Vox Pathfinder Mini-Stack

Price Paid: N/A used

Features: 8
my "vox pathfinder 15 super mini reverb mini-stack" has the usual features (and as listed below by other reviewers). but since i imported it from the US, i had to change the power supply to the european volt/watt. i think the mini-stack was reserved for the US market as i could not find a model in europe. so, i guess i am the only european to posess one. the amp is not very versatile being it a one channel amp. but its perfect for classic and vintage rock. i find the boost switch (footswitchable via the optional VFS2 dual footswitch) very handy to boost solos. the tremolo is also footswitchable and sounds very retro, very vox and very good. its no "deep" tremolo, but a warm and "dolce" one. i give it a "8" because of the limited features, but if you play classic rock, its no problem. the amp has all i need.

Sound Quality: 10
i mostly play my rickenbacker 330 and my epi firebird V through the pathfinder. with my rick the amp has terrible amount of treble, i barely can use the bridge pickup with my rick. but with treble at "0" and it works. i like to describe the sound as "the poor mans AC15". it certainly has that vox sound: crisp and sparkling. the amp delivers heavenly cleans, very creamy and smooth and with gain on 1/3 just pick harder and the sound distorts. the amp is very dynamic and response quickly to your picking. with gain at 1/2 you get wonderful retro overdrive/crunch, perfect for full chords - i luv it! you can match the stones or beatles sound in no time with this amp. kick in the tremolo and start your 60s cover band! kick in the boost and solo away with a warm, organic and gainier tone. set the gain to 2/3 and you can play more modern rock like oasis. after 2/3 of gain it gets a bit to much, a bit muddy. wanna play AC/DC or black sabbath? no problem, the amp offers also those sound. but thats the heaviest it gets. for real metal sound you will look at other amps anyway.
with my epi firebird i love playing the neck pickup through this amp: it gets me a bluesy, round solo sound and a really exciting "strat-through-vox AC15" rhytm sound! for my needs, i play mostly "british music" its perfect. the 2x10 speakers are very punchy and clear, while playing full chords you can clearly hear all the strings ring. its very transparent sounding. the amp is loud enough for rehearsals and when you play live just mike it and you're ready for small to medium gigs. the amp is not noisy at all.

Reliability: 9
i bought it 6-7 months ago, so i can't really comment and i have only played it at home and at rehearsals. but with the usual care it should last for a long time. its all solid state, so no tube will break. the vinyl covering at the corners could be better.

Customer Support: N/A
never dealt with vox.

Overall Rating: 10
i think i will never sell it. they are a special limited edition and in 20-30 years it will sit in my livingroom like a nice piece of retro music showing off. its really the "poor mans AC15". it has "that" vox sound for a lot less money. its light and therefore easily portable and looks cool too. perfect for my needs, delivers great sound in spades, not very versatile but takes pedals very well, so you can shape your sound with those little boxes. its fantastic value for the money.

Submitted by careful with that axe guitarist at 10/04/2005 05:12

Price Paid: US $250

Features: 8
15 Watt head with 4 8" Vox/Celestion Bulldog speakers in the cabinet. Gain, volume, treble, bass, tremolo speed, tremolo depth, reverb, and boost button. Boost and tremolo are footswitchable. Inputs in the back of the head are: head phone, speaker out 8 ohm, line out, footswitch. Very light weight. Nothing too crazy as far as features go but you get this for the tone, not the 'special effects'.

Sound Quality: 10
Wow! Quick story. I've been looking for "the amp" for several weeks now. I've played Fender tube amps, Line 6 modeling amps, Crate amps with a ton of effects.. they sounded good but nothing really grabbed me and said, "This is the one for you!" Then one day I went to a Guitar Center and saw this funny looking, really small, Vox stack on a clearance table. Just for fun I asked to be plugged in. I stummed the first chord and the heavens opened, the angels sang, "This is the one for you." The tone, the sounds I can get out of it send chills down my spine. It has such a great clean sound. And try turning the gain all the way up and the volume up to 2 or 3; yowza! It growls but doesn't turn to mud at all (unless you also put the boost on).

Reliability: 9
The amp is still fairly new, but it seems well built and fairly sturdy. As with all equipment though, it's not made to spill beer all over and play football with. I think, if taken care of, this amp will last many solid years.

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 10
Yes, it's 15 watts. But do watts have anything to do with loudness? Not really. Watts are a measurement of energy/power. Forget what the tag says and listen to your years. This amp is plenty loud. The 4 8inch speakers have no problem filling my house at a quarter volume. And if you grow out of the mini cabinet and want 4 12's, get them. I plugged the head into a half stack and it got loud enough at quarter volume to need ear plugs if played for an extended time.
Is this the amp for everyone? Of course not. Forget the reviews and what the tag says and use your ears. My ears told me that this was the amp for me, yours may say a Fender Deluxe is better and that's fine. Music would be pretty boring if we all played through the same amp.
By the way, I've played several guitars through this amp and have gotten a nice sound with all of them (Danelectro U2, Alvarez archtop w/ P-90 in the neck, Daisey Rock Hetro-H, Fender Mustang.

Submitted by carterlite at 06/16/2005 18:20

Price Paid: US $250.00

Features: 10
as luck would have it for a christmas present, my wive said to me -" which amp do you want to get rid of?" in a moments notice, we packed up my little peavey-158 and shredded on down to the local guitar center. we traded that amp for the 2004 vox 15smr408. great amp, it works well with my telecaster and my dean jazz stylist standard. with the gain and volume knobs i can go from clean to crunch or halfway with no problems. one of the reasons for buying this amp is that it makes for a flexible set up with the other amp - a crate mxr65- with the vox four speaker cabinet, i can use that as an external spealer - which opens up the crates reverb better - or use the vox head through the crate - and clean or crunch takes on a totally new dimension. music classic rock - and meandering solos.

Sound Quality: 9
this amp loves the humbuckers my dean has - i like the way the four speakers push the sound - excuse the comparison - a coworker loaned me a super reverb for a few weeks - that amp and vox share that same sort of push - not a bark like a single speaker amp would have - more a a push.( and yes i did return the super reverb). however - the telecaster does get a little noisy. my only complaint about this amp would be the reverb unit - it's not wet enough - however, an electroharmonix holy grail took care of that situtation.

Reliability: 10
reliability - no problems so far - i would use this as a primary amp and my crate as a back-up amp

Customer Support: 10
wouldn't know

Overall Rating: 10
great amp - it is one of those items that when they come along - grab it - the tones acheived make it worth its wait. if this puppy were ever to leave my premises with out my permission,i would be sorely dissapointed in humanity. no complaints - no gripes - still exploring the amps possibilities. since it is only a 15-watt amp , i am surprised ny it capabilities - because of this - no other item i know of - in it's range compares

Submitted by Anonymous at 02/10/2005 15:38

Price Paid: US $249.00

Features: 7
I just bought this Vox Pathfinder mini-stack (Model 15SMR408). This Mini-Stack seems a bit different from the other ones mentioned here. I have 4 8" Vox/Celestion Bulldog speakers in my cabinet, instead of 2 10". I can play a variety of different styles--classic rock, blues, indie, rock and I am pretty satisfied with this little guy. Pretty basic, one channel solid state, 15 watts, with built-in reverb and tremolo. Has a boost switch that I never use. In the back we've got a headphone jack and a line out. Also, there is a jack for the optional footswitch. Buy the footswitch.

Sound Quality: 9
At the moment I am using a Fender Jaguar and a 1972 Gibson SG III, both have two single-coils and both are pretty versatile. In addition to the guitars, I'm using a Danelectro Cool-Cat chorus pedal (which is one of the most incredible chorus pedals available), a Vox wah, and an Ibanez Tube Screamer re-issue. If you wanted, you could probably play anything with this amp but hard ass rock. I love the sounds of the 60s and I play classic rock and a variety of alternative sounds (pearl jam, stp), along with some bluesy stuff. This amp has me covered pretty well. Sounds excellent clean (turn the gain up just a bit though, can be quiet) and the distortion is sufficient for what I'm playing. The reverb is great--some amps with the built-in reverb sound weak, I'm pretty happy with this. I have no need for the boost switch.

Reliability: 9
I doubt that I will have trouble any time soon. I'm pretty careful with my stuff. This amp seems pretty solid.

Customer Support: N/A
Never dealt with Korg. Haven't had any problems yet. Warranty is like 90 days. Eh.

Overall Rating: 8
Overall, a great little amp. Versatile enough. Just what I need at the moment. If broken, I would try to get another one (dont know how successful I would be, seeing how rare these seem to be). I compared this to a solid state fender and the fender blues junior. I needed something quiet, as I am at college. The blues junior was too expensive and this was just right, and it looks awesome. The styling is great--the gold piping, the brown grille cloth with green, red, and burnt orange stitching, it has a great look to it. And it sounds way better than many of the amps in this wattage class.

Submitted by tr at 01/16/2005 18:53

Price Paid: US $208

Features: 7
I'm adding this to the one below to tell you how much better it is to have 2 of these than just one. I bought 1 more and am now running them in stereo. Super clear/big,BIG sound. You can't go wrong when you take a good thing and buy one more good thing and then you have 2 good things that are like one big good thing.

Get 'em.

Sound Quality: 9

Reliability: 10

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 10

Submitted by Ed at 11/11/2004 21:27

Price Paid: US $300

Features: 7
Pretty basic knobbers:
-Gain
-Volume
-Treble
-Bass
-Tremolo Speed
-Tremolo Depth
-Reverb

It has a Gain Boost switch that boosts the overall volume too much in my opinion. I like the extra gain, but it needs to drop some volume to make it more like a clean/crunch setting.

Also has Phone out/ speaker out/ line out/ and footswitch that operates the Tremolo on/off and gain boost. Gain boost switch is pretty much useless, as I said. If you have a nice clean tone and kick in the gain...hold your ears.

The cabinet is small, light, and very nice. It contains 2 Celestion 10" speakers that are crystal clear and articulate.

Aesthetically...I truly dig it. Very vintage and tasteful. Diamond face grille cloth, white piping, with gold VOX nameplate looks great to me.

Sound Quality: 9
I play with a Fender Lite Ash Strat with Duncan singles, and a Fender custom built Swamp Ash Strat with P90's. Two very different tones that both sound wonderful through this amp. Just back off the Bass a little for the P90 Strat and I'm in business.

The amp can do cleans to hard rock. I don't think metal is an option unless you use an ext. distortion pedal. I love the overdrive on this amp. Very VOX'y. At high volume, it breaks up a bit. I like to set it up with my Route 66 compressor in front to overdrive it a little. Nice'N'bluesy. I also like to use a Digitech GNX2 to run Stereo with my other amp. I would love to have two of these little Pathfinder SMR's to run in stereo. The tremolo settings are pretty controllable and nice, and the analog reverb is very useable and a nice touch.

Volume is surprisingly "up there" for a 15watt solid state amp. I was literally knocked back a few feet when I cranked the little bugger for the first time. Pretty good for coffee shop/small gig's. 2 of them in stereo would be adequate to fill a decent size room with luscious six-string luv'n.

Reliability: N/A
Haven't had it too long. Hey, it's solid state and VERY basic. What could go wrong?

Customer Support: N/A
N/A I hear it sux though.

Overall Rating: 9
I have been playing for 16 years (I'm 28 now). I do Jazzy, Bluesy, Rock, Techno...all church music that I try to spice up a bit. I usually play in coffee shops that hold around 80 peeps to sanctuaries that run around 150-200. I like it a little loud for the highschool kids and I have no problems with this amp. I am tired of hauling huge amps around. I'm tired of having to use amps that cost as much as my car to get good tone. This little thing by it self has great tone, but add a little brother in stereo and it would be lush, man. A real beautiful sound.

Submitted by Ed at 10/16/2004 22:13

Price Paid: US $300

Features: 7
I bought one of these about a month ago. I had to see what the hubbub was all about. If it really is a limited run of 750 (only 15 per state!)like other ppl say, you probably can't go wrong for that reason alone because it would be so rare.

They all have the same fn features so read on after my review please. I want to expand on what they wrote plus they are what helped make me want to buy this.

Never had an old VOX or a Marshall Mini Stack which is what you would most closely try to compare this to as far as value. Just took a chance.

With that said I can tell you it has a very nice tremelo especially if you like it kinda rounded at the edges, not square, not like my old Danelectro DM 25. This one goes a little slower and faster too.

The reverb is quite usable which is more than I can say for any Marshall I owned. It is nothing like a Fender Bandmaster revreb but usable, almost really good surfing baby....almost. They should cut profits just a tad and went a little further with the reverb but I guess it pretty much is par with the rest of the amp.... decent but falls just short of being fucking awesome.

Tone controls and such are limited in count but do have quite a bit of effect on sound . The last third of the volume control does almost nothing though.

I have to admit this thing is easy to port around. This speaker cable has two quarter inch plugs and is very short.

The number of features this amp has is few, for three or four hundred bucks, especially nowadays.

Only three outputs and one input. Only one speaker out. The speaker cabinet it comes with is its best feature......maybe.
I didn't notice any ports which means this speaker is ACOUSTIC SUSPENTION, not tuned port radiation so that in itself would be rare to say the least.

I haven't tried it with other amps yet. I'm afraid I might find out it only sounds ok on this amp. Read on.

Sound Quality: 9
Now this is tricky. Mostly, I like to play a bad fuckin ass stock BC RICH Ironbird from the eighties and I like it tuned low.

This amp has high gain and it sounds dark, very dark. It can turn to mud when dimed.
Treble and bass all the way up makes a good scoop, no mud there either. The amp clips out low frequencies and clips those suckers hard. Soooo.. that means this amp actually sounds heavier when the gain is backed off at least a third. Now it sounds sinister brutal and can be extremely quiet between notes compared to old school amps. Gain all the way up is instant mud. NO smooth saturation with rich harmonics, this one is very clippy but can still sound kinda devistating at times.

No sweet palmmuting is really happening here which sucks for me(or does it?)because that's what I'm known to do alot of. Solid state Ampegs seem to rule that territory I know I have one and tried way back then.
That could be good to help get you away from the same old same old and adapt new picking techniques and such.
If you want to use your own distortion with this amp forget about it! No metalzone no rat no dys104. Other effects may not sound so great either. Same deal with every Korean amp I tried.

The distortion in all these Korean crap boxes is similar to a Boss pw 2 powerdriver pedal. You basically have to rely on the amp for the sound you can achieve. The distortion is gravelly and growling like a wrecklessly dimed overdriven tube amp I guess. I said like it....not identical. It sounds like some Godsmack (think "Awake" just not quite as thick)and Evanessance(what the fuck ever but you might have heard it on a tv commercial)licks I've heard. Very modern vibe because of this. They were right about that.

Now if you have a Strat. I have a 88 USA standard. It really makes it sound very very Strat like for some reason(normal pitch tuning). My stock les paul didn't get the same effect, not yet. Sounds very hot-rodded to me. Like they took a cheap amp and tweaked the living daylights out of it. I got to relearn how to play to get a good sound but its there.

Also, if it is run clean, it won't ever be loud. Lucky if it has one third the volume clean. Not just by pushing that gain boost switch either, you really need to back off the gain. When you get there though and turn up the reverb, it sound very very much like some early Beetles or Stones or something I heard from that era. That famous weak sound. Reminds me of "satisfaction" but without the distortion. I tried adding distortion or gain to nail "satisfaction" and lost the vibe though. Its more modern sounding whatever you play through it period. Modern rock, modern blues modern whatever, as long as you like a dark sounding amp and by that I don't mean lack of treble. I mean it sounds kinda evil. Even the reverb. That is probably why it gets a high rating from me for sound even though palmmuting is near impossible to make sound good.

Reliability: N/A
My tolex came with two tears in it BEFORE it was opened. The fuck is up with that sam ash, vox, anybody? The carton wasn't damaged and is supposed to be "a" stock. I think this amp was never opend, wasn't supposed to be anyway. Would they have repacked it and sent it out like that from Vox? Doubt it. I wonder if that is how this store would make me pay a restocking fee if I decided not to keep it. I didn't see any evidence of repacking. I guess I'll never know how they got there.

Other than that and the fact that they just slapped tolex on the back of the speaker cover and cut around the edge, it looks great. Nice gold piping. Seems well built but I would have to look inside to decide. Not doin that just yet. So I don't think I can leave a rating
that would be fair.
Never dealt with any problems yet. the guy who wrote below about all the visits to the tech....... sounds alarming. Maybe just a lemon but these Korean amps beg to be cranked unlike their predassessors which sound better at low volumes and are muddy when cranked, so if something is gonna give it will soon from vibration. Kudos for Celestian.

Customer Support: N/A
Never dealt with yet.

Overall Rating: 8
Overall I gotta say I can't defcide whether to keep it or not. It has modern sound to it. This is the kind of amp tomorrows rock stars are sharpening their teeth on today. It is approaching the upper end of, pricewise, the Korean crapbox vintage amp mimmicking series. Orange Vox Marshall Fender, they got em all and in many sizes/prices and many are a limited run to keep em a little special if the numbers are correct.

Pick the features you want in a crapbox and buy it because none of your effects will sound quite right on this amp. This one probably has the most vintage type of or almost the least amount of features for the price but just might have the best sound out of all of them. I think the speaker cabinet saves this amp's ass. This combination packs quite a punch but you do pay bucks for it.

This product has good cohesion within itself but doesn't work well with others. It can stand pretty well on its own but is a shame it just doen't go all out all the way with the reverb and the ditortion. I never thought of trying to make my Ampeg ss sound like this. It sounds cool now if you buy into the fantasy it tries to create. You almost think you are playing a big expensive amp but a little out of adjustment or out of control. Fun little edition if you can afford it.

I seen them sell for over $300 on ebay a few times lately
so I might keep it and pay later. If it were stolen I'd forget about it until I see another. Unless this thing grows on me more, I nwould rather buy one kick ass half stacker instead of all these little suckers.
I have started quite a small amp collection for some friggin' reason. I could have bought a nice used real stack by now! Yikes! I always read HC reviews so I hope this helps you out.

Submitted by S at 03/05/2004 14:12

Price Paid: US $299

Features: 10
This amp was made in 2002. I bought 1 used and 1 new. The amp has EVERYTHING that I look for and wonder why the BIG BOYS don't offer these features on their rigs costing 10 times as much. Just goes to show that name and status are foremost to efficiency. I play Jimmy Buffet to Blues to grind your ass funk and classic rock. This single channel 15 watt (right) 12ax7 preamp tube, solid state output stage tremelo, reverb boost switch mini-mite can handle EVERY INSTANCE from duet small clubs to outdoor concerts using either the line out to PA or microphone. The clean sounds are dripping with that singing Vox tone and the distortion can be complimentary to rearranging your intestines. It is the NOW amp in my opinion. If you like to carry an expensive glass factory...your choice. I've had Ac30 (which this is close to but with the overdrive), Fender, Marshall, GK 212G (another extreme favorite) and this amp can do it ALL. Through a 2 or 4x12 cab the thing is priceless. The stock bottom is OK but a little bright and the low end booms a bit. I have customized mine so it sits sideways on the Cambridge 30 stand giving it unparalleled projection. Quite a difference from the Cambridge 30 POS. But that is another story.

Sound Quality: 10
I use Steinbergers, Gibso/Epiphones, G&L Legacy, lots of others and it can handle all styles. Very quiet, comparatively. Clean channel can be singing when wide open and the distortion rivals what some say is "over the top".

Reliability: 10
2 years of blissful use. I've tried others and ALWAYS come back to my soul mate.

Customer Support: 10
Cambridge 30 breakdowns every week!!! Am I kidding ? NO! But under warranty immpeccable service is offered. These, P15s never neede it. Even through humid Florida conditions. Don't forget to wipe your glass.

Overall Rating: 10
I am a seasoned musicians with 38 years of annoying anyone that comes in ear contact. Some say that I'm excellent. THEY ARE WRONG. DON"T LISTEN TO THEM. Thank you and Goodnight.

Submitted by Fred Waters at 02/09/2004 16:28

Price Paid: US $250

Features: 9
This amp was made in 2002 in a limited production run of about a thousand. It is a 15 watt pathfinder with a 2-10" Celestion speaker cabinet. One channel, with tremolo and reverb built in as well as a volume boost. It also has a headphone jack and an extension speaker jack.

The only problem with this amp is that without the footswitch the tremolo can only be turned all the way down when you don't need it instead of just switching it off (however I have the footswitch I just thought I would mention that). The reverb is awesome, it ACTUALLY does something unlike a lot of other built-in reverbs

I use this amp for everything from practice to recording to playing in small clubs. It is plenty loud, its pretty amazing for 15 watts.
In fact this amp is just as loud as a 50 watt vintage club crate I owned!

Sound Quality: 10
I play a 1981 Les Paul through this thing and it sounds sweet. I play mostly indie rock, slow rock stuff and this amp is perfect for it.

As far as unwanted noise goes, this amp is the quietest amp I have ever owned. Sometimes I leave it turned on by accident with my guitar plugged in and I can't even tell.

This amp is incredibly versatile. With low gain the clean sound I get is perfect but you can crank the gain up a little and its perfect for dirty blues sounds. If you turn the gain all the way up it is not that great but thats what fuzz/distortion pedals are for.

Reliability: 10
I have been playing with this amp for about a year with no problems at all. It is a solid state so I would not expect any problems from it.

Customer Support: N/A
I bought this from a place that is an authorized VOX repair shop but I never had to use them. It comes with a year warranty.

Overall Rating: 10
I have been playing for about ten years and this is my favorite amp. I have owned fenders, marshalls, and crates, but I like VOX far more than any of them

If you have the opportunity to get one of these you should snatch it up quickly! This is the best deal for the size and the money, in my opinion

If it were stolen I would cry and then go looking for the guy.

Submitted by Anonymous at 12/24/2003 18:10

Price Paid: US $200 used

Features: 9
This is a Pathfinder P15 SMR: a 15-watt, solid-state 15R brain with a separate, sealed-back 2x10 Celestion-loaded cabinet. It has footswitchable Boost (be careful!) and Tremolo, and Headphone and Ext Spk jacks. I saw this little guy in the Used Gear section at a local store and immediately fell in love with its classy VOX cosmetics. Then I played a Strat through it and decided I couldn't live without it. It's very good: big, fat low end and those glassy VOX highs!

I contacted VOX and learned that a limited run of only about 750 were made in '01-'02. They don't appear in any VOX literature and were never in regular production. Might be worth something someday!

I use the brain to power a 1x12 open-back cab (Carvin) and it's potent enough to overcome our drummer at practice ... 15 watts, indeed! These watts must be 10 feet tall! I also use the cabinet with a VOX AD60VTH (until I get an AD212 cab), which is whole 'nother smoke altogether!

Sound Quality: 9
This thing can cover everything from the Allmans to ZZ. Plug in a toaster-top Rickenbacker and it's 1968; a hot Tele and it'll bring tears. Soapbars will break your heart!

My favorite settings are: Gain 4, Vol 10, Boost ON, Treb & Mid 5, Bass 2-3. With deft use of the guitar's volume control, this will give a squeeky clean to a gritty overdrive. The sealed cab is a bit boomy for my taste, while the open-back is much less so.

Reliability: 9
So far, so good!

Customer Support: 9
No repairs needed yet, but the folks at the VOX website have been very responsive to my history questions.

Overall Rating: 10
I've been playing for a long time, and have used a lot of different gear. My personal Holy Grail is the AC30, but I could never afford one. Somehow, the solid-state P15 SMR can get really close to that old VOX sound. This was my first VOX amp and I've since gotten the AD60VTH. I'm now a card-carrying VOX nut!

Submitted by Jim at 11/25/2003 07:13

Price Paid: N/A

Features: 7
I'm not real sure what year the amp was made. I'm guessing in 2002, I got it in a trade deal.It is pretty versatile and really surprises me every time I turn her on. One channel with boost for gain (which is foot switchable), tremolo (also foot switchable) and a very decent reverb. Does not have an f/x loop so all f/x have to go through the input. It does take pedal's very well. I use this amp mainly at home to practice and to record but have used it at practice with the band to all our surprise, it was plenty loud enough. Awsome power for 15 watt's. I would say if you know what your doing with your gear, this amp would serve you well.

Sound Quality: 8
I use a black 96 strat w/ duncan vintage staggard also a custom tele with the newer CS noiseless pup's. It suit's my style great. I love the tone's of the 60's and 70's rock and blue's. I have also been working on some country here lately, And that's when I found out how much this amp really shine's. This is what I did, depress the boost button, crank the master volume to max, turn the gain knob down to about 9:00 to keep it as clean as possible with plenty of volume. Put a compressor and od in front and man the just sing's. Totally impressed me. Go from spankin like brad paisley to silky smooth lead's ala Carlos Santana. This is the best way I have found to use the amp for my need's. I have to say the 2x10 cab is awsome. lot's of umph and it's rated for 160 watt so no problem's blowin it with the head. I actually set the cab on it's side then put the head on and it make's a cool looking piggy back rig.

Reliability: 10
I believe she's pretty tuff. I am very carefull with my stuff but you never know?? Yea I would gig with it without a back up. Never had one problem with it. I have had lot's of gear come and go and I'm a firm believer in if you take care of it it will take care of you.

Customer Support: N/A
Never delt with them.

Overall Rating: 10
I have been playin for a little over twenty year's. Like I stated earlier I have the strat and the tele, I have a Marshall JCM900 4502 2x12 combo, Marshall 4x10 strait cab, small PA system for practice and small gig's, a computer based studio Cuebase and Cool edit pro software, twelve string acoustic,bass, many floor fx's blaablaa blaa.....If it were stolen, yea if they still made it I would buy one. I love how light it is and I love the tremolo. Nothing to really hate on this one. I got this on a trade for a peavey classic 30. compaired to it I like it better when used as desribed in the sound section. also has way better reverb than the peavey. Would have been cool if they would have made a 1x12 cab as an option, just for a little something different in tone option's. If you want a cool little stack this is an amazing amp, If you can find one check it out but they only made like 700 or so. Later...

Submitted by Ashley meekins at 08/03/2003 06:18

Price Paid: US $300.00

Features: 7
New 2002. One Channel. Solid practice, rehearsal, and small venue amp. Will handle larger venues if you mic it. This is the same exact head as a pathfinder 15R combo. Quite loud for a solid state amp. Let me state I did not buy this amp, but I tested it out extensively at my local Sam Ash store and decided to pass. More on this later.

Sound Quality: 7
My style of music is varied from Beatles to Rockabilly, New wave to punk, and a dose of pld time jazz to boot. I play a 1975 strat with Fender Vintage Noiseless as my main ax, and a mid 80's Ibanez RG-550 as my backup. This amp is not noisy at all. It really shines for clean sounds, and has a satifactory overdrive sound. The boost switch is way over the top in my opinion. I like the sound when turning the gain up better than using the boost. My effects chain presently all Dano with an eq into a phase shifter into a chorus into a delay (usually set for slap-back) into a Daddy-O overdrive.

Reliability: 10
Should be great. My 15R combo has been rock solid for over a year.

Customer Support: 10
Great. I have called Korg numerous time, usually relating to my 1965 AC-30, and they have been very supportive. They have hooked me up with a dynamite Vox approved tech a little over an hour from where I live and my vintage amp never sounded better.

Overall Rating: 8
OK, here's we go. My main amp is my VOX 1965 AC-30 Super Reverb Twin. I bought this amp for $150 back in 1977, and now it is worth thousands of dollars. It has the tone I absolutely love, and anything else is second best, but because of it's value, and my aching back, I want to reserve use of this amp for only the biggest venues and home studio use. It's 30 watt class A tube power is way too loud for most gig's I play anyway. It is a heavy beast to move around. I bought a pathfinder 15R combo as a practice and rehearsal amp, and surprisingly it has enough volume for small gig's as well. For medium volume gig's I purchased one of those ultimate amp stands with a microphone gooseneck on top and I mic it through the PA, using the 15R as my stage monitor. It works well, but I'd like a bit more volume. Remember, this is no AC-30, but it is definitle a VOX. When I tried out my 15R at the music store, I plugged the ext speaker output into a marshall 2-12 cab, and was blown away by the sound improvement. This is what Vox has basically done with the 2-10 cab on the mini-stack. The dude at Sam Ash allowed me to set up the mini stack right next to a 15R combo and play my strat through both of them. I went back and forth, using the exact same amp settings, and compared the sound for about an hour. The mini-stack was definitely louder, and had a fuller tone. The treble was comparible, but the mids and bass was so much more defined with the mini-stack. I was really leaning towards buying this as my "in between" amp, but just for fun, I plugged into an AD60VT combo. OH MY GOD! The AC-30TB sounds just like my AC-30 when I'm driving all three channels, and the AC-15TB sounds just like my AC-30 when I'm driving only the brilliant channel. This amp retails for over twice the price of the mini-stack, but it really is the amp for the tone I seek, so I passed on the mini-stack and I'm saving up for the AD60VT. If I didn't already own a 15R, I might buy this baby, but if I connect my 15R to my 2-12 cab from my vintage amp, I can get just about the same sound if I want. The other really cool thing about the mini-stack is it's vertical configuration. (Wouldn't it be cool if someone like North Coast music made a trolley for this like the old Beatle amps used to have?) If you don't already own a 15R, I'd buy the limited edition mini-stack while I still could. If you're on a budget, the 15R is less than half the price and it comes close. I would give the 15R a 10 in value compared to an 8 for the mini-stack.

Submitted by Sav at 01/08/2003 21:24

Price Paid: US $300 ( If I remember)

Features: 10
Post above here covered all this part

Sound Quality: 10
I play Classic Rock/Blues/Rock-a-Billy,. Does most of them pretty good. Cant get the Setzer sound thru this just plugged in, but that's not what Vox was made for. I play a Les Paul Std w/Hums, a Strat w/ Single Coil/ a Casino w/p-90s, A Gretsch 6120 w/Alnico's. Dont really care for the Strat yet, Havent played with the settings to much yet tho. Everything else sounds good and that's just pluggin straight in. I have a Little Danelectro Set here to see if I can get a better sound for my strat, but if all else fails I'll run my RP2000. IT's loud enough and still keeps it's tone.

Reliability: 10
I have 2 Vint. Buckinghams a Berkley Super Reverb and 2 Cambridge 30's. Havent had a Prob with them yet, so hopefully this will hold it's own.

Customer Support: N/A
Never dealt with them

Overall Rating: 10
Only been playin with it for about ohhhhh since X-mas. So havent really jammed on it yet. I would prob do major bodily harm to someone if this was taken. That goes for all my gear tho. I would highly recommend these to anyone. 15-watts...LOL that's about 50 watts of another brand. That wattage Number (15 watts) doesnt do it justice. This is a totally different 15 watts. You just have to hear it to believe it.

Submitted by Anonymous at 01/05/2003 21:51

Price Paid: US $299

Features: 10
This amp is about two weeks old, made 2002. The amp has wonderful cleans and distortions. It suits my needs which are basically Beatles and classic rock. Has one channel with the boost switch which really works. It booms. The E.Q.s respond very responsively to the touch. Temolo is sweet and the reverb is good. I play mainly at home but play out ever so often. It is quite loud for 15 watts and the two 10" celestian speakers move some air. The amp is all solid state but it has the tone. Sounds outstanding with effects pedals too.

Sound Quality: 10
I use a Casino guitar and all pickups on it at some point. I play lead and rythmn which I think the amp is well suited to do. No noise. I keep the volume down. It doesn't take a lot in a bedroom. The amp can go from classic Voxy clean to overdriven sounds. The more I play it the better it sounds. I'm getting it broken in. Clean stays clean for decent volumes. We are talking about 15 watts solid state here. The distortion can do anything I want to do. It probably wouldn't be suited for the metal head.

Reliability: 10
No problems with the amp. It's solid state so I hope it will last for my lifetime. There's nothing to service.

Customer Support: 10
I bought mine from North Coast music. I thing the warranty is about 90 days. I hardly notice that stuff.

Overall Rating: 10
Been playing 26 years. I have a Peavey Delta Blues (for sale) and two Fender Champs and a Rogue A/E 300 and Digitech RP 2000. A few other odd guitars, tuners, etc. Only 750 of these were produced so if it were stolen and I couldn't get one of these I'd probably get a Marshall mini stack or a Vox Cambridge twin reverb or possibly one of those economical Behringer rigs. I love the looks, real vintage. I love the tone. There's nothing I hate about it. I had thought about the Pathfinder combo or Behringer 110 models but when I saw this baby on the web I knew it was the one. I chose this one because I owned a Vox last year and traded it off. I miss that Voxy clean tone. I'd like to have a Vox wah pedal and maybe someday a Rickenbacker 330. Buy one soon because they will all be gone. The value should rise on these mini stacks with time. I'm happy with my purchase. Oh, be sure to get the optional footswitch.

Submitted by mike baggett at 11/26/2002 10:44