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I have just been loaned a Vox AmPlug AC30 by Rob from Dirt Loco so that I can review it for Guitar Noize, thanks Rob. The AmPlug is a very simple and clever idea, it simply plugs into your guitar where you would normally plug in your guitar lead from your amp, plug in a pair of headphones and if you want to play along some music, use the Aux input to plug in your iPod. The unit is powered by 2 AAA batteries which come included so it really is a plug and play device! Once it is plugged in you use the 3 control wheels on the underside of the unit to control the Volume, Gain and Tone.

So how does it sound? Well don’t expect a completely faithful representation of the AC30 they haven’t been able to miniaturise the 8 Tubes used in the AC30! But considering the size and price of this product you get a pretty good sound! I got the best results using the neck pickup on my Patrick Eggle Berlin Stage which is a Seymour Duncan SH-2. With the Gain and Tone up full and the volume on about half I was wailing SRV licks, it sounded almost as good as plugging my headphones into my Vox AD50VT! Using my bridge humbucker, a Seymour Duncan SH-14 the sound was a little less inspiring, I really wanted more overdrive but then that is why the other 2 models exist, the Classic Rock and the Metal!

With the Gain rolled all the way back to one the sound was a little noisy but I was still able to get a decent clean sound, not that I play on clean very often! To be honest I lasted about 2 minutes before cranking it up switching to the neck pickup and attempting some Scott Henderson blues runs! If I have 1 criticism and Rob felt this too, it could do with a little Reverb and seeing as they have plenty of DSP experience I imagine it won’t be long until they manage to include this as a standard feature. This is a great tool for practicing without annoying everyone in the house, and with the device being so compact it makes for a perfect travel amp!

UPDATE: If you are going to use this as a travel amp you will need a travel guitar so make sure you check out the DeVillain.

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