Vox AD50VT 112 Combo

--3 Channels! Yep I said three. I have the $29 optional footswitch and have programed the second button to turn on the MANUAL CHANNEL. The first button switches between CHANNEL 1 & CHANNEL 2. That makes for 3 different sounds without touching the controls again after you initially set them up. This is plenty for the style of playing I do.
--The built in attenuator is a huge plus for me. (I have a 3 year old who sleeps early)
--I don't use the presets, but they are not bad
--The effects are nice if you know how to work them

ON A SIDE NOTE:
Read the manual! I read it before I bought the amp. I am glad I did, because it addressed almost every issue I had seen in the reviews. It was enough to convince me that a lot of people just tried to plug in and play. One example is the noise gate. Several reviews said it couldn't be cut off. It can not only be cut off, but it can be dialed in strength from 0-100%.

--I play 2 Thinline Tele's, a Hagstrom Viking, a 72 Strat and several others through it. They all sound different and they all sound good.

--Would rate an 8 because it doesn't exactly replicate that tube sound us tone nuts love so much. But it is a hybrid, and not a tube amp so what do you expect. That being said, I had to bump it to a 9 because the tone is killer for an amp that isn't fully tube.

--I play a broad range of music, but mostly play blues. I play in a group that has three different singers/writers in it and we play a broad range of music. It's like seeing 3 bands in one night. But I was having to set up 2 amps to cover my tonal bases. Now I just need this one. I have three tones set up before hand and use my Keeley-Blues driver to boost for solos.

--It's a little noisy, but only if you are alone in a quiet space. But any amp this size would be. You want quiet, get small. At most any gig this amp is plenty quiet for it's size and power.

--The range of clean-distortion-high gain is as broad as they come.

--The base isn't super clean, but it's a VOX not a Fender. That's my take on it anyway. That's like buying a Ford and complaining because it doesn't look like a Chevy. It's not that either really is much better than the other, just a little different.

--Have not had it long enough, but it seems to be well built. I take care of my gear tho, even stuff that I gig with so I don't see any real problems in the near future with it.

--They pointed me to a site with over 500 presets for the AD50VT when I couldn't find the old site. Very Helpful.

If I were only comparing it to tube amps, it would fall to around 7, maybe 8. But it beets everything in it's class by a mile so I gave it a nine. It's not a pure tube amp, but as close as I have heard to one.

The features on this amp are great, but using them in a live gig is nearly impossible. The foot switch limits you to 2 channles and an effects bypass. Buy some stomp boxes.

I would have rated this 10, but I have heard a few amps that sound better. I don't own any, but I have heard some. I have a vintage blackface twin. I liked it a lot until I bought this amp. Bottom line if you spend thousands of dollars you can get better, but from about a grand and under this is in my opinion the best sounding amp I have ever used. I play mainly on my deluxe players strat, but my teles sound great, and my gibsons are ok,not spectacular. I use pedals comp. chorus. delay. and 2 distortion pedals. and a volume pedal between the effects and amp. My favorite models are ac30, 410 tweed, I dial in a sweet semi acoustic sound with the boutique clean model, and the us highgain is my favorite dirty model. The only time I get that crappy digital distortion sound is when I turn the wattage knob down. This thing sounds GREAT when cranked. My master volume is almost always wide ass open on gigs. Not for volume, but for sound quality. Ikeep the gains borderline crunch, so I can get a little dirty when I kick my vol pedal up, or kick in compression. How loud is it? Well I play lots of clubs, and I play with lots of bands so sometimes it can't be micd. I have never ever ever played a clubthat I could not cut through the band mix with no mic, no bullshit there. Someday I might, but I have not yet, and I have played clubs that can hold 5 to 6 hundred drunks. Buy one its only 379.00

I spilled a beer in one, and it broke, so I went and bought another one, and then a friend of mine fixed the broke one, now I have 2. I did have an input jack break, but I fixed that. The first one I bought gave me problems, and Vox replaced it. I guess you could say after 4 years or so these things hold up pretty good. I leave one in my trailer in a case all the time. I rarely carry a spare amp.

They were hard to get in touch with at first, but when I explained who I was and the gigs I was playing, a rep responded to my e-mail, and replaced my first amp. I never had any problems with that amp after that, even after the beer incident.

This is my baby. The other players that hear me know what I play on. They know it is part of my personal signature sound. It ALWAYS sounds great. I have played right along side other players playing high dollar amps, and mine has always been comparable where sound quality is concerned. I have a blackface twin, a peavey classic 50, a vintage fender champ, a peavey triumph, and a line 6 practice amp, this thing sounds much better than all of those. If I thought I could get a better sound for a grand or less I would spend the money, but it cannot in my opinion be acheived

I've had this amp for two years. I've programmed the sounds I want in to the two channels and on occasion switch to manual for an additional "channel". Models all sound pretty good. I've read a few reviews that they can't find a clean or they don't like the distortion. Cleans are everywhere, turning down the gain only decreases the volume on certain amp models that are included. This amp is great for about everything except metal (I don't play it anyway) but it can hold it's own with the gain it can push. I do wish it had an effects loop, but with 11 effects on board I guess VOX figured you wouldn't need anything extra. it has an external speaker out... but it cuts out the internal speaker. It has plenty of power, especially with the variable Wattage dial on the back - push it for all 50W, the master knob can then be cranked (I've only pushed it to about a quarter of the way and its plenty loud for the gigs we've played).

I play with a few things: Epiphone Les Paul Classic, Fender Strat, Ibanez Talman (PAF Joe-Neck, Red Velvet-middle, Tone Zone-bridge). They all sound great through the amp, esp the PAF Joe and the strat. The amp can get some noise if you push too hard on the gain sometimes under flouresent lights like any amp, but if you care - you can easily fix that with a few adjustments. Distortion does what I want (punkish/rock, I don't push to high gains). For me, perfect cleans. Very versitile cleans. For the money, this can't be beat if you're not a metal head.

I've gigged with it for the two years I've had it with no problems whatsoever. My settings have never failed me. It has tipped over while playing and kicked a few times and has remained loyal and in tact. I haven't done any maintenance work! Great little amp.

Haven't dealt with them

If you want a good modeling amp with some good power, but also great tones at low volumes - get it. Price is affordable, sound quality is there and it's dependable. I don't remember the warranty information, but I haven't had a need for it.

As far as versatility this amp kinda sucks. i've had it for about a year now and it just dosnt have what i want. i mostly play metal and the numetal setting seems to work best but dosnt have as much distortion as i would like. Otherwise the effects seem to be good although i rarely use them, occasionally i use reverb and delay. It definatly does not have as much power as i would like, its fine for practice but if you plan on playing with a drummer than barely loud enough.

Maby i'm just stupid but i cant seem to get a very clean clean channel. In order to get an ok clean channel you have to turn down the gain a lot which takes away a lot of volume, and still there is always some distortion. i'm currenly play with an epiphone les paul classic, and i have installed symore duncan SH-Distortion pickups on the bridge and the stock pickup is still in the neck. As I said before the numetal setting works best for metal but at high volumes it is horrible. It still sounds the same but it gives a ton of feedback, random loud anoying high pitch noises. Although i dont use the other amp models that much they seem to be quite good and definatly have a good tone. This amp is just not for metal.

Like everybody else has been saying, it would be very anyoning to gig with because you can never trust the settings you've saved to be there.
the only thing that i've had a problem with is the nut on the input jack got lossed somewhere, but that was because i underestimated how long my cable was and so the nut had been loose for about 2 months before it finally fell off.

I finally got sick of the distortion sucking and got an electro-harmonix metal muff pedal that has worked very well for me. I probably would not be upset if this amp got stolen or somehow lost. I really dont like a whole lot about this amp, and i've pretty much said why i hate it. For metal i would suggest a line 6 or a peavey mixed with your own effects.

this amp has a whole lot of features, and they are probable described in other reviews

i use mainly gibson, and all my guitars are humbucker guitars

i mostly play old school hard rock/ rock n' roll, it does'nt suit that style very well, but it is fine for practice

it's a little bit noisy, but not to much, and mostly on higain settings

in my opinion this amp is not very versatile, i only use the boutique clean channel, and then i use my drive pedals (mostly t-rex and mxr) to get the drive i want, i don't like any other channel on this amp, the worst channel are all the higain channels, i think they stinks

the amp can play pretty loud, but is no tube amp when cranked up

seems fine to me

never had any problems

the only thing i love about the amp is that it sounds got at low volumes, and it has lots of fx. i can play with

if it was stolen i would not buy a new one. mostly because i am getting a Marshall 1987x next month, and that is one hell of an expensive amp, so i won't have the money

2006
This is a follow up report to the one I did two years ago.
I have owned this amp for two years now and not had any problems with it. The amp is not really designed for gigging although I do use it for that. The channel saving and switching with the VFS2 is a joke as volume levels between channels is always inconsistent so I dont use my footswitch any more. The controls for the effects are annoying as they just dont do one thing but multiple things by holding one down and turning another ect.
I have modified this amp by fitting an effects loop (not a difficult mod)which I run my Behringer EQ700 equaliser pedal thru to cut the bass and raise the mids and highs slightly. Takes the muddiness out of the amp like taking a blanket off.
I designed and made my own treble diffuser (Beam blocker) which works beatifully and takes those harsh treble notes away that you hear if in line with the speaker. I painted the grill with a Crinkled black automotive finish and it looks really cool.
The best way for gigging is to use a low gain clean channel like Blackface or Bassman and pedals for OD and distortion so volume is always right when you stomp your pedal.
The line out is a waste of time as it mutes the speaker and does not reproduce what the speaker is doing as it is taken before the Valve reactor.
I mostly play clean when I am gigging and the presets such as Blackface, Bassman & AC30 are pretty good sounding but obviously not the real thing.
It has enough of power for playing in a band situation. I always use mine at 50 watts as the clean tone suffers if turned down. By turning down the master, turing the guitar volume to full it will break into overdrive / distortion nicely on the higher gain channels.

It has some nice clean tones both with the LP clone, ES335 and single coil Strat that I use. There are some nice dirty sounds with UK Modern,US High gain and BT Overdrive but I dont use them for the giiging I do but do play at home with it. If you use them with presets which I only really discovered recently they have the EQ and gain set nicely. Push the Bypass button and you can remove the preset effect or dial it to what you want.
The amp noise even on high gain channels is not excessive and a touch of noise gate does the trick.

These are known to have some reliabilty problems with cold solder joints and require all the jack sockets on the amp cleaning every few months or so with contact cleaner and a plug pushed in and out to make sure the cheap switching jacks they use make good contact other wise they can cause sound loss and noise problems.
I have had no real problems with mine and it has never let me down at a gig.

Vox are not the greatest company to deal with unless you strike the right person from what I have read on Valvetronix.net and Patchtronix.com. Check these sites out to get the low down on these amps and how to get the best out of them.

If it was stolen I would probably look at other amps such as the AD60VTX or some other brands but the weight of the VT50 at 20kg is really all I want to lug around. The VTX is a little heavier.

I've had this amp since early 2005. I still really haven't explored all the sounds it's capable of, and that for me is a mixed blessing. It's a very warm sounding amp--you hear that tube preamp. Many of the models are excellent. I find, however, that it's difficult to chose and mix a setting and have it reliably saved. There are too many choices and too many complex steps to go through to be doing adjustments on stage. If you like reading and memorizing manuals, fine. You'll be doing a lot of that with this amp. It has the power and sound for stage, but this is not a simple amp to control.

The sounds are a step above any modeling amp I've heard to date for the Vox AC 30 and the 70's UK (Marshall, I suppose) The Blackface settings are decent as well, as is the Vox AC 15. The tube preamp really does make itself heard. I play a Telecaster and an Epiphone Les Paul Standard. The distortion is great with the AC 30 and 70's UK. I play rock, use both distortion and clean settings. I hear the fan come on when I turn it on, but it's remarkably quiet with the humbuckers, less so with the single coils. Now for the awful part: sometimes when I select either channel, usually channel 1, I get a full tilt squeal like all of the volume knobs have been turned all the way on. At the same time, the Auto Wah comes on. I've never saved an Auto Wah setting anytime--I hate it. If I switch to Channel 2, it's somewhat less squealy, but not by much. If I back down on the gain and volume knobs all the way, the squeal goes away, but I can't record a different channel 1 or channel 2 setting that will stay. I always get the squeal. This isn't "brutal distortion," this is an amp that is either 1) defective or 2) rediculously complex.

I can't gig with this. I can't reliably save a setting and know that it will be there for me. I know about the manual. I've read it. I've been trying to make sense of saving settings and getting rid of this incredible squeal for nearly three years. If I leave it on one setting and don't mess with it, it's great. But other amps do that too. They're called "tube" amps. I was hoping to change from an AC 30 setting to a Marshall setting on the fly using this amp. What a joke.

I think I'm going to go domestic with the next amp. I've had one good Marshall from Korg/Vox/Marshall or whatever it is, gave it to my son. My local dealer doesn't seem to know jack about Vox or care, and I don't want to listen to Vox people tell me how dumb I am that I can't make their simple amp tap and save and bypass and all the other really unintuitive crap they've thrown into it. They're like Linux techs, complexity for its own sake. I'll use it in my bedroom to practice on where I have time to tweak the settings, but not in public where it just wastes time. People don't like to watch performers fool around with their gear onstage.

I've been playing for forty three years. I don't think I'd have another of this model, not unless they did some serious usability studies. They aren't manufacturing this amp for the hardened professional, it's made for the hobbyist, the amateur, the semi-pro at best, and they seriously neglected this aspect of the design. I'm convinced that mine is broken with that full-tilt squeal with the Auto Wah. No one can explain it otherwise. I love the sounds I've been able to coax, however, to turn on the amp and not know what's going to come up next is unreasonable. I don't remember what warranty it had. All the folks at the music store I bought it from have changed, sales, management, etc. Seems to happen a lot, always has. Therefore, I expect any amp to work right from the get-go and not to need warranty work. In forty three years, I've only had four amps. My first and the longest lasting was a Vox. I don't know what happened to that company. This is really wrong.

I've got this babe 2007 Juni, and had it for a half year, and it never dissepoints me.
You can get like Which style you like on this AMP!
All from Clasic sound to Heavy Metal with the right settings.
I Play most of the 80s Rock, Metallica, Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne..
All that! And it fits great!
Atm i only used it with a few freinds playing with my band, and man it blowd me away how good it sounds on higher volumes!
Just sometimes i could wish it had a littel more cruncy Metal..

This amp is quite good with 11 diffrent settings i can get what sound i would ever like to have!
in my style the 1980s Metal it suits it very well, I have an Ibanez Les paul custom from 1976 which sounds great on this amp, and just got me a Zakk wylde overdrive pedal to get the extra sound..
This amp can pick up Good Harmonic response, If your looking for the Zakk wylde hard pinches i would sugest you to buy Mxr Zakk wylde overdrive pedal..
For this great price which was for me 400USD I think, it may be the best amp on the market! The amp is not Nosiy at all, Maybe if you sit way to close and to loud volume it can be.. But its very good amp!

The - on this would be that i would really want a more substain, more heavy metal sound from it, but all this can be fixed if you buy some very cool pedal..

Well, i never had any problems at all! Always working very good!
I tryd it out with my freinds and man it really screams NICE!
My dads band member have this 1 and when the played on a market, and wow he had it quite loud and man so Clean! I was schoked how good it sounded! And he played a cool blues solo! And yeah no pedal at all! Only hes skill and a VOX ADVT 50W!

I never had to deal with them..

I've been playing guitar for maybe 2 years? But the latest year i got alot alot better. I Play this beauty with an Ibanez Les paul Custom 76, MXR Zakk wylde overdrive pedal, and it really sounds good!

If this would get stolend im not sure if i would buy a new one, becouse i would like to get a littel more heavier metal sound on this babe, so i would think on some more metal amp..
But this amp aint bad! IF you want good variations! Quite good metal tone! and an awsome blues tone! this is the amp!
I compared this to a Peavey Bandit 112, I did like this amp more becouse of all the efects which would have costed me alot more!

Have had this amp for 1 year. This is a fantastic amp, and a real bargian at $350.00. Not sure I would use this a gigging amp but it perfect for a practice/bedroom amp. Very versatile for the styles I play using a Deluxe Powerhouse Strat and plating 60's, 70,s and blues and country. The effects are all very good save the wah. And the models are also very good, particularly the Vox and 70's, 80's and modern Marshalls. It's also great that you can dial down the power and plug in headphones.

The amp does take some adjusting to dial in the sweet spots, but it's actually kind of fun, especially with the versatility of sounds that can be had from a strat. The powerhouse Strat I'm playing has a mid range boost which helps bring out the warmth on the Fender
models with a little patience and some tweaking. The 2 Vox models and the Marshalls are by far the best though. It is a quiet running amp and actually sounds better the louder you play it. I've had a Line 6 Flextone and it can't hold a candle to the Valvetronix. If your looking for a modeling amp with a budget south of five bills these are the best amps on the market period.

I did have two crap out on me but, ultimately found out it was not the amps but some electrical issues with extension cord I was plugging into. American Music Supply was absolutely a joy to deal with and gave me no problems in returning them. I ultimately called Korg just to get a feel for their feedback and they advised they have had very few problems with them. I also called some of the other giants like Sam Ash and Sweetwater and they both had very positive feedback regarding the reliability of these amps.

Called Korg once and the engineer even provided his cell number if I has any further problems with the new one shipped. They were not difficult to get in touch with and very eager to help.

I also own a Line 6 Flextone XL, and believe me there is no comparison. The Vox Valvetronix blows the Line 6 away. Am playing both a Deluxe Powerhouse Strat and Blackout Tele and both sound great through this amp.

as listed - see all the other reviews, that follow on. the main feature that i must point out, and one of the main reasens i purchased this amp, is how simple it is to use.

have owned and still own, some very juicey examples of 'tube-nivarna' this amp can do it all, not perfectly, not exact. it sounds way too good for something so cheap, and built in china.

owned and abused it two months, fingers crossed ! i purchased it for small 'jams' and small 'gigs'. hey it works ! (every time).

not needed, but its real easy to repair, the service agent here in new zealand, is very good.

it does exactly what it is built to do, if you've never heard or used a vintage 'marshall' or recto-mesa, or know how to get a sound from a 'soldano' then this amp, will be a problem for you. hell i wish i had an amp like this twenty years ago ! i've been playing punk-metal-blues for a long time. it is a fantastic amp, i own 'vintage' brit-amps that don't sound this good ! (unless there cranked). you could do worse !.