Vantage VG-15

I got this around 1995. I play many styles, rock blues, folk.

The amp has two channels (high and low) a separate mic input and a line out. I mainly use the high channel, each channel has clean and distorted sound (called overdrive) via a push button on the front.

There are controlas for the depth and volume of the overdrive, volume bass middle and treble controls. Power consumption is 35w for the 240v model. I agree with the other review a reverb would be nice.

I have 2 guitars now, my old yamaha sg200 from the late seventies. This doesnt sound too good on the clean channel but sounds great on the dirty channel. But for a clean sound I wouldn't choose the sg, i now have a gretsch white falcon which sounds fantastic on the clean. I don't think the amp really does an expensive guitar like the gretsch justice so I have sourced a gibson ga77 tube amp. But then most people wouldnt start learning on an expensive guitar and I don't think this amp would claim to hold its own with the more expensive makes. Lets be clear this is a cheap home use/starter amp and for that category it has a fantastic sound.

The yamaha is more suited to the brutal distortion you can get out of this amp. The VG-15 i assume from the name is 15 watts (can't find the manual now) and is more than powerful enough for around the house. Powerful enough to annoy the neighbours too if you wanted.

The only difficulty is getting far enough away from it when using a mike to avoid feedback but thats more to do with the size of the room than the amp. You can get some nice feedback with guitar to add to the performance ;-).

Its never broken down or anything despite occassionally being knocked over or having things dropped on it.

n/a never had any problems.

This isn't an amp i would have chosen myself. I sold my gear years ago and hadn't played at all I kept the Yamaha mainly for sentimentality.

I did start playing again and needed an amp, no point playing a solid body guitar without one. i would have succumbed to the big names like fender marshall mesa etc and bought something far too powerful for what i need. I was a little disappointed (Never having heard the name before) when I unwrapped the gift but that soon lifted once i heard the sound.

But this Vantage is great, it measures about 33x30x19 cm so it just tucks out of the way nicely when you are not using it, it is light as a feather and robustly made sounds good and is cheap what else can you ask for in an amp for home use. Fantastic starter/home amp excellent value, or for someone like me who started playing again, no point buying an expensive amp if you are not sure you will keep on playing.

I got this with a Fender Strat in one of those special offer guitar and amp starter packages about 6 years ago.
It has all of the features you could want from such a package, two channels, overdrive, headphone socket and a line out.Christ it even has a seperate microphone socket-everything that you could ever reasonably want. The High and low input sockets are there as well. Could you imagine if Fender or Marshall put all of these features in an amp under #500- yeah right.
It has to get a ten for features doesn't it.

It is a great starter amp- you can get all of the sounds that you could want and it is loud enough to play with a couple of mates. However, once someone starts to play with a more powerful and better quality amp you are going to realise the limitations of an 8" speaker.
But it is a starter amp that weighs next to nothing and me and the kids still play with it, them on the microphone and me coming through on the guitar.
It's adequate for what it is-don't compare it to a tube amp- I have one and there is no comparasion- either in price or size or portability or sound. A great starter amp.

No problems.

Not applicable 'cos it never died or rattled on me.

Playing for about 15 years, generally acoustic guitars. Bought this because I could play silently at night when the kids were in bed- it had lots of features and that was good enough for me. I play more electric guitar than acoustic now and this has been resigned to use for a microphone or a second guitar since I got a better amp.
If it were stolen I wouldn't chase after the thief, but that's because I have better gear now, but when I first got it I thought it was great and I still do for the job it is designed for.

It covers the basics, mines equiped with only two settings normal and compressor sorta handy except as my amp age the compressor went to shit, other then that it is alright. My amp lost any versatility it once had, since it can no longer be destorted with sounding "tinny" and annoying. Power is a major issue as the more you turn it up the more the sound is destorted (and not it a good way).

THIS AMP SOUNDS HORRIBLE, You cannot fathom the bleak muddy sound this amp has, or if you turn the volume up it sounds "cracky" and the high pitch resonance is just plain retarded!

Well since by amp went to shit after a month of use my opinion of it's reliability is some what jaded. I've had a lot of problems with this amp.

Vantage is very difficult to get customer support from also most people who buy vantage equipment by it used from not exactly the most reputable dealerships so it is hard if not impossible to get reliable support.

I have been playing for 7 years and used many various amps and this one just didn't stand up. However I totally love my beginner Vantage guitar it jast great 7 years ago and is still great now. Still can't complain too much for $75.

This little amp is a workhorse. It's the first one i've ever had and it sounds pretty good for its price and size. It has 2 channels, clean & od (regrettably non footswitchable). It also doesn't have an fx loop, which i'm starting to miss now that i have a processor. It has headphone and line out jacks. There is also a mic input with its own level control. You can plug a guitar into it, but because of its impedance it sounds a bit muddy and distorted. I use this amp mainly at home, and i've also jammed with it a few times. It doesn't stand up too well against a loud drummer. It doesn't sounds that good cranked. It's a 15w ss closed back combo. I took out the back cover and now the clean channel sounds better, but the od sounds thinner.

I play whatever comes around (if i can). This amp, being basically a "plain vanilla"amp does well at almost any style. Not excellent, but ok. It isn't noisy at all; the cln channel is quiet all the way up, and the dirty channel became a lot less noisy when i replaced the ac plug with a grounded one. A bit hissy maybe. The clean channel is, well, clean. I mean it's pretty plain, but it does the job. When cranked it breaks up a little, sp with the bridge pu. That doesn't sound that good being a ss amp. The dirty channel it's pretty nice. When i just bought the amp i used to have a dist. pedal, but i started noticing the amp's od was sweeter, even though it lacked some gain. Sounds pretty warm, if a bit buzzy, but you can get nice chunky sounds out of it, as well as some creamy ones. You can also back off your guitar's volume for cleanish sounds. At least it doesn't have that metallic timbre i find in peaveys. It's a bit on the thin side though. I have a stock strat, a boss od and a zoom box. however i end up using the amp alone, because i plug the zoom to my stereo so that i can have stereo fx.

I have had it for more that 4 or 5 years and i don't think it'll break anytime soon. It wouldn't be suitable for gigging since it doesn't have enough power. I've really abused (ie cranked with all inputs used) and it hasn't crapped out on me.

The first one i took home had a nonfunctioning line jack so i took it back and they gave me another. I don't recall how long the warranty lasted, but it's gone for sure.

I wouldn't buy it again, i'd like a bigger one (all tube if i can afford it). I think it's the best first amp i could've ever bought. I'm aware of its limitations though. I didn't compare it to anything, it just was the cheapest and had a lot of knobs :). I wish it had reverb, that'd be cool.