Members bzja Posted December 15, 2008 Members Share Posted December 15, 2008 Thought I would give a quick review of the First Act VA851. This was an impulse buy as I have A Line 6 Flextone II with the FB4, Eminence Wizard 12" installed. A Roland Cube 60, and a Line 6 Spider II. I have been playing for 38 years and for a time during the 80's I played professionally in a cover band to put myself through college. I have owned and played through many amplifiers both Tube, Solid State, and Hybrid. Overall the workmanship was as expected for a standard product line solid state amplifier. With very little tweaking I was able to dial in a nice over driven sound. I also purchased the optional 2 button foot switch (VFC001 $19.95) , one button turns on/off the gain feature. The other turns on/off the effects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members docjeffrey Posted December 15, 2008 Members Share Posted December 15, 2008 ^^Great info. Thanks for taking the time to do this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wagdog Posted December 15, 2008 Members Share Posted December 15, 2008 Good review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frets99 Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 Great review! Definitely a decent amp for $99! It's basically a one channel amp. The difference is that it's 4 one channel amps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bzja Posted December 15, 2008 Author Members Share Posted December 15, 2008 Great review! Definitely a decent amp for $99!It's basically a one channel amp. The difference is that it's 4 one channel amps. EXACTLY !!! a one trick pony in 4 flavors ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vrm Posted December 15, 2008 Members Share Posted December 15, 2008 HNAD! I was gonna grab one of those but in reality I didn't need it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Squier Fat Telecaster Posted December 15, 2008 Members Share Posted December 15, 2008 It was tempting to grab one but I really don't need another amp. It's a good bargain though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Will Chen Posted December 15, 2008 Members Share Posted December 15, 2008 Congrats! Still liking the 75 watter I picked up. Surprised they still have stock left. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarman3001 Posted December 15, 2008 Members Share Posted December 15, 2008 Congrats! Still liking the 75 watter I picked up. Surprised they still have stock left. Yep. Still liking my 75 watter too. It's become my main home amp. Only drawback is that it's kind of big and heavy for a 1x12 but as long as I leave it in a corner and don't move it around it's ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fagmotron 3000 Posted December 16, 2008 Members Share Posted December 16, 2008 I love my 75 watt FA. All 4 channels sound great, but my problem with the amp is that I have the gain cranked on the distortion channels and the clean channel cannot get near as loud as them without adding too much gain. I wish the clean channel just had a level control instead of gain. I wonder if there is any way to mod it. Also, the reverb is really bad above 10 Oclock. The UK lead and boutique channels are really, really good with a little reverb and some medium echo put in. I mean phenomenal. Especially now that the speaker is really worked in. I really should make a vid and post it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarman3001 Posted December 16, 2008 Members Share Posted December 16, 2008 I love my 75 watt FA. All 4 channels sound great, but my problem with the amp is that I have the gain cranked on the distortion channels and the clean channel cannot get near as loud as them without adding too much gain. I wish the clean channel just had a level control instead of gain. I wonder if there is any way to mod it. Also, the reverb is really bad above 10 Oclock. The UK lead and boutique channels are really, really good with a little reverb and some medium echo put in. I mean phenomenal. Especially now that the speaker is really worked in. I really should make a vid and post it up. I agree with everything except your opinion of the reverb. I think it's bad at ANY setting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fagmotron 3000 Posted January 6, 2009 Members Share Posted January 6, 2009 I agree with everything except your opinion of the reverb. I think it's bad at ANY setting! Yeah, I know what you mean, but I just put it on about 8 o'clock for a little more texture to the sound. It's strange because just about every amp has reverb built in so it should be pretty much the easiest thing to make sound good. I wonder why they didn't just use a tank and have the extra space in the preamp for another effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dabbler Posted January 6, 2009 Members Share Posted January 6, 2009 I agree with everything except your opinion of the reverb. I think it's bad at ANY setting! It's different, but perfectly usable, IMO. I'm actually kinda glad that it's its own sound. I like diversity. I don't know why you hate it so much, but I hope that it's not just because "it doesn't sound like ". :poke: Diversity is a good thing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Squier Fat Telecaster Posted January 6, 2009 Members Share Posted January 6, 2009 You can always use an EHX Holy Grail for spring reverb I'm not worried about reverb, I'll just not use any if it stinks. Gearmandude hates reverb too~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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