Epiphone Valve Junior Combo

This is a follow up to a review I wrote a few months ago. The amp has held up better than I could have imagined. It has won over everyone in my band/family. Two of my brothers bought one because they were blown away by this little 1X8 all tube wonder king. Read on...

Well, this is the whole point, yes? How does it sound??? Rippen!!! incredible!!! rude!!!! warm!!! cutting!!.. You could do every record made by ZEP,ACDC with this amp. You could even get away with some VH. keep in mind, it's been 3 months since I've owned it.. The honeymoon period has well passed and this thing is even better than I thought it was.

Turn it down and use a good bridge pup ( like the one in an EBMM Axis gitar) and the thing sounds excellent for if you like a different flavor.

I bought a second amp for myself as well as three 8" weber speakers when they were on sale for like $20 bucks or something. I bought every 8" model they had.

The second amp sounded great but had/has signifantly less bassresponse. The tubes and speaker are the same so it's hard to pin point the cause- In it's stock form it still sounds great just not as good as the first one I bought.

I ended up swapping some speakers in and out to see what I get.. After reading many comments about the improved sound with a weber speaker upgrade I came away with a different opinion. The stock EP speaker in the amp is the best speaker for this amp- or at least it's a very good match. The ceramic weber speaker I tried was not as exciting sounded and did not add any improved bass. I also tried two alnico Webers.
The Alnico S version ( which I think is the cheaper of the two weber Alnicos) is more compressed with less mids than the stock speaker. It's not as loud either.. It's less in your face... It gives you a different sound that is great for rock but not as good as the stock speaker for soloing or other types of music.
Since I have two amps, I decided to keep the ALnico S in one of the amps. If I only had one amp I would leave the stock speaker in it. I prefered it to any of the three weber speakers. It certianly has more attack/midrange/ in your face sound.
That's not to say that I do not like the new amp with the Alnico S.. I love it.. Having owned many vintage amps/speakers. I could say that the alnico is much closer to a Greenback with its compressed less middy sound.
The more expensive Weber alnico did'nt do it for me.. Perhaps, I''l fool around with some different tubes in the future but be assured that this amp in it's stock form is the shit.

My two brothers just bought two more but I have not had the chance to test them. It will be interesting to compare all four amps.

So far so good.

@ $120 it's a silly, sick value. My 70s non master bassman has been sitting unused. every once in a while I plug it in but It does not give me the goose that the little EP's do.

I also forgot to mention that we were all blown away by the fact the we are able to use the amp for rehersal. I play it with the amp all the way up and I do not understand why but this thing cuts like nobody's buisness. If I were readind this I would say BS, but I am telling you that after years of using 50/100 watt amps with and without an atenuater(spelling?) It blows me away that I am know using a 5 watt amp that cuts as good as it does. (I now understand how Page could use his 1X8 or 1X10 to record the first zep record).

Whe all is said and done, If you could get over the fact that little chinese people are being paid penuts to build these.. then it's the best deal on the planet bar none. It's the best all time deal on anything. I want to buy four more but I'll never use them all.

Just one knob, 5W, Class A, dirt cheap. That's why it is so appealing. I would have like headphones, but for the price that is OK...

I should start by saying that I love Epiphone products. All the Epi guitars I have, i.e Sheraton, EJ200, Biscuit are great instruments at an incredible price.

Having said that, RUN AWAY FROM THIS AMP !!!

It does not hum, it SCREAMS, it YELLLLS!. Do you want to sit next to a power plant in full activity? Unless you have a 500 feet jack, and play from a different room, you'll get all the BUZZZZZZZZ in your ears until you get real sick and stop the guitar.

I purchased one and returned it the next day.

I also checked all the VJs (about 6 of them) at three shops: they all buzzzzzzZZZzZZZ. Saying it is a Class A is no excuse: my VOX AC30 does not hum at all. No, it's not a 230v problem. I tested them in the US at different places.

Protect your ears, protect your brain, save your money for something else.

BTW, it is not the rip-off of the year. There is a better one: the similar-sized Gibson amp hums about the same for 4 times the price of the Epi... Yeah!!

No idea

Never tested

Would be a bad bad move if you buy it, my friend...

Brand New, Under #90 & a 5 year Warranty, this amp provides great value for money. Features are beautifully simple; Input/ Volume/ On-Off switch. In a small watt A Class amp anything else would be Guilding the Lilly

I bought it as a harmonica amp (Couldn't justify a Fender Champ to the Bank Manager) and it it offers all the dirt a harp player could want. I would reccomend changing the valves as the sovtek ones are able but not great. I had a couple of friends over who use my house as a home studio and they used to add a bit of crunch. Young lads (bless 'em) asked what pedal I was using, their jaws damn near fell off when they realised I'd just turned the volume up a bit! I'm ignoring the buzz as I can't wait to invalidate the warrenty and get the soldering iron out/

Had it 3 weeks not broke yet. It is solid as though.

I've got a Marshal JCM 800 and a lovely 1963 AC30 but this amp really does come in useful. At 5 watts you can play at home, the tone is sweet and it has good old fashioned looks. If you need a new amp and you fancy just plugging in and getting on with it, this amp is hard to beat. Good basis for a harmonica upgrade (the valves are easy to get to so you can replace them to cut the gain).

5 watt guitar valve combo.
One 12ax7 Sovtek preamp valve.
One EL84 Sovtek poweramp valve.
Volume control.
One 8inch 4ohm Epiphone speaker into a single 4ohm minimum output.
Enough features to produce great tones for me.

Between 0 and 1/2 way you get 'clean as a bell' tones, giving a great clean tone.
Between 1/2 and 3/4 you get my favourite tone, clean but just, and I mean just, slightly edgy, so rich and warm, it is the perfect tone for me.
When fully cranked you get a rocky overdriven sound which is perfect for classic rock.
I prefer to use single coils with this amp as they work better with this amp, humbuckers tend to make the amp sound like it is forcing the sound out more, though I still use this amp with humbuckers from time to time as they produce a different sound.

Well I've cranked it many times and it still works fine. The tubes still work great. It's built solidly.

Not used it yet as I haven't needed to.

I have a Marshall DSL201, a Fender Blues Junior, a Fender Pro Junior and this. The Epiphone Valve Junior is my favourite as it is so simple but never disappoints me when I want great tone. I've wondered if I changed the valves will I get a better sound, surely that's not possible but I'm going to do that next just to see.
It is slightly quieter than my other amps but it's still bloody loud.
The price it is out of this world and for what this amp does I would pay double for one any day.
If it were lost I would get another one in 1 second after it was lost.

Great little amp. I did some modifications though a bit expensive, proved to be totally worthwhile for me.
1. Changed the EL-84 power tube to an n.o.s. RCA blackplate 6L6BQ (same tube as EL-84, just old nomenclature.)
For penny-pinchers, JJ Eurotubes EL-84 would suffice, or for a little more money, an n.o.s. Philips JAN 6L6BQ would be super.
2. Changed the preamp tube to a good used Mullard made "VM" (Voice of Music) 12AX7A.

CAUTION CAUTION CAUTION !!

The metal shield which covers the small tube (12AX7)contains a spring which is WAY WAY too strong. I've never seen one like that before, the wire-gauge is way too heavy, making the spring seem almost as strong as a coil spring on a car! If you install an n.o.s. (vintage)tube there, don't put that same shield back on, because the glass tends to be thinner on old tubes. I found out the hard way, and destroyed a $40.00 Mullard tube in the process. It didn't happen right on installation, it happened after a couple heat-up and cool-down cycles. The next day... the amp didn't work. The glass had shattered from the excessive spring force. Either leave the shield off, or use another shield with the typical (lighter) spring inside.

I purchased a 2 x 10 speaker cabinet from a good quality, inexpensive cab. maker on ebay and installed 2 Eminence "Ram Rod" 10" speakers in it.(8 ohms each, wired in parallel for 4 ohms total.) I have the cabinet standing up "on end," after adding 4 rubber feet to the one end. The Valve Junior sits on top of the cab., perfect fit, and the internal speaker is unplugged. (must,because the amp needs 4 ohms.) A speaker cable goes from the speaker jack on the amp,to the cab. input.
Vastly improved tone, and the hum is much less noticeable.

Solid as a rock thus far.

5 yrs. warranty on chassis parts except tubes.

If you want any clarification or additional info/assistance with mods I've described, contact me & I'll try to help.

One control labelled "volume". If you think all it does is control how loud the amp is then you're mistaken. The one volume control on this amp effectively does the same job as the thirty knobs on your Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectumfryer. You can completely change the tonal contour of the amp just by messing with the volume control. I've added a switch to change from 4ohm to 8ohm output - useful if you want it to drive an outside cab.

The hum of this amp is well documented and can be fixed easily by adding some additional filtering and improving the grounding. I won't harp on it here.

Stock, this amp has a very ratty, raw vintage sound. Perfect for blues and classic rock. You may or may not like it. At five watts, it's not going to stay clean for very long, but it's definitely not a quiet amp. I've played several small gigs with it (30-40 people) and it was plenty loud provided you don't mind a little grit in your clean tone. The nice thing was, the sweet spot of this amp was at an acceptable volume level - not something that I'm used to.

The tone of the amp is fabulous - full of your typical class A 3D overtones. With such a small cab and ceramic speaker the actual tonal character of the amp is understandably focused in the upper midranges - again, perfect for rock and blues. The stock speaker is excellent - has great bite that really cuts through the mix nicely. Very aggressive sounding.

Now, I have made some changes to the amp. First off, the sovteks that come with the amp absolutely suck. The el84 was microphonic and the two of them both sounded realy harsh. Yanked them both and replaced the 12ax7 with an EH and the el84 with a JJ. The JJ took away the harshness, and the EH helped add clarity to the entire frequency range. A $12 upgrade that should be done right away.

I also changed out the speaker. Like I mentioned above - the stock speaker is excellent. However I'm more of an alnico man myself. So I picked up the weber sig 8 alnico ($25) and threw it in there. The result was a less agressive sound with more compression and sparkle. The alnico was also noticably quieter than the stock speaker. The overall sound after the change is more up my alley - so I'll keep the alnico in there. However, if you're content with the stock speaker then don't change it - it's the same speaker that's used in the $600 Dr. Z Mini-Z. Actually come to think of it, the Mini-Z and the Valve Junior seem very similar - perhaps a little too similar.... I'd be curious to see a schematic of the Mini-z.

Chinese labor is the best. I don't care what anyone says. The cabinet is crafted as good as anything out there, and the assembly is top notch. I trust that this thing will stand up to many gigs out - and hey, if it doesn't, you can buy a new one for a $120.

I've been playing for 11 years. I won't go into the gear I own, but let's just say I know that top notch tone usually isn't available at Guitar Center. At $120 this amp is the steal of the century. The only thing I would change about it are the cheap tubes and the MDF cabinet. I wish epiphone would just pay the extra cents for real pine and better tubes. Other than that - great job!

Current (2005) production tube combo guitar amp, with a 12AX7 Preamp Tube, EL84 Power Tube, and 8" speaker.

Front panel: Input Jack, Volume Knob, Power Switch

Rear panel: AC Inlet (removeable power cord), Speaker Jack

Nice warm clean tone at lower volumes with both a Strat and a Les Paul. It sounds bigger than any Fender Champ that I've ever tried.

Good blues tone as you increase the volume a little bit, especially with neck pickups selected.

Unfortunately, the speaker starts farting out as you crank the volume beyond 50%. The resulting sound is kind of harsh and flabby. The circuitry seems to be more at fault than the speaker. Perhaps one of the coupling caps is simply too big???

Also, the amp gets quite noisy with hiss & hum as you turn it up. I bet this can be fixed with improved power supply filtering and/or better internal wiring.

Too early to tell, but it seems very solid.

The transformers & circuitry are covered by a 5 YEAR WARRANTY! Unfortunately tubes & speaker are only warrantied for 90 days, but these should be relatively easy to replace if/when necessary.

I've been playing electric guitar for over 15 years. This is a really cool little amp for practice and small gigs. I was looking for a small rig for coffee house size gigs & playing music at parties & family get togethers. This amp seems like a great choice. It looks GREAT, and has a very usable clean tone. I'm confident that the cranked up sound can be improved. For now I'm quite content using an overdrive pedal when necessary. I love the way I can just focus on my playing without worrying about any knobs to fiddle with. The tone simply blows all of the little modeling amps out of the water.

features? this is VINTAGE style. with amps like that,the only 2 things you can rely on are how authentic and responsive your sound is and how good you play. the first requisite ,the sound,is delivered with a lot of dignity from this little amp.

so you get only a jack input and a volume control and you are forced to crank the amp up. that way you hear it's power tube distortion. to me that is one feature that absolutely trashes digital crap amps.yeahhh.

and dont forget that we are getting a class A valve amp for # 99....I have no complaints,the amp only has a sound ,but a killer one! better than having 1000's crap sounds with lots of features,they tend to be distracting because the player is constantly trying to get a good sound but there is always something missing: a real tube circuit!

I think that this amp ,with almost no features at all,beat digital amps anytime.

I use it with both sngle coils and humbuckers. I absolutely loves both combinations. You get a very alive clean sound with the volume control at 10 'o clock or an excellent raunchy and grinding El 84 overdrive with the volume maxed out. On amps like that one,the volume control felles like a gas pedal on a car!

the amps is not noisy,but if you want the least possible noise you should invest in some good valves,although the amp's stock Sovteks are the industry standard nowadays even on much more expensive amps.

the amp's distortion is,how can I say it...AUTHENTIC! it's not the mesa-mondo distortion sound,think more Steve Ray Vaughan,which it's not exactly a wimpy sound!!! and I am not exactly a blues player,but i do use those sounds,'cause they are real sounds.
this amp has to be bought on sound alone!

the construction seems very solid and high quality to me. this amp has a solid steel chassis. I saw other small valve amps and some of them did not seem anything as solid as the Valve Junior.
plus,it looks very pretty!

I dont know about this one,but if they offer a 5 years warranty on the amp plus a 3 months warranty on tubes,on a # 99 amp, it seems to me they mean business without clowning around!! impressive warranty!

been playing for 13 years. been having many valve amps,Peavey,Marshalls,Laney,Seymour Duncan.
I absolutely love the Valve Junior in all aspects,I think Epiphone did an amazing job on a # 99 amp.

it looks like chinese labour kicks ass ,if they are able to do what they do on that amp for that kind of money.
Even although the amp has only a volume control,it really makes me harking back to vintage amps...it's 'lack' of features it's totally justified because IT IS vintage amp AND because it's ridicolously cheap. I remember having a small Marshall 15 watts and a small Laney ,also 15 watt's....both had effect loops etc, but neither sounded as good as the Valve Junior in my opinion,even though they both were (are) valve amps.

the Valve Junior it's KILLEER value!

5 watts, Class A, one ?preamp? tube (12AX7) and one ?power? tube (EL84), both Sovteks originally. Single channel. No separate gain or anything ? distortion only happens by turning up loud. No EQ controls either. Output for connecting to an external speaker cabinet (4 ohms).
One volume knob.
Errm?input jack?

So, not a whole lot of features. The one thing I wish it had is an effects loop. Would be useful for reverb. Having said that, the big advantage of this amp is power tube distortion at non-ear-splitting volumes. Since effects loops always come before the power section, the reverb would be distorted. Therefore, it?s no different really to sticking a reverb in front of the amp, which of course you can do with the amp set clean.

Basically, for me personally, everything I want and nothing I don?t. Oh, except a headphone jack. That would be handy.

Note that I only use this amp for home playing. I don?t gig, and as such can?t comment on its volume in a band setting. Home volume is discussed below.

I think it deserves 8 because it's fine for me, apart from an effects loop (maybe...) and a headphone jack, and the tubes, in my opinion, need replacing (See below). This is a small point - tubes are quite cheap and easy to install.

I'm currently using a cheapy Yamaha ERG-121, which is pretty much stock. Not exactly brilliant, but it is a guitar...

I like classic rock, and perhaps what you might call a modern take on classic rock. Although I love the more modern playing of Vai, Satriani, etc, this amp isn't ideal for that (not enough gain and not smooth enough). However, most of these players use distortion pedals anyway, so, do that! And this amp does provide a great backing for a distortion pedal. Combining the amp distortion with stomp-box distortion is great, as it provides a musical howl that solid-state devices are generally lacking on their own. It's more common, I believe, to use a pedal with a clean amp - to anyone unsure: combining one distortion with another does not produce ill-effects, and this amp puts into place what a pedal lacks on its own.

Someone below somewhere said this amp sounded like a turd (in a good way). This is quite the case. I?ve come to the conclusion that there?s such things as ?real? vintage and ?pseudo? vintage, and ?real? vintage takes some getting used to. You might say ?pseudo? vintage is what one might like to imagine vintage guitar sounds to be like, when in fact ?real? vintage is far harsher and has far less definition.
Low notes are always a bit farty, high notes can get piercing.

What is wonderful about tube amps if you're used to solid-state is how they respond to pick attack. With this amp you can go from perfectly clean to big distortion just by picking harder. Whereas with solid-state things you sort of get a bit more or a bit less, no matter what you do.

Thing is, out of the box this amplifier was?rather disappointing. It was fine when clean, very nice, quite rich. Just when distorted, it sounded rather uncomfortable, like something was misbehaving. It was very, well, farty is in fact a good word. It got a little better with time (as in, a few days) as it sort of bedded-in, but the real change came when I replaced the tubes with JJ?s. Obviously, the general tone of the amp remained, but the higher-quality tubes seem to have added more upper-midrange and removed some of the farty low-mids and bass. It?s much more balanced and rounded, and the transition from clean to overdrive is much smoother. I specified an early-break-up EL84 from Bob at Eurotubes (great place to order from by the way) and it is now pretty clean up to maybe between 10 and 11 o?clock on the volume. Maxed out, it?s maybe the heaviest vintage distortion I?ve heard, but simply isn?t a modern high-gain sound. Overall the amplifier is far more ?musical? now, and far better for solos, where before it was very much more suited to rhythm.

It?s worth pointing out that this amplifier does not give you that legendary power-tube distortion at ?bedroom? volumes. Or at least, not unless your bedroom is the size of my house and you?ve no neighbours (note - I live in a semi-detached house). But this amplifier can, unlike more powerful ones, be turned up full in a house without ripping anyone?s head off. What I do is put it in the next room and run the guitar lead under the door, which is closed. I then get a very nice volume, loud but not worryingly so, even at full volume.

The amp is a bit noisy, but you only notice that when you're not playing, so, like, who cares? Well, not me. It's perhaps not ideal for studio work, but frankly, if you're working in a studio, you can probably afford a more expensive amplifier...

9 because it just sounds so great but isn't...well, orgasm-inducing.

It hasn?t broken yet, although I?ve only had it...less than a couple of months. I certainly don?t feel like it?s going to stop working ? it seems high-enough quality. It?s so simple, there?s not much to go wrong compared to many other amps.

Can't comment.

I've only been playing for two years, but hey, I'm kinda decent. I have a Yamaha ERG-121 guitar (think modern strat-clone with H-S-H pickups). I use a Danelectro FAB distortion pedal sometimes, if I need a more modern sound. I also have a Danelectro EQ, which I use less with this amp because it has a better basic sound than my previous amp. I feel like a better guitar would open this amp up a lot. It seems to be responsive like that. What you put in is what you get out.

"Would I buy it again" is an awkward question. Yes, in that I'm very happy with the amp, but in reality, I'd probably save up for something more expensive (Carvin Vintage 16 tickles my fancy).

I got this amp because it's a good tube amp for cheap! Simple.

Really, this is a truly wonderful amp for me. Your mileage may vary, obviously. If you want a modern high-gain sound, either for grunking power chords or Vai solos, either use a distortion pedal or look elsewhere. If you want a vintage sound, this is pretty much it. Just be sure you want ?real? vintage, which is not quite as lovely as you might think! If, that is, you?re a bit naive, like I was. It took some getting used to, this amp, especially the way it responds to your playing, i.e. a lot. Two-handed tapping and long legato runs take some re-learning if you?re used to a high-gain sound!

But basically, I find it hard to imagine (although I cannot be sure) that anything else this cheap would sound this good. Have you been playing through a solid-state amp? Relying on a multi-effects processor or pedals? Want to move up to a tube amp?
This might be great for you.

9 for just being great, particularly considering the price.

2 tubes /class A /VALUE!!!!!!

I just got it a few days ago. Stock out of the box it sounded great.
I did change the preamp tube I tried a few I had lying around and
ended up using a JJ. The new Groove tube 12ax7r was too bright. I also replaced the speaker with a jensen C8R it's a good speaker and it is under $30. Make sure you get 4 ohm. These mods made it a bit more dynamic and musical. I will probably replace the power tube with a JJ. BUY a matched set then you got a spare.The amp as a bit
noisy but I love what one reviwer said when he started playing the noise went away......I should be playing this amp instead. I've just played my strat and ts808 through it. NO complaints a guitar a dirt box and a good cord and you got a low watt low price channel switching amp that's got tube tone and does get loud someone may even tell you yo turn it down. $120 what does that buy in the age of boutique gear. other amps THD univalve , fender deluxe reissue,
other fender champs , bruno amps , and aroland micro cube {gotta have a battery amp!}

to soon to tell but it is solid more than it looked in a picture.

hopefully I will not need it.

I have been playing for 30 years seen all the gear evolve . Every year a cool piece of gear comes around but it,s usually big bucks!
Not like the days when a new ts808 sold for $40 now it's reissue this and reissue that custom shop, master built, limited run and bend us over. So this is that cool piece of gear that someday you wish you had baught .

well not much to say smple as it is that is the best way to go all tube amp why repeat my self after everyone one volume controld what else you need

well who ever though this amp was not for metal i will ahve to desagreed i use a modeling dist from behringer with it and i am getting that dual recto soud i will not sd which modeling due to it is a secret, but i also replace the 12xa with gt 12au and i get cleaner sound you can't find any tube amp for the price , i will sd a stand by switch will be handy i hook it up to my 412 cab with celestions 75x4 switched to 150 w and it sound very good , for 5w amp it is pretty fucking loud

don't know yet but it seems to be very well assebleded solid as a tank

n/a

i was looking for a small tube amp with no dist i wanted somethign clean to use with my pedal just to play at home , i was going to by the behringer 15w tube combo but after i try this one i just fell in love with it i broght my pedal to the music store to try it out and i was almost in tears , i almost had an orgasm for real best tube amp for the price you won't get any tube amp for this price buy it

This amp is as simple as it gets. One Volume. The rest is up to you. The reason I'm giving the such a high rating is because this is all I need. I'm not a big fan of all the features, I like to keep it simple. And this does it. Also...
It's a 5 watt class A tube amp. Enough said.

So far, I've run an Epi Les Paul Standard, an American Strat, a Parker Nitefly and an Epi Elitist LP Standard through it. They all sound great. This amp breaks up amazingly, and be cause it's only 5 watts, you don't have to rattle the windows to get that break up, all though that's not always a bad thing.
This amp also responds beautifully to your playing. You can take it up to 10 and get ridiculous drive, but back your picking off and you can get it very clear. It could benefit from a better speaker, but this Epi will do the job for now.

So far I've had no problems, but it's only been a couple months. I like the metal corners, though.

I haven't talked to Epi about it, but Musician's Friend was awful. It was suppsed to be under a week til I got it, but after 3 I found out that it had been sent to the wrong place, and instead of sending it the right way, Musician's Friend got it sent back to them, and instead of sending it to me, they sent me a different one, which took another couple weeks. Shameful.

Overall, this amp is amazing. If you can afford the $600 for a boutique practice amp, go for it. If not, this amp will do the job. It is ridiculously affordable, and sounds amazing. I'm looking into Epi's Valve Standard.

All the features have pretty well been covered here.....one EL84,one 12AX7,and one knob! A little recording amp,couch jamming (no drummer),or teaching tool.

Been playing 38 years,I have one of almost everything.....it seems to work best with single coils.I have to say that I changed the stock Sovtek EL84 to a Groove Tube,and the response came alive.Before,it was
a bit muddy,and as one reviewer stated "Pignosey." (LOL)
It does what you would expect a tweed Champ to do,but with a little less volume.The distortion sounds best to me at around 1:00,kinda bluesy with dynamics.I originally had the Valve Special with tone knobs and DSP,but decided to go with a simpler signal path.
I must say that both models have a hum,which I've noticed other reviewers mentioning....maybe there is a hum balance somewhere.It isn't too critical.

I've only had the amp for a week,and bought it to tote to drummerless rehearsals and recording.

See above----I registered it online.Hopefully I won't need any warranty work.

As stated above,38 years playing been around the block a few times.I have collected old gear for quite a few years,although at this point it doesn't have to be old to be good.I wanted something like a tweed Champ in it's simplicity---I have a nice little collection of original tweeds,but they are all larger ones.I like this little amp to this point,and I'll bet it will sound great with a few pedals.I chose this amp for the design,simplicity,and price....it's hard to buy a design overdrive for this price.The amp is built very well,and seems really solid.

Bought it on August 5 in GC in Santa Ana. Has one volume knob - that I (and you should too) just keep at 2 pm - that's all: read on ...

BTW I used to own $750 boutique CORNFORD Harlequin class A 5W but it had BOXY sounding 12" CELESTION AND THIS HUM that's also here as it's class A, yet my THD Univalve head masterpiece doesn't have any hum :-)

I switched it ON and left it on for some 6 hours BEFORE playing it for the first time: to make sure it's really warm :-)

Immediately with all stock options I had a great class A tube sound (with a Strat and Paul ...) and then I added the H & K Tubefactor up front and then I had any sound you can possibly imagine.

My Strat Plus by Fender is well shielded so hum is low and the sound is great as others reported.

I play since 1960 and have only class A small amps like Gibson (Trace Eliot made) GA-15RV 15W 112 combo that is sweet or UNIVALVE that I use as a preamp with usualy 6V6 tube ... and then I use also small Laney LC15R as it is light and versatile ... this Epiphone fits nicely and sounds sweater than My Gibson GA-15Rv in 'sweet' pentode 5W mode
and I did NOT change tubes or the speaker.

Surely I can notice that if volume is max the speaker runs into problems yet that's not important if you play it with a pedal up front; still I may change it eventually with a very efficient design.

The tubes are fine - 5 have plenty to try (from my THD Univalve collections) so will report on that too eventually.

In summary, it's THE bluesy sound but let the amp warm up for 1 hour or even longer (I keep it ON all the time !)

It survived the slow postal shipment of 2 months across the ocean !!!

No idea. In Switzerland it's probably zero.

As I said, I am very experienced and 100% independent. Used to own Fender Prosonic combo or Marshall stack, Cronford boutique etc and many guitars ... this is a STEAL if you are baby boom guitarist who loves to play witha FEELING and if you use your SOUL rather than finger gymnastics to generate a heart-communication and express yourself artistically ... this is NOT for metal and nu kids or pop-shreders ...

Test your amp in a store and as long as the hum is not very high with a well shielded test guitar, you can safely buy one. Keep it ON for a day and then play it ... change the tubes if they are bad and plan for a different speaker eventually - that's for those like me who want an ultimate boutique-like sweet class A tube sound: this baby offers that and that's for $120ish entry-investment.


BTW, you really do NOT need a reverb as it sounds dynamic and 3D.
Loves good pedals up front (I have many and all work fine ...)

The best buy of year 2005, no doubt !

New model this year. Amp is all about tone - based on Gibson GA5. Got no features whatsoever, just one input, volume and on-off switch. Lots of other reviewers have layed this out, so won't bother covering the same ground. Sounds excellent after some upgrades - details later.

I use Ilott guitars made for me by Scott Ilott - amazing luthier from Vancouver Island - one strat style and one tele style, but way better than any Custom Shop Fender I've played. Strat style has Lollar Specials, tele has Kinmans, both excellent pickups. This amps suits my style perfectly - mostly blues and blues-flavored rock. This amp does hum a fair bit, even withthe volume turned right down, but the TONE more than makes up for it, especially after replacing the somehwat toneless tubes (Sovtek) with JJs. I ordered a Weber Sig 8 Alnico during his 8" sale he had on for the last couple of weeks. Other owners have said this makes a big difference, although it already sounds great, especially for the money. Will update after I install the Weber. I like it around 1 oclock where it breaks up just great, and you can ride the guitar volume to bring it down to a nice warm clean rythm. Now here's something else I stubmled on - I've had a BK Butler Real Tube pedal kicking around in my closet for awhile. It's an o.k. pedal (apparently Billy G likes them a lot) but it just wasn't matching up with my other gear. But with the little Epi it's a match made in tone heaven. I replaced the original 12ax7 in the Real Tube pedal with a 12at7 to make it more usable, and with the Epi it's like having an added tone stack and an estra preamp - sounds great and makes the amp even more useful. Highly recommended!

I don't gig with this, except in a restaurant/club setup in a duo. I think it would sound fine miked up though, might try it sometime. Will definitely bring it along as backup for my Traynor YCV40, although probably won't need it - the Traynor has been bulletproof.

Haven't had occasion to deal with them - the thing seems built really well.

Been playing 45 years. Would buy again - in fact, liked it so much, I bought 4! (Cheap enough for gifts).

Volume knob. 5 watts.

Iv'e owned/own and really like the following amps. 72 Marshall SL. Marshall 1959 reissue. 64 blond bassman. Sovtek mig 50. Traynor bassman (owned 3)

Out of the many amps I've owned, these are the ones that tickle my fancy. I also owned a Dr Z ghia which was cool and worth the original sticker of around $500 but I believe they are $800 now which is way more than I would pay for that amp.

It just so happens that all of the above amps happen to have a few things in common, No master volume. No built in effects or reverb and all tube. Well, I am happy to report that the little 1x8 Epiphone Valve Junior has made it to my all time favorite amps.

This is early Led Zep, This is ACDC. This is dynamic, soulful, crunchy, nasty badass guitar tone and at $120 shipped it is not only insane, it is the all time best value of anything ever made period. It's built like a little rock.

If you know what good rock guitar tone is and you know how to use it.. this is the shit buttttttt...

.... keep in mind that the amp is only half of the equation. This amp sounds incredibly rude (that's good) with certian guitars like my deArmond SG copy but my cheap OLP AXIS copy, which sounds great with certian amps does not match up all that great with the valve Jr.

There are a million differnt pickups/guitars combinations.. I've only tried about 5 with this amp.. Three of them sounds super, the other two sounded ok.

The chassis is such a simple design that is should last a life time but even if it breaks.. just spend another $100 and buy another, you cheap bastard.

Playing for over 20 years. If It were stolen, I'd buy another in a heart beat. Infact I'm buying another anyway.

Many people are convinced they have to go out and spend $600-$1000 on a tiny Dr Z or Bad Cat combo to get good sound. For that amount of money it better sound good, damn good! The incredible thing about this amp is the sound you get for the price of a nice pair of shoes.

The only thing I hate about this amp is thinking about the slave labor involved in producing this thing.

There are not an abundance of features just a volume knob and power switch. There is a jack to plug the speaker in or use other speaker cabinets. However, it is great tube amp with a well-built chassis. It is all tube with the exception of a solid-state rectifier.

My rating is for the original set-up, I have changed tubes and speaker and it does make a noticeable difference. The amp in its stock format is a wonderful buy. It did not make every guitar sound great and is on the noisy (hum) side especially as you crank up the volume. My ?noiseless? strat did not sound too good but my Muddy Waters Tele sounded great and so did my Byrdland. My Gibson Les Paul with the Burst Buckers was only passable. However, I really found it fun to play without effects and was surprised that I did not miss reverb! I ALWAYS have needed reverb! It won?t do high gain stuff, strictly a crunch affair. Again, in its stock form it is a great little practice amp at an unbelievable price!

I have made 3 changes to this amp, preamp tube (GT-12AX7-Mullard), power tube (JJ Ruby Tube EL84CZ), and a Jensen P8R alnico 4 ohm speaker. I made each change one at a time and no single change made all that much difference. However, all together this thing sounds great!!! The preamp tube gave a little less, but a warmer, more useable distortion. The power tube gave a little more ?headroom? and eliminated an annoying micro-phonic sound that occasionally reared its head, while the speaker eliminated the ?pignose? sound and made the amp sound much bigger. In all honesty, the changes DID NOT improve the noisy ?hum.? The sound of the thing now seems to make noise less noticeable while playing?go figure. The amp is so much more professional sounding and ALL of my guitars sound excellent now and I can?t stop playing through it!!!!! All this for an additional hundred bucks. For $225 I can?t think of a better tube amp value!

The chassis is built like a tank!! The electronics look well done on its board. I don?t expect the volume pot to last all that long but we will see.

Don?t know and for 119 ?spankies? I doubt that I would pursue any problems under the warrantee.

Been playing for 20 years and have played through lots of guitars and amps. I have owned entirely too many!! But by looking at this forum, I see that I am not alone! Prior to the changes, it probably would have lost its appeal and started gathering dust. I had planned on building a vintage champ out of this one but not now. It will be used regularly as my practice amp and I will mike it and pipe into the PA for live application to get a gutsier sound. Thanks for reading and I hope this helps you in you decision making process! Remember that gear is only a small part and this amp takes the focus off gear and puts it where it should be, playing!!!!!

Wow, I thought, so totally cool....a jack and a volume knob and that's it! Can't go too wrong with that--the knob doesn't even have numbers! ...5 watts, perfect. And it's really nice-looking too. I'm looking for a practice amp that will let me drive the tubes--I have a 15-watt Ampeg, but it's just too loud at the point where it really starts sounding great...much too loud for home, too loud for band practice too. So I wanted a low-watt amp. And I came across the Valve Junior.

Sound...well, first I'll speak about tone --and I LOVE the tone of this amp. Got that nasty, dirty, overdriven tube tone I'm looking forward. Love the way the speaker starts to huff and puff when it's cranked past 12 o'clock. I found that I liked it best around 2 o'clock...much past that and it just went into more distortion than I like. And all this at tolerable volume levels --and that's my goal with the 5 watt amp. I don't need to shake the foundations of the house (and I want to keep my hearing too). The 'clean' sound was quite nice too...definite bluesy, tubesy tone there. With a better speaker, this amp would be great.

But noise? Ah, man was I disappointed! Maybe it's because I had a 230 volt version, and maybe they're different from the 110v amps, but the amp was just too damn noisy...as soon as you get to 12 o'clock or so, the hum (BUZZZZZZZ!) starts in, and just gets worse as you dial up the knob. Actually the noise is present at lower levels, but it's less annoying there. Ah shit, I'm thinking, no, that's not fair...but there's no way I can use this amp with that kind of noise going on (and before you ask, no, there was nothing plugged into the amp, this was the noise from the amp itself).

So basically the only way I could keep the amp was if I played it at 9 -10 o'clock or so...WTF? Sorry, but I have two other tube amps sittin here (my Ampeg and a Music Man 65), both have their 'character', but nothing that I'd qualify as noise...

Anyway, I plugged the Valve Junior into the Music Man's (2x10) speakers...this helped reduce the noise level a little, so I suspect part of the problem lies in that little speaker. Still, it was much too noisy through the 2x10s...and besides, the whole point of the amp is that it's so easy to carry, I don't want to carry an extra cabinet to band practice. Anyway, it does sound even better through the Music Man, of course, much more definition to the sound, which makes sense.

Did I just get a bum unit? I sent this one back to the dealer, he checked it out, then checked out the other Valve Juniors in his shop --they ALL made that noise, he said. At least he agreed to give me my money back.

But what do I do now? I mean, I really liked the tone of this one...just wish it was so damn noisy...I'd be tempted to switch out the tubes, sure...but by the time I got done doing that, and changing the speaker, I could buy a much better built amp...the whole point of this one is that it's CHEAP!

So for the rating, I'm giving it 4 --that's a 9 for tone and a big fat 0 for the noise

Well, considering this brand new amp made this much noise, I wouldn't get my hopes up people.

On my amp, the volume knob was already pretty scratchy--there was a lot of noticeable noise when using that.

Oh yeah, I took off the back panel (shh, don't tell)...for some reason they glued a thin wood veneer behind the panel, don't know why because it looks like cheap pine. When I was taking the panel off, there much been some glue runout because pulling the panel off pulled off a chunk of the veneer...sheesh!

Inside, things looked nice and nice. The solder on the speaker terminals looked kind of dodgy.

Otherwise, the outside of the amp is nicely done, looks great, feels sturdy.

I'd planned on taking the amp to band practice but not to gig with. Who knows how long it would have held up?

I wrote to Gibson/Epiphone right away about the noise problem...I ended up receiving emails from three different people from their European unit --a couple of customer service reps and a tech service guy. They were very nice about it, and very quick to answer emails, but ultimately couldn't help me.

So I'll give them a 6 for the friendly attitude.

I've been playing off (mostly off) and on for a couple of decades. I only started getting serious about the guitar last year, and I've been spending time figuring out what gear I like, the kind of sound I want, etc. Mostly I play a Fender MIJ Strat and my old Melody Maker (now restored with an original single coil), and a "Fender" Telecaster partscaster--all sounded great through the Valve Junior. I'm looking forward to picking up an LP Jr too.

Like I said, I'm really disappointed by the Jr's noise...I'm going to have a look around at the stores in the area, maybe I'll find another one --this time I'll want to test it in the store...if there's less hum, I'd buy it.

In the meantime, I'm still looking around for that perfect 5 watter...

One volume control, one channel. Great pure and authentic tube sound without having a chance to make a bad guitar player sound good. The sound is only made with your fingers and hopefully a good guitar.
I replaced the Sovtek 12ax7 with a EH 12ax7 and the Sovtek el84 with the Tesla JJ el84. What a difference!!!
I'll change the speaker next week with a Jensen P10R 4 Ohm. (It fits!) The 8" speaker sounds okay but it breaks up suddenly at higher volumes. Another little change I made was covering the amp with Tweed (what a damned fu***** job!!!) It took me some hours of boiled blood, sticky fingers and lots of beer. But now it looks really great. Real 50's style! The only thing that still looks a little cheap is the on/off switch. (I'll sure change it, too)
I bought this little devil for 149 Euros two weeks ago here in Germany and the modifications took me about a 150 Euros more.

I do not give a 10 rating for it, because I must recommend to replace some parts to make it sound that good. But have you ever seen a brand new Fender Champ or Gibson Goldtone for less than a 300 bucks??? And don't believe, that this amp is a cheap made woodbox with crap in it. It's heavier than it looks like and real solid made.

I use this amp with an Epiphone-295 P90, a Gretsch 6120 and a Hoyer Cat-FG 345 style. Mostly (Scotty Moore) fingerpicking with a little echo and reverb. I know that 5 watts seem to be really quiet but your neighbourhood tears you up when playing it at high volumes.
I play different kinds of blues, mostly rockabilly and jazz. Whatever you play, the tone comes from your fingers and your Guitar. The amp does sound good with any kind of pickup but it's not made for distorsion music or something like this. There are cheaper solid state amps for that kind of music.
Up to 10 o'clock it works nearly clean, up to 1 o'clock it breaks up smoothly, after that the Speaker seems to be overloaded. So, go and get you a Jensen Alnico.
This change is really necessary I believe.

I used it for a few little gigs at Diners without PA and of course at studio sessions. It works fine at small places and if you put a microphone in front of it, you'll be able to make bigger gigs, too.
For real big gigs I use my Fender Bassman but who wants to carry this damned heavy amp. I have to! So I'll try to play most of my gigs with the Junior over PA.

5 years of warranty!!! I hope I don't need to use it.
I had a few questions about this amp, so I wrote some E-Mails to Epiphone. I never got a reply!!!

I rock houses since I'm 18 and that is about 16 years now. For my music-style, this little tube-amp is great. Play blues, slide, be-bop, rockabilly, anything else! It works fine with this gear. A rich, mellow tone outta good and solid made tube amp. I ordered a second one for my harp player! He was surprised about price and quality, and the sound of course. Sure he needs to replace some parts, too.

And that's the point: You have to try some other tubes, maybe another speaker and you'll find "your" tone, I promise.
I would sure buy it again, if some crapneck would steal it. But I think, Epiphone is gonna make it more expensive in a few month. So I'll be careful with it.

It is the sound of a 5 watt class A that attrack me. One volumn, one input and the on off switch. The simplest essence of a true sound. Like most of the high end audios: preamp, DA converter, power amp, there is no EQ, sound effects. So the choice is whether you like their characterist sound or not. Take a closer look, the craftmanship is no way inferior than those American-made at the same price range. On the contrary I am pleased of how it's made. So there is absolutely nothing wrong it is made in China. Period.

It is new out of the box and has not been fully break in yet. Let alone replacing it with JJ El84 and EH 12AX7. I am sure there will be a good improvement in sound. Nice warm break up when volume past one O'clock at a bearable sound level. I enhance the sound with a Robert Keeley compressor and a Java Boost. I'm truely satisfied coz in respect of distortion Valve Junior sings better than my Marshall JCM 900 4102, or TS9+ Boogie Subway Blue or Blue Driver+ Deluxe Reverb. For they have never been pushed to their extremes. So that is why a low wattage amp is my preference in my situation. It is always Gibson drives better than Fender. You won't hear the hum when it is played. My Subway Blue hums much louder but the sweet sound is still there. So hum is not a main issue to me.
I have ordered a Kingsley 1-3 watts Deluxe 1 amp which is far superior than the Valve Junior but it cost ten times much. What can I say:-)

Just 2 days and it is still going. Shouldn't be a problem in fixing when it fails as it is in a simple form of design.

3 years under warranty or 5, not sure though

Under two hundred dollars, I'm sure you can never be able to find one better than this. Test ride one before it is gone. You'll pay more to get a Old Univox, Fender Champ. As one previous reviewer says, there are not many shops will stock this. I'll take it to a small jam session and see how it goes.

Epiphone Valve junior Combo with volume knob, metal input jack and speaker out jack. Single channel combo with all tube class a circuitry.

I have a mexi strat, 1976 Telecaster and a 1965 Melody Maker modified with a Seymor Duncan Humbucker ala Pat Travers. This is a fun little amp with great tube vibe! I love the great low volume blues sound. It allows you to express your individual playing style without muddying the sound in a way that most solid state amps do.

This amp rocks with humbuckers from about 1 o'clock on and sings and shimmers with single coils at all volume levels. By keeping the amp volume cranked up and controlling the volume on the guitar you can really control the tonality and distortion. It sounds very close to the the Gibson GA-5 for a fraction of the price even though you can't really compare this Chinese made amp to the beautiful American, hand crafted Gibson which uses better parts and has a better out of the box sound. The simularities are striking however giving you about 90% of the sound for 25% of the price.

I have a Peavey Delta Blues, 1976 Silver Face Fender Champ, 1962 Alamo Capri and Fender Pro Junior. The Peavey and Fender Pro Junior sing at higher volumes while the Alamo and Fender Champ are more suited to low volume practice sessions. The Epiphone is a nice alternative to the higher volume overdriven tubes amps and the lower volume tube amps in a prctice setting. The Epiphone is just right!

This amp while stil new (4 months old) has been dependable it is really just a practice or recording amp.

I have been playing guitar for about 25 years and have had 16 amps during this time period. The Epiphone used for its intended purpose is a great little amp. Without breaking the bank, offending the spouse and neighbors you can have a great time exploring it's tonal qualities. This is a highly recommended product and I would replace it in a second if it were lost or stolen. This is the best small practice amp on the market for under $200.00, period!

My appologies for hijacking a review but I am about to buy a Valve Jr and reading the reviews there seems to be a lot of confusion regarding what this amp does and how it can be modified to improve sound and I'd like to answer a few questions posed by reviewers of this product.

This amp has 1 volume control. If you wanted more controls why buy this one and then complain? With amp design "more is less"...Zen?

The amp has two valves (tubes) one valve (the 12ax7 also called ECC83) which is actually two "valves" in one package and one output valve (the EL84) This amp runs in class 'A' as the output valve amplifies both the positive and negative sides of the waveform (sound). It has to, as there is the only valve doing the amplifying!

There seems to be confusion as to what is Class 'A', Class "AB1" or Class "AB2" This is only relevant for amps with two output valves. One output valve can only run in Class "A". Class "A" is only achievable all of the time with a single ended output ie; one valve.(I won't confuse the issue with exceptions)

Many manufacturers claim Class "A" using 2 output valves because they are using cathode bias..there is a lot of argument over this amongst tech heads and it doesn't really matter one way or another. Whether class "A" is better or worse than class "AB" is a subjective thing. You decide what sound you prefer. 2nd harmonic distortion (nice sounding) is more prevalent with single ended designs but so is hum...more on this later.

Biasing when changing valves. There is no need to rebias this amp when changing valves (you can't anyway without adjusting the cathode circuit and you need a soldering iron to do that). Just buy a new valve and plug it in.

You have to use an EL84 as the output valve but there are a number of alternatives for the 12ax7 (Ecc83)..common ones are 7025 (military version), 12au7 - less gain, 12at7 - less gain, 12ay7 - less gain. They all have their own sound so experimentation is the key. There are many 9pin valves that look similar but are different inside so be careful. If in doubt don't!! I recommend a trip to you local music shop and ask to try out some alternatives.

Hum...Most users have reported a reasonable amount of hum and said "that's what you expect with a tube amp" This is not strictly true. Changing to a different brand of valve may reduce hum due to schielding/current gain/amplification factor which all vary with each manufacturer's design (and sometimes manufacturing tolerances). To reduce the amount of hum present my suggestion would be to modify the heater circuit to run DC to both the tubes and look at shielding some cables and/or moving the mains transformer to the bottom of the box if the layout is a problem. All of these things will reduce the hum and also void warranty!!

Loudspeakers will change your sound and how "loud" it sounds due to loudspeaker sensitivity (this is given as spl level @ 1watt 1 meter) A 5 watt amp with a speaker with 98db 1 watt/1 meter efficiency will be twice as loud as the same amp with a speaker with 95dB 1 watt/1 meter. (3dB is twice the amount)As this amp only has 5 watts be careful when changing the speaker that it doesn't loose too much volume. Generally a good sounding speaker will not be the most sensitive unless you start spending more than this amp cost in the first place. Do you know the specs of the speaker supplied with the amp for comparison?

Happy hunting!!

Once you modify the amp you are on your own. Stick to the tube types recommended unless you know what you are doing. Once you start soldering all warranty is void. There are lethal voltages inside a valve amp even when turned off. I don't recommend you open up your amp unless you are experienced at this sort of thing.

I've been playing for over 30 years. Have a couple of guitars and a couple of amps including a homebrew 14 watt which has been finished many times over the last 15 years....but there is always just one more mod to try. (It's actually my playing that needs the mod not the amp!)

Brand new, Epiphone Valve Junior. All tube. It couldn't get any simplier. One volume knob and one input. I've always seemed to be able to get more tones out of amps with fewer knobs. This still hold true for the Valve Junior. The volume knob works like the knob on an old Fender, in that it controls tone as it controls volume too. Picked this up at everyone's favorite corporate guitar mega mart. I would have bought it from a small shop, but not many people seem to stock these. I'll be using it for my home playing, as well as some live harmonica playing.

Sounds unbelievable! This is the tube sound I had been looking for in new amps! I once owned a Fender Blues Deluxe, hoping to achieve that old, Fender tweed tube sound. Unfortunately, the new Fenders just don't cut it. Too midrangy, with way too much un-natural gain. Now that this has come along, I couldn't be happier.

The Valve Junior has that perfect, 50's era Fender tweed tone. Anything on 8-12:00 on the volume dial gives you some nice, clean, sparkle. Once you push it past 12:00, the sound fattens, and the tubes begin to overdrive. This is where I like it.

I normally use a 54' Fender Tweed Pro, and I just needed something for home use, as well as a live harmonica amp. This will do just fine for both applications. I'm sure this will be used in my next recording session as well, as the tone is just too sweet to pass up. For $120, it's worth every penny. Why bother with an overpriced old Champ, when you can get one of these new?

One thing I did do was upgrade the tubes, which made a HUGE difference. Replaced the Sovtek EL84 with a JJ tube, and also replaced the Sovtek 12ax7 with a Groove Tubes 12ax7 that I had laying around. Definitely made a huge difference, and it got rid of that tinny, cheap Russian tube sound that the Sovteks have.

Anyway, I have yet to apply my guitar effects pedals to it. I'm sure they'll sound just fine with it. I just couldn't help listening to the natural tone, so I played it by itself for hours with just my Les Paul plugged into it.

So far, so good. It's old technology in a new package. Seems plenty sturdy, and I've had no problems as of yet. Any tube amp is fragile, so it needs to be babied a bit.

This is my first Epiphone product. Hopefully I'll never have to deal with any CS.

Great amp, great price. I've been playing for long enough to be a tone fanatic. And this one does it for me. It sounds as good as a 50's era tube amp, but yet, it's got a style all it's own. I'd definitely get a replacement if it got stolen. Some people might balk over the lack of features, but in my opinion, it doesn't need anything else. It's great tone in a cheap, small package.

Volume, your guitar has a tone knob, what more do you need.

I am amazed. I had ordered a Epi Galaxie 10 from MF. It arrived borke all to pieces. I figured Epi discontinued it for a reason, so I had MF send me the Valve Jr. instead. The overnighted it to me and apologized for my problem. Ordered on Thur. arrived on Fri. I have played it with my 91 strat plus loaded with EMG sa's and it goes from shimmering clean to Clapton to SRV. Then I plugged in my US tele with stock PU's. From Richards to Paisley . Then I went to my Wolfgang standard loaded with EMG 85's, from jazz smooth to EVH brown, this little amp in amazing.

Only had it three days. The only gripe I have is a little hum when the volume is between 10 and 2 (the most useable range). I am going to order a set of JJ's and hope it fixed the problem.

Don't know about Epi. MF was wonderfull.

One volume control. One very small speaker.

One playing volume, and if you don't like that volume and turn it up or down the tone will change ... basically only suitable for recording where you can then later change the volume in the mix.

There is a 60 cycle hum and you have to *try* to see if you can mask it in a recording ... or treat this as a kit amp, and fix the hum by your own mods or send it to an amp tech.

Now the amp isn't a $120 amp, but $200 or more after the bench fee and parts.

And if you need some classic brown bass tones you will want a 12" speaker and extension cab ... well, now the cost is $300 to $400 for a kit tube amp with limited flexibiility.

I would recommend taking a listen to some of the newer tube or modeling amps that already have a beefy vintage 12 inch speaker and can be used at any volume practice-recording up to live performance volume. Check out the sound clips at,

http://guitar-mentor.blogspot.com/2005/08/high-yield-gear-for-guitarists-then.html

Either the Peavey Valveking ($350) or Behringer Tube Amp modeler both have vintage voiced 12 inch speakers and fantastic tone. And by the time you mod the little epi valve jr, you are paying less for the Valveking or LX112.

Once you investigate, you will find each of these amps have much more than just a volume control and much more speaker / cabinet engineering.

One volume control means one tone matched to a non-variable volume.

Change the volume and the tone changes.

The amp doesn't work with headphones (in a practice mode) nor does it work in a live setting (it can't keep up with a drummer or other live sound).

I'll still rate it a 4, because if all you want is 'brown tone', then that's what you get. No reverb or effects loop just brown tone through a thin 8 inch speaker.

If it runs for 90 days, it is probably going to run for a while, like other inexpensive electronics. Tubes will have to be maintained, based on how often you play. Budget $20 or so per year for tubes.

The good news is that there are only two tubes to replace. It doesn't get any simpler than that.

Not required (yet or ever, I hope!).

Any part you may need (except for the transformer) probably can be found locally.

If lost or stolen, I might not replace it. I have evaluated amps from Dr Z to Epi over the years, and prefer a versatile amp vs. a single function amp (or collection of amps). I am a player, and try NOT to be a collector of infrequently used gear.

For $99, on sale, it is a fair deal, as long as you know what you are getting into.

EVALUATE THE VALVE JUNIOR BEFORE PURCHASING

TRY BEFORE YOU BUY SO YOU ARE NOT DISSAPOINTED.

This is not a 'first amp' a beginner-student would want. It can't be effectively used at a practice level, and the dry sound (no reverb available) leads you to the expense of effects pedals. By the time you add pedals (for the tone flexibility), you could have purchased the ValveKing or LX112 (which has a very flexible tone stack and some effects built-in or line-in, not front-ended). Front-ending pedals is becomming a less desirable option these days for several reasons.

I might purchase it again, if I could save another $30, and just get a 'head version' for $70. I would much prefer to run this through one of my 2x12 or 1x12 combo amp speakers rather than use the 8 inch speaker.