Epiphone Valve Junior Combo

One Channel, one volume control, 8" speaker. The amp is rated at 5 watts, has one preamp tube and one power tube.

Tone is irritating and muddy at high levels. The Valve jr lacks complexity, texture, is one dimentional, and I find it boring to play. Most usable sound is between nine and one o'clock. Seems to like single coils better then high output humbuckers. I play a Fender MIM deluxe player's strat, a Dean Cadillac equiped with Seamore Duncans JB's (neck) and Jazz (bridge) and it actualy sounds decent at low volumes with my Gibson acoustic/electric Songwritter deluxe, but not above nine. Look, I have to be honest with this amp. I have owned it for over 2 years and in my opinion, there is no way this amp can be rated 10. I don't know how this amp reached the rating as high as it is. Most of the reviews I have read on the valve jr. usually start by saying I added this speaker or changed this tube or whatever. Im sure you guy's put alot of hard work into modifing this amp, and the overall sound has been improved but let's be truthful to the people who want to buy a good sounding inexpensive practice amp and are reading our reviews for some advice. If an amp needs a new speaker, new tubes, new whatever, it is not a very good amp to start out with, and being that this is a practice amp with no features other then a volume nob, an 8" speaker and a couple of tubes, I would ask you to think twice before you spend that kind of money upgrading this amplifire to sound decent. So why not save your cash and just buy a good sounding practice amp with a few good effects already built in to the amp? I would recomend VOX's Pathfinder 15r, It has a very natural, tubelike sound. with usable tremolo, a volume nob, both bass and treble control, a real spring reverb tank, a line out, a headphone jack and even has an 8 ohm external speaker jack so you can send the output to any cab you wish. You don't need to modify this amp, in fact, I wouldn't recomend it becouse it already sounds good. I owened the Valve jr for 2 years. When I recently went to sell it the buyer gave me 80 bucks, my wife almost blew the deal by exlaiming "for that?!?" That about say's it all. When I asked the buyer why he was interested in the valve jr. he said he wished to modify it. I just rolled my eyes.

I owned it for 2 years, it never broke down.

Did not contact epiphone.

Its ok, ive played better at this price.

I bought it a year ago.
Version 3.
cons: class A 5w and a volume pot, multiple outputs, portable, look, $$$
pros: no stand by switch, small speaker.

I own a laney lc30II, I bought the VJ V3 for practice.
I read all the good reviews here, and many of the web sites dedicated to mod it, so I decided to try one. I took me a couple of chords and riffs to say to the salesman "ok, I buy it", even though the lady luck sspeaker was a little harsh sounding... but hey, it is 8"!!!
Despite this fact, it is a nice amp for the money I paid.

The first thing I did was to check bias current, mine is at 48 mA @ 12.2 Watts IIRC, just in the limit. So I??m not planning to add a trimmer to adjust bias. It is a tube eater but it is only one tube.

I read that this amp begins to sound good after many hours of playing.
I??ve been using this for a year and it sounds way better now.

Sound quality when using the onboard speaker is what you can expect from a small 8". It lucks bass, so it is like a high pass filter. But this can be tamed with an EQ or TS.
But with an extension cabinet it is another thing.
With those 22uf caps across the cathode resistors it gets farty when cranked, not as a Fuzz Face but near.
It gives me "you shook me all night long", "money for nothing" or "at the woodchoppers ball (live)" sounds just with a tweak of the volume pot and the guitar controls.
I use it mostly with my DIYs Rangemaster, Red Fuzz and P90. (check aron nelson??s forum)
A variety of execellent tones, nice touch and feel. And it is very loud!

If you do not plan to take it to small parties with your friends like I do, you should consider buying the head and the cabinet duo.

I took it from Palma de Mallorca to Buenos Aires, had some hits. Looks tough.

I cross my fingers...

I owned some boutique amps in the past. But after years and years of playing I prefer lower wattage amps. To me a low watt true class A is just perfect.
Epiphone did an excelent product, and most of all, they improved the amp based on users reviews. I hope they include a stand by switch in the future, a bias trim, and consider a 10" speaker.
I??m very happy with it. If lost I would buy another.
I also consider the posibility of doing my own clone with better capacitors, and with a hammond 125ese.

Epiphone Valve Jr 5 watt Head has one volume knob and on/off switch. Mine is the new 3rd version with the 4, 8 and 16 ohm options for speaker out.

Sounds very dark with my Gibson Les Paul Standard, has no compression.
Is VERY loud, too loud for an apartment, breaks up nicely around noon on the volume but is too loud, so I play it with the volume around 9:00 and I use a pedal. Ive tried many pedals, the Fulltone Soulbender fuzz pedal sounds good with this amp. This amp will sound better with a Fender guitar, its a dark sounding amp and needs a bright guitar. Amp is quiet, has no hum. I run it into a 12 inch Jensen speaker housed in a Songworks closed back cab.

I already dropped it about from 3 feet in the air to the ground and nothing happened, still works, no hum.

Decent amp, very loud, needs a Fender guitar, is dark sounding, has no compression, a Maxon OD-808 overdrive tubescreamer would be perfect.

I know, it's only got one knob for volume and that's it. However, I love the absolute simplicity of it, and that one knob gives you one hell of a range of tones! I play harmonica, and playing with different settings for the amp volume and harp volume can give you everything from pristine clean to dirty, gritty, over-driven blues-harp-from-hell tone.

I love playing blues harp through this thing, because it accentuates the natural tone of the instrument rather than burying it. As one reviewer noted, this amp will work with what you give it. If your tone isn't good to begin with, don't expect it to sound good out of the amp. But if your tone is solid, it's great. The full spectrum of the tone comes through, low to high. When you open the volume to just under 3/4 (the sweet spot for me), the tone doesn't degrade into a growly mess. Instead, the tone remains strong, the overtones remain strong, all of the subtleties of your playing remain intact, and the amp simply adds beautiful, warm-sounding distortion on top of and around what you're playing. The definition of the notes aren't lost in the slightest, either, which is great for harp as you can still get all of those great percussive effects, hand effects, etc.
I'm sure there are boutique amps out there that sound better, but for $149 this has got to be one of the best values out there - I would still be impressed had I spent double or triple that amount!

So far so good.... only had it about a month. Seems to be very solidly built, though.

Have not had to deal with costumer support. However, I am impressed with how Epiphone improved this thing through the different versions (I have version 3). It seems as though they have really listened to what musicians were saying about the amp, and improved on most of the issues that were in the first and second versions. For that, I'll give an 8.

I've been playing blues hamonica for about 10 years (keyboards for 20), and this is by far the best amp I have played through. I used to own a Fender Blues Jr, and in my opinion this thing is miles ahead in tone quality! It's simple, well-constructed, and perfect for blues harp! Given the price tag of $149, this has to be one of the best deals on the planet!

I did a review on the Valve Junior Combo ( Version #3 ) in 2008 on Harmony Central and this amp is still just what I need,"Simplicity at it's Best". What I have done since my last review is I have changed out the speaker and it has made a HUGE difference.In place of the stock 8" speaker I put in a Ted Weber AlNiCo Signature 8 eight inch speaker .
http://www.tedweber.com/

I rated this section a 9 because it is what it is , back to the basics.

The stock speaker was loud as heck but it was VERY HARSH for playing harmonica through but the Ted Weber Alnico "Signature" 8" speaker brought "TONE" to the equation that is warm/responsive and when pushed it has a very smooth and chewy attack.I have been through a LOT of different brands of 8" speakers and the Webers are the BEST!

I have been abusing Weber Speakers for years now and nary a problem,they just sound better the more you play them.

Ted Weber is possibly the nicest person I have ever dealt with ! He listens to your needs and can special build to your situation and usually for cheaper than what you would pay for a stock speaker.

I have been playing harmonica for about 40 years now and amplified for 29 years and I think his speakers and the Valve Junior are about as good as it gets for my style of playing. You can check me out at
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=SteveHarvell&view=videos

I just bought this amp today, I usually wait a few months before I review to see if it lasts. But I wanted to write one now. Features are basically non existent on this amp. But they aren't needed. Input Jack, Volume knob, Off/On Switch, and you can hook different cabs up to it too. 5W, all tube. I use this amp in my bedroom or anywhere that doesn't involve a drummer. I'll give it a 5, but the amp isn't about features. Play one, and you will see.

I use an epiphone dot, and a fender telecaster deluxe. The humbuckers in the dot create a breakup at lower volumes, while the wide range in the fender stay clean for a bit longer. They both sound great through this amp though. This is natural tube over drive and it makes me drool. It's so warm and full and beautiful... I just can't say enough about it. If your looking for a real clean amp, this isn't the way to go though. Get a fender tube w/ reverb in that case. If the overdrive is this nice through an 8" speaker , I can't wait to see how full it is through a 12". Compared to $2000 tube heads, I'm sure this isn't equal. So for the price, I'll give it a 9.

Again, I just bout it today, so I'm not sure yet. Sorry. But my dot has held up. I know for a fact that Epiphone is a quality company who produces things for real musicians. They care about there products unlike other big companies like fender. You won't have any quality issues buying from Epiphone.

I've dealt with Gibson before a few times, and they were great. No problems.

I have played guitar for about 8 years now. I'm a simple man, with simple things. I know good sound when I hear it, and this amp sounds great. It really inspires me to write. It blows my fender hot rod's overdrive out of the water(fender clean is where its at though). My advice is that you play it, and see if its right for you. Reviews are nice, but they don't mean that much in the grand scheme of things. Sit down, play it, get inspired. If you don't like the sound, move on to the next amp. I love this amp.

I picked up a V3 VJ. While it only has one control (volume) it's responsive enough that you can get a variety of tones out of it by changing the settings on your guitar, or simply modifying your attack.

In a practice room with a drummer with full kit, it had just enough head room. Add a tube screamer, you should be able to keep up.

I play garage/punk/blues/dub, and between my Jaguar and my Stratotone I find this little tube amp has the appropriate tone for most of the songs we play.

However, in my experience anyway, this amp needs a little work before it starts to meet its potential. The stock tubes (a Sovtek el84 and an EH 12ax7) provided a reasonable tone until about 11 o'clock on the dial. Past that, and you got fuzz and buzz, not a warm breakup. I switched the Sovtek for a JJ and the EH for a Tung-Sol, and I was surprised by how different the sound became. Now, the more you turn it up, the better it sounds.

Switch the tubes, seriously.

I haven't had it very long, but I've probably run it full out for 8 hours or so. So far, no problems. But it's a tube amp, so don't bang it on anything or leave it out in the cold.

Haven't dealt with them yet.

I needed a little amp that was easy to move around, but still had enough power to practice with a drummer. After the tube switch, I have no regrets picking this up. You can really get it howling with the volume wide open, and when it's turned down, you get nice string definition and some warm chime.

I chose this amp over the Fender Champion and the Vox Pathfinder 15r. I would certainly buy this amp again, although I would have to factor in the cost of picking up new tubes as well (about $30).

versio 2 combo unmodded

Heh heh, yeah well I own a friggin '69 marshall superbass and comparing the two is completely retarded. I mean, dude? What the f?%k! I can't play the marshall in my house without the neighbours going nuts (I've got an se100 and it just ain't the same), and I for sure as hell ain't gonna mod it even though it's been through hell! dumbass. The little VJ is about hot-rodding, you idiot. You know, those early chevys and fords weren't so hot either, but... I still have faith in my version 2 combo and there's something in there... makes you wanna get in under the hood. Something running flat out. But all that being said- I do agree that $300 to spend on a $100 amp- well you can find old fenders and gibsons not too far from that and well... man the choice is yours.

good so far

no need

playing since '89 on mostly strats amstd 86, fullerton 84 '57, fuzzes rat 2, muff, way huge, marshalls jcm 800, '69 superbass. The EVJ sucks out of the box, but...

through ads....

Hah-Ha-Hah.., With all advancement of music gears with reviews, people are still on their way to rock bottom believing that this is a fine amp. Bottom line is you'll be spending more time and money on improving the sound of this amp that I believe the only thing you can salvage is the case. Lets face it, most of the reviewers here never even had the chance to own a real amp like an early marshall.

Product is good for low-end user...

Single channel, single ended 5 Watt all tube amp. Just volume control. Mine is a rev #3, with multiple impedance outputs and Eminence speaker.

It all comes down to what it's been thought for, I think. This puppy was thought to be an easy, plug-and-play, no frills combo, and that's what you get.

After reading lots of boards I have opened mine just to find that many of the mods suggested on the web have already been implemented in the latest revision. Things like using Alpha volume pot, DC heater, proper output transformer primary impedance, better tube quality, correct values of resistors on input voltage divider and things like that have already been addressed.

Mine came with an EH 12AX7 and a Sovtek EL84.

Despite the lot of people complaining about this combo being shrill, I must disagree: mine sounded very dark and muffled.
I have made some mods to it, like installing Mallory caps and a Tweed-like tone control, and now it sounds very good to me.
It gives a very spanky sound that's prone to distort quite easily. Too bad the 5 Watts combined with the small 8" speaker are just too loud to crank it home.
It's kind of a vintage-sounding amp. Dirty and punchy. I just love it.
It takes stompboxes very well, so I can get good saturated tones at bedroom volumes with my TS9 (with 808 mod).
It used to be dead quiet when it was stock, after the mods it's a bit noisy but much better sounding to me.

I bought it because I wanted an amp that was different from my main amp (a Mesa/Boogie Mark IV combo), and that could give me some fun modding it. No complains, it just does the job.

I play it with a Tom Anderson Drop Top and a custom made guitar.

Rating is for the stock sound. After the mods, it deserves at least a 7.

Just had it for a month. Anyway, I've taken a look inside and it looks like it may last forever. Despite it's made in China, it's very well done. Component quality looks quite good. It's a very easy amp, there's not much that can fail inside that black little box, I'd expect it to last long enough to get fed up with it :)

No idea.

For the price I paid for it, it's a bang for the buck. For less than 100 Eur you get a good cabinet, a good chassis, a big power transformer, a suitable output transformer, two good tubes, a well done pcb and a bunch of passive components. Even if it does not sound as you wish, every monkey that knows how to use a welding iron can modify it. There's plenty of boards, schematics and suggestions, it can provide hours of fun just by experimentimg new changes to the circuit.

I really can't complain about the available features, as anyone who looks at this little combo will clearly see it was designed to be very simple.

The one feature that I really would have liked to have seen on all versions of the combo would be 4/8/16 ohm speaker outs on the rear panel. Most of the speakers I've ever wanted to try with this amp have been either 8 or 16 ohms. Happily, I see the newest revision of the combo has this feature.

The revision of the combo I had sounded a bit stale to me with the stock Sovtek tubes. So like most other Valve Jr owners I replaced the stock tubes with some new ones. I used a JJ EL84 and a JJ 12AX7.

I'm really impressed by how well this amp takes to pedals. I use a Maxon OD808 reissue for my overdrive sound and that really sounds warm through the Valve Jr. It's extremely easy to get a solid, warm overdriven sound. For heavier sounds, I use a Krank Distortus Maximus. This pedal also sounds really great through the Valve Jr, and I'm actually able to get some reasonable sounds for metal (n.b. it's an 8" speaker.. don't expect miracles!!). My Holy Grail and DL4 also sound quite full with this little monster.

I think that the worst thing about the sound this little combo produces is that it is very mid heavy and can be a little muddy sounding. There is a relatively easy fix for this. I've found using a GE-7 (or favorite eq pedal) can do a lot to tame the wild mids.

I think the stock speaker is for the most part quite good for the price of the amplifier. I think the only think I could want more there is a little bit better bass response. But hey, it's an 8" speaker. Maybe I want a bit too much.. :)

I have tested the amp with both passive (SD59/JB) and active (EMG81/85) pickups, and I have been very happy with the performance with all pickups. Of note, I think the Seymour Duncan 59 sounds particularly impressive. I really love the creamy tone I get out of that pickup with this amp.

I've had it for about 5 months now and no issues.

Haven't had to speak with them. I have had zero issues so far. I know others who have had to deal with warranty work though, and their experience was positive.

I bought this little combo for home practice and recording, and I really can't say that I've had any disappointments. It's served it's purpose well, and other than the lack of 8/16ohm speaker outs, I'm quite happy to keep singing it's praises.

This little amp is as simple as they come but in the blues , "Less Is More" !

The Valve Junior Combo version #3 has improvements that now make this the best deal on the planet . Wow is exactly what came to mind after about 2 minutes of blowing my harp through the new Valve Junior Combo version #3 . I absolutely loved version # 2 head and combo that used a 4 ohm speaker but this new version has upped the stakes considerably !

The new version is so open-fat-rich and full sounding that it is like a 7 to 10 watt amp that is completely hand wired ( which it is not) . The 16 ohm "Eminence" speaker ( engineered in the USA and made in China ) that comes standard in the new version is the loudest 8 inch speaker I have ever played through . At first I thought the speaker was a bit harsh but after about 10 hours of playing it has now transformed into a keeper ( most every speaker has a break in period before it reveals the true sound it is going to produce ) . After getting the 16 ohm "Eminence" broken in it has turned into a speaker that has a very aggressive growl and penetration that will cut through the mix in a band setting . Really , this amp will do fine on it's own in a small club setting unmiked .

What I like to do is turn the Valve Junior Combo version #3 about 3/4 wide open and back off 3 or 4 clicks on my harp mic for rhythm and backup playing . She stays a bit clean this way but still a touch of hair and grit when ya cup the mic tighter and blow a little harder . And when you reach over with your pinky finger and turn the volume wide open on the mic , it is like having a tiger by the tail . The power and touch dynamics are so organic and bottomless that it makes playing and practice fun again .

The speaker and amplifier circuit are very well thought out and matched . I tried the combo with other speakers and the "Eminence" 16 ohm speaker ( that it came with ) did the best job of bringing out the full potential-range and depth of what this amp is capable of . This amp is pretty even across the board as far as the low-mids-highs are concerned . But it does lean a bit more toward the mids to highs . But when tried with various other speakers the amp acts like a chameleon and adapts to them .

For playing amplified harp this is the BEST I have ever played through so far ! The Valve Junior Combo version #3 can be a little kitten and cleanly purr , but crank the volume and you unleash the "TONE BEAST FROM HELL" . How in the world can they make and sell such a quality amp like this for $149.00 ? Heck , the cab alone is worth that , it is built like a tank .

Mic this baby and it is mind blowing ! Take 2 of the Valve Junior Combos and a "A/B/Y" pedal and you are good to go with a loud band . With the pedal , use one combo for rhythm and then kick in both for a scorching lead solo . Two of these at the same time , cranked , is like having a religious experience .

I give the Valve Junior Combo version #3 my highest rating , a (7) Harp Salute . It also deserves my next coveted award , and that is my "Nasty Harp Award " , When ya crank that volume knob on the Valve Junior Combo the tone gets so fat and nasty/chewy , the way Chicago Blues should sound and be played . At one time I was a bit obsessed with tube heads and extension cabinets , but they take a while to set up and there is more to carry . I still like them but there is something to be said for the portability of just grabbing the little Valve Jr. Combo and running out the door to the gig.

Epiphone has hit a Grand Slam with the Valve Junior Combo version #3 !


http://bluzharp.tripod.com

I have only had this version # 3 for about 2 months but I have a version # 2 head and combo that has seen more biker bars and spilled beer than a
a motorcycle .

Awesome !!!!! I have had contact with Bob Burns and other techs there and they are a delight to deal with .

This is like my wife ! This is the amp of my blues harmonica playing dreams !

This is my second review. Don't want to be a bore but do want to pass on what I think greatly improves the amp.

I have owned this amp for a year and read about all the different mods you can get. Well, all I did was replace stock Sovtek tubes for JJ Tesla's (cost ??18) and it is now fantastic.

If you want a clean sound then it's great.

If you want natural power amp distortion then it's great.

As others have said before me..turn the amp on 30 minutes before playing it.

Solid so far.

A totally brilliant amp.

It needs tone controls. Mine had big treble boost problem.

The cab with it looks great but the speaker sounds bad-Too much treble...the Head Its like a bad pedal tone nob that doesnt give enough bass freguency; I think it needs a larger value in the head circuit too allow more bass. Im not a mod expert but I think it might be cap on the guitar input that needs a larger value probably?
My vox valvetronix 30 sounded much better. I took the junior head and attatched it too a few great speakers and it was much better!!It still did not beat my vox with stock speaker. Heres the bad part. I then hooked up a small cheap crate practice amp to this same great speaker and the little small amp sounded better than the tube head.
I can only imagine what my vox could do with this cab. In all fairness the Junior head was pretty good alone with a different speaker. I returned it to Gc mostly because I hated the speaker cab. I love Epiphone and play their guitars. I did love this little head, but mine was just way too bright. I posted this just too help balance the reviews as these reviews influenced my decision to buy. The head did sound good with a $400 cab, but was way too bright.

I can't say, I didn't own it long enough-looked well made.

I give it a 6 only because of its low cost. Mine was too bright and unusable without heavey eq. I might try the Blackheart amp designed by the same russian guy who desiged this head; it has tone controls and a cut switch to 3 watt. Oh and the VJ head was too loud to actually practice in mid to full overdrive. Im sure the Valve Junior head can sound great with the right voicing mod -I just dont have the skills or time to fiddle with it. I hope I didnt ruffle anyones feathers with this review, I did love this little head, I may have just got a bad unit with too much variance in a couple circuit parts that didnt complement each other.

One volume pot some speaker inputs and one internal speaker all you need.
I know it's not any features really but thats what this amp is a 5w class a valve combo practice amp!

It does one sound a straight very strong and warm clean sound! i use a few guitars on it a Fender Japan Tele a PRS Custom 22 and an Ibanez hollowbody and it sounded great with all of them and worked really well with all types of pick-ups.
If you want a distortion sound just pick a pedal you like and run it through the front easy as and sounds great and has a surprising amount of volume!

Now i ordered this via the internet and i recieved one and it made no sound whats so eva, probaly due to the speaker or the jack input which was a big let down so i swapped it for another one and exactly the same problem! so i thought i'd try one more incase it was me being stupid and the third one worked fine! i hate to knock it down points but 2 in a row is pretty bad.

There is no customer support in the Uk for Epiphone! the shop was alright but the lack of company help sucks.

If you get one of these that works then is a great amp and does exactly what its supposed to!

This amp only has an on/off switch and a volume control on the front panel, but on the back it has speaker outputs for 4, 8 and 16 ohm. Based on the the range of clean to over-driven tone that results as an increase or decrease in the volume level, the option to use a variety of external speakers, and the really loud 5 watts that this amp puts out, I find this amp to be both simple and versatile.

This amp with an 8 ohm 12 inch Mesa closed back cabinet and an Fender American Telecaster produces a nice range of sounds. The low level clean sound has just the right amount of bite and drive. The high volume level distortion also sounds good with the Telecaster.

This amp appears to be very well built. It is solid and the attention to the detail of fit and finish is as well or better than many amps costing significantly more money. The manufactures 5 year warranty seems to imply that the amp will be reliable. I use the amp without a backup for small gigs and rehearsals.

The amp has a 5 year warranty on every thing except the tubes.

I purchased this amp based on the previous reviews, the low cost of the amp, the ease of changing tubes when and if desired, the low wattage, and the company name. The great sound and quality of the amp is a bonus.

It's just a simple straight forward EL84 amplification circuit. The output transformer but mainly the speaker provides all the tone it has to offer. Tube amps can't get more simple in design than this.

The circuit and ouptut transformer are fine. But the main thing is the speaker and that is crap. It is efficient and loud but at the same time it sounds very brittle and metalic. In no way this is a vintage tone as they claim.
No amount of mods will improve this. I've connected this speaker to another amp and it sounded just as bad specially when driven hard.
Even at low volumes I can't get a decent sound and EQ don't fix it when recording tracks.
It sounds good when I use it for keyboard though because it's so bright so no need for a tweeter.
Sometimes I use the amp just as a head to a decent speaker cabinet and that makes all the difference. It sounds "normal".
This amp just needs a good speaker that's all. No mods or anything else.

Extremely well build amp. Almost an overkill. It's nice to see somehting build so well these days, specially in China. It'll probably work for a 100 years privinding you change the tubes couple of times.

Not needed.

Cheapest tube amp available, mediocre sound for guitar, ok for keyboard with it's original crap speaker.

Volume, line out

This amp is pretty dark. If you are looking for nice cleans, I would stay away. This amp is made to be pushed, not to the extreme, but definitely pushed. I have used it with a strat HSS and a tele. This amp treats effect pedals well. I have tried it with a humbucker into a metal zone into a 7 band equalizer and it got a great metal tone. You can get everything from Black Sabbath to Mastodon. It would not do Nu Metal or chain-saw type distortion. It does blues very well. I like a lot of alternative and indie rock, so it is a little to dark for me, but an equalizer helps a lot. I also use a weber attenuator with it to get good power tube saturation.

Built like a tank

N/A

I have been playing for 5 years now. I play a custom guitar into a couple effects into either this or my Ampeg Jet. I would cut my losses. I really like it, especially in combination with an equalizer pedal and an attenuator. I love how easily tube saturation is achieved, but I wish it was voiced a little brighter. At the end of the day, I am glad to have it in my arsenal.

input jack, volume control, power switch. only play at home.very loud when cranked.

great for old school blues and rock. starts to get a bit gritty at 10'o clock with humbuckers, at 3 o'clock it's very loud & very dirty! will sustain for ever - gary moore style. with single coils it starts to get gritty at just over 12'o clock and gives a great blues tone. if you need any more, use a good overdrive/distortion pedal.

bought mine in october 2005. hummed and buzzed like hell! took it back to sound control in stockton-on-tees, and they changed it for a newer model-this one is really great.

never used epiphone as sound control sorted out my problem. however, i understand epiphone do supply a 5 year warrenty.

i have been playing for around 30 years, on & off. this little amp sounds great for what i do. i have, over the years, owned a lot of good stuff, mesia boogie, fender, marshall etc, and this amp is up there with them - honestly. if anything happened to it i would buy again, without hesitation.

no need to explan the features...
bought it 1 jear ago..

sounds nice at all.changed the tube for EH 12AT7 for more clean headroom,sounds nice after about 50 hours.the tubes need some time to "warm up",about 20 min.i play mostly bluesrock and some dirty pop with a fender strat(made of different strats,with a tele neck).this guy is very honest with nearly no compression.you get what you give,means it shows every wrong note and mistake.you need to have tone in your fingers,so this is no beginners amp.it breaks up nicely at about 1 o clock(with gainboost mod).i dont like its sound,when the vol is full,sounds to damaged.guess its a speaker distortion.the speaker is ok at all,but too small,to give a real punch.gonna build a new cab with a jensen 12" to get more volume and punch.it works in a band,but you have to mic it.the sound is "classical",it has no modern rocksounds and no metal attitudes.he likes tubescreamers and stuff,but sounds muddy with modelling stuff.different guitars have very different sounds on this amp for there is a very short signal chain and no toecontrol at all.it can be modded very easily.it doesnt sounds like a marshall or a fender,it has some kind of its own sound

gigged a lot with it.still workin

i??ve been playin 4 a while.i have seen lots of equipment,and this one i pretty cool.no boutique tone,but its ok since i like unpolished dirty sounds.u can play the blues on a highend superamp,but with this one,its more authentic i think.best partner is a good guitar a good cable,a booster or tubedrive and the vol knob at the guitar.crappy guitars will sound crappy.you can get a lot of different sound,as long as u know how to get them from your guitar.you get,what you give

Mine is a newer version - likely 2007 with the newer hum reduction design. Have to give it a 2 because it is what it is - very basic class A 5 Watt tube amp. Don't interpret that as bad.

This amp is simply outstanding. At lower volumes, it is quite clear and clean, crank it up and it gets very dynamically responsive to your attack and breaks up beautifully. After one day, it is my favorite amp ever - even with the cheap stock tubes.
This is an amp that you have to understand though. I think those reviewers who call it "dark" sounding have to consider what the amp is and is not. There not much in the circuitry coloring your sound. I spent about 3 hours with it yesterday - no effects with an american tele. On the bridge pickup, the sound is quite bright and cuts through nicely. With both pickups on, the I got a quite nice rhythm sound and with a little turn of the volume knob got some nice growl. On the neck pickup, it is admittedly "darker" sounding, but might be a good sound for some jazz and other uses. I would anticipate the same "darkness" with a neck humbucker, but with an earlier breakup because of generally higher output. The point is, this bad boy amplifies what it gets. Start putting the tone control circuits in and all the other bells and whistles and you start gaining more control at the expense of the short path between you and the tubes and the speaker. I think the criticizm for being "dark" sounding is a reflection of the lack of ability to color the sound by boosting the treble or cutting the bass. I submit that all that can be fixed with an equalizer pedal like a Boss GE 7 or the like if you want more control. But, appreciate this amp for what it is - a great sounding, very responsive amp.
Lots of mods are possible and well documented on the Internet. I contemplated quite a few before getting mine, and am now contemplating far fewer if any. This little guy just screams with creamy smooth distortion and the most responsive dynamics I have experienced. Still has just a little of the hum when cranked, but quite tolerable. May try to tweak that a bit, but this amp is quite good out of the box when you understand that it is simpy going to amplify what you put in. Want color, treble, bass? Get an equalizer and one of these and I don't think you'll regret it. The sound just doesn't get much better than this.

Survived shipping, but can't comment otherwise.

no experience

I have about 18 guitars and 7 amps. Have been playing for 40+ years. I would replace it in a heartbeat, and would buy another if I spot a deal just for fun. As an electrical engineer, I might investigate some of the mods suggested on the Internet. Perhaps add a little more power supply filtering, and mod of the input circuit and the voltage divider between the preamp and power amp stages just for fun. But I'll be thinking long and hard about it or buying another for mods.
Haven't done the calculations, but it appears that the bias may be a little high on the output tube (decreases tube life) so I might tweak that, but trust me, this guy is AOK right out of the box. I might get another just to experiment with, but really it is an excellent amp as is. Some allege that the parts are cheap, but that is an issue that only time will tell, and it is so simple and cheap, it can easily be fixed or replaced. BUY ONE.... or three.

There is everything i expect from the amplifier - power switch for starting it up and volume button for adjusting volume. There is no need for any more stuff, it would just ruin this lovely layout.

when you turn it on, it sounds... well, something you expect to come from a tube amp. not bad at all, but nothing special either.

but hey...

let it warm up... for about 20-30 minutes. then turn it up to near breaking up level and play... play with your heart and soul, with all the mojo you have got!

It would be 10 if it would reach that tone faster than 20-30 minutes.

PS! it loves Tube screamer as well:)

built solid... sometimes i have heard some kind of fizz or smth... but that can be from the poor electricity i have in my home. Its a V2, so there are no other noise problems:)

dont know.

I love this sucker for its small size and great tone - not your usual package... If it were stolen i would buy another one.

As a long admirer of Fender Champs and simple Class A amps, I had to see what these were about after all the reviews. The simplicity is a major plus, and swapping the tubes is a piece of cake- no need to bias. My only wish is that there was a stand-by switch.

Ok- I first bought a VJ head and paired it with a nice 2x12 cab- plenty of power/volume. The nice part is that this can be pared with pedals to get the best of huge/classic amp tone with the ability to play & record at room volume- not like your playing a stadium gig.

So I was impressed enough that I wanted to see if the VJ combo was just as good....WOW. -Let's just say it's the only amp I play. In both the VJ head and the combo I've basically just swapped the 12Ax7 tubes to Groove Tube Gold series. Nice warm tone. I use this amp with a Digitech RP 250 in a classic "Bassman" type setting and the result is perfect. I play various electrics from my '77 SG, a Squier '51, but by recent fav is an '57 Epi LP Jr which I swapped in a true 'P90' to replace the excessively hot P100 it came with.

What a tone!

No issues yet.

From my experience and my playing style, this thing does it all and does it well. I gave it the true love/hate test the other night by playing out live with my lil' jr. I play a lot of slide and I basically played with a piano and a bass player and didn't need to mic the amp. Mic'ing the amp though would have definitely brought a more fuller sound to the room, but I basically played with the amp at 10 o'clock and had all the volume & projection I needed. If I bring in some drums, I will definitely go the mic'ing route. The piano player was floored on how great this amp sounded. I'm even leaving the "drink rings" on the amp for character..

For features, there are tubes, transformers, and a speaker. It even has extra features like a volume knob and a cabinet to hold all of it with a great eye appeal. I like the amp.

I've been playing for about 40 years, so I've heard and played a lot of amps. This little amp sounds pretty darn cool. If you are at all familiar with Hank Williams Sr. and have hear his old music, the old raspy, hot, clean and dirty at the same time is what this amp delivers. I took it into the tiny club I play at last night. I put it next to my other amp and I just kept going back to the VJ. It did not have the clarity of my other cool amp, but it had a tone that was very pleasant. I bought it because my other amp is 40 watts and I never get to turn it up. I bought the VJ after reading about it so much. It filled the club with truly acceptable tube-tone. I have JJ Tubes coming for it already from Eurotubes, because I believe in them and recommend them. I will probably switch out the speaker at some time in the future. I only ran the amp at about 10:00 or so. I use pedals for other tones. People loved it. In a live situation it was great. I run an Analog Man Sunface NKT, Mini Chorus, Juicer, and a AR20DL Delay into whatever I play through. Without these, the amp didn't have a lot of life. Plug in good stuff and it is fantastic. I didn't even get any hum. It's a decent amp. It is what it is: a 5 watt tube amp. Pedals bring it to life. If you hate effects that is a personal choice thing. I try to give my little audience the best listening experience I can with my limited abilities. But, sorry, nothing gets a 10 in my book except the genuine 59 Strat I had a long time ago.

Fortunately I know one of the best amp tech in the US is there in Arkansas, so if I ever had a problem, I would pay him to do what he does for a living: fix stuff.

I wouldn't bother sending in the warrantee on an amp I paid $120 for. Deal with a reputable company to begin with and deal locally.

This amp sounds old fashioned. Old school. Minimal in every way. I used it live and I loved it. I would use my big amp in a big venue, but for a small club where you want tube tone at a resonable volume, this amp does it for me. Use your effects to bring it to life or not.

Newer model EVJ. Meh, it has one input, one knob, and one switch. That's plenty for me.

After reading the many reviews on this little beast, I had to try it myself. It's honestly just the thing I'm after. I do more home recording than anything else and if I need a big rig to play on, I know plenty of gear-heads to sort me out. The sound is just what I was after! When people say to at least A-B a couple of them in store, listen to them. The first EVJ I tried was good but on a hunch I asked if they had another I could try. Sure enough, the second was amazing compared to the first, to the point that the clerk serving me remarked on the difference. There is a point where the tubes fizz and isn't that pleasant but that's when pushing it almost full-circle. I put a Crowther Hotcake in front of this thing and the good times kept rollin'. Got slightly Smashing Pumpkins tone outta the thing which was rather splendid. Also, no hum issues with this one as it is a newer model.

Hasn't broken, looks simple to fix, and if not, I'll buy another!

Probably wouldn't bother them

The tone you get for the price is wonderful! It's worth it, but do try and compare multiple versions as the quality control isn't that groovy.

This is just an addition to my previous review where I've rated the sound quality less because it was sounding fuzzy but now after couple of rehersals I feel I need to correct it to 10.
In the last two rehearsal I've played against 100W Music man. The little EVJ amazingly did cut through. All the boxy, fizzy sound seems to come together to a very cool grunty tone in a live band.
Couple of things I've learned about EVJ to make it sound better:
Let it warm up for 1/2 hour.
You need to use quality guitar.
Don't go past 3/4 volume
That's it, great little amp for line band jaming!

Doesn't really have any features other but On and volume knobs ans speaker out jack (if you remove internal speaker jack).

I have several 5 Watts amps, some I've build. This EVJ has a well decent ballanced sound. That is the bass, mids and treble are at about the same level so it's not lacking in this respect. It is quiet loud for 5 Watts but not as loud as it could be due to the output transformer. I've connected one of my build amps to the EVJ speaker and it was about 30% louder that's not to say the the stock EVJ isbn't loud enough for rehearsals. It just dirty all the way because it has to be at least at 3/4 volume and helps to have pedal to boost when doing leads.
Now for the tone of EVJ. It sound somewhat brittle even at low levels. (For recording you'd want to cut it of at about 6k that helps). But it's not a bad sound and is really a personal prefference.
Goes ok till 3/3 volume but once you got to 3/4 or max the sound becomes very treble fizzy. I don't like that. I'ts the speaker not handling higher levels. When I connected my other amp to the EVJ speaker it was even fizzier as it was louder. No amount of mods will get rid of that unless you change the speaker. maybe Epiphone dind't count on people pushing the amp to the max.

Well build and still works but it's only couple months old so can rate this yet.

It's a very cheap amp and even the speaker gets fizzy at high volumes it is still great value and still better than other 5 Watts commercial amps I've tried. I find this amp little addictive and play it very often even thogh Ihave much better amps I can use. I guess it's has a little magic to it for being not only cheap but having it's own original tone.

Got input socket and level knob that's all.

The closest description of sound would be something like the sound of an amp from old Elvis recordings when at about 1/2 volume. It's got that kind of breakup tone. When you max the volume it goes in to heavy distortion but still retains it's tone. It is a good tone with own unique character. It sounds the way it looks OLD. Excellent from grunge rock. It about as loud as 5 watts can get. Pluging it to 12" speaker or other cabs makes it sound little fuller but not that much louder to make it worth draging extra box with you. The speaker in this amp is pretty good as it is and provides lot of tight bass for 8" size.

I was hesitant to buy it being made in china but went to the shop and after close inspection I bough it. Very solid cabinet, metal corners, good solid chassis metal and is painted even where you can't see it. Has tube retainers and even preamp tube cover. Transformers look good and are of a good size, oparticularly the poower transformer looks quiet large and is probably slightly oversized which is a good thing. Speaker sais "E" that's all but apparently designed by Webber. Giood clean solid build. Far better quality build than my Fender Junior but only at 1/3 of the cost.

I didn't like the way it sounded in the shop because it was brittle sounding and treble were this. I bought it with some heavy modifications in mind, basically just to have fun moding it. Took it home and out some older worn in tubes and it sounded better without being so brittle aon the treble. So I put the original tubes back and took it to a jam where I trashed it for 4 hours and max volume.
Next day I played the amp again at home and it sounded much better. The tone was more defined and not so brittle and even got little fatter. That's because the tubes and the little speaker got worked in.
Now I don't see any point in doing any mods at all. It sounds as good as any well build 5 watt amp if not better.
So when you buy a new one don't jump to change things right away. Give it a good trash for few hours to break it in and you'll probably like it enough to leave it original. I'm not changing anything on this amp. The only thing I'd preffer is that the amp would be lighter, made of wood or plywood. On the orher hand maybe it would rattle like Fender Juniors do so if that's the case the little extra weight is worth it.

One knob - volume. As versatile as I like my amps!

It sounds terrible. For those who don't have tube amp experiences, low power tube amp even 1 Watt should sound clear and punchy like for example Fender Twin but off course with lot less volume.
This Epiphone sounds flat, brittle, blured, muffled and above all has a volume level of about 1 Waa not 5 Watts which in good amp would be loud enough for rehearsals. Problem is eather very bad speaker or oputput transformer. The circuit design is basic but good enough.

While the amp is useless sound wise, it is extremely well build in solid box, good chassis which is painted properly even in places you can't see, transofrmers are nice and shiny, tubes have spring retainers and over all design looks quiet unique. This amp should last for years.

It's a shame the way it sounds because is build so well but it's about the tone after all.

You buy a piano... where are the EQ controls, where is the volume control... and as for digital fx...? blimey they've missed 'em off, guv!!! So why did you buy it... hopefully 'cos you love the tone and everytime you sit down to play it, it sounds inspiring and harmonically rich and you just want to go on playing. Where's the tone or digital fx on a sax, a clarinet or a trumpet or a classical guitar? Same with a really good valve amp and guitar... this one is featureless control wise [volume pot obviously!] and less is more! [my wages being the exception] So with 2 classic rock valves, the EL84 and the 12ax7 you should get some great valve amp sounds.

Most valve amps tend to be characterless tonally at lower volumes and it's not until you get at least beyond half way that that valve magic starts to work. Same with this amp... 2 to 3 o'clock seems to be the sweet spot with a Strat... but it's way too loud for sitting next to and happily strumming away... it'll split your ear drums in two! Hire your local town or village hall for an afternoon and take the VJ down. Place the amp in the middle of the hall and place yourself at the end of at least 9 foot of good guitar cable. Prior to this you'll have switched on the amp, set the volume at 70 to 75% [2 to 3 0'clock] and left it heating up its valves for about say 20 minutes.

For the benefit of other HC users you may well consider recording your efforts. With the amp in the middle of the hall you can now play and listen with the amp able to move some air and your ears under less pressure! The amp will produce some wonderful overdriven sounds but also try your overdrive pedal as a boost... you'll have some sonic fun and really get to know what this amp can perform like.

I suspect that the stock speaker at 8" is not as good as it could be. I'm not sure but when I tried my VJ with a 10" Peavey speaker the improvement in tone at all volume levels was immense.

I have no idea as to its reliability gig-wise. My VJ has been with me for a year now and I have a love hate relationship with it. The valves are now the always recommended JJs and yes they sound way better than the stock valves. There are no moving parts... unless you turn the volume up and play!

Epiphone UK were not exactly honest about problems with the VJ mark 1. The Mk 2 which I have is hum free and has no noise problems at all. They would not acknowledge that the noise problems were way beyond what was acceptable on any amplifier... especially for home use. I know because I exchanged many emails with them as they ducked, dived and dodged!

My VJ has been with me for a year now and I have a love hate relationship with it. The amp however is simply great fun and a great idea. The shame is that it is so loud at its sweet spot for overdriven sounds. 5 watts of valve amp is tinnitus inducing. Therefore I hardly ever play it!!! It sits on top my Peavey Solid State Backstage 50 and it's the Peavey with a Bad Monkey that gets all the use. The Peavey sounds way better at normal home playing volumes and is more inspiring to play. My Peavey is from 1988 so has not been infected with anything digital! My Strat [USA 1972] plus the Bad Monkey and a Boss DD3 in to the Peavey blows the VJ away at normal home playing levels. The VJ sounds boxy, harsh and thin in comparison...

So get in that blues band [with a musical drummer of course?] or take the VJ out to a large hall somewhere where you can really put it through its paces because at home with the family and neighbourhood your hopes to rock immortality may well be challenged!

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.

Amp was made in 06. I play all styles of music. Basic amp with just a volume control. I bought this amp because it was so simple so I don't wish it had anything. No bells and whistles, simple, easy to mod and maintain. I would consider this amp extremely versatile since it does so little but amplifier what you put to it.

I have read all the reviews etc an didn't find this amp noisy. I have had the amp for 1 week and I gigged with this past weekend (1-13-07). Being that my sound comes from the PA, I like smaller amps so I can turn them up to the point where the just begin to break up. This is about 11 O clock on my amp (I haven't started switching the tubes yet).

It is not made for distortion.

The guitars that I used with it this week were Brian Setzer Gretsch G6120ssu, a Fat Strat and my trusty 1965 strat. Pickups are Tv jones, stock, Bill Lawrence.

Here is my setup..... I run the output to a Behringer Guitar DI then to the speaker. The DI simulates a 4x12 cab and that goes to the board.

Here's the signal chain: guitar to Boss Tuner -> Dyna Comp ->Morley Bad Horsie Wah (first generation), Xotic Pedals AC Booster, Xotic Pedals RC Booster, TC Chorus, Boss DD-6 Delay.

I use the RC Boster to generate my tone, the AC for the overdrive, the dd6 adds almost a reverb like sound they way I have it adjusted. I use the chorus for one or two songs and the way is used when I don't fell like hasling with setting up my talk box for 2 songs (Show Me The Way and Livin On A Prayer).

If you crank on the amp too much it gets farty in it's stock condition. I think it is great and I have 2 more on order from the music store where I purchased this.

I tilt the amp toward me and us it as my monitor if I am not using my in ears or hot spot.

Style I am playing is classic rock and female vocalist chick pop tunes.

I don't know how reliable it will be. From what I have read it should be. Since I get paid for my playing, I always have a back up or two. I think I can depende on it knowing that if something goes wrong I'll just grab my old bandmaster or pro jr.......2 minute swap.

No experience with Epiphone. The dealer will back it up.

Playing for over 40 years. Other gear I own...all old Fender tube amps, some Crate VC tube amps, Boogie, Z. Solid state Roland Cube Series amps. Lots of Strats, Parker, Gretsch, BC Rich. The amp is fine! It's light. It works. Everyone complimented me on my sound this weekend. They always do..how can they not if you normally use a Fender tube amp anyway? This weekend was a switch ofr me to use the Valve Jr. It passed the test.

I compared it to the new Peavey 5 watt tube amp..Don't recall the model. No comparison at all. The Peavey sound is sterile....no jingly tingly sound.....flat.

Use it for what it is intended for. Don't expect to play drop D tuned heavy metal stuff with it etc.

Class A circuit design, 5 watts, all tube (12AX7 & EL84 stock Sovteks), 8" speaker, and... (drum roll please) ONE volume knob --that's it on the panel (except for the jack and the switch)! Also, this amp costs $139, okay?? Feel free to compare it to absolutely anything else you can get for that kind of money. The Valve Junior is building its own little legend already with the mods that are available out there (search it on e-bay and you'll get more hits for mod kits than the actual amp). All of that correctly implies that the stock platform of the amp is quite good, which it seems to be. I like the detachable AC cord design, and I'm not above confessing that I LOVE the "chicken-head" volume knob.

Probably depends a lot on the player & their ability to use their fingers and their ears. I was thinking that some people out there probably drop a LOT of money on high-end tube amps thinking that they'll be guaranteed phenomenal tone; that's not really how it works. This amp is a great, low-budget introduction to getting a variety of very satisfying tones based on the interaction between amp volume knob, guitar settings, and player attack. Descriptions of the sound as "dark" are accurate, but I'm using a Telecaster most of the time & have been trying to wrestle down the "bright" of my old Fender tube amps for years, so I'm cool with the darker tone. It's got a bit of a "box-y" tone, but when I added a Boss DD-3 in front for a little spaciousness, the sound turned perfect!! Good clean sounds, and "yes" it will grind just fine at volumes which apartment-dwellers have found a bit loud, but I'm loving it in my garage. Unlike my 1969 Fender "Vibro Champ", the speaker itself on the Epiphone doesn't distort when the amp is dimed (speaker distortion is NOT my preferred fuzz sound).

This appears to be a solidly built amp. Properly shipped (upside down to keep the tubes from dropping out/loosening). Surprisingly heavy. A lot of people seem to be modding/servicing it themselves & word is that it's easy to work on. Buy new, not used (version one had problems).

No idea. I have a phenomenal local amp tech who always treats me great (Skip Simmons in Dixon, CA, whose small combo amp "The Retropolitan" is the single best-sounding amp I've ever played/heard; buy one of those if you can afford it). I wouldn't call Epiphone for service (this thing was assembled somewhere in China anyhow).

This seems to be a great little tube amp, and it's met all of my expectations. It's fun to mess with & it makes superb sounds. It appealed to me on a kind of primal level (5 watts, 2 absolutely classic tubes, 1 knob) & it's verrrrry satisfying as such. If the concept of this amp doesn't grab you by the gut, then I suggest you pass on it. It is what it is. If you want/expect immediate magical perfect guitar tone from your equipment, then you really want an amp with NO knobs on it, right? Want a cheap, simple, smartly designed, well made, low-watt, tube combo to drive around with a good sounding guitar and your reasonable (or better) chops... then "Oh MY!!"

This amp does exactly what is says on the tin - one volume knob, and that's it. I am so pleased they kept the cost down by limiting the features. Well done Epiphone. This amp was cheaper infact than some pedals I have bought recently !

I totally LOVE this amp!. It sounds awesome - I have the latest design which has virtually no hum and I just cannot get over what a sweet sound it makes for a meagre 86 UK pounds! I think it helps if you are lucky to play nice guitars through it - I am using a custom shop strat, a PRS and a Gibson jazzer - all of them sound amazing. And it's LOUD! Especially with a humbucker equipped guitar it really puts out the volume. Past half way it starts to break up nicely - at full volume the sound goes off a bit but as I have only turned it up that far once it doesn't matter. In fact for home use the volume knob rarely goes past the 12 o'clock position. Great!

The amp is bigger and heavier than I was expecting (I always think there's quality in weight) and seems to be of a surprisingly robust construction. I do not anticipate any problems save for the occasional valve change maybe but, hey, when there's only 2 valves it's not a big deal.

Never dealt with them so no comment here.

I am totally blown away by this amp. My previous amp was a 2003 Fender Super Reverb but do you know what? I prefer this little Epiphone.... The Fender cost me nearly twelve hundred pounds. This little beauty was eighty six. For the price it can't be beaten. I highly recommend it. Thanks Epiphone !!!

Bought used so year unknown. There's no noticeable hum unless it's dimed with single coils, so I assume it's second generation. Feature's...ummm...it's got an on off switch and a volume knob; what else does it need? Five screaming class-A watts out of one EL-84. Very nice retro radio kinda look.

Ohmigod is this thing fun!!!! Who woulda thought. My wife (who is the most wonderful creature on the face of this earth) picked this up as a Christmas present for me. I had wanted one for awhile (due largely to the HC reviews) and I must say this thing surpasses my expectations. I had no idea five watts could be that loud. I've already used it with every guitar in my modest collection (a tele, a strat, an SG and a Peavey HP Signature Series) and it rocks hard with all of them. I kinda prefer the detail that single coils bring to it--it's a surprisingly nuanced amp--and the Fender guitars sound good up to about 3/4 on the dial. After that they get a little too ratty for my taste but by then you are well past conversational volume. The amp is rather on the dark side, as folks seem to agree, but that just means the bridge pickup on my strat is finally usable as something besides an interrogation technique. The humbucker equipped guitars are nice for getting some hard rock chunk and grind going; clean, they can give you a nice jazzy tone. If you need more gain, just slap a pedal in front. I mainly use a Boss Turbo Overdrive and you can get real sludgey with just that. I imagine a Metal Zone would turn your tone to tar. Don't expect a lot of bass with that eight inch speaker but it will deliver more than you expect. I've already plugged this into a twelve-inch Scorpion in an old Peavey Special 130 and got a whole lotta ooomph out of it. I played it at band practice yesterday (three days after I got it) and, while clean tones were out of the question with our drummer, the grind and sustain were just great. My main amp is a Peavey Classic 50 (which is no boutique amp but quite serviceable)and this thing delivers a more detailed and, dare I say it, fatter tone. Before I got it, I was figuring I would be slapping in the Bitmo bright mod (I ain't scared of no soldering) but I think I will just play with this as is for awhile. I realize that this rating seems out of proportion to what this amp is but a mere two years ago you couldn't have gotten this kind of tone for three times the price.

What's to break? If a resistor or capacitor goes south, I'll just slap in a new one. If it's something bigger, I'll spend $99 on a Valve Junior head and throw it in this cabinet. I would never plan on using this at a gig (though it might be useful to run in stereo with my main amp and aim it straight at my drummer's head). As to backup, I think I will use this as my backup amp if my big dog goes down. I can just stick this in front of my pedalboard and slap a mic in front of it and be back in the saddle in no time. That, and it won't take up any room in the van. All told, it's so simple that I don't think much could go wrong.

Never dealt with Epiphone. This is used, so I am probably my own customer service.

You don't want to hear about me, so let's skip all that. Let me just say that there is nothing else like this puppy out there on the market. It's more cheap fun than a Detroit hooker and will set you back less than a pair of good sneakers. Collect 'em, trade 'em, mod 'em, play 'em, you won't stop smiling. Epiphone ought to release this in different colors; I would buy one of each. Excuse me, I wanna go play my guitar now instead of talking to you.

This is an update to an earlier review. I've had this amp for almost a year now, and I have the original, totally stock version with the 3 pinstripies through the middle of the faceplate. I gave it good reviews shortly after getting it and trying it out, and I have to stand by them. There have been a couple of times when I have plugged it in and gotten some buzz, but then realized that I was getting some hum from improperly distributing my power supplies for pedals and the amp. But other than that, mine has remained quite properly quiet.

I can't even turn this thing up past a quarter of the way up without freaking out my neighbors. Small apt, thin walls. But still, it can churn it out. I always turn it on and leave it warming up for a few minutes before I play, and it always sounds great. I use it alone sometimes and sometimes with a large chain of pedals. It takes very well to pedals, I have really loved the sound of my Boss OD-3 through this amp, there is something really classic about the sound. This amp can suit any style of player, as long as it is working properly. Its like a mirror. If you play electric regularly, you need it or something like it. You'll understand why once you have it!

So far, no problems. Everything has worked fine since I got it.

No idea still.

Yeah, there's a real love/hate thing with this amp. Seems like its mostly love, though. One of the most useful pieces of musical equipment I've ever bought. Ok I'll stop before I start weeping.

None other than a volume knob...which is exactly what is advertised and expected in this amp.

I was so so so very dissappointed in the sound of this amp. I was looking forward to it after reading all the great reviews. I couldn't wait to turn it up and hear the "god" sound I've been looking for. If this is "god" sound then I must be a different religion. I love my Peavey Prowler, but can't turn it up in my liitle room...so I wanted something lower powered that could be turned up. True it's fairly loud...but not a good sound at all. Much better with my Boss me-30 in front of it, but still not good. I was unhappy with both the clean and turned up sound.

Looks well made. Heavier than expected.

Never have.

I've been playing almost 40 years. I know my equipment. Played Marshall Major stack thru the 70's. Now just me and my Prowler. I don't gig anymore. Currently have a Hamer Special Custom which is just great and so well made. Also have a Hohner G3T which is surprisingly nice. Have a new Steinberger Newburgh model and my trusty old Yamaha Pac112. Bought a Bad Monkey at the same time as the Valve Jr. This one is a keeper! The reviews were right on for that one. Just did not like the amp and was expecting so much. Maybe mine was a dud, because most people said theirs is dark...mine was super bright when going straight in...so who knows. I am returning it Monday.

I bought the updated version of this amp. It has the two stripes and name on the top of the face plate. I believe that the major change was DC filiments which clean up the hum at idle. Otherwise, it's as simple as it gets - one volume control, 5 watts, 8 inch speaker. At this price, you can't really expect many more features.

Clean, crunch, dirty. This amp does it all. It's very responsive to volume and tone changes on your guitar. I've got some really old (70's) MXR compressor and distortion boxes and this amp really shines with those effects. Once again for the price it's hard to beat. I changed the tubes (see below) and I think that made a difference.

The unit itself is built well and seems rugged. My only complaint is that I bought a floor model (for $88!) and the power tube had some mechanical noise. I got a replacement Fender/Sovtek EL84 ($8) and that noise went away. while I was at it I also changed out the 12AX7 pre-amp tube for a TungSol ($15). The new tubes sound great, but it seems from some of the other reviews that the stock tube quality is somewhat spotty. If you get one and it sounds good, them you got lucky with the tubes. Otherwise, start by getting a high quality 12AX7 pre-amp tube, and a power tube if necessary.

Don't know and I hope that I won't have to.

I'm primarily an acoustic player (30+ years), and I bought this amp and a Schecter guitar at Guitar Center's Labor Day event. The Schecter has Duncan Designed humbuckers, but there's also a pull feature on the tone knobs that swiches them to single coil. You can get a lot of different sounds from this amp. It even sounds OK with my Ovation Legend with the volume at 12 o'clock. If you want to know what tube tone is all about, this amp is great. I'm having loads of fun with it. Even at 5 watts (some think that this is conservatively low) this thing is loud, especially with the MXR boxes. I recommend changing the pre-amp tube for something of higher quality. There's not anything else on the market at this price which can do what this amp can do. Overall, this is a very nice little combo which responds well to basic effects and sounds very good even on its own. Some here have mentioned that every guitarist should own one of these. I kind of agree with that. It's a useful device.

2006 model, with the upgrades by Epiphone to reduce hum ( the new version has the " valve junior " with 2 pin stripes at the top of the face plate, as opposed to the model and 3 pin stripes running through the center of it. I found that out before I went and purchased this amp by reading someone else's review on this site and made sure thats the one I got ( harmony central is such a cool and helpful resource, I really appreciate this site and that, as well as many other tips and opinions of you fellow reviewers ). I like to play alot of blues and classic rock, and this amp does that very good, with a great vibe. This amp plays clean wonderfully with such a great feel at lower volumes too, perfect for late night or early morning playing before you go to work. The clean sounds from this amp are my ideal clean, but if the hour is reasonable I can't keep from cranking this thing up to 2 through 4 o'clock, or wide open on the volume knob. Wide open is only a notch past 4 o'clock on the volume knob ( probaly about 5 o'clock or so ), but that little notch more compresses so much to cause the amp to lose it's sensitivity to your picking, upstrokes/downstrokes, close to the bridge or up in the neck pick-up area, but thats not necessarily a bad thing at all. It maintains just fine wide open as far as the amp's concerned, but I prefer not going past 4 o'clock for the most part. As for the power of this amp, it's loud ! Probaly too loud for my wife, but she's a trooper, you know. I think it's too loud to play at high volumes in an apartment probably, not to you and me, but you know how volume sensitive neighbors can be. I'd like it to have a reverb, if I had to wish it had another feature ( I plugged into the input of my classic 30 and out of the effects loop into the jr. to use the 30's reverb, sweet ), but it's fine as is. At less than the price of a good overdrive pedal, and equal to or better than most, you can't beat this feel good, mid-thick amp for home jamming and recording.

This amp is not muddy sounding at all, but it is thick like molasses by the natural nature of it's tone. It's a very responsive amp that does require alot of player input until pushed wide open, which is a good thing to me. The clean is very warm and thick, good feeling and easy playing, inspiring tone. The overdriven tones to me are very inspiring between 2 and 4 o'clock ( or wide open too ), the sound quality is'nt technically great, but with the vibe factor taken into consideration it's a definate 8 on sound quality. The drive covers you through all classic rock and the clean is good up til about 11 or even 12 o'clock depending on your taste. I'm playing a mexican made standard "strat", with a 50's ( mexican made )"strat" neck I put on it, which for whatever reason really brightened that guitar's tone up ( but not to the point of being as bright as the 50's models pick ups on that stock "strat", which I did'nt like ). Also an 80's model Westone spectrum mx ( which somebody removed the middle and neck single coil pick up and replaced the bridge humbucker with a classic gibson pick up, very good sounding guitar ). This amp suits me fine, almost to a "T" actually. It does have some hum at varying stages on the volume knob, but it's minimal when present and as a prefered single coil player it is'nt anymore than I'm accustomed to, no need for concern. Really good fat, mid-heavy, compressed sounding amp if that's your thing, which it is mine.

It's a recent purchase so I can't speak for it's dependability, but it seems to be of fine craftmanship. It's a really good looking, solid built amp to the eye and my many hours of playing it almost wide open since I got it.

I've never dealt with company and at a price of 139.99, i'd replace this amp if needed, as a matter of fact I'm planning to buy a second one just to put back for future personal use. But I almost feel like this little amp could be a Silvertone of the 60's waiting to happen, really. The warranty on it is 5 years and I bought from an authorized Gibson/epiphone dealer, First Quality Music Supply, so I feel confident should any problems arise.

I've been playing guitar for about 7 years, bass since I was 12 ( I'm 35 years old ). I have a "strat", westone spectrum mx ( modified with a Gibson humbucker ), Aria, Diamond series P-bass, Fender Jazz bass ( mexican made ), Peavey classic 30 amp, Silvertone model 1482 amp, Epiphone valve jr. amp, Fender bassman 25, various pedals ( most notably a classic radial tone-bone, awsome pedal, and a danelectro daddy-o pedal, which adds an awsome presence to my classic 30, with my EQ set very mid and bass heavy the way I like it, a really sweet combination the two of them ). I use Planet waves and George L's ( the chrome, not brass plated ones ) cables, which are two high quality cables that drastically change and/or improve the tone of any amp/guitar set-up. I use GHS boomer .11 gauge strings, sometimes GHS pure nickels and occasionally try a .10 gauge set,but always return to the .11's for the feel an awsome tone. I use Fender classic celluloid heavy picks and various lighter picks for a tonal/feel change ( to scratch an itch, you know ). I have a Tascam 4-track and an R-11 and SM-57 mic to record stuff with.

Not really a versatile amp itself, but a large number of mods are available for it and many of them make a great deal of diference, so it's really as versatile as your collection of guitars/pedals/tubes. The same could be said about my Matchless Lightning 112 or my VoxAC306TB.

I've seen such polarity in the reviews that it obviously is an amp of a particular flavour. Some like it, some hate it, but it seems that nobody LACKS an emotional response to these. In its stock form I noticed from playing a number of them, there is large scale variation typical of the quality control that you would expect is being done on a $140 amp (minimal). Some sound really good and some sound flat. If a local shop has them instock, I'd advise trying out a few before selecting, and only order online if you've no other option.
The sound quality out of the box raised an eyebrow already. First off, the new series has extremely minimal hum (less than my AC30, a little more than my Lightning) I now have yet another reason (other than Wong Kar Wai films,etc.)to be impressed with China. A simple design (and this is definitely that) with fairly few parts is always better at displaying the nuances of the valves used and the instruments used, and out of the box, I'd have rated this around a "7" (which is still remarkable for an amp this inexpensive). After changing the tubes to old mullards and JANs from my AC30, I was shocked at the effect that had of brightening it up. I'm not a Marshall fan, nor am I a blues player, and I'm not fond of 70's music, so the more ringy,chimey scoopy sounds with loads of tonal detail and harmonics fit well with my U2/Bahaus/80's Post-Punk style.
I'm using it with a '74 Gibson ES345 TDSV, a Gretsch Blue Pearl Jet, a Gretsch Malcolm Young Signature, a '64 Hofner Verithin, and a Casio DG-20 digital guitar. It sounds great with all of them, although the ES345 gets a little too muddy for my taste unless you flip the veritone switch back to two or three.
Another issue - pedals - I use a lot of them (Vox tonelab SE, Matchless HotBox, Digitech Space Station, Whammy II - not all at once though)and it really shines with those. In fact, if you read the review of the Matchless HotBox, you'll find that one of the chief complaints was that the clean channel is top-boosted and thus is far brighter than the gain channel. This is the case when I run the Hotbox in front of the AC30 or the Lightning (both are top-boosted), but not the Valve Junior(which is not). Although obviously running a boutique pedal that is way more expensive than the amp in front of the amp does not mean that the amp is comparale to Matchless and Vox, it is interesting to note that certain characteristics of budget gear can sometimes be more favourable than the more standardized idiosyncrasies of top-end gear. I'm now ordering a top boost kit, to see how that compares with the top boost on the HotBox.
I actually planned on just using this as a way of getting a nice overdrive sound to practise with at home, for which it borders on being FAR too loud. I'm now looking into the head, and getting two of them running them stereo with single 12' cabs with alnico speakers. Mic'd through a PA, this will be good for all onstage in my band (the reason why a lot of singers sound terrible in bands these days is they're being deafened by their bandmates - it's also the reason the sound is nearly always bad at clubs).
I'd rate the sound - after tube swap and with decent equipment - at about an 8.7. I'm getting the BitMo kits for it and will review those when I install, also true of the head.
There are lots of clips of it on Youtube and Google Video. You can see/hear it do everything from Van Halen to Classic Rock - everything but the type of pop I like. I might remedy that at some point in the future.

I've no idea how long it'll last. I've only had it a month. Putting a standby switch in will help with valve life.
Frankly as long as production isn't discontinued for $100/amp, I can't say I'm worried. I could always carry two backups to the two I'm playing and still have spent less than 1/3 of a good (old, tube-rectified) AC30.

Probably not needed. There's a growing cult of Valve Junior Otakus out there with websites telling you how to do nearly everything on this yourself.

I wish it had a standby switch and a valve rectifier (though at this wattage a valve rectifier might be too much sag).
It's fun, it's class A, it sounds good by itself, it sounds amazing with good gear in front of it and some tweaking, and it cost less than my shoes.
It hasn't even been stolen and I'm already buying a few more. That's new to me.

This is my up-date after adding JJ's and a digiverb EQ pedal . PURE CRAP ! one knob and no reverb that is MUCH needed IMHO . I'm not impressed with a digiverb pedal with this amp , it don't help much.

I'm just very shocked at the GREAT reviews that this toneless flat sounding amp gets . I have tried to like this thing by adding a reverb pedal and adding JJ tubes to brighten up the FLAT sound it makes...(I'm no longer calling it tone). I play through a MIM strat which I know is part of the problem but not THAT bad. It is very quiet on all settings . The distortion this amp makes is like that small "smokey amp" distortion , very poor quality like a busted speaker . There is NO chime or bell like tone due to lack of reverb.
Cheap made , cheap sound is what you have . Mercury Magnets is what this thing needs . If you don't own one and are looking to get one I suggest this . Get a small cheap solid state amp then turn down the reverb knob all the way , bass all the way up and turn up the volumn...now that sounds like this amp to me. I play ZZ Top, Skynyrd , blues type stuff , rockabilly . This amp don't do it for me it is a poor made toneless amp in my opinion . Shame on Gibson !

Made in China....

I'm sending it back , I don't need customer support .

I am broken hearted about this amp . I really had high hopes that this could be THE tone amp I'm looking for . It's not , I'm still searching .

Mostly covered by others. One 12ax7 tube, one el84 tube, as far as I can tell (haven't opened it yet) - a SS rectifier & power resistor (as opposed to choke coil), preamp volume control.
I gave it a 10 because for it's purpose 'just one knob' is the best feature it could have. It may sound silly but if it had a tone stack and master volume I would have marked it down. (Actually, I wouldn't have bought it in the first place.)

Oh My God. One of the suggestion questions is "What kind of sounds can the amp make?". GOD TONE is one. I play Stones/Georgia Satellites style rock & roll on an Epi Les Paul ES (man I love that guitar). While it's sounds are best suited for that and Blues, it still has enough versatility for just about anything but heavy metal.
My bud on vocals plays blues-harp and tried it for that. He liked it so much he tried to steal it from me! (just kidding, but not really).

Too soon to tell but seems solidly built. Actually a little heavy for it's size. Epiphone's made a few crappy things through the years, but very few. I trust this to last. Plus tube amps, while more expensive, are much simpler to repair. You can even strip them to the bone and rebuild them from scratch. I bought this for practice, song writing, and recording, but would trust it live without a backup (would have to be miked though).

I've dealt with Epiphone before and they're usually as good as the best out there. Once I had a specific question about modding a pedal and, after they realized I knew what I was talking about, ended up talking to one of the design engineers.

"If it were stolen..." I'd track them down, stab them with a rusty drywall saw, and get it back. Oh, or buy a new one, yeah.
I love this amp so much I have both the combo and head versions. I was originally going to go DIY and build the Hoffman Schedule 40 or Weber Smokin' Joe. I tried one of these first and am more than happy.

Pretty much everything I could say about this amp has been said. I'd just like to stress two things though.
First, don't let all the mod talk you'll read keep you from getting one, if you can't do the mods yourself, and feel it would cost too much to have them done. This beauty is fine, and right out of the box is better than amps twice the price. The only real problem it ever had was the hum and that's been fixed.

The second thing is that, if you do mod, some sites have recommended replacing the transformers. This is ludicrous. It's unnecessary for the sound if you do all the other mods, and would add too much to the cost (power and output transformers are most of the cost of tube amps). If you're going to go that route you might as well just get a Fender Blues Jr or Pro Jr and be done with it.

Mostly covered by others. One 12ax7 tube, one el84 tube, as far as I can tell (haven't opened it yet) - a SS rectifier & power resistor (as opposed to choke coil), preamp volume control.
I gave it a 10 because for it's purpose 'just one knob' is the best feature it could have. It may sound silly but if it had a tone stack and master volume I would have marked it down. (Actually, I wouldn't have bought it in the first place.)

Oh My God. One of the suggestion questions is "What kind of sounds can the amp make?". GOD TONE is one. I play Stones/Georgia Satellites style rock & roll on an Epi Les Paul ES (man I love that guitar). While it's sounds are best suited for that and Blues, it still has enough versatility for just about anything but heavy metal.
My bud on vocals plays blues-harp and tried it for that. He liked it so much he tried to steal it from me! (just kidding, but not really).

Too soon to tell but seems solidly built. Actually a little heavy for it's size. Epiphone's made a few crappy things through the years, but very few. I trust this to last. Plus tube amps, while more expensive, are much simpler to repair. You can even strip them to the bone and rebuild them from scratch. I bought this for practice, song writing, and recording, but would trust it live without a backup (would have to be miked though).

I've dealt with Epiphone before and they're usually as good as the best out there. Once I had a specific question about modding a pedal and, after they realized I knew what I was talking about, ended up talking to one of the design engineers.

"If it were stolen..." I'd track them down, stab them with a rusty drywall saw, and get it back. Oh, or buy a new one, yeah.
I love this amp so much I have both the combo and head versions. I was originally going to go DIY and build the Hoffman Schedule 40 or Weber Smokin' Joe. I tried one of these first and am more than happy.

Pretty much everything I could say about this amp has been said. I'd just like to stress two things though.
First, don't let all the mod talk you'll read keep you from getting one, if you can't do the mods yourself, and feel it would cost too much to have them done. This beauty is fine, and right out of the box is better than amps twice the price. The only real problem it ever had was the hum and that's been fixed.

The second thing is that, if you do mod, some sites have recommended replacing the transformers. This is ludicrous. It's unnecessary for the sound if you do all the other mods, and would add too much to the cost (power and output transformers are most of the cost of tube amps). If you're going to go that route you might as well just get a Fender Blues Jr or Pro Jr and be done with it.

None. On or off, loud or quiet. The only reason it gets a 2 is because you can unhook the stock speaker and run to a seperate cab.

Bit too dark for the Marshall crowd, but might take an EQ OK. Mic'd through the PA and turned to around 2:00 makes for a tone that will clean up with the picking attack alone: higher than that, and you have to roll back on the guitar volume. The distortion is good and thik for sludge rock, or blues rock that goes into meltdown mode. Don't even try to play metal with it.

Stock speaker is loud but boxy, and farty on the neck pickup on my LP at high volume settings....into a Beringer 4x12 4OHM input it has a MUCH better voice.

Built well, but if you run it up against the rails all the time, be prepared for rattling and wierd noises to insue quickly. I think I'd rather have the head, but I got this for 80 bucks, so I'm not complaining...I'm just gonna keep wipping til ith either cries or dies.

23 years in, and this thing does the low-fi practice amp thing in spades, but don't think it will take you any further than that.

I have two Valve Jr. combo amps, #1088 and #1226. I bought them in November 2005. Both are (were I should say) earlier versions with the hum problem. I bought two because they sounded vastly different from one another. #1088 has more of a focused mid-Marshall-like sound, and #1226 has a fat Fender-like sound. These two sounded particularly good out of the several I tried. At $119 each I was pleased with both purchases.

I immediately retubed both amps with NOS tubes. Both amps have a 1962 GE 12AX7 and a mid-60's RCA 6BQ5. These tubes made these good sounding amps really come alive. However, I still had the hum problem. Recently, I had the Mercury Magnetics Mod installed in Valve Jr. #1088 and put in an early 1960's Tung Sol 12AX7 and a mid 1960's GE 6BQ5. This amp is now one of the finest sounding amps I've ever played through. Keep in mind that it no longer is anywhere near the stock amp that I originally purchased.....but I gotta tell you....the sound is now truly awesome and inspiring. This amp is now DEAD QUIET! The frequency range, tightly focused sound, and power is amazing. It's worth the money. I had an accomplished tube amp technician do the Mercury Magnetics Mod installation on Valve Jr. #1088. He said that this mod is not for novices to install.

I also had him do the one of the minor surgery hum reduction mods on Valve Jr. #1226 that is listed on several web sites. This definitely quieted down this amp. It did not change the sound, except to significantly reduce the hum. I may put the Mercury Magnetics Mod in this one in the future, but for now I have one really amazing sounding amp and one really good sounding amp. I left the stock speakers in both amps, because I think they sound really great.

This is the real deal in pure tube tone. Both Valve Jr.'s are very responsive to pick attack. Once again, the Valve Jr. with the Mercury Magnetics Mod is incredibly responsive.

I've never had an issue except for the infamous hum associated with the earlier models. But that has been rectified. Both amps have been on gigs and done well.

N/A

These amps are really versatile. The Mercury Magnetics Mod Valve Jr. amp #1088 is one of the finest sounding amps....ever! Yes, I know it's not really the same amp, but if you can save up, and have it installed, you'll be extremely pleased. I really like #1226 a whole lot also. So, go buy one....or two as I did!

PS A good friend who plays harp played through the Mercury Magnetics Modded Valve Jr. and it is one of the coolest amps for harp I've ever heard.

I was excited about the amp before I got it . After about 1 minute of playing I shook my head in disbelief . Where is the chime ? where is the bell like tone? this amp's stock tone SUCKS. It is sooo poor that it sounds like a 10 yr old child's beginner amp , with the bass all the way up. I had to look at the back of the amp to see if it had tubes in it , I was in disbelief this was a tube amp. Is it the tubes? Is it the speaker ? . No way can those few changes result in the tone I'm searching for. I was not happy at the good reviews I read .I wanted this amp to sound like the Dr.Z website (mini Z sound sample) and boy this is NOT it . That is the tone I'm look for. I can say 1 good thing it has NO BUZZ , matter a fact its SOOO quiet that I wonder if something is wrong. It was a birthday present so I'll keep it and make a speaker and tube change , like this it'll just draw dust . I also heard my friends new Fender blues jr amp and I was NOT impressed with it either. Maybe I'm looking for that 100watt Marshall Plexi tone in a $140.00 amp. I'll post another review on this amp after I make much needed changes .

made in China ? you know their track record ...who knows .

I'll give a final overall rating on this China made amp after the much need changes .

This is an update.

I had this amp modded for 35??? (about the same in USD).

Feature-wise, It now has a switch at the back, to select 4ohms output (the setting for the stock internal speaker) or 8ohms, allowing for a wide compability with speaker cabs, In case I need It.

So +1 for features. (again, keeping in mind this is made to be a simple amp)

Also had the input mod done, and some more power suply filtering, reducing a large amount of the hum on the sound.

Valves (tubes) still stock.

Amp sounds very good to me.

+1 for reduced hum.

Hasn't broke yet, and most hum is solved.

It's a simple amp, so not much to break.

+2

Warranty voided by mods.

I like it a lot.

+1

Five watts, one input jack, one knob for volume, 8 inch speaker.
It doesn't get simpler than this. I love it.

I was reluctant to buy this amp because of all the reviews I have read saying how bad it buzzes. I was at Guitar Center, and they were having a special on it for $99, so I bought it anyway figuring that for this price, who cares if it buzzez.

THERE IS NO BUZZ!

Maybe Epiphone has corrected the problem, maybe I just got lucky, maybe I'm tone-deaf (unlikely, I hope). I choose to believe that Epiphone has a person in product development reading all of the disgruntled reports of persistent buzzing, so they fixed the problem. I'm not a technical wizard, I just know what sounds good to me. This amp is the sweetest sounding, quietest $99 I have spent.

I haven't had it long enough to know, but it has a very sturdy look and feel.

I don't know yet.

Overall, I would say this is a great deal.

Made in China, its one of the upgraded models without the horrible hum, no features only a volume control, I rate it 8 because usualy I like having an amp with an EQ (at least 3 band) and reverb, but this is a very pure amp.

It wont give you a ton of sounds, its great for classic 60's and 70's rock, in stock form its a little dark sounding and last a little highs, but I changed the stock Sovtek tubes for some Groove tubes which are not that great but they did brighten up the amp a little and made it a little clearer sounding, it breaks up nicely after 12 o'clock, at higher volumes it becomes very compressed and the picking noises become a little annoying, its not a very high gain amp, you could make it somewhat a high gain amp with a distortion pedal, I use a TS-9 Tubescreamer and it sounds good but not distorted enough for some sounds, its very middy sounding, very Marshall-like in a good way, stock its an 8 with the new tubes I'll give it a 9, but I'm sure if I put higher quality tubes it might sound like a whole 10.

I haven't had it for too long so I can't say, Im sure it will hold up for a while, besides even if it does break after a year or 2, its a $100 amp!

Don't know yet.

This is definatley better then some of the small amps I owned/played, better then the Marshall MG series, I have an MG10CD 10 watt amp and the Valve jr. is at least twice as loud at 5w! (Thats normal for a tube amp usualy). Overall if it broke or was stolen I would buy it again because its cheap, it sounds great for a $100 amp and also because there is no other all tube amp in its price range! (The closest I can think of is the Crate V58/Palomino which costs like $260 and doesn't even sound that great, I played the 30w version and didn't like too much).

This one was a B stock, so I think I got the 2005 model that buzzes and hums more than the new ones. I don't mind the hum, but this thing buzzes like; "picture like when you put two fingers on the 1/4 inch jack when your plugging in your guitar HUM" except all the time!

Other than the buzz it is a "10" for tone. For the price, I may put up with the hum, or return it for a newer one, we'll see. I like it so much, I hate to part with it and wait a week for a new one.

Built like a tank! Worth $500, not $120, Epi's out of their minds, this amp is the steal of the century!

not yet

Tis amp is a "10"! Period! ...Buzz, hum or not. Get one NOW or you'll see them on Ebay a year from now for the price of the vintage Fender Champs, I'm very serious, get one now. Instant tone from 1967-1972, picture Paul Kossoff, Peter Green, Jimmy Page tones, for $120!!! No modeling or solid state here!
W O W!

2006 model year, 2 pinstripes and top logo (version 2). I wanted to share some feedback that I got straight from Gibson support. I listened to 2 of these amps- one with 3 pinstripes and a center logo- and the other with 2 stripes and a top logo. The 3 pinstripe version hummed noticeably, so I didn't buy. The 2 pinstripe version had no hum and is in my garage now.

Gibson confirmed the fact that the version with 2 pinstripes is newer and has a fix for the hum problem. Excerpt here:

"Thanks for contacting Gibson. The newest versions of the Valve Junior have 2 horizontal black stripes across the top of the face panel. Past versions have had 3 stripes across the mid section of the face panel.
Besides the minor cosmetic change, the only other specs change was the addition of DC filaments to the power supply on the new versions. Thanks."

Sounds amazing. I have a Peavey Classic 30, and the tone that this generates is actually better- than a $550 amp!

Don't know.

Good, same day response to my questions from Gibson.

Amazing value.

Made in China, one channel, one pot, lacks an external speaker output and a spring reverb. I've been playing solo or as a lead guitarist for bands around. Cool for reggae, blues, vintage rock'n roll. Versatile enough for me.

This amps has a very cool clean sound , begins to crunch at 11 o'clock, so if you want to play it clean tone with a band you gotta mic it up. Past 12 o' clock it's very warm, punchy and incredibly vintage. From the Who to Led Zep. Lacks headroom on large stages but the p.a and the engineer will supply the extra power, and believe me they prefer little amps. I use my only electric guitar, a gretsch electromatic with deArmond 2000 pickups. I also use a holy grail reverb and a boss cs3, nothing fancy, this thing has a sound of its own. It's noisy and i prefer it that way, vintage amps are noisy.

so far so good. no need of a backup, if this thing burns up i'd just plug a d.i with a speaker simulator in the p.a.

I've been playing for 15 years, had Orange stuff, Fender Stuff (Twin Reverb, Hot Rod), Peavey Classic 50, Marshall. Heavy, back breaking amps. I've been searching some vintage sound in a small package, easy to mic, with authentic sound, nothing digital, quiet or cold.

I gave it a 1 because it has one feature Volume.

This is all any amp should have I have a BF 1965 Fender champ with volume bass and treble i never use the treble and the Bass just set the volume and rip. It will force you to get to know those seldom used knobs on your guitar.

Is it the best sounding amp ever? NO

Can you buy a better sounding amp for under 500 dollars new? NO

this amp can make a varitety of sound based on what you plug into it. My Carvin tl-60 HH sounds awesome and can get a total range of sounds my friend brought over a Ibanez Artcore Af-73 with a custom varitone and WOW it could do anyhting. Granted that the guitar helps but this thing is what you make of it, use your guitar knobs and you can shape this sound. With the money you saved buy some pedals. Tons of volume, too loud for my apartment.

NO HUM!!!!!!!!!!!!! just go to your local epi dealer and have them order the newest model they can striaght from Gibson

Seems Solid, no problems yet

N/A

I have been playing for 6-7 years, I own alot of gear, a carvin tl-60, squire strat with MM pickups, a HArmony explorer (kinda a joke but fun), an old japan hollow body, epiphone pr-350 SR, a 65 BF fender champ, a PEavey delta blues and many other things and this is by far one of my favorite pieces if it was lost i would buy again in a heart beat, may buy a an other just because.

One volume knob, one speaker out, one 12AX7 preamp valve and one EL84 poweramp valve. For this price it's a 10.

I use a Richwood Strat with Bareknuckle pickups including a Nailbomb humbucker at the bridge. I've never owned a big valve amp (too expensive for a tight-arse like moi - I'm a bedroom guitarist) but I've owned many solid state and modelling/hybrid amps. This blows all of them away. Real depth in the tone. I changed the valves to JJs but I'll be changing the poweramp valve back to the Sovtek purely because it has more headroom and doesn't distort fizzily like the JJ when the amp is turned right up. The JJ preamp valve was better than the Sovtek though. More creamy sounding. I can get anything from super clean Strat twang to hard rock with my Behringer Tubescreamer copy (which is also awesome). I've yet to try a good metal pedal with it (i.e. a Line 6 Ubermetal) but I bet it'd sound fantastic. The speaker sounds great. Very clear. Sounds much bigger than any other 8" I've heard. With the volume turned to 10 or 11 o clock and a good overdrive pedal, that wonderful valve crunch can be yours at bedroom levels. Perfect!

Mine has had no problems at all. Built like a tank.

Never dealt with them.

By far the cheapest and best amp I've ever owned. Every guitarist should have one.

The amp was made in 2005. I bought it new from American Musical supply for $99 shipping included. I thought this was extraordinary value for a tube amp in 2005. I've had champs but couldn't afford one at the time and other vintage practice amps (harmony, kay, etc) are dangerous shock boxes that seem to use the same tubes as portable radios. I thought I was better off to go with a made in china PCB tube amp with solid state rectifier than one of those. I play originals and classic rock. This amp is great for practice and fooling around. The single knob saves you a lot of time with adjustments. I've read reviews where people compare this amp to a champ or say that it has a "vintage" sound. I've probably had 20 + vintage amps of the 50s, 60s and 70s this does not sound like a champ or a vintage amp. What it does sound like is 1974 or newer PCB marshall tube amp. This amp loves analog effects pedal. The valve junior plus a Tech 21 GT2 will give you any amp sound you need: Fender tweed, Vox ac-30, Marshall or mesa-boogie. People who knock the speaker are probably just reading something someone else wrote somewhere. The stock speaker is a Weber signature series ceramic magnet speaker. Alnico magnet is not always better. Don't switch out the speaker.

The amp without using my Tech 21 GT2 is not that outstanding. It sort of sounds like a fender bandmaster head someone dropped with bad sodering. It's spanky clean, boxy and distorts unpleasantly past 6 with that solid state rectifier. I think if you don't go past the half way mark and use pedals with this though it's a great practice amp and sounds good. This amp does better with pedals than a champ does for some reason. I love this amp with distortion pedals, chorus, delays, tremelo pedal. Loves em' all, sounds good with them all. Bottom line does a good recent issue marshall sound and loves pedal. Okay, the poop. This is a 2005 model. It has that annoying hum that makes you so angry with Epiphone. This would be a great amp if it did not have that hum. It is audible, it's embarrassing and it really sucks because this would be a great amp to record with if it did not have it. I am very resentful towards Epiphone about this as they will not fix this and the new ones apparently do not have this. So, I am stuck with this hum or pay a amp tech $60 to get rid of it. I bought a new amp so I wouldn't have to worry about techs anymore. Why buy and amp you have to fix? The amp sounds pretty good for what it is but if you can buy one from a store not through the mail or used on ebay and play it. See how you feel about the hum. I've used the amp a lot now. I've owned it for over half a year. It's starting to do something else that's sort of weird. I will plug it in, be playing and all of a sudden it will cut out and I will get low output-crackly unpleasant distortion. The amp has a 5 year warranty but I don't want to go through all of that just for this amp and then get it back and they will say nothing is wrong with it? The whole point in buying a new tube amp as opposed to a vintage one is so I could just play and not worry about this stuff. I'm just going to live with it as I have $99 into the amp and I don't want to put a cent more into it. I will just hang on to it forever even when I can afford to replace it with a champ or something. I think it's insane to put NOS tubes in this. Why put $200 NOS mullard tubes in a $99 amp? All the makeup in the world will not make a fat girl skinny. The amp is what it is. I did switch out the preamp tube with a JJ because I had one laying around. The stock power amp tube seems to sound all right. I've had lots of Mullards, Brimars and RCA NOS tubes I do not think they make that much difference over new. Save your money just use what's in there.

Sucks. LOL Came with a hum and volume drops in and out. Amp has not left the house. I always let the tubes cool before I move it

I don't know how I feel about Epiphone. I think they should have fixed the hum in all these amps made prior to 2006. If they did I would have a better feeling about the company and buy more of their products. Their elitist guitars from Japan are supposed to be better than USA gibson. Those are probably the only new epiphone products I would buy. Alot of people have put down China making this amp but there is some good stuff coming out of China and the fact that it was made there has nothing to do with this amps problems. Why does the Valve junior have the problems it does? Epiphone made this amp cheap, poor quality control, badly designed circuit.

I've been playing off and on since I was five. I'm not going to list all my gear. I've had the best of the best so I know what's great and what's garbage. I would buy this amp again if something happened because now I guess they have fixed the hum problem. But I think Epiphone should take back all the old amps and fix them free of charge. Would go a long way for selling good will for the company and repeat business but I think they deal in volume and the student market. They don't care. I love the fact the amp is cheap, sounds like a recent issue marshall, looks nice, loves pedal. I HATE THE HUM. It's unbearible. If you buy the amp don't change out the speaker the one in there is the best one for it. If your going to do a tube change go with JJs. Do not invest anymore than that in this amp as it would be like gold plating a toilet seat. Why?

There are these nobs on your guitar that change the Tone now you have to get to know your Guitar intimately & diddle with them...its about time! ( I know I enjoy it at least)

I got one of the Old versions of the Valve JR @ GCenter durt cheap...fortunately I found out about the revamped Models in time to have them order me a New Version as a Replacement.(FYI: New Models:SN# 1205---- or later, Also the pinstriping on the Front Runs thru the Middle of the Face Plate NOT accross the Top like the older ones)...I will be swapping them tommorow...so hear is Part One of my Compare/Contrast...OLD VS New Valve Juniors...

OK I've spent 6 weeks playing the Valve JR. & even with the hum issue I have enjoyed every second of it. I grew up in the 80's - so I was a victim to the "own the hippest thing" craze...I bought way too many combinations of Guitars & Large Amps & with the whole Digital Technology Boom...it was just too much money & time wasted on Technology...in 1999 I bought a DC-59 Re-Issue Danelectro for $89.00 @ GC and that changed my attitude...The whole simplicity of it just blew me away...I stopped playing my Strats & began playing the Danelectro exclusively @ gigs thru a Nifty Fifty Amp (crap)...I just could not find the right Amp-I loved the Clean Settings on my recent Vox ADVT30 (Fun toy amp) but it was not quite right...well the Valve JR does the trick FINALLY.Thank God!

My Everyday set up for the Valve JR. MKI has been Danelectro DC-59 > Tape Echo > Spring Reverb > Valve JR. I have to say I loved the JR. right out of the Box it gave that warmth to the Lipstick PU's that a Danelectro Guitar had been built for! Add a tad o spring reverb & it sounded even better...my Danelectro 50's Tape Echo Pedal is probably my favorite pedal ever, & it just loves the JR.-Nice Warm ECHOOOoooo... Anyhoo I got this really "clean" chain going with the Dano & the Tape Echo & the Spring Reverb but I need some punch but nothing that will color the Dano Pickup Tone (not easy)so...

Somewhere in the myriad of Reviews here @ HC I read about a guy using a Dano with a Bad Monkey OD into a Valve JR. & Damned if that didnt do the trick...I plan on trying out some of the suggested Tube change outs on my New Valve JR. But while I was waiting & I couldnt mod out anything I decide to test drive the Bad Monkey & it blew me away...it gave me all the crunch of the Valve JR. at only 9 o clock on the Dial (10 is better)...

So I have to say to all the Single coil Tone freak old school Blues/Psch/Jazz from Hell Players...go to your Guitar shop plug in to a Valve Junior crank it up all the way & then adjust your tone knobs & get a feel for what this baby can do...if you still dig it consider the $40 bucks for a Digitech BMonkey...it works great to boost the single coils & really warms up the Valve Junior at a low Volume ( so your neighbors or wife dont kill you)& has a nice smooth breaking overdrive...Forget the overpriced Tubscreamers...no need...& I Hate Digitech in general...

This is A GREAT AMP no matter what you Play (unless its metal)...

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Wonderful warm - Best Bang for your Buck even if you dont change out the Tubes or put an Overdrive pedal in Front...Buy it or at least TRY it...

I belive this amp was made about a year ago.

It's versatile enough for the music I play. I rather have it this way (no effects) than get digital fake ones (like on the valve special and the valve standard). Only one channel, a volume knob and tube tone. I like it this way.

I wish it had outputs for other ohms than only 4ohms. Still, it's easy to wire the output jack with a switch that converts it to 8ohms (the output transformer has an unused wire for this effect).

I always wanted a tube amp, but couldn't affoard it. Saw online projects that got me thinking about building one, but I have no experience with electronics, and it would have been more expensive than the junior.

For the concept, it's a 10. -1 for only having a 4ohms output, -1 for not having a standby switch.

I'm using it with a strat with stock single coils (the guitar i'm using the most right now) but I've tried it with my LP (EMG humbuckers).

The LP sounded great on the neck pickup (EMG 60). Dynamic, inspiring and warm. The bridge 81 did not sound so good, but maybe with both pickups on it would be useable.

The strat sounds just great. The amp just sounds 3D. Comming from solid-state amps, pluging into this amp is a whole new world. This is the real thing, and sounds like it.

The amp is very responsive to diferent guitar pickups and settings. The speaker amazed me, as it sounds bigger than it is. My last amp was a 2X30W 2X10'' marshall, and this epiphone sounds bigger. And likes pedals better.

The sounds I'm after can be described as the whole red hot chili peppers thing: from the cleanest cleans, to some crunch, to lead tone.

Being somewhat old (yet, bought it new), the amp has the hum bug. Yet, it's going to be fixed soon, and I'll update you with some news. Along with it I'm having tubes put in (maybe JJs) for peace of mind, but i'm keeping the stock speaker.

For now, as is (all stock) and with hum, it's a 7. Without hum and with fresh tubes it will probably be a 9.

Hasn't exploded yet, but I haven't had it for a long time. Seems well built, so an 8 for that.

I wouldn't gig it on the stock speaker, but with an extra cab who knows. Backups are always a smart thing when dealing with tube amps. I'm not giging right now tho.

The factory hum problem knocks 2 points out of the 8, even tho is the designers/engeneers fault.

Haven't dealt with them, and fixing the hum will kill the warranty.

I've been playing for 8 years.

If stollen or lost, I would get another one (maybe the head version), but one without the hum, so I could take it out of the box, play, and not worry about it anymore.

I love it's tone, size and simplicity, but I hate the hum. Overall, a great piece of gear. For the price, can't be beaten.

One volume control. One tiny speaker. One nice little amp.Not much for sparkle or high end clean tones, but it does dlightly dirty real well.

I use it with a '66 Gibson ES-330, a '60's Kay K-300, and a new Epi Casino. All are single coils - get a little hum with some, but it sounds great with all. Excellent for roots rock, blues, etc. sounds.It can be cleaned up for some low volume jazz tones, too. It compare very favorably to my low-end vintage amps.
Overall, a pretty exciting little package - the kind of amp you can't wait to play with.

Took back the first one I picked up because it didn't work, this one is fine. Only 1 week old, so too soon to tell about longevity. But for the price, it seems liek very good value.

No dealings with Epi. Always had good luck with Gibson responding to questions. Don't anticipate any problems with service.

Own way too much gear - including vintage Supro, Silvertone, and Danelectro amps. It's a phenomenal value and lots of fun. Would buy it again in a heartbeat -highly recommend it for players who understand its limits.

This is an update to my review on the previous page.
I have thrown in some NOS Brimat EL84 and Mullard 12AX7. These totally rock and make the amp crunch a bit earlier (11 o'clock instead of 1 o'clock) with a less harsh sound than the original Sovtek (which are good nonetheless for clean sounds).
But if you want to get the real tone out of it at low volume, you MUST do these simple mods (especially if you have humbuckers) :
- change R1 (68k) to 1M and R2 (68k) to 22k or let R1 in place but bypass R2 with a jumper
- bypass R6 (1M) with a jumper (optional : make a switch for this to go back to stock sound for more versatility if you still want clean sound).

This totally unveil the sound, it loses its too much harshness and make the amp crunch at 7 o'clock. That's right, 7 o'clock. Ok, no more clean sound, but man, what an utterly awesome crunch ! Much better than the stock crunch, more compressed, still vintage but also ok for modern rock and more. 12 o'clock : flabbergasting overdrive, almost metal. Make it more verstatile for overdrive sounds, at almost bedroom volume (but beware 'cause these mods make the amp louder at the same volume setting). The humbuckers sound a lot better too, less dark, maybe a little high for hot pickups, but that's what the tone pot is made for : roll it down to 5-6.

Would put an 11 if I could ;)

Still good, I might try to rebuild it point-to-point just for fun and to make it more easy to mod in the future.

Excellent value for the DIYers and those who want good vintage crunch tone(s) !

This is to help you guys with hum. There's a few things that are very simple to do to upgrade these little amps. THe best place to get this info is:
http://www.valvejunior.com/

It's all laid out and any tech can easily do this in less than an hour given parts are available.

I don't own one of these so I can't comment on them.

I've heard the cab is made of fiber board so don't expect too much resistance to abuse. I'd also think that for the given price, don't expect this to last under any real heavy use situation.

Welcome to throw away USA.

Going by the things I've read about these amps:
They sound very good if they don't hum.
They are cheap but worth it if you intend to use them for practicing.

This would probably make an excellent first tube amp and I'd probably prefer to get this for a child starter over a Solid State amp that trains a newbies ears to wait tone is, or rather isn't.

One knob for volume, when it gets past 11:00 it starts to distort. I think it really needs a e.q. pedal especially if you are driving it with a overdrive pedal the difference in tone is night and day with a e.q. pedal. Boost the lows and cut some mids raise a little highs and this amp rocks. Then use a tube screamer to pump the mids again while you are soloing. Reverb would also be nice but I use a echo pedal to compensate. I replaced the original speaker with a alnico jenson and put JJ tubes in it.

In its original state the amp sounds pretty good, but with a few minor upgrades this thing can sound great. I own a mesa boogie lonestar specail so I know what a class A tube should sound like and this thing comes pretty close, just missing a little sparkle and more volume. Ive replaced the original speaker with a 8 inch alnico jenson, and replace the tubes with jj's. The sound improved but the biggest difference in tone was acheived by using an e.q. pedal. The amp literally came alive epecailly while using a distortion/overdrive pedal. P.s. this amp can stay cleaner and get louder if you use a compressor with it.

I have the old version of this amp and it starts to hum loudly at random times, a quick fix is to shut the power off and its fixed. I dont know why it does this. Im going to research some fixes for it or maby I just buy the new version.

n/a

So let me add up the damage, $90 -amp $60-speaker $30-tubes $60-eq pedal $15 dano-echo pedal == about $250 for a damn good sounding tube amp. Thats pretty unbelievable considering That I paid $1400 used for my mesa combo. I also used to own a mesa subway rocket and this thing sounds as good. I wanted a tube practice amp that would sound good with my expensive boutique pedal board. You cannot imatate the feel of a good tube amp. Ive tried the modelers and the feel sucks,and music is all about feeling. This amp is great when I dont have to play with a drummer. I would definitly buy another one of these in a heartbeat.

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.

You can read about the features elsewhere. A single input jack and a volume knob. What else is there to say?

Using with American Strat with Lace Sensor pickups.

Mine has the infamous hum problem with the volume turned up about one quarter. Very annoying.

It does sound nice though. But I will probably either return it or seek out the modification. Any tips on how to get this done?

Just bought it.

Basic, inexpensive tube amp. If not for the hum, I think I would really like it.

As below.

As Below.

As below.

Just got off with "Bob" the "amp guy" at Gibson who handles all amp problems. He swears there is no swap-out that's ever been done with the new-old VJs and denies any problem with the originals.

He refuses to say if you bring it to an authorized repair place if they'll honor the noise fix or not. But he denies any global fix or repair strategy and that the new rev is simply "revised specs", not a fix. Basically, the guy was a flaming CYA lying corporate bunghole.

Everybody knows about the problem, and Gibson/Epiphone refuses to deal with it. So much for customer support. "Bob" didn't want to know about the problem, wouldn't admit they had ever heard about it before, and wouldn't admit the new rev was a "fix".

This is the kind of user-friendly company you really want to do a lot of business with.

A great product conceptually, and it works quietly after the fix rev, but avoid the early models with the single cutout in the back at all costs. Gibson is basically pulling the Monte Python Dead Parrot routine over the first noisy gen of this product. "It makes noise don't it? Then it ain't dead, is it? Warranty denied!"

2006 version, without any buzz as said in other reviews. I even have no earth in my flat electrical installation and it doesn't make any noise.

You know the stuff : one volume knob that acts like a gain when cranked all the way up. Plug and play, that's totally its philosophy. Perfect for me. I give it a "No opinion" though 'cause I love it this way but it's quite limited nevertheless.

I play it with an Epi Les Paul (w/ Gibson 490R & 498T humbuckers) and with a Squier '51 which I bought at the same time.
A bit dark with the humbuckers, but good nevertheless. The single coils love it. Gain goes from very clear (a beautiful clean in my opinion, I use it mostly this way in fact as I have a Marshall Studio 15 for the crunch with a Master volume - same as a JCM 800 but in a small 15W combo version) to very useable crunch (AC/DC, Thin Lizzy etc.) Not for high gain stuff (thrash metal etc.) of course, but this baby loves pedals (Guv'nor, DS-1 ...) so who knows ...
So in plug and play version, the VJ has one style of sound, from clean to crunch, but it rocks hard ! I might even get another one just to mod it and try to get other sounds, but I like this one too much to touch it.

However, those 5W are LOUD as hell ! Seriously! DON'T buy it unless you have a basement to play in or want to play it clean. I can't even approach the crunch setting (~1 o'clock) in my flat, it's way too loud. My floor vibrates really bad when I go over 11 o'clock! I will use it in a few weeks in a pub with my rock band, it's loud enough.

Seems built as a rock, smells quality for 150 euros. I will see in a few months.

Have not dealt with them so far, and don't think I will need to.

I have been playing for about 7 years. I own the gear mentionned hereabove, an Epi LP w/ Gibson humbuckers, a Squier '51 and a (tube) Marshall Studio 15.

If it was stolen, I'd definitely buy another one, especially now that the buzz problem is fixed (look for the 1205*** s/n which are the fixed ones). For 150? these amps are a freakin' good deal !! I might buy an A/B Box to use it for my clean sound. However I'll try before to throw in a 12AX7 EH and an EL84 JJ, to make it crunch earlier.

I thought I would have fun with it a few days and then cry on my 150? (as always when I buy gear without thinking) but man this little amp rocks so hard, i love it ! The single pot is so fun to use and its look is so cool. I can't help but play "Sex machine" each time I power it on.

It's the 2006 (made in China) version... noiseless !
This little 5 watts (loud enough) amp is more than OK in clubs or pubs configurations.. plug an Esquire or a Tellie in it... and it's just "plug & play"... I give it a 10/10

See above...

I think that Epiphone (Gibson) have resolved he "buzz" problem with the 2006 edition... so is it too for the head version... again...10/10

I don't know much about Epiphone, I've had a Coronet in the sixties... shame on me... I sold it to buy a Gibson...?

I've been playing for 45 years... my current materials are 2 Fender Stratocaster (USA RI-57) H-1 and four Jim Reed Guitars (Tele style)... a Ash model with P-90 neck PU, a thinline, a Ash with hotrail (push-pull) bridge PU and a one and only one piece alder Esquire... I own a DeArmond Jazzbox X-135 and a cheap Cort Earth 100 electro... my amps are a Jim Reed Legend 28, a Fender Pro Junior + this little 5 watts wonder... oh! yes I have a Laney LA65C for my acoustic too...

Read below...I'm giving it a 10 even though HC says that's for 'very versatile'-- but that's not what this amp is about. I bought it for it's LACK of features, and for that, it's perfect.

This is actually an update, since this is my second Valve Junior --I sent the first one back (bought in October 05) because of the noise problem. The amp made too much noise--obviously a design flaw. I even complained about it to Epiphone and Gibson because I loved the tone of the amp so much--they were very prompt about their replies, I'll give them that.

I really regretted sending the VJ back...just haven't been able to get the sound of it out of my ears... I like my other amp a lot too, but it's 15 watts, which is already too loud.

Well, guess what, the people at Epiphone/Gibson have been paying attention to the complaints about the amp...about a week a go I got to hankering for another VJ. I decided I'd just live with the noise problem or pay to get it modded. I wrote to the Epiphone sales team...and got an email back the same day saying that they had redesigned the amp! So I ordered a new one two minutes later...

The arrived today...I frankly didn't expect much, and like I said, I decided to live with the noise...turned it on and...yep, you guessed it: the noise is gone!

Sure, it still makes a bit of noise, but no more than any other tube amp I've heard. And I bet with a proper set of tubes, the noise level will go down even more, while the tone level will go up. I'm playing single-coil guitars too, that probably adds to the noise level a bit.

I love the sound of this amp! I love it cranked, starting around 2-3 o'clock. Although it's sound quite nice at 12 o'clock too.

The sound on this model feels tighter than the last one though, punchier and stiffer --the 05 model really had that creamy thing going, this one's sound is definitely more brittle...probably has to do with the design change, what do I know?

The speaker tends to fart a lot when the volume's maxed out...but that's part of its charm I suppose.

Anyway, take my sound review with a grain of salt, I've only had it for half a day. The main point of this review is to discuss the noise problem and point out that it looks like Epiphone has corrected the design.

Can't give an opinion. Looks solidly built.

I have the impression that they redesigned the back panel --looks like there are two models, one with a single opening, the other with two openings --I'm pretty sure the first JV I had had one opening. This one has two.

Like I said before, both Epiphone and Gibson were really prompt about answering my emails on the one --I got emails from several people too, including tech staff, not just marketing flacks. And all that for an amp that cost less than 150 euros.

Backlit On/Off Switch
Volume Control
Jack Socket
Valves (tubes)
Speaker
What more do you need?

1) Switch on
2) Turn volume knob to 2 o'clock - leave for 1 hour.
3) Take Squier '51 which has been pre-strung with 0.015 > 0.056 Newton set tuned to open G.
4) Plug in Squier.
5) Place Coricidin bottle on pinky of left hand.
6) Hit that classic "Dust My Broom" riff on twelfth fret.
7) Ignore Alfred Black Dog (my labrador) howling.
8) Ignore "Her Highness" screaming (Ithink she says "turn it down!!!!"

SHEER BLISS!

Yes, I've had the hum and hiss problems sorted by my local Tekki for #10 - he won't let me in on the secret but he did a superb job.

No problems so far - except from the wife and the dog!

As an ageing bass player who also plays slide - this is it!
No effects, just use the guitar knobs and your hands to control it!
FUN,FUN,FUN!
Have used it at local pub jams and gigs with no problems other than everyone asking "What the h*** is that? Where can I get one?"

Yes, I would buy another!

_$119.99 ( BEAT THAT!!!)
-Single ended class "A" amp
-One input jack
-One 8" speaker
-One external jack for a speaker ( 4 ohms )
-One Volume control knob
-One EL84 power tube
-One 12AX7 preamp tube

Basically it.

Sounds absoulty great. I play 70's and 80's hard rock and heavy metal. I use with just a Jackson Reverse and a Ibanez tube screamer and it POURS tone out of the little 8" speaker. I just today changed the power tube to a JJ Telsa EL84 and it sounds perfect. 10X better than it did before, more way more smooth, rich, and warmer. And it now sounds way less harsher than it did before.

The only concern i have in this area is the hum. Past nine 'o clock the hum starts to get loud. But when you are playing you cant even hear it.

But again, the tube screamer( TS-7 )plays a huge role in the tone im getting for this amp. I would highly reccomend you get one. I use it as a treble booster and for extra overdrive.


CAUTION AMP IS VERY LOUD FOR ONLY FIVE WATTS RATING

It has held up fine. Havent had it that long though, maybe four months.

Havent delt with them.

You can get any tone from AC/DC to Van Halen with this amp. I rate it a 9 just because of the little hum, but again you can barely notice it when actually playing. May plan on getting another one in the future.

Features = Tone.

This amp sounds very, very good. Yes, mine has hum and perhaps I will have it modded to reduce the hum, but frankly, I don't mind it when I'm playing it, which is the fun part. I had a Vibro Champ years ago, same kind of low-watt amp, and this sounds as good but may be louder. With volume at half I can play my Strat and use the guitar volume to control clean and overdrive. To my ears, the stock speaker is just fine. I did replace the preamp tube and got mo' tone, and I will replace the power tube as well.

N/A. I got mine "used" but mint for $65. Don't care if it breaks.

N/A

Been playing since 1975, if I lost this I would replace it with the head version now it, since it has better grounding and taps for 4/8/16 ohms. A great little amp for practicing that gives up great tone and which is simple enough that you can change out either the power tube or preamp tube and hear a difference, good or bad. Pure tube tone at an affordable price.

2006. one channel, one knob, one el84, one 12ax7. Perfect for blues and rock. I bought it just for around the house. I wanted the 5 watt head, but the store only had the combo. So at 99.00 it was hard to pass up. One 4 ohm speaker out. I run it into a 12" closed cab. It gives the amp a little more beef. I don't seem to have the hum most people complain about. You can get a lot of different sounds with your guitar volume and a tube screamer.

I play an old rg560 Ibanez hum sing sing. Great guitar for blues and rock. Not a heavy metal amp. Great blues amp

brand new ( two weeks old )

I've been playing about 40 years. I have owned 4 marshall, a fender twin, a mark 4 mesa, traynor, vox. And I have played just about any amp made. You know a good amp, when you turn it on, it should sound good right away without a lot of tinkering, This amp sound very nice ane at 99.00 You can't go wrong

03-05 ?? Valve Junior Combo
This amp is only suitable for any style of music where distortion is necessary and overhead isn't a requirement. It has 1 12AX7(ECC83) preamp tube and an EL84(6Q5D) power tube. 1 input jack, 1 speaker output jack (which is plugged into the internal 8" speaker). This can be used for an external cabinet. I think the speaker is a Chinese made Eminence. One (1) volume knob, a power on switch. No tone controls, no gain, no standby. Single Channel, output is 5 watts, Class A design.

A lot of hum, and some hiss. Way, way too much hum. Originally, this amp was much too noisy, especially at any setting. It was the scary kind of hum. I kept expecting to hear peculiar explosions, see smoke and smell pungent ordors. But, never did. I played it with P90 and humbucker equipped Gibsons. I play the blues mostly, which is a suitable for this beast. A Friend got this amp, because it reminded him of a Dr. Z Mini-Z, which reminded him of some good GA-5 he played way back when. So it wound up on my workbench for a few weeks. I did some web searches and found a few sites and a real growing interest in these. Anyway, I found the fixes. When I got around to applying these mods it didn't take long. I just used a bunch of old parts. I fixed a ground problem which turned out to be a proximity issue. I also replaced the cheap Chinese input jack with a good Switchcraft, and put in another one (to split the signal to another amp). I also put in a filter network for the power supply. All the hum and hiss go bye-bye.
This amp only makes two sounds, quiet and distorted. But, what a distortion it is. Wow !!! With the original speaker, it is just a nice dirty growl. I disconnected that and plugged it into an 10" Weber Blue Pup, and what a change. The volume controls the gain, the more volume, the more distortion. I wouldn't call it brutal. Just kind of hot and sparkly. Louder than I expected. If I were to have rated it prior to the fix, I'd have to give it a 1, but now, it's clean off the scale. I'll split the difference and give it a ---

The amp seems to be reasonably well made, just cheap in design. The tubes will probably need replacing. I'd like to put in some vintage NOS tubes. I wouldn't gig with out a back-up yet.

I don't know about the warranty.

I'VE GOT TO GET ONE OF THESE. I like the simplicity of use, and I like the sound. I'd like to see a standby switch. I think I'll buy the head version. Heck for this amount of money, can I go wrong?

This is from the KISS school of amplification. Volume, Jack, On/Off at the front. Speaker out at the back.

Aesthetically, I think it's great. Those who don't want a primal guitar experience should probably look elsewhere or consider it's sister amp with the tone controls and digital effects (Valve Special).

I have a 2001 American Series Tele, an Antoria (70's Ibanez) Les Paul Junior copy with an unidentified refit P 90,an Epiphone Zephyr Blues Deluxe and a Gretsch Bo Diddley Electromatic.

Even stock, this amp gave me a real guitar lesson. I don't know if it's the simplicity of the circuit or what, but the responsiveness of the guitars through this is WAY past what I've experienced with any other amp.

The tone is overdriven rather than distorted and varies with the position of the volume knob. The P 90 on the Antoria (which might be a Seymour Duncan) loves this amp. The Bo Diddley sounds knockout, although I noticed an alarming disparity in output between front and back p/up that I hadn't caught before. The Tele was good, but it does sound better through other amps. The Blues Deluxe has a big, resonant body which I think the 8" speaker struggled to reflect.

I'm likely to try an Alnico Jensen and follow up on some mods that I've seen that will reduce the hum. The noise is so prominent that only the committed lo-fi er will want to record with it.Also, it changes in response significantly after it's been on for about two hours - and for the better.

Would've been a 9 but for the hum.

Too new to tell. It is a cheap (mdf, vinyl, tin corners) but robust construction. I am considering getting a couple more for reasons other than back up, but I've seen nothing to persuade me that it should be any less reliable than my AC 30 (!). I'm not impressed with the way the handle is fixed but then, it's a great little amp for under a hundred quid so it does represent value for money.

Gibson Europe responded promptly to my enquiry about availability of a cover (there isn't one). Other than that, I can't tell. I find that Epiphone products generally tend to be poor at the dealer/distributor interface hence my rating.

I've been dabbling for about 30 years. I have 3 transistor amps (Roland Microcube, Peavey Backstage 30, Fender Bronco) and an AC 30. I've owned many other guitars. Have previously owned a Laney Klipp 100w (70's/early 80's) and a Marshall Super lead 100w (wish I'd known that trick for reducing the output to 50w before I sold it!).

I would hate to be without one of these for all it's faults. Would definitely replace it.

Price and specification were the main reason for this purchase. I'm planning to twin it with a Fender Blues Junior (Fender clean, Epi overdriven. It does everything I want it to do except shut up when the guitar is turned down/strings are damped.

Power, Volume, input.

That's it. A basic 'old school', class A tube amp.

Except for the noise factor, this amp could suite all styles except for low volume practice and recording, where the noise is a substantial factor.

If the nose bothers you, check out the new head-only version with improvements.

Seems reliable enough, and solidly constructed.

Never needed customer support.

Overall, I wouldn't buy the amp again. I would howver consider the newer model, which addresses some of the nose issues.

This is Nice amp, except for the hum. I'll bet a new combo model is due out soon, as the new head-only version has the hum problem somewhat addressed.

The new head version of the Valve Junior Tube amp includes features not found in its combo cousin. These include DC filaments for both the preamp and power sections, reducing unwanted filament hum. It also has 4, 8, and 16 ohm speaker outputs so you can drive any kind of extension speaker, from a single 8" box to a 4x12" cab.

5w tube, 8" speaker, volume knob...what else do you need? Well actually, I wish it had a headphone jack. I use it solely as a practice amp, but find myself reaching for this more these days than my larger amp. Also, it's very portable.

Plenty loud and breaks up at a lower volume than most tube amps which I like. 8" speaker doesn't seem like it could handle too much volume.

I play classic rock, blues, and rockabilly. I have two DeArmonds, one with goldtone humbuckers, and the other has 2k single coils. Both sound great through this little amp

Obviously not a lot of variety in sound out of this amp, but it sounds good. I simply plug my Dano Fab Echo pedal in and this amp has a great sound. I've also used my Digitech RP50 through it, but find I need to really cut back on the effect settings for this amp. As I mentioned above, the amp gets that tube break up at a lower volume than most which is nice when you use it as a practice amp.

Minor hum, but not enough to bother me, and can't be heard when you play.

I wouldn't anticipate any issues with it. It does take longer than my other tube amp to warm up.

N/A

I've been playing for 20 years. My other amp is a Peavey Prowler. After many years of playing lots of equipment I love these two amps. They were both very inexpensive and provide me exactly the sound I want.

I have two DeArmond guitars..the most underrated quitars available. I have a M72 which is a chambered, flat top with USA goldtone humbuckers. This guitar is hot and rocks out. I also have an M77T, arch top, 2k single coils, bigsby tremelo...basically a Gretsch duojet. Deep blues and rockabilly sound.

I love this amp for it's styling, sound, and portability. If it were lost or stolen, I would certainly buy another one.

As guitarists, we tend to get too wrapped up in all the features or amps these days, and multi-effect units. This amp simply has the one feature you need volume!

I just it brand new a couple of weeks ago and it has been nothing but a blast. You can turn it down, but why? the way to go is to crank it all the way and then your sound with your guitar controls. It has a funky nasty little growl that sounds great with my new G&L ASAT semi-hollow. I have used it live in a very small club (no drummer) and it held its own most of the time. Just a trifle underpowered unmiked. But I had a blast. I just wish it didn't have a computer power cord or had a good place to stow it. I know I will show up somewhere and not have one. who needs the stress?
Still for $100 I think everyone should have one. BTW, you can unplug the little 8" and run the amp into a 4x12 and LOOK OUT. It's more fun than a barrel of monkeys.

Yeas, it ahs the tone you want for funky, poppin, Tele twang or good slow burn blues. Don't try super clean Jazz. I play single coils and love it. It is noisy, but who cares. As stated, this thing shines on 10, with the volume/tone controls on my guitar, I can get lots of nice sounds.

So far so good. I have trouble thinking of this little boxa s pro gear. I would not take to an important gig without a backup. But it is feather-light, small and seems to be very well constructed. I may be toting this thing around asis in 20 years. I think I will try to figure out a way to secure the powere cord to the amp though.

N/A

I've been playing for years. I recently sold a Roland JC-120 and bought an old Music Man fifty-112 RD which sounds Oh my goodness like heaven. I play G&Ls, an old-style SC-3 and a new ASAT. There is so little risk with this little amp. I mean it cost less than my Route 66 OD and comes with a speaker! It is truly plug and play. There are a couple of other more expensive amps in the line but they just Addd effects and things to complicate the issue. This one is just no frills fun. Enjoy it like a toy.

Made last year, 2005. I bought it from American Musical Supply. I love the way they deal with there customers. I haven't had a bad experience yet.

Versatile enough to make my Strats and my Epi Les Paul Classic sound GREAT!

Single channel, one knob does it all. The knob shouldn't be labeled "volume," it should be labeled "BEEF!"

I use this amp at home being that I don't gig anymore. I just wanted a simple, toneful amp. And after reading quite a bit, I bought the Valve Junior. BUT, I did understand that I'd have to do a few mods to it.

I'm giving it a 3 because of the way Epi shipped these amps out with the ground issues.

I use a Strat with the standard Delta tone p'ups, a Samick SSM-1 Strat copy with Carvin S60 single coils in the neck and mid, and a Bill Lawrence L500-XL in the bridge. And an Epi Les Paul Classic with DiMarzio Virtual PAF's and updated electronics from Black Rose Customs.

It suits my playing just fine. I was looking for a sweet classic rock, heavy blues tone and I now have it.

Like I said before, I don't gig anymore so I don't have that to worry about. So for me it's very dependable. I've played for a few hours straight with the volume around 12 o'clock a few different times with no troubles. So far so good.

I gutted the amp 3 days after I bought it, so right there I voided the warranty. But I bought it knowing what I was going to do with it.

I've been playing off and on for approx. 27 yrs. Long enough to still remember me having a KISS ARMY membership BEFORE Alive II came out! I also used to play bass in a Christian P&W/rock band. I still have my Samick Stingray copy bass and Hartke combo amp.

If i were stolen, YES I'd buy it again. But then again, Epi just released the Valve Junior head for $99. Hmmm, that would be sweet to try through some different cabs.

I love the old school AC-DC, KISS tones I can get with no pedals.

I used 2 websites to get the mods done. The first one mostly dealt with the noise problem Epi let go out the door. The second one dealt with the noise, but also showed how to get some gain increases. Both guys were great at answering any questions I had. I had a total of about $25 in parts and an afternoon in time to get this amp to where it should be. Not too shabby. Next stop is some new JJ tubes unless I can find a good deal on some NOS GE tubes.

http://www.coolpick.com/way/cool/about/valvejunior.html

http://www.euthymia.org/DIY/VJmods.html

This is an addition to my review below, in response to the overwhelming number of emails & requests that I have received.

The amp sounds much like a tweed era champ, or gibson single-ended amp. However there are design flaws that provide loads of hum & buzz...

1) 60-cycle hum (gets louder as you turn up the volume) - caused by AC Filament supply traces running along the Hi-Z audio signals. To fix this you must cut the filament traces near the tube sockets, and run wires instead, as far away from signal traces as possible. New holes must be drilled in the copper near the tubes, to accept the new filament supply wires. Of course, you also have to re-locate the 100ohm filament ground reference resistors to star ground.

2) 120-cycle buzz (always there no matter how you set the volume) - caused by inadequate power supply filtering. To fix this you must increase the first stage filter cap. 100uF gets rid of most of it, and makes it as good as vintage single-ended amps. The problem is there is very little room on the PCB. You could drill new holes through the copper & fit a snap-in cap (be sure to glue it to the board with silicon). However, there's only enough room for a 22mm diameter cap. The cap must be rated at 450V minimum.

This is not a job for a novice, but rather for someone with experience modifying tube amps and PCBs. NOT TO MENTION THAT LETHAL VOLTAGES INSIDE TUBE AMPS CAN KILL YOU INSTANTLY!!! DO NOT OPEN ANY ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT UNLESS YOU ARE QUALIFIED TO DO SO, OR YOU CAN SERIOUSLY DIE!

In short, this amp can be modified to sound good by experienced & reputable tube amplifier technicians. There is a considerable amount of time involved, plus some parts required.

I can do the work for $69, including parts & labor. This is a HIGHLY discounted price. You are responsible for any shipping costs. I'm in Upstate, NY. (If you use UPS, you can send it to my business address to save on shipping costs.) I am not responsible for shipping damage, so please pack it well. Turnaround time is usually 2-5 business days, plus shipping time.

Thanks,
Dan
EE
(References available)

What the &^$# do you think? It only has volume. My friends call it the Man-Amp, because it is bonehead simple to use and play with. It's probably the only Class-A tube amp you're going to see below $200, and I would call that it's best feature. Still, it get's a deserved 2, because at least you can change the volume level.

This is my favorite amp. I have a Behringer 212, and it is a souless, god awful sounding monster. I also have a Fender Hot Rod Deville, which was my first tube amp. I like the sound it has better than both of those. This is the perfect amp for bluesy, funky $%^&, there is a level of responsiveness and warmth that perfectly suits funk, rock, blues, and jazz.

At the lower end of the spectrum, you have a nice warm clean sound, and there is almost no hum. I like this sound for playing in the school jazz band, since our fantastic drummer can keep his dynamics to a reasonable level.

The middle end, around 12 o'clock, it starts to hum a bit, and it'll get crunchy on complex chords and hard-hit notes. This is a fantastic blues and funk zone, and with my beater guitar I can get a Hendrix/Frusciante type tone, and with my hollowbody, I get a more BB King type wail.

Towards the end, you get into Brian May/Jimmy Page land. No, you will not sound exactly like them, but you will be playing through a hot, responsive little combo that hums like the dickens if you aren't playing. If you tack on an overdrive pedal, it goes into a thick, syrupy kinda tone.

Overall, this amp has great tone, a persistent hum, and a versatile sound depending on how many guitars you own. You may want to get some sort of mod for cutting bass, and i'm personally modding it to get rid of hum. My buddy's a tech and he's says $20 worth of caps and resistors will clean up it's act. I'm also aiming to get a little more headroom, but I may just need to play it through a speaker cabinet instead. Remember, 5 watts of class A is rated at a clean level, and it will sound about half as loud as a 50 watt class-A amp all other things (speakers, preamps, etc.) being equal.

The sound is the one I have in my head, plus hum. I can't wait to fix it.

&^$% yeah I'd depend on it. I thought it was cutting out the first week I had it, but it was a guitar wiring problem as it turns out (Curse you squier!). This thing needs to warm up for a couple minutes and cool off a couple minutes between switching it on and off, but other than that it's a low-maintanence beast.

Don't care. If this thing craps out on me, it's got the perfect chassis for a new custom amp. It's speaker is perfect, apparently a Weber, according to my buddy. It's cheap enough to the point where it shouldn't matter about reliability, because if you take it in to a tech, fix it up so it's all vintagey and cool, it's basically like getting a custom amp for the $200 you spent repairing it. I guarantee it will rock in either case.

I got a nice Ibanez hollowbody and a beater Squier 51, and I love the sound of both of these instruments through the valve jr. I don't know why everyone's so hissy about the hum, it's like twenty bucks extra to fix it, why the hell you would miss out on this amp is beyond me.

I've got a Jacques trinity wah, and a Danelectro Daddy O, and both are superb through this baby. I intend to purchase a delay in the future, and will probably want an effects loop, but other than that, I can see no problem with effects.

Well, it has exactly the features I was looking for :-).

As others have said, single-ended Class A. Stock tubes are a Sovtek 12AX7WA in the pre-amp section and a Sovtek EL84 for power. 8-in. speaker. Volume knob.

OK, there are two different issues here: tone and noise. And, of course, they're inter-related, since you can't enjoy the tone if the amp is too noisy.

Even out of the box with the stock Sovteks, the tone was excellent. Just by switching pickups, adjusting the guitar controls and playing with the volume, it was easy to move from a warm, ringing jazz sound to creamy blues, even into classic rock.

But, as others have pointed out, the amp buzzes -- and as you increase the volume, the buzz increases. Based on what I've read here and elsewhere, it seems clear that some of the design compromises that went into making a $100 tube amp contribute to this problem. I think it's also clear that there are QC issues at work, since some of the amps are noiser than others.

Anyway, since I got this amp for learning and practice, I could have lived with the stock setup; however, I decided to contact Epiphone to see if they had any suggested fixes. They suggested the problem was a bad pre-amp tube and asked me to take the amp in for service.

The service tech didn't replace any tubes, but did replace a leaky cap and resolder the output tube. The result was an increase in gain but no change in the noise.

At this point I decided to retube. I put in a JJ ECC803s and an Ei EL84. To my ears, the difference in tone was remarkable. I thought the amp sounded good with the Sovteks, but now it was warmer, rounder and with much greater clarity -- but no change in the noise.

I then got some NOS JAN GE 5751s and Mullard M8162s (12AT7). Wow. Noise much reduced while still offering the improved tone of the JJ. For now I'm sticking with the Mullard.

I'm playing an Oscar Schimdt OE-30 with a stock pickup in the neck and a DiMarzio super distorition in the bridge. Play mostly jazz/blues and a little classic rock.

Seems very solid.

Warranty is 5 years on the amp, 90 days on the tubes and (I think) speaker. Epiphone responded quickly when I sent a question via e-mail. The local service center was did the work quickly and called to discuss what they had done and why.

I've only been playing a short while, but I really wanted a tube amp. I didn't think I'd be able to afford one till I found the Valve Junior. Since I'm not using it professionally -- no gigging or recording -- I could have enjoyed it in its stock form; the noise wasn't enough to bother me for the type of playing I do. But I had fun playing around with the different tubes and putting in the Mullard really makes the Valve Junior even more enjoyable.

very few. thank goodness.

Regarding replacement tube selection:

JJ'S ARE NOT THE ONLY QUAILTY TUBE IN THE WORLD.

sheesh! you people read 100 times that JJ's are the best, and nobody experiments with anything else. what a mind virus. the stock sovteks, in my opinion, sound better than anything else in this amp when it's opened up to max volume. less harshness, less compressed, just bigger. if you plan on using this amp for power tube distortion sounds, leave the stock tubes in it. EI brand el-84's are nice in it as well. brighter, earlier break up.

many sounds to be had in a low watt tube amp - if you're a good player and know how to coax subtleties out of your guitar.

too early to tell - though construction seems great for the money.

am currently emailing CS about the buzzing problem (didn't occur at 1st, then reared it's head after 1 month).

got a prompt response.

the inherent noise (hum / buzz) is a problem. perhaps if enough people complain to epiphone and request warranty service, they will recall the product or fix it. i can see the 11 year old chinese sweat shop laborers cringing at having to make the adjustment...

and again: DON'T LIMIT YOUR TUBE OPTIONS TO JJ's.

JJ's are fine, but try others too, let your ears be the judge - not the sheer volume of posts you've read by other brainwashed victims of the "JJ are best" mind virus...

The best "feature" of this little amp is that there are no features to get between you and your tone. Whatever you plug into this thing is what you'll get out of the speaker. Do your tweaking at the guitar and you're there. For the price, this is a very well assembled and solid little amp. I'm giving an 8 here because a the amp would be really nice with a standby switch.

I just don't know how to describe how bad the buzz is that generates from this little amp. I wanted to love this amp because of all it offers but there just insn't anything sweet, cool, or retro about the level of noise in this thing. I honestly don't know how anybody can use one of these amps stock! Tune swapping didn't help, either. I've read about all the mods that supposedly tame this beast but man, I haven't got time for the pain, if you know what I mean. Don't get me wrong - the tone is there and it sounds great! - but it's burried under a wall of buzz!

I wouldn't know, I just finished returning it to Guitar Center.

Guitar Center was great about taking it back. I don't know anything about Gibson or Epiphone customer service.

This is the coolest looking amp on the planet! Like I said, I wanted to love this amp like I would an old Champ or Musicman but not until they address the issue with the buzz. It's absolutetly awful and no one should have to mod a brand new amp just to get rid of the noise! When Epiphone fixes this issue I'll buy another one - hell, maybe even two! - but until then, no deal.