I had one of these about 20 years ago. It was one of the best pieces of gear that you could buy without selling your house. The alternatives were like zoom 505, 606, 707 etc. which all sounded more or less like f@rt. A childhood friend of mine from my hometown still uses his v-amp to this very day!
I had one in 2002 or very early 2003, can't remember. I couldn't get the delay to shut off. Every time I'd turn the unit on, there was, repeating the last note I'd played with my guitar plugged into it, over and over.
My V-Amp Pro is still going. Only reason I don't use it is because the Helix really is better. But before that... The POD HD500x was pretty bad compared to the V-Amp.
Years ago, I had the V-Ampire 120 head. At the time, it was the best $200 spent. Played hundreds of gigs with it. Got laughed at by the dudes in Theory Of A Deadman when we opened up for them, until they heard it lol...Damn thing went end-over-end down the stairs at my old house and still worked!! 🤘✌️
I have a friend from Louisiana that has played with Steppenwolf for many years and he used one of these on tour, especially in Europe. The band would carry empty Marshall cabs for show but the V-Amp was plugged into the desk. Seems to have worked for him.
Very underrated unit, I still have the rack version I bought back in 2004 and after having and trying many other units over the years including those of Line 6, Digitech, Zoom, Mooer, Yamaha etc I revisited this one recently and I have to say it sounded better than ever to me.
I own the Bass version of this device and there's a lot to love about some of the sounds. When you run synthesizers through it though, you can begin to craft some sounds that are unique and gigantic. Thanks for putting this video together to show off the standard unit. Good luck with the job John!
it could literally be anything, any piece of gear on the right side of the video and it would still sound amazing. That's the mark of a truly killer guitarist, any piece of gear sounds great in their stead.
All my leads on the two first Anubis Gate album were done on that unit. That was in 2004 and 2005, and i still get people asking what awesome amp I used 😂
Lol, Leon Todd does for the Behringer V-Amp- 2 what Josh Scott did for the Bad Monkey... pre-video: $60... post-video... $600! That sounds fantastic, especially that first factory preset floored me at how good it was out of the box.
I think the point intended with these videos that was possibly missed is that if you know how to play, and use and dial in your gear, you can make underrated gear sound much better than expected.
Still have the POD. Still gigging with it, set up in an EL 84 Atomic amps powered cab (with a CABM in the effects loop). I made another comment about it up top. I almost bought an old Line 6 Head recently (the 300 watt version, my first modeling amp that I ran in stereo with a JCM 800 2203). I would love to hear that thing with my CAB M in the effects loop (or a stack of cabs loaded with some of those newer Celestion speakers designed for modeling amps and IR’s). I also gigged with one of the old Vox modeling amps (the blue ones had great tone and were the best). I am always open to new and older technologies and getting the best sound!! Great vid btw!! 😉
I still have the X3. Had multiple 2.0 and XTs but sold them all cause of wife was mad at my bean fetish. I Sell on eBay so I have had dozens of Zooms, RPs Digis, AXG Korgs and Boss MEs..love multi effects. I can attest that other than the inability to load your own IRs which is an overrated feature, these old horses are PERFECTLY usable in 2024 for home practice/recording. U can always slap these in front of a PA in a church gig and off you go.
I had this one - the V-Amp 2 - and was very happy with it. It wasn't durable enough to last on the road, though, so after about a year it broke down. Had to get the metal rack mount one, which was great too. I also had a big Mesa Boogie at the time, but this one sounded great in a portable form factor.
Hi Leon, The Pod, the Johnson J-station, and this......if you were around then, you know how revolutionary they were. Owned the J-Station since ~2000, turn off the cab sims, plow it into any guitar power amp -still good now!
I remember being impressed by the j station back then. Now they all sound about the same as a good free amp sim with a good IR. So many options nowadays 🤘🤘🤘
I had one of these. Someone gave it to me for free. The marshall tone was great. The rotary was particularly good as well. I left it on a grass verge by accident. It rained all night. I found it and dried it out very slowly over a week. It still worked.
I switched from a Vamp Pro to a Fractal FM3. The main reason was I could tell the gate was better on the Fractal. The Fractal is a lot better in versatility but tone wise the Vamp was very solid. I was a poor kid so I loved Behringer gear!
When I was a Sales Manager at Guitar Center I was asked by a Behringer rep. in WA. State (back in the day) to do a promotional clinic for the V-Amp, and I was so impressed with it I actually bought one. After the clinic they compted' me with a matching FCB1010 Midi Foot Controller. I still use it today for daily shred practice, which saves putting wear and tear on my big tube amps. Over the years I have collected all three versions, V-Amp 1, 2, and 3, and yet I still play the first version. In addition, I recently (yesterday - lol) picked-up a "Behringer LX1200 V-Ampire Guitar Amplifier Head (2x60 Watts)," which features the same tech, for only $100. The V-Amp 1 gets the job done for me, and my practice routine benefits from sitting down, flipping a single power switch with no messing about, and using a consistent sound as a "standard candle" to gauge my technique and progress. Cheers~
@@mdu2112 I believe I bought mine on Ebay as “new old stock,” and I think it came bundled with a software disk, including a dongle-type audio interface, which is pretty cool. I wonder if anyone has posted these types of obscure software to the torrents. Anyhoo, the ole’ V-Amps still do OK with high-gain sounds, and the FX are convenient. I have a theory that most consumers wouldn’t blink an eye at an album recorded entirely with these type of modest legacy devises - lol. Cheers~
@@BigMikeGuitar No, not the CD software. I'm talking about the patch editing software VampDesign3_0, V-Amp.exe, when connected via MDI. A must to make the most out of it.
Dark Tranquillity used to use the Vamp live and just plug them into the effects loop of back line amps. I remember it came up in an interview they did and them being like, "We're going to get so much shit for this, but this is what we use."
I've been looking for a cheap amp modeller for headphone practise and using with my synths live and not having to worry about cabinets screwing up the mix on stage and, after a fair bit of research I've plumped for the floor version of this with the two footswitches and expression pedal built in. I don't need much out of it and, from what I've heard, I doubt there's a better unit for the money (at this point, 40 GBP) for practise and 80s synthwave cheese.
I just got the V Amp 3 myself last year. It's a really good product for it's price, I just paid 35€. I use it everyday, you can get really fast good tones. All important effects are build in and there is just one knob to set them up. So there is nothing confusing, I think this probably one of the best options for a beginner or someone with a small budget. Also this device is not huge and at least the V-Amp 1 and 2 came with a bag back then, so it's perfect for traveling. Personally I use it for fast demo recordings at my desk and I prefer playing over it at night, because you can connect it via cable with everything like a bluetooth speaker. My Boss Katana 100 is way too loud even at the 0.5w option. I just can't recommend Behringer products enough, they got a lot of good sounding pedals and amps for it's value.
With an impulse response and a pedal in front, you get something decent. It was my first guitar gear actually in 2006. After it, I got other modelers. 2 years ago, just for nostalgia, I tried it again with a precision drive and a mooer radar into an frfr speaker, and it brought a smile on my face.
Turn off sim cabinet and plug into a tube power amp and you also can be happy. It helps a lot too when you need less weight in the road and the venues have at least a head with tubes in the power stage.
I owned one of these when it first came out. I put mine in the fx loop of my Marshall stack and used an impulse response for the cab sim and it was amazing actually 🔊🔊
THANK YOU JOHN FOR LETTING LEON BORROW THIS SIR.... I love this channel! It sounds great already and I'm just at the point you're doing the cleans with chorus and compression and funk. I'm really surprised. I think Behringer owns TC Electronic or the other way around isn't it? TC has some great effects.. I wonder if the two are shared ? Great stuff so far brother. Sounds great.. This would be the perfect tool to practice with! I think it sounds great thru my headphones! Of course, that killer guitar and your playing make all the difference sir! I think we as guitarists always think new gear will make us sound better when as you know it's the time and effort and hard work that pay off in the end. Gear helps, and get all the gear you can afford if you want, but the hard work has to come as well I think you would agree sir! I thought it sounded really good especially with the external IR's.. I actually thought it sounded good without the external IR's.. I've played worse for sure in front of people when I was young. We didn't have anything this good without buying a huge Fender Tube amp and a Distortion pedal. ( The come to jesus pedal was the best.. 🙂 RAT! ) if you wanted distortion from a clean amp back in the day IMHO. 🙂 😛 Be well and safe sir. I'm on my 2nd cup of coffee.. Woke up early. Like 2 am, but went to bed early after working my nuts off in the summer heat in the yard! 😛 Tim
My first FX unit. I didn’t realise it was an amp modeller at the time and it took me ages to work out how to switch cab models etc off. Some GREAT tones in the box.
What I love about these old modelers is they’re just fun. Sure it’s “a toy” by most modern standards but what is a toy if not a fun piece of kit that sparks creativity? I don’t think that’s a bad thing. And it’s kinda like getting really good at using GarageBand or a hardware four track - sometimes you can crank out actual gold with it.
Honestly i have been more than pleased with every Behringer product i have purchased. Dont know why i always expect them to suck because they never do, they are just cheap.
i used V-amp 1, 2 and pro models professionally direct to mixer from 2001 to 2007. Through a PA they sounded great. I had to stay on one amp model that could go from cleanish to high gain because changing amp models on different presets would cause a short blackout of sound. When I got more money I tried Line6 Pod xt, Boss GT-8, Roland VG 88, H&K Tubeman, but ended going back to the V-Amp. A great feature were the knobs with lights wich made editing presets really easy. The worst thing about model 1 and 2 is that they broke down on me at gigs. The Pro model was more reliable.
Thanks for the video! I've had three of these units.I bought my first one in the early 2000s and it was my first modeller unit ever. I sold it and bought another one soon afterwards because I missed its straightforward simplicity and usability. I bought my last one during the lockdown for €45 but this time out of nostalgia. In the past I used the PC editor via MIDI and I got some pretty usable sounds out of it. Cheers!
I had one of these and I couldn’t make sound anywhere near like that. This only proves you need talent and skills to make sound good any piece of gear.
Wow that sounds a world away from the Pod. I went down the Pod rabbit hole at the time and it promised a lot but I sold it and reverted back to my JMP1 rack etc. I wish I had tried one of these back then. A great device for its time.
I've used the V-Amp Pro (the rack one, with AES/EBU and balanced outs, for years to record demos and in some concerts (with an actual classical orchestra and band) and along with the FCB1010 pedalboard it has always saved the day. At the time I had also a Pod 2 (and next the Pod X3 Pro), but I had some presets built in this machine that I continued to use for years, before building my studio rack with rack tube preamps, fx etc.
i have 2 vampire halfstacks...i tend to turn the effects off and tweak the eq's using the modern high gain (soldano-ish), savage beast (engl) and brit high gain as my go-to's for recording
This video verifies something that many of us who have been using modelers/profilers since the early days when they first started being released in the 1980s know; todays units (Fractal, Line 6, Kemper, etc.) are working on the last 20% of the potential of modelers because the first 80% has been available for a long-time. This last 20% comes at a huge cost (the 80/20 rule) relative to the benefit! Certainly my Axe Fx III Mk II Turbo s cable of producing tones that this sub-$100 u it can not…but my Fractal unit coat 25 times as much than the V-Amp! So, for many people, a much less costly unit, such as an Eleven Rack which are currently available used for less than $300, would provide as much utility as a much more expensive current-day modeler.
I think that the Behringer Ultra amp, the Soldano modern and the Roland Jc120 are very usable. With a modern IR it might be even more so. The editing program is there and a heck of a lot better to tweak these with. Then again the presets made by Ian Chrichton of SAGA was a nice feature. 😊
I bought the rack pro version of this for $69 recently. Turning of the cab simulation and using modern IR's in my DAW....sounds very damn good for modern metal stuff. Planning to use it for tones on my bands first upcoming release.
I own a Vamp-2 and Pod HD (bean shape) and both are very usable even when compared to current modellers sold today. As a matter of fact, some of the presets in the Behringer Vamp-2 sound better than the Line 6 Studio Pod HD. Somehow, some of Vamp-2 sounds more natural, or organic if if I could use this term. Great gear!
i own the v-amp2 for about twenty years now and this thing sounds better then 99,9% of the vst amp sims out there, the high priced included. no hiss and fizz, sounds very natural and fat. love it.
Had one of those back in the day, it was a great unit. I used the clean sounds on one track on an album and people said they thought it was beautiful. No one ever said "Sounds like a cheap guitar processor". Sadly one day, the unit died and that was the end of it.
I don't have this particular unit but I do have the (older?) VAmp Pro rackmount. I played in a regional metal band in the 90's and 2000's. Like most guitar players, I spent years and years and thousands of dollars trying to find "my tone". Everything from Digitech, ART, Mosvalve, Marshall, on-and-on. It wasn't until around 2004 when I tried the VAmp Pro that I was actually satisfied with my sound. Coincidentally, I had actually gotten and ADA MP-1 around the same time and these two units are what I still have. I don't play as much as I used to but when I do it's the VAmp Pro into a Rocktron power amp and Marshall 4x12. Nearly 20 years running this setup and I haven't felt the need to move onto anything else.
@@Emil-Antonowsky I didn't say regional metal, I said a regional metal 'band'. Meaning we were rather large within the Midwest. And here we have yet another keyboard warrior who's never left his mommy's basement. Troll
Wow this thing! I had a Pod 2.0 back in my college days and my good friend had that blue V-Amp. We were both death metal fanatics (I still am) and one night he brought the V-Amp over. I started out kinda laughing at it because of the obvious Pod ripoff look and I started messing around with it and I ended up very impressed by it. I thought it did everything that the Pod could do except the Pod had better reverbs. We were using 7-string Ibanez guitars and they sounded great through the V-Amp into my old Fostex VF-160 based studio lol! Good times. Great video and thank you!
Sounds Awesome, I used one for a CD in 2008. They kind of sound like how they would sound on an album. Great piece of kit and more organic than the pod at the time. Plus the Behringer midi board operated it. Massive scope
I had one of these and later the rack version. Wish I still did. Not to replace my current Kemper-based rig, but just because it had some really nice tones in it and would work just fine as a back-up.
I used (and still have) the blue bean as well as the V-Ampire head about 12 years ago. The only downside (which finally made me switch to a Line6 X3 Pro) was about a second of silence when changing the amp model. You could switch from setting to setting without that delay as long as you kept using the same amp, but you had to wait for a passage in the song where you wouldn't notice the silence when changing from lets say a Mesa Rectifier to a Roland Jazz-Chorus.
I have the LX-112 and the V-Amp Pro. I use it as a living room headphone solution to jam around with. Upfront I use the Harley Benton American Sound. A low budget killer combination.
had an first version of vamp ,before it i had a johnson J station which i still use for practice. Still have my behringer bass vamp pro for my backup ,backup bass rig. Thing i really wish the behringers woulda had would be an aux input for jam along
I have a VAMP Pro and I love it. I also have some other rack gear that I love equally, but I can dial in some really sweet sounds and tones and it works fantastic for recording, it's also user-friendly and easy to program. Behringer makes a great product. Don't diss anything until you give it a fair chance.
Hey Leon. I gigged extensively with one of these for the longest time. V-Amp 2 into a power amp to a 4x12 Behringer cab and it rocked something fierce! I only had 4 or 5 patches programmed (clean, rhythm, and leads), Other guitar players would chuckle when they saw the Behringer name but once they heard the sound would ask how I achieved the tone I had. Still have it and just sits in storage in favor of the Boss GX-100 and ME-80 as they are better fly rigs.
I still have one of these i got when i was a kid, the echo feedback effect is incredible! It's not the useful thing, but it's a lot of fun to mess around with.
I also started playing guitar with one of these 20+ years ago, I still have it but have moved on to amp sims since then. I still have the V-Amp2 and I can't say that I've ever had any major problems with it. It's a great device, especially for the price.
I bought one of these last year to experiment with the sounds. I really enjoy it! Sounds even better being pushed through high gain in my Marshall amp and Steve Vai cabinet :)
I had this when I was a teenager still living with my parents. It was the sickest thing ever at the time for me :D I used it straight into a clean Marshall Valvestate 8080 combo.
Thx for the video!! I am beginning to learn about the possibilities of the device... Its got a lot of options and I am still a bit puzzled. But I try with alittle help of such vids😊
Sounds fine to me. I gig with a powered pa speaker sometimes and this would do the job just fine pushing some air on stage. The Behringer midi foot controller would go great with it too.
Finally someone that can really shows how powerful this old unit is. I bought my Vamp 2 in 2003 and years latter I’m also bought a rack unit and I never will sold these units that stills in use in 2023.
25 years ago this was my bread and butter leading worship at church because it was so much easier to carry than my Mesa Mark 3 hahaha. For what it was I actually loved the little sucker back in the day and still have mine though I haven't plugged it up in years
I have a rack mount V Amp Pro in storage somewhere. Thanks Leon! Now I'm going to have to dig it out and put it in one of my studio racks. I used to love that rack unit.. I used it on 2 albums 15+ yrs ago
I used to have a friend whose uncle worked at Behringer and they where disposing of “Faulty” pieces of equipment and he ended up coming back with a V-Amp Combo. For being an early digital amp It was really fun!
I was looking for a cheap digital reverb solution to compliment an old Yamaha RX8 drum machine from 1989 that I just got from a pawnshop... when I remembered I had the v1 V-amp laying around in a box of broken electronics somewhere in a closet. Not only does it work, it still has all my presets from 2005. I am now a time traveller.
i had the rackmounted version of the v amp for a while when i was in my first band. ran the effects from it through a peavey ultra 60 head that sounded so good for a cheap setup. wish i never got rid of it since it could double as a practice amp with headphones!
I still have mine, broken collecting dust, this brought back some memories, the plastic jack ins cracked and she's toast, these things sounded decent for what they were
Have a look at the videos by Dave Brewster ‘Late Night Lessons’. Covers the style of virtually everyone and uses a Behringer rack unit as far as I can tell. Nails every tone.
I know that many guitarists preferred the V-amp Pro to the Pod Pro. The cabs in the V-amp sound so much better! And it was like half the price of the Pod, iirc.
Wow! Man this thing sounds killer. That #1 pre-set with variations is sikk!! This little unit has held up pretty well over the years. I dig it. I had the original Pod, and I liked it. Dig this even more I think. Unless... it's just your killer playing that's fooling me. LOL You are a player! Anyway - I dig this. Gunna see if I can find a cheap used one. And subbing you! Rock on!!
If you enjoyed this I'd LOVE it if you took a listen to the new Ragdoll single - th-cam.com/video/WlZymAoNWVs/w-d-xo.html
I had one of these about 20 years ago. It was one of the best pieces of gear that you could buy without selling your house. The alternatives were like zoom 505, 606, 707 etc. which all sounded more or less like f@rt. A childhood friend of mine from my hometown still uses his v-amp to this very day!
I had one in 2002 or very early 2003, can't remember. I couldn't get the delay to shut off. Every time I'd turn the unit on, there was, repeating the last note I'd played with my guitar plugged into it, over and over.
I've got a zoom 4x. It's a junk drawer of fx. Everyone should own one
Still have mine from the early or mid 90s (ish), still going :)
My V-Amp Pro is still going. Only reason I don't use it is because the Helix really is better. But before that... The POD HD500x was pretty bad compared to the V-Amp.
I could not use it in front of a clean amp live at high volume but it was great for recording and as a practice tool.
Years ago, I had the V-Ampire 120 head. At the time, it was the best $200 spent. Played hundreds of gigs with it. Got laughed at by the dudes in Theory Of A Deadman when we opened up for them, until they heard it lol...Damn thing went end-over-end down the stairs at my old house and still worked!! 🤘✌️
I have a friend from Louisiana that has played with Steppenwolf for many years and he used one of these on tour, especially in Europe. The band would carry empty Marshall cabs for show but the V-Amp was plugged into the desk. Seems to have worked for him.
Reminds me of Iron Maiden using Gallien Kreuger solid state amps hidden backstage behind the wall of fake marshall stacks.
@@georgeshuggoth4535 Kiss did the same at one point. Empty Marshall boxes with Fender amps behind.
@@georgeshuggoth4535 Maiden used Marshall JMP-1 preamps for a long time
that doesnt sound right. i think your friend might have been blowing smoke up your rear
Had both and sold the Pod. The V amp just sounded better for half the price.
Still sounds better than some modellers 10x the price 😂
Absolutly your right :)
Still have mine and I am never disappointed when I put it through its paces… now to pull the Behringer Blue Devil out of storage…
I agree, less sterile than the pod
Also still have mine, use it on the amp FX loop in bypass mode for the effects
shocked at how great this actually sounds haha tons of usable fun tones!
because cheap gear buy people who start playing on guitar and thats why its sounds much cheaper then realy is
the JHS pedals guy did a video on the Pod. It has great tones
Very underrated unit, I still have the rack version I bought back in 2004 and after having and trying many other units over the years including those of Line 6, Digitech, Zoom, Mooer, Yamaha etc I revisited this one recently and I have to say it sounded better than ever to me.
After writing my comment I scrolled down to read a few others. Seems like we have nearly exactly the same story! Rock-on, bro!
I own the Bass version of this device and there's a lot to love about some of the sounds. When you run synthesizers through it though, you can begin to craft some sounds that are unique and gigantic. Thanks for putting this video together to show off the standard unit.
Good luck with the job John!
it could literally be anything, any piece of gear on the right side of the video and it would still sound amazing. That's the mark of a truly killer guitarist, any piece of gear sounds great in their stead.
David Brewster uses a V-ampire on his Late Night Lessons YT channel. He always has great tone and he's a killer player too.
Love Dave! What an awesome dude
Kickass!
I’ve still got my V-Ampire.
All my leads on the two first Anubis Gate album were done on that unit. That was in 2004 and 2005, and i still get people asking what awesome amp I used 😂
😍
bahaha pulled the gearheads by their noses
I still own & use this unit to this day !! It does exactly what i need it to & sounds good !! Best piece of gear for the money i've ever bought!!
Sounds surprisingly good actually
It's a trip how good it sounds for being so old
I had one of these years ago. I had lots of fun with it. I could get some decent sounds on the bass too. Good inexpensive fun!
Lol, Leon Todd does for the Behringer V-Amp- 2 what Josh Scott did for the Bad Monkey... pre-video: $60... post-video... $600! That sounds fantastic, especially that first factory preset floored me at how good it was out of the box.
I think the point intended with these videos that was possibly missed is that if you know how to play, and use and dial in your gear, you can make underrated gear sound much better than expected.
Same with Ola demoing the Metal Zone and finding out it's awesome in an effects loop. Everyone else just kinda bought into the memes.
Used one for years, still have it. You can get really, really good sounds from it with a little tweaking.
How many of you had a POD or V-Amp?
Still have X V-Amp in my homerig. The floormodel of this with expressionpedal. 20 years old, still works like the day i got it.
I still have both. Also the silver bass V-amp.
Still have the POD. Still gigging with it, set up in an EL 84 Atomic amps powered cab (with a CABM in the effects loop). I made another comment about it up top. I almost bought an old Line 6 Head recently (the 300 watt version, my first modeling amp that I ran in stereo with a JCM 800 2203). I would love to hear that thing with my CAB M in the effects loop (or a stack of cabs loaded with some of those newer Celestion speakers designed for modeling amps and IR’s). I also gigged with one of the old Vox modeling amps (the blue ones had great tone and were the best). I am always open to new and older technologies and getting the best sound!! Great vid btw!! 😉
I still have the X3. Had multiple 2.0 and XTs but sold them all cause of wife was mad at my bean fetish. I Sell on eBay so I have had dozens of Zooms, RPs Digis, AXG Korgs and Boss MEs..love multi effects. I can attest that other than the inability to load your own IRs which is an overrated feature, these old horses are PERFECTLY usable in 2024 for home practice/recording. U can always slap these in front of a PA in a church gig and off you go.
I had this one - the V-Amp 2 - and was very happy with it. It wasn't durable enough to last on the road, though, so after about a year it broke down. Had to get the metal rack mount one, which was great too.
I also had a big Mesa Boogie at the time, but this one sounded great in a portable form factor.
Hi Leon, The Pod, the Johnson J-station, and this......if you were around then, you know how revolutionary they were. Owned the J-Station since ~2000, turn off the cab sims, plow it into any guitar power amp -still good now!
I remember being impressed by the j station back then. Now they all sound about the same as a good free amp sim with a good IR. So many options nowadays 🤘🤘🤘
I had one of these. Someone gave it to me for free. The marshall tone was great. The rotary was particularly good as well. I left it on a grass verge by accident. It rained all night. I found it and dried it out very slowly over a week. It still worked.
that opening marshall style hi gain crunch tone blew my mind. this is too good for the price and its age wow
I switched from a Vamp Pro to a Fractal FM3. The main reason was I could tell the gate was better on the Fractal. The Fractal is a lot better in versatility but tone wise the Vamp was very solid. I was a poor kid so I loved Behringer gear!
It's funny how, like in real life, your cab makes such a gigantic difference. These and the POD are usable even today with good IR's.
When I was a Sales Manager at Guitar Center I was asked by a Behringer rep. in WA. State (back in the day) to do a promotional clinic for the V-Amp, and I was so impressed with it I actually bought one. After the clinic they compted' me with a matching FCB1010 Midi Foot Controller. I still use it today for daily shred practice, which saves putting wear and tear on my big tube amps. Over the years I have collected all three versions, V-Amp 1, 2, and 3, and yet I still play the first version. In addition, I recently (yesterday - lol) picked-up a "Behringer LX1200 V-Ampire Guitar Amplifier Head (2x60 Watts)," which features the same tech, for only $100. The V-Amp 1 gets the job done for me, and my practice routine benefits from sitting down, flipping a single power switch with no messing about, and using a consistent sound as a "standard candle" to gauge my technique and progress. Cheers~
I have the software for the V-Amp 3. It's almost impossible to find.
@@mdu2112 I believe I bought mine on Ebay as “new old stock,” and I think it came bundled with a software disk, including a dongle-type audio interface, which is pretty cool. I wonder if anyone has posted these types of obscure software to the torrents. Anyhoo, the ole’ V-Amps still do OK with high-gain sounds, and the FX are convenient. I have a theory that most consumers wouldn’t blink an eye at an album recorded entirely with these type of modest legacy devises - lol. Cheers~
@@BigMikeGuitar No, not the CD software. I'm talking about the patch editing software VampDesign3_0, V-Amp.exe, when connected via MDI. A must to make the most out of it.
My favorite high gain model on this was the custom high gain and the engl savage. There are some extra functions to access the other amps
Yup, my favourite aswell
Dark Tranquillity used to use the Vamp live and just plug them into the effects loop of back line amps. I remember it came up in an interview they did and them being like, "We're going to get so much shit for this, but this is what we use."
And they always sounded more than good
I had the V-amp Pro rack mount for a long time and loved it! I should look into getting one again just for the hell of it.
I've been looking for a cheap amp modeller for headphone practise and using with my synths live and not having to worry about cabinets screwing up the mix on stage and, after a fair bit of research I've plumped for the floor version of this with the two footswitches and expression pedal built in. I don't need much out of it and, from what I've heard, I doubt there's a better unit for the money (at this point, 40 GBP) for practise and 80s synthwave cheese.
I just got the V Amp 3 myself last year. It's a really good product for it's price, I just paid 35€. I use it everyday, you can get really fast good tones. All important effects are build in and there is just one knob to set them up. So there is nothing confusing, I think this probably one of the best options for a beginner or someone with a small budget. Also this device is not huge and at least the V-Amp 1 and 2 came with a bag back then, so it's perfect for traveling. Personally I use it for fast demo recordings at my desk and I prefer playing over it at night, because you can connect it via cable with everything like a bluetooth speaker. My Boss Katana 100 is way too loud even at the 0.5w option. I just can't recommend Behringer products enough, they got a lot of good sounding pedals and amps for it's value.
i have the V Amp 3. Used it a few years ago for live shows. Sounds great. I would run it through a power amp to a cabinet. Awesome playing Sir!
still have one of these , served me all these years. working good to this day
With an impulse response and a pedal in front, you get something decent. It was my first guitar gear actually in 2006. After it, I got other modelers. 2 years ago, just for nostalgia, I tried it again with a precision drive and a mooer radar into an frfr speaker, and it brought a smile on my face.
The secret to these old modelers is to shut off the cab, and use your own impulse responses. Totally changes the game.
I’ve done something with Pod and V Amp with a torpedo Cab 2 years ago: th-cam.com/video/wGdEb2OTCBw/w-d-xo.html
Turn off sim cabinet and plug into a tube power amp and you also can be happy. It helps a lot too when you need less weight in the road and the venues have at least a head with tubes in the power stage.
True, BUT! Not with the V-Amp version one. It has two really good and usable cabs. They are omitted from the V-Amp 2 and V-Amp Pro. POD XT is ok too.
I agree with this 100%!!!! My old Pod XT sounds amazing with a modern impulse response.
How do you put your own impulse responses into the pod?
Grabbed one of these right when they came out, I didn't want to dive into a Pod at that time. I had a lot of fun with it. Great review as always!
I owned one of these when it first came out. I put mine in the fx loop of my Marshall stack and used an impulse response for the cab sim and it was amazing actually 🔊🔊
THANK YOU JOHN FOR LETTING LEON BORROW THIS SIR....
I love this channel!
It sounds great already and I'm just at the point you're doing the cleans with chorus and compression and funk. I'm really surprised. I think Behringer owns TC Electronic or the other way around isn't it? TC has some great effects.. I wonder if the two are shared ?
Great stuff so far brother. Sounds great.. This would be the perfect tool to practice with!
I think it sounds great thru my headphones!
Of course, that killer guitar and your playing make all the difference sir! I think we as guitarists always think new gear will make us sound better when as you know it's the time and effort and hard work that pay off in the end. Gear helps, and get all the gear you can afford if you want, but the hard work has to come as well I think you would agree sir!
I thought it sounded really good especially with the external IR's.. I actually thought it sounded good without the external IR's.. I've played worse for sure in front of people when I was young. We didn't have anything this good without buying a huge Fender Tube amp and a Distortion pedal. ( The come to jesus pedal was the best.. 🙂 RAT! ) if you wanted distortion from a clean amp back in the day IMHO. 🙂 😛
Be well and safe sir. I'm on my 2nd cup of coffee.. Woke up early. Like 2 am, but went to bed early after working my nuts off in the summer heat in the yard! 😛
Tim
Wow... besides your playing, which was excellent...I am blown away by that little box... Way to go Uli
Thank you so much!
My first FX unit. I didn’t realise it was an amp modeller at the time and it took me ages to work out how to switch cab models etc off. Some GREAT tones in the box.
What I love about these old modelers is they’re just fun. Sure it’s “a toy” by most modern standards but what is a toy if not a fun piece of kit that sparks creativity? I don’t think that’s a bad thing. And it’s kinda like getting really good at using GarageBand or a hardware four track - sometimes you can crank out actual gold with it.
Hi Leon, great video! I found one of these in a cupboard and have been using it live in a theatre every night. It does the job!
Very cool!
Honestly i have been more than pleased with every Behringer product i have purchased. Dont know why i always expect them to suck because they never do, they are just cheap.
They make great sounding synthesizers. Although my V-amp 2 died pretty quickly and went through two of them when I was a kid.
My only complaint with Behringer stuff is that the pots go bad pretty fast, giving you that very unpleasant raspy noise whenever you turn/fade them.
Per Nillson recorded the first 2 albums of Scar Symetry with this ! Tone is in hands !
Now wayyyy!!! Lol that's so awesome. It really is all about who's using the gear rather than the gear it's self.
Stupidest comment goes to………. “Tone is in hands” 🤣😂🤣😂🥴
@@RedbackRecordzKeep buying gear thinking you’ll be a better player, consumer.
i used V-amp 1, 2 and pro models professionally direct to mixer from 2001 to 2007. Through a PA they sounded great. I had to stay on one amp model that could go from cleanish to high gain because changing amp models on different presets would cause a short blackout of sound. When I got more money I tried Line6 Pod xt, Boss GT-8, Roland VG 88, H&K Tubeman, but ended going back to the V-Amp. A great feature were the knobs with lights wich made editing presets really easy. The worst thing about model 1 and 2 is that they broke down on me at gigs. The Pro model was more reliable.
I recorded three metal albums with the Vamp pro which is the rack version of this one.
Thank you John.
Thanks for the video! I've had three of these units.I bought my first one in the early 2000s and it was my first modeller unit ever. I sold it and bought another one soon afterwards because I missed its straightforward simplicity and usability. I bought my last one during the lockdown for €45 but this time out of nostalgia. In the past I used the PC editor via MIDI and I got some pretty usable sounds out of it. Cheers!
I had one of these and I couldn’t make sound anywhere near like that. This only proves you need talent and skills to make sound good any piece of gear.
I've used the pro version for my recordings live I use it with a peavey 60/60 tube power amp sounds great for the money you can't go wrong
I have used one for all my recording on soundcloud bad Hat music listen to my ver of Pump it up
Wow that sounds a world away from the Pod. I went down the Pod rabbit hole at the time and it promised a lot but I sold it and reverted back to my JMP1 rack etc. I wish I had tried one of these back then. A great device for its time.
You can tell how good it is by the level of "Stank-face."
I've used the V-Amp Pro (the rack one, with AES/EBU and balanced outs, for years to record demos and in some concerts (with an actual classical orchestra and band) and along with the FCB1010 pedalboard it has always saved the day. At the time I had also a Pod 2 (and next the Pod X3 Pro), but I had some presets built in this machine that I continued to use for years, before building my studio rack with rack tube preamps, fx etc.
I have a Vamp 1 (with pedals and softcase) I bought for $5 at the local musicstore (5 years ago), Its great for sitting and noodling!
i have 2 vampire halfstacks...i tend to turn the effects off and tweak the eq's using the modern high gain (soldano-ish), savage beast (engl) and brit high gain as my go-to's for recording
This video verifies something that many of us who have been using modelers/profilers since the early days when they first started being released in the 1980s know; todays units (Fractal, Line 6, Kemper, etc.) are working on the last 20% of the potential of modelers because the first 80% has been available for a long-time. This last 20% comes at a huge cost (the 80/20 rule) relative to the benefit! Certainly my Axe Fx III Mk II Turbo s cable of producing tones that this sub-$100 u it can not…but my Fractal unit coat 25 times as much than the V-Amp! So, for many people, a much less costly unit, such as an Eleven Rack which are currently available used for less than $300, would provide as much utility as a much more expensive current-day modeler.
I think that the Behringer Ultra amp, the Soldano modern and the Roland Jc120 are very usable. With a modern IR it might be even more so.
The editing program is there and a heck of a lot better to tweak these with.
Then again the presets made by Ian Chrichton of SAGA was a nice feature. 😊
I bought the rack pro version of this for $69 recently. Turning of the cab simulation and using modern IR's in my DAW....sounds very damn good for modern metal stuff. Planning to use it for tones on my bands first upcoming release.
Holy smokes, this thing sounds pretty good!
Ive owned Fractal, now own tube amps and tonex, and will say this sounds good. Like an album.
I own a Vamp-2 and Pod HD (bean shape) and both are very usable even when compared to current modellers sold today. As a matter of fact, some of the presets in the Behringer Vamp-2 sound better than the Line 6 Studio Pod HD. Somehow, some of Vamp-2 sounds more natural, or organic if if I could use this term. Great gear!
i own the v-amp2 for about twenty years now and this thing sounds better then 99,9% of the vst amp sims out there, the high priced included. no hiss and fizz, sounds very natural and fat. love it.
I had one a long time ago! I should have kept it!
Had one of those back in the day, it was a great unit. I used the clean sounds on one track on an album and people said they thought it was beautiful. No one ever said "Sounds like a cheap guitar processor". Sadly one day, the unit died and that was the end of it.
I don't have this particular unit but I do have the (older?) VAmp Pro rackmount. I played in a regional metal band in the 90's and 2000's. Like most guitar players, I spent years and years and thousands of dollars trying to find "my tone". Everything from Digitech, ART, Mosvalve, Marshall, on-and-on. It wasn't until around 2004 when I tried the VAmp Pro that I was actually satisfied with my sound. Coincidentally, I had actually gotten and ADA MP-1 around the same time and these two units are what I still have. I don't play as much as I used to but when I do it's the VAmp Pro into a Rocktron power amp and Marshall 4x12. Nearly 20 years running this setup and I haven't felt the need to move onto anything else.
What is regional metal? 😂
@@Emil-Antonowsky I didn't say regional metal, I said a regional metal 'band'. Meaning we were rather large within the Midwest. And here we have yet another keyboard warrior who's never left his mommy's basement. Troll
*OMG I FORGOT ALL ABOUT THIS...! IT ROCKS*
Thanks for remembering I have one too! Someone gave it to me and I totally forgot about it until now. Gonna try it out soon.
Wow this thing! I had a Pod 2.0 back in my college days and my good friend had that blue V-Amp. We were both death metal fanatics (I still am) and one night he brought the V-Amp over. I started out kinda laughing at it because of the obvious Pod ripoff look and I started messing around with it and I ended up very impressed by it. I thought it did everything that the Pod could do except the Pod had better reverbs. We were using 7-string Ibanez guitars and they sounded great through the V-Amp into my old Fostex VF-160 based studio lol! Good times. Great video and thank you!
Sounds Awesome, I used one for a CD in 2008. They kind of sound like how they would sound on an album. Great piece of kit and more organic than the pod at the time. Plus the Behringer midi board operated it. Massive scope
I had one of these and later the rack version. Wish I still did. Not to replace my current Kemper-based rig, but just because it had some really nice tones in it and would work just fine as a back-up.
I used (and still have) the blue bean as well as the V-Ampire head about 12 years ago. The only downside (which finally made me switch to a Line6 X3 Pro) was about a second of silence when changing the amp model. You could switch from setting to setting without that delay as long as you kept using the same amp, but you had to wait for a passage in the song where you wouldn't notice the silence when changing from lets say a Mesa Rectifier to a Roland Jazz-Chorus.
''Let's see how greasy and 80s we can get." All the 80s, by the sound of it. That first preset tone could have been on any record in the 80s.
I have the LX-112 and the V-Amp Pro. I use it as a living room headphone solution to jam around with. Upfront I use the Harley Benton American Sound. A low budget killer combination.
had an first version of vamp ,before it i had a johnson J station which i still use for practice. Still have my behringer bass vamp pro for my backup ,backup bass rig. Thing i really wish the behringers woulda had would be an aux input for jam along
I have a VAMP Pro and I love it. I also have some other rack gear that I love equally, but I can dial in some really sweet sounds and tones and it works fantastic for recording, it's also user-friendly and easy to program. Behringer makes a great product. Don't diss anything until you give it a fair chance.
Totally agree!
Right On! I love my V-Amp Pro rack mount I did a video on it.
I stopped by because I'm a friend of Jon's - watched the vid, gave it a like.
Certified legend!
Hey Leon. I gigged extensively with one of these for the longest time. V-Amp 2 into a power amp to a 4x12 Behringer cab and it rocked something fierce! I only had 4 or 5 patches programmed (clean, rhythm, and leads), Other guitar players would chuckle when they saw the Behringer name but once they heard the sound would ask how I achieved the tone I had. Still have it and just sits in storage in favor of the Boss GX-100 and ME-80 as they are better fly rigs.
I still have one of these i got when i was a kid, the echo feedback effect is incredible! It's not the useful thing, but it's a lot of fun to mess around with.
I also started playing guitar with one of these 20+ years ago, I still have it but have moved on to amp sims since then. I still have the V-Amp2 and I can't say that I've ever had any major problems with it. It's a great device, especially for the price.
I'd love to know how many people this got into big juicy tones! So accessible
I bought one of these last year to experiment with the sounds. I really enjoy it! Sounds even better being pushed through high gain in my Marshall amp and Steve Vai cabinet :)
I played many gigs with the V-amp 2. Sounded great.
Had one of these 20 years ago. I bet with a good IR after it, it would sound pretty good.
I had this when I was a teenager still living with my parents. It was the sickest thing ever at the time for me :D I used it straight into a clean Marshall Valvestate 8080 combo.
Thx for the video!!
I am beginning to learn about the possibilities of the device...
Its got a lot of options and I am still a bit puzzled.
But I try with alittle help of such vids😊
Sounds fine to me. I gig with a powered pa speaker sometimes and this would do the job just fine pushing some air on stage. The Behringer midi foot controller would go great with it too.
*THIS THING WAS REALLY GOOD!*
Finally someone that can really shows how powerful this old unit is.
I bought my Vamp 2 in 2003 and years latter I’m also bought a rack unit and I never will sold these units that stills in use in 2023.
25 years ago this was my bread and butter leading worship at church because it was so much easier to carry than my Mesa Mark 3 hahaha. For what it was I actually loved the little sucker back in the day and still have mine though I haven't plugged it up in years
I have a rack mount V Amp Pro in storage somewhere. Thanks Leon! Now I'm going to have to dig it out and put it in one of my studio racks. I used to love that rack unit.. I used it on 2 albums 15+ yrs ago
I had an old vamp with a wah p3ddle but it got ruined by a electrical surge. But it worked really well.
I’m shocked how good it sounds.
You should’ve done a battle of the pod vs this !
🤘🏼
Now we're talking!
Just remembering my years gigging with a Zoom 505. Jeez, just how!
I used to have a friend whose uncle worked at Behringer and they where disposing of “Faulty” pieces of equipment and he ended up coming back with a V-Amp Combo. For being an early digital amp It was really fun!
I still have 2 of the V amps there a great back up and for studio they still work great. I use an 11 rack for live shows
I was looking for a cheap digital reverb solution to compliment an old Yamaha RX8 drum machine from 1989 that I just got from a pawnshop... when I remembered I had the v1 V-amp laying around in a box of broken electronics somewhere in a closet. Not only does it work, it still has all my presets from 2005. I am now a time traveller.
i had the rackmounted version of the v amp for a while when i was in my first band. ran the effects from it through a peavey ultra 60 head that sounded so good for a cheap setup. wish i never got rid of it since it could double as a practice amp with headphones!
i have used these units back in early 2000s and it was a killer unit, specially for the price.
I still have mine, broken collecting dust, this brought back some memories, the plastic jack ins cracked and she's toast, these things sounded decent for what they were
Have a look at the videos by Dave Brewster ‘Late Night Lessons’. Covers the style of virtually everyone and uses a Behringer rack unit as far as I can tell. Nails every tone.
Dave is a treasure, always on the money with the playing and tones!
I know that many guitarists preferred the V-amp Pro to the Pod Pro. The cabs in the V-amp sound so much better! And it was like half the price of the Pod, iirc.
There's a crispness to the sound that I kind of like. It's crisp without the harshness.
Wow! Man this thing sounds killer. That #1 pre-set with variations is sikk!! This little unit has held up pretty well over the years. I dig it. I had the original Pod, and I liked it. Dig this even more I think. Unless... it's just your killer playing that's fooling me. LOL You are a player! Anyway - I dig this. Gunna see if I can find a cheap used one. And subbing you! Rock on!!