VHT Special 6 Combo Ultra Reviews

Home Player Heaven

As the title suggests, I play mainly at home, using a Telecaster, clean or with a bit of grit usually with compressor, delay and a touch of chorus or phase and the Special 6 Ultra is ideal for this purpose. Often I've found that a valve amp needs cranking before delivering the goods but this combo shines at any volume thanks to the Watts control. It's not perfect, you need to keep the Watts above 12 o clock get a full tonal palette but it works fine for the intended purpose. Having an effects loop is really nice on an amp at this price, delays and modulation seem to sound richer in the loop. I find all the sounds I need are available via the Clean input, esp if the pull Bright is engaged but the Ultra channel is nice to have and can really make the amp sing. It's a shame they're not switchable via a single input but for the intended purpose - home play and practise it's not a big deal. Last but not least, a 12" speaker which sounds big and fills the room, although it's principally a practise amp I think it could easily handle a small gig, esp as there's a speaker out option. I think the ply cabinet helps in this regard, it certainly makes it lot easier to move around compared to an mdf box. My previous combo was a Vox Pathfinder 15R and the step up to a valve amp is really noticeable; esp in responsivity of the guitar, it feels more alive. This is a great combo at any price.

Great amp

Built like a tank and sounds and looks fantastic (you can remove the logo). Bought as a rehearsal amp but has no problems keeping up with drums and bigger amps in a live situation (haven't had it above a quarter volume and still plenty of headroom).

Some of the features sound too good to be true at this price range... The speaker attenuator (watts knob) works well and makes this amp an essential studio tool. The fx loop, foot-switchable boost, ultra channel are also all well thought out and work as you would expect... even the included footswitch seems sturdy. Sounds fantastic stock, but swap out the tubes and speaker and it's up there with the best.

VHT Special 6 Combo Ultra

This is hands down the best piece of gear i have bought in the last 10 years. I enjoy every note I play through this amp, apart from being amazing value, it offers a huge versatility of tone shaping never mind the choices for what power rating to run the amp at. The speaker is excellent, its very well built. My only gripe is that the logo is a little too big. This will not disappoint anyone who buys this. What an amp......

Very sturdy little combo

Bought this back in 2011, Very good construction, no flaws at all and sturdily put together. This is one seriously LOUD little combo and will easily keep up with a drummer. Lots of classic rock tones can easily be dialled in. Tremendous value for the money.

Nice for the price

A great deal on a good amp. Surprisingly loud, goes from tuby clean to howling distortion (I play metalcore sometimes and it's plenty). Generic tubes not too great, but VHT seems to have put cheap tubes knowing you'll change them. Highly recommended.

It was good, while it lasted!

Great sound and everything. Third time I played, the ultra Channel just stopped working. Not a hiss from it. Hope you get better ones!

Exellent value for the money

I am very pleased with this little amp. It seems to be very well made especially considering the low price. And the fact that it as being "Ultra" means it has already been customized is even more pleasing. Now I don't have to think for example how it would sound with 12 inch speaker 'cos it has been prefabricated with one (I'm subconciously comparing this to the original VHT Special 6 combo amp that comes with 10 inch speaker which I also have owned).

The controls in this amp are very powerfull but in the same time simple. You can get wide spectrum of sounds easily. It only takes a little time and patience. And different guitars played through this amp seem to keep their distinct own tone and character which is always a sign of a good amp. The footswitchable solo boost function is also one very useful feature. Many pricier amps still don't have it 'till this day.

The output sound is surprisingly loud considering the low wattage rating. I think this could easily be taken to gigs and be used as a main amp and personal monitoring amp. Of course it should be miked and put through the PA system to get heard in the audience but that's what you have to do likewise with many vintage amps that may have much higher wattage rating but lower level of output sound.

All in all this is one heck of an amplifier for the price and seems to be built to last a lifetime when handled prorerly.