its ok

woulda been 3,5 stars if i could rate it like that

cons: you really have to tweak sht in order for the amp to sound good. sm said the tube channel sounds flat on low volume and im gna double down on that, it sounds absolutely hideous unless you crank the bass and turn off the treble (or just play it at higher volumes, though you might not want to if you live in an apartment)

the "distortion boost" circuit is absolutely ass and the lower the volume the worse it sounds, i find it sounding more like a generic boss fuzz rather than a pleasant tube like distortion which is Ehhh but to each their own

neither the spring reverb is to my taste but if i was to speak somewhat objectively it works well and does what its supposed to do. probably ok for yall out there looking for surfy tones

pros: its pretty small and fits inside my tiny room well, cant say its very heavy either. the breakup together with the clean channel is what sells the amp for me, both have that signature vox sound that really cant be replicated by another amp of this budget as precisely as this thing does - and it sounds gorgeous

it wont do high gain stuff out of the box, though i think it doesnt need to. ive warned ya

overall i would recommend it if youre looking for a used vox amp that costs ~200$. it delivers at least the better half of what it promises. keep an eye out for serial numbers tho, first 2-3k of these are known to have cambridge-itis due to a weak optocoupler (google for more information). mine has been produced later and it havent been repaired once in its 20 something years of life with the previous owner

Preferred Settings + Usage:

Good for practice

Pros: This is a good little practice amp with a tube pre-amp and a solid state power section. It's great for low volumes and there's no big jump from 0-2 like on many amps; it's can also reach coffee shop-level volumes without worry. I wouldn't consider it an appropriate "beginner" amp (because of the inevitable tube maintenance) but it's a great foray into tube technology when you're more experienced. The distortion is organic, rather than fuzzy (Thanks, tubes!) and the gain boost is nice, as are the independent EQ panels for each channel, and it takes pedals very well. Also has on-board reverb and tremolo, if that's your bag. In addition, it has a very nice speaker (for a low-cost hybrid amp) with the Celestion Blue Vox Custom, although ceramic instead of alnico. Regardless, it still sounds better than most speakers "customized" by amplifier manufacturers.

Cons: Although it has a great clean channel, there's no mid control for it - disappointing, but not a deal breaker. The lead channel's "mid-boost" switch makes it very honky and I wish it had been designed more in-junction with the mid knob. When the gain knob is low, the sound is extremely thin but can be improved by cranking the bass. My heftiest beef with this amp is the accessibility to the innards. When it's time to replace tubes, you damn-near have to take apart the entire cabinet to get to them.

7/10 - Glad to have owned it but if it needed replacement, I'd probably save up money and get something better.

Great Amp

We love this amp and use it for recordings. It takes some assistance from our Helix pedal board but is an excellent amp especially for price.

Great Tone; Works Amazing for Pedals

Currently using this bad boy to track some new songs (such clean tones). I got this guy at a pawn shop-like music store & it was well worth the buy. Currently my favorite amp to use.

Tone is great, but it could be louder

With my pedalboard, I have really fine-tuned my tone through this amp. It sounds great, but when playing in DIY spaces like houses or outside, it is drowned out by other guitars/drums.