Behringer V-Amp 2

Easy when select a pre-built tone o make a small change. A little bit difficult to operare and the manual is not clear.

The sound is good for this kind of equipment. I use electric Fender guitars (Stratocaster '79, Stratocaster '00 with Texas Special, '84 Japan Telecaster with custom pu at neck and '90 G&L Asat Classic Special) and some acoustic guitars (Guild, Daion and resophonic all piezo-equipped). I don't use v-amp with an amplifiere but throught a p.a. system or recording console.
Is a little noisy on distorted sounds, but I normally use little crunch or clear sound. I try to make my own sound so I can't compare with my favourite players tone, but I found all effects good.

I've bought it only a week ago so ...
I bought it as a back up on gigs if my main amp goes down. I use it as preamp with my acoustic guitars too. (all equiped with piezo)

none

I play almost blues & rock blues with my band. I make a lot of recording session with my Mac and I found it useful.
I'm playing since 1969 and I owned a lot of multi-effect processor. This is one of the best, easy to use, with footswitch and gigbag.
If stolen I bought another.

This is quite easy to get a rectified/highgain sound(aslong as you dont put it up to loud), but found it alot harder to get an decent overdrive bluesy sound from it, i connected it up in-line first and was getting a kind ring modulation sound on the non-wound strings, it wouldn't go no matter what i did with it. Then i put it through the FX loop and the clean sounds just sounded amazing(maybe they sounded so good beacause i was getting some crappy sounds before). The manual isn't very helpful

Guitar: 1979 Fender strat(hardtail). Amp:Trace elliot super tramp 100watt single 12" combo. FX:Big Muff, Double muff, SD1 super overdrive. For recording i go in this order: Guitar to SD1 to Double Muff to Bigg Muff To amp. The Vamp2 in the FX loop, but i connect the output of the vamp2 to a behringer DI 100, the direct output to the FX return and the DI output to my pc(i think thats the best combination??)

Not had it long, so couldn't give an opinion.

Dont know if i'd replace it if it was stolen, i'd probably try a J Station or even a Digitech GM 200(i've heard there pretty good) just so i could compare.I've not given any marks out of ten as i dont think i've had long enough. These are just my first impessions. Definatly worth the #45 i paid for it. I'll probably give a more detailed review in a couple of months. If antone has any tips please e-mail me with your suggestions.

Very easy to use. The LEDs on the knobs are a joy compared to, say, the PODs phantom knobs that don't correspond to the internal state of the machine. Manual is plenty good enough. Firmware is upgradeable only by switching out an EPROM chip physically -- voiding the warranty. So far haven't had the need for such an upgrade. If I have complaints, they are as follows: some of the labeling is in white letters, some in dark gray. The dark gray ones are too hard to read, except in good light. Use of the TAP key as a shift key is kind of annoying. The cabinet models are encoded rather than explicitly spelled out on an LED screen or some such, so that you don't know what they are unless you have manual in front of you, or memorized. Lack of an on/off switch, and external power supply is annoying. At least it's an in-line transformer rather than a wall wart. I just use a power strip and turn it on with my foot.

Generally excellent. I am in love with the chorus (specifically preset 6e, changing effect to compression+chorus and backing the level off a bit.) However, the high gain settings are noisy, and there is some weird kind of intermittent noise -- something vaguely unnatural and digital sounding, like something's going vaguely wrong in the digital processing on the high gain sounds. Turning down the guitar input helps some, but even with the guitar volume at 50%, really bashing on the strings can bring in this bad sound. This is my most significant complaint about the unit, and I also have a PODxt, and the PODxt has the same problem. I think most people don't notice it. It's pretty subtle, and it didn't stop me from buying two of these v-amp 2's, one for home and one to keep in the office for lunch-break shredding. Were it not for that problem though, it would be perfect.

I have gotten better tones recorded direct with this v-amp 2 than I have been able to achieve with a real amp mic'ed with some pretty decent mic's, all with considerably less mucking about. However, if you are a perfectionist, the noise issue might be a killer. For a practice amp, casual demo recording type situation, the noise has been tolerable, and ignoring that defect, the tone is otherwise excellent. You should play with the thing with some good headphones, then you can tell for yourself whether the noise will be tolerable for you and your purposes.

Also switching between patches is not the best. Switching between presets which change amps or cabinets causes audible disruption. For that reason, live use might be problematic. Given the super cheap price, you could always just buy two of them and use an a/b switch to get around that if it's an issue, I suppose.

Eh, seems ok, haven't had a problem. It's a hundred bucks, dirt cheap for what you get.

Don't know.

For the money, this thing is awesome. I have been playing for 14 years, mostly metal. I mostly use some modern high-gain sounds, and some clean sounds, not so much bluesy sounds. To my ears, this is a much better match for a metalhead like me than any of line-6's stuff. (I keep trying line-6's stuff on reputation, thinking maybe I'm missing something, but so far, I continue to like my stupid little v-amp 2 better.) Because of the price -- a hundred bucks -- it's a fantastic deal. I seriously bought two of them.

This is more a Tip
This thing can sound steller out of a dry effects loop out of a tube amp or a nice power amp

I've run this on a dry effects loop of a Peavey Pag 60 us Amperex 12 AX7s and Mullard 12AT7 *(dutch and british N.0.S), with 6L6 Sylvania (american N.0.S), through a marshall 1936A and could get very closeley similiar sounds to An ENGL SAVAGE (my friend who lent me the CAB plays ENGL, and Marshall JCM2000 (which another friend owns), it cant replicate exact but id say its at least 80% of the way there
the EQ touch isnt the same, but some sounds you can not tell a damn difference.

My Guitars
A Fender Standard Strat
A ESP VIPER 400 L.T.D

PEDALS
BOSS DS1
BOSS TU9
Marshal JMP1 Jack hammer

MY AMPF
Marshall MGIII 1x10 Combo
Peavey PAG 60 ALL TUBE 1x12 60watt Combo

Reply to the last posting;

Pick a preset. It doesn't matter which one. Go with bank 1, sound A for the hell of it. (Use the up-down arrows to get to "1", then push the "A" button.)

Now, lets go for a nice clean sound. How about a 1965 black face twin?

First turn the effects knob and reverb knob all the way down.
Hold Down the "tap" button and turn the amp dial to "classic clean / black twin" It may be confusing because if you hold down the tap, you get the black twin. If you don't, you get classic clean (JC120)

Now turn the tone knobs all to 12:00 o-clock position. (flat)

Hold in the tap button and turn the treble knob to 12:00. This is the presence control for the amp.

Turn the gain to about 9:00 O-clock and the volume to at least 12:00.

Turn the master knob until you can hear yourself through whatever your playing this unit through.

Now, start tweaking with the tone knobs and reverb like you would on any amp.

Once you like what you hear, press the "A" button down and hold it until it stops blinking. You saved your patch to this location for all time. (If you were on 1-A, then that is where you saved it.)

If you hold down B, C, D or E, you would then save the sound there.

By changing the bank from 1-25, you have A-E to save them on. That is a total of 125 different memory locations to save your patches to!

Once you get comfortable with this, you can start messing with the effects and different type of reverbs, cabinets, distortion related stuff, etc.

See my posting before yours regarding what you play this thing thru. Alot of guys get mad when they run it thru a $2000 amp it it sounds mushy and dead. That is not how it was intended to be used. That is what tube screamers are for or standard stomp box "stuff". This is an amp modeler that is supposed to be a stand-alone unit.

you can use it thru and amp, but you have to shut off the cabinet simulation and re-eq. all your patches to fit the frequency repsonse of the amp, or shut off the amp simulation all together and use it for an FX processor.

For the money, it should make everyone pretty happy.

Well, I think the manual stinks in trying to explain how to edit and create your own sounds.
And you can't just fiddle with it out of the box, you'll get nowhere except going through the presets.
The controls seem all backwards, maybe I'm dyslexic, but if you want preset C-18, well you have to shift up/down to 18 THEN press bank C. The logical way would have been selecting bank C THEN going though the different presets of that bank. All very confusing for nothing.
I've had it for 3 months now and still haven't figured how to create my own sounds..... I just browse through the presets.
And please, who is the imbecile that decided to use that matte gold/brownish color on the body for the lettering. You can't see it at all, even with good lighting it is very difficult to read what's written there. A really bad choice of colors, possibly the worst I've ever seen anywhere on a product.
The power cord is a hassle to connect to the body too, it uses a round 4 pin connector which is very difficult to align to plug in. They could've at least painted a white line on the body and on the connector tip to help aligh them at first view.
All in all, full of very bad design flaws.
Thus, my score is low for this, a 3.

The sound is really good. Not as authentic as a Pod, but then it's a third of the price too.
I say it can replace a whole set of pedals for practicing, but I would not use it professionally. It's not THAT good.
Let's say that it's a real fun gadget for under $200.00.
Of course, I haven't figured out how to create my own patches with it. Although I don't think that would change much of my opinion.

I always take extra care when handling it, it seems so flimsy.
The plastic feels cheap.
Don't drop it would be my ultimate advice.

Haven't had to deal with them.

This was a X-mas gift.
Ultimately I wanted a Pod, but it was a tad expensive to ask for as a gift, lol.
I use it everyday, I kinda like it..... although there's no love between us yet. I don't know if it will eventually come to that.
It can be useful as a practice gadget because it replaces many pedals and is not cumbersome. But I would not bring it to a recording or a live session. First it doesn't sound good enough, second it's way too fragile, and third it's way too complicated to set rapidly.
My guess is that I will eventually dish out the $$ and get myself a Pod.
My son can use the V-amp then if he wants.

I have already reviewed this product. This is an update.

Do NOT play this thru. a guitar amp or a guitar cab of any kind. It makes it sound like complete ass.

Play this thru full range speakers. (Doesn't really matter what kind, but the flatter the repsonse, the better.)

Headphones cause you to loose alot of the bottom end signal, so it makes it sound thin. Headphones are for silent practice, not for dialing in and tweaking amp patches. NEVER dial in tones with headphones that you intend to use for recording. (See note above regarding sounding like ass.)

If nothing else, buy a $15 pair of powered PC speakers. You will be amazed at how good this thing really sounds.

I found this thing pretty simple to use. Sounds pretty good outta the box, although most of the presets are not that great. The exceptions being the SRV, VH, and AC/DC sounds are pretty dead on. It takes a little tweaking to get what you want, but not that difficult and actually pretty fun to do.

The knobs are labeled according with a bright red LED to let you see what you are doing. The only major issues I have are the way the amp models are labeled. Some of them are labeled in a very bright white while others are in a darker grey that can be difficult to see without the proper lighting.

Also, to open some editing options is abit of a pain. You sometimes need to hold the tap button or hit two buttons at the same time to open up some features. Not difficult, but you should definately read the manual first.

The editing software is where this thing really shines. Plain and simple drag and drop menus, and everything is at your fingertips. If I were gigging with this I would prefer to have a cheap and small laptop nearby hooked up to this for ease of use.

As far as the sounds go, I like them. Now I know you're never gonna get that "classic tube" sound from emulation...but I'm very happy. My roomate has a 59 bassman and we compared the two and they sound very good. I personally like the modified marshall, the Vox AC30 and Fender Twin models. Lots of good combinations can be had.

The effects sound pretty good too. The reverbs are excellent. The chorus is nice and lush. The delays are easy to set-up with the software. The auto-wah is pretty decent too, although a foot controller is highly recommended to get the exact sound you want. The compressor can be a little noisy, but thats nothing new. Just apply the noise gate and you're good to go. For the price, you definately can't beat the flexibility.

This is another big issue with me. The model is made of a hardened plastic, not metal. I'd be afraid of dropping or stepping on this thing and watching it malfuntion. Although I haven't had any problems with this, I'm not sure if I would take it out gigging and put it on the floor. Now if I had a nearby table that would be another issue, just be careful.

I haven't had to deal with Behringer at all. Although Guitar Center said if anything goes wrong with it in the next 2 years to just bring it in.

I play a mixture of different styles. Anything from classical to rock, from blues to metal, and everything in between. For price and flexibilty of this project I would say it is a great deal. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the POD XT, but this is also a third of the price. This unit has made practicing and playing fun again and I would hate for anything to happen to it. If something happened to it I would most certainly replace it.

For me it was very easy to use right out of the box, but those not familiar how processors work it may be difficult to start editing, but I'd say sit an hour with it and the manual and you'll certainly be able to do anything on it, besides every kind of effect has to be tinkered with before you know what you're doing.
The manual is very detailed, almost too detailed, may look intimidating at first, but I promise it's not as many things to remember as you think. Even if you can't figure out the editing right away, the presets are quite amazing.

I play everything from Blues to Punk to Country
My main setup: Self made strat with Seymour Invader in bridge position-->V-amp 2---> Custom wired Kustom 2x12(120watts)w/ 2 Celestion super 65 speakers.
My setup is built for extremely high gain.
Since my setup is was made for high gain at first I was having problems with alot of feedback when the volume was up on my amp. Simple Solution was turning the noise gate up and boom problem solved. Also since my set up was made for high gain my clean before was not very desireable, a little teaking around with it and my clean was wonderful.
The effects are very flexible and all have excellent sound quality.
The auto wah is the only effect I would consider sub par.

Most of the cab models are almost perfect (especially for the price) some are quite a bit off, but for 100$ this unit delivers far beyond what you would expect.

I can agree with the other guys here, go directly to the guitar input in your amp. With headphones it is excellent espicially for guys that travel alot and don't have the luxury of having an amp all the time. I have not tried it through my cpu yet.

The V-amp2 it self is rather goofy plastic crap. So if you were it wouldn't kill you ot make a protective box or something for it. The footpedal is metal, I see no problem with it other than the chord is actually atached to the body and doesn't plug in. So if it were to go out or short, there would be no switching on the fly.
My friend uses his to gig with out a back up and has for quite sometime but we built him a protective casefor his(hint). As for me I'm not sure if I will use it to gig yet, mainly because of the slight delay while switching between presets.

Never had to deal with them neither has my friend.

This hting is good for any style. If it were stolen I would get another. I have owned 2 Zoom pedals and numerous other single effects from Digitech and Boss.
This little unit can out gun anythign within 100$(maybe a little more) I garantee. If I had the luxury of being able to spend 1000$ on a processor I would probally get one, but I don't so if your like me and working on a budget have no worries with the V-amp 2 it will not disapoint you, for 100$ I couldn't be happier.

It was very easy to start dialing in authentic sounds. I've owned most of the amps labeled on the panel, and with the help of the compressor, can come SCARY close. I wasn't interested in the presets, and immediately began creating my own dream collection. The manual is way too much, since they give it to in every language in modern time, and for three different products. What a waste of paper! I'm unaware of the version, but it's dated 0704. Upgraded? Not to my knowledge. The inputs and outputs need to be labeled with larger, brighter letters, like the rest of it. I like to work in studios and stages with low-lwvwl lighting, and it was a hassle seeing the dark grey lettering.

Sound quality is exceptional, especially since it costs the same as a bogus Tubescreamer or boss delay! I use mostly vintage reisssue type guitars, real vintage tube amps, and handwired stuff, and this unit works well for that type of stuff. I also do a good bit of sessions, where its easier and more profitable to go direct, and it does that extremely well, too. I generally don't use noise reduction on the guitar, since I'm not a high gainer, but putting it through its paces, it seems like a decent, workable NR effect for the high gain stuff. It gets ant and every sound I need ot to, from rockabilly to Hendrix to Zeppelin, to Cream, to CCR, to Kiss, to Van Halen, to STP, to me.
The effects are very good, and they're easy to edit. My main test for all units is to see how responsive to various picking/playing techniques and how well it goes from almost clean to almost overdriven. If it can transition smoothly, and respond like an amp, I like it. This unit does respond to the player's ability.

I play any and every style, depending on the situation at hand (haha). This thing seems to be able to do more than I need it to do. I've been playing since I was born, and have had too much gear to list. I'd probably get another one, maybe not, it depends on what else comes out. I really like the gigbag, footswitch, and sound of it. Great overall package, and unheard of at this price point. I've been using an Ibanez virtual amp since mid 90's, Boss ME's, Digitech RP's, vintage amps, tube, solid state cheap stuff, pedals, whatever, and this one is too cheap to pass up, plus it sounds better than anything Digitech will ever make! I immediately started pulling off new licks, when it only took a few minutes to tweek up.
***For what it's worth, and this goes for any piece of equipment: If you suck, it sucks;if you're able, it's able. As long as it turns on when it's supposed to, and stays on while you play. No reason for any complaints at this price. It does what they said it would do.