V-Stack Classic Edition Valve Stack Simulator

Just An FYI about the "new" First act V-Stacks...
I noticed the price has dropped quite a lot from when they first began selling these... I called the 800 number for First Act and asked a dude there what the deal was... If production had moved to China or if the internals had changed... The guy assurred me that they where still built In Canada by the smae cat who always made them... Steve Webster...?? I think...?? Anywho... he said they where still the same pedal as always... so if this is that case, you can get a great deal on them now...
Just so you know... I don't work for first act and am not trying to trick you... just passing along what I found out...
Personally I don't care if you buy one or not... and to go a step further... you should also check out the Character pedals from VOX pretty killer also.
But all that being said I do Love my old Classic V-Stack

This review pertains to the original pedal, made prior to the First Act buyout. No LED or adapter option on this model. The control layout is fairly intuitive, consisting of bass, cut, drive, and master knobs. For those not familiar with a cut control, think of it as a treble roll-off. Each knob seems to respond to the other knob settings, however, slight movements don???t drastically alter previous tone settings.

For those of us unfortunate enough to have never played through a roaring Marshall Plexi, this pedal will get you in that ballpark. I have tried just about every emulator out there and have always walked away believing that I just experienced a reasonable facsimile of an idealized sound. Previous emulators have failed to capture the glassy sparkle and woody overtones of the Marshall sound. Too often the tone seemed buried under too much distortion, not allowing the stringiness from the instrument to come through. My last purchase was a HAO Rust Driver, which gave a fair impersonation of the Plexi at full-bore but lacked the subtle response of a real amp???s feel. As long as your chucking power chords or blazing lead lines you are ok, but try going outside of barre chordville and your tone turns to mush.

Conversely, the V-stack responds to all manners and styles of playing in a very tube amp-like way. Although I???ve never played through a Plexi, I do have several tube amps of varying vintage. So I am familiar with how a cranked tube amp reacts to playing dynamics. This pedal reacts in such a convincing way that you truly do believe your playing through a big non-master volume stack. Total control of the distortion level is available through the volume knob of your guitar and when you start to wind it down it doesn???t sound like somebody threw a blanket over your amp. I think this feature is where this pedal gains its acclaim. When backing off the volume knob of the guitar you are greeted with the most crystalline shimmer you could ever imagine. Each note blooms with a glassiness that has to be heard to be believed. Depending on how the guitar???s volume knob is set, you can cover the note with as much fur as you???d like. Simply amazing.

There is enough available gain with this pedal to cover anything up to classic metal- no scooped tones here. But, as stated earlier, it is best to set the gain level of the pedal to a hot lead sound and use the guitar???s volume knob as a channel switcher. With various amps, I was forced to use the cut knob judiciously, making adjustments for the individual amp???s natural voices. Once this is done, it???s highly possible to leave this thing on for an entire set, as long as you???re not playing any smokey jazz covers. But, because of the sublime articulation of the pedal, it is a blast to experiment with non-rock chordal voicings; 9th???s and 13th???s sound wonderful.

I can???t attest to the reliability of the unit, as I bough it used and haven???t had a chance to put it through all the paces yet. I bought the thing off of Ebay for close to nothing because the seller said that bypass switch (through lack of use) was a little finicky. He was right and I plan on using a little contact cleaner to rectify the problem.

Since this pedal was made prior to the First Act buyout, I???m not sure that any customer support remains available. Though I have dealt with First Act in the past and they have always been very helpful.

I have been playing all sorts of music and styles for the last 25 years. I try to stick to higher quality equipment but am not adverse to a bargain when I can find one. My primary amp is a 61' Gibson Skylark and a Peavey Delta Blues 15. I play through a Washburn MR450 Custom Shop guitar as well as a mongrel strat that I built. I also have an assortment of new and vintage pedals that are switched in and out of my pedalboard depending on current tastes. As far as amp emulators go, this pedal is the best I have tried; it seems as if I just acquired a new amp not just a pedal.

Tricky little gadget. Not plug n play.

Very interesting sounds. Nice smooth compressor. Quite saturated when used in front of a tube amp. I found most of my favourite tones between 1-2 of the gain control. Very dumple-esque in my opinion. Doesn't quite have the vintage marshall sound but what it does do is very cool none the less.

I play blues, and some rock. 35 years of pro playing. This one is an older version. Really a great pedal to have in your kit. I'm very lucky to have discovered it. I hear the new ones come from China. Can't speak for those ones. If you like a great singing sustained lead tone a la Robin Ford, or Eric Johnson, it does that to a T. I'm sure I'll keep it till it rusts.

Took a while for me to get the tone I wanted to hear from it, as just the slightest turn from any of the knobs has quite an effect on the tone. Very sensative. But now I think I've got it sounding pretty good for my needs and for the way I use it. I've had it for about two years now and I can't even begin to remember what was contained in the manual.

I really can't speak of it fairly for direct recording (for which it was intended) as I've only tried it once for recording. While the results were good I feel I've barely scratched the surface of the units potential as a recording tool. Because of that how could I rate it fairly for recording? I can't so I'll leave that alone.

I'm actually very, very pleased using the V-Stack as a distortion stomp box thru my Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue, which is all stock. Guitar is a Les Paul Standard with a Seymour Duncan Custom Custom pickup in the Bridge position and the Stock Burst Bucker Pro in the neck position.

I'm just an at home player and I've been playing guitar for about 10 years now. Don't get to practice anywhere the amount I'd love to due to the amount or hours I work, so progress has been slow. While I'm not what I'd call a great player I think I'm a fairly decent player.

I love the DRRI for home use. It's got a good sound and I can even move it around with my bad back! But man, for what many folks call "a pedal-friendly amp" I could NOT find anything to my satisfaction. Either I've been trying all of the wrong pedals or I'm more of an idiot than I care to admit when it comes to tweaking in stomp-boxes. I'm trying to copy anybodys tone but there's a certain "flavor" and certain qualities that I wanted to hear for my overdriven tone and every other pedal I tried (about 10 of them) was always either too middy, too spikey, not enought bass or too flubby of a bass, too fizzy or fuzzy.....you know the deal. I found this to be the case with all other pedals in either of the amps channels to one degree of another.

Thru some experimentaion, thru my gear and in my VERY humble opinion I believe the V-Stack sounds best thru my amps Normal channel. The flavor of the V-Stacks gain and it's treble contenet can sound real excessive REAL quick thru the Reverb channel which has a lot more bite and is voiced clearer than the Normal channel. To me the V-Stack just sounds more "real" thru the Normal channel. The V-Stacks built in cabinet emulation seems to add an element of that that "3rd dimensional depth" that you get with a 4X12 to my open back DRRI. No, I'm not saying it sounds just like a 4X12. How can it? I'm saying that the bass knob seems to add an element of that elusive depth. Seems to work a bit differantley than your usual bass knob.

It's hard to describe a sound but in my opinion and thru my gear the V-Stack lends itself very well for certain things by Led Zeppelin or by Van Halen. Think "The Rover" or "Beautiful Girls" but with a tad more hair and cut. Not as organic as something like a Barber Direct Drivee SS, but very good in it's own. Again, you've really got to be patient because of the huge amount of variation that's within each of the dials. Even a 1/4" turn in either direction has a great effect on the tone. But once you've found it, it works very well. The amount of mids built within the V-Stack seems to be of the right amount and texture and works very well with the DRRI's lack of mids. Seems to balance itself out all very well.

My one and only complaint is that when you roll off your guitars volume knob too much of the overall tone just seems to drop off too quickly. Gets very wimpy very quick. Maybe this has something to do with the fact of this unit is made more for recording vs. being plugged into an amp. Maybe it's my gear or maybe it's me.

Sure seems well built. Just be careful when you first turn it on via the footswitch. The "pop" is a bit loud and may be a bit much if your volume levels a turned up a bit much, so do be careful with that.

Never had to contact the company since I've bought it. But having read some good things about them I have no concerns should the V-Stack ever needs to be repaired for anything.

I'm the kind of person who likes to keep things simple, including my gear, and for my needs I've got a setup that's very simple but very effective and versatile. I guess you could say I'm trying to get the most out of the least.

DRRI amp.

Fender Telecaster..Aphex Compressor..Boss Chorus..Boss Delay into the amps Reverb Channel.

Les Paul Standard..V-Stack into the amps Normal channel.

I'm a rocker and like to play things by the Beatles, Stray Cats, the Doors, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen as well as a bit of I-IV-V blues. The V-Stack pedal seems to be helping me to expand on my song list by providing me with the tone that I wanted to hear for my overdriven sounds.

Four clearly marked knobs and a well written manual make for an easy introduction to its use.
Definitely read the manual, as the way this unit works, your guitar volume knob becomes the preamp gain control. Knowing this makes it a lot easier to get cleaner tones from this box.

Solid Marshall tone from clear, clean kerang to very heavy distortion with lots of sqealing harmonics. The amp feels and responds just like a real amp. pick softly and the tone is clean, hit the strings hard and they scream.
I used the V-stack as an effects pedal for a long time through various amps and found that the result was not always satisfying. I have found that running the V-stack straight through the PA to be the best use of this box. The tone is clearer and more focused. I now leave my AC30 at home and gig with only the V-satck on my pedal board.
I do wish the gain knob had a bit more range in the cleaner side of things. It does ramp up the gain too quickly for my tastes.

I did return the V-stack to Steve because of a faulty footswitch which he replaced promptly and free of charge.

Steve was great in responding to my problem. Very prompt and accommodating with aswering emails and providing service.

I play classic and contemporary rock and have been playing for over 20 years. The V-stack really nails the Marshall tone that I need for alot of the music I play. I have ordered a Tweedy and plan on using them exclusively for all of my gigging. No more amps to lug around.

4 knobs: bass, cut (treble in reverse) gain and master volume. 1 switch (on/bypass). Very easy to use.

All the knobs have a scale 0-10 which is good. I do a lot of recording, and this allows me to note down settings for one song and get back to them later.

The treble knob works in reverse (treble cut) which is just plain daft.

Totally brilliant Marshall amp simulation. It beats all the others I have tried over the years and sold on: POD, J-Station, Sansamp, Award-Session JD pedal, TC Electronics VPD1, Mesa-Boogie V-Twin. I have worked through so much equipment over the years, but I have stopped now I've found V-Stack.

Great for recording, or playing live direct through a full-range PA. Nowhere near as good if played through a guitar amp.

I can't get a clean tone through it unless the gain is turned right down and my guitar volume is backed off, but it's OK once you do that. It cleans up nicely when you change the guitar volume or just pick the strings differently. The digital things are rubbish at that.

It can faithfully do everything from Jimi Hendrix to Zakk Wylde. It doesnt do the rectifier/scooped thing very well.

Very little noise at high-gain settings.

It's the tone I have been looking for for 25 years of playing. I never thought I'd fnd it. This is exactly what all those others offer in writing (Sansamp, POD etc) but dont live up to in reality. It's the real deal.

Built like a brick.

The 9V PP3 battery lasts for ages, and it works fine on any old 9 volt DC adapter.

Never tried.

I mostly play on online collaboration websites (such as FJAM), as this gives me a chance to try all types of music, country, pop, blues, rock, metal. It's great for all.

I mostly play direct through the V-Stack into my soundcard (M-Audio 2496) for recording, and put effects on in the mix later. This works well.

My guitar is a Fender USA Strat with Seymour Duncan pickups (Little JB bridge, Little 59 middle, Hot Rails neck). This sounds just great through the v-stack. I would be lost without either the V-Stack or my Strat. Everything else is just second best.

I also play thorugh it live, using a full-range PA. Also great. Better than valve amps I have had previously (crisper with less background noise).

The v-stack is not as popular as it might be as they sell direct from Canada, and it's not well known.

I would definitely buy it again if it was lost.

I wish it had more channels. I wish it was easier to dial in a clean tone.

Very simple: bass, treble, drive (gain) and master volume. Good quality knobs and switches. Treble control is backwards (cut) which seems daft - hence 9 instead of 10 for this.

The knobs are on a numbered scale (0-10) which I find handy. I do a lot of recording, and htis lets me make a note of settings, and get back to them.

It's the best thing around for overdriven marshall sounds. It gives you mild drive (think Jimi Hendrix or SRV) to full saturation (Zakk Wylde or maybe Steve Morse as he sounds in in Living Loud).

You cant get the modern scooped sound (Metallica) very convincingly, but you still get a great sound (Zakk Wylde).

Speaker emulaiton is built in - you can't turn it off. It's great for recording. For live I play through a full-range PA and it's also great - better sounds than any of my friends that play 'real' amps (including valve amps), and it cuts through the mix of a band live, unlike digital units which always suck in my experience.

It doesn't go to clean unless you turn the gain to 0, and your guitar volume down. The sound cleans up very well if you pick softer or back-off the volume on the guitar.

Very little background noise - never a problem.

Built like a tank. Battery lasts for ages, even on the version with the LED. I run it from a 9v supply and it's fine (no hum).

Never dealt with them. Don't expect to.

I mostly record these days (Internet collaboraiton, such as on FJAM). I do this because it gives me a chance to play styles from country through to metal. It suits all of these.

Teh worst feature is the backwards treble control. Teh best is the sonds. I haev been looking for "the sound" for the 25 years I've been playing, and now I've got it.

I play direct thorugh this unit. Sometimes a Morely Bad Horsie Wah in front, and an Electro-Harminox Memery Man after it. My main guitar is a Fender USA Strat with Seymour Duncan pups (little '59, Little JB, Hot rails).

It is way better than all the alternatives I have owned and tried: POD, J-Station, Sansamp, Award-Session Jerry Donahue pedal, TC Electronics VPD1, AMC California Sound, Mesa Boogie V-Twin.

I wish it had more channels etc.

If it were stolen I would buy another right away.

Pretty simple controls. "Cut" is Hi Cut, so is essentially a Treble control that works backwards. Plug it in and dial it in, no worries.
Much easier than the nested menues of the previous emulator I was using, and effects are better post-production anyway. Plus you can alway use a stomp box if there is an effect you just can't live with out.

I actually use a Marshall AVT 150 driven by a TS808 Overdrive and RV5 reverb. I was looking for something to direct record, and potentially
replace the Marshall. I switch instruments a lot and have been wanting
to get down to 1 amp, a Roland KC350. A great amp, but lifeless for guitar. So I read up on the V-Stack and found a used one. It nails the Marshall sound I typically dial in, with drive sweet enough I don't need the TS808. I ran a PRS Soapbar to the Reverb and V-Stack into the Roland. I get all the vintage tone I want, plus it is less muddy! I liked it well enough that I ordered the "Tweedy" version to replace my
reissue tweed Bassman (RIP).

Knobs turn smoothly, decent casing, quality switch. Solid stompbox design. No OS to worry about. I'm betting that this thing will survive no problem.

The person I bought this from had actually gotten hold of the
designer (or someone at the company) to ask if they could make
him a 30w amp out of this preamp. If you can get *anyone* on the
phone, and they'll listen to you, that is pretty good customer support.

If you are looking for a vintage Brit sound, with 808/TS9ish drive built into the Preamp, look no further. My Pod XT Live sounded good through headphones or by itself, but always came off thin and lifeless at shows. The Line 6 AM4 amp modeler does a little better job on the amps... but the drive isn't quite my taste. I think the XT tries to do too much, adding emulation on top of emulation. Eventually the tiny imperfections add up to your ears. I finally figured out the sound I needed, and this box offers it simply and faithfully. If it's the sound you are looking for, the V-Stack will do the job with some stones.

It's pretty easy. It took me a while to get the interaction of the guitar's volume with it. otherwise it's very straight forward.

I was pretty sceptical since i've owned many devices that make the same claims but This really delivers for direct recording.

The overdriven sounds are satisfying and instant. Classic rock (led, ac/dc) is it's strength.

At first i couldn't get a good clean tone out of it even with the drive at zero, but if you back off the guitar volume with the drive at zero the clean tones are in there. I normally leave my guitar volume full up since i don't wan't to loose high end, but i didn't notice any tone loss.

I had recorded some clean tracks with a tube amp through a groove tubes speaker emulator. I recorded the same parts with the same guitar through the v-stack and A/Bed back and forth. I honestly could not tell the difference or decide which sounded better. It sounded the same to my ear.

I wish i had tried it sooner but i waited to find a cheap used one. I love everything about it. Switchable gain staged would be nice but you could probably just put a boost in fron of it and get the same effect.

I would like to see a rack mount from these guys with controls for the speaker simulation and all three of their amp models in it (or as many as they can think of), greater tone control, a +4 ballanced output, internal regulated power supply spring reverb and tube tremolo with a footswitchable parallel effects loop. Are you guys reading this? I'm serious!

This pedal is quite versatile. It gives a believable combination of overdrive and treble booster. The knobs give a great range of sounds, but they can be a little sensitive for the ranges most people would want to use them on a pedal board. The drive knob jumps going from 0-1 much like a tube amp. The cut knob is really helpful to get a tone you like. Keep in mind that this was designed to be used for direct recording and isn't truly pushed on the website as a pedal.
My version has the LED and power option.

I play two main guitar setups: Fender Ash Tele or Warmoth H/S/H -> Boss GE-7 -> Doobtone Boss BD-2 -> Barber Direct Drive -> Indyguitarist Boss TR-> Boss DD-20 -> Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. For the tele, this can be too bright, but really why would you want a treble boost on a telecaster. For the Warmoth (can be as dark as a Les Paul), this sounds amazing, just a beautiful saturated rich sound. This pedal is definitely on the lower side for noise, compared to overdrive pedals (and they don't even have a treble booster). My main beef with this pedal is the popping noise when switching it on after just plugging it in. This is warned on the website, but my Barber pedal doesn't have this problem (also true bypass), so I don't think this is reasonable. The rating of 9 is for what it is intended for: direct recording or use with a guitar that you would actually use a treble booster with. It does this very well.

The switch on this thing broke, where sometimes the volume would be cut in half after switching. It looks like a good quality switch inside though, and really can you blame switches on people. They're a crap shoot normally. See customer support section though.

Fantastic! Steve immediately sent a replacement switch (I asked not to send it back and prefered to do it myself), without question and when I asked if there was a way to get more bass, he drew me up a how-to-mod sheet for it with explanation of how to tweak it. Totally impressed.

I play a whole range of rock and roll type stuff. I think this is a great match for a higher gain rock and roll (Zeppelin type stuff). Like I said, I don't use it for my telecaster but I really like it for the Warmoth. However, I prefer to have one pedal board setup, so I use the Direct Drive instead. The direct drive sounds like the non treble boosted version of it. I've compared this to all the Boss SD-1 variations (Analog Man, Keeley, Doobtone), the Barber. This definitely does the saturated sound very well and I think it works great as a straight treble boost too. For the all around, I prefer the Barber, but for the brighter high gain this pedal would win. I would recommend the LED and power upgrade.