Vox Lil Night Train Any Experience

[mandobandit]

good morning friends

I am like so many here looking for great tube tone in a low wattage amp, headphone application a must.
I had forgotten about the 2 watt Vox, and did not realize it had the headphone out feature.

What can you tell me about them, I know they are no longer in production and seem to be quite rare on the used market.

thanks for any input
Fred

 

[studio1087]

I have a Lil' Night Train (and an original Night Train) and I enjoy the Lil' very much. The Lil' has great chime clean and it has great crunch with gain. I can still hear my guitar tone chiming through the crunch. If you switch I into high gain mode it's silly-gainy which I don't care for (just my taste) but it still has that good super gain sound where you can squeal harmonics and play 80's Van Halen stuff which I do occasionally but classic crunch is more my thing.

Built like a little metal/chrome tank. Sounds great through a bigger cab......I use a Carvin G212 (2 x 12). I think I paid $139 on eBay...the Lil' cost less Han a good pedal. Look for a deal; you can't go wrong.

 

[mandobandit]

Thank you John
What is your opinion of the headphone out, can you comment on a comparison between the Lil night train, and a Vox vt20+
Fred

 

[studio1087]

I'm sorry I have never used the headphone feature. On the rare occasion that I use headphones with an iPod or my iPhone to learn a song late at night (I just quit after three years of gigging in a cover band) I would use a POD Express ($49 on ebay).....

The simple stereo delays and reverbs are very nice in the little POD and there is a stereo 1/8" ip3 input. I could try good headphones over the weekend with the Lil' Night Train and get back to you. The Lil' Night Train sounds good enough at a whisper volume level that I would have always enjoyed it through a cabinet. I've never been one to blow my head off with headphone volume. I have a special pair of noise canceling headphones that I use when I mow (I have a large diesel mower; we have a small farm). I can listen to clear music on the tractor without needing to crank the volume. I'm not your mom but still......be careful with headphones.

(-:

 

[studio1087]

I've had a VT15 and a VT30 in the past. The Lil' has sag like a tube amp. It feels like a tube amp when you play. The Lil' responds better to right hand dynamics the way tubes will. You can dial nice crunch and if you lighten up with your right hand the tone will be nearly clean. You can dig in and the crunch comes back.

 

[wildstage98]

i also have a lil' night train, the gold edition - the only different is the color of it. it's great and i'll second what John says...it cleans up real nicely for both strats and les pauls, and the crunch is great. it can get heavy with no problem.

i don't use any pedals with it at the moment so i can't comment on that, and i've also never used the headphone jack but from some quick google searches it sounds like the headphones sound decent. it's definitely my go-to amp for the size and sound.

 

[AllTheSound]

Great bang 4 the buck those lil night train's are.

 

[mandobandit]

thanks to all, I truly appreciate the input(intended pun).
John I do take care with headphone volume as being 58 is hard enough on hearing.
I do have a Line 6 Mobile POD that I use a lot as well very pleased with it.
I rarely get to play through the speaker on my VT20+ as my wife is pretty much bed ridden, and sleeps much of the time do to severe pain & medication.
My quest for low volume tone is driven mostly due to my desire to get a wah pedal, and the VT20+ has too many knobs & options, I spend too much time messing with controls and not enough actual playing.
thanks again
Fred

 

[ScottMarlowe]

The Lil Night Train is a good amp, but the headphone out sounds pretty bad to me.

 

[mandobandit]

I have located a NOS Lil Night Train, from the local Vox dealer where I purchased my VT20+, they are asking $499.00 for the head, and $249.00 for the 1x12 Celestion cabinet.
I have not been able to find the what they went for when in production, I'm thinking the dealer is confusing it with the 15 watt version.
Looking for help here
Fred

 

[The General]

I would say that's way high for the head. GC lists a new one, with a 1x10 cab, for $329. Saw one on eBay used for $200.

You are probably right with him confusing the 15 watt version with the 2 watt one. $499 for the 15 is even high.

 

[mandobandit]

thank you General sir, I've seen that ad for GC as well, I may look into it more tomorrow

 

[ScottMarlowe]

I picked up mine for $150 used a year or two ago. $499 isn't just high, it's insane.

 

[studio1087]

I have located a NOS Lil Night Train, from the local Vox dealer where I purchased my VT20+, they are asking $499.00 for the head, and $249.00 for the 1x12 Celestion cabinet.
I have not been able to find the what they went for when in production, I'm thinking the dealer is confusing it with the 15 watt version.
Looking for help here
Fred

That sounds like a Night Train and not a Lil Night Train. The Night Train had the 12" cab and the Lil had a 8'or 10". The prices that they quoted you are full sized Night Trin numbers.

Sorry I haven't tried the headphones yet. I'll try on Saturday.

 

[moomtazz]

When I was trying to find great headphone sounds, I went through a dozen options until I found the Atomic Amplifire. It is expensive at $600, and I do not normally recommend an expensive solution when there are so many other cheap solutions around. In this case, however, I went down the road of less expensive headphone options and nothing was satisfying until I ended up with the Amplifire.

 

[mandobandit]

well as suspected 15 watt Night Train, which will be way too much amp for my situation
I'm leaning towards Blackstar HT1R head and cabinet maybe the limited edition Bronco Tan tolex.
A fun side note I picked up a used Squier Mini Strat Dakota red and 10watt SS Marshal amp for my 8 year old grandson for Christmas I have it cleaned up new strings set up ready to go, grandpa is now the kid who can't wait for Christmas, added benefit I traded a bunch of mic stands cables cheap mics miscellaneous gear and hardware freed up space at home no out of pocket money.

 

[studio1087]

I did try the Lil' with good headphones yesterday and it sounded very poor. It was bright and harsh. The noise increases also. Your Pocket Pod is way ahead of using a Lil' for as a headphone amp.

 

[mandobandit]

I did try the Lil' with good headphones yesterday and it sounded very poor. It was bright and harsh. The noise increases also. Your Pocket Pod is way ahead of using a Lil' for as a headphone amp.

John thank you very much.
I really do find the Line 6 Mobile POD to be pretty satisfying ( bare bones model), and honestly my VT20+ sounds mostly good enough for what I'm doing.
I am having some fun with an old DOD harmonic overdrive pedal and my new VOX 847 wah pedal.
Any advice on settings to get a good tone from the VT20+ using these pedals
Fred

 

[wildstage98]

what do you consider a good tone? if you want to get close to classic fender amp type sounds, put the treble to about 2-3 o'clock, bass to 9 o'clock, gain at 10-11 o'clock, and volume just about anywhere. that'll get you in that range. that's my general starting point anywhere and then adjust from low gain to high gain depending on what I'm playing.

 

[mandobandit]

Rob
thank you, ultimately early Page tone, but mostly just want the pedals to play nice with the amp.
I'm finding the classic UK(Marshal) in the red mode with pedals off gives a decent clean, I may need to just start playing with the eq, the tweed models are ok as well.
I think the main reason I'm looking at low watt tube amps is less knobs to fiddle with
Fred