VOX NIGHT TRAIN NT50H-G2 HEAD/CAB

Vox NT50H-G2 Night Train

The Vox NT50H-G2 Night Train 50 amplifier head was introduced  in November 2013. It replaced the NT50H Night Train 50 head that was released in 2011. The “G2” in the 2013 NT50H-G2 stood for “second generation,” suggesting the NT50H-G2 had a revised and upgraded design over the NT50H.

Like the earlier NT50H, the NT50H-G2 Night Train 50 was a two channel tube amp powered by two EL34 tubes configured into a Class AB circuit. Either amp was capable of delivering 50 watts RMS into an 8 or 16 ohm load. The NT50H-G2 preamp included three ECC83 (12AX7) tubes in the preamp section, one less than the preamp section of the earlier NT50H.

While both NT50H and NT50H-G2 featured a metal “lunch pail” style enclosure, the NT50H had a chrome plated finish while the NT50H-G2 was painted glossy black.

Dual Channel Design

Like the NT50H, the NT50H-G2 design featured two channels, “Bright” and “Girth.” As there was only one 1/4″ input, channel selection was made either by a control panel switch or an optional VFS2A foot switch. A pair of control panel LED lamps indicated which channel was active.

Bright Channel

The Bright channel included Gain, Treble, Middle and Bass controls. This channel was capable of producing the signature Vox “clean and chimey” tone. Increasing the gain in the Bright channel would allow the NT50H-G2 to produce the harmonically rich sound of an overdriven AC-30.

Girth Channel

The Girth channel included Gain, Treble, Middle, Bass and Volume controls. This channel was designed to produce high gain, overdriven guitar tones in the tradition of English “stack” amplifiers from the 1960s. An independent volume control in the Girth channel allowed the output of the Girth channel to be balanced with the Bright channel.

The Master Section

The Master Section of the control panel included a “Thick” tone switch plus the Reverb, Tone Cut and Master Volume controls.

Thick Switch

The “Thick” switch added gain to both channels by bypassing the EQ circuits in the NT50H-G2. In the prior, NT50H version of the Night Train 50, the Thick switch affected only the Bright channel.

Reverb

The NT50H-G2 Night Train 50 added reverb, a feature not included in the original Night Train 50. The NT50H-G2 reverb circuit did not include a traditional spring analog delay line. It rather included a digital reverb circuit. The same digital reverb circuit was included in the Vox/Bruno TB18C1 amplifier.

Tone Cut Control

The NT50H-G2 Night Train 50 incorporated the traditional Vox “Tone Cut” control. The tone control was located within the phase inverter circuit. A .005 uf capacitor allowed only the treble frequencies from opposing sides of the phase inverter to reach the tone control. The tone control blended these “out of phase” treble frequencies together. When the “out of phase” treble signals were combined, they canceled each other out, rolling off the treble response.

The Rear Panel

The rear panel included 8 and 16 ohm speaker jacks, FX send and receive jacks, a speaker emulated DI out and a jack for the optional VFS2A foot switch to remotely control channel switching and reverb.

Speaker Enclosure

Vox offered the V212NT-G2 enclosure, with two 12″ Celestion G12H Anniversary speakers, for the NT50H-G2 Night Train 50.

Specification

• Model Dimensions  : NT50H-G2 Night Train 50 Head
• Dimensions : 18″ x 8.5″ x 6.5″
• Weight : ~27 lbs.