which amp is better?

[guiatplayer]

hey guys. need ur opinions.... which amp is better?

the vox AD30VT? or the pathfinders?

 

[suckasucks]

prob the AD series. not much though, still a low end SS amp.

 

[deathism]

low end doesnt mean it will suck..

well..he's askin smth i've been tinkin abt..havent had the time to try it out yet.

 

[markedymark]

the ad is a hybrid, it has A tube, in my opinion, its quite unfair to compare those two amps. there's a distinct range gap.

im using a ad50vt and ive been in love with it since the day i first flicked that switch. at the same time the pathfinder does really well for it's pricerange.

both the amps are very very very decent imo, try them both out for YOUR tonal nirvana.

 

[suckasucks]

i never said they sucked. just that they're low end - they're better out there but for higher prices. the vox ad series preamp tube doesnt really change anything though, many people have said that even if the tube was dying, amp still sounded the same.
swapping it out wouldn't make much a diff either(hearsay from other forums)

why not get a valbee?

 

[markedymark]

valbee's a good choice, unless youre looking for nice cleans, then thats a diff issue.

 

[suckasucks]

yeah the valbee's cleans are mediocore sounding, though the amp doesnt seem to break up easily (6L6 prob). isnt shimmery, chimey, sparkly or what people look for in higher end tube amps. its pretty muddy with not as much note definition as other tube amps. roland jazz chorus probably would do better.

 

[markedymark]

but first! we need to know the threadstarter's budget

 

[thor666]

I never had long periods of tryout with either, but I prefer the Pathfinder to the ADT series. However, they serve different things, pathfinder for a simple analog amp with some digital efx, ADT for digital simulations of amps.

 

[Xypher]

Valvetronix AD series gives u alot of variety.. I think the amps distortion is very good already.. Im only a bedroom guitarist, so far.

 

[markedymark]

the valvetronix does have versatility, onboard drive is pretty decent (one of the better ones ive heard from its pricerange)

+1 for valvetronix

 

[I_M_Ken]

save up abit more and get something better.
VOX AD might be a hybrid, but the pre-amp tubes do little to really afffect your tone. Power tubes are the more important ones IMO.

 

[guiatplayer]

thanks for the opinons guys

 

[JE]

i_m_ken:
IIRC, AD uses a preamp tube at power tube position, then dump lots of the output to return it to line level. it's like:
modelling preamp -> tube power amp (preamp tube) -> resistive load -> solid state power amp (where the power rating thing comes in) -> speaker.

IMHO it IS power tube distortion BUT it's the wrong type of tube AND the signal is MASSIVELY attenuated AND there is no proper output transformer AND no tube-speaker interaction. the missing parts (power and output transformer, more tubes) are what makes a tube amp expensive. still, it has very decent "tube character" for a hybrid amp, IMHO better than marshall's AVTX.


suckasucks:
as for the valbee, i happen to see it's electronic block diagram, it appears to use quite some transistors to achieve the high again function. even for the clean channel, there is a transistor boost stage and a transistor powerd EQ. maybe that is what contribute to its clean tone and break up.

 

[suckasucks]

^ooo never knew much about the valbee. especially not that it had the transistor based EQ and boost circuit.