New Amp Day - VOX VX50BA

[Killed_by_Death]

I had been thinking maybe I was missing something, not actually having a guitar-specific amp, but...
earlier this evening I drove up to the Fender/Ibanez/PRS dealer & tried one of their Mustang GT amps (guitar equivalent of the Rumble Studio 40) & it sucked in comparison to the VX50BA.

However, while I was there a PRS SE Mark Holcomb model imprinted itself in my mind & I'll be taking the VOX up there tomorrow to give it another go.

 

[Eldrian]

I just ordered it. No testing, no nothing. Most of the stuff i have, i bought without testing it, i trust this will be just fine . Gonna break the speaker in in the next weeks and we've got a gig on the 26th, i'll let you know my opinons then.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Less than 250 bucks, so it's not much of a gamble.

 

[G-Dog]

I just ordered it. No testing, no nothing. Most of the stuff i have, i bought without testing it, i trust this will be just fine . Gonna break the speaker in in the next weeks and we've got a gig on the 26th, i'll let you know my opinons then.

So, @Eldrian, how's the Vox VX50BA working out for you? Does it look like it's gonna make the gig on the 26th?

Mine has been hanging with the weekly church gig real well! Planning to take it to a bluegrass jam on the 26th where it'll probably face about half dozen acoustic guitars, 3 or 4 fiddles, a banjo or two, maybe a mandolin or two. I don't anticipate any problem at all there, but will post a gig review after it.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I re-read the owner's manual last weekend & was surprised to see the signal path is not exactly correctly drawn:

There are resistors drawn between the input to DO & the DO's ground, which should lead to some attenuation.
I can't detect any attenuation & the other bit is that the DO doesn't work unless the amp is powered on. That bit is not explicitly shown in the drawing.

 

[G-Dog]

I re-read the owner's manual last weekend & was surprised to see the signal path is not exactly correctly drawn:

View attachment 3301032
There are resistors drawn between the input to DO & the DO's ground, which should lead to some attenuation.
I can't detect any attenuation & the other bit is that the DO doesn't work unless the amp is powered on. That bit is not explicitly shown in the drawing.

Nor does it address the use of headphones shutting off the speaker.

But this little ultralight has been working great for me. This past weekend it got me thru a fun bluegrass jam, with about 15 or so acoustic instruments, in addition to my regular Sunday morning church gig. Such a joy to load in&out, and to play!

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Actually, the headphone jack does show a switching jack, but so does the DO.
I'm not sure what the DO is supposed to be switching, however.

That second spring leaf at the top of the DO jack is the switch.
(same as the headphone jack)

All weekend I pondered buying a 2x8" from RevSound & plugging a all-tube amp into it, but then I crank the volume & gain to 15:00 & I'm quite happy with how loud it gets.

OTOH, anything past that & it's flabby.

edit:
Maybe that's how the DO is turned off when the power isn't on.

 

[Passinwind]

Actually, the headphone jack does show a switching jack, but so does the DO.

All is see is TRS jacks with the ring unwired. But in any case, block diagrams are often not very complete.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Oops, I mistook those for switching jacks & forgot that the DO is a balanced output.

I also forgot that switching jack diagrams look like this:

 

[Passinwind]

Oops, I mistook those for switching jacks & forgot that the DO is a balanced output.

I also forgot that switching jack diagrams look like this:

View attachment 3301159

Very easy mistake to make. Switching networks still confound me pretty regularly, and I've been dealing with them for over half a century.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

For a while I was really considering buying a *MV50AC over the weekend. One came up used from Sam Ash for only half-price.
I slept on it & in the morning it was gone.

* MV50 series is the head version of this combo

 

[beans-on-toast]

Block diagrams are mostly intended illustrate the signal flow, not the actual circuits.

The resistor in your diagram could represent an offset voltage between signal ground and the chassis ground. This is done to lower noise. It has nothing to do with the direct out.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I had considered that it's just a fuzzy way of saying it's not directly connected.

 

[hieronymous]

For a while I was really considering buying a *MV50AC over the weekend. One came up used from Sam Ash for only half-price.
I slept on it & in the morning it was gone.

* MV50 series is the head version of this combo

Are you sure the MV50 is the same as the VX50BA? Isn't it more of a guitar amp?

 

[Killed_by_Death]

TBH the VX50BA reminds me of my old H&K guitar all-tube head. It's got enough gain & overdrive to keep up with a "guitar" tube amp.

The VX50 series is just the MV50 series in a combo format.

 

[Hoogmir]

I am considering getting one of these little magical boxes, but I have one nagging question...

I like having the potential to go a bit usefully loud, but I often end up playing rather medium-quietly - and at that kind of volume the innate electric amplifier hum of a previously tested Orange Crush Bass 50 was somewhat irritating. And thus I yearn to satisfy my curiosity: does this amplifier hum/buzz by default, after powering on (regardless of volume cranking - said Orange amp always had that unchanging, constant transformer hum/buzz, no matter what it was plugged into or what, if anthing, was plugged into it; said noise coming not from its speaker, rather from the metal plate on top)?

I really like not being vexed by such electric noise whenever I decide to be silent for a moment...

 

[BamaBird]

KBD--- iwas looking at the VOX-- and the ROLAND 20Xl---
anyone here have experince with both--- Im torn -- love VOX -- but -- I have a Roland Micro Cube guitar amp--and for low volume morning jazz noodling --- WOW that thing can sound REALLY good!

any info is apprecaited

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Sorry, no experience with the Roland, but the VOX sounds like a real tube amp to me. It also responds like one, which I notice more with a guitar.

RE: hum
Mine doesn't buzz or hum, but if you get the gain high at all it will hiss. Matter of fact, once you flip on the o/d switch, get ready for some hiss, the higher the gain the louder that hiss.
I don't think it's any worse than all-tube amps.
Don't get it for LOUD, because TBH it won't do that. Mine starts to break up once you get gain & volume past 3 o'clock. Yeah that's insane levels, but even at 3 o'clock it's not really that loud.
It's 50 Watts of SS power, not Tube power.

IF you want to get louder get a MV50 & a 4 Ohm 2x10" or RevSound's 2x8".
However, you'd lose the compressor & 4-band EQ.

I play mine with all the knobs on noon most of the time & find that just perfect for practice-level volume.
I've had a few setups that I've used for guitar & bass & this one actually sounds really good with guitar, but in that case I put the gain on 3 o'clock & the volume on 9 o'clock, or else it's crazy loud.

I'm not sure if this will help, but I've got a little VU meter app on my phone.
If I put that down directly in front of the amp, unplug my instrument cable, crank the volume & gain, & turn on the Drive switch, it reads -10 dB (two bars up from the bottom of the meter).
That wouldn't be your knob positions almost ever, but it does get a little noisy with high gain.

 

[BamaBird]

Thank you -- Im looking mostly for low volume home use---
several of the "small" bass amps Ive tried in the past either the speaker and cabinet vibrate like they are coming apart -- or the TONE --frankly SUCKS---its not low-- its not rich its thin and crappy---like running my bass through a 20 watt solid state guitar amp... sad----videos online are deceptive-- the amp is at low volume so it DOESNT rattle and shake-- and they UP the sound and fatten the tone through the recording software..

 

[Killed_by_Death]

The ABS casing is silent until you go past 3 o'clock on both volume & gain, but TBH I haven't had a close look at what makes it break up at that point.
I'm not hearing sympathetic vibration from the ABS cabinet, so it's probably just the driver being stressed.

I considered getting a Auralex Baby Gramma, but TBH even when elevated from the floor it sounds the same.
I experimented with different things to stack it on, but it sounds best if I put it on a stool aiming right at me, LOL!