Vox Valvetronix AD50VT 50w 1x12 Guitar Combo Amp

My main guitars are a '88 Fender Telecaster American Standard with a Joe Barden in the Neck Position, an Epiphone Zephyr Blues Deluxe and I have occasional affairs with all kinds of Strats. My Style is Blues, Country, Rockabilly, Soul, some Rock, some Jazz. As I've used strictly Fender Amps in the past, I was sceptical about the Twin and Bassman Sounds, but they actually work very well. I'm surprised how useable the sounds are. Okay, NOTHING replaces a turned up Blackface Twin Reverb or a '59 Bassman. But in ten years of touring I hardly ever got the chance to turn my Baby up to sound like it should. An Amp like the VOX AD50 seems like a good club compromise: it's cheap, it's not heavy or clumsy and you can get good sounds at low volumes. I'm not sure, however, whether the fan doesn't make a little too much noise, especially, when the amp is miked. The Fender Sounds are good. But I find the VOX AC30 and the UK 70's the most satisfying. The Dumble Clean is interesting but set up too soft compared to the other sounds. I hardly ever use the distorted Heavy Sounds. But I don't think you can play decent Metal without a stack anyway. So I think it would make more sense if a combo format concentrated on combo sounds.

I had problems, because the tone died out in the clean settings. This was due to the noise reduction which I accidentally activated. No other problems yet. As I said, the amp hasn't toured yet so I don't know about that. But I would definitely try to gig wih it without backup.

I'm a roots player, been playing 32 years now, and hardly ever expected versatility from an Amp. An Amp had to have but one good characteristic sound. The VOX AD50 is my first departure from all-tube amps. Sold my Twin, Sold my Showman, sold my Blues DeVille. I was tired of schlepping the heavy stuff around. I benefit fully from the versatility of the amp, from the character of three or four settings. I was always looking for something that sounds like an amp turned up, even when it's not. The VOX seems to do that pretty well. It doesn't sound sterile like an Amp-Pod thanks to the tube used and the REMS. The Amp has the bite of a tube amp and sounds better than modeling amps from other companies.

 

We have a saying in Germany that you might be familiar with, too: The egg-laying-wool-milk-sow. That's what it is.