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Behringer
V-Amp Pro Reviewer: James Manson Distributor: Behringer Australia |
It's very easy to assume that when a product is priced at the lower end of the market that its quality will also follow suit, and why not, this is normally the case. However, Behringer has turned this philosophy on its ear by consistently developing gear that is of the highest quality at prices that leave you shaking your head in disbelief.
Having been a fan of the V-AMP 2 it was with great anticipation that I had the opportunity to check out the 19" rack version, the V-AMP Pro.
When taking the unit out of the box the first thing that grabbed my attention was how attractive and professional the V-Amp Pro looks. With a cool blue brushed metal front panel and black control dials the V-Amp Pro would be a welcome addition to any studio or rig.
The front panel layout of the V-Amp Pro is as follows: Power switch, Gain control, Volume control, Bass control, Mid control, Treble control, Amps pre-set control, Effects selection control, Reverb control, Effects mix control, Master volume, Five edit keys — midi, drive, cabinets, reverb and noise gate, Main LED display, Tuner button, Bank down and up buttons, Tap button, Input and Phones sockets.
The rear panel layout: Pre DSP Insert send/line out and return/line in sockets, Analogue line outputs/unbalanced left and right, Balanced line outs left and right (Ultra-G Live 4x12 Cab Simulator), Ground lift button, Post DSP inserts- return left and right/send left and right, S/PDIF output, AES/EBU output, Wordclock BNC jack, Midi out/thru and Midi in.
As you can see, Behringer do not limit your options, especially with the various output configurations, and even though there is an array of visible controls, the true editing features and flexibility of the V-Amp Pro are almost infinite. Behringer provide access to every single stage of the processed signal from fine-tuning effects, gain, amp models, speaker simulation and pre-sets.
There are 32 amp models that are simulated along with automatic speaker simulations that are specifically modeled on the current amplifier to authenticate an approximate sound. The simulated amplifiers are American blues (Bassman 4x10 combo), And Deluxe (1960 Blackface Deluxe and 50’s Bassman), Modern Class A, Custom Class A, Tweed Combo, Small Combo ( 1960 Tweed Champ), Classic Clean (Roland Jazz Chorus 120), Black Twin, British Blues (Marshall JTM 45), And Custom ( 1965 Marshall JTM Bluesbreaker with a touch more gain control), British Class A (Vox AC 30), Non Top Boost, British Classic ( 1959 100 watt Marshall Plexi), Classic 50 W, British High Gain (Marshall JCM 800), British Class A 15 W, Rectified Hi Gain (1994 Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier), Rectified Head, Modern Hi Gain (Soldano), Savage Beast (Savage 120), Fuzz Box, Custom High Gain, Ultimate V-Amp, Ultimate Plus, California Drive (Mesa Boogie Mark IIc, Crunch V-Amp, Custom Drive (Dumble Overdrive Special), Clean V-Amp, California Clean, Tube Preamp, and the Custom Clean.
(Some of the above amp models may be registered trademarks belonging to respective owners and are in no way associated with Behringer).
So how do the simulations sound? Great, the sounds on the original V-Amp were excellent and there is not much difference here. The V-Amp Pro excels at producing wonderful clean and semi clean sounds, my main bugbear with amp simulators has always been the lack of good sounding clean simulations. Of course the overdriven sounds rocked and the signal is so quiet and clean, none of that undercurrent digital noise so often heard in digital guitar units.
The effects are stunning, absolute quality, not only for guitar but really for any recording application. The V-Amp Pro could really make a vocal track stand out with a usable compression and tube amp pre-set. The effects available are as follows: Rotary, Echo, Delay, Ping Pong, Phaser and Delay, Flanger and Delay 1 and 2, Chorus and Delay, Chorus and Compression, Compressor, Auto Wah, Phaser, Chorus, Flanger and Tremelo. There is also a separate Reverb independent of of the multi effects processor and consists of nine various Reverbs. I love the fact that the Reverb is so accessible via the dial on the front panel; obviously real musicians played a big part in the design process. Uli Behringer is reputedly a brilliant musician so it makes sense that his products are designed with the musician in mind.
I could ramble on forever about the features inherent in the V-Amp Pro but magazine space limitations (and the editor) prevent me, but all you really need to know is that straight out of the box the unit is easy to use, sounds incredible and makes life so easy. If only these things were around ten years ago. We used the V-Amp in the studio and A/B ‘d against class A amps, a mid eighties hot rodded amp, a Roland JC 120 and a 50 watt Marshall plus Amplitude and the V-Amp more than held it’s own, and actually ended up on a couple of album tracks. We kept going back to the V-Amp Pro because of its usability and to quickly get ideas down to tape. In practical use, the V-Amp was a winner.
Behringer has produced another must-have piece of gear at another ridiculous price; you really cannot go wrong with the V-Amp Pro.
What I liked: LED Control dials look cool, the Tube Preamp pre-set is worth buying the unit for this one sound alone. The effects are of the highest quality.
There really is nothing to dislike about this unit.
QUALITY
PLAYABILITY
BANG-F0R-YOUR-BUCK
OVERALL
