Vox V102 Pacemaker 110 Combo

Price Paid: US $100 used

Features: N/A
1966 tube amp [2-el 84's, 2-ecc 83's, an ez 81 rectifier all mullards!
with vox labels]. One channel with three inputs. 8 ohm extension.
Rated at about 15 watts? Loud at home and should have enough power to gig with a reasonably sane rythm section. Speaker is a gold bulldog and is fine for practice. It screams through a 2-12 cab.

Sound Quality: N/A
The amp sounds so sweet. It has an almost 3d effect that is hard to describe. I'm used to fenders, and it's difficult to describe the difference. I'll just say that the tones contain these sonic artifacts that make this little amp different from others. Not a lot of headroom here, it starts to break up around 3 [it only goes to six} then, it goes to pretty overdrive.

Reliability: N/A
40 years old, origional tubes. I know, I need to have it checked out for leaky caps and change to a grounded cord. I have no doubt that this thing will outlast me. I want to be buried with it.

Customer Support: N/A
N/A

Overall Rating: N/A
If you see one available, don't pass it up. I don,t know the current value, but I think I got a really good deal.

Submitted by Keith at 03/28/2005 20:27

Price Paid: US $95 from Eighth St. Music in Philly in 1989 used

Features: 10
Thomas Organ SOlid State Model. Not sure of the year. Has nice features and I really like the tone. Loud as hell. Awesome with the three inputs. I have used this thing to record and even as a P.A. It has gotten me through 15 years of guitar playing. I did have it upgraded a bit. Just the power cord and speaker wire. Nothing that should affect the sound.

Sound Quality: 10
Very clean sound. Great tone. Awsome with my 73 telecaster.

Reliability: 10
Has been through everything. And that's just since I had it. Good enough for bedroom, basement, or 500+ venue. I have used it for everything and I am proud to have an old VOX on stage.

Customer Support: N/A
Never dealt with them.

Overall Rating: 10
I am very happy I kept this amp. Through the years I bought and sold many different pieces of gear but in the end I have a 73 Telecaster (purchases for $200 at age 14 in 1987!) and this Vox Pacemaker ($95 in 1989 - 16th birthday gift)! EHX Memory Man Deluxe, EHX Big Muff, Boss TU-2 tuner pedal, 78 P Bass. Now all I need is a nice little bass combo (preferably Ampeg) and I am set to rock my basement like there is no tomorrow!

Submitted by JON at 08/25/2004 13:02

Price Paid: US $350.00 used

Features: 7
1965/6 1x10 combo with tremelo. This is all tube model with 2xEL84, 2x12AX7 and a 6CA4 rectifier. The model # is V102. This amp was made prior to the more common V1102 whick is a transistor amp. Amp comes with a 10inch Gold Vox Bulldog speaker. It has volume, treble, bass, speed and depth controls on the top panel with the fuse and off/ on/ standby switch and three inputs. Around back is a polarity switch and extension speaker jack and tremelo pedal jack. This is a fifteen watt amp and is great for small jams and music room playing.

Sound Quality: 9
I often plug a 1961 Esquire or 64 ES330 into the #1 input for blues and this amp is very responsive. This amp is very quiet for an old tube, class A type amp. These amps are pretty much a one sound amp as they sound like a classic Vox. They break up nicely at moderate volume and respond well to pedals. I use a Analogman TS9 and a Boss Dm3 analog delay and the amp sings. It has the EL84 harmonics at medium volume.

Reliability: 7
When I got this amp it had a blown output tranny which I had rebuilt to factory specs. Since then I have played at least a 100 hours on it with no problems. The real problem was a bad filter but the previous owner put a 20amp fuse in place of the 1 amp fuse and took out the tranny. Smooth move buddy!!

Customer Support: 5
Since the original company(Thomas) is out of business there is no customer support, just a good amp tech is all you need as this is a very simple design.

Overall Rating: 9
I have played guitar for 43 years and have. and still, own many guitars and amps. Currently I have a 61 Esquire, 57 reissue Strat,64 ES330, 65 SG Jr., 70 Les Paul Goldtop, 59 Guild T100D, 53 Tele, 78 Ibanez Artist, 65 Vox AC10 Twin, 65 Vox Pacemaker Tube( I have 2 ),53 Tweed Pro, 68 Fende Super Reverb, 69 Princeton Reverb,66 Vox super berkely tube type, 60 Supro 1606T, 61 Gibson Tweed GA6, 60 Maestro GA16T and several more guitars and tube amps. This amp loves most guitars and sounds fat and nasty at distorted levels and is the amp that I usually play. I love class A EL 84 amps driven into overdrive.

Submitted by Craig at 07/25/2004 17:00

Price Paid: US $200.00 used

Features: 10
This amp is a Model 1022 Pacemaker, 10" Oxford speaker, 32 Watts (according to the Vox Showroom page) probably made in 1967 (each year gets a different last digit, I think "2" designates the third year of the model, 1965 started with model 1020, I think). This amplifier is extremely LOUD and has incredible sound quality. Remember, this is a SOLID STATE amplifier, yet its sound is that of a tube amp. It is a very versatile amp for its simple design, one channel, no reverb (if you buy Vox, don't count on reverb, especially with the British Vox amps) and suits my playing styles (early rock and roll, Beatles, some early new wave and soul music) very well. This amp really doesn't leave you feeling like it needs something (you actually don't miss the reverb!), it has such a clear sweet sound, and its ability to hit real high volume levels with a nice smooth distortion make it perfect for small clubs and recording.

Sound Quality: 10
I have one of two guitars, plus various keyboards (a genuine 1966 Vox Continental, some synths, and an E-MU Vintage Keys module which is my bread-and-butter vintage keyboard unit, no keyboardist should be without one!!), both guitars (one Fender Strat and one Tele clone) have single-coil pickups (the Tele has a bridge humbucker) and both sound amazing on this amp. The Tele allows you to get a perfect 1965/66-era Beatles sound (if you play "Day Tripper" through this amp, it gives the exact duplicate guitar sound, no kidding!!)plus allows you to sound like every garage band on the "Nuggets" LP!! Do you want to play the Yardbirds? No problem, the tone sounds like the Yardbirds. The Standells? No problem, the tone sounds like "Dirty Water." You can even play early Who and Rolling Stones songs through it, it gives an exact (frightening, actually) carbon-copy of that sound, enough to really make you smile and just stare at the amp in amazement. The amp is not noisy at all, sounds like a dead quiet tube amp, the tremelo sounds perfect, just the way you'd expect it to. In fact, I just happened to borrow a friend's tube Vox Pacemaker just before I picked this one up, so I was able to do an A/B comparison between the genuine tube model, and the solid state model of the same amp. Guess who won the battle? Well, to my ears, the solid state sounded more tube-like than the tube Vox, which sounded a little compressed and weak. The volume is definitely not there, since the tube Vox Pacemaker was only a 17 Watt amp, and the solid-state model is 32 Watts. The tremolo between the two amps is exactly the same, the volume is double the loudness on the solid-state model, and the treble and bass are more solid and well-defined on the solid-state model. You don't get the heavy tube crunch on the solid-state Vox that you get on the tube model, but it's still good, the Oxford speaker sounds great, nice chime and classic "blizzard of nails" Vox sound we've all come to know and love. There are three inputs on the amp, each one is voiced a little differently, a little more volume on input one, more midrange and bass on inputs two and three. Same on the tube Vox, but the solid-state model just seems to have more of what you buy a vintage Vox amp for.

Reliability: 10
As far as dependability goes, it's solid-state, no tubes, just do your typical maintenance on it (just because it's solid-state doesn't mean it's not above failing), being that it is a 35-year old amp, and it should always be dependable. I'd definitely use it on a gig without a backup, I like to carry as little as possible whenever I go and play out, so it's usually a guitar and amp, that's it. The amp seems to be in pretty good shape, not beat to death (seems to be a common problem among 1960s-era Thomas Vox amps, a lot of them seem to be a wreck, a real shame) and I opened the amp up and looked inside, it was already gone over recently, so it hasn't seemed to be neglected.

Customer Support: N/A
Customer support is ME. I actually work as an amp tech on the side, and since Thomas Organ died out in the 70's, and this particular line of amps didn't make it into 1970, there's no customer support from Vox, period. So I can fix any problems, it's an easy amp to service, but there's no other outlet other than find a good local amp tech who is knowledgeable on these great old US Vox amps, and you'll be fine.

Overall Rating: 10
This is the amp (along with the 1966 Vox Viscount I recently purchased, and it's another fine amp) that made me really appreciate solid-state amps. I used to own an Acoustic combo which was too clean, too solid-state, real bland sounding (even with Celestion speakers, there was no real defined sound, it was just solid-state), but this amp sounds exactly the way a good amplifier should sound. I've been playing guitar and keyboards since I was four and a half (I'm 35 now, and I still haven't played Carnegie Hall yet, oh well!!) and I also own the '66 Viscount (the solid-state US Vox equivalent of an AC-30, this amp is one of the unsung greats of the 60s, pick one up if you can find one, and don't let go of it!!), a Hammond M-3 organ, some great synths (Roland, Korg, etc.), a 1968 Fender Princeton Reverb (I had a Super Reverb, but I sold it to get the Viscount, I now have the better amp in my opinion) and the two guitars. If this Pacemaker were lost, I'd definitely buy another one, and since I would be buying a solid-state model, I'd save a bundle, compared to everyone who is still looking for the tube Vox amps (I'm talking about the US Thomas Vox amps; the UK models are another thing entirely, way too expensive, and the US Vox amps sound alike, so they're now too pricey), so I'd still be getting a bargain. If you go by what's online and what's been printed about the US Vox line, Tom Jennings and Dick Denney didn't just let Thomas Organ run amok and build their own amps with no input from Vox UK. This partnership started around 1963, and the US amps were either designed by Dick Denney himself or he oversaw their development, and they were meant to sound as good as if not better than their tube amp designs, since they realized tube amps were going to become obsolete (they were wrong, of course, but hey, give 'em both credit for looking ahead). The sound of these amps attest to the huge effort put into their design as leaders of the "new" 60s sound, they sound like Vox amps, no doubt about it, and the UK solid-state Vox amps (Defiant, Conqueror, etc) were actually based on the US Thomas Vox amps (the Beatles used the UK solid-state amps in the studio around 1966-68, so it figures that the US Vox amps should sound like those great mid-period Beatles singles, since they apparently share the same basic design and features). I had been trying to get my hands on a vintage AC-10 or some other vintage UK Vox amp, and I was going to use the tube Pacemaker as a guide to buiding a clone amp (it does sound good, for sure), but the solid-state version really drove it home, just because it's a tube amp doesn't always make it superior. I honestly don't look for any more features on an amplifier these days, reverb is optional, you can get a really good reverb pedal or an outboard unit if you really miss it, and the amp tone is really the key. Everything else is just an attachment or a different color from your musical palette, but the basic tone of your rig is the blank canvas you can work from. This amplifier really gives you that perfect TONE, and it really rates a 10 in every respect. It's an attractive amp to look at (really a basic square box, but since it's a Vox amplifier, the cool appointments are all there), it's physically well-manufactured from top-notch parts and it's very strong, and the sound is beyond belief. of course, the icing on the cake is that you can have a classic Vox sound without selling your car for an AC-30 (or for that matter, an AC-10 or 15, and they're not worth the asking price for a practice amp). An excellent value.

Submitted by Santos Menendez at 03/23/2004 21:24

Price Paid: free

Features: N/A
its freakin old. at least 30 years. all tube. read the other reviews for the features. this amp was given to by my friend and kickass guitarist/songwriter David Cardenas of the up and coming band morning after. I put a reverend 10" speaker in, the original one was long gone.

Sound Quality: 10
oh yea baby. I love this amp, it sounds really good. it blows away 85% of the amps you can walk into a music store and plug into. the other 15% are gonna hurt yer wallet. I play all styles. lots of screaming leads. I'm getting into jazz quite alot too.

Reliability: N/A
I just had it serviced. It doesnt leave my house. I played out with it before, but its too old to be dragin around from bar to bar.

Customer Support: N/A
well I gonna buy a vox valvetronix amp. if it holds up as well as the pacemaker I'd be suprised.

Overall Rating: N/A
Ive been at it for 25 yrs. Ive been through so much gear through the years. Ive got the all tube pacemaker for home/stuido and the brand new vox ss/tube amp for clubs. god I hope I done buying amps for a while. but ya know a tone king metor would be really nice too....hum..maby just one more...

Submitted by rocker at 01/14/2004 18:55

Price Paid: US $200.00 plus shipping

Features: 7
The amp features are volume, bass, treble, tremolo (controlled by speed and depth knobs), and a Mid Range Boost activated by a footswitch. It also has three differently voiced inputs. It comes with a 10" oxford speaker originally, but I got mine with a beat up CTS speaker (but it still sounds great). I guess it's something like 18 watts RMS, but it is freakin' loud. It also has an extension speaker jack (one of my favourite features on any amp), so you can hook up a 4X12 if you like. The most I can really give it is a seven compared to todays features.

Sound Quality: 9
I LOVE THIS AMP! Manufacturers trying to get tube sounds out of solid state gear today should look back at the thomas organ circuits. This amp has so many harmonics flying around, lots of natural warbles, and it is so warm. It basically stays clean the whole volume range, with just a little bit of clipping (nice clipping though). It's easily controlled by your pick attack. It is a very loud amp. No problem at all gigging this at small/medium- small venues, and probably would handle medium sizes too, but I would probably have it miked at a medium size venue anyway. I wouldn't necessarily say it has the standard vox tone. It defenitley is of vox character, but also has some serious Fender like bass as well as the vox chime . . . I love it. Nice punchy tube like attack, and one cool thing is even though it's a very clean amp, you can get some kind of harmonic feedback with it . . . sounds amazing.

I'm very happy I bought this and thought it was about time this amp gets reviewed. I haven't tried the Mid range boost yet, so no comments, but the tremolo is very nice and strong in character, and doesn't reduce your amps volume like some amps do. As you can probably tell, I really like this amp. It has the old typical vox hum though, don't really mind it much.

Reliability: 8
I know Thomas Organ gear isn't the most dependable, but most of the issues were with the high power amps like the buckingham, and beatle because of improper heat ventilation and heat sinks. When I got this amp, it faired very badly during shipping. The speaker was ripped right off the baffle board, and was punctured a couple times from the screws that were still left in the baffle board. So I replaced the old baffle board with a nice solid piece of wood, and the problem was solved. Also, the pots were very dirty when I got it, and the volume would sometimes cut out for a minute if I turned the treble knob, but after spraying some electronic cleaner in it, everything is completely functional, and not scratchy. I guess this amp has lasted 40 years, so that's pretty reliable.

Customer Support: 8
I once had a repair question for vox about another amp I own (the cambridge 15), and it was a little bit of a runaround to get a hold of the right person, but they were prompt, and somewhat helpful.

Overall Rating: 9
Great amp, fairly cheap, nice looks, Like it.

Submitted by Luke at 07/06/2003 11:38

Price Paid: US $380 used

Features: 9
The Pacemaker is a simple, single channel (although with 3 differently voiced inputs) Vol/Bass/Treble + Tremolo Speed/Depth, 10" speaker amp. Class A - 2 x EL84, 2 x 12AX7 + tube rectifier. As simple and sweet as it gets. My Pacemaker is a 1965 tube model made by the Thomas Organ company, it's all original expect for the power transformer, filter cap and power tubes. Great Vox cosmetics, speaker out jack (very useful IMO). No reverb which is something I miss (I use a Holy Grail pedal for reverb). I also have a tranny Vox Cambridge which has the same cab/controls/speaker but has the reverb - that's a great amp as well but lacks the sweetness of this little tube amp.

Sound Quality: N/A
I play mostly single coil (Fender or P90) guitars and this amp is very sweet with these pickups. I'm sure that it would sound equally good with humbuckers but that's not my thing. With a good Strat (mines a stock MIJ 57 Reissue), the Vox is clean, chimey and very rich. Every note is well articulated, it's just a VERY musical sound. The tremolo is good, I mostly use it set very low just to add some depth/ambience to the basic sound.

The 3 inputs are differently voiced and this greatly adds to the versatility of the single channel design. I have a box that lets me switch between two inputs and this works well. The amp also works great with my overdrive pedal (a Vox Valve-Tone), no big surprise really, but the input switching and overdrive pedal get around any issue of this beingn a single channel amp.

The only downside is that, even for a 2 x EL84 amp, this is a quiet amp. Played through an external cabinet with 2 x 10s or 2 1x 12s, you can get around this. I guess 12-15W was a lot louder back in 1965 than it is today :-).

Reliability: 8
Very simple circuit although not easy to work on. I can't imagine reliability being a problem.

Customer Support: N/A
Well, JMI and Thomad Organ are long gone and I don't think the folks at Korg (Vox's current owner) could help. However, it's a simple tube amp using standard components and I've got one of the world's best repair shops (Torres Engineering) 5 miles from where I live.

Overall Rating: 10
I paid $380 and then had to put it in almost as much again for a new power transformer, filter cap, power tubes and grounded cord. MONEY WELL SPENT. This is the sweetest EL84 amp you could imagine - forget your boutique amps, these old Vox amps are the business! If you can't afford an AC-10 or AC-15, try to find a Pacemaker, you won't be disappointed!

Submitted by Anonymous at 01/14/2003 13:39

Price Paid: 250.00 (Can.)

Features: N/A
I just picked this amp up yesterday with a set neck El degas explorer & traded a yorkville 100 watt monitor for it.It cost me $250.00 Canadian.I don't use reverb so I don't miss it,the trem is usable,but the real deal with this amp is THE TONE!

Sound Quality: 10
I've read in Guitar World that these amps rock,Vox chime at bang for the buck price,they were right.I'm very impressed how it sounds with my strat,very full & chimey even in the upper registers of the fretboard.I agree with all that gave this one a ten.

Reliability: N/A
Too soon to tell,but by the sound of what everyone has to say, very reliable.

Customer Support: N/A
I live in Winnipeg Canada & know Gar Gillies of Garnet amps,so I have him to do any work that may be required.

Overall Rating: 10

Submitted by Roy Boltz at 11/20/2002 10:47

Price Paid: US $175.00 ...yes I got a deal!

Features: 9
Early all tube model...I was told these were actually manufactured in Britain, sent to U.S. for initial sales by Thomas Organ, and then they converted to solid state (bad move IMHO). Simple...volume, bass, treble, tremolo speed & depth. Really wish this amp had a reverb! Loud little sucker! But very very cool...definitely what all the vintage VOX fans are talking about tonewise...it is so cool. I give it a "9" here only for lack of reverb. Mine had a replacement speaker 10" Mojotone in it, alnico....very nice speaker.

Sound Quality: 10
Compliments all my guitars very well, dual humbuckers to all single coil setups. Extremely quiet! Wow...even has original tubes in it...VOX nailed it with this one. Used a Rockman Power Soak on it to overdrive the tubes without the bleeding eardrums, very cool, but nothing like letting it fly wide open. Starts to break up around 5, very cool all the way to 10...did I mention LOUD? You could gig with this amp no problem...and it is very LIGHT!!!! What the???? Modern amp makers should get their hands on one of these and copy it...a LIGHT tube amp that sounds kick ass and blows your eardrums out at full volume? How did they do it?

Reliability: 10
Owned about a half year now....seems reliable as anything I've owned, especially considering ORIGINAL TUBES ON A 30 + year old amp! WWWWWHHAAAAATTTT???!?!?!?!? Yes, it's true.

Customer Support: 10
Long gone, but that's too bad. Tip of the hat to the fine craftsmen/women who put this bad boy together. I give them a 10 here just because they deserve it, even though the company name is now owned by KORG and the new amps being put out "blow" by comparison in sound.

Overall Rating: 10
15+ years experience. Have owned the gamut in gear. If stolen? Well, GOOD LUCK finding another one. I have seen the occasional listing of one of these on eBay....bargain at the 400-600 they are fetching. All TUBE combo, captures the basic essence of the much heralded "british invasion" sound, and at HUNDREDS less than an AC30 or AC15 will run you. Snap one up if you see one!!!! BUT NOT THE SOLID STATE VERSION...JUST THE TUBE COMBO. You will absolutely dig it.

Submitted by Roscoe P. Coltrane at 07/12/2002 00:28

Price Paid: US $400.00 used

Features: 5
I have two of these amps, one with the traditional Thomas "smooth" tolex and handle, the second amp has a "rough" texture. Pots indicate they were both manufactured in 1966. The Pacemaker is equipped with (2) 12AX7s, (2) EL 84s and a 6CA4 rectifier tube. Single channel with three inputs, tremolo depth & intensity controls plus volume, bass & treble & speaker out. 17 watts through a single 10" speaker. Good tone & volume through the single 10" speaker, but really opens up through twin 12s. Each is equipped with a Vox "egg" footswitch for turning on/off the tremolo and each has a chrome stand. These amps look great! No reverb.

No effects loops, direct out, head phones,etc.

Sound Quality: 10
I play a Voodoo Strat, Epi Casino & mim Tele. Single coils sound very good. One amp overdrives easily and the second has a bit more headroom. The two amps played together with a RAPCO 100 ABY or Ibanez AD99 offer that elusive "Vox" chime.

Reliability: 10
These amps are still equipped with their original rectifier tubes and when purchased still had the old Vox labeled 12ax7s installed. Very reliable, recently had them recapped, the EL 84s are replaced on a regular basis.

Customer Support: 10
Thomas Organ left us many years ago, the amps are 35+ years old, so no warranty is available. But I have a local tech in the area that is very familiar with VOX amps, so no problems getting them serviced. My tech gets a 10.

Overall Rating: 10
I have been playing off & on for the past 35 years. These amps are difficult to find and I would be very unhappy if they were stolen. It would take some time to find replacements. Thomas Vox Tube amps, Berkeley and Cambridge Reverb have both jumped in price over the past couple years. The Pacemaker is a great value if you can find one.

Submitted by Mike Ryan at 11/22/2001 00:07