Standing tall in the pantheon of classic amplifiers, Vox’s historical significance is easily the equal of Marshall and Fender. Early on, the Beatles, Jeff Beck, and Brian May cemented the brand in rock guitar history. During the metal-based ‘80s the name faded from the forefront but came back strong in the ‘90s, largely fueled by roots and jangle rockers like Tom Petty, REM, John Jorgenson, Buddy Miller, et al. Vox combos and clones began infiltrating alt-rock and pop, until the brand had regained equal status with its ‘60s-born brethren.

With its current high profile came a desire for ownership by a horde of players who could not handle the upscale price of a hand-wired AC 30 or 15. Fortunately technology and offshore manufacturing came to the rescue. The Vox Valve Reactor (VR) series purports to offer the legendary British tone at a price anyone can afford. I took a look at the AC15VR ($379 street) model to determine if and how this was possible.

Another Kind of Hybrid
Just as your Toyota Prius uses a mixture of internal combustion and electric battery technology to run a car, the VR series uses a combination of tube and solid-state technology to power amplifiers. Transistors are employed in the preamp stage to generate sound, while integrated circuits—or op-amps—deal with things like channel switching. A 12AX7 tube (or “valve” as it is referred to in England) in the power stage is configured to create what the Vox folks call a Valve Reactor.

Originally created for Vox’s line of Valvetronix amplifiers, the Valve Reactor takes each half of the 12AX7 triode tube and configures them to operate like a tiny tube-amp power stage. Lacking the power to drive the speakers on its own, this stage is sent through a solid-state power amplifier. Part of the Vox secret is that this power amp’s circuits send the speaker impedance information back to the power amp which, ostensibly, helps create the “sag” that makes the feel of a tube amp so distinctive.

Stylin’
At a glance the Vox AC15VR Valve Reactor could easily be mistaken for the hand-wired all-tube model. Present and accounted for are the distinctive Vox logo, diamond grill, and piping. Like the higher-priced models, it sports top-mounted controls and air vents (see Fig. 1). You might even mistake the plastic handle for textured leather at a distance. Nothing about this amplifier’s appearance says “cheap.”

Fig. 1: Everything you need is placed on the top of the amp, making it easy to see during the gig.

Part of the charm of vintage amps is their ease of operation: There are no multitudes of channels and tone shaping options, or effects sends and impedance switchers that require a manual the size of the Bible to understand and operate the unit. The AC15VR honors this tradition with a minimum of controls—just enough to get the job done. A power switch on the top turns it on, so you won’t find yourself fumbling around in the back to find it.

The Master section contains the master volume and digital reverb controls. The master volume affects both the Overdrive and Normal channels, allowing you to set their relative volumes within their control centers and then your level for the room. It always surprises me how many amps lack this feature, offering a master only on the lead channel.

The Treble and Bass controls in the EQ section affect both the Overdrive and Normal channels. The Overdrive Channel has a dedicated master volume, a gain control, and a button that allows you to select OD1 or OD2 for different levels of gain. Straddling the Overdrive and Normal channels is a push button channel selector. (An optional footswitch [$59] can be plugged in the rear of the amp to perform this function). The Normal channel offers only a volume control.

In addition to the footswitch input, the rear panel of the closed back offers a speaker output for an external 8-Ohm cabinet (see Fig. 2). Plugging in an external speaker shuts off the internal one. This is a pity as it would be fun to convert the amp from a single 12-inch to 2 x 12-inch by adding another 12-inch cabinet. Cost and safety considerations may have made this configuration Vox’s choice, as it helps prevent impedance mismatching that could damage the amp, while removing the need for impedance switching that might add to the cost and complexity. The onboard speaker is a Celestion VX12 custom speaker.

Fig. 2: The closed-back AC15VR has a footswitch input and an external-speaker jack, which mutes the internal speaker when you use it.

Reacting to the Reactor
I plugged a 1965 Stratocaster equipped with DiMarzio Virtual Vintage pickups, a Burns Steer, and a Danelectro Pro One into the AC15VR. I also tried it powering a custom 1 x 12-inch cabinet fitted with an Eminence Texas Heat speaker.

Playing first through the AC15VR’s Normal channel with its volume at 9 o’clock and the master up full, the amp delivered a warm clean sound that would suit a quiet jazz gig if you rolled off a bit of guitar tone. The sound was free of breakup, making it also suitable for any funk or country gig that requires a pristine sound. As I moved the Normal volume up to noon, the sound remained remarkably clean, especially with the guitar volume backed off a little, but it still evidenced a natural tube sag and give that made blues soloing a joy. With this channel’s volume full up, chords on the single coil equipped guitars began to break up a little and single notes on the Burn’s high-output humbucker just sang.

Treble boosters were the rage in the English Invasion era, so in keeping with the amp’s vintage British vibe, I plugged into a 65 Amps Colour Boost pedal and was able to use the Strat and Dano to drive the Normal channel into glorious Swinging Sixties London distortion.

If you don’t have boost pedal, don’t worry. When I pushed the channel selector and chose OD1, the AC15VR served up much of the same classic English crunch, or if I backed off the guitar volume, the coveted Vox jangle.

With the Gain full on, there was plenty of oomph for sustained solos, or I could then use the boost to launch into almost fuzz-like excursions. OD2 definitely ups the gain ante while shifting the voicing into a decidedly more modern zone: Though the mids are not entirely scooped, they are definitely reduced, and the low-end received a significant bump. Kudos to Vox for keeping the sound extremely musical rather than descending into buzzing-flies territory. It is unlikely that this model will become the amp of choice for modern metal mavens, but add a boost to OD2’s edgy voice for soloing and you can get in the modern metal ballpark if you need to—and at volumes that won’t send anyone to the hearing specialist.

Plugging my own 1 x 12-inch cabinet into the AC15 VR impressed me with Vox’s consideration in selecting the speaker for this amp. The Texas Heat that resides in the closed-back cabinet I had built for it is a great sounding speaker that has served a variety of amps well—including an Orange Tiny Terror, an Egnater Rebel 30, and a Reverend Hellhound. Still, the original Celestion in the Vox sounded much better with the AC15VR. Obviously there is a certain amount of finesse involved in creating the sound of a hand-wired, all-tube amp out of a single 12AX7 and a bunch of solid-state parts. As with all amps, the speaker choice is crucial and Vox has chosen well.

I was further impressed by the tone stack—both by the musical range of EQ available and by how I didn’t really miss having separate EQ controls for each channel. No matter how I turned any of the knobs, I was hard pressed to get a bad sound out of this baby.

Vox Populus
I guess by this point it is fairly obvious that I was pretty blown away by the Vox AC15VR Valve Reactor. Having been largely a Fender man, leaning in general to the American sound in amplifiers, I have only recently come to appreciate the edgy character of the Vox sound. I would love to add it to my sonic arsenal—just not to the tune of the grand that an all tube AC15 would set me back.

"I was pretty blown away by the Vox AC15VR Valve Reactor."

For people like me, as well as Vox lovers on a budget, the AC15VR represents an opportunity to own the Vox look, feel, and sound at an affordable price, with a minimum of tonal compromise. Does it sound exactly like a hand-wired AC15 with a high-end Celestion speaker? Of course not. At well under half the price does it sound half as good? I would say closer to eighty percent as good. I wouldn’t think twice about using the amp on a professional gig or session. With an amp this good at a price this low, I venture to say that the resurging Vox brand is about to get even more popular.

Pros: Terrific Vox sound for the money. Real tube-amp feel. Easy to operate.
Cons: Can’t run the internal speaker at the same time as an external one.

Michael Ross in a New York City-based guitarist/producer/music journalist. He contributes articles to Guitar Player, Premier Guitar, Guitar Edge, EQ, Sound On Sound, and Gearwire.com. He is the author of the Hal Leonard books Getting Great Guitar Sounds and All About Effects.