Vox ToneLab

Very simple to use. Haven't saved or edited any patches yet. I have only had it two months and use it at home.

I Use a Les Paul and USA strat with Duncans. It is only noisy on high-gain amps, as you would expect on the real amp. I have a "Modern Marshall" JCM 2000 tube amp, and with a huge amount of tweaking it comes close, using a Fender tube amp. I also have a blackface twin, and the model for that is way to sterile. The chorus works, but is weak. The rotary speaker is the best of the modulation effects. The reverbs do not sound very good to me. I can not get a good acoustic sound. The best it can do is using the Botique Clean, 2x10 speakers, presence on 10. The octive pedal is horrible. Most of the pedals are.
I got a much cleaner sound using the return loop of my effects loops than I did going through my amp's input. The speaker simulation is almost worthless. I only use three amp models. Botique clean, Twin (blk2x12), and Some of Marshalls 1968 Plexi, JCM 800, JCM 900, JCM 2000. The rest are blah.. I tried changing the tube using several NOS tubes, not worth the effort. Lacks bass response.

It seems relaiable, but it is computer chips on PCBs inside, so don't drop it. I would not use this at a gig, to expensive for that.

Korg? Are you kidding?

I would not recommend this unit for live performance. Use pedals. Might be good in the studio, but as a multi-effects box, it sucks. As an amp modeler, you must use a good amp to begin with. It will not improve a crappy amp's sound quality.

I have not opened the manual after three weeks. Still in its plastic. Normally I am a manual hound, reading it down to the credits before plugging in. But after plugging this into the console and getting around so easy, been having too much fun to even reference the manual. Bottom line, very easy to use. Have used many others, plug-ins etc, it is intuitive and straight forward: amps, cabinets, pedals, effects. Combine, switch, whatever...peice of cake to find familiar great tones and awesome new ones as well.

I have used every guitar amp modeler on the market. There are some I really like for the tones they produce. Some sans amp models are really great, the Pod stuff is rather canned in my opinion, but you can still tweak out some goodness. I own three of the major amps these models are built on. Has some noise here and there to deal with, but so do the amps combined with the pedals that it emulates. Try sticking a fuzz pedal in front of any amp and getting zero noise...uh...yeah.
This little blue monster produces some of the best tones I have heard out of a modeler to date. The sounds are realistic to a fault on most and the ones that don't exactly hit the mark have character all thier own, enough to make this a great recording tool. Fantastic clean sounds. Great low to mid gain sounds. Really nice JCM 800 and Vox models. Effects are good enough to get the job done in a pinch, but I choose to leave them off most of the time. I use pro outboard and get all I need for recording.

So far so good. Alimunum and steel, heavy and solidly built. I don't use it for gigs, just recording, so not terribly concerend as it will sit in the studio for probably all of it's life. If I was to take it on location, I would not be to worried by appearance alone. Would not want to hurl it down a flight of stairs, but it seems well built, especially compared to the "plastic red one". Knobs are good and acurate. Display is bright and clear, not much bs...tells you what you need to know.

Don't know, have not dealt with korgmarshallvox much. I'll toss them a 7 bone because the limited interactions I have had in the past have been semi-good to semi-poor. Perhaps they have improved.

I play all styles from rock, thrash, punk, jazz, alternative, blues, modern rock, funk, etc. Been playing and performing for over 25 years. I own a small production studio that is getting off the ground quickly. This is a killer unit for getting on the fly great convincing tones to record. Best out there right now (in my humble opinion.)

I's easy to use ,but if you dont read the cool and informative manual you will miss many important details. It's no-nonsense. I like the fact that if you are editing a sound and you switch the unit off,without saving anything,when you switch it on again the tonelab is exactly as you left it.However those are minor things,I think...the sound is the all-important bit.Read below

Ok. First of all,I dont like and dont use digital or transistor overdrive. bleah. What sold me on the Tonelab was the attractive idea of having a miniature valve amp in a small box,complete with cab sims,powerbrake,effects (although I only use reverbs and EQ...could not care less about choruses and swirls,I want a crankin' GUITAR sound,man,first and foremost.).

The good news about the tonelab:it has a valve power amp. I think it sounds excellent. Whoever designed this is nothing short of a genius. A real valve power amp in a digital modeller! In my opinion,that alone makes the tonelab far superior to the line 6 Pod and all the other ones,in matters of sound AND feel.

Effects are high quality,I would say very high quality.
But,I really dont care about them other than reverb and eq,as I said.
the eq on the tonelab is excellent too,but I think they should have included at least a master graphic eq at the end of the chain,if not one before the preamp too.
But it's not too much of a problem for me,as my sound ends up in my trusty laptop anyway and I can correct it there and add whatever I want to it.

The bad news: the tonelab's preamp is still solid state. I can definitely hear it and feel it. Pinched harmonics on the Crunchmaster, are as loud and harmonically rich as a trumpet. Just like any other valve amp. They are bright,alive and jump at you with authority.

On the tonelab,they are weak and more harmonically dissonant and 'unmelodic'. Typical of solid-state or digital distortion.
The 'Valve Reactor' (the tonelab's valve power amp) aids considerably to sweeten out those solid-state characteristics,but to me it's still half-way because,I mean,Vox designed an excellent power amp in the tonelab ....it would have made a lot of sense to add another 12axt7 to be used as the preamp modeler,instead of going solid-state like Line 6 and the other companies do. I would have paid a bit more and get the full package.

Even a single preamp valve that is boosted by a clean I.C. would do excellently. Hughes & Kettner do that in their excellent Tubeman,Cream Machine and Crunchmaster and it works great.(the I.C. function merely as a clean booster and does NOT create solid state distortion. it is sort of like adding a powerful clean boosted signal in front the input of your valve amp. The first valve will distort a lot more).

I have an Hughes & kettner Crunchmaster,a real valve amp in a small box,smaller than the tonelab. It has about 3 watts and can be connected directly to a console.
This gizmo has been heavily modified (by me)....it's a sort of marshall in miniature,it's not identical,but just different. It has an old marshall kind of sound,very similar to early Malmsteen or early Troy Stetina stuff,lots of crunch and powerful single notes,and killer pick attack.

It has a very aggressive and harmonic overdrive. It uses a built in Red Box to filter out the high treble and to round out the sound for D.I. recording.I used that to compare to the tonelab.
I added some software cabinet simulator to the Crunchmaster,and went as close as the ones in the Tonelab as possible. Here are the results:

1)overdriven harmonics on the tonelab are considerably more 'dead',again because of it's solid state preamp.

2)because of that,overdriven intervals such as thirds and sixths were also more artificial compared to the crunchmaster's.
On the latter,minor thirds or whatever came out with far,far more 'drama',and were harmonically a lot richer.

3) the tonelab's overdrive is more blurred and murky compared to the crunchmaster. This blurring is one of the main reasons why I dislike solid state or digital distortion.
I tried some bluesy overdriven triads ,such as ninths etc,and that blurring was all the more apparent to me.
Understand,it is no more blurred than on a Line 6 Pod! solid state acts the same,whether you have a Tonelab,a Pod,a Sansamp or a Korg.

the crunchmaster was meant only as a guideline,you can substitute that with even

I think it's casing it's outstanding. Beautiful blue aluminium.
It sits very well in a studio,a bedroom or what have you.
However,the pots feel as if they are not bolted.
that means that you stress their solder joints,so be careful.
an 8 only because of the pots ,otherwise it would have been a 10.

never dealt with Vox,so I dont know.

I play instrumental music. I would say that if you are not as fussy as I am,the Tonelab is highly versatile for any style,much more than the other modellers.
I have been playing for about 10 years.
I have owned a bunch of valve amps,but nothing ridicolously esoteric or expensive. Just stuff that sounds good to me and that I could buy used: Peavey valve amps,Seymour Duncan amps etc.
Used to have a Korg Pandora when I had no alternative...those are just toys.

About the Tonelab,I would certainly choose that if I had to choose a modeller.

Easy to use straight out of the box. The manual is very good (possibly written by the same bloke who did the line6 stuff?) Very imformative and slighly jokey. This thing is set up so even us dumb guitarists can understand it.

This is the important bit. In my opinion (and that's only MY opinion) this device sounds brilliant through headphones. It's like playing with a real amp and at a good volume. I can get sounds that my GT6 will never achieve. I would use it to record direct onto tape through the desk, and that's saying something.
BUT plug it into my live set-up (a Marshall EL84 20/20 plus greenback 2x12 stereo cab, and it's a bit iffy. Too much treble and harsh. The GT6 blows it away live. I'm giving it 5 which should be read as 8 recorded and 2 live.

Mine had an unusual problem. The amp selector pot failed after a couple of days. I opened her up, removed the pot and found it was faulty. It was fairly easy to mend and not a fault of Vox, but their supplier. This sort of thing can happen to any manufacturer, my GT6 had a similar problem with a duff connector. I've been in contact with the Vox service people, and they were pleasent and helpful. Having opened the thing up, I can say it's well made and easy to work on. Probably will never fail again.

As I said above, very approachable.

I play all sorts of stuff and have been playing for 30 years. I use a PRS and Les Paul and a GT6 through a Marshall EL84 20/20 plus Greenback cab. If it was stolen I'd probably buy the SE verion as a replacement. It's very good, but I can't make it sound good live yet.

it's all there, right in front of you...very rare that ALL the useful features are at your fingertips.

The only reason I'm not giving it a 10 is because it could use some deeper bass with the EQ. It's still nice & warm, but it would be cool to pack a little more 'umph' in it. I probably have just been too lazy to find the right tone...

throw it in my backpack and play out usually twice a week. No problems...

never contacted them

I play a lot of styles, from folky to trance to jam band. I use this mainly for trance/jam stuff.

I MOSTLY use this with a Honer Clavinet when I play out. It makes any vintage keyboard sound dy-no-mite. The delay mixed with amp/cab settings are freakin sweet.

I LOVE the clean sounds I get out of this. I guess it has fantastic distortion/dirt as well, but I prefer to have a nice clean, liquidy sound for my music.

Look, if you're in the market for a multi-effects machine, don't even bother with the others. This thing is hands-down the best sounding, easiest to use effect box/amp simulator I have ever used.

I could write all day about how awesome this thing is, and how it totally opens up your musical potential, but the best thing for you to do is go out to a local shop and mess around with a ToneLab.

No problem to quick play and modify some patches without read the manual, but you need to read if you want to discover all the magic of the tonelab.

I have fender strato usa, Ibanez rg320dx and a washburn cs780 chicago series, for amp i use a Laney PA system and a 120W Crate amplifier, the tonelab sounds great with both, but if a preset sounds good in the Laney PA, in the amp doesn't sound great, you need to tweak again to obtain the same quality. But this not a problem because you can save any preset. The sounds are very good, the fenders amps are amazing, I dont know if sound exactly to real ones but who cares if sounds that good, in my opinion there are enough amps to choose your favorites, higain, cleans, whatever you want tonelab deliver. And for the effects i try i few of them, the acoustic pedal sound very good, and the mudulations and delays are superbs, the auto-wah is good but is "auto" and you can't control it at all.

sure it looks very well constructed, but time always has the last word.

i dont need it, for now...

I like rock and metal since 20 years ago. I'm Project Engineer but music and guitars are my passion , i play from classics like Pink Floyd to Black Sabbath, and more actual like symphony x to dream theater and the european monster of Ayreon. The tonelab is good for everything, pristine clear with vox and fenders, full heaviness with the rectos, UK's and US gain models, and a great variety of stompboxes and effects all with good quality. I always use digitech effects, but in modeler section vox is superior and by far, the tube like sound that deliver tonelab is impressive, really, really impressive. you dont really need to invest much money to have a great tone. Thanks to Engineers of Vox

I may have had an unfair advantage, having migrated to this from a Vox AD50VT, but even so, the manual is very thorough and easy to understand. Out of the box you have tons of cheesy presets to work through but it's easy to build your own sounds from scratch. There's software available from their website to do a SYSEX screen dump and save your patches from your computer, but you can't audit the sounds in realtime. For a multi-effects unit, it's about as easy as you can get.

I was pretty impressed with the sound of my Valvetronix, but thought it would be nice to have something with amp modeling for direct recording. The Tonelab sounds GROUND-SHAKINGLY beautiful. I've had it for about two months now and have played it with my 335, an Italia Modena, a Mosrite, a Yamaha electric 12 and with a Gretsch Sierra Jumbo acoustic.

The built in effects are better than average. I'm partial to the OD's and fuzz, but the chorus is light and shimmery and the tremolo has a great swirling autopan mode. The built-in reverbs aren't quite the caliber of my EH Holier Grail and the wah isn't going to cut it if you've got a V848. Other than that, it's a completely workable unit in & of itself. I found it plays very nicely with my other effects including a V810 Valvetone, a Fuzzface, EH Small Clone, Dan Echo, Echo Park & Holier Grail.

The amp models are where it's at. I usually stay on the left side of the dial (Fender Twin, Fender Bassman, AC-15, AC-30) and use effects for distortion. The cabinets are also great, and the manual also includes what the standard matching would be between heads & cabinets for the uninitiated. All of these emulations are extremely musical to my ear. I play shoegaze music in the vein of My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Lush, and BRMC. I can get GREAT sounds out of this little unit, arguaby better than from the Valvetronix amp.

I've been tossing it unprotected into a suitcase and dragging it through the subway to my practice studio and it hasn't crapped out on me yet, but I cringe each time I have to do it. I would have preferred if the tube was covered by a metal plate instead of sitting out exposed as it is (there's a plastic plate over it), but I suppose I understand where they were going from a design standpoint. The pots and switches all seem sound, and there's nothing on this unit that gets stomped on. I don't have the footswitch because I use this primarily for the amp mods and leave it to my pedalboard for the effects. So far, so good.

I've been playing for several years now and have more gear than I have room to keep it all. These are a remarkable value now that they've reduced their price-- you can buy one of these with the VC-12 footswitch from North Coast Music for a few bucks less than the Tonelab SE.

For $250 bucks on ebay you get a world of amps, cabinets, and effects. It's the most musical emulator I've tried, oceans ahead of the Boss GT's, PODs, V-AMPs and the like.

Out of the box, I got a couple of great tones that were so inspiring, I wrote a song right then and there, recording it, got it on my CD. It is a rather intuitive device, especially if you've owned a Pod or other modeling box. I've owned a couple of Pods (classic, XT) and the ToneLab blows 'em away in terms of the true-to-the-amp tones it does produce. Right, it's not the same as the amps (no modelers ever are), but boy does it come awfully close.

I agree with the dude who said read the manual! After my first successful venture on the ToneLab, I had a hard time dialing in any good tones. The presets were good, but whenever I dialing in something, it sounded crappy. So I read the manual CAREFULLY and took my time. Vox has set up the knobs to correspond to the original controls of the amp and you HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THIS in order to get the really good tones. If you just start dialing willy nilly, you may get lucky, but you will probably become frustrated. Understand that a 1x12 Fender Tweed has two knobs: Volume and Tone. The ToneLab is configured for this, but you got to READ the MANUAL!!!

One minor complaint - it took awhile to understand the difference between the GAIN and the VR GAIN, which apparently is British for Volume and Master Volume. However, once I understood that these knobs do different things on different amps, they didn't cause any problems tonally.

My gold top Les Paul Classic sounds really good through it. Also, great for my Strat and Telecaster, especially the Vox AC30 and AC15 models. In fact, I would say the ToneLab does a great job with the Vox amps and a so-so job with the Fender tones. The "Blackface" just doesn't sound like a Twin or Super Reverb to me. But then again "it's only a model."

I do run it through my Fender Custom Vibrolux Reverb with great success. Make sure to switch it to the "Amp" setting and plug into the "bright channel" for best results.

Best thing about the sound, I think, it's WARM, especially compared to the Pod. This has a lot a to do with the real tube in the ToneLab. It just gives the tone that nice warm feeling of a good tube amp.

The effects settings are exceptional, especially the reverbs and delays (dig that tube echo delay!!!). They sound very analog and warm. The chorus is analog and the phaser has a classic British edge too it. Warm. Can you get where I'm going with this.

THE TONELAB IS WARM!!!

I'm only giving it a 9 because of the suspect Fender tone.

Only had it for a month. So far so good. Going to try it out live with an Atomic Amp soon.

Haven't dealt with Vox yet.

I play everything from country to classic rock to jazz and blues and the ToneLab fits right into all of these. In fact, I'm working on a rock opera about Evel Knievel (www.ekrockopera.com) which requires a lot of classic 70's rock tones, fast-switching between sounds and versatile amp setups and so far, the ToneLab seems a perfect fit. I've only recorded with it, so I need to gear up and get it live to see how it plays out for the opera.

I would definitely need to get one of the foot pedals for it.

I was about to give up on amp modelers after my experience with the Pod (in all of it's incarnations), but I'm glad I gave the ToneLab a try because I'm sold. With the Pod, I would buy through some internet shop to make sure it delivered the goods, but I always ended up returning it. But with the ToneLab, I'm keeping it.

Did I mention READ THE MANUAL!!

Like mentioned before this takes a few times just to find your feet with how everything works, luckily i had been using models from the valvetronix line (AD15 & AD30) before i purchased the Tonelab so i had some idea, but it's so easy to use ,the info bar basically highlights the word 'orig' when you turn a knob to the point that it is in the preset so it takes a secornd to reajust and edit to your hearts content.

Second to none, you can't say enough about how amazing the sounds are. Any record i want to knick a guitar sound from whether it be Clapton, Scofield, Metheny, Peter Green, etc it can be acheived ,the only one that is a challenge is hendrix as there isn't a preset for 10 4x12 cabinets (oh well maybe on an upgrade, ha ha)
The clean tones sound like they're ringing down from heaven, you won't believe your ears. And anyone who say's this thing doesn't have enough distortion has no ear for music.

I would recommend getting the 'Atomic' amp for live perfomance, these amps are biult just for amp modelers (Tonelab, Pod, V-amp) your modeler just slots in the top of the amp and bam! you have all your tones in an amp that won't colour it. Perfect and a good price too.

No troubles at all, and i dropped it when getting out of a car, still looks fresh outta the box and works the same

Not needed it yet, touch wood

Buy this product if you are a guitarist of any type, you won't put your guitar down for days at a time, first day i got mine i plugged in and didn't put my guitar down for the whole day just as you think to yourself oh i must go and ...... your ear catches another beautiful characteristic of this amp simulater, the tube makes a big difference, the warmth makes this in a league of it's own, i have played through pod and v-amps in the studio before and always felt the sounds laked depth and roundness, this has it all, i'm currently demoing ideas for my new CD and whatever amp sound you want it delivers (I keep trying to think up the most mental cominations of players sounds to see what it would sound like, oh yeah and the fact that you can mix and match whatever cab to whatever amp adds even more to the characters you can create) Brilliant!!!.... infact just typing this has made me eager to get back to it and plug in. I am dying to hear the Cooltron pedals too (a tube in an effects pedal, what next??) Vox are the past present and future!!!!!

Even though (or perhaps because) I am a pretty technical guy with a career focus on user interfaces, I found the Tonelab pretty hard to get used to. A lot of it has to do with the fact that the physical dial positions are not always the actual positions of the dials relative to the patch you are on. I also did not find the process of saving patches or renaming patches to be very innovative. For the first time since I can remember, I had to go to the manual to operate a piece of equipment.

That said, once I got used to the interface, using it was a breeze. It took a while for me to make the mental shift from the software way of looking at things to the analog hardware way of looking at things, but once I did it was a no-brainer.

It's all about the sound and that's where Tonelab delivers. It models the following amps; Vox AC15, Vox AC15TB, Vox AC30, Vox AC30TB, Marshall JTM-45, Marshall JCM800, Marshall JCM900, Marshall JCM2000, Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier, Soldano SLO-100, Dumble Overdrive Special, Fender Twin Reverb, Fender Tweed, and Fender Bassman.

All that really can be said about the sound is; any sound you can imagine, you can create with the Tonelab. The first thing I did was sit down with the manual and plug in amp models into the presets based on the manual's suggestions. The thing about the Tonelab is YOU MUST READ, no make that, MUST _STUDY_ THE MANUAL. This is especially true if you plan on using the older amp models. Many the people who bitch out the sound probably never read the manual.

Every sound I want, I get. When I hear something on an album I want to play, I can always recreate it or at worst come within 90% of it. I have presets for most of the Beatles sounds, AC/DC, The Who, punk, twang, etc. I started getting into the Raveonettes this week. Last night with the Twin Reverb model and a little tremolo and reverb I nailed their sound. Yes the factory presets suck. That's because you cannot take presets from another guitar with another set of pickups and expect it to sound good on your guitar and your pickups.

Some people complain the Tonelab cannot do high gain. I know the sound they are talking about; highly compressed, plasticy, dull, metal tones. Ok, if you want that tone, do yourself a favor and skip the Tonelab and get a POD XT, 'nuff said. Now for everyone else, if you can't get your tone with the 16 amp models, 10 cabinets, compressor, acoustic, two wahs, u-vibe, octivator, treble boost, Tube Screamer model, ProCo Rat model, fuzz, chorus, flanger, phaser, tremolo, rotary, three delays, three reverbs, and noise reducer you either don't know what you are doing, or are hopelessly grouchy.

I can go on and on but there's dozens of other reviews here that all say the same thing -- Tonelab rocks. Do yourself a favor and try it out.

Can't really say but I just know I am going to drop it one day *gulp*

I pray I don't drop it and have to get support from Vox. Seeing how they are across the pond I have no idea how that would work out.

Been playing for four years. I play everything from the Beatles to punk rock and everything in between. Tonelab has everything I need. Seeing how I have owned it for a month and not gotten tired of it, it must be good. Last night I plugged in my digital modeling amp (Roland Cube) which I used to love and suddenly the models sound like garbage. OMG! I am a Tonelab snob now :)

Note to "vintage snobs": Yeah the real amps and cabs sound much better but, hell can you buy a Fender Twin or Vox AC30 for $299, much less those and 10 other amps?