Epiphone Valve Junior Head

overdrive88 · Newbie Alert Joined: 18 Sep 2006 Posts: 3

I recently heard about the Epiphone Valve Junior Head -- the 5 Watt, Class A Tube, $99 Wonder.

Of course, I'm somewhat skeptical and was wondering if anyone has any experience with the amp, and, if so, what are your opinions? Details are great, thank you.

Also -- assuming I did purchase this amp, what would I have to run it through to gig? I'm assuming I'd probably want to purchase a 1x10" or 1x12" cab. I don't play huge gigs, just smaller stuff -- bars, restaurants, art galleries, gyms (argh!), parties, etc... Does anyone have any (relatively) inexpensive recommendations for a cab? (under $300 tops)

Oh, and the kind of sound I'm going for and what I'd play through it...

...I'd be playing a ES-335 and Standard Strat through it. Currently I'm playing through a Spider II 112 with a Blues Driver and I can't seem to get the clear tone I get with tube amps! Question

And I'd be playing blues, jazz, and rock. I'm partial to the tones of Jimi Hendrix, Clapton in his Cream days, Trey Anastasio, SRV, Santana, Jerry Garcia, Harrison -- Pretty much anything that sounds sharp and cutting with some bite and smoothness creamy overdrive to it.

Thank you very much -- I appreciate it!
My birthdays on it's way and I need to know if I should ask for this.

overdrive88 · Newbie Alert Joined: 18 Sep 2006 Posts: 3

Also ... is there a way to run it through the amp I currently own without doing crazy mods?

I don't really mind if not, I can sell my amp for ~ $150 and put it towards the cab!

r0bertbr1an · Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 5:46 am Post subject:

Overdrive,
I just purchased an Epiphone Triggerman 4x12 cab for $230 (free delivery through Musician's Friend). I think that little Valve Junior head would look awesome sitting on top of that. The speakers in the Triggerman cab sound really good, and it's a stereo cab, so you can split things up if you like. It may be a little large (the size of a Marshall 4x12), but it's a great price for what you get:

http://www.epiphone.com/default.asp?ProductID=260&CollectionID=13

Also, this Traynor 1x12 looks like a good fit (Celestion speaker):

http://www.yorkville.com/products.asp?type=32&cat=18&id=253

Good luck.

stickler64 · Tadpole Joined: 10 Feb 2007 Posts: 18

I have one and it rocks! Epiphone will be releasing a 1x12 cab with an eminence 70w speaker in it this april. It appears on their website and looks very cool, way vintage. What I've done and what I can recommend is to buy a few preamp tubes (jj12ax7, 12at7 and 12au7 in my case). This will give you a wide range of headroom to play with. There are mods and mod kits all over the net, right now. But, I recommend just getting an EQ pedal. This combined with your blues driver should give you everything you need. I intend to swap out the sovtek el84 for a JJ in the near future. I'm playing through a 2x10 homemade cab w/ pine baffle and two Jensen mod 1070's. This is definitely loud enough for gigging. In fact it's huge sounding.

roverjohn · Sea Monkey Joined: 11 Feb 2007 Posts: 14

If it were me I'd find a Galaxy 10 and then have it modded to use either a 6V6 or the stock 6l6. I don't like output transformer distortion as much as output tube distortion so either would need a beefier output trans which is cheap with such low powered amps. Find the schematic for the original Fender Champ or Gibson Skylark, the single ended ones, and build it yourself or have someone else do it. Skip the tremolo circuit if you don't need it. You'll be a lot happier in the long run. As to your second question about using the amp to drive a slave amp the answer is that it is very easy to do with very low powered amps like this. Get a 10 or 15 watt 8 ohm resistor and put it in parallel with the speaker output somewhere it can get fresh cooling air. Ta da, instant preamp. You will need a slave that has input attenuation to get the level right because you don't want the slave amp to clip ever or that sound will overpower the original tone that you just wanted louder.
John...

GuitarRock04 · Not So Newbie Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 5

I play through a Jr for smaller venues and certain tunes in the studio and absolutley love it. I would highly recomend this to anyone. I have done a few simple modifications to mine which include; a standby switch, a gain switch (which is just a jumper across a resistor before the volume pot), and an input impedence switch (which changes the resistor value before v1 to 22k). These mods are very simple, and though they void the warranty, there are many good websites out there that document closely how to perform them. I have also retubed the amp, and i also would recommend JJ-Electronic tubes. If you end up making the purchase of this amp, throw away the lifeless tubes that are included, and give Bob a call over at Eurotubes. I don't know the number offhand, but if you check out eurotubes dot com, you can find it. He was an incredible help, and can set your amp up to sound any way you wish.

I run the amp through a handmade 1x10 cab with a ted weber 10a150 driver, and it sounds wonderful. I have run it through my Epi SoCal 4X12 and it sounds good there as well, but it just doesn't have the same vintage vibe as the weber. I usually run a boss dd20 (set to cop the sound of a tape delay since this amp has no reverb), and my marshall bluesbreaker (the original, not the reissue) in front of it. I play a 57 goldtop reissue and an american standard strat with a dimarzio humbucker in the bridge, and it sounds good using both.

ilovemacintosh · Not So Newbie Joined: 12 Feb 2007 Posts: 9

I guess MacIntosh's MX135 is a better audio and video sound control system.

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McIntosh MX135 Audio/Video Control Center - Download the MX135 Audio/Video Control Center Catalog by McIntosh Laboratory, Inc.