V-AMP Pro Review

Store your own presets in the 125 memory locations or get presets developed by today?s hottest players. The V-AMP PRO is your best partner in the studio?but you can also take it to your next gig!

Ease of Use:	8.7
Sound:	8.7
Reliability:	9.3
Impression:	9.3
Overall rating:	9
Users rating:	8.2
Comments:	4

overall: 8.5

Featured review by: Gropus, on december 23, 2004

Price paid: $ 223.02

Purchased from: Music Store Professional

Ease of Use: The V-AMP Pro is an amazing piece of gear which one should purchase if he is not satisfied with his present sound. It has a really user friendly interface, a variety of patches that covers all styles, and an easy edit mose for the 125 presets. There is also the V-Amp 2 very similar but with no Xlr for recording. A must have piee of gear. // 8

Sound: The simulations of the amp (32 in total) and cabinet simulation (15 in total) give you a lage variety of sounds, with this u have a 3 band equilizer effects and a dedicated reverb knob. It's easy to get the sound of artist such as patrucci as there is the simulation of the amp they use. // 8

Reliability & Durability: Yes I depend on it, it never gave me problems or there was any lack in it performance. // 8

Impression: I play all sorts of metal mostly black and I found the acustics sound really usefull. I had owned a DOD before which I sold after playing 1.5 years with it. I compared It with other brands such as the RP 150 DigiTech and the Zoom but for the same money you get less quality. // 10

overall: 8.5

Reviewed by: Mad-Mike_J83, on may 22, 2009

Purchased from: E-Bay

Ease of Use: I bought this in mid-2004 to replace the 4th pedal destroyed by my mom's moody kitties. I figured "It's rackmount, should be fine", sure was right, now it's been my main home-recording device for 5+ years now.

Getting a good sound out of the V-AMP Pro using just the front panel can be a chore, but it's made much easier using the free software downloadabe via Behringer's website. Actually, that was my first foray into networking MIDI devices (you use the MIDI ports on the back of the V-Amp to control it via software, this is not a USB Plug n' play device). Also, the software allows wider control of the pedal, including allowing use of the internal wah function, allowing tweaks of the various reverbs and choruses availible as there are more than one variant of those effects.

And speaking of the effects let's mention the cab/amp sims, or what they are based on, for those that are, there are also some Behringer exclusive sims to allow more range in adjustment.

Amp and Cab sims include: Matchless Cheiftan, Buddha Twinmaster, Tweed Fender Champ, Tweed Fender Bassman 4X10, Roland Jazz Chorus 120, Fender Blackface Twin, Marshall JTM 45, Vox AC 30, Marshall Plexi, Mesa Boogie Mark IIc, Dumble, Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier, Engl Savage 120, Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face, Marshall JCM800

Effects include: Wah, Automatic Wah, Compressor, Chorus, Flanger, Panner, Phaser, Delay, Echo, and Reverb, with multiple types of each ranging from two to over 12. However, you can only Pick among these groupings

Either - Compressor, or Automatic Wah
Either - Leslie Sim, Panner, Phaser, Chorus, Flanger
Either - Analog Echo, Basic Delay, Ping Pong Delay
And about 12 types of reverb, only one selectable at a time, I tend to favor the Ultra-Room myself

The manual is very descriptive of all the effects, and amp and cabinet sims, and I used it to pull much of the information above. It's very descriptive, but you may need to look a few things up, also, Behringer even included a MIDI programming/function guide in back for someone Who might want to program a piece of 3rd party software for this device.

I'm running with the latest firmware (as of 2004) on it, I've never upgraded, and never seen a reason to since this has been so reliable and trouble-free for so long, hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

However, some may find this device a little hard to work with still due to all the buttons, I'm a button-monger myself so I actually like the design, but it's not for everyone. The Tap Tempo for the delay is a real plus in my book, and so is the ability to edit this thing via computer! The days of tweedling knobs and pressing lots of buttons for me has been over since I discovered that. I'll give it an 8, as I really do wish I could double up chorus and flanger, or possibly change the order of the signal path, or that it had an envelope follower or filter to mess with. There are some odd things I've had on previous devices that this does not have, but then it just gives me all the more reason to buy more pedals and expand my versitility the most. // 8

Sound: Check out the long list of gear I have on my profile, I play everything from Vintage-style Telecasters to souped up guitars with insane-ouput humbuckers at the bridge, the last of which is my main guitar, a Jag-Stang with EMG pickups. I will also have a ton of MP3's of this thing up soon on my solo project M.J.'s page on here as well.

I started off experimenting with amp models for awhile, but I had a particular sound in mind, so I took the following as my main sound for now...

- JCM 800 (Brit Hi-Gain) Amp Sim
- EVH 78' 4X12 (Edward Van-Halen 1978) Cab Sim
- Chorus 2 set to a slight whoosh in the background just barely detectable for more body and power
- Ultra-Room Reverb for that huge ethereal vibe
- Just a hint of compressor
- Noise Gate set as low as possible to allow for smooth volume swells and gain decrease using the volume knob on my guitar

I use this sound on most of my recordings, with varying levels of gain depending upon guitar, and weather or not I'm using a clean sound or a highly distorted sound, or somewhere in between. Almost all my youtube videos use it as well.

The Tube preamp is another favorite of mine with the default (lack) of a cab sim. Makes for a very clean nice clear sound, though it can sterilize the personality of the particular guitar a little bit because this is a transisot based product and not an analog tube device.

I've been able to nail a lot of tones of well known guitarists when I choose to. I had a very very convincing "Brown Sound" for awhile on there, think Fair Warning era Van-Halen. I also have pulled off Kurt Cobain, Billy Gibbons, Neil Schon, George Lynch, and Paul Dean on this thing to name just a few.

I also use this for bass guitar, the tweed Bassman setting works excellent, and with a little bit of gain added can really punch up the bass sound to be massive huge. That's one reason I don't have a separate device for doing bass tracks, I can do it all on the V-AMP Pro.

The effects sound great, but some of the modulation effects (ie. Chorus, Flanger, Leslie) can bring out some nasty digital ocillation effects if used too heavily. I find low sweep rates fare better than high ones for those effects. The delay is the best I've heard in a digital product, and the Reverb is included in that assessment.

Some of the amps to me don't sound so good, but then most of them are amps I don't particularly like much anyway (Vox AC30 and Marshall JTM45 being two of them). I'm more of a tight rock player, so that loose Overdrive those amps have just does not do it for me. // 8

Reliability & Durability: Five plus years and nary a single problem. That's what I call quality. I don't have much to say here. I don't gig this thing much at all, except when doing scratch tracks in the big recording studio. Most of the time it sits under my computer monitor in use for youtube videos, home recordings, and general jamming and practicing as I don't think my neighbors would enjoy a serenade at 4:00 in the morning on a 120 watt Bugera halfstack turned to one and rattling my floor. // 10

Impression: Overall, I'll give it a nine, because it's lasted this long with me, and kept me pretty well satisfied, which is hard. I'm a tone chaser first and experimenter second, so it must sound good to my ears before I can justify keeping it or being happy with it. Also, I'm VERY hard on gear, and not a lot of stuff survives for long in my crazy little world.

I don't really have much more to say, because really, it does it's job so I can put together my music, and as long as it does that without failing me, I'll be happy. I'll give it a 9, since most ratings are an 8, and there's a 10 in reliability, which is a big plus in my book being as I hate gear that has lots of problems. Five plus years and no problems and has the sound I want, what more could I ask for? // 8

overall: 10

Reviewed by: ZinkMonster, on august 31, 2007

Price paid: $ 170

Purchased from: Musician's Friend.com

Ease of Use: This pre-amp is absolutely amazing. I honestly have to say, I bought it just to try it out, see how I like the sounds and see which direction I wanted to take my equipment. Like as a starter rack effect, you know? But this thing freaking rules. I play mostly progressive black metal/death metal and this has the BEST tones ever. There are 4 rectifier sounding models, and a bunch of classic amps and clean amps and what not. What's awesome is that I can set presets for pretty much whatever sound I want. I have a Slayer, Megadeth, Metallica, Meshuggah, Dream Theater, Joe Satriani, and more. All on presets because of the tweakability and range of amp modeling. JCM800, Plexi's, Marshall, MESA/Boogie, Fender, etc. Amazingly brutal. // 10

Sound: I use Ibanez guitars mostly. And there is pretty much no feedback or noise, because it's all digital. And you'd think because of that, there would be massive clipping. But there's none. Seriously. No clipping. Just pure tone. And the effects, are top-notch. It's pretty insane that they could have all this in this amp, and make it sound the way it does. Seriously mind blowingly perfect. // 10

Reliability & Durability: I'd gig this thing for sure, it's a pre-amp. But I won't have a first show with it until October. But I was practicing with all 400 watts of my PA cranked with this thing plugged in directly to the input, and my guitar plugged into the V-Amp. It held up for all 5 hours without doing anything wrong, so it seems so far pretty trustworthy, and it sounds so damn good! // 10

Impression: For me, with my death-metal and 80's shredding type stuff, this suits all my styles and abilities perfect. I've been playing for about 6 years, and this doesn't hold me back at all. It takes my playing further with it's amazing sounds. If it was stolen or lost I'd replace it immediately. I would die without it. The best thing about it for me is all the rectifier tones. Behringer seems like a pretty decent company for effects and such, and I'm going to continue buying from them. My only complaint is that it isn't powered. If they could do a powered rack amp exactly like this, my world would be complete. // 10

Comments

[JesusLives]

What kind of midi cord do you need to connect to the fcb1010 floorboard? A male-to-male midi cord or a male-to-female midi cord.

[Chikao42]

Does this thing work as a Multi-effects pedal?

[SpreadTheSin]

The distortion on this thing sucks ass.
Seriously. I got a better distortion tone out of a $20 pedal. But I like making trippy sounds with it.
hehehehheheheheeheheheheh.

[crash_boy]

JesusLives: It uses a male-to-male midi cable.

Chikao-42: Yes... but you'll need a midi controller for that.

SpreadTheSin: Depends on the type of distorsion you're trying to get. For me it works just fine when i want some more powerful tones... But...if you really must have more distors.... go into the drive menu, and turn the gain knob to the right. That's the input sensibility.