New to VT50 not sure I like it

[stratdancer]

Bought for $160 2 weeks ago, read the forums, installed the telefunken EEC83. Sounds dark and the gain sounds nasally and fizzy. Like the low end response but the amp needs a bright switch like the hr deville it's running with. I did the cabinet mod with carpet foam on the back, sides and bottom. Most of my sounds I have stored have treb, mid, and bass around the three o'clock position. I might have to keep experimenting with it. I play mostly hard rock with some crunch and a bit of growling blues.

[cosmicrepairdude]

What models are you talking about? Certainly some models are lighter or darker sounding than others. I wouldn't get too attached to the names of the models, just look for ones that sound the way you like. Are they clean models (left side of the knob) or high gain (right side)? Are you in Manual mode (no presets) and Bypass mode (no effects)?
Get the amp up off the floor and on to a chair or stand.
By dark, I assume you mean overly bassy. But you have bass turned up to 3? Doesn't turning it down help? What about turning down Mid, too?
An excellent case has been made here new-ish-valvetronix-user-s-vt120-impressions-t4063.html that the tone controls on these amps should not be turned up higher than around 12:00. I certainly found that to be true on my own. Just pretend that 12:00 or so is as far as the knob goes and do your adjusting in the first half of the knob's rotation.

[cosmicrepairdude]

BTW, this is the wrong forum, this should have been posted on vt15-30-50-100-vt20-40-80-120-f48.html
This forum is for AD models.

[stratdancer]

Most of the sounds that I am working with are on the right side of the dial. I find the last two metal amps to be the worst. Very nasal and thin sounding and extremely fizzy sounding. I do have the amp off the floor. I'll work with the tone settings below 12 o'clock. I can get decent sounds but I have to work very hard. I have found presets that were close then tweaked and saved them. To tell you the truth, I found that many of the presets just plain sound like crap. I do like many of the clean channels though. As I said before I am referencing my sounds with the HR Deville which can make the sound better when running side by side. I never run the gain much higher than 1 o'clock and most of the time it's around 11 with volume at 9 o'clock and MV at 3 o'clock.

Mine just says vt50 as the model number. Any difference between the two?

[Voxman]

BTW, this is the wrong forum, this should have been posted on vt15-30-50-100-vt20-40-80-120-f48.html
This forum is for AD models.

Moved it to correct forum.

[Voxman]

This is not a plug 'n play amp that gives instant gratification. You've got 22 amp models to get used to. The onboard EQ works differently with different amp models.

Forget the pre-sets, more than a few aren't great. Set the amp to manual, and take the FX off other than a little reverb, and learn about one or two amp models at a time. There's an excellent post here that might be of interest:

how-i-learn-my-vt20-t4469.html

Check on the technical articles page for installing an FX loop (Retrobob has designed kits) - an EQ in the FX loop can transform your amp!

[stratdancer]

Thanks for the help VMan and per the other suggestion I went in manual mode to UK 90's and dialed in gain at almost 11, V 9, treb 8:30, mid 9, bass all the way down, MV at 2:30 with PL full and found a good sound with crunch on the bridge humbucker and growl on the neck position of the custom strat.

Vox man posted just as I was doing that while saying to myself, "find something that sounds close and work with it until you like it". I think I'll stay on that setting for awhile and perfect it.

Thanks for help and suggestions. I ran a Behringer Vampire 1200LX for a while with the Deville and made mostly noise with it but it had some features on it that made programming easy and at low volumes had one amp that sounded great. It's now in the control room as a reference amp at bedroom volumes. The VT is a huge improvement in dynamics and punch I just need to make it sound like a good amp. It's more complicated than a normal style amp.

[cosmicrepairdude]

Mine just says vt50 as the model number. Any difference between the two?

The ADxxVT's were the first generation of popular priced Valvetronix amps, with 11 amp models and 11 effects. The VTxx series was the second generation and has 22 models and more features. The VTxx+ series is the latest and has more of everything. There's lots of info on the voxamps.com site.

Not only do the EQ controls work differently with each amp model, but so does the Gain control. Some amp models start to dirty up with the Gain at only 9-10:00, while others stay clean up to 12:00 or higher.

Re: presets - I never use 'em. I'm very happy using Manual mode with my VT30. I have a few models I really like, and only try the others for entertainment value or experimentation. 33, 22, or even 11 models is more than I need.

[Voxman]

The modeling in the VT's is next generation too, based on the VTX200 prototype that never made it to production. See the FAQ for details/differences between each Valvetronix series.

[stratdancer]

Thanks once again Cosmic and Voxman for the advice. How do you screw with a person with mild ADHD.......give him a valvetronix amp. lol! My original post sounded some frustration and I think that came from the fact that I had been using the Vampire for 7 years as a second amp and it was my bedroom volume amp for practice. The Vampire did a pretty decent job running in stereo with the Deville but I always thought it sucked and almost all the presets and amp models sucked except for the the Hi Gain model which is all I used. I picked up the Vox at a bad time because I had just retubed the Deville and picked up a boutique overdrive that does so much more than my ts9. I have too much on my plate as far as sorting my sound then add as many as 22 different amp models to the equation. I'm going to leave the Deville off for awhile and just find tone and crunch with the Vox and then punch in some overdrive. When that sounds good I'll fire up the Deville and check the blend. I have an amp guy that built my overdrive pedal and will be building a 5/10/15 watt amp for me this summer. I'm going to mount the loop jacks and have him do the solders and then add the EQ just so I am getting everything I can out of the amp.

My amp guy and my buds are tube amp snobs. They are worse then vegetarians when it comes tube amps vs anything else. I think I am close to finding tube punch, drive and playing dynamics with the VT50 but this can do so much more eventually when it comes to color and flexibility. I bought it for $160, added the telefunken for $20 and I guess adding the EQ in the loop might be around $50 so for an investment of $230 I should have a pretty killer amp. I paid $250 for the Vampire.

Thanks for all the links and info once again and as VMan said, this isn't a plug and play amp.