Tube
Warmth in a Solid-State Package
“Old
Rock & Rollers never die. They just start playing the
blues.” I don’t know if this is true in all cases,
but my life has become a steady diet of blues, jazz, and some
classic rock. Therefore, when I went out on my quest for a
new practice amp, other factors came into play that were different
from when I was a kid in the 70’s.
Looking
for…
In order of importance, my priorities were: tone, price, and
a warm, tube amp-like sound. It was a pretty tall order and
if asked, you would probably have suggested, “Why don’t
you just buy a tube amp?” True. However, like many guitarists,
it was not an option ($$$) for me.
And
the winner is…
Out searching I went and after one week with several missed
lunch breaks, the winner was the Vox Pathfinder 15R.
Why?
What gave it the edge over the dozen or so other amps that
I tested? Well, it filled all three requirements and all the
others fell short in at least one area.
Tone…
The tone was the main thing that won me over. I really wanted
tube warmth without the tube price. You may say I’m
crazy, but I really do believe that I’ve achieved it
with this amp.
Just
to clarify, when I talk about tube warmth, I’m not referring
to bass. Tube warmth has more of a multi-dimensional feel
and with more gain there’s a different type of saturation.
In my opinion, the Vox Pathfinder 15R does an excellent job
of simulating
tube warmth.
Features…
The Vox Pathfinder 15R is a 15-Watt, solid-state amplifier
with an 8” Bulldog speaker. It has a single channel,
a gain and boost switch, and built-in tremolo and spring reverb.
There’s also a headphone jack, line out, external speaker,
and a footswitch jack.
The
classic Vox diamond design grill cloth adds to the already
good-looking alligator-style vinyl and dog bone-style handle.
The
amp has a “retro” and very basic design. It’s
a single channel amp with a gain control and boost switch.
More gain can be achieved by pressing a button or by hitting
the optional foot switch. This works perfect for blues and
jazz because you can really fine tune your sound with very
small gain adjustments.
The
Control Pannel of a Vox Pathfinder 15R
The
tremolo has a variable rate and
depth that can be turned on or off with the foot switch. The
spring reverb is also good, providing
nice depth without going overboard. I've personally come to
prefer spring reverb to digital models now supplied in many
amps. It just puts more life into the sound of the amp when
you don't have digital effects added on-board.
The
overdrive on this amp sounds great, but when you get into
heavily distorted modes it tends to become a bit raspy. This
is the classic Vox sound and, for some, it might take a bit
of getting used to. Personally, I am not overly fond of it.
To get around it, I use a tube simulator-type pedal that gives
me the sound I want without the raspiness in high gain, lead
solo-like situations. However, there is quite a bit of room
to work with before it reaches that raspy stage. An overdrive
pedal is not really necessary for everyone.
 They
have also built a lot of headroom into the controls. On the
bass and treble controls, I only need to set them at 50% and
I get all the bass and treble I need. Many other small amps
in my tests, even with the bass at 100%, still could not get
the warmth I wanted.
I
also set the gain at 50% and the volume at 25% for normal
practice. That tends to be loud enough to disturb my wife
and kids watching TV all the way in the living room. For such
a small package, it’s really loud!
Conclusion…
If you want tube warmth with solid-state reliability in a
small package and at an extremely low price…the Vox
Pathfinder 15R is for you!
 In
my opinion, the Vox Pathfinder 15R is simply one of the warmest
sounding and best practice amps you can find. I actually returned
the amp and started testing amps again. After going through
all the small amps in the store for a second time, I plugged
back into the Pathfinder 15R and within 10 seconds of playing,
I asked to purchase it back.
Give
the Vox Pathfinder 15R a test drive, but be forewarned. You’ll
probably go home with it.
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