Guitar Reviews for you - the VOX MINI3 G2 amplifier

Guitar Reviews for you - the VOX MINI3 G2 portable amplifier

Small but perfectly formed the VOX Mini3 G2

in this retro Vox cabinet variant I own, styled on the AC30 it looks great.

I had seen this small Vox amplifier on the market sometime ago and recently bought one hardly used off Ebay, the reason being I was looking for a small Vox with the classic tones to play along to DVD's on the TV and to use in conjunction with my iPod to play along to for practicing. So I didn't want anything too loud for the backing sound situation.

The larger sized Vox DA5 has a range of amplifier sounds but this Mini 3 has actual Vox modelled tones as you'll find on their valved Valvetronix units. Wanting something for playing along to music by the Shadows, this Vox seemed the ideal thing, small, looks right and not too loud.  Although this is valveless, it sounds great for what it is and has the real sounds not the DA5 generic sounds which may fit some situations but not what I was looking for this time.

Use on the move or at home - the battery installation bay - great for Buskers!

A fabulous value for money small unit, it has a built in Tuner (this tunes to the E note on each string not the EADGBE as on the VT20 etc), Mic in for acoustic or vocals and an MP3 player input via an 1/8th jack which you'd have to go to a VT series amplifier to have otherwise and even they don't give you a vocal mic in on those except for their Acoustic guitar type amplifiers.

The handy carry strap - note the amplifier is available in classic AC 30 type cab, AC TV type cabinet and modern looking and VT series Chromed Diamond Grill versions.

The Vox runs on either mains 230v via a small transformer or on batteries making it a great busker's amplifier and it also has a carrying strap which attaches to the two buttons on the sides of the cabinet. Hook to a guitar strap and you can be a real wandering minstrel.

Easy to use control panel lets you dial in classic tones with ease

I found mine on Ebay used but like new and gave it a go.

For what I wanted sound wise  the Vox AC15 setting was good. With some Compressor, tape echo and the tone to the max and the volume fairly low, I added a bit of gain to power it on to get to a clean Hank Marvin / Shadows sound. It has certainly more than enough volume to play along to a DVD on the TV. 

Ok, so you don't have the array of controls or patch saving of a VT20 and on or an AD 60 or 120 but this is a fraction of the size and cost of those larger Voxes. And in situations where you don't want to lug an AC30 size cabinet about it is good for a demo of a guitar, track or practice on holiday, playing a guitar in your lunch hour at work etc.

There are 11 classic amplifiers on the board to choose from including the VOX AC15 and AC30, Fender clones like the Tweed and Blackface Reverb (which Vox can't actually refer to by the Fender names) and also Marshall and High Gain type modelled amplifiers on the more fiery end of the scale.

Surprisingly the Mini3 is quite loud and for what I want, only a fraction of the volume of the volume was required. The off-white knobs look very retro and I think it is a great amplifier for the money and for what it is in the package / specification. There is a headphone socket for practice or to take the signal out to a recording device, computer for recording or Mixer.

I did try the other amplifier models on the dial and they do sound close to the real thing as you'd expect given the Vox Valvetronix type of programming. That is why I chose it over the DA5 (which I have played on) which just gives you style tones and not specifically modelled tones named to what they should sound like. Nothing wrong with the DA5 but I really wanted that real Vox sound.

All in all a cute looking, retro looking and nice sounding small amplifier, great for low volume practice and who knows, even recording situations. I find it difficult to fault for the money save for the lack of patch saving, or banks of patches but you have to go to a VT20 for that at a minimum which is totally dependent on a mains power supply.

On balance, it is great value for money and versatile. A great addition to my Vox array!

Here's Vox's specifications for the amplifier:

OUTPUT POWER

3 Watts RMS
4 Ohms

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SPEAKER

1 x 5″ Standard Speaker

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INPUTS

1 x Normal Input Jack
1 x Mic Input Jack
1 x Aux Input Jack

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OUTPUTS

1 x Headphone Jack

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CONTROLS

Volume, Gain, Tone, Amp Model Selector, Effects Selector, Delay/Reverb Selector, Mic Trim, Mic Send, Tuner

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AMP MODEL

11 Types

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EFFECTS

12 Types

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SIGNAL PROCESSING

A/D conversion = 24-bit
D/A conversion = 24-bit
Sampling Frequency = 44.1 kHz

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POWER SUPPLY

AC Adapter (included)
6 x AA Batteries (not included)
Battery Life = Max 12 hours (alkaline)

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DIMENSIONS (W X D X H)

262 x 174 x 223 mm | 10.32 x 6.85 x 8.78 inches
3.0 kg | 6.61 lbs (without batteries)

Guitar Reviews for you: Rare Vox AC4 c.1964 smooth vinyl covered amplifier - the one that got away!

                                             

The VOX AC4 smooth covered valve amplifier circa 1964

The very rare 'smooth' vinyl VOX AC4

This is a bit of a retro review in a number of ways, reminiscing over a rare version of an old VOX AC4 amplifier I owned which got damaged in a house move which I should have kept!

The simple control panel layout

I was on holiday in Truro in Cornwall in 1985 and saw a small Vox amplifier in a music shop for £59! I had to have it. I had to wait a few days to get home to try it and it was really great. it hadn't been used for years as it had an old round pin plug on it. Plug changed, it fired up and sounded great.

It was an early 1960's VOX AC4 with Vibrato effect. The rare thing about it was the covering material which I have not seen on another Vox in the flesh.

Not shown in the back is a small divider shelf that slides in to provide a baffle between the speaker and circuit board. A small, hardwired 'egg' footswitch was wired to the amplifier which engaged or disengaged the Vibrato 'Tremolo' effect.

I had heard in a music shop of 'Blue Cabinet' Voxes but the only Voxes I had seen were the Black Tolex covered type. At the time this Vox was made, Jennings the makers of Vox were very busy with keeping up with supply due to the popularity of their amplifiers which were almost used exclusively in pop music from the Shadows onwards.

The smooth covering variation was used on the early AC series amplifiers with darker covering It isn't as rugged as the more plastic Tolex but I like the smooth covering.

The simple circuitry of the AC4

The AC4 I had was covered in a dark Grey colour smoothish vinyl, with a slight blue tint in the covering -  hence the 'Blue Cabinet reference' . Now, it reminds me years later of the Rexine material used on the old Routemaster bus interior wall coverings, so I am presuming this vinyl on my AC4 was a Rexine type of material in this special shade for Vox as I haven't seen any otherwise as light, they are usually a darker grey colour.

Small though this amplifier was it had big sound and I used it with a Watkins copycat for the Shadows sound. A friend made me a reverb unit which ran on 2 x 9 volt batteries and you could wind up the gain on the unit to make the Vox sound like it was a 100 watts!

It sounded great for playing along to the Shadows tracks.

A fabulous old amplifier, now very rare and expensive! The one that got away, sadly.

But I now have bought a near new AC4 C1 in Blue (below) which I will do a review of in another article.

Although this has no tremolo effect like the original,  it may be possible to modify it and add a footswitch, in which case I could add a reverb tank.