Vox Valvetronix XL

[Legacyman]

I just got a new Vox twin with 2-12's. It has a solid state pre amp and tube power amp with onboard noise suppressor, several amp effects and separate tube adjustment for the power amp. I set it at about 75% and it's just enough but not too much. It gives me the overdrive I've been searching for and I'm beginning to fall in love with this thing. I play a G&L Legacy with it. It was only $499 plus foot switch. I'd highly recommend it if good overdrive is important to you.

[Metal Marc]

I'm gonna agree with Legacyman and add on to his review. I own the same amp and it's an excellent hard-rock/metal combo amp at an excellent price. Rating against its peers, it's very much peerless: this amp has great bang-for-the-buck. If I had to rate it - again, against its peers - I'd give it a rock-solid 9 out of 10.

I replaced the stock tube - an Russian-made ElectroHarmonix 12AX7/ECC83 - with a NOS JAN Phillips 12AT7. The clean was a lot better and it mellowed out the gain a little but the sound is still highly metallic. [note: guitars used for my test were a Fender Strat w/Red/Silver/Blue Lace Pickups, a Gibson Les Paul Studio w/EMGs, and an Ibanez RG1527 7-String] It was definitely an improvement on an already-great amp.

[Legacyman]

We had our weekly practice last night and it was great! I'm a "Tone Chaser" and this is my third amp in 2 months. The problem I had was finding one with the sound I wanted and in my price range. I had a tube amp before this (Peavey Delta Blues) and although a good amp, I couldn't get comfortable with it. But last night the Vox sounded so sweet I was able to relax and really dig into the leads. Now I'm through looking.

[Metal Marc]

Heck, yeah, man! You can't beat the value of the Vox Valvetronix Series Amps. I always hear people talking about the Valvetronix Series amps, and it's about 98% good stuff.

Dude, if you replaced that 12AX7 with another 12AX7 - a Tung Sol, perhaps - you'd be even more impressed. You'd think you just tripled the worth of your amp.