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Since I dedicated today to myself, I've been experimenting on my Valvetronix as far as easily achieved mods.

I got my Ruby 12AX7 Thursday from MF, along with my BBE Sonic Stomp which has to go back because it only works with the battery. Tried two power supplies, no luck.

Okay--I go downstairs to get my electric drill and see my Avatar 4x12 loaded with Eminence V12 speakers. These speakers were great with my Crate Blue Voodoo, but when I decided to cut my stacks down to half stack, I kept the top cab with the V30s and G12H30s. Just sounded better for the type of music I play. I wasn't even going to try the Eminence because I figured if the Celestions didn't sound good, this won't, right? But what the heck, I have it--let's see.

I couldn't believe my ears when I fired up the amp. The sound was completely different. Most of the harshness was gone and the models sounded so much more like the originals. Then I put the Ruby tube in it and this did it. Pure tone. THIS is the amp I expected when I heard everyone raving about it. I couldn't put my guitar down.

Now I wanted to test myself. I put the Neodog back in and fired up the amp. No difference. Huh? What the ???? It still sounded phenomenal, no harshness, no killer highs. Alright, this is a trick, right? Put the Legend back in. No difference. Put the dog back in, no difference. All this stuff was the tube? Put the stock Sovtek back in--ungh! Put the Ruby back in--all is well.

Maybe I just had a bad tube to begin with. It happens. My little girls just crashed so I can't do anymore experiments during naptime, but that V30 is going to get another test, LOL.

Uh-oh--my brother just walked in. The mail came. Got my Groove Tubes 12AX7-M Mullard copy and my NOS Mullard 12AT7s. This day is getting better and better, MWAHAHAHAHA!!! (okay, that's my Dr. Evil impression.)

Yep, that's it. When most people try those amps in stores, the OD model is off, the Sovtek WC is in it, and it's plugged into a particle board cab.

If you want to level the playing field between the Valvetronix and a good tube amp, you've got to use it with a good birch ply cab with quality speakers, change the tube to a $14 tube, not a $6 tube, and learn to dial in the amps, using the OD models as an extra gain stage, even on clean models.
I went through my box full of tubes, and decided to put a new Tungsol 12AX7 in mine. It seems to have made the amp a little beefier sounding, as well as a bit quieter hiss-wise. The only complaint I have about Valvetronix amps is the hiss....although the noisegate can help.

Alright I'm gonna pull a tube from my Rivera and drop it into the Tonelab SE and see if it makes any diff...

Well, well, well it seems to be Valvetronix day here.

I got the Weber 8S speaker today and dropped it in the little Vox and it definitely made a noticeable improvement but mostly in the high gain models. The cleans I noticed very little difference so far but the speaker is brand new so maybe it needs to break in a bit. I dropped a GT 12AX7R in mine and it definitely made a big difference, the sounds are a bit more compressed which adds to a beefier sound. I'll probably try a few more tubes to see what happens, I certainly have a few Ruby's to try.


Originally Posted by WattageWell, well, well it seems to be Valvetronix day here.

I got the Weber 8S speaker today and dropped it in the little Vox and it definitely made a noticeable improvement but mostly in the high gain models. The cleans I noticed very little difference so far but the speaker is brand new so maybe it needs to break in a bit. I dropped a GT 12AX7R in mine and it definitely made a big difference, the sounds are a bit more compressed which adds to a beefier sound. I'll probably try a few more tubes to see what happens, I certainly have a few Ruby's to try.

The Ruby I dropped in made it sound like a different amp. That stock Sovtek is horrible. Must have been that particular tube because I've got Sovteks in my Blue Voodoo and it sounds warm and crunchy. I'm going for now with another tube but the Ruby would have been just fine if I had to leave it in there.


Originally Posted by 75lespaulThe Ruby I dropped in made it sound like a different amp. That stock Sovtek is horrible. Must have been that particular tube because I've got Sovteks in my Blue Voodoo and it sounds warm and crunchy. I'm going for now with another tube but the Ruby would have been just fine if I had to leave it in there.

In my ax vs at shoot out, that was the same conclusion that I came too. All of the tubes sounded better to my ears than the sovtek. I didn't think that it was going to make that much of a difference, but it does. I'm back to the JJ 12ax7 now after running with the Telefunken at7 for a couple of days. May have to try a different ax7 now although the Fender 7025 did sound pretty good too. Just not quite what I was looking for.

You guys are gonna crack up if you had read my previous thread about how the V30 sounded terrible in my Valvetronix.

After my girls got up I swapped out the Ruby tube and put in the NOS Mullard 12AT7 tubes. The sounds was just fantastic. Yes there was a little power loss but not much. The amp really sounded great. Then I swapped in the Groove Tubes 12AX7-M Mullard reissue along with the--yep--Hellatone V30.

For me, this is the combo. The amp sounds warm, beefy, crunchy, sparkly, whatever adjective you want to use to describe quot;perfect to my earsquot;. Even my brother, who knows nothing about amps, guitars etc... came in while I was doing some quot;Tushquot; and his jaw dropped. He was like, quot;that sounds like a completely different ampquot;. Then I dialed in some JTM-45 Zeppelin sound for Custard Pie and he had a look of shock on his face. Cool, huh? He's really hard to impress. Real grumpy too, LOL.

The bottom line turned out to be the tube. The stock Sovtek is just despicable and Vox should be ashamed for putting it in this amp. It's like polishing a 57 Vette with sandpaper. Any combo of the Ruby, Mullard and Groove Tubes sounded great with the Neodog, Eminence and V30. The combo I like best though is the V30 and GT. The Vox amps sound uncannily like the originals and the boutique amps are just filthy nasty, LOL. Just great. The Fenders are just phenomenal. Great for blues and rock.

The thing that surprised me the most though was the Marshall models because they sound just like, well, Marshalls. Of course if you stick a 68 plexi next to the Vox it will probably not sound the same but I don't know--the different era amps seemed to emulate them really well. The stock patches are really close and when tweaked, sound very good. They had one called screaming vengence that was supposed to do the Judas Priest thing and by doing minor tweaking it sounded so much like quot;you got another thing comingquot; I had to giggle.

Man, if This thing could do the two amps at once, LOL. For the price though, you could get two and A/B them for stereo and do the same thing for less than a Vetta head is new. The thing though is that at least to me, this amplifier does have tube feel. It has the snap and sound of tubes. Awesome!


Originally Posted by JumpMarineIn my ax vs at shoot out, that was the same conclusion that I came too. All of the tubes sounded better to my ears than the sovtek. I didn't think that it was going to make that much of a difference, but it does. I'm back to the JJ 12ax7 now after running with the Telefunken at7 for a couple of days. May have to try a different ax7 now although the Fender 7025 did sound pretty good too. Just not quite what I was looking for.

The Ruby and the GT both sounded good to me as did the NOS Mullard AT7. The GT just made everything seem perfect. I can't really put it into words. To my old tin ears it seemed to bring out the best in every model and not just some or most.


Originally Posted by 75lespaulThe Ruby and the GT both sounded good to me as did the NOS Mullard AT7. The GT just made everything seem perfect. I can't really put it into words. To my old tin ears it seemed to bring out the best in every model and not just some or most.

Ok cool.....Now play your guitar through your quot;now correctedquot; VT amp....I told you it was a tube or your amp! I always trust my own ears!

I have a set of NOS RCA 12AX7s into mine that I Put into my amp on about the second day...


Originally Posted by STRATDELUXER97Ok cool.....Now play your guitar through your quot;now correctedquot; VT amp....I told you it was a tube or your amp! I always trust my own ears!

I have a set of NOS RCA 12AX7s into mine that I Put into my amp on about the second day...

You were right, LOL, you were right. I feel like I just bought myself around $30,000 in vintage amps. I got a good deal--all 16 for $799.00 hee hee.

I use my AD60VTH head/Bogner 2-12 everyday for practicing on. I learn new things about it all the time. One thing that bums me out is that I want to use it silently like a Tonelab, but it has to be plugged into a speaker. I plugged headphones into the jack to kill the signal, but unfortunately, it also kills the recording out signal...Dammit!!!

Another thing to know is that the little LED to the right of the reverb knob blinks off when you turn any knob to it's preset value. That way, you can always tell where a knob was when you stored it. If you want to know where all the knobs were when you stored a patch, just twiddle them till you see that LED blink. That's a great feature!


Originally Posted by GearjoneserAnother thing to know is that the little LED to the right of the reverb knob blinks off when you turn any knob to it's preset value. That way, you can always tell where a knob was when you stored it. If you want to know where all the knobs were when you stored a patch, just twiddle them till you see that LED blink. That's a great feature!

That is a great tool for those of us who can't remember what setting is what! Needless to say, I use that feature all of the time.


Originally Posted by GearjoneserI use my AD60VTH head/Bogner 2-12 everyday for practicing on. I learn new things about it all the time. One thing that bums me out is that I want to use it silently like a Tonelab, but it has to be plugged into a speaker. I plugged headphones into the jack to kill the signal, but unfortunately, it also kills the recording out signal...Dammit!!!

Another thing to know is that the little LED to the right of the reverb knob blinks off when you turn any knob to it's preset value. That way, you can always tell where a knob was when you stored it. If you want to know where all the knobs were when you stored a patch, just twiddle them till you see that LED blink. That's a great feature!

Those memory lights are great. I got a kick out of using them on the factory presets to see what amp they used. Got a few surprises too.


Originally Posted by GearjoneserI use my AD60VTH head/Bogner 2-12 everyday for practicing on. I learn new things about it all the time. One thing that bums me out is that I want to use it silently like a Tonelab, but it has to be plugged into a speaker. I plugged headphones into the jack to kill the signal, but unfortunately, it also kills the recording out signal...Dammit!!!

Another thing to know is that the little LED to the right of the reverb knob blinks off when you turn any knob to it's preset value. That way, you can always tell where a knob was when you stored it. If you want to know where all the knobs were when you stored a patch, just twiddle them till you see that LED blink. That's a great feature!

Yep....Learned that straight away after reading the owner's manual about 3 times.....LOL I'm in deep with mine!

That's the feature you use when you want to write down the knob position numbers on a preset you wrote to the amp but didn't write to paper,or to see how the factory did it....Very helpful feature..

Another feature I Love with this amp,is to take a great sounding overdriven tone(Like the UK models)and goose the hell out of it with the treble boost effect of the VTH...I then foot switch the treble boost via my f/c....I set my f/c up purely to turn effects in the VT on and off.....I have a great BF 2X12 preset that has foot switchable delay,chorus,and a univibe that I can mix and match with my own pedals if I want...Very versatile tone machine...I also control the entire volume of my amp with an EB volume pedal plugged into the f/c 1/4quot; volume out...

maybe it's the whole head/combo vs. tonelab thing...... the Rivera tube def made it warmer, but the crappy bass response is still there....I spent about 2.5 hours last night tweaking and tweaking and tweaking....VT def sounds more tube-like, dynamic and warm, but the POD kills it for accurate modelling of the Soldano and 800...

I'm just gonna grab a plexitone I think...I'm tired of foolin with these friggin modelers...


Originally Posted by JeffBmaybe it's the whole head/combo vs. tonelab thing...... the Rivera tube def made it warmer, but the crappy bass response is still there....I spent about 2.5 hours last night tweaking and tweaking and tweaking....VT def sounds more tube-like, dynamic and warm, but the POD kills it for accurate modelling of the Soldano and 800...

I'm just gonna grab a plexitone I think...I'm tired of foolin with these friggin modelers...
I'll always be a far bigger fan of good tube amps, but I'll always own a modeling head too. The thing that excites me is that the Vox and L6 is good enough now, but as technology grows, it's going to be amazing in about 5 more years...maybe this year at NAMM??

I just hope the Ramp;D people at these companies pay attention to players, so they can start approaching these amps as tube/modeling hybrids, and eventually make amps that are in the same class as Urei and Avalon mic pres...like top notch classic pieces of gear, using the best of tube, analog, and digital.


Originally Posted by GearjoneserI'll always be a far bigger fan of good tube amps.

I guess that's what it boils down to for me Joe. I started playing around with my Rivera again after using the Tonelab and POD XTL exlusively for the past couple weeks through the Atomic, and while they sound OK....when I plugged my hamer into the Rivera...man did that guitar just open up and reinforce how good the guitar *and* amp really is, and what they are capable of. It's night and day. I cannot get remotely close to the balls/sweetness/crunch/open sound and warmth with either modeler through the EL84 atomic.

Based on Steve's clips, I think/hope the Plexitone will me get the kinds of sounds I'm looking for at lower volumes when I cannot push the Rivera's power section.

Sorry for the hijack, I'm glad others are getting sounds they can live with, but I'm just not...and I wish I could cos I like havin all those stompers/effects in one box

I like the modeling amps much better than the modeling preamps. I never had the Vox unit but I've had the Pod Pro and the newest Pod XT version and neither sounded anywhere as good as the Vetta or the Valvetronix. The Valvetronix is making it hard for me to distinguish that it's not a quot;realquot; tube amp. The Vetta--to me--sounds so full and beefy with the two amps at once feature and the simulated effects, stomps etc...it's just a fun amp. There is a certain quot;feelquot; lacking with the Vetta, but I can deal with it.

I wish Line 6 would switch directions towards tube/digital hybrids, like Vox did.
They really need to face the facts. Digital can get 'sounds', but tubes get 'tone.' Only when they're combined do you get anything that sounds great.
Personally, I think the answer is to not have 1 or 2 12AX7's, but 4, just like a real 100W power section, then feed that into a SS power section. Vox has the right idea......digital preamp, tube mini power section fed into loud SS power section. I think perfection will come when they create an awesome tube mini power section, then feed it into an even better SS power section.