Gear Review: Aracom Amps Vintage
Rox VRX18 Combo
(formerly known as the RoxBox 18)
April 18, 2009 by goofydawg
The article below is an excerpt from guitargear.org's VRX18 review
Summary: Based on the original “RoxBox” (no longer available),
the VRX18 sports an improved master volume inherited from the VRX22, and a
reworked, smoother overdrive profile.
Pros: As dynamic and expressive as its 22 Watt sibling,
the VRX18, but oozing that bright, chimey EL84 goodness. When driven, produces
a nice, tight overdrive.
Cons: None.
Price: $895 Head / $995-$1095 for Combo (depending on speaker)
Specs:
- (2) EL84 Power Tubes
- (2) 12AX7 & (1) 12AT7 Preamp Tubes
- S.S. Rectifier with “sag” circuit
- Hi/Low B+ voltage switch (18/9 watts)
- On/Off Switch
- Indicator Lamp
- Custom Heavy Duty Aluminum Chassis
- Custom Wound Transformers
- 4, 8, 16 ohm Speaker Jacks
- Custom Handcrafted Turret Board
- Handwired
- Weight: ~35 lbs
Tone Bone Score: 5.0. When I can swing it, I’ll be getting this amp
to complete the "my" VRX Series!
Jeff Aragaki,
founder and builder of Aracom
Amps, always chuckles when I tell him that he’s onto something with his VRX
(short for Vintage Rox) series amps. With the VRX22, he seemed to have stumbled
onto a sweet spot that produced an amp that has an incredible and beautfully
balanced tone that bring out the best tonal aspects of the 6V6 tube. He’s done
it yet again with the updated RoxBox 18, now renamed the VRX18, but
incorporating many of the same features he built into the VRX22.
I just
purchased the VRX22, having fallen in love with the tone that it produces, and
I’ve fallen love yet again, but now with the VRX18. I’m like a hopeless
romantic that loves two women for their individual virtues, but in this case,
the women don’t mind - they can co-exist with each other. Okay, bad analogy…
I originally reviewed the RoxBox 18
back in December. At the time, I totally dug its tone, but took marks off
because of the mildly harsh breakup at lower volumes. There’s nothing harsh
about the tone of this amp now - at any volume! It’s a great amp to play, and
as expected, it’s pedal friendly, and responds really
well to overdrive pedals. Also, I played four guitars through it, and it
sounded incredible with all of them!
I won’t go into a lot of detail, since I already covered pretty much all the descriptive information I needed to in the original review, so I’m going to cover some important things I’ve learned about the VRX 18 and the VRX series in general.
What’s cool
about the EL84 is that it compresses nicely when pushed, but still seems to
retain a certain openness in its overdrive. This is
unlike something like a KT-66 that compresses so much when pushed you lose
volume.
The
Best Master Volume in the Business
I don’t say
this lightly when I say Jeff has the best master volume in the business. I’ve
played many amps. But when Jeff created the VRX22, he did something with the
master volume that is pure magic. It has a nice, even volume sweep that seems
to act independently of the channel volume. This means you can crank the
channel volume to get some serious grind, but control the output via the
master, and it won’t suck your tone! I’ve found this to be a real problem with
other amps. That master volume is incorporated into the VRX18.
The
Best Half-Power Switch in the Business
A lot of
manufacturers use a pentode/triode switch to achieve half-power settings in
their amps. I’ve played several amps with this feature. But in half power mode
with the pentode/triode configuration, I’ve noticed a distinct tonal difference
between the two modes in amps configured this way. It’s not that the tone is
bad. In fact, many I’ve played around with sound great in half-power mode. But
it’s like two different amps.
Jeff Aragaki
takes a different approach and instead adjusts the B+ voltage to maintain the
usage of all pins in the power tubes. I’m not an electrician, and can’t even
begin to explain this technically, so I’ll just say it this way: When you
switch to half-power mode in any Aracom Amp, the amp doesn’t change its tonal
characteristics. It sounds and plays the same!
How it sounds:
Channel 1 is considered a normal channel, while Channel 2 is a drive channel that will break up a lot earlier. But with Channel 1, the name of the game is “clean.” With my Strat plugged in, this channel has so much clean headroom that I had to really dig into the strings to produce even a slight amount of grind. My PRS with P-90’s and the Saint Messenger could only produce moderate amounts of grind when the volume was dimed. That’s pretty impressive, and definitely not what I expected. With so much clean headroom, Channel 1 is VERY pedal friendly. (excerpt from GuitarGear's orginal VRX/RoxBox 18 review)
Channel 2 on the other hand definitely breaks up early and is voiced just a tad brighter than Channel 1. But it also has a lot of clean headroom as well. With my Strat, I had to turn the volume knob past 7 to get some decent grind, and had to peg my guitar volume. Believe me, that’s not a bad thing either. On the other hand, My PRS SE Soapbar II and the Saint Messenger had no problems producing grind. I could get breakup at around 4 with the Messenger, and around 5 with the PRS.
To get earlier breakup, Channel 2 actually has a third “hidden” pre-amp gain stage in series behind the pre-amp you plug into with fixed settings. It’s voiced a bit hot, and as Jeff puts it, it’s like having a built in tube overdrive. The end result is you get breakup a lot earlier. I have to say that while I like Channel 1’s tone, for pure versatility, Channel 2 really does it for me, as it is lively and responsive to changes in attack and guitar volume. And putting a booster in front of this Channel really brings on the growl that this channel is capable of producing. (excerpt from GuitarGear's orignal VRX/RoxBox 18 review)
You won’t get over-the-top gain with the VRX18. But for that, I have a simple fix-all: Get a
great booster pedal like a Creation Audio Labs Mk.4.23 (again, the best booster on the planet), and SLAM the front-end of the amp. But all that
said, if you’re in a venue where you can dime both master and channel volumes,
you will be rewarded with gorgeous harmonics and overtones and luscious
feedback!
Overall
Impressions
Like I said,
this is my next amp… It just rocks the house! And at $895 for the head, you
could get both the VRX22 and VRX18 for under the price of a single boutique
amp! This isn’t a sales pitch. The value proposition of the VRX series is
something that should be seriously considered. You’re not getting a production
line amp that’s built overseas. With the VRX series of amps, you’re getting a
US-made, handwired amp for under a grand!!!
Admittedly, I
was a little skeptical when I first ran across Aracom Amps. But I’m now a
believer, and a faithful customer!
Click here
for sound clips of the Vintage Rox VRX18, including
a couple by Brendan “Goofydawg” Delumpa:
GuitarGear.org is an awesome Guitar Gear blog site. Content
includes; unbiased review on gear, Products "Found", tips,
interesting articles and more. You'll enjoy the excellent writing style of
Brendan "GoofyDawg" Delumpa.
In his 35+ years of playing the guitar, Brendan has developed a very good ear
for tone and knows a lot about gear and proper set up. GuitarGear.org is
refreshingly a non-commercial site; you can count on their honest reviews. The
only Gear Review posted on this site is equipment that Brendan personally uses
or likes enough to be considered part of his own rig. So when you have a G.A.S.(Gear Acquisition Syndrome) attack, visit guitargear.org
before you buy.
For the complete review on the
Vintage Rox VRX18 amplifier as well as reviews on
other ARACOM Amplifier products visit guitargear.org.