Vox Tonelab LE

This unit is very easy to use Ive been a line 6 user and the tonelab le rules.You have to understand how the unit funtions with the valve reactor circut and after that you will be able to get any sound you want except a distortion pedal and wah at the same time. just figure out what your favorite pedal is and add it to the insert or just add a wah there.

I use fender and Ibanez guitars with this they both sound good sometimes you may want to make different patches for different guitars one with hums and ones with singles.
this unit is not noisey very good noise reduction..
I use mine with a tech 21 sound engine or for bigger gigs I use it with a crate power block tonelab le into the back of the power block very cool rig with the power block I use a peavey 2x12 vertical cab.
I can get any sound I casn think of out of it.
I really like all of the effects.
I changed from line 6 to digitech rp1000 loved that but then I tried the tonelab I fell in love with it went online learned a few tricks here and there now its my main rig..

should be fine if you take care of it only had mine a little while

never used them yet but I assume that they have to be good come on its vox!!!!

Ive been playing music for 40 years I'm 47 I've had almost every kind of modeler out there. I'm more than happy with the tonelab le I'm thinking on trying to score a tonelab se because of the amp channel switching.I would definatly buy a new one if stolen or broken. if you want a all around recording and live performance tool this is it...go get one an see for your self you wont be dissapointed I guarante that...
this unit might not have as many effects as other modelers but what it does have smokes the compition

Good sounds are easy enough so long as you read the manual and understand the output configuration, and listen to their suggestions as far as amp and cab combination go.

Editing is dead easy. Twirl the chicken head knob for amp, delay, mod or reverb, then use the 6 multifunction knobs to edit the parameters. Again, a good read of the manual will get you up to speed. I like the interface way better than the POD X3 because it is simple.

There is a manual and it is quite good. Contains some nice usability tips to get you started down the right tonal path. Compared to the Line6 manuals for the POD X3, this is great. No tips there.

I'm using this direct to the board and through a PA, or at home through studio monitors and direct to disk through my DAW software. I use Ibanez SZ series and a Schecter C-1 Classic guitars, with Duncan Distortion and Duncan '59 pickups in them.

It's only got a bit of noise on really high gain settings, but nothing that a touch of the noise reduction doesn't help. Actually, pretty quiet compared to the POD X3 on those types of patches.

The effects aren't bad at all. Some are quite good, actually. The modulation effects like the multi-tap chorus can be dialed in nice and lush, as well as the phaser, flanger, etc. The delays sound just fine for my tastes too. Reverbs are okay, but I almost never use reverb.

My favorite are the stomp overdrives. Used with the right amp, they really complete the picture. US Modern High Gain (Soldano SLO) with the Tube OD in front of it gives an awesome 80's Hair/brown sound.

This unit seems to get trashed in reviews for its purported inability to do high gain. Coming from a unit that does high gain pretty well, the POD X3, I have to say that I kinda think the LE does it even better. It's all in the tweaking, but I was able to get some really, really good 80's Hair, 80's metal, and even modern metal sounds from the unit. Although you'd never guess this was possible from the YouTube videos out there. Almost all of them don't do the LE justice in that department.

The low to mid-gain tones and clean tones are also fantastic, as you might expect. The AC30 model, naturally, is spot on. Boutique clean is probably my favorite, next to a cleaner plexi sound.

Overall, the quality of the amp and cab models are fantastic, even compared to the POD. I like the fact that you don't have to mess with mic models. Everything sounds more like a real cab than some compressed, mic'd up, artificial sound. I don't know if there's mic models in there or not, but if there are, they are really transparent. True, you don't have the variety of the POD, but the quality of what's there is far better.

The case is made of metal. Compared to the X3 Live, which is made mostly of plastic, the LE feels like quality stuff. The switches feel better, the expression pedal is great, knobs and buttons feel okay.

Would I use it without backup? No. Who would? But I feel far better about its fragility, or lack thereof, than I do about the X3 Live.

I guess we'll see how it does in the long run. I have a decent padded bag for it, so it'll be treated well.

Have contacted Korg via email in the past about some Marshall stuff and they responded very quickly, within 24 hours. That's fine by me.

I've been playing for 25 years. Own a couple of tube amps and a bunch of nice pedals. I play in an 80's Hair metal cover band and also play contemporary Christian rock at church.

I investigated this unit mainly because while I love my amp and pedals, they are heavy and inconvenient to take to church. So I thought I'd get a modeler just to cover that. Imagine my surprise when I found this would even make a nice backup rig for the heavier gig too? So it's become more for me than just a worship solution. I'm also going to use it for recording heavier stuff too.

Favorite feature has got to be the valve reactor circuit. It really does work as advertised. You can dial in the right amount of power tube distortion separately from the preamp gain. You can't do that on a POD. And it actually sounds real.

I've owned two PODxt's, a POD XT Live, POD X3, POD X3 Live, and POD X3 Pro. Needless to say, I'm VERY familiar with the POD product line and how to get good tones from them. So my comparison of the LE is against the PODs. The LE beats them handily in the amp/cab part of the equation. Sure, the POD has some slightly better routing options and maybe even better effects. And there are some features the LE is missing, like the ability to run a stomp and wah at the same time. But I'm not missing that at all.

Totally helps me make music rather than getting in the way. With the POD, I'd be tweaking for days to get a good sound. The LE lets me get a good sound quickly and focus on playing rather than tweaking. But make no mistake, you could tweak your little heart out with this unit if you wanted to, because there are so many good sounds.

I swore when I got rid of my X3 Pro a few months ago that I'd never use another modeler. I was wrong.

This is an update to a previous post. See Reliability....

Update to previous post - I have been able to get some fantastic, realistic sounds from this pedal and use it routinely in place of an amp on stage in my classic rock band.

This is an update to a previous post. I'm starting to be really disappointed in the quality of this pedal. After two years of light gigging, keeping it in a case, I am having numerous problems with the controls. The plastic piece that activates the waa-waa broke off during the first six months and the local dealer has been unable to replace the part (it's been on order for a year and a half!). The basic up and down selector foot switches are now unreliable and the plastic selectors for the pedal, amp, mod, reverb, delay stick in the down position causing them to change parameters spontaneously. Yesterday, one of the four programming switches near the display just popped off and fell into the case leaving an open hole in the case where it used to be. So going forward, I'll have to use the computer interface to change those parameters. A few weeks ago, the handle just tore right off of the gig-bag that came as an "extra". Don't be fooled by the rugged Vox look, this thing is extremely delicate!

Non-existent. There doesn't appear to be any way of working with them directly and the dealers are not really interested in helping.

Still a great-sounding pedal but who know how much longer this thing will last. My Korg A4 from the 80's was bashed around mercilessly and every function still works perfectly 24 years later!

It's very easy to make some perfect sounding presets. After a few minutes of learning about the different functions, pedals, effects and amps/cabinets, playing with it, i've already been able to make some perfect sounding basic sounds like clean, crunch, distortion and lead who will get me throug a gig. Do you want an incredible perfect sounding guitar during the following gigs, then it will take some time because this box is loaded with superb functions.

I use two Tech 21 Powerengines. THE ONLY WAY TO get your sound right. You can throw your tonelab in the mixer and hear it back through monitoring but that's not the way to do it. You want to "feel" the tube of your LE on stage. My two tech's give me the feeling that i play through a huge stack with an amp full off tubes. The effects are very good, not of superb quality i think but when you put it all together i don't think that you would hear the difference on stage. Some distortions sound to " fuzzy" so i won't use them but others are great. You CAN'T create a useful death metal sound with a tonelab and some techs but a bit of metallica isn't a problem. You CAN create a perfect ACDC or even Van Halen sound. Even a beautiful crunch sound is one of the options. The acoustic simulator doesn't really function quite well, a cheap acoustic guitar sounds far better. There are enough effects, amps and pedals to make you sound like the guitarhero's of today. Just try them (trial and error). The only extra i wished for is a dual delay to sound like The Edge. When you use the Tonelab with a Tech Powerengine be sure to set the tonelab on line 2. DON'T use the amp setting. My first impression of the LE wasn't a very good one. I found out that the amp setting has not much treble at all. Yow will need the Treble boost to get the distortion you like. Your guitarsound will not be as " sparkling" as a guitar has to sound in my opinion. You get a rather dull sound. After using the equalizer of LINE 2 even my bandmembers where impressed, LE RULES. Try it!!!!!

Ok, this is not a good point. The Tonelab switches are from poor, poor, quality. Check the forums. I have bought an extra le for backup because i don't want a switch to disfunction during a gig...... During practice it's just very irritating, during a gig it's the perfect nightmare (had it already, you DON'T want one of your preset numbers to fall out....)There seems to be a fix but i haven't tried it already. SOUND is great, Reliability, sorry a huge drama....

N.v.t.

I play in a cover rockband and the LE is THE perfect thing to take to a gig. Big problem are the damn switches but it's sounds that good that i will have to live with that.

I've owned the Tonelab LE for over a year. I recently built a pedalboard out of separate pedals and was thinking of selling the Tonelab. But then I played with the Tonelab over the last weekend and I realized it can do so much more than separate pedals. I use the Tonlab LE editor on a computer to create patches and it's really well designed. It can uncover lots of hidden features in the unit and allows for deep patch editing. I've been using the expression pedal with a number of different functions. My favorite expression pedal setting is to drive the A-GAIN from just before crunch to full drive - this allows me to play clean for some parts of a song and then drive it into overdrive with my foot instead of using the guitar's volume knob. I can't do that with separate pedals.

Get the Tonelab LE editor !

Built in noise suppressor is great - most people have a hard time finding the control since you have to press AMP and CAB to control it. Again, get the editor and it all becomes obvious.

I use this unit into either the return of a Peavey Classic 30 or the return of my Tech21 Trademark 60. Both sound amazing. I am using the Tonelab for amp emulation - all of the Fenders are great, the Marshalls are great, the Vox's are throaty (but many are also dull), and the Soldano and Mesa emulations sound awesome.

I play with an American Strat, an Epi Les Paul and a Fender American Tele - all sound great.

I was thinking of getting a nice Fender Tube amp lately, but I am very satisfied with the Fender amp emulation of the Tonelab.

Solid !

Don't know

Play rock, blues, jazz - many great tones from this unit.

Been playing for 40+ years.

I would buy another if it were lost or stolen.

I compare this against my separate pedals and I'm starting to see the benefit with having all of this tightly integrated.

The only complaint is that the WAH, COMP, and DISTORTION are all on the same control - there are times I wish I could enable a few of these at the same time. This unit does have the ebility to connect with external effects, so I might start using that element for an external WAH.

Is easy to use, I was reading the manual a little, but sometimes is confusing, and some features are not very easy to find, having a mistake is very easy specially with the assignable footswitch and the expression pedal.

I don't know what to put here, because some sounds are the best compared with my old digitech RP2000.
when I was reading some reviews and several reviews with 10, I said "I must have one of this", I was playing a little in a store and it was wonderful, a really nice valve sound. but some days after at home, with headphones, a small fender amp, to the computer, direct to PA, trying several patches, and creating new ones, I find the sad reallity. This procesor is not what want. it has 16 models of amps but one half are usable, the rest are bad or similar to the others. it have only the "vox" tone, so is difficult to find a fender or marshall tone in this processor and other different sounds.This processor is good for crunch, it have a vast variety, but is not really good with clean tone and distortions,some distortions are noisy and I have to put the noise-gate at a very high value but this cut the picking, very ugly. The effects are good but are few effects.

Is very big and heavy, but the worse part is that have few effects,poor in effects and other features, you can't mix some effects, I tried mixing the metal stomp box and a distorted modeled amp tryin to get a brutal distortion and something weird apeared, the sound gone and appeared something similar to "envelope effect". weird, and bizarre.

I've beeng playing during 11 years, all kinds of music specially the 80's music, my favourite player is Joe Satriani, and it was impossible to find his tone with this thing(I use Ibanez Js-100 guitar) , I needed a powerfull and expressive distortion. and the same with other artist like paul guilbert, david gilmour, etc. I checked the Eruption Patch, it sounds great but the sound get lost in some passages. I think I got the best sound with earphones, trhu the PA system, and a solid state amp the richness of the valve sound was lost , and is a little difficult to get in tone with pa system I will not do it. there's nothing better than an authenthic valve amp(mic-ed to the pa)and I preffer the multieffects more than stompboxes.
I am regret. I'm going to sell this procesor, with a big discount mmm.

For the most part, the unit is quite intuitive. You may very well have to read the manual, though, as I couldn't figure out how to set tap tempo without it. (Which reminds me, the index in the manual is useless. So good luck with that. But the manual itself is mostly clear and simple.) The one thing I found not intuitive (and actually kind of stupid -- more on that in the "overall" section) is the order of the insert effects. But again, the manual is very clear on this point.

There is one semi-major issue in this category, though: the tuner. It is not accessible via footswitch. Um...why not? Seriously, that's a pretty basic thing. The bass guitarist is going into a 24-bar solo; I just abused my whammy bar and want to make sure I'm still in tune, but in order to do that I have to kneel down on a dark stage and try to find the button?! No. I'll use a separate one, thank you.

This thing has such gorgeous overdrive! I can't believe it. It breaks up so beautifully I never want to stop playing!

Which is why it's such a shame that it takes so much effort to get many usable tones from it. I dialed in a modern rock sound with no trouble whatsoever, but it took me HOURS to get a decent classic rock tone out of it.

The main problem is that almost none of the basic amp models have much treble to offer. I'm using an Ibanez RG series guitar, which was made for shredding, so it has high end to spare. And yet, I can't get even do a pinch harmonic on most of the default settings. Thankfully there is a treble boost "pedal" which solves this problem, but then I can't use any other overdrive pedal.

There's also the fact that there aren't any devoted clean amps. We have a slew of OD/distortion pedals to choose from, but the only way to get a clean base tone is to set an amp gain to no more than 3. Any particular reason for that? Apparently they didn't have jazz (or clean blues) players in mind when they designed this thing.

I also should point out that none of the amp models really sound that different from each other. Yes, they have their own subtleties and the EQ sounds different on each of them, but they still sound like basically the same amp. On the bright side, this actually fixes one of the main problems amp modelers tend to have. Usually you can select a clean tone, a crunch tone and a high gain tone, but rarely will they match. Sometimes they'll be so mismatched that is literally sounds like you switched amplifiers in the middle of a song. But most if not all of the amp models on the TLLE are compatible with each other. Tweak a few settings, and you can switch from one to another without it sounding unnatural.

It also sounds great when sending it into a recording device. At least, it sounded great in my Micro BR.

I haven't had it for very long. It's made of metal, with plastic knobs. So I think it should hold up and long as I don't step on it in the wrong places.

I play mostly classic rock, but I like to do some modern stuff once in a while. And when I'm in the mood I'll do some jazz or blues. I know you can't find an amp that runs the gamut of styles, but isn't that the point of putting so many amp models on a unit like this? But this one takes so much effort to get a usable tone for anything but modern rock or heavy metal. Still, when you finally do get the sound you're looking for, it will make sweet love to you like you wouldn't believe. The breakup on this thing is awesome. I've used the DigiTech GNX series, and I have yet to hear a realistic tone from a POD. This is easily the winner in the category of modeling tone.

Yet Vox made some odd decisions with the TLLE. For one thing, there's no footswitch for the tuner, making it too inconvenient to use in a live setting. Also, they included an effects loop, but it's inserted AT THE BEGINNING of the chain! Other than having a (non-footswitchable!) button to turn on/off the loop, this is pointless! You can just hook your effect(s) up to the input and get exactly the same result! Why didn't they give us a standard effects loop -- immediately before the power amp/output? Like I said, odd decision.

Nor can you use a wah pedal and an OD/distortion pedal at the same time. This isn't really a big deal, since you can use a wah with a cranked amp sim (but then, no treble boost), or you can put your own wah pedal in front of the unit. But it still would have been nice to have more of an option in that regard.

The TLLE also lacks any kind of CD/audio input, which I thought had become fairly standard on these units. I treasured the "learn a lick" feature on my DigiTech unit, but there's nothing of the kind here. No biggie, but it's conspicuous in its absence.

So I can't give it a 10, but overall I am very pleased with it...as long as I have the patience to work on finding a good tone!

Super easy to use. Within minutes of taking it out of the box I was tweaking and creating patchs. Those who say this unit is hard to use, must not be too bright. Its probably the easiest of all the modelling units out there. If you can tweak an amp you can tweak this,if not then , I dont know,.....buy a kazoo or something. Editing patches=dial in a sound---hit "write" twice---done---easy. I only had to get into the manual to get into the deeper editing functions, like assigning stuff to the pedal and the "pedal" button. The manual is easy to understand. If you can read at a 7th grade level you'll have no problems.

I use several different guitars. Mostly strat styled with humbuckers. I also use a strat with a single coil and suprise....its a bit noisy, just like it is when plugged into ANY amp. It has some hiss when using high gain settings.....just like all amps,or amp simulators do. The noise gate is pretty effective, not great but good. The effects are very good. My only gripe is that the Wah and the Distortions are on the same dial, so you cant use them together. Not a big problem unless you're doing Hendrix, but still kind of a dopey oversight on Vox's part. I use this thing thru my computer with the stock soundcard into a Bose 2.1 speaker setup. I think it sounds great. When I play live, which is usually 3-6 times a month I go direct into the PA and use the stage monitors as my only monitors. Been doing it this way for @ a year and I love it. Hearing myself blended with the rest of the band thru the monitors makes it easy to adjust my picking dynamics, volume etc. so it sounds like your listening to the band thru a stereo. And BTW this thing responds to changing the volume knob on my guitar just like a real amp. I rarely ever use a straight up clean setting, to get clean I just roll the volume down and it sounds sweet. I play in two praise and worship bands, and I can get any tone I need. My favorite is a "Lincoln Brewster" tone that I've dialed in that sounds unbelievable. Some have commented that this thing will "never sound like a tube amp"! I agree it wont like a GOOD tube amp, although I've heard some of the lower end tube amps that dont sound as good as this. To get a good sounding tube amp, most will agree ya gotta crank it. At lower levels, I.E. conversation and bedroom levels the Tonelab LE will definately give them a run for the money. Also its just not a fair comparison to run the Tonelab thru your computer speakers and compare it to the tube amp sitting right beside you. The Tonelab is designed to sound like a "mic'd" amp. If you want an A/B comparison you need to isolate your amp in another room, mic it into your computer and then compare them. It'll be a lot closer than you might think. If you want it any closer you'll just have to pony up a couple of grand for a GOOD amp, another $1500 or so for the effects and you'll be set.

No problems in a year. I gig with it all the time. No I wouldnt gig with it without a backup, that would be insane with any amp. Always have a backup.

Never needed.

Been playing off and on for 20 yrs, pretty much daily the last 4 yrs or so. I've owned Marshall, Fender, Peavey and Carvin amps, tube and SS. This thing suits my current needs well. Plug-n-Play. I'd replace it if lost or stolen. I compared it to Zoom, Line6 and Digitech before buying. I picked the Tonelab cause it sounds better, more organic, than the others, and because of the user friendly nature of it.

I found the interface easy to use. Of course I read the manual a bit first, but 5 minutes were enough to understand the basics and get me going. It's not necessary to read it, but it will make your life easier as is usually the case with manuals. It is very well written by the way, and it is very enlightening to check it now and then. There's always some new trick to learn, and info about the characteristics of every amp and effect it emulates. I've used several similar units over the last 9-10 years, including synths and digital consoles with lcd interface and knob controls, and this one felt pretty comfy. Once you select your amp and cab model, the buttons' functions are pretty obvious. As for the fx section, there's only the limitation that you can use only 4 of them simultaneously. So that's the only point to consider as a drawback if you like to have 10 fx stacked at the same time. However, I am an fx person myself and sometimes I like to make my guitar sound like a 70's movie spaceship, but up to now I haven't had a need for that 5th effect. So I don't consider it to be a significant drawback.

I use it both for practice and recordings. I've played it mostly with an epiphone les paul standard of the 700euro quality, tuned in drop C for heavy stuff (got some killer sepultura-slipknot sounds out of it) and also with a teisco 67 del rey (vintage, collective, 3 single coil pu's, E-tuning) for sounds including funk, blues, pink floyd, rock'n'roll, punk, radiohead-mogwai experimental sounds, etc.
In every case it did the job perfectly. I am especialy in love with its emulation of the fender twinverb (including the fender tremolo and spring reverb fx). It is exceptionaly realistic with the vintage models, but I was completely satisfied with the modern ones as well. It is to me as close as it gets to the actual amps.
The fx are also very wisely chosen and very well emulated and I've had lots of fun stacking and synchronizing delays together to create those complicated pink floyd long-tailed sounds. I give it a 9, considering 10 to be the sound of the actual amps it emulates. As I said, I can't imagine anything getting any closer.

I've had it for some time now and I've been tweaking it a lot on an everyday basis, and it never complained. It looks reliable to me. But it doesn't look like it would survive a fall or someone stepping hard on it with boots for example. So I give it an 8 considering that it looks rather sensitive to bashing hits and mistreatment. But if handled with respect and reason I think it will survive many years of frequent use.

No idea. I hope I'll never have to know as with all my equipment.
The website is ok though, providing software to tweak and exchange patches which is very useful.

Generaly I would consider this unit to be mostly an amp-cab emulator rather than a multi-fx unit because they focused on making the most out of its tube, to make it emulate the amps accurately. It has a great variety of amps and cabs with even more combinations so it's what the name says, a lab where you shape your tone. Not an fx unit. However it has enough fx (both in quantity and quality) to cover all my needs, especially for a gig, where the outboard fx are limited compared to a recording studio. Even so, I would have bought it at the same price even for just the amps & cabs section now that I know how they sound. If lost/stolen I would buy it again. I give it a 10 because it gave me so many great sounding amps making my practising and my studio recordings very versatile and wide in genres, for a very good price.

Let me start off by saying why I bought the Vox Tone Lab LE. As you well know guitarist are a fickled bunch on the whole. Always looking for that ever elusive tone that sometimes only exists in there minds. They will buy anything in there quest to find that one unit that will do it all for them. Unfortunately that unit does not exist nor will it ever be created, and with so much to chose from there search goes on. Unit after unit there dreams go up in fire in this maddening process. While technology moves forward so do they at a cost that borders on schiz??o??phre??ni??a.
I to was once a part of this madness but no longer. After previewing all that the God???s had to offer I have chosen the Vox to die with. Now I don???t care if you personally what to mock my choice or point out to me what sounds you hear in your head, but pound for pound and dollar for dollar this unit has the retro sounds from are beloved past. No it wont give you everything that you want, but it will come close enough to make you happy and sane again.

Sound wise it is the warmth that stands out above the rest of them. Most of the effects are quite good and can be tweaked to your hearts content. Again I use the word retro sounding, which most of the other manufactures have failed to capture. Some have said that it does not do well when it comes to recording? Well let me put your minds to rest by saying that after 25 years of recording it is a pleasure to hear the results of this unit. Song after song the Vox did its job more then admirably. Either you have the chops and the ear to get good results will determine the outcome of your recordings. Turn a knob, chose an effect, pick an amp, tweak , and then hit record button and your on your way. Everything about this unit is first rate, its just up to you to find its potential. Oh by the way I had two Line 6 pod units and almost wound up in a mental institution. You guys know what I am talking about, even though you don???t want to admit it. For you gear junkies its about time you got a life.

Never had a problem and its been 8 months now.

No matter what company you dont what to go through this.

Its got nearly everything that I need to perform and to record. Sound wise nothing out there can beat its warm tone and killer effects in one housed unit. Vox is marching to a different drummer and I love what they have done. Been playing now for more then 25 years, and I don???t need to blow smoke out of my *** when it came to this review.

more hard to use than expected.

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it? 5
How about Editing patches? 5
How is the manual for it (if there is one)? 5

very good sound!
you just need to plug it to a decent speaker.

What setup (i.e. what guitars and amps) are you using this with? tele > board > roland
Is it noisy? On what settings? just in hi-gain settings - normal
Are the effects weak or do they always sound great? some effects could have a wider range (delay, tremolo, phaser, etc.)
What amp are you using it with? roland jc
Can you get the sound of your favorite artists? almost
Are certain effects (distortion, chorus, ...) very good? Very bad?
the most common effects are fair in general; but wider ranges needed (delay, etc.)

Can you depend on it? 7
Would you use it on a gig without a backup? 7

What style of music do you play? rock
Is this a good match? generally yes
How long have you been playing? 20y.
If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else? maybe get something else
what do you love about it? nice sound + plenty effects in one
What do you hate? not easy to use + lack of wide ranges
Did you compare it to other products? yes
Which ones? tonelab se
Why did you choose this one? price vs. features
Anything you wish it had? to change parameter on-fly without ear changing.
Does it help you make music, or does it get in the way? help me to make music

Its very easy to use. Plug and play! Editing patches is also easy. For special editing you find held in the manual.

My setup: PRS CE 22 - TLLE - Tech21 Power engine.
Its not more or less noisy than other gear. There is also a good working noise reduction in it. All the amp models, the pedals, and other effect sound really great. I espcially love the vox-wah sound.
I get evry sound I need in my cover-band.

Its built like a tank - metal chassis.

Never needed.

I'm in a cover band. Play since more than 20 years. Owned a lot of other gear. I would buy the TLLE again if it was stolen, because its so easy to use, it gives me the sounds that I need.

It's very easy to get a good sound out of it. Plug and play. Editing is easy too. Just turn the knobs and save sound - thats it. If your looking for something special: Just take a look in the manual - its writte in a way everybody can understand.

My Setup: PRS CE22 - Tonelab LE - Tech 21 Powerengine PE 60 (1x12 Box with an built in Power Amp). The Tonlab LE is not more noisy than any other gear. Anyway, the built in noisegate works fine. Theres no need to highlight any of the amp types or of the effects, because thy all sound great. I recommend to plug the tonelab in an amp like the Powerengine - it sound relly great.

It's built like an tank. I would use it on a gig without a backup?

Didnt need it till today.

I play blues, rock, pop music in a cover band. With the Tonelab LE I get evry sound I need - and evry effect I want. I play since 30 years. I pre-owend a marshall, or a fender, or a vox amp etc. Now I have marshall + fender + Vox + many others with all the pedals, wahs, delay, reverb .... in only one case and with the recommended Power Engine 60 I'm full equipped for the gig.

It's plug and play. The default programs give a good overview. Setting up the Tonelab LE (TLLE) is very easy, so the you barely don't need the manual. Anyhow - if you're looking for something special, the manual helps you in each situation. There are built in many amp-simulations and many pre / post effects.

My setup: PRS CE 22 - TLLE - Tech21 Power Engine 60. The TLLE is not noisy in moderate settings. Hi gain settings are a littly noisy - like in any other gear. But thats no problem, using the build in noise gate. Really all simulations and effects sound great (especially the vox-wah). The TLLE works fine with my amp, wich is rather a powered box. I cover top 40 hits and oldies. With the TLLE I get every sound I need. In my setup the sound is like a real tube amp - there's nothing digital in the sound.

I gigged a l w a y s with a simple pedal-preamp as backup in my pocket (even if I would used a marshall stack). But I depend on the TLLE. It is made of metal. I gig wih it. No problems.

Didn't need it until now

I play top 40 and oldies. For that the TLLE is a good match. Since more than 25 years I'm playing and I owned a lot of other gear. I would buy the TLLE it again if it was stolen, because of the good sound and the ease of use. The bottom in front of my feet has never been so clean and tidy since I use TLLE - no more tangled mess of cables and single pedals.

I am not quite sure what the problem is for some of the reviewers below ... this thing is by far the easiest multi-FX unit I've ever used. It is so incredibly intuitive! You select the type of effect you want to use with the chickenhead knobs at the top, and then use the dials to adjust the sound. If you have ever used a stompbox, you can use this. No twiddling in menus or complicated settings. when it comes to user friendliness, nothing beats this.

Well done VOX.

My setup has changed, due to the TLLE. I play in a U2 tribute and have gone through a wide array of different setups. At first, a pedalboard from hell with loopers, splitters etc, all running into an AC30. Next, I ditched the pedalboard for a G-System. Next, for lack of mod delay on the G-System, I got myself the Tonelab LE. Never looked back. Guitars I use are Fender Strat, Gibson LP Standard, Gibson '76 Explorer and Yamaha APX 500 electro-acoustic.

At first, I ran it through the AC30 but after a few months I noticed that the AC30 sim on the TLLE sounds so close to the original it really made no sense to carry the real amp so I sold it and now plug the Tonelab directly into the mixing desk.

Playing in a U2 tribute the TLLE has to rival Edge's Cape Canaveral setup and after each and every show people come up to me to praise the sounds I'm getting. 'nuff said.

The only two things I'd like to see improved on the next generation are:

1) have 2 "pedal" sections, so we can use a distortion pedal and wah or compressor for instance. This can be overcome by getting distortion from an amp sim but it would still be cool.
2) the delays don't trail when you switch preset. Especially in a U2 tribute, this can be annoying, as delays are an integral part of my sound.

I have built my TLLE into a flightcase and never had any problems with it. It never let me down, never played tricks on me.

I fully depend on it, and don't use backup when gigging - which I do quite often.

Never dealt with them.

Have been playing for 15~20 years and my current setup is by far the best compromise between quality, flexibility and practicality. If it were stolen I would definitely get a new one, and load the presets I stored on my PC onto the new one, and I'd be back in business in 5 minutes.

Can't wait for the next generation to come out - if VOX have implemented the same usability and also added the 2 features I described above, I'll be their first buyer.

Not as good as the original ToneLab or the ToneLab SE but just ok

Just use it for recording late at night or to get ideas not really good enough to use as the final product, to noisy and does not sound as good as the ToneLab or the ToneLab SE. It sounds just too digital not as good as a real tube amp with a good mike, not even close.

Never gets moved around but not that well built so I would be very cautious moving it without a case. When you bought the original ToneLab SE it came with a great gig bag but this is a cheaper version so you get what you pay for I guess.

Had problems with switching system to much lag between settings, so not that good for live gig, but then who would it for a live gig anyway.

I have been playing for 25 years in mostly Roots Rock, Blues, Country and Classic Rock Bands. I own and play through a Fender Vibro-King, Vibrolux Reverb and a Deluxe Reverb and also own a Marshall 50 watt plexi head and use it through a 2X12 bandmaster cabinet with V30 speakers. I had an original ToneLab SE but was stolen so I bought this and it isn't even close. The amps modeling is not as good as the original and you only get 1 expression pedal. The tuner just sucks and you can't change the tube as easy as the original. I am going to sell it and try to find a ToneLab or a ToneLab SE.

It is horrible trying to get the exact sound you want. There are amillion different options when it comes to changing/enhancing your tone. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it sure is a mother to dial in.

This thing sound great for clean stuff and classic rock. Right now I am using it on my Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier. I have bypassed basically everything, and use their tube screamer for my lead channel, and a seperate channel with bi-chorus and reverb for my clean channel.It does the job to enhance my amp. I compared VOX's version of the tube screamer to my TS-9 tube screamer, and the sound was almost identical. VOX does a great job of emulating other amps.

I have never had any major problems with this thing, it just gets really frustrating spending hours dialing it in differently. I would not use it as a primary amp, but more of a backup.

N/A

I play mainly metal, and it is not very good for it by itself. I use it mainly to enhance my current rig, alongside with a BBE Sonic maximizer. If this was lost or stolen, odds are I would buy a line 6 POD, or line 6other effect/modeling amp. IMO, line 6 does a far better job at modeling for what I play. This is a great product, but whether you like it or not is all a matter of personal preference. Go to a music store and try it out!

This is the most user friendly and simply the best multi effects I ever had. Changing the effects and amp modellers is straightforward by switching any of the five chicken head knobs. Tweaking of these effects can be easily done by selecting any one of the six silver knobs. It is so easy to get a nice tone and it can be done in mere seconds, then you are ready to ROCK.

I've had a few multi effects before this Tonelab LE like Zoom G9.2tt, Zoom 707, Boss ME-50, Pod XT and none comes even close to this unit. To think that I am just using a cheap low end amp like Ibanez Toneblaster 25 and get great sounds out of this unit, it is just mind boggling. The sound I got is so natural, full and very realistic with no fuzzy. The sounds of the amp and cabinet modelling are close to the actual thing. I can even get heavy lows out of the distortion or screaming highs easily out of the lead solo. I am now seriously considering selling my other effects which also includes pedals like BOSS DD-6 and BOSS DS-1.

I cant say much on this topic because I've just got it about two weeks. Its reliability remains to be seen.

Cant say much either. So far the unit is doing mighty fine, no problems at all

I play mostly 80's rock and progressive rock and this unt sertainly delivers. It is a joy to be spending time playing the guitar when I can easily get the tone that I want. It is easy to use, cheap and most importantly sounds really great. What else can you ask for? It is my perfect multi effects pedal period. :)

This unit, as multieffect processors go, is very easy to use. I really don't like menu driven units, so the Tonelab LE has a great interface--very well designed.

It is a tall order for one unit to do everything well. I think VOX has done a great job of getting closer than any otmaher nufacturer at this price point (or higher, for that matter). The sound quality is outstanding. For live performers who have to cover a lot of sonic ground, this is a great unit. Many classic sounds are amazingly recreated. The distortion options are top-shelf, although my personal experience has been that to use the unit for heavy distortion, a clean amp setting works best. The ability to select effect routing is very handy, too. Feeding the dely signal into the chorus, for example, like The Edge of U2. Not every option is a home run, though. The WAH option is a bit thin and lacks the drama you would get from a standard VOX or Cry Baby pedal. The acoustic simulator isn't really useable, although it works better on single poles rather than humbuckers, I feel.

I have had no issues with my unit and it has seen alot of use. It is a heavy unit and it is built tough. I recommend purchasing gig bag for it. I looked for the VOX-issued bag but couldn't find one. I did buy a padded Gator gig bag which is perfect and protects the unit nicely.

I only had one interaction with customer service. I had a question about using splitting the unit's output via a transformer-based A/B box. The response I got was prompt and accurate.

This unit simply sounds great. It does so many things very well. Of course, I have my pet peeves. One is that (not an issues with the SE product), is that you can only use one of the "Pedal" options at a time. I would like to see a separate section in future products that contain only distortion options. Another issue I have, and I just live with this because I have to, is that there is a small delay when you change programs on-the-fly. Even though the front end is analog, everything else is processed digitally which means you have to wait for the processor to catch up. It isn't too bad, just that it is not instantaneous as with a stomp box. The 1/8 inch headphone jack is a somewht of a pain too. I wish the unit had a built-in power supply, but that would have been cost prohibitive for VOX (I despise wall-warts). But there are so many great sounds in the box. Where else can you call up the greatest effects of all time and mix and match them with the best sounding amps ever made? The Boutique distortion is remarkable, and so is the Tube Overdrive (Tube Screamer. I have actually A/B these). Emulation of Dumble and Marshall are also fantastic and are very nuanced and authentic sounding. The unit is quiet, and has great headroom. The delays and reverb have quiet, detailed tails. Try turing off the AMP and CAB option, and using the reverbs and delays through the effects loop of your amp. To my ears, the sound eexceeds many rack units costing much more. The Tonelab LE is powerful. So much so that you may have to strike a balance between the unit and you curreent rig. Clean setting for distortin, in my experience, works great. Sometimes an added gain stage (that is driven) from an amp can suck the tone a little from the VOX, so I had to experiment with my channel settings for different patches. Being able to disengage the CAB option has been handy, too, as this carries considerable EQ overhead. Overall, this unit is such a great value. Typically, you find a few programs in multi-effects units that are good and the rest are off-the-wall and only good for, I don't know, doing scores for films or something. The Tonelab LE does so many classic amps and effects well. I highly recommend this to any guitarist a discerning ear, and with varied tastes from Pat Metheny to Metallica.

Plug it in, get a good sound. That's pretty easy. Of course it also pays to set the output setting for whatever your particular rig happens to be, which isn't really clear till you read the manual, which is average to below average in terms of clarity. 2 demerits.

Editing patches was incredibly easy. Set the knobs where they sound good and press the "write" button. Of course, other functions (like how to set the control pedal) are lass clear, till you read the afroementioned poorly written manual. I am currently using a

I am currently using a Mexican strat equipped with a Floyd Rose and Carvin pickups. I am also using a Schecter Diamond series A-7+ 7 string and a franken-Paul. Different setting seem to work with some guitars but not others. Fortunately the thing is highly tweakable. Noise out of the box was a problem, but the built in noisegate fixed it. It'd be nice to have an actual buttong for "noisegate" out in the open.

The effects sound incredible with one exception. The acoustic guitar simulator, which sounds great through headphones utterly sucks live. I attempted to use it at a gig this past weekend, and my "acoustic" setting vanished in the mix.

I'm plugging the Tonelab directly into the return jacks on a Line 6 Flextone (Yes, the Tonelab finally puts my trusty Flextone to pasture. Except for it's power amp!)

I could get most of my favorite guitarists' sounds. These include Jimi Hendrix, Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, Yngwie Malmsteen, Randy Rhodes, Dimebag, and Hammet. The inclusion of a Roland JC120 model would have been nice.

The amp models sound realer than real thanks to the tube and faux output tube modelling. As far as I know no other company is doing something like this. They should! Hats off to Vox. The modulation effects all sound warm and full, and these include a few oddball things aside from your standard chorus/flange/phaser/pitch varieties. The Filtron model is good for hours of fun and I even got my guitar to produce analog synth type sounds with it. Other notables include a reverse delay which I can't stop playing with, a hold delay with 8 seconds of time, and numerous analog delay models. There are reverbs galore, but I don't use reverb much. One other thing; when setting the output setting use LN2 and the EQ gives things a much thicker feel.

I'd have given it a ten but for the acoustic simulator.

I did gig with it without a backup. No problems, and we have lots of gigs booked, so if it does become a problem you can be sure I'll report back here ;-)

Haven't dealt with them yet.

I play pretty much everything. From Nancy Sinatra to Kitty. It's kept up with my eclectic playing quite nicely so far.

I've been playing since 1978. I also own a Digitech TSR 24, TSR 12, Digitech RDS 8000, Zoom 2100, Alesis Nanocompressor, Yamaha 16 channel board, Peavey CS 800 power amp, Peavey SP2 mains, Behringer monitors, mics, a Zoom 1600MRS 16 track recorder, Line 6 Flextone, Behringer GMX212 and some pedals.

If it were lost or stolen I'd buy another. I may anyhow, just for a backup.

I love the tones, hate the acoustic simulator and the manual, my favorite feature is the tube, baby, the tube! I compared it to a Zoom 9.1ut and this just blew it out of the water. The zoom sounded tinny and plastic by comparison. If Vox would add a JC120 model and a 2nd expression pedal I'd be in heaven.

If you start from scratch with a clean amp tone,adding pre-amp gain then your delay/rev/modl'n it's easier I think than tweaking the presets. Of course if you're after something specific for a cover tune the presets are a good starting point.Having owned the desktop Tonelab previously Im still experimenting with the Line/amp options.Not using a lot of effect,some chorus and flanging but mostly using for clean and crunch tones and banking patches for ease of access for live shows eg.I'll use prog 1 as a crunch tone for rhythym then prog 2 as a louder copy of prog 1 for leads.Great for cover bands , easy to control lots of signature patches.Much easier and more options than original tonelab The manual is pretty good but you will find your way without it. Just go back to the manual when you think it won't do something you want it to do.Its been said before , easy to get a good tone, harder to get a great tone

I use it with a Les Paul copy, PRS EG, Burns Red special through either a Vox AC30cc or Boogie Studio.22 live. Have not gigged with it thru PA, but sounds great at home.Back to the Line/amp inputs,my desktop TL was always set to Line for input to my amp, AMP setting was too muddy. Now the new choices have got me confused..I have gigged twice with it, yet Im wondering if I should try the AMP settings cuz I know the sound will be very different at stage volume.At least I have a lot of choice with this unit.I wish the U-Vibe pedal effect sounded as good as my UniVibe so I could run without it but can't have everything

Had for a month so no worries yet.Going by my experience with original tonelab, I got that one used,maybe 3yrs old and I put 3 yrs on it, gigged it a lot,and every practice.I retired it after an output jack started shorting.It's got an external casing to the jack and looks difficult to replace. Crazy glued the crack and it works for now but unreliable for gigs, still in use at home.Unless Vox has cheaped right out the LE should last as long.Price is way down from the original or the previous SE model if I remember correctly so I really hope Vox improved on design and manufacturing and didnt cost down the parts too much.
**Always have SOMETHING as a backup.**

I'll return it to the dealer if I have trouble with it.
The website is worth checking out, some knowledgeable people there
Price is way down from the original or the previous SE model

I play in a rock cover band,and any floor effects unit is great for switching patches for the next tune.Tonelab does not sound digital like my old Digitechs, doesnt hiss like a lot of overdrive pedals.
It's not strictly an effects unit, I value it because the tones really are amazing,yet it has more effects than I'll ever use.Really all you need.I couldn't justify all that other rack gear when this will do 85% of all that at your feet.
Wish it still had the A/B switch the SE had.
Of course Id replace if stolen,or should I say the thief would

Very easy out of the box. It made a refreshing change to have sensible preset sounds and wasn't long before I found a clean, crunch and lead sound that I could use on stage. The rotary dials make experimenting a piece of cake though you are limited to what pedals you can have at once. For example you have to choose between Wah Wah or Compressor - you can't have both. I was lucky enough to had a Wah (Vox has it happens!) lying around so that sorted that out! It's a shame that there's no USB connection - there is an editor that can be downloaded but that connects via the MIDI Interface.

This is where it wins. I bought the Vox to replace my Pod XT Live which always sounded a bit dead. The Vox makes my guitar wail, scream and sing. It sounds gutsy with rich overtones, so you can hold a note and bask in it's depth - beautiful. Clean sounds, distorted sounds, I just can not fault the sound quality. Buy it for this alone.

I've owned this for a while with no problem to date...

Not Applicable

A bit limiting to what effects chains you can create, but very simple to use. It could do with a USB port so I can tweak via a laptop, but... that SOUND! The on-board valve really makes a difference. Other brands must spend so much time trying to emulate a valve sound - why not just put one in, like Vox have - Doh!

I own a Line 6 Pod XT Live and spent the morning trying every multi FX unit in the shop most with zany ear bashing presets that if you were 12 would think cool, not realising that they're completely useless.

I've been playing for over 20 years - current setup:
Les Paul classic > Vox Wah > Vox Tonelab LE > Direct into the PA (We play psychdelic Rock, acoustic with electro backing)

I found the manual to be limited. I found it to be the hardest pedal to learn how to operate I have ever had, but once you figure it out its ok. Manual sucks, not specific enough.

Only 1 complaint... wah wah sucks. Sucks bad... No fun at all. Totally flat and dead. Very digital and crappy sounding wah. Otherwise it would get a 10 in my book. Everything else sounds pretty good. I have only made a few user presets. The factory ones sound pretty good.

Never had a problem.

Tried to get in touch with them about an amp, good luck.

Been playing 20 years. It is a good value. ALL of those amp models and effects for 400$. Not dead nuts sounding to the amps and the effects are good enough for me. Just play one before you purchase and you will know within 30 seconds if you like it or not.

Pretty simple multieffect processor, easy to use. Altough, accesing the Tuner could be solved better, without getting on the floor and hurting your back to push the little button. They should solved it on a DIgitech way - push 2 pedals together and get the the tuner function. Manual is very detailed, and everybody should definatelly read it first, before using the unit (altough is hard....i know;) There are some really good advices in there.

This is the best thing about this unit. Valve (tube) isn't there just for decoration. It's really doing the job. Vintage sounds are really great, but you can also make some great ''shread a like'' sounds with no problem. There's a lot amount of gain in amps+pedals, and combined together, you can produce very ''killer sounds''. Even on stage, when you plug unit directlly to the mixer (with no amp) you can be shure that you will have great tone. Of course, you need to spend some time with the unit before, because presets are not that great, and there's only couple of them, even there's a 30+4 programs.

It seems real solid. But button for powering unit (in the back - right side) is trouble. Plastic button fell of first day I bought the Item. And my friend experienced the same thing. Be carefull with that, or use some glue to put it back, and make shure that anoying thing don't came off again. Beside that, pedals are solid, made form metal, you can really step on them. Same as expression pedal. Nice.

I bought It couple of days ago, so really doesn't have any opinion.

This one is maybe one of the ''Best buy'' and best value for money units. Really, for 340 Euros I payed for it, I doubt you can find something better.

Use of this unit is very simple especially with the control knobs right onboard along with the effect names shown as well. I've used other old school effects processors (digitech, Zoom) and attempted to use newer units (POD Live). When adjusting the value of an effect or tone on the fly this can be tricking because of the ratical jumps from the original value to the desired setting.

I may be a bit premature in my writings on this unit, but I feel the sound quality good for what it is. I think most guitarists are always searching for a more perfect tone and sound. We are never satisfied, yet this unit does a very good job of capturing the tones from various vintage amps. No one should actually expect a complete Fender or Marshall sound and tone to be jammed into a box. That wouldn't make sense. If that were the case there would be no need to lug such monsters around. However I feel the tonelab does good job of recreating the tone of those amp models. Besides look at the name of the unit....TONELAB which I automatically think of tones rather than effects.

Not sure of this one yet. I've had this unit for about nine months and yet I still use my analog stomp pedals with an amp. The board appears to be fairly sturdy.

In my opinion there is no one amp, guitar, nor effect processor that can do it all. You have to find out what works with your needs (before you shell out the bucks). I think this unit does what it set out to do. It delivers and recreates good tones from various amp models along with some decent effects. If you want a massive amount of effects that are over the top Tonelab may be for you as well as the extreme metal player. If you are recording or in a situation where you have to go throuh a PA but want capture the basic tone identity of your Fender, Vox etc then this unit is worth a try out. Of course nothing will beat your straight up Rat going through the tube amp of your choice, yet Tonelab LE does a good job of closely match such tones. Keyword Tone.

Come one! This thing has EVERYTHING labeled! It's amazing! So many features and effects and yet so easy to do patch editing. Plus there are 30 banks in which you can store up to 4 patches in each which makes it very accessible for quick, desired patch changing with minimal sound cutoff between patches, practically non noticeable. The manual is pretty straight forward with explanations on everything this pedal board can do. If you have the right equipment you can do from amazingly sparkly to bluesy cleans to crunchy to heavy distorted sounds. At first I was kind of shy with it because I had never worked with a multi effect board but once I began pressing buttons everything came out natural. IF it were a LINE 6 POD I'd give it a 4 on ease of use, but TONELAB LE gets a straight 8 because of course, your not gonna get the sound you want instantly.

I'm running the Tonelab LE through the amazing MXR 10 band EQ (which adds A LOT to ANY piece of equipment you might own) and through a Carvin T100 Poweramp on to a Peavey 1x12 which I ripped off the poweramp and preamp section and converted into a Speaker Cabinet. I have and used several guitars with it already, from a low cost Epiphone strat to a Schecter BlackJack to a Fender strat to a Gibson.

Through this setting of mine the Tonelab LE Crushes!! I began with the presets and different output settings and found it best to run the thing through the LINE 2 option (since I'm using a poweramp).

The board IS completely silent, no noise AT ALL even with high gain patches which at most the noise is very minimal, normal in any device.

Most of the effects are usable (talking about the mods, reverbs and delays) The cabs are great for direct recording and the amps and pedals are AWESOME!

It's been so difficult to me because Im kinda very techy with anything that produces sound and I wanted something that would not sound digital or at least to the minimum and, At least though direct recording and my setup, it doesn't sound digital at all! The cleans are cleans and the distortions are great! Obviously your not getting a chugga chugga extreme demonic distortion out of this but thats why I have my trusty ADA MP-1 in my rig which I modified completely (now thats METAL). But overall... If you didn't like this device... you know squat about setting up sounds, eq'ing, etc, or your waiting for a miracle to magically give you great sounds. Of course it also depends on your guitar and the rest of your setup, the TONELAB can't do ALL the work.

Not of my very interest but I have tried several patches around about different artist and YOU CAN get very close to those kind of sounds. This thing is very versatile. But sounds of my own I have managed to produce and I am at the very least very very pleased with the board.

Non of the effects are very bad, in fact, all usable. Only some of the modulations are so so but I didnt get this for modulations, I got it for delays, reverbs, amps and pedals.

One more thing is that at high volumes this thing keeps the same sound or makes it better. It doesnt become noisy or muddy at all.

I, personally, am a tube guy and the little tube actually does something to the sound... It's not there for show.

I wish I could give it a ten but then again, for being a digital processor it gets -1 and sadly, even tho the rest of the board is very well constructed and strong, I dont think it would take a 6 feet fall so it gets another -1 (A pod live I'd give a - 5 for that cause its casing is simply crap).

The buttons on this are very reliable so that's fine.... But the worst of this board is the foot expression pedal... The construction does not make any sense... It relies on two hangers tightened by Allen screws and I am very afraid it will become a problem for some people (for me it's no problemo cause I can fix any problems it might give) But for now it works wonderfully, very useful! I give it a -2.

Have not dealt with yet so... Don't know.

I play blues, rock, hard rock, metal, and psychedelic stuff... been playin for 6 years now, and the TONELAB LE can handle pretty much anything. If all you want is deadly distortion it wouldnt make much sense if you bought this. Overall I made a great choice in getting this monster and I am very happy with it.
The cleans are BEAUTIFUL and the distortions are WONDERFUL specially for soloing. If stolen I would find the bastard and pluck his head off but if not I'd buy it again. I wish the pedal was something more like a crybaby pedal (More reliable). I have tried out the POD XT live and X3 which are great for recording... but for live situations.. wouldnt stand a chance. The GT models of BOSS are good for effects but the amps and pedals sound so nastily digital... bleh!

If you need something to produce several types of sounds... This is it!

The Vox Tonelab is a Modeler, as many others. In direct comparison to a Boss GT-8 or Line6 Pod it seems - at the first view - that the options, possible combinations, and the 1001 "please tweak me too" options are less, but if it comes down to practicing its more than enough. One more think to say, I have owned a Line6 Pod and a GT-8 too, but what i was searching for was an Amp, with its own style, sound and "habitus". I found it in the Tonelab. Compared to the Tonelab SE some Features werde changed, or simply not implemented (e.g. a/b Switch). If you are really interested in, take a deep dive into the manuals, which are available online. I'm not really missing them. Sure - they made sense, and still would do, but the SE is a monster in size, and not really usable (because of its size).
The digital I/O of the LE is a real bonus regarding recording situations. Big win! The tuner option for example is implemented much smarter than in the SE. So choose for yourself. You really can't live without the extra features of the SE? Buy it. You don't? Take the LE. Simple advice. Easy to follow.

Yes. It differs. Sure it does. Clean is the domain of transistor amps. Drive is the one of tube amps. Isn't? YES! Sure. NO! Not at all! Honk you are! Well, lots of Voodoo in there - no doubt. And a lot of personal taste. So who am i to judge? The LE is gear at a cost of 350 EUR. Hey Guys, its sounds much better, but it is not a Engl Savage special edition or Mesa Rectifier placed on Top of a 4*12'' cabinet, so do not compare them!
In a price / sound comparison it gets a big 10. Nothing else, a big ten.
This counts for clean sounds, and High Gain too. Now approaching crunch. Crunch is the hardest sound to fit, and in my opinion Crunch is the division where you have to do a deep dive and where the tastes differ most. The LE delivers Crunch sounds, and you have a wide range of options to choose from and tweak, and they are all very effective, so: Give it a try. I think they can satisfy a lot of tastes and wishes, sure not at a 100 percent, but maybe 85-90. And often this is absolutely enough! None of the modelers - especially if they promise that they do - match the sounds of the originals. Even though the tonelab is surely NOT an AC15 AC15TB, AC30, AC30TB ... in a box of 350 EUR, it is an amp with it's own style, sound and versatility. And that is good. Very good. And it sounds well. Very well.

It's really build to last. Tank like. Build of steel. No plastic. Great!
I'm not owning it long enough to give a real long time statement.

I have not needed it right now - so: No opinion

This is the best modeler in the price category around 400 EUR. I owned, as stated earlier, the GT8 and the Pod XT Live, and they don't get close to the Vox. It sounds good over a PA or (as i do) 1*12'' (closed back cabinet equipped with a Jensen Neodym Tornado). Direct recording into a sound card (e.g. Motu 828MK2) is also possible and - thanks to the digital I/O - very noiseless.

The Tonelab is the best sounding, floor kicking, all in one, carry me everywhere amp, i ever played. It produces very good sounds in an easy to handle way at a VERY afforable price.
Big hands, high five. Good job.

I'm sitting here listening to a live recording of the professional band (Salt Water Cowboys) I play with asking myself, "How easy was this Tonelab LE to get a good sound out of?" I have to say I spent a few weeks getting the tones I was looking for. I did find them earlier tonight and it's very evident on the recording. It was obvious last night when we were performing. The crowd response and personal compliments gave me a clue that the tone was happening. All that aside, it really is a challenge to get a nice tone from your monitors so it was nothing new to play from feel and trust my sound was good. If you've tried this pedal live without an amp you might have experienced a rather harsh tone from your monitors. It's best to stand further away and let the sound develop. My real amps (60's Black Face Fender Twin, Dr. Z Mazerati, VVT Linde Fralin Prototype, etc., etc. never sounded as good when I was too close to them, especially at stage volume. This Tonelab sounded phenomenal when I figured out the proximity. The recording is still playing as I type, wow. I'm liking this better than any amp I've played live with, such variety, from clean country to amazing screaming lead tones with smooth reverb and delays, it has a very professional live recording sound! Editing patches was pretty easy when I got comfy with it. I can edit on the fly now. Read the manual, it's very helpful. Do yourself a favor and crank up the tube drive to 10 on almost everything, even the clean sounds. The VR gain is magical. I know, one lonely preamp tube, go figure. This hasn't been upgraded so it's totally stock. Are there any upgrades yet? I'll keep aclose eye on the website.

I use a Rowbottom guitar with a 150 yr. old Mahogany body and a quilted maple top. It's shaped like a Tele but has 3 G&L MFD design strat type pickups and a maple neck w/medium jumbo frets. It is fitted with a USA PRS Trem bridge. I play straight through the board, yep, and in a professional situation. I experienced some weird noise at first but I was running the main volume of the unit all the way up, mistake. Run it about two thirds up and it's very quiet even with neon lights. I use single coils too and it's not bad at all, even better than an amp. (The live recording is sounding pristine right now). I can get some killer country, blues and jazz tones from the LE as well as fairly rocked out lead tones. I have yet to fully explore the rock tones. So far this is a Fender players dream. I did have the obvious problem of not being able to use the volume corrrectly with the wah. I simply plugged in a Budda Wah and used the volume on the Tonelab. It's really no problem since the Budda is a much better wah anyway. The volume does have issues and I'll explain later.

Here's the tricky section of the interview. It has not totally failed me live yet, totally.....If you read the manual it tells you not to use it in direct sunlight, excessive heat or moist conditions. Well, what kind of band do you have to join that meets this criteria? I use it outside for 80% of our gigs during the summer. So far I've been pretty lucky. It gets direct sunlight for about the first hour of most gigs. The volume pedal doesn't work until the sun goes down some. I remedied this by using my carrying case to shade it. Now the first 15 mins. of the show is without a volume pedal but everything is fine for the remainder of the show. I could get an Ernie Ball Jr. volume pedal or something that works under water, ha. I've actually used one of those in a down pour and I'm still alive to tell. The tuner is also very hard to see in sunlight. Vox must think we're all playing in dark clubs. Ok, now it's time to make this amazing pedal road-worthy. That's why it gets a 7, sorry. Definitely bring a backup. You can say the same for the boutique amps I used. I've had plenty of amps fail and I know the show must go on so I carried a spare. At least with the Tonelab I'm not quite as worried about transporting it from town to town. I carry 2 Rowbottom guitars with me also. I should mention that the first Tonelab LE I ordered had a faulty pedal. I was floppy and wouldn't stay where I put it.

Haven't used it yet. I got the extended warranty from Musician's Friend without hesitation.

Overall, this melts the face off of the Line 6 Pod XT, which I made some nice recordings with also. I'm now wishing I recorded them with the Tonelab LE and might go back for kicks and compare. I know it records way better live than any of the amazing amps I own (and owned). It suits my style very well. I've been playing for over 35 years and you can imagine all the equipment I've been through. I play country, blues, classic rock, southern rock and funk. It does all very, very well. Just keep it out of direct sunlight.

It's fairly easy to start operate the basics of this thing right away. Thing that helps is the first section in the manual aimed at people who don't like reading manuals, it's short and clear. Getting the most out of it is another thing. It does require some dedication and time. Some of the settings may sound great in one configuration (hi-fi system in the bedroom) but muddy and characterless in another (a band), or the other way around. Also, the marketing aproach of ciphering the actual amp and effect models really gets in the way. Fortunately you can find translation in forums.

I play Washburn X50 guitar using 2 Seymour Duncan humbuckers. I use TLLE mostly at home and in the band, where each time there is another amp to plug into, and naturally, the results are pretty inconsistent (requires a lot of global eq tweaking to get a decent tone). It's mostly not noisy, or you can diminish the noise with right noise gate settings. The amp models are good, with enough tweaking you can find what you're looking for. I especially like the Soldano (US Modern) for heavy distortion and Dumble clean channel (Boutique CL) for clean. Unfortunately you ALWAYS have to use the cab models together with amp models, otherwise the unit will sound AWFUL (it's ok to turn both off though, if that's what you want). I'd like to believe that VR gain (tube gain) really adds a tubelike quality to the sound, but I may be just convincing myself. But overall it does make sound thicker and fuller.
Effects: here is one weak spot of this unit. Actually, there are two: one is the quality of the effects themselves and the other one is their placement and combination options.
As for the effects quality: there are some really good ones (wah, almost all modulation effects (except maybe chorus), delay and reverbs (BTW, there are some modulation effects in the Pedal section, like U-Vibe and BLK/ORG Phase). But some are not as great:
some distortion effects are very inacurate representations of the original ones. For example, I was surprised to know that PC generated effect in my GearBox (that comes with Line6 Toneport) did better with TubeScreamer and RAT, to name a few (but worse on some of the others). Fuzz is not very inspiring either, and I have to work very hard to imagine that I'm playing acoustic guitar when using Acoustic pedal effect. Way too hard. Boss Acoustic Simulator does it way better. That said, even though the tones are not very accurate, they can be used to get some interestingly sounding tones. It's up to you and your imagination. Pitch shifter effect is really impossible to use for pitch bends higher than about a tone and a half (which is a bummer if you intend to bend a full octave or more), cause then it produces either a dirty unmusical artifact or a significant latency of about 150ms, you choose which.
On the brighter side, Metal Dist is a pretty accurate simulation of Boss MetalZone, but both in my opinion are unusable for metal. As a tip, use the Metal preset, I haven't been able to get a better result myself (disable the reverb though, it doesn't belong there at all).
What else? Ah, yes, the effects' configuration. I don't know what smart *** decided to put the wah effect in the same batch with all distortion effects (Pedal batch), but at the same time put two modulation delays (though somewhat different) in two different batches, namely Modulation and Delay (clarification: you can't use more than one effect from one batch at the same time, meaning you can use no more than 4 effects simultaneously, one from each batch). That means if you want distortion with wah, use amp gain as a distortion or buy another pedal (wah or distortion). Wasn't it clear that using amp distortion and, say, fuzz for Voodoo Child, is not the same thing?!

Here is the real pitfall, at least for me and for a bunch of other guys that bothered to write about it in reviews and forums.
I've owned this unit for about two months.
Yes, it is made of metal and *seems* sturdy. Especially the expression pedal. But that's what brought me the most pain. First it started squeaking, which was pretty easy to fix by spraying a bit of WD40 underneath it. But then it got worse. It got floppy, meaning it didn't maintain its position halfway up, always falling forward. Not willing to start dealing with the customer support I opened it up, and tightened two small allen bolts that were underneath it. But in about a week it happened again. And again! At least three times until now. Just so you know, every time you open this box you need to unscrew about 23 bolts just to take the pedal off. I give it a 2.

Never dealed with it.

In spite of everything said above, this unit has its potential. And in combination with other effects (I use Line6 TonePort as an external "pedal" for playing around at home and recording), you can get some interesting results.
Effects: here is the caveat. Don't buy TLLE if all you are interested in are effects! I'd recommend to buy it to people who don't own a decent amp and don't intend to buy one in the near future, or are fed up with the tone of their amp and want to experiment a bit. Some amp models sound really good, some are weaker. Check out the demo recordings on the Vox site, you'll pretty much get the idea.
Prior to buying it I've run some research and comparisons to POD and Zoom G9.2tt (which in spite of having two tubes in it is nowhere near the tone quality of TLLE). You can compare the demo recordings on the Zoom site with those of Vox. Assuming that in both companies the engineers tried to get the best out of the respective units, TLLE is the CLEAR winner. With POD X3 and XT Pro the competition was a bit tighter, but the TLLE's tube that really does something did something for me as well. Although I've heard that there are some expensive all-digital effect modellers (like Axe-fx) that as even TLLE fans admit, are much better. Surprisingly, some software solutions like GearBox and Amplitube produced better results in some settings.
If it were lost or stolen - who knows! Maybe I'd start using analog pedals and a real amp instead, or looked for the older blue TLSE in second hand ads. They say it's better in terms of usability, A/B, two expression pedals and all. Or maybe I'd buy TLLE again, hoping for a better expression pedal.

It is pretty simple to get going with this thing, it has 40 presets on it that showcase most of the effects, but none of these are special. You will soon want to start tweaking (and lower the Noise Reduction because to my ear it makes things fizz)

To the reviewer below, there IS a way to see the original values - the values do jump to where the knobs are if you twist the knob, but if you use the across arrow near the screen, it goes through each parameter showing you what the value is at - you can make fine adjustments with the up and down arrow, or use the correct knob to quickly change the value

My one gripe with this is the manual's explanations of the effects - there are so many delays for example, but it doesnt explain what you can do with them. If set up correctly, you can use the hold delay to loop a chord progression continuously and then solo over the top for practice, but the manual doesnt explain this. half the fun of these things is exploring them though

I am using a Vintage V100 Les Paul copy (with seymour duncan alnico pro IIs) and a Fender 60th anniversary MIM strat (stock) which I run into a Dunlop SW-95 Slash wah pedal into a V-stack Classic valve amp simulator pedal, into the Tonelab, into the high input of a Laney Lc15r valve amp which is hooked up to a 1x12 cabinet.

Let me explain first that I am a bedroom player. I have owned a 50w JCM 800, as well as practise amps and large solidstates alike, but i decided to downsize and stick to being a bedroom player and I have settled on this set up for the best bedroom tone you can get. Id like to think I know about tone, but this review must be taken the correct context - it gets 9 out of 10 for sound quality for bedroom tones, this unit is simply one of the best ways to get great tones at bedroom levels. I am not comparing this to thousands of pounds worth of boutique gear because it wont compare, but if you need a good tone in your bedroom then this IS the pedal for you, and it is definitely giggable too!

These sound best run into a PA or other FRFR things like keyboard amps, but i have tweaked my valve amp and stuck the tonelab on amp 2 setting with good results. The sound is "full" (couldnt think of a better word there). it is very responsive, with excellent bass middle and treble clarity. Having not tried the amps it models except fot the JCM 800, i cannot really comment on how accurate they are, but they sound great regardless. There arent too many sounds you cannot achieve with this (i can get metal up to "Metallica" territory, although i havent tried to get heavier as I dont like heavy tones, but this may be possible if you use the "metal dist" pedal on it)

I have my first patch set up with no amp or pedal models, with just delay set up to come on with the control button, and the expression pedal to control volume. I use the v-stack which is set up to give a sort of appetite for destruction tone and the slash wah for wah (the wah on the tonelab is great, i just prefer having a separate wah so i can use the tonelab expression pedal for other things. My second patch is a nice clean with a hint of reverb with chorus if you press control, and the tonelab does this brilliantly. MY 3rd is a high gain lead sound, which is also sounds brilliant. I have only had this 2 days yet have managed to get to grips with it and make some great patches as described, showing how easy it is to get great sounds

I have used a Boss GT-3, GT-5, Zoom 707 and behringer V-Amp before and this makes them look pathetic. It responds quite a lot like a valve amp, and you can use your guitar volume to clean up a fully cranked "UK Modern" amp, although you could just as easily create a clean patch next to it. The effects i have had a play with sound great - you can get the living on a prayer talkbox thing perfect. There are an unneccessary number of delays and reverbs, but they sound good. The octave and ring mod effects sound rubbish to me, but they arent my cup of tea.

All in all tonewise, this sounds great. It does some things better than others (you can get vintage brian may spot on, but cant really get a modern brian may sound which is as good quality as the vintage sound you can get.... if you see what I mean) but every amp has a good sound in it somewhere. I love having the od pedals so you can drive the amps just that little bit more. the NR sucks past 5, you get no sustain and it sounds digital, id just leave it on 2 if it is high gain or 0 if clean

Seems solidly built. Its made of solid metal so i guess it is dependable. I would definately gig with it

Only time i dealt with vox was when I had a question about something and they sent me a free catalogue which was nice. I owned an AD50VT amp which never failed me but i have only had this 2 days and havent dealt with them recently so i will leave no rating for this

I love anything from blues to hard rock. You can get some great blues tones, and i managed a pretty usable Slash tone (from the snakepit stuff) I reckon with some patience you could get just about any sound in within this spectrum. The amp models sound great to me, and so do most of the effects, but the presets are rubbish so dont be disheartened if you get it out of the box, plug it in and get rubbish tones. As is always the case with these multi-fx pedals, they take days, even weeks of tweaking to perfect. Im fairly experienced with these things, and with valvetronix technology, so i managed fairly quickly. It was a toss up between this or ??300 worth of stompboxes to get some effects and im glad i chose this. I can get great sounding tones at a whispers volume.

I love the "if it were stolen...." bits.... im going to say that i would definately get this again if it were. I would recommend this to any bedroom player. Amplified correctly, you will not get a better sound in the bedroom. I do wish it had a decent whammy effect, but ill probably just get a digitech whammy pedal and run it in the fx loop of the tonelab. I love the fact that this pedal takes other pedals well. My boss gt-3 hated my v-stack, but this pedal takes them nicely; they compliment each other. I would like to answer a few questions i had as a buyer. firstly, yes this can sound good with the right guitar amp - tone is naturally subjective, but you will read a lot of people on the internet who wouldnt dream of using this with a guitar amp. Yes it colours the tone, but rephrase that correctly and it "makes the tone unique" I like the way my amp slightly colours the tone of my tonelab - I may not be hearing EXACTLY what it should sound like, but i am hearing something unique to me (and anyone else who by chance has my set up). And yes, this sounds better than the chrome valvetronix amps (AD15-30-50V-100VT) I owned the AD50VT and got fed up with it as i thought it a little too digital, muddy and lacking in balls. This sounds leagues above that series of amp in my opinion, and although they have both been branded under the "valvetronix" label, it is clear by listening that the tonelab is leagues above those amps (i have read that the tonelab is closer to the AD60VTX amp, which is of higher quality than the ADVT series). I have been suprised by this pedal actually. I have always thought of myself as a tone snob but have never been able to get my favoured cranked valve amp tone in my room (not even with my 15w laney) I found the v-stack classic which is an analog valve stack simulator and thought my prayers were answered; convincing valve tones in my room!!! That pedal is a one trick pony though, and I wanted something to give me more sounds. I bought the tonelab expecting to be disappointed with the amp sims but still able to just use the effects on it with my v-stack, but to my suprise the amps sounded great. I now have a full arsenal of tones (when i finally get it programmed) that sound great!

For bedroom tones, this gets 9! (10 for me would be a long chain of boutique overdrives and effects and a z-vex nano amp, but as that is pricey i got this!!!) I definately recommend this to anyone looking for an all in one bedroom solution - even if you have existing pedals, with a bit of tweaking you can get it all working together nicely. Those wanting gig solutions, previous reviews will probably be more helpful, but i would go to a gig confident that this pedal would hold up well... whether my amp would is a different story! but i think this pedal would also gig great

The pedal itself has a number of knobs on it, which make it fairly quick and easy to edit. The downside is that there is no way of knowing what values any parameter is set to until you turn its knob, because the display only shows the parameter you are currently tweaking. When you turn a knob, that parameter automatically jumps to the point where the knob is, so you can get some pretty awkward jumps in sound (i.e. if you flip to preset with gain at 2, and your knob gain is left on 8 from the last time you turned it, it will jump to 8 instnatly when you turn it, instead of the preferred behavior where it will wait until your knob reaches its original setting--there is, however an "original setting" indicator on the screen, so that helps a lot).

That being said, the PC editor is the best I have ever used. If you have a MIDI interface, this is definitely a much better, quicker way to edit sounds, as you can see everything all at once. It is a very intuitive piece of software, and is the main reason I give it a 10. Basically, I build my sounds on the PC, dump them to the pedal, and then get away from the PC.

As far as the manual goes, I haven't needed to use it. I guess that says enough in itself.

There are some important settings you have to understand before you start. There is a selectable output type (Amp 1-3, Line 1-2), and if you don't set it properly, it will sound like garbage. I go through a P.A., so my recommended setting is Line 2. This one cranks up the output gain, which was clipping the pedal, so I had to adjust that (I use DiMarzio Evo pickups, which are extremely hot). Also, you need pay attention to which cabinet model you are using. It's easy to ignore it/forget about it, but if you use the Soldano amp model through a Bassman cabinet, yeah, it's going to sound awful. Consult the manual.

Now:
The sound quality is outstanding. I have tried every amp sim under the sun, and still own most of them. I'm a junkie, what can I say? But this pedal had some stiff competition coming in. I am pitting it against NI Guitar Rig 3, IK Amplitube 2 (and JHE), Waves GTR, Line 6 Gearbox/Pod, Alien Connections Revalver MkII, and tons of great freeware solutions, and this one rocks them all. The tube really does help. Sure, it seems gimmicky and silly, but there is a separate control for tube gain, and man does it saturate when you crank it!

It's not quite as instantly gratifying as some of the others--you kind of have to learn what works for each amp, and what settings it can handle. It takes a little bit of time. You also have to learn to balance out your tube gain and channel gain knobs to not clip the output of the virtual amp. You should DEFINITELY read the notes (in the manual and in the PC editor) they include for each amp, as they tell you how to get the most out of them. I am particularly fond of the AC30 models, the Plexi, and the Soldano. All very nice sounding.

I am not much of an effect guy, so my opinion on those is limited. I am really more interested in just having a nice sounding amp without having schlep around a half-stack or a laptop. That being said, the effects are nice. I still use a couple of my own pedals in front, but I would have no hesitation using only the Tonelab LE and nothing else.

I would gig without a backup, but I tend to live in a "best-case scenario" kind of world, so I may not be the best person to listen to on that. The unit is solid metal. Nothing flimsy about it. Hasn't failed me yet, although I have read some stuff about the expression pedal going "floppy". Hasn't happened to me. I am satisfied with its reliability, but I haven't really owned it long enough to give a proper opinion on it.

Haven't had to deal with them, so no opinion.

I play a little bit of everything. I do metal on my own (for which the Soldano model is almost perfect), and classic rocky-kind of stuff with my band (for which the Plexi or AC30's keep my happy), and this pedal does it all with somewhat ease.

I have been playing for twelve years, and I own all kinds of other crap. I buy stuff and sell all the time. I just like to try everything to make sure I am well informed. I am currently trying to sell my tube half-stack. No, the Tonelab cannot fully replace a real tube amp, but the difference is seriously minimal.

If I lost it, I would definitely get another. No hesitation.

I love pretty much everything about it. I have no complaints worth mentioning.

I give it a 10 overall. Any complaints I have about it are small and pointless. For $400, this thing is perfect. No need for a heavy tube amp or a laptop to run PC amp sims. Just take your pedal and cables, and you're ready to go.

Beats a POD with no questions asked. POD's are nice, yes. But the Tonelab LE is much warmer, punchier, and more responsive to your playing. The main issue with most amp sims is the high gain stuff gets too fizzy. Tonelab can do it. It takes some tweaking, but you can get some pretty serious distortion, without even resorting to the pedals.

Just look on YouTube for Tonelab LE. There are all sorts of idiots "demoing" the Tonelab LE. Really, all they're doing is shredding with the Soldano head set to sound like Van Halen, but whatever. If you're YouTubing for anything on Tonelab, look for the Korean guy. He gives a good demo. Everyone else is just more interested in showing how many notes they can play in a second.

I played around a lot with this pedal i am quite a techy and it sounded great through my headphones when i was playing around with it, i want to go straight into my loop station and then to the pa. i got some presets setup pretty easy...

the tuner is stupid to work though

i use a vintage peavey amp and lots of guitars and i have a pod, i dont like the pod though, its great for recording but through a pa or amp it sucks and unfortunely this thing did too. i did a rehearsal and it sounded crap through a pa my bass player said it wasnt good either. next rehearsal i used my trusty amp and i got back to sounding **** hot agian with all my pedals. its funny when you got a full band the verbs and delays just dont cut through and the overdrive just forget it.

its very clean though

no, i wouldnt purely cause i want to take it back

no thanks

ive played 20 years and i dont claim to have a good idea of sound, im not a purist but i just thought it sounded ****. better than the pod and great for recording im sure but i wouldnt use it live, even though my amp weighs a ton ive never heard a better sound.

that wah wah is stupid too, you cant have an overdrive and a wah at the same time, you can have an overdriven amp and a wah but i like to have clean then overdrive and then overdrive and wah.

It`s easy to get a good sound out of it. It`more difficult to get a great sound out of it. You have to tweak for a while. First get rid of al the factory patches. They are really overdone like always. Editing patches is not a problem. The manual is ok.

I use it direct over a PA system using Ln1 output. Guitars are a Les Paul Custom and a Ibanez JS1000. It`s not noisy. Here is the secret to get great tone. Don`t use tons of gain. Whit this unit less is more. Take for great leads the us modern amp with the comp stompbox. Keep the gain below 3 to avoid sizzling and digital sounds. Tweak the eq to match your guitar and amp and you have a nice tone with lots of sustain. And no noise. And yes, also very good metalsounds. The effects in this unit are good to use. But al depends on good tweaking. Take your time and don`t overdo it.

This unit does a 130 gigs a year and it has never let me down. I never gig without a backup. Something can always happen. I can drop my beer in it or so.

Never dealt with them

I play several kinds of music playing in a coverband. If it was stolen i would get another one. (have 2 already). For me this is the way to play. I can get many sounds without it sounding digital. Some tips. Use black 2x12 + vox ac30 sim for clean sounds and usmodern + ukt75 for distorted sounds. Keep the gain low to avoid hiss and digital noise.

Ok, its probabilly best if I just tell of the bad points for this unit because it will help potential buyers decide more than the good points.

Things I found slightly annoying:
- In order to start the tuner in mute mode, a pedal has to be held down for around 2 seconds, this gets kind of annoying if I wanted to tune quickly.
- There are two stomp switches for switching the bank up and down which are located directlu above other stomp switches that are used for effects etc. I find that sometimes I accidentally press the lower ones rather than the bank ones I'm aiming for
- I have heard that the tube/valve is hard to replace but havnt done it myself

Other than those points above the unit is very easy to use, the menu's took a while to learn (couple of hours) but now that I know them its great!
Much easier to use than the likes of the Line6 PodXT which I also have

Sounds quality is excellent, the tube/valve in there really makes a difference.

Nothing more to be said, its just pure brilliance!!

I have had it only 3 days now but it looks very sturdy and reliable in its metal casing.

And yes, I would use it in a gig without a backup, definiely!

I'm not going to give this catagory a score though because I've only have it 3 days.

Havnt dealt with them yet so dont really know

I would rate this a definite 10 because of the excellent sound quality, rugged construction.

It definitely is fantastic value for money considering Line6 have other units that sound nowhere near as good for more money

It does require some study of the manual to edit but not bad.

Love the effects, great sounds when it worked.

I have had it in the shop longer than I have owned it.

The worst, One part has been on order from the factory for a 6wks, my warrany will expire by the time it get the pedal back

Nice great sounding pedal, However a nightmare to get it worked on and the customers service is BAD. You would think for 400bucks it should work longer than 50days. No exchange program so my pedal has been in the shop for 3 months and counting!

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it?:
I think it is very easy. I had some problems in the very beginning, but I learned really fast, as this multieffect is really easy to understand.

How is the manual for it (if there is one)?:
The manual is very easy and... it is not many things to explain. Everything is clear from the very beginning, according to my opinion.

Are certain effects (distortion, chorus, ...) very good? Very bad?:
I have read pretty many reviews of the Tonelab LE saying that it is impossible to get a "metal-sound" out from it. Either the ones who wrote those reviews are really incompetent, or else they havent even used a Tonelab LE. After a couple of minutes I managed to get the most brutal, deep Death Metal distortion-sound. No problem.
Except metal-sounds it is very easy to get... all the types of sound that you need. And they are really clean too. The best pedal ever made! ;)

Is it noisy? On what settings?:
It gives a little noice when using high gain, but you cant find any amp/multieffect that isnt. I think thats gives a little extra charm to the music, when you hear some noice between the riffs...

Defenitly. This is a very stable thing. 100% made of steel. Really heavy, and it wont move on stage if you by mistake would touch it. Its almost stuck to the floor.

Best multieffect ever made. What else is there to say?

It is very easy to get a good sound from this one. Very much more simple generally than other effects, like Pod or Boss GT-8, as an example. The manual is very clear and easy too.

Some people say that it is impossible to get good metalsounds out of this one. But I dont agree about that. If you just take your time, using your skills, to set the sound - it is defenitely NOT impossible to get metalsounds.

Otherwhise the sound is very clean, and it defenitely sound professional. This would sound very well as well in the rehearsalroom as in the studio, I think (even if lined).

It is a heavy, steel-built thing. And that is very good. If you compare this one to Boss GT-8, this feels more stable, as the GT-8 is very plastig. The GT-8 is all black to. This have more lights, and different colors om some of the buttons, which makes them easier to find, if it is very dark...

My best multieffect. It can be used to the most professional things. But if your in a huge band as a guitarplayer, that's going to tour all over the worls, needing millions of different sounds - then you might go for custom made pedals. But this is defenitely the best there is to get, for this price!

SOunds are decent right out of the box. Pretty easy to use. Took about an hour to get the gist of it when I first bought it.

Effects are all generally good. THe fizz on the distortion drives me nuts, though,. I've used a Line 6 Pod before this, and the Tone Lab is probably the best amp modeler I've found. That said, I am not crazy about the direct sound of any amp modeler when recording. If you have the space to do it, you are still better off mic'ing your amp, and playing with the controls, and this can give you a lotof flexibility when plugged into your amp like any other efect pedal. WHen used this way, you can turn the cabinet sounds on and off, experiment with just the effects, flip through the amp models, etc. My favorite setting for rock is the 4 x 10 Tweed, with the fat distortion and the cabinet turned off, with an sm57 in front of the cabinet. The guitar and amp just sings. SO I use mine as kind of a high end effect like Chandler TUbe Overdrive with a loit more flexibility. I still contend that this is the best direct recording box out there, but I am of the opiniopn now that I'm not crazy about any of them. A Mic'd amp is still the way to go , in my opinion. However, this box gives you a great sound and a lot of tools to use, but like anything, takes some work and experimentation to find your sound. Used the way they intended, still sounds kind of artificial to me. Used in combo with a good amp, you can get a lot of great sounds out of this. CHeck out my web page on Garageband., http://www.garageband.com, and search under Chuck Mott, most song were recorded using it direct, the latest, Watching her Dance, was a mic'd amp with a with the LE.

Never had a problem with it, have owned it six months now.

Never had to talk with them.

I have played in various bands, country, rock, experimented with jazz, you can use this for any style and find a good useable sound. I've been playing about thirty years, gigged quite a bit, but never with the Vox. I'm more in recording now. I think if it were lost or stolen,I'd first experiment with some good pedals,but I have a strong suspicion I'd just return to the Vox. WHat do I love about it? The flexibility, the number of effets, the tone when mic'd after some hefty experimentation. WHat do I hate? The fizz sound in the distortion. Like any other amp modeler, the fact that it doesn't come close enough to a mic'd amp for my taste. Then agan, buying just three of these amps would cost you thousands. When micing my amp, I find the sounds often sound less artificial with the cabinets turned off, but that is a matter of taste, I suppose. ANything I wish it had? I experimented with Guitar RIg (BTW, I still prefer the amp and Vox to this most excellent software), and I like that you can combine amps, you can't do that with the Vox. DOes it help me make music. ABsolutely. Am I happy I bought it? Yes.

I didn't need the instructions to get started listening to presets and isolating individual effects and tweaking them, so it's pretty basic (which is good) if you're used to multi fx at all. Once you go deeper the manual was pretty easy to understand.

This is where I had a problem. I couldn't wait to get this thing away from my amp. After reading so many glowing reviews I couldn't believe how bad the presets sounded through my amp.

I was really buying this hoping I could just use effect patches in front of my amp and the amp models would be a bonus if they sounded good. I initially tried the output setting in "amp 1" which was muddy beyond belief, I tried the other amp modes an eventually found the "line 1" setting to sound best. Go figure.

I turned off all the effects/models to hear the individual effects on there own, and the sounded o.k., not bad but nothing great. As soon as I started mixing a number of effects together the sound went south. I had hiss an some real digital sounds. After hours of tweaking (the board, not me) at best I was able to get some sounds that were decent that I would play with. I'm sorry, but for $400 somthing should make me go "wow!" within the first hour, and nothing ever made me say that. There was no sound that was better out of this than I was already getting with my amp an a few pedals.

Now that I've bashed this unit hard, here's the good. Unlike many other multi FX the basic tone of my guitar remained the same which is a big step up. The biggest problem was indeed my own fault, these modelers really work better direct into a PA or a flat response/full range amp and I was playing through a Fender Hot Rod, which really has it's own characteristics. When I played through an OLD Roland 10 watt practice amp, which has NO sound of it's own, the LE really made that little amp sound big, so it did it's job there. I found some good overdrive sounds with it through the Roland.....but I'm not about to start using that as my main amp.

I returned it after one weekend.

I have no use for this as it didn't get any great sounds for me. IF you have an amp that you already really like I'd spend the $400 on some quality dedicated pedals to help shape the sound, or save up for a quality rack system.

BUT, if you are in a situation where you play direct through a P.A., or into a computer or recording this could be the ticket. that's why I had to give this unit at least a 7 on overall because it should be if you use it where it works best. The fact that it has line out settings so it will be compatible with different amps is a joke an implies it should work well with them, and with the three amps I tried it on it only improved the sound out of the cheap one.

I own thousands of dollars worth of Line6 gear. I was in the market for a something like the PodXT Live unit - then I went and tried one. It was overly complex with lots of screens and menus, and it looked like it was made cheaply.

The VOX Tonelab LE was very nice, and extremely easy to use. The nice big chicken-head knobs make this unit a breeze to learn. This is a very musician-friendly device...it feels and behaves like an amp under my foot (as opposed to having to learn a bunch of sterile, digital, techno-geek, computer-related nonsense).

One of the things I really don't like about Line6's gear is that I have to spend a week getting rid of the horrible sounding, effect-drenched presets and customize it to my liking - not an easy task considering the bit-head menu editing stunts you have to know. In sharp contrast, I was really surprised at how good the presets sounded on the Vox Tonelab LE. In fact, I just rearranged them numerically so that I could access them in the order that I wanted without making any modifications to them. What a refreshing change!

The knobs are laid out very well, and interfacing with this device is very intuitive. I'm very impressed. I like being able to grab big knobs, set it the way I want to, and then hit 'save'. Wow what a nice change!

I didn't honestly notice it at the store because of all the background noise that other people were making. When I got the unit home, I plugged my headphones into it and was shocked. I couldn't put my guitar down. I've heard people make comments before about modeled amps, and how some sound better than others. To me, they all sounded the same and I thought folks were just posturing and being religious about their gear. Now I know differently - the Tonelab LE sounds better.

As I flipped through the presets on the Tonelab LE I noticed something...(remember, I've been used to Line6 gear)... The amp models are amazing. They have a smoothness to them that I really didn't expect. I don't feel like I'm describing it very well, but all of the amp models, even the slightly overdriven amp models just sound so musical. I know there's an onboard tube in the unit, maybe that's where it's coming from - I don't know. I don't really care...all I know is that I have never had such an amazing tool and it's bringing out a tasteful, musical tone that I haven't ever had before.

Again, I was going out to buy the PodXT Live unit - then I tried one. It looked like it was made cheaply, with the same cheap plastic components that are on my FBV4 (Line6) foot pedal (which is just a dumb controller footpedal for the Line6 Spider amps). I was disappointed with my FBV4 because the pedals feel cheap, and the wah/expression pedal has a lame switching mechanism (cheap cheap cheap) so I surely didn't want the PodXT Live because it looks like the same cheap clunky components were used.

The Vox Tonelab LE was set up in the store for a demo, so I took it for a spin. I immediately noticed the nice shiny metal switches and felt more comfortable with the higher quality of the board itself. My goal is to use this live every weekend, so I don't like spending money on something like this if it feels cheap - the Tonelab LE is built like a brick *&%$-house. VERY NICE!!

Haven't had to deal with them.

I would say this, the PodXT Live is "Quantity", while the Tonelab LE is "Quality". In other words, the PodXT live is going to give you a gazillion amp models (many of which will never get used), and the Tonelab LE will give you 16 EXTREMELY high quality ones that you will use all the time - in a sturdy road-worthy package.

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.

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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.