Vox Pathfinder Bass 10 2x5 inch 10-watt Bass Guitar Amplifier w/Headphone Jack

I'm not a speaker designer, but I've fiddled a lot with amateur audio, including building my own speakers, crossovers, etc. I also just started playing bass (Squier Modified Vintage Jazz Bass), so I don't yet have the experience that many musicians do. With that said, I'm going to go on and tell you that this is a very nice unit. It's solidly built and a bit heavier than expected. For what I need, a small practice amp to keep at a friend's house, it's perfect.However, Vox has chosen to leave a portion of the back open. This causes a couple problems. First, if you place it near a wall or flat vertical surface, sound reflects from the exposed backs of the speakers off of the wall. It's kind of like a Bose reflecting speaker. Second, the bass is not particularly tight and full, since the bass waves from the backs of the speakers can travel around and cancel out the waves from the front. (This is why sealed speaker enclosures are called "infinite baffle" designs. With these designs, the waves from the backs of the cones can't reach the fronts of the cones.) I'm fairly sure they did this to effect a sort of "ported" enclosure to take better advantage of the limited amp power (10 watts). The end result with the Pathfinder 10 Bass is that the bass is not very satisfying.But never fear. Go to a home improvement store and buy a little piece of 3/8" white pine. Trim it to fit the rear opening and paint it black. Cut a small notch for the power cord and screw it in place. (There's a lip on each end of the opening that makes this easy.) Voila! It sounds MUCH better. The volume may be a bit lower, but it has some kick to it. (If you don't believe this will help, take the unit and turn it on it's back on a carpet or some surface that will seal the back opening. See for yourself if it doesn't sound better.)I'm not responsible for what damage you may cause to the unit, but this really made a big difference in mine. I guess you could even put a couple hinges on the piece of wood and use the space inside to store the cord when you move it.Overall, a nice unit.

VOX PB10 Bass Combo Amplifier ... Greetings All.......Let me begin by saying that I'm a 65 year old Rock & Roll Geezer, a High-end Snob, formerly the Top Gun at Fender and I've owned HUNDREDS of Basses and Bass amps. Good....Now that there's only one of you and just me left reading this review, here's my story. :) I ADORE Vox. I actually bought three of these little guys...Two bass and one of the Special Edition Red GTR amps just cuz it was so darn Gorgeous. I unboxed the PB 10, plugged in a bass and I was shocked. I wasn't shocked in a good way however. This was without any doubt the worst sounding bass amp I'd ever heard. My heart shattered into a million pieces. 2 5" speakers does NOT a 10" speaker make. :(HOWEVER, upon closer examination I discovered that part of the problem was that the prong on the AC cord had punctured a hole through one of the speakers. But that's only one of the problems. Keeping in mind what I said about being a Vox MANIAC, the back on this amplifier...which is by FAR the most beautiful practice amp on the market,...appears to have been left open for only one use; to carry the AC cable. In one way that's cool...cuz how often do we move our practice amps? However, there's a reason why there are absolutely ZERO open back Bass Amps in existence...they sound terrible. :( I immediately sold both amps. I now wish I'd kept the Red one...but that's a story for another review.Solution!!!! I thought about it for awhile and bought another one. I took a piece of GORGEOUS, highly figured wood, cut it to size, left a tiny U-cut for the cable to slide through (permanently) and screwed the wood tightly into the perfectly-placed, "As-if-Vox-Knew-We'd-Do-This", rails on the back of the amp. I plugged it in, fired it up... and it became a Sonic Tiger of Epic ProportionsBottom Line.....If you buy this and think it sounds terrific, sell your bass and take up the Cowbell. Amazon sells them and I also love Amazon. If, however, you're willing to accept that you're voiding the warranty you'll never need by adding a cool back and the AC cable hangs out all the time but is securely kept in place by a cable-tie that costs you a dime, buy this Amazingly Cool amp right now. Don't Walk....RUN to your Comp and spend the BEST $100 you'll ever invest. This is a Wolf in Sheep's Clothing and you Deserve one!The added Insurance you can buy? Forget it. Less than one Star.Bass-ically Yours,Rich Briere

I bought mine in 2012. With any luck, their QC/QA has improved since. One of the speakers had a screwdriver-shaped hole in it (removed speaker; patched with black cloth tape). The wire 'trim' around the outside of the cabinet bulged at the corners (a few minutes with a plastic-faced mallet knocked it into proper shape). I didn't like the speaker cable so I soldered in some aerospace-grade wiring to replace it. The cabinet is made of basically the same materials as a larger amp (and thus seems solid as a brick). Still; it's astonishingly lightweight.Everything I've plugged into it over the years (basses; guitar; microphones) sounded pretty good. Tweaking the balance of 'Drive' and 'Volume' elicits a range of tones from 'clean' to 'creamy distortion' to 'reverberating waves of feedback' (reminiscent of the Old - tube-driven - Vox amps). The circuit looks to be about as simple as it can be given the feature set and the components look to be of decent quality (which is high praise). An XLR output would be nice but I have plenty of microphones (to condense the sound made by twin 5" speakers down to an SM57 then reamplify them via PA system). The headphone jack is apparently a line-level output but I haven't had occasion to use it.TL;DR: It's an excellent 'practice amp' for the price. Go ahead and buy it.P.S. - If you're going to experiment with closing the back of the cabinet, I recommend cutting a block of acoustic foam to fit. Wedge it into the opening (firm upholstery foam should work, too). It's easily removable if you want to change back to an open back (there are acoustic situations where it's desirable). Also; I like using the open back to store the power cable during transport.