Vox Valvetronix Tone Lab SE

[Vol. Knob]

I traded my way into one last week. Its pristine and hardly used. I traded a Small Clone, Tube Screamer, Sabine FuzzStortion, and an ABY pedal for it. I'd say I got the better deal, but the young rocker was thrilled to get my "naturally reliced" pedals.

I'm happy so far. A little suprised that I'm not very into the actual Vox amp model sounds. I dig the "Brittish '80s" (Marshall JCM 800) sound the most, Boutique Clean (don't know what it is) second, and the Tweed 1x12 (5E3) third. The effect pedal sounds are fun, some good distortion/fuzz/overdrive sounds. The Compressor is good, so are the rotary and so forth. What you'd expect from one of the better modeling pedals. Not all that "boxed" sounding like my RP100 (still a good pedal, but I'll be gifting it to a friend).

I'm committing "Tone Snob Blasphemy". I'm dropping guitar amps from my live rig altogether. Our Rhythm Guitarist uses a DigiTech GNX3, he can plug directly into the PA and fits perfectly in the mix, both mains and in the monitors. Our former rhythm guitarist used a Delta Blues and I couldnt hear him at his last show with us. I also heard from audience members that there were areas where you could not hear my guitar and other areas where you could hear too much of my guitar. I'd even gone to using smaller amps as my old 50 watter and 35 watters never got turned up very loud. Micing the amps is an option, but then I'd have to turn them way down. So after a band practice with my DigiTech RP100, I decided that I too was going the way of the modeler.

Our keyboardist goes through the PA, so does our new drummer (he has an electric kit). Since I own the PA, this means I'll carry less to gigs. I'll have less in the way of a spaghetti mess for cords. Quicker set-up time. Less to hassle. with.

[Al Watsky]

Thats a cool trade.
I was considering one of those .
They sound good.
I would like to fine something that was a
few pounds lighter.
The LE is about 10 lb without the power supply.
Trying to find something to fly with. Put in my luggage.
Let us know about the LE results.
Interested in your adjustment to "amp-less" gigs.
I hope TC gets their Nova System working.
6 lbs. with a built in P-supply that is dual voltage !
Gotta bring yer own Wah-wah though. So your up to at least 9 pound.
Come to think of it , thats how I want to buy guitar effects from now on,
by the pound.
"Hey, mister , could I have a couple pounds of distortion over here ?"

[Vol. Knob]

Oh man... this is dangerous. I love this thing. I have such amazing conrol of my sound and where it sits in the mix.

I gotta say, I'm really pleased. I ended up killing hours and hours dialing in all the perfect sounds for all the songs in our playlist, then when band practice rolled around, I found that only one or two really fit the bill.

Not because the sound was bad, but because I didnt follow the "keep it simple" method. I got all excited and programed too much delay or swirly stuff on some songs. Crisp, clear, clean tones are more audible in a band with lots of guitars, bass, drums, keys and vocals if the sound isn't mucked up by extras.

All the sounds are great. But the JCM800 model is my favorite. Not really jazzed about the actual Vox models, but the Tweed models are loads of fun.

I've re-programed my tones for more simple stuff and didnt succumb to the temptation to add reverb, delay and rotary to everything. This coming weekend we're having our first practice with the digital drum kit too (last week he used my acoustic kit), so we'll see just how good we all sound.

[aberrant]

Tone Lab series is by far my preferred multi-fx.