Vox Cambridge 30 Reverb

This amp is pretty cool, I bought it hoping to attain and ac30 sound... not quite but it sounds good. I play alot of stuff from blues to contemporary christian rock, so it seems to suit that stuff well. I used to use it to fill a large auditoriumsetting with a 57 infront of it... then i discovered cambridgeits Yikes! Now ive pulled it out and set it up in streo with my vox ac15 its killer till it browns out sucks.

Clean tone I actually enjoy its just the damn brown out it does, I dont even go near the overdrive channel lol.

If i could figure out how to fix the cambridgeits i woud deffinatly call it reliable.

it would be an 8 if the damn thing didnt brown out!

Lovely sound through clean channel. Not so good through dirty. Simple solution for this is to use a quality distortion pedal.
I strongly disagree with those who say that this amp is not for heavy rock/metal or guitars with humbuckers. I use a Fender Big Apple strat and believe me - this amp can deliver some seriously heavy sounds, from Smashing Pumkins/Nirvana/Green Day to East Bay Ray/Dead Kennedy's.
....and without the distorion, texas tones and sweet sounding reverb are only a dial away. Ten out of ten from me!

No probs

Made in Korea I think in 2004? I wish it came with a footswitch - I had to buy one separately. I use this amp in the studio, and on stage our band BackBeat - a Beatles / 50's/60's cover band.

It's powerful enough for our practices - most times I have to mic it or run it through the PA during our live gigs.

I've played an epiphone Casino through this amp and it sounds great!
I also have a Gibson SG Standard - and recently picked up a Gretsch Pro Jet (similar to the Duo Jet) - playing these guitars through this amp is a joy!

The Casino has P90's - so they're very hot! - but great tone!
Gibson SG have the '57 Classic Humbuckers - Beautiful through the Cambridge as well!

As I mentioned, my latest addition is the Grestch Pro Jet (well worth buying if you've always wanted a Gretsch - I payed $400.00 CAN) This thing has that great "Beatles tone" through the Vox for that distict George Harrison solos.

I find that the clean channel stays pretty clean at high volumes - it really depends on your pickups.

The distortion is actually pretty good. I don't use it too often, but when I do, it sounds right.

Overall, "yes". I have used it at gigs, but with a back up amp. You should always have a back up amp - I don't care if you're playing with a Fender Reverb, Peavey or a Vox AC30 - nothing is infallible!

My amp has broked down completely - once, about 3 years ago just after I had bought it. It just died. I took it in for repair and it was something not-so-serious.

I recently had to take it in to get repaired - the clean channel started to crackle, and the overdrive channel wasn't working at all.

N/A I bought this thing used, and now it's disco....

I've been playing for 24 years - mostly 50's 60's and Beatles.

As I mentioned earlier, Epiphone Casino, Gibson SG 400, 1961 Gibson Hummingbird (sweeeeeeeet!)and a new Gretsh Pro Jet.

Some mini Danelectro effect pedals - distortion and reverb.
1965 Vox Pathfinder Practice Amp (All TUBES!!!) - Beautiful Vox sound!

Buy this amp if you love the Vox sound. Before you do, if you can, open the control panel (the main box) to see if it has had repairs done to it - there should be repair stickers inside with dates.

Overall, I've only had to repair it twice in the 3-4 years of using it which isn't too bad when you consider the overall performance that I've got out of it.

Don't forget, this thing was made in Korea. Not the UK or the US!
I was looking at an AC15 - but their made in China and don't have the greatest reviews - I guess you get what you pay for!

I'd have to say I am satisfied with this amp, and a couple of repairs doesn't seem unreasonable.

I am putting plastic corner protectors on my vox as well, which I was surprised it didn't come with -my old 65' Pathfinder had them - I guess their cutting back to keep the price down.

Ive been playing lead guitar in various semi pro outfits for nearly 20 years and have come across amps, some expensive with lots of features and some not so expensive and less features, this amp has some good features for the price, ive owned one for 3 years

this aint no ac30 hand wired or original 63 top boost model but it is a nice amp and the sound is good for the money if set up correctly, if i wasnt using a mesa boogie as my main amp then i would probably use this one for medium sized gigs, to me i find the clean channel downright dirty at high volumes

ive heard about these things catching fire, not witnessed it myself but then when i use this amp its normally on low volume and not cranked full blast.
Its never let me down, i expect judging by opinions on here i must be one of the lucky ones, or the majority of postings on here are from people who have had problems with it, and those that have no problems with it dont tell people so

the warranty is long out on this, ive never had to deal with them so cant really make any remarks about customer support

i own an ac30cc twin all valve, a mesa boogie, epiphone junior 5 watt and a gelf gd20 a hybrid valve pre stage amp and also this model, i like this amp i like the sound i like the looks, i cant help thinking that it could have been made better with possibly a twin speaker system, i wouldnt want it to be an all valve model, i have one and there dam heavy and expensive and when they go wrong my god they go wrong

2005 New. Amp has two channels with one clear and the second in different distortion-possibilities.
I use this amp eather in practice as on stage.
.

I connect it on stage with a Vox V212BN with 2 Vox/Wharfdale speakers. Two speakers have more "body" !
The combination of The Vox Cambridge and V212BN Cabinet is perfect. The Vox sound is not that clear as some others and I like it.
I use a Fender Telecaster (1973) and a handmade Charlee Thinline Fiddleback (2007).

I can depend on it.
So far no problems.

No problems so far.

I play for more than 40 years now.
I changed my Fender Twin Reverb for this Vox Cambridge/V212BN Cabinet.
Fender Twin is too heavy to handle for daily or weekly use.
.........and I'm happy with my Vox-gear. It's a matter of emotion sometimes.
Vox has this.......... anyhow, it's something special.

I got mine second hand, it's supposed to be one of the later models, and before going on sale it was serviced by an amp technician I know to be competent. The features have been covered by everyone else below so I won't go into them; they're sufficient for my use. It has a Celestion Bulldog speaker.

It has a surprisingly high output for a 30W amp, and yet doesn't go dirty sounding at near top volume (I don't mean crunchy in a sweet way, but plain dirty and gritty, if you know what I mean). I use it for

First things first: it does have "the Vox sound". If you're looking to get somewhere near that sound without the disadvantages of an all tube amp, this is probably as close as you'll get, and the excellent, very musical Celestion speaker plays a great role in that. If you're looking for anything far different than the Vox sound, look elsewhere.

The first channel remains clean until about 85 percent volume, and interacts very sweetly with good preamp drive such as a Boss SD-1 (esp. at low gain) or OD-3. Using the clean channel with an overdrive pedal will yield a variety of sweet Voxy (is that a word?) sounds. An important thing to note: make sure your overdrive / distortion has a tone control, or you're using an EQ pedal (preferably post-distortion); without some way of controlling the tone, the trebles may get unbearably high (a typical Vox thing) and compensating by turning down the channel's treble eats away too much of the amp's characteristic tone. It's better to shape your signal with the combination of EQ, boost and compression to your liking before it arrives at the amp, and just leave the amp at neutral settings.

You'll either love or hate the second channel. It has a thick, bassy, Big Muff-like sound (think a US Big Muff done English way) that's hard to control without an EQ pedal and good attention to playing dynamics. Replacing the stock tube will obviously alter the tone; even if you totally hate the way it ships, there's a chance that you'll get something you like out of with an EQ pedal and a new tube. Even if you find no use for it, the first channel plays very well with most overdrive pedals anyway. The second channel can also be played almost completely clean with a low gain setting and the boost switch disengaged, but it sounds too thin for my liking, though I guess it can be reinforced with a clean booster or a compression pedal plus an EQ pedal to make it sound good.

I play a stock 1991 Fender USA Telecaster through it, and they suit each other very well for my kind of tone: a punchy, "twang"y, raw Tele tone the English way. It's not any more or less noisy than any other amp of its class I've tried. I use it ungrounded.

I'll have to counter the horror stories: I've had it for six months, in which it was used for about ten hours a week and saw two gigs, and it's so far worked without a hitch. I've asked two competent guitar techs about its known "reliability issue", and they both answered the same: it can be unreliable, but is easy to fix, and the fix is permanent. Mine had the opto coupler mod done when I bought it, and it's apparently easy and cheap to get done even if your particular one doesn't have it; just make sure you know of a decent and honest guitar tech. I give it a 10 here because: 1) It's caused me no problems and I know that it can be easily fixed if it does 2) There are no symptoms that it will cause problems in the near future 3) I believe there is too much unreliability hype shadowing this amp.

I haven't dealt with them, and I don't think I will; if anything goes wrong I'll take it to a local guitar tech. I got it second hand and it has no warranty.

It's discontinued, so if you see one in good condition and are into the Vox thing, just get it. The average selling price is great for the features and value you get. It's the best solid state amp I've heard and definitely the closest one to the accustomed tube clean sound. I like it for the great cleans impossible to find in any other solid state amp, good interplay with drive pedals, original, non-standard sound in the drive channel, and its portability. I can't find any real fault with it at this price.

All of this has been covered in the previous posts so I will not elaborate here. Plenty for Me, I just mostly straight line this amplifier. Wish they would have only made this model in the 2X10" instead of also offering the single 10"

Sounds good at moderate to slightly loud volume levels, After that going higher creates an annoying raspy, buzzy, fizzy sound. I don't know whether it is the single 10" blue celestion futzing out or whether the stock TDA2050 power chip amp is clipping? Could be something else as well so I will have to look into it again. Other than that like I said if You keep the volume under control the sound is very Voxy indeed. The clean is spectacular and sparkly, Distortion is very rich and harmonic. At moderate levels. The Mid boost button? Why they incorporated that in there is a mysery to Me. Sounds like Crap! Reverb? creamy and deep control very responsive. Trem? very good from Choppy to barely there after I did the "opto" replacement. and adjustment of the trimpots.

I bought this amplifier after reading the dismal reviews about it here on HarmonyCentral, So I knew full well just what I was getting into before liberating it from the pawn shop it sat in for well over a year before making a deal and taking it away. This amplifier sounded great when I got it home and I thought I must have gotten one of the jewels, Although I was a bit concearned about the low output power. My hopes were dashed as I noticed after about a half hour of playing the amp volume would just fade away, Get muddy and just stumble if I turned the volume up to compensate. "See" it's that pesky & cheap where in the hell did it come from optocoupler.

So now I set my sights to remedy the malidy. I had already researched parts replacement options and all the modification articles I could find via the internet prior to acquireing this unit. So once I was comforatable about the availability of parts and the best price. Thats when I went and bought the amp.

The optocoupler is a Vactec # VTL5C3/2 I got mine from "Small Bear" www.smallbearele.com I believe it set Me back a whopping $9.00 delivery included, (Steve Daniels) Fantastic fella to deal with.
Well anyway I was set to do the opto change-out. II hope if You opt to do the work Yourself You have a lot of "Patience", Put on Guns N Roses if You have to and get rid of all the aggrivations in the house like Wife, Kids & the telephone, Cause Your a gonna need it. I will tell You right know getting the flimsy circuit board outa this amp is a royal pain in the ass! Short of Cutting all importaint wires to gain access to the opposite solder side of the board takes some judicious manipulation and fondling.
Well needless to say once I gained access I got the old opto out and the new one in and buttoned it all up again. After powering-up I was elated that I no longer suffered the volume drop-off after a long period of playing but was still very put-off by the low overall output power, In addition the trem no longer worked. Opened it up again and adjusted trimpots V11 & V12 with a plastic screwdriver. Prior to doing these adjustments I did measurements and found that from the factory this amp was only putting out about 7 watts total at full volume. So my assumtion is that the trimpots were never even calibrated from the factory, Whats up with that? So after judicious adjustment I had a ! LOT ! of Volume and a very active and controllable trem.

Next I tried the LM3875T Chip Amp 56 watt upgrade, That did'nt work for Me yet all it did was put a 60 Hz hum in the speaker so I will have to look into that one as well. So I put the origional TDA2050 Power chip back in and have been playing like that for now. I got the LM3875T Power Chips from Futurelec. www.futurelec.com./index.shtml
I believe these chips set Me back a whole $4.00 a piece and the shipping was pimples. Remember if You opt to do the chip amp replacement that it should be isolated from the heatsink with an appropriate insulator and also use heat transfer silicone to make the connection between Chip, insulator and heatsink. If You are geting a continuity reading from the metal tab of the Chip Amp and the heatsink, Then something is wrong! Do Not Power-Up! Find and isolate the problem.
Also Watch that rear panel "Jack" circuit board dos'nt come into contact with any of Your new handi-work after reassymbly of the rear cover panel! Good Luck!

For the longest time I wondered if "VOX" personnel or support acually existed. ? I still don't have an answer for You. Trying to get a schematic for one of thier products is like pulling hens teeth, And getting one for this particular amplifier is "NO" Exception.

So for those of You out there with problems or in need of a little realistic guidence to get Your amp up and running again drop Me a line at
tripodtripper@yahoo.com I will send You a pdf, schematic and all I know about getting You on the right track.

This Could have been a winner for "VOX" (The Cambridge) and instead of fixing a Bad problem decided to dump on the customers and discontinue the product. Then release more & improved products with even more reliabillity problems, Read the reviews. I don't feel-up to tackleing a modeling amp with problems.

I am in the process of redesigning the (Camridge) as I write this and after I feel confident and comforatble about production costs; will submit a proposal to Korg and see if they will go for it, Seems a long shot at the moment as KORG seems to really not give a rats ass about driving a Brand Name or Model # into oblivion through inferior design and indifference on the cusps of making a buck and forgetting about the people Who bought their inferior products.

I am also proposing having these items made in the U.S by "Americans" that the current adm, would have You believe don't want to work.
Price as I see it right now would be about 399.00 but would be a very gigable amp with no particle board any where. And a real and trouble free bullet-proof hybrid 30 Watts with 2 X 10" speakers!

Comments and questions should be sent to tripodtripper@yahoo.com

Thank You, George Mc Natt

Remember these Oddball (Discontinued) Korg offsprings are going up in price and by some perverted twist of collectabillity are going to go through the roof as far as dollar amount go. So get Yours now before they either get bought-up or thrown out the back of a fast moving vehicle. I saw that happen once! See thats what got me interested in the whole KORG/CAMBRIDGE Thing

I took Alexandre de Santi's advice and changed the tube to a 12at7 and it made a world of difference on channel 2. From bassy and muddy to warm & vibrant. I use it as a small travel amp & it works out good.

Use a direct box to eliminate any hum and noise if recording. I use it for classic rock with either a Gibson SG or Les Paul. Changing the tude to a 12at7 is the key.

I originally got on to the tube change idea while searching for a schematic on here. Had an open circuit on resistor R95 that I had to resolder.

Vox E-mailed me the schematic for Free!

For the price & portability it is a great amp. I've played the newer generation 50 watt model and it is a nice amp too. Change that tube!

Described above

Love the distorted chanel sound, but clear is on the blink again.

Clear chanel died just outside warranty & proved difficult / expensive to reapair.

Puff of blue smoke tonight & I expect the repair cost will exceed its value.

VERY dissapointed again.

Vox appear to be hiding from their older customers & blaming previous management. Not very comforting ! Will not buy another VOX.

Made in Korea: two channels that are switchable via footpedal as well as a mid range boost, gain switch, tremolo, reverb, line out, headphone out and a 12AX7. The reverb is a little weak but enough and the tremolo is very nice.

I'm using a 50th American Series Fender Strat and a 96's MIJ Fender Strat with two SCN single coils and a Dimarzio Virtual PAF humbucker (bridge)
I am very pleased with the sound of this amp. Ch.1 is fat and warm. It has a nice sparkle to the top end without being harsh.
Ch.2 is dynamic. You can go from almost clean to dirty just by pick attack. Anyway I rather prefer my stomboxes when I want some dirt: Maxon OD808, Deucetone RAT or Mosferatu
As I said before, very nice reverb and tremolo
Finally, the Celestion bulldog is beautifully voiced.

Haven't had any problems yet. I bought it new last month, so I can not rate any opinion

Shame. I bought this amp with manual, but not schematic.
I wrote VOX asking for the schematic, you know, the schematic is something you would like to have, just in case. Asking for a .pdf, anything.
No response at all. So guys if you can give me a hand sending the schematic in any format, I will really appreciate very much
I found one in the inet, but belongs to the vintage cambridge....so help!

I've been playing for 30 years, half time pro, Rock covers from Beatles to Purple, Police, you name it.
I use to play almost all weekends. I use to have (not at the same time) Marshall JCM900 high gain dual reverb and 1960 cabinet (gosh heavy mutant!), Mesa Boogie Mark IV (heavy too and need to be an engineer to deal with it), Fender The Twin, red knobs (still heavy), Marshall JCM900 Mod 4501 (50w combo), JCM600 (60w Combo)
Greats amps huh?... but I realized I play mainly in small to medium gigs (pubs, small restaurants) and all this stuff is suited to play loud, very loud if you want to get the best response.
I know that because I played a couple of times in a stadium and there was when I found the best response. With all this 100/85/50 valve amps you can not play that loud in small/medium venues, if you want to keep your, besides all this amps sounds anemic when you set volumen and master at 2
Also, I was tired to carry all this stuff and now my back is grateful again
Anyway I keep the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe 40W (loud anyway!..and heavy), The Fender Pro Junior (not heavy, loud but boxy) and the Vox. And this last one is perfect in weight and sound. Enough loud for my needs, believe me. Let me tell you more: Last weekend I played in a party. We performed our show in the garden, big one. I miked the Vox and its perfomance was superb! I heard myself on stage It worked beautifully, without problems, great tone, bottom, with the volume and master halfway up even standing our hard hitting drummer