software

Ok so I bought a vox 15vt for a good practice amp to have around. Well after hours of tweaking and trying to get a good distortion sound I just can't seem to do it. The amp sounds fuzzy under any kind of gain. The clean sounds sound good but the high gain presets just have no clarity and it sounds like someone punched holes in the speakers or something. I even played my emg's through it and it still didn't clean up any. Its a brand new amp and tube so its hard for me to believe theres a hardware problem with it. Any of you vox players do you have any suggestions? I'm probably going to return it if I can't get something decent to come out of it in the next couple days.

bumpity bump bump... i know some guys around here have this amp.

if you cant get a good hi gain tone then thats normal for that amp. id try the uk 70s for classic rock and add a lot of treble because its a bassy amp.


Originally Posted by vinterlandbut the high gain presets just have no clarity and it sounds like someone punched holes in the speakers or something.

I've heard the presets are a joke on those amps.....you have to fiddle around more...create your own presets...
I few guys on the forum rave about the Valvetronix stuff...I know Stratdeluxer97 loves his...adn I think Gearjoneser has one too.....Wait for them to chime in before you sell it...

I have messed around with eq'ing the presets, adjusting gain and still really can't get much out of the high gain stuff. The only thing thats sounding pretty good is the UK 80's marshall tone.

I have the Vox Pathfinder,(just a little 10 watt jobby),and the gain setting really blows.Just noisy mud.I just run the amp clean and use a pedal.


Originally Posted by vinterlandI have messed around with eq'ing the presets, adjusting gain and still really can't get much out of the high gain stuff. The only thing thats sounding pretty good is the UK 80's marshall tone.

Put it in manual mode then tweak. Tweaking it in preset mode doesn't seem to do very much.

Here's my mild rant

I have the 30 and had a 50 before it died....the VT is just like a tube amp..in that one day it sounds great and the next time sounds all screwed up and ya haven't even touched a thing.

I find it *HIGHLY* sensitive to how you set the MV amp; volume controls. I dime the master, run the volume up to around 1:30/2 O'clock, and then use the variable wattage thing to attentuate volume to where I need it. And it's STILL super picky. I have to spend entirely too much time tweaking it every time I plug in if I need to play at a different volume or change the amp model (BTW, the 15 watter doesnt have the variable wattage thing).

Generally it's just a pain in the @$$. BUt when ya get it right, it will sound pretty darn good, otherwise you get that fuzzy undefined mess.

Usually I just get aggravated with anything but the 800 setting. I've found it easiest to dial in on any given day. And some of the models are just not good period: the TSL model and Recto model just don't sound anything like either IME.

It's also very sensitive to diff pups/guitar combos regardless of tweaking. My Ibanez w/ psounds was real nice through it. My Jackson was horrible. My Strat..ehh. My LP Deluxe..incredible. My LP std...ehh...The wolfgang...ehh (see below), the Epi LP std ..not bad at all. Yet through other amps, all of these guitars produce/d good to excellent tone.

And one model may sound like total @SS with one guitar, and then sound extremely authentic with another...The Bassman amp; BF for example sound incredible with my LP...jes classic Fender bluesy sting/crunch. With the strat it's totally anemic. My wolfgang totally nails an EVH brown sound using the Soldano model, but is horrid through about everything else.

It's def a love/hate affair amp for me...

Thanks for the reply jeff! Yeah that whole thing sounds about right. I mean I just wanted a practice amp and didn't want to spent hours tweaking. If I wanted to do that I would just get a boss gt-8. And your right the marshall settings sound good but man the rest are just impossible to dial in. I think I'm going to return it and just get a good ol' micro cube.

JeffB, try cleaning the input jacks for the guitar and the input jack for headphone. It really seems to help. Just spay some tuner cleaner in the jack, available at any electronics store. when the jacks get dirty the sound really suffers. I loved my AD-60 when I first got it but then it started to sound lackluster over time, it's happens slowly, but after cleaning the jacks, it's back to the orginal sound. The jacks are so cheap on these Valvetronix amps. I'm thinking about putting tape over the headpone jack. I never use it and when it gets dusty or oxidized it really affects the over sound quality of the amp.

To the guy who just bought his. I'd say just return it. If it doesn't have what your looking for get rid of it. I hate frustrating gear. I'd rather have fun playing something I like. Good luck