Ashton VP-50 112 Combo

All been stated before me.

Basically it has all the features a combo amp should.

Im not sure whether or not it is in fact all tube... But then again, Ashton would have been hammered with false advertising.

I bought this amp 2nd hand, when I got it home there was a high pitched squeal present on all settings apart from clean.
I thought this may be the tubes needing fixing but it was in fact the reverb tank. I took it out and had a bit of a play around now it works mint.

I play a custom guitar -> Vox wah -> Viper 50
Or Guitar -> Vox -> Zoom 505 -> Viper 50

I'll go through the channels. Both of which have another setting within, also both have EQ.
Clean - With use of the level knob, you can get some nice sounding overdrive out of this sucker. Real grunty stuff here. Then you can lower the level and get smooth blues tones, or that perfect growl for blues/rock. With a touch of the reverb I have managed to mimic Pink Floyd tones nicely.
Crunch - Crunch basically gives the clean channel a kick in the butt. Again adjusting the level can give you less brutal, smooth overdrive, but turned up it is very ACDC sounding drive. Nice!
Mean - Mean has the 'Mean' knob which increases distortion, and a level knob which increases distortion/power. Is able of producing heavy fuzzy tones, heavy rock stuff. But also can be calmed down to a heavy overdrive. Great for distorted solos.
Filth - The filth button gives the mean channel a shot of steroids. This is an awesome tone for metal. Scoop the mids and you can get a sweet tone for whatever you want to thrash through it.
I am a metalhead at heart calmed down to playing blues and rock. This amp seriously has a tone hidden away in it for what ever I decide to play, and I havent even got any stompboxes for it yet!
I love the clean channel, using clean and crunch. Switching between my single-coils and my humbucker on my guitar makes an awesome difference on this amp. I can get heavy riffing tone, sweet solo tone, or grunty blues tone, just by switching pickups. Couldnt do that with my last amp!
I havent played other amps, but this definately sounds sweet compared to amps I've heard. It gets the tones I dreamed of having, which is all I'm after.

Yes I would depend on this amp. Sturdy as hell. Watch your back while lifting it. I bought it needing something for gigs and jams, certainly will be loud enough for that!!

Apart from the initial problem (Which a few hours of research fixed for free) I havent had it long enough for problems to arise. Then again its a tube amp, they are made to be fixed.

I may replace the power tubes at some stage soon though because the amp is at least a year old.

I have been playing for two years. Am the lead guitarist in a rock/blues band. Also play metal, classical whatever catches my interests.
I own an Onyx Custom Craft guitar, Ibanez RG570, Vox V847, Zoom 505, Peavey rage 15w, and now this.
Overall I am totally satisfied with this amp. It is a year old, only been used as a harmonica amp, looked after by a knowledgeable man - and I paid half the retail price for it.
It does exactly what I bought it for and more, I am happy with this amp's sound already, I am still to buy stomp boxes for it.
Guitar sounds 100% better through it than anything else I've played on. Wah sounds amazing through it - plus can put it in the effects loop if I wish.

I just wish it came with the footswitch! But that's okay, I am looking at buying one anyway.

I think for it's price, this is an awesome amp for it's price. I live in New Zealand where there isnt a massive 2nd hand market for amps like on eBay in the states. Even it's retail price is pretty amazing for a tube amp, its not much more expensive than 80w solid states and volume and tone wise - would blow them out of the water.

So yeah, there wasnt much on the net about this amp when I was researching, and I think there should be.

All Tube..NO IT ISN'T...Yes it has preamp and power amp tubes but it also has solid state junk in the preamp section...ie tone controls and overdrive are solid state driven...this shows up in the hiss that appears at any decent volume.
2 Channels..clean and mean...clean is fine and has a crunch option which gives more volume , more brightness and some overdrive...it really needs to be user adjustable as far as the boost when crunch is used.
Mean channel has a filthy option which is something guitar hoons may like to wank off over but really for a professional it is useless as the mean and filth are basically the same and you simply make one louder than the other.
The reverb works ok
Provision for extension cab if you want a little more volume or a fuller sound.
Effects loop which I haven't used..I use affects on the input of an amp.
The 4 button footswitch I got with it is good and solid.
Plently of volume but too much bass and too much top end due to the active tone controls...it sounds better when all tone controls are backed right off.
Single 12" celestion speaker seems to handle the load with a pleasant frequency response.
Solid combo cab but mine has a few slight rattles at high volume which are sometimes picked up by the amp mic.
Good value for the $ but could have been better by leaving out the solid state components and doing the traditional ALL VALVE thing.

I use an early 80's strat with stock pickups and on the clean channel it sounds good , on the crunch not quite so good and I just avoid the mean and filthy channel...I have a big muff if I want mean and cream.
The overdrive is pure solid state which is a waste of preamp valves.
The hiss at volume can be annoying so I cut all tone controls to minimum and get a good sound from the strat.

I haven't had it long enough to comment on reliability.

The Ashton web page is a pain...it took 3.5 minutes to load due to the Flash animation downloading whether you want it or not and the warranty registration page didn't work at all.
I have requested a service manual/schematic from Ashton so I can Mod the amp without having to reverse engineer it...hopefully they will provide me with one...why not..Fender gives them away.

Been playing for over 30 years and have met a lot of amps and guitars...this amp isn't one of the better ones but it was cheap on Ebay.
If it was lost or stolen I'd get something better or make something better using an Ashton as the basis of a true all valve amp.

All-tube 50w combo amp. 4 switchable channels (clean, crunch, mean and filth). Spring reverb, effects loop, footswitch input, no headphones, extension speaker output. Retro chicken-head knobs, individual EQ controls for both clean and mean channels, master volume.

I play blues and rock but also dabble sometimes with jazz. Amp is versatile enough to cater for all these styles. The filth channel will make the metalheads very happy.

I use a Godin SDXT and Ibanez Artcore AF75BS with this. With the Godin I get a HUGE variety of sounds (check out the reviews for this guitar as well - THEY DO NOT LIE)-from crisp, clean sounds, to a nice slightly-over-the edge crunch with the clean channel turned up. The mean channel without the reverb engaged gives me a nice "marshall" overdrive a la Angus Young. Use it with the bridge humbucker and you will be convinced. The filth channel drives the tubes even more and it gives you a Soldano/Rectifier boost - I use it mainly as that - extra gain when I do solo. But try playing it with power chords and you will be sweating in no time. It gives a heavy, heavy sound and you just have to play around with the EQ to find the tone you want and it's not hard. On the Artcore with the bass set on full and the treble pulled back it gives a convincingly warm tone - especially with the neck pickup engaged. I find myself in comping mode in no time. Very sweet.

Bought it brand new around Jan 05 and it worked fine until I started hearing something coming out of the amp like someone's frying eggs or something - I knew it would be the tubes. So I brought it to the Ashton crew here in Sydney and they replaced them with no hassles. Apparently (I didn't know this)you're supposed to transport your tube amp sitting up - otherwise if you put them on their backs the tubes get rattled - and that's basically what happened. Since the tubes got replaced and I now know how to transport my amp everything's cool. Oh yeah, the thing has metal grills on front AND back (to protect the tubes - good idea) and heavy-duty corner guards.

Ashton support crew was very helpful. Easily located within Sydney and over the phone they are very knowledgeable and friendly. Went into the service shop and they fixed the tube problem on the spot and didn't even charge me for the replacement tube. Great service guys!

Been playing close to 20 years now. Been through a couple of shocking gear as well as some good ones - I used to have a Fender Hot Rod deluxe. While the Fender is way louder and brighter, this little-known amp is a definite keeper. I think it's a good thing noone knows much about these amps otherwise the cost will sky-rocket. An all-tube 50w amp for less than $1000AUD is basically unheard of. I have tried others (Peavey Classic, Traynors, Laney) and this amp is comparable, even better, than most of these amps. Very versatile, loud enough, and a distortion sound that'll give the marshalls/boogies/soldanos out there a run for their money. I will gladly get another one in a heartbeat!

These amps are pretty new (2004)
tube amp, 12ax7 and EL34
50 watt, 8 ohm and 4 ohm speaker out.(using ashton gq100 quad and it pumps)
very versatile amp, using it for heavy rock.
2 channels clean and mean ( clean channel can be toggled between clean and crunch) (slightly brighter) and mean channel can be toggled between filth and mean(filth is full on). these are all footswitchable
has reverb, has effects loop,

using ibanez guitar with humbuckers.
suits heavy rock and metal very well, but also has some wonderfull clean tones.
i crank this amp to 75% and it is freakin loud, have used this amp for rehearsals and gigs.
has a little noise, but thats what id expect when driving this amp at 3/4 capacity. (mean channel) clean channel has never needed to above 5.
the distortion is the best part of this amp. this baby purrs. dont need gain above 6 to get very warm heavy dist

have used it for gigs, no problems. amp has one year warranty.

one year warranty.
local ashton dealer very friendly and informed me that very few ashton products ever get returned or repaired cause they are built rock solid.

playing for ten years(first few years dont really count though do they)
cant recomend this amp enough. several friends have since purchased the ashton viper range.
love the overall sound of this amp. mean channel will keep any metal head happy while clean channel can ooze blues.
jam with orange ad140(oh yeah)and vp50 keeps up with it.ive even been asked to turn down!
nothing i wish it had except maybee include a footswitch, as amp ships with no footswitch