Vox night train 15

[PushedCrayon]

I'm looking at these little amp heads and was wondering if anyone had any experience with them. They can get as low as 250 used, and that could be my new purchase if they have a good backing from you guys. The local gc and music stores don't have one, so I can't just go play it. Anyone have any experience with one?

 

[trevorus]

Re: Vox night train 15

I loved mine. It got chimey, while having some snarl

 

[Myaccount876]

Re: Vox night train 15

They're pretty bright, but still nice amps. They're a good platform for trying different tube brands, and sound great with the right speaker/cabinet combination. I recommend looking into the Lyle Caldwell mods (in case the amp is close to what you want) which essentially lower the overall gain (stock, the amp on "thick" mode has a few levels of unusable gain), and makes it slightly more balanced EQ-wise rather than being very sharp in the treble ranges. It also works great if you have a Brian May-esque treble booster in front. That really gets the amp going. You could also add a ground wire to the middle control pot so that the EQ controls have an effect in the "thick" mode. Overall gain is reduced slightly, but I think it still has plenty even with the Lyle Caldwell mods.

 

[PushedCrayon]

Re: Vox night train 15

Right now I have a tiny terror, and it is incredibly bright to me. It doesn't have a lot of lows, and I'm looking into something that has a better eq. I'm open to any small tube amps, just thought this was a good place to start. Any suggestions?

 

[AlexR]

Re: Vox night train 15

They're quite nice, especially if you just want to dial in 1 tone. They have the option of being either cleanish or driven. I think they have a larger version with 2 channels if you need flexibility.

edit - tiny terror is bright?? I thought the oranges were a dark toned amp?

 

[PushedCrayon]

Re: Vox night train 15

It might just be because this is my first tube amp, but I find the tiny terror to be very bright. It takes a metal muff pedal for me to darken it enough for metal. But then again, it could just be a noob playing his first tube amp

 

[Myaccount876]

Re: Vox night train 15

The tiny terror I tried was the combo version, and it was a nice amp, but it did have that bite/slightly fizzy highs seen in small EL84 amps. I'd say it is very usable plugging straight in, but I'd experiment with EQ pedals and treble boosters to get it right (such as bringing the tone knob down to a darker setting, and then using a treble booster to get the right amount of upper mids and bite).

 

[bluesfloyd]

Re: Vox night train 15

hi guys,
would you say most vox amps tend to have a very bright eq setup????? my ac15 handwired is also very bright, and i know what you mean about fizzy highs,

all the best , bluesfloyd,

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Vox night train 15

I would say the night train is a good bit brighter than the Tiny Terror.
The thick mode on the Vox NT is love it or hate it. No tone controls in that mode and it has a certain bark and honk.
The amp is a little harsh and fizzy sounding to me, I like the Tiny Terror better. I owned the Night Train for about a year and had the matching cab. I still have the cab.

If you want a more brash sounding AC15 kind of amp the NT is your ticket but otherwise I think it's a bit of a niche amp.

 

[Myaccount876]

Re: Vox night train 15

hi guys,
would you say most vox amps tend to have a very bright eq setup????? my ac15 handwired is also very bright, and i know what you mean about fizzy highs,

all the best , bluesfloyd,

I'd say most Vox amps are pretty bright, with the exception of the AC30. In the AC30's more original form, it is all mids and smooth overdrive (like Queen), rather than Beatles-jangle (which is more like an AC50).

I'd still say the Night Train is fairly bright, but at times it can get darker-sounding when in thick mode. I really like the Lyle Caldwell mods though, which pretty much solved every issue I had with the amp; turning a good amp into a great amp.

 

[PushedCrayon]

Re: Vox night train 15

So when you engage the thick mode, you lose control of the eq?

 

[Myaccount876]

Re: Vox night train 15

So when you engage the thick mode, you lose control of the eq?

Correct. Although you can change that by creating a fixed ground wire for the midrange pot at the switch.

Here's the schematic: http://www.prowessamplifiers.com/schematics/images/Vox_NT15.pdf

I've grounded lug 1 from the midrange control so that the tonestack always stays engaged. I did this by just jumpering lugs 4 and 6 at the DPDT switch. For me, this increased gain on the bright channel, but slightly lowered gain on the thick channel, making the channels sound closer together. But this was done after the Lyle Caldwell mods, which very much did affect the gain control, so I don't really have a control to know how this modification behaves on a stock amp.

 

[PushedCrayon]

Re: Vox night train 15

What other small amp heads would you recommend for a slightly darker and thicker sound? If the tiny terror and the night train are both bright, where could I get a thicker sound? Solid state or tube, it doesn't matter

 

[FuseG4]

I went with the OR15.
Expensive but imo it fixed everything I didn't like about the night train and tiny terror. It's like crossing the tiny terror with the night train thick mode while having a useable 3 band eq and an fx loop and a sturdy head shell. Can do warm and bright both, has a ton of low end, and can do Marshall like tones as well as get into the vintage orange tone. It has more gain than i need so I never need to push the amp to where it gets muddy but I can still get tons of sustain from single coils. Amazing amp.