Epiphone Valve Junior Combo

I hear the terms thrown loosely around, Class A, Class B, Class AB and though I'm no new student to tube amps I forget alot so I went to the bible of self promotion and tube amps, The Tube Amp Book by Aspen Pittman and read " an amplifier operating with the grid bias adjusted so plate current flows for the entire 360 degrees of the input waveform." Exactly what I thought.....

So here we have a brand new Class A amp from Epiphone, 5 watts, 1 12AX7 and 1 EL84 with a 4 ohm 8" speaker which may or may not have been designed by Ted Webber.

There is an input , a volume knob and a 3-prong plug.

I wish, oh how I wish it had a tube rectifier as my Prosonic does and makes the amp.

I play Gibsons more often than not, P90's, PAFs and Burstbuckers. The amp has soul. Just like the literature says, down low beautiful blues clarity, louder a subtle breakup full of brown warmth.

There is a 60 cycle hum and you have to create enough noise and attitude to forget it.

For the money and tube quality it is a ten.

Brand new.

Don't know.

I've been playng for 10 years or so, played some in highschool before that. Have a couple of Sunns, Prosonic, '57 tweed, Sound city and the like, recently sold a Blues Jr to a friend who needed an amp and I wasn't using it. I like music and the tonal qualities of tubes, speakers, strings and wood. This is cool. I'll keep it

Brand new Valve JR. One Big Fat Knob. Channel switching via MIDI.....just kidding.

One thing that a lot of people have missed here is that the speaker (if I am not mistaken) is actually manufactured by webber. I think it is fine, I AB'd it with some other 8's practice amps and found it quite pleasing, with its own character. I am using this in stereo with a VOX pathfinder 15R. The two compliment eachother well. I have backed up a singersongwriter band with a drummer who plays with brushes and bundlesticks, and it held up well, just don't expect it to be super clean.

I run the standards through this, strat (MIJ), Tele, and LP. They all retain their special voice with this amp. This thing has a sweet clean tone at about 10:00, and a wonderful OD at 1:00. Things are raging at 3-5:00. Great rock sounds, dirty, gritty, farty, wonderful. I own a classic 30 that sounds similar to this on the clean channel, just twice as loud. I wanted this for low(er) volume recording of power tube distortion. However, don't get me wrong, this thing will still piss off the neighbors if you crank it. Don't expect singing saturated sustain and scooped mids, this thing sounds like a turd, a big fat brown wonderfully rock'n roll turd.

I have also noticed that it takes to distortion pedals quite well.

If you like tube amps, you will like this tone, however, if you are upgrading your practice amp, you might be in for a suprise. Tube amps sound different alone, but they are a much better sound for group playing and recording. If you are used to tube sound, this is for you, if not, skip this amp and go straight to a slightly bigger tube combo and join a band.

At $119, I will be happy if it makes it past the 5 year warranty. However, it looks fine, the outside cabinet build seems strong. I just worry about some of the components inside.

I wouldn't know.

It is worth it to own this. $119, come on. Hold off on your 18th delay pedal or your new boutique megafuzz and get one of these. I can see this getting a LOT of rehersal, recording, and practice use, and maybe even a few shows.

I think by now, we all know the features of this amp..1 input, 1 chickenhead volume knob, 2 tubes, and a speaker. As far as features I wish it had, one would be some sort of onboard spring reverb to add a little airiness to the overall sound, and two..I don't know why they didn't just do this, since the taps are already there on the output transformer...a hardwired 8 ohm output jack for a little more flexibility in hooking up outboard speaker cabs. But the basics for pure class A tube tone are all there.

Hmm...this is the subjective part...I've already done some minor mods, so I'll rate this on stock, and repost when all my mods are in place. Right out of the box, I found it a little, well, blahh...it broke up very early (11 o'clock) and I found the tone to be very muddy and boxy, especially with humbuckers. Stock, what I found it to work best with was P-90's and a wah, for some very honky midrange funk vamping. But I was unable to get very much top end sparkle or bite. I like the overdrive, but once again found it to be very boxy sounding and muddy. It seems like the places where Epi cut corners for value pricing were tubes and speakers. (more on that later) Also, there is audible hum, but I guess that just comes with the tube territory.

So far it seems solidly built, always carry spare tubes, kiddos. The construction is quite nice. 5 years on everything except tubes and speaker which are 90 days, but I splurged and spent the 12 bones for Musician's Friend extended warranty.

Well, I haven't dealt with Epiphone yet, but registering online was a breeze.

Alright, stock...for the same money, my Vox Pathfinder 15R is a much more versatile amp, but I don't dig the SS gain on it much, so I thought, "What the hey...120 bucks for a tube combo", which leaves me money for mods. So far, I've followed others lead and replaced the Sovtek 12AX7 with a GT12AT7, which gave me more clean headroom, and drastically improved treble response. I will soon be replacing the stock Weber Special 8" with either a Weber or Jensen 8" alnico, and replacing the Sovtek EL84 with either a JJ/Tesla or comparable NOS tube and maybe messing somewhat with the circuit, which is similar to a Champ. Once I'm done with my Mad Scientist bit, I will chime back in with a tonal update.

One Input, One Knob, Power switch. All you need. I sold my Peavey Classic 30 and bought a tweed deluxe amp kit. I have yet to complete it, so when my wife wasn't looking I went out and bought this little mp to keep me occupied until I finish it. Just got it outta the box and I love it. I have never trusted epi amps in my price range, but this little puppy was ridiculously cheap and sounds great! I may swith the tubes with some that I got for my deluxe to see how that sounds and maybe take back the Jensen alnico I put in my Father-in-laws practice amp. But I am happy with this deal. The only feature I would add is a standby.

I have a Mexi strat modded with a tele bridge pickup and modded 5 way switch for tele bridge and neck. This little amp sings. I may not have the trained ear to pick up what other can, but the word sweet does come to mind. I does breakup a little earlier than I might like, but I will see what the tubes and speaker do for that.

Just got it outta the box, but it took the ride home in my truck.

Not need yet. 5yr materials and workmanship. 90 tubes and speakers on warranty card.

I am an at home hobbyist considering doing a little home recording. this makes me consider it even harder. I think it would record great! With a few mods this could compare to a nice Champ. But 120 bucks as is - is a deal!

In the case of tube amps, more often than not a lack of features is a good thing. The front panel of this amp has just 1 input and a volume knob. I'm so glad it doesn't have tone knobs and other circuits that eat away at your guitar and amps true tone. On the back panel, it's great that the power cord is removable and there's a 4 ohm speaker output which you can plug in other speaker cabinets if you disconnect it from the built in speaker. It looks pretty nice too; touches of retro design on the front. And wood, covering, and corners appear to be of a nice, non-cheapo, quality too.

The amp has a suprisingly great bluesy tone and breaks up very nicely. My Les Paul, Tele, Strat, and Talman all sound great in their own paricular ways. Often i put a tubescreamer, wah, and a digital reverb (a Yamaha MagicStomp) in front of the amp and they sound great with this amp.<br><br>
My main amp is a 68 Fender Bassman, which is a joy to play and makes every guitar sound great. However, it can be hard to get a good sound at a low volume. The Valve Junior, being just 5 watts, has a nice sound a low volume. And when you turn it up, it sounds even better. I thought the stock Sovtek tubes made the amp sound kind of harsh and a bit dark, but still sounded pretty good. I had some extra EI 12ax7's, so I put one of them and it helped the amp's tone some. I had to order an el84 for the power amp and decided to try the new jj tesla ones. That change made an even bigger positive impact and now the amp sounds great. I highly recommend spending the $18 or so to upgrade the tubes as it's more than worth it. <br><br>
It does that low level hum that others have, but my Bassman has its own hums too...it's just how tube amps are. The stock speaker sounds suprisingly good. If you want other tones, I'd suggest connecting different speaker cabinets rather than replacing the speaker.

So far, two weeks, so good. It's new so I will trust taking it out.

I've never had to deal with them yet.

This is hands down the best value for a new tube amp. This would still be a great deal at twice what i paid. I don't how they make any profit on this. As much as I love my Bassman, I've been playing this little amp a lot the past two weeks and am loving it. I'm looking forward to taking it to shows and it's plenty loud, as long as you don't have a hyper amphetamine drummer which i don't. And this should go without saying; this amp is not for hard rock/metal. It's a great old style bluesy amp with a nice bitting clean sound that gets pushed into a pleasing overdrive.

Sorry, but I disagree with the guy who said he couldn't bring himself to give a high grade in this category, because, come on, there's only one volume knob. Yeah, well, that's what I happen to think is great about this amp. There are so many misleading options on so many pieces of equipment i've used over the years. Tone should not come from filters and gadgets and controls that just screw with the natural character of your playing. Volume on a tube amp means more than loud or soft, it influences the degree of distortion and gain, and that's the way it should be. This amp is exactly as versatile as your fingers are and doesn't sugarcoat your limitations. I love that.

I worked in a coal mine for 85 years to buy the beautiful THD Univalve. I also sold my soul, so I could afford a vintage Marshall 4x12 cabinet with Greenbacks that Jesus himself used to play. With this rig, I had the most wonderful single ended Class A tone in the world. There was NO reason to pick up that Epiphone. But it was so damn cute and so affordable! Less than half the price of that fancy Fender Pro Junior with its garish two controls! It was a crazy thing to buy, but since I have all the Manolo shoes a girl could ever want, and I didn't feel like splurging on Ice Cream that day, it had to be the Epi. Oh, those Chinese people have such a sense of style! And since I haven't adressed any of the issues this category is about, let me just say: It sounds good. A little buzzing and hum, but it sounds really sweet.

Had to return one because it buzzed like someone standing next to a TV with a single coil guitar, and this was before plugging in! The second one I got hums a little, but nothing out of the ordinary. So... I wouldn't use it on a gig without a backup, but it IS my backup from now on. I wonder how long the tubes will make it without a standby switch, also, I hear Class A is kinda hard on the valves. If anybody reads this who is tube-enlightened: Could you let me know if I can replace the tubes myself of does there have to be rebiasing? I was thinking a GT EL 84 might be a good thing... my email is jlab@bluewin.ch

Well, this is not about Epiphone customer support, but the good people at Guitar Center Manhattan replaced it without any stupid questions when I returned my first one which started to emit an ugly buzz, even without a guitar being plugged in, after an hour or so. I had taken it to the bathtub with me, but don't tell them that. Here's my real question: Why do postal workers run amok on a regular basis, but these poor dudes who stand next to 12 year olds experimenting on Marshall stacks all day seem so calm and easy going? Is there something about sex, drugs and/or rock'n'roll I haven't fully understood?

I've been playing for 25 years, with interruptions of course, since I like breakfast and stuff. I'm not telling what other gear I own, cause I find that to be the most unreadable part of any of these reviews. I am a compulsive guitar stuff buyer, I am way old, you do the math.

I wish this amp ran its speaker at 8 Ohm, so I could use my existing cabinets, just to find out if different speakers would make it sound even better. But what the hell.
If I had another 70 bucks to spend, I'd consider a Jensen speaker like the ones in the Bassman.
If this amp was stolen or lost, I'd steal it back. I did compare it to the Pro Junior, sort of, which I have considered buying for years, but I could never justify the 300 bucks. The 120 for this thing are a joke (not to the sweet little children in China, but hey. I wanted an amp so screw my conscience. I'm sure it beats the hell out of sewing sneakers. Or does it? We'll never know.)!

The feature list of this amp start with "tone" and end with "tone."
No other features are required of an amp!
One input jack
One Volume Knob
One 12AX7
One EL84
One 4ohm, 8" speaker.

This class A, albeit Chinese, five watt wonder shares the same basic topology as the $600. Gibson GA-5 Reissue...right down to the solid state rectifier. I purchased the jr at GC and immediately brought it home and mated it with my Ibenez Artstar hollow body. In a word...incredible. Not for useless DSP effects, poorly designed "modeling" circuits, or foolish "Drive" buttons, but just a simple and tried experiment in the effects of electron clouds within a vacuum. Sure, this amp hums a bit, but would you listen to Communication Breakdown and bitch about Jimmy's noisy rig? Really, now. This amp is not intended to give you "distortion" in the normal, transistor sawtooth wave crap. It breaks up gracefully as you increase the volume in predictable, soft knee clipping. The only thing that would add to the delicious tonality would be returning the 5Y3 rectifier. I suggest building a 4ohm Power Soak to allow for private, overdriven practice. Search the net for a circuit.

As I stated, I bought the amp at Guit Cntr and was given a "demonstration" by a salesman. He said, "It really doesn't sound worth sh*t until you crank it like this and get the power tubes to
overdrive." He then struck an E chord and about took my head off.
You gotta love those big box guitar store moments.
I took the amp home and soon realized the EL84 tube was microphonic and after checking to see if it might just be loose, determined it was defective. I think this was a fluke, since the amp is very solid and expertly built (unfortunately by underpaid chinese children, very likely). Some corners have been cut such as the power switch (it's not very sexy, looks modern and out of place) and the speaker is soldered right to the 1/4" output plug instead of using molex connects. Not huge issues, just minor details.
The cabinet is MDF, but very solid and expertly covered with tolex.
You wouldn't want to get it wet....but why would you?
Based upon the construction I think the reliability is obvious.

I have dealt with Epiphone in the past and they honored a lifetime warranty on an acoustic I bought. They were very efficient and
took care of my claim without any drama.
The Valve Junior carries a limited 5 year warranty with all the normal exclusions such as tubes, speakers, cosmetics, etc.

I have been a performing musician for over ten years and own quite a bit of gear including Gibson and Vox amps, G&L,Epi, Fender guitars...I know a thing or two about gear.
I love the Epiphone Valve Junior for the simplicity and tone...as well as the rediculous price! The designer's nod to nostalgia is nice as well. I cannot find anything bad to say regarding this amp. My final point would be that building your own single-ended class A guitar amp as a DIY project just became impractical. I love to build amps but I can't even buy ONE quality OUTPUT TRANSFORMER for the price of this whole amp!!!! Yes, it's a shame...Thanx Walmart!

Very simple. Input and volume control. Straight forward no bells and whistles or DSP effects. The only thing that may be a good addition to this amp is to add a standby switch. Other than that this amp is just right.

I am using a Ibanez JS1000 with Dimarzio Fred in the bridge and Pro PAF in the neck. A versatile enough guitar to find out what this amp can do. I play whatever sounds good that day, but mainly blues, and rock. This amp sounds great, and at $120.00 is well worth the money especially for a class A tube amp. You get some great clean sounds at lower volumes 1-4 and it gets some great natural but subtle tube overdrive at higher volumes 5-10. I think with the 1 volume control this amp generates a variety of great blues tones. This amp is mainly for practice, but with some creativity could be used in other applications. The greatest thing this amp does is it responds to what you are doing on the guitar. Not that this amp does that and all others don't, but that this amp falls into that class. Just by changing pick attack and strumming technique along with adjusting the volume or tone control on the guitar opens up more tone possibities. It does hum a little bit but tube amps do that. I was surprised by this amp.

I have only had it a couple weeks but it's built great. Metal corners are a great addition. Tubes are positioned well and protected well. Manufacturer warranty is 5 years from defects, and 90 days on tubes and speaker. I can live with that.

N/A Hope I don't have to.

I have been playing guitar for about 10 years. I would replace it if necessary. As I stated above this amp or really any amp reacts to what you do as a guitar player. If you are creative and play well you are going to like it. It probably won't make you a better guitar player unless it inspires you to study and practice more. I compared this amp to other new and used examples in the same class, and thought this was the best buy for the money.

Brand new 2005 Epi Valve Junior amp, 5 watts through an 8" Epi speaker with a Sovtek 12AX7 and EL84 tube in the guts. Class A single circuit, but not hand-wired (at this price, are you kidding me?) Nice touch with the detachable power cord and metal corners. About 13" tall, so it won't tower over your Stonehenge setpiece. Sorry to burst the features rating bubble, but c'mon, it's got an input, a knob, and an on/off switch. Bare bones if there ever was one; the amp equivalent to a Telecaster.

I tested (and yielded to) the charms of this little lump of Chinese Class A amplification at the local big-box-retail-guitar-o-rama-center the other day and couldn't help but be impressed. I knew while plugging in that there was no reverb, no EQ, no headphone jack, nothing but an input, a knob, and an on/off switch. But I've been keen to get an amp I could easily move around, didn't have a ton of knobs to reset when my 2 year old daughter would decide to be my engineer, and most of all something with tubes and tone that wouldn't cost me more than a car payment. Sure, I would've loved that Victoria 5 watt amp or Bad Cat Mini Cat unit, but that's $700+!

I plugged a maple necked American Strat, humbucker equipped Paul, (which third guitar would best complete the holy trinity of electric guitar: Discuss.) and a DeArmond loaded Gretsch hollowbody into this baby at the store. This amp takes a few minutes to get warmed up, but once it's toasty and purring, this amp begins to reveal it's subtle charms. Between the 7 and 11 position, it's just a straight forward amplification of the wood, strings, andd electronics of your guitar. Rolling past 11 until 2 begins to bring out nuances of your picking, attack, and fingers. From 2 to 6, it's time to break out the liquor, put the kids to bed, and just groove on the overdriven break up that comes with juicing tubes at maximum power. While not subtle enough to max out each guitar's individual characteristics, I could enjoy the hollowbodied thump of my Gretsch for some roots rock, my Strat's single coils danced a bit more, and my Paul was a little more soulful than through the hybrid Vox I've had for the past three years.

Don't kid yourself; this amp is an awesome practice model, or mike it up and record some killer tracks, maybe even a small, quiet gig where you're 50% of the sound. But don't buy this amp thinking you're taking it on the road or to compete with a drummer. That's why they make 50 watt heads and 4x12 cabinets.

Okay, I just bought it yesterday, so I can't rate reliability just yet but I will say that it looks tough enough. Pop off the back and swap in new tubes if they burn out, otherwise, just go buy another one while they're this cheap. Unlike most things made in China, this is not a complete peice of cheap crapola. If someone could make an amp in America this nifty and not charge 4 to 5 times what Epiphone sells this one for, I'd buy it. Wait a minute, they did! Back in the 60's, and now guys on eBay want you to drop $100+ on old no-name Champ clones that went for $30 a few years ago. Thanks, free market!

Cannot comment as I have not contacted the gigantic-behemoth-corp that is Gibson/Epiphone regarding this product. If you can't fix it, parts it out or use it as a step stool.

5 year warranty on the cabinet, 90 days on tubes and speaker. (Disparity if I've ever seen it: they'll care for a box twenty times longer than the pieces that make it useful?!)

For the money, this is an insanely good deal. Sure, you could buy the aforementioned vintage cheap-o 5 watt Champ clones that now sell for as much as the Epi Valve Junior, but this is brand new, at least has a warranty, and it won't be DOA. This is precisely what I wanted: something I can just plug and play without dragging around a larger, heavier amp. My house is small and I have a wife, a 2 year old girl, and assorted animals that aren't that as keen on guitar, so I need something that won't cause domestic duress but isn't a laughably poor mini amp ("Dude! My battery powered Marshall mini stack just roars! This thing is coooooool!" Okay, Grasshopper, time to put down the Mountain Dew and stop listening to Creed).

If I need more power, I'll just disconnect the speaker line, use it as a head and drive it into the Vox Cambridge with a 10" Celestion Bulldog that is now tucked away in a closet until I get my guitar room.

Little wonders like these were the amps your dads cut their teeth on after the Beatles landed in America. Turned up and miked right, these babies cut the blues on lables all over the land. Paired with a great guitar, it's easy to just cut loose and spend some time getting acquainted with how well you can play music.

As another reviewer stated, this is tone boot camp; if you can't play well with just a guitar and a little class A 5 watt amp, nothing will help you. And if you're like me and can barely play well with a guitar and just this amp, this Epi will make you a better player.

Plain and Simple = 1 volume control. This is a small practice amp, so that's all it needs. They don't add in a bunch of knobs and features that you don't need in a practice amp, just to jack the price up. Oh yeah, and it's a Class A Tube Amp for $119. It's hard for me not to give this amp a 10 for features considering the price, but nothing's perfect.

Let me just begin here by saying that I can not believe that you can get a tube amp which sounds this good for $119. I can't figure out how they can make this amp for $119, the price of labor in China must be absolutely dirt cheap. My main amp is a Hot Cat 30, and since I got this little epiphone valve junior, the Bad Cat has not gotten nearly as much play time as it normally does. Don't get me wrong, comparing the two is like apples and oranges. But the epiphone has seriously impressed me. Out of the box, it does sound a little murky and dark. But I like to tinker, so here's what I did. I replaced the stock Sovtek tubes with a 60's RCA 12ax7($12 ebay) and an old mullard el84($23 ebay). Next, I replaced the stock speaker with an 8 inch weber alnico(about $45, but you can get a nice jensen on ebay for around $25). NOW THIS THING ROARS!!! So for under $200 I have a sweet amp. Not that it sounds bad out of the box, the stock speaker didn't sound too bad once I changed the tubes. Those Sovteks just didn't do anything for it. I agree with the review below that this amp needs a good 20 minutes to warm up to where it sounds good, but it's worth waiting for. I play a Melancon Vintage Artist and the single coils really sound sweet thru this amp. I suspect that humbuckers would sound nice too. There was a slight hum out of the box, but it seems to have almost gone away after changing the tubes. I think this is a pretty well designed circuit, with a lot of tonal versatility which you can access via the volume control on your guitar. Amp seems to like pedals. It sounds better with the back panel removed too, brings out even more thick overtones which sound nice when playing lead; also it seems to growl a little brighter on the low end. It does break up and overdrive nicely, but that's the benefit of Class A.

This is another amazing aspect of this amp, it's well built!! Nice big cabinet, metal corners, smooth tolex, solid handle, BIG transformers for an amp this size, tube shield for the 12ax7 and spring holder for the el84, and a removable power cord. If you ignore the fact that it's a PCB and not hand wired, construction wise this amp isn't far off from the expensive boutique amps that go for around a grand. Of course these amps are new, so it remains to be seen how they hold up over time. But here's something important: I bought mine online from MF, free shipping, no tax, and I could return it with no hassle if it was crap. These amps are not well packaged for shipping. They ship in a big-ol cardboard box, but the only thing holding the amp in place inside the box was about 6 pieces of cardboard the size of a TV remote. And they didn't do a very good job as I found them under the amp all bent up, so the amp was basically loose and flopping around inside this box. But it still worked fine. Point is, take your chances with having it shipped or go buy one locally that you can test before buying. But after making it here from China with that kind of packaging, and then to work right out of the box, I think it's pretty reliable.

HMMM..... I get the feeling that I may be on my own here. It would have been nice if they had included a schematic, or made one readily available. I think the best aspect of customer service with this amp may be that if it blows up, I'm not out a lot of coin. Probably cheaper to replace a broken one than to have it serviced.

OK, here's the bottom line on this amp. It's the most amp you're gonna get for $120 new or used. If you wanna style it out a bit, then do like I did and drop $80 into it and have an awesome little amp. Most of the time when you buy music gear you're lucky if you don't get ripped off, and if you actually get your money's worth then the Gods of Tone are truly smiling on you. This amp is one of the ultra-rare instances when you get more than you pay for!!! Go buy one before epiphone finds some way to make this amp more profitable and screws this amp up.

2005 VJ
Exactly what I had been looking for in a practice amp.
Simplicity itself, like early guitar amps: A volume control. Period. Perfect.
Specs already stated.

I have used this with humbuckers so far, it will get the Stratocaster treatment soon, though. I play mainly blues, jump blues, swing, classic R&B, bigband, soul and early R&R, plus a bit of jazz. at about 1:00, the amp just sings, any higher and the grit expands nicely. everything can be controlled from the guitar pots (which is why they are there, isn't it?)
The amp really needs to warm up for about 20-30 minutes. Up until then it will sound like a cheap SS practice amp...but once its warm...time to go!
My only issue is that the speaker sounds stiff. I did not expect it to sound like a 12", but it just seems a bit constrained unless the amp is pushed all the way out. Maybe it needs some 'excersize', maybe not. Time will tell.

Appears very well made. Metal corners are a nice touch.

Service from OEMs is nearly always a nightmare, but for the $120 I'd just order another one and keep this one for spare parts...warranty already noted below

My harmonica player was so taken with the sound of this amp he ordered himself one. As I noted, I wanted a low wayyage amp for rehearsals. I had looked at the Epi Galaxie, but was put off by the sound, too harsh. I looked at the Gibson LP Jr. Goldtone...but the price was ridiculous. I don't need point to point for rehearsals, and I don't need an expensive amp to just leave at the rehearsal location. This thing is plenty loud in a small room, and once it starts to cook, it has the right sound for me.

I have a '64 BF Vibrolux Reverb, two Blues Juniors and a Marshall V65R Valvestate. I gig rooms with the BJs, outdoor gigs with the Vibrolux. Occasional side rock projects with the Marshall. I have several guitars, '74 Stratocaster, '62 Melody Maker, '72 SG, a '03 ES135LE, and a '02 Epiphone Alley Kat, etc. I have not run all of these into the VJ, but eventually that will happen. So far the Alley Kat and the Es135 sound great through it.

As below (i.e. zero sound features). But it is a beautifully designed and solidly-built (it's HEAVY for a 5-watter) little bastard. The level of detailing from the excellent covering to the gorgeous grill cloth with the white piping to the metal corners and quality handle is amazing for the price. This thing should be going for closer to $400 like the little Gibson LP.

I run my Dan U2 RI through it, and my Variax 300. I also play harp: Chromatic, Golden Melody, Pro, Lee Oskars through a Blues Blaster/Astatic.

For newbies, you gotta understand this a real pure Class A amp: no hyped top end, no Jimi EFX, no channels or tremolo or reverb. It's all about tone. In fact, this is tone boot camp. To the novice, this will seem very dark and dull played clean. To the pro, you'll love the warmth and response in the clean zone. And pros also know all the bells and whistles you need can go on in the final mix. Much better to record clean and build your sound to the record.

The mid crunch is complex and brings a new round of bright overtones into the sound. Really gorgeous and punchy, with surprising low end for an 8" speaker. That's the smart cabinet design: it's deep and a good size to build bottom. Just add a touch of delay and you'll swear you're Luther Allison in the Chess studios and Little Walter is soloing over there.

When you start to rip on it (around 1 to 2 o'clock) all hell breaks loose. Fantastic intense overtone-rich lead tones.

For harp, it sounds pretty much like what Little Walter played on. He loved little 6-8" speaker Class A amps. Okay, that's all he had available, but who's counting? Just add some echo, crank yer chromatic up in Dm, amp up to say 11:30 o'clock, and you can do Blue Lights in style, baby. This is great harp recording amp. 'Nuf said.

It's a tank. Made in Commie China like everything else on Earth. Has full tube retention supports. Who needs vintage when they make stuff like this new???

Never talked to Gibson/Epi. Warranty is full 5-year parts and labor, though only 90-days on tubes and speaker. Fair enough.

I'm an old pro, and all I can say is: this thing is astonishing for $100 new (got it at Guitar Center on July 4th--I said, "Hey, it's July 4th!" and they knocked off the $19). To some kid, they probably wouldn't know what to do with it, but to me, I'm gonna stick a 57 in front of it, run it into Tracktion2, crank up my 37 vintage guitars courtesy of Line 6, blow some nasty harp and recreate the entire Chess catalog. And that's just for starters.

How the heck does Gibson expect to sell the GA-5 when they make this little gem way prettier, more solid, sounding at least as good, and, oh yeah...$400 cheaper???

new,one volume pot on/off switch.5 watts through 1-12ax7sovtek,and 1-el-84 sovtek.simple vintage circuit on a p.c.b. exiting a 8"-4ohm speaker.versatility was not the intent here.retro tone baby!

now,i bought this with the intent to tweek the tone a bit.out of the box,i feel it has too much gain.(for a vintage box)i changed the speaker to a jensen c8r ceramic ($25),jj el84 ($8.50),rca 12ay7($13)which allows more headroon before a super authentic vintage crunch!

appears to be built like a tank.

5years-90dayspeaker/tubes no service req'd

'72 reissue thinline tele,'57 reissue l/p jr.-most tone for the buck.i would highly recommend this to all vintage fans!

I liked the idea of a cheap tube amp for practice, recording and teaching. Having only a volume knob means there's less to go wrong.

I'm using the amp with a Fat Strat and a Standard Strat. I play mainly classic rock, blues, and country. The amp is a little noisy but nothing I can't live with. I've heard it's an easy fix and may try this soon. I'm probably going to swap out the stock power tube for something that will give me a little more clean headroom. Right now it breaks up between 4 and 5. The overdrive is nice and much smoother IMO than the Galaxie 10, which I also owned briefly.

Only had it a week.

Haven't had to deal with them but it has a 90 day warranty on tubes and speakers, 5 year on workmanship.

I've been playing for about 20 years and have other amps such as a Fender DR II and a Peavey Classic 30. Also a Johnson J-Station taht I use to record. I would definitely buy another if it were lost or stolen, in fact I may buy another anyway to run in stereo. For the price it can't be beat, much nicer IMO than comparably priced SS amps.

2005 Epiphone Valve Jr., 5 watts, Class A, 1 12AX7 & 1 EL84, so it won't cost a fortune to retube! Only 1 knob and 1 channel, so this amp gets more overdriven tone as you crank it up. The overdrive/distortion on this amp is quite a bit warmer, and less harsh than the recently discontinued Epiphone Galaxie 10(which I also own). I'd venture say that this amp would be great for blues and classic rock ect..., but stear clear if you want nu metal tone right out of the box. If you want hi gain( ala Mesa Boogie) or reverb, you'll have to get it with pedals. Also, the Valve Jr. seems to have better bass response with its little 8in. speaker than the Galaxie 10 has with its stock 10 in. Celestion tube 10 speaker. I was surprised because the Valve Jr's speaker looks to be some no name chinese Epi speaker. The amp might fair better with a speaker upgrade, but it sounds great as is too. The clean tone is warm on this amp, but it's not quite as clean as the Galaxie 10 , or what I recognize more as a Fenderish clean tone(might be due to the EL84 instead of 6L6 tube). It's only 5 watts so you can't expect tons of clean headroom. Black vinyl type covering is quite nice, as are the black metal corners, and wheat colored grill. I looked at a little Vox Brian May amp recently, and was disgusted by the plastic corner protectors. Thanks Epiphone for making an affordable amp sans plastic corners & input jack ! Metal is good! Tone-wise, I noticed that this amp's stock tubes are actually very useable compared to what came in the Galaxie 10. I'll only retube this thing when the stock tubes die. The Valve Jr. doesn't have a ton of features, but the features that it does have work well.

I've tested the Valve Jr. with a G&L George Fullerton Strat(single coils), Gibson LP Custom(Rio Grande hums), PRS CE24(hums) Fender MIM tele(single coils), Epiphone Dot Deluxe(hums),and they all sounded great. This is the type of amp that highlights the tonal characteristics of each type of guitar quite well. I was surprised that even cranked, the 8in Epi speaker could handle the bassier tones of my LP. Not a whole lot of tonal variety or clean headroom with only 1 knob and 5 watts, just GOOD tube tone. This amp could be spiced up with some pedals.

5 year warranty on the amp and 90 days on the speaker & tubes. I just got it last week, so it's hard to say how it will hold up. It seems very solid though.

I haven't ever dealt with epiphone before, but they've been around forever.

I've been playing guitar for 13 years. I have some acoustic and electric guitars,various amps, a bass, and drums. I bought the Valve Jr. as a practice and recording amp. I also purchased an Epiphone Galaxie 10 amp about a year ago. I still like the Galaxie's simplicity and low price, but must admit it HAD to have a tube upgrade to be useable(the Valve Jr. rocks right out of the box). Epiphone makes some nice budget tube amps. I like the EL84 tone of this Valve Jr. My Mesa Boogie DC-10 and the Galaxie 10 are both 6L6 based, so this amp has a different tone/vibe with the EL84. I chose this amp because it was inexpensive, had the El84 tone I've been searching for, and had a sweet retro looking cab. I think you'd have a hard time building an amp similar to this yourself for the same or less $$. At just over $100, this amp is a NO BRAINER. If you need a good low watt practice or recording amp, skip the bland modelling amps, and stop searching Ebay for that overpriced used tube amp from 30 years ago. Just order 1 of these, and you've got 45 days to decide if you like it(Music 123.com, AMS, MF ect... )and you get 90 days on tubes & speaker + Epiphone's 5 year warranty on everything else . This amp doesn't have a loads of tonal variety, but it does have good simple tube tone. Buy a few pedals with the $$ you saved from not buying a botique low wattage amp. This amp is inexpensive enough that you'll have $$ left over to buy more gear! BEST bang for your buck on a new tube amp I've seen in years.

Real Simple, again just as advertised, i don't really want to give it a low score because it is what i was looking for but it is what it is. 1 Input, a volume control, Sovtek 12AX7 Pre-Amp tube and a EL34 Sovtek Power Tube.

---I use this for a Harmonica, not Guitar---

I got the amp to replace the Frontman 25-R i have been using as my Harmonica Amp and was paleased to find a low cost tube amp made by an, at least, known brand and for 119 i was willing to give it a shot. I use a green bullet mic through a Boss GE-7 Equalizer with the low end knocked up a touch (since the amp has no equalization on it's own i always have it on) and ast low levels i get a beuatifull clear delta type sound. At first i had issues with feedback when i tried to push the levels for some crunch but replacing the Sovtek tube with a Groove Tube 12AX7-C seemed to fix that, I also tried a GT 12AU7 but it reduced the gain too far for my tastes on the already low powered amp. If you're playing large venues this would probably serve more as a practice amp for you but i find that it can push well beyond comfortable levels in a reasonable locale, of course i do play the harmonica and i find they tend to cut through the mix at lower levels.

Not too much hum for such an inexpensive tube amp, esspecailly with the new pre-amp tube so if mine is indicative then it really isn't something to worry about. I would deffiently recomend it to harmoinca players.

Owned it for three wees so i can't really comment on this except to say that it appears very well built and sturdy with quite heavy components, which i have allways felt means quality. I wouldn't drop to front screen on a mic stand from ten feet up though... defiently not sheet metal or anything just straw with some sort of sturdy plastic interwoven.

never had to deal with them, i hope not to

Overall i would call this a very good amplifier for harmonicas esspecialy considering the price although it does sound better with new tubes. If you want better you'll probably have to spend a few hundred more.

Also i was worried it would look cheap given the price but it actually looks quite good, nice and simple.

And the final measure, i would buy this little guy again if some @$#^% stole it.

Made in China, 1 volume, on/off switch. 1 Sovtek 12AX7, 1 Sovtek EL84, Epiphone 8" speaker, Class A 5 watts. Nothing fancy, just as advertised. Might be better with a tone pot, but who knows?

I played a Roue101 Strat w/Duncans and an Epiphone WildKat through this little monster. The strat had some good Blues tones out of it, but this little beast really shined with the Kat. Volumes at 3 provided super clean, dialed in jazz with the tone on the guitar. At 5 it got a little gritty, bluesy tone. All the way it was a nasty little critter that was sweet Class A overdrive. Currently I don't possess a HB equipped guitar, but I bet it would be killer, the P-90's just growled with this thing. Surprisingly loud for 5 watts.

Just got it, but seems solid enough, pretty heavy for a 5 watter.

Warranty is 5 years, 90 days on the tubes and speaker. Never dealt with them, so I can't say.

You can't beat it for the value. $119 and you get a sweet little tone monster.