New Amp Day - VOX VX50BA

[G-Dog]

. . . . .
When I want in-your-face crispiness I just put the amp up on a stool beside me & literally aim it at my face, LOL! . . . .

In my music room the Vox sits on top of my Rumble 500 combo, so it's pretty in-my-face, alright. That's why I wondered if it could stay in it's clean range and still hang with the piano, two keyboards, and I sit/stand right in front of The Rockin'est Drummer in the choir "loft" (about 2' higher) behind me. The guitarist went hunting today, so it remains to be seen if he doesn't overwhelm my Vox, but I doubt it.

Due to an altar/stage renovation, the end of our 3' high main platform is open near me! So, I have to put my amp up on a stand to avoid floor coupling that way overemphasizes a few notes. Even after losing ½ hour of rehearsal time one Sunday morning due to the low freq feedback in FOH right after the renovation, several mentions to the Music Director have still not remedied the situation! The amp stand, and lower FOH bass volume has it fixed, as far as he's concerned. (sigh)

 

[G-Dog]

I put the new Vox to a gig test at church today. And she passed with flying colors! I must admit, it was the lightest piece of gear I carried in today! I really gotta cull out my gig bag. I'll never need that many different cables! Of course, each of my basses, in HSC, tops the Vox's 9.9 lb.s, too.

I truly believe that using the Vox at home for practice these couple of weeks has not only gotten me more familiar with the controls, but has also helped a great deal in loosening up, or breaking in, the speaker; and perhaps, to some degree, the circuitry, as well. My fears about this 50w 8" speaker in an ABS plastic cab not measuring up to my 30w 10" in a wooden cab proved unfounded. The Vox's smooth, warm clean tones were quite an equal match to my Fender B-DEC's!

I even had to turn the Vox way down to help the substitute soundman troubleshoot the downstairs subwoofer. Seems he only thought it was working at first, but he was hearing the Vox even with his ear against the subwoofer! Turning the volume on my bass all the way up got the sub audible, then he had enough signal to work with and I could turn the Vox up to my desired level. Apparently it's Direct Out is a much lower level than my B-DEC's Line Out.

Thanks to our band's Facilitator (a bass fan), I even turned the Vox up a bit higher than I would have on my own. He wanted to better hear a couple of accent parts that I thought should be more subtle, and the Music Director agreed with him! The soundman didn't change a thing, as I turned up the Vox's volume and mids a bit. That, along with a little heavier pick action, was plenty. I love an adoring audience.

So, this little Vox ended up doing much more than just stage monitoring for me. It was really carrying the packed room of a pretty good sized sanctuary with a very high ceiling and balcony, with pretty minimal FOH support! But, I still didn't crank the gain or use the overdrive, and never drove the nutubes into any noticable distortion. Yep, she's definitely a keeper!!

I can definitely recommend this ultralight combo as much more than just a practice amp. http://www.voxamps.com/VX50BA

Sorry, I just remembered this photo I took for this gig report. Sorry I didn't plan it better to show the amp more clearly on the stand. The little box on top of the Vox is a wireless transmitter, plugged in to the Vox's Direct Out, that the substitute soundman asked me to use because it was already setup and he didn't have time to set up the post-amp DI I used to use.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Plugged my first new guitar into it today & WOW!~

It sounds like a Marshall.

I'm sure if I were to do a blind test with it, no guitar player would believe how tiny this thing is & how tubey it sounds for being a NuTube hybrid.

 

[hieronymous]

Thanks for the reviews folks! Finally these are getting into people's hands. I'm still considering getting one myself...

 

[G-Dog]

Thanks for the reviews folks! Finally these are getting into people's hands. I'm still considering getting one myself...

You're welcome, sir. Let us know if there's anything specific we can answer for you.

I think KbD and I appreciate this little amp for what it is and what it can do, without overblown expectations or condescension for it's size.

 

[hieronymous]

You're welcome, sir. Let us know if there's anything specific we can answer for you.

I think KbD and I appreciate this little amp for what it is and what it can do, without overblown expectations or condescension for it's size.

Basically, I want a super-portable amp for playing at friends' houses, maybe for tiny coffee shop gigs playing with an acoustic & an electric guitarist. I'd probably be playing my U-Bass through it most of the time. I actually have a very portable amp, a GK MB-112 II that works great even with drums, but I guess I'm looking for something even more portable.

I realized that I could get a Fender Rumble 15 for less than half the price which could then be put towards other gear - is the Vox VX50BA worth twice the price? I do like unusual and I do like tube-y old school sounds. And I do like light!

 

[Killed_by_Death]

To me it was worth the price, but I like high gain & it's got plenty of that.
It's super-portable. I'll be using mine on the back porch when the weather is permitting.

I'm not sure if you'll need the NuTube sound with a u-bass, but it will be heaps more versatile than a Rumble 15.

 

[G-Dog]

Basically, I want a super-portable amp for playing at friends' houses, maybe for tiny coffee shop gigs playing with an acoustic & an electric guitarist. I'd probably be playing my U-Bass through it most of the time. I actually have a very portable amp, a GK MB-112 II that works great even with drums, but I guess I'm looking for something even more portable.

I realized that I could get a Fender Rumble 15 for less than half the price which could then be put towards other gear - is the Vox VX50BA worth twice the price? I do like unusual and I do like tube-y old school sounds. And I do like light!

Well, it IS super portable, alright! It cannot be beat on that count.

I like clean tone and, after several days practice, it did open up and give me lots of that. Not so much right out of the box, but mine did finally blossom quite nicely. I'm very impressed.

Of course, the only way to know if it works for you is to try it, with at least a 30-day return window!

 

[hieronymous]

Thank you for the insights! I definitely am not going for high-gain, but interested more in the idea of fat, low-gain for groove playing. I love the sound of George Porter Jr. on the early instrumental Meters stuff - there's one in particular where you can hear the fur on the bass - and it's an equal voice in the ensemble which makes it even cooler.

I've got two deadlines affecting my decision - on the minus side are some big payments due in the next couple of weeks, and on the plus side, a holiday party on Dec. 15 where I would love to be able to play (but the GK would be overkill). Then next year one of my guitarists who has been gone for a couple of months will be coming back, so hopefully opportunities to play small little things (and rehearsing of course) - and if I do need something bigger I have my GK.

 

[hieronymous]

Took the plunge! Ordered, expected next week. This will be my first new piece of bass gear in almost a year...

 

[G-Dog]

Took the plunge! Ordered, expected next week. This will be my first new piece of bass gear in almost a year...

Congratulations, hiero! Expect a stiff, boxy tone to begin with, but keep on hitting it and turning all the knobs every which way and flipping the switches. Give it a while to loosen up and blossom. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

I did not expect that, but I can be very patient sometimes, and it paid off for me. Best of luck to you.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I think if they ever make a head version of it, that has full EQ, I'll get one & pair it with a RevSound 2x8".
The heads they have now only have a single knob for EQ:

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That's how I decided to buy one, the local VOX dealer has a MV50 head that I plugged into a Rumble 4x10".

 

[hieronymous]

It came! Ordered from Sweetwater, so of course it was well packed and came with candy.

Played with it for a while tonight, playing my Road Toad Tadpole U-Bass along with some Miles Davis & Alice Coltrane at low volume. Gonna try and do some recording tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a pic for proof:

Also, I noticed in the manual the following:

Tip If the DRIVE switch and COMP switch are both set to ON, an overdrive sound will be mixed with a clean, compressed bass sound. This combination creates a uniquely distorted sound with plenty of bass response.

For what I'm doing I don't see myself doing this much, but I did experiment a teeny bit and it sounded pretty cool.

 

[iagtrplyr]

It came! Ordered from Sweetwater, so of course it was well packed and came with candy.

Played with it for a while tonight, playing my Road Toad Tadpole U-Bass along with some Miles Davis & Alice Coltrane at low volume. Gonna try and do some recording tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a pic for proof:

View attachment 3247202

Also, I noticed in the manual the following:

Tip If the DRIVE switch and COMP switch are both set to ON, an overdrive sound will be mixed with a clean, compressed bass sound. This combination creates a uniquely distorted sound with plenty of bass response.

For what I'm doing I don't see myself doing this much, but I did experiment a teeny bit and it sounded pretty cool.

Congrats to you and your Vox, hieronymous. I hope you'll enjoy many a happy day with your new amp. If you get the chance, pop on over to the Combo Club where cool guys like G-Dog, KbD, and many of us keep each other informed and entertained in the world of combos. Stick your picture on a post and I'll hand you a spankin' new club number for free. Check us out!

 

[hieronymous]

Congrats to you and your Vox, hieronymous. I hope you'll enjoy many a happy day with your new amp. If you get the chance, pop on over to the Combo Club where cool guys like G-Dog, KbD, and many of us keep each other informed and entertained in the world of combos. Stick your picture on a post and I'll hand you a spankin' new club number for free. Check us out!

Thanks - will do! I've glanced through some of the recent Vox combo posts there but need to familiarize myself with the thread in general.

 

[G-Dog]

It came! Ordered from Sweetwater, so of course it was well packed and came with candy.

Played with it for a while tonight, playing my Road Toad Tadpole U-Bass along with some Miles Davis & Alice Coltrane at low volume. Gonna try and do some recording tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a pic for proof:

View attachment 3247202

Also, I noticed in the manual the following:

Tip If the DRIVE switch and COMP switch are both set to ON, an overdrive sound will be mixed with a clean, compressed bass sound. This combination creates a uniquely distorted sound with plenty of bass response.

For what I'm doing I don't see myself doing this much, but I did experiment a teeny bit and it sounded pretty cool.

Congratulations, hiero!

Sounds like you're like me and usually ease into new things. But let me encourage you to experiment with cranked settings that you may know you will never use. The staticy high gain/high volume settings may be needed to flex the new speaker and actually end up giving you more speaker headroom for the clean sounds! At least, that's my theory for my VX50BA experience.

Bon Voxyage!

 

[neljoshua]

I have been considering one of these myself. Now to find the funds...

Has anyone tried this with a battery?

Since the amp is powered with DC from the wall wart it should work. Similar batteries to what Phil Jones suggests for their Double Four should work. (I am not suggesting that these amps are/sound the same--only that they have similar voltage inputs.)

 

[G-Dog]

I have been considering one of these myself. Now to find the funds...

Has anyone tried this with a battery?

Since the amp is powered with DC from the wall wart it should work. Similar batteries to what Phil Jones suggests for their Double Four should work. (I am not suggesting that these amps are/sound the same--only that they have similar voltage inputs.)

No, I've not tried using battery power.

 

[Eldrian]

After reading this thread i decided to get myself one too
I sold my old Hartke B900 i'd been using for years (never failed me at any venue) and i was eyeing the Rumble 100, but for the coffeehouse gigs we're doing these days, the Vox just seems to be the better solution. You people seem to have gotten great results with guitar as well. Maybe this could become a straight guitar amp in the future for me (noodling the blues every now and then on an Epi Dot). I've got a Bass VI clone on the way so, there's that, too ...

I play in a country-folk band (but we turn our songs to electric-guitars-country-punk every time we can, meaning when the size of the venues allows us to use a full drum set). Would the Vox work as a solo amp for these coffeehouse gigs and as a monitor for those heavy gigs ?

 

[G-Dog]

After reading this thread i decided to get myself one too
I sold my old Hartke B900 i'd been using for years (never failed me at any venue) and i was eyeing the Rumble 100, but for the coffeehouse gigs we're doing these days, the Vox just seems to be the better solution. You people seem to have gotten great results with guitar as well. Maybe this could become a straight guitar amp in the future for me (noodling the blues every now and then on an Epi Dot). I've got a Bass VI clone on the way so, there's that, too ...

I play in a country-folk band (but we turn our songs to electric-guitars-country-punk every time we can, meaning when the size of the venues allows us to use a full drum set). Would the Vox work as a solo amp for these coffeehouse gigs and as a monitor for those heavy gigs ?

Congratulations, @Eldrian!

It sounds like you haven't received your Vox VX50BA, yet. Have you?

Yes, I've had great results using it as a bass monitor at church, usually with the pre-EQ Direct Out going to a great FOH. I don't know if anyone else has gigged it in any other situations. Be aware, it may need some break-in use to fully bloom for you like it did me.

Although at least a couple of us have played guitar thru it, I don't think anyone has gigged it with guitar. You may be the pioneer in that situation!

Please keep us informed of your progress.