Hey VOX we need a new VOX Valvetronix VT amplifier - with more on-board patch storage capacity!

The Classic VOX AC15, Watkins tape echo & Stratocaster

So, we all may know VOX from the heady days of the 1960's when the iconic VOX AC30 amplifier seemed to be the must have amplifier for any player into the music of the time and any player wanted to be Hank Marvin of the Shadows, Keith Richards or George Harrison, not to forget the Monkees to come with their Vox stacks.

Yet from the success of that iconic amplifier range, a range of guitars and effects, the VOX company were victims of fashion and by the late 60's the Marshall stack was the new must have. And VOX was struggling.

The AC30 was the main amplifier of the early 1960's

Sadly, VOX went solid state at the end of the 1960's and the company was sold on and moved away from the AC30 in time to wonders such as the VOX Venue, adequate but a world away from the 30. I had a 1964 VOX AC4 in the 80's and that was everything my Venue wasn't. My first Venue caught fire and the second one was pretty awful.

Fast forward to the Korg ownership and we were blessed with the AC30 reissue in the 1990's. Yes the 6 input leviathan was back. Twin speakers and all. Still as weighty.

The Tonelab SE and the Pathfinder 15R amplifier

the Pathfinder is a 'new' take on the AC4, but solid state and sounds good

But new was to come in the form of the VOX Valvetronix series. Here, an amplifier modelling brain was built into an amplifier, styled on the old AC30 and the TV Cabinet 1959 AC15 size amplifier, the VOX AD120 and VOX AD60 amplifiers.

Also built as a studio module and as the SE stage version floorboard with expression and volume pedals, the VOX Valvetronix delivered very realistic amplifier sounds with the capacity to store 96 user editable patches on the SE and Studio version.

The VOX AD60 Valvetronix, practical and portable

The building of the Valvetronix brain into the AD series amplifiers was a master stroke. The single speaker AD60  with 32 on board user editable patches supplies plenty of scope from early 50's rockabilly to present day sounds, allied to a VC12 footboard which can store its own patches to upload and can be used to select patches and guitar volume.

The brains of the beast - old school VOX chicken head knobs

The partner to the 60 was the 120, a twin speaker amplifier which is lighter than the old AC30, but still in the same retro style, with the stylish Blue cloth speaker cover which I like. Also an on-board tuner is so handy and can be engaged in silent mode for onstage use. This amplifier has everything, so what could be done next? Blow it.

The VOX AD120 - best of old school looks, best of modern modelling

So the AD series amplifiers were king of the hill in the early 2000's and we then saw a new version come in, the VT series. Although styled on the lines of the AD's with traditional styling, the lack of on-board patch storage reduced to 8 was abysmal.

 

The VOX VT30 part of the VT Series

The VT dropped the on-board tuner function, perhaps the AD had been expensive to make and at over £700 for the 120, they were pricy but they had so much functionality.

The VT by a contrast was basic and poorly appointed. The updated range of VT+ amplifiers reinstated the tuner but the same few patches storage, why? Memory is cheap these days!

I contacted VOX and asked why they had gone backwards, essentially they needed an AD with more patch memory. It was hinted that a new version would come out, but to be honest they need that AD or Tonelab capacity of storage.

The VOX AC30 continues to be popular some nearly 60 years after it first made the stage, today there are Valve Reactor versions which are less costly and have the same look, but no patch storage. You have to bring your own pedal board to the party here.

So the challenge to VOX  is, go and give us a new AD series with more patches on-board and that nice beefy foot controller!

The New VT40X does have an on-board USB socket for modelling, perhaps that is the way forward or to produce a Donkey controller box to set up patches that can be disconnected for playing, but with on-board patch storage in the amplifier. Oh and whilst there, put a bigger LCD like on the Tonelab so we can name patches and see the names.

Then you'd have another market leader. Go to it.

Guitar reviews for you - the VOX AD60 2002 amplifier review

                                              

                                                                                 

The Vox AD60 amplifier circa 2002

                                                                        

The compact control panel layout

One of the problems playing live music is that most of us can only practically transport one amplifier to the performance. This rather limits your sound unless you have a helper that can rearrange your control knobs for each song!

The VOX AD60 Amplifier helped change that. It was one of the early 'modelling amplifiers' that allowed you to create and save a 'scene' or 'patch' settings of a sound you wanted to keep and to be able to recall as you played via a foot board controller or a bank of buttons on the amplifier fascia.

As Line 6 built on the functionality of the POD, so Vox used the Valvetronic Tonelab and Tonelab SE floor mounted amplifier modellers as the 'brain' for the AD60 and AD120 amplifers.

Using the classic 'retro' VOX AC series appearance of a dark blue grey tolex with a contrasting blue weave diamond pattern speaker cloth, the AD series amplifiers established themselves in the position of AC30 and AC15 rebooted.

The AD 120 is essentially a twin speaker version of the AD60 and I will cover that in another review.

The AD60 is of a size  reminiscent of the original Vox AC15, what they called the 'Television cabinet' model. The 60 gives you a plethora of tasty classic amplifiers which lean more towards the vintage rather than the VT series which tend more towards the modern sound.

For those of you in to the retro sound of the 1950's and 60's, whether that be instrumental music of the Shadows and Ventures sound or Rock n' Roll or Rockabilly, this amplifier has the looks to match the great sound quality.

The choice of 16 amplifiers should not leave you stuck for choice and variety, allied to a 32 patch user editable memory as opposed to the rather limp 8 of the VT series. The 8 patch memory of the VT is something I cannot believe that Vox did, given the price of memory which is cheap these days.

That aside, the AD 60 is packed with a selection of effects such as Chorus, Flanger, Tremolo, Phaser and rotary speaker in the modulation department. A choice of Tape echo, delay and multi head settings in the Echo department are welcome and have tap setting.

Reverbs are Plate, Spring and Room, with depth control.

For those into Top Boost, that is also available on the Pedal rotary switch. 

The rear panel of the amplifier has Send and Return, headphones out, line out, foot controller CAT5 cable socket input, a rotary volume sweep and an attenuator 1,5,30 and 60w settings range.

Quite enough to play in your front room even set on the 60watt setting and full sweep volume, the amplifier can be played manually via the controls or it can be set up and patches selected.

The AD series uses the optional VC-4 and VC-12 foot boards. The VC-4 is a less appointed unit whereas the 12 can store patches on an even can upload to amplifiers.

For those wanting the maximum patch capability, owners can purchase a Tonelab SE and either connect it to the send and return sockets of the AD60, once they have selected a 'clean' and 'neutral' patch or setting, they can then enjoy 96 patches of sonic availability. Or you could connect a left mono output from the Tonelab SE to the input jack of the AD60 and get much the same situation.

For live work where the audience cannot compare the AD60's output to the amplifiers it is configured to represent, they should be pleasantly surprised at it's authentic sound.

Even in the studio it should sound realistic, of course speakers will vary as on any amplifier, as will components which can influence the sound output.

Although produced for around 3 years, the AD series amplifiers are still out there secondhand, so try one and buy one if you can, they are really good. They did cost a lot of money when new, around £5-600 for the AD60 and the AD120 was about £800, the VC-12 pedal board can be picked up occasionally but they were expensive to buy back in the day and a used one can be around £200.

Expect anything from £100 to £500 for an AD60 and £200-500 for an AD120 depending on condition.

You can often pick up these amplifiers reasonably because they have 'faults' which are usually to do with dirty jack sockets, clean these with a standard guitar jack, spray in some switch cleaner and push and pull the jack in and out to clean, on rotary switches, take off the chicken head knob and put a piece of clear surgical tube over the pot shaft and spray in a dose of switch cleaner, then use a small screwdriver to turn the pot shaft via the slotted head, this works wonders and fixes most 'faults.'

In some cases, the input sockets may need replacing and earth tags on the circuit board may need re-soldering. I picked up an AD60 with a fault where it faded out, I cleaned the jacks and the pots and it is going well.