Vox VT20X

This is a bit of a long review, forgive my seemingly rambling text. My general review and personal experience with the product comes first.
At the end I'll include how to find the VOX Tone Room program for those who need help with its installation.

Great amplifier at a great price. It really can't be beaten. It comes with a huge variety of onboard tones, but not too many as to seem overwhelming, as any good modelling amp should. 2x's 4 channel programming, and the VOX Tone Room program only makes programming and sound tuning even easier.I do strongly recommend this amp to any beginner guitarist, or a player who needs a good practice amp, or someone who wants to play, but keep things nice and quiet. I want to give it a full 5 star review, but it's not without it's faults. Namely, it was not obvious by any means to find the VOX Tone Room program. I had gone through the manual, looking for clear instructions as to where I can find the Tone Room program to install. I went to the VOX website, couldn't find any easy-to-spot download links, and those which I did find, only redirected me to VOX's homepage. Only after I had to contact VOX's customer support, was I able to find it on the VT20X's own product page, install MIDI drivers and THEN Tone Room. So it was a little hard to find. Once I got it all figured out, this small 8inch speaker was really working some magic.
I got it tucked into a corner on my desk, a bit out of reach, but I can manipulate all the controls and the soundbank from my computer with a 5 meter long USB cable I purchased from Amazon. I ordered the 4 channel VOX footswitch as well, and I can easily play from my computer desk, using the Tone Room program to change and program my amp, while using the footswitch to change channels, all without ever having to actually reach behind my cluttered desk to touch the amplifier at all!

It's really quite a gem. At this price, it's unbeatable. There really isn't anything else on the market for a bedroom player like myself, such as this. Not to mention, it has a separate volume and 'power' knob. Meaning I can get it to just the right loudness by manipulating the 'power' knob and the 'volume' knob together. Most amplifiers I've used really go from 0 to 100 really fast when you try to get low volumes, this is not the case with this amp!
I really love this amplifier. Just be aware, that you will have to be careful about the Tone Room program, since it was not an easy find for me!

In case you have purchased this amplifier, simply find the VT20x product at VOX's website, and under 'SPECIFICATIONS' you will find a link that says 'PRODUCT DOWNLOADS'. Click on the link, and you will be presented with a list of downloads for Mac and Windows users. Install the 'VOX Driver', 'VOX USB MIDI Driver', and the 'Tone Room Installer'. Run and install all three programs, and you should be all set to use Tone Room with your VOX amp!

This is probably one of the most underrated modelling amp.
Sound is very good, it sounds bigger than its 8 inch speaker, all the effects are OK and you do not really need much more for home playing.
Design-wise - it keeps the Vox pedigree, looks quite classy and can even qualify to a legit living room accessory in your partner's eyes (unlike say Boss Katana) :-)...

Only slight critique would be the Toneroom app, which works fine, but by today's standards looks little dated, especially compared to say Positive Grid Spark app, which is probably not super fair comparison, since PG are software makers in the first place.

Great things can come in small packages, and this VOX Valvetronix VT 20X is just that. Plenty of power at 20 watts to rattle the windows in a smaller venue, or light up your neighborhood with your garage rehearsals. Attractive styling and durable grill cover. Easy intuitive operation with all the amp models you'd ever want whether you're playing clean rhythm guitar or doing lots of lead work with heavy distortion. Here's the best part for me. It's small size fits in anywhere (it's a little larger than my toaster....no kiddin'), and lighter in weight than my bowling ball. I just walk in, set it down, plug my ESP LTD deluxe ec-1000 fm amber sunburst into it (1/4" jack input) plug in the foot pedal you can buy for it for switching through channels, push the ON button, and start cranking out the music! That simple! I love it! And the price is super right. In the context of equipment prices this amp is cheap to keep....inexpensive. You're really going to be surprised how good this little guy sounds

I liked everything! There are many sound possibilities if you don't want to buy pedals separately for some reason (I couldn't) Vox makes great stuff. You can figure it out in 2-3 days if you watched the review earlier. Simply the best amplifier for its money. I was deciding to take either a Katana or a Marshall with Vox.. but I don't regret that I bought this one! The only thing is, when you play, it seems like he is somewhere far away, some people might not like it, but that’s exactly the effect I need! If you record without a professional microphone (phone speaker) it will seem as if you are listening to an audio recording from a concert in the 70s (in a good way) I recommend it!

It's a good amp with a ton of features, don't get me wrong. I haven't done much with it yet since it just arrived today, but a few things are annoying. The first is the mini USB port for the PC connection. Not micro USB, but mini USB—the fat, ugly one from the early 2000s. And it doesn't even come with a cable. The other downside I noticed is that when using headphones, the sound is extremely low. Even at the highest volume and power levels, I can barely hear anything, and I have pretty good headphones. I don't know, maybe I'm doing something wrong, but as far as I can tell, I'm not the only one with this problem. Otherwise, it seems like a good combo amp. It's my first one, so I don't know much. :)

The buying / delivery process :
Everything was fine, the thomann service for buying online is helpful and easily understandable, and the amp arrived at my house in Switzerland in just 3 days.

The amp itself :
I LOVE this amp. I replaced my old VT20+ with this VT20X, and I am in love with it. The amp is great for small players, practice sessions or playing some gigs with friends, but nothing more. If you wanna play it in a proper band I would recommend either going for the 100 watt version, or sticking with a tube head + cabinet solution, as you will need to crank this VT20X all the way up (and therefore distort the sound or even damage the amp) to be able to keep up volume-wise.
It is a modelling amp, so the sound goes into a real valve/tube preamp that then goes into a computer that will ''model'' the sound. Therefore you will have a very versatile amplifier with loads of tone and many many settings to choose from --> perfect for a bedroom player : no need to buy pedals, effects and such, as they're all built into the amp. (I_wish_thomann_let_me_write_more_than_200_words. 1_small_complaint_:_the_power_cable_is_really_flimsy_and_bad_quality...expected_more_from_Vox.) 9/10