@siddharthm9740 That's a Marshall rip off, not very voxy, you can get that grinding gears type of distortion from a RAT at medium gain, or so many other pedals and amps, it's they most copied type of signal clipping. You probably already have something that does it that you can put before, a few Boss pedals vaguely do it.
Great review. Honestly so many other youtubers just like showoff for so long on one amplug that you forget what the previous one sounded like. Nice, simple short tune with each one so you could compare the tone.
Fantastic demo! I've gone through so many product reviews to try to figure out which of these is best for me, and this is the only one that really gives a good comparison!
Really appreciate the time you put into this review and your responses to comments. The way you laid it out made it easy to go back and compare the 3 I was considering, and this made it easy to make my choice. Classic Rock.
@@GrowWithGuitar Clean, Blues, and Classic Rock. I could have gone with Blues, but wanted access to just a bit more distortion at high gain. Thanks again!
Thank you for making this video!!! I agree with all the positive comments about finally a solid and to-the-point product review instead of most UA-camrs who don't cut to the chase because they are too busy trying to be funny or showing off. You rock! I am pretty picky about my pro gear and would normally not consider a 'consumer product' (I've changed my snobby attitude by now, haha), but when I got an Amplug2 Classic Rock for practicing while on the road, I was blown away with the sound, options, and especially feel/response of this tiny thing. So I've been curious about the other models, and you perfectly layed it out! Thanks, man! As for versatility (I play from Jazz to Metal) I think the Classic Rock was a good choice because the amounts of clean as well as gain are sufficient to make it a 'jack of all trades', so you don't have to buy a bunch, haha. From your video I learned that the same goes for the AC30, and the rest works well for their specific sound. I wish you could adjust the FX level, but it already does so much for that price and size. It works well on loud Hifi systems and gtr amps. I use it on a practice amp and has plenty of body/low end) I am considering the little 3" speaker cab. What is your take on that?
⚡ Get my FREE Guitar Headphone Amp Buyer's Guide here ➡️ bit.ly/3mD4AUj Check out individual models in the Vox Amplug 2 Playlist here ➡️ bit.ly/2AZwI15 Note: The clean model can do gain tones in the red channel.
I got the ac30 version. Its how I practice at night when my wife and kids are asleep. It was 100% worth the money. My only real gripe is it does suck down the AAA batteries pretty quickly.
Kind of want the blues even tho i dont play blues! Love how you ordered this. Was super hard to figure out the differences between the ampa from other reviews
I love my Brian May AC. The key to all of these is that it gives you the ability to jam out with a pair of headphones in the wee hours without bothering fam and still being able to enjoy the overdrive! Awesome bit of personal tech.
Man, thank you for making this. I've been holding on getting one because i couldn't find a good video comparing the different models. Liked and subscribed, heading over to the full playlist but right now I think the AC30 will fit the bill good enough to practice cleans as well as dirty it up a bit. Thanks again!
You're doing a great job with these vids. I may try to get my 12-year-old son into guitar by sharing this with him. He would appreciate the straight-forward presentation style.
Wanted to buy one of these but eventually found the Nux mp3 pro. Just ordered it and it has a lot of profiles in the app to customize. Have a look at is, pretty cool.
Okay so these are great for camping and using an electric guitar out and about with no electricity. One of theses with a mini speaker like a cans mini speaker works great at the campsite, just did it😂😊. Also good for in home practice without annoying family or apartment neighbors. Plus someone said you can't use this wirelessly and you can, plug this into the guitar and get a Bluetooth signal box (they are really cheap and smaller than this device, use a rubber band to hold them together) they come with a headphone cable to plug you into the vox and you pair the box to a favorite Bluetooth earbud and your completely wireless.
For use with these, I would recommend you to use any earbuds or headphones you already have. No need to spend more money. For guitar and recording, I personally use the audio technica ath m50x. Any over-ear studio grade headphones will work. You just want to make sure that they have a flat frequency response, and a range of at least 20hz-20khz. Many consumer level headphones have a boost in the bass or treble, which might make you think the gear is way too bass heavy, when it is actually your headphones. You can check out the audio technica ath m50x here: amzn.to/2SPa2WN (affiliate link).
Very nice review. One suggestion for improvement: the guitar here is distractingly out-of-tune. Especially given how tuning issues and gain settings interact, I think it would be good to make sure your guitar is well-intonated and in tune before making similar videos in the future. But again, a very well-done review, thorough and concise.
Among the vox headphone amps, I would say the classic rock. Among the headphone amps I have tried, the Valeton. You can check out my review of the Valeton here: ua-cam.com/video/lO9yqNoirAk/v-deo.html You can also find a recent Headphone Amp Q&A I did that might help you choose here: ua-cam.com/video/ZWexLT9LSvM/v-deo.html
It is perfect review, thanks! Can you help me decide between Classic Rock and AC30? I'm looking for versatile amplug that will cover both something clean and distorted: Pink Floyd, some blues, late Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, AC/DC, ZZ Top. I bought Blackstar AmPlug2, but treble on medium-high gain literally gives me headache, so probably need to return it
It really depends which drive tone you like better. The classic rock can have clean tones when the gain is at 1. While the AC30 can't do cleans with gain at 1, you can work around that by lowering the volume on your guitar. So usually, if you want clean and drive tones, I recommend the classic rock.
@@GrowWithGuitar thanks for response, so sounds like between those two Classic Rock is the way to go, as it would take less steps to switch between clean and distortion (don't need to use both knobs on guitar and amp). Actually I also watched your videos on Valeton Rushhead Max (wasn't aware that it exists). I really like how it allows to switch clean, distortion and OD with separate switch. Could you tell me how in your opinion it compares to Vox Classic Rock and Blackstar in terms on sound quality and versatility (taking aside having more effects and usb charging, as those are not that important for me)?
In terms of sound quality, they are about the same. Like you said, it is easier to go from clean, overdrive, and distortion on the Valeton, but on the clean setting it isn't as clean as the classic rock. If you don't care for the extra effects, I would probably go with the classic rock model.
@@GrowWithGuitar I've bought Valeton and compared it to Blackstar AmPlug2. Here's my opinion (keep in mind that I use £5 earphones from ebay, but they sound surprisingly good e.g. with my Blackstar Fly 3 - much better than my £50 headphones): Points for Blackstar: * Blackstar has waaay better clean (imo sounds much cleaner and "stratty" on single coils). At beginning Valeton's clean sounded fine for me, but when I've compared it with Blackstar, it started to sound like when you listen to speaker that is covered by something * Blackstar has a bit better sounding OD channel (easier to get e.g. Led Zeppelin sound, on Valeton it's imo too "sharp") * Also nice thing for me (as I have HSS guitar) about Blackstar is that clean channel with 8/10 gain sounds pretty clean on single coils and overdriven on humbucker, so I can leave this setting and switch between clean and OD just by switching from single coil to humbucker (I have HSS guitar) - in Valeton 8/10 Gain clean channel still sounds clean on humbucker, so I need to both switch pickup and channel to get nice OD. Points for Valeton: * those effects are awesome, especially vibrato * tone knob * build quality is great (materials, knobs, basically everything) Tbh comparing amplugs seems addictive, maybe I'll compare Vox Classic Rock with Blackstar as well after music store reopening in UK :)
No, I haven't tried these with pedals. But if you do, you will need someway to connect speakers or headphones at the very end of the wah to get the signal. Just plugging headphones to the headphone amp won't work. In most cases, that would be an amp, so at that point, I wouldn't use these.
I have a couple of these and am probably getting the clean model too. They work great as the amp for pedals, just plug it into the last pedal in the chain and you can play your pedals through headphones or a stereo system or a PA. Sounds great.
This video made me want to buy one, just choosing between lead anf metal. But I have a clarification, do I need to plug it to other paraphernalia in order for it to work? Or do I just directly plug it to my guitar and play?
Some sort of speaker or headphone is required because there is no built in speaker or Bluetooth connectivity. So you need to connect to the headphone out in some way to hear the sound.
I am not familiar with that genre, so I just googled it and looked at some youtube videos. The ones I saw (labeled Indie/Pop/Folk) had a lot of acoustic guitar and when I did hear the electric, it was more of an overdrive, than a distortion. So I would probably go with either the Blues or Classic Rock models. The blues model has a warmer tone to it, while the classic rock has a dry drive tone. Both can also do clean tones.
If you are just going for one, which I usually recommend, I would stick with the Vox Amplug 2 models for your style of music. The Valeton has more effects and you can mix and match, but the effects are a bit more noticeable and full with not much room to adjust it down, if that makes sense. I have a video on that if you want to hear the sounds and compare. ua-cam.com/video/lO9yqNoirAk/v-deo.html
If you want more tonal flexibility at the press of a button, the blackstar has clean, crunch, and lead channels. If you like the tone of the Vox models and just want something to plug and play, Vox is good. Depends on how you want to use it.
Hi! if I wanna connect my headphones Vox amp to my phone (Android) to record the sound, what cable should I use? will it work? I just started playing so I'm pretty ignorant on the topic😅
You can get clean tones on the metal version if you have it at 1 gain and reduce the volume knob on your guitar, but the threshold for that is not big.
You saved 1,000's of people time and money. Your review is one of the best I've seen. Succinct, clear and a real time saver. Thanks.
Yes, by them hearing this and just getting the AC30
@@CC-fi3pp interesting! I was leaning towards classic rock
@siddharthm9740 That's a Marshall rip off, not very voxy, you can get that grinding gears type of distortion from a RAT at medium gain, or so many other pedals and amps, it's they most copied type of signal clipping. You probably already have something that does it that you can put before, a few Boss pedals vaguely do it.
That was legitimately one of the best product reviews I have seen. Well done.
Thanks so much Brent.
Yeah you’re 100% right. Just a nice clear run through and I know which i prefer based on it. Nice job. Heading over to check out more from you!
Great review. Honestly so many other youtubers just like showoff for so long on one amplug that you forget what the previous one sounded like. Nice, simple short tune with each one so you could compare the tone.
Glad it was helpful!
Hey, thanks for this. So many youtubers don't get how to boil it down to the useful information most people will be looking for. Nice job.
I can’t decide between clean and blues- they both sound so nice and clear at each gain level
The blues sounds a bit warm, but both are great choices for clean tones.
I think the clean is polyvalent
The blues one feels like a Octave pedal in it
Take two; they’re small😊😊… 🫶✌️♾️🎸👨🏼⚕️🎸. 🤔😎🤷🏼♂️
Fantastic demo! I've gone through so many product reviews to try to figure out which of these is best for me, and this is the only one that really gives a good comparison!
Thank you!
Really appreciate the time you put into this review and your responses to comments. The way you laid it out made it easy to go back and compare the 3 I was considering, and this made it easy to make my choice. Classic Rock.
Glad it was helpful. Good choice of the classic rock. Just curious, but what were the other two you were considering?
@@GrowWithGuitar Clean, Blues, and Classic Rock. I could have gone with Blues, but wanted access to just a bit more distortion at high gain. Thanks again!
Thank you for this straight-forward, no BS, direct comparison. You earned another subscriber.
Thank you for making this video!!! I agree with all the positive comments about finally a solid and to-the-point product review instead of most UA-camrs who don't cut to the chase because they are too busy trying to be funny or showing off. You rock! I am pretty picky about my pro gear and would normally not consider a 'consumer product' (I've changed my snobby attitude by now, haha), but when I got an Amplug2 Classic Rock for practicing while on the road, I was blown away with the sound, options, and especially feel/response of this tiny thing. So I've been curious about the other models, and you perfectly layed it out! Thanks, man! As for versatility (I play from Jazz to Metal) I think the Classic Rock was a good choice because the amounts of clean as well as gain are sufficient to make it a 'jack of all trades', so you don't have to buy a bunch, haha. From your video I learned that the same goes for the AC30, and the rest works well for their specific sound. I wish you could adjust the FX level, but it already does so much for that price and size. It works well on loud Hifi systems and gtr amps. I use it on a practice amp and has plenty of body/low end) I am considering the little 3" speaker cab. What is your take on that?
I'm not sure if you would be satisfied with the 3" speaker if you are already using a bigger amp.
Best review of Vox AmPlug's I've seen. Very helpful, I know what I need now.
Thank you 🙂
⚡ Get my FREE Guitar Headphone Amp Buyer's Guide here ➡️ bit.ly/3mD4AUj
Check out individual models in the Vox Amplug 2 Playlist here ➡️ bit.ly/2AZwI15
Note: The clean model can do gain tones in the red channel.
I think the blues model has the tone I like best. Great video!
Definitely a great choice. It has a bit more warmth to it.
Love that AC30.
Blues was nice too.
I got the ac30 version. Its how I practice at night when my wife and kids are asleep. It was 100% worth the money. My only real gripe is it does suck down the AAA batteries pretty quickly.
You think rechargable batteries would be worth it?
@manny7289 if you get something better like the energizer lithium ones it probably is.
Kind of want the blues even tho i dont play blues! Love how you ordered this. Was super hard to figure out the differences between the ampa from other reviews
Another great review/comparison! I really enjoy the broken up playline to be able to go back to a certain section to hear it again. Well done!
Thanks for the feedback. I'm glad it was helpful.
I love my Brian May AC. The key to all of these is that it gives you the ability to jam out with a pair of headphones in the wee hours without bothering fam and still being able to enjoy the overdrive! Awesome bit of personal tech.
Man, thank you for making this. I've been holding on getting one because i couldn't find a good video comparing the different models. Liked and subscribed, heading over to the full playlist but right now I think the AC30 will fit the bill good enough to practice cleans as well as dirty it up a bit. Thanks again!
Glad I could help!
classic rock is amazing, clean is fantastic and AC30 is wonderful
I am definitely getting the blues amplug
You're doing a great job with these vids. I may try to get my 12-year-old son into guitar by sharing this with him. He would appreciate the straight-forward presentation style.
Wanted to buy one of these but eventually found the Nux mp3 pro. Just ordered it and it has a lot of profiles in the app to customize. Have a look at is, pretty cool.
best review. all others are never minded about gain and tone!
Looking forward for future guitar tips videos!
There should be a couple coming next month. Thanks for watching.
"The" detail you'd need to know to choose one of these devices. Great presentation. Thanks.
I have the Classic Rock and love it
Awesome! Keep Rocking!
Thank you so much, I got one for my Bass, But that was easy..... Bass. My guitar I had no idea with there being so many xD
The Vox Ac 30 is so brilliant....🤘🎸
😊
Nicely done...gotta love the extra warmth of the Blues - thanks.
In my opinion.
Thx for this comparison! Do You own the MV50 or the Superbeetle, too? So You can compare the NuTube sound to the amPlug sound?
The AC30 sounds unbelievably good.
Okay so these are great for camping and using an electric guitar out and about with no electricity. One of theses with a mini speaker like a cans mini speaker works great at the campsite, just did it😂😊. Also good for in home practice without annoying family or apartment neighbors. Plus someone said you can't use this wirelessly and you can, plug this into the guitar and get a Bluetooth signal box (they are really cheap and smaller than this device, use a rubber band to hold them together) they come with a headphone cable to plug you into the vox and you pair the box to a favorite Bluetooth earbud and your completely wireless.
Great review man. AC30 is the clear choice for me.
Nice!
Best of the bunch imho
Best review. What kind of amplug for a Cort yorktown archtop guitar?
Amazing test!!!! This is absolutely helpful!!!
You should make a tutorial on "how to make youtube tutorials".. loved it brother. crisp content. ❤
Wow. Great review. This was so helpful. Subbed for life. All notifications.
Thanks!
Thanks for the video, what headphones do you recommend for use with these amps, or for guitar in general?
For use with these, I would recommend you to use any earbuds or headphones you already have. No need to spend more money. For guitar and recording, I personally use the audio technica ath m50x. Any over-ear studio grade headphones will work. You just want to make sure that they have a flat frequency response, and a range of at least 20hz-20khz. Many consumer level headphones have a boost in the bass or treble, which might make you think the gear is way too bass heavy, when it is actually your headphones. You can check out the audio technica ath m50x here: amzn.to/2SPa2WN (affiliate link).
@@GrowWithGuitar thanks for the detailed reply, really appreciate your help! Cheers!
Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks
Glad I could help
I really love the look of the blackface & tweed ones
Nice comparison 👍👍 it' s better to explain equalizer/ modul each tyoe
Very nice review. One suggestion for improvement: the guitar here is distractingly out-of-tune. Especially given how tuning issues and gain settings interact, I think it would be good to make sure your guitar is well-intonated and in tune before making similar videos in the future. But again, a very well-done review, thorough and concise.
Thanks for the tip!
Cheers!! Very detailed walk-though helps a lot!
For the lead and metal, metal riffs need to be played to see which is better for sure.
Nice style, content and presentation - thanks so much ! 🙂
Which do you recommend for Beatles and Rolling Stones. Amazing review man
Classic rock or AC30
Great review bro. Liked and subscribed.
Great video buddy! Love this saga. Hugs from argentina 🙂 (the 100 sub :D
To be continued...
😂
Some good info here. Thank you.
Thanks. 🙂
hi , im a beginner and i would like to know which one is the most versatile of them to start with
Among the vox headphone amps, I would say the classic rock. Among the headphone amps I have tried, the Valeton. You can check out my review of the Valeton here: ua-cam.com/video/lO9yqNoirAk/v-deo.html
You can also find a recent Headphone Amp Q&A I did that might help you choose here: ua-cam.com/video/ZWexLT9LSvM/v-deo.html
idk which i should i get I wanna get the ac30 for rock song but i also like the sound of classick rock.... its so hard to choose
Which would you recommend for country?
Clean. Or blues if you want some overdrive as well.
I'm going for clean.
thank you for your work on this.
It is perfect review, thanks!
Can you help me decide between Classic Rock and AC30? I'm looking for versatile amplug that will cover both something clean and distorted: Pink Floyd, some blues, late Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, AC/DC, ZZ Top. I bought Blackstar AmPlug2, but treble on medium-high gain literally gives me headache, so probably need to return it
It really depends which drive tone you like better. The classic rock can have clean tones when the gain is at 1. While the AC30 can't do cleans with gain at 1, you can work around that by lowering the volume on your guitar. So usually, if you want clean and drive tones, I recommend the classic rock.
@@GrowWithGuitar thanks for response, so sounds like between those two Classic Rock is the way to go, as it would take less steps to switch between clean and distortion (don't need to use both knobs on guitar and amp).
Actually I also watched your videos on Valeton Rushhead Max (wasn't aware that it exists). I really like how it allows to switch clean, distortion and OD with separate switch. Could you tell me how in your opinion it compares to Vox Classic Rock and Blackstar in terms on sound quality and versatility (taking aside having more effects and usb charging, as those are not that important for me)?
In terms of sound quality, they are about the same. Like you said, it is easier to go from clean, overdrive, and distortion on the Valeton, but on the clean setting it isn't as clean as the classic rock. If you don't care for the extra effects, I would probably go with the classic rock model.
@@GrowWithGuitar I've bought Valeton and compared it to Blackstar AmPlug2.
Here's my opinion (keep in mind that I use £5 earphones from ebay, but they sound surprisingly good e.g. with my Blackstar Fly 3 - much better than my £50 headphones):
Points for Blackstar:
* Blackstar has waaay better clean (imo sounds much cleaner and "stratty" on single coils). At beginning Valeton's clean sounded fine for me, but when I've compared it with Blackstar, it started to sound like when you listen to speaker that is covered by something
* Blackstar has a bit better sounding OD channel (easier to get e.g. Led Zeppelin sound, on Valeton it's imo too "sharp")
* Also nice thing for me (as I have HSS guitar) about Blackstar is that clean channel with 8/10 gain sounds pretty clean on single coils and overdriven on humbucker, so I can leave this setting and switch between clean and OD just by switching from single coil to humbucker (I have HSS guitar) - in Valeton 8/10 Gain clean channel still sounds clean on humbucker, so I need to both switch pickup and channel to get nice OD.
Points for Valeton:
* those effects are awesome, especially vibrato
* tone knob
* build quality is great (materials, knobs, basically everything)
Tbh comparing amplugs seems addictive, maybe I'll compare Vox Classic Rock with Blackstar as well after music store reopening in UK :)
Most excellent demo!
Have you tried the Amplug 2 with a wah-pedal yet? Just wondering if that would work.
No, I haven't tried these with pedals. But if you do, you will need someway to connect speakers or headphones at the very end of the wah to get the signal. Just plugging headphones to the headphone amp won't work. In most cases, that would be an amp, so at that point, I wouldn't use these.
I have a couple of these and am probably getting the clean model too. They work great as the amp for pedals, just plug it into the last pedal in the chain and you can play your pedals through headphones or a stereo system or a PA. Sounds great.
You're the best. Huge thanks
Awesome review, Thanks!
Which one do you think that is best for jazz?
And great video
I would probably go with either the blues or clean model.
Thanks
Thank you - very helpful video!
😊
This video made me want to buy one, just choosing between lead anf metal. But I have a clarification, do I need to plug it to other paraphernalia in order for it to work? Or do I just directly plug it to my guitar and play?
You just need to connect to your guitar and plug in some headphones.
@@GrowWithGuitar but are the earphones required? Or nah?
Some sort of speaker or headphone is required because there is no built in speaker or Bluetooth connectivity. So you need to connect to the headphone out in some way to hear the sound.
hy.very good presentation.can you do it for the blackstar amp too....
Excellent review!!! You’re awesome!!!
Thank you!
Shows the difference well
My life is easier now, Thank you much😭
which one would you recommend for grunge (well, Nirvana, basically)? I cannot make up my mind :(
If it is stuff like smells like teen spirit, I might go with either the AC30 or classic rock
I see, thank you for your reply!
What is the best option if I want to play PunkRock?
Great video, thank you!!!
Hi what would you recommend for a Neo-Soul Melanie Faye type tone? Thanks!
Clean ftw... when the gain is at 1, there is still too much gain on the other ones IMO. Blues is a close second though
This was great thank you
This is the perfect review.
😊
Ah great demo and well explain.
what would you recommend for indie(pop)/bedroom pop?
I am not familiar with that genre, so I just googled it and looked at some youtube videos. The ones I saw (labeled Indie/Pop/Folk) had a lot of acoustic guitar and when I did hear the electric, it was more of an overdrive, than a distortion. So I would probably go with either the Blues or Classic Rock models. The blues model has a warmer tone to it, while the classic rock has a dry drive tone. Both can also do clean tones.
@@GrowWithGuitar thanks so much for the response.Would you also recommend me to buy the valeton rushead max?
If you are just going for one, which I usually recommend, I would stick with the Vox Amplug 2 models for your style of music. The Valeton has more effects and you can mix and match, but the effects are a bit more noticeable and full with not much room to adjust it down, if that makes sense. I have a video on that if you want to hear the sounds and compare. ua-cam.com/video/lO9yqNoirAk/v-deo.html
Thank you.
😊
Voxamplug or the blackstar one?
If you want more tonal flexibility at the press of a button, the blackstar has clean, crunch, and lead channels. If you like the tone of the Vox models and just want something to plug and play, Vox is good. Depends on how you want to use it.
Which one would you recommend for playing The White Stripes and which one for Led zeppelin? 🤭 Thanks
Classic rock
Good video. I have a question. Which model is most suitable for a bass guitar?
thank you!!!
Thanks very much man!!!!!!!!
Interesting. The Clean stays clean but the Blues is less coloured so it sounds cleaner at low gain.
Hi! if I wanna connect my headphones Vox amp to my phone (Android) to record the sound, what cable should I use? will it work? I just started playing so I'm pretty ignorant on the topic😅
great video. thanks!
Good job little bro
Thank you joseph.your comparison is really helpful for me when i make decision .
Glad it was helpful!
Can metal version be used for clean tones too, or for clean tones one needs to buy clean version?
You can get clean tones on the metal version if you have it at 1 gain and reduce the volume knob on your guitar, but the threshold for that is not big.
@@GrowWithGuitar that's a nice trick, thanks mate.
made in Japan! SOLD!
Thanks my friend!!!!!
Great job!!
Is this working without pluging it in any kind of pc or something?
Yes. You can just plug it into your guitar and plug in your headphones.
can you hear the bass for your headphones and at the same time the sound exit from an external amplifier?
thanks
Cool thanks!
Thanks for watching.
Issit possible to plug it in a amp?
Nice one
Im thinking about getting either the ac30 or the classic rock but im not sure
Classic Rock is good if you also want some clean tones.
Спасибо за отличный контент 🐌🦊
If we don't connect it to the headphones, will there be no sound?
Superb video mate - just ordered the metal model via your affiliate link - thank you again! Can’t wait to try it out :)