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March 2010
Posts: 370
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba CANADA | I finally got down to North Dakota to pick up the VOX VT30 I bought from OMA (thanks again, Arthur!!) and sat down today to give it a thorough work-out.
So... a bit of a product review.
After having tried a slew of small 'practice amps' recently, including several of the DSP amp modeling variety, I must say that I am very impressed with this one!!
The build quality (at least superficially...) appears to be higher than you might expect from a lower end, Chinese product. The diamond-cut metal grill looks great and is very handy if you have cats (which I do... three), as they won't be able to shred the grill cloth in a moment of frustration (of which they have many).
The vinyl material covering the amp also looks good (very 'Vox-like'...) and the corners, though plastic (instead of metal...) will probably do the job under light to moderate usage.
So, how does it sound? Very happy on that front as well. Several of the other modelling amps I have tried sounded far 'less real' (not quite like what they were trying to be...) than the Vox does and most of the simulations here were dead on. When I first plugged in, my initial thought was, "Hey that is pretty good Bill Nelson (Be-Bop Deluxe) sound" or another, "... very Robin Trower-like...", where with several of the Vox's competitors my initial thought was 'cheap' sound / bad imitation... next!!
Another handy feature of this amp is, along with the DSP amp-modelling section, you also have a fairly extensive (for the price...) FX modeller as well. Though somewhat limited in your ability to control certain aspects of the effects (hey, for 275 CAD, what do you expect...), having the ability to roll off the effects at all, is a major plus. You also have the option of editing the effects and saving them. On the back of the amp, is a knob that allows you to vary the power output (from 1 watt to a full 30 watts...). In my music room (about 12' x 20'), I found that about halfway (15 watts) was as high as I needed to go... anything more and I was blowing my head off. It is unlikely you would use something like the VT30 in a full band situation (with live drums...), but I suspect you could almost get away with it if you had to.
Surprisingly, I found this amp sounded really good with my basses as well. Obviously you wouldn't want to crank it too high while running a bass through it, but the sound was very convincing at low to moderate volumes... especially my Rick (which sounded very Chris Squire-like). Great for practicing and trying out new ideas.
As with many small practice-type amps, an amp stand comes in very handy, but I found a perfect (and dead cheap...) solution for this as well.
I had an extra PC tower dolly (a black one on wheels) that I paid 10-15$ for on EBay. I opened the spread as wide as it would go and rested the amp in between with the back inside the dolly and the front edge of the amp sitting up on the top edge of the dolly, thus creating a near perfect tilt for the listening distance you are likely to use it at (8-10 feet). Not only was this a very practical solution, it also looks fantastic!! I doubt I could have designed something expressedly for this purpose that would work as well, even if I had done it from scratch.
So to sum up...
I would recommend this amp highly and have already done so to several players I know that expressed interest. It reminded me of Ovation's iDea guitar, in that, here again we have a product that offers so much bang for your buck, that buying one for yourself is almost a no brainer!!
If you have a young guitarist at home that is looking for his first amp or even if you just want to get yourself a Christmas present this year... Give the VOX VT30 a try. You won't be sorry.
:D |
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Joined:
January 2009
Posts: 4536
Location: Flahdaw | North Dakota? |
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Joined:
March 2010
Posts: 370
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba CANADA | Originally posted by dark bar:
North Dakota? Closest entry point into USA from where I live, here in Winnipeg, MB.
Also handy for EBay and other purchases, where the American sellers refuse to ship to Canada (which is very common...).
This allows you to do the customs clearing yourself and avoid UPS hosing you or the American seller having to do it themselves.
;) |
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Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 3666
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Understood. Do we have OFC membership in North Dakota?
"Life is opportunity"..... |
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April 2008
Posts: 1851
Location: Newington, CT | Does anyone have ANYTHING in North Dakota?!?!
(Just kidding, Alison!) |
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Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 3666
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | She's in SOUTH Dakota. |
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Joined:
January 2009
Posts: 4536
Location: Flahdaw | Originally posted by AlanM:
Does anyone have ANYTHING in North Dakota?!?!
(Just kidding, Alison!) South Dakota has a landfill in North Dakota |
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Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Thanks for the review, John. Personally, I appreciate Vox amps very much. I have two, both class A tube models, but I can't say much for the reverb tank they use in their AC30 models. Yuck! |
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Joined:
March 2010
Posts: 370
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba CANADA | As a big believer in having the ability to record 'anything-from-anywhere-at-any-time'... I was kind of pissed off that when I looked in the VT30's manual to check what type of line-out it had, only to find that it DOESN'T have one???
I was pretty sure I saw that it had at least a headphone jack and thought maybe I was hallucinating?
No fear... When I looked at the back of the amp itself, there is indeed a stereo headphone/ line-out jack. The manual is WRONG...!!
As this is such an important feature for the average 'bedroom guitarist', I can't believe they misprinted/mis-diagrammed it.
:o :D ;) |
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Joined:
March 2008
Posts: 2683
Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | Fargo, N.D. has 21 degrees and a winter storm warning, with 3 to 7 inches expected.
Hot Springs, S.D. has 45 degrees and bright sunshine. :) |
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January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | I hear you, Allison. I left the house at 6:00 a.m. this morning here in Denver . . . 50 degrees and only a light jacket. It was 61 on Sunday and I put about 50 miles on the Harley, then changed the oil and filter. Weather forecasters aren't giving Denver much chance of a white Christmas this year. The skies are cloudless again today. Mountains are a completely different story. We did a show in Keystone on Saturday and it snowed all day and night. According to one report, the southern mountains could collect six feet out of the next wave alone. |
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July 2005
Posts: 1609
Location: Colorado | Professor - just the way I like it - 6 feet in the mountains - and 50 degrees here |
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January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Good to hear from you, Mark! |
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Not An 'O'... But You can Play Your 'O' Thru It