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

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lt. Bob
  • Start date Start date
mikeh said:
Lt. Bob - or anyone else who may want to offer opinions.

How does the Epi compare to a Fender Blues Junior. The reason I ask, I don't have any speaker cabs - so I would have to buy a cab, or at least buy a speaker and build a cab. If I pay $100 for the Epi and maybe $70 for a good speaker I'm already at $170 and by the time I add in the other supplies (wood, jacks, speaker cable, etc), not to mention the value of the sweat equity (I hate spending my little spare time on "projects") - I will be at $200 plus.

I can buy a Blues Jr for $299

I record mostly "new country" type of tracks (I really don't do any crunch metal, etc.) using mainly a Tele or Strat (although I do have an SG & and Epi Dot for times when I don't want a single coil "sound"). I know the Blues Jr. can do clean well - but I haven't seen any specific reference to the Epi clean sound.

Guitar is not my main axe and I have been using a Pod 2.0 and/or a J-Station for amp sims. I have an old Fender Champ (I have to crank it too loud) and a couple of other small amps (Roland Cube, etc) - but I really want to try the sound of a tube amp. However, I really don't want to spend much more than $300. I use an ME-50 for my "stomp boxes"

I'm finally getting to a point as a guitar player where I understand that tone comes from fingers--->guitar--->amp and the simulations simply don't respond the way I beleive an amp can. So after many failed attempts to get tone (the Holy Grail) from sims, small solid state amps, etc - I'm starting to understand why many guitarists already endorse tube amps - so now I have to decide on which amp.

So - anyone have any thoughts????
Click to expand...

my 2 cents...
I would spend the $100 on the epi valve Jr head, then go to a pawn shop and hunt for an enclosed speaker ...they usually have tons of them, already enclosed.
Tell them "I want to buy a speaker for this amp head (show them the amp head) and I want a good deal. Can I try some of these out? Plug in you valve jr head and try out some speakers.
When you find one that sounds good, offer them $15 for it...no matter what they have it marked.
go from there and bartor...you should get something pretty decent for $25.
 
mikeh said:
I record mostly "new country" type of tracks (I really don't do any crunch metal, etc.) using mainly a Tele or Strat (although I do have an SG & and Epi Dot for times when I don't want a single coil "sound"). I know the Blues Jr. can do clean well - but I haven't seen any specific reference to the Epi clean sound.
Click to expand...

Actually the Blues Jr doesn't do clean all that well, IMO. I have one and a Deluxe Reverb, and the Deluxe's clean tone is far and away better than that of the Blues Jr.
 
Yeah, i thought what made it a 'blues' Jr. was it's ability to brea up at realtively low volume.

Hey, how old is your Champ?

Too bad you've got the $300 limit. If you want tubes, but you want clean tubes, it's Fender Twin all the way. And especially for country. Of course, I don't necessarily know about 'new' country. I thought it was a little bluesey too, now. No?
 
Jimistone

I just listened to your clip. The tone is spot on for what you were trying to get on tape. I just wanted to tip my hat.

:cool:
 
Thanks for the replies guys - I was told by a couple of local guys that the Blues Jr. did clean well (I've not actually had a chance to try one) - but your comments have me wondering if a Blues Jr. would maybe not be a good choice.

So - can anyone give me an idea if the Epi can do "chick'n pickin" clean???

jimistone - while your point about a pawn shop search is understood, there aren't any pawn shops in my area. Use to be, but no more. I've checked the local music stores for used cabs, but all they have are bass cabs (perhaps too many people buy combos and there are no cabs to be found). There are some pawn shops about 100 miles away - maybe a Saturday road trip is in my future

notcardio - My champ is fairly old (not sure of the year but I'm thinking maybe early 70's. When I've been able to crank it it has a nice sound, but for home recording (in particular since I often record late at night) I can't get that loud (I live in a condo). Certainly a Twin is a country standard, but that would be more power than I could utilize for recording.
 
I've done a few hours of side by side with the Valve Junior and the Blues Junior. The Blues Junior - in my never very humble opinion - wipes the floor with the Epiphone VJ. The VJ isn't even in the same league with the Blues Junior.

If I could get the BJ for $300 (is that a NEW price??) I would buy it yesterday. The BJ's (new) for sale here are $400......but in the very next room they had a mint condition Mesa Boogie Subway Rocket with new tubes in it for $400, so I bought that instead.

But if I could afford to go up to $500 then I'd get the Classic 30....or YCV20WR.

The Epi VJ does one thing only, and it does it pretty well.....but the Fender BJ is a much, much better deal!
 
I have to say this because I really believe it.

When it comes to tone, MOST of it is in the hands.

A player who has great technique and touch...knowing how to mute, dig in, play softly, and use vibrato...can get a great sound out of a shitty amp.

A player who has poor technique and touch can get a shitty sound out of a great amp.
 
Micter said:
Jimistone

I just listened to your clip. The tone is spot on for what you were trying to get on tape. I just wanted to tip my hat.

:cool:
Click to expand...

Thanks Micter, I was impressed by the amps tone in the mix too.

It's definately a keeper.
 
soundchaser59 said:
I've done a few hours of side by side with the Valve Junior and the Blues Junior. The Blues Junior - in my never very humble opinion - wipes the floor with the Epiphone VJ. The VJ isn't even in the same league with the Blues Junior.

If I could get the BJ for $300 (is that a NEW price??) I would buy it yesterday. The BJ's (new) for sale here are $400......but in the very next room they had a mint condition Mesa Boogie Subway Rocket with new tubes in it for $400, so I bought that instead.

But if I could afford to go up to $500 then I'd get the Classic 30....or YCV20WR.

The Epi VJ does one thing only, and it does it pretty well.....but the Fender BJ is a much, much better deal!
Click to expand...

I have owned played alot of fender amps...supers, deluxes, twins...I have a deville (heavily modified) now. I have played through blues jrs quite a bit and they are nice amps....but they are $400 like you said.

I, much like you it seems, would be hard pressed to walk in a music store and plop down my hard earned $400 on a blues jr....you can do better for $400...you are in "mint condition Mesa Boogie Subway Rocket with new tubes in it" territory at that price point.
I bought the Deville for $300 and it was practically brand new.

Saying the blues junior ($400) is a better deal than the valve junior ($100) is not comparing apples to apples IMO.
If someone has a $100 budget (like a married guy that was able to "shave" $100 off the family budget money :D )...a blues junior is far beyond his $100 budget.
 
jimistone said:
I have owned played alot of fender amps...supers, deluxes, twins...I have a deville (heavily modified) now. I have played through blues jrs quite a bit and they are nice amps....but they are $400 like you said.

I, much like you it seems, would be hard pressed to walk in a music store and plop down my hard earned $400 on a blues jr....you can do better for $400...you are in "mint condition Mesa Boogie Subway Rocket with new tubes in it" territory at that price point.
I bought the Deville for $300 and it was practically brand new.

Saying the blues junior ($400) is a better deal than the valve junior ($100) is not comparing apples to apples IMO.
If someone has a $100 budget (like a married guy that was able to "shave" $100 off the family budget money :D )...a blues junior is far beyond his $100 budget.
Click to expand...
This post depresses me, you guys pay such great prices for amps. A 'good' price on a new Blues jr. over here is £325, that's over $600 in yer funny money. :(

Great sounding clip btw jimistone.
 
Jimi's right ..... the Blues Junior and the Epi can't really be fairly compared because there is a 300% price difference.
I have a large stable of amps ..... and basically every single one of them is a better amp than the Epi except they all cost from $500 to $1500 so it's like saying a Pinto isn't as good a car as a BMW. There's just no correlation.

And one thing the Epi does better than any of my other amps is get a driven tube sound for recording without being loud.

Can the Epi do the super clean chicken pickin' sound? I think so ..... you'd have to run it fairly soft though because it starts to have some breakup pretty early. But for super clean sounds you could use one of your bigger amps and not run it loud. So really, you've got that covered.
But I wanted the Epi for two reasons ..... 1. For $100 it's freakin' amazing deal ..... and 2. It really does the driven tube thing very well and that's a pretty hard sound to get right with a bigger amp in a home studio setting.
 
mikeh said:
Thanks for the replies guys - I was told by a couple of local guys that the Blues Jr. did clean well (I've not actually had a chance to try one) - but your comments have me wondering if a Blues Jr. would maybe not be a good choice.
Click to expand...

If you A/B a Blues Jr with, say, a Deluxe Reverb, and do it with a Strat in position 2 or 4, you'll hear a big difference in clean tones. The Blues Jr has a much darker sound with a lot less sparkle.

Not that there's anything wrong with that; the Jr sounds great in the crunch zone with a Les Paul. For chicken pickin', however, you'll want something with a clearer top end. IMO, of course.

BTW, I got my Blues Jr used for $300.
 
You guys keep comparing the Blues J to the VJ. You know your missing a model between those two. The Valve J Special it has almost the same layout as the Blues with the power of the VJ.
I got my VJ which is quit nice but I decided to get the Special also just to have a self contained unit and have reverb built in. It has also has a 10" speaker instead of the 8" on the VJ.

Forgot to mention I picked a unsealed factory box unit for $160 not bad considering you get a 10" speaker, gain, 3 band eq, master volume, DSP effects,
adjustable DSP reverb, and standby.
 
Codmate said:
Could I buy one of these heads and run it into the speaker input on my Fender Custom Vibrolux Reverb combo?
Click to expand...
As long as you disconnect the Fender amp from the speaker.
 
RandyW said:
You guys keep comparing the Blues J to the VJ. You know your missing a model between those two. The Valve J Special it has almost the same layout as the Blues with the power of the VJ.
I got my VJ which is quit nice but I decided to get the Special also just to have a self contained unit and have reverb built in. It has also has a 10" speaker instead of the 8" on the VJ.

Forgot to mention I picked a unsealed factory box unit for $160 not bad considering you get a 10" speaker, gain, 3 band eq, master volume, DSP effects,
adjustable DSP reverb, and standby.
Click to expand...
Is that also a Class A amp?
 
yes

Lt. Bob said:
Is that also a Class A amp?
Click to expand...

I just went home for lunch and found it on my porch, I was late getting back to work :D

I've only messed with it about 20 minutes and it is FANTASTIC. You can turn the gain up and lower the volume and get a very natural sound break up at
an even lower volume. Plus the tone controls are icing on the cake.
The reverb is pretty good a would compare it to the reverb on my
Fender Acoustisonic JR which is a DSP perhaps the Special is a bit better because it has its own level control where the fenders only has limited choices.

Both my Epi are the 2006 models but I'm sure the Special has less noise turned up all the way unless you use the effects then the flange get a little noisy.

I think the special has an extra 12AX7 to cover the extra goodies it has.

The 10" speaker sounds great all on it's own but quite a bit fuller with my 2x12 cabinet. I thought it would be the perfect amp for taking out to some
of the small gigs I do at hospices and rest homes.

When I get some time I'll pull it out and see if there is a separate PCB for the reverb and verify the tube count.
 
TravisinFlorida said:
Actually, I'm not in Florida anymore Bob. I've been in Oklahoma for the last 8 months. I picked a pretty crappy name when I started using this bbs. I could change it but what the hell. My brother lives in Deland. Next time I make a visit, I'll hit ya up.

If you get a chance, post some sound clips of your Junior. I've heard a couple of the combo's thru sound clips but not the head version.
Click to expand...

exciting, i live in deland too...
 
jimistone said:
Saying the blues junior ($400) is a better deal than the valve junior ($100) is not comparing apples to apples IMO.
Click to expand...

Correct......but it does directly address mikeh's question.
 
Thanks to all for addressing my questions. The $299 for the Bules Jr. was a price quote over the phone from my local GC - for a new amp. I was very surprised given that I have normally seen $399.

I think I'm gonna get the Blues Jr. if indeed GC honors the $299 quote. In part because I can get one right away and in part because no one in town has the Epi amp (they only have the combo - and that whole hum problem has me a little concerned)

Lt. Bob convinced me - given his statment that I can get decent clean sounds from some of my other amps (the Roland Cube actually does clean well) and soundchaser did point out that $299 sounds like a decent price (if indeed GC does it for that)

I think a tube amp with some natural distortion at a low volume will entice me to work on my guitar chops even more (my "country" chops are getting there but I need more work on the whole blues scale stuff).

So again - thanks for all the input!!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top