Yeah the V-Amp is a cool little unit... not the hardest wearing piece of gear around, but it sounds great. Check my myspace link in my sig for clips of the V-Amp Pro
Yeah, I think the V-amps actually sound pretty good for the money. If you need something to mess around and practice with cans on I think they are a nice choice.
The past couple times I've seen Dark Tranquillity they used V-Amps into the effects return of 5150's, and then V-Amp Pros into the effects return of ENGL Powerballs. While they didn't sound amazing I thought they had a pretty good tone and they didn't seem to have any reliability issues with them.
I thought it was noisy and took about 2 seconds to switch channels, and it looks like a freakin' Mattel toy, add the cables plugging in from all angles, and it was a mess on stage.
But if you're into that sort of thing...
I thought it was noisy and took about 2 seconds to switch channels, and it looks like a freakin' Mattel toy, add the cables plugging in from all angles, and it was a mess on stage.
But if you're into that sort of thing...
I got to demo one, so I have no idea what they cost. Half the time, I just go straight into the amp, no pedals, no nuthin, that's what I think sounds best, so I am kinda biased against digital stuff. That said, I got my best sound plugging into the v-amp, then v-amp out into the return of a Studio Pro 112, bypassing the preamp section of the little combo. The v-amp had plenty of volume. I had two or three OK high gain sounds, and the same number of usable clean effects. I had a MIDI controller to use with it. It did take a noticeabley loooong time to switch channels that made it difficult to use live.
You can get a wide variety of sounds and effects. But beware, it is put together really cheapo. If you can get one for a decent cost and already had powered speakers or something, then it might be worth it. If you're starting from scratch looking for a home practice rig, I think you would be better off with a small combo that has some built-in digital effects.