I tried the AD30VT last night with headphones just to check it out. The sound is very sterile without the speaker. The BF 2x12 for example almost sounds lke an acoustic simulator, VERY clean.
I tried the AD30VT last night with headphones just to check it out. The sound is very sterile without the speaker. The BF 2x12 for example almost sounds lke an acoustic simulator, VERY clean.
Similar result to Los7's with the 50VT. I wonder how much better the VTX's direct implementation could be. I mean, it's possible that without the Valve Reactor doing its dance with the speaker (preferably with the power setting as low as possible for a given volume), it's just another modeler. One that's really good at generating tones, but only part of a whole.
As you can see in my last pic, it's pretty easy to go between the Music Man and the VR15...and I keep preferring the VR15 for its more tube-like breakup and more complex tone. Maybe 'cus it's new...go figure.
If you've got a line out on the VR15, try plugging that into the clean channel of the MM... I've done that with my AD30VT and the HD130, and ... whoa!Originally Posted by Jack Gilvey
Sort of a 130 watt Valvereactor circuit, if you can imagine... :)
-Mark
One other thing to consider: because the AD30VT has the built-in attentuator that will take the output down to 0.1 watt, it becomes quite feasible to mod the box for taking the output directly from the speaker out to DI into a board.
If this were shown to work well, the safest permanent design would be to make the added "DI from speaker out" jack switch force the attentuator setting to max, which conceptually wouldn't be hard to do, might be a bit fiddly. But the idea could be tested straightforwardly by just being careful to ensure that attentuator was manually set to max attentuation before taking the signal to a board. Might have to experiment a bit to find the best value in-line resistor to better match input impedance...
I must admit I've been thinking brain salad surgery for this thing already. I'd like to liberate the "head" from the box, put it in a nicer looking, more roadworthy cab (sorry, the cheesy '60s pseudo-retro just doesn't do it for me... for a start, real '60s Vox gear was much more stylish). Maybe put a nice 12" speaker in the new cab...
Or just leave it as a head and then convert the original combo box to a 10" cab, and then get another cab with a 12", or maybe 2x12", or maybe 4x10" or maybe...
I think I'd better go have a cold shower.
-Mark
Last edited by Plugger; 01-15-2006 at 05:46 PM.
I plugged a set of headphones into the VR and it sounded...ok.
Not great, for sure. It definitely loses some of it's character, but then again we're talking about headphones.
The manual says the headphone jack disconnects the power amp. It doesn't speak to it anymore than that. After listeing through the phones, I am fairly confident the tube circuit stays in the loop.
That having been said, it still doesn't sound great. I suspect a really good set of phones would help.
A friend in need is a good reason to screen your calls.
Sounds like fun. :) Alas, no line-out on the 15...just a phone jack.If you've got a line out on the VR15, try plugging that into the clean channel of the MM... I've done that with my AD30VT and the HD130, and ... whoa!
Sort of a 130 watt Valvereactor circuit, if you can imagine...
Sure...didn't know it went that low.One other thing to consider: because the AD30VT has the built-in attentuator that will take the output down to 0.1 watt, it becomes quite feasible to mod the box for taking the output directly from the speaker out to DI into a board.
At least one place agrees with you. North Coast Music sells the entire Valvetronix lineup retrofitted with vintage-style grills or even whole new AC-30 style cabs...some really cool stuff there. Here's their AD30VT:...(sorry, the cheesy '60s pseudo-retro just doesn't do it for me... for a start, real '60s Vox gear was much more stylish)...
I kinda like the styling of the VTX models, but they do the AD120VTX too:
More expensive, but not obscenely so if the vibe does it for ya'.
The line out on the back of the AD30VT reads LINE/PHONE, so it might be worthwhile trying to patch from the phone output to the clean channel on the MM. (Just put the channel and master volumes set to zero to start and up adjust _slowly_! ;) )
-Mark
It'll work with the phones ouput.
A friend in need is a good reason to screen your calls.
VT15 update
dislikes: it is UGLY, it picks up the local NPR radio station on the ultra-high gain setting, needs a foot switch. It is not useful in a band environment with out an extention cabnet
Likes: it is one of the best amps I have used, the bass player suggested keeping it and selling my Fender twin amp and Ampeg.
I'm not quite ready for that. Small, light and simple to use. I run it through 2 Celestion GT75's in a closed cabnet. Dime the clean channel and use the guitar volume control. It is voiced very well and kept up with the volume we play at (loud) It worked with single coil, humbuckers and P-90's
The best $90 I have spent on an amp. Ever
durabilty TBD
do I look like I know what I'm doing?
You mean VR15?
Ugly?
A friend in need is a good reason to screen your calls.
Question ? Is a Vox V212 cab 8 ohms, if so has anybody tried it out with a VR15?
I know the AD212 runs at 4 or 16, or it can be split to 2-8 ohm loads in stereo.
A friend in need is a good reason to screen your calls.
Ouch, ugly and liberal...dislikes: it is UGLY, it picks up the local NPR radio station on the ultra-high gain setting...
I brought my Strat and VR15 over to my friend's this afternoon for a jam and only switched to the OD channel once to demo it for him, the rest of the afternoon was spent on "normal". I really think that's where this amp (and perhaps the whole line) sets itself apart.Dime the clean channel and use the guitar volume control.
I did try using the speaker in the Music Man combo with the Vox tonight. Definitely opens up the tone, more wide-range. There's a certain charm to the focused,mid-rangey tone of the internal 8", though.
Here are a few clean licks using the VR15's Normal channel . This is my Deluxe Player's Strat straight in with the amp mic'd and Volume at about 1/4.
http://home.comcast.net/~tgilvey/Voxclean.MP3
I will stop gushing over this thing, those who spent lotsa money on amps that sound no better may be offended. I still want to try it with a 4x12, should add some Db's
do I look like I know what I'm doing?
I still don't get the 'ugly' comment!
You ought to hear it through my 4-10 Marshall cab. Hoo Ha!
A friend in need is a good reason to screen your calls.
Did you mean dB's? Or was that "D - flats"
just funnin' with ya...
"I'm gonna find myself a girl
that can show me what laughter means
And we'll fill in the missing colors
In each other's paint-by-number dreams..."
Gush away. :) I'm assuming you meant the VR15 (not VT)I will stop gushing over this thing, those who spent lotsa money on amps that sound no better may be offended.
above based on your mention of $90?
How cool would it be to fashion a micro-head out of this thing? Seems pretty easy, too.
Anyone have any good clips to add to my cheeze?
Seriously considered getting another and making a head, but then I figured, why bother? It's small enough as it is!
A friend in need is a good reason to screen your calls.
You Sir, are CORRECT
do I look like I know what I'm doing?
rudutch, I asked the same question several posts ago. Also would like you to expand on the 'ugly' thing.
A friend in need is a good reason to screen your calls.
You mean this one, right.
It might sound good, but looks more Univox than Vox.
Several guitars in different colors
Things to make them fuzzy
Things to make them louder
orange picks
No.
These ones here. (like my english?)
A friend in need is a good reason to screen your calls.
Better'n mine.
Your phtots are better than mine, too. Those don't look too bad.
Several guitars in different colors
Things to make them fuzzy
Things to make them louder
orange picks
The vox amp should have the contols on top and the brown cloth on
this one = unattractive
Feel free to disagree, my opinion is free
do I look like I know what I'm doing?
Don't be so defensive, I'm jut asking what you don't like about them.
A friend in need is a good reason to screen your calls.
front controls on an amp this small is... well, silly
unless you are 2' tall - I have a pathfinder (15W SS) at my house, I find the top mounted controls and grill cloth much more appealing.
I did not buy it to look at, it sounds great - that's what I got it for.
Sitting on a 2x12 the controls have better accesability but I think thay need to be on top, traditional Vox-ish
no offense taken
do I look like I know what I'm doing?
I think I first heard about these amps through an e-mail from Musician's Friend or something. They were blowing out the VR30's for $149.00 and the VR15's for $89.00. I already had two (2) 15 watt or so amps with 8" speakers for my bedroom (a Fender Bronco Amp and a Marshall MG15CD), and I was considering getting something with a little more balls and at least a 10" speaker. The VR30 seemed to fit the bill, and $149.00 didn't sound bad as long as the amp sounded good.
So, headed on down to GC to try and possibly buy one. Well, they didn't have any more. But, I decided to try the VR15 just to see if the concept sounded good.
Boy did it.
Immediately, there was something "real" about the tone. As others have mentioned, it sounded better than many of the Line 6 amps I've tried, and nothing for $89.00 even came close. I debated getting the VR15, but that would make the 3rd 15 watt amp with an 8" speaker. I decided to walk away and wait for more VR30's to arrive...even though I wasn't sure if any ever would, since zzounds' site said that that model was no longer available.
Well, after Christmas, I decided to go look at Telecasters, since my Mom had given me money for Christmas to do so. Lo and behold, GC had gotten more of the VR30's in. So, not only did I try out some Tele's, I finally got to tinker with the VR30.
I was highly impressed. It was everything the VR15 was but louder and with reverb. Folks who were checking out the ADVT's started asking the GC salespeople about the VR30's when they heard it. The only downside was that the price had gone back up to $199.00. The AD30VT's were, like, $239.00, but my own personal theory is that if two amps are close in price ($50.00 or less), and one has all this stuff (models, effects, etc.) and one is just an amp...they've somehow, in some fashion skimped on the amp with all the stuff. Again...just my theory.
So, anyway, Tom (the GC salesguy with whom I usually deal) put together a package deal including the Tele, a case and the VR30, and I ended up getting the VR30 for $177.00. No...it's not $149.00, but it's still worth it in my humble opinion.
And now I'm thinking about going back and getting a VR15...just for the hell of it.
Man, these things are great for the money.
"I got Jackie Onassis in my pants." - The Dictators
- Scott.
I was in a similar quandary since I had recently purchased a G-DEC and didn't need another small "practice" amp. Well, I was right...and I'm looking to unload the G-DEC. One has bells 'n whistles out the *ss...the other has tone.I debated getting the VR15, but that would make the 3rd 15 watt amp with an 8" speaker.
As far as looks, I think the VT stuff is fairly challenged there with that grate on the front (maybe to appeal to the "modern" amp crowd?), but that the VR and VTX have that classy Vox appearance...love it. I wouldn't mind having the controls on top, though.
Just for fun, of course! Housed in a tiny head of burled mahogany or something, this might pass as a single-ended triode boutique thingie.Seriously considered getting another and making a head, but then I figured, why bother? It's small enough as it is!
Cool link I found on Valvetronix.net:
http://www.amptone.com/voxvalvetronix.htm
Cool indeed, thanks for sharing!
"Cool" is definitely the word...I think Jack scores link-of-the-week for this one...and it goes without saying that telecast gets thread-of-the-week.
:yay
Tenebrae
It's an older article, but I don't think anything has changed with the Valvetronics architecture (just some minor teaking of the power amp for the Neo-Dogs, I think). I didn't realize the Valvetronics stuff had been around a few years (been well out of the loop until recently, though). I read through it a couple times, so some points that occurred to me:
Clarifies and confirms for me the way I've been thinking about them. The Valve Reactor adds those dynamic (tube sag), frequency response, and harmonic colorations to the output of the modelling preamp before it hits the SS output stage that make it feel "right". Without this it's another modeller into SS amp.
The output control is a low-level attenuator put between VR and SS output allowing saturation of the tube stage at usable volumes. Functionally, it does the same thing as a power soak/HotPlate if you think of the VR as the "power amp" (from a tone perspective). It can still be quite loud even at the lowest setting, as pointed out. I found in my audition of the 60VTX at Guitar Center that, even at the 1-watt setting, I couldn't go above 1/4 or so on the MV lest I join the myriad noise-making jackasses that seem fixtures at GC.
Yes indeed. I'm not too concerned with getting the exact sound of a particular amp, I'm more interested in multiple, great-sounding, types of sounds...which might just sound better than their namesakes.The modelling amp concept will partly give way to a new goal of producing good sounds, rather than producing accurate renditions of quirky detailed behavior of amps. I don't want ten classic amps; rather, I want an amp that can produce the best sounds of those amps but with more control and range. The "modelling a literal guitar amp" concept is not the final ideal.
We need to model ideal sounds, not literal amps...
Good point. If you approach these amps thinking the models are going to sound like exact clones of their respective amps you'll be disappointed.
I'm having a blast with my AD30VT. It's cool how some of the models work with different guitars. For example, I've never been very much into the way my Tele sounds (it's a Squire), but I figured it was because it's not a particularly great Tele. Well, with some of the models it sounds excellent. It's a completely different mindset from playing a 335 (my main ax for years). Really cool.
If you don't mind me asking, JAM, how does it sound with the UK Blues, the UK 70s and the Vox models?
Tenebrae
Tenebrae,
In a word, great. But I'm having such a good time with my Tele with the Tweed 4X10 model, that I havent explored all the other models to a great extent. Each model's tone controls mimic the originals, so it requires rethinking each one. I've played Fenders so long that I have to 'throw away' my old ways of setting tone controls.
I've been blasting away with the LP this morning on the clean channel dimed. Wow. That's where the use of the 12" in the MM makes a big difference. I was reminded of standing in front of a favorite JCM 800 half-stack with my SG at a rehearsal studio I used to frequent (place closed...shoulda bought that damn amp), controlled feedack 'n all. Cool part is it refuses to break up into that brittle solid-state odd-order distortion I used to get even from my Valvestate half-stack.
Just for fun...how about some opinions on the perfect 12" speaker to match with the VR15? I'm diggin' this little head/cab idea, or even making a combo for it with a bigger cab. I've made lots of speaker boxes, so it'd be easy.
Not sure about the 12", because I'm a dyed-in-the-wool 10 guy, but I can give you two perspectives there:
Marshall 4-10 w/Celestions: Lot's of crunch, much bigger bass. Volume is way up the scale. Typical closed-back cab sound, amp sounds much bigger than it is. Nice crunchy tones on the clean channel, OD1 needs to be tweaked or it's over the top. Forget OD2.
Open backed cab with 2 Weber Cali 10's, ceramic, paper dust cover: Clean, clean, clean. Much later breakup than the Marshall cab, less bass (as would be expected). Chimey, clear as a bell. Besides the clean channel crunch the VR does so well at the top of the volume knob, these speakers require the OD channel to get dirty. LOUD as hell, louder than the Marshall by a good measure. OD2 is usable if you want high-gain stuff, but again, it's close to going over. Keep the gain low.
A friend in need is a good reason to screen your calls.
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