Vox pathfinder a missed opportunity

[Twincam]

I bought a little vox pathfinder for living room practice.
I was surprised at how nice it looks and well built it is especially for its price tag.
However the sound quality is pretty low and rather hollow sounding. The open back doesn't help but I think its mainly from those 2 little 5 inch speakers they use. Why didn't they put in a proper ten inch driver or 2 eight inch ones and also added a gain control as it clips too easy. Then it would of been an incredible little living room amp.
I just can't fathom the idea of using the terrible little speakers.

[EliasMooseblaster]

Have they changed the design of these recently, then? I used to own a Vox Pathfinder 15, which was a single speaker - can't have been bigger than an 8", maybe 10 at a push - but it was an alarmingly powerful amp given the size of the whole thing. I gigged it a couple of times and never felt like I was struggling for headroom.

[Cat Burrito]

I had one & it was fantastic. It only lasted about 4 years though which didn't impress me but it was great whilst it worked.

[EliasMooseblaster]

Clearly I've been mistaken - I assumed that Twincam was talking about one of the guitar amps, but I was oblivious to the bass amp that Meddle describes above!

I'm with you there: why put two pokey 5" drivers in when you'd probably do better to use a decent 10"? Particularly as I don't imagine Vox go to the same lengths as Phil Jones when it comes to designing and voicing the cab...

[Twincam]

[quote name='EliasMooseblaster' timestamp='1490439336' post='3265130']
Clearly I've been mistaken - I assumed that Twincam was talking about one of the guitar amps, but I was oblivious to the bass amp that Meddle describes above!

I'm with you there: why put two pokey 5" drivers in when you'd probably do better to use a decent 10"? Particularly as I don't imagine Vox go to the same lengths as Phil Jones when it comes to designing and voicing the cab...
[/quote]

Indeed it is a bass version although I bet that the guitar version is possibly a better bass amp. I've had vintage bass amps like a wem dominator which were open backed, not ideal but still sounded ok. But they used an actual bass capable driver. The Vox pathfinder bass amp uses what I can only describe as alarm clock speakers why just why I cry lol and both the amp and speakers clip easy. Could of been a really cool little amp.

[Twincam]

After investigating it seems like the bass amp is pretty much the guitar 10w version with a few minor changes.
So I did the led mod the same as the guitar version and it stopped the amp clipping as early. Then I hooked it up to an old cab the amp has a good amount of bass and character.
I wonder if I can find some better 5 inch drivers to replace the originals that are pathetic

[EliasMooseblaster]

[quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1490533291' post='3265728']
After investigating it seems like the bass amp is pretty much the guitar 10w version with a few minor changes.
So I did the led mod the same as the guitar version and it stopped the amp clipping as early. Then I hooked it up to an old cab the amp has a good amount of bass and character.
I wonder if I can find some better 5 inch drivers to replace the originals that are pathetic
[/quote]

Sounds like it might be worth foregoing the built in speakers altogether and looking for a "living room size" cab on the marketplace - I picked up a decent little 1x10 on here a while ago which gives me a home practice option for my Little Bastard.

Seems a real shame to think they'd paired a decent amp with such a lousy pair of speakers - talk about shooting oneself in the foot!