I have always wanted to get a Valvetronics, esp. since I got my Vox DA5, but I am convinced that Valvetronics amps are unreliable, extremely complicated in their circuits, can be very expensive to get fixed, and are often unfixable.

I have often thought about picking up a valvetronics if I could find one on a great closeout sale or some other very inexpensive way because they are so fun to mess around with all the amp models and other effects and so on; especially since my Behringer GM110 awesome little analog modeling amp was stolen along with the other stuff.

Well the time has arrived where I have found a AD120VTX with the argyle type vintage style grill cloth instead of the chromie BBQ grill grate cover; along with all of the awesome buttons and knobs that tweak all sorts of things on the VTX that are not present on the chromies. And the Celestion Blue Dog speakers are also great and the amp is stereo. I'm excited about it and am in the middle of negotiating a price that should be close to 400 but not more than 400 and possibly less, 399 even would be a good price I'm pretty sure.

This particular amp is an AD120VTX 212 and is brand new, NOS, old stock. Super mint brand new item. They also have a an AD60VTX with just one of the speakers and less handles. Same control panel. These have preamp tubes, one I believe and sound almost like a tube amp and have dynamics a lot like, if not indistinguishable from a regular tube amp. The amp models were a LOT of fun to play with. The reverb and some other effects are separate from the other grouped effects, with their own speed and depth controls. There are four banks of preset saved settings that you can retrieve aparently by number, 32 presents I think, probably all user programmable. The auto wah was adjustable all the way up to very thick.

After messing with it with an Ibanez double cut AS200 gold top for about an hour I had only touched upon a mere fraction of the amps total interactability.

I like the two twelve in speaker 120 watt one best and wonder if the perceived loudness follows the 3 watts for every 1 solid state watt general rule of thumb, or if the 120 watts is roughly equivalent to 120 solid state watts.

Anyway, do any of you think that this is a great amp to have around? Do you think 400 is a good price on a brand new one of these considering the reputation for unreliability and expense of repair?

They also have the light blue Tonelab effects pedal for 200 NOS that is probably the equivalent of the preamp of the AD120VTX and can be used with any amp.

So I guess I'm asking you guys if you have respect for the AD120VTX and think that it might be a great amp to have at the house for regular bedside use. The attenuator goes all the way down to one watt.

I'm excited about it and asked the sales guy to hold the amp for me and that I'll pick it up in approx. one month and will put a down payment on it to lay it away.

If I change my mind he doesn't care if I transfer the down payment over to a more traditional and reliable amp like a Fender Supersonic or the JCM 2000 dual super lead that I can get for 1100.

These last two amps are awesome and targets of desire; however, getting a valvetronix, especially one that I see as being a superiorly designed valvetronix, at a really great price, is something that I don't think I should take lightly or pass up without some serious thought and seeking out some informed input from my fellow fretters.

Do any of you with experience with the Valvetronix amps have any input that you can give me that might help me out in making this decision? Your expertise, as always, is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Duffy