Fender Pro Jr and Vox Pathfinder

[jackson park]

Any comments on the differences from experienced users? Sound quality. Which one is cleaner?

I have a pro jr and it sounds great but it is a little on the loud side. Is the vox quieter?

[Sean Sullivan]

Are you talking about a vintage or modern Pathfinder? The Vox Pathfinder that's around $120 new is a surprising solid state amp. For my girlfriends birthday I bought her a Danelectro U3 and Vox Pathfinder and had a hard time letting both go!
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[jackson park]

Yes the newer pathfinder that's $120. I know that both are Tape Op-worthy. I'd like to hear about the differences...

Search proved inconclusive and I know I should try both.... but I think both are pretty popular so there must be members out there who have something to say about the differences.

[Sean Sullivan]

Well the price difference is pretty huge. I bought the Pathfinder for $50 used, and a Pro Jr. will probably cost $200 used. I think the sounds will be pretty different, the Pathfinder has a pretty convincing overdrive and tremolo. But you could probably get the same/better sounds if you bought a tremolo pedal and a overdrive pedal for the Pro Jr.

if the Pro Jr. is too noisy though, the Pathfinder is quiet and you shouldn't experience that problem. Plus you aren't going to get two pedals for that price that are any good.
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[yankeeboy]

I don't have a ton of experience with Pro Jr.'s, but own and use my Pathfinder all the time.

It doesn't quite have the live punch of a tube amp, but it's got good solid clean sound for such a small box and mics up really well. I use it regularly for rehearsals and playing out when I don't want to drag out my Ampeg and with an E-609 and decent monitors it's more than adequate.

Vox keeps claiming that they're going to be discontinued, yet every year they reappear in their catalogs

[kayagum]

[lyman]

there was another thread comparing these 2 amps last year i thought....somebody suggested:
vox pathfinder = beatles
valve jr. = stones

i've got a pathfinder. i use it for recording often. i replaced the stock speaker with a vintage 8" alnico. nice smooth mids now. i would suggest the amp for nice clean sounds, but get a good pedal if you want distortion. the reverb sounds pretty good too for such a cheap amp. i got mine barely used for $80.

[pk]

I just got a Pathfinder a few weeks ago, solely based on the great reviews and I have not been disappointed at all. I was looking for a tube amp to get a different tone than my Fender Princeton, so on a whim I ordered one, $120. This thing is amazing, great tremolo, decent reverb (the Fender one is better, imo), and very, very 'warm' (sigh...) sounding, I basically got the tone I was hoping to get from a tube amp, or at least different enough from the Princeton, so the tubes/transistor issue became moot instantly. The fact that it's small, lightweight, makes it ideal for recording and gigs in small venues, and for bigger sound sticking a 57 in front is all it would need. The Pathfinder would be a bargain at 3 times the price.

[llmonty]

another vote for the pathfinder -- agree with most of the sentiments above -- good clean, excellent trem, decent reverb.

I also feel that the distortion is really where it shines. Push in the boost section and crank it up and to my ears it sounds amazing -- very british/kinksy sounding - a less muddy distorted sound -- sophisticated garage maybe? ha!

it does mic well, and the speaker out gives some flexibility -- i have used it with a marshall 2x12 and an old jensen 15".

it is currently sitting between my 68 bassman, 50's danelectro, and silvertone amp for the tracking of my band's album. it hangs right with all those tube amps in terms of choosing it for certain sounds/textures.

and with the boost in and gain up a bit it can get surprisingly LOUD for a solid state amp. hung with some drummers with headroom to spare.
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[vvv]

I have had the Pro, Jr. for about 10 years, and love it; it's very versatile and only a touch noisy, although quite loud if you want the gain. But it sounds nice and "country-Fender" at lower volumes, too. I play it more than any other of the 10+ amps I own, and it appears on just about every recording I do. It also seems to take effects very well, and I especially like a tube-pedal in front.

I bought the Pathfinder over the summer, and while I really do not want to, in that its solid-state, I love the thing. It's loud enough, very responsive, and the reverb, tremolo and the boost-gain switch are awesome extras. Actually, I bought it for the tremolo, but have had a ton of fun using it for rhythm parts; I record it on at least 1/4 of my songs, and I do not find the typical S/S objections (harsh, trebly, un-dynamic).

Neither one is modded, except I have Groove-tubes in the Pro, Jr. although I stayed with 12AX7's in the pre.

Between the two, the Pro, Jr. is probably the more useful and "better" amp, at about 3x the price of the Vox, but as that silly review site asks, "if stolen" I would replace both.


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