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Since I've gotten a number of PMs asking me about what I think of the Night Train after I innocently mentioned that I have one in another post ?, I decided to paste my PM reply in here for the good of all prospective Night Train owners and those interested, edited and expanded of course:

What do I think of the Night Train? - I'm absolutely loving it!

I have the Night Train running through the V112TV cab (designed for the AC4TV w/ a Celestion VX12 driver). I have also played it through a Celestion Alnico Blue cab on a number of occasions.

It has a really beautiful, dynamic clean tone and has far more clean volume and headroom than a 15Watt has any right to have. Much more than an AC15. More than enough for me and definitely enough to gig with. The light/ medium overdrive tones you can get on the bright channel are great too, especially with single coil pickups. Bright, articulate and 'jangly.' Typical VOX cleans in here plus a bit more. It can even sound almost Fender-like (but not quite) on the right settings, played clean.

On the Thick setting it has some real chunky gain with plenty of harmonics. Great with HBs or SCs. It can do up to 80s metal, but not quite modern metal chugging. Still very dynamic and responsive to the guitar's volume and pickup selections, even with a lot of gain which is quite surprising. In this setting the tone controls are disabled though. In saying that, the tone controls are very responsive on the bright channel and make quite a lot of usable tones available with some knob twiddling. I don't use the overdrive tones much, but they certainly are very usable and very tasty sounding.

This is all in the pentode mode (15Watts). In the Triode mode (7Watts), there's still plenty of volume, even playing clean. The sound is slightly darker in general, but it still has plenty of sparkle. It does also tend to sound a bit more compressed with overdrive on this setting, which helps in getting some unique tonal variations with it that you can't get in the 15 Watt mode. I can't wait to use this in the recording studio, because there really are a lot of different tones in this amp. The Night Train has many typical VOX tones in it plus a bunch of other non-typical, but very toneful and useful sounds.

It also takes pedals very well (which is obviously very important for me), although it is sometimes a bit too bright for my admittedly vicious-and-hairy-sounding fuzz pedal to sound quite the way I like it to. I changed the V1 preamp valve to a JJ, which did take a bit of the edge off and helped my fuzz pedal to sound a bit less stinging in the highs. I'm going to change all the valves to JJs in the next month or two and see what difference it makes, although it still really sounds stellar with the stock Sovteks (which can't be said of many amps).

The V112TV's speaker still needs a lot of breaking in and admittedly it isn't the best, but it still sounds good and does the job. The same amp played through the AC15 heritage cab with Celestion Blues almost brings tears to my eyes it's so beautiful sounding. :'( What really brings tears to my eyes is that I couldn't afford to buy that cab with the amp! Nevertheless, the current speaker compliments the amp well, but it will probably be changed for an Eminence Private Jack or Red Fang in due course.

I've played it at my band practices several times and it has no problems competing with the drums. So as of a week ago it became my only amp, because I had no need of anything bigger anymore. Lighter is indeed better. ?

Cons:
-No Effects loop. Doesn't bother me because I don't use the amp overdrive, so my time-based effects all sound great running straight into the amp's clean.
-The Bright and Thick preamp voicings are not foot-switchable. Once again it doesn't bother me because I don't use the amp's overdrive live so I don't need to use the Thick setting.
-No built-in reverb. Yet again I'm not too bothered by this. I tend to prefer some light delay over reverb to give my sound some ambiance. Delay makes everything better. I promise. Try it, you'll see... ? Or just buy a reverb pedal if you really need it.
Some of these things could be missing features that might bother other people, but I have no need for any of them and neither do I miss their omission. Hey, adding a reverb tank and some extra circuitry might make it bigger than it is and I love how small it is.

Personally I don't think this is just a great amp for the money, but a great amp at ANY money. It's that good. Well, I think so anyway...





Added 7 Nov 2010 - Please remember that I am rather biased towards VOX, so please try it out for yourself before taking my review as the gospel truth. Although I am affiliated to the local importer, I stand by my initial review and opinion. I still use mine regularly and gig with it and I'm still loving it.
    WHY WHY WHY ☹ >☹




    Please edit your review to say that you hate it - so I don't want one anymore...
      I can't lie - it rocks!!!

      Mwahahahaha! (maniacal evil genius laugh - in case you missed that)
        [Alan, with fingers in ears, shouts loudly "La, la. I can't hear you!", and runs away]
          come to the darkside Alan , we have cookies .......... whahahahahahahahaha
            Mr M wrote: Delay makes everything better. I promise. Try it, you'll see... ?
            +1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
              An update to my previous review: I couldn't wait so I bought some JJ valves and changed them out last night. Spent a few hours playing the amp with the JJs in and I think I have a verdict.

              The highs sound softer and rounder than with the Sovteks. Overally warmer I would call it. The bottom end is noticeably more punchy too. Perhaps even a bit boomy at times in comparison. The Sovteks still create a great sound and I can see that most users would leave them in because the amp sounds great stock.

              I'm liking it with the JJs at the moment, though I need to play it with my band to confirm that. I might also try it with JJ preamp and Sovtek outputs valves to see how that sounds. That was my favourite combination with my Peavey Classic 30 for the combination of warmth and cut I got with it. All JJs in that amp sounded a bit too warm and could sometimes sound muddy. I might give it a try at some point with the NT and report back, but I'll stay with all JJs for now.
                a month later
                Got the Night Train Cab over the weekend, so I finally have the cab designed for the NT. The V112NT comes loaded with a 25W Celestion Greenback. First impressions are how small the cab is. It's significantly smaller than the V112TV cab I've been using. It's also somewhat heavier, indicating quality construction. It is also a semi-open back cab (like an AC15).



                The cleans aren't quite as chimey as with the V112TV cab and the highs are slightly rolled off in comparison, but the bottom end is fuller (amazing considering this is in a semi-open back cab, vs the other closed back cab), though a bit looser. The overdrive/ distortion sounds a bit smoother and slightly less raspy on the top end. My delay pedals also seem to stand out in the mix a lot more, to the point that I've had to turn the mix levels down on them. That would indicate a bit more mid presence. Though barely noticeable audibly, it seems to make a big difference to the delay pedals. It's not better or worse than the other cab IMO, but different in a good way. I like it.

                Problem is I can't afford to keep both cabs even though I like 'em both so the end result is the smaller Night Train cab is staying and the V112TV (white/ cream one pictured above in the post) is for sale. Check it out on JHB Gumtree and in the GFSA classifieds.
                  Where did you buy it and how much was it if I may ask?
                    I'll send you a PM with the info.
                      Mr M wrote: I'll send you a PM with the info.
                      Awesome, thanks! ?
                        3 months later
                        A Vox Night Train in (((stereo))) w an Orange Tiny Terror 8)

                        JUST WOW !!!
                          Stoner Riff wrote: A Vox Night Train in (((stereo))) w an Orange Tiny Terror 8)

                          JUST WOW !!!
                          You raise an interesting vs... Night Train vs Tiny Terror? Anyone weigh in?
                            Jack Flash Jr wrote:
                            Stoner Riff wrote: A Vox Night Train in (((stereo))) w an Orange Tiny Terror 8)

                            JUST WOW !!!
                            You raise an interesting vs... Night Train vs Tiny Terror? Anyone weigh in?
                            Get 'em BOTH, and rock them at the same time, in (((stereo)))

                            . . . each with their own 2X12 cabs, fitted with 102db Emi Swamp Thangs 8) 8)
                              Mr M wrote: the bottom end is fuller (amazing considering this is in a semi-open back cab, vs the other closed back cab), though a bit looser.
                              Good ear, if you weren't expecting it: a closed cab rolls off lows underneath a frequency determined by enclosed volume and some speaker parameters, but has better impulse response. It's a trade-off that everyone is stuck with. A semi-open back is going to be a bit more flabby and a bit less roll off compared to closed back.
                                wow thats good to the eyes ? nice one
                                  Speechless - I want one.
                                    Just spent the last 15 minutes checking out videos of this thing online.

                                    ☹
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