So my Epi VJH arrived today and because the Weber mini-mass50 arrived earlier this week I was ready to check out if this little thing is worth the hype it gets all over the internet. Below are the first impressions, after playing with it for three hours. Now before I continue I have to say that I use this little amp in a different way then most folks over here, and as such the results I've got are to be blamed on the entire setup, not just the amp itself. The setup is as follows: Guitar->Epi VJH->Weber Minimass line-out->Berry V-amp->Berry GMX212 slave-in.
The guitar is a cheap Dean Avalanche, strat look-a-like but with two mild 'buckers instead of the usual three SCs. The weber is connected to the 8ohm out of the Epi and has the volume dial down to zero. I'm not sure how this works but since I use the line-out and have nothing connected to the main speaker-out I think anything but maximum attenuation could damage something somewhere. If anyone knows anything about this, please let me know. :) Anyway, the Weber goes into the V-amp, which is entirely by-passed except for the reverb and then goes into the GMX slave-in, where the 2x60W SS poweramp delivers the sound to a pair of 12" Jensen speakers. As you can see the chain is pretty complex for such a simple amp and no doubt a fair ammount of tone gets lost along the way. But the advantage is that I can get every tone from the Epi at every volume, from, whispering-quiet overdrive to thundering-loud cleans as the Epi merely changes the tone, the actual volume comes from the SS poweramp.
The features of this amp have been mentioned around here plenty of times so I'll keep it short: one volume knob, one input, three speaker-outputs (4,8,16 ohm) and an on/off switch. That's it. Little need to ask for presets this time. ;)
So how does it sound? Depending on the guitar used the amp stays pretty clean until 10-11 o'clock. Without reverb it's slightly less lifeless (or warmer, whichever you prefer) then the cleans of the GMX itself but when reverb is applied this difference becomes pretty inaudible. In short I'd say the cleans are nice but hardly spectacular, nothing a decent non-valve amp or modeler could do. Sorry folks. :P
But life get's more fun when the volume is set higher, and between 11 and 2 o'clock you get a very nice bluesy overdrive. The sound somewhat reminded me of BB-king: warm, mellow with a nice medium sustain. Around 2 o'clock the sound starts to get a bit like 'gum', in a positive way as picking dynamics slowly start to influence tone a bit more then volume. Clearly the amp feels more at home at these settings and for bluesy tones I'd chose the Epi over the GMX any time of the day.
From here on the amp starts to get into classic-rock territory. The volume hardly increases, you only get more gain and compression as the volume is set between 3 and 6' o'clock. Very nice sustain and a surprisingly warm and fat sound, atleast with the neck pup. The bridge pup got me quite the Albert King sound with a pretty agressive sting. Comparing these settings with, say, the Vox AD30 is tricky. There is a very obvious difference in sound but is pretty hard to put in words. It's on itself not the sound when strumming a chord but more so the little things that you put into it: muted strums are warm and big and less 'shrill', pinch harmonics tend to be wider with more depth.
Just for the fun of it I tried to play with headphones, using the cab sims of the V-amp and plugging the headphones in the phone-out of the very same v-amp. With lower volume settings on the Epi this sounded surprisingly good but as the amp gets pushed into overdrive the V-amp seems to have considerable problems and starts to overdrive in a particularly nasty way. Messing with the volume knobs on the V-amp didn;t help much although I assume a volume pedal between the Weber and V-amp should fix most of this.
Summary: The cleans are usefull but hardly worth mentioning while sound of the amp being pushed harder will appeal to both blues and classick-rock fans alike. Personally I was looking for a nice mildly overdriven blues tone and I got just that. How this amp responds to pedals is something I cannot try at this time so I can't comment on that.
Feel free to ask any questions. :)
Sound clips! We need sound clips!
P.S. Yes, you did get your mini-mass before I got mine. My Weber wiring harness for the Peavey arrived yesterday; hopefully the actual attenuator will arrive in the next day or so.
"Everybody got to elevate from the norm."
I need to order two of those minimass now. My other Epi head got here Friday afternoon. I haven't had time to hook up both of em yet, though. Man, got to get those attenuators ASAP!
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I'm currently at my old folks' place so I don't have any recording equipment. But when I get this stuff to my own palace I'll be happy to make a bunch of clips. Might be interesting to compare direct (using cab sims) with mic'ed. And while you were waiting for your Weber I was waiting for my amp. Ironic world we live in...
97: Definitely get those Webers. Makes the amp way more usefull. I'm pretty fond of the line-out as well, now I can have ear-shattering cleans as well as soft overdrive. :D
Great review Arjen. Welcome to the EVJ club! 8) :wink:
Dan
"The only way I know that guarantees no mistakes is not to play and that's simply not an option". David Hodge
Arjen
That was a very good and informative review. Yes, this is a Blues players amp more than anything else. But I think if you hook the amp up to the speakers direct you will like the clean tone much better. This amp sounds a lot like the early 50s amps. It is a good clean, but not the famous Fender clean of their 60s amps. It is a little darker. But this is how early Fender amps sounded. This amp has an almost identical clean tone to my '58 Premier amp.
I agree the clean settings sound MUCH better with a little reverb. Sounds great with tremelo too, this is the classic tone of early amps.
Try turning the amp to max but turn your guitar down until it is clean. I think you will find the tone more full and complex sounding. It is best when you get a clean tone when picking softly, but you get distortion when you pick with more attack. This is the sweet spot many Blues players like as you control all dynamics with your pick attack and playing style. So this amp is great for that.
And if nobody is around, play it loud. You will like it even better. :D
Thanks again for the great review. Arjen is finally a tube man. :wink:
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
Nice review Arjen.
I'm an owner of the Valve Special Combo, and I must say I love these things. Even the combos sound good, as long as you get the newer "fixed" version and break the speaker in. I love mine, and I hope you love yours. Also, as Wes said, use your guitars volume control as a "gain" control. By turning down your guitars volume, you push the preamp less, and allow the poweramp to still get pushed. Hence you get clean tube sound, that can be tweeked to your liking.
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Arjen is finally a tube man. :wink:
Whoo-Hoo!!! :lol: :lol:
Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing. - Wernher Von Braun (1912-1977)
Thanks folks. :D
Wes: Yeah, I've been using the volume knob quite a bit. As a matter of fact I've been mainly using only one preset on my Vox for the past months, and doing the rest with the volume knob. I guess that kinda allowed me to look at such a simple amp to start with, I wouldn't have considered such a basic thing before.
As for connecting stuff: this is the only way. I don't have a way to connect the amp directly to the speakers. And while it's hard to be definite about it the only part that really seems to have a notable effect on the sound is the V-amp, I don't think the rest is hurting the tone that much. And the V-amp is about to be replaced with a Behringer Rev2496, love that reverb unit. :D
But anyway, I'm having a ball with it. Got a whole bunch of BB King records here and am just noodling along for hours on end. New gear rocks for motivation. :)
Arjen,
Congratulations on the new amp!! Sounds like you are having fun with it.
(PS: I think you have tried out the Epi Galaxie 10 as well .. if you can compare your amp with the Galaxie 10, it would be helpful to me. I have a Galaxy 10, and I like it's clean, but it is a little harder to push into edgy blues/rock tones. I've been getting some GAS for this head looking at all the posts here. I would have gotten it already if I had a cabinet..
--vink
"Life is either an adventure or nothing" -- Helen Keller
Vink: Comparing them is pretty tough. The reason I didn't like the Galaxy was the speaker, it just didn't seem to handle the lows too well and the highs seemed to be somewhat harsh. Besides that I didn't had an attenuator at hand so I didn't crank it beyond 12 o'clock (which is already seriously loud in a store!). So it's very hard to compare the VJH with the Galaxy, it could be that the actual pre-amp/power-amp inside is comparable.
But if you need some justification to get the head I'm more then willing to tell you how superior the VJH is. Anything to help you satisfy your GAS. ;)
Thanks, Arjen! Especially for helping my GAS :-)
Looks like, in any case, I should get the attenuator first. I can actually get some crunch out of the Galaxie 10, but have to crank up the pre-amp gain to about 12 oclock and the volume to about 3 oclock, by which point it starts getting too darn loud.
I started looking at the EJH, then at a Avatar 1x12 cab, then at Epi Valve Special, then at the Epi Valve Standard .. :-)
--vink
"Life is either an adventure or nothing" -- Helen Keller
