Epiphone Valve Junior Head

I bought this amp because I needed a practice/small amp which features decent tube circuitry, with medium gain for blues/rock. I needed also an amp that responds well to pedals since I like DIY electronic stuff and modding.
This thing has all it needs: tubes all the way and a volume knob. it has 3 outputs for 4,8 or 16 ohms. Brilliant for swapping cabinets. Except an output for headphones... But add a power soak with headphone output and you have the real stuff: headphones straight from an overdriven amp are horrible. (And if you don't even drive this amp a little, you don't play guitar at all...)
It has no tube rectifier, but since it is a class A single ended amp, all "sag" mojo is a bit useless anyway. Solid state rectifiers are also reliable.
I give a 5 out of honesty: for me it's 10, since it's bang for the buck and is a usefull element of a rig, other will say 0, maybe because they want all in one box.

These days I'm playing on a strat with "noiseless" pickups. A little warmer than singlecoils, but way more SC than HB. This amp is a gem only by controlling the guitar's knobs. It's also very dynamic: just alter you picking and you have all tonalities you want. This amp can actually drive very hard with the noiseless pickups, since they have higher output than SC.
I use the amp with the special designed valve junior 1x12" extension cabinet (eminence Lady Luck speaker). Never harsh, never dull.
all 60ties sounds can be achieved. Pedals do the rest.

looks very reliable and feels heavy. no problemo.

5-year warranty. But I'm not sure.
I'll stick to the 2-year warranty by the EU.

First real tube amp I own. others were either unaffordable or not the label "tube" worthy.
Excellent for every player who wants to move up from small solid state crap to real tone for only a couple of bucks.
It are these amps that were used often by the Great in studio recordings, since they are simple, sound good and are easily pushed into overdrive.

click the link, i don't type.

I've played it with my ibanez semi-hollow with gibson p'90s and a 60's telecaster. The hollow got a nice fat jazz sound sort of outta it, while the telecaster sounded brighter and crisper. (just like they're suppose too). the amp starts to distort/fuzz pass half way on the volume. but it does sound nice with any and all effects i've tried with it. I only use it as a practice amp and tracking demos, its a nice sounding amp for those situations where a big tube amp is too much noise. I wouldn't use it for a show, just practice. the clean doesn't stay clean at loud volumes.

Like i said before, i'll only use it for practice and demos. It's a solid amp. can't see much going wrong with it, and if anything does it's probaly from my misuse.

never used customers support unless anything i buy is defected from the get go. if anything happens down the line i usually have a friend fixed or repair whatever it is.

It's a very good practice amp and fits whatever guitar you play straight into it. I handles pedals really really really really really good, and for a small practice amp you can get good tones out of it with great east.

features are well covered. mine is a 2008 model purchased in may 08. it does have the sovtek tubes. I rate features a 10 because i'm not stupid and knew it only had the volume knob when i bought it. that volume knob really does it's job.

i play sgs. i have a standard and a faded special both stock. they both sound awesome through this amp. the variety of tones i can get using the guitar controls and the amp volume is fantastic. i have a mesa rectoverb 50 and a lonestar special. i got this because it was cheap and only 5 watts. this valve jr, to my ears sounds better than both of those amps for what i like. gritty tone that will overdrive w/harder attack. harmonics just bloom out of this thing. to be honest i dont really miss not having reverb and such. i like how this is just pure. this is how guitar is meant to be played. with the volume up all the way on the amp and my sg faded on the bridge pickup i can get some of the most articulate distortion. lots of bottom end w/slamming mids and non piercing highs. i by the way am playing this through a marshall 1x10 extension cab from my marshall micro stack. i am going to buy the 1x12 that's made for it soon.

seems very well built. i do wish it had a standby to preserve the tube life but oh well. it was 129.00 us dollars and i can replace the tubes if needed. i really like the sound of the stock tubes and will not be changing them out anytime soon. it does not seem to be weak in construction in any way. i've only had it a short time so we'll see.

never dealt w/them.

i've been playing for around 9-10 years now and have really come to love the class a sound. i really like to get any distortion from the natural tube overdrive and speaker breakup. it pisses me off that this amp is so cheap. when i think of the thousands of dollars i spent looking for this tone. i had an orange rocker 30 that i liked for this same reason but you had to turn it up way too loud to get the overdrive and it was over a grand.

2007 Epiphone Valve Jr Head w/ 2007 Epiphone Valve Jr extension cabinet w/ 1X12 speaker. Amp is a 5-watt, single-tube, class A Tube Amp. It is single channel w/ an On/Off button and volume. That's all. No effects loop, no head-phone jack, nothing. Very simple and No-Frills. Amp works great for small venue or recording situations. Would still be useful for larger gigs if mic'ed. Though only 5-watts, the amp is deceptively powerful. Small and compact, easily transported, works great w/ pedals of pretty much all kinds - kind of what it's built for.

I've used 3 different Les Pauls with it (Custom, Standard, Classic) and a Taylor T5. It's for Classic Rock through maybe light grunge/metal. Distortion is definitely there, but not too heavy. Doesn't suit my musical styles, because I need some clean sounds, too. This will not do clean w/ any reasonable volume. The distorted tones are great, and especially for the price range, but there's no real clean sounds to be had w/ this thing. The higher the volume the more the distortion - that's pretty much what this thing does. The amp's variety is dependant on the pedals you use. I've used a digitech Bad Monkey w/ it, but nothing else. It does handle all pedals well, though. No real static problem, even at high volumes. I'm rating the sound quality high because what it does, it does well. It just won't do clean.

No real extended use so can't really say, but it seems well constructed.

N/A

I've been playing for a little over 15 years, and have dabbled in all kinds of music. Primarily I'm playing Classic Rock type stuff right now. It's worth buying if you've got a couple hundred bucks you're not doing anything better with. It's a fun little amp and sounds great for small venues and recording. There are several readily available modification kits that can add some features, but stock it's still useful. I would never use it exclusively just because you can't get a clean tone w/ volume, but what it does, it does pretty well for not much money.

i have the head and matching cab. it has an on/off switch, and one volume knob.
I kinda wish it had a tone knob as the sound tends to sound muddled but that can be helped if the amp is allowed to warm up.
I use this amp in my bedroom mostly and it's plenty loud. I haven't played out with it yet but if i did it would be loud enough for the smaller venues.

this amp is very versatile. it responds well to my ds-1 pedal and my crybaby wah. it sounds good with a dirty humbucker or p-90 but loves strats. you can really hear that fender sparkle which i love.
the amp stays clean up to about 10 o'clock, at 12 it starts to get dirty with that natural tube overdrive that roars and sounds great. i can't speak beyond that as i haven't pushed it further since i live in a residential neigborhood. but i imagine that it could sound good at higher levels also.

i've had the amp for almost half a year, bought it used, and have never had a single problem with it.

never dealt with them, but probably wouldn't get any help due to the fact that i bought it used

been playing for about 4 years. it this were lost or stolen the only other amp i'd consider buying would be a fender twin reverb, but since i'm not rich i'd probably buy this setup again and just use an external reverb. when buying this i considered small marshalls, vox valvetronix but settled on this one from reading reviews and trying the other amps mentioned. this baby is definately a steal at this price. the only upgrade i'd consider is changing the tubes, but only after they've burnt out because i like the sound coming out right now.
here's a tip if you try this amp, crank it up because it sounds divine when naturaly overdriven

One volume knob. Thats it! I'm a 'less is more' type of guy. This is exactly what I've wanted for quite some time.

I play everything from old blues to EVH. Blues and classic rock tones are pretty easy to achieve with just the volume. Getting to EVH just requires the right pedals. Speaking of pedals, this amp loves them! I have the 'Version 3' of this head. Seems Epiphone has fixed alot of the problem areas that the earlier versions had. To me that means alot of those mods don't neccesarily need to be done here. The sound quality is top notch. Excellent sound and very loud. I also have the Epi cab. The speaker only sounds better with age. The stock JJ Tesla/Electro-Harmonix tubes are great upgrade from the previous junk on the older versions. For those of you who view the one knob as a limiting factor consider tossing an EQ pedal in the chain. Amazing what happens!

I've had mine for 10 months and it has been perfect. I usually run mine at full bore for at least one hour everyday. Excellent reliability!

Never needed them.

This amp is an excellent buy. Top notch quality (made in China)at a very affordable price. I would for sure replace this amp if it were stolen. I really wish Epiphone would build a 20W version of this amp with a few more knobs(gain and such) and the possibilty of adding a second cab. That has nothing to do with this awesome amp however. Overall this amp is the cats meow.

Has only an on/off switch and a volume (no master which would be handy). To be fair it does has a variety of speaker impedances to choose from, and unlike it's main rival the controls are on the front where you can reach them, has a great looking cabinet and is well constructed. Most importantly it is valve powered.

It has surprisingly good tone and dynamics and is fun to play. With the matching cabinet can sound pretty raunchy without that horrible speaker farting. However, as some others have commented, it sounds a little "thin" to me. The example I tried has abundant treble which I think is a good thing because you can always roll back the tone on the strat and still enjoy the treble with the Les Paul. The downside though is lack of bass for which there is no easy solution. Only other complaint is the lack of clean headroom, although this may vary from one unit to the next and some reviewers have noticed improvement with different valves. Comparing it the the Fender Champion combo with it's laughable 6" speaker this represents much better tone for buck.

Have not had the unit long enough to have it break down, but looks pretty rugged.

Have not had to use them, but I've heard it's better that way.

When purchasing I was looking for good valve tone at a civilised volume that could be used at home. This fits the bill, and I can also use it at church and mike it up. What I like most is that it gets that saturated tone without the volume, although I intend to get better quality valves to improve clean headroom. Compared to it's nearest rival the Fender Champion this represents by far better bang for the buck. Here downunder in NZ the fender retails for (an astounding) $US450 equivalent, while the Valve Junior with matching cab is closer to $US500 equivalent (shocking I know), but even at this price I still want it. I wouldn't say the same for the Fender Champion. I consider the price in US justifies buying better valves to improve tone, but here in NZ I'll thrash the ones it comes with first.

Input Volume Output

Its OK, I don't understand what all the gushing is about. Its voiced well and sounds nice when clean, but cranked I really didn't like the overdrive that well. Not nearly as tight or nice as any other old class A amp I've ever played. I own a 59 Silvertone 1 12" and a 60 Gretsch 1 15", Marshalls, modded Rocktrons and recorded with old Fenders, Champs and Princtons, Voxes etc., and all had a better cranked overdrive tone. The amp seams to loud to be all that usable in the sudio except for the slightly lushes clean tone, and to underpowered to make the clean tone usable for a jamming situation. I would say a cool amp, maybe modding can tighten it up, the price is right but all these 10s are bogus. I did like the low volume clean tone, so when I took it back I traded in for an original run Hot Rod Deluxe, beautiful clean tone at all volumes and with pedals can fit any situation. That amps an 8.

The EL-84 tested bad in my tester, when replace with a decent 84 it was OK, but it didn't change the tone much. The input and output jacks seem a bit loose.

As long as you go through Guitar Center, those guys are always great.
The 10 is for the GC staff in Madison, WI.

I played for a long time, went from Humbuckers to Teles and most points in between. I have alot of gear and have played through most at one time or another. I read alot of these reviews and find many people trying to mod one amp into another, do yourself a favor and save a little more jing to get the amp you want. You want the Fender Marshall, Vox or Valco sound, buy them, they,re out there and they are still the gold standard for TONE. BTW I own 2 Epiphone Jeff Baxter model acoustic guitars and would buy 5 more if I could. So props to Epiphone they are a great company.

One channel. One Knob. That's it.

I bought a stand-by switch, but I am waiting for warrenty to expire before installing. I use it at home. Amp is VERY loud for 5 W.

I play classic rock/blues. I have an extensive effects chain, to include 4 rack units. Been playing 25(?) years now. I'm old school. Used to play Skynyrd through an MXR and Sears Home stereo circa 1980.

Ibanex 540s, Hamer Special, Fender Tele Deluxe, Dano 59 reissue.

I've been concerned for several years because I could not figure out for the life of me why there was no low budget market for low-watt tube amps. The Bumboxes go for $499 for 1W, seems somewhat ludicrous.

The Epiphone exceeded my expectations. It screams quality right out of the box. The size is rather large and it's weight is rather decent. I was expecting far less. The construction is dead solid. The value of this amp is probably $3-400 if it weren't made in China.

No repairs. NA

I'm going buy the cab for this. Figuring the quality of the amp is very good, even considering it's made in China. I'll wait for other reviews before I swap tubes. There is real decent clarity while playing. I don't know about the dark tone. You can EQ or adjust through effects.

I'm gonna also buy a Black Heart 1W for $149. The Epiphone is rather loud because I am addicted to the overdriven tube tone. A 1W would be rather interesting playing at home. I have a Peavey Deuce 120W for 20 years now. I used to turn it on full volume back in the 80's. I wasn't popular with the neighbors. That is the cab that I've been using. Twin Black Widow 12 inches.

Volume knob

Tried it out in a sound room at GC, it was amazing playing through a Gretsch 5120. I basically listened to it feedback for 20 minutes and it's sounded beautiful! This other guy had his heart set on a Vox Heritage AC-15 and he bought the Epiphone too.
I took it home and played it through my Epiphone Les Paul Junior 57 reissue. It still sounded great. This is it for me.

Seems really solid. Just got it so I can't comment.

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For under $300 this is the best tube amp I've owned and I've played just about everything. I can't wait to play it out, it's a very loud 5 watts. I read all about the mods but to be honest I'm leaving it alone. I'm actually getting rid of my Delta Blues. I'll never buy a big amp again. If anything I'd get another one of these and run them in stereo.