VOX Valvetronix

[JakeK]

A friend of mine has a VOX Valvetronix AD50VT, and when I hung out with him Saturday evening, I had a lot of fun playing around with it. I plugged the 1997 to this amp. I used the onboard compressor, and it sounded so good, I didn't need my Danelectro compressor. I used my Fuzz Face quite a bit, though, and it sounded nice. All the different amp models in it are nice. I nailed the sounds of The Beatles, The Who, The Kinks, The Stones and Tom Petty using the AC-30TB setting. On Blackface 2X12 mode, I nailed the sound of The Who, The Stones, The Byrds and The Beach Boys. On Tweed 4X10 mode, I was able to play some nice Blues rock. With the Auto Wah-Wah setting in Tweed mode, I nailed the sound to The Who's "Going Mobile" from "Who's Next".

So, all in all, I really want to get a Vox Valvetronix...for the moment anyway. My ears seemed to like the sound of it, and it's worth the money!

[antipodean]

Ah Jake, you've succumbed to the lure of modeling amps. Their big plus is that they are incredibly versatile. A lot of people will point out that they don't get 100% of the way to where they're supposed to, but to most ears 85% to 90% is more than close enough. Save those pennies my boy, and that amp will be yours!

[beatlefreak]

I've got a Valvetronix AD120VT, and I love it as my main amp. All the effects are built in, as well as all the popular amp sounds.

[stubby]

I have an AD30VT and I too like it. I run my bridge pickup to my Tweed Blues Jr. (which, BTW, has had some great mods done to it by Mr. Bill Machrone) and send the other pickup to my AD30VT, first going through a volume pedal. I use the compression setting also but I am coming to like the tremolo a lot - I am able to blend it in nicely with the volume pedal so that it' s not too much, very subtle in combo with the Blues Jr. And, for in-the-basement jamming, the Vox is a blast on its own.

[rickosound]

We have an AD100VT from North Coast, with brown Vox paneling to disguise it as an AC30. For $600, my dad and I agree that this is maximum bang for your buck, as it essentially gives you several amps and pedals in one package. The smaller Valvetronix amps, which cost less, probably have the same value, relatively speaking. I used to play through one at the Kansas City School of Rock, and it seemed to sound exactly the same. Discussing this post a few minutes ago, we also agreed that 85% is about accurate for the sounds. Effect pedals can be used to fill in the other 15%. In our house, it basically stays on the AC30 setting (sometimes the Tweed amp). In my opinion, the onboard effects are good for everything but distortion effects, which is why I recently acquired two via Christmas presents. Great for recording, also. Sometimes we also plug in the 12 string (without the Janglebox) and use the Comp setting.

Here's the VT30, with brown Vox grill, at North Coast.
http://www.voxshowroom.com/northcoast/v ... 30-GR.html

Matthew

[bitzerguy]

I have used my AD120VTH/AD212 rig several times a week since 2003. It has never failed. It has been the most reliable piece of kit I own.

I was curious about the comments from three of my guitar playing pals about the Valvetronix not "getting all the way there" compared to a tube amp, so we set up a basement AB session with my rig, a late 60s AC30, a silver face Bassman, an early 60s Deluxe and a JCM900. I tweaked the presets on the V/X as close as I could to the test amps, by ear. The three amigos arrived and we used a blindfold and A/B'd our hearts out for a night. The only conclusion we could come to was that none of us could pick out the correct amp with any consistency at all.

I think someone who has studied and played tube amps for many years would definitely be able to pick out a difference. But our non-clinical test showed that 4 out of 4 guitar players (all of us have played for 30 years or more) could, in fact, not tell the difference in a live situation. I would bet money that 90% of anyone you are playing for could not tell the difference either.

The real crux is this: if a good (gig) quality modeling amp gives you the tone you need for your art, then it is the right amp for you. This goes for ANY amp, modeling, tube or SS. It boils down to you, your budget and most importantly your art.

Jake, if you want a versatile rig that can play any tone you want to use at a decent price, the Valvetronix lineup are great amps to look at. The caveat is because these amps are so flexible, they can be complicated as well, and require some serious tweaking time to get your tone fine tuned.

I wouldn't gig without mine.

[lovecity]

Here's my take on it.

Model all you like for live stuff. But when you it comes down to it the real thing versus a model is NOT going to hold up in the studio. There's going to be something missing.

We used STRICTLY vintage organs live. The thing is, 40+ year old organs can't really hold up to the rigors of frequent practices/gigs without someone qualified taking care of it.

AKA we had several organs (Farfisas) DIE on us. One before we even played our first show (ie not even being moved) and one after a few months of gigging.

The result, our organist bought a VERY expensive clone. It's perfect live... amazing even.. and we can count on it. But in the studio, it just doesn't have that extra "something" it needs.

The same applies, IMHO, to AMP modelers.