New amp for me?

[Hampus]

I have a small cheap Laney Hardcore HCM10 and I absolutely hate it. It sounds horrible, (even aside from my playing) and the dist is useless. Would this qualify as a valid reason for getting another one? :notme

I've been looking at used ones. Both the VOX VT30, VT15 and the Epiphone Valve Junior are interesting right now. No price difference between the models on the used market.

The Epi is a minimalistic, 5W tube amp, it only has a volume knob and a power switch, that's it. I guess most of you know the VOX, I've seen it discussed here before. So, any thoughts on either one of them? I guess the VOX 30 would be loud enough to let me use it outside the bedroom if it ever came to that...

/Hampus

[Duffy]

I recently bought a new old stock (NOS) Vox VT30. I like this amp a lot. I like the variety of sounds I can get out of it and it can be LOUD. I took home a VT15 for a week or so to check out and I brought it back and got the VT30 that they had. The VT30 is a lot nicer in my opinion, and yes it is fairly loud. You could jam with it, straight up, in a lot of situations, even with a controllable drummer you could be loud enough. The range of sounds is really great and the controls are easy to get some great sounds out of it with ease. I use the amp every day and it is very responsive to the controls on the guitar. Some of that digital stuff takes the guitar controls out of your hands and renders the tone controls on the guitar useless, the VT30 lets you use the tone controls on the guitar to help shape the sound, which is very nice. It also has great response to pick attack, which is also great.

I wouldn't hesitate to get another VT30, I wouldn't, however, get a VT15 probably at all, unless I was going to use it for some reason where I needed a very small form factor amp. Maybe for camping trips at places with electricity, vacations, or other reasons where a small but durable amp, protected by a heavy chrome speaker grill, would be good to have. I'd go with the VT30.

I heard that the VT50 "Chromie" is mega bassy, to the point of not being able to EQ the bass out of it enough to get a decent sound. Some people that are knowledgeable of these Valvetronix VT50's and VT30's say that you can "greatly" improve the sound of the amp, such as the excessive bassiness of the VT50, by putting a small pillow or other insulation inside the amp around the speaker. They talk about this on the forum - valvetronics.net (http://valvetronics.net) . I tried the VT50 out and it was indeed super bassy and there was no way out of the bassiness with the EQ or whatever. As I said, I have the VT30 "Chromie" and I like the way it sounds; the sound is EQ'd very well with no excessive bassiness. I have not stuffed a pillow or other insulation inside the amp. It sounds really great just the way it is. But the insulation idea is something to read about on valvetronics.net in order to find out more information. Supposedly almost all of the problems that the VT30 could develop can be easily eliminated by doing a simple "factory reset" of the highly computerized amp. Just like a home computer needs to be rebooted now and then, these amps sometimes need to get rebooted, but not unless there is a reason to do so. You don't just do a reset for the fun of it.

I hope some of this information helps you out. I had been wanting to get a "Chromie" for a long time and I'm glad I finally got one, and I got it at a very excellent price, NOS. Good luck with your amp quest.

The VT30 is a very neat and fun amp that could be a great item for a lot of different people, but, of course, other people's opinions will vary.

I think it is very possible that you could be very happy with a VT30, based on my own experience.

[bcdon]

The VT30 is a very neat and fun amp that could be a great item for a lot of different people, but, of course, other people's opinions will vary.

I think it is very possible that you could be very happy with a VT30, based on my own experience.

I agree, I have a VT30 and it is a super fun amp.

[Hampus]

Thank you for the input. I'm scanning the ads. A VT20+ just came up. Any experience with that one?

/Hampus

[markb]

I've got a VT40+. Good amp models and some nice sounding effects and loud enough but with a handy built in attenuator. I think the 20 only has a 8" speaker so probably sounds a bit smaller. I've played through a few Valvetronix amps and they've all been pretty good.

[Tig]

I had an EVJr, which can be fun and sound OK, but to get any gain saturation it is loud... too loud for most home use. It is also too weak for most band use, so it doesn't always fit many people's needs. One thing a class A amp is really good for is teaching the subtleties of touch dynamics.

Vox VT's, Cube 80's, and Fender Mustangs are all excellent choices for modeling amps that sound and feel great. Also, don't underestimate how much better a 12" or even a 10" speaker sounds over an 8" speaker.

Happy hunting!

[Duffy]

I would suggest going to valvetronix.net (http://valvetronix.net) and reading about the "+" series. Evidently there is a complaint that has been made by some that they get a "snare drum" unusual sound out of their amps. I'm not sure if they found a resolution to the problem yet, but I don't think the system reset eliminated the problem. Supposedly it sounds kind of like the sympathetic noise that you sometimes hear from the snares rattling on the bottom of a snare drum in the same room as a loud stereo or someone practicing a bass guitar. The snares on the bottom of the bass drum will vibrate against the bottom of the drum on the bottom head, making a rattling sound, unless the lever on the snare drum is switched to release the tension of the snare wires against the drum head.

This may or may not be a concern for you. I don't think the problem has surfaced with all the amps and might be a problem that only shows up in some amps. I don't think they have figured out where the snare drum sound is coming from yet. It could be a simple fix. It also could be annoying if your amp had one and if this is a used "+" series amp, which are fairly new releases, I would suggest checking it out completely and listening for the snare drum problem and I would definitely turn it up sou you can hear what it does at higher volume.

Personally I would go for the larger VT40+ and the ten inch speaker. The "Chromies" are being blown out by places that still have them and they have been around for a while, and I don't think the VT series has had a lot of problems that aren't easily fixed. Any amp could develop a problem at any time, you just never know.

[Hampus]

Thank you!

A new contender surfaced. The Peavey Vypyr. There's an oppertunity to buy a 75W for less $ than a new 30W. Problem is that 75W might be too much for these thin walls and sensitive neighbours, even if the Vypyr also has a knob for reducing the output power, same as the Vox. The question is, would it be possible to reduce the power enough on a 75W amp?

From what I've seen this far, I like both amps.

Any experience with the Vypyr?

/Hampus

[Tig]

I had a little Vypyr 15, and well, I just can't recommend a Vypyr other than one of their Tube Vypyrs. Being solid state, you can keep the volume down without losing too much.

You can model and tweak quite a bit, as well as download patches from the hundreds available, but the interface and knobs are not fun to work with. The high gain amp models are a bit fizzy, and the cleans don't have that classic glassy tone I was looking for.

Of everything I've owned and tried*, the Fender SCX2 is by far the best sounding amp yet. I'm blown away by just how great this one sounds, and it is tube based so you get all the feel and touch sensitivity without having to blast the neighbors away.

* EDIT: Maybe not everything I've tried, such as a Mesa Express 5:20, for instance.
No matter what anyone says, the right amp for you is what you like. Try as many as you can to help you find the sound you are looking for.

[Eric]

Of everything I've owned and tried, the Fender SCX2 is by far the best sounding amp yet. I'm blown away by just how great this one sounds, and it is tube based so you get all the feel and touch sensitivity without having to blast the neighbors away.
Seriously? Better than the Tweaker? If true, that's some high praise!

[Tig]

Seriously? Better than the Tweaker? If true, that's some high praise!

Yep, I'd sell the Tweaker if I was crazy enough to have just 1 or 2 amps. I'll keep it because I can't imagine not having an all tube amp.
The richness of the SCX2's tone really caught me off guard.

[Eric]

Yep, I'd sell the Tweaker if I was crazy enough to have just 1 or 2 amps. I'll keep it because I can't imagine not having an all tube amp.
The richness of the SCX2's tone really caught me off guard.
Wow. I think that's quite the endorsement. Good to know!

[omegadot]

I agree with the above. The modeling on my 15 was all pretty flat and the knobs were aggrivating. I ended up giving it away.

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

[NWBasser]

I was trying out guitars at the local GC and thought I'd see what the Vyper could do.

Unfortunately, it didn't sound particularly good and I couldn't figure out how to turn the overbearing effects off. Nothing intuitive about it at all.

[Bookkeeper's Son]

That was exactly my Vypyr experience, too! I ended up getting a Cube, because it sounded good and is VERY easy to use. The Voxes do have the 12AX7 pre-amp, which is nice, but the Rolands are much easier to use, overall. I'd say either would be a good choice.

[Hampus]

That was exactly my Vypyr experience, too! I ended up getting a Cube, because it sounded good and is VERY easy to use. The Voxes do have the 12AX7 pre-amp, which is nice, but the Rolands are much easier to use, overall. I'd say either would be a good choice.

Yes, I think, without having actually tried it, that the vypyr is ot of the picture. it now stands between a used Vox VT30, a new Vox VT20+ and a new Vox VT40+ The 20+ would be good enough for me, but I worry about the speaker which has been described as somewhat "thin" sounding. The new 20+ is about 45% more expensive than the used VT30 and the new VT40+ is about 35% more wxpensive than the 20+

The VT30 would leave some room in the budget for the pedal.

/Hampus

/Hampus

[Duffy]

The used VT30 could be a great amp. I would check it out completely. I'm skeptical about the VT+ series after reading about the "snare drum" problem. I wouldn't want to wind up with an amp that had the snare drum rattle going on, and supposedly Vox is very unresponsive about the problem; a stance they have frequently taken in the past with hard to fix design problems. The VT "Chromie"series has been around for a while and most of the problems have probably been ironed out, in secrecy. The VTxx Chromies were supposed to have addressed some of the problems with the ADxxxVT series. Also, the VT+ series has the attenuator on the top control panel wtih the other knobs and not on the back like VT series does. This sounds like a great idea, but the trade off was that the VT+ amps do not have a separate dedicated reverb knob anymore, in order to make room for the attenuator knob I guess. You have to access the reverb like the other effects. I like having a traditional reverb knob to adjust without going thru the more complicated approach to adjusting the other effects; personal preference I'm sure.

I wouldn't eliminate the VT30 if it's a good deal and is in mint condition, and works right. It shouldn't have any random channel switching or any other problems. I would definitely beware of the "snare drum" sound reported to come from some plus series Valvetronic amps though. That problem could be impossible to fix, but who knows - not enough is known about it yet that has been widely revealed.

I tried the small Vypyrs out too and didn't like them. A small Marshall MG15CDR closed back with a real mini reverb tank sounded a lot better only doing a couple things, than the Vypyr that did a million things half as well. Plus when I glanced at the back of the Vypyr it looked really cheaply made. It was completely open backed with only small corner reinforcements in the cabinet. I A/B'd them side by side and immediately I thought the Marshall sounded way more high quality than the Vypyr, "to my ear".