Budget Combo, is the Epiphone Valve Junior Combo the only real deal...

SRR

SRR

New member
My wife will be playing live at our church soon (could be 3 months could be 12 months, depends on how much she practices), she has a POD XT Live for that purpose. For just doing worship like music recordings is Valve Junior Combo all I should be looking at for under $200, she can use the POD for mixing up the effects and all, but is 5watts and a 8inch speaker good enough for worship music? We are not going to be doing death metal here, so I don't think we need 8 12 inch drivers with 200 watts. Would the VOX AD15VT be any better? Got a place that would sell a 12"inch cabinet for $100 and we just get the Valve Junior Head? We have $140 at guitar center to burn, pending the return of a Valve Junior Combo that we got from there that out of the box was/is dead. (power switch lights up, but nothing comes out of the speaker, no hiss/hum/buzz/guitar strums/nothing, tried a couple different cables, two guitars, and yes both guitars work with the POD) So anyways I am rethinking is this the best deal for us under $200?
 
If you already have a 12" cab then you should go for the head version. That is, if you like the sound. If you go to GC see if they'll let you try one, if you like what it does buy it. If not, I think something like the Vox you're talking about would be pretty nice.
 
No, we have no cabinet, just wondering if they can be bought (used) for $100. I wouldn't care if it didn't come with a speaker, I can always buy a speaker, slap it in there and wire it up...
 
Yell you'll just have to ask the GC clone if they have any cab's or enclosures that'll work for you. I'd say just try everything out, that's the fun with going there, you can play something til you find what you like.
 
SRR said:
No, we have no cabinet, just wondering if they can be bought (used) for $100. I wouldn't care if it didn't come with a speaker, I can always buy a speaker, slap it in there and wire it up...
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There is stuff like this on ebay...but after the 27 dollar shipping...Cab kit

I would get into the paper and look for something used.
 
Epi Valve Jrs are going for AUS$350 for the combo & AUS$279 for the head down here - IF you can get your hands on one that is.
 
Hey Tim, the Epi valve Jr will probably suit you fine for tube power-it can be mic'd if more power is needed. I was looking around for speaker cabinets with a single 12" speaker and only found a few-most are 4x12 cabs.
Some on ebay were around $100, but they were empty cabinets-no speaker installed. You may find a used cabinet somewhe re for $100-most new were around $200 that I found.

1x12 spkr cab
 
SRR said:
but is 5watts and a 8inch speaker good enough for worship music?
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In terms of output, then yes, it's plenty. I recently bought the combo, and I love it. I actually enjoy the 'boxy' sound of the small speaker.

However, while I do not know much about worship music, I think it'd be worthwhile if I pointed out some things.

This amp breaks up quite quickly, so be prepared for very little usable 'clean' sound at any volume. Some have pointed out that buying the head alone and using a 12" speaker cab gives you a little more headroom before things start to get too bluesy.

Also, the tone is 'thick', if you know what I mean. Bass heavy, and perfect for lead guitar work in a certain genre (think middle pick up Strat, blues playing), but you don't exactly get crystal clear definition. If jangly sounding riffs are your thing, buy a solid-state amp. Even with the bridge pick-up in a Telecaster and the tone control up full, there isn't a huge amount of treble.
If that suits you, cool, you'll be happy.

Btw, just for my own curiosity, what is worship music? Obviously, I presume it's religious, but what musical genre does it fit into? For example, can you have a blues worship song, or a country music worship song, or does worship music have its own musical conventions? Thanks, I've always been curious about this.

32-20-Blues.
 
32-20-Blues said:
Btw, just for my own curiosity, what is worship music? Obviously, I presume it's religious, but what musical genre does it fit into? For example, can you have a blues worship song, or a country music worship song, or does worship music have its own musical conventions? Thanks, I've always been curious about this.
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Think, Amazing Grace, small children, and womanly guitar playing. :p
 
TravisinFlorida said:
......unless Tom Waits was singing Amazing Grace, the children are really midgets, and the woman guitar player is naked. :p
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I think he does that on his new album. Yeah, disc three of Orphans definitely has a song with the lines: "In a criminal underwear bra /she rattled the strings of an old Washburn / and a thousand midgets fell around her feet" :eek:
 
Ah hay, wife took back the dead Epiphone and they traded square up for the VOX AD15VT, which is $50 more that we didn't have to pay, they would have had to order another Epiphone. With the reviews on MF I think it was an ok trade, maybe not the best but I think we will be happy.

As far as worship music, think Third Day, Avalon, Natalie Grant, look up there websites, that is the kind of music we are into.
 
check this out..its great HR stuff, I heard on the MP3.

http://www.benvega.com/

Lord you are a Shield.
I liked it even before I got the words and title were religous related...

its great, excellent mixnmastering too.
 
i had to do some reading up on the religious connotations made here.

fascinating. in europe (the western part that is) there is no such thing as 'worship music' or 'christian rock'.

here rock still is an instrument of rebellion.

which it should be.


btw i realise this can be a sensitive subject in this day and age.
 
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Codmate said:
We all know that the devil has the best tunes ;)
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AMEN!

:D


--- jerry lee lewis was a very religious man who realised he was serving the devil - not god - by playing rock.

whoring drug addicts make the finest rockers!
 
Codmate said:
We all know that the devil has the best tunes ;)
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On the one hand I'd agree with you. On the other, blues music is apparently the devils favourite genre. Think Robert Johnson selling his soul at the crossroads. When he played that guitar, men danced, women blushed and Jesus wept. However, despite these mythological Satanic connotations, blues music often bears an obviously spiritual influence. Hell, Blind Willie James and Skip James both worked as preachers, and Blind Willie McTell could be as evangelical as the next (church)man.

Religion in music works both ways. The best tunes are actually from resolute whoremongers, hard drinking womanisers and backsliding sinners who are all too aware of God's mercy, but offend him anyway. As the song says: "I like my living and my liquor strong, may the good Lord save my soul / My salvation's in the turn of a card and my heart's as black as coal." To be truly and convincingly blasphemous, a man must first acknowledge his belief in religion, and then sin.
 
i love my VJ head, and even more now that i've replaced the sovteks with some JJ's from eurotubes. they really mitigated out the harshness that the sovteks are famous for.

not exactly sure i'd use this amp for church/worship type music. i'd look at something a little less gainy and cleaner. and this thing can get LOUD.


cheers,
wade
 
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