Epiphone Valve Junior Head

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.

N/A/

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.

one knob, dummy
needs a tone knob
and a reverb knob...ha!

a little noisy cranked, but good god! played this in sound room at GC and people were coming in to listen... and i'm a ****** player! (i fake it pretty good)
nice overdrive... really sweet and full
sounded better than the jtm 45 re-issue mini stack or whatever it is that costs 1500.00
this is about 100.00 - 129.00 retail!
better than th bhudda in the room... all the mesas and anything else in there that costed upwards of 3 grand.
played 4 different ones and here's what i found out...
these things vary considerably
some are wimpy
some are dark
some are constipated
some are brittle
and some are magic
i found one that's magic.
the only reason i didn't buy is the 5 watts was too loud for the apartment!

10

most other reviewers have pointed the lack o features, to me thats the best feature of all. I wonder if any one would dare to make a 50 watt amp with just a volume knob... if so i want one! I do all my fiddling and tweaking on the floor thanks so i don't miss having to pay for extraneous circuitry and knobs that i'll only touch once.

i play this with a jap fender(CIJ) 62 rei tele and tokai tj-65 loverock (DC les paul junior copy) both with stock p/ups through an assortment of pedals of varying quality (B-bomb!) and although i ahve an eq, i only use it for scooping out some mids to get a more modern distortion or a sweeter clean (do yourself a favour and get a eq, or 2 or 3, and you have a booster, amp modeler, filter, noise reducer, hell even a muter). i must admit i have swapped out the sovteks for jj's (just do it alright), and it really turned this cute wallflower into a centrefold pin up tone slut, if you'll pardon the analogy. no hum or noise issues with mine, and i think the darkness some mention may have a few possible causes: 1;sovteks 2;crap p/ups &/or guitars 3;playing with the amp vol below 10-11 o'clock 4;not giving the amp long enough to warm up, i know the manuel says 1.5 minutes or something but thats only so you don't blow tubes, give it 30-60 minutes 5;a combination of all these. i have to turn the tone on my tele down nearly halfway with this thing or it sounds too bright! and i like bright! the only time mine ever sounds dark to me is when its played at very low volume 5 minutes after turning it on. any way, i love the sound of this thing, very transparent and warm clean, quite aggressive ooooohverdrive, but not in a death metal way. only 9 cos it hasn't made me cream my pants (yet).

had it 9 months, played every other day, lugged for 30 km's to and from rehearsals 1-2 times a week, with my daughter climbing over it periodically, no worries so far, built like a brick shit house basically, all ply no mdf, quite overbuilt really, but i'm not complaining.

i give epiphone a big fat one for the crap one year dealer warranty supplied to customers in australia as opposed to the 5 year manufaturers warranty for north america/europe. that sucks. and we're closer to the manufacturer you sods. i hope it is an indication of how well these things are expected to hold up.

it's all been said. great. buy one. now. then buy another one. for back up. then buy another one, go on, you always wanted to go stereo. besides my tele the best piece of kit (yes, kit) i own.

It doesn't get any more basic than this. Two tubes (12ax7 & el84), one volume knob, and 5 watts. It's simplicity is the beauty of it. If you want more knobs to play with this ain't your amp.

I just can't believe that this $100 amp sounds so absolutely amazing. The breakup on this thing is so nice and smooth. It has that class A el84 sparkle with some good grind to boot. Some people complain about it being too dark but I think it has alot to do with the guitar and pickups you're using. I'm playing a Yamaha AEX-502 semi-hollowbody which has stock P-90 pickups that have a bit more bite than most P-90's so it isn't an issue with me. I run a Visual Sound Route 66 overdrive/compressor as well as an MXR MicroAmp in front of the amp and run the head into a custom made 1x12" speaker cabinet with a Jensen C12. I pretty much always get my overdrive from pedals but just plugging straight into the amp and cranking it yields some great overdriven tones as well. There are supposedly all of these mods for this amp to make it sound better but aside from replacing those shitty stock soveteks with some JJ's there is nothing else it needs. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

I've only had it a week but so far there have been no problems with it. It has a smart design and look. I think it would hold up just as well as any other tube amp out there when subjected to the wear and abuse of the rock n roll lifestyle.

Couldn't say. I haven't had to deal with them and let's hope it stays that way.

In the future when Epiphone finally stops making these amps the guitar player world will be divided by those who own one of these amazing amps and the poor fools who couldn't/wouldn't/didn't shell out the measly $100 to buy one of these amazing amps. For $100 you can do no better. I've owned and played some pretty decent tube amps since I first picked up the guitar and I can say without a doubt that this amp is one of the best sounding and most fun to play amps I've owned. Factor in the price of it and it stands alone. This is by no means a complaint but since the Valve Jr is only 5 watts it really is for home/recording use. It just won't cut through playing live with the rest of your band without miking it. Epiphone, you must make a 15 watt version of this great amp. Yes I know there are mods out there that can be done to it to make it a 15 watt amp but at the price tag of $500 it kind of defeats the purpose. I'd give this amp an 11 if the rating went that high.

No features except a volume control, which is a feature, as well as tubes, which gives the user the ability to experiment with tone via changing tubes, and also light weight and compactness which gives the unit portability.

So I guess it does have features, sort of.

Every guitar I grabbed off the rack at GC, single and humbucker, cheap or expensive. Every pedal I could get the salesman to hook up at GC. Some people say the clean tones remind of Fender, and the over-driven tones remind of Marshall.

Actually, this amp reminds me of a Buddha combo amp I owned a couple of years ago. It sounds American but reminds the player of classic British Rock. It cleans up nicely and distorts easily if that's what you want it to do.

I think the stock amp only needs a stand-by mod on it's own. However the ability to further mod the amp is there if desired, so a big thumbs up for design.

I have no idea.

I have no idea.

Playing on and off since 1969. I'm like most musician's, I buy and then I sell to buy again. I love this amp and hate nothing about it. I compared it to the Blackheart, which is comparable in size and design. I didn't choose one over the other as I'm getting both. I wish it had a stand-by switch but the design is mod-able so no worries.

If you need, as I do, a light portable tone monster, this could be a choice for you. Just like most who have purchased and reviewed, I agree that the Epiphone Jr. is a winner.

Features (or lack of them) are well described below. Just input, volume and - this is good - 3 speaker-out sockets @ 4, 8 or 16 ohms. For what its intended for, this little valve amp really doesn't need anything more so....

I play Gibson Les Paul Standard (Burstbucker Pro's) and Gordon Smith Graf through the amp. At top volume, the Gibbo sounds a little mushy, I think the p/ups may overpower the amp a little. Good for power rock stuff though, and solo lines really sing beautifully - very rich dynamics.
The GS Graf seems a better match; slightly lower output p/ups and a sweeter overall sound; cleans up a little more easily than the Gibbo.
The 5w output of this amp is sort opf "in-between" really; its a little too loud for home rehearsal (my home, anyway) if you want good overdriven sounds, yet just a little too quiet for proper rehearsal with the band (classic rock covers mainly). Shame. It takes my Boss OD pedal very nicely though - amazing singing lead lines and very musical and controllable feedback - great fun!

Only had it a couple of months so I can't usefully comment. Its well put together and very simple - unlikely to be any major problems, and even iof so they can I'm sure be solved easily, quickly and cheaply.

Never needed thus far.

Playing for many years (mainly recording), only the last 5 in a regularly gigging band. I have an Ashdown Peacemaker 60w 2x12 tube combo (mine's fine, don't knock 'em) for larger rooms. Gibson, Gordon Smith and Aria guitars.
The Valve Junior is a great little amp; cute (!) and does what it says on the tin. Lovely overdrive when pushed - as surely its meant to be - though not for anything but the smallest of venues in my book.
I'd replace it if stolen (! ??90 I paid, who would steal it - its a steal anyway at that price!) but might consider Blackheart, Peavey, Fender alternatives just because its fun.

1 input, 1 volume control, 5 watts of pure tube power, 4, 8, and 16 ohm outputs. Really excellent feature set. Could not be simpler but it's perfect!
Ah, the lack of a standby switch is going to hurt my tubes quicker than normal, I'll take a point off for that.
Once and for all, you don't need a tone knob!

I was a bit worried after reading some reviews that said the overdrive on the amp sounded muddy and dull. They claimed that it needed to be modded with a brightness switch or to change to some quality tubes. In any case, this is just not true! I play an SG with bareknuckle pickups and the sound is bright and clear even with the volume on full, the searing tube fuzzy distortion peels your face off. It's really great. Pretty loud too. Too loud for my neighbours and too quiet for my band. 5 watts is a stupid value! A mod I might consider is making it less powerful - to 2.5 watts for example. This would facilitate recording. For 90 euros, it's the best sound ever! A joy to play. I did find I could make some tonal improvements using a 7 band eq though... I definately reccommend an EQ pedal to go with this amp. I may change the tubes in the future but the cheapo ones sound great already!

Yep. Pretty damn solid for cheap chinese crap and cruddy cheap tubes. Lack of a standby switch will wear out and possibly damage the tubes quicker than than normal.

Best 90 euros I've ever spent! Awesome for recording (finally, I can record the sound of tubes breaking up without having to bury the thundering fender twin under a pile of duvets and blankets, awesome for playing too. There is a load of great mods that can be done on this amp so it'll grow with me.

Well its meant to be simple so can't really hold that gainst it.But a gain and tone woulda been nice.

Well stock mine was kinna woofy and bassy,lacked harmonics and OD.
I swapped the tubes out for RFT el84 and mullard 12ax7 and revoiced the preamp and added a diode clipping gain stage based on the Marshall Jubilee and it turned into a pint sized Marshall.
Honestly they are mediocre stock but they are also $100-$129(now) so what do you expect.But they are cool to learn how to mod amps.
I'll rate it for stock tone.

seems solid for a $100 amp.

Well if you want to just plug in and jam,its kinda lackluster its bassy and don't overdrive enough to play lead without a pedal.
If you have a some electrical skills it can be made cool for a few dollars in parts and a couple strong used or NOS tubes.

Not many features, but that's the beauty, isn't it? Just
a whole lot more tone than it should rightfully have!

Using this little beast in a stereo set-up with a
tech21 trademark 60. Gretsch Special Jet with
Dearmond single coils>MI Audio Crunch Box>MI blue boy deluxe
>Carl Martin ChorusXl, stereo split into the trademark and junior.
The sound with the stock Sovtek and EH tubes was not bad,
but in the quest for more clean headroom I changed these
out for a Ruby12AT7 and a RubyEL84. Holy shit!! Tone for miles.
The amp has taken on a new character. Gorgeous singing, fat cleans up to around 4.00 on the dial, and then a slightly crunchy Keef tone.
Also minimal background noise. Was intending to have mods done, but now the jury is out.... Compliments the trademark set to fender or mesa sound. Fills out the mids nicely. 7 before but now....

Not much to it. Had my amp guru bias and check it out. Could not believe the build quality vs the price.

Slow as the second coming to send it after I ordered it!

Played an old Silverface twin and one of Jims stacks for years. Sold them both due to chronic CBF syndrome, with regards to carting them around.Currently own an AER compact 60, and a Yamaha CPX800, as well as the aforementioned. Would buy another....no..will buy another. I love the way it seems to morph from a little vox to a baby champ with minimal movement on the dial.

Simplicity at it's very best! I use a multi-effects pedal that i've owned (2 of the same actually)since 2001 and do all EQing, reverb, etc so the one-knob-job works great for me.

I've played my Les Pauls, PRS, Tele, Strat, Explorer,T5, and Ibanezes through this thing and all sound great. My main axe now is a Ibanez SZ520 with DiMarzio PAF & PAF Pro, with coil tap for neck. I was a little displeased so I replace the matching cab that I have a vintage 30 in with a simi-closed back cab loaded with two K120 JBL's(wired for 16 ohm)... Tone to the Bone!!

I've been using the rig mostly at home for practice and recording. Since the JBL's, I think I will start taking it out and I feel confident it will be ok.

Never dealt with them. A good thing.

I've been playing for about 35 years. Full time road band for a few of them. I have collected quite a bit of gear including some cool amps. Vintage Bassman 10, Musicman HD130 combo, Kustom Challenger, Fender Blues Jr (w/mods), Hot Rod Deluxe (w/mods). What I love about this amp is that I can now achieve tones of wide open tubes with out my wife and kids running out of the house. Would surely buy again, may just to have another.

Wonderfully simple from the factory "one-knob wonder", and useful 4, 8, and 16ohm output jacks. Currently, mine is modded with bitmo trio voice gain, tone knob with pull boost, loop-d-jr (efx loop), standby switch, hammond 125ese output transformer, bigger power supply cap (i don't know enough to say how big!), and, of course, tubes are currently labeled groove tubes, and i don't know what they really are! It's been almost 2 years since i bought it, mods started a year ago, one at a time, and every time i get more impressed with the sound. I try to play blues, rock, heavy rock, country, jazz, soul, oldies, funk.... almost anything but "rap" and "techno" or whatever!
I can be happy playing almost anything with this amp!! You might need to mike it if you wanna gig with it. I have yet to try a holy grail or spring king thru the efx loop, but in front of the amp, reverb sounds great.. until you pass 11 o'clock on the volume, it becomes unmanagable. It is truely inspiring to jam with for a poor musician. the rating reflex the extensive modifications.

Can create anything from warm jazz, to twangy country, to booming classic rock and metal(Sabbath and early Aerosmith come to mind). With the right speaker combination, the sky is the limit! I have two Pyle Driver speakers (Derek Trucks claimed to use them in an interview i read), one in a closed back cab, and one in a open back cab (actually the frame of a dean combo amp, i just removed the head of the dean and added a jack), which sound great indenpendantly, but awesome together. the creamy tube overdrive is to die for! I own a westbury (kind of like an SG copy, for those who don't know), and a schecter tele copy.

it was yanked off one of the cabs and fell about 2 1/2 to 3 feet, landing on its top, while on! she sustained one small war wound at the back right chassis screw cover involving a small tear in the tolex covering, but she never missed a beat! Impressive for china, eh? I wouldn't care for a back up, but I'm poor(you already know that!)

All mods done buy my tech friend (thanx TIM), never tried, or needed, to contact gibson/epiphone.

I also own a fender hot rod deluxe, a few acoustic guitars and another harmony LP POS. been playing about 18 years. If my evj were stolen, I would like to see the thief gutted, drawn and quartered, after a healthy(?) dose of electro-shock thearpy (wilst being force to listen to kenny g). All in all, i doubt any thing will ever have more bang for your buck. I love almost everything about it, and hate almost nothing. How can you hate tubes? I wish it had a woman that made me this happy!!

ITS GOT ALL YOU NEED

THIS AMP IS T.N.T. I GOT THIS AMP FOR MY BIRTHDAY.
AT FIRST I WAY GOING TO GET A MARSHALL MICROSTACK BUT THIS WAS A BETER AMP CLASS A TUBE AMP ONE NOB AT LOW VOLUMES SO PEOPLE DONT CALL THE COPS I RUN IT WITH A MARSHALL GOV NOR SO I CAN GET A REAL GOOD ROCK SOUND AT 3 OR 4 BUT ONCE YOU GET IT UP TO FIVE THERES NO NEED FOR ANY PEADLES ITS GOT THAT NICE TUBE GAIN.

FOR MY STYLE BLUES ROCK BLUES-ROCK AND HARD ROCK AC/DC STYLE THIS IS A WINNER

I DONT REALY KNOW YET HAD IT FOR A MONTH SO FAR ALL GOOD

I KNOW THE PEOPLE AT THE STORE I GOT MINE FROM NO PROBLEMS WITH SUPPORT

I HAVE BEEN PLAYING FOR 8 YEARS WITCH IS A LONG TIME FOR A 12 YEAR OLD KID I ALSO OWN A MARSHALL 1987X WICH IS A BIT MORE MONEY BUT I WOULD SAY THE EPIPHONE HAS JUST A GOOT SOUND AS THE MARSHALL I PLAY MINE INTO A GIBSON 1967 SG

NOTE I THINK EL34S ARE A BETER THAN THE EL84S

When I see a tube amp for $99.99 with one volume knob I expect one input and one output jack. So as far as features I don't expect much however I was surprised to see output jacks for 4, 8, or 16 ohm speaker cabs. What a suprise! This is a basic amp so if you are looking for something with knobs you have no busisness coming near this amp. I bought this in December of 2006 at Guitar Center for only $99.99. I was looking for a low wattage basic tube amp for recording and practice without spending over $1000 for a botique. For specs and where this was made just read other reviews. This amp does exactly what it was intended for and more. There are plenty of mods on ebay that are very enexpensive, easy to install and for $99.99 you can get several amps and do different mods on each one.

A FIVE WATT AMP IS NOT DESIGNED TO BE PLAYED WITH A LOUD BAND. I have read some reviews that complained that this was not loud enough. If you want to use this for live music you will have to mike it which I have done and I was pleasantly surprised with the results. Just make sure you have a good soundman. I play blues,rock,country and gospel. I bought this for mainly blues and rock. This has a very nice clean sound with very little noise. I get a nice fender priceton reverb type clean sound. I keep the amp volume at three oclock and use the volume knob on my guitar. You actually have to learn how to use the knobs on your guitar but if you have a decent guitar you will be happy. If you have a crappy guitar you will get a crappy sound. I have guitars ranging from gibson setups to strats (one with duncan livewires)to a 1952 es125 with a single P90. As you turn up the volume on your guitar this is where the magic starts. Every guitar is slighty different. You get a early marshal type of distortion not too harsh and very creamy. The best thing is you can stay in the same room, the sound level is very manageable. This amp is very sensitive to picking dynamics. I use several speaker cabinets but I like my 2X12 loaded with eminence patriots the best. This will not have the dynamics or the construction that a botique will have but for the price you can't go wrong.

Although this was built in China I have had this for one year and I have experienced no problems. The cabinet is built well enough and there is not enough inside this amp to really go wrong.

I bought this at guitar center and they are pretty good(to me anyway)about replacing defective gear. I have had no issues with anything I bought from epiphone.

I have been playing for around 30 years. I play electric guitar,acoustic guitar and bass guitar. I have different types of Gibsons(about a dozen), 4 or 5 fenders and about 8 other types of electric guitars. I like everything about this amp and there is nothing I don't like about this amp because I played it several times with different guitar and speaker combinations before I bought it. I knew exactly what I was getting before I took it home.

It actually has a good feature set all things considered.

The volume control allows for very precise control over breakup/distortion.
It can run into 4, 8, or 16 Ohm cabs.
The tubes (preamp and power) are relatively easy to change.
There's plenty of room inside the head for ventilation of the tubes, so you don't have to worry about them overheating.
And it has a handle.

If I could add anything to the amp, it would be Reverb, but... if you play in a room that's not too big with hardwood floors, even that's not a problem. It loses 2 points for this because there's no good way to put a reverb pedal in front of an overdriven tube amp.

My style centers around blues. I've been playing rock, punk, emo, classic rock, indie... anything a self-respecting college student listens to.

My main guitar is a G&L Legacy with stock pickups and a Stellartone ToneStyler with a depth control. I've also played 2 SGs, a Jackson POS, and a Bill Nash "Vintage" strat with lollar pickups through it.

The amp can do anything from sparkling cleans to growling overdrive capable of classic rock or early metal. The character is closer to Marshall than anything else, but it's an earlier marshall before the quintuple super lead garbage.... think bluesbreaker or jcm-800 non-master volume sound, but at a volume that you can use in a garage or bar without hearing protection. With the right guitar/settings, you can almost get a fender tweed twang, but with a bit more of a low-end growl.

Actually, with the amp all the way open, you might need hearing protection if your house is small.

The distortion is by no means brutal. It's a very smooth vintage character that is easily tamed by altering your guitar controls or pick attack. It responds as it should to different kinds of pickups/guitars, and it's very responsive to subtle changes of the guitar controls. Slight changes in the tonestyler, volume, and pickup selector can make the tone with this combination go from slight country twang to a distinctly strat growl that would make a lot of les pauls jealous. The SGs sound like they're supposed to and the Nash/Lollar strat screams like Stevie Ray Vaugn's over-wound pickups if he played through an early marshall.

I can't imagine playing with another amp right now, certainly not for the price. If they made one with a rudimentary EQ and reverb and marketed it correctly, they'd drive Crate, Pevey, and Marshall out of the market/price range.

When it's time to buy another amp, I'll be looking at the SoCal 50 because of how much this amp impressed me.

Unfortunately, these amps are made in Asia (I believe in China) and like all products from the region, they're plagued with reliability issues due to bad workmanship and an almost complete lack of quality control.

Fortunately, the PCBs and microchips are made well-enough. It might just randomly die on you. Mine did. I was pissed. The thought occurred to me to just have it replaced with Guitar Center's replacement policy, but I took it to a warranty repair center instead. They basically just took the thing apart and put it back together again and it started working. I also replaced the tubes with Groove Tube re-branded Russian (Sovtek) tubes for the heck of it.

So, don't gig without a backup if you haven't had a competent tech rebuild it. After that, it's probably fine.

But at just over $100, you might as well just get 2.

Haven't dealt with Gibson. The repair shop I took it to took almost 3 months to get it back to me because they're overworked. This is a result of Gibson not authorizing enough service centers in Atlanta.

My recommendation is to buy from Guitar Center with a replacement plan... the turn-around time to have it replaced is shorter than you can probably expect on warranty repair from an authorized service center.

This is one of the few places in the guitar world where you seem to get more than you pay for.

It's another reminder that a product doesn't need to be innovative to be amazing. And it's a reminder that if you choose to sacrifice unnecessary features instead of design principles and quality (ignoring incompetent chinese technicians), you can get something amazing at a reasonable price.

What features??? Input, One vol knob, Power Switch and 4, 8 and 16ohm speaker outs.
I bought this and the matching extension cab what a killer combination. Simplicity at its best.
I hate fiddling with knobs I just want to play. Turn that volume knob and see how many different sounds you can get between the amp and your guitar controls. Awesome.
Many people mod theirs but I have no intention of doing so I love this amp as is.

I wanted an amp that was simple, cheap to service and sounded great when I read the reviews on this one I was sold, when I heard the clips on Youtube I thought forget it!!! But then I tried one out instore with my own cab and couldn't believe what I was hearing. After 1 hour (Must have annoyed the guys at the store as I was trying out the amp with overdrive pedals so I could cover myself for low volume work as well as cranked up tones. I played my MIJ Telecaster > MI Audio Blue Boy Deluxe > Valve Junior Head > My own caband thought I had it made it was great. But as soon as I took it home my little cab just sounded so lifeless. However considering I had only spent just over 200AUD on the amp I ordered the Extension cab and WOW what a difference turned up to twelve and this thing rocks just use your volume knob for clean tones. Also the BBD wasn't cutting it at lower volume so I sold it and bought a Keeley BD-2. This is a tone match made in heaven Tele > BD2 > Valve Junior. Using my volume knob I can go from nice warm cleans to ballsy drive just like that.

Build quality seems awesome for such a cheap amp and cab. Don't see any problems with it as I only play out everys often. Basically this will be mostly for my own enjoyment. If it broke down I would probally just by the same amp again. I have only had it for about 4 months so I have had no issues as yet

Haven't dealt with them, haven't need to.

I play mostly classic rock > hard rock, think CCR to AC/DC to Guns n Roses with my Tele > BD-2 > Valve Junior setup I have definitely found my tone. I spend less time fiddling and more time playing than before. On weekends I just have the Valve junior at 12 o'clock and use the BD-2 for a lead boost when needed. During the week I run the Valve Junior at 9 o'clock and the BD-2 gives me that same kind of overdrive at lower volumes. Truly awesome stuff for not alot of cash. Well done Epiphone

The best feature here is... no features.

No pre-amps, no digital effects, no nuthin'. That's one of the reasons I wanted it, though. The simplicity of it makes it reliable, easy to repair, and provides (to a purist like me) the best possible sound.

1 input for your guitar
Your choice of 3 outputs according to speaker resistance.
Power switch
Volume knob.
The end.

Perfection.

Clean tone is good, but only available at low volume. If you want clean at high levels in this price range, go buy a Roland Jazz Chorus or just play through a bass amp.

This thing breaks up into tube distortion right about at the level where you can keep up with the drums in a garage band. In other words, it's perfect for all those applications where people with their 100W (or even 50W) tube-driven half-stacks are using attenuators to cope with the fact that their amps are too loud.

You get the tube crunch rock guitarists live for without constantly being told to turn it down. It's real tube distortion in the power stage (there is no pre-amp stage) that you can actually take full advantage of in almost any setting (except at home... this is NOT a good choice for a practice amp.)

If you play on a bigger stage, you can always mic it.

Lots of rich and satisfying tone out the matching 1x12 cab. I tried it with a 4x12 cab, and it gets pretty much the same sound with MONSTER low end.

I mostly use a peavey JF-2 (a 335 hollow-body with mini-humbuckers), or a lucite LP copy which I modded with Seymour Duncans. Both sound great with it.

A little bit of noise to it if you don't let it warm up enough. Not bad.

"Would you use it on a gig without a backup?" is a stupid question. I wouldn't gig without back-up underwear, let alone without a backup amp.

I haven't owned it long enough to give an opinion here, but the simplicity of it seems like it would make it pretty robust.

Never dealt with them.

This puppy is changing the rules of guitar amplification. In a market stuffed with powerful solid-state amps trying to simulate the tube-sound "holy grail", an amp which barely costs more than a hundred bucks offers the real thing, at a volume level which you can use in any situation.

The one thing I wish existed is a 1x12 or 2x12 combo cab with this head built in. (They actually build it in to the Epiphone LP gift pack, but only with a puny 8" speaker). This head plus the matching 1x12 speaker cab makes a pretty sweet "mini stack", but it would be nice to be able to take a set-up like that to gigs without lugging two separate boxes around.

Then again, knowing that I can build any kind of "frankenstein stack" I want with this head is probably worth the hassle, so maybe I take that wish back a little.

This amp fits nicely in the class between "practice amp" and "wall of Marshalls". It can't replace either of those solutions, but for what it is, it's pretty darn near perfect.

I'm giving it a 9 because of it's versatility in the studio, where I'm using it at the present time. Mine has been modified and I'll explain that later. The key with this amp is the amount of gain/volume. It will probably never be a great heavy metal amp, but I don't play that kind of music.

I have the head and standard Lucky Lady cabinet.
Does killer AC30/Bluesbreaker/Tweed tone. Comes close to EL34 Marshall tone and doesn't kill the ears like my buddy's 1976 Marshall 50 watt Lead Bass combo.

This is my $.95 (That's 95 cent) modification:

Replace 68,000 ohm R2 with a 22,000 ohm 1/2 watt resistor.
Place a 150 picofarad ceramic disc capacitor in parallel with 1 MegOhm R6 (all of the mods on the internet say 100 picofarad or less; I say excess is best).

Sounds killer with a Tele and killer with a Les Paul.
Chime away brothers (and sisters)!

Yeah I'd gig without a backup, but I'm a reckless @ss.

Warranty, uh, better to modify it on top of the PC board in a way that can be completely visibly undone - also puts less strain on the solder joints and traces. I can't remember what the parallel resistor value would be to drop R2's value to 22K, but it can be easily done. I'll give Gibson 10 for past experience.

I've owned Marshall, Vox, Boogie, Mitchell, Fender, Ampeg, Traynor and Sunn tube amps. With a little encouragement, these cheap little buggers really sing.

Not even a consideration.

What this amp is all about. Absolute dynamite through the right speaker. I'm pushing an Eminence 10" Rajun Cajun. Louder than you think it would be, delicious wonderful full rounded tube tone.

Who knows? Cheap Chinese toy. What a marvel. There's not a lot to really go wrong. Murphy's law protects you here.

Can't imagine bothering fixing it. I've had it for a year now.

Been playing 35 years. Own lots of other gear, including several fairly expensive tube amps.

This little critter is one of my favorite favorites.

I've had it for over a year now. I'd most certainly simply replace it if it happened to break down.

Dollar for dollar, one of the best buy gear purchases around, IMO.

Well nothing to speak of. This Version 3 has a EH12ax7 and Sovtec EL84 and new OD. 4-8-16 ohm jacks.

Tried it in a low jam and it was totally lost in yhe mix. Plan on as a practice amp only.Clean up to 9 o'clock and way to diry for my taste after that.
But this is what it does. If you like Fender amp clean glassy tones you better try before you buy. No clean headroom.

no problems

n/a

Just didn't work out for me. As stated no clean headroom after 9 and way to muddy after that. Very well made. I bought with extension cab also very nice quality. Its going back. I'm bummed cause I really do like the simplicity. I prefer driving a clean sound for definition and dynamics. It is loud but unusable for band, just lost in mix. Good bedrm fun with pedals.