Epiphone Valve Special Combo

My Amp was mde in 2005. For a bedroom practice amp at its price point, it is fine for my needs. 5 Watts Class A all Tube w/ 10" Speaker. It has one channel that can go from clean to blues overdrive. Use an Ibanez Tube Screamer if you need more gain. I like all of the features: Gain, Master Volume, Bass, Mid, Treble, Reverb, 16 DSP Effects with a bypass, Master Power and Standby (Nice). Footswtch for the DSP Effects and an 8 ohm speaker out on the back. For the price, an amazing combination.

I have collected an army of guitars and amps over the years. But with this amp, I have tried/use 3 different guitars: a Fender Telecaster, a Gibson SG w/ P-90's and a Fat Strat (The amp seems to like single coils better than humbuckers. So I don't bother playing my Les Paul Custom or PRS Custom 24 through it). In my opinion, this amp sounds best with the Gibson SG w/ P-90's. The amp suites my style just fine (classic to hard rock), but it would be nice if the gain was a little hotter, then I would not bother with my Tubescreamer. As stated above, for the price, it is a GREAT Practice amp. But don't plan to gig or record with it. See my reasons below.

Here is what I don't like:
* The amp at idle is pretty noisy. To be expected with a single ended Class A amp I suppose. But this is not a big deal because once you are playing, even fairly soft, the amp hum gets covered up.
* The DSP Effects are fun, but when you kick them on, you add even more noise. Again not a bid deal, just accept that it will be noisy at idle and turn up the amp loud enough to cover up the noise.
* The tone controls don't seem to vary the tone very much. But this again is liekly due to the Class A design. Class A have less high end sprekle than A/B. Class A is "warmer/creamier".
* The stock speaker did not seem to like it when I turned the gain and master full up. This is not really a problem for me as I intend to use it as a practice amp in an upstairs bedroom, so I'll never be playing it "pedal to the metal" so to speak.

Overall, a decent tone at clean through blues gain settings: for low to medium volume practice.

I've only had it a month, so it's too new to tell. But it seems pretty sturdy. As with anything electronic, time will tell. I hope I don't have to find out.

I doubt I will gig with it. I have several other amps of much higher quality that I would gig with (and I have a big collection of effects pedals for different situations, so the low quality DSP would not be used live by me, so...).

Again, I've only had it a month, so it's too new to tell. I hope I don't ever have to deal with Epiphone Customer Support. It comes with a decent Warranty though: 5 years.

I've been playing for 40 years now (practicing, gigging, recording, touring, etc., since the age of 5), so I have more gear than I need. Gibson, Fender, Mesa, Marshall, PRS, Martin, etc., all love me. If this amp were lost or stolen I would probably get another because of the features/price point combination. But I have to say that I liked Epiphone's Galaxie 10 better and was about to buy one, but Epiphone discontinued it-bummer (now folks want too much for one). I also like the Gibson GA5 Les Paul Junior Amp for it's simplicity, but not it's high price.

I love the Epiphone Valve Special Amp for its features, cool retro look and price. Overall sound quality could be better and the noise could be lower, but what do you expect from a Class A Tube that cost $200 bucks? Many folks have replaced the stock tubes and speaker and have seen a big improvement in the sound quality. But I'll probably leave it stock. If I need to play something that sounds better (for practice with the band, gigs or recording), I'll play my main rig (Mesa Nomad, Marshall DSL50/1960A cab, Peavey Classic 30).

Bottom Line: For a small practice amp with decent tone, this amp is great! Flexible, great looks and low price. A combo Class A Amp with OK DSP: that's hard to match for about $200 bucks. For what it is (a practice amp), I give it a 9. I'd give it a 10 if the DSP Effects were quieter.

What can you say...Sexy ass little 5w class A amp. The DSP effects that come onboard are garbage, with the only ones that get any use are a couple of the delay presets.
Not many feature, but I give it an 8, just becuase its such a sexy looking amp.

Out of the box, the thing sounds ok, but nothing really special about it. The stock speaker that comes with it is total garbage, but thats nothing I didnt already know going in.
In stock form I would give it a 5.
After some upgrades though, this thing is easily the best sounding amp I have ever played on under $400.
I replaced the speaker with a celestion tube 10 speaker($40), and replaced the tubes with JJ's($30).
Now I get sweet smooth creamy OD, that breaks up at the absolute perfect time. I couldnt be any more happy with the sound!
I own around 12 guitars, and I cant honestly tell you that it prefers single coils or humbuckers. I beleive that it loves them both equally.
While I can get some decent bluesy type tones out of this amp, It really excels at vintage rock tones.
I dont get why people say that its not loud enough...maybe they bought shitty tubes??? You can always Mic it....DUH!
Giving it a 10, becuase after the upgrades, it cant be beat.

Have no clue..... Seems sturdy enough, but the tubes plug into the PC board, so maybe some issues will arise?
Everything else is rock solid!

Altogether a great amp(after the upgrades) for a great price.
Bought it new at GC for $185, after taxes it came out to $201. $40 for the celestian and $30 for the tubes. $271 total, and beleive me there is nothing that even comes close at that price(new).

Heres the dirt. The honeymoon is over and the verdict is in. Specs are in my previous review and others.

This amp is a good choice for a cheap coffee shop gig tube amp. It will not keep up with a drummer unless run out to a cab and driven to the point of sounding like a swarm of bees being rubbed against a washboard. It's flexible in that it has gain and master volume controls, but it's also limited in the tones that you can get. It is best used with single coil pickups and is decent sounding after speaker and tubes are swapped. This amp sounds very much like a fender amp without the treble. I think an EQ in front would be a good idea to give more flexibility since the onboard eq is dog poop. The effects included are ok, there may be at least one that you can use although you probably have something outboard that does the same thing only better. I can live with the reverb at lower gain. At higher gain the reverb distorts in a way that is not acceptable. It seems as though it is inserted before the preamp! I think that there is more that can be done to improve the sound of this amp, but I don't think I'll buy another amp with the intention to modify it to get what I want out of it. Ths was a $219.00 lesson learned well. So at the end of the day I've got an amp that sounds pretty good but not great and held together accross a 2,000 mile move. Not bad for $219.00. I dont feel bad dragging it around, I dont feel let down when playing it, I dont create to much stress on the neighbors when playing it.

The amp has a *pop* that sounds every once and a while when it's fully warmed up (which takes 25 minutes). That pop is the only issue, but I do reccomend shopping carefully as this is an amp that varies alot from unit to unit. I always use this amp as a baseline for testing guitars at music stores, i've played them from Arizona, to Illinois, and Ohio. They were all different.

Here a rundown of my present/past gear and preferences:
Seymour Duncan Convertible: 9 (see my review on this great amp!)
Gibson Goldtone GA15RV: 9
Peavey tubefex preamp: 8
Acoustic Control Corp. brown tolex 2x12 model 160?: 8 (this is good old stuff!)
Ampeg Rocket Reissue: 7
Peavey 50/50 classic series power amp: 8

5 watts, 3 tubes, 10" speaker, 3 digital effects with multiple settings for each and mute button, digital reverb, gain, volume, 3-band EQ, speaker jack and footswitch jack (for digital effects), and standby mode. The only thing I wish it had was an additional channel. (Curiously, even the Valve Standard lacks that.)

I'm using an Ibanez Artcore 335 copy through a Digitach GNX-1 (which I use on a clean setting with no cab modeling) and a Boss OS-2 Overdrive/Distortion pedal. I play mostly modern and classic rock and pop, and it sings through it all.

This thing sounds ten times better than a $200 amp has any right sounding. On an absolute scale, the sound is about an 8 (it certainly isn't as good as a Mesa), but on a relative scale it's a 15! It lacks some treble on its own, but you can buy gear to compensate for that. Other than that the tone is unbelievably delicious. Everything from clean to raunchy to mean. Plug in a distortion pedal and it's smooth as silk. Breaks up beautifully at just the right moment. I LOVE this amp!

Sturdy construction. Although I just bought it recently, I don't see any reason it shouldn't last a long time. Still, I can't say for sure, hence the N/A.

Never dealt with them.

Pretty loud for a 5-watt amp, but you can add a cabinet if you need more. You won't hear a better-sounding (new) amp for $200. In fact, I think it sounds better than the $400 Valve Standard. A must-buy for players on a budget. Grab it before they come to their senses and double the price.

Gain and master volume, reverb, dsp effects, 10" speaker. I gave it a 7 because the effects are pretty noisy. Reverb is ok.

play Heritage hcm150,stock pickups. I play anything that's on the harder side, classic rock, punk, some alternative. Not really heavey metal but I like loud overdriven guitars. Fairly quiet with stock tubes, speakers farts when pushed. Changed out tubes for mesa 12ax7 and a electro harmonix el34. 12ax7's sure improved the sound but I think the stock power tube was quieter. Also put in a Vintage 10, 80th Anniversary Celestion speaker. Couldn't believer the difference in sound. Sounded great playing Am I Evil. It's a keeper now. Love the overdriven sound I can get now. Not sure why Epiphone didn't put even a slightly better speaker in it, the one they use is garbage. After upgrades it's a different amp altogether, I'd give it an 8 or 9 but stcok I'd only give it 7.

had it maybe a month, only played it for an hour or so today after speaker/tube swap so can't say at this point. Seems well built, fairly heavy. Had a hell of time getting the back off, hope it's easier second time as will go back to stock power tube for now. I had an older boss distortion pedal and just got a hum trying to use it on the amp. It does however seem to like my boss gp20, haven't tried that with the new speaker in it yet but I'm glad it likes that pedal because I like it. On a side note I think the gp20 is an awesome pedal, I can't understand why it didn't catch on better.

n/a at this time

played 9 years off/on, still amatuer. Have owned several amps by this time, Peavey 60 watt tube amp, too loud for what I need but sounded great. Think it was a Triumph model. Just got rid of a Marshall avt50, nothing but trouble with noise switching channels. Sounded ok otherwise but just didn't do it for me. Have had other peaveys and fenders, crates, a randall, but all ss. Got this to get back into the tube sound. God I missed it. For the cash I spent on this and about $130 to retube and replace the speaker I'm pretty happy with it. IF it lasts a few years that will be even better. The clean sound isn't the best but useable. I do like the bluesy sound and with the new speaker I can push it pretty close to a vintage 60's sound. I like it.

2005... brand be "affordable 1950's boutique style" amp from Epiphone.
A class A, 5 watt tube amp with basic digital reverb and effects adds.
Excellent construction.... even for a "Made in China" product, hard to believe they can sell this for only $219

Compares very favorably to some old tube amps I have

The amp NEEDS to simple mods right out of the box...
First..... replace the stock speaker with something like a Celestion Tube 10 -or- Vintage 10

Second.... get rid of the Sovtek tubes and get some JJ ECC83S and EL84 tubes

After that, this baby SINGS for the price.... an excellent deal for clean-crunchy blues.

HOWEVER....... it does not seem to like Overdrive Pedals, it does not respond to overdrive pedals pushing the front end like most tube amps do.... so I give this amp a 10 for it's tone (after above mods)...... but DO NOT suggest it for use with overdrive pedals for higher gain hard rock playing !

Extremely well built !
I can't believe they can sell this for $219
It also has a cool 50's vintage look !

Not needed yet

Every guitarist needing a clean-mildy crunchy vintage 50s style amp in their "tone tool box" should grab one of these and add to their collection.... HOWEVER.... for heavy rock , better stick to your old Marshalls and THD Hotplates !!

For low level hi-gain practice, I would still recommend the BumBox Lead 1 1-watt amp over this Epiphone amp.

Simply stated this Valve Standard is a GREAT clean-crunchy blues amp, great feel and dynamics when used on its' own... but do not expect good results if trying to use with pedals for a hotter heavier sound

Bought 4 weeks ago. Features as mentioned before.
I use it for harp, playing Blues, Rock, Jazz, gigging quiet regularily at least 2 times the week, with bands or Duo, allways electrified.

Very quiet amp, even after speakermod. No hum, no noise until you switch on the dsp-effects. Then you get a little buzzing sound, but not loud enough, that it will annoy you.
Out of the box, it is a very raw sounding amp with muddy distortion & not much volume thanks to the build in speaker.
Therefor I made a speakermod, put in some Jensen P12Q, I had on hand - yeah, a 12" speaker - fits in perfectly! Now this little amp shines. Very versatile! Playin' with a Jazzband & a Blues-Rock-band, this amp is a killer! Superb sounding with good cleansounds, warm smooth & creamy distortion, fat tone - everything inside. Seems even as loud as my old Fender BJ.
The EQ-knobs don't do much. Reverb is very useable. At first sight the DSP is a laugh, but now I begin to love the preprogrammed chorus & use it sometimes on stage.
With stockspeaker it gets a 7. After speakermod 9 (won't give a 10, 'cause that's dream).

The whole combo seems to be very sturdy & solidly built (its a 5-watter of 16 kilos of weight, little more than a Fender BJ). Gigging at least twice a week. It works just fine, don't really expect problems, because I baby my equipment.

I wanted a small-powered-all-tube-amp with at least some reverb. Thanks to the reviews of this site, I decided on buying this amp. Bought it unheard from some online-store. This amp does everything, what I expected it would do. Playing harp for 25 years, gigging as a semipro for over 15 years. Played through Fenders, Pignoses, Dynacords. Using a Green Bullet as Mic. For harp it is one of the best amps I played through. Pur simplicity & fantastic sound (after speakermod) & cool look. Don't let the 5 watts fool you - this amp can be very loud. If its not loud enough, mic it.
Instead of the DSP-effects some effect-loop would have been better, but in every case, if lost or stolen I would buy it again.

Brand new $449au,its astounding.As everyone else is saying the speaker is farty and muddy at high volume(any thing over half revs)but so is my car and they cost much the same.Most of the dfx are crap but the reverb is sweet and 1 or 2 fx are usable.I intend to try it with a marshall quad box,if things improve heaps i will replace the crappyphone speaker with a celestion.The only minor gripe i have is that it dosnt seem to drive the valves hard enough to make them flash blue like my old peavey encore did.I love the sound though.

I am using a Hohner pro Les Paul copy (set neck) with a di mazio Breed in the bridge and stock soapbar copy in the neck.I mainly play blues and classic rock.not much volume is needed to make the clean sound break up but a speeker swap may fix this a little.Awesome practise amp with giging potential.

I bought this amp yesterday.

i have been playing about 8 years on and off.If it was stolen i would replace it with the same.I love the mid volume tone and valve overdrive.A 2 chanel setup(foot switchable)would be great.Value for money it is on par with the top shelf amps(2 or 3 times the price)

1xel84 2x12ax7 5 watts 10" speaker
gain, 3 band eq, master volume and digital reverb controls and seperate dsp effects
Just a bit deeper cabinet than a Goldtone ga15rv or peavey classic 30

*eq could be better*
*to change the fuse it appears as though you must remove the amp from the chassis*

Pretty quiet, my gibson goldtone ga15rv may actually be noisier at idle.. The dsp can add some noise when used, reverb is very usable and is interesting. Out of the box it is very much a raw blues, amp. very dark, not much clean headroom or usable volume. Too much gain and master result in muddy overdrive that does not permit ANY complex chording. I prefer the overdrive near edge of break up and not over the top, thats what pedals are for. Bought it with the intention of changing tubes and speaker. Went with jj el84 and GT mullard reissue 12ax7m and a 12ax7r. This improved the gain characteristics, nice overdrive and more detailed mids. *chime and growl* played around with this before changing the speaker. Stock speaker is awful. farty early speaker distortion and dissonant false tones when pushed. total crap. Fortunately I had a 4x10 bassman style cab that was not in use loaded with Jensen mod 10-50's. I didn't care for these speakers much in the cab, but took a gamble and replaced the stock speaker.This really took care of the fartyness and maintained the character of the amp. The speaker has good bass response more detailed mids and slightly rolled of highs. A very round sound. good initial punch with meaningful girth sounding slightly compressed.

*comments and rating after mods*
Sounds fantastic on a strat with custom shop 57's, before mods the amp hated the neck pick up on this one. Now it quacks wails and weeps chimes an growls with the strat like it should. Ibanez jetking2, Doesnt like neck humbucker, had to tap it and raise the poles for single coil action. sounds good but pickups still a little too hot for the clarity I like. rear Is fine. I played with the height a lot. Are you getting the impression that this amp is picky and you have to work at it? Played for 10 years now and am a 2nd generation tone hound and a pretty decent player. Suits me fine in a two amp setup using a goldtone for cleans. I play rock and roll of my own design. Lots of 9ths and octave chords in d, grand expressive melodies anchored with attitude and emotion. I love the vibe of robin trower, the excellence of eric johnson, and the rawness of neal young.

Everybody has already outlined this. It's a $220.00 tube amp, what do you expect? The reverb is acceptable and there are about 4 settings that are usable on the DSP. I've got lots of pedals if I want better quality.

I've got a 63 Tele, a 79 Ibanez AS-100, a 52 Gold Top and a Route 101 Solimar Custom and they all sound pretty cool through this. I play roots Rock and Blues with alittle country thrown in. I leave the gain low and keep the sound pretty clean. What this amp does real well is get that - edge of distortion tone that only a real tube amp gets. Nothing I've tried from a POD or a Sans Amp does that really well. They go from clean to dirty real fast and don't respond to touch very well, this amp does. It makes the stuff I've been using for home practice sound like toys. I have run both a Ibanez SD-9 and a Vox Valvetone through this with good results. Since I play mostly a clean style without a lot of gain, the amp is ideal for what I use it for: home practice. If I played with both the gain and volume, I might look for something like a hotplate. I stuck a Jensen C10Q (replica) I had laying around in it and am very happy with the result. Clean sounds are much better with more complex overtones, and the amp sounds a little less dark. I'd be curious to hear what it would sound like with a Celestion, or other British sounding speaker.

Hey, I've only had it a week.

Still new.

I'm quite happy with this. It does exactly what I expected it to do. I don't know of any way to get such good tone at a low volume for anywhere near this price.