Epiphone Valve Junior Head

This came right out of the Box yesterday. Someone should have kept this standard going. The Front, Input, Volume, and On/Off Switch. In the Back, 4,8,and 16 OHms Outputs.

I'm using a Lace Huntington with Lace P/U's to run this inital Test. At Practice, I'll run my Pedal Borad through it into a 2X12 Cab. But the Test Cab I'm using now in 1-10" 8 Ohm. And is this baby sweet.. Just as Clean and Clear... And yes, around 2 o'clock, it begins to break up beautifully.

To soon to tell.

For $8.00, got the Extended Warranty... That's a bargin..

I've been playing 35 years. Mostly through SS because they were more in a Price Range I could afford. But now, I'm hooked... You get one of these and see for yourself... It will be the best $99 Investment you'll make.

Probably 05 made in China. I play the Blues, I like to make it cry and moan. Single channel, 5 watt class A, Sovtek 12AX7A preamp tube, Sovtek 6B5Q output tube, one volume knob, one input jack, and on and off switch, three output speaker jacks (4,8,16 ohms), a power cord. I'd like it to have another input jack so I could split the guitar's input signal
out to another amp. I'd rather have two output jacks w/ impedance switching. In other words, hardly any features, and everything I will ever need.

Gibsons, 1 w/ EMGs, 1 w/ dirty fingers, 1 w/ HB Burstbuckers, 1 w/490s, 1 w/ Armstrong P90s. It suits the blues style. Unlike the Jr. combo, which I already rated, this head is very quiet. Extremely quiet for a tube amp. The distortion is not as pronounced as on the combo. Originally, I wasn't able to achieve the gain with the stock Sovtek tubes. They were too creamy. I put an old Curtis Mathes 6BQ5 in it and a Mazda 12AX7A and wow. Now, I know what everybody means by two o'clock. Think early Jimmy Reed. The distortion is thick and sustainy. Very vintage. Much more versatile than the combo, but still unique.

I think I could gig with this amp. I believe it is dependable as any 5 Watt amp.

I think when I replaced the tubes, I voided the warranty. Oh well!!

Been playing a while. I have a JTM45, an AVT50H, and Crate GX60L. If it were lost or stolen I'd definitely buy another. I'm probably going to buy another anyway. I love the sound. I've looked at Champs, GA5s, K1, and Mini- Zs. All similar circuits. For this price, I can have 4+ Jr heads compared to the GA5, and 7 compared to the Dr Zs. Definitely a bargain. I'm going to mod it out with the input jack, and put an impedance switch in it. I'll probably buy another and mod it too. I think they would be great chained together.
This is the best deal going on a small head. Extreme value, with solid tube sound.

As described by the othe reviewers. Not many features. Not many required. Single volume knob, single input jack, and 3 speaker jack's. 5 watts of pure tube tone for $99. You cant beat it. Nothing else on the market to compare with.

The guitars that I have played thru it have all shined with a very diverse tonal range. Humbuckers in my SG tend to break up into a mild tube distortion at or around 2:00 on the volume knob. Single coils in my Tele are very defined and clear. I play the amp thru a custom built cabinet running 4-8" 15 watt 8 ohm Jensen Mod speakers. The cab was constructed for output from a Vox VR-15 amp, but this amp can push the cabinet to acceptable volume levels. The amp presents no hum or hiss, I could not even tell if it was on the first time I ran it until I hit the guitar strings. This amp will be a classic someday.

No issues after one month, I would never take it out of the house anyway.

I have no idea...I purchased from Sweetwater.com. They always support everything they sell. No problem there.

I have been playing around 5 years, I have always been a big Vox fan and I bought this on a whim. I thought it was cool. It has turned out to be my main amp for everyday strumming around the house. I plugged a Big Muff in front of it the other day, that was fun. I enjoy playing the 70's / 80's Rock and Funk stuff. It suits me just fine, very simple, easy to use and sounds great thru my cab. Your mileage may vary depending on your style. This amp is what it is, a very simple, well built tone machine. If it was stolen or lost I would replace it. Dont expect too much and you wont be disappointed, I was not.

ubes!sturdy cabinet!

5 class A watts!! I own the valve jr combo and it had an 8" speaker
and a lot of noise ... a lot of noise. the head does not plus I have it pluged into a 1x12 cab with a celestion speaker @ 8 ohms it sounds awesome playing an eric johnson strat with a vintage rat and analog delay it sounds awesome. humbuckers will make it cave in and fart but that is cool too! this is great at $100!!! I would love to hear it through a 4x12 . other amps bruno, fenders ,marshall,thd

WE'LL SEE

for chump change you can own a tube head

I just unloaded this thing from the Fedex truck, took it home and hooked it up. My Marshall MG-15 blew a Capacitor so I'm just using it as a speaker cabinet for the Epiphone,it has a replacement Jensen vintage 8 with ceramic magnet. I know you should avoid the "new product rush" but this thing was exactly what I was looking for. I just built a Telecaster clone with 4 way Rothstein wiring and Lindy Fralin 1/2 and 1/2 Blues pickups and I wanted an old raunchy sound from a small tube amp to complete the package. I put off buying the Epiphone Valve Jr. Combo because I was worried about the reviews here harping about the hum,when I read Epiphone had fixed these problems in the new Valve Jr. head, I quickly burnt a hundred dollar bill. I am glad I waited! Same features as the Combo, one volume, two tubes, with three speaker outputs for different Ohm ratings. I hooked it up with a Radio Shack Audio cord(4 bucks), I may splurge later for a heavier duty cord. I have purchased several small amps for my bedroom recording studio looking for "the sound" on a budget,including the Marshall MG- 15dfx(a great amp for recording till I fried something) and the Vox Brian May(a great Christmas present,really a fun toy,but it may have been what fried my Marshall,probably my fault hooking it up wrong).I really was looking for a "Primitive Tube Sound" for the Telecaster, and I believe I have found it in this Epiphone head. My rating is high because of its LACK of features, its so difficult to find pure sound without digital gimmicks these days.If I had to add something to this amp it would be a good tone control, but really, I can live without it.

The sound? My hearing is a lot worse these days but I swear it sounds like my old Fender Champ without reverb. Just fantastic! This amp is a good example of why we should be very worried about China taking over the World,quality cabinet, construction,and the sound is spot on,all for a hundred bucks to your door.I could hear the gnarly steel from the Bass strings Alnico 3 magnets and the clear twang(I hate that word but it is what it is)from the higher strings Alnico 5 magnets featured in the Fralin pickups. I couldn't quite get enough treble in position 4 from the Tele but all other switch settings were fantastic. I felt like a kid again playing this poor mans throwback to the student amps of the 60's. Epiphone did their homework, very little hum at the highest volume, normal or better than normal in my opinion. Boutique? The makers of expensive low-wattage tube amps should be very worried after this offering from Epiphone, this thing is very cool,no matter what it cost. I don't think it would be suitable for clean Chet Atkins type work, though, this amp recreates 1959 drive and raunch,the pleasant cheap kind, for lack of a better phrase. I am sure the Amp Gurus will tear this thing apart with tube upgrades and wiring mods, I ask, whats the use? Its great the way it is. If I find some old Western Electric OEM tubes, I may throw them in to see if there is much difference,but for once, A Company has made a product that needs very little, if any mods to sound GOOD,right out of the box. Sorry to rain on the Techno-Nerds plans.

I can't comment on the reliability as I have had it a little over 5 hours. I do believe from other reviews of Epiphone products of a similiar nature it will hold up and be easily repaired due to its simple construction. I'll be back with a followup.

Again, no opinion, but I will let you know.

I own mucho vintage mess,Dearmond M-66, Hoyer,Yamaha,Teisco,Nippon Yamaha,Telleno Archtop,Cort,etc.Plus my new Martin OM-16 GT. This thing is a time machine, it sounds very much like the amps I remember from the 60's, pure vintage. There really isn't anything else on the market to compare it to, not for this price, or even 300 dollars more.I plan on buying another one if that tells you anything, to A/B it from the Telly. I have been around guitar equipment/music since 1961,glad this thing come around!

I guess the amp was made this year.. It has one channel and one vvolum knob and thats it.. It has 3 speaker jacks in the back for 4 8 and 16 ohm speakers.. Its 5 watts, perfect for apartment jammming!!

I play bluse and jazz, some rock and this thing sounds awesome. Im playing through a line 6 cab with one celeston 12 and it gets pretty loud. Plenty for me. If you a metal player i know you guys think you 300 watts of guitar so this will prob not suit you well. the tone from this thing is beautiful, i was very suprised. very warm and responsive. i have a eq in my effects chain and i can get a variety of sounds fom it.eq is a must. i play mainly through a agile 335 copy but i have a variety of guitars inculding mim strat, dean semi hollow, sg jr (w p90), tele. the single coils do not sound that great through the amp to me but im not a single coil fan so.. i do like the p90 through th amp. i would a gree with the other reviewers, it stays nice and clean to a little past half way on the volume and you get a very nice and smooth break up. sounds awesome IMO. you will need some kind of od pedal to get high gain at low volumes. It does not have awide variety of tones, really only one, but it is exactly what i wanted. very classic rock or bluesy. Sound a lot like the small fender tube amps IMO, but i am by far no tube expert.

I cant speak for that but the amp comes with a 5 year warrenty and its only 100 bucks soill rate it good. the tubes have a 90 day warrenty.

ive never dealt with epiphone.

Ive been playing about 10 years. Like i said i play bluse, jazzy stuff and rock, not hard rock!! The strokes or kings of leon type rock. i also play a lot of jam band type stuff.I mainly used modeling amps the past few years and i really like them. i dont play out much except for jammin with friends so i have never really needed anything more. I play mostly hollowbody guitars and they sing through this amp. It has PLENTY of power for my use and i would say for live use as well, or at least jamming. I didnt know 5 watt was that loud!! adn im playin through only 1 12. I dont hate anyting about the amp, it was only 100 dollars. Its the best 100 dollars i have ever spent on guitar shit and i own a lot of it. If it was stolen i would pray they still had it in stock!! i imagine these amps will sell fast for suck a low price! get one now, it is money very well spent!! beautiful tube tone in a small inexpencive package. email me if you have anyquestions about the amp, i know there is not much information about it online..

Brand new recent issue. One knob, volume, that's it. This model, Valve Junior H, has no effects or effects loop, line out, nothing. It does have separate outs for 4, 8, and 16 ohm speaker load. I guess it should have a standby switch. I don't know how hard it would be to have a on/standby/off switch on the same switch. You couldn't use new components and build this amp yourself for the price and that is what I would have done if Gibson wouldn't have built it for me. It's a throwback and I will use it as I would a 40 year old tube amp, effects will go between the guitar and the amps input and to put it through the system it will have to be miked. Although there are options available to place a line out box between the speaker and the amp, I think Crate makes such a device. There are no features and I can't give it a high rating here, but it is no reflection on the amp for what it is, I wouldn't change a thing. I can work with it as is. I gotta give it a three because it takes pedals just like an old Fender Bandmaster, loves them! Some of the new little tube amps do not from what I hear.

I gave it my best shot and used my Gibson LP with Burstbuckers through a Tubescreamer to the amp input. Output is to a Marshall single 12 inch closed cab with a Celestion which I haven't taken the back off to see the model. I have 412's with Vintage 30s but I didn't buy this amp to make a lot of noise. If you've ever heard a Gibson guitar through a vintage Gibson tube amp you'll recognize the tone. You'll play this without realizing it doesn't have reverb, doesn't need it. This new head is quiet, no hum, a miniscule amount of hiss when turned all the way up, but not very audible. The clean tone sounds like a Bandmaster to me, and with the tubescreamer kicked in you can play those chords [that do not sound good enough on a SS amp] and you can hear every note, typical for a tube amp. Sustain is excellent and the sound is
very pleasing to the old man's ears. I thought I would see how good this was before buying a Blues Junior. I won't be buying a Blues Junior. BTW, 5 tube watts is loud if you use an efficient speaker!
It sounds good with the stock tubes, but I won't change them until needed. Bottom line; I wanted a tube amp to play at the house with and have the great tone of my expensive to operate 50 and 100 watt tube heads and this fits the bill to a T. Exactly what I needed! Perfect 10 here.

This is a just released version of the Valve Junior. They made some changes to make it quieter. Not much to go wrong but still it can quit like anything else. Turned it on, turned it up, played everything I could on it, no issues, no odors, no odd noises.

It will be a classic, it is now IMHO. And the cab it comes in is extremely well made.

5 watts class A with ONE knob - volume. Two tubes, a preamp and an EL84. Outputs for 4, 8 and 16 ohm speaker loads. Nicely built box.

So far I have tried an American Tele modified with a SD Lil '59 in the bridge, and a stock Les Paul Special. I am using an Avatar 2x12 cab loaded with Eminence Wizards and playing mostly classic hard rock and blues. No, there isn't a lot of "clean headroom" here, but hey this is rock and roll. The "headroom" stops around noon - which is plenty loud - and the crunch starts to get interesting around 2 o'clock. I can get very close to AC/DC territory cranked up about 3/4 of the way. This is not for high gain. Remember there is just one knob - volume - so it would help to have an EQ. I had read that there was a hum problem on the VJ combo, but not on this baby. It's very quiet at full volume.

No clue. I didn't buy it to gig with, but it sounds so good I may try it anyway, mic'd of course, and with a backup head ready. There isn't much to go wrong here and it seem to be built very well.

Never dealt with them.

I've been playing for over 30 years and owned plenty of expensive amps. I've always wanted a 5W to experiment with, and I am pleasantly surprised by this one. Heck for $99, it's pretty hard not to like this amp.