Vox Pathfinder 15r : Wow!

Flanging_Fred

I feel the need to gush a bit.

I'd heard many good things about this amp over the years and I picked one up s/h a little while ago.  For a 15w tranny amp with an 8 inch speaker, it's rather startling.

Last week I took it to a (reasonably sedate) jam session hoping it would keep up. As @HAL9000  will attest, it coped rather well and sounded, to my ears at least, rather spiffing.

So last night I thought I'd give it a really hard test and take it to band rehearsal.  This is where things got a bit silly.

I normally use a 50w Marshall JCM800 in the band,. so how the hell was this 15w teeny amp able to put out enough volume to cope easily with the rest of the band? Admittedly I was right near the top of the volume knob, but still, it coped perfectly well and even had enough headroom for me to kick in an overdrive and get even more volume out of it for solos. I didn't even need to plug it into an extension speaker, I just used that 8 incher.

I think someone must have cast magic spells on them or something to be able to do that. That speaker must be hugely efficient.

Oh, and why the hell did Vox stop making them? Too good for the price maybe?

Anyway, just felt the need to share.

olafgarten

Flanging_Fred said:

I feel the need to gush a bit.

I'd heard many good things about this amp over the years and I picked one up s/h a little while ago.  For a 15w tranny amp with an 8 inch speaker, it's rather startling.

Last week I took it to a (reasonably sedate) jam session hoping it would keep up. As @HAL9000  will attest, it coped rather well and sounded, to my ears at least, rather spiffing.

So last night I thought I'd give it a really hard test and take it to band rehearsal.  This is where things got a bit silly.

I normally use a 50w Marshall JCM800 in the band,. so how the hell was this 15w teeny amp able to put out enough volume to cope easily with the rest of the band? Admittedly I was right near the top of the volume knob, but still, it coped perfectly well and even had enough headroom for me to kick in an overdrive and get even more volume out of it for solos. I didn't even need to plug it into an extension speaker, I just used that 8 incher.

I think someone must have cast magic spells on them or something to be able to do that. That speaker must be hugely efficient.

Oh, and why the hell did Vox stop making them? Too good for the price maybe?

Anyway, just felt the need to share.

They are pretty good, on the other hand the Pathfinder 10 is absolute crap, it gets fizzy as soon as the gain is above 12 o'clock.

olafgarten

Also, how loud do you usually have your Marshall?

Flanging_Fred

^ yeah, from all accounts the 10w version is sub par. So why get rid of the good amp and continue making the poo one? I suspect the answer might have something to do with bean counters.

Or they ran out of magic fairy dust.

Flanging_Fred

I normally run the Marshall on the low input with the volume halfway up, gain up full. Not totally deafening but thats the volume I use for pub gigs.

JezWynd

It's a fabulous little combo. I especially like the reverb and tremolo, the mild verb gives the sound a spaciousness that makes the amp sound bigger while the trem is lush and swampy. Feeding it out to a bigger cab can make it surprisingly loud.

olafgarten

JezWynd said:

It's a fabulous little combo. I especially like the reverb and tremolo, the mild verb gives the sound a spaciousness that makes the amp sound bigger while the trem is lush and swampy. Feeding it out to a bigger cab can make it surprisingly loud.

It's a proper Spring Reverb as well. I'd have one of these Pathfinders if it was more Fenderey.

kreggs

Takes pedals well too. I have other more expensive  amps but still cant stop playing the pathfinder  especially  for quiet practice  times. It can sound great at low volumes

HAL9000

Flanging_Fred said:

I feel the need to gush a bit.

I'd heard many good things about this amp over the years and I picked one up s/h a little while ago.  For a 15w tranny amp with an 8 inch speaker, it's rather startling.

Last week I took it to a (reasonably sedate) jam session hoping it would keep up. As @HAL9000  will attest, it coped rather well and sounded, to my ears at least, rather spiffing.

Yup, I think they must have packed in some rather larger watts than normal. Also, your eight inches were pretty impressive (Ooh-er missus).

robgilmo

Does anywhere still stock these amps?

Flanging_Fred

robgilmo said:

Does anywhere still stock these amps?

I doubt it, they've been discontinued for ages now unfortunately. 

usedtobe

I tried looking for one.. No luck.. Set up a search on the bay, maybe..?