Rampant
October 13th, 2009, 09:03 AM
A nice day out yesterday...
Had planned for a while to take a day off to travel to nearby(ish) Nottingham (1 hour's drive) and have a look in a couple of guitar stores with my guitar sensei Johnny. Had a really good browse and handled a couple of guitars, but nothing much grabbed my temptation.
I've been thinking about amplification for a while now. My Crate V5 has got decent tones, but no real control - the "Tone"control knob doesn't really do much except deaden the tone! I'm using a multi effects box to drive the type of sound. Very good at what it does, but you can't switch settings, in the middle of playing a song - it's hands and eyes off to cycle through settings.
That's had me thinking that a footswitch is definitely the way forward.
I've heard a lot of good things said about the VOX VT series. Looking at the VT30, it seems like it might serve just what I'm after. Built in effects, programmable settings and importantly, foot-switchable with a seperate 5 switch pedal. Has also got an output level control so those high gain tones can be listened to at lower (home) volumes. It's physical size is ideal for me, too. All sounds really good so far.
The first thing I noticed when I plugged in for real was that it was packed full of goodies. It was quite difficult to self-navigate through the settings, so I had to ask for assistance. Reading the user manual would be essential, I guess, lol!
The second thing that I noticed was the pleasing sound. All the amp models have lovely characterful tone. Nice. Next, playing with the effects was fun and still the tones sounded good. As good as my little Pandora, anyway. Like my Pandora, though, it's probably got too much versatility. Of the 100 Pandora presets I use maybe 6 or so settings. In the year that I've been learning guitar I haven't messed about with user-definable programs, either. And so it would be with the VOX, I imagine.
Lastly, I wondered what the amp would sound like with absolutely no models or effects in the loop. The question here is - could I find a "clean" setting? I guess no is the answer. Sure the "effects" can be bypassed. However, the amp models can't be bypassed. Each of the 8 (IIRC) amp models cycle from boutique and each subsequent setting adds more bite or crunch to the sound, culminating in an 80s style metal amp sound. So that's the "cleanest" it will go! There are also 3 preset effects that can be cycled through for each amp model as well as the "clean" preset. Versatile!
And now I'm really confused. It turns out that the VT probably has a bit too much versatility built in. And that builds in the confusion factor. Which settings shall I dial up today??? Kinda takes some of the emphasis away from just playing the guitar?
I really thought the VT30 would be all the things I wanted. And it probably still is, at the price. What I really want is a valve amp and a couple of pedals. That's just too expensive for a hobby learner like me. Maybe the VT30 would slot into my life easily and on a pain free(ish) budget.
It's certainly got me thinking on alternatives. How about a couple of budget pedals and keeping my V5 amp???
There's a thought. Apologies for the long post.....Over to you guys for some suggestions.....
Had planned for a while to take a day off to travel to nearby(ish) Nottingham (1 hour's drive) and have a look in a couple of guitar stores with my guitar sensei Johnny. Had a really good browse and handled a couple of guitars, but nothing much grabbed my temptation.
I've been thinking about amplification for a while now. My Crate V5 has got decent tones, but no real control - the "Tone"control knob doesn't really do much except deaden the tone! I'm using a multi effects box to drive the type of sound. Very good at what it does, but you can't switch settings, in the middle of playing a song - it's hands and eyes off to cycle through settings.
That's had me thinking that a footswitch is definitely the way forward.
I've heard a lot of good things said about the VOX VT series. Looking at the VT30, it seems like it might serve just what I'm after. Built in effects, programmable settings and importantly, foot-switchable with a seperate 5 switch pedal. Has also got an output level control so those high gain tones can be listened to at lower (home) volumes. It's physical size is ideal for me, too. All sounds really good so far.
The first thing I noticed when I plugged in for real was that it was packed full of goodies. It was quite difficult to self-navigate through the settings, so I had to ask for assistance. Reading the user manual would be essential, I guess, lol!
The second thing that I noticed was the pleasing sound. All the amp models have lovely characterful tone. Nice. Next, playing with the effects was fun and still the tones sounded good. As good as my little Pandora, anyway. Like my Pandora, though, it's probably got too much versatility. Of the 100 Pandora presets I use maybe 6 or so settings. In the year that I've been learning guitar I haven't messed about with user-definable programs, either. And so it would be with the VOX, I imagine.
Lastly, I wondered what the amp would sound like with absolutely no models or effects in the loop. The question here is - could I find a "clean" setting? I guess no is the answer. Sure the "effects" can be bypassed. However, the amp models can't be bypassed. Each of the 8 (IIRC) amp models cycle from boutique and each subsequent setting adds more bite or crunch to the sound, culminating in an 80s style metal amp sound. So that's the "cleanest" it will go! There are also 3 preset effects that can be cycled through for each amp model as well as the "clean" preset. Versatile!
And now I'm really confused. It turns out that the VT probably has a bit too much versatility built in. And that builds in the confusion factor. Which settings shall I dial up today??? Kinda takes some of the emphasis away from just playing the guitar?
I really thought the VT30 would be all the things I wanted. And it probably still is, at the price. What I really want is a valve amp and a couple of pedals. That's just too expensive for a hobby learner like me. Maybe the VT30 would slot into my life easily and on a pain free(ish) budget.
It's certainly got me thinking on alternatives. How about a couple of budget pedals and keeping my V5 amp???
There's a thought. Apologies for the long post.....Over to you guys for some suggestions.....