Epiphone Valve Junior Combo

Brand new 2005 Epi Valve Junior amp, 5 watts through an 8" Epi speaker with a Sovtek 12AX7 and EL84 tube in the guts. Class A single circuit, but not hand-wired (at this price, are you kidding me?) Nice touch with the detachable power cord and metal corners. About 13" tall, so it won't tower over your Stonehenge setpiece. Sorry to burst the features rating bubble, but c'mon, it's got an input, a knob, and an on/off switch. Bare bones if there ever was one; the amp equivalent to a Telecaster.

I tested (and yielded to) the charms of this little lump of Chinese Class A amplification at the local big-box-retail-guitar-o-rama-center the other day and couldn't help but be impressed. I knew while plugging in that there was no reverb, no EQ, no headphone jack, nothing but an input, a knob, and an on/off switch. But I've been keen to get an amp I could easily move around, didn't have a ton of knobs to reset when my 2 year old daughter would decide to be my engineer, and most of all something with tubes and tone that wouldn't cost me more than a car payment. Sure, I would've loved that Victoria 5 watt amp or Bad Cat Mini Cat unit, but that's $700+!

I plugged a maple necked American Strat, humbucker equipped Paul, (which third guitar would best complete the holy trinity of electric guitar: Discuss.) and a DeArmond loaded Gretsch hollowbody into this baby at the store. This amp takes a few minutes to get warmed up, but once it's toasty and purring, this amp begins to reveal it's subtle charms. Between the 7 and 11 position, it's just a straight forward amplification of the wood, strings, andd electronics of your guitar. Rolling past 11 until 2 begins to bring out nuances of your picking, attack, and fingers. From 2 to 6, it's time to break out the liquor, put the kids to bed, and just groove on the overdriven break up that comes with juicing tubes at maximum power. While not subtle enough to max out each guitar's individual characteristics, I could enjoy the hollowbodied thump of my Gretsch for some roots rock, my Strat's single coils danced a bit more, and my Paul was a little more soulful than through the hybrid Vox I've had for the past three years.

Don't kid yourself; this amp is an awesome practice model, or mike it up and record some killer tracks, maybe even a small, quiet gig where you're 50% of the sound. But don't buy this amp thinking you're taking it on the road or to compete with a drummer. That's why they make 50 watt heads and 4x12 cabinets.

Okay, I just bought it yesterday, so I can't rate reliability just yet but I will say that it looks tough enough. Pop off the back and swap in new tubes if they burn out, otherwise, just go buy another one while they're this cheap. Unlike most things made in China, this is not a complete peice of cheap crapola. If someone could make an amp in America this nifty and not charge 4 to 5 times what Epiphone sells this one for, I'd buy it. Wait a minute, they did! Back in the 60's, and now guys on eBay want you to drop $100+ on old no-name Champ clones that went for $30 a few years ago. Thanks, free market!

Cannot comment as I have not contacted the gigantic-behemoth-corp that is Gibson/Epiphone regarding this product. If you can't fix it, parts it out or use it as a step stool.

5 year warranty on the cabinet, 90 days on tubes and speaker. (Disparity if I've ever seen it: they'll care for a box twenty times longer than the pieces that make it useful?!)

For the money, this is an insanely good deal. Sure, you could buy the aforementioned vintage cheap-o 5 watt Champ clones that now sell for as much as the Epi Valve Junior, but this is brand new, at least has a warranty, and it won't be DOA. This is precisely what I wanted: something I can just plug and play without dragging around a larger, heavier amp. My house is small and I have a wife, a 2 year old girl, and assorted animals that aren't that as keen on guitar, so I need something that won't cause domestic duress but isn't a laughably poor mini amp ("Dude! My battery powered Marshall mini stack just roars! This thing is coooooool!" Okay, Grasshopper, time to put down the Mountain Dew and stop listening to Creed).

If I need more power, I'll just disconnect the speaker line, use it as a head and drive it into the Vox Cambridge with a 10" Celestion Bulldog that is now tucked away in a closet until I get my guitar room.

Little wonders like these were the amps your dads cut their teeth on after the Beatles landed in America. Turned up and miked right, these babies cut the blues on lables all over the land. Paired with a great guitar, it's easy to just cut loose and spend some time getting acquainted with how well you can play music.

As another reviewer stated, this is tone boot camp; if you can't play well with just a guitar and a little class A 5 watt amp, nothing will help you. And if you're like me and can barely play well with a guitar and just this amp, this Epi will make you a better player.

Plain and Simple = 1 volume control. This is a small practice amp, so that's all it needs. They don't add in a bunch of knobs and features that you don't need in a practice amp, just to jack the price up. Oh yeah, and it's a Class A Tube Amp for $119. It's hard for me not to give this amp a 10 for features considering the price, but nothing's perfect.

Let me just begin here by saying that I can not believe that you can get a tube amp which sounds this good for $119. I can't figure out how they can make this amp for $119, the price of labor in China must be absolutely dirt cheap. My main amp is a Hot Cat 30, and since I got this little epiphone valve junior, the Bad Cat has not gotten nearly as much play time as it normally does. Don't get me wrong, comparing the two is like apples and oranges. But the epiphone has seriously impressed me. Out of the box, it does sound a little murky and dark. But I like to tinker, so here's what I did. I replaced the stock Sovtek tubes with a 60's RCA 12ax7($12 ebay) and an old mullard el84($23 ebay). Next, I replaced the stock speaker with an 8 inch weber alnico(about $45, but you can get a nice jensen on ebay for around $25). NOW THIS THING ROARS!!! So for under $200 I have a sweet amp. Not that it sounds bad out of the box, the stock speaker didn't sound too bad once I changed the tubes. Those Sovteks just didn't do anything for it. I agree with the review below that this amp needs a good 20 minutes to warm up to where it sounds good, but it's worth waiting for. I play a Melancon Vintage Artist and the single coils really sound sweet thru this amp. I suspect that humbuckers would sound nice too. There was a slight hum out of the box, but it seems to have almost gone away after changing the tubes. I think this is a pretty well designed circuit, with a lot of tonal versatility which you can access via the volume control on your guitar. Amp seems to like pedals. It sounds better with the back panel removed too, brings out even more thick overtones which sound nice when playing lead; also it seems to growl a little brighter on the low end. It does break up and overdrive nicely, but that's the benefit of Class A.

This is another amazing aspect of this amp, it's well built!! Nice big cabinet, metal corners, smooth tolex, solid handle, BIG transformers for an amp this size, tube shield for the 12ax7 and spring holder for the el84, and a removable power cord. If you ignore the fact that it's a PCB and not hand wired, construction wise this amp isn't far off from the expensive boutique amps that go for around a grand. Of course these amps are new, so it remains to be seen how they hold up over time. But here's something important: I bought mine online from MF, free shipping, no tax, and I could return it with no hassle if it was crap. These amps are not well packaged for shipping. They ship in a big-ol cardboard box, but the only thing holding the amp in place inside the box was about 6 pieces of cardboard the size of a TV remote. And they didn't do a very good job as I found them under the amp all bent up, so the amp was basically loose and flopping around inside this box. But it still worked fine. Point is, take your chances with having it shipped or go buy one locally that you can test before buying. But after making it here from China with that kind of packaging, and then to work right out of the box, I think it's pretty reliable.

HMMM..... I get the feeling that I may be on my own here. It would have been nice if they had included a schematic, or made one readily available. I think the best aspect of customer service with this amp may be that if it blows up, I'm not out a lot of coin. Probably cheaper to replace a broken one than to have it serviced.

OK, here's the bottom line on this amp. It's the most amp you're gonna get for $120 new or used. If you wanna style it out a bit, then do like I did and drop $80 into it and have an awesome little amp. Most of the time when you buy music gear you're lucky if you don't get ripped off, and if you actually get your money's worth then the Gods of Tone are truly smiling on you. This amp is one of the ultra-rare instances when you get more than you pay for!!! Go buy one before epiphone finds some way to make this amp more profitable and screws this amp up.

2005 VJ
Exactly what I had been looking for in a practice amp.
Simplicity itself, like early guitar amps: A volume control. Period. Perfect.
Specs already stated.

I have used this with humbuckers so far, it will get the Stratocaster treatment soon, though. I play mainly blues, jump blues, swing, classic R&B, bigband, soul and early R&R, plus a bit of jazz. at about 1:00, the amp just sings, any higher and the grit expands nicely. everything can be controlled from the guitar pots (which is why they are there, isn't it?)
The amp really needs to warm up for about 20-30 minutes. Up until then it will sound like a cheap SS practice amp...but once its warm...time to go!
My only issue is that the speaker sounds stiff. I did not expect it to sound like a 12", but it just seems a bit constrained unless the amp is pushed all the way out. Maybe it needs some 'excersize', maybe not. Time will tell.

Appears very well made. Metal corners are a nice touch.

Service from OEMs is nearly always a nightmare, but for the $120 I'd just order another one and keep this one for spare parts...warranty already noted below

My harmonica player was so taken with the sound of this amp he ordered himself one. As I noted, I wanted a low wayyage amp for rehearsals. I had looked at the Epi Galaxie, but was put off by the sound, too harsh. I looked at the Gibson LP Jr. Goldtone...but the price was ridiculous. I don't need point to point for rehearsals, and I don't need an expensive amp to just leave at the rehearsal location. This thing is plenty loud in a small room, and once it starts to cook, it has the right sound for me.

I have a '64 BF Vibrolux Reverb, two Blues Juniors and a Marshall V65R Valvestate. I gig rooms with the BJs, outdoor gigs with the Vibrolux. Occasional side rock projects with the Marshall. I have several guitars, '74 Stratocaster, '62 Melody Maker, '72 SG, a '03 ES135LE, and a '02 Epiphone Alley Kat, etc. I have not run all of these into the VJ, but eventually that will happen. So far the Alley Kat and the Es135 sound great through it.

As below (i.e. zero sound features). But it is a beautifully designed and solidly-built (it's HEAVY for a 5-watter) little bastard. The level of detailing from the excellent covering to the gorgeous grill cloth with the white piping to the metal corners and quality handle is amazing for the price. This thing should be going for closer to $400 like the little Gibson LP.

I run my Dan U2 RI through it, and my Variax 300. I also play harp: Chromatic, Golden Melody, Pro, Lee Oskars through a Blues Blaster/Astatic.

For newbies, you gotta understand this a real pure Class A amp: no hyped top end, no Jimi EFX, no channels or tremolo or reverb. It's all about tone. In fact, this is tone boot camp. To the novice, this will seem very dark and dull played clean. To the pro, you'll love the warmth and response in the clean zone. And pros also know all the bells and whistles you need can go on in the final mix. Much better to record clean and build your sound to the record.

The mid crunch is complex and brings a new round of bright overtones into the sound. Really gorgeous and punchy, with surprising low end for an 8" speaker. That's the smart cabinet design: it's deep and a good size to build bottom. Just add a touch of delay and you'll swear you're Luther Allison in the Chess studios and Little Walter is soloing over there.

When you start to rip on it (around 1 to 2 o'clock) all hell breaks loose. Fantastic intense overtone-rich lead tones.

For harp, it sounds pretty much like what Little Walter played on. He loved little 6-8" speaker Class A amps. Okay, that's all he had available, but who's counting? Just add some echo, crank yer chromatic up in Dm, amp up to say 11:30 o'clock, and you can do Blue Lights in style, baby. This is great harp recording amp. 'Nuf said.

It's a tank. Made in Commie China like everything else on Earth. Has full tube retention supports. Who needs vintage when they make stuff like this new???

Never talked to Gibson/Epi. Warranty is full 5-year parts and labor, though only 90-days on tubes and speaker. Fair enough.

I'm an old pro, and all I can say is: this thing is astonishing for $100 new (got it at Guitar Center on July 4th--I said, "Hey, it's July 4th!" and they knocked off the $19). To some kid, they probably wouldn't know what to do with it, but to me, I'm gonna stick a 57 in front of it, run it into Tracktion2, crank up my 37 vintage guitars courtesy of Line 6, blow some nasty harp and recreate the entire Chess catalog. And that's just for starters.

How the heck does Gibson expect to sell the GA-5 when they make this little gem way prettier, more solid, sounding at least as good, and, oh yeah...$400 cheaper???

new,one volume pot on/off switch.5 watts through 1-12ax7sovtek,and 1-el-84 sovtek.simple vintage circuit on a p.c.b. exiting a 8"-4ohm speaker.versatility was not the intent here.retro tone baby!

now,i bought this with the intent to tweek the tone a bit.out of the box,i feel it has too much gain.(for a vintage box)i changed the speaker to a jensen c8r ceramic ($25),jj el84 ($8.50),rca 12ay7($13)which allows more headroon before a super authentic vintage crunch!

appears to be built like a tank.

5years-90dayspeaker/tubes no service req'd

'72 reissue thinline tele,'57 reissue l/p jr.-most tone for the buck.i would highly recommend this to all vintage fans!

I liked the idea of a cheap tube amp for practice, recording and teaching. Having only a volume knob means there's less to go wrong.

I'm using the amp with a Fat Strat and a Standard Strat. I play mainly classic rock, blues, and country. The amp is a little noisy but nothing I can't live with. I've heard it's an easy fix and may try this soon. I'm probably going to swap out the stock power tube for something that will give me a little more clean headroom. Right now it breaks up between 4 and 5. The overdrive is nice and much smoother IMO than the Galaxie 10, which I also owned briefly.

Only had it a week.

Haven't had to deal with them but it has a 90 day warranty on tubes and speakers, 5 year on workmanship.

I've been playing for about 20 years and have other amps such as a Fender DR II and a Peavey Classic 30. Also a Johnson J-Station taht I use to record. I would definitely buy another if it were lost or stolen, in fact I may buy another anyway to run in stereo. For the price it can't be beat, much nicer IMO than comparably priced SS amps.

2005 Epiphone Valve Jr., 5 watts, Class A, 1 12AX7 & 1 EL84, so it won't cost a fortune to retube! Only 1 knob and 1 channel, so this amp gets more overdriven tone as you crank it up. The overdrive/distortion on this amp is quite a bit warmer, and less harsh than the recently discontinued Epiphone Galaxie 10(which I also own). I'd venture say that this amp would be great for blues and classic rock ect..., but stear clear if you want nu metal tone right out of the box. If you want hi gain( ala Mesa Boogie) or reverb, you'll have to get it with pedals. Also, the Valve Jr. seems to have better bass response with its little 8in. speaker than the Galaxie 10 has with its stock 10 in. Celestion tube 10 speaker. I was surprised because the Valve Jr's speaker looks to be some no name chinese Epi speaker. The amp might fair better with a speaker upgrade, but it sounds great as is too. The clean tone is warm on this amp, but it's not quite as clean as the Galaxie 10 , or what I recognize more as a Fenderish clean tone(might be due to the EL84 instead of 6L6 tube). It's only 5 watts so you can't expect tons of clean headroom. Black vinyl type covering is quite nice, as are the black metal corners, and wheat colored grill. I looked at a little Vox Brian May amp recently, and was disgusted by the plastic corner protectors. Thanks Epiphone for making an affordable amp sans plastic corners & input jack ! Metal is good! Tone-wise, I noticed that this amp's stock tubes are actually very useable compared to what came in the Galaxie 10. I'll only retube this thing when the stock tubes die. The Valve Jr. doesn't have a ton of features, but the features that it does have work well.

I've tested the Valve Jr. with a G&L George Fullerton Strat(single coils), Gibson LP Custom(Rio Grande hums), PRS CE24(hums) Fender MIM tele(single coils), Epiphone Dot Deluxe(hums),and they all sounded great. This is the type of amp that highlights the tonal characteristics of each type of guitar quite well. I was surprised that even cranked, the 8in Epi speaker could handle the bassier tones of my LP. Not a whole lot of tonal variety or clean headroom with only 1 knob and 5 watts, just GOOD tube tone. This amp could be spiced up with some pedals.

5 year warranty on the amp and 90 days on the speaker & tubes. I just got it last week, so it's hard to say how it will hold up. It seems very solid though.

I haven't ever dealt with epiphone before, but they've been around forever.

I've been playing guitar for 13 years. I have some acoustic and electric guitars,various amps, a bass, and drums. I bought the Valve Jr. as a practice and recording amp. I also purchased an Epiphone Galaxie 10 amp about a year ago. I still like the Galaxie's simplicity and low price, but must admit it HAD to have a tube upgrade to be useable(the Valve Jr. rocks right out of the box). Epiphone makes some nice budget tube amps. I like the EL84 tone of this Valve Jr. My Mesa Boogie DC-10 and the Galaxie 10 are both 6L6 based, so this amp has a different tone/vibe with the EL84. I chose this amp because it was inexpensive, had the El84 tone I've been searching for, and had a sweet retro looking cab. I think you'd have a hard time building an amp similar to this yourself for the same or less $$. At just over $100, this amp is a NO BRAINER. If you need a good low watt practice or recording amp, skip the bland modelling amps, and stop searching Ebay for that overpriced used tube amp from 30 years ago. Just order 1 of these, and you've got 45 days to decide if you like it(Music 123.com, AMS, MF ect... )and you get 90 days on tubes & speaker + Epiphone's 5 year warranty on everything else . This amp doesn't have a loads of tonal variety, but it does have good simple tube tone. Buy a few pedals with the $$ you saved from not buying a botique low wattage amp. This amp is inexpensive enough that you'll have $$ left over to buy more gear! BEST bang for your buck on a new tube amp I've seen in years.

Real Simple, again just as advertised, i don't really want to give it a low score because it is what i was looking for but it is what it is. 1 Input, a volume control, Sovtek 12AX7 Pre-Amp tube and a EL34 Sovtek Power Tube.

---I use this for a Harmonica, not Guitar---

I got the amp to replace the Frontman 25-R i have been using as my Harmonica Amp and was paleased to find a low cost tube amp made by an, at least, known brand and for 119 i was willing to give it a shot. I use a green bullet mic through a Boss GE-7 Equalizer with the low end knocked up a touch (since the amp has no equalization on it's own i always have it on) and ast low levels i get a beuatifull clear delta type sound. At first i had issues with feedback when i tried to push the levels for some crunch but replacing the Sovtek tube with a Groove Tube 12AX7-C seemed to fix that, I also tried a GT 12AU7 but it reduced the gain too far for my tastes on the already low powered amp. If you're playing large venues this would probably serve more as a practice amp for you but i find that it can push well beyond comfortable levels in a reasonable locale, of course i do play the harmonica and i find they tend to cut through the mix at lower levels.

Not too much hum for such an inexpensive tube amp, esspecailly with the new pre-amp tube so if mine is indicative then it really isn't something to worry about. I would deffiently recomend it to harmoinca players.

Owned it for three wees so i can't really comment on this except to say that it appears very well built and sturdy with quite heavy components, which i have allways felt means quality. I wouldn't drop to front screen on a mic stand from ten feet up though... defiently not sheet metal or anything just straw with some sort of sturdy plastic interwoven.

never had to deal with them, i hope not to

Overall i would call this a very good amplifier for harmonicas esspecialy considering the price although it does sound better with new tubes. If you want better you'll probably have to spend a few hundred more.

Also i was worried it would look cheap given the price but it actually looks quite good, nice and simple.

And the final measure, i would buy this little guy again if some @$#^% stole it.

Made in China, 1 volume, on/off switch. 1 Sovtek 12AX7, 1 Sovtek EL84, Epiphone 8" speaker, Class A 5 watts. Nothing fancy, just as advertised. Might be better with a tone pot, but who knows?

I played a Roue101 Strat w/Duncans and an Epiphone WildKat through this little monster. The strat had some good Blues tones out of it, but this little beast really shined with the Kat. Volumes at 3 provided super clean, dialed in jazz with the tone on the guitar. At 5 it got a little gritty, bluesy tone. All the way it was a nasty little critter that was sweet Class A overdrive. Currently I don't possess a HB equipped guitar, but I bet it would be killer, the P-90's just growled with this thing. Surprisingly loud for 5 watts.

Just got it, but seems solid enough, pretty heavy for a 5 watter.

Warranty is 5 years, 90 days on the tubes and speaker. Never dealt with them, so I can't say.

You can't beat it for the value. $119 and you get a sweet little tone monster.