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UNPLANNED DOWNTIME: 12th Oct 23:45

Vox Pathfinder 10 issue

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joshahobbs17joshahobbs17 Frets: 3
in Amps
I just got a vox pathfinder 10 off eBay as I wanted a practice amp to get me started playing again after not touching the guitar for five years after my kids were born.
 
My mate meant me a bunch of pedals and everything sounds great through the clean channel (run pretty quiet as I’m playing in a house full of sleeping kids) until I hit an overdrive pedal. Then it sounds like junk. Either quite farty and ‘flubby’ or ridiculously fizzy.

I tried the drive channel, which actually sounded way better and would be the useable sound but it’s too loud. I’m not sure if the person I’ve bought it from modded this, as I know that’s something that happens if you remove the LEDs? 

Right now I think my only option is gonna be running the headphone out, unless there’s something I’m doing wrong? Don’t think the pedal is really my style (Boss Bassman) and maybe I’d have more luck with something else? But don’t know how to know if it’s just the limitations of the small speaker or if the amp I’ve bought is a pup…
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Comments

  • ICBMICBM Frets: 69426
    The volume control on the overdrive channel should go down to zero. If it doesn’t, there’s definitely something wrong.

    The Boss Bassman pedal probably isn’t ideal as an overdrive pedal into the clean channel, but try turning the bass, treble and presence down.

    Or it may just be the wrong pedal… in which case the good news is that they’re worth something now as they’re discontinued. Something like a Tube Screamer or Boss SD-1 might be more suitable.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • BillDLBillDL Frets: 5615
    edited August 2023
    I have one of these amps.  There is a massive jump in volume when you engage the overdrive channel.  That's just the way the amp is.  It would be handy if the channels were footswitchable and there was less of a leap in volume, but it doesn't have a footswitch option and the intention clearly is that they never really designed it to be an amp where you could be playing clean and then engage the overdrive for a solo on the fly.  It's a practice amp intended to be within reach.

    I find that the amp sounds best with most guitars when the bass and treble are set to around 1 O'Clock.  If you back off the guitar volume to 7 or 8 and then set the clean channel gain to an edge-of-breakup gain, increasing your guitar's volume to 9 or 10 should allow you to go from a crunch sound to a pretty rich lead tone.  For the overdrive channel you can do much the same, but the gain will likely be right down around 1 to 3 and the volume way down almost off and when you increase the guitar volume it will give you a more pronounced increase in gain than the clean channel.

    I don't feel the need to use an overdrive pedal with this amp when the amp's gain is responsive enough to the guitar's volume knob. All I add is a reverb pedal sometimes.  I actually like the punchy sound of the amp without reverb.  If you have a graphic equaliser among the pedals loaned to you you could increase the volume slider and use that to push the clean channel's gain a little more and cut or boost certain frequencies to give you a footswitchable "rhythm/lead channel".
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  • joshahobbs17joshahobbs17 Frets: 3
    ICBM said:
    The volume control on the overdrive channel should go down to zero. If it doesn’t, there’s definitely something wrong.

    The Boss Bassman pedal probably isn’t ideal as an overdrive pedal into the clean channel, but try turning the bass, treble and presence down.

    Or it may just be the wrong pedal… in which case the good news is that they’re worth something now as they’re discontinued. Something like a Tube Screamer or Boss SD-1 might be more suitable.
    Thanks - will try to test whether it works on zero. 

    I definitely get the impression that this pedal is not my vibe, but also I can’t help but feel something isn’t right. Certainly in the clean channel of the amp it just sounds horrible. The speaker just can’t seem to cope. In the drive channel I got it to a point where it was a usable overdrive, if not my style, but was hard to get back to the low volume I need to be at. 
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