VOX Pathfinder 15R

oles
October 13, 2009

Rating: 8/10

This amp does not modify the sound of your guitar- which is only good. Sounds natural and pulls out the vibe of the guitar, then it is what you expect from an amp. Clean sound is universal, just... clean sound. Very clean. Go to more overdrive and you get on the way stylish rock\\\'n\\\'roll drive, feels like seventies. Doesn\\\'t sound like a transistor, rather like a tube.
Obviously if you want to cover properly Slayer or Behemoth, it will not be perfect. But you can\\\'t have your cake and eat it too.

john dykhuizen
October 3, 2009

Rating: 10/10

you cant go wrong with this little solid state amp for the price, i was tired of all the modelling amps on offer and just wanted one with some decent tone for in the house & small jamming sessions and this is spot on!!
i have an epiphone valve junior and i much prefer the sound of this! not too sure about the tremelo but the sound with the gain about halfway & the drive switch out is excellent.

Hedonism Hollow
May 27, 2009

Rating: 10/10

I love this amp. I use a standard Fender Tele and I get such a warm tone from the Vox. Great for bedroom practice you can get very nice tones at a low volume. The overdrive is maybe a little too much for my tele, but this is normal for me without a noise reducer pedal. The headphone jack is useful for late night practices and seems to give the same tone even through my crappy headphones. I use a Line 6 spider with my band but for tone this blows it away. When i can afford it, I\'ll definetly be moving up to one of it\'s big brothers.

Dave Wheatley
May 19, 2009

Rating: 8/10

I like the general tones from this amp, but no-matter the settings,it could never be described as \"bright\". Old school overdriven valve sound when the gain is turned up is nice. Tremelo is OK. The reverb (electronic, not spring) is not great, but it\'s OK at lower settings. An OK amp for the price, but I would have prefered it if it sounded a bit brighter.

Jenna
December 24, 2008

Rating: 9/10

IMHO, this is hands down the best little transistor amp money can buy.

If you like to use the tones and volumes on your guitar to vary your sound or crunchiness, this is that Rare Thing - a transistor amp that lets you do it without messing up your tone.

The clean sound really sparkles and the overdrive is fine for classic sounds.

The amp belies its size in terms of bass response and I\\\'d say it is a pretty loud 15 watts if need be.

Don\\\'t expect the reverb and tremolo to be as good as boutique amps, but set them with care and they are useful enough.

Whilst this amp has been continuously available in the US, it mysteriously disappeared from the stores for maybe a year here in the UK.... whilst small \\\"modelling\\\" amps more knobs and less tone were being sold instead. A cynic might guess that the reason for it\\\'s temporary disappearance was that it is actually better than the more modern offerings...

I\\\'ve played for 35 years and I\\\'m not the only pro musician who uses one of these miked up for small gigs, or paired with a small valve amp running dry, together with this little Vox for the \\\"wet \\\" sound via an A-B box for a killer compact stereo setup.

I would not be without this little beauty.

Appalachik

Andrea
December 16, 2008

Rating: 9/10

this is a test

Cai
February 11, 2008

Rating: 9/10

An awesome amp for the genre I play. (old rock and a little bit of grunge).

It's a fairly good all round amp and is beastly for a 15-watt.

It could have gotten a 10 from me but as it doesn't have a mid knob i'll give it a 9.

Terry
December 20, 2007

Rating: 10/10

I have noticed that although I gave this amp a 10 rating, it came out as 8 in my review above? So this is to say this amplifier, the Vox Pathfinder 15R deserves a 10 with no doubts whatsoever!!!

Terry
December 20, 2007

Rating: 8/10

This is simply one cracking amplifier and the best solid state amp I have ever heard. The core sound using just the volume and gain controls with bass and treble to taste is sweet, rich, warm and really valve like in character. Since this amp arrived from Dolphin I just can\'t wait to play it each evening! I have a Strat, a Tele and a Squier 51 and the sounds are just classic from this amp with all 3 guitars.

Unlike digital modelling amps, the core sound of this Vox will not tire your ears... the amp will give you a real guitar sound and it will bring out the qualities of your guitar. Sound shapers on board are the reverb and the vibrato. The vibrato can be adjusted with two controls for speed and depth. The vibrato is excellent but sadly the reverb is not and is better left off. Bass and treble tone controls are very good and will help you adjust the sound.

At the back of the amp are various outputs for direct recording, an extension cab and footswitch.

To sum up... this amp is a real guitar amp and the best practise, home recording, small gig amp I\'ve ever played and I\'d recommend it to any guitarist whatever their skills.

Steve Willett
October 13, 2007

Rating: 8/10

In short, fantastic for a practice amp, it looks very well built and has a great sound. The large cabinet (and better circuitry) must give the Vox the edge in sound over the Fender Sidekick that it replaced as you can hear the notes much more clearly and the bass response is great, making the amp sound bigger or more expensive than it is. The only downsides are: 1. how the gain control works with the volume, I'd rather be able to gradually add distortion to the volume that I want rather than move both controls to get where I want. 2. The distortion/gain only sounds good to a certain level, covering a nice bluesy break up to a rock crunch, after which it kind of "looses it". I can live with both of these as the overall tone is fantastic and I don't really use high levels of distortion much. When I want more distortion I've got a pedal for that.