VOX AD30VT super quick review

[deeaa]

So, I swapped my beloved TM-10 for this amp.

Going thru the presets it appears the amp usability ratio is very high; super simple to adjust and understand how it all works. For a modeler, couldn't be much simpler.

Then the sounds...well in short none of the 'gain' models work for me at all, but that was expected. The first clean sound is quite useable and nice, although I use such a pristine clean very little usually. From then on the AC15 seems interesting - will have to get back to it to see how it yields drive sounds - but then the AC30 model hits the jackpot for me. Really nice. With a slight reverb it really does sound very very 'real' and tubey ans airy. Plenty of the 'british' ringing driven slight crunch and very good string separation. Just smack on some open chords and you get those sounds á la 'Friends' theme and The Who etc as well. The sound is *big* if any sound ever was.

In comparison to how good that sound is, all the rest of the amp models are really MUCH inferior to me. Can't really get a tight driven tone out of any of them that didn't sound artificial. Jury's still out on th AC15 model and maybe the final OD channel - am not impressed as of now but they may yield better results by tweaking. But I do doubt I will ever get a good distorted sound out of it.

Well, I tried a H&K Warp Factor in front and it can work quite well for a lead booster/drive for the AC30 model, which is great - means I can have three very good sounds now at my feet switches. But even the warp can't make the amp a heavy-sounding metal amp, which is kinda amazing given the extreme range of drive from that 18 volt monster of a drive pedal...but no matter, as I don't really use much any extreme drive.

The sound in general is sufficiently different from my other amps, it instantly makes me change my playing style. Whereas the Tech-21 and also my Ceriatone 4x12" setup are kinda Marshall tight and beg for tight playing and damping and are punchy and in-your-face, this amp is the opposite, it simply begs for ringing open chords and loosely chunky full-chord rhythms.

As it happens, it's pretty much exactly what I need for my Whobody band, which is kinda pop-rock music.

So, so far so good!

[marnold]

I think you basically hit it on the head. When I changed the speaker in mine to a Ragin Cajun it made the clean models even better, but unfortunately I was never able to find a high gain setting that I liked for more than two minutes.

[Eric]

So, so far so good!
Interesting review. Glad to hear you like it, anyway.

[deeaa]

OK I was maybe too quick to judge the drives in one respect...

It appears the sounds when using the amp 'live' are NOTHING like the sounds on the D/I-phone output. For those you need all different setups and settings it seems.

BUT it seems from the D/I out the drives can be quite OK and useable too, at least some of them.

Here's a super quick demo of the AC30 model behind an UK80's model for lead, recorded via D/I.

While the AC30 is nowhere as 'big' and cool via D/I, the drive sound in comparison to it is quite nice, actually, too. And it does seem it can give pretty nice D/I sounds as well. Only that I need to build settings for each separately - i.e. 'live' sound and D/I.

Here:
http://deeaa.pp.fi/clips/voxtest.mp3

[Eric]

Here's a super quick demo of the AC30 model behind an UK80's model for lead, recorded via D/I.
Hmm. The AC30 backing almost sounds like it's two tracks: one clean & chime-y, one dirty. The lead is decent, but seemed a little flat (tonally, not pitch-wise) on some of the sustained notes.

[bigG]

I'm glad to hear you like it, deeaa. I know you took a big gamble in the trade.

I love my AD50VT, and plan to keep it. I finally realized that for what I do, in my apartment, that the AD50VT was the keeper, and more iconic amps that I had were the ones to sell (my Vox AC15 and Peavey Delta Blues 210, and were worth more on the market) to help finance my Martin purchases.

Nice sound clip, too, although I think you can iron out some rough edges once you get more familiar with its capabilities. Good choice, imho! :AOK

G

[deeaa]

quite right there eric; I always also record the actual dry guitar signal and it can be heard some in the track, shoulda killed the track but I did this literally in 5 mins and I forglt to mute the direct line...the od model is more 'wide' sounding but in the presets this one seemed the one to have some 'squelch' and life on it. I suppose I like sort of dry-midrangey lead sounds...I dislike a too warm and thick saturated lead a lot...such as Slash and Moore and even Santana...you know...or van halen...I like it kinda raw.

[aeolian]

If you have a cabinet that matches the AD30Vt impedance, try it and see whether you like the sound better. The reason I'm suggesting this is because a good percentage of AD30VT owners (including myself) swap out the speaker for something better quality.

I agree with you about the useable voices, but I actually also like the Boutique Clean and even the Boutique OD. And by all means use the save function to save a setting you like, the only bad thing is that you can only save 2 settings.

[deeaa]

I do have a 10" celestion from a marshall 4x10 here...maybe Ill just try that for a test :-)

[Duff]

I have put the Eminence Ragin' Cajun in my Fender Super Champ XD. I put it in shortly after getting the amp, based on the recommendations of Bill M. and his testing of speakers. It made an AWESOME change in the sound.

It is supposed to be a relatively neutral speaker in that it is not supposed to alter the model sounds on the SCXD dramatically, like a particularly "voiced" speaker would probably do. Plus with this speaker you get a major increase in sensitivity that results in a MAJOR increase in "perceived" volume from the amp, especially good for thinner sounding models - give them some volume.

I will probably get a Vox modeller some day. Right now I have a line on a NOS AD60VTX with the blue closed back and Vox vintage style grill cloth. It sounds good, but not as good as a real decent tube amp. For instance, not having a/b'd it to an AC15 or 30, I seriously doubt that it would hold a candle to the tone of either in any real way.

It has several settings on it that I like a lot as well as some effects that are good.

My Fender SCXD never ceases to inspire me with new sounds out of different amp models that I at first dismissed as thin or uninteresting: then I found out about needing to tweak each model, just like the amp modeled, to get the sound you want out of it. I played like twelve models the other day and tweaked them and every one was really great sounding, especially the Fender models, and even some of the gain models were real nice, especially with a hot guitar.

Good luck with the AD30VT. I wouldn't be surprised if it has some growing room hiding in it, hidden secrets that you may still not have discovered.

[deeaa]

Still more...

I got a chance to play it loud, and I found out one more thing: when played loud the different models start to work pretty well. Even very well. Still don't like the harder drives too much, they all tend to be too buzzy, and you just can't get a 'tight' low end on them...but toning down the gain some gives pretty nice sounds still.

This amp is a strange beast. Its sounds change a lot according to the volume they are used at, and you have to adjust it differently for every volume setting. Played LOUD the preset models work very well (just change the FX to basic verb setting though) but when you play quieter, they need to be differently adjusted. For instance, when I get the AC30 model sounding great at pretty low volume, it's way too blurry and driven when played loud.

You'd think the master volume reduction knob in the back would help, but I dunno...it just makes it more complicated for me. You can use it well for achieving the 'loud' sounds also quieter, but it's not enough alone, you also need to adjust vol/gain to keep it rather similar.

And to top it all off, it REALLY sounds very different with different guitars. I mean, ALL my guitars have the same pickup config/pickups but STILL my Davette and Strat sound totally different thru the Vox. Way more so that thru my other amp.

Then there's the third way to use ut, the D/I output via the headphone jack. And that too sounds quite different from what the amp sounds quiet and loud. And also, the output level to the soundcard via it seems quite low. And...If I now adjust the sounds to be nice via d/i they aren't too good thru the amp then. Damn!

So it has like three quite different tonalities according to how loud you play it or use d/i or not, and that bugs me.

I really do like many of the sounds now when it's played loud; AC30 and 80's british for lead for instance work really well together with some tweaking. All the sounds are curiously quite 'big' sounding yet they clearly lack body, which is no wonder from one 10". But I bet they do cut thru very well, they're pretty bright and midrangey-punchy. Initially it sounds too bright and jangly but the ear quickly adjusts. I bet it's gonna work well with drums and cut thru. I played my Ceriatone right after the Vox and of course it's completely different - like talking on the phone with the Vox and its small speaker and then speaking face to face with the big rig...but still, I do like the bright jangle of the Vox too.

It's kinda annoying that it sounds good loud, because I can seldom play loud :-( so it sort of bugs me that I know it has better sounds, but just can't get them so good when quieter or d/i. It's like it's teasing - hey I can sound this nice, but nah nah nah, u can't get that quiet, althought it's a modeler! I said it was very simple to tweak but didn't expect it to be this fussy about how it's set up. Turn the volume up 1/4 turn and you need a totally new EQ setting! Man, I'd need to take pictures of the settings plus the 'master vol' setting on the back :-)

I'll probably use it the most with not very much volume for monitoring purposes. I plug into a D/I box from where a clean signal departs to my DAW and I record the dry signal only, and there is a bypass signal going to the amp, so I can have amp sounds when I play and record, but actually only record a clean signal from the guitar. It should be very good for that purpose.

Perhaps I can also find some sweet spot where it's not terribly loud yet, quiet enough to still sound warmer with the small speaker, and also mic the amp. It seems like it could give some very nice mic'd sounds if I can only find the correct settings.

But summa summarum - although it's a modeler its sound varies astonishingly much according to the way it's set up and at what volume, and what guitar.

[Duff]

Years ago some engineer/tech expert did an extensive report on how Vox "should" have designed the valvetronix amp circuits; and he suggested how it should be redesigned. Supposedly the new models had taken some of his ideas into consideration.

His report was on the "patchtronix" forum where there was a lot of info on the vox amps and suggested patches, etc. At least that is where I found out about his report. It is probably still on the web somewhere.

Evidently there are a lot of areas where the chromies, in particular, can be improved. Supposedly they had the potential of being really awesome amps but the design element did not do their job very well, skipped over things, did things backwards, etc.

As I said, the new chromies are supposed to be improved, but by how much I don't know.

I like my little DA5 for camping trips, etc. I can see where modellers have a big potential.

The Fender Super Champ XD seems to do a good job, but is not nearly as complicated and computerized as the Vox version.

I also thought the Vypyr sounded a bit weak and thin compared to the real amps and effects that they are supposed to model. WAY too bells and whistles with the Christmas Tree vibe with all sorts of lights, etc. Dam that thing must be bright in the dark.

[tjcurtin1]

Having owned both the 30vt and now the vt30, there is a big improvement in the amps sounds in the VT, and the expansion of saved patches to 8 from 2, which is a great help, although I still find the high gain amps to sound as Deeaa describes here. It also has the same characteristic of sounding very different at low and high volumes.

[marnold]

Once again, +1 to everything deeaa said. It's just that it took him three days to figure that out. It took me three years.

[SuperSwede]

although I still find the high gain amps to sound as Deeaa describes here.

Does the hi-gain amps on your VT sound fizzy and sharp? The only usable hi-gain models on my VT50 is the UK80´s. I think that the speaker is voiced for the vintage style amphs.

[deeaa]

+1 for the UK80's. It's Ok. Very midrangey and sort of 'hollow' sounding but the drive is not bad, and it has a nice scream to bends and such.

I guess I'll just HAVE to try bolting a Marshall 10" on it...might be totally different. But it may also ruin the AC15/30 sounds I like a lot on it, thru the original speaker. Hell why not, I'll give it a shot today. It's not like it's a huge task .-)

[SuperSwede]

Dee, does yours have speaker out? If so it would be interesting to hear how it sounds like with your 4x12 cab. I think the key to the hi-gain models is the speaker setup.

[deeaa]

Sadly, no speaker out at all :(

[Duff]

You could easily make a speaker out by clipping the speaker wires from the amp section to the speaker, in between; and attaching a male quarter inch jack to the speaker side and a female quarter inch jack to the side going to the speaker from the amp section. Plug these in to use the built in speaker.

Unplug the quarter inch jacks and run a speaker cable to a properly matched ohm speaker cabinet from the female jack coming out of the amp section.

Wouldn't this make for a versitile way to use your amp as a head for a properly matched cabinet?

I have always considered doing this to a couple amps but haven't gotten to it.

[deeaa]

That is a good suggestion, duff...very good indeed. I had briefly thought about adding a speaker out jack, but I never realized it into a clear plan or idea...I think I'll have to do exactly what you suggested :-)

[SuperSwede]

Keep us updated on your results!

[deeaa]

Okay here's a quick result: with a Marshall 1x10" cab the amp sounds WAY darker, and the drives a lot tighter.

With that speaker, there's even too much gain available, but I still don't like the high gain sounds much; still buzzy. But with this cab, I think some pretty good basic rock drive tones can be achieved.

Will report later on 4x12"...

[Duff]

By the same token, if you install quarter inch jacks between the wires coming from the amp section to the built in speaker; not only can you disconnect the amp from the speaker and plug a speaker cable into the amp section and run it to a properly matched speaker cabinet, BUT you can also disconnect the speaker from the amp at the coupling quarter inch jacks, and, WITH THE VOX AMP TURNED OFF, connect the Vox amp speaker to a different amp speaker out jack or an amp head with a speaker cable and use the Vox amp's speaker as an external or extension speaker to accompany the other amp or head.

NOTE: If you use the Vox speaker as an external/extension speaker for another amp, you MUST NOT have the Vox amp turned on.

Why? In case you are not aware, an amp should never be turned on unless there is a LOAD on the amp. A load in this case is considered to be the speaker that the amp is loading, or in other words, pushing. Otherwise you would get speaker level current running thru the wires and going nowhere, without a circuit to follow and a matching ohm target to hit. This causes the amp serious confusion and can do sometimes IMMEDIATE and PERMANENT damage to the amp section's various parts, causing a CATASTROPHIC FAILURE. You don't want this to happen and putting a piece of tape over the amp power switch to remind you not to turn it on in case you forget you have the speaker connected to something else, can help you to avoid mistakenly turning it on and messing things up. This also prevents or hinders "other people" from turning on the amp when it is not attached to a load. Other people might not be aware of what you are doing and think that it's just an amp sitting there, not a head or a cabinet configuration.

If you are lucky, you can sometimes accidentally turn on the amp without a load and not do serious damage that you would notice, if you only turn the amp on for a few seconds before realizing what you have done and turn it off.

So, the Vox when disconnected from the speaker will be just like any amp head - you will have to have it plugged into a speaker or other load before you turn it on.

Obviously, on the other hand, you do not want to turn on the Vox amp if you have the speaker hooked up to another amp or head. This would not make sense, because you are loading up the speaker from a different source unit and turning on the Vox would have no signal going to the speaker because it is disconnected, obviously.

I might as well be extremely clear here because someone might accidentally think that they need to turn on the Vox amp in order for the speaker to work, even if the speaker is disconnected from the Vox amp speaker output wires.

[deeaa]

I just did it simple: ran the internal speaker cables from the amp onto a jack on back panel ONLY and the original spealer wires out of the chassis and ending in a plug. Now I can use the mph as a head with regular speaker cables, but if I want to us it as acab for other head, i can plug direct to another head. And no possibility for wrong connectilns in any way. Since its ss dknt even matter if there is no load by accident.

[Duff]

Oh yeah. I forgot that the "load" requirement only applies to tube amps. My memory is not what it used to be.

I have often thought about doing this mod to some of my amps but just never got around to it. I have even considered buying a cheap blown up twin speaker combo and converting it to a cabinet this way.

[deeaa]

So here's the bottom line:

The Good:

I would well recommend this amp for playing somewhat poppy rock in a band setting; it sounds great played loud and really cuts thru. Cleans and semi-driven sounds all the way to '80's Brit' can yield really nice, jangly and strong sounds perfect for nicely rockin' tunes á la Counting Crowes, The Beatles, The Rebrants, most anything with no heavy thumping guitars. Also it has lots of volume for a 30W SS amp and is way more tweakable and versatile, than, say a real AC30, and isn't expensive.

The D/I out is passable, if you absolutely need to use it, but you cannot use it without cutting the amp output off totally, so it won't work onstage and you need to mike it. Which brings me to...

The bad:

What it lacks is indeed tight bottom and hard drives; you just can't get strong low-string riffs or that 'chugga chugga' feel from it at all, and the more driven the models, the buzzier and buzzier it gets. So forget about heavy and harder rock - the absolute hardest you can get and still sound good is some like old-skool AC/DC kinda sounds. No, not even with a distortion pedal. The internal speaker just won't deliver those thumps. It has no speaker out, but while I did use it with other speakers, it just gets darker, losing that marvellous jangle, and becomes quite the run-of-the mill SS amp sound and still no lows to really speak of with appreciation.

Also, the way it sounds quiet and then D/I and then played loud is infuriatingly different in each case, so you really need to use different settings for each use. So despite the adjustable master volume and D/I output I would not recommend it as a bedroom amp or for D/I recording purposes.

As an afterthought I'd say my experiences reinforce my feel in that if you want to play pop-rock, don't forget to try a Vox; for harder rock you need a Marshall-style amp, and for blues and country etc. a Fenders work usually the best. Just to draw some very rough lines here.

[guitars1969]

If you want to play hard rock and like using vox amps...you can enjoy hard rock sounds with the VT 100 Valvetronix amp it totaly kicks *** Im using it with a combination with my Korg Ax3000G multiprocessor from AC DC to Pantera you can actually choose witch amp you want to use and its all tube and it even comes with a load damper for wattage controlso you can enjoy better tube sounding amp all.. Im running EMG 81's in all my guitars and in this amp ..all the sustain you want so if you like playing Pink Floyd like myself you'll enjoy this amp


The Good:

I would well recommend this amp for playing somewhat poppy rock in a band setting; it sounds great played loud and really cuts thru. Cleans and semi-driven sounds all the way to '80's Brit' can yield really nice, jangly and strong sounds perfect for nicely rockin' tunes á la Counting Crowes, The Beatles, The Rebrants, most anything with no heavy thumping guitars. Also it has lots of volume for a 30W SS amp and is way more tweakable and versatile, than, say a real AC30, and isn't expensive.

The D/I out is passable, if you absolutely need to use it, but you cannot use it without cutting the amp output off totally, so it won't work onstage and you need to mike it. Which brings me to...

The bad:

What it lacks is indeed tight bottom and hard drives; you just can't get strong low-string riffs or that 'chugga chugga' feel from it at all, and the more driven the models, the buzzier and buzzier it gets. So forget about heavy and harder rock - the absolute hardest you can get and still sound good is some like old-skool AC/DC kinda sounds. No, not even with a distortion pedal. The internal speaker just won't deliver those thumps. It has no speaker out, but while I did use it with other speakers, it just gets darker, losing that marvellous jangle, and becomes quite the run-of-the mill SS amp sound and still no lows to really speak of with appreciation.

Also, the way it sounds quiet and then D/I and then played loud is infuriatingly different in each case, so you really need to use different settings for each use. So despite the adjustable master volume and D/I output I would not recommend it as a bedroom amp or for D/I recording purposes.

As an afterthought I'd say my experiences reinforce my feel in that if you want to play pop-rock, don't forget to try a Vox; for harder rock you need a Marshall-style amp, and for blues and country etc. a Fenders work usually the best. Just to draw some very rough lines here.[/QUOTE]

[Duff]

I don't believe that the VT100 is an all tube amp. You need to get into the AC30/15 line of Vox to get that, or the smaller all tube Vox amps. They even have an AC50 tube amp. The VT100 is what they call a "hybrid", meaning it has at least one tube and a solid state balance of the amp. You do not have a tube preamp stage and a tube power amp stage, separately, it has one tube that does the tube effect. Where the tube is in the signal path I'm not sure on the new models. I think it was moved to the power stage but I'm not sure, but it is not a power tube as such, it is a 12ax7 preamp style tube that is assigned various duties if I'm not mistaken. Power tubes are like 6L6'es and EL84's, etc.

Vox has been working on th "chromies" for years now, improving them and selling a lot of them. They are modelling hybrid amps.s

Does the nickel mining still go on in Sudbury? Remember driving thru there as a kid and the area was devoid of vegetation as a result o the nickel mining operations. Hopefully things have changed and it doesn't look like Mars anymore. Around where I live you can see the relics of the old days of Old King Coal, massive coal slag heap mountains. They are recycling the slag now and retreiving a lot of usable coal out of the slag, and cleaning up some of the areas, but the largest underground coal fire in the world is still burning near here in Centralia, Pa. It will probably never be put out.