SOund is a major let down.

Sound Quality: 2
Sounds like a blown out 4" Hyundai car speaker at high gain settings. Using this thing with a Telecaster custom with Humbuckers. Sounds is loud but does not sound anything like a tube amp or a VOX. The distorted channel is weak. It sounds like someone screaming in a 5"x5" cardboard box. I bought it thinking I could record with it. WRONG. It is Ok for standard practice. Don't think you will get decent sound out of 15watts with an open back design. I learned my lesson. If you want to record or play at decent volume without the "cardboard box" syndrome, I say buy a tube amp or an AVT Marshall. In my opinion the smallest thing you should consider is 30 watts of tube power. Turn the gain up and distort at any volume;loud or soft. Everyone says 10 watts or 15 watts for bedroom and recording. No way. As long as the amp has a gain control or get a distortion pedal. These amps under $200.00 just don't sound like power at all. They sound like blown out 4" Hyundai car speakers.

Reliability: 7
Never broke on me.

Customer Support: N/A
Never dealt with VOX

Overall Rating: 4
It looks cool. It doesn't sound that impressive to me though. I would suggest a tube amp or a tube preamp solid state amp. You won't regret it. Unfortunately VOX doesn't make an affordable tube amp without a lot of cheesy digital modeling so I using Marshall now.

Submitted by Fred Riley at 09/30/2004 19:53

Price Paid: US $120

Features: 10
Very sharp and retro looking little amp. Looks like it should have some tubes in it. Very light, but it doesn't vibrate at high volume. The reverb is very good. The tremelo is a bonus. 8in. speaker sounds great. All the controls you need on top of the amp. The inputs on the back of the amp hang upside down, which seems to defy gravity. Haven't used any of them yet.

Sound Quality: 8
This is definitely a British-voiced amp, which is something new for me since I've always used Fenders. However, I grew up on British invasion before I became a Blues freak. This little wonder emulates that Voxy chime and Hiwatt crunch, and reasonably replicates the tones of the Beatles, the Kinks, the Stones and even early Pink Floyd. Tweak the gain and jam out on "Ticket To Ride", "You Really Got Me", "Stray Cat Blues" or "Astronomy Domine". It's fun, it's retro & it's cool! Mind you, this amp replicates these sounds. There's no way it sounds just as good as those $3000 amps for $120, but it's fun & it's satisfying. Push in the boost switch and turn up the gain for some sludgy Marshallesqe ACDC & semi- Sabbath sounds. The 15 R does Vox better than Marshall sounds, but I can't stand ACDC & Black Sabbath anyway. As I stated, I'm primarily a blues-rock fan for the last 30 years or so, used to Fender amps. This is where this amp seemed to be lacking initially. I use a home-made strat with Lace Sensor golds and a Lace Chromedome bridge pickup, and a Squire Fat Strat with a DiMarzio "Humbucker from Hell" in the bridge. I use the Fat Strat for more crunchy sounds, and I must say that the "Humbucker from Hell" sounds gorgeous through this amp clean. I can't beleive how rich & chimey it sounds. When I first got this amp, I was really digging all the clean & semi-crunchy tones, but it didn't sound very Fendery & I couldn't get sustaining bluesy leads out of it. So, I ran my Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive into it & 'Wow!" it turned into a warm singing blues machine. It made my heart melt. With the Sparkle Drive it sounds somewhat Fenderish. It doesn't nail some of the classic Fender tones exactly, but it sounds better in some ways. Warm, buttery & very bluesy. I jam the Blues with great satisfation on the 15 R & Sparkle Drive combo. I can't stop sometimes. Of course a Sparkle Drive costs as much as the amp but other TS-9 type pedals would probably do the trick. Ican't wait to get my hands on a good fuzz pedal to fully utlize the aformentioned '60s sounds of this beautiful little beast. This amp can get very, very loud for it's size & the 8 in. speaker handles the volume quite well. It also sounds great at whisper quiet volume late at night, which makes me happy. It is a practice amp & it shouldn't be volume dependent like so many of those noisy Fender solid states. The speaker sounds amazingly good & I believe it' a big factor in the sound of this killer amp. The reverb is also great for the price. In conclusion, I believe the 15 R sounds great for chording - clean & semi-crunchy - but lacks the sustain on it's own for solos. However, when you use your favorite stomp box, it sounds brilliant. It doesn't sound as good as a tube amp but it sounds much better than all other solid state amps at & above this price range. Very warm & very tone ful.

Reliability: 10
It is very solid, runs quietly ands seems very reliable.

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 10
The Pathinder 15 R is an incredible bargain for the price! It looks great, sounds great, and suits my needs perfectly. Vox/Kork deserves accolades for the design & constuction of this amp. The best solid stae amp I had previous to this one was a Fender Sidekck 25 R (see my review at HC). It was great, but Fender quit making it & replaced it with crappy-sounding models. Let's hope Vox doesn't make the same mistake! I'm strictly an amatuer guitarist who jams out in my living room just for fun. I recently sold off my Fender Super 60 tube amp because it was too loud, too heavy & too volume-dependent for my purposes. It only sounded really sweet at high vlolume & lost it's tone if I turned it down real low. I got on HC and checked out the reviews, and I decided to try the Pathfinder. I miss the extra sustain & harmonics that those cooking tubes in the Super 60 could achieve but the Vox sounds good enough that I'm not depessed over it. This little Vox is the perfect practice amp & I wouldn't hesitate to take it to a jam session. At 18 lb.s, you can carry it anywhere. Some folks say they gig with it. If I had a band, I'd definitely get a Dr.Z Maz 38 to blow poeple away with superb tone. I've heard Buddy Whittington of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers playing through the Maz 38 live & it souns so fabulous, it almost makes you come! The Maz 38 is my dream amp but I'm about $1600 short on that one, so, for now, I'll stick with my Pathfinder 15 R. Much thanks to the other revierers here for leading me to this gem.

Submitted by Rick Devore at 09/18/2004 23:07

Price Paid: US $90.00 used

Features: 10
Have no idea what year mine was made in. Very versatile amp for any kind of music in my opinion. Don't need to go over all the details, everyone has already mentioned them. I agree with several of the reviewers. This is the best practice amp money can buy.

Sound Quality: 10
I am using an SX Vintage 57 Strat Copy, SX Vintage 62 Strat Copy (both as good as the real thing by the way), a Washburn X-21 and a Lumanog Rockstar Telecaster Copy which ain't bad either. I have my moods. Mostly I play kind of southern rock or blues, but have country and metal moods and this amp does it all. No noise at all. I do use sometimes a ZOOM 606 pedal through it as well as the footswitch you can get with it. I use the ZOOM mainly for chorus, jet or wah, and since I like the VOX distortion and tremelo, I use the footswitch you can get for it for that. Clean channel is clean, turn up the gain and you get a nice crunch. Distortion can be brutal through the ZOOM 606 if you want it that way, but I prefer the 60's style distortion, not heavy metal- except when the mood strikes me.

Reliability: 10
Had it for two years. Bought it used. It is still kickin ass.

Customer Support: N/A
Never dealt with them.

Overall Rating: 10
Been playing since the 60's. Have this amp, several guitars I mentioned above as well as a few acoustics, a Marshall MG15RCD, a Samick SS10 and a Marshall AVT50. This is the best amp of all them. I compared it with every amp of the size and price range. This one makes them all sound like shit.

Submitted by jim at 09/11/2004 21:53

Price Paid: US $199 with free cable and picks

Features: 10
This has been said. Boost, gain, volume, trem, reverb, bass, treble. Very simple, very versitile however. Want all mids like solo Clapton? Turn the treble and bass down. Want a scooped metal rhythm sound? Has that too. I use this for band jamming (it can take the drums).

Sound Quality: 9
I use a Epiphone Les Paul Junior Special (cheap, but awesome) and sometimes and anderson strat copy. I typically crank the bass and put the treble at 2/3 to 3/4. At about half volume and with the gain cranked, you get that AC-30 ROAR!!! This gets exceptional cleans as well (think "stairway to heaven"). I really think it sound best full volume, but then again, doesn't every worthwhile amp?

Reliability: 10
I would use this anywhere, any day, most gigs short of an arena (which i would break out an AC-30). I'm a Vox man, and this is no exception to their newfound quality, which is so much better than the 60s "fire hazards".

Customer Support: N/A
Never dealt with em, but met the guys at the 2003 summer NAMM show. They seemed to know what they're doing.

Overall Rating: 10
I have been playing for about 3 years. I own an SWR workingman's 15 bass amp (nice for bass) and a Fender Precision as well. I only use high quality gear, but I'm on a very tight budget. On every gig I've had for guitar, I use this amp. I know I could borrow my friends JCM800, but I use this one for clubs and sch. It's that good. If someone stole this, they would die a long, slow, painful death. get one....

Submitted by Anonymous at 09/11/2004 17:10

Price Paid: US $129.00

Features: 10
No sense in going through all that. It's been said 30 something times already. I totally agree with the last reviewer. This is the best practice amp I have ever heard. If you play classic or hard rock you don't need a mid eq control anyway. I usually keep both treble and bass maxed out. Just an adjustment for different tones. Actually a lot easier to deal with. Nothing sounds better than this amp and it will drive a cabinet quite well. Actually enough power in a 15 watter to gig with. This amp is fuckin awesome and it is LOUD and doesn't lose tone integrity with the volume.

Sound Quality: 10
I use strats and teles, all single coils. I don't use any effects, just the generic VOX footswitch that controls boost and tremelo. Suits my style of music just fine which is mostly classic rock or hard rock (not metal). If you are looking for a heavy metal amp, this would probably work if you had the right pedals. Best for 60's and 70's rock though. Not noisy at all, very good variety in sound, everything from country, to Queen's Brian May to Dire Straits, Hendrix and Zeppelin. Good blues amp too. Great for stones stuff. Clean channel will not distort at high volumes, it will crunch though - a cool crunch. The distortion is very good, though I would not call it brutal. Think Jimmy Page, Jimmy Hendrix, Cream type distortion.

Reliability: 10
Built like a fuckin tank.

Customer Support: 10
Never dealt with VOX but have been dealing with musicians friend for many years and they always stand behind their stuff.

Overall Rating: 10
Been playing 40 years, have to much gear to list and no one wants to read that shit anyway cause they don't care. I'd get another one if I lost it. They would have a problem getting past my two rotweillers to steal the mother fucker. Like the other guy said, you can forget Fender, Crate, Marshall, Peavey and all the other amps in this price range. This one blows them all away.

Submitted by Anonymous at 09/01/2004 17:18

Price Paid: US $119.00

Features: 10
Folks, you can stop looking. This is the amp you want. I had a Marshall MG15RCD, which was a damn good little amp, but there were just some sounds I couldn't get out of it, so I traded it on this VOX Pathfinder 15R. What an excellent trade. It costs a little less than the Marshall MG15RCD so I lost about 10 bucks on the deal, but this fucking thing should cost $100 more than the Marshall. They way I feel, I made out like a fat rat. The amp was probably made in 2003, and I know it was made in China because it has the same figures on the back that are on my set of chop sticks. It is an extremely versatile amp, whether you like country or hard rock and if you get one of those ZOOM 505II pedals, it will give you some awesome metal too. Personally, I like it with the footswitch I ordered with it, which is the VF S-2 Dual Footswitch. Basically all it does is give you the boost, or overdrive or the treble. This is a two channel amp, and I'll go over the top panel, the chicken beak knobs are cool as hell too. Top panel has the input jack, gain control knob, push button boost control, Master Volume Control, Treble, Bass, Tremelo speed, tremelo depth, reverb and power. Some people bitch about it not having a mid control, but you don't fuckin need one. It is simpler to get your sound with just a treble and bass control than with the 3 band eq. Believe me, this amp is plenty versatile with just two tone controls. Kind of the telecaster of amps. Simple but versatile. The rear panel has a headphone jack, extension speaker jack and yes bro, this thing will drive a 4 10 inch speaker cab, quite nicely. It may be rated at only 15 watts but this mother fucker is LOUD. Also has a line out jack for recording and of course the footswitch jack, which the footswitch you can buy for this is a sweet mo fo. It does not have the CD input, but I never met anyone who really uses that. Most awesome practice amp and small gig amp on the circuit.

Sound Quality: 10
I have three electric guitars and two electric acoustic guitars I use through this amp. My three electric guitars are a Fender Thinline Telecaster that has no F Hole, made in Japan in the early 80's, and has a humbucker at the bridge and a texas special strat style pickup at the neck. Cool fuckin guitar. My other Telecaster is a Fender Standard Telecaster, made in Mexico that I have put the Fender Vintage Noiseless Pickups on. My final electric guitar is GREAT!!! It is an SX SST57 Vintage Strat copy and if you are thinking about laughing now, I suggest you don't, because everyone out there will tell you that this fucking SX strat sounds more like a strat than a Fender and they are correct. The electric acoustics are cheap, a Fernandez and a Rockstar, both very nice acoustic electrics, much better than the Takamine acoustic electrics that I used to buy and get warped necks on all the time at half the price. I use them with the ZOOM 505II pedal which has an awesome acoustic effect. For the rest, I just use the VOX VF S-2 Dual Footswitch because I love the distortion on this amp and the tremelo. Reverb is great too....not too heavy, just what you need. When I solo gig, I play mostly acoustic rock, folk, electric folk, blues and a bunch of old stones and beatles stuff and this is perfect for it. With my band, we do balls to the wall, no nonsense rock and roll like AC/DC and Jackyl. It does great Queen stuff too. If I want to do the Hendrix, Black Sabbath, Creed or anything heavy like that, or if I need a LOT of reverb, then I use the ZOOM 505II, but most of the time the VOX footswitch will do, which I encourage getting because it really complements the amp. It is not noisy at all. Speaker is awesome, the amp can go from pristine clean and I do mean clean, glassy clean, to hard brutal distortion. The clean channel on mine does not distort at high volumes and unlike many practice amp, the clean channel on this amp is also fucking loud. In your house, about level 3 is all you can get without you neighbors (I live next to a cemetary) showing up. Distortion is brutal, but if you are really looking for that heavy metal or thrash metal sound, get the ZOOM Pedal and it will get you there. The amazing thing about this amp is how fucking LOUD it is and how it maintains sound integrity even at the high volumes, which you just don't see in practice amps of this size. Forget Marshall, Fender, Crate, Peavey, Ibanez, Behringer or any other 15 watt amp for practice....get this one and you will be glad you did. Sounds like a tube amp and if you like that Brian May/Queen sound, turn up the gain all the way and the treble all the way and you got it. One guy said the boost was too loud. Well, hate to be a smart ass but boost means "boost". It is supposed to get loud with the boost on it. Much louder.

Reliability: 10
Tough mother fucker. Dropped it several times and I have done gigs without a backup by miking it or using it connected to a cab. It has never broken down. It is solid state so there is nothing to break but sounds like a fuckin tube amp - for real. I will say that I normally use a Marshall AVT50 for gigs but have found myself using this one instead.

Customer Support: N/A
Never dealt with them.

Overall Rating: 10
I have been playing about 30 years and the only gear I own, I've mentioned above so I don't want to be redundant. Hell yes, I would get another one if it were stolen or lost. Love everything about it. Compared it to all the other 15 watters, they are shit compared to this.

Submitted by Homer at 08/27/2004 14:53

Price Paid: US $119.00

Features: 10
I was shopping around for a good, but inexpensive solid state practice amp. I own a duel rectifier head and 4x12 cab, but it's much too loud for my apartment and obviously better left in a rehearsal or gig situation. I tried this amp against several others in it's price range, it killed em. The features are unreal or the money, the reverb and tremelo, to me are extra perks, they sound great, and I would have paid the same price just for the amp and the gain sound. It came down to a Fender Frontman 15r and this amp. It wasn't even an issue after I heard the Vox. I'm so glad I spent the extra 20-40 bucks and got this amp that I'll be able to use for a ton of diff applications for a long time. Also, the headphone jack is a great little addition. An external speaker jack!!! awesome. A line out. Footswitchable. This amp should cost more, but I'm glad it didn't.

Sound Quality: 10
I've read a few reviews saying that the boost is a bit much. It is a little loud, but still it works well and is a nice feature. It doesn't seem noisy to me at all and I'm playing through strats and teles. Doin mostly clean stuff and like a classic vintage gain sound. Similar to ac/dc, old aerosmith, but the gain can get to a foo fighters-esque type of beefyness. It's a pleasure to play and I think it can handle a variety of styles. I put it to work in many diff styles which I play. It can even get that nice tubey jazz tone, or the shimmering beatles clean.

Reliability: 8
Havent had it long enough to see, but I did get an extra insurance plan for like 20 bucks. Who knows, it's a practice amp so the hardware could go down the line. For 20 bucks I got the piece of mind of not having to repair it and spend much more if a small thing goes. I'm not sure I would gig with this. I like it more as a comfy practice/recording amp. I wouldnt wanna bring it out onto that turf. I think I'd want more headroom in order to feel comfortable, 15 watts is pushing it to use at a rock gig. This would far well in small church gigs, gigs where your running it line would be cool if maybe you use an external speaker. I tend to like massive amps for the live situation.

Customer Support: 9
Never dealt. They seem to have a good sense of humor judging by their manuel. It's really informal, but informative. Talks to you like a player, instead of a number. Makes you feel like your in with a smaller tight knit comuunity

Overall Rating: 10
I'm so glad I plugged into this before I got the Frontman. If your a good player you can dial up a decent usable tone on any practice amp, but this honestly sounds more like a tube combo you'd record with or use live. I wanna mess with it through my 4x12 for fun and see what it's really capable of. I knew buying it that I'd wanna play it alot, where as I wasnt so sure that I'd really enjoy playing the Frontman after rocking out through a mesa and fender tube amps. This is the perfect practice setup, I'm gonna recommend it to any of my students who are looking for a great sounding low-cost amp that suits a house or apt perfectly. Great stuff vox.

Submitted by Jon at 08/04/2004 23:33

Price Paid: US $119.00

Features: 9
This review is intended to supplement my earlier review, in which I gave very high marks to the Pathfinder in the context in which I'd been using it-- in conjunction with an old Utah 12" speaker cabinet, strictly un-mic'd, not lined-out to the p.a.-- just standing on its own in small club venues. In that context it had served me extremely well. But this past weekend I had a chance to try it out in the context of an outdoor gig. On the outdoor stage, I used the Pathfinder and the 12" Utah cabinet just as I would in the "club" venues, with the controls set exactly the same as the indoor gigs (Gain: ten o'clock; Volume: high noon; bass, treble and reverb: all high noon). The sound guy, who was about twenty yards out in front of us with his big sound board under a little tent, simply mic'd my Utah cabinet with a Shure SM-57, and the result was that the great sound coming out of the old beat-up Utah cabinet was suddenly booming out of the big P.A. speakers. I really think it was better to do it this way than to use the "Line Out" jack straight in to the p.a. board, because the mic is picking up the specific tone produced by the peculiar and apparently compatible combination of amp and speaker cab. A buddy of mine, who is honest about these things, said it sounded "spectacular." So I think I've satisfied myself that this little Vox (at least when it's pushin' a separate cabinet with a bit larger speaker) will get the job done for you either indoors or outdoors. It's inexpensive; it's lightweight; I totally love mine!

Sound Quality: 10
See above.

Reliability: 10
So far so good!

Customer Support: N/A
N/A

Overall Rating: 10
Just to clarify, the band I'm using the Pathfinder with has guitar (that's me), bass, drums, keyboards, and female lead vocal with occasional backups by the keyboard guy and me. The Vox holds its own quite well amidst all this sonic activity!

Submitted by Bill Sheehan at 08/04/2004 13:10

Price Paid: US $110

Features: 9
This is a brand spankin' new 2003 or 2004 Vox Pathfinder15R. A beauty with 15 watts...make that 15 VOX watts, pumped through one 8 inch rich Bulldog speaker. Features include Gain, Volume, Treble, Bass, Tremelo Speed, Tremelo Depth, Reverb, Boost and power controls. Personally, I love all the features on this Vox, they suit my needs perfectly. Some complain about how there is no MidRange control but I don't miss it one bit on this amp...I never really used a lot of Mids anyway. One the back panel you have jacks for headphones (for silent practice), Ext Speaker Out, Line Output and Foot Switch. I have read rave reviews about hooking this Vox to a nice cabinet, however, I feel that it works wonders all by itself. If you are playing gigs, just hook this amp straight into the sound board using the Line Output jack and you should be golden. In some ways, I would like to see this beauty bumped up a notch, possibly to a 30watt with a 12 inch speaker, however, why mess with perfection, eh? I bought this amp because I sold my Fender Princeton 65 about a year ago and now, I needed another amp. Since I play a vast range of music, I needed something to suit every style because I don't think any musician likes to be held to just one style. Since I didn't want to spend the big bucks on a big tube amp I needed to get a solidstate amp, however, I really desired that warm tube tone. When I went to look at the amp, the salesman introduced me to the Epiphone Galaxy10 tube amp. I enjoyed that one, however, once I plugged in the Vox Pathfinder15R, I immediately forgot about the Galaxy. No comparision. I'll give this little Vox a 9 just because there has been voiced opinion about it having no mid control.

Sound Quality: 10
First off, here is my set up: Washburn WI64 > Crybaby Wah > DOD Distortion > Danelectro PB&J Delay > Snarling Dogs Varitone (get one of these, they are great) > Vox Pathfinder15R. The Vox Pathfinder15R has the habit of taking every note I play, coating it with rich golden goodness and then feeding it back to my happily awaiting ears. I was never a big tone head, however, once you hear great tone, you will know it and desire it. Since I love to play everything from clean, crisp slow jams to rockin' overdriven mayhem, I needed an amp that could handle all that. This does it. Sit the gain down low, Volume up, Treble and Bass maxed and you have the makings of crystal clear sharp golden tones that would make any country lovin' tone freak go nutty. Crank up the Gain, pop on the Boost and BWAAAMMO! Rock city! Best part is that the amp still holds the beautiful rich tone no matter how high I set the Gain. Gotta love that. I have cranked this amp about as loud as it will go and I have yet to have problems. I heard some rattling at high volumes but then realized it was items on my desk buzzing about due to the loudness of the amp. It's only 15 Watts folks but you won't believe how loud this thing gets. Another great thing about this amp is that the volume actually works at really low levels. I have had 2 Fender amps and even at one it was really loud and you could never really get a quiet sound out of them for in home quiet jams. Thank you Vox.

Reliability: 10
This is a very sturdy amp with all the famous classic Vox features (grill cloth, chicken head knobs etc). It doesn't look like it but it is much more solid then I expected. Screws are all tight, grill cover snuggly fit and buttons nicely fitted. Haven't had a problem with it.

Customer Support: 6
Never dealt with Vox but I have heard they are great.

Overall Rating: 10
Gotta give this amp a big fat 10! Best part is that it is so damn inexpensive for what you get. This is definately one of the great hidden treasures in music right now! I absolutely love it! If it was stolen I would buy another one and hope that the stolen one would turn up just so I would have two of them. Like I said before, I was never a big tone head person, however, this amp will quickly make you apprectiate and understand how amazing great tone is. It would be sweet to see Vox pump another 15 watts into this model and add another speaker...just a thought for fun.

Submitted by J at 08/04/2004 09:47

Price Paid: US $119

Features: 9
2004 Vox Pathfinder 15R with Reverb, Tremelo and Boost. The amp is very versatile for my style of music. I play classic rock & roll, blues and jazz. If you buy this amp, buy the footswitch. It's worth the investment. I use this amp for playing around in the den, jamming with friends and travel. It's light weight and has just the features I need. No pedals needed with this one. It has plenty of power with it's 8" speaker and 15 watts for what I wanted it for.

Sound Quality: 10
I'm playing a 96 Deluxe Strat Plus, a 2003 Tele, a 50's reissue strat, a 2004 Les Paul Studio and a DeArmond M77T through it. All guitars sound good, but I think the 50's reissue Strat and the DeArmond really shine with this amp. The pre-gain does tend to get a little noisy when turned up with single coils like the Strat and DeArmond. With careful adjustment this baby is clean as a whistle or as gritty as you would want. It is VERY LOUD for it's power rating and speaker size. The speaker is really a strong point.

Reliability: 9
Not much to go wrong with it. Being solid state, short of running over it with a truck, it should be any trouble.

Customer Support: N/A
Don't know

Overall Rating: 10
I have been playing since 1962, and owned a Vox Super Beatle at one time. I like this amp for it's simplicity. I've tried several amps with the digital bells and whistles and gone back to the basics. I also own a 65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue and a Kustom KAA65TH Acoustic amp. The only thing I wish it had is a little better control over the jump in volume when using the boost switch. I think this little amp is a bargain.

Submitted by Anonymous at 07/31/2004 23:12

Price Paid: US $119

Features: 9
2004 model. Bought at Zzounds where they shipped it for free, even though it was the only item I bought. The features are described below. I bought it to play at one specific pub gig where the performing quarters are too cramped for a full-sized amp and I can't hear my guitar without one. Basically I use it as a guitar monitor, and I send the direct line-out to the mixing board where the sound guy adjusts the volume for the audience. The line-out is a great feature.

Some people wish there was a midrange control. I usually use just a touch of midrange , and I think if there were such a control here, I would have it set for the sound that is already coming out of this amp. The lack of a midrange knob doesn't bother me.

I do however wish there were a level control for the Boost switch. More on that later.

Sound Quality: 10
I use this amp with Ric 6 and 12 strings, a Casino, a Strat, and yes, a Martin acoustic. I use mostly clean sounds.

The 8" speaker is really impressive, but let it break in for a few hours. With the tone set at 2 or 3 o'clock you get a spectacular clean rock & roll electric-guitar tone.

As good as the 8" speaker is, hooking this amp up to a 12" speaker cab is just incredible. I use a Celestion G12H80 speaker. The bass control is more useful with the cab. I find the bass knob doesn't do much with the 8" speaker, which is understandable.

Both the reverb and tremelo are a little on the weak side, but good enough that I use them at gigs and don't bother with foot pedals for these effects.

The volume boost switch is a disappointment to me. The problem is that there is too much boost. When you have your guitar volume set for rhythym and then want to play a lead, hitting this switch will blow your ears out. It's too loud. I wish there was a way to fine-tune the setting, but it appears to be all or nothing. The only use I have for this switch is to treat it as a separate channel of the amp to be used with songs requiring distortion. But you really can't change back and forth during a song--the volumes are just too incompatible. I therefore use an external pedal for volume boost. Too bad, but it doesn't detract from my overall satisfaction with the sound produced by this amp.

I find this amp to be pretty loud. We are a vocal duo with two guitars, no bassist, and we use an Alesis drum machine rather than a live drummer, so the amp doesn't have to compete with a lot of other noise. I don't know if it could fill the room all by itself even at our small pub gigs (it might), but I think it would with an external cab, and of course it will when fed to the PA.

The breakup occurs at different points depending on your pickups, but there is more than enough headroom here, especially if you are sending the signal to your PA. I am finding that I leave the gain switch at about the 10 o'clock position, and the volume switch and my guitar knobs accordingly.

I do get some buzzing from the line-out when using it in my basement which has solid-state light dimmers in the circuit.

Also--this amp took some work to get all the rattles out. It would buzz pretty loud when I hit the first four or five frets on the A string with the volume cranked fairly high. I had to tighten the screws, and this meant getting an offset screwdriver and feeling my way around to tighten the screws up inside the amp cab. Also, I had to use some duct tape to tighen some of the innards to the back of the cab to stop them from buzzing. I used black duct-tape, so it is not obvious. All buzzing is now stopped at all volumes (that I have been able to play without causing serious ear injury).

Reliability: 9
Too early to tell. However--this amp was shipped UPS and in my opinion was very poorly packed. The amp box was put into a cardboard shipping box with one strip of bubble paper on one side, and no packing material anywhere else. Amazingly, after the several-truck journey from New Jersey to Boston, the amp worked perfectly. So I am giving it high marks in this category.

In addition, no tubes to worry about. I will use this as my main amp in small gigs, and as a backup at larger ones.

Customer Support: N/A
No experience.

Overall Rating: 9
I own three other amps: Marshall AVT50, Laney LC30 MKII, Fender Champion 30. This amp is lightweight, sounds great, and has the line-out and speaker-out features. I'm going to use it as my main amp at small gigs for a while. I would definitely replace it if stolen. It's the same price as a pedal. For what you get here, it's a terrific bargain. It's not a ten because of the volume-boost issue, and because I had to tighten things up to eliminate buzzing. It's a "10" for its price however.

Submitted by Steve at 07/22/2004 09:28

Price Paid: US $119

Features: 9
The others have covered the features. Lots for the price. Very cute. I used to own a Vox Royal Guardsman. Should have a 10" speaker (see below.)

Sound Quality: 8
Everyone who owns this amp should immediately try removing the bottom panel in the back. It will greatly improve the frequency balance. As shipped, the upper bass is too "congested". The 8” speaker is actually quite good and this amp is loud but it would be much better with a 10" speaker. The 15 watts are plentiful.

Not bad for a Trasistor amp. Quite good cleans through to good overdrive. Useful tone controls. Tremelo is 7, reverb is maybe a 5 (but better than none ;)

I traded an Epiphone Galaxy 10 in to get the VOX. I really wanted to like the Epiphone, but I didn't - the clean was not very good and there was no bass. (Maybe it was defective (?) I tried lots of different tubes - not much different.) Also the cabinet sounded boxie, as others have noted. Designers don't seem to spend enough effort on tuning the cabinet/speaker. It can make a huge difference in the sound. In fact, changing the speaker can often make a mediocre amp into a very good one.

Reliability: 8
Looks well built. It's a transistor amp.

Customer Support: N/A
Don't know.

Overall Rating: 9
Been playing for 40 years. I have lots of amps and guitars. The Vox is staying in my collection. I would also highly recommend the Kustom Tube 12 practice amp (~$80 – 100) with a 12au7 tube. Great clean and distortion, very useful tone controls. Makes a good preamp (see below).

Also have a new Fender Vibrolux Custom Reverb (again I put 12au7’s or 12ay7’s in the preamp section which really help tame the hiss and give more clean fat headroom. Sounds to me more like a small Twin.)

My gigging amp is a Tech21 Trademark 60 – The tubers usually stay home in the studio.

My favorite amp at the moment is a Frankenstein using the Kustom Tube 12 as a preamp going into a 6v6 class A power amp from an old console stereo that I picked up by the side of the road. I am still looking for the ideal speaker, but best so far is a Peavey Blue Marvel 4 ohm (believe it). To me, this sounds better than most of the boutique amps I have tried.

Submitted by Bruce Hutcheon at 06/23/2004 07:52

Price Paid: US $120

Features: 9
Features Gain, Volume, Bass, Treble, Tremelo Depth & Speed and Reverb. Also has a Boost button. The back features a Line Out (Big plus, more on that later), Extension for a Speaker cabinet, footswitch and headphones. I deducted one point for not having a Mid EQ. Also be warned that the footswitch wire is pretty short, which can be somewhat troublesome for gigs.

Sound Quality: 10
I originaly bought this amp in 2002 for a practice amp since my other amps were being used at band's rehearsal space. It was within my budget and looked cool, so I was sold. When I got home I started messing around with it more and realized how freakin' cool this amp is. I quickley intergrated into my live setup. I used the line out to send into a larger 120 watt amp. The 120watt amp is used stritcly as a stage monitor, I have the soundguy mic only the Vox through the PA. I also use it in the studio.

I play a hybrid of Garage punk and hard rock (think White Stripes' Elephant and classic AC/DC). the distortion is pretty nice. It doesn't give you high gain distortion, but it does give you an almost Jimmy Page-ish/Malcolm Young-like overdrive. I'm pretty impressed with the slight overdrive sound it gives you. You can find quite a few colors other than the old clean/dirty option. I play the sound about halfway dirty- It gives me a pretty ballsy "clean" sound. I then use a MXR Distortion+ for my main gain.

The tremelo and reverb are also great, especially if you're into Classic 60's sounds. The tremelo is the better of the two, I use it quite a bit now for having never used that effect before. The reverb is cool, but you can only get that vintage sound from it. That's cool by me, but if you're wanting more options or a more subtle and modern sounding reverb you're out of luck.

The boost is just OK. You don't need to use it to get the best distortion from the amp as the other posts stated. It comes in mostly handy for boosting your leads or solos. It definatly works well for that. It does not work well for switching between a clean and dirty sound.

Reliability: 10
I have used it live fr two years now and never the slightest problem. It's probably been one of the most trouble-free guitar related thing I have ever bought. Solid build, doesn't look cheap.

Customer Support: N/A
Can't give an opinion becuase it's never been an issue. And I have no reason to think it never will be.

Overall Rating: 10
I have been playing guitar for 12 years. I play a mexican Fender Strat, Gibson Les Paul Studio and and Epihphone SG. I use only a MXR Distortion+ and a Boss tuner for effects. Occasionaly, I may bust out my Digitech wah or EH Small Clone if I'm feeling saucey.

Overall, this amp is an amazing value. Perhaps I am too much of a fan of the amp to say this, but I can't imagine anyone being unhappy with it. I now own two of them, I use them both live. So I would definatly replace them.

I do wish the amp had a mid EQ knob. I also wish that Vox would make higher watt version of the amp...maybe a 60 watt 2x10? I think that would be awesome.

Submitted by Left Jeff at 05/26/2004 10:29

Price Paid: 430 (Ringgit Malaysia)

Features: 9
I think it is a 2004 or 2003 made model because it was a new stock in the shop i bought it from. It has the usual features, one gain, one treble, one bass, one volume knob. there is also a reverb, tremolo depth and tremolo speed knob. dont think that many people would use the tremolo effects alot and it would be great if there was a mid knob.(but the treble and bass is enough for me, i am a simple man). oh, there is the boost button too, to increase the distortion like sounds. The gain maxed does NOT give you good distortion, you HAVE to use the boost. Overall it is almost perfect for a practice amp this size. If you want other built in effects for an amp this size, go look at the Ibanez TB15D or the Marshall MG15CDR. But really, if you want effects, get effects pedals, especially for an amp this size. Its a solid state by the way and it has the classic vox look, which is GOOD. (Go to voxamps.com to check it out)

Sound Quality: 9
I use an Ibanez RG1550a with stock pickups (V7, S1 and V8). Double humbuckers(V7 and V8) and a single coil(S1). I bought the guitar because it sounds good clean, and sounds great with distortion (brightish distortion, not fat ones so the amp goes well with this guitar). The clean sounds on this amp is GREAT. And it is LOUD. The boost increases its volume too. I usually play in church (there are heavy songs too) so i need a good clean and distortion sound at the same time. This amp is perfect for small live plays or gigs. I need only to turn the volume to about 5 or 6 to be loud enough for a small hall. The distortion is good too but dont expect metal like gains here. Good for soft rock and rock. Heck, it is passable for creed like sounds too. Overall, the clean is the best feature with quite good gain levels.

Reliability: N/A
Havent smashed it enough yet, so not too sure. Just had it for a few weeks. But it looks sturdy enough.

Customer Support: N/A
Never used it.

Overall Rating: 9
I have been playing the guitar for about 6 years. This is my first electric guitar and amplifier. Been saving for 4 years (i'm on the not rich side, and this amp and my guitar is my life). I'm 22. Play church stuff and other rock stuff. Trying to play Satriani and Vai (not too good though). If this was stolen, i definately would get another one(but i guess i have to save for another year or so). This is an extremely good amp for its price. But if you are a out and out rocker/metal player, i would not recommend this amp, get a Marshall or mesa boogie instead. Oh, it sounds good with headphones on too. The Vox PFS2 footswitch is a nice extra if u are willing to fork out more cash. (i cant though).

Submitted by strinq at 05/25/2004 09:56

Price Paid: US $119

Features: 8
Purchased about 2 weeks ago. I play strictly for fun and play rock and blues. I own a Telecaster 60s reissue with the rosewood fretboard. I was looking for a good practice amp and I've always loved the Vox look and sound. When I saw this in the SamAsh catalog I knew I had to investigate. Good basic set of features for a bedroom/practice amp. I got the footswitch to go between clean and crunchy. Seems to work well, although you get that annoying "click" from the footswitch button. Nice and loud, perfect for home or studio use. I'm biased, but I've always thought Vox amps look great and the fit and finish on this are superb. Headphone jack sounds like, well playing through a headphone jack.

Sound Quality: 10
This is where this sucker really shines. I've found with other brand-name amps in the sub-$200 market you're basically paying for the name. Fender, Peavey or Marshall have nothing to compare to this in this price range. The cleans are superb. Turning up the gain and treble will give you a nice vintage crunchy sound. You won't play hardcore metal on this thing, of course I play a Telecaster so I'm not going to exactly be playing Slayer.

Reliability: 8
I just bought it, so I can't say anything about the long-term wear. Worked perfectly out of the box. I don't gig regularly. I feels sturdy, although a thin strip of white binding along the speaker grille seems like it may come off after repeated use.

Customer Support: N/A
Decent warranty. I have never dealt with Vox before so I cannot comment on that.

Overall Rating: 10
This is simply a great amp for the money. For only $120 or less you get that vintage crunch for classic rock or a beautiful clean tone for country or folk. Its light (only 17 pounds) and looks absolutely stunning.

Submitted by Anonymous at 05/18/2004 11:29

Price Paid: US $138.99

Features: 8
For a solid state combo practice amp this thing has an amazing variety of sounds. The features are all covered on the other posts so I won't repeat them.

Sound Quality: 9
I went to GUITAR CENTER with the intention of getting an Epiphone Galaxie 10. The idea of a 10 watt single ended class "A" Tube amp for $149.99 seemed a no brainer for a portable practice amp. When I got there and played it, the sound was okay but not inspiring. I thought that I would do what the H.C. posts on this amp had suggested and change the tubes and maybe the speaker. Well I decided to play some of the other amps in this price range,Marshall,Crate,Fender and the Vox. When I plugged into the Vox the fullness of the tone and the warmth of the lower frequencies just caused me to smile. I went back and forth between the two (Vox and Epiphone) for over an hour. I really wanted to like the Epi more, but I was looking for an amp to easily move around my house. The amp having reverb and tremelo didn't hurt either.

Reliability: N/A

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 10
I have been playing for over 30 years and owned alot of good tube amps and alot of mediocre and terrible solid state amps. This amp is a great value for a practice amp. If you want a simple practice amp that reproduces the sound of your guitar faithfully with out digital effects and other bells and whistles I highly recommend this amp.

Submitted by Anonymous at 05/15/2004 04:24

Price Paid: US $119.95

Features: 9
2004 Model , One channel with a boost sounds like 10db, footswitch jack for boost and tremolo, Headphone jack, Lineout jack, Ext. Speaker jack, Reverb and Tremolo...Wish it had a Mid EQ knob
Plenty of power for small giggs or mic it for larger!

Sound Quality: 10
For a Solid State amp it sounds great!, I use a Affinity Strat with P90's, suit my style perfectly!, Can't beat this thing for the cash you have to pay
I give it a 10 for tone based on what it is and how it competes with other amps in it's class , price range and options it has..

Reliability: 10
To new to tell... but look at the ratings!
I also bought the 2 year extended warranty from GC (replace the amp..no questions asked)

Customer Support: N/A
Never had to call them

Overall Rating: 10
Best Bang for the Buck!!
I've been playing for 12 years...9 years on stage..
I've owned more then 60 amps(mostly tube)
Anything it needs will be fullfilled when the new AD15 hits the market and I'll buy that one also..

Submitted by Anonymous at 04/16/2004 09:16

Price Paid: US $119

Features: 10
Let me start by saying that the 10 rating here is based on the product..it's a practice amp..and for that it's features are great for my needs. Gain/volume knobs..+10db gain boost button..bass and treble knobs..tremolo speed & Depth knobs, reverb level knob..headphone jack, line out jack, ext. jack, and footswitch jack. Very loud for 15 ss watts..and shockingly warm sounding for ss.

Sound Quality: 8
here's the real deal..I think this amp sounds great..esp. for $119 new..blows others in this price range (fender,marshall,crate,etc.)away. However, shredders beware..this amp was not designed for high gain squealies..it has great chunky overdriven sounds, but put the gain past 2 o'clock or so and the 8" speaker starts to fart out..haven't tried it with an extension cab yet, so can't comment on hat. but where this amp shines is it's cleans.sooooooo warm I have a hard time believing that it's ss. The tremolo sounds great to my ear and the reverb is usable..not spectacular..but not crap either.

Reliability: 9
Have only had it for a month, but it's ss..not a lot to go wrong. Vox's website made registration a breeze.

Customer Support: N/A
haven't had to worry about it yet...but Vox seems pretty reputable..they've been doing amps since forever.

Overall Rating: 10
This thing is going to be a cult classic....really, I don't know where you could find a better value in a bedroom/practice amp. it has the best tone to dollar artio of anything I've ever tried..and I spent a lot of time looking for a good practice amp.

Submitted by Jason at 04/13/2004 12:20

Price Paid: US $119.00

Features: 10
I did a review on the Pathfinder 15 non-reverb amp just a few weeks ago. I had owned the amp for about four years. I mentioned that I liked it so well, that I was considering getting the reverb model too. Well, I just got the 15R, thru zZounds, for $119.00. It's the same thing, with the addition of reverb. I'm tellin' ya, this amp is the best-kept secret out there! The 15R is put together flawlessly, looks so darn good, is very lightweight, and sounds simply gorgeous. The reverb is very serviceable, and adds a very nice openness to your sound. I'm gonna emphasize again-- it seems hard to believe, but although this amp is rated at a mere 15 watts, I'm using it regularly at real gigs. And I mean gigs with a very capable rock/jass group, at local night spots, where the guitar is a very key component of the mix. I do run the external speaker jack out to an old 12" cabinet that our keyboard guy loaned me, but even by itself, the Pathfinder 15R's 8" speaker produces great volume and tone. It's quite sufficient for smaller-venue gigs, and if you needed to punch it up for a larger gig, you could either mic it, or utilize the Line Out jack to run straight into your p.a. head. In short, I'm still sort of stunned that for this little money, I have found a lightweight, highly portable, GREAT-sounding amp which, even though generally thought of as a "practice" amp, is serving me very well in real gig situations. I am totally happy with the Pathfinder 15R.

Sound Quality: 9
The great thing about the amp is that you have both a "Gain" knob and a "Volume" knob, which you can adjust relative to each other to get either a clean, glassy tone, or, where appropriate, a throaty, more distorted tone. Both sound impressive.

Reliability: 10
Although I've only had the 15R for a couple of weeks, it's fine so far, and my older Pathfinder has never given me a problem in the four years I've had it.

Customer Support: N/A
N/A

Overall Rating: 10
Been playing about 36 years; owned an enormous array of "stuff" and played in several different bands and venues. I'm not kidding, guys and gals, this is one little jewel of an amp. It's the answer to my prayers when it comes to quality, sound, good looks, portability and reliability-- all at a price that's amazingly small!

Submitted by Bill Sheehan at 04/08/2004 08:42

Price Paid: 99.00 (uk pounds)

Features: 7
This amp has a very basic set of features, it does it's job!
The reverb and trem FX are great for recording- you get some very trippy way out vibes.
It is an extremely versatile little box, with so few features, it still gives a galaxy of good studio tones.

Sound Quality: 10
I use my Fender Clapton strat through it. It really kicks arse.
I play rock/blues and this amp does sound fantastic over a blues and it really delivers the goods. It has so many tones to offer. The clean sound is superb if you want to hear your instrument's true voice. Tweak up the volume and gain and/or hit the gain boost switch and this baby really lets her hair down. The sounds are typical 60's vibes, this amp would have been a useful studio tool to the DOORS!!

Reliability: 10
This box is built to last!!! You could send it skydiving without any fear!!

Customer Support: 4
No need, this won't let me down!!

Overall Rating: 10
I love the sound. It has a voice of it's own that is great for practice and recording sessions. In fact I will just cut it short and say that this amp is the bizness!!!

Submitted by Anonymous at 03/15/2004 17:32

Price Paid: $315 (NZL)

Features: 10
A fairly loud Solid state 15Watt 8 inch Speaker amp, Gain, treble, volume, tremelo depth and speed controls, reverb, boost button (increases midrange and bass, makes the channel louder i.e for solos), u have to buy the footswitch separately, It produces a lot of volume for its size. And the chicken head controls on the top panel are very easy to access and turn compared to other amps. I bought it for the tremolo and clean and overdriven sounds because I didn’t want to buy a tremolo pedal which was nearly as much as the amp itself. Good for practicing with and using on small venues that don’t require miking up(it sounds crap miked) either that or shure SM57s just pick up all the grain and mud.

Sound Quality: 8
I am using a modified SG copy which is loaded with a Dimarzio paf pro in the bridge and a Seymour Duncan George lynch screamin demon in the neck.

Clean: All you need, amazingly full, glassy, and versatile you can dial in how much bass or treble you want (good for Jazz or funk). It does not have enough headroom for larger venues because u have to turn up the gain aswell to get it louder.

Overdriven: Warm, creamy, very slightly fuzzy/brittle but is very nice with open chords. good for old school rock. When the gain is maxed out with the boost switch off.

High Gain: With the boost switch on and the gain on near full it gets to grainy, muddy(bassy) and brittle(crap for palm muting) The speaker starts to break up. It also depends on the sound of the pickups (The PAF pro sounds so much better than the original stock PUP with this setting). Use a distortion pedal instead.

It is a very transparent (unprocessed sounding) amp so if your guitar is made of ply wood and polystyrene u will definitely know the difference.

Reliability: 9
I bought it around 9 months ago. Ive had no problems at all its pretty solid and lightweight. I would just be careful with the corners cause they can get caned if your lugging it around.

Customer Support: 10
The Guitar Gallery in Wellington are pretty friendly and If I had any problems I should be sweet. 1 year warranty.

Overall Rating: 9
I would definitely recommend it. Like always compare it to other amps first. I.e a Kustom or something. But this amp has style and it has personality if you’re a vox fan good for you. Its far from metal. It has a nice vintage feel. Good price.

Submitted by Dylan at 03/11/2004 12:34

Price Paid: US $140.00

Features: 10
One of the reasons I bought this amp was becuase it is so comprehensive. It has controls for gain (intput volume), volume (master volume), treble, bass, tremolo speed and depth, and reverb. In addition it has jacks for a footswitch, filtered line out for recording, line out for an extension speaker, and a headphone jack. Nice. I could not find any other small amps that had all this. Even without a mid control the EQ is very good.

Sound Quality: 9
Now we come to the crux of the issue. I mean isn't every guitarist all about tone? When I first played through this amp I couldn't belive my ears. Tight bass and warm treble. No harsh solid state clean sounds. You can go from a muted warm to classic jangle if you know what I mean. For what I need the distortion covers it all. Everything to a little breakup to heavy overdriven. As others have mentioned it does get a little grainy in the mid-gain stages. With the boost turned on and the gain high up I think it has a nice warm sound. The reverb is nice for adding sustain to your sound and a must have. I wouldn't buy the non-verb model unless you have some sort of sustain/compression pedal. (I don't)It only has an 8 inch speaker, however it can produce a lot of volume and still stay reasonably clean. I think part of that is beacuse the speaker is so well made. It sort of seems more like a 10 incher than an 8. I know some don't like the headphone jack, but for clean sounds I love it. Any mild gain comes in like a bad buz, but it does OK with higher gain tones.

Reliability: 10
This amp is a solid state amp, so you don't have to worry about your tubes going. It's built really well. The Fender Bullet Reverb amp I owned previosly to this amp was a far cry from the well made construction of the Pathfinder. Vox seems to take all of thier amps seriously, even the small ones. They put a lot of companies like Fender and Marshall to shame in this area.

Customer Support: N/A
I've never dealt with Vox so I can't say. However the dealer I bought it from said he's had to wait months to get things from Vox. That's what happens when you're a distributer and the company is based in Britian. That might slow up the works a little, but since I've never had to deal with them I really can't say. Although to give Vox some credit, I ordered the footswitch for this amp and it came within like 10 days.

Overall Rating: 10
I've been playing for under two years so I'm no veteran. I'm using a guitar I built myself (mostly, but I had some help from my Dad and brother). I orderd all the main parts from www.customshopparts.com. It has two Alnico humbuckers with coil spliting. The amp works well with both. I really recomend this amp. I listend to it next to a Fender Pro Junior and in my opinion the Pathfinder souded better. I'm still floored by this amp. I really comend Vox for making such a good souding amp with a wide range of features. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to see if I could answer them.

Submitted by Nathanael Martin at 03/05/2004 13:04

Price Paid: US $139

Features: 9
Amp was made in 2002. My two favorite groups are the Beatles and U2, with Queen close behind, so obviously I'm very happy with the VOX sound. If you aren't picky (I'm too poor to be picky), it can approximate a Fender clean for surf/rockabilly/Chris Issak stuff and a Marshall for Jimi Hendrix stuff. One channel, with a gain boost, tremolo, and reverb, and a headphone jack--very useful in my apartment with the high-strung neighbors!

I use this amp at home, and I never play out. It has almost too much power for my small apartment (bastard neighbors pound on the wall when I strum my acoustic guitar too loudly, so you can imagine what they thought when they spied this baby through the window).

Sound Quality: 9
I play a '50s Classic Fender Strat, and it suits it perfectly. If you turn up the treble and the gain, you can approximate a poor man's Brian May tone. If you turn up the tremolo, you have Paperback Writer. If you add a delay pedal in front of the guitar, you have the Edge. The cleans are clean. Turning up the gain all the way without the boost does add some grit to your signal. Pushing in the gain button gives you more, but too much sounds like an angry beehive. For my purposes, the distortion is fine at moderate settings.

I originally had a defective unit (the floor model) that crackles at moderate volumes. The good "dudes" at Guitar Center recognized that and gave me a new one in the box, and it works fine. It is still a bit noisy, especially with the headphones. Some of it is the poorly shielded guitar, though.

Reliability: N/A
I just got it a week ago. The one at GC was defective, but that one had been sitting on the floor for years.

Customer Support: N/A
1 year warranty. Haven't dealt with Vox.

Overall Rating: 10
I've been playing for 8 years now. I've owned one other amp, a Fender Frontman 15. This is so much better it's not funny. Yes, I would totally buy it again if it were lost or stolen, though Vox is coming out with smaller 15 and 30W versions of their Valvetronix modeling amp, so I might check out one of those. I compared seriously it to a Roland Cube 30 and a Fender Champ DSP 30. In the end, I got it because of the price and value. The Fender sounded a bit too "solid-statey." The Roland's amp models were good, but its effects were unusable, and it cost $100 more than the Vox. In the future, I plan to either get a Fender Blues Jr. tube amp, or go with a medium sized modeling amp like the Valvetronix or Cyber Deluxe.

Submitted by Anonymous at 01/24/2004 22:07

Price Paid: 179.99 (Canadian Dollars)

Features: 10
My Vox Pathfinder 15R come with all the standard features that come with it, check the Vox website if you need a list...
It was made September 3rd 2003.
For now I only use this amp at home for practice. It fills that job perfectly. I'm not sure of its capabilities infront of a crowd.
The boost on the amp is great at medium volumes to get that extra kick but becomes a bit odd sounding at high volumes but I guess that's what you get for the price. The sound is very clean, the reverb and tremolo work both fine on clean sound which is how I usually play most of the time.

Sound Quality: 10
I use a Vantage AV-75 at home temporarly while I wait to move up. Oftenly a 1995 Gibson Jimmy Page Signature Series will be used.
The first things that stick out is how clean the sound is and the distinction of the bass and trebble.
It works great with both those guitars even tho one of them is crap! I can get my crappy guitar to sound pretty on it. It's one thing that makes this amp great is the sound it has.

Reliability: N/A
I only have had it for a month and a half now so I can't really comment on it but I haven't had a single problem with it ever since the day I got it and I use it everyday.

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 10
This amp was the best sounding amp I could find for the price. I wouldn't trade it in for any other amp in its category.
For 15W it can go pretty loud, louder then you'd really think.
The best thing is the sound you can get out of it.
I got lucky and paid a bit less for it then here in town. When I was in Montreal I stopped over to a place called Italmelodie and they had great prices on pretty much everything. I came back in town where I tried the amp with my guitar and knew I would have to buy one. They wanted 299 for it so I called the place in Montreal and paid 179, shipping was 25 and everything went smoothly.
The only thing is it took quite a bit of time, I'm not sure where it was held up, it was either Vox, the postage method used by Vox or the shop who didn't process my order right away.
Eitherway I'm as happy as can be with it and I would recommend it to anyone!

Submitted by Patrick Magee at 11/03/2003 17:47

Price Paid: US $99.00

Features: 8
Current production 1X8 Korean made ss combo. Pretty coomprehensive for a small amp. Line out, HP, Ext. speak, and footswitchable trem and boost + 'verb! Loud for 15 ss watts.
To get the most from this amp you need the optional footswitch..bring in the boost for solos and fat chords..add a bit of trem to the end of phrases..ect..ect. makes the amp a real musical instrument.

Sound Quality: 7
I use this with a Squire Strat, for typical Vox sounds (Brit pop, invasion, blues, a bit of punk/new wave/ska) good clean sounds, nice fat mid tones..raunchy/fuzzy distortion( not really the amps forte). The trem is nice for a budget offering,(most decent pedals cost as much as this amp) and has a decent sound..the 'verb is a bit weak compared to small Fenders, but is useful, and makes a big improvement over the non 'verb version. The most interesting/ confusing feature is the "boost" function. This is NOT a two channel amp.. the boost is NOT a drive channel..it is simply a clean boost that adds a bit of "top" and fatness + a hefty volume push to the existing tone..this is a nod to the "top /treble boost" feature that was a popular feature in the early '60s. You need a pedal if you want Marshall type distortion from this amp,but if that is what you want ..get a Marshall. Keep your guitar volume down when you bring in the boost,and then adjust; a bit of expirmentation will have you poping up your solos, and fatting up chords in no time..

Reliability: 7
Seems well made, I have had several other small Voxes and they held up ok..tolex is a bit thin, cover is a good investment. Could be used on small gigs, rehersals, jams, as long as drummer was under control. This and the T-25 bass amp make a nice back line for pub/coffiehouse gigs.

Customer Support: 8
Warrany is a bit skimpy at 1 year..Marshall and Fender do 5. Customer support is top noch. I have delt with the fine folks a Vox/ Korg on several ocassions, and they have been most helpful. Manual is a bit 'breezy"; by attempting to market this as a"rock"amp Vox is missing the boat..Vox owners of any age are a bit more intelegent than the average player..something like the book that came with the Brian May..give a Vox history..some sample settings for famous Vox tones, suggested Vox listening, ideas for using the boost and trem in your playing ect. would be much more useful than the "dude' aproach the current manual employs. Not all Vox lovers have deep pockets, and this little amp will find its way into many diffrent music rooms, lets not be insulting.

Overall Rating: 8
Playing 20 + years I have had several small Voxes including the non verb Pathfinder 15 and this is the best of the bunch..Nice little amp for clean playing. Compared to the Fender Frontman 25 (too loud) Orange Crush 15r (too fragile), and Marshall MG 15 (too toy like) None had the features styling or build found on the P-15 I wish they had made a bigger difference between the 15 and 15 r..the MRB and the Celestion from the old C-15 would have been nice, or perhaps the 10 " speaker version that was UK only should be the standard production...

Submitted by Anonymous at 10/21/2003 21:31

Price Paid: US $139

Features: 8
There are lots of details in the reviews here and on the website and Internet in general. Basically, this is a Solid State, 15 Watt, 8", single channel practice amp with tremelo and reverb. I got this for use as a practice amp at home where my Fender Vibrolux is just too loud (and whose tubes generate too much heat for my small music room). I also take it along to gigs as a backup to the Fender, but I think from a power and projection standpoint, you'd have to rely heavily on mixing the guitar signal into the monitors to hear yourself. I don't think there are any amps this size on the planet that are useable in all but the smallest, most intimate gigs. I think this amp is more useful for clean and slightly overdriven tones, but read on for my take on the higher-gain tones (minus 1 point). There are outs for speaker and line (supposedly filtered for direct to board use), but I have not tried either. There's a headphone out which is clearly NOT filtered and it sounds like crap. Too bad, this is another reason for point deduction.

Sound Quality: 8
I have to tell you, this amp sounds better than it should for its size and cost. For some reason, I had an easier time finding my main amp than I did finding a good practice amp. In my opinion, this is because there are so many practice-sized amps out there (under $200) and they all sound somewhere between OK and crappy. I wasn't even looking for a Vox, but this one came along and sounded really good if not great. I play a variety of guitars through this, but my main guitar is a Fender Am Strat Texas Special. The clean sounds on this amp are outstanding. Surprising headroom, sparkle and jangle here. Very open and transparent yet full and warm. It sounds so good that when I'm practicing, I never seem to miss the Vibrolux (OK, maybe a little). You can dial in a little more pre for some really decent overdrive tones as well. Occassionally, I do some higher gain stuff, and even though this amp has a lot of gain with the gain boost on and pre turned up, it still sounds a little cheesy to me. Better then many amps in this range, but not satisfying to me, so I take my Distortion pedal from my pedal board (Tech 21 Double Drive) and stick it in front of this amp when I want to do some screaming. The reverb sounds very good and adds dimension to the tone. Its no lexicon or Fender Tube reverb, but something in between and very pleasant to listed to and play with. The un-filgered, un-compensated headphone out is horrible as with many other amps in this catagory. I really wish they could make headphones out better. Minus 2 points for average higher-gain tones and crappy headphone tone.

Reliability: N/A
No real experience here with Vox. Its solid state, so I hope it will have a long, trouble-free life.

Customer Support: N/A
No experience. Vox is now a part of Korg, so as with every huge musical conglomorate (spelling?), you'll probably have to rely on your vendor for support.

Overall Rating: 9
Overall, I have to give this thing a very high rating. Its classy looking, seems to be well built, but most of all, its inspiring. It sounds so damn good that I really look forward to playing through it and therefor, I'm getting a lot more practice in than I normally do. Before purchasing this one, I tried the following: Fender Frontman 25R (OK, more money, crappy distortion) and Princeton 12 (used, bigger and more power than I needed, good clean, crappy distortion), Peavey Envoy (OK, nothing great or terrible - better distortion but overall lack of character and flat clean sound), Behringer's 10" Tech 21 Trademark 10 knock-off (very disappointing, over-processed sounding, no headroom), and a used Line6 Spyder 112 (I just don't like the modelers). I actually first purchased a Pathfinder 15 w/o reverb, but I later found that they made one with reverb and returned the one without. For another $20, having the reverb puts the icing on the cake of the great sound this amp puts out. I love the clean and slight overdriven tones. I hate the headphone output - its unusable in my opinion. I originally had my mind set on the Tech 21 Trademark 10, but that was $250, and I couldn't justify the expense for a practice amp. At $140, this little number stole the show!!!

Submitted by JL at 09/23/2003 09:56

Price Paid: US $120

Features: 10
Gain Control, Boost Switch(You can turn this function on and off remotely with the optional VFS2 Footswitch), Volume Control (acts like a master volume), Treble Control, Bass Control, Tremolo Speed Control, Tremolo Depth Control, Reverb Control, Headphone Output Jack, Line Output Jack, External Speaker Output Jack, Footswitch Jack, 15 watts, 8” speaker.

Typical VOX styling like basket-weave vinyl, diamond grille cloth, white piping, gold beading and, "chicken head" pointer knobs. It looks great! I know that it doesn’t contribute to the sound, but the amp’s aesthetics are very inspirational.

Sound Quality: 10
I use a modified (4k ohm filtertron pickups, alnico magnets) 1992 Gretsch Country Classic II. For the most part, I use it to replicate George Harrison's early Beatle sounds. If you are expecting this amp to be a shrunken down, hand wired AC30, you will be disappointed. At its extremely modest price tag ($139, typical retail) it sounds outstanding. I have had a 1985 Rose Morris AC30 (retrofitted with Celestion Vintage 30s), a 1993 Korg/Vox AC30TBX (with Celestion Blues) and a 1998 Korg/Vox AC15 TB (with a Weber Blue Dog--similar to a vintage Celestion Alnico Blue) to compare this too. For its' size and price, the clean tone is unmistakably VOX. Any guitar that I have ever heard through retained its characteristics (A Gretsch sounds like a Gretsch, a Strat sounds like a Strat, etc.).

Prior to acquiring the VOX, I had borrowed a solid state Marshall practice amp of similar size and power. My intent is not to speak disparagingly about the Marshall Company as some of the greatest rock 'n roll sounds have been created with their amplifiers. Compared to the Vox, the Marshall's clean sound was terrible. You would never be able to identify mine or any other guitar as they all had the same harsh and lifeless sound. I am not a connoisseur of distortion sounds but I will say it has a very impressive (low-gain) overdrive. On the high-gain side of things, it sounds like a solid state distortion.

Reliability: 10
I think that I could expect it to last a very long time without any problems. I bought it new almost a year ago and it has never broken down. Then again, I baby my equipment. I'm not a person that would badmouth a company like Vox/Korg because of my own irresponsibility.

Customer Support: N/A
Not applicable, yet (knock on wood).

Overall Rating: 10
I really am a Vox tube snob, but this amp really has a lot of VOX character. because it is a VOX. The reverb is adequate for my needs and the tremolo is really fantastic and musical. It has some very usable overdrive and the clean sound is what won me over. Allow the speaker to break in (a couple of hours of playing) and I think that you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Submitted by jay filippone at 08/29/2003 11:38

Price Paid: US $120

Features: 10
My Pathfinder is probably a 2003 model, with the spring reverb and tremolo. The boost switch gives off a good deal of gain, enough to make the amp feel like a true two channel amp. No midrange control, only treble and bass...but the amp doesn't really suffer from it. It has a pleasingly smooth midrange in the clean department, and the boost thickens it up considerably. It's nice to have a gain dial for the clean channel. You can get crystal clean to REALLY distorted (at lower volumes) tones.

You can get a footswitch with this, but I wish it came standard. There's enough power on tap for rehersal, or even a smallish gig...as long as your drummer doesn't take all of his agression out while they're playing.

For a practice/rehersal amp, this amp has everything you need. If you're into heavy gain, this may not be the amp for you. But for what I need...it's perfect.

Sound Quality: 10
This thing has a VERY pleasing sound. The gain can get a bit grainy in the mid gain stages, but the cleans and the ultra-distortion (only truly available at lower volumes with the distortion maxxed out and the volume down) are smooth sounding...especially the cleans. Simply put, you will not find a better clean tone for the price.

I use this with a variety of guitars (a jazz box with humbuckers, a homemade Strat with Noiseless pickups, and a Godin LG with P-90's). The greatest asset of this amp is its transparency. With many practice combos, it really doesn't matter what guitar you use with it...it just won't sound good. Not only does this amp sound good, but you can really hear the individual characteristics of your guitars through it.

There can be a bit of a buzz with the gain turned up, but it's not an issue for me. This amp can give you big distortion, but it's much more suited to clean and lightly overdriven sounds. The cleans are simply beautiful for an amp in this price range. I wouldn't hesitate to record clean parts with my little Vox.

Reliability: 10
My Pathfinder is built fairly solid, and it's got solid state dependability. As long as you aren't playing with the volume dimed all the time, this amp will be fine.

Customer Support: N/A
I haven't dealt directly with Vox.

Overall Rating: 10
I've been playing for about 10 years now. I own about 17 guitars both electric and acoustic, and two nice tube amps (a Peavey Classic 30 and a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe). I use this as my practice amp. For the money, there is absolutely nothing that can touch these little Pathfinders. The clean tone is remarkable.

I do wish the distortion was a bit smooother, but it's still usable. Some people will tell you this amp sounds "tube-like." I don't agree with that...this amp just sounds very good.

I compared this amp to various Fender, Marshall, and Peavey small solid state amps...even a Tech 21. I liked the tone of the Vox more than any of them, and it was cheaper than the Fenders and Peaveys. Plus, you get the great tremolo.

Submitted by Mike at 07/28/2003 17:22

Price Paid: US $139.00

Features: 9
15 watt combo amp......read Vox's website or other reviews for the features! I do like the chicken head controls and the overall style; very cool. The tremolo feature is very cool as well.

Sound Quality: 10
OK, this was an impulse buy. I've been on a real Beatles kick the past year and wanted a Vox amp. No, this isn't an AC30, but by golly, it has a nice vintage sound! I wanted something I could run without any effect, or very minimal ones. Amp + guitar and that's it. This is everything I wanted. All the other reviews hit the nail on the head. I also have a Fender Frontman II 25R that I used with a Zoom 707, the Vox is a great sounding bang for the buck. My Epi Les Paul sounds great with the distortion while my Strat beckins for the clean tones. Niiiiice!

Reliability: 8
Have only had a few days....don't do the "rock star" thing and pour Jack Daniels or Coke into the back of it.

Customer Support: N/A
No dealings as of yet.

Overall Rating: 10
I think this is great value for a small 15 watt amp. For me it can really nail a Beatles tone. I like the control styles, a little tweaking and you can go from "With The Beatles" to the "White Album" with a few know twists.

Submitted by Greg S. at 07/28/2003 11:07

Price Paid: 90 euros used

Features: 10
Vraiment bien équipé : son clair, son saturé, trémolo( ! ), réverb ,
boost (augmente le gain et les médiums ).
La connectique est également très complète pour un ampli de ce prix ( sortie casque, ligne, sortie footswitch ( pour le trémolo et le boost ),sortie HP supplémentaires. Pour un 15 watts, il est assez puissant ( j'ai essayé de le relier sur un bloc HP 2*12, cela coupe le Hp du combo et on peut pousser le volume sans que ça sature, on doit même pouvoir jouer en groupe dans ces conditions, ça peut dépanner ... )

La finition est de qualité.

Sound Quality: 10
Vraiment incroyable pour un ampli de ce prix.
Avec ma stratocaster standard, en poussant un peu le volume, je peux avoir une attaque et un son à la steevie ray vaughan très très convaincant et propre et des sons crunch vraiment sympa.

Avec ma Gibson les paul, je peux avoir un son clair vraiment bon pour le Jazz et des saturations légères typées années 60 ( genre beatles ... )

Impossible de trouver mieux à ce prix !!! ( sauf si vous voulez jouer dans un autre registre )

Reliability: 10
Je n'ai jamais eu de problème ...

Customer Support: N/A
Sans avis...

Overall Rating: 10
Rapport qualité prix complètent démentiel !!!

Submitted by Pascal at 06/30/2003 14:21

Price Paid: US $116

Features: 7
Made January 14, 2003 in Korea.

15 watts, 8-inch speaker, solid state, spring reverb, and tremolo. Definitely loud enough for home use as well as small gigs. Very good sensitivity to the volume control (unlike Fender's Frontman 25R that is silent at 1-1/2 then loud at 1-3/4 with no in between setting).

Small enough and light enough (19 pounds) to carry easily from room to room or from home to gig location in your car. (Portability was a key factor in my purchase decision.)

Permanently attached power cord that fits easily in the back of the nearly closed-back cabinet when not in use.

On top: one input; gain, boost, volume, treble, bass, tremolo speed, tremolo depth, and reverb controls; and the power switch.

Out back: 1/4-inch jacks for headphones, an external speaker, line out, and an optional foot switch (to control the boost and tremolo on/off functions).

I would increase the rating in this category by one point for each of the following: an aux/CD input, another guitar input, and a middle tone control.

Sound Quality: 10
What an amazing, beautiful sound! In addition, this little solid-state amp almost sounds and FEELS like a tube amp. The dynamics are not at all flat like many solid states.

At present, I am having more fun playing through this little amp than through my much-loved Fender '65 Super Reverb Reissue. The Vox sounds amazing clean, at least at the low volumes I usually use at home.

Since getting the SRRI a year ago, I have found myself mostly playing clean, straight into the amp. With the Vox, it is the same. The clean is chimey, almost Fender clean with the treble up. With the gain up, there is a nice overdriven sound, perfect for the blues or lighter rock. Turning the gain up all the way and pressing the boost switch results in a disappointing buzz. Consequently, you will need a pedal for heavy metal or really hard rock. (The Boss Metal Zone sounds fantastic with this amp.) However, the clean sound is so good I don't care!

Guitar: Briane Moore M/C1 with a SD Alnico II humbucker in the neck position, a SD Alnico II Pro single-coil in the middle, and a SD Jeff Beck inhumbucker in the bridge. A fabulous albeit overpriced guitar.

Style: my own. I play clean, finger-style, acoustic guitar-like stuff, clean leads over another guitar, and outrageously saturated and heavy stuff (leads and rhythm). All but the latter fits well at Starbuck's on a Saturday morning...

Reliability: N/A
I assume it will be quite reliable.

Customer Support: N/A
I have not had any need to contact anyone about repairs. For the price, I am not at all concerned.

Overall Rating: 9
What a great little amp! I would definitely replace it if it were lost or stolen.

I tried to like Fender's Frontman 25R, but that amp was too noisy (although its distortion was much better) and too loud. Further, the Vox's clean sound is much better (to my ears) than the Frontman.

BTW, I've been playing for over 30 years (and I'm finally getting quite good at it!).

Submitted by Jeff Olson at 05/25/2003 09:24

Price Paid: US $90 used

Features: 8
2002 model, 15W 1x8" single-channel solid state combo made in Korea. Features include gain boost, tremolo, reverb, line out, extension speaker out, earphone jack, footswitch input for gain boost and trem. All you need for a vintage style practice amp. I use an old Crate footswitch with it. Reasonably loud for practicing at home or at a small venue. I think the new Orange practice amps use the same circuit.

Sound Quality: 9
I play a Warmoth hollow strat with Bill Lawrence L-450 humbuckers straight into the amp. This amp is best suited for 60s brit-rock, modern pop-rock, and anything else outside the metal realm where that pseudo AC30 tone is desired. Cleans are amazingly punchy and chimey, while overdrive is crunchy and useful up to a point, before is starts to sound like a buzzsaw. You can get anything from a clean shimmer to an irreverantly delightful kerrang, but you must tweak the tone and gain knobs to find the best tones. Trem and reverb are sufficient for mild effects.

I had a chance to compare this to the discontinued Cambridge 15, with the tube preamp and no reverb. Must say, at first I really favored the Cambridge for its smoother and tubey distortion, thinking the preamp tube was doing something (the Cambridge was equipped with a NOS GE 12AX7WA). Then I switched the output of the two amps into the other's speaker (the Pathfinder has a chinese Celestion clone, while the Cambridge had a real blue frame Celestion, I'd assume a re-labeled Celestion Super 8). Man, the great smooth distortion from the Cambridge was due almost solely to the speaker! Actually, through the same blue Celestion, the Pathfinder had a better, more balanced and chimey Vox-tone. I found the Cambridge to be a bit muddy and piercing at the same time, compared to the Pathfinder. The clean on the Cambridge was punchier, but a bit muddier than on the Pathfinder. Goes to show, pre-amp tubes in hybrid amps are definitely more of a marketing gimmick than people think.

Reliability: 9
It's solid-state, no problems so far. I'd get some corner protectors on this thing before I started lugging it around.

Customer Support: N/A
I'd imagine getting parts to service a Korean-made mass-produced amp would be a bitch, but I have no experiences to share. I'd probably try to fix problems myself.

Overall Rating: 9
I've been playing for about 5 years, off and on with friends and occasionally at small venues. My other gear include a modded Fender HRDx, a Takamine acoustic, and a Japanese Tele. This amp is perfect for practice and has enough tone mojo to play out with a small band w/ quiet drummer. I'm surprised each day I plug in at how such great punchy tones can come out of such a cheap mass-produced amp. I compared this to the Cambridge 15, Marshall MG15 (dull and boxy sounding), Crates (okay, but not inspiring), Fender solid states (thin and noisy), Fender Pro Junior and silver-face Champs (awsome tone, but not versatile enough for the money). For around $100, you can't beat the Pathfinder. Although the stock speaker is great for cleans, I think I'll try a replacement Weber or Celestion to smooth out the heavy distortion. Once I do that, this amp will rock.

Submitted by Anonymous at 04/17/2003 11:49

Price Paid: US $140

Features: 10
2003 Vox Pathfinder 15R
15 watt solid state
Two channels: clean and boost
Headphone jack, Extension speaker jack, Line out, Footswitch
Gain, Volume, Treble, Bass, Tremolo Speed, Tremolo Depth, Reverb
I mostly use this amp for practive and jam sessions, and it has more than enough power, I rarely have it up over 1/3 master volume. This amp has a ton of features for the price and is extremely well built. I only wish it had a contour or midrange knob.
The other thing I don't like is the footswitch and headphone inputs, along with outputs are all on the back, which is inconvenient.

Sound Quality: 9
My current setup is Epiphone Les Paul Custom>Crybaby 535Q Wah>Ibanez TS7 Tubescreamer>Vox Pathfinder 15R.
The sounds are very versatile, and it suits my style of playing well (delirious?, Jars of Clay, Third Day, U2, etc). The sound is not lacking in treble, especially with reverb, which is a good complement to my Les Paul. But should you wish, it can put out some thick bass too. Very quiet when on, in clean channel. It doesn't make a sound when switched on. When the boost is activated, it makes a bit of noise. The clean channel is excellent, very smooth, and even warm. The boost is also good, but I prefer the sound with a Tubescreamer to the built in distortion, it's just a bit more crisp. But the level and range of distortion is more than adequate for me.
The clean channel easily break up and give you a good crunch, if you turn the gain up about 2/3. But if you want "clean" clean, this amp can do it too.
The tremolo is pretty smooth, but it is not very strong, more suited to subtlety. It could be stronger. The reverb isn't too pronounced either, and could be thicker, but it adds some depth to your sound.
Occasionally, this amp will pick up radio signals when you're not playing, which can get annoying, but it isn't very loud and you can't hear it or else it goes away when you play.

Reliability: 10
No problems yet, since I use it for jamming and practice, and since it's solid state, it should be pretty reliable. No problems so far. It's built very well.

Customer Support: N/A
I haven't dealt with Vox, so I don't have an opinion on this.

Overall Rating: 10
I've been playing about 4 years now and also own a Marshall MG15 combo, and I prefer the Vox's sound to the Marshall now.
I would get another one were this stolen or lost, I really like the sound and features.
I think this amp is a great value for the money. Now you can't pump out heavy distortion without a distortion pedal, so this amp is for people with cultivated aural tastes.

Submitted by Josh L. at 02/15/2003 18:37

Price Paid: US $139.00

Features: 8
2002 amp. The other reviews cover most of the features. In this day of the black/silver amp clones out there, nothing looks quite as classy as a Vox with it's diamond grill cloth, white piping, and gold trim. I always get compliments from other musicians at my gigs. The only things I can fault this on is the lacking of a second input which would be nice for two guys to fire up both their ax's on an inpromptu jam, and the foot switch controls. The right button works the tremelo, which is great. The left switch controls the boost switch, and I don't care for this feature at all. Personally, I wish instead of the boost switch, you could switch the reverb on and off from the foot switch. Maybe I can get my amp tech to do a little rewiring...

Sound Quality: 9
I play a 1975 strat with Fender vintage Noiseless pickups as my main ax, and a mid 80's Ibanez RG550 as my backup. My effects chain is currently all Danelectro, with an EQ into a phase shifter into a delay into a chorus into a Daddy-O overdrive. I usually play with the EQ and delay (usually set as a slap back) on, and use the other pedals occasionally. I play everything from Beatles to Rock-a-billy, New Wave to Punk, with a dose of old time Jazz to boot. My main amp is a 1965 Vox AC-30, and I bought the Pathfinder primarily as a practice/rehersal amp. While is doesn't exactly duplicate the sound of all of those heated electrons bouncing around in those vacuum tubes, it is definitely a Vox. It is one of the best solid state amps I've ever heard, and when you turn up the gain, lacks that cheesy distortion transistors sometimes give in a solid state amp. In my opinion, the boost switch give that cheesy transisitor distortion, so I never use it. Boy, was I surprised by the sound and volume. Definitely powerful enough for rehersals as well as small venues. At medium sized venues, I purchased one of those Ultimate kick back amp stands with the mic goose neck on top, and I just mic the amp through the PA and use the pathfinder as my stage monitor. Now I bust out the old AC-30 for only the largest and highest profile venues. One day I may get an AC-15 or an AD60VT as an "in between" amp, but I'll always keep the Pathfinder. It is so easy to lug around to a jam.

Reliability: 10
Rock Solid! Not even a hickup!

Customer Support: 10
I've dealt with Korg mostly for support on my 1965 AC-30, and they have been outstanding. They found me a Vox tech about an hour from my house to work on my old gem and it never sounded better.

Overall Rating: 10
I believe this amp offers the best bang for the buck out there. Nothing comes close. I recently went to the local Sam Ash store, and the salesman let me set up a Pathfinder Reverb nect to a Pathfinder mini stack, and I went back and forth and tried them both for an hour or so. The mini-stack and a fuller sound and more volume, but at over twice the price, I believe the combo is a better value.

Submitted by Sav at 02/02/2003 05:18

Price Paid: US $120

Features: 10
Features: 10

This is the 'new and improved' 15 watt VOX Pathfinder now with spring reverb (finally!). Assume this amp was made in 2002.

Was looking for a practice amp that would sound great at low volumes for practicing in an apartment setting and for jamming with friends. This VOX Pathfinder 15R fits the bill perfectly.

Features:

15 watts solid state.

8" VOX Bulldog speaker.

Single channel.

Controls for Volume, Treble, Bass, Tremolo, and Reverb. Also switch for gain boost.

Effects: Tremolo (speed and depth controls) and Reverb (depth). Both tremolo and gain-boost are footswitch-able.

Headphone jack, external speaker out, line out, footswitch jack.

Appearance-wise, very pleasing, with the typical VOX appointments: basket-weave tolex covering, diamond pattern gille cloth, "chicken head" style controls, and of course, the cool "VOX" gold badge on the front.

Sound Quality: 10
Sounds: 10

Play a Fender 62 Telecaster Custom RI with this amp. Very quiet amp, barely detectable hiss even with single coil pickups.

After turning this thing on, I immediately realized this Pathfinder 15R has terrific 'clean' tones, with the typical VOX-Y chime. Very bright tone, you can crank it almost full before the clean tone starts to break up.

You can work the ‘gain’ and ‘volume’ controls to produce several cool combinations of distorted tones without the gain-boost turned on. Turning the ‘gain’ to maximum and adjusting the ‘volume’ allows for varying the distortion volume level to whatever suites your needs. The distortion tone is very tube-like, warm and crunchy.

The gain-boost will produce more ‘grungy’ overdrive tones, closer to an overdriven tube amp sound rather than a fuzz-box effect. If you’re looking for a ‘heavy metal’ sound, you’ll need a stomp box designed for that purpose with this amp.

The reverb is completely outstanding and a welcome addition. Very echo-y, adds a nice sparkle to the tone, especially with the ‘clean’ settings.

The tremolo is very sweet sounding, with the speed and depth adjustable. I believe VOX improved this feature, seems to have more speed variation than on the previous Pathfinder 15 model.

For a 15 watt solid-state amp with an 8” speaker, the Pathfinder 15R can get surprising loud. Not sure if loud enough for gigging except in suitably small venues. Best use of this amp is for home recording, practice, and jamming.

Very sweet 'chime' with clean settings, raucous distortion when fully cranked. Overall, this amp has killer tones for such a small 15 watt solid-state amp.

Reliability: 10
Reliability: 10

As far as reliability goes, as long as you don't drop it off a cliff or set it on fire, it should be problem free since it’s a solid-state amp. Seems well built and solid.

Customer Support: 10
Customer Support: 10

Warranty is 1 year.

I’ve dealt with VOX/KORG in the past and they have always been very friendly and helpful. Hopefully I won’t have any problems with this amp.

Overall Rating: 10
Overall Rating: 10

I've been playing for just over a year now. I mostly play at home or with friends for fun, so like I said this amp completely suits my needs.

If your looking for a small amp that perfectly creates the classic VOX tones, ie, Brit-Rock, Tom Petty, R.E.M., etc, and can’t afford an AC-30 or Valvetronix, the Pathfinder 15R is a great choice. VOX hit a home run with this amp. It’s one of the best sounding small practice amps out there for under $200.

Try one out, let your own ears be the judge. This might be the perfect small practice amp you are looking for.

Jan 15,2003 lr***

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Submitted by Michael Behuniak at 01/15/2003 20:30

Price Paid: US $125

Features: 10
Its the 15r so it has a reverb along with the other features. Best souding SS i've ever heard.

Sound Quality: 9
Pound for pound the best sounding practice amp around. Much louder than it it looks. About as warm and clear as it gets with buying a Fender 3 times it's price range. Nothing you would use for a big room but nonetheless a hell of an amp for around the house and great for home recording. Haven't heard anything I haven't liked-well ok maybe the gain when it's cranked.

Reliability: N/A
Just bought it so I don't know. It's a little buzzy and there is an audible hiss which is surprising since it's brand new. But hit a chord and of course you hear nothing but whats you're supposed to...and it sounds incredibly good.

Customer Support: N/A
not sure

Overall Rating: 9
Just an awesome amp...i first borrowed one because there was nothing in the rehersal space to use so I was basically forced to use it as a last resort. I plugged a Gibson 335 (remember, I've never heard these little amps before) and that hollowbody through that thing blew me away. Just beautiful...I immediatly ran out and bought one at my local store. It's got the perfect blend of warm low round tones but still has bright clear enough highs. It looks so unassuming in the store but JUST TRY ONE OUT...and be sure to turn it up a little. They really sell themselves.

Submitted by Anonymous at 10/18/2002 23:49

Price Paid: `199 (Euro)

Features: 8
This is the latest model: the Vox Pathfinder 15R ! It has all the features described in the previous reviews, except this baby has REVERB !!! The guys at Vox finally woke up and added reverb to this magnificent little amp. It still has the tremolo which I'm not gonna use... I rate it an 8 now because I miss an FX loop.

Sound Quality: 10
I just sold my 120W Dynacord amp because it was to loud since I only use it in my livingroom. Therefore I spent about half a day in the musicshop trying 6 different 15 Watt amps. They all sounded very differently and actually the Vox was not the best sounding amp, but I ended up buying it because it was the most complete one. The Crate I tested sounded a little better, had more bass and the clean was clearer than the Vox. The Vox however sounded bigger than the rest. The 8" speaker sounds at least as good as a 10" (the Marshall I tested sounded as if it was as big as a matchbox).

The clean sounds are very good on this amp. Not as clear as the Fender I tested but very smooth and tube-like. For a livingroom it has enough volume and maybe if you use 4x10 or 4x12 cab on the speaker-out it even can be gigged with (but I'm not going to...).

When you crank up the gain it sound very much like a solid state amp. I won't be using this very much because I have a H&K Tubeman which gives me the overdrive or distortion I need. I also have a Tubescreamer (TS7) and a Marshall Guv'nor (old type) and they both sound very nice too.

This amp sounds good with both my guitars (Squier strat en Epi LP). Needs adjusting though when switching between them, but that's normal. I play a lot of blues and I think that's what suits this amp the best. It's not made for metal or stuff like that.

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

Customer Support: N/A
I hope I won't have to find out...

Overall Rating: 9
This amp is great for me. It's a superb practise amp and can be used for livingroom jamsessions. It has very nice features and looks good too. It has a real vintage look and so do my guitars. When playing however it looks kinda strange because I use a couple of high tech looking guitar FX...

As I mentioned before I compared this Vox with 5 other amps and this one has by far the best value for money. All the others didn't sound as good or missed one or two important features. The Fender was too bright, the Marshall sounded too small (very disappointed), the Vox Pathfinder 10 has no reverb and the speaker is too small and the Ibanez was bad in every way possible. Only the Crate came close to this amp and sounded slightly better. The Crate however misses the option to use a footswitch and the panel layout really stinks.

I am sure I'm gonna have lots of fun with this baby. Everone who's looking for a small amp should check it out. In lots of reviews people mentioned the fact that it didn't have a reverb as the only bad thing about this amp. Well, now it has a reverb!! And it sounds great!!

Submitted by Patrick at 08/16/2002 00:33