(BAG) Vox UL730 - The ultra-rare ”Revolver/Sgt.Peppers” amp

Hi everyone!

Great news! I finally finished profiling my Vox UL730 with original UL cabinet and Silver Alnico speakers! It was a true labour of love that took me six months. I have done my very best to capture the unique sounds of this legendary, ultra-rare amp. I believe this may very well be the first time this amp has been profiled. I really hope you’ll like it!

A little about the amplifier itself:

The Vox UL730 is a very rare amp that was produced for one year only – 1966. Most sources claim only around thirty UL730s are left in existence today. Only a few of these are still mated to the cabinet and speakers they were originally sold with. I’m fortunate to have the full set, so all profiles were made using the original UL cabinet with T1088 (Silver Alnico) speakers made in 1966.

Despite its rarity, the UL730 has a unique place in rock history. Its very distinct sound can be heard on Led Zeppelin II (Whole Lotta Love, anyone?), many albums by Joy Division/New Order and, most famously, by the Beatles on Revolver and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band.

The UL730 is a hybrid amplifier. The preamp section is a hand-wired transistor circuit. The power amp section uses a quad of EL84 valves, and a single ECC83 valve for phase inversion. It shares some characteristics with the AC30, but the UL730 is still a very different sounding amp. Due to the hybrid topology, the unusual EQ structure and the completely unique ”Ultra Linear” power amp circuitry, the sound of the UL730 is distinct enough to set it apart from most other amps.

The UL730 is a non master volume amp with two separate channels - Normal and Vibrato. Each channel also has a switchable Top Boost circuit. In addition, the Vibrato channel has a footswitchable Distortion circuit that changes the sound of the amplifier in a fairly big way - think Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde... I have profiled both channels and both circuits extensively.

The original UL cabinet has the same twin 12" Silver Alnicos as the AC30s have, but the box itself is larger. This difference in size seems to bring out the mids more, which, in turn, seems to make everything sound a bit fuller than a regular AC cab would.

Part of the charm with the UL730 is that it's slightly quirky. Unlike most other amplifiers, it was never refined beyond the original design due to the short production run. The upside is that it can sound and feel like no other amp I've ever played or heard. The downside is that it can be a b***h to profile in a systematic way. But I made the effort and put in the hours to learn all the quirks, and I believe these profiles are a good representation of what this amp can do!

In conclusion, I think the UL730 is a bit like an AC30 that went to the gym for a year, and then grew a really hairy pair…

About the Profile Packs:

There are three different packs, as well as a small freebie pack, available here:

https://bag-of-amps.sellfy.store

If you download the Freebie Pack, I’ve included a comprehensive PDF where I describe the amplifier, the settings and the signal chain in detail.

Here’s a short description of the available packs:

• The Normal Channel Pack contains 50 Studio profiles of the Normal channel of the amplifier. That’s it!
• The Vibrato Channel + Distortion Pack contains 50 Studio profiles of the Vibrato channel. In addition, it includes another 50 Studio profiles of the Vibrato channel with the Distortion circuit engaged.
• The Complete Pack contains all the Studio profiles from both previous packs, plus Merged and Direct Amp Profiles of everything – a whopping 450 profiles, in all!

And then there’s the Freebies Pack, of course! I’ve selected 3 of my favourite profiles for you to try out and use for free!

Have fun!

Cheers,

Bag

Quote from darthwain

hi no demos no mics listed.guitars or pickups not listed. was it done in a studio or in a house. and a bit pricey considering guido sells a pack for 5 euros

Hi Steve!

Thank you for showing interest in my packs

Regarding your points about mics, guitars, pickups, recording space, and so on:

I recommend that you download the Freebie Pack - it's completely free! With the pack you'll get a comprehensive, ten page long PDF "Read Me" document where I describe in detail the amplifier, the settings and the signal chain, including why I chose the microphones I did (Heil PR30 and AEA r92).

In the same document I also describe the characteristics and some key dimensions of the actual physical recording space used (yes, it's a studio).

The Read Me document also contains information on the physical placement of the cabinet, mic placement, placement of acoustic elements etc.

Furthermore, I've included information on the make and model of the guitar I used for dialing in the sounds (a Fender Ultra Telecaster), as well as other guitars I've tested the profiles with (a Gibson Les Paul Standard CS VOS R8, a Fender Stratocaster, a Gretsch Duo Jet and an Epiphone Casino "1965" John Lennon Ltd.). I've included some general tips on how to use the KPAs own settings for tailoring the profiles to suit different types of pickups.

Also, I've tried to tag all profiles as comprehensively as possible - including the make and model of the guitar used and, of course, the type of pickups it has (single coils).

It really is a good thing that you bring up these points, I think – so, thank you for that! It gives me the opportunity to point out that I have really made an effort to produce the most comprehensive Read Me document I possibly could. However, I felt that the document was far too long to post in this forum, so I included it with the Freebies Pack instead, so that anyone can download all this information for free, together with a few profiles to try out themselves.

As I mentioned in my first post, this project has been a labour of love for me, so I've tried to go the extra mile in all aspects of the process. Do feel free to ask, if you have any questions I haven't addressed here or in the ReadMe document! There are no secrets, and I'm happy to help out in any way I can!

Pricing is a very subjective thing, so I really shouldn't comment much on that point. And I won't comment on how other profile vendors have chosen to price their own products. Having said that, this is the first and only set of commercial packs I've produced, and I've aimed to provide a healhty amount of profiles in each of them, hoping that most of you would regard the pricing as fair. I do understand and respect, however, that not everyone may feel the same. As far as I know, though, there are no other profile packs of this amplifier, so I haven't really found anything comparable I can compare my pricing with.

You also mention the lack of demos. This is a fair point, I think, and I will try my best to address this omission as soon as possible!

Cheers,

Bag