The speakers are three inches, making this one of the smallest practice amps in this tier, but the sound is comparably loud to the clean setting on the Pathfinder. The Fly3 offers one additional switch for a delay effect, which you can adjust to make the time in-between the delay shorter or longer.

Lastly, the Bass and Treble knobs are flexible and effective. They can cut down a bright guitar, tame a low-end instrument, and dial anything in between. Next we would have to perhaps decrease the voltage level of the preamp. So that bigger gain is still home-friendly and enough to bring either the opamps close to saturation/overdriving each other or enough to clip diodes. 9V sounds reasonable and we should be able to transfer some pedal tech easily. TODO: Add some soft clipping diodes to get some mild clipping when digging in. I will try some stuff, but I am not 100% sold on this. A good pedal in the front or in the FX loop makes more sense.Also, given that there is absolutely zero FX provided to embellish the sound, you might find it difficult to dial in the tones that you like. The overdrive channel had a mixed response. Some people found it perfectly usable while others clearly warned us to abstain from using it.

While 10 watts might not be a lot in the realm of guitar amplifiers, the Pathfinder produces ample sound in smaller spaces. You can’t wow a stadium with it, but it is loud enough to annoy the neighbors. Due to its more diminutive stature, this model is best for casual use and more intimate gigs. Better yet, the Pathfinder 10 is capable of managing your effect pedals easily. You can plug distortion, overdrive, fuzz, delay, chorus, reverb, or anything you want, and it will use those effects with consistency, clarity, and plenty of personalities. Channels and layoutThat said, you can play with a pristine clean tone, or you can end up with a supersaturated sound by simply dialing up the gain knob on the clean channel. Playing on clean with a full gain sounds like the drive channel with a slight gain. The Pathfinder 10 makes a stunning impression from the day one – it’s built in thorough precision and it looks and feels more expensive than it actually is. The classic VOX look is definitely a big advantage of this combo. So in both cases, the 3rd opamp stage can be safely converted into a buffer. We do not really need its gain.

While crafting any review I like to refer to what other users have said about the product. That’s also the reason why I try to include the experiences and opinions of real-life users around the world. In addition, although it sounds pretty good as a practice amp, it’s not as good as some of the more expensive VOX tube amps. Of course, it’s totally understandable – it’s a budget entry-level amp. Nevertheless, if you’re looking for an amp to record songs with, you should probably look for something more expensive. TODO: In general, experiment with PSU optimizations, like CRC, better rectifier diodes, a quasimodo snubber, perhaps a bigger transformer with lower V to reduce the Wattage and make it more home-friendly However, the quality of the drive channel is not as good as the clean. Whereas the clean sounds like quality, the drive can get mushy and muddy a bit too fast. Downsides & alternatives The Pathfinder 10 is an inexpensive solid-state combo which offers a classic aesthetic and a really good tone. The amp features 10 Watts of power and a 6.5″ speaker which offers a high quality tone. There’s also a headphone output that allows you to practice without annoying your neighborsAll you need is to turn the treble a little too high for the sound to go from perfectly usable to too fuzzy. Particularly with metal leads and solos the sound loses its character and is mediocre at best. The power stage is a TDA2030A that runs at +-20V and with an 8ohm speaker gives 18W of power. This means 12V p2p at the speaker. And since the chip is running at 13x gain or 22dB, the max input before it clips is ~900mV. For stability and simplicity, I will avoid messing with the power section. For a 10-watt practice amp, the controls are exactly what we expect. Most models in this class feature simple EQ, gain, and overdrive features. While you can’t do a whole lot with those, they’re more than enough for practicing or learning how to play. TODO: Experiment with R27 and R28 to see how lower or higher rails on the preamp could make the amp's volume range more usable. When it comes to pricing, it’s not too expensive. In fact, it’s one of the most affordable guitar combos in the world. It’s really tough to achieve the classic VOX tone at this price level, so it actually seems like a bargain. Sound Samples

Gain Control - This will increase the amplitude of the input signal in the pre-amp and can give you a more dirty/overdriven sound, which brings us nicely to the next feature. The demo below showcases a musician playing the Vox Pathfinder through a PA system. With the right condenser mic, it can handle its own. I would say is enough for light gigging and garage rehearsals.A minor flaw that I’ve noticed is that there’s very little space beneath the handle for your hands. It can annoy you if your use case demands carrying the amp around all day. But the handle itself looks pretty durable. TODO: 100nF ceramic bypass capacitors between the power rails on all opamps. This might not be critical, but I have seen a big difference in other applications, so I plan to try it. It's cheap and very easy to do on the underside of the pcb. It could make a bigger difference if you plan on using the amp on higher gains, especially on the first stages. I know that you can hear the strumming – sorry for that! But this demo should give you a brief idea of what you can expect from that combo. It sounds pretty good – it’s not ideal, but thanks to the EQ you can adjust everything so that’s definitely a good thing. Overdrive Firstly, this amp isn’t made for live performances. To be honest, it’s pretty useless for playing in front of an audience. The reason is very simple – there is no footswitch included. You’ll have to manually press the button to switch between clean and overdrive channels, so it’s not useful during gigs.