Customer Reviews

Behringer V-Amp Pro Guitar Amp Modeling and Multi-Effects Processor

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
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With the V-amp line, Behringer guns for Line 6 modeling products market share in a big way. If more people find out what fun little boxes the V-amp and V-amp Pro are, they might become a serious threat.

The V-amp Pro is not quite as feature-packed as the Pod rackmount unit, but it's flexible enough and budget-priced.

To sum it up, the V-amp Pro is a modeling guitar pre-amp featuring 32 amplifier models, 16 cabinet models and 16 digital effects algorithms. It works in one of two "studio" modes or one of three "live" modes.

The interface is not particularly friendly, nor is it that terribly frustrating. The readout is a simple LED unit, and, as with many Behringer products, many functions are tucked behind a modifier button. Here it's "Tap/2nd Param". You also have to push the two bank select buttons simultaneously to access Edit mode. The knobs are "endless", that is, they can be spun limitlessly in either direction, but the settings can't be incremented/decremented past their highest/lowest settings, but their current levels can be stored in presets.

The amp models range in style from Fender-type clean/semi-dirty to face-melting high-gain. I consider the models reasonably faithful to their targets, but it's better to just think of the offerings as different types of tones, rather than expecting to get the equivalent of an Engl Savage for under two c-notes. The cabinet emulations offer a new set of tonal possibilities in conjunction with the amp models, and very noticeably affect the character of the sound you're sculpting. Pluses include the option to access a Presence control by pressing Tap/2nd param and turning the Treble knob. In Edit mode you also get a "drive" option which acts rather like a boost pedal (pre-gain).

The effects are not arbitrarily selectable nor are they infinitely tweakable, but you can get some useful sounds out of the sixteen algorithms (by algorithm I mean an effect or combination of two effects, such as Chorus+Compression, that you can choose, all others then being unavailable on that particular preset). I used the American Blues amp model and "Chorus+Delay1" to get a pretty dang lush clean tone. Of note here are the TWO effects loops: one pre-effects, one post-effects. You could, for example, run your dry pre-amp tone to a noise gate and EQ unit to get a basic tone, then run your sound-with-effects to additional effects units or something like a BBE Sonic Maximizer to add punch to your final output. There's even an option to bypass the pre-amp and use the V-amp Pro as simply an effects processor. Output options are generous and include stereo, unbalanced TRS (1/4 inch) outs and stereo, balanced (XLR) outs with ground lift switch. You also get a single stereo 1/4" AUX IN jack, two speaker outputs (120 watts mono @ 4 ohms or 2x60 watts stereo at 8 ohms), and ... S/PDIF and AES/EBU (digital) outputs (!). Wait, did you need a wordclock input? Got one FO ya, booyah. Oh yeah, and MIDI In and Out/Thru jacks (check out the Behringer FCB1010 Midi Foot Controller Board for a MIDI controller pretty much tailor-made for this gizmo).

Naturally, there's a headphone jack for private listening. And grouchy neighbors, hehe.

Get this, and a cheap, solid-state 15-watt practice amp with a CD Input jack to use a monitor/speaker, and jam on. It's a whole lotta fun for not a whole lotta bucks, and I'll bet one or two of those bucks that you'll a find a sound or two that you like.

I'm quite pleased with the tones I've been able to wring out of the V-Amp pro. All in all, this is a very nice unit, especially when you consider the price. The V-Amp pro is highly configurable and has more settings on it than I will ever use.

I've read quite a few things about Behringer's poor quality control, but I've yet to have any issues with this. This unit is built quite well, the entire front face is made of aluminum. The built-in headphone jack makes late-night jam sessions possible in my apartment. Overall, I'm satisfied with my purchase. I was going to purchase the Pod XT Pro, but I can't justify the price difference for how much I play.

Great mutli-effects unit for guitar, with many easy-to-adjust sounds, and easy MIDI interface. I use it in six shows a week, and (so far) have had no problems with it. There's a little noise on the "cruchy" settings, but you get that with a real amp unit, too. All in all, well worth the purchase price.

Cannot believe this is so low priced and sounds so good. The stereo out is incredibly spacial even if the speakers are close to each other. The tones availible are staggering. I own a mesa boogie trans-atlantic so this is no small remark.
My gripe is the foot pedal accessory is to @#!#$@! expensive compared to what this cost??. I hook the thing up in a 4 rackspace gator with the pre-amp > a behringer ultramizer to an art sla-2 amp. All can say is No Noise and Wide sound driving two behringer 15" 2/ways. Sounds beyond the solid state amps have heard. way beyond from clean tweeds to insane metal....
fantasic well made and constructed preamp worthy of a lot more cash in my opinion. Even if you run it in mono still sounds nasty.
A++++

I've had mine for years and never had a problem. I really like the Vamp Clean and Ultimate selections. I originally got it to replace a Line6 Pod which died and which I didn't like much anyway. I had a Line 6 Variax and wanted something that could recognize a stereo TRS plug for the Variax (rather than just a mono TS plug). It did that well. Ended up selling the Variax (too digital sounding for recording), but still like this box for my real guitars.