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Got a new amp (for those who need a small practice amp)

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(@ignar-hillstrom)
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Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 5349
Topic starter  

As stated in another post I was looking for a new amp. So last week I went to a few music stores and play through pretty much all amps that were in my budget. To help those who are looking for a new amp a bit I'll write a bit about the more known amps and what I thought (warning: opinions instead of facts approaching!) of them.

The first two brands I looked at were Fender and Marshall, which means the Fender Frontman15r and DSP Bullet and the Marshall MG series. No offense intented to these brands, but I can be quite brief about these amps: way below average. The reverb on the frontman is near useless, turn it above three and it sounds like you're playing in the Pantheon. The clean channel on both the frontman and bullet are shrill and sterile, the distortion buzzy and weak. The few effects on the bullet can't be properly tweaked at all, and sound mediocre at best. Finally, the 8"Speaker can't deliver at all when turned up, and you get that nasty SS distortion that you really don't want. The Marshall MG is just as bad. Fuzzy distortion, no proper overdriven sounds, clean channel is very dull and boring.

Next up was the Hughes & Kettner Edition Blue 30R. A very nice clean channel, rather lame distortion channel, reverb that suffered a bit from the frontman syndrome in a lesser way, and a speaker that actually had some proper bass in it at higher volume levels. Not really a bad amp, but too expensive for what it is. So now I was starting to get to the brands I was really interested in: Line6, Behringer, Roland and Vox.

The Line6 Spider30 appeared very promising. Very slick design, loaded with features, decent price. Unfortunately, it sounds no good at all. The effects can't be tweaked, very similar to the Fender DSP Bullet. The clean sounds totally plastic, and didn't respond much at all to different pickups. The overdriven and crunch sounds sounded downright fake. I never had the idea the amp was amplifying my guitar, it always felt as if it would just play a pre-recorded sound for each fret. Picking dynamics? Forget it. Rolling the volume back to clean it up? Doesn't really work as it should. Finally Line6 expects you to pay another 50$ for a simple footswitch. Lamers. On a positive note, the distortion and insane channel sounded like they should. If you're into garage punk, screamo or other such stuff then this amp will deliver. The 12"speaker was very nice as well, and the volume was ok, even good with the distortion channels. But since I was looking for clean and overdriven sounds it was not what I needed.

Onwards, to the Behringer GM110. According to Behringer this is a recording amp. And they are right. The sound quality and diversity is amazing for the pricetag of $99, and there is a truckload of connection options at the back. Very nice for in a basic home studio. Unfortunately, the clean channel hardly has any volume at all and there is only one channel, so it won;t really be good for playing with others. A shame the clean is so soft, it sounded real nice. 10"Jensen speaker sounds very good for it's price, but the output really seems to be much below the claimed 30 watts. Great value for money, but not what I needed.

Next: Cube30. Basically a 2-channel amp, where the 2nd channel is a modeling part and the first channel is just clean. The clean sound is very, very good. Doesn't color your guitar much at all, and the reverb is properly sounding as well. A few basic, barely tweakable effects, loud enough with it's clean channel, and a good speaker, so it did meet all my 'demands'. The distortions weren't bad at all either, but they aren't as strong as the clean channel. No effects loop though, which pissed me off somewhat.

Finally the Vox AD30VT, which is the one I got. Before I go raving about how great it is I'll start with a few things that annoy me beyond words:

1) Why does it cost $50 to make a switch that changes the channel?
2) Why does this $250 amp only have a footswitch and headphone input? Even the 50$ behringer GM108 has a CD in. A speaker-out, effects loop, cd in, and midi control really wouldn't have been that much to include.
3) Yes, there is a tube down there. No need to say it every four lines in the manual. And while I'm at it, I am totally not interested in what tubes were in the original they are modeling. Really, I *don't * care.

Having said this: Vox rocks! This amp is highly responsive to the way you pick, sounds radically different when a different guitar is used (some amp models clearly prefer single coils btw!). The effects are properly tweakable (multiple paramters, none of the above amps had that). But the real awesome part was the AC30 model. Played it with a Prestige RG, Dimarzio brigde bucker: WOW! It literally put this huge crazy grin on my face when I heared it. Clean sounds are chimey and jangly, and the overdrive is downright shockingly good. The other models to offer a great variety of tone, from crystal clear cleans to loud distortion.

Basically this amp is a 3 channel amp: preset channel1, preset channel2 and manual mode. With the footswitch you can switch between any of these three, very nice. What did annoy me was that when you change presets the knobs don't point towards their new value. I understand they didn;t use motorised knowbs, but some simple led dials like the V-amp has would have been very helpfull. Modifying a preset is somewhat nasty, since you first have to put all knobs to what the preset is set to. Guess they thought the chickenheads were too sexy to change them with something more usefull.

Noteworthy is the bassy sound at low volume. Espescially the Bassman and Blackface models have this, and using humbuckers and a mahony body didn;'t seem to improve it. Of all amps tested this one definitely needs to be tested with your own guitar. But in the end this was simply THE amp within my budget. Sometimes you don't even need to put the facts together, when you're sitting there looking like a retard with a moronic grin all over your face you just know that you've found what you're after. On another note, there is no colorless clean sound, which the roland does have, and I can see reasons why people would take the cube over this one. But not one of the other amps even came remotely close to the bluesy overdrive this one had, you must hear it to believe it.

To put things in perspective: in one of the store there was this guy playing a Fender dlx strat into various classy all-tube amps. While I'm still totally pro-modeling there is no way I could deny the vast tonal superiority those amps had over each amp I tested. That Engl Souvereign was almost as versatile as a modeling amp (4 channels, shared EQ though) and sounded absolutely stunning and sparkling. Price: $2200. I did play through a Electar Tube 30 and I didn't consider that one at all to be superior to the Vox, although it was vastly more dynamic then, for example, the Spider30. All in all I conclude that this Vox30 is, as far as I can see, the best amp (atleast for my demands and taste) for it's money, but it doesn;t really comes close to those really expensive amps.

Now let's get back to that AC30 model. :D


   
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(@wes-inman)
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Joined: 20 years ago
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Arjen

Oh, so those tube amps sound pretty good do they? :D Sorry, I had to rub that in.

I am glad you found a good amp. And your review is just excellent. You really went into all the details someone would want to hear. A really great review.

Oh, congratulations on the new amp! 8)

If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis


   
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(@english-one)
Estimable Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 153
 

Thankyou, thats very useful there. I wish somebody had recomended a Vox when I went shopping for my new amp. Despite my disagreement with moddelling amplification, I think the AD range are really rather good (Not that I'm disappointed with the amp I got, Fender FM212R, it's just too big to be sensible, I just don't want to admitt it.)

I second the motion for the fender an marshall low enders. Not had many dealings with the baby frontmans, but the Marshall MGs are really very disappointing, and overpriced with it. Both guitarists in my band use them, and they are a nightmare to work with (My own opinion)

What other power ratings do vox make the AD amps in? I might see whether I can trade in my fender, but 30 watts isn't really enough for me and my loud drummer...

Thankyou

Peter


   
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(@greybeard)
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I believe the ADVT goes up to 120W.

I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
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(@ricochet)
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And it doesn't cost $50 to make one of those foot switches. Just costs $50 to buy one. :D

"A cheerful heart is good medicine."


   
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(@ignar-hillstrom)
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Joined: 21 years ago
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Topic starter  

Wes: Haha, I knew someone would rub it in. But there really is no way I could say anything else without my face turning red. Still stand firmly behind the Digital Revolution, but with enough money tubes will still do the trick.

English One: I hear you, got the same thing with my GMX212. As for the AD serie, they go from 15W, 1x8" to 120W, 2x12". I think the AD60VT(X) should be enough to gig with though. The AD15-50 is a different series then the AD60 and up, the latter has a WAY more advanced effect section and a few more amp models, as well as some more connection options and the bigger footswitch with dual expression pedals.


   
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(@wes-inman)
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Joined: 20 years ago
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Arjen,

Sorry, couldn't help myself.

Now this is going to be the amp you use with your new group, right?

30 Watts should be fine. Maybe down the road you can pick up a mic. Behringer has the XM8500 Microphone for $20 US. This microphone gets rave reviews. Many say it is just as good as a Shure SM58 for 1/5 the price. It probably is not nearly as durable though. But then, what other mic is? You could easily use this to mic your amp into the PA.

If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis


   
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(@ignar-hillstrom)
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Joined: 21 years ago
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Topic starter  

Wes: Yeah, will look into a mic eventually. The headphone/line-out signal is taken directly after the preamp, and before the Vavletronix poweramp circuitry where that tube is. Really a big difference, not nearly as lively. So if I want to put it into a PA I'd have to mic it instead of just plugging it into the mixer directly.

Haven't seen those Behringer mics yet. To be honest I myself have never had any issues with Behringer stuff, although I can't expect too much for $20 ofcourse.


   
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(@fiberoptik)
Estimable Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 86
 

Arjen:
Just one feature you missed... The output to the speaker is selectable and can be varied from .5w to 30 watts on the AD30VT. The advantage to this is the ability to keep that tube burning while not disturbing your neighbors.. Great sound at any volume..

One more complaint too...
The Vox insignia on the front is plastic.. Blech

Oh btw
I guess its actually a Korg amp... Korg now owns the rights to Vox


   
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(@forrok_star)
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Joined: 21 years ago
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Here's a link with some sounds and tone from Vox. Vox Demo Clips

joe


   
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(@yoyo286)
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http://www.voxamps.co.uk/products/valvetronix/vt_audition.htm < and there... 8)

Stairway to Freebird!


   
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(@danrobertson)
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Joined: 19 years ago
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Well im sold :)

Now to flog my mg30dfx (logs into ebay).


   
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(@e-sherman)
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Joined: 20 years ago
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It's sounding more and more like I should sell this Behringer amp I got and look into one of those. They appealed to me when I heard of them, but since I wanted 60 watts, it was too much.

I picked up this Behringer AC 112 becuase It was going for really, really cheap at musiancs friend ($150). But i've been getting more and more disgrunteled with it. It was a great, modern distortion sound (despite being called the 'vintager') on the overdrive channel, but it's really only good for lead or powerchords. The clean channel is lame, as it distorts ( im guessing this is becuase of the tube preamp). The 99 effects presets are mostly worthless. Combine that with the fact that there is a slight delay switching between channels in which the sound cuts out, and I've been getting pretty angry with it.

The upshot is that I did get it for cheap. It lists for around 250 if I remember, so I should be able to sell it to someone else and possibly make a little bit of money off of it.

The king of rock, some say lives
the lizard king, is surely dead
the king of France, lost his head
the King of Kings... bled
( email me at esherman@wideopenwest.(com). I almost never check my hotmailaccount.


   
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(@forrok_star)
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Joined: 21 years ago
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Thanks for the info on the many amps tested.

Most of them I've only heard about here at the message-boards and have not played or listened to any of them. Doesn't sound like any of those companies have improved upon over the years. Kind of seems these companies are manufacturing, advertising, and turning out whatever to make a dollar, not taking into consideration serious sound and tone.

Joe


   
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(@danrobertson)
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Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 35
 

I'm confusing myself now with what I want. I want a better sound from my amp now but I'm thinking I'll stick with my mg30dfx and then save up to get a decent tube amp when I warrant it. Think im gonna wait and check out the peavey classic 30 when I get used to the nuances of my strat.

God knows, tommorow I'll be wanting a ad30vt again :(


   
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