Behringer V-Amp 2

Overall ... it'd dead simple to operate. Editing patches is a breeze, although it is not immediately obvious that there are "hidden" parameters, accessible only by using an external MIDI controller or the V-Amp Design software.

I am using a Line6 Variax 500 with the V-Amp (oh the unholy alliance that is, eh?) and the combination is killer. I can go from a 12-string acoustic with a lush chorus and delay for a "guitar pad" to a crunchy Les Paul to a really "spanky" Strat or over to a clean 6-string acoustic at a moments notice. It's a beautiful thing.

I have friends with PODs ... let's be honest here. The POD sounds better on some things, the V-Amp sounds better on others. Whatever.

I play almost exclusively directly into a P.A., and use floor monitors so I can hear myself. The fact that the V-Amp has BALANCED outputs makes a huge difference ... no need for a direct box.

The "POD or V-amp running direct to the board" concept goes against the grain of many guitarists, who will always want the Marshall or Rectifier stack behind them. My opinion: the benefits FAR outweigh the negatives.

I have heard so much about Behringer's famed lack-of-quality. Having friends who work for Mackie, Yamaha, Roland, etc. ... and having purchased a few Behringer items "for inexpensive backup", I can say that my experience is that these fears are largely unfounded. Almost everyone is moving over to Chinese manufacture. I've had ZERO problems with the Behringer products, which is more than I can say for several other brands of music products I use.

Standard precautions apply: Check it out COMPLETELY when you get it home. Use the hell out of it for a week or 2 to torture test it. Don't drop it off of a loading dock onto a hard cement floor.

No need ro deal with Behringer directly. They seem to have a well-organized (if somewhat slow) website.

A snap to set up and use. Not a brain strain to hook up. The manual is well written, and has some good technical information in it, though it could be a bit more descriptive about the amp models and a LOT more descriptive about the cabinet models.

Behringer had their thinking caps on when they put the controls together. The ring-of-LEDs-around-the-encoder approach allows fast and easy adjustments with instant indication to coexist with memory recall settings while avoiding expensive motor controls for the knobs themselves. Simple but brilliant. When you recall a preset, you can instantly see where most of the settings are. The only reason I don't give them a 10 in this category is the shortcuts they made with a few of the parameters, like where you have to hold down the Tap key while turning the Treble encoder to adjust the Presence. I'm not a big fan of two handed operation while my guitar head swings around to bump on the desktop. I'd also like to have a string of LEDs that indicated the Cabinet model, but you can't have everything for this price.

It sounds good! No complaints from me about the sound quality, but I have definitely heard better. I borrowed a POD xt from a friend for a week and I think it edged the V-amp out in tone. Not being a real guitar aficionado, so I'm not dead set on the ultimate tone at the expense of everything else (like price and convenience). What I do want is a way to make my sound appropriate to whatever I'm practicing. And to have fun. Let us not fool ourselves; this is a toy. A very nice sounding toy.

What can I say? I haven't dropped it or kicked it out the window, and it hasn't broken. OK, one thing: I had it on the California Clean amp model, I think, and I dialed in one of the combination effects, hmm... was it phaser + delay? Anyway, I had the Tap tempo turned way up to stumble my way through some cool Andy Summers stuff, and the effects were going unstable. I unplugged the guitar cord from the V-amp and it was still churning out a sound something like a loose instrument cable on the period of the Tap tempo. In a month of casual use, this is the only problem I've yet had. Like I said, it's a toy; I would never use it to gig.

Though I haven't had any dealings with Behringer myself, our lead guitarist did deal with them about a faulty DSP mixer. They sent him a new one before receiving the return, so I'll rate them well.

I've been playing for years, but I'm not what you'd call a good guitar player. I can play just well enough to impress non musicians, as long as I sing at the same time. I've got an Ovation Deacon and a tiny little 15W Crate amp at home and a Line 6 Spider II 100W 2x10 combo in the band garage. I needed a preamp at home for solo practice that gave me enough flexibility to set myself up somewhere close to the songs we're covering. I need to be able to play the guitar through the little amp and the CD through my stereo when nobody cares, but also be able to switch the CD and guitar to headphones when people are trying to sleep.

The auxiliary input is the feature that sold me on this unit. I had just about decided to buy a POD xt when I borrowed one and realized how difficult it would be to work with headphones (for the occasional insomnia jam session). Since I don't want to add to my clutter with a separate mixer, the mere existence of a volume controlled auxiliary input is essential to me. So much so that the dual 1/4" phono plugs (instead of a pair of smaller RCA connectors) hardly bothers me at all. I can switch from amp/stereo mode to stealth mode by turning off the stereo and amp, turning up the auxiliary input level, and donning the headphones.

Let's talk about interconnectability. I can understand the appeal that the MIDI standard has when incorporating your new amp modeller into your professional studio setup. And for the V-amp Pro, that's a great feature to have. But for a desktop toy, there is absolutely no reason that I can see to have two separate 5 pin DIN connectors when you could have one USB port taking up a quarter of the real estate! For most users, like myself, with no MIDI systems in place, these necessitate the added expense of buying a Midiman to be able to manage our presets via computer. Thumbs down on the MIDI, the second worst aspect of the V-amp.

And now, let us consider the design. I can't believe somebody thought this was a good idea. I'm embarassed to show my Playskool guitar processor to friends. A bit superficial of me, perhaps... but wait. Not only do you have this dumb looking blue Les Paul piece of doodoo sitting on your desktop, but also because it has no straight edges, all your connections splay out from it like a poorly conceived H. R. Giger rip off. You hook it up and it doubles its demands on your work space! Oh, to have a rectangular black box with the connections in the back and the knobs arranged logically (I mean, just look at all that unused front panel area)... you might even be able to put a couple more dedicated controls on. Imagine that. It could even end up looking like something an adult would own.

To end on a positive note, let us speak of value. All my complaints seem a bit less serious when you consider the $140 price tag (well, say $175 including the Midiman). You get models for three truck loads of amps and cabinets, and a passenger seat full of effects. And can you say included footswitch? Hell yeah! You plug it in and play, and it works and sounds great. Technology kicks ass. Buy one.

The Ease of use category can best be described as extremely easy. The knobs are clearly labeled Gain, Treble, Mid, Bass, Volume, Master Volume, Effects, and Reverb. The knob in the left center is the amps to choose from. The amp models are all clearly labeled and all have an incredible distintive sound. Editing patches is easy in that all you have to do is turn the knobs to the desired settings test the result and if you like the sound save it to V-amp 2. Any manual is overrated for the guitarist. The best bet for finding that incredible tone hidden in the blue box is to adjust the setting one at a time, until you have achieved tonal bliss.

The amp that I use is a Crate GFX-65. The guitars that I use are Fender Fat Strat, Epiphone SG, B.C. Rich Warlock with EMG-81 pickup in the bridge position, and a Lotus Fender Strat replica. The other effects I use are Boss MT-2 Metal Zone, Ibanez TS-9 Tube Screamer, Ibanez SM7 Smash Box, Digitech RP-300, and a Morley Mark Tremonti Power Wah. The unwanted noise level is minimal and if the unwanted noise level is to harsh the V-Amp 2 has built in noise gate to cancel out any unwanted noise feedback. Every effect in this unit is crisp and tonally correct to my ears. The main setting that use and recommend to anybody who buys this unit is setting the amp model to classic clean, Gain to 127, Bass to 60, Mid 100, Treble 126, Presence 127, Turn Drive On, Cab Model to 4x10" V-amp Custom, No Modulation, and No Reverb (use the reverb on your amp instead) set reverb to whatever, sound best, now for the ultimate secret in tonal bliss. Once you have all that programmed in connect you guitar to an Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer and then run the output jack to the Behringer V-Amp 2. The TS9 Tube screamer should be set to Drive 10, Tone 10, And level 10 (adjust volume on amp or V-Amp 2) doing all this creates the most intense AC/DC sound you could ever imagine. I honestly feel like Angus Young when I use this setup. Another detail is to use the noise gate to cancel out any unwanted noise. Also, use clean channel on amp, of course, and set Bass to 2, Mid to 10, and Treble to 8.5 or 9. Doing all this will get an extremely bright Marshall Amp rock tone.

I have gigged with it once, so far. I used the above setting with a B-52 LG-100 Half Stack to achieve Angus Young's signature Tone. When I used the above setting it brought the house down. My band and I covered Back In Black, You Shook Me all Night Long, Highway to Hell, and Hard as a Rock. The Tone was outstanding. The reliability, though, I don't believe would be great due to the fact it is made out of plastic; however, no problems on my end.

I have never used it.

I mainly use it for the above setting only; however, I have used it for recording and it has some great rock and heavy metal distortion. Distortion and Overdrive is all I am interested in, so I do not know about the clean sound it produces; however, the distortion is quite great.

The interface is very well designed for quick changes to patches but if you are going to make up your own then you really need to read the manual, this doesn't take long but is necessary to learn how to create the exact effect you want. I left the manual in the box when i got the v amp and only recently learned how you change some of the settings such as switching it to live mode and getting even more distortion!! Only now have i realised its full potential! when playing live it does sound crappy in the original mode, but if you read the book you can change this easily. using the dials is straight forward as it has brightlty coloured lights so if your familiar with the interface you can change settings on a dark stage. It does have an annoying button called "tap" (also second function -like shift key) which could have been placed better on the unit - you need both hands to change to one of the other 16 amp settings which ends up in the headstock of your guitar bashing into things! Also to get the most out of the effects and programming qualities you need to use your computer and buy a couple of midi cables which cost a fair bit!

As i said the studio setting sounds crap live - this sounds obvious but may be a reason for other reviews bad scores. It has five settings to suit different situations and set ups, and with the two live ones it sounds great! it has a huge range of different sounds from pretty much any kind of amp ever recorded with. These can be tailored in many ways, EQ, gain, effects, presence, reverb etc to make exactly the sound you want. This is within reason however because unfortunately it doesn't have a pitch shifting effect or decent wah, i would have paid extra for an expression pedal with these features. the stuff that it does have are good though. You can tell the difference if you put it next to a good valve amp but the versitility by far makes up for it.

Unfortunately my original v-amp malfuntioned after 4 months and made a horrible wah sound and would save patches properly, i now have a new one that will do everything perfectly. If something like memory patches being erased were to happen on a gig it wouldn't be a problem because it only takes 2 mins to program a couple. not many others seem to have had problems with behringhers equipment.

i emailed about problem above and they didn't know! hard to give an accurate score on this basis

Really good unit especially for the price, and you get a case for transporting it as well as room for some other gear. easy to use with the foot switch to change patches. wish it came with midi cables. Website is great for downloading other peoples patches. Can be used for any style of music, from death metal to pop.

Behringer manual is helpful. You have to read it to choose correct operation mode, use correct outputs and so. Comes with nice bag and footswitch. But you have to use it few hours to really get into it.

My setup is:
Stratocaster >> Boss BD-2 >> Electro Harmonix BIG Muff >> V-AMP2 >> 50 watt tube amp armed with Weber Alnico Blue Pup and Weber Alnico Silver Ten. I don't think it is noisy. It is much less noisy than ZOOM pedals. And it has quite intelligent noise suppressor.
To the amp simulations:
Clean simulations (right side) are almost all perfect. As you try to crank the virtual amps, some get digital crankie effect which is not very pleasing but usefull when combined with tube amp.
Left side simulations are almost all bad (at least for my ears). They may sound good on record, because cd is digital anyway so it ruins sound on its own.
To the effects: Rotary is crap for me, the rest are fine. Nice chorus, great delay.

My amp is custom hand made amp and it is not typical guitar amp. It has no sound filters, only 2 band EQ and volume. It is the V-AMP 2 which makes the amp sound like amp. And it does that job very well.

Never had problems with it, but I heard weird things.

I wrote them many times. No answer. Yahoo group V-AMP is better way to consult things.

I play U2 like rock. I use left side simulations and they serve me more than well. I play for few years now, heard many rigs and gigs on them. If the V-AMP2 was stolen it'd take me a month to figure out the sounds again, since I didn't got MIDI conncetin to PC to work. But that is (I believe) falut of cheapo onboard sound card.
I can't imagine playing without V-AMP2, but if your style is metal I'd go for a Line 6 POD. It has much better distorted sounds. I even preffer Zoom GFX-707's distortions and overdrives more than these. That's what I have analog distortion pedals for. I wish it sounded better on dirty settings. But that's neverending issue I guess.
I give it a 7 overall because of bad simulations of Marshall.

Its well easy to use and sounds great! You can easily pick up how to use it fully in a day or two. What with all the pretty lights and a really useful manual. I love it when you switch it on and all the lights blink!

I've got a fender Tom Delonge Strat and a Fender 60W amp. The distortion is excellent, you have a range of amp simulations and cool effects such as wah, phaser and theyre all adjustable - as is everything else!

Don't take it round to anyones house or gig without taping it to somthing cos it breaks well easity. Dont be roungh with the knobs on it or spill anything on it. I learned the hard way - and now it doesnt work anymore, but im gonna get it back on insurance- hopefully!
Not very reliable. But if you treat it well then it 'll be fine im sure.

They are based in another country and have nothing in england which sucks for a start. If it breaks, and you live in england, then you're screwed

Overall its well worth getting, and its relativley cheap. I would advise anyone who is thinking of buying some expensive amps or effects pedals to go for this instead cos its got it all! Just dont be rough with it!

When I first got my V-amp2, I thought that it would be a hell to get to know how to work this thing. But when I read the manual and played with it for a while, it seemed much easyer then I thought it would be. So this was no problem at all.

Here we go!

I think this modeling unit sounds really good. When you get to know how to use this thing, it's a whole world of possibility's.
I have used it to record directly in my pc, wich sounds great with the speaker sim. on, but until today I never really tried it with a real amp.
So I hooked it up with my Randall RH100 half stack, and switched it to the L2 mode (without speaker sim.) and it sounded really amazing!
I'm a huge Dream Theater fan, so I checked the Rectified gain.
It sounds awesome!
I surely am going to use this baby when I play gigs from now.
Sounds waaaay better then my amp's distortion.

My set up is:
Ibanez RG1527 - Boss Pw-10 wah - Digitech whammy - V-amp2 - Randall RH100 half stack.

Just make sure that you don't drop it or anything,
then it will be fine.
It is kind of fragile.

never dealt with them

Damn good.
I advise all of the complaining people to try out some different configuration modes and stuff,
just play along with it.
It really works and sounds great, I'm sure of that!

C'mon, this is really easy. A knob for every parameter...an LCD pointer for every setting...it doesn't get easier than this.

Well, here's the thing, I don't gig, it's home studio recording only, so I can't tell you what this thing sounds like thru an amp that will color the signal. I own a Parker Fly Supreme, a '73 Hofner Blonde, Cordoba FCWE, Gibson Hounddog Dobro and a dozen or so budget axes. Here's a simple truth...crappy guitars sound crappy. That being said, for the folks who think that the v-amp is noisy...my advice is to buy a decent guitar. The sounds are of excellent, I mean excellent quality. I tried this thing out for the hell of it (it's cheap enough), and got way more than I expected. Gain maxed, volume maxed....no noise from my better sheilded humbuckers; that's my test, and this model passes.

It's safe enough on a desktop or amp, and I can't really see it "shattering", what a stupid thing to say...it's made out of PVC, not glass. It even comes with a footswitch, so you can keep it out of the way after initial adjustments. Honestly, I think it would bounce if it hit concrete...it's light as a feather. The knobs feel a little cheap, so it gets a 9, but I haven't had trouble in 5 months of playing with it.

I'm writing this review because this kind of product should be supported. Behringer is producing great quality and selling it for 1/3 the competitor's price...GO BEHRINGER!..let's have more of this. I love guitar music...every kind. I play flamenco and 80's rock, jazz and blues. I've tried every combination of amps and settings, there's no style or sound I haven't been able to dial up. (the auto-wah is really, really responsive to technique) By the way, some dork said he couldn't find a blues setting....turn down the treble and up the gain with some compression, and bang, just like that, you ain't got no wooomun. THis product is excellent..and as far as bang for the buck is concerned..it is one of the rare few that deserves a 10.

It is not plug and play - you have to sit down and study the manual. Once you know the basics, it's a breeze to call, modify, store sounds.

The clean sounds are great over headphones, desktop speakers and straight to a guitar amp.
I mainly use for the distorted sounds and it just gave me the peace of mind of not having to use pedals ever again! The noise gate is good (don't go past value 5 or 6 otherwise it will cut the sound too abruptely)however don't expect long singing sustained notes as in a real cranked up amp!
The hi gain amps, Rectified Hi Gain, Brit Hi Gain, etc. are quite convincing. I don't bother if the purists say that the real amps sound better! Of course they do! But I'd rather have 32 "convincingly similar" virtual amps in my gig bag (consider the price you paid for it)than breaking my back carrying around 1 or 2 real amps.
The direct recording sound with speaker simulation is good but I'd rather mike an amp to get a better sound - I'm using the speaker simulators on with the clean channel of a Marshall JTM 30 (valve) and it sounds superb!

Definitely I'd use on a gig. However it requires extra care on transport and handling. Make sure you place it on a spot that nobody will step on it.

I haven't needed customer support yet.

I mainly play rock / heavy metal and it definitely delivers!
I'd played for over 20 years using analog pedals and valve amps.
The noise was my main problem now I can use hi gain sounds without the hum. I'm using DiMarzio PAF humbuckers on an Ibanez EX 350.
What I love about it is the ease of setup and pack up on rehearsals and gigs. The only thing I don't like about it is the footswitch - it should allow you to change the banks as well which has to be done manually - the footswitch only allows to change the sub-banks (A to E) also the absence of a main power switch is another flaw. The DC power supply plug looks very fragile and not easy to find (looks like a PC mouse plug instead of the traditional 9v plug - maybe because it needs more than one voltage value to operate, just like PC hardware).
Overall I'm very happy with the purchase. I've read many people's reviews complaining about the silent gap between one sound to another.Here is a good hint: use the same amplifier model for each bank - then the change of settings such as volume, gain, effects, compression are real time. For a particular amp model I'll use the clean sound with chorus for sub-bank A, and spread through different levels of gain and reverb over sub-banks B to E - done! The silent gap is inevitable - think of it as a PC; changing amp models requires changing directories, if you stick to the same directory, in this case amp model, you'll only change the parameters within the same directory and the response to the footswitch is immediate.

Real easy to use, but read the manual to have a good idea of what's on offer and how to access/alter some not so obvious parameters. By the way, I don't understand why some people complain about the manual... but maybe those are the type of people for whom "caution: contents may be hot" in coffee cups are written for :-)
It really is simple to read/understand.
The usage of leds to have a visual indication of where the knobs are in each patch is a touch of genius. I have used other modellers and it always annoyed me that the actual knobs do not reflect the settings... the V-Amp elegantly overcomes that by using leds... brilliant.

Pretty good!
First of all, ignore the presets. Make your own.
I like a lot the Marshalls (both the JCM800 and JTM45), which give you a very wide range of sounds from almost clean to very high gain. The "Drive" switch alters the character of each amp a lot, don't forget to experiment with it!
I find all sounds I want here, nice cleans, soft gains, bluesy, rock, metal... anything.
High gain can be a bit noisy (who would be surprised???) but the noise gate is effective, if not the best, it works well.
For headphone use and recording it's really excellent, especially considering the price!
It can also sound pretty good through a power amp, but not through a normal guitar amp. If you use a guitar amp, connect in the FX-in socket, not at the front.
I think the people who complain about how bad it sounds live is people who are programming a sound that sounds great on headphones, or at low volumes, and then expect that simply turning the volume up is going to sound the same just louder. It doesn't work like that. Not even in a normal amp. so: set it up at the volume you will use it.
The FX are not the best, but are useable. However, if you're keen on FX, you're better off getting separate FX. I mainly just use the compressor and reverb, both of which are just fine for me.

Use it as a desktop modeller, and it'll be fine. It's not build for the road... plastic case.
As for the problems other people mention: resetting itself, erasing memory and giving poor sounds... replace the internal battery! That cures it. There's no mention of it in the manual, which is weird, but it uses an internal battery that causes all sorts of mayhem when it's starting to fail. It's very easy and cheap to replace, and last a long time (I had to replace mine after two years).

I have tried other modellers, and the V-Amp makes me happy the most. The newer Vox Tonelab is very promising, but I haven't tried it yet. However, I can but 3 V-Amps for the price of a single Tonelab...
The sounds are good, easy to use, the leds give me the info I neead about each patch at a glance (unlike all others except PodXT apparently, and still, the XT has this tiny display... V-Amp's solution is the most elegant). The V-Amp is a great tool for recording and playing at home without waking up the neoighbours, playing alone or with CDs/backing tracks thanks to its aux input...
Just ignore the presets, and have a look at the manual to get the most of it. It can do all kinds of sounds, from clean to insanely high gain... and the free PC editor works a treat for storing presets and editing complex patches... Highly recommended. At the price they go for, there's simply no question: it's fantastic value.

Easy if you have MINIMAL computer related stuff..and you have to read the manual...i saw lots of reviews here talking about problems the manual says or forums.

if your vamp resets its time to change the battery..it dies every 10 months or so...it costs less than a dollar and you can change it every 4 months and you are always secure!!!.

excellent...best of its class...

i studied too much to make it reliable..if you take it out of the box and doesnt study it, you are burn in concert..but some precautions and arrangements will save your throat

bad!!!..the worst ever...but i dont need it...i just updated the eprom and used a third supplier...v-eprom central..sam lloyd..cool!

i play a wide variety of music..i record jingles and my own band is a colplay/u2/audioslave style,so i used this thing a lot...it matches great..i use it with the fcb 1010 controller.
i have been playing for 12 years..i got an epiphone custom, a custom strat style guitar, a tele, a darmond baritone, a steinberger bass.
i used with my roland synth.
if its stolen, i find the guy who stole it and kill him!!..sure, i ould buy another one.

the marshall jcm800 is outrageous.,

compared to POD is far good..and compared to real amps, well, the real ones sounds better, but i cant bring 32 amps with me every night!..i mostly use only the marshall...i dont dont want to carry it neither

i only miss one thing: pitch shifter.

as others have said, you gotta know the manual just to figure out the basic operations. The manual does explain it but even then you have to decipher what it means

I currently run a Yamaha pacifica --> v-amp 2 ---> Randal RG75. The sound quality is junk if you run it with amp simulation. When you do run it with that, you switch presets and there is a 2 second delay. That doesn't work when your gigin with it. The delay works, but it is only basic. Same with all the other effects. Noise gate comepletely steals your sound so you have to bear with the fuzz the whole time.

this is where the thing really lost my vote. I went to a gig and plut it in and all my presets were ereased. I looking into in tht manual how to erase all the presets and it was not done that way. all i did was just pluged it in. So that screwed me over. Get home the next day and try to fix it and reset my presets. Now all the tones are messed up, even without cabinet simulation.

haven't tried dealing with them yet. I might try to sell it on ebay then pick up a bunch of Danelctro's or boss or maybe the digitech RP200. I'm going to go back to my dealer and see what he can do

I play basicly anything my ear likes. This thing was fine until it went on the fritz. I've been playing for 4 years now. If it was stolen i would have a party because it is just a waste of my time. It is similar to a Digitech RP200, but digitech is more solid. THis thing is made out of PLASTIC! have you heard the rumor about plastic? Plastic breaks! I give it a 5 becaus it worked for 1.5 years and screwed me up for 6 hours

Plug the power into the unit before the wall outlet unless you want to re-program it all over again! Rotary knobs with l.e.d.?s = great idea.

I think it sounds great. I play a Les Paul into it, then into a
100-watt solid-state amp,and a Marshall 412 cabinet. I always keep the cab sim on. Seems to have a warmer tone that way. Noise is never a problem. Hey new guys, single coil pickups will ALLWAYS
MAKE NOISE!!!!!!!!

I?ve gigged with it about 10 times. I place it on the floor next to my amp. I?d put it on top of my amp but it might fall off and shatter into splinters.

I gig with it and play thru the headphone jack. I know, it?s made for recording. But I haven?t used it for that, yet.

Once the manual has been deciphered and red three or four times, editing is fairly straigthforward.

Editing of both the FCB1010 and V-Amp 2 can be accomplished much more easily via the downloadable software.

Use a 'Strat Syled' customised guitar with Seymour Duncan hot rails, Yamaha SG2000S, Fender Strat Delux with Lace Sensors.
Through a 300W stereo pwr amp in bridge mode through a pair of foldback speakers and a Samson wireless.

The presets are usable to a point. However, wide range of support online and abundant patches. There is a Santana patch that is very good. I only use about 5-8 patches through a 40 song gig anyway. The WAH WAH sound is average and takes a little getting used to.

As with any instrument, the 'sound' is a combination of the player's touch as well as the tone that the effect produces itself. I think the V-Amp 2 is very good and very versatile. I have a wide variety of hardware and have found this unit capably reproduces the sounds I need. I have found that the shape is ungainly and not very ergonomic from a live gig perspective. However, I have recently purchased the V-AMP Pro which fits in my rack and is a lot more convenient. It means I can practise quite easily withut having to set my full equipment. Any sounds that are tweaked can be transferred across to each other via a midi cable.

I also use the FCB1010 to control the patches. THe only complaint I have is that I can't pack it away in my rack. I used to use the ZOOM 8050 with two pedals and it is compact and with just as much versatility. I haven't found a bag/case to fit the FCB1010 as yet.

I've had the V-AMP2 for a year with no problems. The V-AMP Pro is a new acquisition.

Behringer seems to offer good support though from my investigations.

Quite helpful

A wide variety of syles: Rock, Jazz, Dance, Funk, Grunge. Seems to work for me in all of these areas.

No Brainer to use! straight ahead type of stuff.

If you play metal this piece of junk is OK. If you play any other kind of music; lacks a lot. FX are good, not great, but for what it is they pass. Clean amps are the worst I have ever heard. Blues type tones are not good. The only sounds that are any where near good are any type of rectified, or heavy (buzz) distortion. I emphisize the word (BUZZ) that is what it sounds like. Not a good piece of gear.

???

???

If you want an amp simulator, save your money and get something else.

No!! this is the worst thing since my Roland RP-7... you have to push buttons 4 to 5 seconds and stuff like this, to safe sounds.. And i think, a FX with a lil display *only 2 signs* is not practical.. also these 2nd parameters are quite bad.. you have to be a fingeracrobat to use it..

First, i was very impressed, because we did some recording.. but after a while, if you didnt remember the bossmetalzone:) it becomes very wired, intransparent and crappy.. also the noise is very bad.. the noisegate has to much releasetime, resp. you cant adjust the releasetime.. only the intense.. so unpractical with a highoutput guitar. the chorus sounds quite nice.. the reverb is ok, the delay is ok but the rest sucks.. I like some distortions.. but if you ever stood in front of a mesaboogie rectifier and your stomack was shaking, nothing happens if you do the same with behringer...;)well.. who cares..

i used it on a gig.. and if you have a doommetalband, or pop, slowrock band you have time to manage the switchtime from sound to sound, or you learn how early you have to press the switchbutton, so the sound changes..

sorry, im playing deathmetal, and industrial, and i have not the time to wait until the next sound is comming..

i used the extenrnal delivered pedal once, and it died on stage..
now i use it with a external midimastercontroller.

also the box is like these new cars from china.. dont touch them, or they brake in 2 pieces..;)

... dont know.. nice website..

-too much noise
-not the best thing for highgain sounds
-cleansection is fine
-made very cheap
-external footswitch died in the first concert
-the powersupply is also a very cheap thing.. not built to resist..


buy it if you dont have money... else buy a korg AX 1500 G.. twice the price, but built like a tank, and the sound is genius..

Very easy to use indeed, could'nt be any easier...

The best machine i've used ever! Specially Hi gain section is great and you find your tone in short time. I can get the distortion sound i need. Mostly i play metal music and for that purpose v-amp 2 suits perfectly. I have two guitars Kramer s/d 404 with dimarzio evolution pickup and Yamaha rgx 612 a with emg-81. Both guitars work great with v-amp. I play straight to my computer and there to stereos. Killer tone!!

No problems yet.

For metalheads it suits great. I've been playing for 15 years all kinds og styles of metal. I've tryed several kinds of equipment to find my "perfect tone" Now i'm closer than ever:) V-amp is absolutely great investment if you want cheap quality thing to make your metaltone!!!

It's really easy to get the sound you want out of it WITH HEADPHONES or FOR COMPUTER RECORDING. But i've been trying to use it with my Crate GFX212, through the regular input and trough tne insert input, tried without the cab simulation and never get any closer to the sound i want. If someone has an idea of what to do to my amp!!

It has a great sound quality, i have recorded a couple of songs in my mac, and it sounds so PRO, every thing, the effects, distortion (mainly amp simulations). Haven't try the wah cause i need the midi controller, I CAN'T NOT RATE its sound quality connected to my amp, CUZ my amp changes the sound, even connected in the insert without cab simulation!!! Should i try buying a keyboard amp ?? i'll give it a 10 on soundquality but just for computer recording and practicing.

THIS is my second V-amp, i sold my first one because i tried to upgrade to the V-amp PRo, but not BIG difference except for the digital output and the sample rate option for it. The V-amp2 Suites, great for me, i have owned Zoom, digitech, and Boss processors, and this is definitly the BEST!! i would use it in my gigs if i figure out how to make this sound good with my amp.

I Have other Behringer equipment, they're the best in quality, price, and support... a good example for other American comp. like Line6, Digitech, Behringer even Beats japan's ZOOM, which is also good.

I play original and covers from guitar masters, Vai, Satriani, Malmsteen. I'll give This Unit OVERALL a 10, for what it is!! an Amp simulator and effects unit.

This processor has alot of knobs and the same button doing multiple thing with holding other buttons down etc...so it takes awile to get used to but once you do i found you could customize your sound nicly. My biggest concern is the pedal, it only allows you to cycle through your current bank which can be annoying. But saying that i should mention the addon switch which adds more banks etc nice touch...never looked into the price though.

I like to play Classical/blues music very melodic. This little vamp has really nice clean sounds really nice echo and delay. I do still play metal and although the distortion to me sounds quite digital it is still sufficient enough for me.

Never had a problem with it seems quite sturdy

N\A

I loved this processor and funny enough it was stolen from me...i didnt buy it back because i wanted to try other processors out. I ended up with a Zoom gfx-4 its hard for me to compare the two but i will buy another vamp in the near future for now though i am satisfied with what i have. If your low on cash and want a great processor that will deliver in spades and not cost you way to much, if your budget is fat then id suggest somthing a little bit bigger

At first, I was very skeptical about buying any type of amp modeling processor, being a dedicated tube amp enthusiast for many years. Finally,I broke down and bought one for the purpose of simplifying my practice and home recording needs. With some quick tweaking, you can get convincing amp sounds without alot of fuss--no scrolling though menus--plug in, turn a few knobs and play. Just the way most of us guitarists prefer to work! As with any processor, the manual is a very good place to start, and will help you get the most out of the unit. Also there is V-amp patch editing software available at the behringer website, although I have not tried it yet, so I cannot comment on it's usability.

I Use several guitars:Fender American Strat w/EMGs, Les Paul Standard w/EMGs, Gibson Flying V w/EMGs > V-amp2 > Edirol UA-20 Audio Capture > computer. The effects are of passable quality, and sound much better in stereo than mono, however they rate low in the tweakability department as you can only change two parameters per effect (or effect combination) so if you are finicky about effects and need a lot of control, additional external processors are required. I can get most of the tones that I need out of this little box, mostly high gain amp tones like JCM 800, recto, soldano, etc. The V-Amp2 really shines in the High gain rock/metal dept. and the clean sounds and vintage combos sound convincing as well. The V-amp2 makes direct to tape/disk recording ultra simple.

I can depend on the unit day after day and don't forsee any major problems...as long as it remains on my desktop!!! This is the intended application for the V-amp2. I am very concerned about the units durability and I wonder if it would survive a three foot fall from my desk. Seriously,would you rely on a light, plastic guitar shaped gizmo as your main tone source at the big gig?? I think not. The rack mountable V-amp Pro combined with a good power amp would be a much better choice for gigging, although I personally will stick with a genuine tube amp for live playing...In this application, the little blue box would be better off staying home.

Never had to deal with them.

I play mostly Rock/metal and blues. I can get all the tones I need and then some. I've been playing, gigging, recording for 20+ years and have played through lots of gear, Old Marshall super lead, MkII, Mesa dual rectifier, Lots of rack gear ADA MP1,MP2, Rocktron, Digitech etc. and have a large collection of stomp boxes, vintage and modern. If the V-amp were lost or stolen I would certainly buy another. One thing I wish the unit had is an On/Off switch!! Come on, no power switch?? What were they thinking?? Other than the power switch and durability issues, this is one cool toy that keeps me playing my guitar for hours on end...If a particular piece of gear can do that for me, it's worth the money.

All knobs. It's super easy and great if you like playing instead of digging through manuals and layers of menus.

I use it live going into the effects return (bypasses the preamp) on a Mesa Nomad Head into a Marshall 1960A 4x12 (control with the FCB1010). The sound is amazing. I don't use the effects, just the amp models AND the cabinets (also noise gate). I think of the cabinet models as just sort of a global EQ that changes the general voicing of each amp. I find I get a better sound by using the cab modeling even though I playing through a great cab. As I said, to me cab models just determine the voicing of each amp. For live use YOU ABSOULUTELY MUST DO ALL YOUR EQ ADJUSTMENT AT STAGE VOLUMES. You can't EQ at low volumes and have it sound good live (loud). Also don't forget about the global EQ control (in L1 setting) and the presence adjustment for each amp. They make a big difference. I totally love the sound, way better than the Mesa alone. Keep in mind, however, that part of the sound is determined by your power amp and I'm using an all tube power amp which I'm sure helps the sound. My favorite amp model is the V-amp crunch, great chunk.

SO far so good

Some people say they can't get a good live sound. I think they either don't have a good power amp, good speaker cab, or they use too many effects, or they don't set their EQ at high volumes. For me it sounds great live. In fact, with my "live" patches, I have to be loud for them to sound good. They sound a bit dead and fuzzy at bedroom levels, but crank the tube power amp to loud levels and it's monster crunh distortion with great chunk and easy pinch harmonics. I love it. I'm considering getting the pro V-amp and building a rack so I don't have to carry both my head and v-amp 2 around. Oh yea, almost forgot, I get great cleans and dirty cleans as well.

I`m gonna make this short, with about 200 reviews you can`t go wrong anymore...If you`re looking for effects-unit, with this you won`t have any major regrets. I`ve had my Vamp2 for about two years now and here are my views:

+ for silent practise this is marvellous; just plug your jack and headphones and start to play. I think that this is the best part of vamp, even the Ladies in the house appreciate this little toy. This preamp is also convenient when connecting to mixing board.
+ all of the 32 Amp Simulations are top quality, Behringer have worked hard for those. Actually, which one you like depends on your taste only. Behringer is using these same simulations and FX`s in newest 2004 products also and I think there is no use changing them in the future either. Maybe there is some new FX`s coming up later on ?
+ 16 FX`s 8 Cabinet simulations 9 reverbs
+ U can mute amps/cabinets/reverbs/FX`s ? everything when needed
+ 15 step noisegate (could also be like 4 step only, things start to happen after 10...)
+ Behringer`s PC-program is another big deal here: you can add pre-FX, delay-mix, post-FX, wah to normal Vamp2 sounds. So without PC you`ll miss something.
+ there is a lot of presets downloadable in internet.
+ even acoustic guitar can get extra sparks when played thru vamp2

- NO on/off-switch
- Connections are quite OK, but I wonder why this unit doesn`t have USB-connection. My laptop really hasn`t any plug&play-connectors... To solve this problem U need a USB/MIDI-connector like Esi`s model (another ?50). I plug my vamp with midi-cables to Technics keyboard and keyboard with USB to laptop to use the Vamp-program, so it`s no big deal to me.
- The looks. It looks OK, but I don`t like the toy-shape- if this is a problem, there`s always vamp-pro rack-unit (?235, with on/off-switch also). By using footcontroller, in the other hand, you can hide Vamp2 on stage.
- The gain knobb is something I dislike, it just gets muddy quite easily
- my Vamp2 has lost all of it`s presets twice already , w/o a reason, so I think that you should have all the presets saved in your PC, just in case! So should you rely to Vamp2 while playing live? I wouldn`t. With a second backup Vamp2 I would.

Summary:

For ? 150 this is the one and only and the best option for anyone in need of ?regular?effects. There simply isn`t good enough option in this price range. Still, you should consider what kind of set you need:
- normal Vamp2 or Vamp-pro
- maybe with combo included, Behringer LX1-112 V-Ampire (?350) or
- NEW Vamp coming up June-July 2004: V-AMPIRE LX1200H; guitar modelling amplifier head (~ ?250)
-
I also have Behringer FCB-1010 Midi foot controller (?150) to work with. Its made like a tank and it makes Vamp2 use more successful on stage ? who has the time to turn knobbs while playing? It might feel expensive compared to Vamp2 itself, but actually there isn`t other good controllers costing under ?200. These two together are great value for ?300 I have to say!

Also the type of guitar you use have a certain effect to the sound (of course). I use my sc/sc/2xsc-guitar rather than my hb/hb-guitar. I get my best sounds with Yamaha Pac 604W double single-coin pu.

MOST MODELERS OFFER A PLETHORA OF OPTIONS AND R CONSEQUANTLY RATHER DIFICULT 2 TWEAK1111 THE V-MP IS NO EXCEPTION1111 THE INTERFACE IS EXCALENT BAR NONE THE BST INTERFAEC OUT OF AL TEH DIGITAL MODELERS!11! OMG IT IS LARGELY LED DRIEVN AND THE LIGHTS LIGHT UP ACORDNGLY OR BLINK 2 LET U KNOW AT A GLANCE PR3CIESLY WHAT THE SETTINGS AER!111 EDITNG PATCHES IS VERY SIMPLE!!1! ADJUST AS NECESSARY AND HOLD DOWN THE BUTON CORESPONDNG 2 WHERE U WISH TO SAVE IT!!!!!!1 OMG LOL

IMM USNG THIS WIT A VAREITY OF DIFER3NT GUITARS THROUGH A LAENY LC30! I TYPICALY USE IT IN FRONT OF MY AMPP IN TEH CLEAN CHANEL!!11!!1 THE VERSATILITY IS EXCALENT I CAN DIAL IN ALMOST ANY SOUND REQUIERD1!!111 THE ABILITY 2 BYPASS THE AMP MODELING AND CAB MODELNG IS VARY USEFUL HERE!!1!! OMG LOL IN THIS SETUP I OFTEN USA TEH SAVAEG BAST MODEL AND IT WORKS EXCEPTIONALY FOR HEAVY MUSIC!!!11!1 LOL OTHER GOOD MOD3LS WOULD BE THE MARSHAL PLAXIS (BRITISH BLUES/BRIT CLASIC) SOLDANO SLO (MODERN-HI GAIN) AND THE MARSHAL JCM800!!!!11 OMG WTF THE V-AMP WORKS EXCEPTIONALLY IN THIS CONTEXT, SUP3RIOR 2 THE POD XT I WUD SAY
!!!!

ITS WEAKNESSES R HIGHLIGHED MORE WHEN JAMMNG THROUGH HEADPHONES OR RECORDNG DIERCT. THE V-AMP EXCALS AT MEDIUM-HIGH GAIN BUT ITS CLEAN MODELS R RATHER AEVRAEG1!!!!1 LOL IF U R MOSTLY A CLEAN PLAYER I WOULD ADVIES U BUY A J-STATION OR POD11!!11 OMG WTF HOWEVER THIS DOESN'T BOTHER ME MUCH11!11

THE FX R HIT AND MISS!1!!1 THE DELAY IS EXCELENT, THE TREMOLO IS EXCELLENT, THE CHORUS IS OK, THE COMPRESSOR IS OK, THE PHASER IS POOR AND THE FLANGER IS POOR

FOR THE PRICE THE SOUNDS SIMPLY CANNOT B BEATEN LOL.

I COULDN'T SAY PRECISELY! LOL IT CAN HEAT UP A BIT AND ITS CONSTRUCTED FROM PLASTIC BUT I COULDNT MAKE A JUDGEMENT YET OMG.

NEVER DEALT WITH LOL

OVERALL THE V-AMP IS INCRADIBLE VALUE FOR THE MONEY111!1!! OMG LOL I WOULD SAY ITS MORE SUITED TO HIGH-GAINERS OR IN FRONT OF A CLEAN AMP FOR HEAVIER DISTORTION1!1!!!!! ITS EFFECTS R DECENT OVERALL AND ITS MODELS R GOOD. COMMPARED 2 THE POD ITS CLEANS R POOR, ITS MID-GAIN MODELS R EQUAL AND ITS HIGH-GAIN MODELS ARE SUPERIOR1!1!!11 LOL ALSO ID SAY IT IS NOT QUIET AS GOOD AS A POD FOR HEADPHONE JAMMING OR DIRECT RECORDNG, ALTHOUGH IT CAN B TWEAKED 2 SOUND GOOD!!!1! THE PLASTIC CONSTRUCTION IS ANOTHER DOWNSIDE BUT PROVIDNG U DONT GET 2 VIOLENT IM SURE IT WIL HOLD OUT! IT LACKS A FEW FAATUR3S THE POD XT HAS SUCH AS MIC MODELS/MIC PLACEMENT SETTINGS, BUT IT MAEKS UP FOR IT WIT AN AUX IN SO U CAN JAM ALONG 2 CDS OR MP3S ON UR COMPUTER.

ILL HAVE 2 GIVE IT A 10 FOR EXTRAME VALUE CONSIDERING THAT THE POD XT IS 3X AS MUCH11!

its as simple as an amp the manual is well written sucks there is no on off button. the presets are over processed but warning now if you try this in the store through headphones youll buy it right then. doent take long at all to have your own sound and not someone elses

first off this is an amp simulator not to be used with an amp guys that are using it with an amp are crazy its plastic and there is plenty of good amps out there to not use this strictly for direct recording. i use ibanez guitars and have used a gibson les paul with this need to roll off the vol on that guitar though. some of the amps are extremely noisy and some arent but the pod xt and the j station are the same way this has a little more useable amp sounds. the jcm 800 brit hi gain is modeled after the 2204 mk2 head and it is the closest thing youll get to the real thing experiment with cabs cab 4 the 112 mid cab works great for everything. the soldano or modern high gain is very good also sounds more like a 5150 than a soldano but that sound is just awesome. the rectifier models are also good the rectifier head will get you that godsmack sound or disturbed so if modern rock is your thing this is the item to buy. the rest of the amps are ok the clean amps are decent. the 50 wat plexi just sucks and the plexi is only good on cleaner settings, the effects are good not great the ambience feature is in revereb at settings 8 and 9 has to be used a little to emulate the air being pushed into the mike wish there was an adjustable mike like the pod xt but overall for the money you cant go wrong ive made 2 records with this it is that good can even use a bass through it its almost a 10 but no microphone and air makes it a nine but maybe it will be there in the v amp 3 maybe two microphones one for room and one for amp

i wouldnt gig with it its plastic ive had some problems with the memory in it where i had to reset the thing and that sucks but hopefully they will improve this and add a friggin on off switch. if your looking for in your face well produced guitar sounds this blows em all away you may even have to cut the lows and mids that is how powerful this thing is some advice use only for recording direct and thats it it is great for that good enough to be on a professional cd

i have never really dealt with them only just to find out about new stuff coming out this is a great music company so there shouldnt be a problem

i play a little of everything and the vamp can do it all it doesnt model all the amps great and not all the cabs are good but none of the competitors do. ive been playing for 21 years and im not even 30 yet id put the vamp against almost anything for direct recording it blows the pod and j station away it is in the middle of those two which makes it the one to buy i would definately freak if this was stolen and id have to buy another one right away. i play heavy funk rock which is my main style and if you go to garageband.com and type in hands of time by mousepouch you will hear what the vamp can do if the vamp in the future comes out with virtual microphones and placement 2 would be real nice than line 6 will be finished also have to make it more durable but overall for direct recording this kicks ass and rivals up most miked up rigs with the exception of the wellknowns but if you live in an apartment or record at odd hours this is a godsend and youm must buy this its cheap and more than gives you what you need how come you dont have it already?

Really easy.

Too many distortions. 80% of the built in patches are distortions.... Volume differ from one patch to another. Some patches are noisy as hell.

Power input cable is fragile. Battery died after 3 month. Unit is in plastic. OK for studio. Pray the lord if you go live with it. Little fotswitch is a tank. Switching from one patch to another is a pain, it can take half a second before the patch to be loaded...
I strongly recommend a footswitch like the FCB1010 for optimum use.

Never call

Not too bad but I regret. Will replace it as soon as I found a used GT-6 or a GNX3.