Took the Valve Jr combo plunge....

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disassembled

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Today I finally broke down and bought the valve jr combo. I was trying to buy the Subway Rocket for a bedroom amp but even 20 watts is a bit much(my TA and 20/20 2X12 rig is obscenely loud for my current situation) . In order to give me channel switching I ordered the digitech bad monkey OD (which I tried with my TA while I was testing out a cab and was pleasently surprised on how it sounded). This will be my first combo under 30 watts that I bought since I was like 14; so I think it will be a welcome change. I am already researching some mods (screen and grid resistor change, bright mod, gain mod, LED tube life meter, attenuator, etc) so hopefully I will get some nice tones at bedroom levels. So for the cost of a good pedal I get a nice practice amp and OD pedal.

It's nice living near Tokyo so I can just take a train to Akihabara and buy any electronic parts I can imagine. I will post a little review of the amp after I break the speaker in.

Does anyone else own this amp? Either the head or combo. I bought the valve Jr head for low level practice (yeah right, not through a 212 cab) and didn't want to buy a new cab, speaker, etc. I prefer the portability and simplicity of a small combo for those jam sessions with a couple of guys or even just noodling late night infront of the TV even though it won't be my staple tone (that's where the TA, 20/20 and 212 come in).

Another intrigueing portion of the combo is the modibility that lets the inner tinkerer in me get out. There are tons of easy mods that is just a matter of changing a resistor, adding a cap, bypassing a resistor, etc. I can't wait to get started!


Greg
 
disassembled said:
Today I finally broke down and bought the valve jr combo. Does anyone else own this amp? Either the head or combo.
Greg
Yah, I bought the head a few months back, it's the most expensive doorstop I own. I also bought a Crate Powerblock around the same time, and while it won't replace any of my tube amps, I find it far more useful then the Valve Jr. I really can't figure out what all the fuss is about concerning the Valve Jr, IMO it's worthless except as a doorstop.
 
I heard about those cool mods you could do with those Epiphone Valve Jr.

They call it a poorman's Fender Champ.

See if you could get a quality output transformer there in Tokyo. Alot of the sweet tone from low power tube amps (besides the power tube) is from the output transformer.

So tell us how the mod goes.
 
t0aj15 said:
disassembled said:
Today I finally broke down and bought the valve jr combo. Does anyone else own this amp? Either the head or combo.
Greg
Yah, I bought the head a few months back, it's the most expensive doorstop I own. I also bought a Crate Powerblock around the same time, and while it won't replace any of my tube amps, I find it far more useful then the Valve Jr. I really can't figure out what all the fuss is about concerning the Valve Jr, IMO it's worthless except as a doorstop.

Different stroke for different folks. I am a tweaker at heart and would be bored to tears if I had a powerblock. If you listen to some of the clips on youtube some sound great where others......well.... The fact that you get a tolexed cab, speaker, tubes, tranny, and decent assembly for the cost of an expensive pedal or well in your case an expensive doorstop is amazing especially when things in this day and age seem to be going in the exact opposite direction in most of the musician's industry. I own the head too and depending upon the cab, your musical taste, tube selection, etc it can make or break the tone. The mods are just fun for me and keeps me from buying a $500 amp that I will be afraid to leave at someone's house.


I will check out some stuff in Akihabara as they have a lot of "Recycle" shops where used stuff is sold. Unfortunately there isn't too much vintage stuff because of a law that was passed last year to help with the trash problem (that's how I understood it anyway). I don't really plan to go crazy with the combo because I like to retain the originality of things but a few choice mods will probably be applied just because they will benefit the life of the tubes. The new stuff isn't cheap and might actually be better to get some stuff through Allied or Mouser.

Greg
 
disassembled:

if you can't find a quality output transformer, Allen Amplification has a Heyboer TO-8C (top quality along with the Hammonds, Partridrige ... xformer).

Sorry t0aj15, the Epiphone Valve Jr. is not your cup of tea. Mentioned about Epiphone Valve Jr. mods among guitar tube amp repairers/ technicians circles and they will tell you this mods will give you bang for your buck.

But if you are into high gain stuff then look else where.
 
I am not looking to do mods as expensive as an OT and PT change. That makes buying a $100 amp kind of pointless. One of the mods I am thinking of doing is a built in attenuator. This amp will be a bedroom amp by the time I am done with it :) Tubes are disposable so if they are bad out of the box it's not a fault of Epiphone by any means.



Greg
 
I just received the parts to mod the amp and have had some great results. I have a great "Plexi-ish" vibe going on that has great feedback. I rested the headstock of my RG 550 of the cab and muted the strings with my right hand around the 1st fret while using the left to fret the strings.....who needs a sustainer pickup when I have this? :) It sounded pretty similar to an e-bow or sustainer pickup but, of course, it was much cooler.

I am surprised what about 10 bucks in parts does to the tone plus I am getting to experiment by swapping things in and out. Right now I reduced the bass so it isn't farty and is pretty tight (well as tight as it can get for fully saturating the little EL84 tube). I bought a bunch of extra parts to sub in there so I spent about $40 total in parts so I can experiment as well as Mod the Valve Jr head that I have. This thing has CRUNCH! I put in Marshall type caps and what a cool tone! I will probably get the combo sounding good with the stock output tranny and then apply those mods to the head I have and then put it on ebay with some MP3 clips. I have been having a lot of fun working on the amp and have 2 more things to do: reduce the high end and install the beefy output tranny to round everything out.

To all those that think the VJR sounds like crap stock.......well i am not blaming ya....but modified? Pffftt! You can't beat it! I have a 5 watt Plexi terror and now all I have to do is add a $10 attenuator(from partsexpress, radioshack, etc) to really make a bedroom rocker and allow me to not piss the neighbors off too much. I am not done modding yet but the changes made are extremely noticable (this isn't just a simple tube change).


When i get the tone I am looking for I will post some A/B results.

Total price:

Valve Jr Combo - 140 shipped
Parts to experiment and mod V Jr head and combo - 40 shipped (i bought many extra parts so I can tweak)
Output tranny (125ESE - which is about 3 times the size of the stock one)- 40 shipped

Now I am going to try and make a few bucks by selling a modded Valve JR head on the bay but the best part about this is I am learning how these different part changes affect the amp.



Greg
 
It sounds like you have a fun project going. It gives you a chance to experiment and customize something with at a very low price. It's sounds it's a lot cheaper than some of the kits that are out there. If it works great and if it doesn't you're not out a bunch of money. It's also nice to see that there's a specific goal in mind. Make sure that you send out before and after clips.

Like you say, it may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it should be interesting to see what you come up with.
 

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