Timestamps: 0:00 - Please Standy 0:15 - What we are doing today 2:50 - Performing the modification 4:45 - Tone Samples - Before VS After 7:30 - Summary and Thoughts Vox Pathfinder 10 Sweetwater imp.i114863.net/X6r53 Amazon geni.us/VoxPF10 Thomann bit.ly/3msbKtX Get the speaker here Sweetwater: imp.i114863.net/2rK6PA Amazon geni.us/Celest815 Thomann bit.ly/3x0CNSL
Hey Landon, thanks for the vid. I did both led and celestion speaker updates to mine and I've made sure to play the speaker in before commenting back to report (it's been almost 2 years now). The sound was immediately better and it does seem to improve with age although I don't know if I've just found the new settings sweet spot. The clean sound is now very punchy and responsive - I would say surprisingly similar to a pathfinder 15 which everyone seems to rave about. I find the best way to set it up to play is to keep the amp on the clean channel and with the volume at Max, use the gain knob as your volume control in conjunction with the guitar volume knob. There is a point you reach where there is a very tube like crunchy blues breakup that starts that wasn't there before and it's glorious for a $50 amp! Love it! Still not crazy about the dirt channel but even that is more usable than it was before - far less trebly solid state fizz on top and you can eliminate it altogether with judicious use of the amp and guitar treble controls. that's never been my sound anyway from any amp so maybe that's an unfair statement. Suffice to say, I'd judge the mod a success, it was inexpensive, easy to do and I'd say that once the new speaker is broken in and you learn the new settings required - it provides tones that are far better than stock. It's now a keeper!
Just did the led mod because of this video, super easy if your good with a soldering iron. This mod really opens up the sound, WAY more clean headroom and a more natural breakup while increasing the gain with volume cranked! Great cleans to awesome early AC/DC tone on the clean channel. Thanks for the video! I just watched a few others and you got a new subscriber here!
Lando27Music Definitely a weird mod for sure, awesome though! I actually just pulled it back apart since my last post. I pulled the speaker wires up into the chassis, cut off the clips and soldered on a switchcraft jack I had on hand. Then I drilled a hole in the chassis to the far side of the transformers it will be pointing downward when assembled and I bolted it in. Then I just solder up 2 push clips and a 90 degree 1/4" plug to some heavy speaker wire and hooked the internal speaker back up by 1/4" jack and all is well! Now I decided to have some fun with the new speaker jack as I have a small 1x12 with a WGS Veteran 30 8 ohm and a slightly larger 1x12 with an original early 70's Celestion Vintage 30 8 ohm. Man did this little thing come alive! Sounds really amazing on the clean channel and a cheap OCD clone sounds great in front too! And to think I purchased this for my 3 1/2 yr old! LOL! Thanks again for the great videos!
@@gorami Most important thing when soldering, TIN the tip of the soldering iron! Then you have to remember that what you're trying to solder together should already have some solder on it, otherwise it won't create a good connection.
Celestion is obviously thicker, but first impressions are that I like the original sounding speaker for the style you are portraying 5:50 gritty dirty rock, but apparently new speakers take a little time to get worked in so might sound better in the longer run. I was thinking of doing this to my 15 watt Line 6 practice amp speaker which has absolutely no character whatsoever.
@@HadrianRex I have the Spring King I'm considering buying this amp as an alternative to an AC15 to do small rockabilly gigs. Would it be unrealistic to expect it to sound good for that tone in a small gig setting? I also have an AC30
I prefer the original speaker. Has a much more British tone to it. Sounds great at small bedroom levels and sounds good recorded. I heard one of the guys from sonic youth was using the same pathfinder 10 to record some stuff for a new record.
I would imagine that opening up the sound hole a bit would really help the celestion. Sounds a bit muffled with original size sound hole. I’m picking one up tomorrow, super excited. My AC5 was too much amp for the house. This will be great for dialing my board in.
Very good video, the mod i did on my Pathfinder 10 is, i took the head off, added an external speaker jack and now i use it as a head with a small 1x12 cab with an Eminence GB 128, huge improvement, i can play in small bars without problems, this baby has plenty of volume, still very portable but with the goodness of a 12" speaker. Thanks a lot for the video.
@@TheMichaelseymour Hi, yes man, still going strong, i'm actually building a 1x10 cab. to play with 2 Pathfinder in a wet / dry set up, this set up is a pure goodness, i made the cab by using an old amp. that was sleeping in my garage, but for example if you buy an Harley Benton cab with a Vintage v30 or a Jet City cab. and a Pathfinder 10 you are going to spend much less than buying an Ac 10.
WOW! I just did this exact same mod and it was super easy and the result is a super LOUD and warm amp! Great video but I don't know if really captures how LOUD this puppy is now. Thanks for doing this!
I turned everything up to 10, unplugged it from the mains and wired it straight into the nearest pylon. The speaker cone exited through the window and killed next door's cat . The tone was awesome, but very brief.
Yeah, yeah Lando, that's just all too hard and costly. For an extra volume boost I just strap it to the side of my head with duct tape. Tell me I'm wrong! You can't! I lost my hearing, and I have blurred vision.
Cool job there. One of the appeals of a solid state cheapo amp is being able to mod it without fear of losing resale value, or doing something irreparable. I think the tone from the old speaker was better, but it also sounds like that Celestion needs breaking in.
@@landonbailey update, I have the original style Pathfinder 15R. The Celestion is a direct drop in. It sounds awesome. Tighter and brighter. I dialed the treble back a bit where I used to crank it for clarity.
So I recently did a speaker upgrade to a Mono Price 5watt all tube amp that came stock with a Celestion Super 8 to a Warehouse G8A Alnico… Much better tone than before… So now I have the Celestion & was thinking about trying it in my Pathfinder 10… I normally play a Spark at all my low volume solo gigs but would like other amp options just to keep it interesting… If the Super 8 doesn’t cut it I may spring for another G8A for the Vox amp… I personally think the Pathfinder 10 has the best look of the three if I can just get the volume & tone as good as the other two… Enjoy your guitar & amp reviews thanks for sharing!
Before: clean:-10/10, overdrive-5/10. After: clean-8/10, OD-8/10. Overall, better to leave bulldog in it and buy some mediocre OD pedal, instead of buying a new speaker. It is a little bit cheaper, and you have that original famous vox clean sound. Or be a lunatic, buy two pathfinders, replace one speaker with celestion and buy an ABY pedal to have a stereo sound and best od each speaker, as I did. :D Great sound and enough for gigging with gentle drummer in smaller venues, up to 100 people. Great video, cheers!
Everybody wants to upgrade to 10” speaker in the 15 watt version of this amp. But I have a Vox AC4 with a 10” Celestion. And the 8” bulldog speaker in my pathfinder blows it out of the water! I hate it when the cheap Chinese part can’t be improved upon!!
@@TheTwangKings Not sure if your talking about the Amp vs the Amp plus the TS pedal in front or the Bull Dog speaker vs the Celestion. But in either case, all circuits and all speakers have their own characteristics. This is a given.
@@stricknine8623 I meant the amp, as it is. You are absolutely right, every circuit has its own tonal character. To mod an amp is to change that characteristic.
I have a Vox Pathfinder 15 that I got today for an old hardshell case I had lying around. the amp was supposedly broken, but to my surprise, it actually works. Vox makes some good stuff. I'll have to see if those same mods can be applied to my amp
both sound good the Bull Dog sounds grity, and snarls with the gain, Celestion speaker its now louder and more shaped sound with sparkles everywhere. Good Amp and both good speakers. thanks Landon your video Rocks.
Cutting that hole bigger would definitely help tone wise the outer portion of the speaker cone is where your going to get low’s and not choke the speaker. Then dime it out Just my 2¢.
So after watching this, i was able to find an early 90's made in USA crate with 2 8" celestion speakers at 4ohms each. I simply converted it to a cab for my vox pathfinder 10. Sounds great!
Vox: 'Lets make a small, inexpensive, but good sounding transistor amp. Lets reduce the harshness of the distorted sound of the hard clipping transistors in an inexpensive way by using diodes. Diodes clip softer than transistors, almost like a tube. Its important that they are engaged at a volume where the transistors still have headroom and do not clip yet, otherwise they wont have much effect. Ofcourse this will reduce the volume slightly, but this can simply be compensated by increasing the master volume. I think we have a great but also inexpensive design ' UA-cam modders: 'Hey, these leds reduce the volume of the overdriven signal. Lets cut them out' 😂
IMPRESSIVE and USEFUL series of vids on the pr10! I have a stable of VOX PR and DA series amps. Love the stock voicings overall but the LED mod with the extra headroom is intriguing. Ditto the speaker upgrade.
Very cool. Great mods, made a big difference. I would check and see if the part of the cone is not pushed up against the part of the board that is not cut out. If the speaker is not able to move freely it will impact the sound.
Hey Landon, bought one of these to play in the livingroom, the speaker you had in the P10 was a 6 inch speaker, bad advertising by Vox, not a 6.5. Anyway I put a Jensen 6 inch ceramic in, took me 10 mins and WOW! Perfect fit, now I have a 6.5 inch Jensen speaker!!!! It sounds great, thanks for all your vids, keep rockin the telecasters Kev.
hey I know this is an old comment, but do you still like it with the Jensen? I love the clean sound of the P10 with the stock speaker but the drive sound needs some work
Owning a Celestion Eight 15 myself, I know that speaker is supposed to sound a LOT clearer than that, and it's because of that 6.5" hole that 8" speaker is trying to squeeze through. This video is years old now but I wonder if you ever got around to opening up that baffle hole?
Thanks for the video. I think I'm going to mod mine with a switchable speaker out jack & an LED mod toggle switch so I'll have the best of all worlds! Looking forward to getting my little Vox tomorrow!
@@ajg7089 Actually I haven't done it yet, and may not... as I found out elsewhere you can put a little piece of plastic into the button so that it engages the "boost" without engaging the clipping LED which is essentially the LED mod without modding. I have also used my little Vox Pathfinder 10 (Union Jack) in my most recent song recording here: soundcloud.com/ujnhunter/the-thirteenth-moon-chthonic-black even though Vox isn't typically a "metal" amp... why try and sound like everyone else?
Totally worth the upgrade. Just did both upgrades to mine and I love it. Handles overdrive pedals Wayyyy better. And I think the clean is better because of the speaker.
I love this pathfinder I keep the gain low as it gets unpleasant past 9 o'clock and turn the volume up around noon or higher to increase headroom. I like the low gain sound better then my fender blues jr believe it or not in my bedroom playing but obviously like my blues jr for its headroom when playing with pedals significantly better
The stock speaker sounded so much better. The Celestion sounded very thin and harsh in comparison. Like you're listening through a telephone or something.
I just received my new speaker the eight 15 and it sounds great!! you have to do this mod if you do the 'LED' mod because the little speaker can't handle the volume. This thing gets way loud on max volume and sounds surprisingly good!
i wonder what would of sounded like if you swapped the speakers first , maybe you would of got more aplification and wouldnt of been a need to clip the LEDs , i think that would be something interesting to try
I used mine as a head on a two twelve when my small(12 watt wmaster vol) tube head went crap one night. I was afraid the gig would get done yet sound like shit. IT DID NOT. It FELT different to me, but the sound tech said it was tighter and more under control than the other one. So, I think if i upgraded the speaker to larger size Celestion similar to your idea it will be my wedding gig amplifier.Thanx, my sound witch says.
Hey! I have a Zoom multi-fx pedal and I'm looking for an amp just not to have to listen always through the headphones. As I understood from your comment, you do it that way. Does it work well? And do all the kemper od's and distortions sound well? Or maybe you would recommend to take something different (my second choice is the Marshall origin 5c - a 5 W tube amp for about 3 times as expensive as the pathfinder)? Thanks a lot!
I Added the Celestion Eight 15 to the Vox AD15vt and replaced tube with Tung Sol 12ax7. blows away stock chinese made parts. I can keep up with drummer now. Excellent cheap mod.
i just ordered one of these amps, im super excited which is why im now watching videos about it... i think the mods are interesting, but i chose the vox because they just sound more british somehow... im not gonna go messin with that...
way better after mod but you should remove the extra material as its interfearing with the cone !! i bet it will sound WAY better after that !! gj otherwise !! :)
How would you trim back the front board without damaging the cloth on the front of the amp? I'm looking at putting a Jensen MOD 8-20 in my Pathfinder 10
@@mickhaslam2985 get a buiscuit tin...cut a small flat sheet...sort the edges so it doesnt slice the cloth...pop it into the hole between cloth and and then cut...the thin metal will protect the cloth as you work....easy!.....just remember to take it back out when you finish resizing the hole....
just looking through Jensen speaker website the 6.5 may be a advert trick because looking at their site all their 6 inch speakers measure 165.08 mm in their schematic so had google do the math and that is 6.499 inches so your could get away with a direct swap. Once again I only use Jensen but I looked at 3 different speaker models with 6 inch speakers
only thing about the LED MOD is those are there for a reason, that amp overdrives a little without engaging the button, so what happens when the drive is all the way up? because at that point it sounds like break up an gives light overdrive without the button now add the button with that mod and you may be asking for trouble when rehearsing for more than an hour
Is it just me or does the speaker upgrade make it sound like a transistor radio being heard through a cardboard tube? The Bulldog sounds way better to my ear.
Interesting. I actually think i preferred the clean sound of the stock speaker, had a little more sparkle IMO. Overdrive I'm not sure, they both had their merits. You should keep on the look out for a used Pathfinder 15R. I have one and love it for low volume practise. It comes stock with an 8 inch speaker as well. I'd be curious how well the 10 stands up against it. Thanks for the comparison.
Brilliant work! However, it's totally unnecessary if you use the amp for classic rock, jazz, pop etc. It changes the tonal qualities of the amp. I'd just buy a Marshall for hard rock, metal etc.
Had a lot of budget bedroom amp and honestly tired searching for a specific sound with those modeling amps. I wanted a solid state amp with own proper character, simple and easy to use. That pathfinder has a real Vox sound, obviously not the warmth of a valve amp, but surely the general lines and functionality of the brand. I did the LED mod as well as I removed the diode 2A274K (one of the three biggreen capacitor) which makes the clean channel brighter than it is yet. Stongly recommended. Do you still use it from time to time Landon?
iM Wondering of the led light Mod is an Improvement though? "Warmer: gain , could mean "softer" gain , like ....not quite as aggressive gain? Sure would be nice to hear the difference after the led mod. Did you just break the bulbs? or disconnect the wires & tape them off?
Awesome video! I moded my Pathfinder and use it with a extern cabinet i have at home and it sounds awesome... I also have a question: i wonder how the Frontman 10G would sound with a speaker upgrade. Would it sound better too? I hope you do the test! THanks!
nice video, picking up a used one of these shortly for a practice amp and wanted to see about how a new speaker would improve things. Sounded like Starside by Spacehog you were jamming on there around 5:38 .. or just a coincidence?
I just performed the LED mod and replaced the speaker with an 8" 8 ohm 25 watt peavey blue marvel. The overall sound is better, but when the note is first played there's still a tiny bit of that fizzy sound in the overdrive channel...almost sounds like a busted speaker, but it's not. Does yours have this?
Thanks for the video! Got one of these couple of weeks back. Clean sounds amazing, but just couldn't get a decent overdrive sound out of it. Always super bright, fuzzy, painful to listen to. Do I have to get a distortion pedal to get at least decent sound out of it? I reckon these upgrades wouldn't be the solution, am I right?
For a nice overdrive sound try setting highs at 9 o'clock and bass at 1-2 o'clock (boost channel). If you want to use overdrive/dist pedals I recommend using either clean channel with gain at about 3 o'clock (you need to cranck the amp a bit to make those pedals sound good, and it cleans nicely just by rolling off your guitar volume pot) , bass and treble at noon and volume at required; or using the boost channel in a low gain setting and eq as mentioned before. I prefer the clean channel option because you can get both good clean an distorted tones without changing channel. If you use the boost channel good cleans are harder to get. I hope it helps.
Why didn't you put in a better 6" speaker? Everybody's right, that 8" in there was a mistake. Plus that first zoom-in made me think you entered The Matrix. 😂
Timestamps:
0:00 - Please Standy
0:15 - What we are doing today
2:50 - Performing the modification
4:45 - Tone Samples - Before VS After
7:30 - Summary and Thoughts
Vox Pathfinder 10
Sweetwater imp.i114863.net/X6r53
Amazon geni.us/VoxPF10
Thomann bit.ly/3msbKtX
Get the speaker here
Sweetwater: imp.i114863.net/2rK6PA
Amazon geni.us/Celest815
Thomann bit.ly/3x0CNSL
I must confess I'd rather prefer the bulldog instead....
Right! It was designed to sound a certain way by Vox.
Hey Landon, thanks for the vid. I did both led and celestion speaker updates to mine and I've made sure to play the speaker in before commenting back to report (it's been almost 2 years now). The sound was immediately better and it does seem to improve with age although I don't know if I've just found the new settings sweet spot. The clean sound is now very punchy and responsive - I would say surprisingly similar to a pathfinder 15 which everyone seems to rave about. I find the best way to set it up to play is to keep the amp on the clean channel and with the volume at Max, use the gain knob as your volume control in conjunction with the guitar volume knob. There is a point you reach where there is a very tube like crunchy blues breakup that starts that wasn't there before and it's glorious for a $50 amp! Love it! Still not crazy about the dirt channel but even that is more usable than it was before - far less trebly solid state fizz on top and you can eliminate it altogether with judicious use of the amp and guitar treble controls. that's never been my sound anyway from any amp so maybe that's an unfair statement. Suffice to say, I'd judge the mod a success, it was inexpensive, easy to do and I'd say that once the new speaker is broken in and you learn the new settings required - it provides tones that are far better than stock. It's now a keeper!
thanks for your experience with it!
Another modification that can be made is to remove the 270nf capacitor C12 (2A274K) with that you get an excellent clean.
Just did the led mod because of this video, super easy if your good with a soldering iron. This mod really opens up the sound, WAY more clean headroom and a more natural breakup while increasing the gain with volume cranked! Great cleans to awesome early AC/DC tone on the clean channel.
Thanks for the video! I just watched a few others and you got a new subscriber here!
hey thanks Jeff! what a weird mod right? But it works great. 😁
Lando27Music Definitely a weird mod for sure, awesome though! I actually just pulled it back apart since my last post. I pulled the speaker wires up into the chassis, cut off the clips and soldered on a switchcraft jack I had on hand. Then I drilled a hole in the chassis to the far side of the transformers it will be pointing downward when assembled and I bolted it in. Then I just solder up 2 push clips and a 90 degree 1/4" plug to some heavy speaker wire and hooked the internal speaker back up by 1/4" jack and all is well!
Now I decided to have some fun with the new speaker jack as I have a small 1x12 with a WGS Veteran 30 8 ohm and a slightly larger 1x12 with an original early 70's Celestion Vintage 30 8 ohm. Man did this little thing come alive! Sounds really amazing on the clean channel and a cheap OCD clone sounds great in front too! And to think I purchased this for my 3 1/2 yr old! LOL!
Thanks again for the great videos!
@@landonbailey please do soldering tutorials I'm tired of paying high prices for repairs :,)
@@gorami Most important thing when soldering, TIN the tip of the soldering iron! Then you have to remember that what you're trying to solder together should already have some solder on it, otherwise it won't create a good connection.
@@landonbailey It is not weird at all. A lot of circuits use clipping diodes.
The 8" speaker absolutely ruined the tone. The 6" baffle chokes the bigger speaker and resonates at a nasally and unpleasant frequency.
Celestion is obviously thicker, but first impressions are that I like the original sounding speaker for the style you are portraying 5:50 gritty dirty rock, but apparently new speakers take a little time to get worked in so might sound better in the longer run. I was thinking of doing this to my 15 watt Line 6 practice amp speaker which has absolutely no character whatsoever.
Now if you could just add a reverb tank, and tremolo, you’d really have an AC-15 Mini! 😃
yes!
aka pathfinder 15r
@@hofish7 Exactly . Hard to find though
I use a Danelectro Spring King reverb with mine, and it sounds quite a bit like my AC30 then.
@@HadrianRex I have the Spring King I'm considering buying this amp as an alternative to an AC15 to do small rockabilly gigs. Would it be unrealistic to expect it to sound good for that tone in a small gig setting? I also have an AC30
mee too i prefer the stock speaker. more bite less nasally
I prefer the original speaker. Has a much more British tone to it. Sounds great at small bedroom levels and sounds good recorded. I heard one of the guys from sonic youth was using the same pathfinder 10 to record some stuff for a new record.
cool! thanks for the feedback
I would imagine that opening up the sound hole a bit would really help the celestion. Sounds a bit muffled with original size sound hole. I’m picking one up tomorrow, super excited. My AC5 was too much amp for the house. This will be great for dialing my board in.
You need to remove the front cloth to open the hole, and remount it, that is not so easy to do well.
Very good video, the mod i did on my Pathfinder 10 is, i took the head off, added an external speaker jack and now i use it as a head with a small 1x12 cab with an Eminence GB 128, huge improvement, i can play in small bars without problems, this baby has plenty of volume, still very portable but with the goodness of a 12" speaker.
Thanks a lot for the video.
nice! 👍🎸
still going strong mate ? sounds like a great idea -
though for the price of extra speaker/ cab -might be able to get an AC 10 ?
@@TheMichaelseymour Hi, yes man, still going strong, i'm actually building a 1x10 cab. to play with 2 Pathfinder in a wet / dry set up, this set up is a pure goodness, i made the cab by using an old amp. that was sleeping in my garage, but for example if you buy an Harley Benton cab with a Vintage v30 or a Jet City cab. and a Pathfinder 10 you are going to spend much less than buying an Ac 10.
WOW! I just did this exact same mod and it was super easy and the result is a super LOUD and warm amp! Great video but I don't know if really captures how LOUD this puppy is now. Thanks for doing this!
Great to hear!
I turned everything up to 10, unplugged it from the mains and wired it straight into the nearest pylon. The speaker cone exited through the window and killed next door's cat . The tone was awesome, but very brief.
Did the cats family sued you?
I wasn't expecting to laugh this hard! 😂😂😂
Yeah, yeah Lando, that's just all too hard and costly. For an extra volume boost I just strap it to the side of my head with duct tape. Tell me I'm wrong! You can't! I lost my hearing, and I have blurred vision.
+Graham Hodgson haha. do what works! 👍😁
🤪😆
Your derangement is impressive!
Wow, this was really worth it! The combo amp sounded noticably better after the mods.
Cool job there. One of the appeals of a solid state cheapo amp is being able to mod it without fear of losing resale value, or doing something irreparable.
I think the tone from the old speaker was better, but it also sounds like that Celestion needs breaking in.
hey cool ya. for $49 I was willing to experiment and take a loss if things didn't work out.
I just ordered this speaker for my Pathfinder. Then I found your video. I’m pretty stoked to hook it up.
🎸👍
@@landonbailey update, I have the original style Pathfinder 15R. The Celestion is a direct drop in. It sounds awesome. Tighter and brighter. I dialed the treble back a bit where I used to crank it for clarity.
So I recently did a speaker upgrade to a Mono Price 5watt all tube amp that came stock with a Celestion Super 8 to a Warehouse G8A Alnico… Much better tone than before… So now I have the Celestion & was thinking about trying it in my Pathfinder 10… I normally play a Spark at all my low volume solo gigs but would like other amp options just to keep it interesting… If the Super 8 doesn’t cut it I may spring for another G8A for the Vox amp… I personally think the Pathfinder 10 has the best look of the three if I can just get the volume & tone as good as the other two… Enjoy your guitar & amp reviews thanks for sharing!
nice!
Before: clean:-10/10, overdrive-5/10. After: clean-8/10, OD-8/10. Overall, better to leave bulldog in it and buy some mediocre OD pedal, instead of buying a new speaker. It is a little bit cheaper, and you have that original famous vox clean sound. Or be a lunatic, buy two pathfinders, replace one speaker with celestion and buy an ABY pedal to have a stereo sound and best od each speaker, as I did. :D Great sound and enough for gigging with gentle drummer in smaller venues, up to 100 people. Great video, cheers!
Everybody wants to upgrade to 10” speaker in the 15 watt version of this amp. But I have a Vox AC4 with a 10” Celestion. And the 8” bulldog speaker in my pathfinder blows it out of the water! I hate it when the cheap Chinese part can’t be improved upon!!
Great little practice amp.
The Celestion was a slight improvement.
The overdrive of the Amp is much better to me than the tube screamer pedal.
Sure because it has a character all its own.
@@TheTwangKings Not sure if your talking about the Amp vs the Amp plus the TS pedal in front or the Bull Dog speaker vs the Celestion.
But in either case, all circuits and all speakers have their own characteristics. This is a given.
@@stricknine8623 I meant the amp, as it is. You are absolutely right, every circuit has its own tonal character. To mod an amp is to change that characteristic.
I have a Vox Pathfinder 15 that I got today for an old hardshell case I had lying around. the amp was supposedly broken, but to my surprise, it actually works. Vox makes some good stuff. I'll have to see if those same mods can be applied to my amp
I hear those are great amps. Im not sure if it applies to them.
@@landonbailey I'll have to open it up to see. and i gotta say, the amp sounds killer.
both sound good the Bull Dog sounds grity, and snarls with the gain, Celestion speaker its now louder and more shaped sound with sparkles everywhere. Good Amp and both good speakers. thanks Landon your video Rocks.
👍🎸
Cutting that hole bigger would definitely help tone wise the outer portion of the speaker cone is where your going to get low’s and not choke the speaker. Then dime it out Just my 2¢.
So after watching this, i was able to find an early 90's made in USA crate with 2 8" celestion speakers at 4ohms each. I simply converted it to a cab for my vox pathfinder 10. Sounds great!
Vox: 'Lets make a small, inexpensive, but good sounding transistor amp. Lets reduce the harshness of the distorted sound of the hard clipping transistors in an inexpensive way by using diodes. Diodes clip softer than transistors, almost like a tube. Its important that they are engaged at a volume where the transistors still have headroom and do not clip yet, otherwise they wont have much effect. Ofcourse this will reduce the volume slightly, but this can simply be compensated by increasing the master volume. I think we have a great but also inexpensive design '
UA-cam modders: 'Hey, these leds reduce the volume of the overdriven signal. Lets cut them out'
😂
IMPRESSIVE and USEFUL series of vids on the pr10! I have a stable of VOX PR and DA series amps. Love the stock voicings overall but the LED mod with the extra headroom is intriguing. Ditto the speaker upgrade.
hey thank you!
Im picking this up in a few days. I cant wait
nice! have fun
nice vibes. sounds alot better after the modification. cheers!!!!!
Very cool. Great mods, made a big difference. I would check and see if the part of the cone is not pushed up against the part of the board that is not cut out. If the speaker is not able to move freely it will impact the sound.
thanks! ya the cone was clear of touching anything.
Wo, you made a Vox just sound more Marshall-y.
Could I use it with a 30W, 12 ", 8ohms external speaker? Thanks¡
no
@@landonbailey Could you tell me why? Please...
how would you connect it?
@@landonbailey Adding a jack to de amp and with an external cabinet for de speaker
oh if you know how to do that cool! I have no idea :)
Ähm, the Stock sounds better for me
Myself also! Without the tube screamer no demo of reverb or tremolo.aint complaining just saying.
yeah, think so to! So mush warmer!
Hey Landon, bought one of these to play in the livingroom, the speaker you had in the P10 was a 6 inch speaker, bad advertising by Vox, not a 6.5. Anyway I put a Jensen 6 inch ceramic in, took me 10 mins and WOW! Perfect fit, now I have a 6.5 inch Jensen speaker!!!! It sounds great, thanks for all your vids, keep rockin the telecasters Kev.
Which jensen may I ask? I might try that. Don't need an 8".
@@clarenzlarka why not add a external speaker jack instead of the swap....you have both a combo/head amp
hey I know this is an old comment, but do you still like it with the Jensen? I love the clean sound of the P10 with the stock speaker but the drive sound needs some work
Owning a Celestion Eight 15 myself, I know that speaker is supposed to sound a LOT clearer than that, and it's because of that 6.5" hole that 8" speaker is trying to squeeze through. This video is years old now but I wonder if you ever got around to opening up that baffle hole?
I did not do any more mods after this video
Hows it sound now after 4 years??
Had one of those and never should have sold it!!!
Thanks for the video. I think I'm going to mod mine with a switchable speaker out jack & an LED mod toggle switch so I'll have the best of all worlds! Looking forward to getting my little Vox tomorrow!
cool ya Ive seen the line out too. have fun!
Did u successfully do the led mod
@@ajg7089 Actually I haven't done it yet, and may not... as I found out elsewhere you can put a little piece of plastic into the button so that it engages the "boost" without engaging the clipping LED which is essentially the LED mod without modding. I have also used my little Vox Pathfinder 10 (Union Jack) in my most recent song recording here: soundcloud.com/ujnhunter/the-thirteenth-moon-chthonic-black even though Vox isn't typically a "metal" amp... why try and sound like everyone else?
I put a speaker out jack (switchable) plugged into 2x12 cab and surprisingly loud. Nice to keep option of on board speaker for quieter practice
cool!
Totally worth the upgrade. Just did both upgrades to mine and I love it. Handles overdrive pedals Wayyyy better. And I think the clean is better because of the speaker.
Ridge Bringger what a big sound right? amazing that it comes from such a small amp
Lando27Music yes! Much bigger and less “practice ampy” haha. Do you know of anyone installing a reverb tank into this amp?
I don't, but it would have to be a tiny tank. like something from a Peavey Blazer 158
Dude! You are awesome for this! I was looking for a simple mod like this.
Glad I could help
I have a Pathfinder 10 that’s had this speaker mod already and the LEDs removed, I don’t like the way it sounds, so I’m putting the diodes back in.
I love this pathfinder I keep the gain low as it gets unpleasant past 9 o'clock and turn the volume up around noon or higher to increase headroom. I like the low gain sound better then my fender blues jr believe it or not in my bedroom playing but obviously like my blues jr for its headroom when playing with pedals significantly better
👍🎸
it's awesome how a speaker change improve an amplifier
J.A Salazar ya it's a big part of the sound
The stock speaker sounded so much better. The Celestion sounded very thin and harsh in comparison. Like you're listening through a telephone or something.
cool thanks for the opinion and feedback!
I just received my new speaker the eight 15 and it sounds great!! you have to do this mod if you do the 'LED' mod because the little speaker can't handle the volume. This thing gets way loud on max volume and sounds surprisingly good!
+Coach cleats cool mod right? I was totally surprised.
i wonder what would of sounded like if you swapped the speakers first , maybe you would of got more aplification and wouldnt of been a need to clip the LEDs , i think that would be something interesting to try
ya for sure!
Just tried the LED mod on my Pathfinder. Well worth the effort. That's a lot better!
ya it's pretty cool!
Wow that’s a huge difference Landon. Very interesting. Maybe my Kat 100 will get a Celestion some day.
Tom Corr I think the stock Katana speaker is pretty good, but it's always fun to mod! even if there's no reason to. haha
Bulldog all the way
Thank you for the video! Just replaced mine with Jensen. Love it!
Glad it helped!
LEDs are back in, the amp distortion sounds much better. IMHO removing them was not a great modification.
I used mine as a head on a two twelve when my small(12 watt wmaster vol) tube head went crap one night. I was afraid the gig would get done yet sound like shit. IT DID NOT. It FELT different to me, but the sound tech said it was tighter and more under control than the other one.
So, I think if i upgraded the speaker to larger size Celestion similar to your idea it will be my wedding gig amplifier.Thanx, my sound witch says.
I'm gonna live it like it is. " because it is for my Kemper Profiler Home Practice" without braking the wall….
Hey! I have a Zoom multi-fx pedal and I'm looking for an amp just not to have to listen always through the headphones. As I understood from your comment, you do it that way. Does it work well? And do all the kemper od's and distortions sound well? Or maybe you would recommend to take something different (my second choice is the Marshall origin 5c - a 5 W tube amp for about 3 times as expensive as the pathfinder)?
Thanks a lot!
I Added the Celestion Eight 15 to the Vox AD15vt and replaced tube with Tung Sol 12ax7. blows away stock chinese made parts. I can keep up with drummer now. Excellent cheap mod.
ah nice!
Just bought this amp and my first stop was over to celestion eight 15 just needed to know if it fits
It's less warmer and fuller with Celestion Eight 15 on but... it's more clearer and clean sounding. 🧐🤔👍
thanks for the feedback!
and it doesnt sound like a vox anymore
Killer mods on the Pathfinder. I definitely prefer the 8”/15w sound. Almost hybrid Marshallish meets Vox.
cool thanks!
i just ordered one of these amps, im super excited which is why im now watching videos about it... i think the mods are interesting, but i chose the vox because they just sound more british somehow... im not gonna go messin with that...
it's a great amp even without any mods! have fun
One more proof that the buldog speaker sounds super good. The celestion is ok but it is less voxy to me...
Thanks for the feedback!
Yeah in my humble deaf old man's opinion I thought the original speaker had a profound sound to it. The new one didn't sound bad though
Does this bulldog works with 220volts?
way better after mod but you should remove the extra material as its interfearing with the cone !! i bet it will sound WAY better after that !! gj otherwise !! :)
+Terry's GG&G I may go back in and chip away more particular board. cheap and easy mod anyways! ttyl Terry! 👍🎸
lando27music mo
How would you trim back the front board without damaging the cloth on the front of the amp? I'm looking at putting a Jensen MOD 8-20 in my Pathfinder 10
@@mickhaslam2985 get a buiscuit tin...cut a small flat sheet...sort the edges so it doesnt slice the cloth...pop it into the hole between cloth and and then cut...the thin metal will protect the cloth as you work....easy!.....just remember to take it back out when you finish resizing the hole....
I can feel the difference mostly in the clean channel.
And, yes, it sounded a bit better.
How is it today? Why don't you do a follow up on it?
the follow up would be an empty shelf! I sold it years ago
just looking through Jensen speaker website the 6.5 may be a advert trick because looking at their site all their 6 inch speakers measure 165.08 mm in their schematic so had google do the math and that is 6.499 inches so your could get away with a direct swap. Once again I only use Jensen but I looked at 3 different speaker models with 6 inch speakers
Could this work for the Vox Pathfinder 10 Bass too?
only thing about the LED MOD is those are there for a reason, that amp overdrives a little without engaging the button, so what happens when the drive is all the way up? because at that point it sounds like break up an gives light overdrive without the button now add the button with that mod and you may be asking for trouble when rehearsing for more than an hour
Modding the speaker is almost useless since you could buy a more expensive and bigger amp in the first place, imo
what if I had fun?
I got an 12” 16 ohm orange VOTW speaker, I think you should try it in your Bandit. I think it would be a nice upgrade.
Robb VanTour cool I'll look it up!
lando27music
You can try it out and make a video. I’m in the Ottawa area.
Love the upgraded tone
sweet special effects bro
Thanks!
How did you removed the speaker? I trying to remove the speaker in my pathfinder 10 but it’s glued on!
I don't believe mine had any glue! weird 🤯😳
Oh! That’s very weird! Well, do you know how to remove a glued speaker?
probably a heat gun or hair dryer. that might cause other damage though, so I can't say for sure
Okay! Thanks for a good answer 😊 I probably just let it be and change speaker later. I really like your videos and you playing real good guitar!
oh hey thanks!
Hey Landon The bigger speaker is a definete improvement.
hey thanks for checking it out. It's a lot more noticeable in the room vs the MIC'd speaker.
Bri I added a Ditto Lopper to this Vox Pathfinder 10 all i get is booming feedback do you know what the problem may be with set up
Suggestion: cutting the hole for the speaker would probably sound better
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Worth the mods !
Gonna do that to mine
cool it's a big change
Small speaker had better tone ... Fuller bass
Lando. Thx for the tips, awesome content. 😁
thanks for checking it out!
new bigger speakers cost money ..might be wiser to invest in a slightly more expensive amp
Just gonna say that. At least over the internet the original sounds way better than the Celestion. A real shame but thats my take.
everything is personal taste!
Is it just me or does the speaker upgrade make it sound like a transistor radio being heard through a cardboard tube? The Bulldog sounds way better to my ear.
Interesting. I actually think i preferred the clean sound of the stock speaker, had a little more sparkle IMO. Overdrive I'm not sure, they both had their merits.
You should keep on the look out for a used Pathfinder 15R. I have one and love it for low volume practise. It comes stock with an 8 inch speaker as well. I'd be curious how well the 10 stands up against it.
Thanks for the comparison.
always tough to capture what I hear. One day I'll hopefully get a good ribbon MIC to capture the room sound.
take care!
Better sound then I could do! BTW I like how you beamed in star trek style to get things started.
+2speedy4u22 ha ya I don't know what that intro was about. just trying some fx
could i stack 4 of these amps together ? .....and cvould i get a 10" speaker in do you think ? thnx
hey Michael! the 10" wouldn't fit. the 8" just barely had enough space
@@landonbailey yeh ....that would be a great selling point - if manufacturers made it big enough to have an OPTION ...people would love that
People .. the mod is very nice .. better for your pedal sound also .. i did it today
Prefer Celestion speaker, sounds very Bryan May-ish
Brilliant work! However, it's totally unnecessary if you use the amp for classic rock, jazz, pop etc. It changes the tonal qualities of the amp. I'd just buy a Marshall for hard rock, metal etc.
Had a lot of budget bedroom amp and honestly tired searching for a specific sound with those modeling amps. I wanted a solid state amp with own proper character, simple and easy to use. That pathfinder has a real Vox sound, obviously not the warmth of a valve amp, but surely the general lines and functionality of the brand. I did the LED mod as well as I removed the diode 2A274K (one of the three biggreen capacitor) which makes the clean channel brighter than it is yet. Stongly recommended. Do you still use it from time to time Landon?
I probably sold it 2 years ago by now
Does the ampli has the same Vox sound after the mods or it's different?
so get rid of the green capacitor ? Not all 3 tho?
Great , how did you discover that ! thnx .
iM Wondering of the led light Mod is an Improvement though? "Warmer: gain , could mean "softer" gain , like ....not quite as aggressive gain? Sure would be nice to hear the difference after the led mod. Did you just break the bulbs? or disconnect the wires & tape them off?
save time and $-- add unplug the speaker wires add a jack and run it to a bigger cab......... HUGE TONE -- for under 5.00
Hey nice mod! Did you have to increase the hole eventually? I’m surprised there’s no vibration from the speaker against the particle board
hey thanks! no it's been fine, didnt need to increase the hole
Lando27Music watched your vox videos this morning and now I’m about to go buy one myself
ha! sorry for the GAS. 🎸👍
Got mine! but only liked the clean tone. ua-cam.com/video/IVe56tXtCNE/v-deo.html
Awesome video! I moded my Pathfinder and use it with a extern cabinet i have at home and it sounds awesome... I also have a question: i wonder how the Frontman 10G would sound with a speaker upgrade. Would it sound better too? I hope you do the test! THanks!
Hey cool! Glad it worked out for you. I don’t believe the Frontman has the room inside for a bigger speaker.
lando27music or mod it, so you can conect a external speaker
ah k!
What Ohm Speaker did you use? I like using the 4 Ohm they are rated at 20 Watts and give more output at a lower volume.
I looked back and it was 8 ohms
nice video, picking up a used one of these shortly for a practice amp and wanted to see about how a new speaker would improve things. Sounded like Starside by Spacehog you were jamming on there around 5:38 .. or just a coincidence?
it was Starside. I'm a huge fan of their stuff
@@landonbailey nice! Always nice to see some love for Spacehog :)
@@xD3adKl0wnx ya I saw them open for Red Hot Chili Peppers in '96
With celestion there is unpleasant kinda nasal sound. Really don't like it. Stock speaker is actually sounds more harmonious
hey thanks for the opinion and feedback!
Sounds huge through my iPhone speakers!
cool!
I just performed the LED mod and replaced the speaker with an 8" 8 ohm 25 watt peavey blue marvel. The overall sound is better, but when the note is first played there's still a tiny bit of that fizzy sound in the overdrive channel...almost sounds like a busted speaker, but it's not. Does yours have this?
I didn't have that issue
Did you desolder those LED's or just wiggled them out with a pair of pliers?
I used pliers. It was a clean pull. If it had been messy I would have cleaned up with a solder gun, but didn't need to :)
Do you think a 10 inch speaker would fit? Have one lying around
pretty sure no way. the 8 was just perfect
Thanks for the video! Got one of these couple of weeks back. Clean sounds amazing, but just couldn't get a decent overdrive sound out of it. Always super bright, fuzzy, painful to listen to. Do I have to get a distortion pedal to get at least decent sound out of it? I reckon these upgrades wouldn't be the solution, am I right?
For a nice overdrive sound try setting highs at 9 o'clock and bass at 1-2 o'clock (boost channel).
If you want to use overdrive/dist pedals I recommend using either clean channel with gain at about 3 o'clock (you need to cranck the amp a bit to make those pedals sound good, and it cleans nicely just by rolling off your guitar volume pot) , bass and treble at noon and volume at required; or using the boost channel in a low gain setting and eq as mentioned before. I prefer the clean channel option because you can get both good clean an distorted tones without changing channel. If you use the boost channel good cleans are harder to get.
I hope it helps.
Why didn't you put in a better 6" speaker? Everybody's right, that 8" in there was a mistake. Plus that first zoom-in made me think you entered The Matrix. 😂
I can't remember that long ago :)
Great video!
hey thanks!
This speaker did wonders on my Peavy Rage