tube amp shopping #2

I love the Epi Valve Junior, but as I've recently said, it's not really all that versatile.

I know how Ricochet feels about this amp, but there are a lot of people who have modded it to sound similar to marshals, fenders or what ever. It all involves changing values in the tone stack to get the sound you want. I'd point you to 18watt.com, but they recently went offline to reform as sewatt.com, which isn't up yet. Should be in early June, so if you can hold off, head over there when it opens up and listen to some of the sound clips to see if you like what it can be.

Well, when you start talking about modding it's another ballgame.

I don't think it's reasonable to talk to an obvious amp newbie about modding a tube amp.

I think he'd be better served looking at amps with more of what he wants built in from the getgo. In fact, I think he might be better served by something like a Roland Microcube than any tube amp. Can't crank a tube amp in an apartment. And I think it's frankly silly to buy tube amps, then buy expensive attenuators to crank up the amp, then run the volume back down.
:roll:

I have the Epi Valve Jr head and several cabs I play it through. The important thing is that this is one great sounding amp, especially with the right speaker. The new cab from Epiphone should sound great.

It is as versatile as any other amp with a multi-efx or individual pedals. Get the amp, you would be hard pressed to find an amp that sounds this good for 3 times the price or more. Then get a good little multi-efx pedal. You 'll get every tone you need, but it will sound better because it's through a 1st class amp. :wink:

Well I'm going to take Wes Inman's word for it and get the epi valve jr head and matching cab I think. I really like my current VoxAC30VT but from what I've read there's a huge difference between that and a true tube amp.

Wes, I was wondering if you could give me a little list of essentials to buy along with the head+cab? I'm a total noob when it comes to this stuff so I'm really lost as to what kind of pedals, etc that I will need.

also, should I be looking into getting an atteunator as well?

any help is appreciated.

corey.

I'm staying out of this. I love my VJ, but I use it without any of that stuff. (Except once in a blue moon I do use an overdrive pedal.) I don't own and plan never to own an attenuator.

In fact, I think he might be better served by something like a Roland Microcube than any tube amp. Can't crank a tube amp in an apartment.

The VOX AD30VT he has is a similar modeling amp, so there's no need for him to go that route ..

Yeah, you've got a point.

You 'll get every tone you need, but it will sound better because it's through a 1st class amp. :wink:

I thought it was a class A amp :P

I use a Sans Amp Tri OD through my Valve Junior Head. It is an analog tube amp emulator, which sounds kind of silly at first but this thing gives me great pre amp sounds. The VJHead provides the tube power amp to make my sound really shine. Thats how I get my flexability. That said, the VJHead sounds pretty darn good on its own.

If you regard it as a power amp to play your other stuff through, it's certainly rather versatile. My original comment was aimed at the amp alone. And that's the way I normally play mine. Guitar -> cable -> amp. But I'm quite happy with the fact that it sounds the way it does, and that it's clean at low volumes, starts breaking up as it gets loud, and gets progressively dirtier as you keep cranking the knob up after it's as loud as it's gonna get.

coreyb

The types of pedals you purchase are really a personal choice. I have a Behringer TO800 Vintage Overdrive I use for bluesy type mild distortion or lead solos that sounds great with this amp. I also use the Marshall Guv'nor Plus pedal that will make it sound like a Marshall stack no kidding. That will get you classic AC/DC and early Metallica type tones. I have many other pedals like Chorus, Phase, Tremelo, Compressor, Dano Daddy O and Fab tone, Arion flange, Bad Horsie Wah, and probably more I can't think of right now. They all sound good through this amp.

If you like modern distortions maybe ask in the From Here to There Forum. I am no expert on super high gain pedals, don't really like them. The ElectroHarmonix Big Muff gets real grunge type tones. There are many "Metal" type pedals to choose from, others will give their opinions on the best.

Probably the best pedal to get is an EQ pedal. It will really help you get nearly any tone you want. This amp does not have tone controls, so an EQ really helps. But this amp has a good tone that sounds good with all my different guitars.

Individual pedals cost more, but generally get you better tones. A good multi-efx pedal will get you dozens of different effects and tones, but generally they don't sound as good as individual pedals. But you get a lot for your money with a multi-efx.

An attenuator is good, I would look at the Weber's, the "speaker motor models" are best. I have an older "resistive type" Weber, works great but maybe cuts high frequencies a little. But an attenuator will allow you to crank the amp and keep volume down. But still, if you really want to hear how good this amp is, crank it without an attenuator when you get a chance. :twisted:

But a tube amp like this will lose some highs when really cranked anyway. You will get a big thick tone with great sustain.

This amp is louder than you might imagine. It is hard to crank it up at home. But it has a great tube tone and sounds great with good pedals in front of it. But it has a very good clean tone as well. Turned up around 2-3 o'clock is the sweet spot for overdrive, that is where you will get nice tube saturation overdrive.

Give us a review when it comes in.

Make sure to get a short 2-3' speaker cable (not instrument cable) to run between the head and cab. Something like this.

3' Speaker Cable

That Epi Valve Jr cab is 16 ohms, the Valve Jr head has 3 outputs on the back, use the 16 ohm output.

There is, of course, the Peavey Valve King 8 - 5W, class A combo with gain, tone and master volume controls at around $20-30 more than the Epi combo ('tis here in Europe anyway).