Vox V830 Distortion Booster

Doesn't get any easier. Two big, funky chicken head knobs and one stomp button. That's about as simple as it gets. The knobs are great, you can adjust them on the fly in the middle of the song very easily.

I use this pedal for a wide range of guitar tones. I play mainly through a Fender Blues DeVille 2x12 and play a Les Paul Studio and a Semi-hollow Tele. So, as you can tell, I play a wide variance of music styles. I need to get some heavy crunch on some stuff, and also just a little grit or sustain for other stuff. This pedal has come through for me. As someone who hates real nasily and trebly guitar tones and relies on "fatness" for all styles, this pedal gives me more crunch without sacrificing my tone. It really cuts through, also.

As I have had my Vox pedals for over 4 years (of heavy gigging) and never had a problem, I can say--without a doubt--that these are one of the most reliable pedals you will find.

Never had to deal with them.

In my opinion, this is--by far--the best distortion pedal you can get for the money. I play anything from blues-rock to modern/hard rock and this pedal can do it all. I use it in conjunction with my TS9 and can really get the phat tones that I need. If stolen, I would replace it immediately. This pedal allows me to keep my Fender Blues DeVille and still get the heavy crunch that I need for our modern/hard rock stuff. I highly recommend it.

Like any other pedal, one applies pressure to switch in order to persuade said pedal to activate itself. This pedal is amazing. When I read all of the other reviews, I thought, "Billy, this just can't be as perfect as all that, surely there has to be a fault." No faults. At low volumes, when your roommate is sleeping, it delivers, and at high volumes, when you are playing outside or during a jam, it works brilliantly. All of the controls are rather self explanatory, "LEVEL, TONE and DRIVE" Level affects how loud it is, TONE affects how much high end sound comes out, and DRIVE puts in the distortion. I've not had the balls to use it in conjunction with my amp distortion, as I worry that it will be way too scratchy or loud, but by itself, it makes my crotch wet. I like to pretend I'm a decent blues/rock player, and this really makes my playing sound great. IF you do not own this pedal, buy it. The only way you can find it now is if you happen to come across it used. VOX, in their infinite wisdom decided to stop making them because the kids weren't buying them. I've heard this pedal sounds like a pile of puke compared to the V810, so I am looking for one of those, but this is the pedal to have. drop your DS-1s, your Fab Tones, your Daddy Os, and even your Rats... this is it, baby. I seem to have digressed... I didn't get a manual, but does one really need a manual with a pedal this easy to use? Kick the drive all the way up, the tone all the way down, and the volume to taste and put a (vox)wah pedal before it and you get the niftiest sound you can imagine.

Telecaster>(vox)wah>V830>Dan-Echo>Cool Cat>Fender Hot Rod Deville 4X10. It's only noisy if you aren't playing. The effect produced by this pedal is never weak, nor is it overpowering, it is simply THE sound. If Jesus was a pedal, He would be this. I can get the sound of Eric Clapton, I think anyways, with the afore mentioned settings and a bit of tweaking on the chorus pedal, and I can get a "Hey Bulldog" distortion with the tone a little bit higher. It is a versatile, amazing, all round kick butt pedal. I would sacrifice 100 bulls in it's honor.

This is a vox, pedal anyway, and they CAN'T break. I would like to see one of these go out. Even with a low battery, it kicks my other distortion pedal's arses on numerous occasions. I wouldn't need a back up, I am that confident. Would Jesus let me down?

Because they are so dependable, I have never had to talk with Vox about their pedals at all, so I am going to give it an obligatory 10.

If this were stolen, I'd probably shave myself and join an Egyptian cult. There are three things that I need to live. Food, Sleep, and this pedal. The casing, the colors, the simplicity of it, the chrome, the rubber, the chicken head knobs, the little red light... I get moist just thinking about it. I would give my left testicle to ensure its safety. As far as value goes, I know that this pedal has changed my musical life. You can get so many sounds from this little box... it really puts things into perspective. This is my favorite pedal in the whole wide world. I don't go anywhere without it(unless I'm naked).

Easy to use. Three knobs... How difficult can it be.
LEVEL, DRIVE and TONE. Seems a pretty versatile pedal, much tone control. But i do not like the sound with my amp.

I use this distortion with a strat copy, and a Fender Deluxe 112 Plus.
This thing does something to my amp which REALLY sucks.
It filters all the "depth" out of my tone, and with distortion above, say 12 o clock, it sounds as if you were trying to cut glass with a chainsaw. Just a very harsh distortion, no sustain, no warmth WSE.
My impression is, that you should not use this one with single coils and a solid state amp

Only used it for a few weeks, then shoved it under my desk, and never looked at it again. It looks really tough, built like a tank.

Never had to deal with anyone adout this one

Maybe it is a good distortion, but it sucks for me.
Just trying to get rid of it asap.

Quite easy... 3 familiar knobs that you see on most distortion...from left to right... level, tone, drive. Don't have the manual bought this used.

I tested this straight into a tech21 psa-1 preamp into a crest power amp and into marshall 4x12 cab. Used a speaker emulator preset and "plexi" preset.
It's a bit noisy on most extreme settings but that's a distortion so it's somehow normal.
This distortion pedal let's your guitar sounds its own thru it, wich I like... That's the only distortion I've heard on its own thru a speaker simulator alone that sounded good to me...(so far) on distorted sounds adding this can get you a pretty heavy hard rock sound wich is great. And it's true bypass!

Yeah I'd depend on it, woudl use it without backup.
The switch is easy to replace, has some people seem to have had problems with it from what I read here... I'd replace this with a carling 316dpdt footswitch(DIY frequently used switch) if it ever fails me.

No experience with them...

I play mostly anything I feel like... Been playing for 10+yrs.
Gear I own shown at; http://www.angelfire.com/pq/glorbz/BunkerStudio.html
Stolen or lost I'd try to replace it since this the best distortion/booster pedal I've had so far... What I love about it? TRUE-BYPASS!!! and I got to say it looks really nice:) Nothing I really hate about it, nothing I wish it had that it hasn't. It helps me get different flavor out of my gear wich is great, a very musical pedal also good for guitar volume knob usage, it cleans up well. This thing is really close to a AC30 distorted... now I've gotta hunt for a vox valvetone to see if it does the AC30 overdriven sounds as close as this does for distorted! A great thing to add to your gear for recording if nothing else!

Volume, Gain, and Tone. If you can't figure out how they work, give up on life and become a drummer.

While getting the sound is simple enough, battery changes leave a lot to be desired. Unscrewing the 4 screws in the bottom plate to change a battery is a pain in the ass. On the other hand, it can be powered with an AC adaptor.

The signal from my guitar goes through a Wah and EQ before hitting the Distortion Booster. From there the signal travels into a heavy fuzz, a compressor, and a reverb unit before being sent into the low gain input of a Marshall 50 watt JCM 800.

The distortion from the Vox can go from fairly mild and smooth to very fuzzy and trashy. One thing that is a constant is a very nasal midrange which gets honkier as you increase the gain. This pedal was meant for cutting through a mix and it doesn't dissapoint. Some players will be turned off by the lack of low end, and metal players may not find the kind of sound they're looking for, but for rock this is it.

One great feature sound-wise is the fact that these pedals are true bypass, which means that when they aren't on, they aren't robbing your signal of high end sparkle like some other popular brands.

One small bit about noise. The pedal can be pretty noisy at high gain settings, or when using 9V adaptors to power the pedal. My advice is to stick with batteries for power.

Appears to built solidly, but I have a backup for it just in case.

For hard rock this is one of a rare breed of distortion pedal - one that gives you as much or as little raunch as needed without masking the sound of your guitar to the point where every guitar sounds the same through it.

Typical distortion pedal controls - one for the volume, one for the gain, and one tone control. So simple even a drummer could use it.

Signal chain is as follows :

Guitar
EQ
Distortion Booster (2 of them)
MXR Blue Box
EQ
Flanger
Delay
Marshall JCM 800

The Vox adds a very ballsy saturation to your signal without turning into mush. The distortion has a very pronounced midrange which will cut through band even with the tone control set for full bass. The sounds cleans up very nicely when you roll back your volume control, and the unit only becomes noisy when you peg the gain.

FWIW, I own 2 of these pedals and set them to "stun" (everything at 12 o'clock) and "kill" (volume at 9 o'clock, gain at 3 o'clock, tone at 12 o'clock).

I've yet to gig with my setup, but the Vox pedals look sturdy enough to take a beating and not give up the ghost. With two of them in my pedalboard, my backup is taken care of.

This pedal shines for rock applications. It probably won't make gain a lot of metal distortion fans, but as a way to spice up your signal it does wonders.

easy to use, easy to get a good sound

best smooth-sounding distortion (not overdrive) I have ever used

dependable so far

not yet

no longer made so I bought a second one while I had the chance, great sounding distortion pedal, plenty of gain, and good for all types of music

The 3 knobs are interactive, so you have to dial in your sound. However thats what it cool about it.

This thing sounds great with a Gibson. Think Mick Ronson from Ziggy Stardust album, or "Alright Now" from Free. Or even "Freebird" solo tone. Very 70's british solo tone. Can be piercing with tone turned all the way up. Halfway down is perfect. Lots of gain on tap, great for sustain in solos, but never sounds metal.

Had mine a year, nothin' but battery changes.

Great pedal for british sounding leads. Others say it's too nasally, but I love the"hump" it has. The same as my favorite players had on 70's records.
Too many pedals push too much bass and low mid and lose your solos in the mix. This cuts through like the solos did on those old Free, Queen, Foghat, BOC etc. albums. Too bad they stopped making them!

It's simple. There are just 3 nobs: level, gain, and tone. The only problem is that you have to remove 4 screws to change the battery, so I just use an AC adapter

I use it with a Epiphone Gibson Special Model 1 and a 10 inch Peavey amp so it suits my simple needs. It has great sound for the music I play except it gets kind of noisy at the highest setting if you let the strings ring. It is a definate must if you play hard rock, heavy metal, or 80's rock. It probably wouldn't work for light music. It has a very smooth tunneling distortion, which I like.

It is definately dependable. It has a thick metal casing that will withstand anything. I am worried if the button will break, though. I would have no trouble using at a show.

I only got it recently, so no problems.

It is a good start-up pedal because I have only been playing for less than a year. It has an awesome retro look with chrome plating. If it were lost I would probably invest and get a multiple effects pedal. It has a cooler sound than the valve-tone(V810). I just wish that you didn't have to adjust the level when you change the gain.

With controls for Level, Tone, and Drive, there's no problem in figuring out how to use the thing.My only gripe is that to replace the battery you need to unscrew the whole base plate.Sort of time-consuming.

I use this with either a Fender Jazzmaster or Fender Strat(stock,except for a locking trem that I installed),through a early 70's Fender Bandmaster Reverb.In the tore when I tried it out it sounded really sweet,but........Well,First off,try to stay away from florescent lighting when using this pedal,because it makes a heck of a lot of noise.Secondly,it sounds great when I'm using it at low volume in my room.However, when I've used it at practice or to play a set...BLEAHHHHHHHH!!!!I really didn't expect the nasty,nasally noise taht this thing spits out.It's impossible to get rid of the pervading trebly honk.I really prefer a more bassy/midrangy distortion.And, something that doesn't make so much extra noise.

It's a heavy metal case and can most likely stand up to a ton of abuse(which is probably the best thing about the pedal).Like I said,it's noisy so it helps to have a backup.As far as batteries go,it doesn't really drain them to fast.

I haven't had any problems(well,ok...I haven't been able to get a good sound,but that's another story...).Therefore,no reason to call them.

OK,here's the final analysis....I'll give it this,It's nice and simple.( I recently got a Dunlop Fuzz Face,and love it.IT'S SIMPLE!!!)I suppose some players could get a decent sound out of this.My advice would be to try and crank the thing BEFORE you purchase it and see how you like it.I mostly play modern rock/pop,and it's just not my cup of tea.I wouldn't miss the thing if it wound up stolen(except for the gorgeous chrome housing),and I'll probably wind up trading it in for something else.Like I said...Try BEFORE you buy!!!