Some Epi valve junior/special questions....

[goodbyebluesky]

I know there must be a lot of Valve Junior owners here. I'm curious about a few things:
Whats an affordable source to replace the stock tubes? Theres a million websites out there, and I've never owned a tube amp before so I don't what company makes which tube the best for the money. Are Groove Tubes a good brand to pop in there for the El84 and 12AX7? From what I've read the sovtek's it comes with aren't great.

ZZounds has electro-harmonix el84 for 11.95, anybody used this is their valve junior? 'Cus the Groove Tubes el84s seem pricey.
They have the 12ax7 from groove tubes for 14.95, that doesnt seem bad.

[scrubs]

http://www.eurotubes.com/

[goodbyebluesky]

Hmm... the 12ax7 and el84s from Eurotubes are fairly low-priced. How would they compare sound-wise with electro-harmonix?

I love the descriptions of some of their weber replacement speakers but.... ouch thats pricey!

[battleminnow]

I put the Eurotubes in mine, and I really like them. I haven't tried EH, but I hear that the Eurotubes are a little more "polished" for what that's worth, compared to the grit of the EH.

Pete

[goodbyebluesky]

Ohhh ok. Polished, thats what I'm looking for. I want this sucker to sing.

I'm also considering a jenson CR10 speaker, Torresengineering.com has them for under 36 bucks.

[jonnyc]

Eurotubes isn't a manufacturer they're a retail store but they're extremely helpful and if you email them and tell them what you want your valve jr. to do they'll give you several options of tube combonations. As far as the speaker goes, I've seen a lot of people replace the stock speaker only to go right back to it.

[goodbyebluesky]

Originally Posted by jonnyc

Eurotubes isn't a manufacturer they're a retail store but they're extremely helpful and if you email them and tell them what you want your valve jr. to do they'll give you several options of tube combonations. As far as the speaker goes, I've seen a lot of people replace the stock speaker only to go right back to it.

Thanks for the tip.
One thing I notice about the speaker though...... is that its what everyone complains about, and praise the amp all the more after replacing it.

[battleminnow]

My box says JJ/Eurotubes. I bought them from a local store, so I assumed that because they had the name on the box that was the brand

Pete

[jonnyc]

Originally Posted by battleminnow

My box says JJ/Eurotubes. I bought them from a local store, so I assumed that because they had the name on the box that was the brand

Pete

Well maybe eurotubes.com does manufacture tubes. Or maybe they just pay a company to put their name on the tubes. Like all those mic companies that share the same factory.

[mrface2112]

i've got a set of JJ's in my Epi VJ and it sounds great. far better than the chinese sovteks that came in it. FWIW, i put a "high gain" 12ax7 in there.

i don't like the sound of groove tubes at all. and electroharmonix tubes are simply rebadged chinese sovteks.

i put JJ's in my silverface Champ and between that and the Weber speaker, it really came to life.

so here's another +1 for the folks at eurotubes. they're straight shooters, friendly folks and they ship quickly. i'll be doing business with them again, no doubt.


cheers,
wade

[Mr. C]

I've bought tubes from Eurotubes. My understanding from reading their website is that they are the distributor for JJ tubes which are made in Europe (maybe Czechoslovakia???). Anyways to find out more just go to their website they are very helpful and if you click around on their site you can find out their history.

[capnkid]

I've seen Bitmo mods for sale on ebay
I have been thinking of getting one and getting the Mercury Magnetics transformer upgrade, the bitmo mod, and the drop in hand wired turret board. But that's like $129 for the amp, $20 for the bitmo mods, $300 for the transformers, $50 for the drop in turret board. You're talking like $500 bucks. That can get you an 18 watt kit for goodness sakes.

[mrface2112]

Originally Posted by capnkid

You're talking like $500 bucks. That can get you an 18 watt kit for goodness sakes.

it also gets you really close to an Orange Tiny Terror, which by all accounts smokes the VJ like cheap mexican schwag.


cheers,
wade

[battleminnow]

I have the bitmo mod, and the more I have it, the less I like it. It seems that the amp loses a little character witrh the mod, but there is sure more control, and it that's *almost* worth the tradeoff.

Pete

[donkeystyle]

Originally Posted by battleminnow

I have the bitmo mod, and the more I have it, the less I like it. It seems that the amp loses a little character witrh the mod, but there is sure more control, and it that's *almost* worth the tradeoff.

Pete

is that the bitmo trio mod? I have that and I love it. I also have a cab with a weber blue dog in it. I love it as well.

I replaced the tubes in the valve junior with a jj 12ax7 and an RCA el84. I thought it was pretty sweet after the tube change, but once I got the speaker and the mod it was a ton better.

One of these days I'm going to have to post a sample of the amp after the mod and through the weber

[goodbyebluesky]

Can the Bitmo trio mod be done to a valve special, or only to the junior head/combo??

[donkeystyle]

Originally Posted by goodbyebluesky

Can the Bitmo trio mod be done to a valve special, or only to the junior head/combo??

You probably can, but the instructions are for the valve junior and there may be some variation between the junior and special in the part of the board where you would be installing the kit. You might try contacting thetubestore.com about that. That's where I got my kit from and maybe they'll know if you can do it or know who to get you in contact with to find out.

[RandyW]

I put the eurotubes in my EVJ head and also in my EVJ Special combo.

The VJ head picked up all kinds of volume yet still smoother than original.
the Special didn't pick up any volume gain but got a much creamier sound.
Basically the same tubes in both except the Special has one extra tube.
I'm not sure what the 10" speaker is in the Special but it sure is breaking in
nice. It seems to sound as rich as the vintage Carvin 2 12 cabinet I run
it through.

[goodbyebluesky]

Originally Posted by RandyW

I put the eurotubes in my EVJ head and also in my EVJ Special combo.

The VJ head picked up all kinds of volume yet still smoother than original.
the Special didn't pick up any volume gain but got a much creamier sound.
Basically the same tubes in both except the Special has one extra tube.
I'm not sure what the 10" speaker is in the Special but it sure is breaking in
nice. It seems to sound as rich as the vintage Carvin 2 12 cabinet I run
it through.

That is interesting that swapping the tubes provides different results in the two amps. I've decided to order some JJ's tubes for my Valve Special soon as well. Some extra volume would be nice, but if you say it yields a creamier tone then I'm down with that. It can be a little too gritty for my taste with gain and master volume wipe open.
As to the speaker, all the reviews I read said it sucked and was "farty". Maybe it was power of suggestion but I thought the same thing after crankin this amp wide open. Now after running distortion stompboxes through it and hearing it maintain a clear crisp tone no matter what..... I don't think the speaker is the culprit at all.

[amra]

Originally Posted by goodbyebluesky

As to the speaker, all the reviews I read said it sucked and was "farty". Maybe it was power of suggestion but I thought the same thing after crankin this amp wide open. Now after running distortion stompboxes through it and hearing it maintain a clear crisp tone no matter what..... I don't think the speaker is the culprit at all.

I'd have to agree with you there. I tried using various overdrives and stuff with it, and I found that as long as you don't get into the last 1/4 of the knob, it sounds much better. From what I understand changing out the transformer gets rid of that "honky" or "farty" type sound at max distortion...

[RandyW]

just for the record on the VJ amp head there was a increase in volume.
also an improvement in tone. The Special was a much larger improvement
in tone with no noticeable change in volume.
btw: have you noticed on your special that the eq controlls offer only
minute change in eq? I still think it is worth the extra money for the 10"
speaker, standby, eq, effects and reverb.
Call Eurotubes you'll have them in the mail box in 2 days.

[goodbyebluesky]

Originally Posted by RandyW

just for the record on the VJ amp head there was a increase in volume.
also an improvement in tone. The Special was a much larger improvement
in tone with no noticeable change in volume.
btw: have you noticed on your special that the eq controlls offer only
minute change in eq? I still think it is worth the extra money for the 10"
speaker, standby, eq, effects and reverb.
Call Eurotubes you'll have them in the mail box in 2 days.

I definitely agree the Special is worth the extra money, the effects suck but I couldnt live without reverb. The eq is subtle, but I have kinda "set and forget it" since I bought it. I'm now concivced this speaker is actually decent, but I'm still looking forward to rigging up an input to play it through my crate 212 combo with celestions.

[goodbyebluesky]

Originally Posted by RandyW

just for the record on the VJ amp head there was a increase in volume.
also an improvement in tone. The Special was a much larger improvement
in tone with no noticeable change in volume.
btw: have you noticed on your special that the eq controlls offer only
minute change in eq? I still think it is worth the extra money for the 10"
speaker, standby, eq, effects and reverb.
Call Eurotubes you'll have them in the mail box in 2 days.

I'm curious, did you get the standard replacement 12ax7, or spring twice as much $$ for the premium gold-pin? Cus... I think I'm just buying the standard....

[RandyW]

I got the gold pins for both amps.