Vox Pathfinder Owners

[Michael A.]

I don't think the Vox labeled speaker was called anything besides a Vox or "Bulldog". My Pathfinders both have that blue speaker shown in the top row, but it pretty much looks identical to the Celestion in the second row, other than magnet size. The PF magnet is right at 3" diameter, so that is an easy check. I have no info on the later black painted speakers. Vox may have used the same supplier for all variants of these speakers, whether PF15, PF15R or C15. I've seen the web site of at least one manufacturer of this speaker, but don't remember if they were in China or elsewhere.

The Vox Showroom (North Coast Music) doesn't give the PF15R speaker a unique name.
https://www.voxshowroom.com/uk/amp/p15r.html

 

[Chiogtr4x]

I don't think the Vox labeled speaker was called anything besides a Vox or "Bulldog". My Pathfinders both have that blue speaker shown in the top row, but it pretty much looks identical to the Celestion in the second row, other than magnet size. The PF magnet is right at 3" diameter, so that is an easy check. I have no info on the later black painted speakers. Vox may have used the same supplier for all variants of these speakers, whether PF15, PF15R or C15. I've seen the web site of at least one manufacturer of this speaker, but don't remember if they were in China or elsewhere.

The Vox Showroom (North Coast Music) doesn't give the PF15R speaker a unique name.
https://www.voxshowroom.com/uk/amp/p15r.html

Yeah, I have that bookmarked

I do like the way my amp sounds with the Cambridge 8" in it ( and I have a spare Jensen Mod 8", don't want a larger size in my cab)

But I may just buy another PF15R with stock speaker, when one becomes available. No rush

I actually bought a 2nd one in October, but gave it away!
( My buddy bought me a guitar, so I gave him the amp!)

 

[frama78]

Directly compared, the PF sounds harsh in the highs and reacts not good to Overdrive/Distorion pedals

I fooled around with my PF15: put in an Eminence Ramrod and placed a Box of Rock in front of the amp. The drive sounds are absolutely incredible, now! Ok; it´s more of a Marshall than a Vox but I actually really love this little beauty!

 

[SRBMusic]

Does anybody have a 15R cabinet they’d be willing to sell? I have a 15, and a 15R chassis. The 15R chassis needs a home. I can put it in a custom cab with an 8, 10, or 12” speaker, but a Vox cab would be cool.

 

[Michael A.]

I know the Amp Tech forum may be a closer fit for this link, but I'm curious if other Pathfinder owners have seen this interesting article about modding these amps.

https://audiomods.datsunzgarage.us/vox/

I have a spare chassis that needs a little work, and was thinking of having my tech look at these ideas.

 

[Michael A.]

Does anybody have a 15R cabinet they’d be willing to sell? I have a 15, and a 15R chassis. The 15R chassis needs a home. I can put it in a custom cab with an 8, 10, or 12” speaker, but a Vox cab would be cool.

These are now pretty hard to find. I lucked out a couple years back and got a complete broken amp for $10 off CL. The cabinet is now converted to a 10" WGS, which is a very nice all around speaker. That's a Cambridge 15 driving it. The filler plywood panel was painted black and I used a plywood 10" baffle and some fresh brown grille cloth. I have enough to cover the speaker panel of the Cambridge when I get around to it, so I'll have a stack in matching colors.

 

[Fred Perez]

300 in reverb??? prices are rising more... honey or inflation?

 

[nojazzhere]

Does anybody have a 15R cabinet they’d be willing to sell? I have a 15, and a 15R chassis. The 15R chassis needs a home. I can put it in a custom cab with an 8, 10, or 12” speaker, but a Vox cab would be cool.

These are now pretty hard to find. I lucked out a couple years back and got a complete broken amp for $10 off CL. The cabinet is now converted to a 10" WGS, which is a very nice all around speaker. That's a Cambridge 15 driving it. The filler plywood panel was painted black and I used a plywood 10" baffle and some fresh brown grille cloth. I have enough to cover the speaker panel of the Cambridge when I get around to it, so I'll have a stack in matching colors.



View attachment 935312 View attachment 935313

SRBMusic hasn't reported, but I had a pristine cabinet w/ speaker that I contacted him about, he bought it, and I shipped it to him. I even gave him the choice of the maroon/brown or black grill cloth. (I had both) I have two PF 15R chassis I've installed in two custom cabinets.....one with one twelve inch speaker, the other with four 8" speakers. I've played countless gigs with the one 12" version. Here are a couple pics.

Btw....the smaller one 12" one now has the same gold/wheat grill with Vox logo as the four 8" one.

 

[Michael A.]

Very early (1998) Pathfinder 15 (no reverb) in SoCal for $160 plus shipping. Note it is the 232nd one made!

I have no interest or benefit.

Note that the verbiage inserted by Reverb.com describes the later model with reverb, which the actual amp for sale doesn't have.

Vox Vox Pathfinder 15W Black 2000s | Reverb

The Vox Pathfinder (V9168R) was introduced as an affordable practice amp with vintage Vox appointments. It includes onboard tremolo control and reverb. This amp was discontinued in 2012. Electronics: 15 watts, 1 x 8-inch speaker, reverb, tremolo

reverb.com

 

[teleman1]

I have the no Verb & I made the top of the amp my pedal board, dominated by mini pedals.

 

[RoyalT]

I repurposed a Bell & Howell projector speaker cabinet to make a Vox Pathfinder 15R combo. I bought a broken chassis on eBay and was able to repair it by replacing the power amp chip and re-soldering a couple of contact points. Totally fun project. I love the 15R!
Amp: $25
Cab: $50
Speaker (Eminence 10” Ragin Cajun): $70
Labor: 10 hours @ $1000/hr !!!!

 

[Johnny Halo]

I’ve got a non-reverb PF15 that has a 60 cycle hum that varies with the volume. The output sound/tone is good and the tremolo works. Have tried different outlets, cables, speaker via the external Jack with same result. Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[wabashslim]

I’ve got a non-reverb PF15 that has a 60 cycle hum that varies with the volume. The output sound/tone is good and the tremolo works. Have tried different outlets, cables, speaker via the external Jack with same result. Any ideas would be appreciated.

How about with no guitar (or cord) plugged in? Or a different guitar? Change your amp-player positioning?

I know the Amp Tech forum may be a closer fit for this link, but I'm curious if other Pathfinder owners have seen this interesting article about modding these amps.

https://audiomods.datsunzgarage.us/vox/

Mostly unnecessary, useless, or even sucker-bait like that speaker wire. I didn't read the whole thing.

 

[The butcher]

I’ve got a non-reverb PF15 that has a 60 cycle hum that varies with the volume. The output sound/tone is good and the tremolo works. Have tried different outlets, cables, speaker via the external Jack with same result. Any ideas would be appreciated.

When I have hum in any amp I plug straight into a clean power source - No powerboard etc to make sure the buzz is from the amp and not electrical interference. My iPhone charger is always the culprit!

 

[Leonardocoate]

I have several amp modelers and I noticed that I keep landing on the Vox amps so I bought a Pathfinder 10 and a Stomplab 1g. Of all the money I have spent on gear over the years, these two might be the best bang for the buck. The Pathfinder is way better than the price tag. I use the two together for practice and recording. I have only had them for 3 weeks so I’m still in the honeymoon stage. I believe it will last

 

[RoyalT]

For the last six years I have posted on TDPRI and specifically in this thread about owning 3 Pathfinder 15Rs, all stock. The first was a $40 pawn shop score, an older Korean-made with the black grill cloth. After I purchased my first one, I realized I would always want this amp in my sonic arsenal, so I bought a second, an open box online purchase of a Vietnamese model with brown grill cloth. Then in January of 2013, when the 15R was discontinued, I bought one more for good measure, also Vietnamese/brown cloth.

There have been times when I secretly thought that having three was overkill, but in the last couple of days, not so much. One of my Vietnamese models has started acting up. Here's what's happening...

After playing it for a bit, it starts to sound "fizzy," for lack of a better term, then the level of the output volume drops significantly. When I say "fizzy," I'm not talking about what some refer to as fizzy in an amp's Gain structure. In my case, the Gain is set at 9 o'clock, Volume at 10, the Boost switch is not engaged. So I'm playing clean when suddenly this phenomenon occurs: fizziness, then volume drop. If I keep playing through it, the volume level comes back up after a bit, but before long drops again.

This has only started in the last couple of days, and so I haven't played through this one amp since yesterday. Like I said, I've got two other Pathfinder 15Rs, so I'm covered for a gig later this week. But I'm just starting off my morning thinking about this problem. Any suggestions as to what the problem could be, or what to try as a fix? I'm no amp tech, by any stretch of the imagination, and not really a tinkerer, but could there be some easy fix?

This reply is 3 years late… but hopefully someone can benefit from it. It’s not Cambridgitis because the Pathfinders don’t have optocouplers. It’s the speaker. The voice coil is shorting at certain frequencies due to lateral vibration (does the phenomenon only occur when playing specific strings at specific frets?). Try swapping out the speaker.

 

[Chiogtr4x]

This reply is 3 years late… but hopefully someone can benefit from it. It’s not Cambridgitis because the Pathfinders don’t have optocouplers. It’s the speaker. The voice coil is shorting at certain frequencies due to lateral vibration (does the phenomenon only occur when playing specific strings at specific frets?). Try swapping out the speaker.

The 8" speaker in my Pathfinder actually came from a used Cambridge 15 ( I bought first, many years ago) that had that disease.
I just threw out the amp (sorry!), kept the speaker and cab!
When I got my Pathfinder ( 10 years ago?) it had a Crate 4ohm speaker in it.

That's why I did the swap.
Love this little amp

 

[Johnny Halo]

How about with no guitar (or cord) plugged in? Or a different guitar? Change your amp-player positioning?


Mostly unnecessary, useless, or even sucker-bait like that speaker wire. I didn't read the whole thing.

It hums with no guitar/cord plugged in.

 

[Johnny Halo]

When I have hum in any amp I plug straight into a clean power source - No powerboard etc to make sure the buzz is from the amp and not electrical interference. My iPhone charger is always the culprit!

I’ve tried different outlets in same room and moved to another room and no change.

 

[Johnny Halo]

The input Jack was changed and the wire was touching the Jack. A little electrical tape, and hum is gone.