Vox Cambridge 30R

Purchased used on ebay for $152.00, had brown-out problems.

I tried one out at Guitar Center that sounded good for the small amount of cash. I was impressed how 30 watts projected from this amp. The (2) 10' Celestions seemed fuller than the single speaker version. I have some Thomas amps from the 60's but this one was lighter with a decent spring reverb. The overdrive channel sounded great with my Charvel Model 1 axe. Good saturation with the tube preamp.

As I mentioned this amp was in need of repair due to the brown-out condition. After searching some sites on the net I read a review that identified the problem as the opto-coupler in the tremelo circuit. This was the major contributor to the amp being discontinued! After replacing that part the amp rocks!! If you have this amp or the Cambridge 30 (1) 10" version-thats your fix. Too bad Vox used one crappy component in a nicely concieved amp. One minor gripe is you need (2) footswitches to operate mrb,tremelo,reverb, & overdrive.

See above. Other than the opto-coupler its a nice amp for under $400.00. I did add some AC-30 vents from North Coast Music in the rear panel. Heat is a problem with the stock units.

I'm not in a metal band so I have used this amp to gig with without any problems. Its got enough power, espescially with a (2) 12" extension cab as I used it. I do think they should have put corner protectors on since they always take the hits. Added some stock Vox pieces myself-looks cool! Was going to sell it but changed my mind. Its easier to move than my Buckingham or Super Beatle & I don't want to risk my 1965 tube Cambridge in the clubs.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I bought this VOX Cambridge 30 Reverb combo amp at Guitar Center (Seattle) at a close-out sale price of $179. I was looking for a good quality practice amp for under $200 and this amp fits the bill perfectly. I tried out several other amps in this price range: Crate GFX-15 (very good), Fender Champion 30, and the smaller 15 watt VOX Pathfinder. In terms of great vintage tone and over-all sound, the Cambridge 30 was a no-brainer. Also, a great steal at $179...normally sells for $299.

I play a Fender 62 Custom Telecaster Reissue, and this amp is perfect for it's classic vintage tone, especially if you like playing Beatles, Stones, Kinks, etc. Also very good for more modern stuff like R.E.M, U2, and Nirvana (clean stuff, ie, Come As You Are).

The Reverb on this amp is absolutely killer. The clean channel is very bright and clear with a bell-like chime with no background noise or hiss. Perfect for jangly Beatles or R.E.M. stuff.

Channel 2 has a gain and mid-range boost. You can dial in all sorts of bluesy-tones by adjusting the volume and gain controls accordingly. I particuarly like the overdrive boost...you can get great vintage tube sounds (like 'The Who Live At Leeds' sound). Back off the boost a bit and you can recreate that classic Stones 'Brown Sugar' type of distortion.

This amp is NOT suitable for METAL Styles...you'll need a quality distortion box if that's what youre looking.

Oh yeah, this amp comes with built-in Tremolo also. Nice feature, especially if you like CCR...turn up the tremolo and you can sound just like 'Born On The Bayou'.

Overall I adore this amp, and the great tones I can get out of it...it also has that classic VOX appearance also, complete with the diamond-quilt grill cloth, and funky chicken-head controls.

The nothing I really don't like about this amp. If I had to nit-pick, I wish the 12AX7 pre-amp tube was more accessible...you have to remove the entire chassis to access it. No big problem, as I wasn't planning on replacing it soon anyway, but probably will one day just to see how it affects the overall sound.

The VOX Cambridge 30 Reverb appears to be built very solid. Be nice if it had corner protectors, that's about all I can think to improve the cabinet (And making the pre-amp tube more accessible).







Anyway, this amp is perfect for practice and jam sessions, recording, and small venue performances. If you play electric guitar and you're in the market for an inexpensive 30 watt amp with a great vintage 60's Brit-Rock tone, the VOX CAMBRIDGE 30 Reverb is a great choice.

(and TRY to find ANY combo amp with a GENUINE 10" CELESTION speaker, built-in reverb AND tremolo, a 12ax7 pre-amp tube, clean and overdrive channels, mid-range boost, and 30 watts power rating for under $200)lr

Michael Behuniak, Mar 2002
Seattle WA

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Mars Music, (in Midwest) purchased 01/06/02. Price: $349.95.

Reverb and tremelo have that classic Vox sound. Unit is attractive, lightweight, compact, 'retro-looking' with the old style knobs and Vox cloth.

After brief use at 1/2 volume (live), my clean sound went away and I was left with a distorted high-end, lack of power, no headroom and basically an unusable stage volume. Channel 1 seemed to be stronger than the other (tube) channel, like others have said. In short, if this amp sounded (warm) like it did when it was first powered up, I would have been happy. Instead, it was unusable at even a modest stage volume.

Well constructed overall, nicely finished.

This is a great amp for someone who needs a practice amp, possible studio rig (though I question how long it would maintain it's sweet Vox sound after warming up). Not enough output, decent value otherwise. Not for live performance, certainly.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I payed $500 plus taxes in canadian dollars for this amp at Toombs Music in Charlottetown PEI Canada. My reason for buying was that I had been playing guitar for 6 years through a practice amp and I wanted to move up to amp that would be easy to transport, look and sound good, and would be loud enough to jam with a band, but isn't that what everybody is looking for in an amp?

The amp has a very handy optional footswitch for $60 canadian which can switch between reverb, vibrato, and also switch between clean, overdrive and an overdrive boost setting. The clean side sounds very nice and sparkling clean even when the volume was set on ten. The vibrato also sounds very good. The amp sounded very loud for only 30 watts rms, though for some reason the clean channel sounded a louder than the overdrive channel, even when both were cranked. The amp is very easy to use and would be great for a second amp for somebody. You can get a pretty good range of tones from this amp too.

Though the clean channel sounded very good, the overdrive channel did not. The word that comes to mind is bland. not very much prescence or low end in channel two(overdrive channel). When playing at low levels, the clean channel is also very noisy as well.

The amp itself was built very sturdy and seems like it could endure a lot of kicking and spitting on, etc. The included celestion bulldog 10 inch speaker sounds very nice indeed. I remember reading something somewhere about how bulldog speakers sound good but don't last very long. The amp is very light which is a bonus and it has an open back which makes it easy to store peddles and cords inside of it. The Vox is very nice to look at, looking just like an ac30 but just a little bit smaller. It was very intuitive and easy to catch on too. It has a headphone out(which sounds terrible), a external 8ohm speaker out, a line out, one input and two footswitch inputs. The footswitch has 2 buttons on it and if you plug it into the first footswitch input it gives you control over vibrato and clean/overdrive while the second footswitch input gives you control over the reverb and overdrive 1/overdrive 2.

This would be a good amp for somebody who has been playing for 2 years and wants to start jamming with a band. Just loud enough to play with a drummer but not loud enough to rock an arena by far. I shouldn't be so hard on the overdrive channel because it doesn't really sound that bad, it could just sound better. It sounds to me like Jimmy Pages tone from the days of Led Zepplin would be easily achievable with this amp. Overall I am happy with this amp and though it might not sound as good as a Marshall it still rocks out and has a lot of cool features built into an affordable package. Bottom Line:
If you like Led Zepplin then this is the amp for you!

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com