Ordered a Vox Tonelab

[StratDreaminJim]

Hey All!
Just ordered a Vox Tonelab (the desktop model) from Ebay. I've been looking for a way to crank it and not wake Jimmy Jr. in the process so I'm gonna go the headphone route. Hope this thing's as good as it's reviews. I'll let ya's know how it goes.

Jim

[Chi3f]

i used one of those at a local guitar store. i was ready to sell off my practice amp. Also was ready to sell off my marshall full stack for the vox at120vth and the ad412cab

most versitile and great sounding amp i have every played with. the fact that every pedal i have is in that amp is saddening to me but a plus at the same time. with the vc12 foot controller you can do anything. also i was going with the if it's good enough for Larry “Ler” Lalonde (Primus) it can't just be me getting excited over something new

[StratDreaminJim]

Yeah their amps are gettin great reviews. And with all that IN the box how can ya go wrong?

Jim

[Gearjoneser]

I almost bought the Tonelab, but opted for the AD60 head instead. The head has the same circuitry as the Tonelab,
but doesn't have cabinet sim and one less rec. out.

I love it. I put it on a Bogner 2-12 and use it as my home practice amp. The thing you'll really love about the Tonelab
is that they put the overdrive models in front of the amp, so
it allows you to further dial in the distortion characteristics.
That way, you have a bunch of high gain amp models, but can
tweeze them in different ways with 3 different OD pedals.

The cleans are modeled pretty close to the tone of the original
clean amps, as well. Overall, the Valvetronix stuff rules for
low volume, recording, and headphone play. That 12AX7 mated
to the SS power section does add a certain degree of touch sensitivity and tube amp feel under your fingers. Well worth the money. I still go the tube amp route for high volume applications.

[MattPete]

The Tonelab is great!

A few years ago (actually, right after I got divorced), I decided I needed a better distortion pedal. So, I started surfing the internet and found out about modellers (I had been out of the loop for a while). I lived in a small town at the time, and couldn't try anything out, so I ordered a POD 2 from ZZounds sight unseen.

To be truthful, I thought the POD sounded like a turd. I was about ready to send the thing back. Then I plugged it into my JC120 and found that it could make some pretty good noise. Not great, but pretty good. Basically, I saw it as a fancy distortion pedal.

Fast to this January when I bought a Tonelab. The Tonelab is in a whole 'nother league! I couldn't stand the direct sound of the POD: it was really muffled, like a wet blanket had been thrown over it, and the dynamics were poop.

Not the Tonelab. It sounds great! Plenty of presence, and the dynamics are wonderful. In fact, there is so much available presence, that if you're not careful, it can sound a bit harsh. Just play with the Presence and the VR Gain knobs if it sounds too bright.

Anyway, I give it a big thumbs up, except for the software. Despite the huge number of Macs used in recording, the folks at Vox decided to make it PC-only. Doh! At least the Line-6 folks were smart enough to write it in Java (and with their new system, you can surf for POD patches, and they will automatically upload to your POD. Cool or what?).

IIRC, Vox gives the Midi codes in the back of the book. If I had the time, I'd write my own Cocoa app for OSX. Maybe some other intrepid Tonelab owner will pick up the challenge.

The only other thing about the Tonelab that is uncool is that the foot controller is extra (and quite a few bucks). But rating it on tone and usability, it's been great.

[StratDreaminJim]

Thanks for the info fellas! Sounds like I'm gonna really be pleased with it.
Jim

[Ez74]

i got a tonelab a couple of weeks ago and i think it is awesome. The sounds you can get out of it are endless. I was kinda pissed i didnt wait and get the tonelab SE.. which is basically the tonelab+VC12 pedal.. but now that i think about it i think it would be harder to tweak with it down on the floor. You will really dig it when you get it.

[Gearjoneser]

I heard they were coming out with a Rackmounted Tonelab,
similar to the POD Pro. That's gonna be a killer piece of gear!

If they could get the Tonelab up to 32 bit, it would really be amazing. That's what the POD Pro XT is.

I'm always having fun with the Valvetronix AD60 head.
I had no intention of using it outside the house, so I didn't need
the AD120, which is 60W per side. I'm more impressed with the Tone of the Vox head on a better cab than Vox offers.
They use particle board cabs on those combos, so I think the head on a high quality cab like my Bogner, or an Avatar or Mesa
gives the modeling sound a boost in fidelity.

[Benjy_26]

How do you guys think that the Tonelab SE would sound through a quality tube power amp (Mesa Simul2: Ninety) and a pair of 12" speakers (vintage 30's) in a sealed cab? Right now I'm using my Boss GT-6 with this rig, mainly for high volume applications and it sounds really cool. Do you guys think the Vox will give me more of a "real amp" feel than the GT-6 while still keeping the huge versatility I enjoy now?

[Gearjoneser]

I think that you'd be really happy with the Tonelab into a
tube power amp. I ran the line out into the power section
of a new Concert Reverb one time, and it really made it richer sounding. The one thing I've noticed about running a modeler
into a tube power amp, however, is that the tone is a little narrower sounding than an actual tube preamp. You can dial it to mate well with it, tho. It's not a bad idea to have a tonelab for the studio, then gig with it, using a power amp and cab.