Amp help please.

[bossman]

Hi everyone.
                    Pleased to e-meet you all for the first time.
                    I've followed this  forum for many years and now Iv'e retired and just playing at home, Iv'e finally got round to joining.
                    I've recently bought a fiesta red/gold hardware 50s classic vibe strat and have a  zoom g5 with H/Cs patches installed, Iv'e been using a Vox mini 5 and been getting (to my untrained ears) a very respectable sound.
                    However Iv'e just swapped it for a Vox VT40+ to get a bit more power and tone control, so first question please, does anybody have a similar amp and roughly what settings are you using?.
                    2nd question, with nothing plugged  into the amp I'm getting a very noticeable humming noise, this is increased when I turn up the power level, the only other knob that changes the noise is when I turn up the master which introduces a                     hiss as well.
                    I don't know much about amps but I'm wondering if it might be the tube as when I switch on it's quiet then after 5 secs it starts to come in as possibly the tube warms up.
                    Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
                    many thanks
                    John.
                    

[derekdelboy]

Hi and welcome to the Forum .

I am not an expert with Amp issues but I am sure someone will be along with some knowledge / ideas that may help ..

One question I am sure will help them is for you to answer.

Is the Vox VT40+ new or 2nd hand ? and where ,when did you buy it ?

Take care stay safe and I hope you resolve the problem.

Derek

[bossman]

Hi Derek.
               Thanks for your reply.
          It's 2nd hand and it was a private buy.
regards 
John.

[allclaphands]

Found this for you don't know if this is any help,



They used to have a white noise hiss which I think there are videos on YT about

Regards
Pete

[bossman]

Hi Pete.
            Thanks for your suggestion, iv'e tried that and the noise reduction as no effect on it.
            I'm thinking it's probably worth changing the tube just to try that.

regards
John. 

[Stu's Dad]

John,

I've got a VT20+ and it works just the same as yours. The first thing to do is make sure it's set on Manual, if you don't some FX have a way of sneaking on without you looking. Then set your amp to Vox AC30 and use the small button to set the Orange light, I think that's the Hand Wired Heritage model. Have your Gain between 8 and 9 o'clock and your volume to taste. Bass, Middle and Treble around 12 o'clock then fiddle with them until you're happy. That should get you close to the tone of the Shadows.

If the hiss is still there, when you take the back off to change your valve you'll see it's mainly PCBs inside, make sure it's completely dust free and use a light coating of switch cleaner all around. If none of that works I'm afraid it looks like there's a fault somewhere that'll need a technician to sort out - if you can find one to look at a solid state amp.

Good luck,

Len

[bossman]

Hi Len.
             Many thanks for that, that gives me something to work with.
regards
John.

[rogerdee]

Hi Len,
Hope you are well and safe.
Can the VT20+ be used as an audio interface or does it need an external one.

warmest regards

Roger

[Stu's Dad]

Nov 9, 2020 9:30:38 GMT rogerdee said:

Hi Len,
Hope you are well and safe.
Can the VT20+ be used as an audio interface or does it need an external one.

warmest regards

Roger

Hi Roger,

Nice to hear from you. The VT20+ is not an interface. I don't record on computer and the amp has a good emulated line out that I use to connect to a Tascam 8 Track. It's a great little hybrid amp that does an excellent imitation of Hank's tones.

All the best,

Len