korea vs vietnam manufacturing base

[goooner]

I have read about the change of manufacturing base of Vox Valvtronix from Korea to Vietnam. Does anyone have any experience/views on the effect it had on the build quality/reliability/sound quality of the AD**VT series amplifiers?

[Voxman]

The original 'Blue' series were made in Korea. The last 9 months or so of the VTX production were switched to Vietnam, and the chrome & XL series were always made in Vietnam. The move simply was to cut cost, and savings were substantial not least because of significantly cheaper labour costs. Vox needed to do this to be able to price its products so as to remain competitive in this tough sector of the market-place.

In my view, & based on significant forum feedback here and elsewhere, the build quality of the Valvetronix amps suffered, and some cheaper components appear to have been used e.g. the Vietnamese VTX were noisier than the Korean versions (see the FAQ section). Many problems were being reported on the forums re the ADxxVT series and there was a particularly wobbly 18 mth period where multiple problems (e.g. failures of amps in the same store when being tried out, and multiple returns requiring a second or even third replacement). Vox appears to have got to grips with the quality control, and over the last 12 mths the ADxxVT quality appears to have improved. We can only hope that lessons have been learned and that Vox now has quality control firmly under control with the new VT's. First impressions are good but we'll have to wait and see.

Vox will always comment that problems are rare when compared to the numbers of units sold. Unfortunately, we don't have access to Vox' data on faults/returns so we can only go by the reports people make on the forums.

The ADxxVT, XL and VT ranges are specifically aimed at the lower cost end of the amp market and it's inevitable that some problems will occur from time to time. You can't realistically expect the quality control standards and build quality of a £169 amp to be the same as for a £3,000 boutique hand-wired amp! The important thing is that the stores and Vox deal with any problems swiftly and effectively to its customers satisfaction and that we don't see a disproportionate number of incidents and/or unsatisfactorily resolved issues being reported.

Rich

[goooner]

Rich, Thanks for the reply. Have heard similar stuff reference the change in manufacturing base, reason I ask is I've got 2 AD50VTs, the older one was made in Korea (so not all Chromes were made in Vietnam), and the newer one in Vietnam. Both were bought second hand and both sound very nice indeed. I am not an amp geek at all and only use a couple of sounds when I am gigging, but for information for anyone who might be interested the differences I have found are: The older cabinet has a deeper sound when you knock it with your knuckles (perhaps indicating a different wood/build quality?) and the amp sound itself is sort of deeper and less twangy and trebbly compared to the identical setting on the newer version. I know I sound like a picky old git (i really am not) and had I not bought both I would have been none the wiser but I am selling one and can't decide which! I play a 25 year old Japanese made white Fender Strat through them.

[Voxman]

Interesting - I couldn't recall the chromes originally being made in Korea too - thanks for the correction. If I were buying a 'Blue' amp, I'd want the Korean version. By the same rationale I'd personally keep the Korean chrome and sell the Vietnamese one.

Rich

[goooner]

Does anyone else out there own a Korean-made AD50VT?

[banjonat]

I play an AD30VT that was also made in Korea. This thread got me interested enough to get up and go look, and sure enough it says made in Korea! I have never had a problem with this amp and love it to death, never thought of selling it, especially now!

[JimDep]

When did they start making the AD**VT's in Vietman?

I have a AD15VT that was made in Korea.

[dutchdave]

Hi guys,

It would appear that VOX was producing pre-production and initial runs in Korea before getting the mass-production runs going in Vietnam.

A lot of companies do this sort of thing, first batch here, second batch and onwards there. It helps if the initial sales are of good quality to get the reviews it needs, then the mass productions can have a few issues which can be promptly addressed, due to the production quantities.

Dave.