[DeathFromAbove]

I'm after a new practice amp... something fairly small, but versatile. After doing some reading my shortlist has been narrowed down to:

Vox VT30
Roland Cube 30X

I intend to demo both, but am leaning towards the Vox. Does anyone have experience with either amp? Maybe you could suggest something I'm overlooking?

I mostly use an Epi Les Paul and play all kinds of stuff

[eatstatic]

Hi,

not sure this will help but I was in exaclty the same situation (almost)with my shortlist.

Cube or Vox AD30VT XL, the cube was a lot more versatile to be honest but for what I want, the Vox suited better & was what I went with.

I have found that I do not use most of the settings on the vox but what I do use I more than happy with given the tone and o/all sound. I went with the xl as it was end of line and a bit cheaper than the non xl version.
If I was to do it again I would probably go with the non xl version though.

At the end of the day as they say it is a practice amp. But the vox is my vote due to tone it produces. Sorry got to keep it breif ....end of lunch.

hope it helps.

eatstatic

[deadtotheworld]

I had the Vox - I tried it in the shop and thought it was great, very versatile and sounded alright. I thought once I got it back to mine, used my own guitar and played around with settings that it would be great.
I sold it a few months down the line after a few intense sessions of trying to get a decent sound and then barely using it.
It has great clean sounds and a fair few effects built in, but the gain and distortion sounds leave you tweaking for hours with no great results.
I came to the conclusion that I would rather save a while longer and buy a bigger amp and turn it down rather than buy a tiny amp and turn it up!
I ended up with a Line 6 Flextone III XL 2x12 combo and it has suited me for home, studio and live use with no problems in any situation at any volume.
With a similar amount of intense tweaking sessions (as with the Vox) i came up with an array of excellent sounding vintage and modern patches suitable for all my studio session uses.
You may find that the Vox may be better at a few models higher. Im sure if you could find the cash to get a bigger amp you would get better results even if you only need something small for home use. People argue that you dont need that much power, but sound and tone does seem to suffer when buying the small amps. You just need to reduce the volume when your missus is in!

[eatstatic]

Can't dissagree with deadtotheworld's view about getting a bigger amp etc.
But if you are like myself I have to keep it quiet as I play at night & young'uns in bed.

Incidently, i also bought from Dolphin. The cost for the amp was £129 + a set of strings. It dosnt compare well against amps such as mentioned above but then again it dosn't cost the same either. Go with your budget.

Given what I use it for and the actual cost of it, would still recomend.

All you can do is try them for yourself to find out.

Also heard good things about the new marshall MG's

eatstatc

[DeathFromAbove]

Thanks for your input guys... this is exactly the sort of feedback I was hoping for

eatstatic - I don't have kids to annoy, but I do live in a flat and have to respect my neighbours (to an extent). I already own a Fender Princeton amp which is just too big and too loud (and too crap if I'm honest). On paper the Vox ticks all the boxes. I'll have a look at the Marshall MG30fx too though.

deadtotheworld - If I had a bigger house with a dedicated room, in I'd definately be lookiing for something bigger and more solid. It's going to be sat in the corner of my lounge so size and noise limitations, plus that fact that I won't be gigging, make anything more substantial/expensive unnecessary. Am I right in thinking you play an EB Music Man? If I owned (and deserved) an EBMM I'd probably be looking at a more exotic amp - but my gear (and talent) is much more suited to something like the Vox

[Chadford]

I've got a...

Roland 30x ...and a...
Roland Microcube Bass RX ...and a...
Roland Microcube.

I tend to mostly use the Bass RX (for both guitar and bass).
I've stopped gigging some time ago so for use in the house the Bass RX is plenty loud enough.

If you don't need the power of the 30x I would take a look at the Microcube RX...
1) Excellent battery life if you choose to run on batteries.
2) Pretty useful rhythm generator.
3) Volume and quality is very good for it's size.
4) Very usable effects: delay, reverb, chorus, phaser, flanger and tremolo.

[esc4p3]

Not to everyone's taste but I went for the Line 6 Spider Jam. It's a bit expensive for a bedroom practice amp, but it does have everything in one box. It has a 12" celestion, input for electric guitar, 'other guitar' (I use my electro acoustic and it sounds great) MP3 player and Mic. You have all the usual suspect FX such as reverb, chorus delay etc. The bit that sold it to me is the ability to record .wav's to SD card. The amp has a 2gb SD card slot in the back whereby you can record you jamming and either save them as backup onto you PC or for further editing. Also onboard are 100's of looping backing tracks from just drums to rhythm guitar+drums in all styles.

That's my 2p worth

Hope you find what you are looking for.

[ciggerley]

Fender Blues Junior.
Tech 21 Trademark 30
Soldano Astroverb 16

One of the really low output valve amps, such as the Blackstar HT-5

[pixelated]

Doesn't necessarily fit the versatile aspect however the Orange Tiny Terror is majestic considering its size etc. I love mine.