Vox V830 Distortion Booster

the hardest thing is battery access , have to remove all four screws from the bottom , oh well, no use complaining

i'm jus writing this because i had a dunlop fuzz face reissue RED ONE , the one w/ foot switch connected to the pcb board w/GERMAINIUM transistors that i was having a heck of a time getting it to sync with my rig so that i could use it without having to adjust the amp settings everytime i wanted to use fuzz ... and then one day, i picked up this VOX V830 DISTORTION BOOSTER on a whim cuz it didn't cost much and it was TRUE BYPASS, it turned out to be an EXCELLENT PEDAL to stick in front of the fuzzface... i was able to control the volume between the two AND still get all the FUZZZZZ i could handle and it EQ's purrrfect w/ it, i had tried others w/ mixed results none good... THIS ALONE WAS WORTH THE PRICE OF ADMISSION FOR ME! however.. i will say as a stand alone boost pedal it wasn't perfect, there was a sweet spot (imho) if you eq with your decent tube amp but out of the zone though and uugh !! - i'm using a carvin nomad(w/4x12) like belair w/4 el84's & i figured this pedal might match up well w/ el84's cuz vox and it did, it also sounded great before my blues driver ... i love that it's true bypass and it's earned a spot on my pedalboard ... all i have on the board now is a older (stack of dimes analog) crybaby >> CS-2 >> V830 >> Fuzzface > BLues Driver >> Uni-vibe >> - (space open for talk box) - i'm happy for now. it's kinda like someone else said to paraphrase think of this as a utility pedal sort of a filter to kick your REAL dist pedal . i did NOT find it too trebly for my rig as someothers have said - just my two cents worth - - overall my sugestion is at the prices these can be had for try it out. I was glad i did. - thanks

no problems , no issues

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this is an great pedal if used right and a bargain for sure

Easy? Yea

A buddy of mine who is a purist blues player gave this Vox pedal to me (Thanks Wilson). He liked the boost and I like both the boost and distortion. It's mine now, he's not getting it back.

You get a little hiss when it's pushed, but no worst then 99% of the distortions out there. I use this in front of a Mesa Nomad 45 (EL84s) and it sounds great. As a boost or to add some growl, this pedal is fine. Not really one for Metal, but for most overdriven sounds.

With the steel case you could drive a car over it. Well built. I had it for years now.

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Distortions are all different, if you see this pedal, give it a try. If you like a singing distortion or a crunch kind of sound, you will not be disappointed.

3 easy knobs: Level, Drive, Tone

Bought it as a completion to the Boss OD-1, to get a wider range of distorted tones when plugged to a Fender Pro Junior

The sound quality is good, except the "Tone" knob doesn't really change much. It lacks a some "bottom", but that's what I was after, to give that little amp an more open sound when heavy distorted. Will cut through the band. Works great together with the guitar knobs, Roll down the volume, and it's clean. Rather quiet, witdh good harmonics great sustain, and nice overdriven midrange. It does the right job with my Fender amp, and gives me a bright sound, that stays nicely open even with high volumes and don't sound muddy. So it does what the Boss couldn't do alone. I thought I would sell the Boss, But it's good to have both in the rig for different rythm and lead work.

In fact it's a question of what you intend it for.
9 - for the tone knob

Really well build. Bought it used, but this pedal can handle a lot. Even the pots still turned like butter.

I play for over 20 years. Now mostly rock with fusion, I've been through some gear, but finally ended with a small tube amp with a decent sound and some pedals, that give me what I was after. My inspirations are very differet and vary with time. Latelly: Allan Holdsworth, Guthrie Govan, Greg Howe, Miles Davis, Bill Brufford and Billy Cobham.

It's always a question if some piece of gear works for you or if it doesn't. A 10, as it really suited my needs.

volume, dist, tone

Think about the name: distortion BOOSTER. The word "booster" is key.

Try playing this pedal through a fender super reverb on 10 that is already in slight power tube distortion. That is the sort of thing this pedal is all about. It has great note seperation. It BLENDS with and ENHANCES your natural power tube distortion sound, it does not replace your power tube distortion like most ditortion pedals try to do.

This pedal is designed for pro guitarists who understand what real vintage tube amp distortion is all about. It is not made to replace channel switching on an amp and it is certainly not made to be placed in front of a crappy solid state amp. Don't get me wrong you can get respectable crunch tone in front of a clean TUBE amp but that's not it's best use.

Ever play a pedal that sounded thick, rich and full through a small tube combo but sounds boomy and muddy through a full size amp with a big cab? (big muff?) The opposite is also true some pedals sound thin and small through a small combo but rage through a large amp with a big cab. (ts-808) More speakers means more bass. Have you ever tried to push a big amp into power tube distortion with a pedal that has a lot of bass. The distortion turns all muddy and sputtery right? Drive the same amp with a pedal with a lot of mids and trebble and your in tone heaven right? What I'm getting at is don't let amateurs who diss things they don't understand prevent you from checking out this pedal.

Someone on this page said the more people paid for it the more they liked it. Hmmm... I didn't pay much at all and I love it. I think it is more likely that people who have nice gear and understand tone like it and people who would be better served by a Boss pedal don't like it. It's like wearing jeans and a t-shirt with $200 dress shoes. The outfit is going to look better with some converse, but that doesn't mean the shoes aren't good.

TRUE BYPASS!!!

You can use it to crush your boss pedals.

If you are an amateur don't buy this pedal. If you "get it" about power tube distortion and pro tone check it out. Makes a great alternative to a clean boost or tube screamer for when you need more hair on your tone.

Really easy to use. Volume tone and drive. The tone control has so much treble, but as long as you keep it on teh lowest level and only change the volume and drive it's ok. And even easier to use. :)

I mainly use 2 electrics, a mid 90's Gibson les paul special and a UK made Hohner Strat with active EMG single coils. I also tried this pedal with a few other guitars. At the moment I'm using a Marshall Valvestate, and a Fender Frontman 15G as my amps, but I also tried the pedal with for example marshall stacks and peavy studio. With a single coil guitar, and the tone control at the lowest level, this pedal sounds fantastic. It brings out the notes really well and the level of gain doesn't affect the brightness of the tone. On low gain it has a great bluesy kind of sound, especially good for funky stuff. On high gain, I get a great sound for harder rock. More of a vintage sound than a metal sound but still pretty high gained. And I can still strum a jazz chord and get all the notes.
The bad things about this pedal is that it has problems to handle bass frequencies. The sound gets too blurry with a humbucker guitar, especially on high gain. And the tone control should stay at the lowest level. After 10 oclock the treble gets painful.

Well built stuff. Never had any problems with it. Been gigging a lot with it and it's always reliable.

Never been in contact with vox about it.

I've been playing for 10 years. I play a lot of different music. (Rock,blues,metal,indie,jazz,hc). I bought this pedal pretty cheap, mostly because it was a vox and I never tried one. It's very trebley and doesn't fit humbucker guitars that well, even if it workes on lower gain, or could be used as a boost on solos. But when I'm using my strat this pedal is my main overdrive/distortion pedal. With the strat, the sound is always clear no matter what amount of gain I use, and therefore it's a good choice for most styles of music. I would definitely find a new one if it was stolen. It would be even better if it was better in handling the bass frequencies and had a more versatile tone control.

the 3 simple knobs... although this takes a little bit of finesse to dial in, but once you do it sounds great.

One dialed in, this is a great and under-rated distinctive sounding vox tube-style overdrive / distortion pedal. As all distortion pedals go, on max settings the unit can be noisy... keep the level knob at about 50% and be careful with the tone knob.. a little goes a long way. adjust the drive knob depending on the song your playing.. this can be cranked up completely without worries and sounds great with a fender hot rod deville. the trick is... let your amp do the hard work, let the pedal take care of the drive. Guitars I like to use with this: 62 fender jaguar and gretsch sparkle jet. Great for everything from t-rex to jesus and mary chain. If you're looking for a distortion that you can play very hard rock and metal with.. this wont be smooth enough for you.

this is my main drive, I gig it every time.

have not had to contact vox, this is a good sign.

very nice overall... this works well for that classic 60's brit-rock vox tone! A superb and versatile pedal.

I mean it's three knobs. What's there to not understand.

There's a pre-requisite for this pedal that nobody seems to say; this should not be viewed as a distortion or overdrive, but as an effect like chorus or phaser (not that it makes those sorts of sounds). This pedal useful as something to either boost your main overdrive pedal or channel, or as an effect to your clean tone to give it something different. This EFFECT should not be considered for a main distortion or overdrive pedal. If you already have a good distortion pedal or an amp with a good second channel then this pedal can be used to great effect to broaden your tonal character. Also, the use varies greatly depending on where in your effects chain it lies.

Definately a solid pedal. Would use this on a gig in the way that I use it, NOT as an only distortion.

n/a

My guitar play styles range from Jimmy Page to The Edge to Dave Navarro and the pedal is most usable in the U2 tone as well as the clean but slightly dirty Strat tones like SRV and Gilmour. I've been playing for 7 years and in my set up I have it after my Vintage H&K Tubeman, and before my Crispy Cream Treble Booster. I've tried it in various positions in the chain and the best place is definately where it is. I tried it at the end of my distortion chain, but if you want to use it in conjuntion with any other O.D. pedal, it looses a lot of it's quality being later on in a chain. It also sounds very good with a TS808, TS9, or Treble Booster directly afterwards. ONLY complaint with it is that the LED was not very bright so I changed it to a flourescent blue to be able to cut through darkness better.

too easy.

bought this one a week ago,spent 3 hours on it and its for sale now...
go for the 2004 tubescreamer ts-808 reissue(vintage 808 are too expensive for the difference) or a vintage proco rat... this vox v830 can do a certain job but its crap compares to a ts 808. my gear is vox ac30+rickenbacker 360 and a gibson 335...
its like waisting your money on a fake guitar instead of bying the real deal.you know the routine,in the end, we all go for the real deal.

probably good.
for those who are still looking to buy one,
i let it go for 30$...
surface_theband@yahoo.com

Volume, tone and drive...but u have to know what do u want to make this pedal sounds good

I bought this about 5 - 6 years ago...used for a while..and then no more...
About one years ago..i started re using this effect...now understanding it's real capacity.
I've a '69 50W Bass Plexi and a 2003 reissue ac30...it sounds best on plexi.

My setting are: level 2 o'clock, tone halfway, drive halfway.
I sound it with a yamaha sg3000 or a washburn simil strato...
The secret is to don't go over alfway in tone and in distortion...'cause too much distortion make any guitar sound the same...and too much treble make loose the bass...
This pedal has not a lot of bass...but my amply yes..so it's good for me!

So..at theese settings it's ideal for that '70 santana sound or eagles sound (think 70's live hotel california)

Good sustain...no hiss...truebypass and cleans very well with your guitar volume rolled back...

Switch isn't very good..i've to change it...
for the rest...all ok

Never dealt

i play mostly (live) '70's music...and i like very much santana...so...it's good for me...
On my plexi i use only truebypass pedal...another point for vox...

It's something like ts-9...natural sounding..and my plexi compensate the poor bass that the v830 has...

Level, drive and tone, how hard can it be?

I play through these pedals varying: Ts-9, Ts-10, STL, V830, Ds-1, Cs-9 and Boss Me-50 and I have Laney GH50L and Engl 2*12" Vintage. Laney/Engl-combination has tremendous potential for heavier sounds that I'm yet to explore.

Only complain I have with this pedal is the tone knob, It doesn't go "mellow" enough. It stays harsh no matter what. I have to use my guitars tone to tame this biting devil down. But rolling tone down produces very good sounds, very similar to Ts-10 and Super Tube that I have, with a little bit of extra edge to go.

After I learned to use this pedal, it totally nailed the sounds I was after: Bluesy hard rock and so on. Still I would like to mod this pedal so I wouldn't have to use my guitars tone all the time. Any suggestions?

It's made in China but it looks rugged enough. I also took a peek inside and it was very tidy looking job. The LED is too dim, hard to see when your on stage.

Can't say.

I'm in a band that plays pop/rock -kinda stuff. My own music goes a bit to the heavier side or bluesy. After a little bit of tweaking I can use this pedal for both.

If it were stolen? If I got it as cheap as originally, I definitely would buy it.