Members ExiledCrow Posted January 28, 2010 Members Share Posted January 28, 2010 A little late, but HNAD! I was quite interested in the Vox for a small tube amp before I went with the Blackstar, but somehow I missed the 8 when it came out. That it scales all the way down to 1/10 watt is pretty sweet because with the non-scaling Blackstar I'm finding 5 watts to be more than ample for livingroom use. Love the sound but I have to be selective in when I use it, and I don't have a new baby. Hope to hear more about it as you go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bsman Posted January 28, 2010 Members Share Posted January 28, 2010 Late to this thread: I didn't realize that the 8" model had 4- 1- and 1/10 watt modes whereas the 10" and head have 4- 1/4- and 1/4 watt modes. Is there a huge difference between 1/4 and 1/10 watts in the real world? I ask, because my current tube amp (Fender Pro Jr.) is 15 watts, and that's just too much. I mostly (95%) use it for practice in a bedroom, and although I can use pedals to get a nice crunch, I am almost never able to turn it up past 1.5-2, so I can't get any actual amp overdrive. Therefore, I've been seriously considering the Vox amps (as well as the Bugera V5) to see if that will allow me to play with power tube distortion whilst retaining my sanity, hearing and wife... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan Trevisol Posted January 28, 2010 Members Share Posted January 28, 2010 Well wattage, all other things being equal, is kind of logarythmic. I found the 1/4 (i Played a 10) mode to still be quite loud. The difference between 1/4 and 1/10 is probably negligible. Also, does anyone know how the switch actually works? Is it attenuation (in other words, are we killing output after the power stage), or is it power scaling (reducing voltage to power tubes to generate less wattage), is part of it a pentode/triode switch (fundamentally altering the power stage), or is it something else (to reduce headroom, mimicking a wattage decrease)? My money's on attenuation: it's easy to implement on a rotary switch, it consists of 6 resistors in its simplest form, and it makes the "wattage" settings make sense. -6 decibels of attenuation is akin to quartering the perceived volume, and -10 decibels of attenuation would be about a tenth the perceived volume. If it is attenuation, that difference could be big. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted January 28, 2010 Members Share Posted January 28, 2010 Well wattage, all other things being equal, is kind of logarythmic. I found the 1/4 (i Played a 10) mode to still be quite loud. The difference between 1/4 and 1/10 is probably negligible. Also, does anyone know how the switch actually works? Is it attenuation (in other words, are we killing output after the power stage), or is it power scaling (reducing voltage to power tubes to generate less wattage), is part of it a pentode/triode switch (fundamentally altering the power stage), or is it something else (to reduce headroom, mimicking a wattage decrease)?My money's on attenuation: it's easy to implement on a rotary switch, it consists of 6 resistors in its simplest form, and it makes the "wattage" settings make sense. -6 decibels of attenuation is akin to quartering the perceived volume, and -10 decibels of attenuation would be about a tenth the perceived volume.If it is attenuation, that difference could be big. Not sure how it really works, but all the promo material I've seen has said "built in attenuator". That might just be marketing speak though for whatever circuitry is actually in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan Trevisol Posted January 28, 2010 Members Share Posted January 28, 2010 Yeah, the vox site says "output level" and "attenuator" which means "L-Pad Attenuator" which gives you equivalent output. . . . This gutshot seems to bear this out, with wires coming from the OT to the rotary switch, and going back to the speaker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GilmourD Posted January 29, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 29, 2010 Late to this thread: I didn't realize that the 8" model had 4- 1- and 1/10 watt modes whereas the 10" and head have 4- 1/4- and 1/4 watt modes. Is there a huge difference between 1/4 and 1/10 watts in the real world? I ask, because my current tube amp (Fender Pro Jr.) is 15 watts, and that's just too much. I mostly (95%) use it for practice in a bedroom, and although I can use pedals to get a nice crunch, I am almost never able to turn it up past 1.5-2, so I can't get any actual amp overdrive. Therefore, I've been seriously considering the Vox amps (as well as the Bugera V5) to see if that will allow me to play with power tube distortion whilst retaining my sanity, hearing and wife... Actually, I tried them side-by-side at GC. They were both on display next to each other so I powered them both up simultaneously and just switched the cord from one to the other at whim. I had both with the tone and volume maxed out. The 1/10 watt mode of the 8" version was significantly quieter than the 1/4 watt mode of the 10" version. Certainly significant enough that I chose the 8" version because it was that much quieter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bsman Posted January 29, 2010 Members Share Posted January 29, 2010 ...The 1/10 watt mode of the 8" version was significantly quieter than the 1/4 watt mode of the 10" version. Certainly significant enough that I chose the 8" version because it was that much quieter. You sir, are a gentleman and scholar. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GilmourD Posted January 29, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 29, 2010 You sir, are a gentleman and scholar. Thanks!No problem. Honestly, I did it to see what the tone comparison was like and ended up finding that the 1/10 watt mode was better for my needs since I will have a baby in the house come May. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Deadbeat Son Posted January 29, 2010 Members Share Posted January 29, 2010 If you haven't already ordered your tubes, Doug's Tubes has the option to order your EL84 with average, early, or late distortion. I've always been a fan of the JJ EL84. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bsman Posted January 29, 2010 Members Share Posted January 29, 2010 ...since I will have a baby in the house come May. Congratulations on that! My youngest left for college in August, so I'm beyond that now, but I still want to be able to get great tube tones without angering the little woman... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GilmourD Posted February 4, 2010 Author Members Share Posted February 4, 2010 Well, I got the tubes and today I finally got time to test them out. As you guys know, I got the JJ EL84, the TAD EL84-STR, the EH 12AX7, and the JJ ECC803S. I ordered the 12AX7s tested for higher gain output. I tested the amp with my Skye and Franky, both of which you can see details of in my sig. So, I tried all the combos in my AC4TV8 and came to these conclusions. Of course, this is with my particular assortment of tubes, so things may vary a bit. TAD EL84-STR + EH 12AX7: Strangely, it was slightly farty sounding. It was gainy, fat, and had a lot of midrange and bass, but seemed choppy when it was turned all the way up. It was odd. This was the only combo that did this. TAD EL84-STR + JJ ECC803S: Turned the AC4TV8 into a little metal monster. It wasn't super-duper high gain but the tone itself had a good midrange cut. Put a clean booster in front of the amp and you could seriously play some scary heavy metal. JJ EL84 + EH 12AX7: Gainy and saturated with a good amount of bass. However, I felt that this combo was a little dead sounding. Don't get me wrong, it sounded pretty good, but I think I was spoiled by the next combo. JJ EL84 + JJ EC803S: This is the combo I went with. It has a little less gain than the JJ EL84 and EH 12AX7 combo, but GOD DAMN this is a sweet tone. It's less bassy, so the low strings sound more defined. It's doing something in the midrange that's really sweet and lively. It kinda just elicits a smile when I play with this combo. I heard the ECC803S was a different beast than the ECC83S and I believe it just might be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elias Graves Posted February 4, 2010 Members Share Posted February 4, 2010 Thanks for the update. I may try that out myself. BSman, to get gain on the 1/4 watt setting, the wife still gets pissed. Wish this thing had a headphone jack. EG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members m90guy Posted February 4, 2010 Members Share Posted February 4, 2010 I'm using JJs right now in my ampeg Jet. They sound really nice and full with a fat break up. Much smoother than the stock sovteks. I didn't like the JJ 12ax7s, but the tung sols 12ax7s sound really nice. Again, much nicer than the stock sovteks. +1 I hate JJ 12ax7's. The tung sols though are my favorite go to 12ax7. Got a JJ el84/tungsol 12ax7 set in my AC4 and it made a pretty nice improvment over the stock tubes. I will say though that Sovtek El84's are nice. Beside thier WXT+ 6l6 tubes the el84 is my favorite Sovtek tube. Anyway like MRB said JJ's made everything smoother(burned some of the hair of the edges), which may or may not be a good thing for you, and the tungsol warmed everything up. Love the amp but still experimenting with tubes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members The Bear Posted February 5, 2010 Members Share Posted February 5, 2010 By any chance did you try out the Bugera V5 before you bought the Vox. Just curious as it has similar features but a few more features like gain control and reverb. Have you tried the Bugera out?I've been debating between the two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sdgails Posted February 5, 2010 Members Share Posted February 5, 2010 Have you tried the Bugera out?I've been debating between the two. i own the bugera v5 and an ac4 head with 12 speaker cab. I find the ac4 distorts really easy. hard to get good cleans. the bugera gain is more sensitive to type of pickups. If i play my sg, i get a great rock sound. When i play my jazzmaster....very little gain achieved, but great clean with a touch of od. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grantus Posted February 5, 2010 Members Share Posted February 5, 2010 By any chance did you try out the Bugera V5 before you bought the Vox. Just curious as it has similar features but a few more features like gain control and reverb. Very different sounding amps. The Bugera is more marshally sounding to my ears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members newbuilder Posted February 5, 2010 Members Share Posted February 5, 2010 some good {censored} in here. I love JJs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members The Bear Posted February 5, 2010 Members Share Posted February 5, 2010 Thanks, $169.00 is hard to pass up for the Vox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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