Guitar Reviews for you - the VOX MINI3 G2 portable amplifier
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.
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
SPEAKER
1 x 5″ Standard Speaker
INPUTS
1 x Normal Input Jack
1 x Mic Input Jack
1 x Aux Input Jack
OUTPUTS
1 x Headphone Jack
CONTROLS
Volume, Gain, Tone, Amp Model Selector, Effects Selector, Delay/Reverb Selector, Mic Trim, Mic Send, Tuner
AMP MODEL
11 Types
EFFECTS
12 Types
SIGNAL PROCESSING
A/D conversion = 24-bit
D/A conversion = 24-bit
Sampling Frequency = 44.1 kHz
POWER SUPPLY
AC Adapter (included)
6 x AA Batteries (not included)
Battery Life = Max 12 hours (alkaline)
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)
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