AT first sight the Voodoo is distinctively striking: sinister in its black demonic appearance, relieved only slightly by the blood-red neon and the garish, chunky speaker brackets bold upon the amp face. On closer inspection, the textured surface perhaps resembles a dilapidated crocodile skin, but in low lights "beauty is in the eye..."

Pro-Amps are made in Britain, and have managed to build successfully on their original idea of teaming up tranny pre-amp stages — enabling them to develop more effectively such facilities as their "pre-" and "post-" distortion circuits — with valve power stages. More recently, they've been using the more robust and reliable MOSFET power amps in the set-up, and have a reputation for good, value-for-money, compact amps, such as the favourite Demon combo. Now, along comes their new Voodoo unit.

The Voodoo is also compact — it's a 75-watt MOSFET guitar combo with twin Celestion speakers (2x10in) boasting clean and overdrive channels. Extra features include reverb and a bright switch to boost an otherwise restrained treble response. The control pots are universally black, levels indicated by a single white director line and numbered 1 to 10. The pots are close together, which means the amp is generally for the nimble-fingered rather than any ex-AC30 axe mechanics.

The smoothness of control adds to this aristocratic, After Eight appeal, although the jailbird-black speaker grilles dispel any illusions of the Cointreau.

To test the Voodoo I used my old faithful Telecaster (with humbuckers) which has been a good friend to me over the past few years.

I plugged into the now standard single jack input on the far left of the panel. There are pre- and post-gain pots for both channels — something of a paradox when one of them is marked 'clean'. What do you need distortion for? However, guitarists rarely follow front panel instructions and while you could use the Voodoo to swap between pure and overloaded sounds, it would be just as useful to have, say, a slight edge of distortion on one channel, with the post-volume kept down for chord work, and an all-out overload (high pre-volume) on the second channel with the post-level way up to lift your solos. Both are possible.

That said, any attempt to keep one channel completely clean at top volume was soon abandoned as the demands of the post controls overtook the delicacies of the pres. Full out, the clarity and sharpness were sacrificed and the Voodoo tended towards a softer tone.

The tone controls gave a pleasing variety when used in conjunction, but lacked range and power in their individual modes. At full volume the treble added another element of distortion to the sound, and the bass lost some of its fullness. Some guitarists like the lightness of touch and middle presence two 10in speakers can give a combo. I still have to admit a preference to the thicker, lower qualities of a single 12in, but you take your choice.

The cabinet construction is basic, using 1in chip, and I would have liked to have seen some extra DI or headphone outlets at the back. Nothing, not even an extension speaker socket, which speaks of building to a budget.

Rubber feet are provided at the base of the amp and on the footpedal, which is supplied with a decent length of lead and has selector switches for overdrive and reverb. Both gave spontaneous response, but the reverb was distinctly lacking in depth with very little range of effect. To ensure my ears weren't deceiving me, I tested the reverb spring by lifting up one corner of the amp and letting go. A terrific amount of noise issued forth, another indication of budget production.

Even though the sound tended to drop off in volume and treble when I walked a short distance from the cabinet, the difference was negligible. So while this amp would be suited to live work, I feel it lacks the subtlety and effective variety necessary for studio work.

PRO-AMP Voodoo 75W combo: £269

CONTACT: (Contact Details).