vox tonelab w/tube?

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gusfinley

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I was at guitar center today and was just on my way out the door wheni saw the Vox Tonelab multiFX pedal. I didn't want to choose another guitar and then play it through a crappy amp, so I just turned it on to look at it. I noticed that the "glow" from the tubes appeared instantly. That seemed a little odd - there was no "warm up" time at all.

I Figure that what they did was get a orangish LED and use it to make it look like the tube is glowing. I couldn't see the actually heaters doing anything!!! Does this thing actually use the tube? I mean if you really wanted tube tone you'd have to give this thing 100V across the plates and feed it a lot of current!! I'm disappointed indeed.........
 
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Marketing..Korgs Triton's have the same lightbulb thing going on!I wonder if the they are owned by the same Co. Proboly....
 
korg owns vox and marshall.

edit: actually it might be marshall that owns korg and vox. i remember seeing it on one of their websites, but i can't find it anymore.
 
Geez David, does that mean I shouldn't buy it? Just kidding. But does it actually use the tube or is it just for looks?
 
well......

the product info states that the tube is the center of its tone or whatever, but if you can't even see the heaters working, then I don't know what the tube is doing!! Maybe the LED is just too bright so you can't tell the difference between that and the heater.

Its all part of the new sales philospophy: throw a "tube" into a crappy amp and sell it for $150 more because people will want it!!! Make sure you can see it and that it glows nice and pretty, too!! Oh and be sure to use some sort of refernece to a tube in there too. (Valvestate, transtube, etc)
 
stage hand

ok i'm a stage hand working with bands that are on tour in the state of ohio
we do anything from rock to classical to country we had one band that did not tour with amps all they used was the vox tonelab nashville musicians that can play anything they like and that is what the whole band used :) just a thought.

PS. the sound was awesome!
 
oh yeah.........

since I didn't actually play the pedal I can't give an opinion on how it sounded. You will have excuse me as I am a tone purest, and am currently obsessed with vacuum tubes. It just seems to me from an electronics standpoint that the tube really isn't doing as much as they like to thing it is. Escpecially when they say that the tube is the core to thier "valve reactor" that gives the same qualities as a Power Amp tube - well, they put a preamp tube in there, and those tube have different qualities for sure!!!
 
the reason you are seeing the tube glow so brightly without a warm up time is because they are using a starved plate design. its the same type of tube circuitry used in the cheap mic preamps (presonus tubepre etc.). this can be slightly warmer than an all analog preamp circuit but still not as good as a regular high voltage tube design. A real tube preamp requires high voltages betwen the plates. Although both may be class A you will get a better tone from a high-voltage tube amp than a starved-plate tube amp. the tube in the vox tonelab is there to introduce some harmonics into the sound.

i'm not an expert on starved-plate design but i'm learning. i would suggest you do the same. even if you only know enough to keep you from buying a tube amp that won't provide what your looking for.

i'm still wanting to try the tonelab because i've heard good things about it. even if the tube only provides harmonics it might be worth getting if the rest of the circuitry is really good. i just hope its better than all the line6 crap i've tried.
 
gusfinley said:
Escpecially when they say that the tube is the core to thier "valve reactor" that gives the same qualities as a Power Amp tube - well, they put a preamp tube in there, and those tube have different qualities for sure!!!
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If it's a power tube, does that mean you can push a 4x12 guitar cab with it? That sounds a little weird. A floor power amp? I'm lost with this thing.
 
setabkcin said:
If it's a power tube, does that mean you can push a 4x12 guitar cab with it? That sounds a little weird. A floor power amp? I'm lost with this thing.
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its not a power amp. its a preamp. the plan is to have the tube produce some of the qualities of a tube power amp that can then be powered by a solid state amp. they are trying to get tube power amp tones out of a starved-plate amp modeler going into a solid state amp
 
mishagolin said:
i'm still wanting to try the tonelab because i've heard good things about it. even if the tube only provides harmonics it might be worth getting if the rest of the circuitry is really good. i just hope its better than all the line6 crap i've tried.
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I sure think it is.
 
HAHA! I get it!

mishagolin said:
its not a power amp. its a preamp. the plan is to have the tube produce some of the qualities of a tube power amp that can then be powered by a solid state amp. they are trying to get tube power amp tones out of a starved-plate amp modeler going into a solid state amp
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Haha! That makes much more sense now.
 
its not all about the tube in this thing

hey guys its not all about the freakin tube its about tone!
when i heard one for the first time i thought it sounded awesome!
tubes are nice and all that but if you can get a good tone with this thing then who the hobbibly cares? the point is does it sound good to your ears
i have a line 6 spider II that i am really happy with its not tube but it sounds good enough for what i want to do i can get some classic sounds out of it and i get a few new ones as well i have not had a tone i could not get. and this is coming from a guy who likes all kinds of stuff (i play less paul, joe pass,chet style, led zep, hendrix, a little ac/dc as well as any other tone that grabs me) never had a lack of tone the thing with line6 is that most people do not run them out loud enough to get the full tone they have in them. let your ears do some of the thinking and see what you think. :)
 
guitar junkie said:
the thing with line6 is that most people do not run them out loud enough to get the full tone they have in them. let your ears do some of the thinking and see what you think. :)
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its solid state. there is an extremely marginal relation to volume and tone in any solid state amp. so i think what you are actually experiencing is the natural compression your ears create at louder amp volumes.

i've played around quite a bit with the line6 spider II and i didn't like it one bit. i had it in the room with my mesa dc-3 (tube), fender princeton chorus (solidstate) and '78 fender princeton reverb(tube). the line 6 couldn't even match up with my princeton chorus.
 
yeah so........

I'm trying to learn as much as I can about tubes... how do I learn more about strarved plate configuartion and its benefits/consequences?
 
VOX sounds and plays great!

I own a VOX AD50VT (Valvetronix series) and the thing sounds incredible. Much better than any other modeler I've owned (and I've had lots, including Line6 Flextone 3+ and Digitech GNX4). It might not be the panacea to all folks, but man, for the price it just cannot be beat.

The 12ax7 tube (a decent EH tube stock) is actually integrated into the power stage of the amp via the dynamic "Valve Reactor Circuitry", not the preamp. There is a technical doc on the VOX site. Seriously, it has a very good tube tone - blows away anything else at $360 range for a 50w giggable amp. Very sensitive to pick attack and volume roll off, stomp boxes, etc.

Lots of fun. Did I mention this thing is VERSATILE?! Just fantastic - and I'm super picky (my wife bugs me about how finicky I am even).
~A~
 
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