Visual Sound Workhorse Series - Pony

I have owned this amp for well over a year now so my review is legit! i hate it when people write a review the first week that they have it-they have no idea what it will be like in 3-9 months.
Visual Sound is a great company. my 2 favorite effect pedals are made from them which is what got me curious about this amp. I had a friend that had one and i loved the sound that he got out of it so i bought one through musicians friend.
It's got good, practical easy, features. i believe less is more and visual sound got it right in that area. i will say that the reverb tank that is on this amp sucks. it is by no means that fender spring reverb. it sounds alright at about 7 o clock, but any more than that and it sounds terrible.
it has an available feature to bias your tubes yourself and you can choose between el34 , el34 hot, 6l6, 6l6 hot which is pretty cool. i think visual sound thought of that before anyone else did.
i know the hub cap looks corny, but it definitely is very practical and makes the amp sound good where ever your sitting.
oh, and the 9vdc plug was an awesome idea whoever thought of that! you can actually power your pedals right from the amp which is definately cool if you ever forget your power supply or something.

I like the sound that i get from it. it's a single, clean channel which is all i need with my effects. actually, this amp was designed to use with effects so it sounds awesome. every few months you might here a buzzing...sometimes stuff rattles loose and you have to tighten it because it's such a small amp and is so loud and powerful.
about people saying the speaker sucks...i don't know what they're talking about...sounds great to me, but keep in mind your not going to get a fender tube amp sound unless you buy a fender tube amp sound. you can't buy an amp expecting it to sound like fender. if you want a fender...buy one. this one sounds great for what it's made for.

OK....i read every review here and it sounds like most of the people haven't had it long so most of them don't know the reliability yet. I DO!
This is the one area visual sound didn't get it right in. don't get me wrong...it's an awesome amp and won't fall apart right out of the box like you hear about with b-52's, but IF YOU BUY ONE...buy a used one that has all the mods. this amp is now discontinued so you don't have to worry about getting a new one, but when purchasing one...ask if it got any mods...if not, send it to visual sound and have them do all the mods.
I love this amp, but sometimes...i hate it. it's wierd how you can love something so much, but sometimes hate it's guts! but then i go get it fixed and i love it again.
but seriously...i have had about 5 different problems on this amp...some of which were serious.
the guys that wrote reviews about the volume not being loud...that's because they haven't got the volume mod yet. apparently some where along the line, visual sound realized things that work better for this amp...so they'll actually do all the mods for you for free...you just got to send it to them.
if you were to buy this amp before any mods were done, you would need to get new tubes (because the stock ones they originally put on them really sucked and they realized it), a volume mod, some type of mod for the fuse, a new input jack put in (the one that's in there is some type of cheap plastic-i just had it replaced), and YOU WILL experience buzzing sooner or later which is sometimes an easy fix and sometimes a serious pain (i had a friend that had bud luck with that one). i've also heard about the reverb tanks going bad, but that hasen't happened with mine yet. the good news is...the customer support is awesome so they will help you through the whole mod process...
if you ever buy this amp...call visual sound immediately and ask them what mods need to be done and if your amp has them or not and they will walk you through everything. TRUST ME! it will save you a lot of heart ache.
if you were to buy this new...

For the guys who said that visual sound customer support sucks...they're on crack! seriously, i'm pretty picky and these guys are amazing. your not going to talk to some strange guy who doesn't know what he's talking about...your actually going to talk to the guy who made the amp so he will be able to help you with every single little tiny problem that you have with it. he told me to send my amp to him and he did all kinds of mods for me completely free and i don't have any warranty or anything.
i also, asked if they could help out with the shipping cost and they gave me a free freaken pedal which sold over $100 easy!
those guys are awesome and by the way the president (BOB WEIL) is a Christian and a percentage of the money that goes towards visual sound is given to charity.

SO to sum it all up... i love this amp, but sometimes consider selling it because of the problems i've had with it (and it's not just mine...if you call them, they will tell you every change that was made on them).
these go extremely cheap on ebay, so i would say to go grab a hold of one while they're cheap, but i couldn't let mine go for under $470. i like it to much to let it go any cheaper.
i've been playing for about 15 years, but only 5 serious years. if it were stolen or sold, honestly i probably would not buy it again because of the problems i had, but for the size, volume, and price (for a used one)...you can't go wrong!
i use to own a fender hot rod deville 212 and sold it to buy this and i will say that the fender had better tone, but i like this amp better. it's just so much more practical. the fender weighed a ton and was way to loud! there was no low volume at all...it just went to blaring at 1 o clock, plus like most amps...the sound dispersing sucked. anyway, this would get a 9 for over all, but after taking into consideration the time and work you might have to put into this...i will only give it a 7.

This is a pure clean amp. It comes with the jekyl and hyde pedal which gives you overdrive and distortion. It has a line out which doesn't cancel the speaker, a 9volt out which I use to power my whole pedal board and a CD in. I wish it had an effects loop. It's claim to fame is the hubcap grill on the front that disburses the sound 180 degrees. I use this in church and I tested it by walking around the sanctuary and it really does throw the sound in all directions pretty evenly. More than enough power for what I use it for. It is a 30 watt tube amp.

I primarily use a Yamaha guitar with seymore duncan pickups with it. It has a lot of low end growl for a small amp. Very quiet and the cleans really cut through the mix. The jekyl and hyde give it a great overdrive and distorted sound. It is so good I retired my Boss GT-8. I have had a lot of compliments on my tone since switching to it.

The amp has been great so far, but I did have a small problem with the pedal that comes with it.

The support line is awesome. I had to call them on the pedal and they were very helpfull. They even sent me instructions on how to try and fix it myself. Very nice people.

I have been playing for about 7 years and have been searching for great tone that was portable enough to carry to church a couple times a week to play. This fits the bill. I would definitely replace it if something happened to it. I just wish I wouldn't have waited a year to buy it after reading a review on it. I compared it with a peavey, orange and fender amp before I bought it and for the features it couldn't be beat.

The features are the whole reason to buy this amp. Simple controls but built in reverb, sound dispersion speaker cone, cab out, line-out, 9v out to power your pedals without needing a separate plug, user tube biasing, free padded case and overdrive/distortion pedal, etc.

The only thing missing from the features list is an effects loop. Effects loops aren't very necessary in a simply combo setup but I love my BBE Sonic Maximizer and only putting it in an effects loop will do it much justice.

This amp is designed as a totally clean, high headroom amp. No second channel for overdrive, no gain knob, just pure clean sound that takes pedals well.

Here's the funny thing about the Visual Sound Pony. It sounds like crap. :) No, really. Right off the bat the amp sounds terrible. On the Visual Sound website the story goes that the designer went out to Eminence and Celestion to A/B test many different speakers and ended up deciding that the Celestion Seventy 80 sounded the best, then Visual Sound chose Ruby tubes for the tube selection. I can tell you right now; The Celestion Seventy 80 sounds like the musical equivalent of ear rape (at least in the Pony). Maybe my speaker was bad... but not likely. And then there's the fact that Ruby tubes are just relabeled tubes from other manufacturers. These two things, clearly used to save money on production, add up to a sound that is worse than any tube amp I've ever heard. Hell, the Epiphone Valve Jr. head, for 100 dollars, sounds better.

Now, you're wondering why I gave the amp an 8 in sound. Well, thats the post speaker/tube change rating. I switched out the puke inducing Celestion Seventy 80 and put in a kick-ass, and relatively cheap, Avatar HellaTone 30 speaker (which is a pre-broken-in Celestion G12H30) and changed the Ruby power tubes with Tung-Sol 6L6GC STR tubes and the pre-amp tubes with Tung-Sol 12AX7 tubes and now this thing rocks hard. Clean tones are amazing and I can play along to metal no problem. Oh, and it's nice and quite too.

The amp sounds ten times better than before, reacts really well to my distortion pedals and is fully satisfying. I NOW don't regret getting this amp one bit.

I would have given the post-mod rating a 9 but for some bizarre reason the treble knob acts more like a voicing knob and you have to turn it up to 8 or more to get good sparkley high end, essentially making the 4 and bellow setting, of the treble knob, useless. Of course you can always change the treble pot for one with a different rating and taper but I use an EQ pedal for all that kind of changing anyway. Also, the reverb is slightly less than great, though there are many choices of reverb tanks out there if you're really looking for something amazing in spring reverb.

I can say this thing is built all-pro style. Hand wired, fuses up the yin-yang for protection, well built cab, the speaker cone also protect the speaker from anything hitting it. I think it could use better insulating to block out radio noise but it's not too bad. There's the typical one year warranty but to me one year is pretty useless. If an expensive piece of hardware, with no moving parts, dies in less than a year you know the maker screwed up hardcore. I haven't had the amp for a year yet so I guess I'll have to wait and see how long it lasts. I'm thinking I'll have it for a very long time.

Keep in mind the warranty is void when you change out major parts:

Visual Sound, without a doubt, has some of the best customer support you can find anywhere. E-Mails are answered in a day, repairs are made to your stuff with no fighting and I've even heard of people with pedals WAY passed warranty getting repaired for free just because the Visual Sound people are such good guys.

Overall, after the speaker and tube changes, this amp is one hell of a good investment. It has every little feature in one package (minus that effects loop), great sound, looks cool after you paint the grey dispersion hub (they must have been smokin' something mean to think unpainted silver/grey looked good on a black/brown cabinet).

I'd give the sound "before changes" rating a 2. So, be aware that if the Pony happens to be everything you're looking for in an amp you'll still have to spend $80 on the Avatar Hellatone 30 (or $70 on the WGS The Reaper - which I hear is WGS's version of the same thing - who knows, maybe it's even better!), $35 for a matched pair of the Tung-Sol 6L6GC STR power tubes and about 35 dollars on the Tung-Sol 12AX7 pre-amp tubes. I will say, though, that the Ruby pre-amp tubes I got were from relabeled JJs and they sounded nice on their own, but not as 'gainy' as the Tung-Sols, so you may just want to keep them and save the money.

Simple controls volume,bass,mid,treble and reverb. The amp has user adjustable bias which is avery nice feature and it's very easy to adjust. The amp also has a power supply for effects.

I use a Gretsch guitar with single coils with a MXR 10 band EQ,Keeley Compressor,Keely Java Boost,Jekyll & Hyde distorion and over drive(which came with the amp),Retro-Sonic Analog Delay.This Amp sounds Awsome!! It doesn't matter what style of music you play, clean or distorted. I own a rack mounted system with studio monitors and the sound out of this amp rivals that of the rack mount system(no noise) although I have not turned this amp up past 6 on the volume(it's a loud amp for 30 watts).The Reverb in my oppinion could be improved,if you like a lot of reverb you will need to buy a separate reverb.when the reverb is turned past 6 o'clock there is a audable hiss. The sound is very clear and clean and effects sound great on this amp! I would highly recommend this amp to anyone.

I have used this amp for two months now and have had no problems.I have had the cover off and looked at the ciruit board on this amp and it has a military grade circuit board with stifteners moulded in to the board and very neat wiring, it should be bullet proof. A big plus is the user adjustable tube biasing. You can us the stock 6L6 tubes or the EL34 tubes, they can also be adjusted normal or a hot setting.

When I received this amp from Musicians Friend the reverb did not work. I emailed Visual Sound descibing the symptoms of the problem and Dave Sent Me a new reverb unit right away.Very polite and fast response they really care about their customers!

I have been playing guitar for over 30 years. I play rock,country and blues styles of music. I bought this amp to play at church and with friends. If this were stollen Iwould replace it in a heart beat.I love the sound of this amp and it's very small for a amp with one 12" speaker.If you are looking for a small amp that sounds great and is easy to carry around this is it!

This amp has very few features, however, it is very versatile in that it is like a blank canvas that you can color your sound however you like with your pedals. Very simple with a single clean channel, spring reverb, and 3 band EQ that actually makes a change when you turn the knobs. It is a very loud 30 watts. It also will power almost any pedal that you have through the amp, so you don't need to run an external power cord for your pedals.

I am playing a Carvin Bolt H-S-S pickup config(a strat style guitar), and this amp can do the Fender thing quite well. This is the most well balanced sounding amp that I have ever owned or played through. It has an unequaled bass response for a single 12 inch speaker. It is very quiet when sitting idle.

I play blues and rock styles of worship music at church, and this amp covers all the sounds I could ever want it to.

It sounds great with the Jekyll & Hyde pedal that comes with it.

OK, here I have one single issue. I happen to know that this amp was thrown around by UPS, I saw it happen!!! The driver parked on the wrong side of the street and got ticked off when the traffic was too heavy for him to get out of the truck, so he threw the amp onto the floor or the truck and drove around the block to park on the right side. I think it damaged a tube, I replaced it, and there are no issues! Pretty well built I would say!

I e-mailed Dave when I had the tube issue, and he was very responsive and prompt with replies to my questions. Not sure about the watranty.

This amp is everything I though it would be. A great sounding, well balance, and exceptionally well built amp, with the great feature of powering your pedals through it. I wasn't disappointed at all. I would recommend this amp to anyone! For the price that I paid, I got a steal!!!

Sorry for the late follow up on this amp.

I used the amp on Saturday nite and this is what happened. I just couldnt get a decent sound out of it no matter how I twisted the knobs. Very dark and dull like a transister amp. Funny it seemed ok at home but like I said only a live gig is a real test. I worked most of the nite trying to get an a decent sound and finally gave up. Certanly no Fendery sound. The amp does not compare to my Peavey Classic 30 or my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. Maybe mine was a dude but I doubt it. I will stick with a trusted Peavey or Fender. I will never buy a made in China high end amp again. I mailed the amp back to Musicians Friend that Monday. Once again let me apoligize for not coming back with a timely follow up. I really hate to bad mouth this amp but thats just my take. After 50 years of playing lead guitar and bass plus backing up some pretty famous people thats my opinion.

After coming across the Pony and reading about all it contained in a portable package, I thought I'd take a chance. Couldn't be happier as a result! This is a great solid 30 watt amp with fantastic tonal balance--great high end, nice, present low end with a consistent midrange. Plenty of power and quite simple controls: Volume, Treble, Mid, Bass, and Reverb. As others have stated, the EQ really have a wide range available. The reverb is not so great, however--they could have left it off! I bought a Boss reverb pedal when I had the reverbless Bassman that works great anyway. It has a line out as well as a CD input that I doubt I'll ever use. It does include a 1/8" 9v power jack for pedals. THAT is convenient. Also features a 12" Celestion speaker, a pair of matched Ruby Tubes 6L6s and easily adjustable biasing controls. The "hubcap" grill, despite being unusual looking really does help disperse the sound from the speaker. Well built cabinet, comfortable handle, detachable power cord, heavy-duty rubber feet. Also included is a nice, padded, cover with pockets AND their 2-channel Jekyl and Hyde Overdrive/distortion pedal! It's your basic great sounding amp with little frills. I will rate it a 9 as it is straightforward with a several plusses in the tubes, speaker, and I/Os, etc..

I've been in the market for a good quality, portable amp, on par with Fenders I've owned in the past. My most recent amp, a Fender '59 Bassman reissue, was probably the best amp I've owned in my life. I've had just a few solid, great amps in my 30 years of playing 60's garage stuff, surf, and rockabilly for the most part. I tend to stick with best amp I can afford and manage to handle comfortably. I loved the clean, sparkly sound the Bassman had but kind of wanted and needed something a bit smaller. Tried a Vox AC-15 reissue but didn't like the tube overdrive sound and it seemed a bit harsh in general to my ear. I generally use a Telecaster, or SG with P-90s, an overdrive, delay, and chorus pedal these days. They describe the amp's electronic section as being military grade construction. I believe it. All clean signal--no overdrive--allows for the best that your guitar and pedals can offer. A very quiet amp as well--even with single coils! Fantastic sound that takes me back to my days with the glorious Twin without straining my back. For what this amp is and has to offer, relative to the amps in my past it's a solid 10.

Seems to be very solid. I purchased a "blem" model and it had a tear in the vinyl covering on the amp but it's no issue for me and should hold up regardless. No metal corners but the 3/4" construction and compact construction appear to be able to withstand normal, everyday use. The bias adjustability and Celestion speaker will provide years of use I am certain.

No experience with their customer service. One-year warranty. Very clear and well written owners manual--something more folks should take into account more often under this category I believe, as it demontstrates good will and forethought on the part of the manufacturer.

If it were lost or stolen I would most definitely purchase another one. It's a great value I sort of stumbled upon in its relative obscurity in the "others" section of the Musician's Friend catalogue. I've owned a couple other Visual Sound products and have been very pleased with their quality. The added bonus of a Jekyl and Hyde overdrive/distortion pedal included with the amp make this the best deal out there. Time will tell if these catch on given the lack of promotion I've seen for these. There are a lot of amps out there, folks, and a lot hype as well. I consider myself lucky to have found out about these great quality amps and highly recommend one to anyone out there who is simply looking for the best 30 watt amp in this price range.

Just got the amp from Musicians Friend so I'm guessin its an "07". I've been working with it for about 5 days so far. It is a single channel 30 watt tube amp with 5 control knobs, volume, treble, mid, bass and reverb. This is excellent for me cuz I dont care for an ton of knobs when I'm on the bandstand. I can tell you from experience every bandstand is going to be different, what sounds good in one room is going to be different in another so you will always need to tweek. All this amp gives you is a excellent clean sound. No effects loop meaning all effects go right through the front, a plus for me since I've always went that route anyway. The big deal is the Jekyll an Hyde pedel that comes with this amp making it capable of making any kind of noises you want. I will be using this baby as my main amp for gigging. The interesting thing is its a tube amp thats absolutely quiet no frying sizzling noises its as quiet as a solid state. Oh ya I got 45 days if I dont like it from Musicians Friend.

This amp sounds pretty Fendery to me maybe even better than anything I've ever plugged into cept maybe a blond or two. With the speaker what I'm hearing is almost heavinly. I'm not a big distortion guy mostly classic country and classic rock and of the greatest music to my ear rock-a-billy "Scotty Moore stuff". The pedal that comes with this amp give's me a quit a variety of distorions. Untill I'm on the bandstand this Saturday nite I cant add much more. I play a mim Strat and Tele also a Les Paul Gibson and an American Strat those are my main guitar's.

One year warranty, and hope for the best. This amp seems to be built like a tank, real wood and a bit heavy for 43 lbs.

I have talked to visual sound a couple of times and Dave seems to be very helpfull.

I have been playing guitar since 1957. I presently use a Line6 Flextone 2 plus which is ok but very complicated, and without the floor board is a one sound amp for me. I also use a Peavey Classic 30 which I like just fine along with a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe which are all very good. But again I gotta hook up a few pedals or use the amps distortion. Heres the thing that got my interest in the Workhorse Pony, it comes with its own power supply for pedals and thats not all I can bias the tubes at the gig in a matter of seconds. The thought that went into this thing is astonishing. This may be the last amp I buy. I'll know that this Saturday nite. Oh yes the funky looking hup cap in front of the speaker allows for perfect sound dispersion.

This amp was made in 2007. I was looking for a single-channel amp that I could use pedals with. I mean, hardly anyone likes on-board distortion, so why get an amp with a channel you'll never use? The Pony seemed to be just what I was looking for. It also had reverb. This amp had all I wanted. I get tired of all the gizmos and whizbangs on a lot of amps. Simplicity gets high marks with me.

The little bit that I was able to play the amp, it sounded pretty good, although I thought it was a little muddy at the low end. It also did not have much volume range. Maybe that is how they keep the noise down at max volume, because it was a quiet amp and did not break up much, if at all, at high volume. The one thing I wanted was clean. I can dirty up a clean signal with pedals.

I play a Reverend 290, a standard Strat, and an Epiphone Les Paul Standard, and I play everything from classic country and rock to bluegrass and blues.

This is where I had problems. Compared with other reviewers, I will sound like a Scrooge. Maybe I just got a lemon, but when I received the amp (via Guitar Center), it came in a box that looked like the Samsonite gorillas had had their way with it. It was beat up and had taped-up holes. I was surprised, but took it anyway without inspecting it before leaving the store. When I got it home and started unpacking it, I could see that some of the styrofoam packing was also recycled and somewhat broken up. When I removed the top stryofoam tray, which contained accessories, thus revealing the top of the amp and its cover, there was what appeared to be white paint on the handle and splashes of the same material on the top of the cover. I was disappointed, but I wanted to hear it, so I disregarded the cosmetics for the time being.

When I first played through it, I was pleased with the sound, but as played at higher volume, I started hearing harsh buzzing sound, which seemed to come from the speaker, but I'm not sure. Adding the functional problem to the cosmetic problem, I decided to exchange the amp.

I talked to Guitar Center and they put me in direct contact with the folks at Visual Sound. When I talked to the technician, he wanted me to send him pictures of the white stuff on the handle and the cover, like he didn't believe me; but when I also informed him of the malfunction, he immediately have me a FedEx account number so that I could return the amp. They expeditiously repaired the amp, replacing the tubes (which had gone microphonic according to the tech), the reverb tank, and the handle.

When I received the repaired, not replaced, amp, it came back in the same beat up box and the white stuff was on the handle again, only worse. This time I could see the styrofoam cell imprints on the handle, so I knew it was rub-off from the bottom of the top tray. The cover had not be replaced and the white rub-off was still on it. To avoid this happening again, I thought I might just return the handle and the cover for replacement. (Visual Sound should learn from this and place something between the bottom of the tray and the top of the amp.) When I played through the amp, though, I was in for a big disappointment. There was an intermittent popping sound coming from it, but it would stop whenever I touched the power switch. Some kind of grounding issue, I guess. Additionally, as I played it more, I didn't think it had the bass response that I wanted. Anyway, at that point, I felt that I was just risking too much money for the kinds of problems I was having. So I returned it and I bought a Fender DeVille, which I love. Again, maybe I just got a lemon, but that was my experience.

I've been playing for about six years. By way of amps, I have a Fender DeVille, a Crate Palomino 32 (which is a great amp for the money), an Epiphone Triggerman 60, and a Fender Acoustasonic. I have a Seagull and a Samick acoustic guitars, and a Reverend 290, a standard Strat, an Epiphone Les Paul Standard, and a Dean Avalanche.

I'm not going to give an overall rating because I never got to try out one of the amps that didn't have issues. Even the bass response issues that I thought it had might have been related to other problems. The reason I tried this amp was because of the great, albeit sparse, reviews. I wanted to try something different than what everyone else has. I can't discount the experiences of others, which is why I am willing to admit that mine might have been a lemon and not typical of Visual Sound's overall quality. Nevertheless, I can't discount my experience either.