Epiphone Valve Junior Combo

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.