Just got an Epiphone Valve Junior head .....

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lt. Bob
  • Start date Start date
nope. not alot in there. alot of guys look at the valve junior like it was built cheaply to save on manufacturing costs. it in fact was. just like most of the classic amps that everyone love. the champ was built about as cheap as they come and there are guys paying rediculous amounts of money for this simple little economically friendly amp. there's alot of hype surrounding tube amp parts and it's making some guys alot of money.
 
So, electronically, would you say

this amp is very Champ-like? That would be a good thing in my book. I've got one and I love it, I just wish I could play it cranked, yet quietly.
 
i'm not a amp builder so i won't comment on the champness of the valve junior. i'm just getting my feet wet in all this tube stuff. my point was that the champ was built cheap like the valve junior is. neither were built with tone being the number one goal. it's a plus that people dig the way both of them sound though.
 
Lt. Bob said:
Hello ........ is this thing on? Testing testing ..... the amp is already very quiet. You don't need a power soak or special speakers ..... put a pillow on it and no one will hear it 30 feet away!!
:D:D
Tryin' to tell you man ..... it's already quiet. You can't get it any quieter and have a decent sound. It's super, very, very, extraordinarily quiet.
:)
I'm playing a bit here but if you don't want it so quiet it sounds crappy as you said above, then it's already about as quiet as you can get for a decent sound micing it. Just run it into a nice little Celestion 10" or if you want to kick out the bucks, a Weber or any of those boutigue 10's and it's gonna be super quiet and sound great.

TravisinFlorida .... man ......... those mods sound good don't they?
I don't know if I can see putting $300 into a $100 amp but if it sounded like that clip it might be worth it.
Click to expand...


LT Bob, are you trying to tell us the amp is quiet? LOL
I have a sax related question for you this looks like your hangout spot still.
Have you ever played a SX90 Keilwerth? I took the wife to test a Selmer 51 one brand new for $2400 it seemed to have problems with the low Bflat-D making this wobbly type sound. She had her Chinese DC pro and it sounded
every bit as good as the Selmer with with out any problems on the low notes.
We don't have a Keilwerth dealer here in MI that I know of and I've heard a lot of good things about them. I'm referring to the soprano model.

Regarding VJ, I've really been enjoying mine I have the head and the valve special. Both are extremely quiet noise wise with the exception of FX on the Valve special. I've used them for KB, guitar, even bass.
I seem to get the best sound using 2 ancient 12" 16ohm speakers in parallel.
Yes it's hard to justify putting a couple hundred dollars into a inexpensive amp.
I think they are adequate as they are with the right speaker match.
Having the tone controls on the Special really speeds up the process of getting that perfect tone though.
 
RandyW said:
I think they are adequate as they are with the right speaker match. Having the tone controls on the Special really speeds up the process of getting that perfect tone though.
Click to expand...

would you be able to put up a sound clip of the special varying the tone control?
 
TravisinFlorida said:
would you be able to put up a sound clip of the special varying the tone control?
Click to expand...

I should be able to record you a few bars with various settings this weekend.
I'll have to create something like a myspace account first, or I could email them them to you. I just put a new set of Bill Lawrence single coils in my tele so that will be my weapon of choice ;)
 
RandyW said:
I have a sax related question for you this looks like your hangout spot still.
Have you ever played a SX90 Keilwerth? I took the wife to test a Selmer 51 one brand new for $2400 it seemed to have problems with the low Bflat-D making this wobbly type sound. .
Click to expand...
I haven't played one. I actually only ever play my own horn so it's rare that I get to try anything I don't own. I play a Selmer Paris Super Action 80.
Sounds like a leak on that Selmer but at $2400 that's gonna be one of their lower line Selmers also unless that place is selling them at cost. And, despite the Selmer name, a lower line Selmer (not familiar with the 51) isn't really gonna be anything extra special.
I wouldn't get too hung up on brands if you find one you like. As for horns sounding as good as the Selmer .... to me most saxes sound similar really ..... some difference but most of the tone comes from the mouthpiece/reeds and throat shape of the player and you'll find that after a day or so ...... any horn will sound about the same once the player gets used to it because he has a 'sound' in his head and tends to get that regardless of horn.
Biggest difference between horns is being in tune or rather, being less 'out of tune' .... lol ......... and durability too. But that's a bigger issue for me than probably for you since I play about 4 hours a day at my various gigs.
 
I got a wild hair last night and plugged a bass into the VJ. Very sweet, got a great overdriven tone. Worked surprisingly well and I'm very stoked to record some sansampy style bass thru it this evening. If I get a chance I'll post some clips.
 
RandyW said:
I should be able to record you a few bars with various settings this weekend.
I'll have to create something like a myspace account first, or I could email them them to you. I just put a new set of Bill Lawrence single coils in my tele so that will be my weapon of choice ;)
Click to expand...

You could use lightningmp3. It's a free service that NL5 provides for hosting mp3 files: www.lightningmp3.com

Upload your mp3 there and a message will be sent to your email with the address of the mp3. Copy the address from your email and paste it in your message here.
 
jonnyc said:
I got a wild hair last night and plugged a bass into the VJ. Very sweet, got a great overdriven tone. Worked surprisingly well and I'm very stoked to record some sansampy style bass thru it this evening. If I get a chance I'll post some clips.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I love the dirty bass sound through the junior.
 
TravisinFlorida said:
You could use lightningmp3. It's a free service that NL5 provides for hosting mp3 files: www.lightningmp3.com

Upload your mp3 there and a message will be sent to your email with the address of the mp3. Copy the address from your email and paste it in your message here.
Click to expand...

Any suggestions on a nice cheap program to convert files from wav to mp3?
 
Lt. Bob said:
I actually only ever play my own horn so it's rare that I get to try anything I don't own. I play a Selmer Paris Super Action 80.
Sounds like a leak on that Selmer but at $2400 that's gonna be one of their lower line Selmers also unless that place is selling them at cost. And, despite the Selmer name, a lower line Selmer (not familiar with the 51) isn't really gonna be anything extra special.
.
Click to expand...

This reminds me of the dude that got me to sign the contract to buy my daughters instrument for the school band... :(

"our horns cost more...yes...<<<but>>>....we service them, repair them for free, carry only the best, and will let you get out of the contract if your kid quits band.... and everyone elses horns...that are 1/4 the price of ours...basically suck badly.
That's why you should pay us a zillion bucks for a flute!"
 
RandyW said:
Any suggestions on a nice cheap program to convert files from wav to mp3?
Click to expand...

i've used cdex for ripping and converting with good results (it's free).
 
Lt. Bob said:
I haven't played one. I actually only ever play my own horn so it's rare that I get to try anything I don't own. I play a Selmer Paris Super Action 80.
Sounds like a leak on that Selmer but at $2400 that's gonna be one of their lower line Selmers also unless that place is selling them at cost. And, despite the Selmer name, a lower line Selmer (not familiar with the 51) isn't really gonna be anything extra special.
I wouldn't get too hung up on brands if you find one you like. As for horns sounding as good as the Selmer .... to me most saxes sound similar really ..... some difference but most of the tone comes from the mouthpiece/reeds and throat shape of the player and you'll find that after a day or so ...... any horn will sound about the same once the player gets used to it because he has a 'sound' in his head and tends to get that regardless of horn.
Biggest difference between horns is being in tune or rather, being less 'out of tune' .... lol ......... and durability too. But that's a bigger issue for me than probably for you since I play about 4 hours a day at my various gigs.
Click to expand...


This was a best horn they had in the shop, it was the Paris super action 80.
the action was great just the bad sounding low notes. I don't know maybe the 51 is the low end of the Paris super action line. Any way every one else is selling for over 3K so I was ready to buy it on the spot but the 3 low notes were driving her crazy. She probably played it for over an hour and it didn't get any better. I found a place down in Carolina I believe Saxforte is the name they have a Keilwerth black nickel for 3.8K I'm tempted just to order it and get it over with. She has never been a big Selmer fan when everyone was buying Selmers in HS Jazz band she liked the sound of the Bufet better.
 
So, as I stated in a previous thread, my Mesa DC3 blew up during a session the other night. I was so pissed and nervous I could barely contain myself, yet the band was very understanding. We were just going to record direct when I suggested using the VJ. The kids(17 and 18) were like, "ok". I said it's only 5watts and they couldn't even believe it'd push my 4x12 cab. So we just went ahead hooked it all up and slapped his shitball metalzone in front. I tweaked the pedal hit record and everyone was amazed. It's no Mesa tone but, WOW, I'm very impressed and the clean sound was beautiful. Man I love this amp more and more everyday. Every kid should have one of these and a small cab as their first amp.
 
RandyW, I listened to your clip but you can't receive pm's for some reason. The amp sounds good man.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top