Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2009 9:38 pm
First: Sorry guys, most of the time when I type, I type quickly and I don't think much about what I'm typing. It's not uncommon for me to misspell words, use their forms incorrectly, or just skip words altogether (like what happened in my last post). What I was trying to say was:
Anyone who says the Epiphone Valve Jr. is bad, is simply incorrect. You should buy it. It's very easy to modify, and although it sounds great stock, modifying it's components, or even changing the speaker and tubes can bring it's tone to a whole other level.
Now, as for the headroom problem, the singlecoil in my Melody Maker is fairly low-output, and I would have to bring the volume up to around 1/2 to get any sort of breakup. After I modded it, replaced the tubes, and replaced the speaker with a Ceramic-magnet, Ribbed-cone speaker to delay the breakup, I could push it to maybe 3/4 until it would break up. With my Jagmaster it's a different story. The humbuckers will make the VJr start to distort around 1/3 volume.
The modifications I did mainly dealt with running the amp at the correct voltage and protecting the tubes. The few tone mods that I did tightened up the bass but provided more bass, decreased the gain, and decreased the presence slightly. The usual complaints with the stock Valve Jr. in terms of tone are usually that it doesn't have enough bass and that the bass it does have is very loose and flabby.
In terms of bang-for-buck, the Epiphone Valve Jr is pretty much the winner. Other small class-A tube combos do exist but they either cost more or they have their own tone problems that you would probably want to modify anyways.
However, as usual, and as with everything tone, it's totally subjective to what YOU like and what YOU are looking for.
FWIW I totally agree with everything Gavin has said.
Anyone who says the Epiphone Valve Jr. is bad, is simply incorrect. You should buy it. It's very easy to modify, and although it sounds great stock, modifying it's components, or even changing the speaker and tubes can bring it's tone to a whole other level.
Now, as for the headroom problem, the singlecoil in my Melody Maker is fairly low-output, and I would have to bring the volume up to around 1/2 to get any sort of breakup. After I modded it, replaced the tubes, and replaced the speaker with a Ceramic-magnet, Ribbed-cone speaker to delay the breakup, I could push it to maybe 3/4 until it would break up. With my Jagmaster it's a different story. The humbuckers will make the VJr start to distort around 1/3 volume.
The modifications I did mainly dealt with running the amp at the correct voltage and protecting the tubes. The few tone mods that I did tightened up the bass but provided more bass, decreased the gain, and decreased the presence slightly. The usual complaints with the stock Valve Jr. in terms of tone are usually that it doesn't have enough bass and that the bass it does have is very loose and flabby.
In terms of bang-for-buck, the Epiphone Valve Jr is pretty much the winner. Other small class-A tube combos do exist but they either cost more or they have their own tone problems that you would probably want to modify anyways.
However, as usual, and as with everything tone, it's totally subjective to what YOU like and what YOU are looking for.
FWIW I totally agree with everything Gavin has said.
