Vox AD50VT 112 Combo

From the other reviews you know the Features, so I will only include my 2 points off niggles.
-1 for not having extention speaker out that does not mute the internal speaker.
-1 for no Straight non-modeled amp tone to take advantatge of the cool power section.
A presence control would also help, considering all of the really good Marshall models.

Currently I'm running my ESP M-1 Custom with an EMG 81 along with my Ibanez RG220 with Carvin M22's. I used the UK settings the most, they did a good job on these models. I found the Vox and Nu Metal/ Soldano settings a joke. Just to mushy.But now I am running the Boutique Clean with a Boss Metal Zone and a Digitech RP80 and am the most satisified with this arrangement. This gives me the great RP amp models, beautiful clean with effects, and if I need to heat it up I run the Metal Zone into the RP 80 setup real hard and clean with no amp models. Sounds Great. I set up the AD50VT channel presets for lead boost, with or without effects.

Had it for a year now with no troubles.

Haven't dealt with them...no opinion.

I did this review just to let everyone know about my cool find!
A lot of people are plagued by the short footswitch cable, but I have found a solution. American Musical Supply sells a 25' Straight Headphone Extention Cable. Plugged in line you now have a 30' cable for stage work. Works like a charm for $6.95. Just wanted to pass on the info.
Overall for the money I have not found a better rig for me. Over my 25 years of playing I've owned 2 JCM800 Halfstacks, a Boogie Mark 3 combo, 2 Carvin X-60B Halfstacks and a Fender twin. I sold all of my gear in 1990 and am starting to play again. If you spend the time tweaking it, this is a good overall amp.

My brother bought this amp last year, I believe a few months before Christmas. At the time it was the best thing since sliced bread. Since then I've realized how much this thing is lacking.

The amp replication was cool for a while, but it got old really quick. I'm not going to bother to list the fearutres etc since most of the people here already know what it has.

No matter the feature or setting, it really wasn't as versatile as I thought it should be. And a real clean sound from it was almost impossible to attain.

The reverb and other functions were only paired in twos and it would've been so much nicer if you could select any two of them as opposed to the preset two's.

Humbuckers, single coils, rails, and yet nothing sounded good. I used everything from a Les Paul to a Deluxe Deluxe Strat with noiseless pickups to Ibanez Hollowbodies to Alvarez acoustic-electrics and I didn't get a sound I liked from it.

For one, it was far too heavy on the bottom end. Even with the bass on minimum it was far too bass heavy. It just got too muddy and the sound fell apart when I tried to turn it up. It just sounded like the speaker was smothering itself with its own sound, or rather the low end.

The thing sounds horrible to me. The cleans are just as messy as the gain. The last thing I played on it was a Tradition Strat, which was the last guitar in my house I hadn't tried on it, but it still sounded like shite. I ended up playing with the phaser and such.

That's another thing, the functions don't sound real to me. They have a sort of overly fake sound to them, like Vox was trying too hard to get them to sound better.

I'd never use this at a live show and I don't even use it for practice. Our Roland Blues Cube does about everything this should, and about twenty times better. I'll stick to pedals for my wah, chorus, or phaser too.

It hasn't had a problem, but I would never use this for a gig. It just sounds horrible at any volume to my ears.

I figure it lasts, but it just sounds horrible.

Never dealt with them nor did I care enough about the thing to worry about the warranty.

It was a waste of money. That's all I can say. The salesman took advantage of my brother's naivity at the time and sold him a piece of crap.

For comparison, of our own we have a Marshall JTM-60, Fender Blues Jr., Roland Blues Cube, and another five various amps. This fails in every imaginable catagory.

I wouldn't reccomend it to anyone. I wish it had the sound of my JTM-60 for the tube sound and crunch and the cleans of our Fender Blues Jr. or even better, the cleans of one of the '59 Bassman Ltd. Reissues, which I have a feeling will soon be replacing of the spot of his room where this bastard child of an amp takes residence.

just got the amp today so its a 2006 model , the effects sound really good (expecialy the reverb) the noise reduction is really effective when practicing. the amp models sound excelent i prefer the "us higain" and "uk modern"
it looks cool aswell

i use a "yamaha pacifica 0112" mostly with the humbucker p/u selected
i play lots of rock (cream to AC/DC) and punk (greenday) music and the gain is really effective
you can fully customize each effect, for instance auto wah can be modified by the polarity and attack

ive had it one day what is there to say

but i have heard they better made then marshalls so it must be good

had it one day so no comment

GIMMIE MORE soooooooooooo good so effective a must buy

Features have already been outlined. Here's the 411 on this amp after testing it for a couple months. Good features, but the problems are:

1. Too many high-gain amp models and not enough good medium gain amp models.
2. Your presets can be saved, but cannot be readily or easily adjusted in a live situation.
3. The effects are in mono, making some good and some not very good.
4. Not enough effect combinations, lots of practical combinations are overlooked. eg-reverb and delay
5. You cannot run an external speaker while running the internal speaker, making the common technique of stacking 2 1x12 cabinets impossible with this amp.
6. Volume levels of the amp models are somewhat misbalanced, making keeping a clean sound at high volume difficult.

All in all, good amp models and features, but these flaws make using this thing live a bit dodgy.

This is not a glory review. Sounds are all around good, but suffer from a few cross-the-board flaws:

1.Cabinet is built like crap. This makes tonal response unbalanced at high volumes, and creates vibration that muddens and distorts your sound.
2. Clean amp models sound to be quite low-output and lacking in girth, for example, 2x12 blackface.
3.while there are a few tube tones, the amp has an overall harsh, brittle sound to it, most likely the result of the cheap 12" speaker and particle board cabinet.
4. The bottom end on many of the models, staying true to the originals, is extremely loose and tends to crumble. This can create a monstrous thump in a 4x12 cabinet, but just sounds mushy in a 1x12 combo.

All in all, sounds are decent, but the more your turn up, the less usable this amp becomes. Flashy at low volume with lots of variety and built in effects. Used a 1999 Jeff Beck Signature Stratocaster w/ gold lace sensors and bucker in bridge.

Mine had to be returned due to the cabinet buzzing constantly. That is just poor quality. If you open this thing up you can see the shotty construction first hand. Would not trust this thing to deliver night after night. Looks tough with a chrome grill and black tolex, but the joints of this amplifier are weak and cheaply assembled.

Like many people, I've played for a long time and owned lots of gear. However, I am critical of the gear I do own and never give out glory reviews. for amps in this price range, this is what you get. While the ad50vt may sound better at low volumes and pack more features than other amps in the same class (peavey bandit, traynor dynagain, roland cube, etc.)this amp is far from stageworthy, and that is simply why it sucks. I would rather have a 2 channel solid-state peavey that has a decent cabinet, speaker and line out than a digital amp-modeling piece of $%^&. I am buying something else. Traynor makes decent stuff at least in terms of contruction, so you know that you can turn it up and haul it around to gigs, so I would recommed them over this fancy vox.

The features have been listed before, so I won't be repeating them here. I will say that I bought it because I thought it would be really versatile for a live cover band gig. I was wrong. You have two preset modes and a manual mode to choose from, but you can only toggle between the presets. During the course of a gig, I need many different variations of distortion, delay, chorus, clean, etc... You can tweak the controls on the fly, but if you switch to a different channel and switch back, the variations you made are gone. You could save the changes, but then you would be constantly saving and changinging all night. Big pain. I tried going with two base tones for clean and distorted and added pedals to color things, but I found the amp did not react well at all with the pedals. It doesn't help that there is no fx loop.

I LOVE the sounds this amp makes! That's why I bought it. I still use the amp for practice, but just don't want to fight with it during a gig. I use a Music Man Silhouette and Axis guitars loaded with the stock pick ups. It suites any style I want to play, (one at a time) The cleans and distortion models do a great job, I especially love the old Marshall models.

I did have a problem with the power level knob on the back. Basically, it would short out if I turned the amp valume up to practice levels. I took it to a repair shop and Vox paid for the repairs under warranty.

Never dealt with the company directly, but like I stated above, the repairs were done under warranty with no hassles.

I've been playing guitar for over 20 years and currently, I'm playing through a Mesa Dual Recto 3-chl, with a boss chorus and delay, bbe sonic stomp, cry baby wah and comp. Right now I love my sound, but was looking for a smaller amp for beach gigs and doubles. If it were lost or stolen, I would buy a used mesa subway rocket and just run pedals. The amp has great sounds, but just not flexible enough for cover gigs. I think vox needs to nix the built-in fx and and ad an fx loop. Still not a bad amp for the $$$.

This one is made in 2006. 11 amp models, 11 effects plus built-in noise gate. I could say that this amp is very versatile for any music style.. but I'am a metal head and I mainly play death metal. Basically it has 2 channels plus a manual channel which kind of acts as like a 3rd one if you wanted to use it as well. It has a headphone jack but unfortunately not the effects loop.. I really wish it has one and it would probably get a full rating in this category. Anyways the external speaker output is a good thing to have to play at larger venues and the best feature in which i think is the power level knob at the back, you can always have the power tube driven hard without killing your ears and getting complaints from bitchy neighboors. It acts kind of like a built-in attenuator. At first I was really interested in the AD30VT but I've opt for the AD50VT for extra volume and a 12" Celestion speaker but I'll take a point off for not having an effects loop. Overall very easy to use. tweak.. save.. play.. +Decent Manual

At first I laughed when a friend of mine got himself a Vox AD30VT, coz this dude also plays metal. In respect I think Vox makes amp for jazz-pop-rock stuff but c'mon. Vox for metal? ya gotta be a retard.. Well my criticism ended right there after I tried the amp at his house,I was using his B.C. Rich Bich through it. All I could say is that it produced pretty decent metal tones out of the U.S. Hi-Gain model. I was sold on this amp's amp model alone and quickly bought the AD50VT the next few days. Heres what I can say..

I'm using my Schecter C-1 Classic loaded with EMGs thru this amp. My territories are from the amp model UK'80s to US highgain.. i really dig them (except the NUmetal model is a piece of $%^&). UK '80s sounds really close to the real thing (which is a JCM800)really good for midway distortion, it has a huge bottem end but it lacks the amount of gain for death metal (maybe a hot-rodded version or perhaps a distortion pedal in front would make it more satisfying for me).. the UK modern model makes up for that but the bottom end was a bit traded away for loads of gain and mids in which I like to use this model doing harmony riffs and for solos. Now comes to my favorite model.. the US higain, it has a really open bass and slightly compressed mids and highs, great for fast metal riffs. Palm mute chugging with 13s gauge strings in B standard tunning is a wrath to behold.. pure brutal punchfest. I have no need to max out the gain on these.. there is more than enough.

I can't say much about the clean amp models, I barely use them anyway but they sound quite pristine, warm,and clear.. considering that I'm using EMGs.

The effects on this amp sounds okay but I barely use them either.. I like to use the delay and reverb sometimes.. it can sound satisfying if you tweak it (and tweaking in detail is a bit of a hassle to do on this amp).

The power level knob in the back is the bomb.. it does make the amp saturate its tube like it should.. you can get the sag feel of it. I've always kept the volume and master volume on full blast and tweak the knob to a bareable level.

Okay I need to crap on this one.. I've read the reviews here not long ago about the input jack of the amp fallin inwards into the amp. This is true and it DID happen.. it is a &^%$# to get it out again.. u must have some small plier to grip it up out from the hole. So if you're considering of buying this amp, I recommond you guys to tighten the input jack as tight as you can and every now and then if you unplug your cable often. Other than this.. it has never broke down on me yet. I would have to slap them down for the input jack incident. -3

Haven't dealt with them..

I've been playing seriously for 7 years, started from indy-ish alternative rock all the way to death metal at this momemt. If this amp was lost or stolen I would not buy it again coz I'll be too busy savin up for a real all-tube metal amp but I'll always know they make very satisfying amp for band practice and small gigs when you've got to have versatility. Prior in looking for an affordable tube amp, I love the way it can sound for metal but hated the fact that they should improve their built-quality especially the jack inputs.. the knots should be metal, not plastic. I really dig the 12' celestion speaker, it sounds very full and the amp is a closed-back combo = bottom end galore. The only thing i wish it had is an effects-loop, the price might go up a bit but then I don't really mind coz it is still very affordable. For years I've been buying and selling every kind of distortion pedals.. and i can say this.. don't waste ur money and time like i did. distortion sounds best from cranked tube amps, you will hear what you play.. not all that is lost and with this amp's power level feature, you can get that vibe without &^%$#@! ur ear up.. i know most of the metal heads would turn away from Vox but then if you ain't got that much cash to buy a 100watt monster then give this one a try.. i'm glad i did. hands down fantastic value for this price.

The amp models in the AD50VT are the best I've heard. I play many different types of guitars and musical styles. WITH THE RIGHT GUITAR, every amp model contained within this amp will truly shine! A clean model with the as much output as the distortion models is really needed here. The effects are not nearly as bad as some are saying. Each effect can be tweeked to personal preference. My only complaint with the effects feature is that it sometimes seems a chore to dial them in. But once they're dialed they are all as good as any outboard effects. The tubed power section is this amp's secret weapon and I love the adjustable power output feature!

As stated above, I play many different styles and guitars. Soundwise, as a single unit this amp is as versatile as any I've played. The distortion models are the best I've heard. The AC30 model combined with a Ric, Tele, or P90 guitar sound as close to the real thing as it gets! The uk 80's and Numetal distortion models both deliver that classic buzzsaw distortion that seems to be so lacking in most amps available these days. This amp's clean models are lacking. I'd like to see VOX improve on this amp's clean models. The sound quality of the clean models is good but the output is weak. That is my only criticism of this amp models. Again, the effects are as good as any outboard effects I've used. The reverbs, delays, chorus, and comp phaser are just amazing! The tremelo reverb could be better. Other than being a pain at times to work with, I'm very happy the effects choices this amp offers.....On a personal note I'd like to state that some of these reviewers really need to take into account the guitar they're playing before being so critical of this amp's models and effects. At most, your amp only accounts for 50% of your sound! Also take into account that this amp is only intended to be a step or two above a practice amp. And while this amp really cranks and easily keeps up with most 2x12 combos out there, don't expect it to blow doors in big rooms. It'll sound good in your house, small bars, etc. Anywhere bigger and your going to have to rely on your PA to get the true sound out there.

I've owned mine for close to a year now and have had no problems. It's holding up fine.

Haven't needed it....

What I've posted above pretty much sums up my feelings about this amp. This amp delivers alot of bang for the buck.

Feb 2006 model. All the features previous reviewers have commented on.
Ideal for blues,rock, Pop and dare I say Metal heads. There is something for everyone, from super clean to hard core distortion.
In reality ther are too many effects so it will take a while to learn to drive this baby properly. I have noticed if you save channels the saved sounds vary depending on what the dials are set at. This may not be all bad as it gives some variety. The auto Wah and Phaser are two effects I probably want use as they crappy to me. The sound quality is good if not a little bassy on some settings but I went to the 50 watter over the 30 to get a 12inch speaker and a Celestion 70/80 at that so the speaker would handle whatever sound volume you dealt to it I would imagine. I originally looked at Valve/tube amps but the price and need for pedals to colour the sound, plus percieved cost with tube replacement cooled that option. The Chicken Head control Knobs are excellent for easy accurate setting.

I am using my self built Les Paul style axe with 'Golden Age overwound humbucker pickups with coil taps, and with mini switches for each. I tend to like the fuller Humbucker sound plus there is a big volume drop if you switch to single coil. I play in a church worship team and our songs vary from hymns through to rock style where I like to play with some distortion and effects.
Like many others I like the Fender Black 2x12 and Tweed 4x10 for clean channels amd UK 80's, modern and Numetal distorton. At full gain this is pretty brutal.
I have'nt figured out properly yet how to adjust all the effects and noise reduction but at the volumes I play at N.R is not needed.

Time wiill tell regarding reliability, but what I can say is both the music stores in our town sell Vox amps and have told me they have little problem with them. As well in NZ we have the Consumer guarantee act which means all products sold new must be guaranteed for a minimum of one year.

I emailed Vox on there website with some questions but never had a reply so I wasnt impressed with that.

I have been playing guitar for about 7 yrs and have built two all solid wood acoustics, and a L.P shaped electric. I mainly play electric with our worship team as we usually have an acoustic and electric combination with guitar players. I recently sold one of my acoustics plus traded in my Fender 15G and Korg Ampworks to help finance this amp. Contrary to other reviewers I love the Chrome grill which sets it apart from all other amps. It makes a statement; Look at me. I was originally going to buy a Line 6 Spider 30 but our music shops didn't sell them and said the Vox sound was far better. I think I will enjoy this amp even more, as I get to know all the quirks and settings for it.

I bought this amp new Feb 2006 with some trepidation as other reviewers have apparently have had some bad experiences. The 2 music shops in our town both sell Vox amps and they sell like hot cakes and assured me they had very few problems with Vox over the years. I wonder if these amps are more problematic when running on 120 volts instead of the 220 volts they were designed for. Jim Marshall says his amps sound better on 220 volts as well. I traded in my Fender 15G and Korg Ampworks and sold one of my accoustics to finance the deal.
I got it with the VFS2 footswitch and found the standard lead way to short so decided to fit a new 4 meter lead. Hindsight is always a great thing. If you decide to fit a longer lead, don't solder the wires directly to the switch but cut the wires a couple of inches from the switch and join the new wire by twisting and solder and tape them. Even though I had soldering iron that is made for electronics it ruined one of the switches and I had to pull the other one apart but I managed to get it working.
Apart from this setback I love the sounds of the amp and have set up channel one with clean 4x10 and two with AC15 distortion with the distortion channel fractionally louder than clean, so I can cut from one to the other on the move. The sounds you actually save varies because if you twiddle the amp settings/ effects the saved sounds vary which may not be all bad, as you can have more sound variations. Anyway I have not had it long enough to figure out yet all the intricacies it has such as changing the effects parameters and noise reduction. There seems to be debates about fan noise but this isn't a problem as its whisper quiet. Ther are some amp models / effects I would never use, but hey it nice to have choices.

The first time I ever played this amp was at our church and as soon as I hit the first chords the drummer rekoned it sounded awesome even though I was using the factory preset channel one with chorus. ( I dont know what amp type it supposed to be). I didnt have time to experiment so played everything with the same channel that day.
I don't need brutal distortion which it has in bucketloads and dont need huge volumes as we are miked. There is some noise when the amp is turned on full power and high volume but I'm sure the noise reduction will kill this, but as I said already I don't need that sort of volume.

Hoping it is. In New Zealand we have a consummer law which means all new products sold must have a one year minimum guarantee so thats better than the 90 day Vox one. I wiil reserve my decision here and hope it is reliable.

I contacted Vox by email with a couple of questions about a week ago but have never heard from them yet.

I tried various brands and ran hot and cold over both valve and transistor amps and was going to buy a Line 6 until I found none of our music stores sold them and they both raved about the sound quality of the Valvetronics. I was going to get a 30 watter but liked the idea of a 12 inch Celestion speaker universally rated as probably the best brand amp speaker made. I like the idea of minimal setup time without pedals. I have a two into one adaptor so I can have both guitar lead and a short patch lead for my tuner which sits on top of the amp so ther is no unplugging required for tune up. By the way I have a self built Les Paul style axe with "Golden Age" high output overwound humbuckers which have a nice grunty sound, and as well have coil taps for both for a more jangly Strat type sound which I dont use very often.

Well, considering the price of this amp you just can't beat the features. Others have listed them all, so I will not just repeat them. What I tend to use the most is reverb and delay. The only real problem I find is that you can can't combine the effects in any way you like. You are stuck with their pairings for all things. It would be nice to match some of them together in different ways.

However, for the price this is understandable. I'm sure the effects processor isn't as competent as their higher end models. It does do a very good job for the effects it has. Each effect has modifiable settings and rates.

I primarily use it with a Les Paul and an Ibanez Hollowbody. Both guitars use humbucking pickup's that were made by GFS (great pickup's for the price and I have played numberous pickup's over the years. The only other pickup's I ever use are EMG active's that I have to use when I play metal). Overall the sounds I get out of are very good. However, I did do some modifications. First, I made a new back for the cabinet and made it an open back. I personally like the sound of an open back cabinet and found the amp originally far too bass heavy. Good if you want a really fat tone, but I like a nice and airy tone (to get anything I liked before this mod the bass tone was always on about 3 or so). The second mod I did was changed the tube to a Sovtek. Sovteks are generally worse then the Electro Harmonix that is in there. However, I like the nasally/compressed sound that the sovtek gives me. It sounds a little more vintage in my opinion.

I also have an early 70's Fender Twin Reverb and this thing comes very close to that sound with the "blackface 2x12" setting. Although you won't find yourself using all the amp models, some are obviously better then others, all of them are fairly good and can be used for something. There is no model that really just sounds horrible. They all sound better than any transistor Marshall you could buy today.

The only thing I find about this amp is that it is a little on the quiet side for 50W. I don't understand how they could call it a 50W amp when they say that it only uses 52W total power for the whole Amp. That is around a 96% efficiency which is impossible for any amp, even a new digital amp.

Before the mods I would give this amp a 7. After my mods I give this amp an 8.

I have had no problems that others have reported. My amp does have a fan in it, but what can you do. Most of the amps that are built today in this price range have a fan. I was planning on disconnecting it and installing a larger heatsink one day. But, so far my fan is very quiet, even in my room when I am practising. From my experience I am going to give it a 10 in this area. However, others have not had my luck. Just so you know, I usually jam and gig with this amp just about as loud as it will go and I still have had no problems.

I would not hesitate to gig without a backup. You don't want to become a gearhead with more equipment than brains at a gig.

No idea what customer support is like. I did email them once about their bad choice in putting a fan in this amp and got no response. They probably don't like criticism. However, I have never seriously tried to contact them. So, I have no opinion for this category.

Overall this is a great little amp. Its not perfect, but no amp is. Its not getting perfect scores from anyone but those that won't admit that it has flaws. However, I can find flaws and problems in any amp. This amp is more versatile then most, that is such an advantage for someone who is a working musician. If you are a true tube head then you don't care about versatility. That's fine, stick with your one sound then. In that case this is not the amp for you. But, for those of us who play a lot of different music, this amp is great. I am in a 60's and 70's classic rock band(everything from CCR to Black Sabbath) and have been able to recreate a lot of the sounds from those songs. In my opinion that is worth giving up some of the vintage "tube" vibe for a good mix of tube and transistors (plus that, I don't miss paying for new power tubes all the time. The preamp tube will easily last 10 years if not 20 or so).

I have been playing for around 18 years and have always wanted a versatile amp like this. I only keep 2 amps around and can get most sounds I need out of them, this one and the Twin Reverb. I use the Twin now and then for sounds and when I need to be really loud. But, for the most part this is my amp.