After some playing, here's my review of the VOX AD30VT!

But be warned, this review is coming from a relatively new guitar player, around 1 year old or so, who hasn't been exposed to as much music as the experienced members here, and isn't as skilled as them either.

Price: RM850 from RM1000
From: CK Music, Kuala Lumpur

I have owned this amp for about 5 days, however I've only managed to really play it properly today as I just got back from Tioman. This review will be edited as time progresses, if I find any shortcomings with the amp.

First of all, the aesthetics. This amp definitely has it. This is coming from a person who is not really into this vintage looks and stuff. At first I was doubting on this amp due to the classic grille, but one look at the amp once I stepped inside CK Music, and whoa. Was I stunned. This amp really rocks aesthetically!

I'd give it a 9/10.

Next up is functionality, as in the control panel. There are many dials and knobs on the control panel, but they're pretty easy to get the hang of. On the top tier of the control panel, you get the Amp dial which lets you choose from 11 amps, the Gain dial, the Equaliser dials, the Effects dial which lets you choose from a combination of 11 effects. On the bottom tier, there's the Preset and Manual buttons, Channel Selector and Write buttons, and also the Tap, Edit and Bypass buttons for the Effects. I'm not going to elaborate on every function of the dials and buttons. I'm just going straight to the shortcomings.

I wish they'd use a numbered dial instead of leaving it up to you to use your ears and listen to the level. Without numbers or bars, it makes it quite hard to read and judge.
Another shortcoming is that the Equaliser isn't really responsive to changes. It takes time and you may not hear the difference immediately.

I'd give the Control Panel functionality a 7/10.

As for diversity, this amp has loads of it. This amp is extremely versatile and extremely loaded with sounds and effects. This is what makes it shine the most. I'm not going to go into extreme detail on each and every amp models, but just to summarize them, there are about 6 "clean" amps and 5 high gain amps. They offer pretty close modelisation, although there have been some complaints about the Mesa Boogie modeller sounding too digital, it sounds okay to me.

Just on raw diversity, I'd give this amp a 10/10. I'll go to the major shortcomings later.

As for Effects, this amp is pretty loaded and good. My main gripe is that the Auto-Wah lacks intensity, but it's usable. I haven't really tinkered around with the Edit dial for the effects, so I can't really elaborate. But based on my playings and impressions, the effects are darned good for just simple practice, though I won't recommend bringing them to stage.. at least for large-scale performances. Small gigs are fine.

Will update this section once I get a better feel on the effects.

I give it a 9/10. One point deducted from the lack of intensity on the wah.

Okay, now the main gripe about the amps selection.

The clean channels are too soft. The lack of a dedicated volume control for the clean channels only makes it worse. This can be remedied by saving your "perfect" tone as a preset on one of the channels, but however, the task in getting your tone can be a little daunting due to the finicky equaliser knob and the gain knob (you get gain in your clean channel if your gain is past a certain level, turn down the gain and you also reduce the volume as the gain dial acts as a master volume for non-gain amps). To me, though I am a metalhead, but I am really particular about my clean sound if I play them. So, this is one very big shortcoming of the amp.

And, be prepared to get a shock if you suddenly switch channels from clean to distortion on preset mode without tinkering. That's what happened to me. The difference in volume was so.. big. Literally.

To summarize everything,

Pros: Extremely realistic sounding, generous amp and effects selections, pretty user friendly, extremely loud, extremely affordable.

Cons: A numbered dial could be better (how hard is putting this?), auto wah could be more intense, equaliser could be more responsive, the task of getting your sweet spot could be daunting.

Summary: A good amp, gig-able, but not perfect. The best one in it's range IMO.

Rating (not an average) : 7.5/10

Sorry if this review sounds noobish, after all I am..

This post has been edited by nerd: Dec 11 2005, 12:40 AM