VOX Valvetronix VT20X 20W 1x8 Guitar Modeling Combo Amp

I picked up a floor model with some obvious wear and no power supply at a deep discount. A few dollars on a power supply and a few days later, I was in business. Once I switched to presets mode and played with the bias and class, I got good, inspiring tones out of this amp quickly. The gainier and cleaner models alike have sweet spots but once you find them, its a solid sound. I was concerned both about an 8" speaker and a closed back, typically not a fan, but it worked out to a non-issue for me. The amp is not overly directional (you don't have to have it pointed straight at your head to get the best sound) and it is not muffled or boxy. I will say that it needs a reasonable amount of volume to sound good. I have other, bigger and smaller, amps that do have better sound at particularly low volumes. My first pass with the effects (to be fair before I brought the volume up more) found them to be hit and miss. Decent reverb, good delay, bad chorus, okay compressor. As others have commented, there is definitely a volume glitch. If you adjust the power level or change presets, it gooses or drops the volume to an unexpected degree. You just have to turn the volume away from and right back to where it was to get it corrected. I would be delighted to have this as a first amp. It beats probably the first 5 that I did have, not that long ago. For me now, it is a fun and enjoyable addition to the arsenal. Oh, and it does play/feel like a tube amp. Great response.

I was very excited when I bought this amp after trying at the store. A solid state amp with preamp tubes! When I got it home, I tried it out and that's when I started noticing problems. 1)Whenever I switched amp voices, either the sound totally cut out or the volume was crazy loud. 2) The effects would cut out and just leave you with the clean sound. I owned this amp for the total of about 3 hours before I took it back to GC and bought a Fender Mustang LT 25, which I love!

Home practice amp

There is one con. I would've preferred a more "typical" power supply. That being said if you can find this amp on sale like I did at $189 at my local GC you'll get a great amp, nice package of sounds, and power enough for a small gig (The volume easily filled the GC store during a staff demonstration). I was originally going to get the Vox 10 practice amp, but this was more than twice that amp at less than twice the price, so the decision was easy. Easy to transport and store. Plus, of course, it has the "Vox" look which is a nice little extra.

Needed a practice amp and was surprised with the power and versatility of this amp.

Great Toneroom Valvetronics software. Very portable.