Epiphone Valve Junior Combo

I have the new model that doesn't have the noise problem in stock form. Simple circit one knob baby just you a couple a tubes and your weapon of choice! Bought this amp for fun and home use. I was pleasantly surprised at the tone and output for 139.00$. This is an amazing value for a tube amp with this much mojo. Basically no features no reverb or other stuff but hey use your tone knobs and volume knob and you can ride the rails between warm and hairy clean to unbeleivable real tube distortion.that is all before I went crazy with the mercury transformer and circit kit 299.00 bucks(ouch!)and a set of JJ tubes from eurotubes 26$ and a 75 amp tech fee.

with the above mentioned mods this thing is a beast. the local amp tech looked at me when I brought it to him like I was nuts! I mean realistcally you could buy a really nice used 5 watt anp for what I have in this thing. $550 is a little crazy but I would put this thing up against any of them it is truly amazing it is very loud with an amazing amount of bass for an 8" speaker ( oh yea the stock speaker totaly rocks way better sounding than a jensen alnico 4 ohm I tried don't bother buying a new speaker the stock one rocks.Volume at 1:00 ride your strat volume from glorios quack to stevie tube. Oh yea the amp tech was floored couldn't beleive the tone. I love that it's a sleeper can't wait to drop jaws at a blues jam.

Should be good no warranty now!

don't know.

My main amp is a victoria 4510. I can't stop playing the epi though. I mean this is the real deal tube tone tube distortion touch and volume sensitive loves my tele,strat,paul and special I gotta get somebody to play harp with this thing. I think you could just do the circit mods and use the stock transformers and even the stock tubes and have something very special for less than a 100 bucks over initial cost. But if you are into a fun project and got a few ben franklins to burn I highly recomend this insanity! It's a hobby dammit it's not always supposed to make sense!

The amp has no "features"; it only has a volume knob, which sort of doubles as a tone knob. The louder you play it, the more gain you'll get. That is all.
My amp is a 2006 model, which is important because the older ones hummed. This one is very quiet.
There is no headphone jack, no effects loop, no nothin'. You can run a 4 ohm speaker off of it. That might be cool, but it's certainly not necessary. It is a practice amp, but you could use it for jamming with some dudes. It certainly sounds good enough for playing out.

I use a Mexican Fender Strat. The amp sounds freakin' awesome. I like old Luther Perkins style country, rockabilly, and Flat Duo Jets style punk/psycho-blues music. This amp, with an overdrive pedal, is absolutely dead-on perfect for these styles of music. It will also work beautifully for surf or even Ramones style punk rock.
However, if you want any reverb, you'll have to get a decent echo pedal. Echo pedals (like the Danelectro BLT, which I use)are cheap, so get one. This amp loves pedals.
It is a fact that single coils (Strats or Teles or P90 guitars)sound better through this amp than do humbuckers. Don't know why.

I haven't had the amp long, but there is nothing to go wrong with it. Like any tube amp, the tubes will eventually burn out, but that's not a fault of the amp. I would use it at a gig without backup. Luther Perkins never used a backup amp!

3 year warranty for workmanship, but warranty doesn't cover the tubes or the speakers. I think the speaker is on a 6 month warranty, but for how much I play (half-hour a day), I doubt that I'll have any trouble.

I have been playing for a year and a half. This amp is everything I could have wished for for the price. My grandfather had a 1958 Strat, which I have played through his old Silvertone tube amp, and this Epiphone easily matches the sound quality of old classic tube amps.
In order to reach it's full potential, the amp needs an overdrive pedal and an echo function. Danelectro makes great and inexpensive stuff. But for the price paid, you simply cannot criticize the Valve Junior. And no, the new ones don't hum, at all. Buy one, and you'll still have enough dough for another Agile or Jay Turser guitar.
I do have a twinge of guilt when I realize that some poor Chinese slave laborer made it possible for me to buy such a good but inexpensive amplifier.

This is the brand-new, hum-problem-fixed version. It has no features except a volume knob and a power switch, which gives it a 10 in my opinion, except for two things: lack of a tone knob and the jokey little 8" speaker. A 12" would sound awesome. Or how about a 2x10" version? And a simple tone control would make this into a whole different amp, or several different amps.

Otherwise, it's like Epiphone read my mind. Why would I want a bunch of cheesy circuitry between my pickups and those tubes? In a world gone nuts for cold solid-state slathered with DSP and modeling, Epiphone has remembered what most of us have forgotten: The AMP is the thing!

Some users complain about the lack of reverb, but that's one less cheap component to screw up, in my opinion. It lets me pick my own reverb. I use an EHX Holy Grail set on Spring. Same logic goes for overdrive, compression, and EQ, not to mention the sweet vintage MXR Analog Delay I've thrown in. An array of pedals probably sounds better than low-end, onboard FX, and it can be upgraded one FX at a time and tailored to suit one's own taste, and, most importantly, if one breaks, you just swap it out instead of getting stuck with a half-broken amp. Oh, and you can use your preferred effects array with your other amps. You do have other amps, don't you?

So far, I'm using it with single coils on a Strat clone and humbuckers on an oddball Electra Outlaw MPC, which is a neck-through mahogany beast from the '70s. I play fingerstyle, country, surf, folk, and a little funk rhythm and rock. This amp sounds not approximately but exactly like what I'm after. Let me be clear about this: It is not a hi-fi component! It is not clean, especially when you push it! It will color the signal from your guitar! That is the whole point of an amp, in my opinion. Since solid-body electric guitars are not using a nice wooden top to move air, something, somewhere in the signal chain has to vibrate and add harmonics and intermodulation products, or else your guitar will sound decidedly egg-shaped and boring. Nothing adds this "warmth" and complexity as musically as a low-powered tube amp, and here Epiphone has filled the order perfectly.

Unlike most transistor circuits and even tube preamps, the Valve Jr's power stage is responsive to touch. A good player who knows how to produce tone with his hands can make this thing talk. At high volumes, it crunches according to touch instead of going all fizzy.

I knocked the little 8" speaker, but its mid-rangey, slightly flabby, nasal honk *is* the "vintage" guitar sound. Do you envision the electric guitar as some sort of sprawling sonic utopia, the Alpha and Omega of every mix, or as filling its assigned niche in a combo, along with other instruments? If the latter, then the lack of extended bottom will not bother you, and in fact may be a plus. With this amp, the guitar will go where you put it.

Not enough bass, you say? Well, that's what a bass player is for.

If you enjoy hogging the whole frequency spectrum, to the point where a decent engineer has to dial out half your signal with EQ, then this is not your amp.

The simplicity and solid construction point toward reliability, but I haven't had it long, so I don't know. I would *never* feel comfortable gigging without a backup, particularly with a tube amp! I would at least bring along a little solid state beater that does more or less the same thing as this, like maybe a Behringer Thunderbird GX108. Ideally, I'd bring another little all-tube tone monster. Either way, I could run them wide in stereo unless (more like until) one of them failed, and then I'd still have an amp.

You guys who say you *never* gig with a backup: I don't know how you sleep at night.

No idea.

Things this amp is not:

It is not for metal or hard rock. As far as I can tell, you need lots of clean headroom for that particular kind of crunch, which features tons of bottom.

It is not what most jazz players think of as a jazz amp, particularly not for solo work. It's nuanced, but it's nuanced in its glorious muddiness, which is not what jazz players want. Myself, I wouldn't hesitate to play Chet Atkins-style material through it, which is about as nuanced and jazzy as I would like to get. It would obviate the need for chorus FX, which so many jazz players seem to lean on. Why bother with chorus when you have sweet hairy power tubes?

It is not for playing stadium gigs without sound reinforcement. Seriously, when it comes to amp volume, nearly all guitar players are utterly deluded. In a recording studio, you want low volume so things won't rattle and mics won't disintegrate. In a practice room, you don't need to shake the rafters and deafen your bandmates and make them compete for airspace. And on stage, you should get your tone from your amp and your volume from this groovy invention called the house PA. Yes, the sound man can put a mic in front of your little amp and dial the right amount of it into the mix instead of having to blow the audience out of the bar just to get the vocals over your rockin' mega-stack. Face it, almost none of us is ever going to play a stage that's big enough for even a 60 much less a 100 or 200 watt guitar rig. Most of us have too much amp.

I'd compare the Valve Jr. favorably with my vintage Gibson Minuteman GA-20RVT (with leaky vintage caps), my silverface Fender Champ, my Peavey Bravo 112, my Hughes and Kettner Blues Master, and my Seymour Duncan Convertible 100w 1x12-- all low-wattage (the Convertible has a pad) all-tube amps I have owned and spent more money on than the Epi Valve. If I lost this amp, I'd need another. At this price, I'm tempted to stock up. I wish it had a tone knob and maybe a more serious speaker.

Newest version of the Valve Junior, redesigned by Epiphone and has no hum. Basic class A amp that delivers warm vintage tones as good as (if not better than some) some classic tube amps of the '50s.

Like I said. Epi has really been paying attention to what people are saying about these amps and have completely addressed the hum issue. Looks like they added a insulated input jack and added DC supply to the tube filaments. If you buy this amp make sure from your dealer that you are getting the newest version and have them order it directly from Gibson if you have to...that is what I did.
What more can I say about the sound of this little amp? If you put in some NOS tubes you got a GA-5 for 100 bucks!

Not much could really go wrong with this amp...there just isnt much in there :) and it is built like a brick **** house. Very solid construction, nice tolex cabinet with metal corners, beautiful vintage design with retro design and white piping. Manufactured in the USA, this amp would cost more that a hundred bucks for the cabinet alone. Be sure to register your amps warranty online with Epiphone. I think it has a 5 year warranty minus the tubes and speaker which have a 90 day warranty. By seeing what Epi did to address the hum issue on a amp with this kind of base price shows the dedication...to me anyway...to listening to its customers and supplying a great product at a great value. I am sold on Epiphone forever.

I havent had to deal with Epiphones customer support. Warranty is 5 years minus tubes and speaker which are 90 days.

All I can say is run out and grab one or two of these amps NOW before they jack the price up on these to 300 dollars or so. That is what they are worth. I am going to run out and buy a couple more. Maybe i will run two in stereo and keep one new in box for a backup...its just too damn good of a deal.

Its a brand new 5 watt, Class-A, 8" speaker, 3-tube, one knob, one switch (lighted), tone monster. Nice vintage appearance. Has an external speaker jack so you can disconnect the housing speaker and use a 4-ohm cabinet with it. I'll bet it really rocks a 4-ohm cabinet. I'll have to try that experiment.

This is a very versatile amp. At low volume you can get a nice blues tone with enough overdrive to have nice sustain. Cranked you can get everything from a nice overdriven Chicago blues tone to Led Zep #1. Don't expect a Slayer/Metallica thing without a pedal.

I bought this thing to compliment my Silvertone model 1481 which is also a 5 watt, Class-A tube amp with volume and tone controls. (I have reviewed the 1481 on Harmony Central also.) I wanted to run them in stereo. Believe it or not, the Valve Jr. blows the Silvertone away. Its louder and is more HiFi - more dynamic range. You heard it here vintage tube amp people - the Valve Jr. is way cooler and more versatile than the 1481.

The sound on this amp is great. Much louder than I expected and much louder than the Silvertone 1481 I mentioned. I have read reviews that older models of the Valve Jr. hummed. Mine is quiet. Even cranked to eleven it was quiet. Just general tube noise. Nothing horrible.

The amps suits my styles of music. I haven't played it with any pedals in front of it yet, but I'm looking forward to it. I'll bet it will compliment both an overdrive and a Boss Metal Zone nicely. I'm also looking forward to putting a wah and Rotovibe in front of it.

I haven't seen any need to change the speakers or the tubes yet as other people have mentioned. Its great right out of the shipping box.

As I mentioned before, don't expect this to do the Dimebag thing without a pedal. But it will be great for blues, classic rock and 70's hard rock. I can imagine it doing the Hound Dog Taylor thing perfectly. I'll have to try that!!

Only had it for one day. I hope it lasts. We'll see how it survives after this weekend after it gets a dose of Boss Metal Zone.

No idea. I imagine Epi to have good customer support. I have heard and read good things about their support here and at Musician's Friend.

This amp is everything the reviews say it is. Loud enough. Overdrives easily when cranked. No noise. Excellent bang for buck. If I didn't already have the Silvertone 1481, I would buy two of these. Everyone should own two of these!! They sound great. Cool vintage look too. Beats getting ripped off by some boutique amp maker in Vintage Guitar or building an amp yourself. I guess if you have $800 to spend on a hand wired, 5 watt, Class-A tube amp, don't let me stop you. Or you can send your money to me, Al Franken.

And again, I want to let the vintage amp people know that this thing smokes the real vintage amp, my Silvertone 1481. And I know tube tone. I own a 76 Marshall 100 watt combo, a 75 Marshall halfstack, a 68 Twin (BF circuit), 77 Twin, Fender M-80 and a Silvertone 1484 with the 6 X 10" cabinet.

The reviews are dead on.....BUY THIS AMP NOW.....BUY TWO!!!!!

Class A single end tube amp. Its best feature is its simplicity, of both controls (one volume) as well as the circuit. One 8" ceramic speaker and a cute but solid retro styled cabinet. Overall a nice package, and surprisingly affordable.

Mine is the newer version, which is worth mentioning, because apparently EPI took heed of what players and techs were saying about version 1, and redesigned the circuit to correct some of the things that were generating complaints. The most noticeable change is the elimination of hum. My VJ is one of the quietest tube amps I have encountered.

As far as the tone of the amp, it is fundamentally good in terms of tube tone and breakup, but there is room for some improvement. There is plenty of volume (it's "louder" with a little more clean headroom than my early 60's 5F1 Champ), and the speaker seems capable of handling the output. However, I thought that the amp right out of the box sounded too dark and lacked fidelity. I play a variety of guitars, but mostly single coils and P-90s. Stock, the VJ lacked the snap and sparkle that I like to hear from my '56 Telecaster, or my EJ Strat.

The good news is that, with a few simple changes (bye warranty), I was able to get a much more satisfactory tone out of the amp. The changes were 1) trash the Sovteks and install a NOS Sylvania 6bq5 and RCA 7025; 2) perform input impedance mod and; 3) install 100pf silver mica capacitor to brighten up the overall sound. All of this took about 30 minutes and less than $5.00 worth of parts (except the tubes, which I had in my stockpile), and led to a noticeable improvement in tone. Now the amp is more "sparkly" and has some of that bite that I listen for.

There are some other mods out there that I ave not bothered with, but you can find the on the internet. One company sells a transformer and choke kit that, when installed, is supposed to turn this amp into a baby tone monster, but the cost of the kit is more than twice the price of the amp!

Realistically, this amp is not supposed to compete with a vintage Deluxe Reverb, AC30, or one of the "bo-teek snob boxes" that sell for many time the price of the VJ. But for an inexpensive pcb amp with 2 tubes and an 8" speaker, it ROCKS! I have already ordered the head version as well.

The simplicity of the circuit leads me to predict it will earn fairly high marks for reliability, although all tube amps are to some degree fragile instruments. I probably would not gig this amp unless it was a party or other informal situation, only because it seems just a little small, even miked, for gigging. Great for the studio, though.

No experience with customer support, although its parent company, Gibson, has excellent CS.

If this amp broke I would probably be able to troubleshoot and fix it myself, it is so simple.

Been playing a LONG time. I have lots of gear, mostly vintage Fender, Gibson, PRS, and LOTS of old and new tube amps. The VJ in both configurations will be part of my collection. The combo is perfect right next to my desk to practice and write with, and I am hoping that the head version (with the cab that I put together for it) will accompany me to some smaller jams or other playing situations.

A parting observation:

Epiphone sells GREAT GEAR for the money- not just the VJ but some of their guitars seem like a really good value.

One channel two tubes 8 inch speaker. Simple as it gets.

I use a Les Paul classic with a Duncan custom in the bridge and a 59 in the neck. I run a Boss OD-3 and GE-7 equilizer up front with a Teese RMC-3. Mine is the first version from last year with the one cutout in the back and the stripes on the face-Plate are different They are on top not in the middle where they intersect the volume knob. I have no buzz whatsoever in it. It does have little 60 cycle hum but not enough to even hear above talking. Must be qaulity control with the filter capacitors I guess i got lucky the 60 cycle hum does not get louder as I turn the amp up. I bought it for practice with my band so I didnt have to lug around a half stack. I can get killer sounds out of it slamming it with an OD pedal. Cuts through easy and is very responsive. It keeps up with drummer no problem and even comes through better than the other guitarist half stack. It distorts at high volume but back off guitar volume and you can get a decent clen sound. Distortion is killer with an OD up Front and an EQ. The EQ helps alot to beef it up. If done correctly it can sound like much much bigger amp. I have the original tubes in it. Sovteks. I love this damn thing I use all the time.

I would use it without a back up. I do all the time. Its very simple circuit. The input jack and on sitch could break I suppose but easy to replace and probably wont break unless the amp is dropped or something similar. I throw it in the back of my truck all the time no problems with it yet.

N/A Never used it. I asked gibson about the different faceplate and they responded saying everything is subject to change?? Could tell me anything else about it.

Been playing 25 years I have other ams Soldano Marshall, If it was lost or stolen I would definetly get another one. For the price it shreds. I love that it sounds like a tube amp should and is very responsive, keeps up with a live band easily unless you play huge gigs, even then you could mike it and get away with it easy. Outsanding Tone. I chose it after doing some research on small tube amps and I came across this one and for the price it was a gamble I thought. I won that bet. Cause I didnt try one out first. I was hoping it would be cool. Easily I would have paid 2 to 3 times the 80$ I spent to get this thing. Go buy one you wont be sorry.

This is an update

I've owned this amp for about 7 months now and it's cleary one of the best amps I've played. In fact I now own two of them and both of my band members bought one. It's just the best kept secret ( no longer a secret) in guitar amps. In my earlier review I said that this was the all time best deal of anything ever. ( or words to that effect) and I still believe that.
At $120 shipped this is crazy, twisted sick. I have two of the older ones with the major buzz but it does not bother me at all. The prices have gone up, I believe they are $140 now but it would be worth it at three times the price or more.I would pay much more for this amp.

It's the kind of amp that you sit down with in a store and walk out telling yourself you need that amp but the sick thing is even an illegal Mexican working for $5 an hour can buy two or three in no time.

If you like classic 60s 70s Hendrix, Zep ACDC and even Van Halen than you will buy this amp and love this amp.

I've owned them all, Original Marshalls and reissues ( both are fantastic) Hiwatts ( not really my cup) Traynor bassmasters ( great bargains but I like the valve better) Dr Z ( owned the Ghia when they used cost like $600 now they are up there).. The little valve fits right in there with my all time favorites.

The unbelievable thing about this amp is it's ability to cut. The little 8" speaker is killer. I use this amp is a 3 piece live situation for rehearsal ( un miked) It is hard to believe but this amp is loud enough. We wail on ACDC and Zep and the tone is spot on. It's more than just volume that you need, you need something that cuts and while I have much louder amps, They do not always cut as good as this tiny thing.

It's just an amazing little amp. Do not spend $800 or more on a little all tube amp by Dr Z or other "booteeks". They may sound great but try one of these first. It's a great feeling to save $700 and get tone that matches or bests the fancy names.

BTW, I took the advice of many and tried some speaker "upgrads" I bought four Weber 8 inchers when they had thier sale/ I bought both ceramic and both alnico models. I tried them all and ended up putting the stock speaker back in on of my amps and left the cheaper Alinico in the other amp. The stock speaker is the shit. Certianly the best match for the amp. I kept the weber in the other amp only because I was to lazy to switch the stock speaker back. It still sounds good but not as good as the other amp with the stock speaker.

I have yet to try differnt tubes.

Good so far.

10

This is the best deal going for an all tube single ended Class A combo amp, I should know, I've been building guitar amps for a few years. The features provided on this amp do what they are intended to do.

I like this amp with a telecaster on the bridge pickup, turn the volume to about 2 o'clock and get a great lead tone.

I have a version 2 amp and it is not noisy at all.

Tried an Alnico Weber 8A125T, but prefer the stock (Weber) speaker.

Clean tone is a little thin but not bad coming from an 8 inch speaker.

For the price, get a second for backup, and run'em in stereo!

Going to mod mine so much for the warranty.

Got this amp to try some mods on, this review was for a stock (changed power tube) amp. I have been trying to play guitar for 40 years. I have built and sold many amps (see Texas Tube Amplifier Company H/C reviews) and had to see if this amp was worth the money. Yes, it is definitly worth the money. If you want an amp to give that classic tube distortion at a lower volume level, this is a great deal. FWIW, I will be selling modified, point-to point/barrier strip constructed Valve jr's with a couple of different circuit options, email me. (my website is down)

Part of what makes this amp great *is* the lack of features. One volume control -- that's it. The tone knobs on your guitar actually do something you know ;)

I would have liked some additional features like a headphone jack and/or additional ohm outputs but for the price you get what you pay for.

I bought the amp when it first came out and was victim to the hum and buzz problems. I paid to have it modded and now I could not be happier. The newest revision (look for serial numbers starting with 1205) do not have buzz problems so do not to worry if you're buying one new today.

Excellent tone. Clean up to 12:00, break up from 12:00 - 3:00, past that it's got a really nice natural distortion. Takes great to pedals and records well. It's really LOUD. Too loud for bedrooms but probably too low for un-miced gigs.

At the end of the day it's a valve amp for $129 that doesn't sound like crap. You really cannot go wrong. You may want to invest in some new tubes eventually because the stock Sovteks do not sound as good as just about anything else you can buy. I threw a coupld of JJs in mine and I noticed a definite improvement in tone.

Built like a rock. My only concern is the MDF cab which whill not hold up well if you keep taking the back panel off. Everything else seems rock solid.

My warranty has been voided. Let's hope it never breaks! I have an Epiphone guitar and their support has always been great.

Great buy overall even though after mods and tubes I paid over $225 for it. If you can get one of the new revs or the head version you can't really go wrong unless you are looking for a ultra-high-gain, drop C, chugga-chugga amp or clean as a bell at 10 jazz amp. Great for blues. Great for classic rock.