Vox Tonelab SE

Yep its easy to use and get a good sound.

I use USA stats and Teles, Squier strats les pauls and Yamahas and it sounds great though my 65 Twin, Laney AOR and Simms Watts 100 heads too. If yuo can't get what you want out of this beastie, I suggest giving it up and do the ironing.

Hmm, iusses for me, I am on my third unit, the patch buttons appear to fail, leaving you helplessly trying to stomp on it and nothing happening, replaced the switches and it works for a while then no change. So replaced the unit. Now if it wasn't so good, then I'd have given up by now and gone back over to Boss, but you know a good thing when you hear it.

Vox uk have been very understanding and sent me the wrong switches, (only 2 types on the SE) but are otherwise easy to get hold of and efficient, so can't ask for more.

Pink Floyd Tribute. It does everything I want it to and has been round the world with me. Yeah, I'd buy another, as I can back up all my settings (which has already come in handy twice) not made anymore, so I guess they'll get harder to find as time goes on.

I've used a variety of mulitFX units direct to the board over the last 10 years in both live and recorded situations. The benefit is that they are both compact and versatile even if second rate to actual tube amps. The average audio consumer doesn't know the difference and multifx units sit well in the mix once you've had time to tweak them properly. I spent most of the last decade using a Roland VG-8EX, but I've also had opportunity to use a POD xtlive, Boss GT-8 and Boss ME-50 as well.

So, I picked up a used ToneLab SE to replace my aging VG-8EX. The biggest sell-point was the layout. I've found the only useable patches with units like this in band setting can must be created on the spot. Anything that sounded good at home did not work in live setting. So I wanted a unit that isn't difficult to tweak on the fly. The ToneLab fit this bill relatively well, IMO, better than the Boss GT-8, that's for sure.

The problem for me was switching from one patch to another, switching from A/B in each patch, engaging/disengaging the FX selector for each one, etc. I felt like I was doing the RiverDance everytime the band played! It was ridiculous, so much so that I decided to get rid of it. The wasn't the only reason: I think I've had my fill of multiFX units after a decade of continual use. I've just had my fill of them. I sold the unit and stripped down to a Fender HotRod Blues Deluxe, ToneLab Sparkle Drive and a Boss DD-3 delay. Last weekend was the first time I used that new setup and I had better sound than I have for a long time.

To my ear, these units are all pretty much on par with each other. The Roland VG8-EX served me well for many years. I've got nothing but good to say about it. The Pod XTlive, to my recollection, had a sterile, overprocessed sound to it that I didn't like. The Boss units were good, perhaps with a forte for heavy rock and metal type distortions. The ToneLab was warmer, an more suited for classic rock styles. All of them cover the full gamut of time based effects equally well and they are a great tool for learning to use effects. I'm not looking down my nose at them or people who use them. I think I've just naturally progressed to another level in my own development as a musician. I probably would have gone over to a tube amp / pedal arrangement earlier, but I've got a young family on the go and the money has had to go elsewhere. Right now, I've got a pretty basic set up, but I can make it happen with that and I'll add to it as I'm able.

The ToneLab SE is as big as a surfboard and solid as a rock, as are most pedals of this sort. I'm sure it will last a long time, but I didn't own it more than six months, so I don't think I can rate this category.

Very easy, if you have used any amp/effect prosessor before this unit is a breeze, if not you might want to read the manual to get an ide for the sound the different amps/effects they try to emulate.

The manual is OK, i guess copyright issues prevent them from telling what amps and effect boxes the try to replicate but this info you can easely find elsewhere.

I use this unit in several configurations:
1. Effect return on a Mesa/Boogie 50W combo
2. Directly into Mixer/PA
3. Into my PC recording system trough a mixer
In my opinion is sounds great in all configurations.

I mainly use modified Musicman guitars (axis, sub1 etc.)

The main reason i use amp modellers is the ease of use, like any normal human beeing i hate carrying stuff around.
Up until now i have used a Pod 2.0 for its ease of use and light weight.
Im not at all a sound "geek", to me it has to be simple and practial.
The reason i got the TLSE was that i needed a backup system in case the Pod should die on me in a live situation.
Instead of bying a second Pod i wanted to test something new.
A got the TLSE and could not be happier, the amps are much more natural and its layout works well on stage.
Now the Pod is my Backup.

It looks and feels very solid.

No opinion

I have been playing for about 20 years and i no longer have the urge to drag heavy tube amps around anymore, so for me the amp moddeling technology is god sendt.
Thank you VOX for creating a great product, now i can travel with my guitar in one hand, my TLSE in the other and consentrate on the music.

I have the tabletop version of the Tonelab (not the SE that has an expression pedal and foot switches for changing programs).

The amp isn't as easy as it could be to save your preferences, but most other features are easy to access and figure out. I had to read the manual in order to learn how to save and delete program banks. However, now that I've done it, I think I could do it again without help. Luckily the manuals are available online in PDF form because I bought the item used.

I use this mostly as a headphone amp and also to do some recording. The tone doesn't *quite* match the excellence of a good tube amp combo or tube head on a stack. However, this does much better than all the competitors I compared it to. I was shopping around for a while checking out everything available and came to the conclusion that this was the only acceptable "amp modeler." The X-factor: it uses an actual (and replaceable) vacuum tube. I'm a tube snob and none of the purely digital or solid state modelers have a desirable tone for me.

Although only boasting one tube, you can get pretty versatile sounds. I usually opt for one of three main sounds: (1) glassy, clean tone used with my single-coil neck pickup, (2) a bluesy tube sound that is also pretty clean but has a little more edge and growls when you push it, and (3) an overdriven rock sound like going straight into a marshall stack.

As you can see, none of my "go to" tones use much in the way of effects. Generally, I don't use chorus, flanger, phaser, tremelo, rotary, wah, or any other special effects. I'll leave it to others to review those features. I do, however, use the reverb and it is usable. Nothing spectacular, but it does the job.

I'm a music gear junkie and have bought some stuff in my life that collects a lot of dust. This is not one. I'm very happy with my purchase of it. It doesn't replace having a real tube amp, but it's the best I can find in copying that sound. Plus, it lets you play through headphones so you're not stuck with solid state sound when practicing or recording at home.

This thing seems very well built. I believe most of it is aluminum construction. It feels solid and I don't anticipate anything breaking.

Haven't had to use customer support, but they do have a lot of downloadable materials from Vox's website, so that's a plus.

I play a variety of music, but lean towards alt/hard rock (think Guns n' Roses or early Pearl Jam) and modern blues (think SRV, Buddy Guy, Clapton, etc) and this suits the sounds I want well.

I never thought I'd care, but the built-in tuner is pretty convenient.

It is pretty feature-rich and a lot of the sound effects I don't even make use of.

A few different features or designs I would have preferred:

1) A 1/4" jack to support generic foot switches (like cheap piano pedals, etc)

2) As far as I can tell, the "Tap" button for setting the speed of the echo always flashes. Always. I almost never use echo so it gets annoying. I just wish it wouldn't flash when echo wasn't on.

3) I could go for more preset reverbs.

4) There should be a USB interface to plug into a computer so you can tweak all the settings you want on a computer and just upload them to your Toneamp..... AND it would be an added bonus if you could run the audio output via USB to a computer so the amp acted as an audio interface too, but that's asking a lot out of an amp modeler.

5) It would also be cool to be able to model bass amps in the same device. Out of curiosity, I tried my active bass through the Tonelab, but no tweaks made a usable sound. Not that I expected it to, but that would be nice to have.

Overall, there is room for improving this amp modeler, but by my ears, Vox is heads and shoulders above its competitors in creating an amp modeler with pleasing, realistic tone.

To readers: if you have any questions about my gear or experiences with the tonelab, feel free to email me.

follow up review, I just bought a virtually new SE on E-bay so that my
much used gig'er can retire to home use.They are starting to fetch more money now as nothing else comes remotely close to the sound or usefulness of this classic pedal.Snap em'up quick when you see em' guy's
they will never be beaten. The chorus/delay sounds are to die for. I don't get the revue's that slag'the tone's, if you have any nous' you can make these sound fantastic.Just show's that ears are everything in the music biz.

Much easier than my former Digitechs but still needs some effort to reach a good level of sound programming.
I normally use the green and red channel so that I program the green = cleaner channel at first and copy the settings to the red channel with a little more gain and a small sound adaption.
e.g. clean fender sound + nearly clean fender solo sound etc.
I use the second pedal for chorus amount or pedal gain but not from 1 to 10. I always adapt the range - that's really a great option.
I do not like that the general volume pedal level is not programmable.

Lot of guitars and amps, but main guitars are a tuned Parker Fly and a tuned Fender Tele Special with 3 Joe Bardens inside.
The sound quality is very good as long as you stay in the clean, low or mid gain area. All amp models have their special range where they work really fine. Do not expect that every model works perfect over the full gain range. I like the Fender clean and Vox crunch best.
The only thing where POD and BOSS are better - is the real high gain range. This is the only thing the Vox tonelab SE cannot provide.
I had big problems only for programming a fat solo sound like Gary Moore.

ALL comments saying that this unit has no bass and is too trebly are correct for high gain sounds.
The good thing is that for all low gain sounds this unit is the best you can get and it is very responsive to pick and volume changes.
It helps when you dont turn the bass to 10 if you want bass. Search for the range when it starts being enough. In this way the bass stays much tighter.

Keep the settings low and simple. Your sound will massively improve.

Perfect still after years of use.

The perfect LOW GAIN all in one unit.
Metalheads - please go somewhere else.

I really checked out everything else in the last years and nothing comes close for low gain sounds.

I gave up hoping for a software upgrade as they brought out the new but castrated tonelab LE.

There is no other unit where you can get so many different sounds with stepping around on the buttons and pedals even within one patch.
GREAT.

very easy to use made the sound that I wanted to hear.love the A and B channels I can switch back and forth from clean to destortion.

the best I've had from a board!I play though a pv mace and duece and it sounds great.the tube is the sound! these amps are hYberd tube and solid so It makes a big sound.presets need some adjustment but not much.very happy with this thing.I Have the desk top model too1!to bad they don't make these anymore.I found one new in the box on 12/23/08 and I ain't telling you wear.I've had the desk top for a year and half and love that too.

too new.but it seems to be a tank of a board.

same here;but I here they are good and back there products up.

I play skyard and outlaws and alot of ozzy stuff allman bro's marshall tucker.this handle's it all.tried all the other ones this is the best.......

Easy. It's basically set up like individual pedals on a pedalboard... each effect is even tweaked by such knobs, appeasing people such as myself who are too impatient to scroll through menus and whatnot. =\ Programming stuff seems easy enough, too... though admittedly I haven't done that despite having the thing for a couple years now (see comment about being impatient, and add "fickle" to that) - I'd just want to keep change them more everytime I used them.

I basically use it like a chain of individual pedals - no presets - and it works wonderfully! I do program the expression pedal, though... mostly the change delay time, flanger depth, etc... Pretty easy.

Right off the bat, the amp modeling is crap. Well, it's not that bad... It's nice for playing late at night with headphones, or quickly plugging in to record and idea. But I wouldn't use the amp sounds for serious recording or live, unless you also have a line of pre-amps, EQs, etc... before and after (and even then I'm not so sure). It does sound kinda thin/weak. Better than Line 6, though.

That said, some of the effects are really great.

* The modulation effects are all good or great... better than most (but not all) individual pedals. The bi-phase especially is wonderful, though I rarely have a valid reason to use it. The tremolo is actually surprisingly warm sounding for what it is. The flanger is kinda meh, but not bad if it's all you have. The Filtron's OK... If you plan on using filter effect religiously, you might not be pleased. But I rarely use it, so when I do it's fine. Pretty much never use the choruses... but they're thick (the stereo chorus is especially nice). The pitch-shifter is useless, as are all pitch-shifters.

* The delays are good for the most part. Definitely digital... but frankly, no one except anal guitarists can tell the difference anyway. And in all fairness, the analog delay actually sounds pretty good (if not artificially fattened up... but sounds close, and it's nice to be able to use a long delay time with analog sound - not possible on my UE-405), and the Echoplus is also a favorite. Both are better than most every digital delay I've ever heard. The Multi-head is good, too.

* The reverbs are very good. Not great, but better than just "good". They're all a bit too practical for their own good, though. It's nice 90% of the time, but that 10% of the time you just want an ultra wet/saturated swoosh there just aren't any good options.

* Some of the pedals are nice. The phaser, Univibe, and wah are all really good (though I rarely use any). I like the "boutique" pedal a lot... it distorts so little but thickens up the sound so well! You can conceivably have a clean sounding guitar with the power of pummeling distortion with it. The acoustic simulator is an acoustic simulator... best to avoid. The compression is really good. Not as warm as my UE-405 or other such analog units, but still very smooth, realistic, and easy. As far as compressors go, I'd certainly have no qualms about it being my only one if need be. The distortions and octave things are kinda meh, though... But it might just be I don't like the sounds they're trying to replicate and less to do with the quality of the sounds themselves. Actually, the DS-1 simulator isn't bad.

* The noise reduction is GREAT. I actually use it for doing vocals. Ha!

* Volume pedals are the best thing ever. I'm so happy the Tonelab has one (though I think the newest version doesn't... which is really lame). I know, it's so simple... it's just volume. But it's one of the most usable pedals ever (not just on the Tonelab, but in general).

* The amp sounds (may as well discuss them)... They're not awful, just really thin and weak sounding compare to real amps. If you boost the hell out of the mids they're kinda usable, but... Again, nice for late night or quick sketches, but not good for any serious application. That said... the Tweed 4x10 with clean tone is alright. and combining the US High Gain amp with the Vox AC30 cabinet and upping the gain to almost max actually creates some pretty amazing distortion, which could probably be used with GREAT results in a serious application if you run it through an EQ.

Overall, nice. My beloved UE-405 sounds better, but the Tonelab is much easier and more versatile (and has way more effects), so I mostly just use it for compression and EQ (not delay - sounds great, but the Tonelab's has longer time. I still use my Big Muff for fuzz and amp for distortion/drive, though... the Tonelab doesn't compete. I also prefer a separate flanger, but when I'm lazy, the T

It's the size of some keyboards and metal. It's probably indestructible. Given I'm not terribly rough with my equipment, and not usually clumsy, but I just can't imagine doing anything to damage this thing short of dropping it from the top of a building or dropping a 40 lbs + amp on it (though both of which are entirely possible, I guess). I guess running it over with a car might do it (though I'm not certain about that).

I've had it for a couple years without a single problem... and it's one of the constants in my set-up.

Never needed it.

Overall, the thing is great. Some effects sound poor, some sound good, and some sound great... and the vast majority range from good to great - much better than any other similar unit, and really any multi-effects units sans some racks that are $2000+ (but those are a bitch to use, so who cares about them anyway?). It's EXTREMELY easy to use... I never even read the manual and figured it out in a matter of minutes (try that with an Eventide!).

If you're someone who wants to add a few effects to your arsenal in a compact and affordable package, this is great and you should definitely check it out. If you're someone who wants tremolo, flanger, reverse delay, rotary, filter, wah, chorus, etc... effects on stand-by to use occasionally but don't want want to invest in buying each individual pedal for rare/occasional use, this is probably the best you can get. If you have kids or live in a cramped studio apartment with thin walls and want to toy around into the wee hours, this is also probably the best you can get. If you're just starting out playing, on a tight budget, but looking for a bevy of pedals to ape Billy Corgan or Kevin Shields or the boys from The Church, then this is probably essential!

follow-up to previous review, I flirted with a Boss GT-10 for a while and got excited, but my old love (S.E.) waited faithfully for me to come back which I have. I will love this forever. Ease of use on gigs
is tops.

Its the sound that can't be beat, and the way you can set 2 patches on every channel with on/off for each effect and two pedals .Run into Bose-mixer and L1,it is all I need. Now running a Godin LGXT and a Roland GR-20 synth , a custom variaxstrat, a 6120jr (love it) and several of my own custom guitars as sale's demo's

I have replaced a f/sw. and also valve but it is simple to strip and fix. Never let me down yet

When you can talk to them ,they sort things quickly and are very friendly.

I am an all-rounder playing most styles and this is my dream pedal apart from the limited effect section that gives compression or wah,
or o/d.It really needed a second effect path ,but hell all you do is set up another patch with the sound you want in the same bank and toggle
between.After all it has 96 patches in 24 banks to load with your own choice of sounds and effects.Why on earth did Korg ruin a good thing and make the L.E. to replace it? Like breeding the best race-horse and then cutting one leg off and calling it progress.I scour e-bay for these now and make sure I have a spare.No-one has made a better multi.

Very easy to use unit and fairly quick too. I would suggest reading the manual when you need to i.e. as a referance.

The two foot controllers are so handy and I find it strange that the new LE model now only has one pedal!! What a pity.

I love the fact that this thing is guitarist friendly and not menu driven like the old effects floor units of the 80s & 90s. Therefore it is easy to edit patches on the fly.

If you can use stomp boxes then you can use the Vox Tonelab SE.

I love the sound quality of this unit. I own around 200 vintage and boutique effects pedals ( as I have been collecting them since I was a kid) and own KOT v4 and a couple of Klons, Mesa Lonestar Special 2x12 etc.

So I know what sounds good (well I believe I do and I get lots of complements on my sound). The Tonelab SE has a really good solid sound and is easy to match up to both single coil and humbucking guitars.

I have used it with my Strats (all very tasty and using either Fender Custom Shop Pickups or Lindy Fralins), Les Pauls (all three are loaded with Bareknuckle Pickups)and Parker Fly Classic.

No excessive hum and I use it live, in the studio and with my Mesa Lonestar Special 2x12, Peavey Classic 20 and even my ZVex Nanohead!!

It is so easy to get a good tone from this unit. I'm well out the honeymoon period as I have owned this thing for over two years now and so have found sounds I can use and built lots of very cool core guitar sounds.

Sits really well with other effects pedals and is easy to record with also, which is a massive bonus for me. I love the fact tghat I can roll up at a gig or a studio and justy bring a guitar and the Tonelab SE and I have a very cool sound straight away.

Sounds beat the Line 6 stuff hands down every time in my opinion and many other guitarists in the know! Buy them now they are cheap[ and learn to program them well as I reckon they are a future classic in the making.

Discontinued now as all the GAS merchants are out hunting for somrthing new and Vox have unfortunately updated to the LE version which is missing that extra foot controller... pity.

Built like a nuclear bunker and designed to be used by guitarists on stages in the real world where punters spill beer on your equipment.

I have gigged without a backup on many occasions.

Pretty good, loads of info on their website and even a free PC / Mac editor available.

Never hads any issues so cannot comment on the phone support.

Easy to use. So even our singer can work it out!!!!

Well built.

Good useable tone.

Lots of variety

Wish it had those really bright blue LEDs as I like them and are easy to spot in gig conditions.

Good.

I love the sound. I prefer to use my V847 for wah-wah and my phase-90 for phaser but that's just personal preference, the tonelab does everything else very well.

I've gigged with it for about a year now and it's endured bumps and scratches, but without any effect on sound or function.

Dunno.

I prefer using single units to multi effect pedals, but the tonelab se is one, so far the only, multi pedal I trust with sound quality.

Very intuitive.

The bypass mode (and by this I mean the amp and cab modeling off) is very nice. The Wah isn't my favorite, but usable. Heavy distortion sounds really aren't very usable. But, it does excel at mediium crunch tones, like its AC30 and old Tweed. Some of the effects pedals are great.

I've gig'd this thing extensive over the past 3 years, and have but 1 comment. The microswitches in the buttons wear out. But then, they wear out on my Line6 boxes also.

Dunno.

If I lost it, I'd buy another. Period. It isn't the end all be all of devices, but easily the best effects box I've ever owned.

Ease of use is relative. Clearly, an all-in-one unit such as this would require a little bit of work to learn its features, compared to say one amp and a couple traditional effect pedals. Compared to similar products, such as pod and the latest digitech, this unit is by far the easiest to operate and learn the features. I would however suggest reading the manual through a couple of times and trying out the various features.

I love the fact that the display is easy to read when standing, ulike the pod. The footswitches are sturdy and I never miss. The are spaced at just the right difference, again unlike many of the others such as POD that require you to have a size 3 shoe size. A nice feature is that when you use the manual knobs to change settings the display will say "ORIG" when you land on the original saved setting, thus allowing you to find the starting point to tweak a bit, although you could always use the arrows instead. The manual is reasonable in length and pretty conscise. I learned how to do most of what it does with one one-hour reading. I like the built in tuner; it seems to quickly register the string I am playing, and again is easy to read from a standing position.

The downside is that this unit is long and heavy, which is of course the reason that this unit is very sturdy and rugged and gives comfortable footswitching space and two expressions pedals. However, this is a small price to pay, while the pod and digitechs are smaller, they only give you the one expression pedal and last space for switching. Which by the way, I've used one of the current digitech all-in ones and the switches are terrible. You have to press two switches down to access the tuner, go from pedal to preset, ect. It takes me 4 or 5 tries to get.

My favorite thing about the tonelab is that you don't need a lot of patchs. Each patch gives you 2 channels, green or red, allowing you to have two seperate amp and speaker cab models. Most of us would use this for a clean and dirty channel. Then you can have one type of pedal effect, mod effect, delay, and reverb effect. The best part is that you can turn them on and off within the preset. You can also elect which ones you want to be on and off when you first select that preset simply by turning them on (or off) and hitting save.

Another useful feature is the two expression pedals. I assigned one to my dirty channels gain. I can easily select the minimum and maximum gain values to suit what I find useful. This makes that preset even more useful since you can say set the minimum to the amount of gain you usually like to have, and then the max to say a little more gain than normal.
I find the tap tempo really useful, I usually use it for a delay. I use my other expression pedal for the amount of feedback in the delay.
Being able to do all of this within one preset is what sets this unit apart for gigging. this enables me to make slight adjustments to my overall sound without editing 10 different presets.

In my opinion this is the best sounding all in one unit. I play a little of everything, and a lot of some things, and find this unit suitable for all. I would say that metal is not its forte. There are other units, such as the pod that have more metalish amp models than the tonelab, But you still get enough to cover that territory.

The tonelab, more than any products like it, has the feel of playing through a tube amp. It always sounds and feels warm to me. The models react well to how you pick and your guitars volume. I've played a lot of digital stuff that does react somewhat, but this thing seems to have that "feel" that we all can't describe very well. I bought this thing to use as a direct device straight into the board with no amp. I must say that I don't miss playing with a real amp very often, beyond missing having my own control of stage volume.

I particularly like the vox models, and I really don't have any dislikes of the amp models, although as with real amps I find some more useful to me than others. To me, I'm sold on this thing simply beacuse it sounds and plays good. I don't feel like I'm playing another digital device. To me that puts this thing in a category all by itself. Before I got this thing I had my eye on a POD. I liked the sounds of the POD, but I hated playing it because of the digital feel. I plugged into this thing out of curiosity and loved how it sounded and how it plays.
The effects in this thing are pretty good. The compressor works well. I like the delays and reverb. I wouldn't say that the effects are to-die-for or boutiqish, but they do they get the job done for someone like me who uses effects sparingly. For this class and type of products, the effects are as good as any of the other modeling devices I've played.

I own a project protools le set up via digi 002. Anyhow, I've used this thing for quiet recording and it does a much better job than anything other non-speaker driven way, including all my amp sim pluggins.

I have had this thing for 2 and a half years and it has worked flawlessly. I unpack it, play it, and pack it up twice a week and it has held up well. Even the gig bag it comes with is still perfect. I would gig, and do gig without a backup. I'm not playing in front of 10,000 people each night, thus it wouldn't be the end of the world if it broke down at some point. I use this thing on my churches praise team, thus on a sunday morning this thing is on from 7:45 until 12:30 to cover all the services. I don't bother to shut it off in between. I imagine this thing will continue to work well. I've never dropped this thing or done anything bad to it so I can't say much more.

Never dealt with the company, never needed to.

I love this thing. Great amp sounds, good effects, and very easy to use and set up. Most importantly, it plays great and reacts like a real amp would, or at least closer than the competition. Unlike every other digital device I've plugged into, this thing has that inspirational feel that is hard to describe. I would recommend it to anyone that is shopping for this sort of device. It does lack a few bells and whistles that some of the other modelers have, and fewer models but I don't miss them. The bottom line is that this thing is simply useful for real live situations, regardless of style. I was always a stombox into tube amp guy for many years and countless shows (and I still am) but this thing is the only one of it's type that I would ever consider using. For someone looking to go direct, there isn't a better option out there. I do have a regular need to go direct at my church and to have a wide range of sounds available, so this device serves a need that my traditional pedal board doesn't meet.

In summary, you need to rate this unit for what it is, not what you would like it to be. These devices can't satisy someone that desires nothing more than an old tube amp and a couple effect pedals with three analog knobs. They are looking for that one sound that defines them. To such a person, these sort of devices present unneeded complexity to achieve this end. If they've found their perfect guitar-effects-and amp and desire nothing else, they would have no use for an emulated version, let alone emulated versions of effects and real amps that they didn't like the real versions of. These devices are for individuals that need a wide range of useful sounds in a convenient and compact setting, as well as the convenience of going direct and volume control (recording in a townhouse at 3 in the moring). As an all-in-one, this thing excels and leaves its competition in the dust.

Couldn't be easier. Very intuitive, and where I had questions, the manual answered them in a few seconds.

I give it a 9 only because some of the effects are a little noisy, and some of the amp models aren't perfect. Let's fact it.... a 10 would be flawless and perfect. This is an excellent sounding rig. I think it's funny when someone reviews a product like this and gives it a 1 for sound. I think they probably can't play, and are half deaf. Anyone with any skill on the guitar, and any concept of how to set up an amp to get a tone can get some great sounds out of this in very short order. I've used tons of amps and digital rigs and all of the modelling plugins, and this stands right up there with the best. If you want to lug around 100k worth of vintage and top-line amps and mics, be my guest, but for 300 bucks on ebay you can pick this up and save a lot of time. If you are doing an album with a great budget, rent the real amps, but this works excellent for most applications.

Excellent. No problems at all. Built like a tank.

Never dealt with the company yet. Website is decent.

I play all kinds of music, and this is a very versatile unit that covers many bases. Been playing for 25 years. Have everything from a $60,000 Schimmel grand piano to guitars by Taylor, Musicman, Gibson, Steinberger, etc.... I would replace it if it went away. Great build, very solid and dependable. In my opinion, it sounds significantly more like a real amp than any of the other competing products, and I tried them all. I do wish they would reduce the noise a little more and improve some of the effects such as the acoustic pedal. If you are considering this or its new little brother, the LE, don't hesitate. It's a great buy and will not dissapoint. (unless you are deaf)

Even a 5 year old can figure this out

Plinky attack not the good kind.
Too trebly
No bass and if you want bass it gets muddy
Harsh

It is the worst I have ever heard

As to tube responds... I have Super Reverb a Bassman and I know what tube respons is. No where near vox guys.

It is useless in recording situations without lots of afterboard eq. Pods do a much better job (NOT PERFECT either)

I bought this thing to get good sounds for recording and for playing late at night when my 8 month old baby is asleep.

I just can't stand the noise as I can't call it sound that comes out of this thing. Uninspiring.

Too expensive for a Korg PX4D sounding aparatus.

I even tried changing the valve to a NOS Phil AT7 and that made it somewhat better.

I fiddled with it for about 14 days and Its going back to the store.

Looks good enough built.

Have had this unit since they first came out...easy to learn, easy to tweak live,I like knobs rather than scrollong thru an LCD panel...some limitations in combinations and a little difficult to pass quickly from patch set to FX set for the current patch.

overall pretty good, but I do have some issues in keeping the clean very clean while still maintaining volume levels with other patches,

I use this with a Boss LS2...thru a Marshall TSL & 4x10....so I can choose to use the amp by itself...

Ive always been a digitech fan so the shift was major for me and apart from the reliability issues its great.

Fater a few months the footswitches started to fail...intermittently unswitchable...so I would end up with some patches unavailable on a night...

back to the shop, they replaced the switches...after a year they are starting to become unreliable again...out of warranty...so I'm faced with a bill to repair..

even though this is high use piece of equipment that sort of unreliability is unacceptable to me...Vox should have done the mileage testing more thoroughly...

I have tried on several occasions to get some support from Vox. Repairs under warranty no issue, but thats local support. They need to be more accessible. Backup makes or breaks a product for me.

We play stones hendrix motorhead elvis acdc blues and anything else that people like. This is a great versatile pedal that in my view beats the competition hands down. Being able to assign control and manually tweak every parameter makes live gigging so much easier. I know some people just bypass the the amp/speaker stages to use FX with their amp..but I prefer the LS2.

Maybe if it had just one amp/speaker bypass control that truly bypassed and just left the FX.

I will buy another vox pedal when they can guarantee that my switches wont slowly fail.

ive used the tonelab se for about 2 years on the road, playing 6 NIGHTS A WEEK, non-stop. ive found the unit good, but unfortunatly had a few problems with it.
firstly, the contacts on the effects have worn and i have trouble switching patches, or in effects mode turning on or off things like delay, occasionally switching between clean sound and drive, i have to repeatdly hit the foot button..
secondly, ive had problems with zero return on the volume, it wont go to zero, so even when the expression pedal is down i still get a signal thru, also the contact on the wah when depressed doesnt always activate.
unfortunatly these things started happening just after the warranty expired. ive learnt to work around it, and im looking at replacing the unit. Ive enjoyed the sounds alot, and the ease of use is great. I was expecting to get a few more years out of it thou..

Had em all,digitech boss etc. Very easy i needed no manual, but have been playin with these all in wonders for years, since the first, ADA MP-1.
I keep tryin em and keep em around for recording and fun.
this and the boss are esiest to use but tonelab wins eas of use for floor processors.

I own a les paul with duncans,ibanez neckthru ,handmade custom strat with ash body and fender neck. A carvin mts head i love so much it keeps amazing me after 6 yrs with it.None of my gear is stock all aftermarket pickups top of the line.
I list all my gear and you will have a book.If i sold half og it i might have a bed to sleep on.kidin
I keep tryin to go simple compact and have it all in 1 unit.Since my first all tube amp i have never looked back at a solid state hence tryin this unit.The tube.
I have been playin for 25 yrs and have a damn good ear.I run sound for local bands and do many other music related things ,nuff said.
Change the peice of shit tube in this unit and it will be top of the heap in budget all in wonders.Like a different amp tone controls have much more affect on the sound.Great tones.What u want to hear u will get damn close.F/X are excelent too better than boss or digiwreck in the 20 bit processing class.
I tried any way you can possibly run it.P.A. solid state stereo and tube heads.If you try runnin this through the front end of and amp it plain sucks no matter how u set anything.Run it straight to a power amp in only and pretty nice.Tube power is the way to go,brings life and breath to this unit with cab sim off unless using pa cabs.But i have a 412 with 2 v30's and 2 g12t75's.and a vertical 212 with carvin brits that are real close to a v30.
I am happy with it for an all in one but it will not reaplace an all tube head and pedals for me!! period
Best used for home recording.
i have a vox ad30vt and i run it through my 212 cab and i believe it sounds better. VOX!!!!!! make a power amp for this unit taylord for it.And i may sell every thing else.well maybe not.

dependable but i always use backups

havn't needed it but like others said the footswitch issue.but i repair my own gear anyway

I play country to blues nemetal and shre and classic rock

i just got it 2 days ago and already built myself 3 outrageous patches.
getting a good sound out of it isn't that hard
but sometimes tweaking it to make it perfect takes some time and sweat , so patience is the key.
the manual is exquisite , it is very helpful , informative and long.

about sound quality , i kinda got one of my favorire sounds of my favorite artists overall , and they are john petrucci and guthrie govan , you cant expect this unit to perfect this sound though , but it could sound close , very close , mostly it depends on you , not on the instruments.
overall all of the effects are perfect for me at least
it could be noisy sometimes if you have no expirience with editing , after getting used to it and understand the unit , you can make it dissapear .
I dont use that much gear
I use a Ibanez Prestige 1570 guitar
and a vox Valvetronix ad50vt
no special tricks and racks

This unit as said before , IS BUILT LIKE A TANK, just today i had to carry it around and it is heavy like a freakin' bazooka!!
it is strong and i think it is bulleproof , it might even have its own gravity systems , i dunno.
i would defenitly use it in a gig without backup.

haven't been dealin' with em'

OK....
im basically an all genere player , most of it is on progressive and stuff , just experimenting stuff trying to make something new.
This thing is an WICKED match to anything if you're good to it yourself , it will be good to you.
as far as i remember , i play around 4 years.
If it were stolen , i will DEFENATLY put some tracking systems on the tonelab before that happend , find it , Murder the guy who took it , and take it back.
i love everything about it , my favorite feature is being able to do anything.
the only products i've been comparing it to is single pedals and the BOSS GT8 , it simply is better than the BOSS for me and kinda suits my fun and needs more then the single pedals
if there is something i wish it has is more tubes, but it is impossible to get nowadays.
This thing inspired me so much that it is unbelivable
it does help me make music alot...
anyway , the last thing I have to say is....
DONT BUY THIS UNIT :)
good day

Just got the latest version SE. Manual is very well written. Its the most user friendly modeling floor unit available. C'mon guys get a stupid bypass switch that you can hit with your foot.

I use the SE through Ampegs. 1976 vt22 and a 72 VT40 .These have the active mid controls and are the best clean tube sound ever. Ive had them all . At age 50 I mean all. The clean tone is where the money is at for me. Theres a zillion great boxes for the od and distortions. I cant find fault with any of the SE amp models . The key is the VR at the back end.The VR is a 12ax7 running as a class ab and a tube output stage complete with ouput tranny load and speaker damping.The wah was a bit to wide ranging but easily changed to a much narrower sweep.I use the Vox in a cover band that does everything from the 50's to the 00's and the tones have to be convincing and feel good.Best unit ever. Most of these in the past I couldnt use at all.

Its brand new. I would never do a gig without a backup. Would you take off on a 3 hr cruise without a spare tire.

Been playing 40 years. Use all types of guitars 50's and 60s strats ( cant take those out anymore. 1990 G&L ASAT is main guitar. Got a 1978 Ibanez Randy Scruggs . Love that one but the pickups have mid quality that can be nasally. Worked great through the Vox.

I found it generally to be quite intuitive,once you get your head `round the basics,it really depends on how technically oriented you are.I`d say it`s fairly uncomplicated,considering the large amount of functions.If you have access to a computer,you can connect the tonelab to it via the pair of midi connections in which case programming/getting sounds becomes a lot easier.

Let me get this straight:you won`t get the exact sound of your favourite Twin/Recto/Marshall or whathaveyou thousands dollars worth of sound,what you get is the ?? 330.00 worth simulation of it.
If you are a purist you may not be interested in this kind of pedal anyway.If you are interested in having a wide range of sounds at your disposal at the touch of a few buttons,then this might be what you need.
Personally I find some of the amp and effect simulation less useable than others:in my opinion the best sounds in the amp simulations are on the crunchy settings,you get some decent and pleasant sounds.Next best are the clean sounds,although except for the twin rev. every other amp is set to start distorting quite early on in the gain stage and so you have to decide for either cleanliness OR volume.Also i can hear some unpleasant digital overtones when I let a chord ring out.
The distorted sounds I`m having the most problems with:
onedimensional and a bit on the muddy side,whatever the eq I use.
I have to say that the manual comes in handy when you decide what model amp simulation you use,as the settings aren`t always used in the same way:for instance,a real VOX AC30 doesn`t have a middle control,so on the tonelab the middle pot is an extra that`s neutralized on 5.A real fender deluxe reverb only has tone control,whereas on the Deluxe rev simulation you have to use the treble and the bass pots to simulate that single tone,but to neutralize the middle pot it has,strangely,to be positioned on 2 (9 o`clock).So although it`s usually strightforward,reading the manual as you go along can really help.
Much of it applies to the various effects,some are better than others, I`m generally not too impressed with some modulations,particularly the phaser,which I find complicated to use and onedimentional.
the delays are fine,you`ll certainly find lots of useful sounds there,I`d just would have liked at least one DECENT multitap.
Thumbs up for the reverse delay,great for those psychedelic Floyd moments.
Reverbs are useable,but I don`t use them anyway,so can`t really give an informed opinion.
The distortion pedals I`m happy with,there`s enough to get a good variety of sounds,from a bit of boost to mild overdrive to full distortion,again,the more the distortion the more unnatural digital muddiness you get.
grouped together with the distortions are the whas,the comp,and some more modulations.This means unfortunately that you CANNOT use a distortion pedal AND wha at the same time,or dist/comp and I find this very limiting.
Generally speaking I`m happy with the variety of sounds I`m getting out of this pedal,considering the cost of it.
I play it through various valve amps,a carvin belair 212,a laney lc50 and a laney lc30:what I found the best is to use the LINE output rather than the AMP output.
The LINE output sounds more transparent,although the trebles need to be attenuated quite a lot.
The AMP output to me sounded a bit too boomy and less clear,so I suggest to take the time to experiment with both.
As for the sounds that I`m not too happy about:
if you listen to it in the quiet of your home you might find all sort of defects,but this pedal is meant to be used live:
I played quite a few gigs with it and I have to say that mixed with all the other instruments,it sounds great,all the possible muddines/fizziness/digitalness will be masked in the mix.

Never had a problem,I`m quite careful though.
Substituting the valve is a pain,in case you want to.I changed three or four different ones but didn`t notice any significant difference in sound.
I use it regularly without backup,if it breaks I`ll do without,that`s how versatile I am!

never needed them.

I`ve been playing for the last thirthy odd years,non professionally but very actively.I`m into vintage more than modern.Couple of Ibanez semiacustics,fender strat,fender tele,tokai sg and tokai 12 string ricky style.I play blues/country /soul/vintage rock and also some r`n`r and jazzy styles when required.I gig regularly in small clubs and pubs and I`m not too fond of big stages where the sound of the musician is in the hands of someone else.I like to be in control of my sound.
I went to buy a boss gt6 and left the shop with the tonelab instead:
never looked back.If lost I would replace immeadiately.there are some things that i would like a bit different but that would be the same with any of these types of effect pedals.possibly the best alternative would be to buy all single pedals separately,which probably have a much better sound,but it would be ten times as expensive and much more complicated to put to work.
VERY NICE,I LIKE.

This is my second attempt at owning an S.E. the first one was a dud and went back, I then moved on to L6 gear xt-live to go with my variax's.After increasing frustration with the all digi-sound, I bought another one,changed the valve for a top-grade one and YES! it is the dogs'danglies.Editing that stevie wonder could do(sorry stevie),sound that pee's on the pod' he-he.

If you have good ears and a bit of common'you can't fail to get great sounds out of these,don't try to make it sound exactly like ???,because all amps sound individual,I have owned lots of marshalls,vox's,mesa's each one different from similar model's. The effects on this are super ,far better than the pod,the chorus is spacy and nice,the wah spot-on,I got this to go into a bose L1 pa and it WORKS.

Generally it seems built for war, got a switch that needs replacing(sticks) also I over-wrote some patches by mistake on a gig,but found others that got me through ok. generally don't need back-up but keep the pod on stand-by.

Have dealt with them in the past,I think they regard e-mails as old-tech and try to communicate by telepathy, pity most of us are not as developed as they are and can't recieve thought transmission.

I am a gig-to-earn pro who play's what I am paid to play at the time so need gear that wil cope with anything , after a 40+year carreer I have played most things guitar/amp wise,and after buying the latest great new thing and fiddling with it and tweaking it ,I end up sounding like ME' oh well, thats life.But I LUV this puppy.Although you need a bike to go from end to end of it (it is long).

This one explains itself. I like the dials. It's a drag having to go through layers of menues before you can do what you want to. Once you've got started, it's more or less trial and error + learning by doing. The manuel is rather amusing, with lots of information concerning the amps, cabinets and FX the unit simulates.

The best sounding model I've had yet. I experimented with the AX Tube that sounded a little brittle, and settled for a Groove Tube. The Vox models are great. The Fenders can be a little compressed in the midd-range when you turn up he gain. I don't like the Marschalls. They have to much bass and lack presence for my taste. The cabinets are very good for recording. The FX are good value for the money. The Wah is great. Of course - This is not the real thing. Don't expect a Twin-Reverb, Marschall full stack and Vox AC30 at the press of a button. This is a good illusion, no more. Like most digital signals, the proof of the pudding is in the natural decay of the tone. The Tone-Lab SE does a good job here, but in the end the fadeing tone falls apart at the seams and vanishe into thin air. I don't use it live. There's not enough dynamics in it to compeate with a band that is rockin'. The closest I got to finding a fitting amp is the Atomic Reactor. But mine has 18 watts. Most bands I play with smother me .

No problems.

I'LL give VOX a good 8 here. They've presented the best modeller for vintage sounds out yet. It's a real little helper in the studio. It's a good help if you are flying and want to take some sounds with you. It's OK for live if you send it through the PA, but I'm used to having my cabinets behind me and hate having to depend on a monitor tech. Together with a Atomic Reactor amp you can get a great illusion going if your band isn't to loud. It's reliable and very easy to handle.

Very easy to program,kind of like a stomp box feel.No endless menus to page through.Manual is pretty complete. The software editor available at the vox site is very good.Highly reccommend getting it.(its free too!)

I use this for my studio and live situations.In the studio,I have been able to dial in pretty much any sound I need.The best part about this unit is the "feel" of the models.I couldn't tell you if they sound exactly like the amps that are modeled,but the overall flavor is there.It responds to playing attack in the way an amp does.I owned a POD 2.0 previously.It recorded ok,but always felt 2 dimensional.The tonelab is more inspiring to me.

Using it live has been more of a challenge to me.I have tried a tech 21 power amp with it,but sent it back.I've tried it direct,but I don't always play into the same PA system,so it has been inconsistent.(can't blame the tonelab for that).I've been running it into the power amp inputs of an Ampeg head and 4x12 cab in stereo,and has been the best solution for me so far.The amp and speakers do color it somewhat,but it's acceptable until I find something else.

The effects are pretty good also.Sure,there are better multi effects and stand alone reverb units out there,but overall,having all this in one pedal board more than makes up for any percieved quality loss.The fact that you can only have one stomp pedal effect "in front" of the amp model seemed limitng at first,but has not been an issue for me.

Had it a year with no problems.The amp I use doubles as my back up,if I need it.Don't reccommend doing any gig without some sort of "plan B".....

It is built really solid.Could be useful if a bar brawl develops at your show.

Never dealt with them.

I play rock pop original music,and I'm in a classic rock cover band.It suits both nicely in my opinion,but that is highly subjective at best.I would definately consider buying another if it were lost,but I think I would go for the amp version (ad60vtx,ad120vtx) and solve my live situation issues.

*******HEAR THE DEVICE INSTUCTIONS IN OVERALL RATING*******It's very easy to handle this unit not only at home while making new sounds but in real time in the studio or live. One movement and you have every type of reverb, delay or modulation you want in the same preset without changing your amp or cabinet...The manual if you read it....is good and have everything in detail..

Look... my favorite artists have spent millions for their sound in amps, effects, sound engineers and guitars' technicians. THIS sound is impossible to be taken by any multiFX... BUT I can assure you that you can take sounds from jazz to black metal with tweaking. And of course with the apropriate guitars...The amps are very good and real esspecially the voxes.... I am a proffessional guitarist and I go straight to PA. Nothing more... NO amps NO cabinets. I make me sound home with my studio monitors and I just have the same sound everywhere I play.It's noisy when you have the rectifier or the marshalls full drive full output...But not as noisy as a line6 or digitech. I think the most noiseless device is the ROLAND VG-88V2 but it's a digital shit....

It's a tank.... I have it 2 years and once someone stepped on the reverb button during a show and it's pressed in. Later at home I pulled it out and everything fine...No buckup..

The only dissanvantage of vox is that they don't have an answer center through the internet... they say go to the shop you bought it... But I haven't needed them yet.

I play EVERYTHING. Funk, blues, classic rock, hard rock, progressive metal. You can hear this device in ****WWW.MUSICWAVE.GR**** by find my name wich is ****AXS**** from the members area. There are 3 songs there.I hope you enjoy. Welcome to the world of tonelab SE. The only thing I wish it had is a compressor in a different place from the distortion pedals. Just this. But if you really play there is no need for compressor in high gain amps.

Well..I,ve just gone twelve rounds with the tonelab se, and i,m
aching all over.I just spent ten days with a Blade RH4 and a pair of sennheiser headphones,tweaking parameters and patches to see what all
the "company stocks and shares hype was about".Why does every newly
tweaked patch sound like a slightly different version of a acoustic
simulator effect pedal,spiced up with any degree you fancy,of
the same old metallic sounding digital FIZZ.Why not buy an acoustic
effects pedal, or any multi-effects pedal and plug it into a tube
pre-amp direct recording device, run at more traditional tube
voltages?In many of the other reviews,I noticed that those lavishing
praise on this device, had it hooked up to other "gizmo fantasticos",
like several pedals and a dirty great big amplifier.Vox could at least
sell it with the warning "not recommended for use with headphones or home recording without substantial investment in ??!#??%&?.God when will
this plage of digital hype end.It,s becoming a global cult on par with
football or something.You know...years ago, i had a digitech gnx1
which should be considered ancient technology by todays standards,but
all though in many ways just as digital as the tonelab, it had a massiveness and vastness to it,s sound that I cant locate in the Vox,and it even had a pretty good drum machine as well.Before that I had a Boss gx700,and both these museum pieces sound supprisingly
good if you wanted to record "rock concert in Albert Hall"None of
them had (valve-tubes).Does it have better responsiveness to volume change and pick attack in comparison to my museum pieces?YUP
I reckon it does.And does it as others also claim allow more of the individual personality of your guitar to come through?YUP.But surely any acoustic effects pedal (plugged or not plugged)into a HINT...HINT..(ANALOG)distortion stomp box,would,nt blanket the sound of your guitar in digitality either.Oh! and the manual..well..
considering the gap between hype and performance, i,d say the manual was a bit to PALY...or CHUMMY as it,s called on the other side of the Atlantic.YUP..it is very fast and easy to tweak patches.

No.After 80 hours of morning to night tweaking i have,nt accidentally
fallen over any half tolerable,Knopler,Rea,Beatles,Stones shimmmering
sparkeling..er whats the other guitar mag review expression,OH yes
glassy tones.Ok..OK you guessed it.I,m a tone frustrated 55 year old
ex-hippy whose hoping to cheat the system,by getting lush tones
"on the cheap".Don,t look at me that way.Thats what they make these
God forsaken contraptions are for,no?The stomp box simulations are
digital fizz.Amp simulations,mostly cleanish, not quite Shadows
Hank Marvin.High gain on amp sims..digital muddy sludge,

If you,ve still got your tonelab by next Christmas,and you turn
the lights off, you cant depend on all those flashing coulored lights
on the tonelab making a damn fine Christmas tree.YUP,it looks robust.
No, i don,t gig.

Never dealt with them,but the best cutomer support would be a
Tonelab SE,that sounded at least one generation better than the
old stuff,even if it,s through a pair of head phones or while recording straight in to a multi-track recorder.

PLAY;blues,pop,rock
PLAYED:on and off all combined...about ten years.
IF:it were stolen,(I would not, like most off the other reviews
on harmony central)"hunt the bastard down to the ends of the earth
and while teetering on the edge of the Victoria Falls in Tanzania,
blugeon and stab him to death with the pointy end of a Ibanez
Revenger 4xtriple humbucker with abelone skull inlays.But i would ask the judge to sentence the villain to be my butler for six months,and
his first job would be to dump the tonelab in the trash.

im a Guitar Player not a rocket scientist
You better be a rocket scientist. When I finally did program some patches, they suddenly would change and dissapear in a instant. Theres simply to much junk on this thing. Probebly better for recording then performing in my opinion. Its to big for small stage set ups. Im a hands on tone freak, if I have to read a complex manuel, its not for me, thats why I turned to pedals. Plus it sounds digital. If your ok with that?, youll like the tonality of this sound device

I dont try to sound like anybody so I cant say exacticly if you can get this thing to sound like a particular player. Doesent touch and technique have something to do with that?. The distortions and overdrives suck. my hot rod devilles dirty channels sound better then this and thats not saying much. some of the digital effects are decent like chorus delay, but any digital device should at the least do that, not really to noisy. No, they never sound great, there ok at the best

side metal plates came loose and i had to find mini phillips head screws to re-attach them. i wouldent drop this thing, it would probebly mess up settings and hardware, maybe the tube in it. The carrying case is pretty flimsy, im sure it wouldent protect it if by mistake, you did drop it

i guess you have to decide what your sound goals are?. if your a Guitar hobbyist or your really great at editing in the digital domain, it may be for you. you get what you pay for. I have about 2,000 dollars invested into all my botigue pedals and pedalboard, but I play music for a living and I need to sound Great every time I perform a gig or big show. This thing is ok if you have the time to edit it. Becouse of this thing, I re discovered pedals and bought stuff like the Zen O/D, Eternity Love Pedal O/D, Skreddy Mayo, Keeley modded Rat, Ledgendary Tones Time Machine Boost, Xotic R/C Booster, Keeley Modded DD-3 Digital Delay, Line 6 Verbzilla, Keeley modded tr-2 Tremolo, Tone Factor Nebula Phaser, Sweetsound Mojo Vibe Vibe, Rmc Teese Pictue wah, Peterson Stobostomp tuner, Keeley modded Boss CE-2 speedyrate chorus. and Fender Deluxe Ht Rod Deville and Mesa Boogie Stilito ace amp. So you have to decide what you want and need and go from there. For me, the Tonelab is fancy looking with the little tube glowing up at you, but the bottom line is it doesent sound warm and fuzzy like my pedals and amps. So go ahead and buy into the marketing if you prefer, but for me, no thank you sir.It sold real fast on e-bay, man o man what does that say?. lol

Very easy to use. Hit the button for your target, and use the matrix to edit the parameters. Truely on the fly editing, Right on stage while your playing if necessary.

As far as amp "modelling"...very very good. It has a distinct basic tone, reminds me of vintage Marshall from plexi to hotrod. Although you won't find Eventide quality FX, it's very serviceable for stage and most studio guitar work. Cab sims are so-so....CAN help cut the fizz of amp sims...but don;t be afraid to try it without. The global "amp/PA' setting is VERY important to achieve the sound you are looking for, depending on what you plug into. Experiment with that...rememeber it WILL effect how you EQ.

As was mentioned, the nice studio clean is impossible. Trust me. The "clean" is just too colored. They did really miss the boat on this. I have to use my Rocktron Voodu Valve when I want a clean sound like The Fixx or some Police. Only other complaint is "recto model" doesn't sound anywhere NEAR like a rec. All others are really pretty good, especially if you just use them to achieve a sound, and not to precisely emulate an amp.

I've been using it three years, and only recently took it apart to tighten up a controller. Nice sturdy metal with stomp-box style buttons. Other manufacturers...TAKE NOTICE!

NEver dealt with them.

I've been trying other amps...like the Mesa Single Rec, H&K Switchblade, VHT, and they just don't offer up the diversity I need. I use an old 64 Fender Twin, and it really adds that great tube tone and feel, not that it doesn't have SOME all on it's own. I've used it straight in to PA, but sounds best right in the front of a nice single channel NMV tube amp.

I've even tried totally replacing it with the Rocktron Voodu Valve, which I love dearly. But I ALWAYS come back to the ToneLab SE for it's features and ease of use. It's got everything you'll need and then some. Plop it down, plug in and go. A really great unit. Important to find the right amp for it. Not saying it didnt; sound good with the VHT/Mesa?etc...but sounded best with the old Twin.

May not be for EVERYONE....but if you want SOME options for tone and effects, and want a quick set up , rugged build, and a real close tube tone and feel, this is it.

(PS, I've been using preamps for 25 years, since the early DOD Heavy Metal Pedal. This is the best real amp... NON-DIGITAL... sound and feel I have had.)

Hardest thing to do on this puppy is to try out a variety of tubes....very difficult to get in and out. Here's a how to make it easier.

Definitely try a Tesla JJ and it will give you a much sweeter tone. I've trie Rubr's, Grooves, AT7, AU7, AY7, and RCA's and Phillips, and Sovtecs, and Chinese. The only one with a noticable difference is the JJ or the Ruby A (avariation of a JJ).

So...

Open plexi window with Allen wrench.

Face the unit from the operating position.

Push tube side to side then down to expose the tube pins. Using a small flat screw driver with the tip wrapped a couple of times with electrical tape, push between the exposed AX7 pins and gently pry out by rocking and turning screw driver.

When it pops out, and is losse in the bottom of the tube cavity, use a small set of needle nose pliars to grab a pin and remove from the tube cavity.

To install a new tube, really easy: you need about an 8 inch piece of insulated wire. Fold the wire in half making a 1cm loop that will fit around the top of your new 12AX7 tube.

Using needle nose pliars, grab the new 12AX7 pin on either side of the gap. Gap should be facing up. The tip of the pliars should be on the pins base right up to the tubes glass. A piece of that pin should be exposed. The pliars should be at a 90 degree angle of the pin.

Tilt bulb into Tonelab cavity, diving the top in first then position pins to their corresponding holes and gently pull tube into socket as much as gently possible with the pliars.

Keeping all pins in the socket, loosen grip on the pliars while using your finger of your free hand to tilt tube down so the top-bottom-side of the tube rests on the cavity floor. The tube should now be at an angle with the bottom pins deeper in the socket than the top pins. Keep finger on tube. Put pliars aside.

With finger still pushing lightly down on tube, now insert the looped wire around the top head of the tube so it rests justs under the glass point at the tubes top.

Pull the wire up and towards you at a gentle angle while keeping pressure on the finger that holds the tube down. Allow the tube to rise horizontal. By pulling the wire towards you and applying downward pressure with your finger, the tube will remain horizontal and can be wriggled (by moving the wire side to side and towards you), and slid with significant force into the socket.

Do it a couple of times and it's easy.

Using this method I can swap tubes in less than 30 seconds.

With bare fingers, about half an hour....most of time cussing the designers....by the time you install the tube a mano, you can't even remember what the previous tube sounded like.

Hope this helps...I wish someone told me how to do it like this...so voila.

JJ Tesla will make it a 10.

It's very easy to get a good sound from this, patches are easy to edit and create, best pedal I've had in 30 years far for overall usability

It can be very noisy if you use high gain settings & amps, but the Noise Reduction helps ease this down. I alaso use a JMP1 and without NR it can be very noisy at so good for vox adding NR. You do need to be careful if your using different guitars at high settings the NR can cut the signal, but the manual warns you about this.

Ah, sorry vox here we go. I'm currently getting the pedal replaced. It has a faulty footswich and behaves moodily. I have no problem with this and the excellant dealer Merchant City Music, Glasgow, where I bought it from.

But to Vox, I also complained about the pedal and : The Power Brick, its very very susceptible to noise pickup from other mains units. The din power connector doesn't help either if it ever gets broken.

But I accept I may have been unlucky hence the fair score.

Ah, again it's a Korg helpdesk that deals with enquires in the UK and there response was basically ''Sorry mate, never heard of this happening before, oh and Merry Christmas'' So 2 for for at least replying!

I play all sort from Rock, Blues to mercenary pop, but my 1st musical love is Blues/Rock. So I use this along with a JMP1 and with both units there's not much left soundwise that you can't achieve. And you can also switch the JMP1 with the midi programme out from the Vox so a midi controller foot switch thrown in.
I've played with other units such as Boss, Line6 & Korg and there all much the same and very unreal digital sounding, OK for recording but dull live. Marshall & Vox have my type of sound, and I believe that valve untits are the the best option to cut through live mixes.
Despite the reliability problems I coud'nt live without it, and I will keep at vox for a more professional answer to my reliability problems.

Nice and easy interface.

Not so digital, actually pretty close to tube sounds.

Bulit like tanks!
I want to use it with a backup but I don't have a backup! damn it!

Never dealt with them

I play blues, hardrock. Distortions are simply not good enough for metal stuffs but good enough for hardrock. I gave a 10 for overall because it looks like a real musical equipment and sounds so real.
I dig the tube in it when it glares!

Compared to other units the TLSE is a breeze. Punch the button for the effect you with to change and turn the knobs til it sounds the way you like.

Right out the box the TSLE has the best sound of all the pedalboard efx units. The Boss GT8 is right behind it for it out the box sound (all efx off). If you are coming from a set up of a couple of stompboxes this is going to be the unit for you. If you have used other multi-fx boxes the and are used to programming the Boss GT8 is the way to go. If you know how to program you can equal or surpass the TLSE, but you have to know to shape tone. I'll give it a 9 because most people are not tweakers. The Boss would get and 8 but once you kick in all the extra features it would a 9+.

For what paid it's easily a 10.

Clean undistorted tone is impossible to acheive with this unit!!!

Great Tube Tones for the distorted overdrive stuff. However, I really only have one beef with this unit, and that is that it appears to be next to (impossible) to get a seriously CLEAN Tone out of it. I've tried every conceivable combination of amps,speakers, effects, acoustic settings and tweaking the gain/VR and master volume knobs in every way but still there is a bit of residual distortion even using volume knob dynamics. It will NOT get that ultimate clean sound.

I DARE ANYONE TO PROVE ME WRONG!!!!!!!!

I am so horribly bummed out by this. This board truly excells in every way over the others floor board modelers but lacks seriously in the one area I was hoping would be a strong point.

VOX! What's up!!!??? Have you got your heads burried so deep in your coolo's that you can't see the importance of Cleeeaaaannnn!!! The guitar world does not rely on distortion and overdrive alone!!!! Get with it!!!!!

IF VOX WOULD ONLY CLEAN UP THE CLEAN TONES I WOULD BE CREAMING ALL OVER THIS BABY! I'm giving it a moderate rating only because of the absence of "CLEAN" undistorted sound. Period! Even rolling back the volume knob with single coils doesn't do it!!!

Just give me the ability to find a sound that closely ressembles the clean-ness of say; a strat with the middle possition bridge and mid pickup fed directly into a 65 Fender twin ala mark noppfler sound and I will be satisfied.

After short time of trying out the matrix for the different amps, cabinets and effects, I was able to create the tones I need. For a complex soundgear with thousands of different settings it is OK.

The TLSE is teh only modelling unit, that has really professional sounds. I owned the vamp, pod and podxt before. All units are far away from the tonequality of the vox. The TLSE has not as much simulations than for example a podxt. But what is build in is outstanding and professional sounding. It is really a tube sound especially with the crunchy and clean sounding amps. The effect section is great too. Shure, my old analog boutique overdrives and booster sound better but for a multi-sound setup this pedal simulations work excellent in every situation. One of the most important thin is: the TLSE is really a live gear. Pod and all the others are OK for some recorded sounds but in a live situation most sounds are unusable, digital, liveless and without punch. The VOX is an excellent live gear. It works with a normal guitar amp ( I use a Groove Tubes Soul O Single Tube amp and a HK Transitor Amp) as well as with a fullrange Monitor or as a "direkt to PA gear". Congratulations to the VOX engineers for their professional good sounding frequency correction unit and cabinet simulation. No other modeller can reach this professional quality.
The TLSE is a unit, that reacts to the sound and volume settings of the guitar nearly like a real tube guitaramp. It reproduces the real sound of different guitars in nearly all volume settings. Other gear only sounds usable with full open volume on the guitar.
The two channel concept is excellent for live playing and gives the feel of a real two channel guitar amp. I use this feature in my custom presets mostly with the same amps and cabinets but with different gain settings. Excellent!
For a modeller I give 10 points because it is not comparable with pure analog equipment.

This gear is build like a tank and and ready for liveplaying. I never had any problems.

I never had contact with the company.

I play guitar over 25 years with different equipment, tube amps, analog pedals, modellers. For the last years I play Strats, LesPaul, Takamine accoustic guitar and a "Steinberger Paddel" over GrooveTubes and HK Amps. Blues, Rock, Jazz and Fusion are my main styles. The TLSE is the first modeller I really love and I would buy it again without any uncritical. In my opinion there is nothing comparable better sounding on the market today.

I bought this floor unit because the POD XT was too cold and lifeless! I tried the Digitech units which to me sounded to flat and one dimensional. This Vox unit has such depth and fell. compared to all others! Satan would be proud!

I couldn't believe how devilish this thing sounded when first plugging into my VHT and Mesa power amps. This unit had much more dimension than any of the other modellers I had owned previously. I also like the lack of features, LOL! Seriously, my lord Satan loves this as well!

The Dark lord gives it the two thumbs up!

N/A

I play in a Slayer tribute band and yes, this unit covers this style very well! I have heard people say this unit can not get heavy or tight enough but I have to laugh after using this on countless gigs! I also play in a dark cover band.....we play the more dark and heavy classic of old and the tone stands up against some top amps. We play some gigs in an old church and the acoustics are amazing so you can hear all the nuances of this beast!

Let me just say this; This is the easiest and simplest floor unit ever made, that has this humongous arsenal of technology, PERIOD!

To get the sound you basically turn the knobs, hit write and your tone is there. Patch editing is so intuitive and simple, it is a truly no brainer. The Tonelab SE PC editor is so awsome and intuitive also. IT really helps so that you dont have to break your back going up and down to the unit on the floor to edit it. This is how it works:
You hook it up to the PC via midi in and out, once you turn on your TLSE, and launch the Editor; it automatically receives all your onboard patches from the TLSE (TONELAB). Now you have a really simple and clear view of what is on you TLSE. The names of the patches, the cabs, amps, everything is there on your big flat screen. It is in one word, SUPERB!!!! I just can't say it enough. But I really love this editor. I can go on and on, but you get the picture. This system was made for guitar players. No nonsense stuff, it is made to make you want to play your guitar and enjoy this beautifull instrument.

Manual? What is that? Well, just kidding. I did read the entire manual which is not that big at all, but I truly think you should read it. You will definitely get an awsome understanding of the huge undertaking that VOX did you give you the product you have. It really made me appreciate it and understand it a whole lot more. And it really sounds like it was written by a fellow rocker than some technical meat head that knows circuits and not the guitar. Kudos to VOX for the awesome job on the Tonelab?s manual. I give it a perfect 10.
I have not used the manual ever since I finished reading it. Not even the PC editors manual. Is there one? Well, who cares cause its not needed at all. Thats how easy it is to use.

Never deal with customer support. No comment here, but since they made such awsome product, easy to use, and simple interface with awsome editor, I have to give them a 10. The manual is so clear and consice, they should have given the author royalties for such awonderful job on the manual.

Truly awsome!!

I play Christian rock and workship. Perfect match. You know, that most awsome thing about this unit, is how it doesn't ruin the sound of you guitar. Its like you can have this amp fully cranked and still be able to tell the strumming of the strings. Its hard to explain with workds, but its something I couldnt feel with any other effects boards. The only one that came close was the Digitech GNX4. But it still was not there like the TLSE.

I have been playing for almost 26 years. I play to worship the King of Kings. Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I thank God for VOX and for all the engineers that put so much effort in making this amazing tool to make music for God.

If this unit was stolen, I would really cry. Seriously. I think I could not take it. But things can be replaced and not life. So I would definitely buy another one.

In a few words, what I really love of this unit is its no nonsense approach to making music. You have all the tones you could ever dream of. All at your disposal and to make an unimaginable amount of you patches via the editor or right on the unit, with the utmost simplicity, just like you had you VOX amp in front of you and turned the knobs on the amp till you got your tone and voila!! Thats how easy it is on the TLSE. It doesnt get any better that this my friends.

I sold my Digitech GNX4. I thought I was going to use all the features on it, but I honestly didnt. I did a few times, but thats it. The sound of the GNX4 is superb and pro too. I cant say the same for the Pod units and XT live units. To me, those are ok for fun and to get exited about playing the guitar. For Professional recording and ONStage equipment and sound, it has got to be the Tonelab SE>period. Of course if you have way more cash, you can definitely go another route, but for this price range, the TLSE is the real Mackoy folks. Bar none, the ultimate TUBE sound at your feet. So if youre in the market for a floor unit, look no further. Do not get confused with all the bells and whistles of other units. Although the ones on the Digitech GNX4 are truly usefull, only get that unit if you intend to use those features. Which, in reality do come in handy. I had one and I can attest of their versatility and usefullness.

BUT, if you want true PRO sound and look it has got to be the TONELAB SE.

Warmest regards to all,

Musikman4Christ

Let me just say this; This is the easiest and simplest floor unit ever made, that has this humongous arsenal of technology, PERIOD!

To get the sound you basically turn the knobs, hit write and your tone is there. Patch editing is so intuitive and simple, it is a truly no brainer. The Tonelab SE PC editor is so awsome and intuitive also. IT really helps so that you dont have to break your back going up and down to the unit on the floor to edit it. This is how it works:
You hook it up to the PC via midi in and out, once you turn on your TLSE, and launch the Editor; it automatically receives all your onboard patches from the TLSE (TONELAB). Now you have a really simple and clear view of what is on you TLSE. The names of the patches, the cabs, amps, everything is there on your big flat screen. It is in one word, SUPERB!!!! I just can't say it enough. But I really love this editor. I can go on and on, but you get the picture. This system was made for guitar players. No nonsense stuff, it is made to make you want to play your guitar and enjoy this beautifull instrument.

Manual? What is that? Well, just kidding. I did read the entire manual which is not that big at all, but I truly think you should read it. You will definitely get an awsome understanding of the huge undertaking that VOX did you give you the product you have. It really made me appreciate it and understand it a whole lot more. And it really sounds like it was written by a fellow rocker than some technical meat head that knows circuits and not the guitar. Kudos to VOX for the awesome job on the Tonelab?s manual. I give it a perfect 10.

I have not used the manual ever since I finished reading it. Not even the PC editors manual. Is there one? Well, who cares cause its not needed at all. Thats how easy it is to use.

Oh man, this thing is a tank. I think the US army or marines built it cause, I can definitely step on it and know its gonna last. It is impressive on the floor. It is a professional unit folks. It was made to perform, sound awsome and get you noticed.

I can honestly say I can depend on it. I will buy an extra tube though, because like anything, nothing is perfect and its better to always have plan B.

I can definitely gig with out a backup. I know this thing, unless a semi truck passed over it, can definitely survive abuse.

Never deal with customer support. No comment here, but since they made such awsome product, easy to use, and simple interface with awsome editor, I have to give them a 10. The manual is so clear and consice, they should have given the author royalties for such awonderful job on the manual.

I play Christian rock and workship. Perfect match. You know, that most awsome thing about this unit, is how it doesn't ruin the sound of you guitar. Its like you can have this amp fully cranked and still be able to tell the strumming of the strings. Its hard to explain with workds, but its something I couldnt feel with any other effects boards. The only one that came close was the Digitech GNX4. But it still was not there like the TLSE.

I have been playing for almost 26 years. I play to worship the King of Kings. Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I thank God for VOX and for all the engineers that put so much effort in making this amazing tool to make music for God.

If this unit was stolen, I would really cry. Seriously. I think I could not take it. But things can be replaced and not life. So I would definitely buy another one.

In a few words, what I really love of this unit is its no nonsense approach to making music. You have all the tones you could ever dream of. All at your disposal and to make an unimaginable amount of you patches via the editor or right on the unit, with the utmost simplicity, just like you had you VOX amp in front of you and turned the knobs on the amp till you got your tone and voila!! Thats how easy it is on the TLSE. It doesnt get any better that this my friends.

I sold my Digitech GNX4. I thought I was going to use all the features on it, but I honestly didnt. I did a few times, but thats it. The sound of the GNX4 is superb and pro too. I cant say the same for the Pod units and XT live units. To me, those are ok for fun and to get exited about playing the guitar. For Professional recording and ONStage equipment and sound, it has got to be the Tonelab SE>period. Of course if you have way more cash, you can definitely go another route, but for this price range, the TLSE is the real Mackoy folks. Bar none, the ultimate TUBE sound at your feet. So if youre in the market for a floor unit, look no further. Do not get confused with all the bells and whistles of other units. Although the ones on the Digitech GNX4 are truly usefull, only get that unit if you intend to use those features. Which, in reality do come in handy. I had one and I can attest of their versatility and usefullness.

BUT, if you want true PRO sound and look it has got to be the TONELAB SE.

Warmest regards to all,

Musikman4Christ

I just took one home from Guitar Center today (8/21/06). It's easy and intuitive to set up patches and use. It is a very good sounding unit, especially for distorted tones.

The sound quality is very good for distorted tones, even heavy distorted tones, that some reviewers have said it doesn't do. The problem is with the clean tones. If you are used to the sound of the great clean tube amps like Fender Twins and Blackface reverbs, you will not be able to match that sound. I've been playing for 30 years and have owned just about every amp. I really wanted to like this thing. My main guitar set-up is a Rivera Sedona. This is an all-tube acoustic/electric guitar amp that also has killer distortion sounds and great clean Blues tones and jazz tones. The problem is, it is VERY heavy. It weighs about as much as two Fender Twins. I'm serious, it is crazy heavy Also, it is very expensive, not only the initial price of around $2300 at Guitar Center today, but also in the tube maintainence ($100 each year or sooner). Which is why I wanted the Tonelab. Simplicity. Could I make it work? Yes. Does it have the clean punch of a twin or my Rivera? No way! By the way, I plugged it through a Mesa Boogie 20/20P tube power amp in stereo with 2 EV 12" speaker cabinets and it still didn't get it. The manual even says that the Blackface model was purposely left a little dirty for making the models correct. The only clean sound that worked was the acoustic patch, but even it distorted in the low end. It sounds like my Rivera when the tubes are going bad, unless you turn it down so low that you can't hear it, but the distortion is always there. Now don't get me wrong. I spoke with Paul Rivera about 5 years ago, and he said that the thing to learn about (because I was asking his advice) was amp modeling. He said it would be the future and that tubes will go away pretty soon. Well, we still aren't there folks. This is the best one, but it's not good enough.

I would guess that it's reliable. But I'm taking it back tomorrow. A "Surprise and Delight" was the included gig bag. Very good Vox!

If you see me play, I'm basically a jazz player. But I can play most styles pretty well. I'm like a Nashville studio guy that lives in Detroit. I've been playing for 30 years. Outside of low paying jazz gigs ($100 per night if lucky), to make some extra cash, I've been playing as a one-man band with as "non-karaoke" as possible backing tracks I create in my studio and I do everything from BB King, allman Brothers, Johnny Winter, Ramones, Doors and even Willie Nelson in addition to all of my jazz/world music stuff. . . . . . Antoher reason to want the Tonelab is that it IS very versatile. I wanted it to work. I really did. Also, I've had the Johnson J-Station and tried all of the other modelers in the store. They all seem to have the same issue with the clean tones, but the tonelab is better.

It's easy to get a good sound out of it, but to find all the functions is a bit pain in the butt.

The manual is ok, could be better.

My unit is from 2005 so, i think it's the upgraded one.

Setup: Dean Evo, Fender Stratocaster/Vox Tonelab SE/Alesis quadraverb/PA

First of all, you should know that your sound depends very much of the tube that is inside your Tonelab.
Standard it comes with an Electro Harmonix, made by Sovtek. Well..the production of these tubes are not very consistent.
I've heard stories from people who got a complete shit-sound out of it and want to sell this unit a.s.a.p.
I had also minor problems with my Marshall sounds, it just sounded dull and i never used it.
All other amps sounded a bit sharp in the high end. The lack of bass is of course because it's a modeling unit.
I was just not satisfied.
I changed the standard tube for a NOS General Electric 12AX7 tube.
After this change, the sound of all the amplifiers became much better, except for the tweed.
Great overdrives with nice harmonics, enough bass and not these high peaks. Now i really use the Marshall sound a lot!
I also will buy a NOS Muller tube and try that.

2nd of all, if you are a metalhead then this unit is not for you.
It is really a musical piece of equipment. This unit is perfect for clean sounds, breakup sounds to Rock.

I find the effects good, except for the reverbs and rotary.
Maybe the choruses could be deeper and a bit more lush.
I use also my Alesis effects.

The delays are pretty good
Actually this Tonelab has 2 modulation delays, the Korg SDD3000 and the Electro Harmonix Memory man.
Perfect for U2 players, with this you can even play "Where the streets have no name"
I play a lot of U2 so this unit is perfect for me.
The Vox AC simulations are really good and with the 2 modulation delays you're already equipped.

I think it is pretty reliable.
It looks sturdy and sure weighs heavy.
Sure i will gig without backup, since i don't have any backup unit.
Only one thing happened during the year that i got the unit. One time the power didn't came up after i switched it on.
I switched the external power unit off and on and it worked again.
Nothing spectacular.

Never dealt with them, never needed them.

My style of music is anything from 70's till now, i play also a lot of ambient stuff and U2.

I have been playing for 21 years electric guitar.

If it was stolen, sure i would consider to buy another one, but also i would like to try the new Zoom transtube 9.2. Heard good stories about it but if it can beat the Vox, don't know.

I have had Boss stuff and POD stuff, like the XT. None of the competitors comes in terms of real tone close to this SE, except for the Zoom TT 9.2 maybe.
POD, Boss, Digitech etc. have maybe more amp/cab models and 750 other effects, but what good is it for if it all sounds cold and sterile. I can't really believe that real musician's prefer a POD XT live over a unit with tubes. So i assume that these POD/Boss players are a bit ignorant.

I wish i could use the wah with another pedal.

This modified Tonelab in combination with my Alesis quadraverb, is a combination hard to beat. the Alesis also colours the sound as well a bit (in the good way) and makes up the weak spots in my Tonelab, like reverbs etc. Sure both units are real keepers (i have bought tons of equipment in the past and sold it again). The only thing that i would like to add is a good tube enhancer/exciter and a truly good modulation delay. For the rest nothing to complain.

Fairly easy. It does not take long at all to figure this thing out.

I'll keep this fairly short here. In the last year I have bought the Behringer V-amp pro, The Pod XT, Boss GT-Pro, and now this, The Vox Tonelab!

Which one sounds best? The Vox in nearly EVERY CATEGORY! The Pod xt and V-amp aren't as good as this thing in any category. The cleaner sounds and big chord sounds on the Vox are at least 15-20% better sounding than the other amp modelers, and the dirty and metal sounds are about 5-8% better sounding than the other modelers.

Believe me, I have done extensive testing on all these untis having spent hours and hours doing side by side comparisons.

I wish I would have bought the Vox first. I'll still be keepng the Boss GT Pro simply because it has a lot of weird sounds and does have value to me for recording but The Pod xt and Behringer V amp pro have to go!

I found the Tonelab SE very simple to use, one still has to refer to the manual but the learning curve isn't as great as say, the Line 6 Pod XT Live. The Manual explains everything you need to know in simpleton terms.

The Vox unit is the best sounding unit for a modeling unit to use in a live situation, I've tried them all, even owned a Pod XT live for about 6 months and the Vox unit blows them all away. it's a little more expensive but worth it. Now, that being said, I don't like the distortion sounds in a direct recording setup, it sounds totally differnt to me and i don't know why but i don't hardly do recording anymore, due to too much time spent with the band playing live, so it's not that crucial to me. but my favorite sound is the octave fuzz this unit does, I don't know cause i don't have my strat yet but i think i could pretty much nail that Blue on black sound, i can get pretty close with my PRS but a Strat would work much better. I like most of the sounds this thing creates exept maybe some of the mod effects Like the flangers & phazers, all and all this is a pretty good sounding unit for the money

Seems like it's built like a tank but i haven't had it very long to tell for sure, i currently gig without a backup for it, i hate doing that but right now i don't have a choice.

Haven't had to deal with them... yet

I play mostly rock in a cover band and have been playing off and on since i was a teenager and am now in my mid thirties and have played or owned just about everything. The SE is a far superior unit than the XT live in my opinion. It's not perfect but then what is. it's deffinetly the best out there though, i here a lot of "you can't get heavy sounds out of the SE". that's crap cause you can.

It's acctually pretty easy to use when i compare it to BOSS. You choose your amp, and your off. Then add a pedal, modulation, delay and reverb.

Well, it's a ten. Some say that it is only good for blues/rock/jazz. But you can create a great metal sound as well. If you spend some time with the modulation and delay, you can get a very warm and tonefull dist. I found out, that it is better to work without the cabinet option for a more heavy sound. It's sure for a clear sound.

Just put it in the PA, and your off.

It has improved my joy for playing a tad more. I can go places with my style of playing that were undiscovered before. I don't think i would ever get rid of it. Certainly worth its money.

The Tonelab SE (TLSE from now on) is ready to be used right out of the box! Plug in you guitar, turn on it on, choose a preset, and play till night turns day. After trying out all of the pre-programmed sounds in the TLSE, you may find that you want more...but the good news is that you can have more!

Editing, from what I've heard, is hard for people to do. The only reason I think so many have trouble with it is because they are programming the TLSE on the actual unit. Using the MIDI interface, and by downloading the editing software (it's free from voxamps.co.uk) editing is a snap. The editor allows you to see EVERY knob and effect at once, instead of on the TLSE one at a time.

The manual comes in at around 60 something pages. It is a long read, but if provides the basic understanding of the TLSE. It details out the history of each amp and cab model and provides explanations of each effect. The online manual is considered more infomative, and I agree; However, reading both manuals will help volumes in using the TLSE.

Ease of use receives a nine, due only to the fact that we have to go to voxamps.co.uk to get the editing software.

Sound Quality, what can be said about it? Well, it's great! The people who built this thing did a terrific job. The distortion can be improved on, and I had to create a more crisp acoustic preset, but other than that I have no beef with the Sound Quality.

I actually use the nickname "TANK" to describe my TLSE. It is built solid. Thick metal protects it from accidental drops and the knobs and push buttons have held up over the last year. As for the reliability of operating, the built in tube has yet to show a sign of weakness. I would advise that a backup tube be carried on your person in case it should burn out. But I've been informed that the life span of the tube in the TLSE should last between 2 to 4 years. I'll find out if thats true in the next year.

I've never dealt with support because i've never had an issue arise.

Overall, this is a great processor. It's given me more than my moneys worth. From the 16 amp and 11 cab models provided, a plethora of sound can be produced. By using the Midi interface or by messing with each knob individually, even more luscious sounds can be coaxed out of it.

This unit is 100% recommended. It gives me the freedom to craft my own sounds, and it can store up to 96 different creations at one time. Yes, I do not need that many, but I like having that much leg room. I can also save my programs (via MIDI) in case my TLSE malfunctions (it won't).

All in all, The TLSE is superb.

I just bought this yesterday, so i will submit this novice review, and another once i've had the time to really get into this thing.

I own the Boss GT-8 (which you need an engineering degree to really understand), and i've had the Vetta II (as well as a bunch of other Line 6 stuff) which the PODXT is based on. This is much easier to use than the Boss GT-8 and comparable to the Vetta II and other Line 6 gear. The editing features dont quite measure up to the options of Line 6 gear, and doesnt come close to the Boss, but as you'll see below, what it lacks in options it more than makes up for in quality of sound. After all, how many gadgets do you really need? I never use more than about 4-5 patches at any given show as it is. - the rest of the oprions are wasted.

Now as i said, i need to spend a little more time with this, but my initial impression is that this is the single best effects unit that i have ever owned...bar none. I ran a Les Paul into it, and plugged the unit directly into the input of my Vai designed Carvin Legacy tube amp. The great thing about this amp is that it has killer tone that still seems to allow the natural tone of my amp to come through. The GT-8 didnt do that. It over powered the amps characteristics to the point where us might as well just go direct out to a sound board.

The VOX presets will obviously need some tweaking but the sounds are sooooo natural and real. Not as digital sounding as the Line 6 and Boss stuff. I will def be able to get the quality sounds that i need without a whole lot of effort.

Now, i did hear a certain amount of noise from the unit (and i was using alnico humbuckers) and i hope that doesnt get worse when i crank it. I dont know if its due to the electrical current, or that the box is just noisy. Ill tinker with the gains and see. That could be a prob. If so, ill look into sticking some sort of noise suppressor between it and the amp.

I am not crazy about the wah either but then again, neither Line 6 or Boss does wahs very well either so thats a wash. I'll just stick my Hendrix wah before the VOX and that should fix that.

OVer all though, I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER. I finally found something that seems to give me the tone im looking for. Clean and distortions are great. Contrary to some of the other posts, I found that it not only delivered a killer metal sound and tone, but it had a punch thats lacking in the Line 6 stuff. Boss does a pretty good job at that, but like i said, i have the GT-8 (btw, its up for sale to anyone looking to buy it??)and this beats it hands down. It doesnt seem to give me the crisp clean harmonics that i get from the boss but ill change my strings and tweak the unit and see if anything changes.

it certainly looks sturdy. Im not crazy about the power supply thingy. Its got a 6 pin input that goes out to the outlet. I can see probs with this if you kick it or step on it by accident and it doesnt look as easy to replace as the conventional power supply boxes. We'll see.

Of course, eventually the tube will have to be replaced, hopefully not right before a gig. I will keep a delay and chorus pedal handy just in case so i can just jam w/out it if so.

dont know yet...

VOX ROCKS. Seriously though, I have 13 guitars, of all dif styles and makes, including a Gibby Les Paul, Gibby ES 300, and a Strat. For the last 7 or 8 yrs i have played LIne 6 amps exclusively - the AX212, Vetta I, and Vetta II (i also had a cheap Behringer practice modeling amp). I play a contemporary style of music in church with mostly clean tones with delay and sometimes moderate distortion. I also play out in bands and we play everything from hard rock to pretty heavy stuff. I was happy with Line 6 but never satisfied. I traded my Vetta II for the Legacy tube amp and the Boss GT-8. From day one, i loved the amp but couldnt get attached to the Boss. By contrast, i plugged the VOX in and fell in love with it immediately. I cant wait to really dial in my sounds and play out with this thing. I have an outdoors show this Saturday so I'll see how it goes.

Its not as versatile as the competitor products, but lets face it, how many of us ever really use all of the options those others have. I was about to switch to a few stomp boxes and my amp (and i will do that for backup purposes) but for now, i think ive found it. GREAT TONE. If i had it stolen i would be sHt outta luck, because i cant afford to fork over another 500 bills right now to replace it - but i would want to.

Decent with knobs...only hard part is setting up the left pedal.

I changed the tube in mine to a groove tube and it improved over the already good tone. It's quiet pedal. The effects are good and have that VOX tone. The delay is one of the best I've heard in any multi-effects pedal anywhere...very organic and natural. The reverb is a tad weak but is usable. I have used this for about 3 years without a problem playing mostly into a sound system directly.

I had a problem with the volume pedal loosening up and pivoting sideways. That happened a few times...lock-tite fixed that.

2 weeks ago at rehearsal, the unit just died..quit working.
When I got home, I took it apart and found it was just the main fuse..just a bus type fuse...30 cents. So I would have to give this guy a 10 on reliability..fuses are meant to blow if the unit gets a surge..so it did it's job..or maybe I just rock too hard... haha.

Never had a problem really.

I just purchased the Zoom G9.2tt so the Tonelabs is getting a rest.
I've been playing for 30 + years. I own tons of other gear, which all has its place in the studio, but this pedal has been my main pedal for the past two years and did a phenominal job. I would probably buy another if this one disappeared. I love the delays and the amp modeling. Plus there's a free downloadable program to program the unit in realtime through your computer. I wish it did have an easier manual setup for the left pedal..it's a pain to program. I think it is easier through a computer. I have used this in music production and it's a plus for recording..especially havinn an internal tube. One of the best tonal machines out there...my new G9 edges this one out, but this will always be one of my favorite pedals.

This thing was so easy to get a great sound out of. I sat down with a mates POD XT Live and couldn't find a sound a liked for 2 hours! I tried the Tonelab SE for 10 minutes and found sounds that were outstanding.

I sat down with one of my churches soundguys and fed the unit into a PA, as this is where i would mainly be using it, and he helped me to create patches which suited the sound of a direct feed. As he was tweeking the sound, he exclaimed at how easy the unit was to operate.

The manual is very good if you get stuck. It has great descriptions of all the amps and different effects this pedal has to offer.

I use a Gibson Les Paul Goldtop - 1957 custom shop reissue. The hot pickup on this guitar light up the sound of the pedal. I also have an ESP LTD M251, which has a deeper and darker sound than the les paul. With this unit, it is just a matter of tweeking patches to different guitars. you really have to put effort into the unit to make it sound great. The preset patches are pretty lame, as it is with most multi fx units. The pedal is noisy only on high gain settings, but this is quite cool in some ways, as the pedal is modeling the fuzz from the actual amp model you are using.

I run it straight into a PA and use wireless in ear monitors. I love the sound of this pedal direct. I have not used it through an amp but a mate of mine puts it through a Laney Valve amp, and he gets some Phat tone, but if you are tight on $$$, straight into a PA sounds WICKED! u just have to tweek it with a PA!

Built solid as! nice metal buttons for hard stomping, big fat expression pedals, very hard shell. this thing is a tank!

This product is distributed by Yamaha. ive never delt with either VOX or Yamaha, but im sure that if i did, Yamaha would be pretty cool.

I play all kinds of music: Rock, pop, alternative, heavy, jazz, funk, blues (love it all). This pedal is great because it is so versitile. I was wanting to get heaps of individual pedals and a nice amp, but that required much money... money i don't have. This pedal combines all the things that i wanted into one solid unit - driven by a tube preamp which warms up the tone oh so nicely! Much much MUCH better than many other digital amp modelers out there 2day! One day i would love to run this unit through a nice Valve amp, but for now - direct is fine, and you save the soundguys much heartache coz your too loud on stage! This allows them to pump you more through the mix!

THIS PEDAL ROCKS MY SOCKS!

I found the Tonelab SE pretty easy to understand. I have owned the following: Flextone II with pedalboard, Magic Stomp II, and various pedals, rack effects and amps over the years. Vox's Sound Editor really helps one understand the potential of this processor. Also,you can visit a Vox Tonelab users group, and get tons of tips, patches, and practical experience. The manual is ok, but not the hardest I've ever seen... trying reading Yamaha's Motif ES 88.

I was looking for the ability to be able to cover a wide variety of guitar tones. I didn't want to get bogged down with dialing thru tons of settings... been there, done that. IMHO, the valve/tube preamp is what sold me. I played/demo Korg, POD, GT 8... and they each have their strenghts. But after owning my TLSE for a few months, I am really pleased with my guitar tones. I run this thru a powered Mackie speaker 450, and thru a PA at our church. Again, I like the ability to see what's in front of me, make adjustments and then play.

I play at least 2x a week, with a wide variety of vocalists/musical combos. My current fav guitar is a Taylor T5. I am able to switch between clean scoustic sounds, clean R & B ,and get a good old rock distortion with the TLSE. It is built like a tank, plus you can read this from a good distance when the stage lights are down low.

Don't know, but I think the company is not going anywhere. Vox is a pretty good company.

I play praise & worship. And I need to be able to cover a variety of musical styles, rock, folk, gospel, country. I've been playing for over 40 years, and come into contact with a fair amount of guitar players. I like the Tonelab SE's ability to represent a wide variety of guitar tones. I own a Gibson 335 ES, a Fender Telecaster B Bender, a Taylor T 5, and several acoustics. I am called upon each Sunday to make our music fresh and different. Sometimes I play with a 5 piece horn section, 30 voice choir, and then just a good old rcok format ( bass, drums, keys and etc.) As each week goes, I'm amazed that I don't get lost in the music. I am inspired to become a better guitar player, because of the "ah ha " moments I've had playing this unit. Is it better than the POD, GT8, etc? Go play this unit along the others... its different enough to let you develop your own sound/tone/musical style. You will have fun creating your own tones...its easy enough to do that.

Not as easy as the other ones on the market. Manual is decent but could explain some aspects more in details. The main problem for me is that you don't know anything about the settings of the patch you've loaded (Like POD I)

My Setup Strats (EMG, Std or CS) -> Tonelab -> Mesa Boogie 50/50 -> 4*12 VHT. I bought the tonelab one year ago in order to have less rig to go bring to the rigs (You know, preamp, effect, power amp cabinet, guitars) and I've played it nearly every day since then. I've used it in any situation (in front of an amp, in the effect loop, direct in the PA) and to be honest I'm quite disapointed with this unit because there is no way to get the sound I want.

I'm not saying that there are no good tones out there but in my opinion they are quite limited and always have that "Tonelab Signature" in the highs that I dislike.

The cleans are OK but have the trend to break up too early, giving you a limitation in the max volume you can reach if you want to stay totally clean. On the other hand this unit can produce a real good SRV tone quite easilly .

The crunchs are good but the main problem is for the "high gain" (let's say Gary Moore's tone) sounds, which are quite sterile and suffer from hiss,noise and fizz, you may tell : "Use the integrated Noise gate" but it kills all sustain and the compressor can add so much noise that you finally get uncontrolabe feedback. I red someone saying that the soldano model sounds like a real soldano, I doubt this person owns a soldano...well, I do and to my ears it simply can't. Don't even dream to get a real metal sound...

The effects are not that good not that bad but need to be tweaked a lot to be useful.

Conclusion : Like always, this unit can't do everithing, you have to ear it to know if it suits yor taste or not. Don't be too excited by the reviews and go try one for yourself. I give a 6 because my main Tone is soldano alike.

Built like a tank

Well, it's well built, in some way limited in the tones you can get and not as-easy-as-the-other to configure.

two coments i want to make that i feel other should know about 1) im not a computer musician and you dont have to be one to work the tonelab se. i was worried i wouldnt be able to get great tones, cause i dont have a computer. all my worries were unfounded. 2) the vintage amp models are a bit hard to control with out the manual, not impossible though. most vintage amp dont have a full eq so the mid and presants control work differant than a normal amp. so the manual really helps

74' les paul delux w/ 72'hums into the tonelab then into the pa and not a good one an oldass peavey from the 80's. i have not yet put it though my tube amps (soldano slo or a h&k tube 100) so this is just based on the oldass pa. imho this sound amazing the us hi-gain sound very much like my slo, but i play though a 72' greenback loaded marhall, so i cant get my sound because there is not a greenback cab model. but the ac30 cab sound great with the us hi-gian. the thing i dont like are; the compertion makes every thing sound digital and fake, the usvin30 cab model sound like crap, no greenback cab, and some of the delay sound harsh and digital, but most sound good. if you make this sound good than is in your fingers were tone starts. all in all i'll dock 1 point for no greenback mod

its metal and vox... i think so

??????

i play post-prog/ambaint/stoner/indie/pre-want'snexted rock. it work great. the tonelab will a great influince on me and my band i just know it. its most costly than boss gt8 and the line6 pod, but tone in priceless

I have previously used a Boss Gt-6 and in comparison it is 50% better. I perform in a Duo as well as a band situation and at first it was hard to get use to. I think it was just an old dog learning new tricks. I now find it is easy to alter while playing. Maybe one day they will have pedal settings with an undo for when you get it wrong. We all know muso's are never totally happy with anything in regard to sound.

This pedal is very valve sounding. I have used it direct into a PA as well as my Fender Deluxe. This is more your English sounding pedal and not the processed digital American pedal. The Reverbs & Chorus could be better and I think it a shame that they could not add the quality of the Boss GT-6 Chorus & Reverbs into the Vox. I find it to be a relationship of sound when using valves. The use into the PA is the best I have used so far but could be improved. It be comes a problem with any pedal when tring to have a controled thumpy hard rock sound. They always seem to make the top end of the PA range grate. If you find you are not getting what you want try changing the output selection.

So far excellent. I want to know why the guys that design these things dont put plug supports under the input and outputs as they are vulnerable to drunks, punters (not counting the odd roady and muso) standing on the plugs. I use this 2 to 3 times every week.

Within Australia I have contacted them once and it seemed like they did not understand my questions. I asked about upgrades in the software. I dont know if the people concerned actually use these products them self or even worse maybe not even musos. But it is built well and I rated this a 5 as I am not sure. I have not had to have the emergency contact as yet.

I use a processor pedal for versiatility. I have been playing professionally for 35 years. I use a Ephipone les paul, Fender Nashville Tele and a Fender Power Strat. The extra pedal is a bonus as I am enjoying the art of expression pedals. I could always handle a third pedal.

I find that this piece is pretty easy to edit, even just using the floorboard. Editing with the PC is a little easier, and is nice since you can save your patches on your computer, but I would not consider it necessary to have a PC with MIDI in order to get around on the pedal well. It's certainly a lot easier than the PodXT Live.

I play an American Strat straight into a PA. I have played through different amps, but keep in mind that whatever amp you play through will color the sound in that way. In general, I'm a Fender tube amp and Tube Screamer type of guy, and this does a good job of recreating these vintage sounds. I don't consider many of the stock patches usable, and have created a few of my own from scratch. The Tube Screamer OD is very nice, and other ODs are good. I don't use the mod section much, but have been impressed. The delays are fine. The reverbs are good, especially the spring reverbs. I have yet to get a good, thick, ethereal verb from it, though. I am still trying to find that sound. The expression pedals sound smooth, and you will find yourself making great use of being able to set the min and max values on them, especially on the wahs and such. Does this sound as good as getting a Fender Deville and a Tube Screamer? Probably not, but its a hell of a lot cheaper, and the tones are very acceptable in my opinion.

It seems very sturdy, metal foot switches, and metal housing. Physically, it's very reliable. Electrically, I'm not yet convinced. I have heard some strange noises coming from it, even with the volume pedal off. There have been a few pops, and I'm wondering how much it was used before I bought it (I bought it used). Perhaps the tube is on it's way out? Doesn't seem likely, though. So I give it a 10 for physical reliability, and a 5 for electrical reliability. Thats a 7.

Have not yet contacted them, but might soon.

Overall, this is a very good unit for blues, classic rock, and other vintage type, tubey sounds. It is not as good as the real thing, but is a great value. Here's the thing... I'm just getting into playing the electric, and wanted a good way to get a good sound with effects, and not pay a lot of money. This has more effects than I'll ever need, and sounds great for the price. This should not replace your collection of vintage amps, but if you want a way to streamline your live setup, or get a lot of good amps and effects at a great price, then this is your thing. It doesn't do high gain sounds as well as the Pod, but those all sound like computers to me anyway. I like the blues tube sounds, and this is great for them. Go to your local music store and play it.

Easy. Using the editing on a computer with the midi interface is tits. Online patches available, some are a bit much, but with some tweaking are great.

I am using a Strat, modified Melody Maker, Hamer Echotone, and Les Paul guitars. Peavey 50 watt stereo amp, into a Marshall 4x12 cabinet, rewired for stereo. Not really noisey, some settings are though. No other effects. Found out Pat Travers uses one, had to have one.

No issues as of now,

Have not had to deal with them.

Play classic rock and blues. Been palying for over 30years, have an original Mark 1 boogie and a Fender Blues DeVille 4x10. Use them for back ups, but so far have not needed them. Would buy again if stolen.
Have had many stomp boxes, would reccomend to any one.

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it? Easy. Plug it in and try the various default patches...many "good" sounds right out of the box.

The real question is how easy it is to get a "great" sound out of it...and I do realize that these are subjective terms (good/great/etc), but please bear with me. To get a "great" sound out of the TLSE, you will have to have a PC w/MIDI connectivity so you can use the TLSE Sound Editor software. Editing patches via the TLSE itself can be done, but it is MUCH easier to edit patches and experiment via the TLSE Sound Editor. This is why I gave the TLSE a '6' in Ease of Use...to me, '10' is plug it in and it works perfectly...'9' is plug it in, push one button and it works perfectly...'8' is turn a few knobs etc...'7' is get out the manual and tweak knobs...'6' means you'll have to spend some time in the manual and hooking up other stuff to get at the sound you're looking for.

To echo the often heard complain about having the compressor pedal in with all the other effects pedals, I worked around this issue by putting a rack compressor in the effects loop on the TLSE. Since I run compression with everything I play, this workaround works very well for me...plus the rack compressor sounds better to me than most (if not all) stompbox compressors out there. I also run a rack EQ on the stereo outputs to give final EQ, but I usually only use it when I have to tweak for PA/venue differences.

Having said ALL of that, once you get your TLSE dialed-in, it is a wonderful sounding machine. I love mine!

(Very good manual, good patch editing software, firmware rev 1.000.)

'10' doesn't exist in this plane of existence...'9' would be owning all of the actual hardware that the TLSE emulates...given that, the TLSE is a '7' to '8'. Given the fact that I love my TLSE, I'll round up and give it an '8'.

I'm using my TLSE with:

- Guitar: Carvin Bolt-Kit (mahogany body, maple neck, ebony fingerboard, C22B bridge, TBH60 twinblade humbuckers in the mid and neck.)

- Amps: I run it through a pair of Roland MA-12C powered micro-monitors in the house. At church and abroad, I use house PA.

- Insert effects: Behringer Composer Pro MDX2200 rack compressor

- Post effects: Nady GEQ15 dual 15-band rack EQ


Can I get the sound of my favorite artists? Pretty much everyone I've taken time to try and emulate. Brian May and Sabbath are pretty easy to dial in without much trouble. (Don't expect to be able to exactly match Mr. May's sound unless you have a 'Red Special' replica and spend the necessary time in the woodshed. :) )

If you're looking to emulate a particular artist, the Tonelab (not TonelabSE) come with a lot of artist-specific patches, many are quite close right out of the box. If you have a TLSE and want to use the TL patches, you can swap them around via the Sound Editor software. (The software comes with the default patches for both the Tonelab and TonelabSE.) I'd recommend starting with those patches and experimenting until you get the sound you're looking for. It's pretty easy to get the sound you're after with a few spare hours to experiment (and yes, it can be done much quicker than 'hours'...I enjoy experimenting with my patches, so it takes me a bit longer to get new patches to where I consider them 'done'.)

I really don't use all of the effects, but the only effects/features I'm not super fond of are: 1) compression (it sounds like the cheaper stompbox MXR compressor that it was modeled after...no surprise there) and 2) noise gate (I use the noise gate on my Behringer rack compressor, as it has more settings and doesn't clamp down so damn hard like the TLSE noise gate.)

Bottom line: Very good sound quality with a few gotchas (that can be worked around pretty easily and inexpensively.)

Can I depend on the TLSE? You betcha. It is built VERY solidly. The only minor pain is having to keep a hex-wrench and spare ECC83 tube in my TLSE road case, but that's the price you pay to have tubes in your gear. :)

Would I use it on a gig without a backup? I would and I do. I've had no surprises or failures from it after 5 months of heavy usage.

I've never had to deal with customer support yet, so I can't comment as to the quality of VOX customer support.

In the sub-$1000 category, I've not found an amp modeling effects processor that sounds as good as the TonelabSE. There are others that are easier to use, but don't sound as good to my ear.

But don't take my word for it...go A/B the Tonelab with all of its competitors in this price range. At the very least, you'll find it very competitive with anything in the sub-$1000 category. I did this and eventually settled on the TonelabSE...and I am not sorry that I did. Great product!

First things First! I purchased this from an Internet Music Store and am still in the trial period. I have the option to return this item for several more weeks. So, I haven't decided if it's a keeper or not for I have a couple of issues with it (as seen below).

Easy to use right out of the box. If you are not familiar with Multi-Fx's I believe you can still be tweaking and editing in just a short while. I have had other Brands which had a much more steep learning curve.

I use a American Telecaster and a Fender Twin Reverb Reissue amp. The tonelab se goes inbetween the two.

The overall sound quality is great! I just recently sold all of my Boutique and Modded Pedals (Not calling any names here), and to my ears, this tonelab sounds as good, if not better, than the much more expensive modded stuff out there.

There are only two issues I have thus far with the Tonelab. 1)- Is that some of the Presets (even after tweaking) sound like someone threw a Blanket over my amp. That's not acceptable to me. However, there are several presets that don't; so that tells me it's just a matter of "dialing it in" when it comes to the tones. 2)- is the fact that you can only use 4 of the many, many effects simultaneously. That's a real bummer! This unit is not like my old Boss GT6 where you can stack and layer as many effects as you could shake a stick at. So, BE AWARE OF THIS BEFORE YOU BUY IT. I like to use compression on just about everything I do; but with this pedal you have to choose between Compression, Overdrive, Distortion or one of the other offerings. So, what I am saying is: You are somewhat limited here! If anyone reading this review know how to get around this issue, email me and let me in on it.

I did find out how to put the pedal in a Manual Mode within any given preset and in that mode I can use the four pedals to turn off and on any of the four categories of effects "on the fly". This is a cool feature. Let me add here that there is no delay in sound when swithing channels or turning effects on and off.


As far as the Distortions go; I haven't played a better sounding box yet! I can dial in everything from Extreme Clean to Mild OD to Full Distortion (anything beyond that isn't of interest to me).

The quality of the Delays, Reverbs, etc... are very good. Remember, I had all the boutique stuff and TO MY EAR I can't tell a difference except in price. My Boutique \ Modded Pedal Board costs well over $1200.00. This was 1\3 of that (with the limitations spoken of earlier of course).

Built like an American made Howitzer!

N\A

Over all I give this pedal the "Atttttaaaaa Boy!" It's a good investment for what it is for the money.

There's a lot to choose from.
That's what can make it hard to use.
However, all functions are always very accessible.

EVERTHING sounds a bit Voxy. So you have to like that flavour.
Effects are good, but the reverb (Pgggrrrrr)could have been better.

After an hour one pedal broke.
The new one I got is absolutely problemfree.

It's a very nice pedal.
You can get your own sounds with this thing.
The reverb is not too good.

I don't think this is the ULTIMATE thing, but it's certainly nice to have it around.

This is an update to my very early review of this product. I find the user interface very friendly and easy to master. The manual is good.

Using a custom ssh Strat. I bought this to play direct-to-board with ear monitors live. It became apparent early on that this unit excelled when plugged into a good tube amp's effects loop, but left something to be desired direct. I had to purchase post-eq to tame the raging upper frequencies. There are some very good sounds in this unit, and I miss it still, but...
1. You can't use the wah, compressor and fuzz pedals together, so I used a fuzz and wah in front.
2. The speaker modelling was not so great. There's a huge amount of energy beyond 6K (upper range of most 12" speakers).
3. It's prone to picking up stray noises.
4. I found the chorus/phaser/flangers to be spikey-sounding and hard to tweak to sound like analog pedals.
5. The whole package-large, heavy pedal, with external pedals and eq. What's the point of buying a digital all-in-one if you have to drag all that other crap around just to function?
Since I didn't have access to an amp where I gig I Ebayed my SE in search of something better. I'm currently using a Zoom G2 with a wah and VS Jekyll/Hyde in front, and I'm shopping for an amp and pedals.

Never had any problem with either Tonelab or SE I owned.

Never had a bad experience calling Vox, but my expectations were pretty low. I think there are 2-3 shops locally doing warranty work, so I would be covered if it broke.

If I had my SE back and could run it through a tube amp onstage I would probably be 80% satisfied, which is pretty good for me. If Vox comes out with a new version addressing some of the shortcomings I perceive (poor eq/speaker modelling direct to board, inability to use comp/wah/fuzz together)I might give it a listen.

There's tons of tonal options, so you'll be tweaking alot, most likely. The layout is user-friendly if you have any experience with mult-fx units. I had no problem figuring it out. The manual is decent and helped with the few things I couldn't figure out immediately.

I submitted a review awhile back (which I can't find) and, as I've had the unit for about 8 months now, I figured I'd give a better review now. My main guitar is a Jackson Dinky with the Sustainiac pickup (if I had the money, I'd put Sustainiac pickups on all of my guitars - just awesome).
For the record, none of the modeling gizmos I've tried over the years replicate the amps they're supposed to in any great detail. I've owned the original Line 6 modeling amp (the AXS 212 or something like that), various Digitech floor units, the Zoom GFX8, the Boss GS10, the Line 6 Pod (first version), the Vox Valvetronix AD 60 and tried the Johnson Millineum at a store. To my ears, all of them use different tone stacks (i.e., eq variations) to try and emulate different amp types, but eq is not the main ingredient for unique amp tones. The key factor is the grind. Is the grind fuzzy, mosquitoey (is that in Webster's?), loose, tight, smooth, obnoxious? In order to attempt to replicate different types of grinds, you would need very different circuits within any given unit, something that just doesn't occur with modelers. So to my ears, any given unit gives you one basic sound and varies the eq and gain level for different "models".
As for the TL, I like the basic distortion sound. It is a tad grainy and loose, for lack of better terms, but decent. It can ably cover 60's and 70's distortion sounds. To my ears, it can't really get a true metal sound. It lacks the gain and percussiveness. Presently, I'm experimenting with a Boss Metal Zone in the fx loop and that seems to be working decently, but I've gotta tweak a bit more. (Incidentally, I recently A/B'd the Metal Zone with the Line 6 Uber Metal and the Metal Zone won out).
To my ears, the clean and slightly overdriven sounds are the best that I've heard from any modeler - very warm and natural. Maybe it has something to do with the tube. The Digitech GNX modelers, for instance, as well as the Zoom GFX8 and the Boss GS10 suck in this regard (the new Zoom G9.2tt and Boss GT-8 may be better in this regard, but I haven't checked them out yet).
The FX are excellent. I love the fact that you can play chords with the harmonizer, although the sound quality doesn't sound very natural with distortion, but as good as most (interestingly, I tried the harmonizer in a TC Electronics rack unit and it farted out on chords, just like the Digitech Whammy pedal). The cross delay and reverse delay are a little whacky in terms of controlling the delay time - just a little hard to control somehow. Again, the distortion boxes all sound the same to me - same grind with different eq's - they are good for adding sustain to leads but you've gotta be careful not to set the gain too high on them or they'll add noise. Everything else - the wah's, chorus's, flange's, etc. sound great.
The overall sound doesn't seem to change much whether I play through my Vox AD60 or direct into my M-Audio Omni Studio through my KRK V6 monitors. I almost prefer the sound a hair more through the KRK's. When I was in a band last year, I played direct through the board and it sounded fine. I even tried playing through headphones for the first time the other day and it also sounded good - a little thin perhaps but that may have been the phones.

I haven't gigged out with it but it seems very sturdy - all metal.

I've e-mailed Vox a couple of times and they respond very quickly. When I first bought it I tried registering it online and couldn't get that to work. I e-mailed Vox - I got a reply the next day and Joseph Gilmartin had registered it for me!!!

I've been playing for 30 years or so (gone is the size 28" waist and white boy afro) and teach guitar part-time. I'm primarily into 70's progressive, hard rock and jazz-fusion but like anything that has some talent or depth to it. My favorite band is Yes but I love early Metallica and Megadeth (go figure)!! I detest rap (what is the ultimate oxymoron? - rap-artist)!!!! Last year, some girl told me that Eminem is a genius!!!! Okay, Einstein, Bach, Da Vinci, Heron of Alexandria, Frank Zappa, Buckminster Fuller - arguably geniuses. Eminem???? Are we devolving or what? Frank Zappa once said, "There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life." Enough pontificating........
Overall, I love this unit. It has tons of tweaking capability and sounds natural as opposed to digital or processed and is simply alot of fun.
I agree with some other reviewers that the footprint is too big, it should be smaller or at least more square. I'm a friggin' clutz and it's a little hard for me to manipulate at times. The expression pedals should be a little closer together too, if you want to do 2 controller type movements. If you wear a size 12 or larger you'll probably be okay.
The sound editor is very convenient - definitley saves my already battle-torn neck and back from constantly bending over, and you can save tons more presets than the unit has by itself.
If it got stolen, I might consider purchasing it again. I might also consider checking out the Boss GT-8 and the Zoom G9.2tt, as they seem like they have even more tweakability (and cost a bit less than the TL). I might check out the Fender Cybertwin SE as well. The Cybertwin seems appealing because there is less chance of sound variance in what you get. It's one whole package, as opposed to floor-based FX units where your sound can change drastically depending on what amp you use or if you go direct. Hope this all helped.

It takes some work to get some great sounds out of this unit but they are in there. It is also neat that you can download patches on the net and the fact that sounds from the desktop version is compatable.Editing couldn't be any easier.

I am no longer using an amp-I use the Se to one output into the Pa going through a beringer guitar DI ( the red one) and the other out to a keyboard amp-you need to use a full range amp with this unit. I don't find the patches noisy but if you use the higher gain settings it can be ,but the noise suppressor works well. I find the over all effects quite good and i am getting amazing tones out of this unit. No problem getting a good rythmn patch and switching over to a nice lead patch. I used to use amps like Marshall, Peavey 5150, etc.. but one day I tried the Vox desktop at a practice and lo and behold this unit sounded as good as my amps and my other bandmates agreed and were shocked how good this thing sounded( and if it didn't they would have told me) This unit does need to be tweaked ,the factory settings do not do it justice. Like someone else on the page said ,do you buy an amp and just leave the settings where they are at the store-Of course not ! This unit is more involved than a regular amp so it takes more work to get a good sound but it is in there. By the way the guys that knock this unit do not spend enough time with it-and I know we have heard guys with great sounds out of amps and the reverse is also true. I swear that if you hid this unit and asked someone to tell you if it sounds good 99.9 % would think it sounded great. I have also owned Boss ,Digitech, zoom, roland, line 6, products and the basic guitar sounds in the Vox are the best out there.Vox concentrated on good guitar sounds first not like Line 6 who give you a zillion fancy effects but the basic guitar sounds are digital sounding.Most of the effects sound geat I have been able to ditch most of my pedals and just use the Vox SE.

Seems built very well, made of steel not plastic. You should always have some sort of back up-just in case

never dealt with them

I play rock and pop music -this unit would seem to fit most styles of music out there.Been playing for over 20 years and have been through tons of stuff. If it was stolen I would definitely get another.I feel I am getting great guitar tones and do not have to drag around tons of gear. As was said in earlier posts this unit is an amp with no speakers with the right settings will sound great.

Usage is pretty straight forward. If you have some idea how these typically work you will not need the manual. It is still good to read to know all the options but then in normal use you can do without manual.
Compared to Boss GT series and Line5 PodXT Live I definitely rank this much more user friendly.

All the ratings are made against other this type of multieffects I've owned/tried and not comparing to real tube amps and boutique stomp boxes (which would not be fair...)

My "normal" setup actually contains only pretty high quality stomp boxes with Fulltone ChoralFlanger as the last one in chain and going stereo to 2 x Hughes&Kettner Puretone heads + THD212 cabinets.

I still have time to time given a change for these multigadget to see how they are doing. This time I actually first tried Korg 3000G and was impressed as it did not ruin the sound as these typically do. I was encouraged to upgrade that Korg to VOX ToneLab SE which -as far as I know- contains the modeling engine and user interface from Korg.

Factory presets will need some tweaking. They are ok to present what you can do with this but most of them are not usable in the real game.
So I did some tweaking with headphones and pretty fast was able to create some 10-16 sounds of my own. Btw this unit does not sound so stunning with headphones as many other units I've tried do but don't get depressed wait for connection to amp...
What I was extremely happy about the sound was that when I connected the pedal to real amp (and remebered to change the output from line->amp) these created patches were usable almost as such. I did only some EQ tweaking and some minor tunig with reverb and delay levels and I had all the patches created with headphones working with amp as well. This really was not the case with Boss and Line6...

Basic sound is healthy and does not ruin your original sound. Also this very well preserves the dynimics of your playing. You can also notice the difference between different guitars (I tried the ones with humbuckers, single coils, P90's...)
What is also great is that this reacts pretty nicely to guitar volume pot. I.e. sounds can go from clean to heavily distorted by tweaking the guitar volume. Not quite as real tube amp but still amazingly close (again when compared to Boss etc...). The same sensitivity is there as well for how heavy you pick.

Amp models are all very ok and you can get nice sounds out from this. Most of the effects are also quite ok for the prize but for example chorus does not match what you can get out from Fulltone ChoralFlanger (I would even not expect as this Fulltone almost as expensive as this whole Vox unit)

There is limitations that were very well described with Chirs in a review made before. Pedal section is really a compromise as there is wah, comprssion and you can select only one. Still you get good distortions with Amp models so that part is ok but if you need compression and Wag then you have a problem.

I never know if I really use this to replace my stomp boxes in a gig but still I'm happy and will not recycle this as soon as other went. When I replace my stomp box arsenal with this there is a difference in sound but I would claim not as big as a difference of prize tags...

I have not yet tried this directly to PA so no comments on that.

Anyway a really good compromize on prize and portability and you surely can also gig with this and sound good.

If there was something good with Line6 btw, it was the flexibility provided by USB connection and all the stuff they have in their web pages but I finally need a good sound and on stage usability, not computer interface...

No opinion as I've owned it for a short period only. Seems well build.

Never tried.

I play almost everything and for the sake of versatility I do check these pedals if they are in good enough level...

This one is getting close in my books. Limitations of pedal section and quality of some effects takes the points but overall functionality and good sounding amp models gain points. So I'll give 8.

Getting a good sound out of it is the easy part. Writing tones is the hard part. I have to turn some of the settings on and off, which gets annoying at times.

The online manual is much easier to use than the book. Some of the stuff in the manual you should know before hand just from expierience, or you shouldn't be owning the system, because it will be too complex for you.

I love the sounds, especially the recreations of the 60's and 70's amps. It makes my wasted amp sound slick.

I was disappointed that the heavy metal tones weren't so great, but other than that it has everything that you can expect for a band and alot more.

I leave my tonelab sitting out alot and my family has kicked it around a bit, but so far it has been dependable. I was glad to get this instead of a POD. It is around 20 lbs (?), which is good for placing it on tables and such, because most likely when someone trips on a wire, them or my amp will fall, not the tonelab.

I don't know how reliable to tube is. Anyone have an idea?

My family ordered this for christmas, so I didn't deal with any customer support.

I've been following alot of bands, a certain one most of the time. I've looked at each band's gear, and the two best ones have had tonelab so I figured it was the way to go.

I will still be getting gear, but not as much as some of my friends have. It is a great all in one processor. I find distortion pedals useful for it, though.

Classic Rock, Rock, Punk Rock, Blues, and some Metal I find a use for on the vox tonelab. It makes it funner to play guitar, and it can really annoy your family. Some of the effects are fun to play with, and some just get in the way. Whoever programmed the tones did a piss poor job on it. Over-writing them is a pain too.

I would definetly buy another one if this one was stolen. If someone stole it and I caught them with it I would beat them until they are crippled.

I've been playing for about 6 months (serious) but I am told I am way ahead of most of the people who have been playing this long. It is great for anyone who loves the guitar. It's not worth the money if you don't absolutely love the guitar, and if you have a crap guitar you need a new one.

I went to the store to compare it with a whole set of BOSS pedals, and I found three ups and one downside. The better parts were that they had alot more to program off of and the tones are all attatched under one processor, and the A/B channel switch. The downside is that to adjust the tone you have to go back and forth to how many different settings there are and the tone you want them to make when combined, (for example fuzz, amp, delay, and channel settings.)

I will still be buying a metal zone pedal to equipt it to the tonelab, and I already have my distortion pedal equipted because I had it before the tonelab and I don't want it to go to waste.

I give the tonelab a 9 for awesome, worth every penny. I'm always looking to talk to people about setting tones and guitars, so you can e-mail me: joe_petrungaro@comcast.net

It's not hard to get a good sound out of it but you do need to set it up with your gear. Patches are a bit tedious manually but with the software it's easy. If you can dial a pedal you can dial in this unit.

Third party support for users:
http://www.tonelab.net/

Great sound quality. It replaced a defective PODxt and I've been much happier with it. I use it for direct recording and live performance.


Third party support for users:
http://www.tonelab.net/

I use it all the time in live situations and have had zero problems. I think it will hold up fine.


Third party support for users:
http://www.tonelab.net/

They've always answered my questions in a timely fashion. Whether I liked the answer or not is my problem not theirs.


Third party support for users:
http://www.tonelab.net/

I use this for all styles of music. I'm using this unit with an EARCANDY BUZZBOMB 2x12 and a PEAVEY 50/50 CLASSIC. I've been very pleased with this unit for direct recording and live purposes.


Third party support for users:
http://www.tonelab.net/

Please see my article under the "sound quality" section.

Critique of the Vox ToneLab SE

The upside: The VT is a good amp modeler. The Fender, AC30 and Marshall Plexi models are terrific. The other amp models are useful. The reverbs are good, as are the delays. Other effects like chorus and tremelo are useful but not top of the line. I like the VT better than the competition because of the better sounding amp models and because its easier to program. All those nested menus and gazillion parameters per patch are not fun to wrestle with. Many patches are somewhat responsive to guitar knob volume changes or pick attack and that?s what folks mean when they say that the unit has a certain ?vibe? that they have not found in other fancy processors. Some reviewers have said that they can?t get a heavy sound out of the unit, but I have been able to get some nice Satriani like sounds out of the unit, straight lead, octave-fuzz, autowah. If you want a Zak Wylde sound you probably need those EMG pickups and a decent LP for starters. but even this short list of points is ample justification for the product.

So what?s wrong ? Well there is a certain product design ?issue?. The Vox product design team made a questionable tradeoff, presumably to keep the unit?s cost down. They put the Wah, Compressor and Stomp Box Distortion circuits under one master switch. You can pick Wah or Compression or TubeScreamer or UniVibe (think Robin Trower). Look, I don?t mean to be overly negative, but that?s just the wrong way to go. When I realized this was the case, I didn?t believe it because I assumed nobody would make that trade-off. This is the dirty little secret about this product. For example, let?s ask Vox, ?How am I supposed to craft Hendrix patches given this trade-off?? Or similarly, ?didn?t SRV combine wah, amp compression and a green effects box sometimes ?? Or for slide work, I might want to combine compression, for sustain, and a little distortion for growl, and then EQ some bass out to take out the flubby part, right ?

Some other problems for some folks will be that there is no ?final? EQ section. When programming a Boss GT patch you can always put an EQ last to try to smooth out a patch or push a patch in a certain direction. I think this is forgivable (but not optimal) since VOX sees this unit as a kind of ?amplifier + effects?, not as an ?generic effects processor.? The noise gate is average and the compressor is below average. High gain patches can suffer from buzz and hiss, especially for single-coil pickups. Crank up the gate, sure, but you lose tone and control.

I don?t relate to the logic that focuses on comparing features of multifunction processors. And then decides which one to buy based on features and cost. The number one thing is sound quality. Having 500 different ways to produce so-so sounds (or worse) is an argument for what ? The 2nd standard is ease of use and convenience. The 3d standard is physical reliability. The 4th thing is quantity of features and how they are specifically implemented. The Vox scores well enough on the first 3 but scores low on the 4th. If the VT were an Olympic figure skater you would say that her artistic score was higher than her technical score.

Where does this leave us ? I see two paths: (1) live with the unit as-is and reap the benefits of decent sound in a single, self-contained unit. You will be happy since your setup is convenient and portable. You will not have everything you really want, but you will have a dozen or two useful patches to select from. (2) add on more devices that address the main problem cited above. Let?s discuss this latter path and see where it takes us.

Use a separate compressor and wah pedal in the VT?s effects loop. The cost of this is somewhere between $50 and $400. The beauty of this solution is that you win like three times. The solution gives us independent wah, sustain and distortion effects. Also, if you get a decent compressor, your sound will improve noticeably and immediately for many patches. So, you?ve upgraded both sound and worked around the main problem with the unit. The scary part of this solution is that we?ve now opened up Pandora?s box ? again. We are back in the hunt for decent effects pedals that don?t break the bank. Plus, we?ve lost the ability to program in different levels of compression per patch. Didn?t we buy a fancy processor to solve exactly these problems ? It just aint a perfect world is it ?

Now that we have opened up Pandora?s box and decided to add a few pedals to the setup you might want to consider other effects that help cleanup your signal. Perhaps a noise gate or an ?enhancer? of some kind, or some other specialized effect or pricey boutique American made effect box will add just the right spice to the mix. An EQ pedal might give you that chance to really dial-in your sound. But now we are adding cost and complexity to our rig too, and we seem to be inching back to a spider web of cords on the floor. No one ever said the quest for guitar tone in this modern age of gizmos all marketed as having some secret magical mojo would be easy. The price tag for this solution for both the VT and the pedals could easily exceed $1000, let?s be straight up, but isn?t the quest for tone loads of fun ?

In sum, add these items to the effects chain:
? compressor(mandatory: will improve both sustain and ?sparkle?)
? Wah Pedal (mandatory, if you use wah somewhat, love Hendrix or record for the porn industry)
? Noise gate (mandatory for high gain single-coil PUPS); don?t go cheap here !
? EQ (mandatory for tone-tweaker-freaks)
? UniVibe (mandatory for Hendrix, Trower, trippy jam rock aficionados)
? Enhancer / Maximizer (optional)
? Autowah / envelope filter (optional)

What should Vox do with the next version of the product ?
? make wah and compression completely independent of *all* other effects.
? improve the compressor
? improve the noise gate
? move the UniVibe effect over to the chorus section
? make every factory patch match up to either a famous guitar player?s signature sound or a sound from a historically significant song. Every factory patch should be immediately useful to somebody. Host a user patch contest.
? add 20 second ?riff recorder?. Allow the user to edit the current patch and apply the effect to the riff. That way we can get closer and closer to the ?right? sound without constantly going back and forth between instrument and processor. Presumably, you would record a dry signal and play back the wet signal. Call it ?Super-Tweak?, ?Perfect-Patch?, ?Patch-Master?, ?Real-Patch?, ?Patch-Factory? some catchy thing like that. Good idea, isn?t it ?
? add a female AC jack to the back to plug a power strip into or one of those multi AC powersource gizmos. I?m beggin? !

I have owened the product for 14 months and so far, so good. The unit feels solid.

N/A

I *do* recommend this product. I've played one for 14 months and still like it a bunch. I play mostly rock, blues, funk, slide and a little jazz.

Note: please do your own independent product research, I could be wrong ! generally, you get what you pay for.

For high end and expensive floor pedals go to Keeley at least for research purposes.

Compressors to look at include Behringer Compressor/Sustainer CS100 ($20), Guyatone ST-2 ($70), MXR DynaComp ($60), BBE Opto Stomp ($90), Line 6 ToneCore Constrictor ($110), Aphex Punch Factory ($100).

Wah pedals to look at include a cheapo Behringer HB01 ($30), the fancy-smancy 535Q CRYBABY ($110). Vox has a nice line, Clyde McCoy.

For a noise gate try Behringer Noise Reducer NR100 ($25), Rocktron Hush ($55), Line 6 ToneCore Constrictor ($110), Dunlop MXR Smart Gate ($100), Carl Martin Noise Terminator ($130), ISP Technologies Decimator($120).

For a sonic enhancer (last in chain) see BBE Sonic Stomp ($90), Aphex 1403 Guitar Xciter ($100).

Like many others on here, I've owned tons of different effects...multi and single...and this is the easiest multi-effects box that I've ever seen when it comes to getting different sounds. Spend a few minutes with the manual and programming it becomes second nature very quickly. I'd suspect that you could get by without the manual pretty easily too. Aside from a few typos in the manual, this is the one that others should be judged.

I looked at all of the latest pedals before buying the tonelab. The final round included the Boss GT8 (good pedal, but it didn't have the right feel and I've had other Boss multi-effects that didn't live up to the hype), the Digitech GNX3000 (another good pedal, but it just didn't have the variety of sound that I was looking for and didn't sound very organic0, the KORG AX3000G (same parent company as VOX and some of the technology is obviously shared with the tonelab). I played all of them and really loved the KORG, until I played the Tonelab. It took all of the good points of the others and added to them. I was skeptical that the valve would really make a significant difference, but it does!

Again, I have or have had tons of multi-effects including a Boss GS-10, Pod II, Digitech RPX400, Digitech ValveFX, and so on. This has the best sounds of any of them. From clean to dirty I can get just about any sound that I'm looking for. I play a variety of music and it's important to be able to get credible sounds from rig easily.

I'm currently using a Fender American Fat-strat deluxe with an LR Baggs piezo bridge. Then I'm running a stereo cable to a Yamaha Magicstomp acoustic for the piezo and the magnetic pickups through the tonelab. Both go directly to the PA. The sound can be huge and round, I get a lot of compliments.

Too soon to say, but it appears to be built really well and the included gig bag is a nice touch. I would imagine that it will be very road worthy. I might get an extra tube though.

I haven't needed to use this yet, however, I was able to find the manual online before I bought the unit so I could compare features to the other pedals. They also have a FAQ (albeit almost empty) and other support features online.

I'm very happy with this purchase! I've been playing for more than twenty years and this is one of the best pieces of technology that I've seen or played. This pedal has absolutely made it possible for me to get the sounds out of my head and into the ears of the people at the show.

The tonelab SE is by far the most intuitive and easy to use floor based modeler out there. Editing patches is a breeze. Using the six amp style rotary knobs makes editing a breeze. However since they are not automated is you want to make a slight tweak to an already saved patch this is easily accomodated by using the little arrow buttons by the screen. Getting great sounds to me was a piece of cake, from basic amp sounds to effects. The manual for this product was straight foward and loaded with lots of helpful hints and important need to knows that might shed light on some of the negative reviews.

Ease of use is relative. You would expect that a single unit that boasts the ability to model a dozen amps and cabs, as well as several types of every effect imaginal all in a single piece, allowing you to create endless combinations and organize them many different ways would require some time spent learning how to use it. If you are not willing to spend a half hour reading a manual for a product of this type and complain you don't have my sympathy. In my opinion this product exceeds all other modelers of this type in terms of ease of use.
the pedal switches are very easy to press, and you can easily see the screen when standing, unlike other modelers (pod)

First a complaint: Many guitarists are more than eager to complain about the tone of modeling and other emulation devices. They expect every guitar they plug in to sound instantly fabulous through every amp, cab and effect combination built in. Of course this doesn't even work with real amps and effects. some guitars simply wont work with certain amps. for instance fender amps (distorted) sound much better with a strat than a les paul. Most of us guitarists have spent considerable time tweaking our rig, and we know just how to get the sound we like out of our particular guitar, amp, and effects boxes. We should not expect a modeler to instantly recreate that vibe verbatim simply by selecting matching components and settings on a modeler. This may be a good starting point for recreating our tone on a modeler, but thats all.
Another criticism is that the modeler is completely dependent on what it is plugged into. Is it a cheap solidstate amp, a boutique tube stack, a PA, headphones, ect..? If you plug it into crap expect it not to sound as good as the real thing.
Another criticism that should be addressed is that a modeled sound should sound completely verbatim in every nuance to the original. I seriously doubt that most of the "experts" that say they don't sound like the original have not done A/B comparision tests with more than a couple of the modeled amps, or at least not on equal terms. Playing a real mesa with distortion will sound somewhat different that a modeler of that mesa plugged into the real mesa set with a clean sound. At the end of the day I think we all can live with slight subtle differences between the real thing and the model. What matters is if you can have good sounding, musical, and responsive tones using a the modeler.
One last complaint. Do you think that its fair to expect that one of a 100 modeled effects will sound completely as good as one single stomp box that costs $100+ . Again the originals may sound better but what still matters is the ability to get overall great responsive tone out of the modeler.

I expect that the only fair review for this type of product is by comparing one to another product such as the tonelab, to the pod, or the boss gt6 or 8. (or others)

So how do I think the tonelab did. I think it has something that all the other modelers that I have played lack. it has true responsivenes and that undescribable vibe that you get from a real tube amp. It has a warmth that all the others lack. -maybe its the tube, who knows. From playing Pod xtlive and boss gt-6, found that they both lack these qualites.
You can get great sounds on all the modelers that I have played however a great sound is different than something that is playable-that responsive vibe thing that we all can't describe. For this reason I feel that the vox blows all the other modelers out the window.
I'm sick of people claiming that some of the amp models on the tonelab are noisy. what do you think happens when you crank a real marshall or mesa up all the way gain, volume and all- um some noise perhaps. You wanted the real deal and you got it. If it bothers you then start playing (the noise seems to disapear when you are playing!) Or use the built in gate which is not as good as a dedicated single $150 stomp box-but what do you expect. At least you can filter out most of the noise.
One more complaint. If you complain that the bypassed sound on the tonelab sounds a little weaker compared to plugging directly from guitar to amp what do you expect to happen. Doesn't the same thing happen when you run your guitar through a dozen stomp boxes? Besides you didn't buy the tonelab to use it in bypass mode anyway.
All in all the amps sound fabulous and the effects are good. For $500 you get a something that sounds and plays like the real deal and covers every desired tonal territory in one little box.

I would gig without a backup (and do) I'm to lazy to lug around extra gear. For 9 monthes or so it has been very reliable. Very solidly built and I don't expect any problems.

This is the only modeler that has warmth and feels real to me when playing. It is extremely simple to operate especially after reading the manual.
Only a few minor complaints. the wah's (is that wow to say wah plural) overdrive stomp box models, compressor, and a couple others are all under one section. Which means that you can't use the super overdrive with say a compressor at the same time or even under the same preset. Duh this would be easy to fix. Simply have one more knob and section that has a duplicate of the first set of choices. Keep in mind the main reason that guirarts use distortion/overdrive pedals in the first place is because it simplifies their live set up and defeats the need to use the effects loop with a couple extra cables. Well also the ability to have a couple extra distortions available with out worrying about amp switching. but when you buy a modeler Why use a model of a stomp box distortion when you can use a model of a real tube amps distortion?
In this day an age it would have been smart to include a sp/dif output for recording.
One more criticism. I often find myself using my acoustic on a few songs and I don't need the amp or cab modeling when my acoustic is plugged in. I would however like to access the tuner, and a little reverb. All the tonelab would need is an extra notch on the amp select knob for selecting no amp. (not that you can't find an amp setting that sounds ok for acoustic guitars, but still)
But those complaints are minor to me

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it?
=Dead easy. Plug in, select Amp/Line and start playing.
How about Editing patches?
=Piece of cake. Very very intuitive, no multi-layer rotary menus and confusing options. If you understand an amp or stomper, no problem.
How is the manual for it (if there is one)?
=Nicely written and the quick start is perfect for all impatient types.

BUT if you try this in the shop, spend some time reading up before. As previous posters have noted (though not managed to correct) it's possible to get crap sound or get confused (most likely with the Control switch, allowing the thing to act as 6 separate stomps or by selecting Line/Amp wrong)

I use a Strat and a Les Paul, Koch amp, Bassman amp, Crate amp, monitors, headphones.

The default sounds never impressed me.

It sounds better than any modelling thing I tried. The feeling is there. It can be made to sound digital, but if you leave out the effects the AMP section kills. I just play and play and play, it inspires me no end.

1: Amp modelling through an actual amp does not work well. It's a fact of life that putting a signal from a Mesa head into say, a Marshall head must suck. It does suck with my Bassman head, or my Koch combo. Ideally, a power amp is the best choice. For amp use, try the stomps and effects! Using the stomp boxes into amps sound very good. I don't like all of them, but the ones I like get a honest 10.


2: The cabinet modelling is a bit 'too much' for my taste. However I use a 4x12 anyway.

3: Not all fx sound very good. However, for the price they are more than adequate. I would anyway not consider spending $500 on a reverb, and that's sadly what's needed to make me happy, at least today.

4: Into the home stereo it's shockingly good.

5: Headphones - if you use cheap tinny crap phones, expect crap sound, right?!


Accept that of 20-ish stomps you may NOT have chosen 10 of the originals. That's the biggest and hardest compromise for VOX. I mean, I don't like the BOSS stomps and BOSS is the biggest manufacturer in the world, so they have to be there for you other guys. Fair deal.

The price for buying 5 of those stomps is at least the cost of the whole Tonelab + you need cables and powersource and a case/pedalboard and...

Below, Paul put some comments in that were quite thought through- but as he ends, the price and complexity with these features would land the thing in the >1000$ category.

I'm happy with the sound I can choose! The sounds I don't like, well, I don't have to choose them anyway.

It's sturdy, real proper switches, metal chassis. Looks well put together.

I don't have any problems with the pedals. Yet. :)

Rackmount + floorboard is perhaps better, but then the price takes a hike. The option is there, almost with the deskversion of Tonelab.

No opinion.

It fits any style, almost. The metal guys may disagree.

I played for some 20 years and my gear list is too long to write.

I love the feel and the sound. It inspires me every time.

I'd wish for global EQ, global cabinet sim on and off and some kind of cabinet 'mix' to tone down the cabinet influence a bit. I'm not too impressed with the compressor. A CD/RCA input is what I miss the most. There it loses the 10!

My personal taste in effects and such may differ from everybody elses. I therefore accept that I can't love them all.

Conclusion: Even if I only use a stomp/wah, volume pedal, tuner and some chorus the total price is dead cheap and sooo convenient compared to hauling separate stuff. You get a lot of sound and usefulness for the money.

YES it is fantastic value!

Pretty easy to use. The dials make it much easier to mess with than a Pod, which is what it's replacing. The manual is cool, editing patches is a breeze.

I'm running a pair of Godins (a Multiac Jazz and a Flat Five X) to this with the electric output, and to an Acoustic with the acoustic output simultaneously. I also use a US Masters Strat-style guitar with it, and occasionally a Danelectro U2. Now... with a truly great electric guitar amp, I think that you can always get a good guitar to sound great, but you can't dial up your favorite amp through one of these modeling things and expect to have any GTR you plug in to it sound great. You have to find the model and the cabinet and the settings that sound great with THAT guitar. I have 3 guitars I plug into this, and none of them sound good through the settings I created for the other two. That said, once you find the amp model that sounds great with your particular guitar, stick with subtle variations (different cabs, etc.) and you should find something great. Or maybe your clean sound will be one amp/cabinet and the dirty sound will be another. (Try that live on stage... in a little club or church...) Will you use every amp model that it comes with? Probably not. I only use 4 or 5. Does it replace all the amps it models? No way... BUT... every time I plug in I sound the same. I use it on Sunday Morning for worship at a church, and my sound people don't have to mess with the settings every week. I run it direct through the PA and through an Acoustasonic amp just for monitoring on stage.

It sounds super clean, the effects are great... except the rotary speaker effect is unusably awful. That's one of the reasons I'm only giving it an 8, but I AM totally happy with it.

Don't know... just bought it. I would NEVER use something like this without SOME backup... period.

No idea. the thing is so easy to use I don't need to talk to anyone at Vox or KorgUSA, who distributes them. My previous experience with Korg has been great... no previous experience with Vox. So I give them the benefit of the doubt.

Been playing 25 years, I love this. If lost, I'd probably replace it with the same thing. LOVE the form factor and the editing, especially on my mac with the software you can download. I compared this with a POD LiveXT. This had WAY more vibe and soul than the Pods, although I had the original Pod for YEARS and was happy with it. I with it had a more flexible pedal effects section, so that I could use a distortion pedal AND a wah AND a phaseer or something wackly like that, and I wish that the rotary speaker didn't stink. But the Uni-VIBE is GREAT, and I LOVE the Vox Wah effect WAY more than the wahs in the Pods.

In short, I recognize it has limitations, but it is PERFECT for me!

Ease of Use?

It's difficult to be objective with this because I've been going around the effects processor block forever. Having said that, though, I am not by any stretch of the imagination a sound engineer. I'm also afflicted with a pretty extreme case of option anxiety. Give me too many parameters to wade through to find good tone and I just shut down. There is a great deal of flexibility with this, but it's all very intuitively designed and laid out. As far as the amp models are concerned, the controls are made to work like the those on a guitar amp. Dial in your gain settings, bass, mid, and treble, presence and noise reduction, set the channel volume and then start playing your buns off.

If you have any experience with effects at all, this should not be the least bit daunting. I own or have owned the BOSS GT-5, GT-6, Digitech GNX3, and the Behringer Vampire (both rack and combo amp), and even owned the BOSS GT-8 for about 5 minutes before sending it back to Musician's Friend, and in the ease of use category this beats them all hands down (IMO, of course).

I'm giving this a 9 in the ease of use category, because I'm not sure I'm being objective and because working an "on/off" switch would rate a 10 (but this is almost as easy).

I'm getting ready to go off here, so anybody sensitive to the rants of opinionated blowhards should skip to the other posts. Let me first try to qualify things. My objective in buying or trying out every floor-based mult-effects processor available has always been flexibility. I need to cover a lot of musical ground and the concept has always made a lot of sense. Unfortunately, the execution was something else entirely. I didn't find any real guitar tone in anything I tried until the ToneLab SE, and then I found an oceanful. The irony for me is that I've always been a dyed-in-the-wool BOSS fan, and while I have been aware of the ToneLab for years, I always ignorantly scoffed at it, never bothering to even check it out. Hah! What good could come from the Vox people? They couldn't carry Roland's jock strap. Oh man, was I wrong (and this is some crow I'm delighted to chow down on).

Again, I'm no expert in the matter, but I do have some experience with real amplifiers. In the bad old days, I played HiWatt, Boogie, Fender, Music Man and Lab Series (any Ronnie Montrose fans out there remember those?) And as I write this, there's a brand spankin' new Marsall JCM2000 TSL100 that's been sitting in it's shipping container for the last two years in the other room (but that's another story). So before anybody gets their hackles up, let me go on record as saying I don't believe there's any little box that's going to put Marshall, Boogie, Fender, Bogner, Matchless, Soldano, or any other amp manufacturer out of business. And I don't think there'll ever be a guitar god getting all of their sound out of a multi-effects processor . . . because they don't have to. If I had a million dollars to spend on gear, manufacturers dying to customize their stuff to my exact specifications, and total gearheads on the payroll to manage all of it, I could sound like The Edge, too (well, not really, but with all those resources, I could pretend that I did).

OK, so much for that. Here's the setup I'm running and the reason for posting this, because I know there just has to be at least one other guitar player out there striving for flexibility AND REAL GUITAR TONE:

Guitar>ToneLab SE>BBE 482i Sonic Maximizer>QSC RMX850 power amp>Behringer BG412S (stereo 4x12 cabinet with Jensens). My guitars are all either Les Pauls or LP inspired (Gibson Custom and Standard, Heritage 150CM-CL, and a couple of Hamer imports), with the exceptions being an Ibanez S520WNF and a MIM Fender Strat. The Gibbys have stock pickups, as do the Ib and Fender, and the Heritage and Hamers have Duncans.

Let me just take a quick little jab at guitar players who are always capping on stock pickups from Gibson because they're too loud and too bright. Dude, Gibson puts volume and tone controls on their guitars for a reason. And all those screws actually make the pole pieces or the whole pickup go up and down. Pick up a screwdriver and start turning some screws and control knobs. There, I feel better now.

Anyway, in this rig, the ToneLab SE does it all for me. The amps sound and feel like real guitar amps. The QSC provides clean, uncolored power and allows the amp models to shine and the Behringer cabinet does the same for the stereo effects. The various amps actually sound like different amps, and the tone is warm, thick, complex and authentic. Do the amps sound identical to the ones they're modeling? I don't know. All I know is that they are astonishingly good. Every time I plug in, I've got an ear cocked, waiting for that awful digital sterility and that horrific aliasing, and so far, I've waited in vain. It just isn't there with the ToneLab SE.

The sound and style of effects is a subjective thing for all guitar players, and as I wrote, I've always been a fan of BOSS products. However, I've been amazed at how perfectly Vox matched the effects with the various amps in this unit. Does it have everything plus the kitchen sink like BOSS's GT series? Nope. But as another reviewer put it, I can live without them. Since I'm just opining, I think if I ever do get the Marshall out of storage, I would probably use the GT-6 in stompbox mode for my effects because I don't think I'll ever stop liking a lot of what BOSS has to offer. But as far as my current rig where live playing is concerned, the GT-6 is history.

Anyway, my experience with the ToneLab SE is that it's an honest-to-goodness, guitar-tone generator and unique among everything else out there. You may not like the tone it puts out, but you can't deny it's the real deal . . . because it is. Buy it or don't buy it based on the sound of its amp sims.

A Marshall stack cranked to the point of power tube melt down is a "10", but for my little real world application this thing gets an unequivocal 9 (and then some).

The question for this category is Can you depend on it? The answer is, I don't care. If it blows up, I'll keep buying them because it rocks.

As for gigging without a backup. I never have . . . and hopefully never will.

Never dealt with Vox or Korg.

I'm from the old, old school. Favorite guitarslingers? Blackmore, Gibbons, Frampton, Gilmour, Iommi, Andrew Latimer (Camel), David Lambert (Strawbs), Petrucci (OK, not old school), and a bunch of others. I don't care if the ToneLab SE can nail these guys sound or not. All I care about is I can finally get a varied, no-compromise, MUSICAL guitar tone - in stereo- from an easy to use rig that I can play at conversational levels when necessary (and ear-busting ones when the venue allows).

Others may disagree with me, and probably know better, but my suspicion is this is NOT a rig for full-on metalheads. Where the ToneLab is unsurpassed amongst similar floor-based processors is in it's ability to deliver astonishingly clean sparkle tones and sonically complex crunch and rich, manly, rock and hard rock tones with warmth and clarity. And it's ability to respond to changes in guitar control settings and variations in pick attack are unparalleled in this type of device.

Since nothing is perfect, I guess I can only rate this a 9+, but if I could, I'd rather give it a 10.

Vox tried to think of everything. Despite some of the reviews here I found it difficult to get a great tone out of this especially through any type of amp, even when routed through the effects loop. It worked pretty good through a PA or headphones but that is about it. It was pretty easy to edit patches and assign the exp pedals.

Manual was decent.

Like I said a one trick pony. No where near close to the sound of an overdriven tube amp. Not sure I would ever need to create all the "different" sounds this box claims to emulate. I tried to like it because it is a hassle to drag around effects pedals, a mike, multiple patch cables, and a tube amp...but I'll take the hassle.

Very Reliable. no problems.

No issues

Like I said I tried to like it. I plugged it in direct to the PA and the sound was pretty good. I couldn't dial in any pleasing sounds through my amp regardless of how I routed it. Oh well. I sold it for $400, bought a great attenuator and had my OD pedal modded at tone-jam, now I can rock at bedroom levels and keep stage volume down by miking. I am happy now. Sorry vox, nice try.

With the editor it couldn't be easier

Simply the most authentic,realistic sounding amp sim on the market. It is NOT the Numetal box that the XTL is. But it WILL do Metal, and do so without the annoying fizz that other modelers possess.

Haven't owned it long enough to make a valid assessment

Been playing for 30+ years. Love my old school Heavy Metal/Hard Rock & Shred.. This unit fits those genres very well. I have owned evry modeler on the planet, a couple times just to be sure I wasn't wrong the first time;-) As with every modeler the SE has it's weak points and strong points. The wah is unuseable imho.. And the Recto sim is middle of the road.. But all in all this unit to me is the best on the market. It SOUNDS and FEELS more like playing an amp when compared to it's competitors.. I have swapped out my tube to 3 different types. That DOES make a difference..


If Vox ever wises up and releases a rackmount version I will sell the SE and be on the rackmount instantly.. My biggest complaint about this unit is the size of the footprint.. Too big,, but all else considered and compared to the competition I will deal with it.. Best unit on the market imho but no modeler devised yet rates a 10 so I'll give it a 9

Responding to an earlier review------squeaking pedals and pedal feel/tork adjustment---------If the pedals start to squeak apply some grease......push the heal of the pedal down.....look under the pedal......apply the grease to the left and right side of the pedal on the hinges...you will need to use something long like a chopstick to get the grease in the right spot (unless your fingers are 9" long)...do not apply the grease to the bar that runs under the pedal...only the side hinges....To adjust the pedal tork flip the unit upside down......remove the cover.....under each pedal you will see a allen head screw.....by turning this allen screw you can make the pedal harder or looser, adjust this to your preferance.

Can't find a phone number....If you have one please contact me ...I want to chat with some of their techs...

Q: How easy is it to get a good sound out of it?
A: Easy-Peasy, Lemon-Squeezy
Q: How about Editing patches?
A: Piece of Cake
Q: How is the manual for it (if there is one)?
A: Uneccessary
Q: Do you know the firmware revision number? Has your unit been upgraded?
A: Who gives a...

Ibanez 540S Custom, (and Wasburn Force2 c/w Roland GR-20) through Traynor YCV40.
No EXTRA noise unless you cannot set-up EQ's on any of your equipment.
Individual Tone of each Guitar Pickup configuration maximized and so it gives TONE, TONE and yet More Tone!!
FX are ALL good any cobination are useable in the right context.
Some of the Amp Modelling (which I didn't actually want, but find I need for simple and quick sound variation) are not my cup of tea.

Build more solid than the Boss GT-8, Korg AX-3000. Similar, if not better, build quality as the original Line 6 Floorboard.

Will grab another Valve one day, as my amp uses a few the same.

N/A

All styles can float my boat depending on mood, so I need them all instantly. The Vox ToneLab Se delivers them all, if not in a small box, but a well laid out and intuitive format.

Have had LOAD of FX, but normally just use my amp and guitar. I am limited without FX for quick sound change, though my "sound" is Fab without any in-line, or external device.

I bought this pedal after owning the Boss GT3 and GT6 pedals. The Vox Tonelab SE couldnt be simpler to program. After owning the GT6 for 18 months I was still struggling to hit a good lead sound for live gigs. With the Vox I had my 'killer sound' in just about half an hour of getting it out of the box. The guys at Vox designed this pedal with the stage guitarist in mind and personally I dont think they could have done a better job.

Its so simple that you could basically go to a venue and dial in a good sound within a couple of minutes. Thats its main advantage over Boss and Line 6 pedals - you dont have to tap a button 10 times to get to the setting you want. The settings are clearly marked out in front of you, all you have to do is turn the knob and hit 'write'.

The manual is one of the best Ive seen - very easy to understand and has all the recommended amp and cab set ups.

One of the big reasons why I rate this over any other pedal is the ease of installing and editing patches. You can even link the pedal up with your PC and edit sounds on screen and actually hear the difference whilst your playing your guitar which is an invaluable feature for fine tuning your sounds.

This pedal also has an A/B channel which means that you can have each patch set for a rhythm and lead settings and because you can see the exact settings of things such as volume and delay (when your editing patches with the computer software)its very easy to alter your settings for the A and B channels if you want a bit more boost for your lead or echo.

Theres a control switch that you can assign to turn on effects like delay, echo, wah etc which is very handy, or you can turn these on by stepping on the expression pedals. Or you can go into manual mode at the tap of a switch and the pedals become stompboxes where you can add echo, distortion or whatever youve got programmed for that patch, as you want it - thats a feature that you couldnt do with the GT6 unless you stooped down and quickly tapped a button.

I use a Fender '99 US Stratocaster and invested in the Tech 21 Power Engine 60 as soon as my Tonelab arrived. Im more than pleased with the sounds Im getting so far. Ive only had the pedal a couple of weeks but Ive managed to get better sounds already out of the Vox than I did in 18 months with the Boss GT6.

Many people here who have reviewed the Tonelab have given it minus marks because they couldnt replicate the sounds they heard in their headphones with an amp. The simple answer is that you need to buy an amp which doesnt colour the sound. Of course the Tonelab is going to sound rubbish if your using it through a normal amp because your sending a sound to it that is already 'amped' so to speak. The Tonelab has amp and cab simulators already built into it so you need to get yourself an amp which doesn't colour the sound and thats when you'll start getting the sounds what you hear through the headphones.

The effects are really nice and although theres a few things that my Boss GT6 could do that the Vox cannot, I am willing to sacrifice gimmicks for a good tone, after all thats what guitarists are seeking isnt it?

I found that I didnt even use most of the stuff on the GT6 anyway. Some people have said that the Tonelab can be noisy - I have a Strat with noisy pickups and its quite on most settings. I like the wah on the Vox which is the best Ive heard.

The Vox sounds the most authentic modelling pedal and thats because of the tube. This is the ONLY pedal that Ive managed to replicate a decent Stevie Ray Vaughn sound. The clean sounds are beautiful and the distortions are great too. Some people have said that you cannot get a good metal sound on the Tonelab, I would disagree. Its also untrue that you cant use the wah with distortion. I can get a perfectly decent distortion sound with wah on - you just overdrive the amp and its perfect

Only had it a couple of weeks so havent had any problems. Seems very sturdy though and is built of metal. Having used my GT6 for 18 months without a backup I cannot see any reason why the Vox should be any different.

I will buy a backup tube though just in case it goes mid-gig.

Again havent had to deal with them.

I play a wide range of music from The Beatles, Rock and Roll, Classic Rock, Police, Reggae, the 60's, right up to the present like Robbie Williams and Keane. This pedal can cope with any of the above styles. Ive been playing the guitar for 20 years and have finally got the kit that Ive been striving for. I also own a Fender Deluxe 112 plus amp and the Tonelab doesnt sound as good as it does with the Tech 21 - you have to mix and match to get the sound that you want.

What do I love about it? Everything. Hates? Havent found any yet. Favourite feature would be the ease of use and easy editing, also the ability to easily share and install patches.

I chose the Tonelab after reading the glowing reviews on Harmony Central - Im glad I chose this pedal over the Line 6 stuff.

Im going to start using it for recording, Ive heard some very good reports about the Tonelab and its quality for recording straight into a PC.

If you want a pedal that is robust, easy to use, can emulate your favourite band, easy to edit and install patches, then this is the pedal for you. It sounds sweeter than the Boss GT6 and Line 6 and is well priced.

I am used to the way Line 6 has set up there modeling units so this one does take some getting used to. Once you get used to it, it's just fine. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure this on out!!!!

I was amazed with the sound Quality of everything on this thing. The effects are quality. I personally like the stereo chorus. Vox is now owned by Korg, who has been doing FX for quite some time now. I know that you don't get as many amp models as a Line 6 POD or a Vetta. I was a huge Line 6 Vetta fan before I got this VOX. I sold my Vetta and got a Line 6 POD XT Live. Man does that thing sound like CRAP. Serously, Line 6 better shape up or their going to get run out of buisness by these guys. Like I said before all the amp modles are quality. The Soldano sound like a Soldano and of course the AC30's sound great. I even like the Mesa/Boogie Rectifier sound. Anyway needless to say this thing actually sounds like a real tube amp as opposed to digitally manufactured sounds like the guys at Line 6 are crapping out these days!!!

Built like a tank. I haven't had any problems yet!! And it comes with it's own bag!!!!

Haven't used them yet. Like I said this thing is built to last!!!

If you want some tonal diversity and you don't have $20,000 to spend on guitar amps, than this thing is for you. It sparkles and shines like a tube amp, and does not get muddy!!! These guys are going to start putting Line 6 out of buisness, and I USED to be a HUGE Line 6 guy!!!

The tonelab was surprising easy to use, once you learn how all the buttons work it's much, much easier than the pod xt live or the gt8, the other two that I compared. Editing patches is easy as well.

I am using a strat deluxe into a bunch of pedals, all true bypass boutique kind of stuff into a deluxe reverb. I love my sound the way it is and I was getting kind of tired of lugging around my big old pedalboard all the time. Plus, I was looking for something that could offer lots of different sounds, flanger, vibe, and all that. I tried out the tonelab SE at a local guitar center. I plugged in a strat and then went from the tonelab into a decent fender amp and then I tried it into a set of headphones. I don't know what it is about this - I really wanted to like it, and there is much to like about it, the way it is setup is just great, really smartly put together and it seems very durible, but the sound and the effects are just not all the spectacular, unfortunately. It just didn't give me goodbumps, nor was it very inspiring. I suppose if you're starting out and are looking for something decent then this would totally be a viable option, but since I already have my 'sound' I was looking for something to complement it, it just didn't fit the bill.

I first plugged my guitar straight into the vibrolux and got a nice clean sound and then I plugged in my guitar to the tonelab and then into the amp and then I shut off all the effects, amp models and speaker cabinets and listened. It sounded muddy and, well, kind of terrible. Not in the same kind of terrible vein that the pod sounds like with everything turned off, it was definitely 'warmer' than that. but still it just wasn't leaving the nice original tone alone.

So I thought, okay well I need to tweak it. So I tried my darndest to get it back to how sweet it sounded just going straight into the amp and I just couldn't get there. It was a drag. This told me that I would lose my original sound if I used the tonelab.

okay, so how do the effects sound? well, some are pretty cool. the delays are pretty nice and all that but all the effects are kind of weak sounding. I dunno it's hard to describe but they just didn't wow me. they were easy to tweak and assigning options to the expression pedals was nice and easy, like assigning the delay feedback created a cool wall of noise thing, but it just didn't grab me.

I then gave up with the amp and plugged in the headphones. I'm not sure what I did but it sounded like sh%t thru headphones, maybe I didn't have it set right or something? I don't know.

so in sum, the tonelab sounds just 'alright' - nothing spectacular. maybe it has to do with the fact that it's only 20 bit and not 24 or 32 bit? ah well.

seems reliable, definitely built like a tank

na

I really wanted to like the tonelab se, I really did. but I just couldn't justify spending 500 bucks on it. I liked it better than the Pod Live in many ways - it definitely sounds warmer and is easier to use, plus it's a "Vox" - which gets street cred points imho, but it just doesn't sound all that great. I'm waiting for tonelab SE version 2 with 32 bit effects - I'm sure that will sound great. and I'm hoping the next version will have an option that you can use the floorboard and still retain your amps sweet tone, then I'll fork over the 5 bills.

My advice is that you probably cannot go wrong with the tonelab, but if you want a pro-sounding setup then you'll have to keep waiting - it's probably the best modeller out there, but it's still a modeller

It's not hard to get a good sound, but it takes a lot of tweaking. The factory patches were just about useless with my Les Paul Custom. The manual is well written, but not much help when most of the tweaking has to be done with your ears. Editing patches is a royal pain unless you have a computer and use the MIDI editing software, but that's probably true about most of these pedal modelers.

I use a Les Paul Custom, run direct into my sound card for recording. The sound of this unit is its best feature. The amp models are all good, as are most of the effects.

I haven't had any trouble with it, except for squeaky expression pedals. Oil and silicone do not help. I would trust it at a gig.

Forget customer support, there isn't any from the manufacturer. If you need service, call your local Vox authorized service, or the place where you bought it.

I've owned my Tonelab SE for about 9 months now, and at this point I think I have a pretty good idea of what it does well and what it's lacking.

1. The whole idea of building a pedal board with editing buttons that sits on the floor... is stupid. You can't edit with the board on the floor, but you can't use the pedals with it sitting on a table. The original tabletop Tonelab made more sense, but the next Tonelab should be a 19" rack mount unit, with a VC-12 type of pedal unit as standard equipment. The pedal unit should have a removable cord, perhaps a 15-foot cord as standard and an optional 40-foot cord for stage use. Even then, the MIDI software is still a necessity for easy editing.

2. The compressor sounds like the Dynacomp it is supposedly modeled after, which is fair. There are certainly better ones that could have been modeled, such as the DBX 165, or the Janglebox, for example. However, the compressor is such an essential part of today's guitar sound that it should be in its own section (not part of the Pedal section), available all the time. Also, the compressor routing should be adjustable, since there might be times when you want the compressor preceding or following the other pedal effects.

3. With only one Pedal section, you can't cascade a wah into a fuzz, or a fuzz into a phaser, or whatever. There should be at least two identical pedal sections. I know you can cascade external pedals, but those are patched before the Pedal section, and usually you'd want your compressor driving the next pedal, or your wah driving a fuzz or phaser, so the insert point should be routable just like the post-effects. Besides, why buy an all-in-one pedal board if you have to carry auxiliary pedals around with you?

4. And speaking of the Pedal models, I'm not a big fan of Boss OD pedals, so the Super OD and Orange Dist, are pretty useless to me. There are so many excellent and unique fuzzes out there, they could have chosen a better selection. Like the Zendrive, or Tim on the boutique side, or a classic germanium fuzz like the FuzzFace. The Fuzz sounds very little like the Maestro it is supposed to be modeled after, and I would have preferred an even cheesier sound, like the Mosrite FuzzRite. Also, my 27 year old Ross phaser sounds better than any of the phaser models in the Pedal section (I use it all the time as an Insert pedal), so they could have done better there, as well. It would have been nice if the Octavia model, which is actually quite good, could produce a clean octave-up effect without the overdrive. Notably missing is a 6 or 10-band graphic EQ, which is commonly found in the pedal chain of many well-known guitarists. Having said that, most of the existing pedal effects are pretty good, actually.

5. I have very few complaints about the amp and cab models, they're the high point of the unit. However, there is no model of a single-ended, true class A amp, like the Fender Champ. The Vox amps are not really Class A, they're push-pull, class AB with cathode bias (the British call this class A apparently, but in the US, we don't). My only other criticism would be that the amp models that use a tube rectifier should sag a little more when cranked, an adjustable sag control would be nice.

6. The noise reduction (NR) fizzes noticeably on both attack and decay. Compared to a decent studio noise gate, it's pretty lousy. To compensate for the poor NR stage, I've learned not to set it as high as I would like it. There's usually a lower setting that allows some noise through, but is a lot less fizzy.

7. Modulation section: The rotary speaker effect is the weakest link in the Tonelab SE. I almost never use it because it sounds like a bad 2-speed phaser with excessive panning. To hear how much better a rotary simulator can sound, go to the Line6 web site and listen to samples of the Roto-Machine, for example. The Classic Chorus distorts too easily. The Textrem would benefit from having an LFO waveform select. And a minimum speed of 1.0 hz is too fast to use it as an autopanner. The minimum speed should be 0.1 hz. The pitch bender is extremely glitchy at all settings, and when used as a digital whammy with the expression pedal, it randomly produces a weird flange effect when returning the pedal to the zero pitch bend position, like you can hear both direct and effect outputs even with the direct output turned off. I doubt this is a defect in my particular unit, but rather a firmware bug, as my first Tonelab SE (which I exchanged due to squeaky pedals) did the same thing.

8. All the delays in the Mod and Delay sections should have 0.1 ms resolution for delay times below 20 ms. This would give better tunability for those pitched resonant feedback effects.

9. Delay section: Better overall support of adjustable parameters for the expression pedals is needed (this goes for the Reverb and Mod sections as well). Also, the Reverse delay takes too long to kick in after you start playing (that is, if the delay time is 2 sec, you wait about that long to hear anything). It should be possible to feed the input continuously and adjust the output level or mix with the expression pedals, so there is backward effect immediately when you want it.

10. Reverb section: The reverb models are acceptable, but they're all mediocre sounding. In fact, none of the reverb models sounds as good as the ones built into my sound card (Yamamha DSP Factory). The only ones I use are Spring2 and Gate. The whole Reverb section needs improvement.

11. There should be parallel and series-parallel routing options for the Mod, Delay, and Reverb sections, not just series routing options.

12. There should be a 4-band parametric EQ between the amp model and the channel volume. It should have A/B settings for the two channels. It would be nice if it had an automatic unity gain switch.

13. The post-effects should die out naturally when you switch patches while playing. Worse yet, the post-effects glitch when you switch A/B channel (this is especially audible in the reverb).

14. The tube should be a lot easier to replace. I know Vox doesn't want people changing the tube; in fact, they'll tell you that doing so voids the warranty. How incredibly stupid. Naturally guitarists want to try different tubes to individualize their sound. If every amp and preamp manufacturer said that changing the tubes voided the warranty, it would pretty much put an end to the guitar amp industry as we know it. Assuming the next Tonelab is a rack mount unit, the tube should be on the back (forget that eye-candy, red LED thing, the tube doesn't need to be visible). The socket should be partially recessed into the chassis so it doesn't stick out too much, with a half-size metal cover. Then the tube would be easy to replace. The socket should have gold plated contacts.

15. The expression pedals on my Tonelab SE squeak intermittently (my first Tonelab SE squeaked so badly, I took it back and exchanged it). I have used both sewing machine oil and silicone on the hinges, but it made little difference (the local Vox authorized repair guy told me there is no documented procedure for dealing with this, but he recommended oil). Also, the hinge tightness is not exactly equal on both pedals, and there doesn't appear to be a way to adjust it. The expression pedals have a cheap feel to them. I have a Yamaha DX7 keyboard I bought in 1987, and its old, potentiometer-based expression pedal still works great and feels great, so I guess Vox just used an inexpensive and inferior pedal hinge design. In all fairness to Vox, though, a lot of floor modelers have problems with poorly designed expression pedals. Considering how much abuse expression pedals get, they should be individually removable, adjustable, and replaceable from the top of the unit.

16. Vox should put back the S/PDIF output, but coaxial (RCA connector) this time, not optical as on the original Tonelab. Coaxial would be compatible with a lot more sound cards.

17. Dual output support for direct PA and live stage monitoring, and an input sensitivity control with detents so you can use the same patches with different guitars.

18. A clipping LED for the post-effects would be helpful.

Have I forgotten anything? Probably. But having said all that, I love the sounds I get from my Tonelab SE; it packs a lot of bang for the buck. If Vox ever puts out a rack mount version with all the changes I've specified above, I'd buy it in a heartbeat, even if it cost $400-500 more than I paid for this unit. However, this unit works OK (given its limitations), and I certainly wouldn't waste the money on the next version of Tonelab unless it were a rack mount unit with most of the improvements specified above.

Quick Summation of Tonelab SE:

Best thing about it:
The sound. It records great. With a couple good guitar amps or a good PA, you can get a great live sound as well.

Worst thing about it:
The expression pedals. They suck big time.

Reasons I might not buy another one:
It's not a rack mount unit, crappy expression pedals, has only one stomp box section.

It is very easy to find great sounds on Tonelab SE. Of course, the buttoms and knobs are typically on the floor, but I still preferred this one-box solution.

Love the two big pedals, and the ability to easily assing any control to them. Typically I have effect mix of one effect on the left, and volume on the right. Good thinking also that volume pedal is before delay or reverb.

I run two strat style home-brew guitars with very lightweight basswood bodies through Tonelab and from there to some combo amp, the favourite being Hofner 1969 combo with A-Class 40W power amp, 2x12" Goodmans speakers and disk echo (which is weird but great)

Tonelab is the first emulator system Iave played that actually manages to produce good sounds that are between clean and full blown distortion. Those sweet sounds when you have some growl, great harmonics and natural compression. I used to to run a tube preamp to Hiwatt 50 watt slave to Marshall speaker emulator, and Vox comes very very close to that setup (I still often use the real thing for recording). My single favourite emulation on this box are Bassman 4x10 and Vox AC30.

I.m.h.o. where Tonelab fails is the speaker emulation. I think this is where all the emulators fail: the sound of real guitar speakers and how they sound in certain space. To me this not a major shortcoming, though. I use my favourite combo amps and speakers in rehearsals, gigs and recording.

The input/output jacks are not that great. Hey Vox, how about some Neutriks in there for $50 extra? Definitely worth the money.

The only one stop solution I know of. Does the magical tube power amp thing! Great controls. I only wish the knobs weren't on the floor. Should've taken the Tonelab instead of Tonelab SE....

The SE is the best modeling processor I've used. The Owner's Manual is great. It breaks things down so you can quickly understand them and start playing right away. It can be a little time consuming to tweak the sounds, but if you want to get the best tone from anything it takes time. I really like the way they explain how the Valve Reactor technology works. I would have to agree with the others that complained about the lack of 'name description' when it comes to the amps, effects, speakers, etc. Line 6 uses trademark names in their owner's manuals on everything they model in their processors and I think Vox could do the same.

I've purchased several popular modeling processors in the past, as well as a slew of top of the line analog effects pedals. The pedals always sounded better than digital, but the processors were always easier to transport. When it comes to live performance it's also handy to use a processor. The Vox SE changes all of that. Never again will I say analog effects sound better. These effects sound spot-on. The amp tones are the REAL reason to consider this unit, though. I've always believed tube amps were untouchable for tone and feel. I've owned enough modeling amps and tube effects to know they just didn't compare to my tube head or combos. After weighing the facts about the latest modeling processors I checked out the sound recordings on the Line 6 and Vox websites. I thought they both sounded pretty good but Vox was more realistic. The more I've read about Line 6 everyone always says, 'They're pretty close to the real thing' or 'they sound like a tube amp, but they don't FEEL like a tube amp'. I've compared my Vox SE to several tube amps and I'm amazed. Not only does it sound real, but harmonics, sustain, and FEEL are all there. The Valve Reactor really works. The display panel actually lets you know the tubes it's emulating: EL34's, 6L6's, 5881's, EL84's, 12AX7's, 12AY7's, ECC83's, ECC82's and on and on. I ran the Vox SE directly into a PA, and it felt like I was playing through a 100 watt Marshall stack. The notes 'sag' like a cranked, hot tube amp, and you can get this at any volume. I've owned my Vox SE for six months, now, I'm selling my tube amps. For amplification I'll run the SE into a solid state power amp. No more carrying around heavy, fragile, expensive, high maintenance tube amps.

I bought my Vox SE used. I used a couple drops of 3 in 1 oil for a squeaky wah pedal, and some canned air for a dusty pedal contact and it works as good as new. All the pedals and body are costructed from heavy duty metal.

I haven't used customer support but it was easy to download the free midi software on their website.

I'm generally a rock player. Led Zeppelin, 3 Doors Down, the Stones, Aerosmith, etc. I use Fender Bassman, Marshall Plexi, Marshall JCM-800, JCM-900 amp tones. I also like their Mesa Boogie model for more modern rock and their Vox AC30 models for blues. The acoustic simulator sounds great too. The Vox SE is definately is in a league of its own as far as modeling technology. I've tried a vast array of amps and effects over the last 16 years of playing and I can truly say this is the best piece of equipment I've heard. You may need to spend some time before you get a precise customized tone, but you can get it with this. I personally found that when using the overdrive pedals with amps you have to lower the pedal level equal to the amp level or else the pedal distortion will bury your amp tones. These are the subtle kinds of things that you need to figure out as you use it. It can easily take a couple months of tweaking before you're satisfied with your customized tones. I recommend taking the time to learn because the presets are so-so.

After a short time it became very easy to use. You DO and SHOULD have to read the manual. Once you become familiar with it you can just dig in and edit anything quickly. The manual is well written and it ws easy to find topics quickly. If you've used other similar processors you'll appreciate this set up. You pick what you want from what you see in front of you. Simple, cool. I've used new Digitech, Boss, Line 6 processors. This is the easiest and best set up. I would give it a ten but it ain't THAT easy...

I tried the Tonelab SE with a combo amp (Randall Renegade), a stereo Carvin 120 power amp and Peavey 2-12 stereo cab and direct thru PA (which is how my band plays, using floor monitors as reference). I was disappointed to note how noisy many of the presets are. You can eliminate the noise with a fine noise reduction patch but then you create some dynamic problems with light picking cut outs. Your basic sounds are excellant-flat out. I did have a hard time dialing in some clean sounds. They distort too easily but after a time you can get it right. It should have been easier. All distortions were very good whether it was rock, power rock or most modern heavy modes. I was pleased that the natural tone of the guitars shone thru. Fenders sound like Fenders, Les Pauls like Les Pauls.
Where I fell off the wagon was when it got to the effects. Most of the basics, reverb, chorus, delay are very good. The other extra's, I thought, sucked. The wha was what made me return the unit. It's got a middle of the ride break point that made it work like an on/off switch when holding a note or chord. For these bucks that's not acceptable. The harmonizer type effects were brittle and tinny and useless. For the weight and size of this monster you'd think they could use better circuits for these effects.

It seems very reliable. Weighs a ton. I always have a back up-always. The best processor, car, tv, etc can break down at the worst time but at a gig it's more than an inconvenience to YOU. Always have a back up!

NA

I play with a band that plays everything. Commercial rock of every genre. If I didn't all ready love my Digitech RP14D I might have kept this. I want an upgrade. The RP is old and has some sound quality issues also but after using POD LiveXT-which was terrible, the Digitech GNX4 which sounded fine but was too complex and this Tonelab SE which I wanted to love, I'm back in search of the Holy Grail. I do compliment this pedal for it's easy function and general sound qualities. It just isn't up to the task that it sets for itself. For the money it should be better.

It does require some reading to get the unit to do what you want, but when you do the results are nothing short of brilliant.

I use a fender highway 1 strat and plug the se into the effects return of my amp. The sound quality on this is amazing given how versatile it is. To be perfectly honest, even though the line 6 has thirty billion different amp models and just as many cab models, there is no way in hell that you will use them all. And in this case less (models) is more (tone). Each amp sounds distinct and great, although some of the high gain settings get muddy (but only when you put a pedal in front of them, which is too much gain for most people anyway). Clean sounds range from warm and smokey to icy and shimmering. And, for the price, you really can't beat it.

I've had it about two weeks, use it at practice, seems very reliable, but I'll post another review later regarding this category.

Haven't Had to deal with the company

Overall rating of nine, just because of the muddiness in some, not all, of the distortion settings. Just being nitpicky, really. An Incredible floor unit and a great buy to boot.

First: I purchased this toy for LIVE GIGGIN' performance. I'm trying to simplify my setup and get the most out of this thing after years of using a rack system. I was impressed by the combination of amps, stomp boxes, and two built in pedals, so I'm giving it a try.

The TonelabSE is EXTREMELY easy to use and program. I am using the PC software for editing and it's an absolute treat to quickly edit, audition and save.

As for easy to get good sounds, well, that takes some work (read below)...

The A/B button is very useful live, allowing quick switching from one sound to another while maintaining the same mod/delay/rev settings.

Getting around the pedals is quite easy. I especially enjoy the control button for switching on and off the stomp boxes (or whatever else). (BTW: as others have posted: it would be nice to be able to combine a OD box with a WAH, but oh well...)

The manual is good, however, I had a difficult time figuring out some of the delay configurations. I'd like to see better descriptions of the delays.

I'd also like to see a "GLOBAL ON/OFF for the cabinet emulation. Some gigs I use an amp, some are so small I'd just as soon run straight into the board. It would be nice to have this global feature, instead of having to manually reprogram each patch... *Note: I've found a workaround. With the PC software, I have two saved files, one for "into an amp" (No cab circuits) and another for "into a board" (cab emulation on). So, before I leave for the gig I can quickly dump the file that suits the gig...

I use a mix of guitars: strat, tele, 335, LP, etc...I'm running the SE into a Marshall tube power amp into a 4x12AV speaker cab. Pretty darn simple. I am NOT using any of the cabinet emulation, as I'm going into a poweramb/cab. I have the output set to "Line".
So far, after a few weeks of use and constant tweaking, my reaction is "so-so". It sounds good. But not "Great!!". I believe the engineers likely did their creating with the cab emulation on, running into a recording console. I'm sure the TLSE sounds far better in that environment. Now, having said that...

The clean sounds I'm using are pretty good. I'm using mostly the twin and bassman clones.

The lead tones, however, are a bit weak IMHO with one exception: I have been using the 68 Plexi tone almost exclusively. As for the rest of the lead amp models, I have not been able to dial in a useful lead tone for use in a live setting. They're just too thin and buzzy IMHO. A/B the TLSE against a real amp and it's night and day. In general, the TLSE just doesn't deliver the thumpin', rich, full-body tone that a real amp does. Even though I'm running it through a tube amp into a 4x12. It's "okay" and I use it, but I'm not "thrilled". In general, I'm having a difficult time dialing in "my tone" for leads. But I'm getting closer. Again, the Plexi seems to be the most solid tone.

The pedals and effects are good in general. The reverbs and delays lack sonic shimmer. But I guess I'm asking a lot of a $400.00 box...

In a nutshell, the sounds are good, usable, but not too inspiring...

Seems like a brick. I've been using it on my gigs without backup (well, okay, I have an combo amp in my van just in case...) I'm getting a little squeaking in the pedals, but I guess I can just oil them.

I sent one question via e'mail and it was immediately addressed. Nice work.

Overall, I'll give it a 7. I've been tweaking the heck out of it and I'm getting closer to liking the sounds I have programmed, but not necessarily loving them. It is a versatile and useful gigging tool, and I think it suits the purpose for which it was purchased. Of the modelers I've used, it sounds the best.

I'm using:
- Fender Twin and Bassman for cleans.
- 68 Plexi for grind and leads (putting either the TUBE OD or ORANGE OD in front of the plexi).

Improvements I'd like to see:

-More dynamic lead tones. More "creamy" and less "Buzzy".
-The ability to copy/paste JUST THE AMP SETTING from one patch to another, ignoring the pedal/mod/delay/rev settings.
-The ability to copy/paste JUST THE A or B side of a particular program to another A or B location. Example: you have a nice lead tone you've programmed that would be a great B side compliment to a clean tone on a different program. Too bad, you have to overwrite the A side as well when you copy the B side.
-Global Cab Emulation on/off as noted above
-The ability to combine a fuzz box with a wah.
-More programmability in the delays (i.e. a STEREO delay that has SEPARATE settings for Left and Right).
-Digital recording output.
-Expression pedal input.

Very easy to use: Dedicated knobs, flashing buttons and lights
let you edit and set patches pretty easy.

Easy to get a good sound. Once you understand (or if you already know) how the picked model works, it's a snap.

The manual is good. However, it's a shame they've done so much
"cover your ass" type of indirect name description of non-Vox products. If you're not familliar with the characteristics of
a modelled product and only know it by name, then it's bit of
hunt to pin point the sound you're going after, but eventually
you get familliar with all the amps and effects and you can get
what you want.

I'm using a G&L legacy, a Ric 360, and a Fender Amer Delux Fat Strat.
Playing live, I send the output to the power stage of a Fender
Hot Rod Delux. When recordng, I use a Boss BR-1600. I get very
good sounds in both applications.

When the gain(s) turned way up, you can get a lot of noise.
The noise reductoin feature helps, but you lose tad of definition though.

To me the effects are really nice. I must admit though that I have
little experience with them in the past so I can't give a well informed/experienced opinion on that. That said, I can get rich
sounding effects to match the sounds I'm trying to create. I also
like the fact that I can add an effect into the chain externally.

I don't have any experience with the actual amp models that
the the TLSE contains, however, I think the models sound really
full and distinct. I had a POD2.3? and tried the PODxt. While
they sounded good, the POD2's models didn't sound that distinct
from each other and both lacked a certain depth and warmth in sound on
the clean and overdriven sounds.
The TLSE's high gain amp sounds are good, but so are the POD's. A previous submitter commented that the POD has better high gain sounds
for metal. This might be true, but I don't play metal so I can't
really say.
As I've said, I don't have experience with the actual amps the TLSE
models. I wasn't looking for spot on recreations. I just needed
something that sounded musically rich and flexible to get close to
the sounds I was hearing in my head. The TLSE succeeds here.
However, it can only get a 9 because only gear custom created
for me could be perfect for my needs.

So far so good. Had it for 10 months. Seems very rugged.
I plan on getting one of those small Korg Ampworks boxes
to stick in my guitar case if the TLSE dies during live use.

Never dealt with them. Not sure how responsive they will
be. I've read some things that make me a bit unsure about this.
Hope I don't have to find out.

It's good match for any style of electric playing.
Been playing 15 years.
If stolen I would get another as soon as I could.
Love the tone and ease of patch creation. Dislike the text editing method (then again, it would be asking too much to add mini T9 type keypad).
My favorite feature is the VR Gain / valve reator. Really adds
depth to the sound.
Like others have said, I wish it had a post EQ.
Best signal processing box I've used so far. It really helps me
get the sounds I want.

Plug-In, (press "Global" and select "Amp" or "Line",) play.

Change sound, play on.
Hold "expression" for a sec to control the current value via pedal.
Damn easy to use.

Bank Up / Down controls could be placed better. Brits have small feet obviously.

No fuzz and wah at the same time. What were they thinking? But I still have my Crybaby Fuzz-Wah and there's an effects insert loop.

Phones-out ain't that great. Noisy. No chance using it as a record output.

Manual is ok, nothing spectacular but helpful. Reading is quite interesting.

No need for moaning or bitching. Superb sounds and many options. I play Framus Diablo Custom into a Fender Hot Rod. I am blown away. Every time again and again. Bought it 2 weeks ago. Before I bought it I read most of the other reviews and also read about that "lack of authority". Don't know what he/she/it did wrong... just tried it in the store? Even the lead sounds sound verrry good to me. The presets are not that great, but hey we all want a quite unique sound anyway, don't we?

Versatile wah and talk-mod-sounds. Nice Delays. Chorus is ok. Would have to listen more to tell you more, there's still so much to try.

I try to sound like Jerry Cantrell and Slash so the LAB was my only choice. If you want to sound like Dimebag this ain't no good for you: Buy the POD.

The LAB's built like a tank. Only the plastic knobs... I don't like plastic knob that much but even my Hot Rod has some.

Never dealt with 'em.

Warm. Valve. Value.

Don't buy it if you play metal only.
Maybe buy the POD if you want a "true" metal sound.
I play mainly hard rock, Seattle sound, crossover, punk rock.
The LAB is 100% pure rock and roll.
Great built-in effect pedals.
Fantastic value.

Easy to get good sounds, editing is pretty straightforward. Manual is OK. Original FW, non-upgradable.

I played it through a Tech21 Power Engine with a Strat and a Les Paul Standard. Clean and lower sounds are good, even great. I didn't like the higher gain sounds, which was the deal breaker for me. They're noisy and lack authority.

VERY nice delays, filtering, and wah. Average chorus, I wouldn't use it. ALERT: You can't use an OD pedal with the wah! What were they thinking?

I checked it out for many hours over the weekend.

Where is the company sponsored user's forum? I couldn't find one.

Overall, there are some things I loved about this box. The Vox, Fender and low gain Marshall models with an overdrive were really nice. Great delays, very musical and rich sounding. It seemed well-made, good switches and rockers for the pedals. Felt solid.

I couldn't get a warm, wooden, singing Eric Johnson approved lead tone with the Strat.

I find the tonelab very easy to use. It is quite simple to get great sounds of it, and save them. Unlike other all in one pedals, you don't have to scroll through an screen to make selections for almost all operations. It was also very easy to figure out how to use. Having two channels under one preset is one of the greatest features, since you do not need to have seperate presets for your basic clean and dirty sound, allowing you to keep your other effects going when switching channels, especially vital for live performance. In addition each preset also lets you choose delay, modulation, reverb, and stomp effects that can be turned on and off within a single preset. (other modelors expect you to create a new preset for every combination of effects. This makes it incredibly easy to make last minute changes in a concert, such as balancing the volumes of your clean and dirty sounds as simple as turning one knob and pressing save, instead of having to treak the volume of a dozen seperate presets.
Editing patches is also very simple and lights simply light up letting you know which feature you are editing, it also does not involve scrolling and banking and all that jazz.
The tonelab also makes editing and saving features easy by using their software.
The built in tuner works very well and you can see it very easily from standing position. Actually every light and display is easy to read and see from standing position. Other modelors are not this easy to read and see -such as the pod. As for modelors this is the easiest to use of all the other products along this line.

there were a few stomps that i wish could be used at the same time. no big deal though

Once thing that modeler skeptics seem to criticize these type devices is based on when they compare a model to playing the original. For instance playing a marshall stack at full volume shaking your house vs. listening to your modeled version through your I-pod headphones is not a fair comparision. obviously you don't have the "Wow" factor of standing in front of a real amp. Trying recording them both and listening back through the same source. Another misuse that often causes one to criticize these models is when users plug the modeler into the guitar input of there amp and assume that dialing up a clean sound and leaving the eq knobs at 12 oclock will result in an amp that is flat and won't change the sound of the modeler. (if this was true that a marshall would sound the same as a fender twing with the tone knobs set the same) Instead users should use just the power amp section of their guitar amplifier, if the desire is to authentically emulate a given amp. (you can plug the modeler into the effects return jack on the back of your amplifer to achieve this. Then you can still use the master volume on your amp to control volume. Keep in mind that the speakers that your real amp has, effects the sound of your modeled amps. Can you expect a modeled 4 12 cabinet to sound the same through a real 4 12 as it sounds through a real 1 12 for instance. This isn't the fault of the modeler, but of the user.

I don't want to over-hype the sound quality, but I was and continue to be blown away by the tone. Having played other modelors such as fender cybertwin, pod xt live. The newest boss, what ever its name is, I feel that the vox is by far the warmest, and least digital sounding.

I am not so concernded with if the models sound exactly verbatim in every nuance to the original amps modeled. What I do care about is if the amp and cab models, sound great and are inspiring to play. There is a feel that is lost quite often with digital equipment that most listeners don't hear, but the player notices. For instance when I played the pod xt live, on the surface the tone was great, but I just didn't feel the connection that you feel when playing through a real amp, and that caused my to play more rigidly, less dynamically, and simply made playing less enjoyable. That is something that the listener can hear, a guitarist that doesn't play as well.

However the vox tone lab excelled in this area. Perhaps it is because of the tube, power amp circuit, and dummy speaker load. Regardless of why, when playing this, I forget that I am not playing through a real amp. I feels very responsive to my playing, how hard I pick. My strat sounds like a strat, les paul like a les paul. It is also very responsive to the volume of my guitar, even the pick I play with. It simply feels very warm and organic.

While this modelor has less amp models than some others, it has all the essentials and all of them sound and feel real. I wouldn't trade the quality of the included amps for a million amp models with no feel. the effects are also great sounding.

There are a couple things, clearly written in the manual that would lead someone to not like a few of the ampl sounds if they didn;t bother to read. For instance on amps that didn't originally have presence controls the correct position of the prescence control should be turned completely off, NOT the twelve oclock position. should you like a little more sparkle than the original amp had, you could always dial up a little. On amps that didn't have a mid control, the correct position is twelve oclock.

One effect that really was quality was the acoustic simulator. (obviosly no simulator

Seems very solidly built. from the all metal construction, to the knobs and everything else. Don't see why one would need a backup.

never needed to

I would recommned this to any one that wants great real tone and feel

This is in addition to my excellent review below. After 3 months I am still addicted to the ToneLab. I have tried - as many recommended - a different Tube (selected JJ ECC83), but in my opinion, the Electro Harmonix 12AX7EH which the ToneLab was equipped with, did a lot better. The sound lost its clarity and definition, it became more middy/bassy and sweet but the Soldano didn't really sound like Soldano anymore, the marshall lost its cut, so I went back to the EH tube.

Regarding the amp simulations, which I had complained about. I have meanwhile minimally EQ'ed the TL output (little more bass, little less treble) and now I am ONLY playing direct. It's just great to have the additional versatility of the different cabs and to be able to play at ANY volume ANY time. Now I actually love the speaker simulation. Also did some recording and my recorded sound was never as authentic and direct as this.

I am not even using many of the effects, except a little delay, the Wah and some reverb. This with a pair of active fullrange speakers is as much as you need to play any style you could ever think of - except outer space stuff, which is even possible to some extend if you're into it.

Simple to use and great sounds out of the box the valve really does make a difference.

Patch editing is easy and the PC software is a doddle to use - Great fun

Manual is good but I didnt use it just the quick start guide.

I have strats (my 72 is my main squeeze, Les paul std, prs Ibanez rg550 and an epihone sheraton.
It can be noisy when used with the strat but otherwise is pretty good.
The effects are more than adequate but not great. The amp sounds and wah etc are very good indeed but need to be tweaked to get the best sounds.
I use this to record and to play through a marshall AVT 150.

Built like a tank.

Never dealt with vox but their website doesnt offer forums or any user discussion areas.

I play many styles but mostly, blues, jazz and heavy rock this pedal suits them all.
I have other pedals from zoom Boss etc they are all good bu the Voz is the one I go back to when i want that Brian May or SRV sound. You can hear the sound of you guitar with this pedal the non valve jobbies zoom , boss etc sound great but its the pedal eegects your hearing not your guitar.
The valve really helps you to play better as you have to use your fingers to squeeze out the tone. If you cant play through a valve amp (ie you like Line 6 or other digital amp) then you may not get on with this,

This is my second reviw (see below).
I have to convert my first statement on this...On global options be shure to set to LINE if you go straight to PA and if you go on the return (power-amp in) of you amp. Probably the only time you'll need the AMP setting is going on front of you amp (i've never tried that by the way). Generally is only a matter of equalization: AMP is really muddy (too much...) while LINE is sparkling clear (you can set it down by lowering presence and highs).

This is my second shot. I reviewed it first below, that was my first impression, now that I dig some more, I can be more critical.

* First you have really to saparate opinions if you intend to use it in your amp or with a PA system. Using it connected to your amp delivers really nice sounds, you don't need cab simulation, you get kinda more *real* sound, so if you tweak a little bit you'll got nice results. Direct on PA it's a little bit different, and that's why: I think the cab simulation really sucks!!! I've got the behringer GI100 with a general 4x12 cab sim and when I use this while the VOX cab sim's off really let this Tonelab comes alive!!!!!!! A/B them is no question, really. In fact I'm now using this setup (which is kind of sad you can imagine...). The combination VOX amp sim + VOX cab sim delivers plastic sounds, back on your band acustic stage, not really like a real thing. The combination VOX amp sim + real amplifier cabinet or VOX amp sim + behringer cab sim takes your sound to another step in terms of quality and fidelty.

* Second: as someone here mentioned before, this unit is really highs-EQ centered (with LINE option). be shure to lower down presence (a lot) and highs to avoid hiss.

* Third: this unit can be really noisy! starting from mid gain amps you get increasing noise. you can do something with NR but you'll know this is not exactly the real solution...

* Fourth: lacks a post EQ

* Fifth: they should had a separate button for wha and comp (just as NR-PRESENCE) as Digitech 2120 was (10 years ago...)

I think modulations, reverbs, stop boxes are really good sounding and made with quality (in this order). unfortunately most of all cabs simulations are bad. I dont know, they are too much EQ and plastic sounding. I think VOX engeneers went like...ok we must show different tones on cabs! so for marshalls let's +20 db mid freq, fenders let's -20 db mid freq!! I just can't find a NATURAL SOUNDING, TRASPARENT, FLAT EQ cab from this box.

So if you gonna use this unit just as multieffect you are going fine. Direct on your PA or for recording might be not really exciting.
I am really curious to try POD Xt live. the VOX made it because I really liked its superior operability, but probably in terms of simulation the pod is better (i've got the guitar port and i'm happy of it actually).

I owned the digitech 2120 artist and it's no comparision between this and Vox. 10 times better the digitech in terms of pure ritchness, fidelty and transparency in preamp section. but unfortunately the digitech is really complex and not easy operable (and it's rack + foot controller) so I sold it. I remember that few years ago digitech was say 1200 euro, vox is now 500...there must have been a difference!! TC electronics effects only units cost now 2 times the whole Tonelab...think about that...

Now comming form the Boss GT6 to this, talk about easy.

I did read the manual, but it wan't needed.

Straight forward, but with every good comes a bad, sorry to all those tweakers, not much to do.

dial your sounds save, done.

First, i changed my valve, replaced it with a Tung-sol, wow what a diiffernce. More grut, more high gain.

Now like i said, i had a GT6 for 5 months, it did have some good rhythm sounds, but it just was dead for lead. Tonelab SE has got it. I am so happy.

It did take me 2 weeks to find all my sounds, yeh it can't do everything, you can't have 50 effects all chained together.

But it reacts like a amp, you have more then enough sound options.

This is the best sound i have for a while. I also use a 250watt active speaker and my amp and go directly into the pa desk.

no need yet

no need yet

This is the best processor i have owned, i have been through a lot of gear.

I play classic guitar rock, i have no problem getting any sound i need.
acdc, deep purple, three doors down, nickleback, doors, ZZ top, status que, just to name a few.

Look it can't do everything, but what can,

Think of this as a real amp, now you get the picture, then add a few effects, and cab, your off.

It's very easy to get good sounds out of this box. Manual is ok, not great. But it shows what you have to know.

One word: great!

Chorus could have more depth, over all the effects sound ok to me.

more details under "Overall Rating"

hm ... ok, I giged several times with it without a backup. nevertheless the construction could be better. see details below.

no experience

Here I have packed my points together:

The good:

I love the sound of most of the amp-models. The unit interact with the guitar like a real amp, you can play very dynamically and control the level of crunch with your picking ? this is really great! My strat whispers, cries, smacks, growls, sings ? it?s amazing. The sounds are that good and easy to handle, that I hardly use my TriAxis/VHT-setup any more. Any questions?

A/B-switch: It?s great to have two choosable amps in one program

FX-switch: That?s what I like on my Lexicon G2/R1-combo, too? via that switch you enter the ?stomp-box?-mode within a program.

Effect-switch: Very handy ? one effect is directly accessible without entering the FX-Mode

Switches under the the pedals: assignable to a lot of parameters, great for real ?wah?-feeling.


And the bad?:

Tone/programming:
Biggest issue: It?s not possible to configure the fx-chain in a way that you could use more than one pedal in front of the amp-section (ok, there?s an insert ? but hey, this want to be an all in one box).

Some amps (rectifier?) sound muddy when driven hard (espescially the low E-string sounds flubby). Workaround: They become chunky and get bite with an Tonebooster in front ? but again (see above): In this case there?s no possibility to use the wah, vibe or other fx.

The chorus could have more depth

A pedal can only be assigned to one parameter, for example gain on amp A. If you switch to amp B in one program, the pedal is out of function.


Construction:
Shape is not very handy, it?s to wide, to heavy. (pod xt live is better here)

Footswitches are arranged in two rows (good!), but all in one layer (bad!). If you want to hit a switch in the second row, there?s a good chance you?ll hit the one in front of it (ok, my feet are big, but again: pod live is better here, as it features a two-layer-design with bigger switches).

External power-supply ? that?s a really stupid anachronism, because there?s plenty of room inside the unit. And don?t tell me about the danger of hum when the supply is inside the housing ? there are ways to shield it.

The pedal-bearings are designed too simple (metal-on-metal friction bearing): After some month of normal usage one pedal starts to quieeeeek. When I opened the housing, the surface of the bolt was rubbed deeply.

To adjust the mobility of the pedal you have got to open the hole housing!!!!

No digital out, no possibility to upgrade one

No XLR-outs

Git-input on the backside behind the pedals - so in many situations the cable hangs over the board and could block a switch or get tangled up a pedal

All software in fixed ROM ? no possibility to upgrade the operating system or amp modells let?s say via MIDI (again: pod live ist better here)


So, here's my conclusion:
Great sounds in a lousy designed box. I couldn't understand why firms like Vox make such obvious mistakes. For a lot of details there are better solutions on the market - which are from a production point of view not even more expensive.

Oh, and yes: I play a lot of music styles from jazz over funk/soul to metal.

This unit is pretty easy to use and set up. I have used Digitech pedal boards for the last 7 or 8 years so I have a background in how to approach these type of units. If you have never used a multi-effects unit like this one you may find it a little harder to use. The manual is also pretty good and straight forward. You can look up each of the different effects and amp/cabinets and read about it at will.

I use a '96 Gibson SG completely stock except I installed volume kits on both volume pots. This allows me to roll down the volume and get a real clean "strat" tone. This unit is really noisy if you like the Marshall/Mesa hi gain tones. The noise gate seems to work ok but it will cut your sustain if you go above 7 or so. I play this unit through a Peavey Classic 30 on the clean channel and it seems to produce alot of high end. I have to run my amp with the treble on about 3 and the bass on about 7 to get a good round tone. Even when I try to adjust the treble of the unit it doesn't help. I play about 50 or so tunes each time we gig so I need to replicate tones from alot of different bands. It does well for what I need in a live situation.
The amp and cabinet tones are really very good. I'm not saying they are like the original amps(that would be silly)but I am saying for a guitarist playing in a cover band that needs to be able to produce the "faux" tones from 35 different bands on the radio, it works very well. I also like the pedal effects. The "Rat" and "MXR" replicators are my fav. I run them through the clean amp model and they sceam!

I have only had this unit about 3 months. It is the only pedal I take to gigs.

No contact.

I play rock, blues, and some jazzy stuff. I have played longer than I want to admit. If this unit were stolen I would replace it. I love the fact that it is an "all in one" unit so you don't have to run patch cords and power packs all over heck. No batteries either! I did compare to the Digitech models but they seemed too complicated to me. They were so "digital" it was hard to program. I felt even with the almost $600.00 price tag Tonelab was a good value for me. As for the features I wish it had: I wish you could run two or more pedals at one time. I mean when you select the wah feature you can't run the rat pedal with it. I want to be able to add some radical wah-wah to some heavy rat distortion!

very easy for a multieffect unit. it's like having separate boxes, but with the chance to make programs too!

fantastic operability!! the inconvenient is only what turning the knobs the value jumps on the actual position of the knob (if in that moment is at 3 o'clock, you get instantly like 7 on 10 value), and therefore you loose the original setting (you must watch when the label ORIG pops on the display while turning the knob). but I have discovered that it can be obviated using the little buttons with the arrows in order to fine tuning, that way you can also see the original value before even changing it. optimal are the exp pedals, great is also to have two of'em!! you can also obtain effects like whammy that I had before with the Digitech 2120 and I had fear to have lost! brilliant also the fact that you can on/off the effect associated to the pedal pressing hard on toe as you would do like on a normal wah.

easy obtainable good clean sounds, simulations do not interest me that much, enough for me is to have a natural sounding. it seems me that the boutique clean is the case but also fenders. on the distorted sounds you must work more also because you can make many combinations using saturation amp+od pedals. the effects all of good quality truly, i like a lot the echo plus and also the filtron, very vintage like and usable even if they are not mainstream sounds.
overall probably my digitech 2120 was more "deep" and natural sounding, tonelab sounds sometimes "digital" and extreme settings but does it anyway pretty much the same and maybe more. and i sold my used digitech at 600 euros...buyed this at 440 ex-demo...

looks like it will last...
sturdy and metal solid. i like the footswitches wich are best quality and efficient (like fulltone ones, but they don't really snap with a huge "stokk" that much, they much like "click" half way like your mouse does!! i find this is usefull if you are operating with your hands especially while making your first souds and programming, just pop it on a desk at reach of hand). i didn't like the more "plastic" footswitches like pot xt live has...

none yet

I play for 15 years, i was searching for something to use live with my band, but connected to a PA. that was my choice, it made it against the pod xt live. we play pop covers, jazz-pop, some rock/blues, but not really heavy stuff. i own a fender stratocaster 62 reissue with texas specials and little 59 on bridge.
I just got the vox yesterday. this is my FIRST IMPRESSION review. I have tried it first live with the band, connected to a mixer, and then at house in the return of a Fender Deville (until 1,30 am...). the second solution was best for me, but I have understood why: in the global options you must select LN or AP wheater you are connected to a mixer or an amp. I have verified that the solution LN creates a sound too much fizzy, so I tried with option AP (only on fender)...much better! therefore is probably best to ** leave AP also using your PA!!! **. the gig bag is awesome!. they have made things with care overally. kudos for VOX, It looks an optimal purchase. sorry for the sloppy language (i'm italian). maybe i'll post another review when i'll discover more.
if you wanna share comments just use the email provided.

very simple. It's like riding a bike...

from muddy 60's to rammmstein...I love those warm tubesounds, espesially "SRV" makes me cry....

I can count on this. The box seems to be very strong....

I run little homestudio and guitarsounds have always been a problem. I do music from jazz to metal and needed something to cover all the sounds...i think i've got it now.
And it sounds great when recording direct!!!
boss no more......

Quite easy, but it is worth reading the manual first. The pre-sets are quite good on their own, but won't suit everybody.

Excellent sound quality. I used a modified Squire Strat into a Tech 21 Trademark 60 and band's Peavey PA system. The AC30 sounds were very close to the original and also felt as responsive. I set the unit up for Shadows, Searchers, Beatles, EC, Mark Knopfler, Albert Lee and was very pleased with the results at its first live gig.
The effects that I used were very good quality.

I have only had it for 2 weeks, but it is built like a tank.
The valve may prove to be the weekest link, but I always carry at least one spare.
I used it with only minimal back-up equipment and felt confident with it.

Not had to find out, so can't comment.

I mainly play 60's music in a band and have been playing live since 1962.
I would buy another if it was lost or stolen.
I like its versatility and quality of sound.
It is the sort of kit that makes you want to play more.
It will also be very useful for recording.

I submitted the review directly below this one a few days ago, but I would like to make a correction. I said that I can't figure out how to work the tap tempo, and that is still the case (I would STILL love for someone to explain it to me... the directions in the manual just aren't working out). But I said I fixed that problem by getting a Line 6 DL4. BIG MISTAKE!! Do not, I repeat, do not get the Line 6 DL4 (better known as "LIE" 6)!! I bragged on it before I really got to mess with it. If you want to supplement the TonelabSE delays (which are great by the way) with something along the lines of the DL4, get a Boss DD-20 and thank me later. I even hear that the Guyatone MD3 is quite impressive and surprisingly versatile (despite no tap tempo). I just couldn't sleep knowing that I may have cost someone $250 by endorsing that Line 6 Paper Weight. I hope I didn't offend any hard core Lice 6 fans out there (yes, i meant to say "lice"). But if you love it so much, why are you here? Why aren't you reading about the PODxtLive? Forget the details and listen to my advice. Get the TonelabSE instead! Music IS about tone... right? Oh, and it's great when your instruments actually work! My DL4 wouldn't even work when i first got it home, but it later decided to work (too bad the tone was underwhelming). I found out later that many DL4s are dead on arrival... i just thought i got that one out of a million. I've also heard that Line 6 amps have a nack for burning up. That's not a figure of speech... i mean they literally burn up. Smoke n' all! Besides, when your POD goes out (notice i said "when," not "if"), the Line 6 Customer Support may treat you like they treated me... as if i didn't exist. Do yourself a favor and get the TonelabSE.

The controls are VERY easy to figure out. I haven't really had to look at the manual (which is great b/c reading the manual is like discussing philosophy with a pot head). The manual might give good info, but i haven't really given it a chance. I've already figured out how to do everything i want to do with it. It took me a while to figure out how to use the tuner (hold the FX button for a couple seconds), but that is totally MY fault... it's written right below the button. I felt stupid when i figured it out lol. The only reason I gave this an 8 instead of 10 is because i can't figure out how to use "tap tempo" to save my life!! This isn't good b/c i'm a delay junky. I might not be able to figure it out b/c i'm a fricken moron, but i dunno... i'm pretty smart. I've done what the manual says to do, but it won't DO what the manual says it'll do. I even called Guitar Center, and the manager read the manual and still couldn't figure it out. What i've gathered from the manual is that you would have to assign a different switch (like the modulation switch) as your tap tempo. What the crap is that about??? Why not just have a "tap tempo" button available? *shrugging shoulders* I haven't read/heard any complaints from anyone else concerning the tap tempo, so I either got a defective board, no one else cares, or i'm just stupid. However, i consider this a blessing in disguise... it totally gave me an excuse to buy the monster of all delay pedals, the Line 6 DL4 *drueling* that thing is amazing. Which brings me to my next point. You are able to use other pedals with it. I haven't tried any other pedals with it, but all I do is run my guitar through the DL4, and from there to input. Presto, I have an endless supply of delays. If you can figure out the tap tempo on the tonelabse, more power to ya... you'll love the delays. But i'm glad i couldn't because i REEEEEEEALLY like the Line 6 delays a lot better (they are 100,000% more versatile). As far as stage capabilities, my Vox is very easy to use. However, though i haven't tried it, the PODxtLive looks easier to use (and the PODxtLive has a tap tempo botton right there on the board!!!). I wish you could turn the expression pedal on by stepping on it (like a Dunlop Crybaby), but that hasn't been a hassle yet. I'm just griping. I think (i haven't tried it) that you can assign more than one pedal effect to the pedal switch. That would come in handy for using the wah with an overdrive. Other than that, i don't know why you would need more than one at a time. Overall, EASY to hook up, easy to use onstage, easy to figure out (except for tap tempo), and VERY easy to transport. I've gigged with it for about 10-11 months, and i'm totally spoiled to it's portability. I even heard that Billy Idol's guitarist uses this same thing... for the same reason... hmmmm.

The first thing you'll notice when you play this is that the factory presets SUCK. Never fear though... it doesn't take long to make it sound glorious. I got this b/c I play in a lot of small venues (mostly churches), and I needed a way to get CRANKED sound at lower volumes. This definitely does that! Every time I tell someone I have one, they instantly say, "Dude, those things are amazing." One friend who plays through a POD had a "spiritual moment" when he played my Vox. Another friend who plays a Line 6 Spyder II couldn't get over the fact that my Vox has beefier crunch. I let another friend use it to record... a couple months later he bought one of his own.

BUT!!! I'll have to warn you about the sound. I plug into a P.A., and the sound can be really THIN. When overdriven, the treble can sound like someone getting a hair out of his throat. If you don't have subs in your settup, i don't know if you'll like this. We have a Mackie system, and I turn myself up in our 15" subs to beefen it up. That really does the trick. I have one more warning. I'm a huge Slash fan, and the Vox wah on the board just doesn't give you that lead-wah that he rips. That was a bummer. In fact, it doesn't sound that great with any of the Marshall settings... just not enough "wwwwwaaaaahhhh" (i guess that gives me an excuse to try out some other wah pedals, huh? lol). I use it with one of the tweed settings, and I get a great funky sound from it though.

I mostly play with the Marshall settings (i wish it had more than one Mesa setting). For clean, my amp setting is UK Blues, and my cab is UK H30... settings: gain 5, VR gain 10, treble 3.1, mid 10, bass 7.6. When i set my Les Paul on the bridge pickups, it's very bright and glassy... on neck pickups, it's very warm. Then I use the Tube Overdrive setting (simulates Ibanez TS808) to get good bluesy leads or British-ish distorsion. For heavy, i use UK 68P amp and UK H30 cab (i found that this is the thickest)... settings: gain 10, VR gain 10, treble 5, mid 5, bass 5 (i'm gonna mess with these to see what it sounds like). This is very thick and bassy. When I play power chords on the A string, I'll bar the note above on the E string (i.e. when playing an "e", bar the "b" above it). This gives a 7-string effect, and adds a lot of dark thickness and bassy breakup. This setting doesn't have the greatest sustain, but one of the overdrives will give you that. It'll also give you more gain, but makes it sound thinner, so i usually only use it for lead. You might be interested to know that I played a Marshall triple super lead at Guitar Center, and it sounded exactly the same as my "heavy" channel. I use a couple other settings for certain songs, but these are my main two... i LOVE'em. Just remember, turn yourself up in the subs!!!

You could bust pavement with this thing. My tube is still going strong after almost a year, and there isn't a single scratch on the board. When i'm carrying it in the gig bag, it bangs into EVERYTHING. So far, it's remained victorious.

I play mostly praise and worship music, but our band refuses to sound lame... WE ROCK FACES OFF! This thing gives me the power lol. It is so incredibly versatile. Whatever your style is, this'll do it. Not only that, but it will sound LIKE AN AMP!...not just an effects processor. I've been playing for 5 years, so i'm still learning how to find perfect tone. I do know,however, that this thing will produce some great tone. If it were lost or stolen, i would definitely get another one. Even if I have a whole studio with 30 amps, i would want one just to have. It's WAY too convenient not to have one. My favorite thing about it is the portability. My only real gripe is the thin, scratchy treble, and no tap tempo. Other than that, it's great.

Very easy indeed. If you know how to use a guitar amp, you don't need the manual to get started. The manual helps to get to know every feature more quickly. It took me no time to exploit every aspect of the unit. It's very intuitive to use and has more of the appearance of an amp than a multi fx unit. I want to play, not twiddle knobs all day long, so this is great for plug & play action although not as simple as a traditional guitar & amp.

I have several old Fender amps (brownface, blackface & tweed), so I won't even try to compare the Tonelab SE to them. It does not sound the same....However I believe that it does not sound inferior either.
The response to your playing style is very much like an amp. I don't know how much the valve actually contributes to the sound but I don't care because with a guitar over one shoulder and the Vox over the other and I am kitted out for gigs & rehearsals anywhere. I bought this to take to the far East where I will be touring and there is no way I could take my 4x10 Fender & my pedal board! The audience doesn't give a monkey's what you're playing through anyway. They just want to be entertained!
One thing to remember is that it takes a while to get good sounds out of it and I dicovered that to my tastes the presence control is best set to ZERO for all amp models. Whnever I tried to use it, it sounded atrocious, absolutely awful, disgusting, cheap and more like a typical DI'd digital POD sound. The Noise reduction works exceptionally well, which helps for the higher gain sounds. I don't use any of the modern type amp models, just the tweeds, the blackfaces, the Voxs and the Plexi. If you experiment with different cab & amps you can get some really nic, rich sounds.

I record a lot of guitar also and first impressions is that this records very well, but again, you need a lot of tweaking. Maybe my comments will help people cut down on tweaking time if you take my advice and leave the presence control well alone!

I play contemporary rock/pop, using classic/"traditional" guitar sounds, like Neil Young, Rolling Stones etc...Sounds that usually require just a guitar & amp, with maybe an OD pedal and a delay. This is how I set up to use the Tonelab and it is well up to the job! I prefer the fact that there are not hundereds of amp models or upgrades because the amount of tweaking I have had to do on this is quite enough already. I want to play my guitar!

However I have not had the chance to use it at a gig yet through a large PA, so I may end up hating it after all these comments! Somehow though I don't think I will.

It's already 3 months old & I have had it a couple of weeks and played around with it continuously. It seems very well built, very tough, but not too heavy to carry around. I think it will last me well, but I suppose it still pays to take care of it. I doubt it will break down in the middle of a performance. I have never bothered with spare amps etc.... anyway. I've always been lucky that way.

No idea. I haven't needed to contact them. Here's hoping I never will.

Like I mentioned before, pretty traditional guitar sounds are what I like to use. Classic amps, mainly Fender and although my music is all original and not of a "Retro" type, those are the sounds that inspire me the most. I play a 50's Custom shop relic Strat and a Jap 50's RI Tele which I have modified with Kinman pickups, an active midrange boost and an original 60's "F" branded Bigsby. So far in my use of the TLSE I have found the tweed 1x12 and the Black 2x12 to be the most organic sounding amps for clean and the AC15/AC30 models great for crunchy rhythm. The Plexi sounds good with the 4x10 cab and I swear it sounds really similar to my Brownface '63 Fender Concert!

Very intuitive, the downloadable editor for PC helps a lot.
The manual is not very explicit, but it's easy enough to inform about the features.
The knobs help in small adjusments on stage, and the "Original Value" feature is a great help!

I use my Tonelab SE with a Tech 21 Power Engine 60. Very simple setup, easy to transport and with enough power for pubs and small stages.
Some noise on extreme distortion settings, but nothing too serious.
Great effects, lot's of delay possibilities.
I'm using the Boutique for cleans, Marshall for Crunch and Mesa for distortion. Some of the other amps are great, too.
The valve adds some "breath" to the pick attack. Very good!

I'm currently using this without any backup, but I'm thinking of buying a smaller modeller, like a X-Vamp or something, just in case something goes wrong...
But I'm preety much depending on it now, and with no regrets!

I'm playing in a pop-rock covers band, so I need a great range of sounds. The Tonelab SE has all I need for a quick and simple setup, and a great sound!
I also do lot's of studio work, and the Tonelab is indeed a great recording tool. I'd love XLR outs, but you can't have it all!!...
I've been playing for 11 years now. I own an Ibanez JPM, Yamaha RGX 820Z, Yamaha Pacifica 312 and a Dean Avalanche 7. All my guitars have DiMarzio pickups, but yet, the Tonelab let's the tonal charecteristics of each guitar come out clearly.
I've had some other preamps and processors in the past, but all I needed was a great sound in a box. This is it!

very easy to use. of course u need the manual for some settings like the expression pedals. But all the basic functions are very very easy.

This unit has been made for people who like playing the guitar and hear something real. The amps are real and very versatile with 2 chanels like the original and attitude like the original. The effects are not the best out there but I repeat this is a very real unit. It doesn't put aside your guitar's sound like digitech and Boss GT6+8. The presets are ok but you need some tweaking from the beginning. Now, something important!!!! This unit uses a tube. It's very warm and more analog than all the other units. But it's still a digital unit. Don't overload the sound with reverb because u lose the originality of the amp's sound and u need it in a live situation.Most of u know that. Try to find a very noisy sound because near the drums,the bass and the keyboards, only this sound will go OUT!! This unit helps u do anything.I rate it with a 10 because I haven't heard an other pedalboard more real than this. It's very close to the real thing.

Have gigged with it only 7 times. I don't know yet.We'll see...

Very good support. Believe me!!!

If u want versatility and your guitar's sound with a pure amplification, buy this. If you are a metal addict and want crazy sounds, don't buy this. Go buy the GT-8. I heard GT-8 and it's more digital than all the GT's. It's like digitech.I have a Parker fly and I want to hear my guitar. GT-8 and Digitech GNX-4 did't leave my guitar's personality go out. VOX is my unit and I'm very happy to say this. I think that this unit was made for players who are mature enough to think and choose the more warm sound and not the more extreme. If u are ready to focus on your instrument, don't lose time. Go buy it now!!!!!

Presets are not very useful, except some few. But it's easy to find your way around. I used the editor software before I went to the shop to get a better idea of its architecture - and this definitely helps. The editor is also handy while the unit is on the floor and I am playing in the studio. Overall, this thing is easy. The reduced amount of effects and amps even was an argument for me to chose it.

I play a Hamer Sunburst with Seymour Duncan '59 and JB and an ENGL screamer top w/ V30 4x12. Having read many reviews, I didnt expect this unit to be perfect straight away. So I did as I was told, deactivated all effects and first tweaked some good sounds, having a Soldano in Bank A and a Rectifier in Bank B. I really have to say, having tested both amps some time ago, it's the real thing. Going straight into FX return of the ENGL gives a very transparent, breaking-through sound. And the models do bring across the character of what they emulate. In the shop I tested it against a Line6 PodXTLive. The POD is sounding good, very clean and very harmonic, but what I missed about it was the character of my own sound, the one that comes from my guitar and my fingers. The VOX was much better in this perspective, and I chose it although it has less features and no USB port. Line6 has some good features for recording (USB and A.I.R.), but the TL in conjunction with a tube amp has convinced me very quickly. I agree with my predecessors: combining the Wah with a Overdrive Pedal would be nice. But hey, there's enough drive on most of the amp models, so who really cares? And the Wah is great. I will sell my modded Vox847 now. My preferred models in the Tonelab are Black 2x12, AC30TopBoost, Plexi 68, Solo100 and Recto.

Very heavy. Having bought it just a few weeks ago, I can't tell how long it takes befor the tube wears out. But it is very well crafted.

I wrote an email to the customer support about connection alternatives, and I received very quickly a very competent answer that didn't seem to come out of a reply database. Very good support. On the other hand I am missing updates. I hope they will develop the software of the TL and post updates from time to time. As well there is no sound library (but maybe that's not really needed as the unit isn't so complex that it would take ages to tweak in Gary Moore, Brian May or EVH on your own).

I'm perfectly happy and don't regret my decision. Playing mainly in the high gain range, I had lots of fun doing SRVaughn or Neill Young as well as AC/DC (Plexi68, all levels on 10:) I'm very sure I'll stick with this unit for a long time.

This thing is very intuitive. The controls are solid and well placed. The only thing I had to open the manual for was to figure out how to quick-assign effects to the expression pedals.

The A/B amp channel button is a great idea.

I've been using this item non-stop for the last 4 days.

My setup:
Guitar:
91 strat deluxe with dbl fat strat humbuckers
home recording:
guitar > tonlelab se > PC > headphones
studio:
guitar > tonlelab se > 2x behringer GI100 > yamaha AW16G recorder > headphones

Effects before pre-amp:
These are great ... my favourite is the Vox wah ... combined with the right amp model (AC30) and it simply kills. There are some good renditions of vintage pedals as well. The compressor is nice, but I with it were available to put in front of the other effects in this category.

Amp Models:
I can't give a full review as I've only really tweaked with the AC30, AC30TB & Boutique CL models. All of these, I love. The sound is warm and real.

Cab Sims:
Some good variety here. It's nice to have so many choices for sound shaping. Again, I've stuck with only a couple for the time being.

Modulation:
This is where I was pleasantly surprised. The sound quality of these effects are unbelievable. The chorus mods especially. No wait ... the rotary mod ... and then there's the filtron. The sounds are clean and free of that nasty digital essence that you hear so often from other units.

Delay:
Again, I was surprised at the sound quality, and usefulness of the delays included. I had not heard the "mod delay" before, but now I use it constantly.

Overall sound:
Others have gone over this, so I go on & on. I tested this thing out at my local store and dialed in a couple of Edge's Achtung Baby sounds ... the tube simulation is very good. It has attack, it has push/pull ... I have not heard such tasty tones from a modeller before. It gets a 10.

no problems yet. I don't "gig" but I certainly go over to my buddy's studio without a backup :)

Since I'm in an apartment I can't use an amp ... direct recording is my only option right now, so the tonelab se suits my purposes just fine.

I'm your standard 30-somthing guitarist influenced by rock/pop/grunge/jazz. I play mostly originals now and the flexability of the tonelab se is perfect for song creation.

It's expensive, but I honestly think that it is the best modeller available. I'm not that good, but I have a good ear and I play better when I like my sound. With this unit, I like my sound.