Epiphone Valve Special Combo

I've owend this amp for almost a year now, using it almost exclusivly with my Nashville Telecaster. Overall, I'm fairly pleased with its performance, a difinite good buy for the money. Specific cons would fisrt and foremost include the 16 included effects. They greatly amplify background noise when being used, and with no adjustability I haven't found many of them "practical", rather they seem kind of gimmicky. I supppose not much more can be expected of builtin effects on a budget amp, but I would rather have a nice tremelo, etc than 16 lousy effects. The amp produces a nice tube tones, especially when overdriven with the gain maxed out (which is usually where it resides for myself). Tone control could be a little better, as the EQ seems a little flat at times. The extension speaker option is a nice feature, as ive heard good things about the amp when hookup up to an additional cab. All-in-all, the Valve Special represents a great practice amp at a considerably low price.

Same as the others

I use with SG and Strat with Lace Holy Grail PUPS. This is a reveiw of the amp as purchased from the store, I have not modded or made any changes to the amp at all. My style of music is blues and classic rock and this guitar suits it perfectly. It is not noisy , in fact there are no problems with the sound at all, just a little dark. I am hoping to clear up with new speaker and new tubes. I do not think it needs any further mods because the sound is so close, just a little dark. The speaker change may be enough.

Amp can pull off the same sounds as a Hot Rod Deluxe, just not as full sounding, and not as loud. Same sounds, just better in the Hot Rod. I would call that not much variety, but if you have a good guitar, you can make a good variety of sounds. This amp LOVES PEDALS!! If you are just wanting a good basic tone to color, you cant go wrong here.

Dont know.

dont know

20 years playing, 5 years professionally. Faded SG, Stratocaster w/Lace Holy Grails.

If lost, I would replace with the exact same model. I want to say here that the other small amps sound really small. Because of the larger cabinet of the Special, it sounds like a bigger amp to my ears. Valve Standard sounded even better, but I didnt need that many watts. The only amp I have heard that comes close to real guitar sounds in this price range. I bought this only because I jammed with a guy who had a Junior that I thought sounded great for home use, when I went to try one out at the store, I heard the Special and it was just as good, for me, as a Hot Rod Deluxe, and I would much rather have this than a Fender 600 or Blues Junior.

Class A, 5 watt valve combo amp (3 valves) with built in effects (delay/chorus/flanger and reverb) and a 10 inch speaker. 1 channel.
Equaliser: gain, middle, bass, treble and master volume. And has a stand by switch to keep the valves on when your not playing and a external speaker jack. Nice 50's style Retro basket weave cab.
(Made in China).

Firstly, this is a blues amp, not for metal and is basically a practice amp with it's own tone. The stock speaker is muddy and farty and needs to be replaced, I replaced mine with a celestion g10. When you do replace it with a good speaker it will transform the amp.
The cabinet itself is fairly large for a 5 watt and so it does not suffer from a 'boxey' sound like some other small valve amps.
The reverb is certainly usable, but the digital delay, chorus and flanger are not, but you get what you pay for digital effects are never good, i didn't buy the amp for that, i had my own pedals, also when using the effects, it hums, but is barely noticeable.
As for sound, the amp is good, clean is good fairly clear and a little chimey and it gives good bluesy overdriven/crunchy sounds. I play British stuff, Stone roses and Oasis, it is fine for that, very good with a speaker replacement. The clean channel breaks up quite nicely. Rating: 7 with a stock speaker and 9 with a G10 Celestion.

The amp is fairly new, so no opinion, seems solidly built though.

No opinion, never needed to contact Epiphone, would they respond to a guy in England about his valve special? Doubt it.

You have to replace the speaker and when you do you will have a really nice amp. It is good value and has good features, the digital effects are not great, are digital effects ever great?
I replaced mine with a Celestion G10 and it sounds nice. I can now play harder stuff, more distorted, using my Boss ds1 it sounds great. I have been playing 10 years and needed a practice amp, I wanted a Fender Blues Junior but didn't want to spend ??400 on a 15 watt amp. I would say over a laney lc15 I would still buy this as it sounds good with a speaker replacement and not as 'boxey' as the laney. Instead of adding digital effects they should have just made sure a decent speaker was used. I love the look of the amp, the basket weaving, chicken knob controls, equaliser, fairly versatile, good value for money for a true class A valve amplifier for home use. No complaints. Recommended.

Pretty well explained by other reviews: made in 2007, 5 watt tube amp, 10" speaker, built in digital effects and reverb.

Mine has been modified, though. I replaced the generic 10" speaker with a 12" Celetion. The cabinet is just barely big enough but a bit of routing the new speaker fits perfectly. I have also completely bypassed the digital effects and reverb so that the sound chain is as analog as possible. This makes the amp basically a single channel tube amp with low, mid, treble controls.

I wasn't going to bother writing a review until I read the one written by "David." No offense, but my experience is completely different from his.

With the new speaker and no digital effefects, the amp sounds amazing! The tone is pure and sweet. The EQ controls have minimal impact, but adjusting the Gain and Master Volume controls gives a pretty impressive range of tones.

This is easily the loudest 5 watt amp I have ever heard. Last night I played played bass with two guitarists; one used my Epi with a Strat and the other a Vox AC15 with a Tele. My Epi blew away the Vox!

This amp also loves pedals. I have an assortment of the Danelectro mini pedals even these "cheap" effects really shine through the amp.

Some have complained about how heavy the amp. Well it is and I'm glad! A large part of a combo amp or speaker cabs sound comes from the box itself. Rather than going with lightweight (usually = cheap) materials, this box is as solid as they come. That stability really adds to the speaker performance.

I have been inside the amp itself and was impressed by how clean everything is. Nice and tidy. Makes it easy to modify or fix.

The tube sockets and spring clips are a bit flimsy, however.

Never had to use.

To my mind, this is the perfect amp. Every signal chain starts with a good guitar into an amp with the best clean tone. Then you can add whatever you want to get your sound. Starting with a crappy clean sound is just asking for trouble.

This amp only does one thing but it does that better amps costing 4-5 times as much.

This is a brand new amp. At first look you think this is an amaizing amp. Master volume, Reverb, Efx. plus bass, mids, and treble. Class A amp. If you look schematics the first tube its on parallel like some marshalls. A knockout for the price...but..

I Powered up and 15 min later the play button. Hum. I plugged my PRS and the sound was ok, nothing to celebrate. i connect the speaker from my 66 pacemaker and the tone comes alive. The stock epi speaker its lifeless. The clean tones are ok, but the strong point of this amp is the overdrive because you can crank all the stages of this amp at low volume. You will never get metal dist, or some high gain with out stomp box. The reverb and the DSP are noisy and below the average. The construction is ok but HEAVY for a 5 watt amp. I dont see the point of a 44lbs. 5 watt amp. I weighted all the parts and the most was the box. Wood press is so heavy and too thick, thinner wood or ply wood could be great for the weight.

I will never gig with it. Too heavy and low wattage even for small clubs. If you plan to play in starbucks its ok, but for the size and the weight i rather a micro cube or a behringer amp. I'm too close to get my money back. Maybe I will. i dont know.

The amp came with small tear in the back tolex. I blame UPS in the first place but the box was not beat in any way. I was not aware that the amp was dancing inside the box in a plastic bag with small pices of carton. VERY POOR PACKED. I think this an epiphone fault. not ZZounds

Playng for +20 years, own a PRS Cu 24, a ES 335, Fender Bassman 10, Epi pacemaker, acoustic and nylon guitars, Custom Made Bass

Fairly versitile amp, I mean unlessyou want to play metal this amp will probably help you out with clean and low gain sounds, one channel, i use this amp to practice in my basement, its got enough power to jam with an average volumed drummer,(loudest 5 watts ive ever heard,) but i definetly wouldnt use it at a show, i dont use the delay much unless im just messing around, the flange is ok i guess,the chorus is your typical built-in-to-amp quality, not perfect but usable, i could use a footswitch, but as for tone control i couldn't ask for much more. I play mainly classic rock, blues, and occasionally a little modern rock and this amp suits me well.

like i said before, i couldnt ask for much more tone control for my style of music, its got incredible tone at low volumes, cant be beat.
the overdrive is suited for blues, if you turn it up all of the way i guess you could make a sad attempt at metal but i doubt it would be any good. no humm at all, a except for a fait buzzing when the master volume and gain are at their most.

one time i thought it was breaking down but it turned out just to be my guitars input, easily fixed, so no issues.

no opinion

if it was stolen i would buy it again the next day, i compared it to another all tube 10 year old peavey, a few kustoms, a g dec, and a tube hybrid 20watt marshall, this one had the best tone.

Basic stuff with some cheap effects. The effects do what they're supposed to do though. It's a home/practice/recording amp.

This amp is dark. Rather that tweak or mod it, or change the speaker, take it for what it is. It's a musical instrument, a class a 5 watt tube amp with it's own distinctive sound. This ampmade me rediscover my strat bridge pu. Plug a twangy tele into it and yin meets yang. Kinda like Pages tele/supro combo (use the bridge pu).

no problems.

Haven't been there.

This things got Character.

Single channel, single-ended Class-A amp, with Volume, Gain, Treble, Midrange and Bass controls. 5-watts output, powered by a single EL-84 and two 12AX7 preamp tubes.

The DSP effects (Delay, Chorus, Flanger) are really really bad, but the reverb is surprisingly good.

Also, the Valve Special has a standby switch, which is a plus, but it lacks an extention cab line-out and an effects-loop.

Note to Epiphone: get rid of the incredibly cheesy DSP effects, add an effects-loop and an extention-cab line-out, and you've got something to crow about.

Unlike so many amp manufacturers who falsely advertise "Class-A" operation with two or more power tubes, the Valve Special is a true single-ended "Class-A" amplifier, with only one EL-84 power tube.

I play mostly blues and early-70s rock. My axes are Strats and Lesters with Lollar pups, and I'm able to get a big fat tone out of this amp without a whole lotta mud. Bass is set at 9 O'clock, with the Mids and Treble maxed-out. But the trick is to max-out the Volume knob, so you're pushing the power tube, then dial in the Gain knob to between 9 and 12 O'clock, depending on taste. The result is a very nice bluesy sound with just a bit of crunch on top. The stock 10" speaker is mediocre at best, so I'm going to up-grade to a Jensen Alnico 10' rated at 15-watts. Also, the stock tubes sound a bit lifeless, so a tube up-grade is called for as well.

On the plus-side, the amp handles stomp-boxes very nicely with only minimal singal noise or microphonics. For only $375 (Canadian Dollars), the Epiphone Valve Special is a very pleasant surprise.

Only has it for less than two months...

I've been playing for 35 years, and this "true Class-A" amp is defintely worth $375.

Great for practice, rehearsal, and small club dates.

The serial indicates a 2005 mfj. date. I originally purchased this product because I wanted to tear it apart and see if I could add some embelishments or refinements. Also there were no Valve Jr. heads available. The amp is versitile and has relatively good tone. The features are nice and the reverb sounds better than in my Roadking I. I was intrigued by the price I expected crap and received quite a supprise. I will use the amp for practice and if I go over to a friends house. Its quite full featured for the price.

Variety is not strong point of a single ended amp, however, with the reverb and the DSP more sounds are available than expected. The amp will distort with the gain on full and the tone stack in the right posotions. It is most likely that the tone stack eats much of the voltage going in to the second 12AX7. It is most likely a tone recovery stage and also a unity gain amp for the DSP. A schematic will quickly tell. I tried it with Humbuckers however it sounds real fine with single coil. With a neck pickup (either) it dumps most of the highs, however is great for Jazz. I still prefer My Twin or a solid state for Jazz styles. The distortion is edgey and is embelished by reverb and the lowest delay setting. The amp is noisy only at full volume.

The amp appears well constructed , however I do not have the time in to make that qualification

I have had excellent response from Gibson in the past and they have done nothing to reverse my opinion.

I have been playing 45 years. If it were stolen I would buy another. If I lost an object that large I would commit my self to some form of rehab. I love what it is not. The amp is not pretentious and dosent promise the moon and give you squat. This is a true case of less being more. This is a lot of amp for any money. I was not comparing because I was going to tear it apart and experiment because the internet cult for this amp said it was noisy and lacked tone. I like it just fine , however I may experiment on its younger brother and see if those miods are worth incorporating in the Special. I beliver that many of the mods that were made by the cult followere of this amp were incorporated by Gibson labs. If you want sonething in this line that is not lacking for anything buy the Boogie 5:25 Express. If you don't want to drop $1,100 this the amp for you.

This is an usual review in that my purpose for purchasing this amp was not traditional. The amp was purchased because no one had a Valve Jr. on hand,. especially the head. I stumbled upon this amp while checking the internet for EL34 circuits and info. The salesman said try the the Valve Special. I wasn't expecting perfection , in fact, the exact opposite. I had read about mods for this amp (Valve Jr.) and some of the short commings. I figured a couple hundred for a chassis, tubes, Xformer,case, ect. I could mod it to my hearts delight and have no guilt. The exact opposite of modifying my Road King.
I hooked up a single pickup guitar and eh, hooked it up to a humbucker equipped guitar and maybe we have something here? I played with the tone stack mid level and the preamp 3/4 for what it is it performed well enough for me to plunk down $250.00. The digital reverb with the addition of the delay can sound quite deep. In any case the reverb is still better than the reverb on the Road King I. With all applogies to Mesa Engineering the new 5:25Express's reverb is as good as it gets. Perhaps they can upgrade my reverb? Well one can dream. It must understood that many of my numbers are based on the value at such a low street price, especially, a five year warranty.

The amp has many sonic deficiencies. I must say that most of the problems that have driven an almost cult like, mod craze, I have not experineced in my amp. The hum is there, however is very low level. I may add a cap to the power supply and may not have to. However this puppy was purchased for experimentation. As it stands a bridge pickup seems to give very nice highs. However when you switch to the neck pickup it goes from bright to flat, almost a dampened Jazz sound. This with the trebble at max mid at 11 o'clock and the bass at nine o'clock.

This may be because of the tone stack gobbling up energy and possibly a non optimal operating voltage range. Further a class A amp will not be as bright. Other factors may be choice of speaker and cap values attached to the tone pots and or coupling caps. I need to open up the amp and schematically represent the circuit.

None the less I compared some of the tones I got to those on the Sixties recordings by Mike Bloomfield and they were good enough to use for practice. The effects were cheesy,(don't want the effects, don't push the switch) however used in moderation with the impressive reverb they can be sonically pleasing, just don't over do. If you want incredible go out and buy the new 5:25 Express Boogie you won't be sorry! This amp sounds nice if you are not comparing to the likes for the former, however a lot better than my first amp (a Univox 45)for which I payded the same thing, however in early 1960's dollars. My Univox did'nt have reverb!

No reason yet, just purchased. I am impressed with a five year warranty.

I will ask for a schematic. I have had good luck with Gibson in the past.

Playing 45 years. This amp would't be a blip on my deductable. If you are loosing objects this big I would be reading Phych blogs. I love it because its such a bargin. The fit and finish are great and the look is just retro enough to come back into style. There is nothing I hate or dislike enough to talk about. I really did not compare because it was not my initial reason for purchase. I wish they would up the price to cover a foot switch or include it. Most foot switches I have ever tried to get are made out of unobtainum unless you mail/E order.Based on the footswitch function it may not be worth the twenty bucks. May make my own? This is a kick ass peice of gear for the money and I will inform this page if I do any mods which make the thing killer. It is most likely that I will change the speaker. I may just collect all of them. Sometime one gets more than they bargain for, however in this case it may be a good thing.