Behringer V-Amp 2

Easier to use than the PODxt, but part of that is probably because the POD can do more. I use my VAMP2 much more often than my PODxt because I just want to plug & play and find the VAMP less intimidating.

Odly, I've owned the PODxt for the same amount of time as the VAMP2 but I haven't used the PODxt much, but I'd say the PODxt definitely sounds better than the VAMP2. One advantage (AND disadvantage, for me at least!) of the PODxt is that you can plug its USB cable into the PC and use GuitarPort to SEE the amp/effect setups more visually, and tweak the settings with your mouse, rather than messing with the controls on the POD. That is the reason why I use the VAMP2 more: I don't yet feel comfortable controlling the PODxt without the computer, so it means you have to boot up the PC and play in front of the computer... The VAMP2 is a bit easier to use.

In the beginning I was also one of those guys who said: "I don't care about what those tube purists say about modelers. I don't care whether it sounds like the real amps its modeling. All that matters is that it sounds good to me."

Well, now, about two years later, I'm starting to think, uhh, to be honest, this thing really just doesn't sound that good!

I use Strat(s) and I've played the VAMP2 with headphones, as well as directly into the effects loop return of my amp, and both ways it sounds pretty crappy. The clean amp models are OK, and the distorted sounds are good for power-chord type stuff, but for lead stuff (e.g. solos) it just sounds "digital". Also, when playing full chords (v.s. power chords) on distortion, the distortion does this really ugly digital sounding breakup. It just sounds very wrong.

I mostly use the VAMP2's chorus and/or delay effects, but I usually bypass the amp simulation completely. (Press Tap & Tuner keys together). The reverb is OK. The tremelo, wah, compressor are useless to me.

(Remember to change the VAMP to "L3" live mode when using it with an amp to disable stereo & speaker simulation).

It's plastic, but that's OK. When you buy a playstation or MP3 player you're not going to complain that it's not solid steel, so who cares. Just handle it with care. I avoid pulling out the IN / OUT cables unnecessarily (i.e. I rather pull cables out of the guitar / amp). But... of course you can clearly see/feel that the PODxt is just more robust.

Their online helpdesk is OK.

I have mixed feelings about the VAMP2. I used to love it. But as I get better at my playing, I realize more how bad it sounds!

I've been playing for about 2 years. When I just started playing, I bought both the VAMP2 and the PODxt. I bought the modelers, of course not for budget reasons, but simply because my playing sucks and I thought it would be cool to use a modeler and headphones. That was a bad excuse to buy modelers. As one beginner to another, I ask you, please don't make that mistake.

It's with regret that I have to say, please invest your money in something else, preferably an amp, e.g. the Roland Micro Cube costs about the same as the VAMP2 and is way more useful. Yes, the VAMP is cheap, but if you have to buy a modeler, rather get the PODxt Live or a BOSS GT6/8 or a Vox modeler!!

If I had to start over, I'd rather just save my money to buy a decent amp and add a few effects pedals later.

As other people have said: You get what you pay for. You can't really expect a $100 VAMP2 to match a $300 PODXT/BOSS-GT6 etc.

Very easy to use. Not rocket science here. Lighted LEDS make it superior to the POD, or POD XT in this category.

This is where the Behringer V-amp lacks. The sampling rate is only 32khz, (LESS THAN CD QUALITY!) which make the guitar tones and distortion sound "trashy" like a cheap amplifier. I found that to make the guitar tones sit well in my mixes, I have to make the whole recording sound a little bit trashy using overcompression and killing the dynamics to match the guitars.

Very hard to impossible to get a studio quality sound out of these. At best these are great for Apartment recording or late night jam sessions w/ your computer.

Dont expect to ever Gig this thing and play it out of an amp. It will just sound wrong.

The dynamics on the output of this unit are non existant. Meaning that when you listen to the playback or just analyze how it sits in a mix, it sounds very thin and harsh to the ears, definately does not sound like it could pass as a Mic'd cabinet.

100% of the time now, I can hear a POD, or a V-Amp guitar track in a recording if presented a sample to listen to. There is no tricking people with units like these.

I'd say they are reliable, I bought one of these when they first came out, the V-AMP one for 199$ at guitar center (this was like 4 years ago). Then upgraded the Flash chip to V.2.0 (not a big improvement I might add).

This unit has never broke down. Although it is anoying that it doesn't have an ON/Off switch you have to unplug and replug it in every time.

Once, a pin got bent in the A/C plug.

and my tuner button is less responsive, i have to hit it hard for it to move into tuner mode.

Never had any issues so i cant comment

Bottom line: YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. and you will not feel ripped off with this, especially if you do not have any other alternative for apartment recording and late night jamming.

There might be other alternatives that are better like the POD XT, however all of these MODELER units all sound the same.


SAMPLES of songs I recorded guitar tracks w/ the V-amp:

http://www.csupomona.edu/~tgao/myhome/demo1.mp3

This unit is very easy to use and editing patches is not at all complicated. The manual is very easy to use and the proper amount of time should be taken to understand the capability of the V-amp 2. Getting a good sound out of this unit can be difficult and is very subjective. It takes plenty of "tweaking" to get the tone you want. "Tone" means different things to different people. A large part of guitarist's sound is in his/her style, fingers, pick, guitar, cable and power source. Take time to experiment. This is a versatile piece of equipment and it will be difficult to find a good sound in 15-20 minutes.

I am running a Parker Fly Deluxe into 4 modified (self modified and they sound GREAT!) pedals. A Boss SD-1, a Boss DS-1, a Boss MT-2 and a Boss GE-7. The GE-7 is connected to the input of the V-amp 2. I use the 3 Boss distortion pedals to get a variey of bluesy/distorted/heavy sounds. The GE-7 (EQ pedal) is used to either "shape" those sounds or is used as a lead boost. I use this set-up with V-amp 2 set on the "Tube Preamp" setting. The "Tube Preamp" is a nice foundation to build from and to my ear it sounds the warmest of all the clean simulations. With this set-up I run the V-amp 2 straight into the PA and on occassion I will run it in stereo.

** It is important to remember that the EQ on the Mixer/PA will require some adjustments to get the sound your after. Different PA speakers and mixers will sound unique just like guitars, amps, pick-ups, etc. Again, take your time, be patient and experiment.

If I am not using the modified Boss Pedals I will use a variety of the amp simulations to get various clean/blues/dirty/crunch and heavy settings. I really don't care how close they are to the actual amp they are simulating. My main concern is that I get a good sound regardless of the simulation or model. My favorites are "Custom High Gain" and the "Brit. Hi Gain." With these settings I go from that bluesy tone to something really heavy and everything in between.

I will try to use it as an effects only in the effects loop of my Peavey Classic 50 4/10. The V-amp 2 allows you to by-pass the preamp simluations allowing use of the effects only. I am not sure how this will sound but for $99 it is worth the effort to try. After all, it's another option.

I can't rate the reliability fairly. It is plastic which tends to be less reliable than a metal housing. The pedal however is metal and since I will be stepping on the pedal I am not that concerned about the plastic shell on the V-amp 2.

I had the original V-amp and I own other Behringer equipment. They have always been very helpful and have provided great customer support.

I have been playing about 16 years and yes, I would consider myself a "Tube Snob." In my opinion, there is no replacing a tube. I play a variety of rock, blues, pop, heavy and praise and worship music. I grew up listening to artist such as Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson, Yngwie Malmsteen, Eddie Van Halen and Stevie Ray Vaughn. Many different styles and strengths very few of which I can play but I enjoy trying. The V-amp 2 provides me with the opportunity to sound like any of them.

The things that the V-amp 2 has to offer are well worth the money. It is a great unit to record with and you have the luxury of running it straight into a PA. Where else can you spend $99 on a new piece of music equipment that is this flexible? Sure, there is better equipment out there but I have yet to find a $99 toy with all of these features that sounds this good. I personally have not a heard 1 piece of Line6 gear that sounds good to me. In fairness to Line6 I have not spent much time with their equipment. I don't particularly care for the Digitech stuff. It sounds way to "Digital" to me. The Boss stuff including the GT-6 and the new GT-8 are not bad but if I had an extra $500 laying around (Who does?) I would probably checkout the Vox Tonelab SE thoroughly.

It would be nice if this where true bypass to better allow its use with a guitar amp. I don't prefer to use the V-amp 2 straight into a guitar amp because it colors the amps tone. Even a good tube amp may negatively affect your opinion. I think it works very well with a PA and Mixer. I am even considering the purchase of a powered monitor so I can use it as a spot monitor and run the V-amp 2 straight to it.

Basic features are easy to use, but you definitely need the manual to learn how to tweek some parameters like presence & effects/reverb settings.

I've been using this for over a year for private practise and lately for a couple of gigs. I never really cared for the compressed sound I heard through headphones, but I assumed the unit would be okay through a PA or for direct to harddisk recording. Boy was I wrong! This toy just sounds flat & lacks character. You are far better off with a real tube amp. Considering that this thing costs less than most pedals, I can easily conclude that you get what you paid for here.

The input jack has become tempermental. I have to wiggle it to get signal sometimes. The same with one of the 1/4" outputs. Oh well, that's what you get from cheap piece-o-crap Chinese parts and manufacturing.

Also, there is a significant dropout when you change to some presets. So this is definitely NOT a gig-worthy piece!!!

I doubt you'll get much support from this German design outfit. My Pro audio friends tell me that Behringer makes throw away junk that isn't worth fixing when it breaks. THAT SUCKS, but I should have known based on the low price of this thing.

This is an okay toy for a beginner guitarist with a low budget. Or better yet, GET A REAL AMP! Seriously, a small tube combo amp and a couple of pedals will provide much more satisfaction & inspiration.

If direct recording is your goal then try a Rocktron Voodu Valve - it's a far superior tone generator.

It's pretty easy to get usable (if not the greatest) sounds out of the V-Amp 2. Editing patches without the V-Amp software (which requires a seperate MIDI cable) isn't that intuitive. It makes more sense to configure the unit while it's attached to the PC, and the software is quite easy to use. The manual is comprehensive enough, yet easy to to follow.

Here's my signal chain: Fender strats (loaded with DiMarzios) - Peterson Strobostomp tuner - DOD YJM 308 Overdrive - Modded Crybaby Wah - SansAmp GT2 - Boss CH-1 Chorus - Boss DD-3 Delay - Boss CS-3 Compressor - V-Amp 2 - into either my computer (SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro soundcard) or a PA system.

This unit is great for playing around at home with your computer and laying down some basic tracks. The amp sims vary from very good to piss-poor. The speaker sims are useful. The effects are hit and miss.

Good effects include the delay, ping pong, and flanger. I hate the chorus, compressor, auto-wah, rotary, and just about every other effect on the unit. They sound quite sterile, hence my use of Boss pedals.

For high-gain sounds, the V-amp 2 is OK. Cleans are sterile. Mid-gain tones (blues, etc) are passable, but I find my Sansamp to be much more responsive to my playing style and volume changes.

Overall, it's a nice toy that I enjoy using to "stereoize" my signal going into my computer. As far as quality tone goes, it sounds a little sterile. Most of the effects are lame.

I wouldn't use it on a gig without a backup, considering it's a computer in a plastic case that could easily get fried due to a power surge or voltage fluctuation. For home use, it's fine.

I play classic rock, heavy metal, jazz, classical and fusion. This unit represents great "bang for the buck".

For the price (especially used!) it's worth every penny. This unit is FANTASTIC for a beginner guitarist. If you've been playing for 15 years like yours truly, you tend to be a bit more discriminating with your sound.

For my purposes (an easy interface for my signal chain into my computer), I like it a lot. Some of the amp sims are good and I enjoy using them to get different sounds when I do some recording.

Is it professional-level gear? Certainly not. If it were stolen, I probably wouldn't buy it again. I notice a distinct "coldness" to the tone. I'm not a tube snob, but I am picky about what I hear, and I feel that I get much better sounds from my analog Sansamp then from the all-digital V-amp 2.

People who rate this a "10" for sound either haven't been playing a long time, are used to playing through beginner-level gear, or are still basking in the glow of "new toy syndrome".

Still, for the price, I'd recommend it.

This machine is very basic and good for beginers who want a amp modeling multi effect for a cheap price. Good for say a 10 or 12 year old just starting guitar. However, there are other options out there that are much better at a similar price point like the BOSS ME-33 (far superior to the VAMP)

I'm writing this because I think that Harmony Central is a fantastic resource for learning about gear you're thinking about buying.
Based on the reveiws for the Behringer Vamp 2 that I read here I would have foolishly gone out and purchased this pedal . . . I'm glad I didn't.
Instead I rented the Behringer VAMP 2 and a Line 6 PODxt (the original that Behringer is ripping off) for a two week trial period in my home recording studio.
It was used by myself a professional guitar player and audio engineer for 22 years, another Engineer and 2 other guitar players with decades of experience and great ears for tone.
We recorded direct with it and also through a Fender Tweed, 1964 Fender Bandmaster, VOX AC30, Marshall & Fender Twin.
This thing sounds like crap.

Patch changes make a sound . . . that's not right.

I have experience with other Behringer gear and I know that their customer support is quite good.

It is very misleading of other reviewers to compare this to the Line 6 POD as an equal option. This machine does not approach the same tonal quality or depth of the POD at all. I don't even want to get into the details of the differences, there are too many.
I just felt that there were too many good reviews here and it wasn't right.
I have over 250 vintage and modern guitar effects and I honestly don't think that this machine does anything particularily well and it's certainly nothing like the POD. I'm not saying that the POD is perfect but it is in a class apart from the VAMP 2.

Basically if you're going to buy something like this make sure you check out all of your options before opening up your wallet.
Line 6, BOSS, Vox & Digitech all make multi-effect pedals with Amp modeling that certainly outshine Behringer's effort.
Shop with your ears folks.

Fairly easy to use. I'm not a big "tweaker", so I don't bother with a lot of the settings. I basically just go from bank to bank and then tweak the stock presets to taste. A lot of the stock presets, to my ears, sound very good - particularly the heavy distortion ones. Some slight tweaking and off I go.

This was my first try with a multi-fx unit in a while. I got a POD v1.0 last year on a trade and tried that. It was absolutely useless - sounded HORRIBLE. I wanted it to record into my PC but every setting I tried sounded terrible, so the next day I sold it.

I wanted a multi-fx pedal that would give me some effects and be cheap. Something to record to PC. So I looked on zzounds.com (best online retailer without a doubt) and found the new X-Vamp2 for $62 ($5 discount for the factory resealed version). It is a scaled down Vamp2 but with an expression pedal. A couple of days after ordering it I come home to find a bigger box than I expected sitting at my doorway. Sure enough, I got lucky - zzounds sent me the regular $99 Vamp2 instead of the $62 X-Vamp2! Nice eh?

So I set this thing up to record into my PC and it sounds excellent for the price. Excellent period. The high gain tones are very good. Particularly the rectifier and british hi gain models. The classic clean model is decent. The vamp clean is okay. The American Blues model, which seems to be popular with others, sounds terrible to my ears. The distortion models are good, the cleans are usable. I can't get a great jazz tone out of it, but good enough.

As for the effects - the auto-wah is very cool. The compression and delay are very good too. Surprisingly, the reverb is excellent. I don't use the other stuff much if at all (chorus, flange, etc), but they are usable if you like them. Keep in mind that I'm sure individual boss pedals would be better, but for the $62 I paid for it (and the $99 you would have to pay for it) this thing is excellent.

Seems reliable. I've had it a couple of weeks and it hasn't broken. NO power switch, but who cares.

They have some software for free that you can download from their site. That alone gives this a 10 compared to others. I'm a computer junkie, but I haven't had the urge to interface my Vamp2 with the PC yet.

I give it a 9 overall. I'm a tough grader. Not all of the models are good. But there are decent to good cleans, and excellent overdriven/distortion sounds to be had. So if you want to record to your PC, this is the thing to use. Can't be beat for the price. I wish it weren't so cheesy looking and the cheesy name makes it sound like a toy. I doubt it would be my first choice to use live, but I'd bet it would work well. For live work I'd always prefer individual pedals, if I wanted effects at all. I'll soon have some sound examples up on my website: www.sixstringtheory.com

One of the easier modelers to use. Editing is a snap...manual is quite adequate.

I use a Charvel Surfcaster with a Dimarzio PAF in the bridge, Kent Armstrong Hot Lipstick in the neck and a MIM Strat with Lace Sensors.

Usually just use this for headphone practice, but occasionally run it into the effects return of my Mesa F-50.

Unit is very quiet, decent noise gate will help out hi gain settings.

Effects are decent...very useable but nothing spectacular.

There are a lot of amp models in this unit...I really only use a handful. I really like the Blackface, the JCM800, and the Soldano models, and the Boogie MarkIIc. I use the Plexi model as well as the JTM45, but find them a bit dark...can't dial in enough treble for my tastes. It's useable, but not quite how I'd like it...with both buckers and single coils. The Bassman model is also good. Oh, the Van Halen modded Plexi is also pretty cool. Don't care at all for their models of the Dumble, which is a little disappointing. And for each of the JTM 45 and the Plexi they have their own custom models that are supposed to be much more tweakable...I find them completely useless...waste of programming space if you ask me. But no problem, there are so many other models that are decent.

I had one of the cheap Valvetronix amps and actually thought it had better models on it all around, but for the money, the V-Amp2 is a deal, and for playing with headphones it does me fine. If I ran across a cheap used Tonelab, I might replace this with it, but until then, it'll do me fine.

Only had it a few months so far...no problems. Besides, I just use it for practice.

Don't Know

Great bang for the buck!

if it were lost or stolen, not sure whether I'd get another one or not...probably check out my options. This technology is constantly changing with something better on the horizon.

You get 25 banks with 5 patches per bank, works great and the included pedal allows you to switch up and down between the patches. Lots of knobs and a fair amount of menusurfing, you have to hold one button down and press another to do certain things etc. Overall, good layout for a multieffect. Illuminated knobs are the best idea since presliced bread since their position changes with the patches, like they should rather than presets that change parameter value by bypassing the knobvalue.

I use it with a Epi standard Les Paul and right to my computer. It sounds awesome, maybe partially due to my 5.1 surround, I would guess that if you use a cheap amplification system, its gonna suck pretty hard. It's not noisy at all, although with everything maxed it is. There's a noisegate though, but it's pretty bad. Effects sound OK, compression+chorus effect is great. Delays sounds pretty good too. Phase,flange,wah are all fine, great for coloring the ampsimulations. However, the tremolo effect sucks, you can't adjust anything other than speed and mix, no waveshape!

Amp sims are great for the money and through a good PA it will definitely give you a great sound, Hi-Gain Brit is the best!

Its plastic, but the pedal is metal and you get a gigbag with it so yeah, you can depend on it. Doesn't seem to need a backup either, just dont step on the case. I havent had any problems at all with it, and its about 6 months old now.

Worth it! It is capable of pretty much all genres but it only sounds good if you know how to tweak it. I would not buy another if it were stolen, I would go for a footbased multi instead. This is more of a studio, stationary effect. Its awesome and if you want a way to record great guitarsounds or just jam in your home, on low and high volume, then this is it! The extra money for a POD hardly seems worth it to me.

extreeeeeemly EASY! Must read the manual though.... everything is simple as turning knobs, taping buttons, and double functions. after you read the manual, it should be easy. Getting good sounds...also easy. Editing patches... super easy. The manual is about v-ampire, v-amp pro, and v-amp 2. it's a little bit confusing by the first time I read it. But I understand it in my second read.

the word is.... WOOOWWWWW. As long you use it as it meant to be used. It's a VIRTUAL amplification. It sound best WITHOUT AMPS!!!! So just plug directly into the mixer. You can turn off the speaker sim though and plug into your amp. Sounds good, but not best. I use an Ibanez GRG-270DX chinesse made (Very cheap guitar with a so-so sound) an Ibanez IBZ10G amp. I plug it into the amp and my first thought is..... not bad, but A LOT BETTER THAN MY ZOOM GFX-5!!! trust me dont buy ZOOM, ZOOM's distortion is crap!! then I a headphone.....my reaction was....OH MY GOD.........I CAN'T BELIEVE THE SOUND!! V-Amp's Distortion is a little bit noisy, great for rythem good for leads. Chorus is WONDERFUL !! I LOVE IT !!! The Delay.... GREAT!! Auto wah....not good, gonna need a pedal for this one (Behringer FCB1010), can't afford it. When I turn the speaker sims off, it sounds better in my amp, the boogie dual rectifiers distortion's a little bit muddy though (Little bit disapointed at this point). Others are good. in my headphones, the dual rectifier's sound is GREEAATTT can't tell the difference ! I can get Daita Ito's (SIAM SHADE's lead guitarist, great japan rock band) sound easily! for your info Daita is a big fan of dream theater, which means, a great fan of John Pettruci. Daita uses the same amp as Pettruci, Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier.

Ummmmm. Plastic, Hard PVC. As long as you take care of it it's ok. Well you're not gonna stomp on it, it's not a stomp box. The footswitch, there's where you gonna stomp. The footswitch made of metal, veerry sturdy! carefull though, the button's still plastic. I don't have any other effects (Sold my good for nothing GFX-5), so i have to gig with it. Well the -NOT SLIGHT- delay when you change amp simulators is not good. You can't go from clean to distored or distored to clean in a blink! well a little bit practice on this would fix it, just push the footswith with the -NOT SLIGHT- time earlier before you want the effect to change(I think).

The Dealer.... VERY FRIENDLY, they explained everything!
about behringer, The V-AMP yahoogroups is very helping.
Never dealt with them directly though.

I Play in the church, so I play a very wide range of music. But I like Rock the most. Currently i'm listening to SIAM SHADE (seriously, a very good band! buy one of their CD's, much lighter than Dream Theater,similar to DT but has a wide range of rock). I LOVE the amp sims especialy the dual rectifier. Well if I had the money I would buy a BOSS GT-6, damn! that thing is just too expensive for me. Well this thing inspired me to play! ussually I only practice about 30 minutes a day, but now i can play for couple of hours and forgot to eat (bad for your health ^_^), i can play at night with my headphones at night without disturbing other people WITH GREAT SOUNDS !!!. If you don't have enough budget but want a goooooood effect(not the best), then this is for you. Don't buy ZOOM.... Just to remind you. This is an AMP SIMULATOR it will never sound as good as the real thing (it's 90% the same though).

Had mine for about 2 years. Easy to use, easy to edit patches, great manual.

Sound quality is great. This was my first processor, and for a married guy with kids, the v-amp fit the bill. Used to jam occassionally through fx loop of Behringer GX210. Pretty good sound and flexibility for $350 total. Mostly used through headphones, and it sounds fantastic.

Uh oh...there go all my presets and the thing sounds "tinny." Factory reset...and it happens again. Reliability is far from stellar: battery life sucks, no off switch? plastic casing? switch delay?

I recently "upgraded" to a used Digitech GNX3 for $150. All the options of the v-amp..w/an 8-track recorder, drum machine, looper, and bass sims!!!

You kidding me? The GN3 rocks plugged into my fx loop, through phones or recorded to computer.

N/A - just traded mine in for something more reliable. Great starter processor.

Play metal/rock/pop...what ever suits my fancy. Been playing for about 10 years, just for self entertainment. Sound quality on the v-amp is pretty good, particularly for $100.

However, I'm totally stoked with the GNX3. The addition of a looper, bass sims and drum machine make "jamming" at home SO much more fun.

the v-amp is quite easy to use, but you definetly need to read the manual first(common sense). Editing patches is very easy. you can get a good sound out of it quite easily aswell. The manual is very good it tells you everything about it and how to use it.

The sound qualities good, but some of the distortions sound very muddy if you crank it up, i'm using a good guitar aswell, an ibanez S470. it can be very noisy aswell, but the noise gate does quite a good job at the noise at bay. I'm using it with a peavy combo and it sounds good. The modulations are a O.K but sometimes aren't powerful enough.Personally, i think it sounds better than a POD.

so far it has been very reliable, no knobs missings,no LED's gone and no cracks in the plastic. But i've heard on some reviews that
the saved patches will start to corrupt. Now i've had mine for nearly 2 years and that hasn't happened yet, but i'm not looking forward to it if it does. If i was to gig with it i think i would take a backup just in case if the patches started to sound crap.

never needed them.

overall i think it's very good for the money. I play mostly yngwie or randy rhoads style and it covers the stuff quite well. If it were to get stolen i think i would probably replace it with an effect unit worth about 190-200 pounds. For the money it's outstanding.

It was fine, I enjoyed using it. It wasn't fool proof, since there are a lot of options, but I think Behringer did a good job on the usability aspect.

The reason I bought this thing was because my Fender Princeton Chorus amp (Which I regret buying BTW, not good for me) is to powerful to play in my apartment...I couldn't even turn the volume onto 2! I just wanted something I could use in my apartment to fool around with, nothing too serious.

I really liked the way it sounded. I didn't get the a nice warm sound using headphones, but I don't know if it would have been better if I'd had a better set (I was using $50 Sony MDR-7502).

I got good results hooking this up to my shelf system home stereo. I could produce some rocking sounds and it sounded pretty warm, not digital.

I did get a few chances to hook it up to my amp, and it sounded fine. I was overall happy with the sound.

Mine broke, so I can't give it high marks for reliability.

I'm not really sure what went wrong, but I think others had the same experience. The memory seems to be fried it now sounds like shit. If I reset to the defaults, and start looping through the presets, they are all over the place too, so I know it's fried.

Unfortunetly, I didn't really use it too much during the warranty period because I was swamped with projects at worked, but had I spent more time with it, I probobly would have been able to return it.

As far as the physical durability, it's fairly durable. It's not made of steel, but it's nice and light yet still tough. For the price range, it's impressive.

Make sure you send in your warranty card! I'm not all that pissed about the whole thing since it wasn't that expensive, and I think if I had my act together I would have been able to get it replaced.

I don't know. Like I said, I didnt' have my act together.

This unit is really an amazing value. It's $99 USD now, which makes it an incredible buy I think, considering I was amazed it was only $139 when I bought it shortly after it was released. If that's what your wanting to spend, go buy it now, don't wait!

One more thing, the kit bag and pedal really put the icing on the cake. It's so easy to store and take with you.

I find it easy to get tones suitable for home recording/demo grade recordings, but ultimately a good tube amp and microphone still sound better. I have a home studio, and do all the production/engineering for our 4 piece rock band, plus I record my friends stuff as well. Some of the V-amp2 sounds are definitely better than others. My personal favorites are the Marshall high gain and the Fender Bassman. I've created 2 patches using the Bassman, one with crunch, and another with less gain that souns clean until you play heavy,when it breaks up nicely. I generally bypass the effects on my own presets, but will use them when the song calls for it. I find that experimenting with different cabinet and reverb sims will yield a better sound when creating presets. I don't find it difficult to make my own presets. The manual is adequate, but the information is sometimes scattered on different pages. Better organization might make for an easier read, but the manual isn't tha big to begin with, so I can usually find what I need pretty quickly.

I have 3 good electric guitars- a '87 Les Paul Custom, a '00 American Strat, and an '02 Epiphone Dot Deluxe. By far the Les Paul gets played the most,especially live. The other 2 are used more for recording, and so are actually more likely to be played through the V-amp2. My only real amp is a Mesa Boogie Mk IV, which is great and versitile on its own. The V-amp2 gets used mostly for tones that are unavailable on the Boogie, as the Boogie obviously sounds better. It should for the price. Effects on the V-amp2 are okay, but not nearly as good as my friends Vox tone lab. Again, they are not in the same price league, but more $ does seem to equal better sound. Im not hung up on apeing other artists sounds, But the U2 "Street w/o name" and David Gilmour "crazy diamond" sounds are convincing and useable. All in all, it's definitely worth $125.

I have read some of the other reviews of this product on this website, and find that I'm having the same problem as some of the other users. All of the presets will just "lose it", and sound flat and lifeless. One of your other reviewers called it an AM radio sound. I've heard AM radios sound better than the V-amp2 when this happens. The only solution is to Default back to the factory presets(the manual describes how-pretty easy), but then I lose all my own presets. I've only gigged live with the V-amp2 once, and of course this happened then. It took 10 minutes of stage time to regain a facimilie of what I had before. Very frustrating. There is also a delay when switching patches(about a second of silence!), so I had to anticipate solos and loud sections, and switch before I normally would. Besides these problems, overall reliability has been good-no problems yet with worn out buttons or broken jacks, but the plastic case is suspect. When gigging, it's best to leave it at home.

No need yet...

I'm a meat and potatos Rocker, and have been playing for 20 years. I also like folk, but this is an electric guitar product. I've never plugged my acoustic into it. The best thing about the V-amp2 is its value for the money. Yes, more expensive units(POD,Tone-Lab etc.)sound better, but this is great for the money. Analyze your budget and needs- the V-amp2 could be what you're looking for. For the price, it works well for me. If it were stolen,and I was on a tight budget, I would buy it again, but if I had more $, I would probably upgrade to something else.

i give it a 8 coz its really easy to use this.a 9 if i can edit patches or effects thorougly without the need for a computer! the manual is ok but really good though but one you figure it out even a kid can use this.

OH I LOVE THE SOUND THATS COMING FROM THIS BABY! I LOVE ALL THE MARSHALLS,SOLDANO,RECTIFIER, ETC THAT THEY PUT IN THERE. BUT NOT THE V-AMP MODELS.IM USING MY PARKER NITEFLY SA, FENDER STRAT 62 RE-ISSUE, IBANEZ EARLY 80'S RG420 WITH EMG PICK UP,S-S-HUM CONFIG.SQUIER STRAT JAPAN SILVER SERIES.CUSTOM MADE ES335 COPY,OVATION ACOUSTIC.THE VERY GOOD THING ABOUT IT IS THAT THE GUITAR IM USING MAINTAIN ITS OWN CHARACTERISTIC OR SOUND WHEN PLUG INTO THE V-AMP!KNOWING THE SOUND EACH OF MY GUITAR IS CAPABLE OF ITS EASY FOR ME TO FIND THE SOUND IM LOOKING FOR. COOL!

IT IS QUITE NOISY ON HI GAIN SETTINGS BUT THE NOISE GATE CAN CLEAR THAT UP.BUT WHEN USING IT WITH EMG EQUIPPED GUITARS?? MAN ITS A KILLER! YOU HAVE TO HEAR IT!ESPECIALLY ON CLEAN SOUNDS USING THE TUBE PRE AMP SETTING!TRY IT !

HERE IN THE PHILLIPINES WE DONT BRING OUR OWN AMPS TO A GIG OR TO A BAR. WE USE WHAT THEY HAVE AND LOTS OF TIMES ITS A PIECE OF CRAP!I USUALLY GO DIRECT ON BOARD WITH A DIRECT BOX AND BOOM!!!!! IM FLYING!! HA HA

THE EFFECTS ARE REALLY GOOD! I LOVE THE CHORUS!COMPRESSOR! BUT I HATE THE PHASER.AND OF COURSE THE MEAT POTATO!! DISTORTIONS!

IM REALLY NOT INTO GETTING SOUNDS OF MY FAVORITE ARTIST BUT WITH THE SOUNDS THATS IN MY HEAD.BUT YOU CAN WITH THIS THING. SRV,VAIs ARE EASY.

IM PLAYING 5 TO 6X A WEEK! WITH 3 SETS OF EACH.I HAVE TO PLUG AND UNPLUG 3X EVERY GIG. IVE BEEN DOING THIS 10 MONTHS!! AND THIS MOTHERF??KER IS STILL KICKING ASS.

WITH THAT SAID I THINK ITS DEPENDABLE WHEN USING IN LIVE SITUATIONS.IT WORKS FOR ME, SO IM SURE IT WILL WORK FOR OTHERS AS WELL.BUT NOT FOR EVERYBODY HA HA

DONT NEED THEM YET.

BEING IN PERFORMING BAND "CHILLWORX". WE PLAY ROCK,RnB STUFF,pop,ETC I HAVE BEEN PLAYING FOR ALMOST 20 YRS AND OWNED ALOT OF GEARS AND STUFF.I'VE BEEN USING MY DIGITECH 2101,V-TWIN,TUBE KING 999 ETC..BUT RIGHT NOW V-AMP 2 IS MY BABY.

WELL ONE THING I LOVE ABOUT IT IS THAT ITS EASY TO BRING ALONG WITH THE CARRYING BAG.I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT IT EXCEPT THAT ITS MADE OF BRITTLE PLASTIC.GOTTA BE CAREFUL WITH. AND THE NEED FOR A COMPUTER FOR PROGRAMMING!HATE THAT ALOT! WELL I DONT BRING A COMPUTER WHEN GIGGING. DO YOU?

MY FRIEND HAS A POD AND I TELL TOU THAT ITS A 50-60 RATING! SO GO GET ONE NOW!

99% of the factory patches are worthless. Editing patches isn't much harder than turning pots on a normal amp, rather OK. Very difficult to get a passable sound for recording, especially high-gain sounds. 9 out of 10 amp models sound really flat and unrealistic. The "Brit Hi-Gain" is just about the only hi-gain amp that is at all possible to use for recording.

Using with an Ibanez RG, directly into computer or headphones most of the time. Don't use it in front of an amp, it wasn't made for it.

Most of the built-in effects and reverbs are pretty weak. Half adequate, but nothing that will make you excited and inspire playing. Can get good clean sounds, but as said, distortion ranges from utter swill to "almost passable in a mix full of other instruments".

I play metal, and all/most of the high-gain amps sound flat, dead. They don't breathe or feel like a real amp at all. No heaviness, no bite, no nothing... The Brit Hi-Gain can sound OK with a change of cabinet sim and post-EQ.

Absolutely not dependable. Piece of fucking plastic. At least two knobs have broken off. After a while, the arrow and patch selection buttons stop responding to presses unless pressed EXTREMELY HARD. Also, after a while, this will -- for no apparent reason -- lose all patches AND/OR have all amp sims break down into something that sounds like a broken auto-wah played through AM radio, or something. The ONLY solution when this bug happens is to reset all the patches. Recently, my unit has decided to make it IMPOSSIBLE to reset the patches when this happens (about every week. This unit WILL and DOES lose all patches after a while, battery good or not.) so what I have to do to reset patches now is open the unit up (five screws) and remove the battery so that the unit loses its memory and resets itself. I recently did this, and it worked as usual for about 2 minutes before breaking down into the AM radio fuzz sound. The whole procedure again. I WOULD have thrown this out the fucking window by now, but there's one particular sound my band needs out of this unit for recording; hence, I keep it. I can't use it for practicing or anything anymore, it's practically a paperweight as it is now.

Would ABSOLUTELY not use it for a gig, recording or anything else. Well, before it started acting up I might have, but this WILL not last more than a year or two before gradually turning unusable. I have no idea why. Others have had the same kind of experience I have. Get a POD instead.

Mailed them about the AM radio patch reset deal. Received a completely useless e-mail stating basically that they wouldn't do anything about it.

Owned it for a few years, it says it was made in December 2002. Now this unit is HALF DECENT for as long as it works, it's cheaper than a POD and it sure as fuck SOUNDS cheaper too; it has some OK sounds for recording demos at home, but basically worthless for anything more serious due to its absolute shit reliablility and very flat sounds which makes it much more of an inspiration killer than something that actually helps in the creation of music. I'd get an idea, then poke around with the V-Amp for 30 minutes first trying to get it to work correctly, then trying to find a sound which doesn't sound like absolute bollocks; needless to say after that any inspiration is gone and only V-Amp-induced frustration remains. NOT RECOMMENDED. Spend the extra few dollars on a POD2.0 instead.

Inicialmente, o usuario pode sentir alguma dificuldade para uso mas, depois de algumas mexidas tudo se resolve. Qualquer duvida e sempre bom ter o manual de instruc?es a m?o, apesar do mesmo ser escrito em portugues para Portugal. Com certeza e bem menos complicado do que programar uma pedaleira da Digitech como o RP-12, por exemplo. Tem a dificuldade normal de qualquer pedaleira ou multi-efeitos.

Ja usei pedais da boss e outras marcas, ja tive Zoom 9002, 9000, 2020, 505, 606 e tive oportunidade de usar pedaleiras da Digitech. A qualidade do som das distorc?es e simulac?es de amplificadores e alto-falantes e muito boa, principalmente comparando-se com equipamentos bem mais caros. Os sons de Mesa Boogie, Marshall e Fender e Roland JC 120, s?o bem proximos dos reais. Os outros efeitos s?o muito bons tambem. O que se deve ter em conta ao adquirir o equipamento e a relac?o custo-beneficio. O V-AMP2 e um equipamento com qualidade profissional e fica muito bom se usado em conjunto com a FCB1010, a pedaleira mid da Behringer.

A construc?o e em um tipo de material plastico bastante duro, mas n?o sei se aguenta quedas (n?o quero testar). Por curiosidade (alias, faco isso com todos os meus equipamentos) abria a carcaca e pude observar que se restringe a uma pequena placa de circuitos e um chip muito bem acomodados. Aconselho a usa-lo com cuidado (evitar quedas) e em lugares ventilados (ele esquenta bastante).

A Behringer oferece um site muito bem montado e os programas para atualizac?o da EPROM do equipamento.

Eu toco ha 18 anos. O meu equipamento hoje e: 1 Fender Squier Stratocaster Japonesa 1990, toda original, branca (igual a do Jimi Hendrix), uma Charvel/Jackson CXM-DLX preta com captadores Duncan Design Duplos e single (meio) Kent Armstrong e uma Ibanez RG 350-DX, amplificadores Crate GX-120 e Warmmusic 108 GT, X-VAMP e pedais S3 Fortes (clone do GT2 Sansamp, pedal de volume Korg. Ja usei muita coisa como disse acima e realmente, o V-AMP2 me surpreendeu na qualidade do som e relac?o custo-beneficio. Caras e bem simples: tenho todos os efeitos que sempres quis ter e 32 amplicadores que sempre sonhei em tocar mas nunca teria dinheiro pra tanto.
Um abraco!

I found that this unit has a lot of great features, but for me it was a little difficult getting used to accessing them.
I do not like the manual. I found it was not concise and easy to navigate.

I use a custom built Strat copy with EMG's and a Peavey T-60. I can say this is the most fun I have had in years. I love the sounds and I am looking forward to testing it on a large touring PA system. Effects are not perfect, but they are very good. For me the light to medium overdriven sounds are the best. Very punchy and full. Clean sounds are pretty good, but not excellent. Heavily overdriven sounds are pretty good as well especially if you back off the gain a little. Really the only complaint I have is that the unit is a little noisy but the built in gate helps resolve this very well.

No real opinion yet other than to say that I would not want to drop it on a concrete floor!!!

Never dealt with them

I have been playing guitar a little over 30 years now, and I really enjoy this little unit. I play southern rock, Blues, MOR and country. As with any unit, you will need to take some time to get what you want from it. Tweaking sound is a process that never ends and is always evolving along with personal preferences. I am convinced this unit will deliver to my satisfaction any sound I will require. Especially for what I paid for it. I will recommend this unit to anyone who cares to ask my opinion.

Achei a pedaleira muito boa. E uma excelente opc?o para quem n?o tem grana pra comprar um grande amplificador ou uma pedaleira das mais caras. N?o achei muito facil de usar, mas uma leitura detalhada do manual resolve qualquer parada. Ja tive uma Zoom GFX-5 e uma Digitech RP-300 e esta pedaleira da show nas outras. A Behringer n?o e melhor do que a POD, mas custa 1/3 do preco. As simulac?es de amplificadores s?o muito boas e os patches de fabrica tem muito bom gosto. Um VAMP2 novo esta custando uns R$600,00 e por este preco vc n?o compra nada melhor. A versatilidade para shows e um pouco prejudicada por n?o ter uma pedaleira de varios pedais, mas pode ser usada com um FC1010 e ai da show.

Vamos ser sinceros... Reverb todo mundo faz, Delay todo mundo faz, Phaser muitas tem, Flanger ent?o ha dezenas. DISTORC?O e OVERDRIVE e o que conta pra diferenciar uma pedaleira de outra. Esta pedaleira tem uma gama de efeitos de distorc?o e simulac?o de amplificadores muito boa. Tambem n?o vamos achar que esta pedaleira e melhor que um Marshall JCM 900, MesaBoogie, Mark IV, Soldano, Vox e etc. A quest?o e o custo-beneficio. Comparando precos e produtos ela e vantajosa com certeza.

N?o achei muito resistente, mas tambem eu n?o exponho meus produtos a condic?es insanas de uso.

Toco ha 20 anos. Ja tive Epiphone, Cort, Washburn, Eagle, Condor, Gianinni e etc. Hoje tenho uma Fender Double Fat-Strat Americana e acho que o som e muito bom. Ja usei, Marshall, Fender, Staner, Meteoro, Warm Music e etc. Hoje tenho um Marshall Vasvestate 8080 e acho que o som e muito bom. Com esta pedaleira, as possibilidades de sons se multiplicaram por 1000.

Once you get the hang of it.. its not that bad.. I wish you could do some more of Nice effects stuff.. but for 100 bucks.. its a good starter.. oor back up

Not bad when 3/4 of the way up on max volume.. hardly any when you have the right effects.

I can't say i can depend on it. Its not road worthy.. i play about 2 shows a week and this think just keeps on like canceling out on me.. all the sounds go crazy.. i like it.. but i keep spending hours on makeing the sounds just perfect and they cancel out on me.. kinda sucks when that happens right before a show ehne i go to plug it in..

I cant find any help for it..

its good for lighter stuff. the distortion can sound nice but not great.... effects id like more versitility... tones,,, good but not great.. im a perfectionist in music.. and i dont think this can help me reach it.. even tho it was 100 bucks.. well i guess i cant complain.. haha oh well. you buy stuff you learn..

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.

Once you have read the manual, it is reasonable easy to use. But it is hard to see the secondary labels on the controls unless the light is bright. Manual is fair, could be more complete, but it was easy to get started.

Used with 2 les pauls and a hollowbody Ibanez. The guitars all sound different and do retain their character. The V-amp2 is noisy on high gain settings, just like most amps actually. The chorus and delay are quite good effects, as is the reverb. As others have mentioned, the clean amp sims are really good (twin, small combo). I often use the V-amp to play through headphones along with using the line in for backing tracks, and for the price and versatility this thing is a great value. But still, using the V-amp2 direct as an amp substitute does leave a bit of harshness to the sound that good tube amps don't have. When I plug the V-amp2 into my fender pro reverb (clean channel), then the sound quality and warmth really blossom. Used in front of a clean warm-sounding amplifier, this unit really does give great access to lots of classic sounds with minimal expense and tweaking. I have classic Marshall, Fender, and Boogie amps also, and the models for these amps are very close. The California Drive model really does sound like my Mark II Boogie, and since I can compare them directly to each other, it is obvious they spent time doing their homework. In fact, the clean modeled boogie sounds just like a boogie clean channel. The Marshall sims are good too, and the fender sims really are great. Unlike when using the real amps, I can play without disturbing the neighbors--the real amps need to be pretty loud to sound good. I don't like the "modern" models, nor do I really like the actual amplifiers they are based on.

No problems with it, but it is not really designed to be used on stage or on road.

Never dealt with them, but: for the value Behringer gives to all of us, (I have a few other Behringer accessories) they deserve a 10. Would you rather have the V-amp2 priced at twice what it is (still cheaper than POD) and have Behringer use the money to man phone lines? I'll take the extra money myself and not worry about support.

I like this thing better than the POD 2.0 I had and sold. It is less expensive, and to me the sounds are at least as good or better. A bit less easy to use than the POD, and of cheaper construction, but what an amazing value and a very versatile piece of equipment.

The features available from knobs and buttons are easy to work with, however, you really need the editing software to be able to get access to the full flexibility of the thing. For instance, you can't get Compressor+Chorus+Delay, without the software. This would be hopeless in band practice (unless you have a computer nearby), or live if you need to make some changes.

I loved it at first and spent a lot of time playing through headphones and a small practice amp, trying out different sounds. However, then I made the misake of plugin into my Peavey Classic 30 just to get a reference to a real tube amp.

What a difference! After that, no matter how I turned the knobs, the V-Amp sounded crap. Ok, I know digital modelling can never be the "real thing", but it was surpising just how big the difference were. I made an immediate promise never to use digital amp modelling ever again (if I can avoid it).

As soon as you go from clean to mild overdrive and crunch, the low end looses all definition and the sound muddies away to an undefined fuzz with no dynamics at all.

The Blackface model is good, since it doesn't really go into overdrive. It gives you some of that sweet tube-like compression. The custom hi-gain is also a really good sustain-rich EVH-type sound.

One of the knobs broke off when I dropped the bag it was in. I managed to glue it back with some epoxy and it has stayed on since. It's a low budget piece and not really intended for serious live-duty, so be really careful with it.

I've been playing for some 15 years, but I don't play regularly in a band nowadays. I have the occacional one-off gig which can be virtually any kind of music from Black Sabbath to Andrew Lloyd Webber to Jazz. I wanted a simple piece to take to the occacional gig but mainly to play at home.

As long as you promise yourself never to go anywhere near a real tube amp, the V-Amp can probably be adequate. However, since I already got one, I'm a lost case. I'm even considering building my own low-watt tube amp just to get someting "real" to play with at home.

I bought this because i needed an effects processer and at this price i didnt expect much but i was proved wrong!
After studying the manual for 20 minutes i started to get the hang of it but some things took longer to figure out, like the edit mode and the tap control.
The presets are very good and when i wanted to create my own presets i was stuck on which bank i should replace!

I use a squier strat and a marshall g50rcd with the v-amp and it makes my guitar sound a few hundred quid better!
Some amp models are a bit muddy and i havent figured out how to fix that yet.
The effects do exactly what it says on the tin and im very happy with them. The delay, flanger and phaser are outstanding! The only one i'm not entirely satisfied with is the autowah.
I can get the sounds of my favourite artists on the v-amp, theres even on board presets for ac/dc, EVH, Dire straits and many more!

The plastic case looks quite sturdy but i wouldnt want to drop it or gig with it. The foot pedal on the other hand is solid as a rock!
I think its sufficient for "bedroom" use or in the studio and very dependable

The customer service is brilliant. The folks at behringer are kind and helpful and even hang out in yahoo groups to answer questions from people like me in their spare time!

I play rock, punk, blues, metal and ska and this box covers all the genres and more!
If this was stolen or lost i would definitely get another one because its the best in its price range.
The effects are brilliant, and so are most of the amp simulations (they're a matter of taste)
The thing that bugs me is NO OFF SWITCH! Everytime i call it a day i have to pull the cable out the back and fumble round with it trying to get it back in the next morning.
Unless you want to spend +400 euros this is the one for you!

This Behringer V-amp 2 was purchased through zzounds.com as a B stock unit. It was 80 dollars plus 5 dollars shipping for the total unit with the foot pedal, adapter and case. All that was lacking was an owners manual. With no owners manual the unit is not really usable and I was in the dark for a while. I probably would not have purchased it at the regular price of 100 dollars which was down from the previous 140 dollar figure.

Digital effects are digital effects. I have a zoom 505-2 that sounds nice like the v-amp 2. It just takes more tweaking to get a good tone. Blindfolded I probably could not tell much of a difference between the two. The v-amp 2 is very impressive with all the accesories that it comes with. The zoom pedals may come with an adapter and thats about it as far as accesories go. A good understanding of the manual is need to make sense of everything. I have a crate V58 5 watt tube amp that does not sound that great. I hook up my V-amp 2 to the crate amp and it transforms it into a nice sounding amp that I enjoy.

hummm......well it's plastic, it looks like it's better suited for home use and in the studio

Amazing that the Behringer techs actually hang out in Yahoogroups answering dumb questions on their own free time. That's dedication.

That 80 dollar price at zzounds was to good to pass up. I had owned a couple Behringer amps that I was happy with also. I can make this unit go crazy, just run piezo pickups through it. My Behringer GMX110 also goes crazy with piezo equipped guitars. Overall it's much more impressive than any other modeling device under 100 dollars which is why I bought it. I'm not into mixing computers and music which is what many owners of the v-amp 2 seem to be into. I just think the unit is ultra-cool and better by far than any other amp modeler in it's current price range.

It's fairly easy to use. One problem I have, like it seems with a lot of these amp modeling setups (e.g. Line 6 Spider which is my main amp) is the adjusment of effects. The tap button is used to affect one parameter of each effect but it takes some time to figure out what exactly it is i.e., if you're tweaking the speed or depth of the flanger. Accessing different amps is a piece of cake. Getting to the cab models is maybe one step too many but gets easy after a while.

I think it sounds phenomenal. I'm not an amp snob, nor have I played throught 50 different amps (I've used a Fender Deluxe 85, Line 6 Spider 212, a Bogner the model of which I can't remember, an old Vox, the obligatory Marshall stack and a couple others). But I know when something sounds good and these sound great. The cleans are clean and the heavies are heavy. The heaviest settings have enough bite/chunk to do Pantera/Slayer type stuff but have a touch of tube warmth that fills out the sound nicely. The full spectrum of sounds is certainly available. The ability to run the amps through 15 different cab types is outstanding. Again, I'm not a pro on cab sounds but it's nice to get different type ambience through the same amp setting. The effects are very high quality. Again, you don't have a TON of wiggle room on how they sound but enough to tweak them to your liking. The reverbs are a strong, strong aspect of this little thing. The Ultra setting lets you get crazy for that spacey canyon echo sound while the other settings give you a wide range of ambient feels. The auto wah is also nice. I don't have the foot controller but a nice hidden feature is that you can emulate a variety of different wah types. It's not that straightforward how to get to a specific type, though, but messing around with it is half the fun. The factory presets are a nice touch, too.

I have no plans of ever using this for a gig. I play mostly through headphones these days so as not to wake my kids so for that purpose it's fine. I've seen written that it's plastic, therefore flimsy. It's actually hard PVC and seems sturdy (though I've yet to drop it!) I wouldn't gig with it, though. But for a little home thing it's phenomenal.

I've never dealt with them so I have no opinion.

For my purposes, I'd give it a 8.5, maybe 9. It sounds great, isn't extremely difficult to use and gives me everything I need at my fingertips. I play a lot of metal, hard rock and older rock and it's got everything I need. I can get Pantera heavy, tripped out spacey and everything in between. For guys who just want a little cheap unit to mess around with and make some nice guitar sounds I'd highly advise it. Especially when you consider the price.

I have this effect now for 6 months and it is great, price and quality are different as usually...with this product the quality is great and price is low. Using is easy, that also means that there is less options than many other effects in little higher price than this. Manuals are made that anyone can understand it and working with patches and setups are very easy.

Sound quality is good or even great in amp modeling. couple things are not so good,clean and some lead sounds are hard to edit. I want sometimes harder lead sound than this can give me...more distortion / overdrive is wanted,compsound is great with this at my setups.

I use Jackson DK2 guitar with it and original duncan designed pickups and it sounds great. I have also tryed it with some harley benton and maison strato copys and it can give nice sound of those too...so this works for anyone.

havent need any support so far!!

I started play guitar 14 years ago and now i'm 26 years old. I Play metal music and actually i compose melodic/powermetal at my home and this product works great for me. I had before BOSS GT-3 effect prosessor and it was 3 times expensive than this and this is better for me so this cant be bad at all ;)

Setup is easy,some sounds are hard to get out of it but it doesn't bother me much. Volume and Master volume pots could be better with some other pots because i record in line and it is very important that volume is always same in output of "Vamp" and these pots moves so fast and easy that it sucks.

ON and OFF switch is must in all elecrtrical products and it is missed with this one.

OVERAL RATING: GREAT DEVICE FOR NOVISE OR EVEN PRO PLAYER!!!

I don't particularly care for things with lots of knobs, but if you take the time to read the manual, it's pretty straight-forward and easy to use. It's got so many features, I haven't had time (or the need) to try them all yet. The manual is good, brief and to the point.

Really amazing in this aspect. Like the last guy I'm getting to be an old geezer and like simplicity and basic guitar into a good tube amp. I don't use many of the effects very often, but they seem good to my ears. The Marshall, Fender and Vox amp simulations are just amazing to me. This thing somehow picks up all the nuances in style that I can throw at it. I use this for late-night practicing and it's real easy to completely lose track of time. One thing I will recommend if you use it as a headphone practice amp like I do; get some GOOD headphones. It makes a world of difference. This isn't a criticism of the V-AMP 2 at all. In fact, when you hear the sounds through good 'phones, it just reinforces how good it is (just like a good amp with a good speaker or speakers). I bought some Grado SR80 headphones and fell in love with this thing all over again. It's definitely made me a better player just by making me want to play all the time.

Been great so far (2 months) but it has an easy life with me. If I'm gigging I'm playing drums, so, no worries.

I've only done the online registration, so far. Very quick response to that. From what I've seen and read, it should be good.

Like almost everyone else says, incredible value. GREAT sounds, easy enough to operate. If lost or stolen, I'd definitely get another. I have no idea how they can sell them so cheap, I'm just happy they do. Also, like everyone else, put an ON/OFF switch on it and it's perfect.

I found the unit fairly easy to use. I did read the manual and it did help wuite a bit.

I mainly use my V-amp 2 as a late night headphone practice tool. It sounds good for the money. I am not real fond of how the cleaner and vintage models' volume drops some. I wish it was more consistent. But again it is a great practice tool for the money.

I has done fine for what i have asked of it. Again it is only a late night, company is over practice tool, and that is what i bought it for.

If you want a nice practice tool, or something to take on a trip with you, then this is great. I have not done recording with it, so i am not sure how it would sound on tape. From a price standpoint, it is a great deal over the POD series and i would consider buying the bass V-amp 2 also.

This little box got me playing guitar again. I went out to buy a little valve combo and came home with this. I am blown away. It comes loaded with pre-sets, (125 IIRC), many of them very silly, but good for recording applications perhaps. I have since learned to edit these using a PC. I now have the sounds reorganised into patterns that I can easily use from the foot switch. I even down loaded some settings from the web that I have been able to make sound just like my old pair of Marshall SuperLeads 100w (no poofy master volume) used to sound like turned up to 11. Except without the 3 days of ear ringing.

I have one bank of sounds set up for a Les Paul, and another for Strat. What I find amazing about this thing is the way it can simulate a valve amp just feathering into clip- (Jimmy Page, The Rain Song) that sound of a valve amp being driven hard, but with guitar tuned down so that your touch drives the amp into that glorious sound. I dunno how the setting work, I am not interesed in palying with chorus delays, flangers- although the sounds I use, and have modified, all make use of these effects. Just amazing stuff. I can get a pretty good sound out of a bad amp, and really good sounds out of a good amp like a Marshall or a Boogie. I will get myself a little Marshall of Laney combo when I get round to it, but the point is, I can turn up and with a guitar and this thing and just go to it.

If i was playing like I played years ago, Id get the rack mounted version. I hate the dinky design, but heh, If this thing f...s up, I'll buy another one, and restore my settings from the computer. Its built to a price, the smarts are inside, and so far, it fine. Needs an on/off swith tho.

I believe it is very good. No direct experience.

I am troglodyte, I admit it, I dislike concepts like "simulation" enormously. I like good old guitars and valve amps. But- this is the best coupla hundred bucks I have ever spent. Its great in the bedroom (arent we all), but the V-AMP cuts it live running into big iron amps too. I love the built in footswitcbable tuner, I love the fact that there is no break in my line through multiple boxes and pedals, i love the simplicity it offers (once you have it organised in a way that you can use it). It makes great great sounds and I get to shut up and play my guitar while everyone else is fiddling with the paraphanalia of guitars. I wish I had had this thing when I was playing music for a living- but now, playing for beers and grins, its just the cats meow.

Fitness for purpose Mr Behringer, this little box is a winner and has brought me much, much pleasure.

It is not very easy to use without reading the manual (I mean, it is not intuitive at all). The highest flexibility of this unit is in the modeler section. Effects are good, but not as flexible as many other units (Digitech, Zoom, etc.).

For $100 you will be extremely impressed. I have many other guitar effects (Boss, Zoom, Digitech and several Behringer), but this unit has excellent distortions and its capability to simulate amplifiers is really outstanding. The other effects provide enough seasoning to make this unit good enough to be used alone.The sound quality can be described as excellent.

I do not know. The box is made out of plastic and it does not seem quite strong. The pedals (which are the ones that you step on) are enclosed in a bullet proof metal case. I think again, Behringer are very smart guys and put the costs were they are needed.

I needed support from Behringer in the past for other of my products and they were diligent and provided good support.

Excellent piece of equipment. You can use it alone and still get excellent sound out of it. For the price and overall features I can say that you will never get anything similar to it in this price range. I think it is the best value for your money.

This is a nice recording tool for every guitarist who can't afford to put his tube amplifier on 11. It's pretty easy to get some decent sounds out of it. A bit harder are things like speaker simulating, live-set-up, noise gate etc, but thanks to a well-written manual this will take you 10 minutes tops. Editing is really easy. Just twist the knobs. It has quite a few banks, and there are 5 different sounds available per bank: A, B, C, D, and E. These are footswitchable. Unfortunately there's a delay of about half an second if you switch to a differnt modeled amp. But since I only will be using this for recording (and live just the effects) won't this be a problem to me.

I use a PRS Santana SE (mahogany, 2 humbuckers). For solo's, I use the rectifier mode. Sounds quite good. I think it's one of the best sounds. For other stuff I mostly use a Tweed or a Marshall. Still the rectifier is my favorite. I use it for recording, so no amp is used.

The factory presets are quite convincing. The manual refers to famous artists/songs. You will regognize which song the sound belongs to. It's not perfect, but it's good enough for me!

Looks reasonable dependable. I think I would use this without backup, since it's not a very important part of my live-setup. The footswitch is really good quality. Dropped it from a metre and a half, there a scratch on the floor but the footswitch looks just as new. Great!

I never dealt with them. I guess it wouldn't be a very big problem because I live in the Netherlands, which is next to Germany.

I play rock, hardrock and pop (Bon Jovi, Def Leppard and stuff on the radio). I can get a nice sound for every musical style. I bought this with a Korg PXR-4, for recording, because I didn't like the Korg sounds very much. This V-amp is a really great deal. Just wish that the switching betweens amps would be possible without any delays. That would make it pretty much perfect.

When I bought this unit, it had obviously been demoed somewhat by somebody in the shop because the settings were all over the place and the presets didn't sound like anything remometely sensible. A quick scan through the manual revealed the 'restore factory presets' option, and I was then cooking on gas. I can't understand why anyone would say this unit is hard to use - it has a few knobs, a few buttons, and all dual functions are clearly labeled on the unit. The LEDs are bright and clear, and compared to other units I have owned suffering from dual function buttons, this thing is a breeze to use. Half an hour with the manual and everything made sense. I give it a nine purely because the manual could be easier to read (perhaps a 'quick start' section would be handy), but I'm used to reading Microsoft programming reference manuals in my day job so I'm not complaining. Editing is easy too - select an amp, select a cabinet, do some EQ-ing and press one button to save your patch. I can't really see how it could be any easier.

I play an Ibanez RG570. My musical style varies with the weather - everything from acid jazz, funk / disco through to hard rock / instrumental metal when the urge takes me. I expect a lot from my amps - especially in the funk arena. I like a clean tone that really spanks and cuts through the mix. When I go distorted I've always been a Marshall man, but Marshalls truly suck for clean funk tones. This little box is ideal for getting the best of both worlds. I had a very cool clean sound dialed in within about 5 minutes, just a little bit of compression and some minimal eq-ing gave me a sound that I would be happy to gig with and record. A little bit of crunch with the wah pedal sounded awesome for those Shaft riffs. The amp simulators are first class - I'm used to the Roland COSM technology which is pretty junk compared to the quality of this. Cranking up the Brit Hi Gain amp and dialling in a suitable cabinet gave a first-class distorted lead sound, and before I could help myself I was playing Megadeth's Holy Wars. Whoa! This thing really kicks ass. The amps simulations are all very impressive - purists will say that they don't sound exactly like the amps they are simulating (of course they don't - they're simulations), but I really don't care. They are first class sound wise and I don't think anybody in the audience at a gig is going to care whether you're going through a Mesa Boogie or a simulated alternative - if it sounds great (and it does), then it won't matter. What I really love is that you're no longer at the mercy of a sound engineer who a) may not be that good to start with b) may not know how to mic up an amp correctly c) doesn't have time to do the guitar because he's spent 45 minutes trying to make the kick drum sound like a wooden spoon banging off a plastic tub (no joke, I've been there). I've only had it a couple of days but already it has inspired me into actually sitting down and playing for hours on end just for the joy of playing, something I haven't done for years. In summary - great clean tones, great distorted tones, super-easy to use. Other people will be better able to comment on the old vintage tones as that isn't really my bag, but I'm pretty sure there's something for everyone in this box. And for such a low price, I'm truly stunned.

If I were to gig it, I would probably build a little protective case for it, as it does seem a little on the light side to stand up to stage abuse. More likely, I would buy the pro rack version. The gig bag it comes with is very good, however, and I would be happy to use it as is for rehearsals, jams etc. It's not a stomp box but as with all gear, look after it and it will be fine. Haven't had it long enough to make an informed judgement but I'm not worried.

Never had to. My Behringer desk has never failed me so I've never been in touch with them.

This thing is a great all rounder, and provided you read the manual and spend an hour getting to know it, you'll get some great sounds out of it. I believe that anybody who says the sound of this is poor must either have it in the wrong configuration (e.g cab simulation on, going straight into another amp), have dodgy equipment and / or dodgy ears, or just generally like complaining. Considering the price tag, it really is a no-brainer. I love it.

This thing is a piece of cake to use but let me be fair; Im not trying to develop and long list of presets. I have maybe 8 that I use for recording and sessions. I may do a little tweaking here and there as needed. If you can't do it with that, you can't do it at all as far as I'm concerned.

Currently I use a customer strat with EMG's, a Valley Arts Start (EMG's) and an Ibanez artist with stock pups. My ear has been accustomed to my Marshall Plexi, a Boogie Mark III and Roland JC120 so I think I have a good reference point. Good pups make a huge difference with this unit as they do with any amp.
I don't use this for live work; I only use it for direct recording/sessions since hauling gear is not what I do; I'm a guitar player and get paid for the music that comes out. With that being said, this thing sounds great to me if you know how to work your GUITAR and get the tone out of there first. If you're some young pup looking for a personality in your playing, develop one; don't buy one. I can get the close to the sounds I get live and have fooled musician friends with this thing .(Did you build an isolated room? Oh, its direct?) I do use this in stereo to get the wet and dry sound recorded and usually use the dry sound with the outboard digital effects. ( Sonar,Protools, etc) to get my effects I want. I use the V-Amp effects just for the pure feel/vibe.

Studio stuff only; no problemo so far. Sits on a stand for easy access while sitting and playing.

Haven't had to deal with them.

I play instrumental ( Beck, Carlton, Miles) write tunes and do live/studio sideman work. This thing is great but you need to know how to wrestle that tone out of your axe first. That's why some people don't like the Boogie MK III, YOU have to develop your tone; there's no preset for it. I'd buy the rack version of this just to make it easier to transport to sessions in the future.
Learn to play your instrument and don't expect the gear to give you talent or tone. If you can play well, you can play well through anything.

A litte more involved than an amp but easier than most rack processors.

32 Amp models (one's a simulated tube preamp for mic's)
15 Cabinet models and though it seems confusing to store patches at first, VERY easy to operate.

The sound quality is Superb DEPENDING on how you use it. It's wicked plugged straight into the computer or straight into an amp. In my effects loop is isn't great but not bad.

When using it with an amp STAY AWAY FROM YOUR EFFECTS LOOP!!! An effects loop is AFTER your amps preamp. To get a warm rich sound from digital you need to get plenty of clean analog gain. Run it straight in. Guitar -> V Amp -> Guitar Amplifier
One guy says it sounds bad compared to his tube amp and I bet ANYTHING he's using it on an effects loop. Otherwise it's tones would put his amps ONE tone to shame. CLEAN ANALOG GAIN IS CRUCIAL TO SUCH UNITS.

The sound gate is excellent, effects are very warm and fluid like, amp models are quite accurate and the cabinet models top it all off to make it a versatile and priceless tool for home, stage or studio. Distortions are awesome and the cleans are warm and bright. Like a lower gain blues setting? Say maybe an SRV tone?
This does it DEAD ON.

Get a $50 tube pre and you'll see tube amps are going to become even less popular. My only complaint is the lack of highs when you use the cabinet simulators. Some clean analog gain,like a tube pre, cures this.

So far BOTH V Amps I've owned have proven to be quite reliable.
....time will tell.

Haven't dealt with them other than requesting info. From my experiences and what I've read, they are very reliable and respond quite promptly

Overall it's one hell of a buy. You can use it with a power amp and a cabinet as another rig or run it straight into a PA. It's incredible for PC recording and will perform even better straight into the board in a studio.
EVERY guitarist should own one. The carrying case and footswitch are basically a bonus. The unit alone is well worth thew $99 I paid.

The ONE thing I wish it had was a circuit to give it some analog gain. They could do it with a tube but even just an op amp or transistor based circuit would do it. I run it through a power amp which I crank the bass and treble on since it's analog. ISSUE SOLVED.

If it were stolen I'd most definitely replace it even though I already own the V Amp Pro. This thing is MUCH more practical. I built a stand for it like the angled back amp stands and my V Amp rack mount looks like it may start collecting dust!

Buy one. It's that simple. If you don't then have fun with the headaches of mic'ing your amps. This is for the MODERN MUSICIAN who is about getting music recorded rather than jerking off to their overpriced $1000 amp.

easy as any amp

I have been using this unit for more than one year now, and I've come to the conclusion that the sounds that it makes are realative. If I spend time playing thru one of my real tube amps, this unit sounds bad. If I only play thru the Behringer for weeks, it sounds great. The reality is; most consumers of music won't know or care if it sounds good or not. BUT, with that said, I think that alot of the distortion sounds are fine for rythm playing. It sucks hard for lead work. AND the clean sounds blow for everything. (unless you want the highly processed clean sound from 80's metal bands.) I play a custom strat with emg's, a 1973 LP custom and a 1979 the Paul.

It's plastic and looks dumb, but should be Ok unless you break it.

Don't know. Lots of web based "stuff".

I've been playing for 20 years.
I play just about any style that sounds interesting, but am mostly interested in composing. Currently not in a band. (or I am in two bands, depending on the situation.)
I still plan on working with this thing to see if I can get it to sound as good as my real amps. Note that I don't want it to sound like my real amps. Just to sound good and feel (respond) like an amp should. I have had some degree of improvement in lead tone and feel by running a TS9 into it, but it was still pretty fuzzy in a bad kind of way.
I will still be mic'ing my real amps when I'm doing "real" recording.
(I play Marshall and Sovtek tube amps.)
I sometimes like running pedals into the front of the amps when set both clean and dirty, sometimes just plug straight in with no FX at all. tubes just sound so good.

It's not too hard to use; it would have been much easier if Behringer had dedicated a knob to every single thing this machine can do, instead of making us hold down buttons while we twist knobs, which makes it impossible to play and tweak simultaneously without 3 arms :(

The biggest complaint here is that certain settings/combinations can only be accessed via software, and if you set up a computer-only feature, you can't un-set it when away from your computer!

I play genuine metal, everything from Tristania to Decapitated. I've been using this V-Amp 2 for over a year now, and I feel qualified to judge its ability to play real metal.

I use it in four different setups and I have a completely unique set of patches for each of the four situations to achieve essentially the same sound. The bottom line is: you can get this thing to sound absolutely freakin' brutal, yet warm and crystal clear. I don't try to sound like any particular band, but I think my sound compares favorably to Decapitated's sound on "Nihility" or Dimmu Borgir's sound on "Puritanical...."

It's not ideally suited for use with a high quality guitar amp, as amp modelling is clearly its strength, but it'll make a cheap amp sound great. A friend who heard mine bought a V-Amp Pro for the clean channel on his older Mesa Dual Rec; he uses it for all softer stuff, but he often uses the heavier amp models when he's messing around and I think he's considering using its versatility to add new heavy sounds to his Mesa sound. I play it through my Crate MX65R with amp and cab modelling ON, and everyone who hears it just marvels at the huge, clear crunch.

I'm not qualified to judge the delay, chorus, etc., as I admit that I've never owned any stand-alone effects or any other multi-fx unit, but I sure can't imagine a sound that I can't produce with it. And it just went down in price, so it costs just about the same as any ONE delay or chorus or flanger pedal. As everyone says, the auto-wah is weak, bordering on silly, but I use the V-Amp 2 with the Behringer midi foot pedal, and the ACTUAL wah isn't all that terrible if you use it in conjunction with one of the expression pedals. It ain't great, but it's not too horrible...I use it during my rare solos.

The battery can come loose (which means you lose all your presets,) and if you visit the Yahoo users group forum, you'll see A LOT of people have had that problem. When you replace the battery, you can tweak the battery clip a bit to make sure it doesn't come loose again. Mine hasn't come loose since I tweaked the clip several months ago. Other than that, I haven't had any problem with it, but I'd take a backup to gig (I've never gigged) simply because it's plastic and just doesn't feel very robust.

So far, I have had exactly 3 experiences with Behringer US customer support.

1. I called once when my V-Amp 2 seemed to have died on me. The support guy told me the battery had come loose and he told me to tweak the clip. Problem solved easily and quickly.

2. I called for a ROM upgrade. The call took approximately 30 seconds, including wait time and reading my address over the phone, and I had the chip in 2 days!

3. I called for a ROM upgrade to the FCB midi foot pedal. It was another 30-second phone call, and I again had the chip in 2 days.

The support guys sure don't chit-chat with you, but they get you exactly what you want, FAST.

For metal, including brutal death metal, this sucker sounds really, really good to my ears. I'm completely satisfied. I've played bass and sang lead in metal bands since the mid 80s and I don't remember any single guitar player I've worked with who had a better sound than I have now.

If it were stolen, I'd get a V-Amp Pro or a V-Ampire to replace it. I'm actually planning on getting a V-Ampire anyway, so I don't have to keep moving this one around.

Obviously, price played a major factor in my decision to buy this over a Pod or any other modeller, but I've heard way more Pod users prefer the Behringer sound than V-Amp 2 users who prefer the Line6 sound. In fact, there's a Pod users website that is totally dedicated to praising the Pod, and if you check out the "Competitors" section of the site, the guy actually states that, while scoping out the competition, he came to realize that the Behringer machine sounded better, so he has switched to the V-Amp 2. And now I notice that the site is gone. Maybe he has a V-Amp 2 users site now.

I'd have to say that I wish Behringer would go ahead and make a more expensive machine with a bigger face and dedicated knobs for every single feature and with every single feature and combination available right on the face of the thing (including POWER ON/OFF.) Also, I'd ditch the silly shape and put it in a simple rectangular shell. Plastic is fine for the desktop model, but invest in better battery clips and a better power jack.

If you are editing patches directly on the unit it is easy to do the basics be more complicated for all the features. The labels are fairly clear. Not all the settings are displayed on the unit directly. Using the software is much easier. The manual is limited. The manual suggests to find a preset that is close to what you are looking for and then tweak it to get the sound you like. I found it easier to make a clean sounding setting with no effects and tweak from there.

The footswitch is nice to have but I would have rather had one that inidcated what setting I was on. I play with the unit behind me because I afraid it will get broken if it is on the floor on stage so I cannot tell what setting I am on without turning around. They make a midi control that can be used but it is overkill for what I need.

Once I played with this thing enough, I could any sound I was looking for - clean or heavy. It can sound great.

For recording, DI, or with headphones it really sounds good. Running it into a guitar amp can sound really bad if you have enabled the cabinet simulator. I found running this into a powered speaker sounds much better. It is designed for full frequency response so it needs something designed to play full frequencies.

The clean channels can be quite good but you have to level the sound between the clean and gain channels via the volume setting. If you use it with the presets the gain channels are 2x as loud as the clean channels.

The effects sound decent. They are not as flexible as a seperate effects but the units strength is in the amp modeling. The delay can sound a little too digital for my taste.

I have been gigging with it. Like others have mentioned, it is plastic and does not look too tough. I wish I had gotten the v-amp pro for durability. I have not had any problems but I treat it with kid gloves and make sure it is sitting out of harms way. I would not gig without a backup unless I had the pro.

Be sure to change the internal battery every year or it could go dead.

Never had to deal with them.

If it was stolen, I would replace it. For the price it is hard to beat. The fun factor is high because of its versatility. It is not a real amp but it is very close. It does miss some of the nuances of real amps in some cases but then again it cost ~$100. By the way, I still get tons of complements on my tone with this unit.

Personally, I love not having to lug a big heavy amp to a gig. The carrying case is great. Throw that over my shoulder, bring my guitar, and maybe a powered monitor if I do not want to use the house monitors and I am ready to go.

To be fair the v amp2 is designed for home recording and head phones. If you want to gig, the v-amp pro is the way to go. The sound for the money is great. If you want to get into amp modeler, this is the place to start.

I have been playing for over 15 years. Mostly playing rock, blues, and jazz.

It could be easier to use. You have to make clear what you're changing, because the same knob is used for a few different parameters, but you get used to it quickly. The solution for all these should be a better display (only a 2 digit number can be displayed, while you can see the number, name and value of the preset or parameters on computer screen through midi) where more information about the parameter you're changing could be displayed. Parameters are really easy to change through midi conection, and software makes it really easy to use as you can see everything at once, this is the best way to deal with this machine when programming. The answer is inminent to every change way midi. If you're used to any other effects unit this should'nt be a problem for you to deal with.

I use it plugged into computer for recording, usually with my yamaha pacifica 821, or my ibanez satriani js100 (usually the first one). I own the v-ampire amp, not the v-amp 2 itseft, so it has a few different posibilities. Much better for recording this one than the v-amp 2 alone. It has 2 (left and right) balanced outputs that really are the direct box (ultra-g gi100) with simulation of cabinet that I've always used in my live performances. And you can change the mode so it has the emulation on-off. So you have another simulation apart from the ones included as cabinets, that is the one I actually use even for recording. There are some other modes which change the kind of signal emited through this connectors with effects, effects only through amp and output clean, etc. Added to this you can turn it to one of the 2 live modes and have another 3 band eq to make the sound fit for live performance. You also have the volume of the amp independent of the output signal on the back connectors (for making feedback while recording for example this is great). The sounds are quite good, I think. I don't know if they really sound like the real amps, and I don't really care. If you like the sound it doesn't matter, and it sounds good for the price. The clean sounds are very good, the reverb is ok and the chorus and delay which are the only effects I use, maybe compressor too. I plugged my boss gt6 to midi in to use it as a pedal controller and I don't like the wah wah at all. I play metal and I think it sounds good, but I recorded with a POD from a friend which I think sounds better but too much expensive. Compared to this one the v-amp sound is darker, I mean the high frequency response isn't too good. But as I'm having it only for a few days I can't say I won't get the sound I want, actually I'm really near to getting it yet.

No problems at all with it at the moment only a few days with it aren't enough to say anything abuot it, but it is slow at changing presets. As every digital effects unit it has a time of silent while changing, larger than the korg ax1000g, and of course than the boss gt6, which are the other effects units I own, and the ones I can compare this one with. The gt6 is the best by far in parameter and flexibility, but much more difficult to use and much more expensive, simulations aren't too good for recording if you don't expend lots of time programming.But you really can't compare these two ones. I may take my v-ampire to a live performance if I don't have much space to carry things, otherwise I'll take my gt6, direct box and my marshall. V-amp may be better for recording.

Nothing to say. No deal with them.

I play metal (heavy-thrash). I only have used it for recording a solo actually and practise at home and it succeded. I have to try it more time and get deeper, but I'm optimist about it.
Compared to my boss gt6 this is just a toy, but as it's much easier to use and needs few wiring it fits better for recording I think. Compared to my korg ax1000g, it has lots of possibilities due to the connectors (midi, send, return, balanced line out with cabinet simulation, unbalanced line out,...), but korg sounds good too (although you have to take pen and paper to take note of presets as you can't connect it midi). V-amp is the worst for live performance because of the silent interval between presets change, which is the longest of the three, and because the footswith doesn't add an expression pedal. What I like the most is the connection capabilities. Some people complain about the shape of the v-amp but the POD has a similar shape too. It is make of plastic but think that this get the price down (I dont have these problems with the v-ampire actually but I tried a v-amp from a friend too before buying mine). I don't like the sound being to dark (but I'll have to use it more before I can really complain). I bought it for recording. I wanted to have something plugged to my computer all the time with a good sound and the less atmount of wires messing around, and this one was the best choice (quality/price is the best relation). I tried one before buying from a friend, and a POD too. I'd prefer the pod if the price were the same. I wish it came with an expression pedal. I really like the way you can program it using midi and computer. If you're looking for something cheap to record this is your choise, for live performance there're some other better choices. Look for an expression pedal, and take care of the silent time between preset change when looking for live performance, appart form the sound itself, of course.

Purty durn e-zy if yer asken me. I've had it for a while, but have yet to actually program it other than adjusting the ore-sets as I'm playing. I have a half dozen or so fav's and seem o stick to them. If I ever have the time, it would be nice to spend an afternoon delving into the programing.

Well now....I bought this little gem as one of those dreaded "impulse buy's". I figured I was too much of a tube snob to be bothered with fake sounding V-amps, pods, j-stations and the sort. A friend had just given me a brand new digital recorder he never used, so I decided I might want something to give me a multi-tude of tones without scaring the neighbors. I must say, I am very impressed with the tone and ease of use of the V-Amp. For the money...forget about it! It's a no brainer. If I had paid $500 for it, I might have some bitches about the tone, layout, blah-blah-blah...but for the pittance Behringer charges ( ain't reverse engineering a bitch! ) I have nothing but praise. I don't use all the mega death distortion patches ( even though they are a blast with headphones or run through a little home practice system )as I'm an old fart that plays the blues, but many of the clean / semi clean patches are great. I'm surprised at how well they respond to the guitars volume control. The main thing I use the V-Amp for is to practice into headphones. I can plug my cd player in the the aux and jam along with BB, Freddie, Albert, Merle, Gary Moore, Delbert McClinton, Pink Floyd...whatever mood I'm in. The beauty is I can pretty much nail the tones I'm playing along with. I've played guitar for over 30 years and have an assortment of homebrews, fenders, gibsons and el cheapos. They retain quite a bit of their sonic character run through the V-amp. I've used it live in a small, coffe house type duo setting, but have not had the balls to try it with a band. For what it is....an inexpensive tone tool...it works well. I was never one to actually sit down and practice the guitar, but since the V-amp has come into my life, I find myself longing to don the headphones and play along with a CD. For that alone, I'm happy to have it. I consider it cheap inspiration! The 10 rating I'm giving this takes into account the incredible value the V-Amp represents.

Well....as others have pointed out...it's plastic. I don't mind though. I would buy one made of cardboard if it would shave some $$ of the price! I'm easy on my gear. I have several guitars, amps and effects that I bought new 25 years ago that still look and work like new. I've had some problems with it loosing it's factory pre-sets, but it only takes a moment to re-load them.....so, I don't worry about it.

My overall rating for this would have to be good. Even though I'm pretty much a guitar, chord, amp player, having 3,000 tones at my fingertips inspires me. I love getting super clean, haunting tones and the V-Amp makes it easy. Nailing tones from Carlton, Ford, Clapton, Gilmore and the three Kings is pretty easy with the V-Amp. Again, for what it is, it has far exceeded my expectations. The fact that I paid less for this than I did for practice amp back in 1986 amazes me. It has made me want to play more and the more I play, the more I learn. Cheap inspiration!

I'm a fool who didn't read the manual for some time... and even without that I was getting some pretty good sounds out of it - now the sounds have just got better - you can work it without the manual, the front panel is nice and clear, but some of the features are pretty well hidden :-)

I found the manual a bit hard to follow, especially since it covers the v-ampire and the v-amp pro as well.

I've had no problems with the sound quality - we're a (heavy) trip-hop band, and both me and the other guitarist both use the V-Amp 2 - running it directly into the desk, so straight out, and into the monitors. Also, we use a LOT of different sounds (about three different patches per song) and the V-Amp allows us to really cover a lot of ground sound wise.

The effects could probably be better, but for the price they're astounding.

We use the units in the studio (lovely) and we use them live as well.

We've had to use them at gigs without backup. I was a little concerned to hear about the internal battery problem, and will make sure I check that out soon. We try to be careful with them, cause they certainly don't look that tough.

One thing that we discovered just as we were about to kick off at the biggest gig we'd played was this: if the power supply isn't plugged in properly, the lights can still all come on but the input/output just doesn't work. This is not a good thing to happen!

Not had to deal with them, so no opinion.

For the kind of music we do, the V-Amp is a wonderful piece of equipment - it allows us to make a whole range of sounds with a very small footprint, and it's a whole lot lighter than carrying amps about. It makes home studio recording a whole lot easier as well.

You can hear tunes using it at http://www.uberdog.co.uk, if you want an idea of the kind of sounds we're making with it.

Oh, one real complaint is the general look of the thing - whoever designed that body shell should honestly be stabbed in the neck, but I'm thinking of upgrading to the V-Amp Pro to deal with that by having all the features of the V-Amp 2 in a nice solid rackmount.

Seriously, this is a great bit of kit, and unbeatable at the price - I can imagine it wouldn't suit everyone in a live environment, but for a home studio setup it's absolutely magic.