Epiphone Valve Junior Combo

Bought it on August 5 in GC in Santa Ana. Has one volume knob - that I (and you should too) just keep at 2 pm - that's all: read on ...

BTW I used to own $750 boutique CORNFORD Harlequin class A 5W but it had BOXY sounding 12" CELESTION AND THIS HUM that's also here as it's class A, yet my THD Univalve head masterpiece doesn't have any hum :-)

I switched it ON and left it on for some 6 hours BEFORE playing it for the first time: to make sure it's really warm :-)

Immediately with all stock options I had a great class A tube sound (with a Strat and Paul ...) and then I added the H & K Tubefactor up front and then I had any sound you can possibly imagine.

My Strat Plus by Fender is well shielded so hum is low and the sound is great as others reported.

I play since 1960 and have only class A small amps like Gibson (Trace Eliot made) GA-15RV 15W 112 combo that is sweet or UNIVALVE that I use as a preamp with usualy 6V6 tube ... and then I use also small Laney LC15R as it is light and versatile ... this Epiphone fits nicely and sounds sweater than My Gibson GA-15Rv in 'sweet' pentode 5W mode
and I did NOT change tubes or the speaker.

Surely I can notice that if volume is max the speaker runs into problems yet that's not important if you play it with a pedal up front; still I may change it eventually with a very efficient design.

The tubes are fine - 5 have plenty to try (from my THD Univalve collections) so will report on that too eventually.

In summary, it's THE bluesy sound but let the amp warm up for 1 hour or even longer (I keep it ON all the time !)

It survived the slow postal shipment of 2 months across the ocean !!!

No idea. In Switzerland it's probably zero.

As I said, I am very experienced and 100% independent. Used to own Fender Prosonic combo or Marshall stack, Cronford boutique etc and many guitars ... this is a STEAL if you are baby boom guitarist who loves to play witha FEELING and if you use your SOUL rather than finger gymnastics to generate a heart-communication and express yourself artistically ... this is NOT for metal and nu kids or pop-shreders ...

Test your amp in a store and as long as the hum is not very high with a well shielded test guitar, you can safely buy one. Keep it ON for a day and then play it ... change the tubes if they are bad and plan for a different speaker eventually - that's for those like me who want an ultimate boutique-like sweet class A tube sound: this baby offers that and that's for $120ish entry-investment.


BTW, you really do NOT need a reverb as it sounds dynamic and 3D.
Loves good pedals up front (I have many and all work fine ...)

The best buy of year 2005, no doubt !

New model this year. Amp is all about tone - based on Gibson GA5. Got no features whatsoever, just one input, volume and on-off switch. Lots of other reviewers have layed this out, so won't bother covering the same ground. Sounds excellent after some upgrades - details later.

I use Ilott guitars made for me by Scott Ilott - amazing luthier from Vancouver Island - one strat style and one tele style, but way better than any Custom Shop Fender I've played. Strat style has Lollar Specials, tele has Kinmans, both excellent pickups. This amps suits my style perfectly - mostly blues and blues-flavored rock. This amp does hum a fair bit, even withthe volume turned right down, but the TONE more than makes up for it, especially after replacing the somehwat toneless tubes (Sovtek) with JJs. I ordered a Weber Sig 8 Alnico during his 8" sale he had on for the last couple of weeks. Other owners have said this makes a big difference, although it already sounds great, especially for the money. Will update after I install the Weber. I like it around 1 oclock where it breaks up just great, and you can ride the guitar volume to bring it down to a nice warm clean rythm. Now here's something else I stubmled on - I've had a BK Butler Real Tube pedal kicking around in my closet for awhile. It's an o.k. pedal (apparently Billy G likes them a lot) but it just wasn't matching up with my other gear. But with the little Epi it's a match made in tone heaven. I replaced the original 12ax7 in the Real Tube pedal with a 12at7 to make it more usable, and with the Epi it's like having an added tone stack and an estra preamp - sounds great and makes the amp even more useful. Highly recommended!

I don't gig with this, except in a restaurant/club setup in a duo. I think it would sound fine miked up though, might try it sometime. Will definitely bring it along as backup for my Traynor YCV40, although probably won't need it - the Traynor has been bulletproof.

Haven't had occasion to deal with them - the thing seems built really well.

Been playing 45 years. Would buy again - in fact, liked it so much, I bought 4! (Cheap enough for gifts).

Volume knob. 5 watts.

Iv'e owned/own and really like the following amps. 72 Marshall SL. Marshall 1959 reissue. 64 blond bassman. Sovtek mig 50. Traynor bassman (owned 3)

Out of the many amps I've owned, these are the ones that tickle my fancy. I also owned a Dr Z ghia which was cool and worth the original sticker of around $500 but I believe they are $800 now which is way more than I would pay for that amp.

It just so happens that all of the above amps happen to have a few things in common, No master volume. No built in effects or reverb and all tube. Well, I am happy to report that the little 1x8 Epiphone Valve Junior has made it to my all time favorite amps.

This is early Led Zep, This is ACDC. This is dynamic, soulful, crunchy, nasty badass guitar tone and at $120 shipped it is not only insane, it is the all time best value of anything ever made period. It's built like a little rock.

If you know what good rock guitar tone is and you know how to use it.. this is the shit buttttttt...

.... keep in mind that the amp is only half of the equation. This amp sounds incredibly rude (that's good) with certian guitars like my deArmond SG copy but my cheap OLP AXIS copy, which sounds great with certian amps does not match up all that great with the valve Jr.

There are a million differnt pickups/guitars combinations.. I've only tried about 5 with this amp.. Three of them sounds super, the other two sounded ok.

The chassis is such a simple design that is should last a life time but even if it breaks.. just spend another $100 and buy another, you cheap bastard.

Playing for over 20 years. If It were stolen, I'd buy another in a heart beat. Infact I'm buying another anyway.

Many people are convinced they have to go out and spend $600-$1000 on a tiny Dr Z or Bad Cat combo to get good sound. For that amount of money it better sound good, damn good! The incredible thing about this amp is the sound you get for the price of a nice pair of shoes.

The only thing I hate about this amp is thinking about the slave labor involved in producing this thing.

There are not an abundance of features just a volume knob and power switch. There is a jack to plug the speaker in or use other speaker cabinets. However, it is great tube amp with a well-built chassis. It is all tube with the exception of a solid-state rectifier.

My rating is for the original set-up, I have changed tubes and speaker and it does make a noticeable difference. The amp in its stock format is a wonderful buy. It did not make every guitar sound great and is on the noisy (hum) side especially as you crank up the volume. My ?noiseless? strat did not sound too good but my Muddy Waters Tele sounded great and so did my Byrdland. My Gibson Les Paul with the Burst Buckers was only passable. However, I really found it fun to play without effects and was surprised that I did not miss reverb! I ALWAYS have needed reverb! It won?t do high gain stuff, strictly a crunch affair. Again, in its stock form it is a great little practice amp at an unbelievable price!

I have made 3 changes to this amp, preamp tube (GT-12AX7-Mullard), power tube (JJ Ruby Tube EL84CZ), and a Jensen P8R alnico 4 ohm speaker. I made each change one at a time and no single change made all that much difference. However, all together this thing sounds great!!! The preamp tube gave a little less, but a warmer, more useable distortion. The power tube gave a little more ?headroom? and eliminated an annoying micro-phonic sound that occasionally reared its head, while the speaker eliminated the ?pignose? sound and made the amp sound much bigger. In all honesty, the changes DID NOT improve the noisy ?hum.? The sound of the thing now seems to make noise less noticeable while playing?go figure. The amp is so much more professional sounding and ALL of my guitars sound excellent now and I can?t stop playing through it!!!!! All this for an additional hundred bucks. For $225 I can?t think of a better tube amp value!

The chassis is built like a tank!! The electronics look well done on its board. I don?t expect the volume pot to last all that long but we will see.

Don?t know and for 119 ?spankies? I doubt that I would pursue any problems under the warrantee.

Been playing for 20 years and have played through lots of guitars and amps. I have owned entirely too many!! But by looking at this forum, I see that I am not alone! Prior to the changes, it probably would have lost its appeal and started gathering dust. I had planned on building a vintage champ out of this one but not now. It will be used regularly as my practice amp and I will mike it and pipe into the PA for live application to get a gutsier sound. Thanks for reading and I hope this helps you in you decision making process! Remember that gear is only a small part and this amp takes the focus off gear and puts it where it should be, playing!!!!!

Wow, I thought, so totally cool....a jack and a volume knob and that's it! Can't go too wrong with that--the knob doesn't even have numbers! ...5 watts, perfect. And it's really nice-looking too. I'm looking for a practice amp that will let me drive the tubes--I have a 15-watt Ampeg, but it's just too loud at the point where it really starts sounding great...much too loud for home, too loud for band practice too. So I wanted a low-watt amp. And I came across the Valve Junior.

Sound...well, first I'll speak about tone --and I LOVE the tone of this amp. Got that nasty, dirty, overdriven tube tone I'm looking forward. Love the way the speaker starts to huff and puff when it's cranked past 12 o'clock. I found that I liked it best around 2 o'clock...much past that and it just went into more distortion than I like. And all this at tolerable volume levels --and that's my goal with the 5 watt amp. I don't need to shake the foundations of the house (and I want to keep my hearing too). The 'clean' sound was quite nice too...definite bluesy, tubesy tone there. With a better speaker, this amp would be great.

But noise? Ah, man was I disappointed! Maybe it's because I had a 230 volt version, and maybe they're different from the 110v amps, but the amp was just too damn noisy...as soon as you get to 12 o'clock or so, the hum (BUZZZZZZZ!) starts in, and just gets worse as you dial up the knob. Actually the noise is present at lower levels, but it's less annoying there. Ah shit, I'm thinking, no, that's not fair...but there's no way I can use this amp with that kind of noise going on (and before you ask, no, there was nothing plugged into the amp, this was the noise from the amp itself).

So basically the only way I could keep the amp was if I played it at 9 -10 o'clock or so...WTF? Sorry, but I have two other tube amps sittin here (my Ampeg and a Music Man 65), both have their 'character', but nothing that I'd qualify as noise...

Anyway, I plugged the Valve Junior into the Music Man's (2x10) speakers...this helped reduce the noise level a little, so I suspect part of the problem lies in that little speaker. Still, it was much too noisy through the 2x10s...and besides, the whole point of the amp is that it's so easy to carry, I don't want to carry an extra cabinet to band practice. Anyway, it does sound even better through the Music Man, of course, much more definition to the sound, which makes sense.

Did I just get a bum unit? I sent this one back to the dealer, he checked it out, then checked out the other Valve Juniors in his shop --they ALL made that noise, he said. At least he agreed to give me my money back.

But what do I do now? I mean, I really liked the tone of this one...just wish it was so damn noisy...I'd be tempted to switch out the tubes, sure...but by the time I got done doing that, and changing the speaker, I could buy a much better built amp...the whole point of this one is that it's CHEAP!

So for the rating, I'm giving it 4 --that's a 9 for tone and a big fat 0 for the noise

Well, considering this brand new amp made this much noise, I wouldn't get my hopes up people.

On my amp, the volume knob was already pretty scratchy--there was a lot of noticeable noise when using that.

Oh yeah, I took off the back panel (shh, don't tell)...for some reason they glued a thin wood veneer behind the panel, don't know why because it looks like cheap pine. When I was taking the panel off, there much been some glue runout because pulling the panel off pulled off a chunk of the veneer...sheesh!

Inside, things looked nice and nice. The solder on the speaker terminals looked kind of dodgy.

Otherwise, the outside of the amp is nicely done, looks great, feels sturdy.

I'd planned on taking the amp to band practice but not to gig with. Who knows how long it would have held up?

I wrote to Gibson/Epiphone right away about the noise problem...I ended up receiving emails from three different people from their European unit --a couple of customer service reps and a tech service guy. They were very nice about it, and very quick to answer emails, but ultimately couldn't help me.

So I'll give them a 6 for the friendly attitude.

I've been playing off (mostly off) and on for a couple of decades. I only started getting serious about the guitar last year, and I've been spending time figuring out what gear I like, the kind of sound I want, etc. Mostly I play a Fender MIJ Strat and my old Melody Maker (now restored with an original single coil), and a "Fender" Telecaster partscaster--all sounded great through the Valve Junior. I'm looking forward to picking up an LP Jr too.

Like I said, I'm really disappointed by the Jr's noise...I'm going to have a look around at the stores in the area, maybe I'll find another one --this time I'll want to test it in the store...if there's less hum, I'd buy it.

In the meantime, I'm still looking around for that perfect 5 watter...

One volume control, one channel. Great pure and authentic tube sound without having a chance to make a bad guitar player sound good. The sound is only made with your fingers and hopefully a good guitar.
I replaced the Sovtek 12ax7 with a EH 12ax7 and the Sovtek el84 with the Tesla JJ el84. What a difference!!!
I'll change the speaker next week with a Jensen P10R 4 Ohm. (It fits!) The 8" speaker sounds okay but it breaks up suddenly at higher volumes. Another little change I made was covering the amp with Tweed (what a damned fu***** job!!!) It took me some hours of boiled blood, sticky fingers and lots of beer. But now it looks really great. Real 50's style! The only thing that still looks a little cheap is the on/off switch. (I'll sure change it, too)
I bought this little devil for 149 Euros two weeks ago here in Germany and the modifications took me about a 150 Euros more.

I do not give a 10 rating for it, because I must recommend to replace some parts to make it sound that good. But have you ever seen a brand new Fender Champ or Gibson Goldtone for less than a 300 bucks??? And don't believe, that this amp is a cheap made woodbox with crap in it. It's heavier than it looks like and real solid made.

I use this amp with an Epiphone-295 P90, a Gretsch 6120 and a Hoyer Cat-FG 345 style. Mostly (Scotty Moore) fingerpicking with a little echo and reverb. I know that 5 watts seem to be really quiet but your neighbourhood tears you up when playing it at high volumes.
I play different kinds of blues, mostly rockabilly and jazz. Whatever you play, the tone comes from your fingers and your Guitar. The amp does sound good with any kind of pickup but it's not made for distorsion music or something like this. There are cheaper solid state amps for that kind of music.
Up to 10 o'clock it works nearly clean, up to 1 o'clock it breaks up smoothly, after that the Speaker seems to be overloaded. So, go and get you a Jensen Alnico.
This change is really necessary I believe.

I used it for a few little gigs at Diners without PA and of course at studio sessions. It works fine at small places and if you put a microphone in front of it, you'll be able to make bigger gigs, too.
For real big gigs I use my Fender Bassman but who wants to carry this damned heavy amp. I have to! So I'll try to play most of my gigs with the Junior over PA.

5 years of warranty!!! I hope I don't need to use it.
I had a few questions about this amp, so I wrote some E-Mails to Epiphone. I never got a reply!!!

I rock houses since I'm 18 and that is about 16 years now. For my music-style, this little tube-amp is great. Play blues, slide, be-bop, rockabilly, anything else! It works fine with this gear. A rich, mellow tone outta good and solid made tube amp. I ordered a second one for my harp player! He was surprised about price and quality, and the sound of course. Sure he needs to replace some parts, too.

And that's the point: You have to try some other tubes, maybe another speaker and you'll find "your" tone, I promise.
I would sure buy it again, if some crapneck would steal it. But I think, Epiphone is gonna make it more expensive in a few month. So I'll be careful with it.

It is the sound of a 5 watt class A that attrack me. One volumn, one input and the on off switch. The simplest essence of a true sound. Like most of the high end audios: preamp, DA converter, power amp, there is no EQ, sound effects. So the choice is whether you like their characterist sound or not. Take a closer look, the craftmanship is no way inferior than those American-made at the same price range. On the contrary I am pleased of how it's made. So there is absolutely nothing wrong it is made in China. Period.

It is new out of the box and has not been fully break in yet. Let alone replacing it with JJ El84 and EH 12AX7. I am sure there will be a good improvement in sound. Nice warm break up when volume past one O'clock at a bearable sound level. I enhance the sound with a Robert Keeley compressor and a Java Boost. I'm truely satisfied coz in respect of distortion Valve Junior sings better than my Marshall JCM 900 4102, or TS9+ Boogie Subway Blue or Blue Driver+ Deluxe Reverb. For they have never been pushed to their extremes. So that is why a low wattage amp is my preference in my situation. It is always Gibson drives better than Fender. You won't hear the hum when it is played. My Subway Blue hums much louder but the sweet sound is still there. So hum is not a main issue to me.
I have ordered a Kingsley 1-3 watts Deluxe 1 amp which is far superior than the Valve Junior but it cost ten times much. What can I say:-)

Just 2 days and it is still going. Shouldn't be a problem in fixing when it fails as it is in a simple form of design.

3 years under warranty or 5, not sure though

Under two hundred dollars, I'm sure you can never be able to find one better than this. Test ride one before it is gone. You'll pay more to get a Old Univox, Fender Champ. As one previous reviewer says, there are not many shops will stock this. I'll take it to a small jam session and see how it goes.

Epiphone Valve junior Combo with volume knob, metal input jack and speaker out jack. Single channel combo with all tube class a circuitry.

I have a mexi strat, 1976 Telecaster and a 1965 Melody Maker modified with a Seymor Duncan Humbucker ala Pat Travers. This is a fun little amp with great tube vibe! I love the great low volume blues sound. It allows you to express your individual playing style without muddying the sound in a way that most solid state amps do.

This amp rocks with humbuckers from about 1 o'clock on and sings and shimmers with single coils at all volume levels. By keeping the amp volume cranked up and controlling the volume on the guitar you can really control the tonality and distortion. It sounds very close to the the Gibson GA-5 for a fraction of the price even though you can't really compare this Chinese made amp to the beautiful American, hand crafted Gibson which uses better parts and has a better out of the box sound. The simularities are striking however giving you about 90% of the sound for 25% of the price.

I have a Peavey Delta Blues, 1976 Silver Face Fender Champ, 1962 Alamo Capri and Fender Pro Junior. The Peavey and Fender Pro Junior sing at higher volumes while the Alamo and Fender Champ are more suited to low volume practice sessions. The Epiphone is a nice alternative to the higher volume overdriven tubes amps and the lower volume tube amps in a prctice setting. The Epiphone is just right!

This amp while stil new (4 months old) has been dependable it is really just a practice or recording amp.

I have been playing guitar for about 25 years and have had 16 amps during this time period. The Epiphone used for its intended purpose is a great little amp. Without breaking the bank, offending the spouse and neighbors you can have a great time exploring it's tonal qualities. This is a highly recommended product and I would replace it in a second if it were lost or stolen. This is the best small practice amp on the market for under $200.00, period!

My appologies for hijacking a review but I am about to buy a Valve Jr and reading the reviews there seems to be a lot of confusion regarding what this amp does and how it can be modified to improve sound and I'd like to answer a few questions posed by reviewers of this product.

This amp has 1 volume control. If you wanted more controls why buy this one and then complain? With amp design "more is less"...Zen?

The amp has two valves (tubes) one valve (the 12ax7 also called ECC83) which is actually two "valves" in one package and one output valve (the EL84) This amp runs in class 'A' as the output valve amplifies both the positive and negative sides of the waveform (sound). It has to, as there is the only valve doing the amplifying!

There seems to be confusion as to what is Class 'A', Class "AB1" or Class "AB2" This is only relevant for amps with two output valves. One output valve can only run in Class "A". Class "A" is only achievable all of the time with a single ended output ie; one valve.(I won't confuse the issue with exceptions)

Many manufacturers claim Class "A" using 2 output valves because they are using cathode bias..there is a lot of argument over this amongst tech heads and it doesn't really matter one way or another. Whether class "A" is better or worse than class "AB" is a subjective thing. You decide what sound you prefer. 2nd harmonic distortion (nice sounding) is more prevalent with single ended designs but so is hum...more on this later.

Biasing when changing valves. There is no need to rebias this amp when changing valves (you can't anyway without adjusting the cathode circuit and you need a soldering iron to do that). Just buy a new valve and plug it in.

You have to use an EL84 as the output valve but there are a number of alternatives for the 12ax7 (Ecc83)..common ones are 7025 (military version), 12au7 - less gain, 12at7 - less gain, 12ay7 - less gain. They all have their own sound so experimentation is the key. There are many 9pin valves that look similar but are different inside so be careful. If in doubt don't!! I recommend a trip to you local music shop and ask to try out some alternatives.

Hum...Most users have reported a reasonable amount of hum and said "that's what you expect with a tube amp" This is not strictly true. Changing to a different brand of valve may reduce hum due to schielding/current gain/amplification factor which all vary with each manufacturer's design (and sometimes manufacturing tolerances). To reduce the amount of hum present my suggestion would be to modify the heater circuit to run DC to both the tubes and look at shielding some cables and/or moving the mains transformer to the bottom of the box if the layout is a problem. All of these things will reduce the hum and also void warranty!!

Loudspeakers will change your sound and how "loud" it sounds due to loudspeaker sensitivity (this is given as spl level @ 1watt 1 meter) A 5 watt amp with a speaker with 98db 1 watt/1 meter efficiency will be twice as loud as the same amp with a speaker with 95dB 1 watt/1 meter. (3dB is twice the amount)As this amp only has 5 watts be careful when changing the speaker that it doesn't loose too much volume. Generally a good sounding speaker will not be the most sensitive unless you start spending more than this amp cost in the first place. Do you know the specs of the speaker supplied with the amp for comparison?

Happy hunting!!

Once you modify the amp you are on your own. Stick to the tube types recommended unless you know what you are doing. Once you start soldering all warranty is void. There are lethal voltages inside a valve amp even when turned off. I don't recommend you open up your amp unless you are experienced at this sort of thing.

I've been playing for over 30 years. Have a couple of guitars and a couple of amps including a homebrew 14 watt which has been finished many times over the last 15 years....but there is always just one more mod to try. (It's actually my playing that needs the mod not the amp!)

Brand new, Epiphone Valve Junior. All tube. It couldn't get any simplier. One volume knob and one input. I've always seemed to be able to get more tones out of amps with fewer knobs. This still hold true for the Valve Junior. The volume knob works like the knob on an old Fender, in that it controls tone as it controls volume too. Picked this up at everyone's favorite corporate guitar mega mart. I would have bought it from a small shop, but not many people seem to stock these. I'll be using it for my home playing, as well as some live harmonica playing.

Sounds unbelievable! This is the tube sound I had been looking for in new amps! I once owned a Fender Blues Deluxe, hoping to achieve that old, Fender tweed tube sound. Unfortunately, the new Fenders just don't cut it. Too midrangy, with way too much un-natural gain. Now that this has come along, I couldn't be happier.

The Valve Junior has that perfect, 50's era Fender tweed tone. Anything on 8-12:00 on the volume dial gives you some nice, clean, sparkle. Once you push it past 12:00, the sound fattens, and the tubes begin to overdrive. This is where I like it.

I normally use a 54' Fender Tweed Pro, and I just needed something for home use, as well as a live harmonica amp. This will do just fine for both applications. I'm sure this will be used in my next recording session as well, as the tone is just too sweet to pass up. For $120, it's worth every penny. Why bother with an overpriced old Champ, when you can get one of these new?

One thing I did do was upgrade the tubes, which made a HUGE difference. Replaced the Sovtek EL84 with a JJ tube, and also replaced the Sovtek 12ax7 with a Groove Tubes 12ax7 that I had laying around. Definitely made a huge difference, and it got rid of that tinny, cheap Russian tube sound that the Sovteks have.

Anyway, I have yet to apply my guitar effects pedals to it. I'm sure they'll sound just fine with it. I just couldn't help listening to the natural tone, so I played it by itself for hours with just my Les Paul plugged into it.

So far, so good. It's old technology in a new package. Seems plenty sturdy, and I've had no problems as of yet. Any tube amp is fragile, so it needs to be babied a bit.

This is my first Epiphone product. Hopefully I'll never have to deal with any CS.

Great amp, great price. I've been playing for long enough to be a tone fanatic. And this one does it for me. It sounds as good as a 50's era tube amp, but yet, it's got a style all it's own. I'd definitely get a replacement if it got stolen. Some people might balk over the lack of features, but in my opinion, it doesn't need anything else. It's great tone in a cheap, small package.