I recently spent a few days with a Vox Cambridge Twin 30 guitar amplifier. The amp is what is known as a tube/solid state hybrid, with the pre-amp having one tube.

When I first set my eyes on it, I was impressed by the classic good looks of this Vox amp. Despite the fact that it was made in Korea, it certainly looked like an amp straight from a factory in England.

I picked it up and carried it upstairs and realized that this was a VERY light amplifier, perhaps only 20lbs. So that was nice. Upon messing with the controls I discovered that there were no numbers to denote what exact levels I was setting the controls to, I found this rather annoying.

Anyways I got my Epiphone Sheraton (with Epiphone humbuckers) out and turned everything up to full blast and added some tremelo effect. I was getting some very sweet sounds right out of the box and it had a very warm harmonic sound, even when completely cranked up. However if you stopped playing, a dreadful discordant feedback immediately reared it's ugly head. Which would not be acceptable during a live performance.

If you set the amp to about half volume with the gain turned up all the way, that is perhaps the ideal sound for recording and not a sound that is too far away from an AC30.

Do not buy this amp for live performance as it is firstly not loud enough and secondly has that dreadful feedback at higher volumes. There is plenty of low and middle end there for a small amp with 2 x 10" speakers and is generally very sweet sounding at medium volumes.


This amp is not the most versatile and is not for Metal Shredders, however for anybody who is into 60's rock music and Brit-Pop/Indie-Pop it's a great buy.

My main amp is a Fender Hotrod Deville, which is a 4 x 10" combo with 60 watts of tube power, it may not sound quite as sweet as the Vox but is definitely a professional amp and more than up to live concerts.

If you are looking for an amp for live work then either save up for a Vox AC30 or AC50. Or get hold of an all tube Fender amp, believe me you'll thank me.

My last comment would be to address Vox and ask them to manufacture another Cambridge hybrid type amp, except with perhaps 75 to 100 watts of power. It would sell for about $600 and would be suitable for live and studio work.

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