Epiphone Valve Junior Combo

I bought this amp as my second having played for a year, as a budget valve amp. Don't be fooled by my playing time though, I certainly know more about tone than alot of guitarists I know who are far more accomplished than me.

I'm gonna have to rate it low in this, seeing as it has barely any features, but I must also say that's its strong point. A volume knob, an input and a power switch. Single channel, obviously.

This is a purely bedroom amp, but even at 5w of valve power it's far too loud. I get shouted at if it creeps over 10 o'clock on the volume. I'd like it to have an EQ and reverb, but I've heard from modders that adding these features sucks tone and volume, so it's best off without them. Perfect Blues/Classic Rock.

Obviously, it's very limited without pedals, but the sound quality is awesome for the price. I use it with a Fender MIM Strat, for playing Blues and Classic Rock. It starts to break up around 1 o'clock, and the valve saturation is really beautiful. It goes up to about Led Zep gain with an LP, which is all I need, but remember this is flat out, and at far too high a volume for home use, so I ordered a Digitech Bad Monkey. This isn't as nice as the amp's power valve OD which is a gutsy, throaty British crunch but it certainly works as a budget overdrive pedal for home use. The setup certainly slays anything else in the pricerange that I paid for it, ??130 for the amp + pedal.

Unfortunately, the speaker can't handle the amp. It's fitted with a Weber Signature Ceramic 8, but at anything above 3 o'clock you get this horrible fizzy speaker breakup, not the pleasant breakup from a Celestion Alnico Blue, it's fizzy and harsh. I replaced the valves with a Mullard 12AT7 and JJ EL84 to calm this, as I knew some of the fizz came from the stock garbage Sovtek valves. This remedied it a little, but I'm still left with the fizzy speaker at maximum crankage. I highly recommend changing the valves to a Mullard 12AT7 and JJ EL84 if you can, they're an extremely potent combination in this amp, and if you can, go for the head + extension cab.

Never broken, absolutely perfect condition, and I crank it regularly at home. I'd advise changing the valves to a Mullard 12AT7 and JJ EL84 if you can, the stock Sovteks are low-quality, thing glass, microphonic and I would go as far as to say about half as structurally strong as the new valves.

Haven't had to deal with them, so I'm giving this a 10 as that's the best you could hope for in this area.

Been playing 2 years now. I bought this amp with the Bad Monkey overdrive as an upgrade from a Fender Frontman, and it's in a whole different world. It's so much warmer, with beautiful vintage valve tone in spades. Much better than any modelling, SS or hybrid in this pricerange. The only other alternative IMO would be the new Fender Champion 600, but they're harder to get hold of.

Great amp let down only by crappy stock valves and fizzy speaker.

Bought brand new May '07 from Musicians Friend. This amp isn't versatile, but that's the beauty of it. Simple class A tube amp. Would've been nice to have a standby switch, but if that's all I've got to complain about, then I haven't really got anything to complain about, for the price. This is a practice amp for me. I recently made the switch to apartment dweller, and realized the big amp was neither practical (nor wanted by my neighbors!) Plus, if I go somewhere for practice, I wanted something a little easier to tote around. I really swear by Peavey amps, but ever since I heard about this little gem, I've really been intrigued by it! It's only 5 watts, but it's got enough volume for a small gig, unmiked. As you all know all it takes is a mike and a sound system to make any amp gigworthy. My effects chain gives me all the options I need (more on that later), so really this little thing is everything I wanted/needed.

The previous reviews say it all. From typical clean to a nice overdrive. No metal tones here, but that's what pedals are for. This is not tonal heaven for me, I'll admit. It would take a Peavey Bravo for me to get there (I regret selling that amp every day of my life). But, that said, it certainly does have a great tone, very true to what a simple amp like this should be. Since you can't control the tone much I can't get it to sound quite as round and thick as I'd like, but good nonetheless. However, this amp responds exceptionally well to pedals, I couldn't be more happy with that aspect. A previous reviewer mentioned something about the sound being "boxy" because of the small, closed package. I pulled out the ol' marshall 4x12 and sure enough, it opened up the sound a little. Now I know there will be some chomping at the bit to tell me an amp like this wasn't designed for that kind of speaker setup and you won't get optimal sound of out that, blah blah blah but it's the only cab I had available. if I had a 1x12 or 2x10, something like that, I would have gladly used it instead. Haven't retubed it yet but planning on going that route as for most folks there seems to be an improvement with the JJ tubes.

I don't depend on any one single piece of equipment. Well, except my cabinet I guess. But the valve jr. seems sturdy enough to handle some abuse. I wouldn't recommend being careless with it, though, as for as cheap as this amp is, epiphone had to skimp somewhere. It hasn't seen enough duty yet to crap out on me, but I trust Epiphone enough that it shouldn't have any major issues that aren't provoked. I give it a 9 because nothing is perfect, and I haven't given it enough time to break yet (hopefully it won't though)

Never dealt directly with Epiphone, so no clue about their customer service.

I've been playing for 11 years, over half the guitars that have come and gone have been Epiphone, so I've got quite a fondness for the brand and the value they deliver, I probably would have never considered this amp were it not for the name. Currently it serves a Epiphone G-400 Deluxe, Fender Mexi Tele, or Washburn A-5 reissue played through BBE Boosta Grande>Crybaby>tuner pedal>Akai Shredomatic distortion>Arion 7-band eq>Digidelay. If I'm not using the epiphone valve Jr. I'm either running through a Peavey Triumph 120 or VTM 60 to the marshall 4x12. Both fantastic, but I needed a low volume amp. If I ever needed to replace this amp, I'd spring for another! Seriously, as long as you've got a distortion pedal (and maybe an eq if that's important to you), why do you even have any other practice amp? Sell your other amp, and buy this! Seriously, 100 bucks for a practice amp with cheesy distortion and a headphone jack (woopty doo) or 150 for this amp? There's only one logical choice: get a valve junior. Had I been able to buy another Peavey Bravo for this price (I got lucky and got my original Bravo for 75 bucks I guess because the shop owner thought it was a Bandit, he told me it was a solid state amp) I would've went that route, but lately You can't find a Bravo unless it's listed on eBay for a buy it now price of $400. The competition was either the new Peavey 5-watt JSX (and at four hundred bucks, I quickly disregarded that notion) or the Crate 5-watt tube amp (v15? Not sure of the model). The Crate cost more and honestly, I wouldn't have expected much from it. Crate, to me, equals mediocre. But that's just my experience.
In closing, this is an excellent amp. Whether you're comparing it to its price range or to amps above its price range. Epiphone seriously could have gotten away with slapping a standby switch and some tone controls and charging double or more for it. I highly recommend this amp.

Made recently, I got my combo less than a month ago. When I got it it only had one volume knob, now with my mods it has two, (added a gain control). For me it has all it needs, it doesn't need a tone control, standby, etc. Just one speaker out, it would be good if it has a few more outs, to run into other cabs.
Just a simple no frills small amp, which on full pelt is very loud. It would cope with a restrained drummer, and it would do small pub gigs with ease. Miked up, its awesome.
I'll give it a ten, as although it has few features, its role as a loud, simple tube amp is not in question.
If you want features, buy a Line 6, if you want tone get one of these.

Out of the box, it is good, but Epiphone wire up these as if it has a low input. I played it stock for about three days, built myself a lightbulb attenuator for a change in tone, but then after reading up on the various forums about this little beast, I decided to take the plunge and modify it a bit. Discharged the caps, by playing through it after switching off at the mains, left it for 15 mins, then opened it up. I replaced the input resistors to give more signal to the preamp valve, I then replaced the resistors between the preamp valve and the output valve with lower value and a pot to control the gain. I added a small high power resistor across the output jack, to protect the transformer. I now have a perky bright little amp.
I will probably replace the output transformer, and maybe revalve. But the simple mods I have done have made a dramatic diffrence. Gives you a nice warm clean sound at bedroom volume, turn it up a bit more and it starts to chime like an old Vox, a bit more welly gives a beautiful crunch. Flat out its wonderful, clear tone through the overdrive, and very true to both the guitar you are playing thru it and VERY true to your playing. This amp doesnt differentiate between mistakes and virtuosity.
A good ammount of bass response from the 8" speaker too suprisingly, through a good cab its great, though dont just run it into any old thing. I put it thru a PA speaker cab, and the tone was far worse than its stock speaker.
It has the rare ability of being able to coax feedback out of guitars that are normally reluctant.
Effects pedals are a joy, run an EQ pedal into it, and my cheap nasty little Danelectro Fab Echo sound wild, instead of plain dull.
It is also a wonderful amp for playing slide guitar, it picks up all the overtones with ease. I would say that it would make a great lap steel amp as well.

Valve amps need a different approach. These amps are tough in many ways, they are easy to modify, they are easy to replace valves, components etc. But there are a few rules like, dont run it without a speaker load, or some kind of load on your output, itll blow things up inside. You cant drop it too often, then again, valves are replacable. Apparently the way it is set up, could mean that tubes last less time than other amps, this is curable, but involved some serious mods.
But the cabinet is pretty tough, the speaker cloth is substantail. the chassis seems tough enough to withstand a bit of abuse.
The switch seems a bit cheap, as do the stock control pots, but this is a cheap amp, so theyve got to make savings somewhere. They are easy to replace as well.
Funny rattle sometimes, I think it is one of the valve springs, but its part of its charm to me.

Never dealt with Epiphone and probably now never will.
What a clever marketting thing they have got. They produce a cheap amp, with a goodish tone out of the box, yet it has the ability to be easily modified to give it an awesome tone. Yet the process of doing this instantly voids the warranty. Yet Epiphone could easily uprate the amp themselves to do this out of the box.
So you have two choices, leave the amp sounding average to good, till the warrany expires, then modify, or dive in with the soldering iron, and wave byebye to customer support. I chose the latter, if this amp blows up as a result of my fiddling around, I will either have to repair or replace. The former is easy, the latter is cheap.

I love this amp, and Im tempted to buy the head only version and build a small cab, and voice the two differently. There are websites, forums and little industries dedicated to modding these, and turning them into almost boutique amps.
I play a variety of guitars, but I find this one suits all of them. I own an old Tele, a cheap Stagg Jazzmaster, a Les Paul Junior type with a P90, all of them sound ace thru this little thing. In particular I find it complements my Telecaster Resonator conversions, www.sollophonicguitars.co.uk, these sound great thru this amp. A mate played his Highway 1 Strat thru it, and managed to get feedback out of the guitar for the first time ever.
Another thing, it makes cheap pedals sound wonderful. Pedals which sound lifeless thru other amps, come alive with this amp.
A great amp, but be prepared to modify and be prepared to become addicted to its tone.

Very good

This is my third review. I now own two of these and my two brothers bought one after hearing mine so there are 4 in the family. A word about consistancy. They all sound slighty different. All good but the 1st original I bought still sounds the best. I have narrowed it down to the speaker. It has more bass than the others even though they all use the same speaker. I alos listen to the people who insist you need to mod certian things to get the best out of this amp. Well per my last review, I bought every 6" speaker weber makes and tried them all and prefer the stock speaker to all of the webers even though I kept the cheapest weber ( I liked the sound better than the others) in my 2nd amp. I still much prefer the stock amp than the one with the weber in it.
So my suggestion is to LEAVE THE AMP STOCK when it comes to the speaker. I have not tried different tubes. My amps are the older ones and buzz like crazy but I kinda like it.
I said it in my 1st and 2nd reveiw and I'll say it again. These little amps are the shit. $100 a pop makes this the all time best deal in musically equitment. I used to own a bunch of Traynor bassmasters ( Which I used with a weber mass and Marshall powerbrake) but after comparing them side by side the Traynors, which I used to love sound very compressed and sound like they have a blanket over them in comparision to the open sound of the Valve Junior amps. Buy one or two or three.

I bought the amp in Fall '06. It does have some hum issues, esp. when the volume is cranked up. I play almost exclusively blues & blues rock, and this tiny little 5-watt, Class A amp is practically a perfect fit. There are no channels. There's no EQ. There's nothing but a volume control and an on/off switch. Personally, It is hard for me to criticize that, because I love how limited it is. You just plug in, crank it and play, which is exactly what I wanted. But, if you're looking for an amp that's going to give you any clean headroom whatsoever, look elsewhere. The Epi Valve Jr. is designed to overdrive, period. It is a 5-watt amp ... BUT: 1) 5 tube watts is still very loud, too loud for bedroom or apartment use, and 2) stick a mike in front of it, and who cares who many watts it is? So, the seemingly "limited" power is really a nonissue. In fact, I gigged with it *unmiked* last night at a smallish blues jam and the Epi sounded fabulous.

The Epi gives you two tones, basically. Turn the vol. half way up, and you get a nice glassy clean, on the edge of overdrive, but not quite there. From that point on, it's a matter of how much of the most beautiful, thick, harmonically rich overdrive you want. Cranked ALL the way up, and you get a really nice classic rock tone. So, it is not "brutal" per se, meaning it is not a very good heavy metal tone. But, if you're going for a late 60s kind of overdriven Marshall Plexi sound, it's hard to get closer than this for the price point it's at.

I mentioned earlier, this is an ideal blues amp, and that point only bears repeating. It begs for blues riffing, and if you control your tone with the volume pot on the guitar, which I often do, then leaving it fully cranked is a really nice thing to do. :)

I play a PRS SE EG S/S/S, and I find that unlike Fender amps that are really bright and WAY too trebeley and "shrieky" for my tastes, this amp tends to fatten out my tone a lot, which I like.

It does hum. A lot. I could get it fixed, I know. But I haven't yet, and probably won't. It's annoying, but it's a $140 amp, and so ... I kinda just deal with it. If I had any electrician skills whatsoever, I might try to mod it myself, but ... yeah.

One thing I don't like is the inherent problem of an 8" speaker and a tiny box ... there is this kind of "boxy" sound to it, sounds a little closed almost, if that makes any sense. I'm thinking about getting the head & cabinet to see if that feels more "open" and "full."

Anyway, this is the tone I love and this amp is just a blast to rock with. On my salary, I am exceptionally happy with what I've got here.

Two tubes. One speaker. Two switches. Not a lot of stuff to break down on you. And the amp itself is built surprisingly well. I'm not rough with my gear, but I don't doubt this thing can take a beating and still keep on truckin'.

Never dealt w/ em, but I can say I would definitely get another Epi product again. Really impressed with this amp.

If it were stolen, I absolutely would buy another, in fact I am thinking about getting the Epi Valve Jr. head & cabinet that is now offered. (I might get that anyway! lol.) It's a tone monster in a little package for an exceptionally reasonable price, and I'm trying to find something to complain about, but I'm struggling to. At the jam I went to last night, another guy was playing a Roland Cube ... a cool amp, yes, but -- I'm sorry -- my Epi just had a much truer overdrive tone.

One interesting point about 5 watts ... it's still too loud for bedroom use! Shocked? Me too. Why not make a 1 or 2 watt Epi Valve Mini? I would buy that instantly. 5 watts is actually kind of an odd level of power. Not quite loud enough to gig, too loud for purely personal use w/o an attenuator ... so, that's a complaint, if you could call it that.

I'm definitely interested in louder, more powerful Class A amps ... ie, Marshall's 1974x 18-watt model.

I can't wait to try out some humbuckers on this.

Originally ordered 'B' stock however recieved version 1 manufactured before Jan 2005. Hum central. Louder you turned it, louder the hum. In a word, unusable out of the box. However, thru the hum I was able to ascertain that for the harp, this thing would kick if Epi could fix the hum. Did some research (here) and found out they did! Returned the 'B' stocker and reordered a new one. Made sure I ordered version II with the serial number designating made after 1/05.
Simple is as simple does. 1 volume knob, 1 input jack. Thats it. No switching, no effects, no headphone jack. NADA. Is what it is and does one thing, ampifies your signal through 1 12AX7 and 1 EL34. 5 watts RMS. Probably pushing 10 when cranked. 8" ceramic speaker. Quiet as a mouse when not playing now. Epipone fixed the hum. I use this to rehearse with so far. I will gig with it however its not loud enough to gig alone. It needs some reinforcment.

Sound is overdriven tube crunch depending on the volume setting. I incorporate my Harp Commander preamp and my modded Danecho to achieve the sounds I need. I play blues (ya think) and mostly rock. I play alot of guitar and keyboard solos on the harp so the need to change the sound comes into play quite a bit. I do it all with my preamp/pedal setup. This amp does one thing..amplify your signal via 2 valves. Little Walter style with smooth, round clipping. You are not going to get any Marilyn Manson tones outta this puppy. If you're looking for tube dirt, you have found it! If you want razor blade distortion, buy a Crate. Crank this puppy up past 2 o'clock and you have as much crunch as you need. Just a bit of hiss past 12 o'clock, other than that, the only sounds coming out of the amp are what you are sending to it. I let my guitar slinger try it out for a couple of songs...Lordy Lordy... Joe Walsh/Funk 49 in a box!

Have not gigged it yet. 2 rehearsals with 2 different bands. Didnt let me down either time. Both worked well. Cut right thru the mix un-mic'ed. Would have no problem gigging with it but would definitely need to be mic'ed up. Noticed it was on the warm side at the end of the night both times but tubes get warm don't they!!?!! At 139 shipping included, I'm not too worried about getting a new one if needed. I plan on gigging with it in tandem with my Fender Blues Jr. Had it modded to include a line out which I send to the Valve Jr. My Junior Stack if you will! Killer harp sound. The best of both worlds! Fender and Gibson in one small stack.

Never dealt with Epi/Gibson before. Like I said, at 139.00 with a 5 year warranty, not really too concerned.

Been playing harp for almost 20 years now. Have a modded Blues Jr I use for everything as well as an assortment of small tranny amps. I will start bringing this along to all my gigs as well. If stolen, would get another one and not worry about it. Lifes too short. Didnt really compare it to anything else. I believe this is the least expensive tube combo currently on the market. What would I compare it too??? The Crate v115??? overpriced/overgained and its a Crate.
This amp does exactly what I need it to do.
Fender is releasing the Champ 600. Same wattage MF has it listed at 199 with a 6" speaker....will get one of these and A/B them and let yall know. Best 139 bux I've spent on gear in a while. As a low wattage harp amp, cant beat it for the price!

I would call it the 1st version, as it has the hum everyone refers to. Features 1 knob Volume...I love it! I play Grunge, Indie rock, pop rock. It needs no more features...The further you turn the knob the more distortion you get. As of now I just play for fun....It can play pretty loud!

When played with humbuckers it can distort at fairly low volumes, with a Telecaster it takes a good crank of the knob to breakup. The sound is amazing! I was told NOT to buy this amp and now I'm mad I didn't get it sooner. It just has such a nice tube sound...It can go from very bluesy to thick crunch real fast. The hum is very noticeable(ver1), but don't let that stop you. When I hook the Big Muff Pi to it....It makes me smile!

Too soon to know

Never had to use them

I am fairly knew to playing guitar, but I've been playing music(of many different instruments) all my life, and I know pitch and tone. If It were stolen, I would definitely replace it, but I might go with a bigger model(heck I still might!) I've played around with alot of Vox amps...The Vox Valvetronix's don't even compare..IMO I used this amp to test the waters of true tube sound...Its a great little stepping stone and at $100 its the price of a "tube pedal".

This was version 1 combo with a terrible hum. I've sent it to Nigel Briggs in northern England (his modifications can be found at eBay) and he has COMPLETELY modded the amp as follows:

1. mod V.1 amp section to brown-Fender Champ (Vox) sound spec ??65
2. HT fuseholder and fuse (T100mA 250V slo-blo) ??10
3. Standby Switch ??10
4. Pentode/Triode Mode Switch ??30
5. Line Out Jack ??10
6. NEW transformer Hammond 125DSE ??50
7. fit 3 output jacks ??10

OK, so I paid this extra roughly $450 and now have a killer custom amp that I use as my first class A tone shaping amp (instead of the fabulous THD Univalve that is great but less convenient on stage) and the line-out goes to my other amps, usually Fender Deluxe Reverb RI.

Original features were 6, now it's 10 :-)

Originally it was promising but still bland with a constant hum.

Now, it sounds SWEET, bluesy, warm, 'brown', full, dynamic, class-A sexy
so if I use an MXR or Barber TonePress compressor and Keeley BD-2 phat or Hermida ZenDrive I get the tones that are in the $10'000 Dumble league, and the total cost is less than 1/10th of the price.

I may sell several of my other class A amps as this class A amp sounds stunning (thanks Nigel Briggs), BETTER than Cornford Harlequin that is considered the best class A 5W combo in the world, but has 50Hz hum and the speaker is boxy (I know as I used to own it), while this is not the case here. Sure, I can and will replace tubes with cryogenic tubes and replace the speaker eventually, yet already this is THE tone shaping combo worth having. Actually, I play most of the time in the TRIODE mode so it's only 2W and it's loud :

OK the original sound was more like 6 and now it's like 9.5 !

I gave it 8 as that's where it is (on average).

Now it's perfect as I even have a standby switch :-)

No idea, but they did listen to users and improved the basic unit that for version 2 scores highly (for the price).

I think it deserves 8 as it is in version 2, but with Nigel Briggs (see eBay offers that he has) modifications will cost you from $100 (DIY) - $450 (full mod) - and I can confirm it is worth it, IF you want the Dumble sound for 1/15 of the cost.

I play since 1960 and have only the very best gear and the best class A amps in the world (THD, Gibson GA, Fender ...) and this is now my main tone shaping unit as my style is Fender clean, bluesy, light to latino rock and jazz, yet I can even get metal sounds if I kick the Keeley OD-2 phat rather strongly :-)

In short, strongly recommended for $100 and also stringly recommended if you like and want modifications.

This is not applicable I think. The point of this amp is complete simplicity and after owning a Marshall JCM800, a Boogie MkIII, Boogie Studio .22, Fender Princeton and a Peavey Special 130 back in my beginner days I am free of that psychological disorder known as "option anxiety". Makes me wonder why all those other amps needed so many knobs (well, mainly the Boogies...I'm being a bit harsh to the Marshall and Fender...)

I'll give a 10 though because it's overall score shouldn't suffer. It's just simple and that's not detrimental.

When I first bought this, I plugged my Schecter CSH-6 (I think that's the model...I've never really cared what model most things are...)and a Tube Screamer and was slightly disappointed. It sounded boxy and somewhat harsh. I read somewhere to swap the stock Sovtek EL84 that came with it for a JJ and voila! awesome tone...Seriously, night and day. It sounds AMAZING now. I don't ever crank it because I live in an apartment with neighbors so I got an Electro-Harmonix Nano Muff which is PERFECT for this amp. It breaks up nicely and is super responsive. I still have the Tube Screamer but it doesn't quite do it for me. After the Nano Muff I went and grabbed a Big Muff for those times I need over the top fuzz and I've never been happier with a setup.

Fine so far. Makes me a LITTLE nervous to gig with it. I mean a $130 amp is a $130 amp but...

No experience with them.

I've been playing for 25 years and, like I said above, have had a pretty large spread of amps. I've A/B'ed two amps (MkIII and the Fender), I've used volume pedals (with the Marshall), ran stuff in stereo etc...and seriously, this is the best setup yet. I love it.

As basic as it could possibly get. Not much else to say.

Clean & clear at low volume.
Thumpy at mid.
Crunchy at high.
Benefits from reverb pedal infront of it, IMHO.
Does not benefit from distortion pedal in front of it, IMHO.
If you want dynamics without having to use overdrive/distortion then it's best to up the volume and vary the output by attack, IMHO.

Not much hardware in there.
Not much to go wrong I would imagine.

N/A
Not had any problems.

I think it's great.
The muso's will slaughter me for this - I owned this amp for 1 year, then I bought a Mesa Boogie F30. Both were purchased with gig's and recording in mind. After hearing such rave reviews of Mesa's I thought my Junior Combo would end up in the cupboard. Wrong. After much comparing I decided to ditch the Mesa.
The Junior Combo has character, it's responsive to touch/weight of hand, and it's flattering. Whereas the Mesa, IMHO was cold and processed, with horrid scratchy reverb and character'less overdrive. Not wishing to badmouth Mesa's; just trying to make a point about price tag and personal choice. I think Epiphone have produced a little gem of an amp at a great price. It will be interesting to see what the view on these amps is in 20 years.