Story of the Hunt for Vox VR15

[Franco]

I'm new to this forum but have been reading many older posts regarding gear I own so I decided to join.

Recently I was surfing Reverb.com and stumbled upon a Vox VR15 for sale for $40 but........but.......the posting said it was not tested or had a power cord. So I decided to take a drive and check it out. It was sitting in an old gas station for about a year as the story goes and not one person offered to buy it. It looked dusty, the grill cloth shrunk on the right side and it wasn't played at all for an entire year. I offered $20 bucks and out the door I went with amp in hand.
It was better then trying my luck earning Caesars rewards on the Caesars sports book app. It was a gamble worth the 40 minute drive back home. It was soooooooooo worth the anxiety I had about this little hybrid amp.

I got home and the first thing I did was wipe this thing down and plug it in. It was awful. It barely played a note from my Strat. It was just bad. I wasn't dejected at all. I had done some research on this forum and found out the pre amp tube is a 12ax7!!! I had an OEM from my Bugera V5 I had swapped out a couple of years ago.
Immediately the new tube made a huge difference. I ran into a problem though. The OD 1/2 button switch wasn't engaging the 2nd OD. I could hear it but it was super low. I played around with it and did the wiggle trick....it worked!
First impression. Compression and Overdrive. This thing can growl and can create some great tones.

A week went by and I had just received another amp(Fender Champ 600) in the mail. I needed a 6v6GT and another 12ax7 to swap out of it. I couldn't find one in a store within 50 miles of my home. I think I heard something about a supply chain shortage. So I called some local guy who repairs amps and guitars.....he had both tubes in stock. I took my VR15 and had him check it out....just in case I needed a new switch and get some professional opinion if it was worth fixing up. Listen....this guy was amazing. I've never met him before and he just took care of business. He opened up the amp, lubed up some parts under the hood, gave me the two tubes I needed for the other amp and $40 bucks later I was lovey dovey. The VR15 sounds amazing and I'm only into it for $60. Thought some of you might like this type of story to start the new year off!!

[GuitarBilly]

Hey Welcome.


2 things:

1- a good local tech is worth his weight in gold. That, in my book, it's almost a better find than the amp. I moved to DC/MD last year and I was apprehensive about finding good guitar and amp techs in this area. I lived in Los Angeles and in Vegas for a long time and I was spoiled with great techs readily available. Then I ended up moving to Northeast PA and that was a gear/techs/music desert.
Thankfully, I already found good guitar and amp techs here, that was a huge relief.

2- The VR 15 is a cool jam/practice amp. I have a good story about it: At one time in LA I was doing this open mic jam at a bar at the Newport Beach Marina and when the bar closed the drummer that was jamming with us asked us if we wanted to continue the jam at his place. We agreed and we get there and this guy lives in a huge yacht anchored at the Newport Beach pier. Anyway, in the room right next to the boat's rear deck, he had an area with an e-drum kit, 2 of these VR15s and a small bass amp, so we were jamming until 5am in this luxury boat Turns out this guy was a big executive at Universal Studios. You could never tell by looking at him. Nice guy and a great player too. Only in L.A.. lol

[ajaxlepinski]

Welcome to the fold brother! This is the best guitar/amp forum on the interwebznet!!!

Congrats on the two new amps!!!