Vox Tonelab LE

The ToneLab LE is suprisingly intuitive, and requires only a brief read-thru of the User Manual in order to start creating new tones and saving them to memory. Obviously, a more in-depth review of the User's Manual is required to learn all the nuances of this great product, and to get the full power out of it. The User's Manual is well written, and an enjoyable read. I especially liked reading the background behind the different amp models...and how they fit into the picture, and interact with ValveReactor's poweramp circuit.

I am not shy, nor do I have any reservations about giving this category a full TEN rating.

Vox has hit it out of the park with the ToneLab LE. To provide a bit of background and context to "where I am coming from", here...

I am a tube amp lover. Nevertheless, with that said, I have always dabbled with the latest in digital technology. I have owned the following digital multiFX units, which one might consider "ancestors" (at least in spirit) of the current Vox Valvetronix ToneLab LE; Digitech GSP21, Digitech 2112, Peavey TubeFex, Line 6 AX2 212 combo, AND the Vox Valvetronix AD120VTH (120 watt head). I still own the AD120VTH, and it has worked flawlessly for the 5 years I have owned it.

As far as 100% Tube amps...I have owned too many to list here. However, my current tube amp based gear is; Peavey ValveKing 100 head, Randall RH50T 50 watt head, Fender SuperSonic 112 combo. I use a Rocktroni Xpression thru the FX loops of my tube amps. Okay...now, with that bit of background out of the way, I can detail my impressions of the ToneLab LE. Suffice it to say, the ToneLab LE provides the genuine feel, tone, presence and feedback of a real tube amp. The ValveReactor poweramp circuit is a true innovation, and sets the Vox ToneLab LE apart from all its' competitors' (IMHO). The Amp models are wonderfully engineered., and very, very accurately duplicate the characteristics and tone of the real amps being modeled.

What makes the ToneLab LE even more effective, in my opinion, is the full suite of Overdrive / Distortion stompbox models that are available BEFORE the pre-amp/amp model simulations. Most importantly, they interact and over-drive the amp model just like the real out-board stompbox OD or distortion pedal. Some people have expressed frustration that they "can't get a real METAL \^^/ tone " out of the ToneLab LE. I call Bullsh*#. Selecting either the US ModernGain, or US HighGain amp model, along with the "Metal" distortion stompbox model, will sterilize everything within a radius of 1/4 mile from the amp.

If you are looking for KILLER lead tones, then check out the UK69 or UK70s amp model, in conjuction with either the DS-1 "Orange" stompbox model, or the "Boutique OD" stompbox model...which is based on the Klon Centaur. I can dial in a beautiful, early Yngwie violin-like overdrive lead tone, that will sustain for days.

There are so many incredible sounds inside this box.

I haven't even discussed the FX. Basically, this thing is loaded with top quality FX. I basically only use a bit of tastey reverb and a slapback echo...but even with these simple digital effects, the Gate type reverb simulation, and the EchoPlex tape echo delay model are simply sublime. Like any high-end multiFX processor unit, the ToneLab LE's FX are fully independent (of course), so you can have enabled <<at the same time>>in your signal chain a stombox pedal model (for example, a Treble Booster), a Modulation FX (e.g. a lush stereo chorus), one of 11 different delays (e.g. 2-tap), and on of 11 different delay types. The FX are somewhat routable, as well. You can change the position of the FX in the signal chain, with the EXP-CTL-CHAIN button function

I have not had as much as a hiccup with my Valvetronix AD120VTH head...and the ToneLab LE looks to be a solid piece of equipment. I treat all my gear with care, however...so I expect to get excellent reliability out of this product.

Never had to seek the involvement of Vox aftermarket service/support.

This unit rates a Ten, for incredible tone and Bang for the Buck! But due to the following three missing features, it gets docked one point.

Three features I wished it had, was the ability to have the Wah pedal enabled ALONG with a stompbox (e.g. overdrive pedal) effect at the same time.

Second, the ToneLab LE should have maintained the SE's ability to Compare presets. I can't imagine why Vox eliminated this simple, yet valueable feature.

Finally...where is the DAMN USB connectivity, Vox ???? Shame on you for not including that in this incredible product

THIS IS A REVIEW OF THE NEW TONELAB LE RELEASED June 2007. Versatility wise this is as versatile as you can get when it comes to the preamp and effects. it is excellent for inputing into a recording situation or a live situation or into a board or DI box. I am using it with anAtomic el84 power tube amp with 18 watts power. The Le uses the Vox Valve reactor technology and a real preamp tube so basically I have a tube preamp and power amp with the modeling .There are 16 different amp models,16 different pedal type effects, 11 types of modulation ( chorus, flanger etc) 11 different cabinet types. I have always been a tube purist owning meas boogie Quad preamp w 295 and 395 poweramp, mesa mark Iv mesa triple rectifier, Marshall JMP 1, MArshall JCM 800, Marshall 30th anniversary ( the blue one both combo and head) Mesa boogie el84 loaded maverick etc. I always hated transister amps and as a professional player in various settings from Jazz 21 piece big band,blues and heavy metal gigs I need versaitility.
Feature wise I am very pleased except for one drawback. I currently also own a POD XT with all the model packs. Vox for some reason has decided to go with a MIDI ( which is to me MID 80's as in 1980's MIDI came out) and not a USB port for computer hook up.This is plain stupid and inconveneient. it costs quite a bit more to have a midi interface installed for your computer in order to record using the Tonelab in comparision with the POD XT which in my opinion is easier to use with a computer for5 both recording and modifying patches. Hopefully VOX/Korg will address this in the future.

When comparing the Vox to the POD XT directly using the same power tube amp ( The atomic 18 watt EL84 1 x 12) I would say the POD XT is quantity ( it has more amps and effects ) while the VOX is quality. The Vox clearly much more organic sounding and dynamic. it feels more like playing a real tube amp. it responds to picking just like a tube amp where as the POd would be more like a transistor amp.
The Vox is very diverse. it can pretty well do anything you want it to do but of course is limited according to the type of power amp section you are using. Eg dont expect to get that deep JCM 800 pantleg pumping low end from your VOX using an 18 watt power amp. Dont expect to get the warmth of a Vox AC30 going direct into a DI box. On the other hand though if you have a good power amp the tonelab will not be a limiting factor as a preamp. I would recommend if you know what type of sound you like or types of music you play get a power amp to match and you can be confident the tonelab will be able to emulate the tonal characteristics you are looking for>And most likely do it just like the real deal. With the tonelab very few if any professional trained ears will be able to tell the difference between it and say a real Fender Blackface of Vox AC30. The marshall sounds are excellent as well. One amp the POD XT can't emulate is a MESa boogie MARK IV or any MEsa Boogie that well., The TOnelab is much better at this. I also found the overall frequency spectrum of the Tonelab to be much more rich and lively compared to the POD XT.The POd is easier to play as a result and the beginner will probably like the POD better.
I am using both a Humbucker set up ( GIBson 345) and single Coil ( 54 American Strat, and Danny Gatton Custom Shop TELE)
The Vox is not noisy

HAve never had any reliability or performance issues with this piece of gear. i gig live twice a month with it in large venues ( 1500 - 2000 seated)

I have not had to deal with customer support but can say one thing. I still have not received the USB adapter cable I was supposed to get for sending in my registration. I found the instructions for this poor as well.

I have been playing now for 28 years. I own top notch gear only and would never have thought i would settle for a digital modeler. the Vox tonelab exceeded my expectations and has saved me lugging aroung a heavy tube combo amp or 4 x 12 rig to my gigs. I found it a little less user friendly to use than the POD but sound wise there is no comparision.The Vox is in a class by itself .it is much more real than the POD .if it had a more modern and userfriendly connectors ( NOT the gay MIDI ) it would be near perfect in my opinion

Dead easy to use; select Stompbox, Amp, Cab, Modulation, Delay and Reverb and modify to taste. Or download the editor from Vox and edit on the computer.
The only nags are having to "double-press" the amp and cab buttons to access Presence and Noise gate.
The manual is witty and quite informative. I which they'd print the acctual names of the things modelled (instead of UK 80 and Fat dist) but I guess they wanted to avoid trademarks (and unnessecery advertising for other companies).

Great for mostly everything, even metal.
I guess Thunder's critizism was based on the presets (which mostly suck). I managed to conjure up some pretty good metal sounds using the Metal Dist pedal, the Bluesbrkr amp and a TWD 1x8 or 4x10 cab (clips and patch at www2.park.se/~peder/files/TLLE). That said, if you only need a modeller for metal there might be better options out there.
As for notes dying out unnaturally, I think that's due to noise reduction being set too high.

The chickenheads feel a bit "sloppy" and unprecise, especially the Pedal and Amp ones that have lots of notches. Other than that it feels solid, but ask again in a couple of years...

I use the LE with a Fender Mexico HSS Strat, either directly or through the effects return of a Peavey Transtube Bandit II 112.

Not too bad at all. Very easy to get a sound out of. Of course the manual informs of some of the features that aren't apparent by looking at the front panel. Additionally, the unit doesn't use infinity knobs which means that whenever you edit a new preset, as soon as you touch a knob the parameter setting jumps to the current position of that knob making fine tuning a little annoying. Even though an icon lights on the display when you get back to the original parameter setting, editing sounds is made so (SO!!) much easier by using the software editor.

9 - If you use the software editor, otherwise 6.

This is where reading the manual becomes important. First of all, if you neglect to set the output for your intended use (amp, PA, recording...) then you could be doomed from the start, and if you'd skipped the manual then this is something that would be missed. There's nothing wrong at all with just using your ears and experimenting, but the manual contains a list of which of the amps it models are historically matched with which cabs. I found that using these as a guideline yielded instantly more satisfying results than random choosings. Some of the presets are okay but are generally soaked in reverb and chorus so the first thing I did was to set up the first 10 or so presets with the amps and cabs matched exactly as the manual stated, EQ flat according to which models I was using (settings for gain and eq behave differently depending on the configuration of the original amp that is being modeled, this is all explained in the manual) and fine tuned from there. I was able to get many and varied usable sounds from this thing. I've so far only run this unit through my home studio monitors, but I know from my experience with the tonelab SE that by reconfiguring the output and tweaking the master eq that this thing will purr through a PA.

I caught myself several times whilst building my own presets getting distracted and playing for extended periods from simply being taken by the sound that was coming from this thing.

9 for sound quality with 10 being all of the amps modeled actually onstage behind me and being able to footswitch between them all.

Haven't owned the unit long enough to say however it's made of metal, it's solid and I haven't had a hint of a problem so far.

I'm currently a sequence based solo guitarist/vocalist doing mainly classic Aussie rock covers and classic rock in general. I'm 26 and I've been playing now for 16 years.

The sounds I get from the Tonelab LE suit me just perfectly from pristine clean to low gain crunch to high gain big delay lead sounds. It just does everything, and it does it well.

The addition of some infinity knobs to help in adjusting presets manually would be nice, but if you use the software editor this isn't a problem, oh and USB connectivity would be nice instead of midi connectors also.

If this unit were stolen, I would hold a wake, cry for a while, get pissed in it's honour, then buy a new one.

Like anything, try before you buy it, but if you're willing to spend some time alone with this thing then I can't see how you wouldn't be impressed by it.

If you read the manual its easy to tweak. It may take awhile to hear exactly what you're trying to get, but its worth it.

I have loved modelers for years now because they combine pretty much everything you need to play guitar. Amps + effects. I've owned a varity of multi-effects units such as Digitech: RP-200, RP6, RP7, Line 6: POD 2.3, Floor POD Plus, Behringer: Vamp2, Vampire, Johnson J-Station, and now Vox ToneLab LE. I actually returned the Floor Pod Plus I owned for 2 days in exchange for the ToneLab LE. I have always loved Line 6 products for effects and lead tones, but rhythm tones were undesirable in my opinion. I needed something that has a nice tube-like crunch to it, and found it in the ToneLab LE. I needed something as loud or louder than my Peavey XXL head, and this does it. I needed something that sounded better the louder it got (like tube amps), and the LE does it. Effects are great and you can tweak them nicely.

Amp models are good at best, however the circuitry makes them sound awesome. I plug the LE into the power amp of my Peavey XXL and let it rip. Very impressed with this unit.

And to the guy complaining that the LE won't do "metal" - this isn't really designed to do that. However, I felt I could get some good metal tones out of it. For bedroom volumes it won't happen, but if you crank it through a stack the speakers will help get a good crunch. Check out the new Valvetronix XL line - I think that may be what he's after. The ToneLabs are designed for low to mid gain amp models. Amps modeled are basically your Marshall JCM800 and Plexi, Mesa Boogie MK2 and '94/'95 Dual Rec, Soldano SLO100, a few Fenders, and a couple Boutique amps. This doesn't model some current high-gain amps like Peavey XXX/JSX, Krank, Framus Cobra, Mesa Triple Rec, Bogner Uberschall, etc. That's what the Valvetronix XL will most likely cover.

"Built like a tank". Pretty much sums it up. Buttons are nice and sturdy, and knobs seem like they'll hold up to a lot. Makes me feel comfortable putting this thing on stage.

My Line 6 Floor POD Plus scared me it was so weak. Buttons would have broken in a week, and the plastic covers were starting to unglue after an hour. Poor quality, which dissappoints me with Line 6 - as the POD itself is a very durable unit.

I play metal/hard rock mostly. Currenty in a band styled after Tool/A Perfect Circle, and this unit will compliment the sound we're after quite well. I've been playing for roughly 9 years now. If it were stolen, I'd track it down and beat the guy to death with this unit, then hop on stage and start playin'. I compared this unit to The Line 6 XT Live and Floor POD Plus. This beats them hands down. For great live sound, analog circuitry is the way to go.

Once you read the manual it's quite easy to use. If you don't read the manual then you're a dumbass and deserve all the trouble you get. The manual is generally good.

The only real grip I have with it is that once you move a knob the values of that parameter jumps to the current knob position, which is a terrible idea. I use the software editor, which works great and makes everything much easier. Renaming patches, even copying and pasting a number of patches is allowed which is great.

First run I had trough it I overwrote all the metal patches, I have no use for them and honestly I don't think they sound that great anyway, at least with my guitars (Epi 56 goldtop, Highway telecaster and Epi sheraton with phat cats). The clean patches have way too much reverb on all of them. Reverb times of 6 and 7 seconds are ridiculous, in my opinion.

I use this connected to the SPDIF input of my fireface 800. The fireface has to be synced to the Tonelab, as it's not possible to synchronize the tonelab to an external clock since it does not receive any digital signal. If you don't do this you will get digital clicks every once in a while.

Now the clean sounds are a lot better than what I was using before (Amplitube 2.1). The slightly overdriven sounds are also very good. Regarding not being able to use the wah and distortion at the same time, this is only true if you use the distortion pedal emulations, because you can always use the preamp gain and the valve reactor gain and this gets you a lot of distortion for anything but metal. The VR distortion sounds the most interesting. There's a l9ot of tonal variation by playing with preamp gain and VR gain, and the VR gain produces very interesting sounds.

The amps simulations are very good. I basically like all of them but the high gain models, which I wouldn't like even if they were perfect.

The uvibe effect sounds brilliant. The vox wah can be tweaked with minimum and maximum settings and it can also sound great. The delays are good also, the reverb acceptable. I wouldn't record with it anyway.

Seems very well built to me.

Don't know. Thomann sent me a german manual with this thing though. Not nice.

I play reggae, funk, blues, jazz, anything but metal and heavy rock really. It fits the bill perfectly.

I have a home studio, the guitars mentioned above, a Marshall 6101 (worthless amp to me now). I'd buy it again sure. I don't think you can get such quality clean sounds from anything else at this point. I don;t know if it's the VR technology that is actually working here, but it sounds miles better than amplitube or guitar rig. No comparison. It's very inspiring to play.

It's not so easy to use as one would think, but after reading the manual and spending a couple days tweaking you can get something out of it.
The best way to go is edit the presets to suit your own needs.

The manual is OK and answers most of the questions.

A WORD OF WARNING TO METAL PLAYERS: You CAN NOT get a good metal sound out of this pedal!! I really mean this! I'm a professional player (been playing 'bout 15 years) and have owned lots of effects and stuff, but never ever has it been this difficult to get a decent metal sound out of something!
Even my 15w "BrandX" (100???) amp does way better!
I have tweaked and tweaked this pedal day and night about a month now and no results...I even bought a "metal zone" dist pedal to put in the pedal's insert jack..the results are the same

everything (metal) sounds muddy!

Clean sounds are pretty good though...That's why I'm giving 6 points...for metal sounds I would probably give 2 or something!

Heed my words...if you're going to buy this...

Did I mention you CAN NOT play any metal with this thing?
I bought Tonelab LE to replace my old Line6 POD 2.0 to get more effects and stuff...guess what....after tweaking and tweaking and tweaking I ended up with nothing useful....So now...I'm back playing my Pod 2...and I'm very happy. All I have to do is select Modern Hi gain from pod and that's it...That's just it. I have to tweak nothing.
I'm changing my Tonelab LE to Pod XT live next week. I think it's a way to go for me.

About the effects:
Most of the effects are pretty good, especially choruses and delays. But then again I don't understand why Vox puts 11 reverbs on this machine...I mean ...c'mon reverb is a reverb right?
But what good are the effects when the core sound sucks??...

One good word:
When you connect Tonelab LE to your amps input, it does NOT change the sound of the amp (if you turn amp&cab sims off) like some multieffects do. This is a very cool thing...but I already lost my mind with this pedal and it's going down...;)

The tube:
It's just there for the show...
There's no sustain like in real valve amps. Think the end of the solo in "nothing else matters" where Hetfield plays long sustained notes...Impossible with this thing...The notes die out before their time and they do it very unnaturally!

I think it's reliable.
but I'm not sure because of the tube...

Haven't gigged with it though.

I wouldn't use without a backup.

Haven't got a clue

I play mostly Thrash/Heavy Metal. But also lots of other styles.
THIS IS NOT FOR METAL...NOWHERE NEAR IT.

For clean sound players I think it's OK. But there are some other serious lacks besides the "metal thing". for example: You can NOT use distortion pedal and wah at the same time..neither compressor&dist..etc..CAN YOU IMAGINE!! Unfortunately this is the truth...go and test for yourself if you don't believe.
Also I noticed that the Octaver does not work barely at all if you have external distortion pedal in the insert jack..

I would never buy this again...I have never made such a bad mistake with my effects...but this was a big one.

This is the modeling sh..! Connect it to a PC with MIDI, download the editing software from voxampsUK and Play the night away, instead of dial the night/day/week/months/years away -witch was the case with POD XT and POD XT-Live .. The only thing that is better on POD XT Live (I own one of those too) is that you can see the pervious amp/Effect settings in the display witch the display on this one dosent. Not a problem if you use the PC-Software though so I'll give it 10!

The best Modeling Effect moduel out there, period! This is the shi.! -am i repeating my self...? Oh yeah. I have a lot of guitars, my main axe's for the time beeing are one Tom Anderson Hollow T and a 73 Fender Stratocaster with Steve Lukather signature picups (EMG-SL20). The best sounds i have dialed so far are VOX own models AC30.. The default presets sound ok -Thats a first. It's easy to get this thing sound good.

Buildt like a tank!! Wery original i Know

Dont know, havent needed any

Been playing guitar for approx 18 years now. Mainly Blues/Rock, fan of SRV, Hendrix, Steve Lukather and last but not least Andy Timmons.

The VOX Tonelab LE thrashes my POD XT Live -now collecting dust in my closet.. The only reason i'm not getting rid of it is that i have spent a lot of money on it with modelpacks and the BassPod models. The guys at Line6 should realy reconsider their approatch towards Live usage.. Add a bloody tube and make it sound more like a real tubeamp! I tried realy hard to get good sound out of The POD but it was not ment to be.. Even got me an Atomic-amp but it failed completly.. Too digital, bassy and cold. The only thing the XT-Live is good/fair at is recording.

Now the Tonelab on the other hand is perfect. Now i can just play the days away!

It is very intuitive to figure out any sound you like. Is best and quicker to do it by the Sound Editor via midi from your Mac/PC. Really Fast! Really Easy!

I have Telecaster Thinline and a Gibson Les Paul Studio through an AC30 and I play pop and rock in a wide range of tones in my three bands. I was tweaking my sound with a Marshall Bluesbraker (really cool pedal) and a Korg AX30 (old, 20 bit, but quite good). I was looking for good and visceral distorsions. I can't get the dist from my AC30 live 'cause it's valve and you have to play it at 80% volume to get it shouting (and it's impossible, really loud), so with Tonelab LE I can! And trust me it's close to be exact.
The lows are incredible. I am amazed with the tone range for crunchy and distortioned sound you can get with this tool.
There are no freaky FX (except for the filtrator -high quality!!- and the Talk Vox -curious one-), but the Modulation and Delays are Good and the Reverbs are decent.
The best is the pedal and the Amp+Cab section. It's really ORGANIC. That's the word!
I A/B with my Bluesbraker and it's 98% exact.
The 24 bit AD/DA helps keeping your guitar sounding natural.
No digital harness... It's ORGANIC!

The unit seems strong and is well-build. You can choose a mode to desactivate the knobs while you're playing live... just to avoid feet accidents.
I played with this unit under heavy rain with no roof, I know multieffects are not waterproof but it worked!! Just for a song before we had to stop.

No need to use it already.

If you look for a good sounding unit basically for ORGANIC sounds, with no digital things fucking around, and with a really wide tonerange: WARM AND DEEP. This is you unit.
Pedals and AMP section are superior... MOD and DLY are best and REV are OK.
There's a control switch very usefull to tweak parameters like tap tempo, hold delay or to switch on and off the AMP section.
The Foot Controller is perfecte for Wah and Volume control.
I have a good amp (an AC30) and this multifx hekps me to get a wide range of tones. It is a really tonelab.
No freaky FX, no useless digital rubish, only GOOD sound.

A lot has already been said about this unit. I used to have the Tonelab (desktop model controlled by a Berhinger FCB1010 midi footswitch controller).
For me, this unit is the perfect size. The desktop model had no foot control and the the SE was too large and too heavy to fit in a backpack. Ok, one control pedal is lost, but I can leave without it.
The the LE is best of both world : compact, digital output like the desktop and foot controllable even more effects (mostly delays and reverbs) than the SE.

In a previous review someone commented that it was difficult to access to the tuner. He should have read 'tuning' section of the manual: keep the footswitch of the engaged preset depressed during 0.5 sec (1.5 sec) to access to the bypass/tuner (muted/tuner) mode.

I also like the new EQ that replaced the line/amp switch. You have 3 kind of amp presets (that work much better than the old amp switch), a line setting and a parametric eq mode.

I managed to get sounds of old Marshal amps (ala bluesbreaker) and modern clapton's fender twin tone. I mostly use the amp/cabinet simulator and just add some effects, delay and reverb when needed.
With my EC strat plugged in the tonelab I can achieved clean/lightly crunch tone when the volume of the guitar in between 4 and 7 and then get a overdriven and compressed tone with volume on 10 and the mid-boost between 0 and 10.

I was also very impressed but the resonator guitar simulator. With and acoustic guitar plugged in, you get a very good dobro-like sound.

I bought the desktop tonelab used. It was one of the first model produced and it still works perfectly. I expect the same from this new unit.

N/A

I play mainly rock and blues for about 15 years. I'm not a pro. It seems that this unit is made for vintage sounds. Very good match.
I can't see any amp simulator as good at this one. I guess that you have to see this unit as an amp simulator with extra/free effects and don't consider it as a multi-effect pedal board. Maybe that why some people are complaining about it.