the surprising valve jr...

[rashayritto]

you would be surprised how sweet a 99 dollar head and it's 200 dollar cab can sound. i'm still baffled

chinese preamp tube and sovtek power tube front ended by a Seymour Duncan Livewire Metal and a Boss 7-band EQ pedal.

i really dont see much about the valve jr on this forum aside from a few posts from me and some others. anyone wanna share some good/bad experiences? i'm gonna post some clips later today if i get to.

 

[Reload in 5]

Re: the surprising valve jr...

Just got mine. Played it last night at very low volume through the speaker in my peavey combo. Hopefully I will get to crank it tonight (still through the combo speaker though)
I have a warehouse guitar v30 copy (and a g12t75), and am going to build a cab out of birch ply. Gonna run my twin tube classic through it and see how it sounds.
have you done any mods to it yet ? I was considering the OT, and maybe a lower gain preamp tube. Just to make more clean headroom, then use the TTC for gain. But, I need to run it as is for a while, just to see if I really need / want those changes.

 

[CapoFirstFret]

Re: the surprising valve jr...

man I love my valve junior! gotta use an eq pedal or something else to brighten it up but I plan on doing some mods to fix that up a little bit so I can run it pedallless. It's an amazing head for $99. running it through my Dr. Z 2x12 at the moment, but want to snag the little 1x12 cab that goes with it eventually

 

[jeremy]

Re: the surprising valve jr...

i got the mercury magnetics transformer kit but havent put it in yet. i can only imagine it will make a big difference. its a cool little amp stock but kinda ratty sounding, even with better tubes.

 

[rashayritto]

Re: the surprising valve jr...

i personally love the "ratty" sound. It has that class A singing tone but still a real aggressive bark if you need it. very reactive to picking dynamics. I use to really crave some mods but now that i've been playing it for quite some time i think i get how to coax whatever sound i want (granted the tone is more "classic" by nature). I use this amp for metal and i only front end it with an eq pedal. Great tones ranging from 70's rock to old school metal and thrash.

apparently i'm in love so i'll stop ranting

 

[Reload in 5]

Re: the surprising valve jr...

man, we should have a valve junior Birmingham jam !

 

[rashayritto]

Re: the surprising valve jr...

man, we should have a valve junior Birmingham jam !

haha that sounds like a sweet idea! someone call epiphone so we get endorsement deals. They wont be able to retract them for our playing until after they hear us!

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: the surprising valve jr...

The Valve Jr. should be everybody's first amp. With just the volume knob it teaches you the basic fundementals of using your cranked tubes for dirt and using your guitar's volume to clean it up.

I use it for metal with my SG, straight up, no pedals, and it works okay. I mean it can't do Dying Fetus but it does a pretty good Black Sabbath and that's about as heavy as I like it these days anyway.

Get a Valve Jr. for $100, whatever random used 1x12 cab they've got for about $100, a Bad Monkey for $30 and your favorite guitar...you've got pro tone for lo-cash.

 

[Top Jimmy]

Re: the surprising valve jr...

Couple questions:

How loud is this thing?

How does it take pedals? Can you put a Plexi-tone in front of it, for example, and get a great tone?

 

[jeremy]

Re: the surprising valve jr...

its a 5w amp so there isnt much clean headroom and it isnt loud enough to gig with unless you have some seriously effiicent speakers but its got more volume than you need for bedroom practicing. some people say its not bright enough but thru the right speaker i dont think thats an issue.

i think it takes pedals fine. gotta love single ended amps!!

 

[tonedeaf1]

Re: the surprising valve jr...

I'm playing mine thru an Avatar 1x12 with a Hellatone 60 (Vintage 30) and it sounds both dull overall and kinda harsh in the high-end at the same time. I thought it might be my cheap Squier 51, but I played one thru a Vox ad30vt and it sounded much better.

 

[Reload in 5]

Re: the surprising valve jr...

OK, first impressions, jr through peavey combo 10" speaker. Sounds good, not great. Sounds like it needs EQ, but its prolly got more to do with the speaker. Get some resonance from the peavey combo. Added light drive from twin tube, got better and better, all the way to heavy drive. But it still sounds pretty good, not great. Once again, likely needs a better speaker for it (which I have) and a better cab. sounded good with a little delay in front also. Ran it guitar volume down for clean (sounds pretty stinkin good) volume up for a little drive all the way to the lead channel on the TTC for over the top. Once again, pretty good at most drive settings, really good at medium gain, from the amp only. Still needs a speaker. I know that I need to play with the TTC to get the settings right for this amp. It took a but of tweaking to get it right with my other amp (peavey SS)
Putting guitar up, I remember I was gonna try my daughters amp (a danelectro bacon and eggs)
through it. I cranked it to barely distorting, then hit the bacon. WOW, this thing absolutely smokes ! I can only imagine what the right speaker will sound like. So I may end up being a guitar, boost, amp kinda guy.
I plan to play with all the settings and eq on my other pedals to get the TTC to sound awesome also (after the speaker is broken in) but I know for sure, it screams with my daughters $7 amp in front of it.

so to summarize, $85 used valve jr, + $7 used danelectro = TONE BABY

 

[Reload in 5]

Re: the surprising valve jr...

OK, second impression. Really the same as the first, but I want to make sure you do not think that the bacon and eggs is the be all end all for a valve junior like I made it sound. It is way to bright for the amp as is. It sounded great on my really dark neck pickup on my washburn, but was too bright on any other pickup or any other guitar.
So, I played for about 20 minutes with the amp between 3/4 and full volume, and my neck pickup.

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: the surprising valve jr...

I've been considering a Valve Jr in the Combo Version. How do you think it compares head to head with the Fender Champ 600. I need to run over to the Musician's Friend store soon and pickone up. But, I worry that I'll go in wanting a Valve Jr and end up walking out with a Pro Jr or a Blues Jr.

I'd like to have the combo with the 12" extension cab.