Vox AD50VT manual

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IMPOR T ANT SAFETY INSTR UCTIONS • Read these instructions. • Keep these instructions. • Heed all warnings. • Follow all instructions. • Do not use this apparatus near water . • Mains powered apparatus shall not be exposed to dripping or splashing and that no objects filled with liquids, such as vases, shall be placed on the apparatus. [...]

i Ta b le of Contents Introduction ....................................................................................... ii Welcome aboard! ............................................................................. ii Main features .................................................................................... ii Signal path .............[...]

ii Intr oduction W ELCOME ABOARD ! hanks f or choosing the V O X AD15VT , AD30VT , AD50VT , AD100VT or AD100VTH V alvetronix amp . T o ensure a long and trouble-free relationship with y our ne w amp , please read this manual carefully , use the amp as directed and keep the manual f or future ref erence. M AIN FEATURES • The AD15VT , AD30VT , AD50[...]

1 S IGNAL PATH Y our guitar sound passes through the follo wing sections. (Y ou can refer to “The Guitarist’ s Guided P anel T our” while you read the e xplanation that f ollows .) V ALVE R EACTOR T ECHNOLOGY T HE P OWER ( AMP ) AND THE G LORY ! alv e Reactor technology was first used on the V O X AD60VT & AD120VT V al- v etronix amps. S[...]

2 Apar t from the vital v alve tone this ingenious po wer amp design pro vides, it also allows us to replicate v arious “circuit characteristics” that are unique to the all-valv e pow er stages of the amps we’v e modelled. These “characteristics” include: Class A or Class AB operation, Presence and Resonance (lo w end) control circuitr y [...]

3 C HECKING OUT THE PRESET PROGRAMS 1. Press the top panel PRESET button. The PRESET LED will light (this means you’ re in Preset mode). 2. T urn the AMP selector to select an amp type . F or each amp type you select, a preset containing a typical sound f or that type will be selected; i.e ., the GAIN, V OLUME, TREBLE, MIDDLE, BASS , and eff ect [...]

4 The Guitarist’ s Guided P anel T our In this chapter we’ re going to take a look at the top and rear panels of y our V alv etronix amp . A. T op P anel 1. I NPUT SECTION This is where you plug in y our guitar . 2. A MP SECTION Here’ s where y ou mak e your settings . AMP selector switc h This selects one of the amp type models. As mentioned[...]

5 TREBLE, MIDDLE, and B ASS This trio of knobs allow you to dial in the e xact amount of high, mid, and lo w fre- quencies. Also , as y ou’ d e xpect (and hope!), the e xact manner in which each one of these controls behav es and also inter acts with the others is dependant on the amp model selected. T ur n to the “Amp models and eff ects” se[...]

6 T AP (EDIT 2) and LED This button enab les y ou to set the speed of a modulation-type eff ect (such as CHOR US or FLANGER) the dela y time REVERB length; simply press the button twice at the desired inter v al. The LED blinks at the specified speed or time . HINT : To set the time to e xactly match the tempo of a song, press the T AP button se v[...]

7 WRITE button Use this button to sa v e a new prog ram into CH1 or CH2. Ref er to “Storing your program” (page 14). 5. P OWER SWITCH When the po wer is on, the indicator located abov e the s witch will be lit. B. Rear P anel AC power This is where you connect the included po wer cord. FOO T SW Y ou can connect the optional VFS2 dual f oot s wi[...]

8 NO TE: The AD15VT doesn’t hav e this control. NO TE: The power le v el setting isn’t sav ed as par t of the progr am. This control lets you get that highly desir able , f at, warm sound of the V alv etronix pow er stage being driven hard (a common trait of all g reat valv e po wer amps), at va r ious le v els. This will enable y ou to pla y c[...]

9 SPEAKER OUT jacks, OUTPUT SELECT switch Connect your speak er cabinet(s) to the SPEAKER OUT jac k(s). Refer to the tab le below , and set the OUTPUT SELECT s witch to the appropriate setting for the cab- inet(s) you’ re using. NO TE: Only the AD100VTH has these jac ks and this switch. Important: Any combination of connections other than describ[...]

10 About the three operating modes he AD15VT/AD30VT/AD50VT/AD100VT/AD100VTH contains ele v en “preset pro- gr ams. ” T o select one of these, enter Preset mode (which simply means , press the PRESET button) and turn the AMP selector . There are also two re writable “channel programs” which you can select b y press- ing the CH button or b y [...]

11 S WITCHING CHANNELS With either the CH1 or CH2 LED lit, press the CH s witch. The channel will change each time you press the b utton, and the progr am stored in each channel will be recalled. (The ph ysical settings of the top panel selector knobs and control knobs are ignored at this time.) HINT : If the optional VFS2 dual foot s witch is conn[...]

12 Creating and storing y our own pr ogram here are two w a ys you can do this; by tweaking an e xisting preset prog ram that’ s close to what you ha v e in mind, or by starting from scratch. C REATING YOUR OWN PROGRAM Let’ s start from scratch. 1. Choose any pr ogram in Preset or Channel Select mode, or select Manual mode. HINT : Since w e’ [...]

13 HINT : F or details on the eff ects, ref er to “Amp models and eff ects” (page 17). 8. When y ou’ve come up with a sound y ou like, store the pr ogram. NO TE: In Preset or Channel Select mode , the changes you made will be lost if y ou s witch to a diff erent program or Manual mode or turn off the power without storing the program first. [...]

14 S TORING YOUR PROGRAM When you’v e come up with a sound y ou like , y ou should store (write) the program. 1. Press the WRITE b utton. The CH1 or CH2 LED will blink. 2. Press the CH button to select the c hannel in which y ou want to store y our program. The program will be stored in the channel whose indicator is blink- ing. HINT : If , durin[...]

15 R ESTORING THE FACTORY SETTINGS Here’ s ho w you can restore the f actory settings. NO TE: If y ou do this, the prog rams y ou sav ed in the channels will be completely erased, and will be reset to the f actor y settings. NO TE: Eff ect and noise reduction settings made in the Man ual mode will also be erased. 1. T urn the power off. 2. While [...]

16 Using the VFS2 dual f oot switc h f the optional VFS2 dual f oot s witch (sold separ ately*) is connected to the rear panel FOO T SW jac k, you can use it to s witch prog rams or turn effect b ypass on/off . S WITCHING THE CHANNEL PROGRAM ( SWITCH 1) Each time you press the VFS2’ s left s witch (s witch 1), y ou’ll alter nate betw een CH1 an[...]

17 Amp models and effects In this section we’ re going to talk about the elev en amp models and eff ects. A MP MODELS hich amps did we painstakingly model f or our selection of ele v en? Belie v e me when I sa y it wasn’t easy ’cos , as I’m sure you kno w , there’ s a plethora of g reat- sounding amps out there. After countless hours of s[...]

18 T UBE T ALK Us Brits call ’em valv es while our US cousins call ’em tubes ... as the saying goes: England and America are merely two countries divided by a common language! Anyw a y , call ’em what you will, these w ondrous glass bottles lie at the tonal hear t of each of our 11 models. As all the amps we’v e modeled hail from one of the[...]

19 1. BOUTIQUE CL F or this amp type, w e modelled the Clean channel of a very rare, v er y e xpensiv e and respected 100 W att head named the Ov erdrive Special. W e auditioned se v- eral top-shelf boutique amps f or this model b ut this amp was the clear winner . Its beautifully rounded low-end, delightfully tr ansient mid-range attac k and sw ee[...]

20 4. A C15 This is modelled on Channel 2 of an amazing sounding 1962 V O X A C15. This 1 x12”, 15 W att, v alv e driven combo w as unleashed on the market in 1958 and was the first e v er V O X amplifier . Thanks to its compactness, built in vibr ato and tremen- dous tone, it w as a huge hit with the popular British guitar bands of the time. O[...]

21 Original’ s valve compliment: 5 x ECC83s & 1 x ECC82 in preamp , 1 x GZ34 rectifier , 4 x EL84s in po wer amp . 6. UK ’70s This is based on the “High T reble” channel of a 1971, 50 W att, four input, all-v alv e head. This amp was chosen because the tone w as incredibly rich and warm yet biting and distinct! As this amp has no maste[...]

22 8. UK MODERN This is modelled on the High Gain channel of a modern, all-tube 100 W atter . It com- bines a toneful high gain preamp stage with the unmistakab le, “snarling” punch and gir th the UK ’80s po wer stage off ers . The result is a highly agg ressiv e, tone-breath- ing monster capab le of mondo-gain while retaining individual note[...]

23 E FFECTS The AD15VT , AD30VT , AD50VT , AD100VT & AD100VTH provide ele v en of the most popular eff ects (some eff ects actually combine two eff ects). you can adjust the SPEED parameter of modulation eff ects or the TIME parameter of delay/re v erb eff ects simply b y pressing the T AP switch twice . In addition to using the EDIT 1 knob to [...]

24 COMP W ant to pla y a clean passage that needs to be nice, smooth, and e v en? Need a bit more sustain on a lead line? Then look no further ; COMP is the eff ect f or y ou. It’ s modeled on a compressor pedal that is hugely popular due to the percussiv e clean sound it can pro- duce — making it perf ect f or ’80s and ’90s pop and funk rh[...]

25 FLANGER A model of a truly classic flanger that “unchained” a highly influential moder n guitarist who many hail as the “godf ather of two-handed tapping. ” TREMOLO This eff ect is based on the highly acclaimed tremolo circuit f ound in a BLA CK 2x12. ROTARY This models a rotar y speak er . TA P “SPEED” Sets the modulation speed in[...]

26 DELAY This is a model of one of the most respected analogue tape echo machines e v er made. In the original the “echo” is produced by a pla yback head and the e xact “dela y time” is set by var ying the motor speed. Many prof essionals pref er these “lo-fi” units because of the war m, dar k echoes the y produce. HINT : In the CHOR U[...]

27 Tr oubleshooting 1.The amp isn’t powering up when the PO WER switch is ON. ➢ Is the pow er cable plugged into the A C po wer connector on the rear panel of the amp? ➢ Is the pow er cable plugged into an A C outlet? ➢ Is the A C outlet s witched on and actually working? ➢ Does the pow er cable w ork? 2. There’ s no sound coming from t[...]

28 ➢ Check the settings of the GAIN, V OLUME, TREBLE, MIDDLE, and BASS con- trols. On cer tain amp types, if the TREBLE, MIDDLE, and BASS controls are all tur ned do wn, there will be little or no sound coming from the amp due to the wa y the circuit of the original works. ➢ If you’ re in Manual mode (the MANU AL LED lit), turn the follo wing[...]

29 Specifications * Appearance and specifications of this product are subject to change without notice. URL = http://www .v o xamps.co .uk Number of amp types: 11 Number of effects: 11 Noise reduction: 1 Number of programs: 11 preset, 2 channel Input/output jacks T op panel: 1 x INPUT Rear panel: 1 x FOO T SW jack, 1 x LINE/PHONE jac k (AD50VT/AD[...]

30 Pr ogrammer’ s Cheat Sheet W anna remember ho w you set up y our f av ourite programs? Well this is the place to do it! Simply do as f ollows: 1. Indicate where all the knobs are set by dr awing a line in the empty circles . 2. Indicate which MODULA TION, DELA Y & REVERB effects are being used b y colouring in the relev ant LED 3. Don&apos[...]

31 PROGRAM NAME: NO TE: NR ( NOISE REDUCTION ): POWER LEVEL EDIT2[T AP+EDIT 1]: /T AP EDIT3[BYP ASS+EDIT 1]: PROGRAM NAME: NO TE: NR ( NOISE REDUCTION ): POWER LEVEL EDIT2[T AP+EDIT 1]: /T AP EDIT3[BYP ASS+EDIT 1]: PROGRAM NAME: NO TE: NR ( NOISE REDUCTION ): POWER LEVEL EDIT2[T AP+EDIT 1]: /T AP EDIT3[BYP ASS+EDIT 1]:[...]

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