MGR/Harry « Vox V15 »
Published on 11/03/04 at 15:00I paid £75 in 1986 for this. The unit was secondhand. I saw an ad in a local paper that said "Vox valve amp for sale £75 ono." I snapped it up immediately. The V15 was kind of half an AC30 - intended for practicerather than gigs. Being all valve (all tube to USA readers)it was a bargain. At the time other valve amps were going for hundreds.
Smooth mellow tone - quite loud (considering it is only 15W RMS, 21W peak) When overdriven it gives a very smooth distortion suited to rock. When played with distortion and a wah-wah it is great.
It says "Made in England" on the back - sadly not many things are these days so it's a bit of heritage.
To get the best sounds it had to be played at full volume. This results in very good sounds but angry neighbours. The lack of a headphone socket makes this amp OK for practice in a sound-proofed room or when there was no-one in next door. At low volumes the sound was mediocre and this is a bit frustrating.
A couple of times I have managed to pick up stray radio signals with the amp as well - Radio Moscow and BBC Radio 1 feature on some of my 1980s home recordings. It used to happen to Hendrix too so at least I'm in good company!
Construction-wise the amp is quite solid. The overall quality of the cabinet is very good, with hard-wearing tolex material and a traditional looking Vox speaker cloth. My only gripe is the plywood panel across the back immediately behind the speakers. This vibrated and made an annoying buzzing sound. A couple of extra screws sorted this out. The Vox badge on the front grille came off very soon after buying the unit - it is cheap plastic, metal would have been better.
The electronics are a little weird. Occasional radio interference - this has happened rarely but I can't seem to cure it. Also, the smoothing capacitor blew once and had to be replaced. This took a long time to fix as the repair shop couldn't get a circuit diagram from Vox for a while. In the end it cost me £45 - could have been worse I suppose. There is a schematic available on the web now so this shouldn't be a problem in future.
I have replaced the valves a few times - but you'd expect this anyway.
The speakers are fine and take a good battering without any problems. The presence of reverb would be very welcome - but for £75 I can't complain.
Vox make some very expensive kit -but this amp shouldn't be seen as anything more than a practice unit. Electronically it is very basic, but it performs well.
If you see one for sale (and it works properly) pay up to £120 for it and entertain the neighbours.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
Smooth mellow tone - quite loud (considering it is only 15W RMS, 21W peak) When overdriven it gives a very smooth distortion suited to rock. When played with distortion and a wah-wah it is great.
It says "Made in England" on the back - sadly not many things are these days so it's a bit of heritage.
To get the best sounds it had to be played at full volume. This results in very good sounds but angry neighbours. The lack of a headphone socket makes this amp OK for practice in a sound-proofed room or when there was no-one in next door. At low volumes the sound was mediocre and this is a bit frustrating.
A couple of times I have managed to pick up stray radio signals with the amp as well - Radio Moscow and BBC Radio 1 feature on some of my 1980s home recordings. It used to happen to Hendrix too so at least I'm in good company!
Construction-wise the amp is quite solid. The overall quality of the cabinet is very good, with hard-wearing tolex material and a traditional looking Vox speaker cloth. My only gripe is the plywood panel across the back immediately behind the speakers. This vibrated and made an annoying buzzing sound. A couple of extra screws sorted this out. The Vox badge on the front grille came off very soon after buying the unit - it is cheap plastic, metal would have been better.
The electronics are a little weird. Occasional radio interference - this has happened rarely but I can't seem to cure it. Also, the smoothing capacitor blew once and had to be replaced. This took a long time to fix as the repair shop couldn't get a circuit diagram from Vox for a while. In the end it cost me £45 - could have been worse I suppose. There is a schematic available on the web now so this shouldn't be a problem in future.
I have replaced the valves a few times - but you'd expect this anyway.
The speakers are fine and take a good battering without any problems. The presence of reverb would be very welcome - but for £75 I can't complain.
Vox make some very expensive kit -but this amp shouldn't be seen as anything more than a practice unit. Electronically it is very basic, but it performs well.
If you see one for sale (and it works properly) pay up to £120 for it and entertain the neighbours.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com