Vox Tonelab SE

[big_paul]

i noticed that that kent guy who uses the axes and does all them cool covers was using one. i went to look into it and see it was discontinued. what replaced it if anything? he was really able to dieal in the VH brown sound. any advice would be great. thanks.

 

[jakedawgwhite88]

I have one .... my luke sounds great with it ..... there are a few running around on the used market.

 

[peterd79]

I used the TC Electronic Nova and that sounds great... but now it just sits- thinking about trading it in actually towards other gear

 

[kimonostereo]

I used to own the Vox Tonelab SE for a while. It was a serious piece of hardware. Very well built (like a tank), very big, and quite hefty. It did sound great with very easy to use controls. Vox later came out with a Tonelab LE which was Limited Edition (i guess) they also had a desktop version without the controller pedals. Currently I only see the Vox Tonelab ST Link: Amazon.com: Vox ToneLab ST Guitar Multi-Effects Processor Pedal: Musical Instruments which I also owned but returned. since it wasn't what I wanted.

That said, you could search forever and not find that "brown sound". Everyone has a different idea of what that EVH "brown sound" or "BS" (heh) is. Do you mean VH1 BS or VHII BS? Even Women and Children first, Diver Down and 1984 all had a slightly different, wetter or dryer sound to them.

Can the Vox Tonelab SE do the brown sound? I'm sure it could, but whether or not it would sound good in your hands is a different story.

The sound you hear on a recording isn't the same as the sound you'll hear out of your amp. I'm sure others with more experience can go deeper into this than I can. What you consider brown sound is a processed amp, with effects and compression added. Don't forget that the console and the tape used to record that sound made a sonic impact to that sound.

I've had lots of different amps throughout the years. I bought a old Marshall 100 watt super lead, thinking that I could get that brown sound. That amp only sounded good played loud, but I loved it. I also had a Tech 21 Trademark 10 which is a solid state amp. When recorded with a microphone, both of them sounded brown to me. None of my friends could tell the difference between the two.

That said, the Vox Tone lab SE might be able to do a great rendition of the BS via a recording out but might not sound the same way through a amplifier or power amp + speakers. In my opinion, the equipment is just part of the equation. The bigger question is how is your pick attack, how hard or light do you fret your notes? In the end it's all in the hands.... every pro out there has said so.

 

[Gio_Force_One]

I had the tone lab for a little while and never liked it at always sounded way to processed for me , but i had a friend that loved it. So it sat here for a while and just recently sold it. I like the sound of an overdriven amp with a tubescreamer to push it a little more. i have tried to stray away from it but always come back to just a few stomp boxes, and with the marshall artist head that an old band mate gave me i can get a pretty good brown sound.
The other amp that I think is worth checking out that i love is a yamaha dg 100 it was one of the first modeling amps that came out in the 90's doesnt sound processed and very easy to use and program like the tone lab and it has motorized knobs so every time you switch you always know what the settings are and you can tweak things on the fly.

sometimes its all a matter of trying everything and anything you can till you find that sound you are looking for. You will find the sound you are looking for just give it time

 

[Miqueas92]

They are great units.

I'm looking at mine now. I use it with the power section on my Marshall JTM 30 2x 6L6's. For home. Sounds great.

Having said that, my main rig is a Boogie, MKIV and a Digitech Gsp 1011.

I just checked the bay and they are pretty cheap, but not dirt. That tell's me that folks still value them.

The above posts are right on though. So much is affected by everything else.

Mick

 

[jakedawgwhite88]

A little more detail from my end.

I do have to say some of the higher gain models are tricky and do require some tweaking to not sound digital.
on the other had there is some sort of change on the board acknowledging what kind of power tubes are used on each model and you'll see little drawings of the tubes used in the amp model you're on.

the Le model has a couple of new amp models but doesn't have the second expression pedal. (which I use at church alot) you can assign either of them to whatever you want to do. and there is software on vox's website for you to sync your computer and set up patches there. its much easier to assign the effect order, the specific range you want the expression pedals to have for example I use one to control the delay feedback on a patch so i can create fun sounds. And the expression pedals are assignable on each patch.

I really like the global output settings where you can choose either amp or direct and it will vary the signal a little bit to play to your advantage.

there are stereo outputs on it so you can assign a stereo delay or chorus and use two channels on a board or use two amps.

it also has its own effects loop (not sure if you can assign where it goes in the chain or not .... surely you can .... that's the one thing I haven't experimented with)

That being said its versatile and fun and the amp models (especially the vox ones ..... I wonder why ) are very good .... and a fresh 12ax7 in there (i use a tungsol) helps alot.

I'm not sure why they took out this model or shrunk it to be honest the graph tells you what each pedal/amp setting does with the row of knobs and the second expression pedal is great and it gives you plenty of room for big feet like mine LOL.

ps there is a company that makes a case to fit it perfectly on ebay