Epiphone Valve Junior Head

I guess mine was made in 09, bought it in june 09. It is a ver 3.
5 watts, a volume,and 4,8,16 ohm speaker outs. A tone pot would have been cool.
I play metal and rock. does not suit metal very well, I hooked up my metal zone pedal and LTD viper with EMG's, it was ok, but I have a mesa DC-3 for that. It kicks *** for rock though.

MODDIFING IS A MUST, YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!!! sewatt.com for all the info you need to know

I use a moddified fender jaguar HH with it. It has a seymour duncan pealry gates in the bridge and a seymour duncan jazz in the neck. I ripped the stock wireing out(cuzz it killed the bridge tone IMO) put a 3 way selector in, and split the coils.
Now to the amp. It sounded ok stock, was a little farty sounding when the volume was half way up. It did have a nice tube tone, very chimey. New JJ tubes helped quite a bit, but the real improvement was after I replaced about 15 or so resistors and capacitors(just changed the values of them), and 500meg volume pot. HUGE IMPROVEMENT!!!! I can get great tones, overtones, harmonics, overdrives, its touch sensitive. Mine loves my Fulltone Fulldrive overdrive pedal too. If its classic rock this amp will do it. Its very smooth and warm, mine does not get real clean anymore due to the mods, unless you work the volume and tone pots(still not very clean). The best part is the tubes, caps and res only cost me about 50-60 bucks and about 2 hours. I did the mods in 2 rounds, and it was well worth it. Cant wait to get a better output transformer for it.

never had a problem

hope i never find out

Ive had this thing for about 4 months, I would get anouther if it were stolen. I got it to get the cranked tube sound at a resonable volume(still to loud for a apt. with volume all the up). I havnt used it with a drummer yet but it should be loud enough to keep up, especially when boosted. After i modded it i took it to a local music store and played it against a vox night train, and it stood toe to toe with it. only the night train is more than double what i have invested in mine.
MODDING IS A MUST go to sewatt.com more info on these and other single ended amps than youll ever need to know. dont use the bitmo unless you want different sound options, they dont help some of the crucial tone enhancements.

Im not sure why Epi crippled these things but after 60 bucks worth of parts(the caps and resistors i changed were not any better guality just different values) a couple hours, basic sodering skills, I ended up with a amp I love.

Basic one volume knob 5Watts one el84 and one 12ax7

4ohm, 8ohm, and 16ohm outputs

first things first I have to say that this is in fact a very giggable amp if you want saturated sounds simply mic it through the pa and your good to go
please disregard anyone who says it is not giggable my band has played many venues big and small and this amp has not failed it is hard to hear onstage but thats why monitors where invented just politely ask the sound guys to turn it up on the monitors and you should have no problem with it
cleans are another story definately good for studio or home practice
but not live unless its at a coffe shop with no drums but thats it


I can honestly say this is my main giggin amp Im in a post-punk/new wave type band and this amp just rocks i personally dont like the thin high pitched guitar tones associated with the genres we play i love creamy thick vintage tone and this amp delivers i play through a fender telecaster and a Danelectro dc 59 and another telecaster with humbuckers I dont use many effects I stick with the basics bad monkey od and vox wah i use the bad monkey for a bit more gain and eq
so its always on with the amp set to 3 o'clock sweet smooth vintage tone with lots of harmonix is the product its suprisinly not very noisy even with single coils and the bad monkey on

this amp just shines with single coils but is also very good
with humbuckers its perfect for blues,punk,rock almost anything except for anything that requires massive cleans or metal

another quick note switch the stock tubes for jj's or mullards and its sonic heaven

anyone that wants to hear this amps tone go to www.myspace.com/theph1lsophies all the live songs where recorded with the valve jr and guitars listed above

I have had mine for 1 year and a half and no problems so far
also just to show how reliable it is
my band plays 2 weekends out of every month at least, many bars back yard parties and clubs its been hit and knocked down many times and it still works and sounds beautiful

totally road worthy if your not convinced buy a back up its not like
they cost a fortune

never used it

i think its 5 year warranty for electronics and

a 90 day for the tubes

been playing for 3 and a half years not as long as many others but I have played many amps and this is by far one of the best especially for the price

great amp would still buy it for double what i payed

Not sure the year. I play mostly Blues and Blues influenced Rock. Everyone who has posted reviews for this thing has covered the features. You don't buy these beasts for the bells and whistles, I for one went back to the EVJ after realizing that all kinds of knobs and features confuse the hell out of me.

I'm using a rather spartan setup. I play with an Epiphone LP Standard Plus Top guitar (has a gorgeous Ice Tea style burst) w/ a Gibson Burstbucker 1 in the neck position and a Seymour '59 in the bridge. Just gutted it and installed RS guitarworks Superpots for volumes, CTS 500K audio tapers for tones, and RS Caps (.015 neck, .022 bridge). Switchcraft mono jack and short switch complete the electronic. Right now I have just a crap Planet Waves 20 ft. cord going into an MXR Distortion III into the EVJ.

These amps are absolutely amazing. I have been running it in all different settings and especially love the dirty sounds. I have found that cranking the amp up all the way, running the gain on the MXR full up, and using the volume on the MXR as a MV elicits some of the most incredible overdrive sounds I have yet experianced. Just going right into the amp sounds great too, but this amp really needs a little bite from an OD to shine. Cranking it and having good electronics in your guitar lets you control all the dynamics.

I have been using many tubes. I tried a Mullard EL-84 but found out like everyone else has that these things love JJ EL-84's. They are just smoother and creamier than most others. The preamp slot has been floating between a Tung-Sol 12AX7 and a JAN/Phillips 5751. I personally love both. The JAN has slightly less gain and creamier qualities.

These things are very durable as far as I understand. I don't gig but if I did I would trust that with an Identicle backup I would be fine.

These things can't be beat for the price. I plan on getting some mods done to it. Go to turretboards.com and you will find some wonderful stuff. I'm sending it in for a Marshall style turret board, new Output transformer, standby switch, and sag mod.

Lots of luck to all the EVJ users out there. If you havent converted yet you will. Let's face it: Everyone loves power tube saturation. It's the sound of the records you know and love and these little beauties make it possible for all the bedroom players out there.

This is a review of version 3. The features are well known, nothing to add here.

Used with the matching VJr cab and Vovox drive speaker cable. Guitars: early 90ies Fender American Standard Stratocaster, 67' Guild Starfire III and Ibanez AK105SM. Very noisy from 12 o'clock, unbearable noise from 3 o'clock. Didn't matter to me because for home use more than 9 o'clock was just too loud. I was looking for a nice tubey clean sound anyway. It came with EHX 12AX7 and Sovtek EL84 tubes, I changed them to JJs which was an improvement in sound, not in noise.

The sound is nice and tubey but incredibly thin with no body at all. Sounds like an old pre ww2 radio (a good one though). You can get used to it if you don't use any other gear. But every time you switch back from a 'real' amp it will make you frown badly. If you get used to it, the tubes are fun. Lots of harmonics and very direct. For that, as a practice amp it will make you a better player.

Real low volume is possible but the tubes will not deliver their nice harmonics. You need to go to at least 9 o'clock before that happens and depending on your right hand technique this will already be too loud for use in an appartment.

I cannot comment on higher volume settings for I never used them.

I've ordered it online. The first one I received didn't work, I had to return it. The second one did work but after three weeks I sold it again. Therfore I cannot comment on longtime reliability. I probably wouldn't gig without a backup.

Never contacted them.

All in all, it was a huge disappointment. I had fun with the tube sound for a while but in long terms couldn't stand the thin sound. It is called 'Junior' for a reason: young players may have fun with it but if you're a little more experienced and know your tone, go and look somewhere else.

what features? 4 8 & 16ohm outputs
1 input i volume knob

i play metal and put a digitec hardwire metal pedal infront of it
and it's the best sound for home recording/ practice i've found
it can get pretty loud not enough to keep up with a drummer but that's what i have a 100watt head for- but for recoding guitar and lower volume practices this is the best sound i've ever heard.

i just got it time will tell

i bought a 2year warranty from the place i bought it

$150- no solidstate combo amp in this price range comes close
i really love this thing

Yes ten. Everything you need and nothing you don't: input, knob, switch, outputs for 4, 8, and 16 ohm cabinets. Version 3 I think, made in '08-ish. It's loud enough for what it is... certainly loud enough for a mic to pick up, so yes it's powerful enough. It's not going to blow your drummer away, but the whole point of this amp is that you can get real tube character at lower volumes. My last couple amps were Fender tube amps, most recently a hot rod deluxe, which only gave up the real tubey tone at a very high volume level. The Valve Junior is perfect for recording and live situations without too much stage volume. Not a stand alone rock gig amp... However, properly mic'd and monitored it would work. Or, given the price, you could buy two or three. I play classic rock mostly, and a little blues, and this amp sounds great. Other amps have sweet spots that are sometimes difficult to dial in. The Valve Junior doesn't really make any bad sounds.

I've played a variety of guitars through a variety of cabinets, and with a couple different preamp tubes, and most combinations were great. Single coils ring with harmonics. Humbuckers will make it break up sooner. It's not at all percussive or harsh. A 12AT7 instead of the 12AX7 dials down the overdrive, but IMO it also takes too much of the character of sound. I installed a Groove Tubes 12AX7 instead of the stock Chinese 12AX7, and that made it even better. It sounds like straight-up classic rock tube tone. I didn't want to believe the hype, but I saw it on Ebay for $75 and I couldn't resist. My expectations were high, and I am not disappointed. It's responsive in a way that makes you aware of nuances in your playing. It likes pedals, but doesn't need any to make great sound.

Time will tell.... It's so simple; what could possibly go wrong?

N/A just got it.

I've played for 20+ years, through every imaginable combination of gear... I love the sound of this amp. I would replace it if it were stolen. I'd like to see a 20W version for club gigs.

On/off switch, Volume, 4/8/16 ohm output. So for features, I give it a 2. For QUALITY of the features, I give it an 8. It does everything it should. Sounds good as soon as you plug it in. It rocks. And is the loudest 5 watts I've ever heard. So I'll average and call it a 6. If your looking at this amp, you know what it is and isn't supposed to do/be.

It sounds AWESOME! I love it. For years, the holy grail of sound to me was my friend's 56 or 57 tweed Fender Deluxe. I still love that amp. But this little guy does just as much, in my opinion. It's great. Clean up to about 10 oclock, then it just gets dirtier and dirtier. Nice creamy vintage-sounding distortion.

Nothing yet... I've travelled with it, played it a lot, haven't had any problems yet...

Epiphone has answered my questions, and even talks about modding it on their website. I don't think I'll have a problem, but I don't know yet...

I wish it were a 15 or 20 watter... That's my only problem with giving this amp a 10. I love it. Best $225(with the matching cab) I've spent on guitar equipment. Period. Do I miss the tone controls or anythign? No. If it sounded like crap I probably would, but it doesn't so I don't. I played a Fender champion 600 or whatever their little 5 watt amp is. This one was way better in my opinion... I've been playing for 15 years, and this little thing makes it all worth it. I've got a Jay Turser Moserite copy with a p90 and Eastwood Zippo pickup, a Chinese Tele copy with Fender guts, and a funky little Samick with 3 p90s. This amp loves them all, and sounds different with each one.

Paid $250 for the head/cab combo from GC. Amp has Input, Volume, and 3 speaker outs. Lack of features is not a shortcoming in my opinion. I've found myself using my guitar's tone controls more to get the sounds I want - something I should have been doing all along. I bought this amp as I wanted a clean amp - something without digital effects.

I just bought mine last month, and it's the Ver 3. Sounds great out of the box, but I stuck an old Amperex 12AX7 in it after a few hours - much brighter than the stock Sovtek. Changed out the EH EL84 as well to an unmarked 60s era NOS EL84 (best guess is Matsushita.) Again, a huge change in tone - now the amp resonates beautifully. If I add an analog chorus it sounds so nice - takes me back to the late 70s when chorus pedals first came out. I siomply can't get my chorus to sound this nice through any other amp.

Hard to believe how well these are made.

The Gibson Group is great. Kudos to whoever thought of a budget boutique amp. Also, thanks to Gibson for listening to buyers of a budget amp and making the upgrades.

I plan on modding it further. Luckily the Ver 3 fixed many of the earlier version's shortcomings. I would really like to add an effects loop between the pre and power stages. Shouldn't be too hard as the schematic comes with the amp. I think I may also order the upgrade kit from AlnicoMagnet off eBay. He seems to be the only modder who specifically makes a kit for the Ver.3 heads.

bought 3rd gen junior head ran hard for 13 months than sound cut out took to the amp to a amp guru said wasnt worth fixing. The screaming sounds i got with a broke in celes vin 30 blew me away lady luck sounded mushy in comparasin to afraid to buy a new one IM NO AMP TECH

VINTAGE LEADS ALTHOUGH IT DIDNT NEED; IT I RAN A SEYMORE DUNCANE TWIN TUBE DISTORTION WTH VOLUME ALMOST 8 DISTORTION ON 2 TO 3 WORKED WELL TOGETHER

NEED TWO TO GIG

ONE WARRANTY AFTER THAT YOU BETTER KNOW YOUR WAY AROUND AMPS I CANT SAY THEY WOUNDNT FIX IT AFTER THE WORANTY NAVER ASKED BUT I WILL AND LET U ALL KNOW

Paid $250 for the stack, head and cabinet, from GC. As mentioned, one volume control and 3 speaker impedance outputs: 4, 8, & 16 ohm. That's about it. I thought I'd add a tone knob, but after owning it for a few weeks now, I don't think I'll bother. You just have to use your guitar's controls. I do wish it had a spring reverb between the pre and power sections, but I may put one in later.

Excellent sound. I played around with different tubes and finally settled on a Holland made Amperex 12AX7 and a Japanese made Mytron EL84 (likely Matsushita) - both made in the 60s. I'll keep the Russian stock tubes for spares, but I really like the combination of the two I have in - very clear highs, pronounced mids, and tight bass.

I also like the way pedals sound through this head - especially my analog chorus and delay. Sweet.

I don't see how anthing can go wrong as simple as this amp is. The cabinet on both the amp and speaker cab are extremely well made.

Not sure if I'll need them, but Gibson and Epiphone have been around for a while.

I've been playing for over 25 years. Have owned many guitars and amps. I was looking for a good clean amp and was won over by this. I did not want anything with digital effect circuits on it.

Man, this is one hell of an amp! It's got that sound..that thick, crunchy tube tone that's been showcased on countless rock albums. And, my god, is it loud. Played at half volume for about half an hour, my ears were ringing. Anyhow, it's a really simple, 5W Class A tube head with a single volume knob. The stock tubes are a Sovtek EL84 and a Sovtek 12ax7. Anyone could take this out of the box, plug in a 4,8 or 16 ohm cab and play.

I currently own several guitars: a 1974 Les Paul Deluxe, a 2004 Mexican Telecaster, a Korean Strat and an 1981 Vantage Flying V clone. I use a home-made cab with two 12" 1966 Oxford 12J4 speakers.
As musical styles go, I play anything from Classic/Progressive Rock to Blues and funk. Much to my surprise, this amp is able to cover all of these genres quite well. The output is fairly clean up to about 10 o'clock on the dial, then the tubes begin to break up. While the distortion is nice at all volumes, it can be a bit "farty" higher up (3 o'clock+), especially using neck pickups.

This head is built impressively. I would have never guessed it was made in China until I looked at the back panel. The construction is very solid; it doesn't rattle or shake even when cranked. When I purchased the EVJ head, I assumed that it would be a good practice amp for home use. Now that I've been playing it for a little while, I won't hesistate to bring it to my next practice session or small gig. It easily can keep up with a drummer at half volume.

I purchased a one-year replacement warranty when I bought it, though I doubt I'll need it. I don't plan on seriously "modding" the head (bitmo, etc) but I'm considering eventually replacing the tubes to JJs to clear up some of the "fartiness".

I have been playing for roughly 9 years (17 years old) and have owned many different types of guitars, organs, synths, basses etc. Buy this amp. You won't regret it. Some folks turn their nose at 5W heads, but believe me, this is one amp that you'll cherish for years to come.

5 watt tube amplifier, combo with an 8 inch speaker. One volume control, a quarter inch input jack, and a power switch. It does get pretty loud and breaks up nicely on its own without a distortion pedal. Works great at home for practicing.

This amp has a great sound and the crunch is perfect. There's not much low end due to the speaker size but I like the classic rock sound you can easily get, especially with a humbucker in your guitar. I also play a telecaster through it and with the tone knob down most the way on the guitar I can get a pretty well rounded crunch with a little less output. I pactice with band and haven't had to turn the volume all the way up yet, although it sounds great cranked

The amp is small and not too heavy. The strap expands a bit and is comfortable, its just light enough to carry in one hand. The back is covered and the power cord detaches. Its a simple design, for me it takes all the thinking out of it and its a nice change of pace.

Haven't used them yet

I picked this amp up used for $80 and I can say that its the best deal I've gotten on any piece of gear. Even to buy one new at $150 would be worth it to me. Its easy to get a good sound out of it and its responsive to my picking touch like any other tube amp. I would be pissed if it got lost or stolen, I'd have to buy another one for sure

Won't repeat what's been said already. This amp is a lesson in abstract minimalism, except you can plug into it and it has a class A EL84 output section. Nice.

I play a range of stuff around the whole rock-blues-jazz-alt-metal-funk kinda area. Current setup is very minimal: Fender Tele or Gibson Melody Maker into a Vox Wah, Boss DS-1, Z.Vex SHO and Ibanez tuner into the amp.

My amp didn't remain stock for very long, but from what I can remember the sound has a lovely blues combo vibe but a but thin and sterile, and perhaps a little boxy too.

I've since performed the Bitmo Trio mod (tone control, boost and input impedance voicing), replaced the output transformer for a Ceriatone SE, stiffened the power supply with a brace of huge 100uf caps, fitted a faux-sag function (essentially a resistor in the power supply designed to limit current flow just like a valve rectifier) and a standby switch. And of course replaced the tubes with a Tesla 12AX7 and JJ EL84.

It sounds infinitely better now. My head is a V3 unit so it has a proper 5.2K output transformer but the stocker is still too small. One of your first mods should be to leaver that little lump of metal out of the chassis and fit in a serious chunk of iron... I went the Ceriatone route but a Hammond 125ESE is standard practice. Don't skimp on size; not only sound all that iron give you serious tone but when you decide to do an octal mod (which you will after you run out of other stuff to do to the amp) you'll need to handle the high output.

The Bitmo Trio adds the bit of tonal diversity that the stock amp obviously lacks. Being able to tame some of the amp's stock high end is good. The boost function gives a welcome step up in gain though we're talking just-breaking-up overdrive. I find even with the boost on and the SHO cranked it's still a very moderate amount of drive - AC/DCesque. For genuine distortion you will need to put a pedal in front of it (hence the DS1).

The best part of the Bitmo mod is the impedance switch. The decals say "Lo - Mo' - Whoa!" but essentially it is "Fender - Marshall - Balls Out!". "Lo" is full sounding, bubbly and bright, with a good bass extension. "Mo'" is more midrangey, tighter and great with a bit of distortion in front - pure classic rock. "Whoa!" is a bit of an animal... the level boost is huge and there is no quiet setting as such... it goes from loud to very loud only! It is a cracking tone though... huge presence, great harmonics.

Unmodded sound is about a 6 - modified a 10!

I'm sure it was very reliable until I stuck my soldering iron in it! ;-)

Actually even despite my best attempts to undo all of Epiphone's hard work it is still rock solid. The cabinetry work defies the price they sell these guys for... they might have skimped a bit on the tubes and OT, but the head and extension speaker cabs are solid as a rock and the covering is trimmed very nicely indeed.

Internally it is tube sockets on a PCB but very little in there gives me need for concern. You wouldn't gig without a backup (or at least, a full set of replacement tubes and fuses) because that's just commonsense, but nothing about the VJ screams "fragile".

Warranty... LOL... my warranty was voided within 3 hours of ownership.

Actually, Epiphone are geniuses. "Let's make an amp everyone will modify, because they'll buy it just to modify, hence all the warranties will be voided and we'll never had any returns!"

Seriously, your backup is the great folks at sewatt.com. They're all you need.

I've been playing guitar for something like 14 years, though these days I play bass and drums in a professional sense more often. Guitar is something I just do for myself or around the BBQ at parties.

As I get older (hmmm.. I'm only 28) I'm starting to appreciate a much simpler and to-the-point style of playing and this reflects in the gear I'm now using... gone are the multieffect floorboards, digital modelling amps and shreader axes, replaced with simple, honest guitars, pedals and amps. The Valve Junior, which is about as simple and honest as amps come, suits this philosophy perfectly. It's small and portable, plenty loud, easy to use and full of great valve tone. And of course, it costs so little. It's perfect.

It also has reawakened the electronics geek hacker in me, and it is so rewarding to modify an amp yourself to suit YOUR ideas and YOUR style of playing. I've still got lots more that I want to do with it; I want to add a parallel octal output stage (6V6), an extra gain stage in the pre and spring reverb... maybe even old Fender style tube-tremolo. I really want to see how much you can fit into this little package. I also would like to replace the Eminence speaker in the 1x12 cabinet with something better like a Vintage 30.

Basically, the Valve Junior is what you put into it. It is a blank canvas - you have to make it great. The good thing is that the price of entry is cheap, and the cost of modification is even cheaper, and you'll end up with a great sounding amp for a fraction of the cost of a boutique low watter. And the best part is, it will totally be your own.

I took a chance on this amp after seeing a barrage of amps at the guitar center. I could have easily spent about $80 more and gotten a fender superchamp with 2 channels and effects/eq...but I wanted something simple. Can't get much simpler than one volume knob!

I use this amp only in my home studio. I can barely turn it up past 12 o'clock without the light fixtures rattling!!

The newest ver3 comes with JJ12AX7 Pre and JJEL84 Power. I have put in the TungSol 12AX7 and recommend it as your first cheap and easy mod!

The Eminenance speaker is great in my opinion, but I'd like to try others in the future. with the half stack, I have that option!

Plus this ver3 has 3 outputs (16, 8 and 4 ohm)

I'm playing bluesy rock, beatles, cracker, nashville sound, etc. and it totally nails it!!

Quiet amp for all volume levels

I love when I'm really grooving, it almost sounds like reverb happening but when I stop, it stops. Must be something inherent to the Tubes. This is my first tube amp.

The distortion really starts up about 12 o'clock and up. and it growls but still has plenty of tone and separation. not all muddled (AFTER MODS!!).

I think it's built like a brick **** house, personally. Not only is it pretty but it's tough!

Haven't dealt with them. I did the BitMo mods, so I lost my warranty by self servicing.

Been playing 25 plus years, off and on.
I'd buy it again if lost of stolen but might also move on up to someother tube amp now that this little $250 amp has whet my whistle!

Love the way it sounds and looks. Love how easy it is to just come home, turn on, plug in, and go! couldn't be easier. I remember inthe past i'd spend 30 minutes tweaking this and that trying to get a sound instead of just playing, and improving my own technique instead of trying to mask it with EQ and effects.

It's got 1 volume knob. That's it. I won't give a score here because for some people, it's a plus, and for others, a detractor.

Stock, the low end sounded flabby and farty. That's really the only thing I remember about it before I started modifying it.

After the mods, It has a much tighter bottom end, a sparkly high end, a switchable gain boost, and crunchier distortion. It sounds the way I want it to sound.

In all honesty, this is an amp you buy to mod. With a few mods, this amp roars, and the possibilities are nearly endless (it won't do metal). This amp has the potential to be anything you want (which is why I give it a 10). If you're going to mod it, I highly recommend you check out sewatt.com rather than buy a bitmo kit. You'll learn alot more, and you won't have just another bitmo VJR.

If you don't feel like being adventurous with mods, then you might want to look at the crate V series.

Construction wise, it's a very sturdy setup. I think you'd be hard pressed to break it.

Internally, the power tube is dissipating too much power stock. It is also lacking a screen resistor, which is a safety feature designed to blow out before the entire circuit gets destroyed if something goes bad. These aren't immediate threats, but can affect the amp's overall longevity. If you're going to mod this amp, those are the first two things you need to do.

i'm not sure i have a warranty, not after what I've done to it. Once you start modding, you are your own customer service.

I've only been playing a few years. I'm not good at identifying "tone" yet. However, I do know this amp is much better than my previous amp, a rogue RG120R. It has a great tube character to it that I've never experienced before. It has a nice warm clean tone, and that awesome tube crunch.

What attracted me to this amp was its ability to be customized, its price, and the fact that it's a tube amp. If you want an amp that you can put your heart and soul into to create something you could never buy from a store, this is the amp to get.

features....ok we all know this by now: a low wattage, single ended, diode rectified, el84 driven guitar amplifier, at its rootsy, stripped down best. input, volume. reminds me of my first amp that i found in the garbage and used every day for 2 or 3 years- except unlike my first, this Epiphone is much more powerful and it is tube driven. a big rave to the 4/8/and 16 ohm output options, as i have many different speaker boxes laying about. i currently use this amp mostly through a 4 ohm, late '50s/early 1960s, fifteen inch, ceramic magnet, low wattage jensen speaker, mounted in a homemade pine plank box.
for those of you Big Boys who are way too cool to get anywhere near a 5 watt amp, well, keep going because you will never get it: genuine music isn't about using your equipment to reflect your perceived manhood; that phenomena started with hendrix, peaked with led zep, and (should have)ended with hair metal in 1988.
anywho, this is an amp for bedroom/practice/recording use; it is not a pete townsend era stadium rocker, nor should that style be the end-all benchmark for all guitar amps. the first 15 years of electric guitar music, whether it be country, jazz, blues, or rock, was virtually ALL done on amps of this caliber. 5 watts RMS is plenty of power for bedroom/practice/and most recording applications.

first off, i use the VJ with a fender spring reverb tank up front. you know, the big tube powered boxes that the surf guys used, i forget the model; its a reissue. only way to go with reverb is springs, IMO.
i am a strat man, predominately. i am into old roots country, blues, and jazz but i have played, and enjoyed, most genres(yes even metallica).
my main strat has a messed up tone pot; basically it is full on unless i twist it around for 10 minutes- in my opinion, full on strat gives me too much high end sparkle through this amp. but, that is my problem, not the amp. when i do get the tone backed off without crackling, it sounds fantastic- rich with harmonics, clear, beautiful, captivating. i also have a humbucking guitar, which is on the muddy end(schecter), and wide open treble is a non-issue with this guitar. bottom line, if you are a single-coil player, dial back the treble a bit. humbuckers, no problem.
BUT, this amp lacks in the bass department. i have played it through closed backed 2x12s, open 1x12s, an open 1x15, and in every case, low end is lacking. that is my one and only complaint with this amp, and i bet(and i will try this winter) that a simple (but expensive) output tranny swap will work wonders for this issue.
i originally purchased this amp with the intention of learning a bit about electronics, maybe swapping out some resistors and capacitors, and so i am not at all dissappointed in spending $139 or whatever it was. for that money, its the best bargain i have ever purchased.
this amp is a perfect amp to use as a canvas for tube experimentation, also: it is so pure in circuitry, you will be able to easily discern differences in tubes if indeed they exist. this summer i had the chance to finally crank the VJ, with different output tubes, and that is where the tube type makes a difference- in the cranked settings. the newer el84s that had the most robust vacuum seemed to be the loudest and fuzziest. they also seemed to transmit more high end sparkle. the old output tubes i have('50s and '60s Matsushitas, VOM, Phillips, and unknowns)seem to sound best (probably due to treble cut)at lower volumes.
preamp tubes, same thing, i experimented with the 12__7 family: i have tried 12ax7, 12au7, 12ay7s in this amp; all have different gain factors; all drive the el84 differently, and behave differently at different volumes.
as i intimated, this amp is a virtual laboratory for <i>really</i> learning about tubes and tube circuits; thus far i have only scratched the surface.

no problems yet. with printed circuit boards, one should expect issues in the decades or centuries to come, but again: this amp is cheap. one way to make it cheap is to print the circuitboards. so who cares? it is such a simple design, that if it is treated responsibly and run at moderate levels, then it will likely be reliable.

not applicable

i have been messing with electric guitars for more than 25 years. i have owned other gear; the most relevant to this review are: 1980s Fender Stage Lead II (solid state); Marshall JCM800(tube, but incorporates diode clipping); Orange Tiny Terror(all tube); early '70s Traynor YGL-MKIII(all tube); Mesa Boogie Lone Star(all tube), Crate solid state head(can't remember make/model).
this amp is a keeper. i will reference it, tweak with it, enjoy it for what it is: a simple, stripped down, all tube, no-excuses, basic guitar amplifier.
my future goals are to build point-to-point fender(twin or deluxe) and marshall(jtm) clone kits, when finances allow.

epiphone valve jr head& 1*12 epi cabinet. 3rd version head

wooow thats pretty cool mini stack.

one volume and power switch only.

4,8,16 ohm out

12inch eminence lady luck speaker

i use with esp ltd ec400at. i try with digitech bad monkey so its very cool 70s and esrly 80s overdrive sound .

clean sound is very cool.its no like fender brighty clean.

you must be use eq pedal .i'll try boss mt 2 for heavysounds.

So i try epi cabinet with peavey classic 30 combo.Epi lady luck sound very close blue marvel sound.but peavey combo original a little bit good then epi cabinet.

its very solid

i dont need

im 8 years played electric guitar.this things very compact .its cheap .its very cool looking.this is very good amp for money.i wish it has effects loop ,stand by switch and preamp volume and eq .

1 SWITCH 1 VOLUME Point off for no stand by. Otherwise perfect!

Ok with the stock valves EH AND SOV EL84 it still fantastic but breaks up a little early and a little hard sounding with Humbuckers so an 8. Put a Mullard EL84 and a JAN 5751 and it is the perfect amp for small venues and a Strat. Through a semi closed peavey classic cab loaded with a single gm25 greenback this set up is perfect. Not a bad sound throughout the dial. At gigs i put the volume at 12 o clock and slam the front end with various pedals to taste. Perfection to my ears. Bought another head and matching epi cab but put both a Mullard el84 and 12ax7 and it has a creamy breakup that compliments the first rig perfectly. A stereo set up that's easy to move and cheap but sounds a million dollars with the NOS valves. The circuit is so simple and pure it really allows the tone of these wonderful valves from yesteryear to shine and each of my guitars voices comes through intact. To give you an idea of where i am coming from my last amp which i have sold due to this rig was a DR Z MAZ JUNIOR great amp but this rig gets me 95% there tone wise and i have the option of a stereo set up or simply a back up. The volume is spot on for small gigs and if not just mike up. These amps with the right tubes are fantastic, chime, bell like tones that bloom as the notes decay..metal look elsewhere classic rock and blues they're a must have. Point to point vs Circuit boards means nothing when you use good valves. Repairs etc sure PTP is better than a circuit board, but sound wise please..there is no difference!

Pretty simple amps but will see how the transformers go.

Please.

I've owned Rivera's too many to list but a Venus 6 for one, DR Z'S MAZ & Z28, Genz Benz Black Pearl, Laney tt, vc, lc, THD Univalve, Emery Sound, Tech 21 Trademark 60 and 10 don't knock em til you try em, Engl Thunder 50, Marshall DSL50, DSL 201, I've played through most Bad Cat's and Cornford's as well as numerous Fenders. The reason for the run down was not to brag but simply to show i can compare these amps to top shelf gear and am not 11 in my bedroom. Only been playing 10 years but am in my 30's and have been gigging 6 of those so these amps have been used live in a band setting playing mostly radio rock and originals. These are a cheap alternative that will get you into that boutique EL84 book of tone with some NOS Valves and still keep the majority of your hard earned cash in your pocket. They are so cheap that you could afford 2 and not think twice. I love them and although i don't regret my EXPENSIVE amp adventures i've learnt you don't have to spend big to sound good and wish i had found these amps much sooner!!

An on/off switch, a volume knob, 3 different impedance speaker outlets - ummm yep thats it. Its simple and I LOVE simple.

An awesome little amp that grew on me the more I used it. Initially I thought it sounded quite dark and muddy when cranked and had no clean voice but then I discovered (doh!) that the numbers of, wattage and design of speakers made a huge difference. Ended up with a Celestion 35 watt 12" speaker and found the spot. After reading a couple of forums I swapped the 12ax7 preamp tube for a lower gain 12AY7 and, for me that really did the trick. Tone went from good to awesome and it gained a clean voice at reasonable volumes as well. The amp naturally drives really nicely but it really loves pedals as well - so you can make it sound how you want. With the volume cranked there is little background noise. I play a MIA strat and 2 Maton humbucker loaded guitars through it and they all maintain their character and sound good.
I play this at home and can acheive all sorts of good sounds (jazz, blues, rock and filth) at neighbour friendly volumes - turn it up and your ears will ring. I also own a Boogie Nomad 55 amp and find that I love the sound of the junior as much and, because it works at lower volumes, I play the epi more often. My rating with the original 12ax7 = 6, with the 12AY7 = 9.

Because it is so small and light I tend to take it to jams and sessions etc, so it gets transported alot. Plug it in and it always fires up. Been playing it daily for over 18 months and it's never broken down. Fek, at this price you could could buy 4 and just swap them around if they broke.

Bought it second hand and immediately opened it up for a look inside. Warranty - POOF, what warranty. I've never had to do customer support in the 18 months its been mine.

Playing electric since 2002 and this was the best amp purchase ever. I bought it as an experiment and was really surprised by what it delivered. A really simple, cheap, good sounding amp - its a no brainer, buy 2.

Volume and power switch.

Update to previous posting

Swapped tubes. Originally came with sovtek tubes. OD was HARSH and hard to get a good tone out of.

Replaced with a Tung Sol reissue 12ax7 and a JJ el84.

The distortion is sooner, and much, much smoother. With a TS9 for boost, it is 80's metal.

Highly recommend tube swappage. Much better OD. Clean sounds the same. (jazz baby, yea!)

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.

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.

Why do I give a one knob amp such a high feature rating? Because simplicity is the best feature you can have! One power tube, one preamp tube, one switch, one knob...one kick *** old school tube amp! The reason I bought this is because I bought a Marshall Plexi reissue....fantastic amp but too loud for home and you MUST use a good guitar or it really shows. Same with this amp though but cos its less loud, its less irritating when using **** guitars.

Sounds fantastic. I mean 200AUD? Can't be right can it? I use a strat through this head and in through a marhsall cab with greenbacks. I do use pedals with it. I use a Tonebone valve distortion pedal and instantly hammer saturated vox queen sounds. beautiful mid ranges. Hendrix is also very acheivable. To be honest I cant dont need to say anything.. This Amp can acheive anything based on you guitar and pedal setup. Its simple, pure valve tone is all it needs. Loudness is perfect for the home. You have to mic it for gigs but hey its sounds awsome. You can easily get a crap sound out of it if you use the wrong pedal and guitar. But it does compliment and is very pedal friendly for sure.

Made in China...however again its so simple not much can go wrong with it even if an ape made it. AWSOME!!!!! So wat if it breaks down...dish out another days pay and u got another one! I really respect this amp.

This amp is incredible. you can achieve anything with it if you use the right guitar, cab and pedal. And a great sound at that! Enough said. Stick a Squire strat in and you get "decent" tone but with flabby mids and dark lifeless to an extent solos. Plug in a USA Strat, Gibson or Ibanez and you get screaming well balanced perfect pinch harmonics sounds...Bass, midd and treble even out perfectly to make you smile. Id pay $1000 for this amp. It blows away any artificial bull**** of an amp marshall AVT100 etc with loads of "features" which just colour the sound and make it sound like an asmatic ant with heavy shopping blowing through a straw. Feel free to comment back on anything I have said. Cheers

This amp is truly bare bones, and i love it.

Here's the specs out of the box:

Pre-Amp Tube/Valve: 1x 12AX7A (will be either a Sovtek, Eectro-Harmoix, or JJ/Tesla Tube (Most likely a Electro-Harmonix))
Power Tube/Valve: 1x EL84 (Either a Sovtek, Electro-Harmonix, or JJ/Tesla Tube (Most Likely a Sovtek))
Solid State Rectifier
5watt RMS Power output
Single Ended Class A, Cathode BIAS
4, 8, & 16 Ohm speaker output
35watt power consumption


This Amp as only one channel, and no other knobs besides the volume control, and besides that, the input jack and the On/Off switch there is nothing else on the face of the head.

This amp lacks a standby switch which i really believe would have been a nice feature to include.

This amp is alot more versatile than most reviews let on. They tend to describe this amp as only good for blues and nothing else. However this Amp is able to turn out tones that range from Eric Clapton to Black Sabbath and anyone in between, with a little help from some effects pedals. I recomend the use of a ProCo Rat2 distortion pedal. This will give you enough versatility to play anything from Blues to Grunge to Old-School Metal.

Straight out of the box this amp is very impressive, and simple modifications will make it even more so.

First of all, you must understand that this amp is a replica of 50's and 60's Era low wattage tube amps with some modern benefits. Therefore you should understand that it is a little more tonally tempermental than most, and highly sensitive to minute playing variations.

A important tip that I would like to give you is to let it warm up for 30, 45 mins or even an hour, before you play. It will of course begin normal operation in 10 or 15 seconds, but I feel that the tone improoves greatly if you give it time to warm up.

The Volume knob will give you a warm and clean sound from the off position to about 10 or 11 o-clock, at this point it moves into a pushed sort of distortion until it reaches about 1 or 2 o-clock, and from then on it begins to produce rich, and thick distortion.

This amp is known for letting the pure sound of your guitar ring through, so the tone may vary significantly from one guitar to another, i personally use a Gibson-Epiphone 1966 re-issue SG with a Dirty Fingers pickup in the bridge position, and a Gibson Alnico 2 pick-up in the bridge possition. I hope to swap the Alnico for a '57 Classic pickup soon which should improve my tone siginificantly.

This amp is known for having some muddy lows at times, but i find that the problem is almost non-existant as long as the amp is given proper warm-up time. These problems are also removed via amp modifications, and swapping in higher quality tubes. Most users recomend changing the tubes with JJ/Tesla Tubes if the amp does not allready come with them. An EQ pedal can also be used as a solution to the low end problem.

This amp is a dream for anyone who wants to play blues, and any 60's or 70's rock or Metal.

Some claim that the amp has a problem with noise and hum. I personally do not find this to anything at all significant, and only barely noticable. And it's not anything that I haven't heard in even a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier. If you do find it has any hum problems, this is usually solved by installing better tubes or preforming some amp mods.

One final note: this amp has only 5watts and many write it off simply because of that (I was told by one man that if it only has 5watts I was no better than one of the little mini solidstate amps made by Fender and Marshall, but he was wrong, i've used both and I know.) This amp is however very, very loud. I turned it to 9-o-clock at guitar center on Black Friday (anyone who's ever been to a Guitar Center on Black Friday knows how incredibly noisy and packed it can be,) my companion who was at the other end of the store said she could hear me loud and clear over the comotion.
As for giging volume, it does come close, however for many venues it comes too short. but this can be solved by simply running the head through a larger cabinet, or micing it and running it throught he venue's PA system (my prefered method).
I find this amp is also just fine for band practice, unassisted.

I find this amp to be very reliable, as long as you don't do anything stupid to it. (i.e. play in the rain)

The customer support is handled by Gibson Inc. and is helpful, friendly, available (24/7), and knowledgable.

1-800-444-2766

I've been playing for some years now, And I generally use Gibson Style Guitars (i.e. SG, Les Paul etc.) I generally use brands other than Boss for my pedals, and stomp boxes, and I am a big fan of the Monster Cable line.

If this amp were lost or stolen I do believe that i would by another one. The only other amps that I would buy other than this if I had the money would be the Epiphone Blues Custom (maybe,) a Marshall Vintage Tube Stack, or a Orange Stack.

Once again the only complaints I have is some muddy low-ends, that i can usually fix with proper warm-up, and can be fixed with different tubes, or mods, and the fact that it does not have a standby switch.

One final statement:
This amp is very very veristile and can hit almost any tone imaginable except for extreem, searing metal, as long as you run good FX pedals and stompboxes through it.

If you want an affordable, versatile, Tube Driven, classy, asthetic Amp, this is exactly what you want.