MGR/Michael Behuniak (Seattle WA) « VOX Pathfinder 15R »
Published on 02/13/03 at 15:00Purchased new in-store at local Seattle WA Guitar Center. Paid $120. Was looking for small solid-state practice amp with vintage VOX Brit-Rock style tones.
This is the 'new and improved' 15 watt VOX Pathfinder now with REVERB!
Likes:
- Clean tones: very bright and chimey
- Distortion tones: very warm and crunchy, close to natural overdriven tube amp
- Gain Boost: kicks in more distortion
- Reverb: adjustable, with good depth and echo, adds nice sparkle to clean tones
- Tremolo: very cool feature! vintage style, with adjustable speed and depth
- addition jacks for: footswitch (controls gain boost and tremolo), earphones, line-out, ext speaker
This amp may be rated at 15 watts, but it can really bark! Surprising loud.
Very minor quibbles:
- be nice if it had corner protectors
- be nice if it had a mid-range tone control
- gain boost can get a bit muddy when pushed to max; easily remedied by rolling back guitar volume, or gain control.
The Pathfinder 15R feels very solid construction-wise:
- Solid cabinet and handle
- Good response from all gain, volume, bass, treble, treble, and reverb controls.
- very good 8 inch VOX Bulldog speaker
- nice diamond quilt grill cloth, tight fitting
This Pathfinder 15R really nails that vintage VOX Brit-Rock sound 100%. It is well suited for Beatles, Byrds, Tom Petty, REM, and simliar modern-retro styles. It's not designed or intended for heavy-metal or thrash-punk.
I tried out several solid-state practice amps in the $100-$200 price range. I was looking for an amp in this class/price range with vintage style 'clean' and 'distortion' tones, and to me the VOX Pathfinder 15R was the best value hands-down, both sound-wise and price-wise . lr**
Try one out, let your own ears be the judge.
Feb 14,2003
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
This is the 'new and improved' 15 watt VOX Pathfinder now with REVERB!
Likes:
- Clean tones: very bright and chimey
- Distortion tones: very warm and crunchy, close to natural overdriven tube amp
- Gain Boost: kicks in more distortion
- Reverb: adjustable, with good depth and echo, adds nice sparkle to clean tones
- Tremolo: very cool feature! vintage style, with adjustable speed and depth
- addition jacks for: footswitch (controls gain boost and tremolo), earphones, line-out, ext speaker
This amp may be rated at 15 watts, but it can really bark! Surprising loud.
Very minor quibbles:
- be nice if it had corner protectors
- be nice if it had a mid-range tone control
- gain boost can get a bit muddy when pushed to max; easily remedied by rolling back guitar volume, or gain control.
The Pathfinder 15R feels very solid construction-wise:
- Solid cabinet and handle
- Good response from all gain, volume, bass, treble, treble, and reverb controls.
- very good 8 inch VOX Bulldog speaker
- nice diamond quilt grill cloth, tight fitting
This Pathfinder 15R really nails that vintage VOX Brit-Rock sound 100%. It is well suited for Beatles, Byrds, Tom Petty, REM, and simliar modern-retro styles. It's not designed or intended for heavy-metal or thrash-punk.
I tried out several solid-state practice amps in the $100-$200 price range. I was looking for an amp in this class/price range with vintage style 'clean' and 'distortion' tones, and to me the VOX Pathfinder 15R was the best value hands-down, both sound-wise and price-wise . lr**
Try one out, let your own ears be the judge.
Feb 14,2003
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com