Epiphone Valve Junour Head

greco

New member
Anyone tried one?

Seem to be so inexpensive...is this an example of the old saying
"You only get what you pay for"

Comments?

I'm looking for a tube amp head for a friend. Low watts and light weight at a reasonable price.

Thanks

Dave
 
Re: Epiphone Valve Junour Head

I've heard that they're popular in the modding community, and the clips I've heard sound really nice.
 
Re: Epiphone Valve Junour Head

I've got one. Takes pedals okay and through the right cabinet, sounds really, really good. I would put better tubes in it as well. Mine really came to life with only changing the preamp tube. I put it through an Earcandy Buzzbomb 2X12 and sounds so 70s crunchy good! It's worth the cash IMHO. I've got a 1X12 with a Celestion V60 speaker and it sounds terrible. I'm probably going to get either a greenback or G12H30 for that cab. It is choosy as far as the speakers and cabs. I guess that's the sign of a good amp though, no?
 
Re: Epiphone Valve Junour Head

I've got the head model. I changed a few resistors and capacitors and added a tone pot. Next I changed the OT to a Hammond 125DSE and this little fellow is killer :dance: What a 5 watt amp for less than 150 bucks :smokin:
 
Re: Epiphone Valve Junour Head

Thanks to all.

Anybody know the actual weight? ...I'm guessing at about 12 to 15 pounds max. My friend has back problems and weight is a primary concern.

How does the 5 watts hold up in a practice/jam room at reasonable levels?

Thanks

Dave
 
Re: Epiphone Valve Junour Head

Put one through a Marshall 4x12 cab - very loud. Never would have guessed 5 watts.

Great deal indeed.

Will pick one up at some point.

Cheers
Bman
 
Re: Epiphone Valve Junour Head

There have been 2 different incarnations of this amp. One has a black hex nut around the input jack, and one has a silver-colored one. I forgot which is which, but the older one had some noise issues which were resolved with the newer one. For those planning to do some modifications, it shouldn't matter, since some of the mods are directed at getting rid of the extra noise from the amp.
 
Re: Epiphone Valve Junour Head

the one with the noise issues is the combo...it's all been fixed in the head version.

the head is awesome...works great for crunchy rhythm if you're playing loudly through a 4x12 in a band setting. My friends and I jam with one guitar using the Jr. and another using my Bassman and the li'l guy keeps up, it just has to be cranked.

It's also great as a 'slave' amp to boost your sound...my Bassman gets great low-end and growl but doesn't have the crisp crunch and sparkle of the Valve Jr...so when I plug into both they compliment eachother perfectly.

anyway, it sounds like a classic tube amp...probably will be a classic in a year or two. I just want a smaller cabinet so i can use it for practice too.

-X
 
Re: Epiphone Valve Junour Head

i have never owned a 5 Watts tubeamp.
do you have an idea if this one could deliver practice room loudness?

what kinda cab would be necessary? 212? 410?
 
Re: Epiphone Valve Junour Head

i have never owned a 5 Watts tubeamp.
do you have an idea if this one could deliver practice room loudness?

Keep in mind that a 10watt amp is only half as loud as a 100 watt amp, so unless you plan to play clean, 5 watts should be plenty loud.
 
Re: Epiphone Valve Junour Head

Thanks everybody...much apprecated comments.

For any Canadians reading this..I've looked into the price here in Ontario and it ranges from $155.00 to $175.00

It would be fun, and a great learning tool, to use this amp as a basis for trying simple mods.

Dave
 
Re: Epiphone Valve Junour Head

i have never owned a 5 Watts tubeamp.
do you have an idea if this one could deliver practice room loudness?

what kinda cab would be necessary? 212? 410?

I have mine going into a homemade 1 12 cab (Eminence Patriot Red, White & Blues), and it's loud enough to play over my friend's drums. I also split off my H2O chorus/delay pedal along with my Traynor YCV40 (which can easily be WAY TOO LOUD for practice) and it sounds good.
 
Re: Epiphone Valve Junour Head

I have mine going into a homemade 1 12 cab (Eminence Patriot Red, White & Blues), and it's loud enough to play over my friend's drums. I also split off my H2O chorus/delay pedal along with my Traynor YCV40 (which can easily be WAY TOO LOUD for practice) and it sounds good.

hmm ... i just wonder how loud it could play clean through a 112 or 212.
yesterday i tested a vox ad30 (30 solidstate watts, 10" speaker), which
was slightly not enough for band practice
 
Re: Epiphone Valve Junour Head

mine arrived today, so i'm in the valve jr brotherhood too :)

i was a little bit shocked about the size, because i thought it'd be a bit smaller.
however...
i completely screw up my living room, having, guitars cabs tubes and speakers
around and thought about posting the pic - but rather nor too ;)

positive things: low noise; great tubeamp sound and feeling; great full
clean sound at living room volume with a vintage-30 loaded 112 openback cab;
i played also using the warp factor. it sounds great through the valve jr.
no ss amp can produce that sound

negative things: stock tubes - i was too lazy to change the el84, but
i tried 4 different 12AX7 kinda tubes. the best result imo was using the jj ecc803s gold.
without this one, it lacked treble. with the stock sovtek 12ax7, the
clarity wasn't satisfying to me. so either you build in an equalizer, or use
a better set of tubes *haha*
i think an even lesser amplifying preamptube than the jj would be better, due to
full chords on a little 59n with volume pot at 10-11 starts distorting, which
is to early imo

at the end i am happy with it as practicing amp, since the tube swap.
i'm not sure if it would stand a band practice, but i will see in a week or so.
 
Re: Epiphone Valve Junour Head

Thanks Baltar !!!

I thought that this thread was too buried to ever show up again.

Glad to hear that you are liking the amp. so far.

Looking forward to your comments about the amp.'s performance in band practice.

What type of music does your band play?

Dave
 
Re: Epiphone Valve Junour Head

@greco: well, next band practice is 8 days to go. but i won't forget to post
the review. i think it could work, but i'd rather take my big combo as backup
with me ;)
we are a young band and don't have a big own rock and bluesrock repartoire.
so a lot of our time we still spend on covering songs just for fun.... we cover
songs of jimi hendrix, ac-dc(very old songs only), eagles, green day, simple minds,
dr.kurt ostbahn and sts

@Baritone: i also thought of some mods. the little boy inside me wants to
build in a GZ34 and an equalizer, but i think it's not worth the trouble.
with choice of cab and tubes, you can already build the sound you desire.

Which mods are you interested in?

/edit: that buzz issue which every mod site fixes first isn't really an issue to me.
i have 3 tube amps and the valve jr is the less noisiest of all.
 
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