Vox VT15 & VT30

When you call up an amp type, it defaults to a setting with suitable effects to give you a distinctive tone right out of the box, but the VT30 has extended this by offering three banks of preset tones grouped as Basic, Effected and Song, so you get 66 presets to play with right away. A button steps between the three preset modes, and the preset mode lamp blinks out when a control passes through its stored position. According to the manual, 22 of the presets give you the signature tones of famous guitarists, while another 22 nail the sounds of classic songs. The first 22 are basic amp settings, ideal as starting points for your own tweaks. Any of these presets, or edited versions of them, can be stored into eight user memories arranged as two banks of four, and an optional VFS5 footswitch is available to select your custom settings during performance. The VT50/100 models were not available at the time of this review, but follow a similar theme and include an external speaker output, while the VT100 is stereo and also has an effect loop for connecting your own external devices.

The 22 amp models are accessed via an 11-position rotary switch and an associated A/B button, so you effectively have two amp options per position. An LED changes from red to green to let you know which of the two possible amp models is active for the current switch position. The usual US and UK suspects are in these, as well as a few boutique amp emulations, with the Vox amps on offer now including a regular AC15, an AC30 (hand-wired), an AC30 'Top Boost' model and a Brian May variant. The effects models have also been revisited with an expanded repertoire to now include Compressor, Octave and Pitch shift, as well as the separate Reverb, with its own knob in the main amp control panel alongside the three-band EQ, Gain, Volume and Master level knobs. As with the earlier range, there's built-in noise reduction in the form of an expander/gate that can be adjusted for each individual user memory, but as with the earlier AD amps, there's no presence control. A rotary control selects the effects, while a Tap tempo button allows the rate or delay time to be set directly. The same Tap tempo button and the effects Bypass button can be used in conjunction with the effects level knob to access two further parameters per effect. A manual knob gives you amp settings that correspond to the current control positions — a good mode for setting up sounds prior to saving them. In program mode, turning a knob has no effect until it passes through the position corresponding to its previously stored value; then the program LED blinks off briefly as the knob passes through the stored position.

The VT15 measures just 428 x 224 x 395mm, while the VT30 is 456 x 224 x 430mm. The VT15 weighs 10kg and the VT30 12kg (not much more than a guitar in its hard case). The optional footswitch is highly recommended for live use, but as with the AD range, there's still no soft cover available — I had to have one made for my old AD30! In the 'good old days', you nearly always got a soft cover with an amp!

Cosmetically, the amplifiers are almost identical to the earlier AD models, having black vinyl-covered cabinets (though the traditional Vox basket-weave vinyl has now given way to a smoother, leather-effect material), Vox plastic corner pieces, chromed grilles and retro Vox-style 'chicken head' pointer knobs. The knobs on this new range are cream rather than black, and the control panel layout has changed a bit to accommodate the extra memories and Reverb knob, but the overall impression is still very Vox. Personally, I'd have preferred the original Vox diamond-pattern grille cloth, but I fully understand that the manufacturers need to preserve some visual distinction between ranges and the metal actually offers much better speaker protection. The rear of the cabinet is fully enclosed, so you won't be tempted to stash cables or pedals inside and risk damaging the speaker.

As with the earlier AD30VT, which I still use for most of my smaller gigs, the sound is surprisingly warm, and though you don't get the same low-end kick as with a tube amp, you can coax some very sweet blues tones out of the amp, all of which respond well to changes in picking intensity or backing off the guitar's volume control. There's no sense of the sound being boxy or constricted, even with the little 15W version — these are, in every sense, big amps made smaller. The heavier-sounding amp models convey a real sense of angst and power, even at low volumes, while the clean amps work well for more traditional rhythm sounds or clean chordal work. If you're playing in a band with a drummer, the 30W VT30 is loud enough to hear as long as you have it on a stand, ideally angled up towards you, but you'll also need to mic it through the PA unless your drummer is particularly quiet. On the other hand, if you're playing alongside someone with an acoustic guitar and want to recreate your own sound at a level to match, it is really not a problem.

Having more effects to play with is also quite liberating, and you now get Delay, Tape Echo, Chorus + Delay, Compressor + Chorus, (sub) Octave + Chorus, Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Rotary, Tremolo and Pitch shift, with the latter offering mild detune or five-, seven- or 12-semitone steps in either direction. Tap tempo sets the delay time, mod rate or selects between pitch shift options, depending on which effect is selected. With the modulation effects, the Effects knob generally sets the depth of the effect so you can dial in a more subtle treatment if necessary, while the overall quality of the effects is actually first class with really sweet chorus, convincing rotary effects and a suitably retro tape echo. When changing between rotary effects with different speeds, the speed change ramps up and down over a period of a couple of seconds, just like the real thing. The separate Reverb control now makes setting up effects far less restricting than before, but the ability to change the reverb decay time has been lost. Nevertheless, the reverb has a wonderfully spring-like warmth to it, and the chosen decay time and tonality sounds exactly right, whether you just need a hint to take the edge off a dry room or whether you want to lay it on with a trowel for that retro Peter Green minor blues vibe.

Adding the attenuator to the 15W VT15 has also made a big difference — I found its predecessor sounded a bit disappointing and was not as warm sounding as its larger siblings, but now the essential tonality is the same, though it doesn't play quite as loud as the 30W version. Having said that, there's so little difference in physical size and cost that it's hard to think of a reason not to go for the VT30. So, will I be selling my AD30VT and buying a VT30 to replace it? Absolutely! The independent reverb and the extra memories alone are enough to swing it for me.  0