Review by Todd Weller
It’s safe to say that amp modeling has been around since the 80’s and the field of players keeps getting bigger. However many of us tube purists have stuck our collective noses up at modeling technology. With a plethora of options out there, many do a great job at sounding cool but do they actually sound like a real tube amp? Well, I’ve played most of them, and I’ve even used some of them to record with. They are fun, easy to record and you can generally coax a killer tone out of one; but not until I played the Vox ToneLab ST have I ever heard one that could pass for a real tube amp. That’s right, a $199 M.A.P. pedal is the first amp modeler I’ve heard that sounds like a real amp! How to build an attached carport. Period!
Guitar effect patches for the VOX ToneLab LE With a new smaller footprint and enhanced direct recording features, the ToneLab LE is not just a floor processor for guitar effects. It's equally suited to desktop home recording. The Vox ToneLab SE Tube Driven Modeling Floorboard Processor is a large-format multi-effect and modeling processor that delivers the warm, fat distortion of pure tube sound. You also get a wide range of effects, and 2 expression pedals for complete control during performances.
It’s all about tubes
Tubes are like butter, only better. They affect tone in several pleasing ways. First they add harmonic content that makes a guitar sound fuller or beefier. Second they clip in a way that is both musical and smooth. Finally, when pushed, they naturally sag or compress. All these characteristics would probably drive an audiophile nuts, but they sure do make a guitar sound sweet. The ToneLab series from Vox actually incorporates a 12AX7 tube in the circuit. And it’s obvious the effect it has on tone. Vox implemented the 12AX7 not as a pre-amp tube but rather in the power amp circuit. The result is real tube tone.
Thirthy-three amps in one box
The ToneLab ST offers thirty-three amp models and eleven cabinet models that can be mixed and matched to heart’s contant. Everything from classic clean to boutique modern metal and a whole lot in between. The amp model concept is something that I believe is frequently misunderstood. I have often read or heard somebody say that modeler x sounds exactly like amp y. Well, I’ve owned a fair number of tube amps from Vox, Marshall, Mesa, Fender, Peavey etc … I’ve also owned many amp modelers and I must say I have never played an amp modeler that sounded exactly like any of my amps. I believe it’s more accurate to say the model “sounds like” or is “inspired by” the amp that is being modeled. With that said, amp modelers have introduced us to some very cool tones. The Vox ToneLab ST is no exception. It can handle pristine and glassy cleans, cleans with a hint of break up, crunch and high gain tones. It covers about every type of tone one can image and it does a very good job of making those tones sound like they came from an amp not a pedal. The tones are warm and truly three-dimensional and to my ear sound much better than any software only modeler that I’ve ever heard.
Bells and whistles
The ToneLab ST has a wide variety of effects and built-in tuner. The effects are grouped in to the following categories: Pedals, modulation/delay, reverb and noise reduction. In the pedal group you will find pedal effects like a compressor, wah, octave, overdrives, distortions, and fuzz. The modulation group contains your typical modulation effects like various delays, chorus, flanger, phaser and delay chorus combos. There are three reverb types and a noise gate. In addition the ToneLab has an expression pedal that can be used for volume, wah or just about any effect parameter. My impression of the effects is that they are very good quality. The reverbs and delays sound wonderful. The chorus is rich and sounds very good in stereo. In the tone samples below, I incorporated several of the effects so that you can hear what they sound like.
In action
First let me say don’t let the ToneLab ST’s diminutive size fool you. It’s definitively not a toy. However the small footprint makes it more suitable for recording and practice than live use. Although it does sound great through the efx return on a tube amp!
Vox Tonelab St Patches Download For Pc
For practice just set the Amp/Line switch to line, plug-in your headphones and jam away! It’s that simple. To play through an amp, my recommendation would be to set the Amp/Line switch to line and plug into the efx return on your amp. Note: there will be significant tonal differences between an amp and your headphones or a direct recording scenario. Samsung syncmaster ld190 driver for mac. Play around with turning the cab sims on/off and adjust tone accordingly. My experience has been that you need to cut highs and boost lows when playing the ToneLab ST through an amp via the efx return. You can achieve some great sounding tones through an amp but due to the small footprint you can only patch select via the up/down buttons. In theory you could use The ToneLab ST live but I think it would lack a little flexibility. With the Amp/Line switch you can plug in through the front of the amp but I’ve never liked playing a modeling pedal this way. There’s too much coloration and tone settings tend to get extreme.
For recording Vox has made this as easy as 123! You could record direct out and into a sound card, but the Vox USB ASIO makes things extremely easy. One thing that can be a problem with USB recording is latency. With the ToneLab ST, that’s easy to deal with. Since you can monitor through the ToneLab, all you need to do is select the Vox ASIO driver as your input and output sound driver inside your Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) and then set your DAW to not monitor the track being recorded and to latency compensate the recorded track. In FLStudio for example this is done with two check boxes. While all that may sound complicated it really isn’t and it’s a LOT easier than setting up an amp, isolating it, getting the mic positioned just right and recording it with your DAW (probably through a USB or firewire interface anyway). For me this feature alone saves me hours on end.
My overall thoughts
Service tool version 3400. In a day and age where I’m less and less impressed with many manufacturer’s offerings, the ToneLab ST is a hit. To my ear, it’s the best sounding floor modeler out there. Because of the patch selection limitations, I believe it is more suitable for recording and practicing than for live use. At a $199 MAP price , the affordability makes it even better. If you are into recording or perhaps your spouse would like you to play with head phones on, either way the ToneLab ST is a winner. Kudos to Vox for making such a high quality, easy to use and affordable product!
Vox Tonelab St Demo
Tone samples…
| Jalapeno Jam (straight TLST no efx in DAW at mix down): |
| Obligatory Guitar Solo: |
| The End of the Rainbow: |
| Sloppy Joe Funk (bass recorded by guitar on TLST): |
Vox Tonelab Desktop
Note: If you would like to use any of the tones from the tone samples above. Download the ToddWeller.tlst file on the right. I use patches 30, 31, 34, 19, 20 a lot. The bass patch from Sloppy Joe Funk is # 49. Remember to save your settings to disk first!