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killerkgprime « Better than Line 6. »
Published on 08/25/11 at 17:29The Vox AD30-XL is Vox's answer to the Line 6 Spider. It's a modeling amp with a single 12AX7 in the preamp. I don't know how much a tube preamp in a solidstate amp actually changes the tone, but for my money, the AD30-XL is one of the better modeling amps out there.
It has a wide selection of built in effects, amp models, some of which sound pretty good, and give a decent representation of the tones that they try to cop.
The Vox is 30 watts, and it can hang with a drummer, but it does have shortcomings in a band situation that I'll elaborate on later.
UTILIZATION
This amp is pretty easy to use, just select your amp model, any effects you want to use, and go. I have a problem with the tap function for effects. If you tap it too fast, it's really hard to get it back to a slower setting for tremolo and such.
My handle snapped off within the first week of owning the amp, but the store ordered it from Vox for me free of charge, as it was still under the warranty so no harm done.
The Manual was pretty useful in explaining the sounds, and it even had some presets to try out.
SOUNDS
I'll go through the sounds on each setting:
Glass- very clean, but a touch dull. you'll need to EQ in lots of high end. Not very loud, or touch responsive
Funked- brighter, snappier, and hairier than glass. Not pristine cleans, but a cool tone.
Buzzsaw- Thin, buzzy, and overdriven. Useful for garage rock or punk, but too buzzy for rock IMO.
Crunched- this model kicks ass! Marshall-esque, with the ability to get to modded plexi levels of gain. This is the setting I use most of the time. The most organic sounding setting on the amp.
Thrashed- sounds like the crunched setting, but buzzier and thinner.
Raged: A modern, more midrangey Crunched setting, pretty cool.
Modern: scooped, scooped, and more scooped. Cool if that's your thing. Not mine.
Fluid: Best high gain setting on this amp! True to it's name, this is a very fluid, singing, sustaining setting. Voiced very dark though, I need to dial in more treble and mids.
Molten: like fluid, but buzzier, and with an Octaver added in. Do the intro to Metal Heart and Princess of the Dawn on this!
Black: Crunchier and less sustaining than the Fluid mode.
Damaged: Buzzy and useless, thin super gained out.
OVERALL OPINION
As the whole package, the Vox AD30-XL underperforms, however, the Crunched and Fluid settings were miles ahead of other amps in this pricepoint when I bought this amp, for those settings alone, the amp is worth it for a rocker on a budget. Now that little amps are in vogue, and cheaper than ever, I'd probably choose something different for a band practice amp.
It has a wide selection of built in effects, amp models, some of which sound pretty good, and give a decent representation of the tones that they try to cop.
The Vox is 30 watts, and it can hang with a drummer, but it does have shortcomings in a band situation that I'll elaborate on later.
UTILIZATION
This amp is pretty easy to use, just select your amp model, any effects you want to use, and go. I have a problem with the tap function for effects. If you tap it too fast, it's really hard to get it back to a slower setting for tremolo and such.
My handle snapped off within the first week of owning the amp, but the store ordered it from Vox for me free of charge, as it was still under the warranty so no harm done.
The Manual was pretty useful in explaining the sounds, and it even had some presets to try out.
SOUNDS
I'll go through the sounds on each setting:
Glass- very clean, but a touch dull. you'll need to EQ in lots of high end. Not very loud, or touch responsive
Funked- brighter, snappier, and hairier than glass. Not pristine cleans, but a cool tone.
Buzzsaw- Thin, buzzy, and overdriven. Useful for garage rock or punk, but too buzzy for rock IMO.
Crunched- this model kicks ass! Marshall-esque, with the ability to get to modded plexi levels of gain. This is the setting I use most of the time. The most organic sounding setting on the amp.
Thrashed- sounds like the crunched setting, but buzzier and thinner.
Raged: A modern, more midrangey Crunched setting, pretty cool.
Modern: scooped, scooped, and more scooped. Cool if that's your thing. Not mine.
Fluid: Best high gain setting on this amp! True to it's name, this is a very fluid, singing, sustaining setting. Voiced very dark though, I need to dial in more treble and mids.
Molten: like fluid, but buzzier, and with an Octaver added in. Do the intro to Metal Heart and Princess of the Dawn on this!
Black: Crunchier and less sustaining than the Fluid mode.
Damaged: Buzzy and useless, thin super gained out.
OVERALL OPINION
As the whole package, the Vox AD30-XL underperforms, however, the Crunched and Fluid settings were miles ahead of other amps in this pricepoint when I bought this amp, for those settings alone, the amp is worth it for a rocker on a budget. Now that little amps are in vogue, and cheaper than ever, I'd probably choose something different for a band practice amp.