opinions on VOX Pathfinder 15R
- Thread starter Gingrel
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Empty Pockets
BadHairDayologist
Re: opinions on VOX Pathfinder 15R
not a bad one
you can do way better for the price these days
not a bad one
you can do way better for the price these days
St_Genesius
New member
Re: opinions on VOX Pathfinder 15R
I used to have a Cambridge, which is basically a Pathfinder plus a tube preamp. It was...okay.
I used to have a Cambridge, which is basically a Pathfinder plus a tube preamp. It was...okay.
crusty philtrum
Vintageologist
Re: opinions on VOX Pathfinder 15R
I had 2 Pathfinder 15s, although neither had/has reverb. One of them has a 12AX7 tube in it, although i can't really hear the difference.
The clean sounds are good, but personally i don't like the overdriven sounds. I ended up swapping one of these amps for a Pathfinder 10, which strangely sounds better despite having a smaller speaker.
I usually set the amp up for the most ammount of clean sound, and then use pedals in front of it for overdrive. The clean sounds are good quality for a s/s amp, and i often use these little amps as a kind of 'reference' amp when changing pickups or making other sonic changes to a guitar, to eliminate the 'magical' extra qualities from a tube amp. The tone controls work well and i've never had any trouble shaping a clean sound to suit a particular guitar. The tremolo works well, too.
It probably depends on your particular application when using the amp, but if you are to use a s/s amp that has been provided, the Pathfinder is not at all a bad way to go. Of course the speaker can limit how much good sound you can extract, but that applies to any amp. I've used mine into larger speakers and it held up well. The Pathfinder's 15 watts won't be the same as 15 watts of valve power, and it will start to sound harsh at a certain point, but below that point they sound great.
Best bet would be to give it a good workout when you first get to plug in, run through the type of stuff you're gonna use it for and see what you get, and how much. But within it's limitations it should give you a pleasant and useable sound. Let us know how it pans out for you.
I had 2 Pathfinder 15s, although neither had/has reverb. One of them has a 12AX7 tube in it, although i can't really hear the difference.
The clean sounds are good, but personally i don't like the overdriven sounds. I ended up swapping one of these amps for a Pathfinder 10, which strangely sounds better despite having a smaller speaker.
I usually set the amp up for the most ammount of clean sound, and then use pedals in front of it for overdrive. The clean sounds are good quality for a s/s amp, and i often use these little amps as a kind of 'reference' amp when changing pickups or making other sonic changes to a guitar, to eliminate the 'magical' extra qualities from a tube amp. The tone controls work well and i've never had any trouble shaping a clean sound to suit a particular guitar. The tremolo works well, too.
It probably depends on your particular application when using the amp, but if you are to use a s/s amp that has been provided, the Pathfinder is not at all a bad way to go. Of course the speaker can limit how much good sound you can extract, but that applies to any amp. I've used mine into larger speakers and it held up well. The Pathfinder's 15 watts won't be the same as 15 watts of valve power, and it will start to sound harsh at a certain point, but below that point they sound great.
Best bet would be to give it a good workout when you first get to plug in, run through the type of stuff you're gonna use it for and see what you get, and how much. But within it's limitations it should give you a pleasant and useable sound. Let us know how it pans out for you.
Duffy1949
New member
Re: opinions on VOX Pathfinder 15R
I have one and it is relatively of very limitted use compared to my other amps of similar low wattage.
Since I put a Celestion Seventy/80 extra twelve inch speaker I have in my 99 dollar Crate Flexwave 15R it by far surpasses the Pathfinder in all areas. The tone is incredible and I actually use it with my portable Sony Walkman CD player plugged into it for listening to very clear and beautifully reproduced music, often playing along with my drums. I have it set up next to my drum rig for that purpose. It is also a great guitar practice amp. The twelve inch speaker was originally not very high quality and didn't reproduce music well at all but it was still a better sounding amp than the Pathfinder.
I have a Peavey JSX Mini Colossal with a Weber speaker that is all tube and it of course is awesome compared to the Pathfinder and includes a better tremolo built in.
My Marshall MG15CDR closed back practice amp is about the same price as the Pathfinder but the sound of the Marshall is, in my opinion only, WAY superior to the Pathfinder. In fact I'm totally impressed with the little Marshall and it actually has a real spring reverb tank in it. Some people bad mouth the MG series but this little practice amp is great for me.
I like Vox amps and used to like my Pathfinder, which I keep because it has that classic Vox look and vibe to it, even though it is surpassed by my other similar amps in usability. I have a new Vox AC15c1 and a great little battery or wall current DA5 "Chromie" type modelling amp for camping and travelling and this, with its effects and models, far surpasses the Pathfinder even though the speaker is smaller.
For church use it will work okay and the tremolo will let you get that Leslie rotary speaker effect if you turn down the speed of the tremolo knob down low for a slow rotation sound, and set the depth knob low so that it doesn't make the guitar sound cut on and off but rather keeps the rotating speaker sound on the top only shallowly cutting into the underlying sound so you don't get any significant loss of guitar sound volume as it spins around with the rotary speaker sound very slowly. I only mention this because I like that real slow rotary speaker sound, shallow, that sounds like a Leslie or an old tube amp that has that same slow in and out fade sound. This can be used effectively for a vintage sound and add beauty to slow solo's.
I don't mean to put down your amp, but it is definitely not that great in comparison to a lot of options. Who ever bought the amp made the decision based on some criteria or maybe it was found somewhere or was free.
Make the most of it and it should be adequate for the job unless you get drownded out by louder equipment and disappear into the background.
Good luck with it.
I have one and it is relatively of very limitted use compared to my other amps of similar low wattage.
Since I put a Celestion Seventy/80 extra twelve inch speaker I have in my 99 dollar Crate Flexwave 15R it by far surpasses the Pathfinder in all areas. The tone is incredible and I actually use it with my portable Sony Walkman CD player plugged into it for listening to very clear and beautifully reproduced music, often playing along with my drums. I have it set up next to my drum rig for that purpose. It is also a great guitar practice amp. The twelve inch speaker was originally not very high quality and didn't reproduce music well at all but it was still a better sounding amp than the Pathfinder.
I have a Peavey JSX Mini Colossal with a Weber speaker that is all tube and it of course is awesome compared to the Pathfinder and includes a better tremolo built in.
My Marshall MG15CDR closed back practice amp is about the same price as the Pathfinder but the sound of the Marshall is, in my opinion only, WAY superior to the Pathfinder. In fact I'm totally impressed with the little Marshall and it actually has a real spring reverb tank in it. Some people bad mouth the MG series but this little practice amp is great for me.
I like Vox amps and used to like my Pathfinder, which I keep because it has that classic Vox look and vibe to it, even though it is surpassed by my other similar amps in usability. I have a new Vox AC15c1 and a great little battery or wall current DA5 "Chromie" type modelling amp for camping and travelling and this, with its effects and models, far surpasses the Pathfinder even though the speaker is smaller.
For church use it will work okay and the tremolo will let you get that Leslie rotary speaker effect if you turn down the speed of the tremolo knob down low for a slow rotation sound, and set the depth knob low so that it doesn't make the guitar sound cut on and off but rather keeps the rotating speaker sound on the top only shallowly cutting into the underlying sound so you don't get any significant loss of guitar sound volume as it spins around with the rotary speaker sound very slowly. I only mention this because I like that real slow rotary speaker sound, shallow, that sounds like a Leslie or an old tube amp that has that same slow in and out fade sound. This can be used effectively for a vintage sound and add beauty to slow solo's.
I don't mean to put down your amp, but it is definitely not that great in comparison to a lot of options. Who ever bought the amp made the decision based on some criteria or maybe it was found somewhere or was free.
Make the most of it and it should be adequate for the job unless you get drownded out by louder equipment and disappear into the background.
Good luck with it.
Re: opinions on VOX Pathfinder 15R
I'm not sure we're all talking about the same amp. The Vox Pathfinder 15R is totally solid state (no tubes) and it sounds very good. In fact, it is somewhat legendary for such a good sound from a cheap box. Use it with complete abandon. The unbalanced out is good, and the little amp is pretty loud for its size and it sounds "right". You will spend at least $300 to get something that sounds as good.
I'm not sure we're all talking about the same amp. The Vox Pathfinder 15R is totally solid state (no tubes) and it sounds very good. In fact, it is somewhat legendary for such a good sound from a cheap box. Use it with complete abandon. The unbalanced out is good, and the little amp is pretty loud for its size and it sounds "right". You will spend at least $300 to get something that sounds as good.
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