Anybody tried the Valve Junior?

[GearJunkie]

Originally Posted by mikegee

yea, thats a good question, i'd like to know that too...

Also, since the Epiphone Valve Junior amp is so small, only 5 watts with a tiny speaker, can you possibly get tube quality sound and tone in such a little package>? if so, it defintely looks worth buying. i have a vox brian may practice amp, and its a tiny 10 watter, with a tiny speaker, and it sounds extremely tinny (i know, its supposed to in a way, being that it emulates brian mays signature tone...) but i wonder if that little tiny epiphone amp can pack a 5 watt punch worthy of listening and jamming to...

that valve junior and the vox deacy are two entirely different beasts. One's got all tube circuitry, and the other is solidstate, banking on the fact that it's got that "weird nasaly Brian Moore tone from the Deacy circuit." you're going to have two entirely tones. As much as 5 watts doesn't seem like a lot, think of it this way. With 5 watts, you can get cranked amp tones at a much lower level, resulting in an INCREDIBLE recording amp. It's amazing how some little, dinky, POS amp cranked up and miced well will outsound a full on 100 watt marshall full stack on record.

[Whoopysnorp]

I've heard clips of the Valve Junior head, and it sounds good. It runs the gamut to pretty smooth cleans to mildly crunchy tones without a boost.

[johnS]

I got the Epiphone valve junior head a month or so ago and have nothing put positive things to say about it. Sounds great, real warm tone. I bought an open-back 1x12 speaker cab and loaded a greenback in there. I can honestly say I've never been happier with my tone. Great definition on the pick attack, at it sounds -- gasp! -- like an electric guitar going through a tube amp! Very mid-rangey, very canonical guitar sound.

It really lets your guitar shine through, as well as the personality of your stomp boxes. I think having a brain-dead simple circuit is why this thing works so beautifully. It makes you look elsewhere for your tonal variations. Like the tone and volume knob on you guitar, the knobs on your pedals. These suddenly take on a much greater role in shaping your tone. I'm using a TS-808 and it sounds incredible (btw, the stomp box cost more than the head).

OK two minor downsides. One, it's probably not going be the amp you gig with. Although it gets waaaay too loud to crank up in my apartment, it probably won't compete with a drummer and a bassist with a 100 watt amp. At least not if you want any clean tones.

Other is that the 12AX7 started crackling after about a month. Very easy to replace, and the problem is now gone. I'm sure at this price point selecting good tubes is not high on the list at the Chinese factory that cranks these things out. So it's probably a bit of a crap shoot on the tubes. But swapping one out is a super easy, three minute fix (7 screws to remove the back panel).

But overall this amp is everything I was hoping it would be. For recording, this is a definite buy.

[mikegee]

Originally Posted by GearJunkie

that valve junior and the vox deacy are two entirely different beasts. One's got all tube circuitry, and the other is solidstate, banking on the fact that it's got that "weird nasaly Brian Moore tone from the Deacy circuit." you're going to have two entirely tones. As much as 5 watts doesn't seem like a lot, think of it this way. With 5 watts, you can get cranked amp tones at a much lower level, resulting in an INCREDIBLE recording amp. It's amazing how some little, dinky, POS amp cranked up and miced well will outsound a full on 100 watt marshall full stack on record.

thanx Whoopysnorp and Gearjunkie! u guys rock, that's exactly what i needed to know, now i can rock out 5 amp style cAtch ya at the grammys...

[dolivas]

Just thinking about what johnS said. Wouldn't it be cool if you got yourself like a pair of those heads or 4 and some matching cabs coupled with a guitar ab pedal that lets you route one guitar to 3 or 4 amps. Then you can have yourself a wall of Epi which can or may rival a drummer and a guitarist with a "proper" stack. I know it's overkill but it would be so offbase to see such a setup that you can probably get away with on a dime.

[GearJunkie]

Originally Posted by dolivas

Just thinking about what johnS said. Wouldn't it be cool if you got yourself like a pair of those heads or 4 and some matching cabs coupled with a guitar ab pedal that lets you route one guitar to 3 or 4 amps. Then you can have yourself a wall of Epi which can or may rival a drummer and a guitarist with a "proper" stack. I know it's overkill but it would be so offbase to see such a setup that you can probably get away with on a dime.

i've thought about that. doing a show with like 11 practice amps. the tonal options from all of those amps would be outstanding.

also:

that would be what you'd use.

[johnS]

Originally Posted by dolivas

Just thinking about what johnS said. Wouldn't it be cool if you got yourself like a pair of those heads or 4 and some matching cabs coupled with a guitar ab pedal that lets you route one guitar to 3 or 4 amps. Then you can have yourself a wall of Epi which can or may rival a drummer and a guitarist with a "proper" stack. I know it's overkill but it would be so offbase to see such a setup that you can probably get away with on a dime.

A wall of Valve Juniors would be an awesome sight.

I'm kind of embarassed to admit it, but I did order a second one a couple weeks ago. Someday I will get the stereo thing going. Plus I'm figuring Epi will change something and screw it up, or jack up the price once they realize people like it.

I bet with two of them you could compete with the rest of the band (depending on the rest of the band), although getting a clean tone would still be an issue. These heads are suprisingly loud!

[smopo24]

i'm just kinda miffed that they don't have a headphone out on them.

[Nubus]

Originally Posted by smopo24

i'm just kinda miffed that they don't have a headphone out on them.

The amp is all such a simple circuit design that a headphone out would probably just muck it up. If you wanted you could drive a set of headphones by plugging into a DI and a small mixer, but you'd need a speaker connected still.

[dagosto]

I've heard your not supposed to run a tube amp without plugging into a speaker anyways.