Modding the Epi Valve Jr.

[chazba]

It had to happen. Boutique amp builder Dave West has come up with a couple of mods on the Valve Jr that are said to correct a few deficiencies of the original and give the player more depth of control over the sound. West has a long rep as a builder of tone monsters so it might be worth a trip to Michigan to check it out.
Pix at www.westlabs.com

chazba

 

[hungovermorning]

A new output transformer and a decent 12ax7 does wonders for the little guy.

 

[travelin travis]

there's a monster thread at 18watt.com about modding the valve junior.

 

[Lt. Bob]

apparently there's a lot of mods for the thing. Best I've seen so far was Mercury Magnetics but it cost around $350!

 

[amra]

Supposedly just changing the resistors on the input jack gives you an audible increase in gain. Can anyone verify this?

 

[travelin travis]

apparently there's a lot of mods for the thing. Best I've seen so far was Mercury Magnetics but it cost around $350!

there are other output transformers that can replace the stock one. all of them are cheaper too.

if you guys are sincerely interested, go to 18watt.

 

[scrubs]

It had to happen. Boutique amp builder Dave West has come up with a couple of mods on the Valve Jr that are said to correct a few deficiencies of the original and give the player more depth of control over the sound. West has a long rep as a builder of tone monsters so it might be worth a trip to Michigan to check it out.
Pix at www.westlabs.com

chazba

That guy needs to hire a better website designer.

 

[pikingrin]

Wow, that looks pretty sweet. My cousin's boyfriend's dad does the amp building / modding thing here in houston. I'm going to snag me 1 or 2 of these and let him do his thing with them. Here's the only dilemma... I can't build a speaker cabinet to save my life. Whenever I work with wood the outcome is always "close enough, I'm not going to be doing anything with this that would require (whatever)". Does anyone know where to find a place that custom builds cabinets? I'm also a little bit curious about the speakers. The specs all have a resonant frequency note in them, does this necessarily have to be matched to the cabinet??

 

[Buck62]

I just bought the Valve Junior combo. I pulled the stock Sovtek tubes and replaced them with a JJ/Tesla EL84 and a TungSol 12AX7. The difference in the tone is like night and day. It was somewhat muddy and dark with the stock Sovteks. Now it's much clearer with a gorgeous ringing, harmonic tone that's on par with any top-notch tube amp I've ever heard or played. Sounds like God-tone when driven. The only time I get any buzz or hum is when I'm right on top of it or very close and facing toward the amp. Otherwise, it's clean and quiet. So, for a grand total of $162 ($140-amp / $22-tubes) I've got a killer little amp that I really love. I can't see dumping $300 to $500 of mods into a $140 amp, but hey... whatever floats your boat!

 

[32-20-Blues]

I just bought the Valve Junior combo. I pulled the stock Sovtek tubes and replaced them with a JJ/Tesla EL84 and a TungSol 12AX7. The difference in the tone is like night and day. It was somewhat muddy and dark with the stock Sovteks. Now it's much clearer with a gorgeous ringing, harmonic tone that's on par with any top-notch tube amp I've ever heard or played. Sounds like God-tone when driven. The only time I get any buzz or hum is when I'm right on top of it or very close and facing toward the amp. Otherwise, it's clean and quiet. So, for a grand total of $162 ($140-amp / $22-tubes) I've got a killer little amp that I really love. I can't see dumping $300 to $500 of mods into a $140 amp, but hey... whatever floats your boat!

Cool info on the tubes, I'm gonna check them out. It's a great amp, isn't it?

 

[Buck62]

Cool info on the tubes, I'm gonna check them out. It's a great amp, isn't it?

Yes... especially since I swapped out the tubes!!

 

[soundchaser59]

You can get the Hammond 125ESE for $40 bucks, takes about 2 hours to put it in......if you've never done it before. Best mod there is for this amp for the money. But if you have the combo, be prepared to put in a better speaker.

 

[Buck62]

You can get the Hammond 125ESE for $40 bucks, takes about 2 hours to put it in......if you've never done it before. Best mod there is for this amp for the money. But if you have the combo, be prepared to put in a better speaker.

Of the 100+ reviews of this amp at Harmony Central, many of the folks who changed out the original speaker to a so-called "better" one ended up changing it back because they thought the original speaker sounded better.... even after re-tubing and other mods.

Check it...

http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar+Amp/product/Epiphone/Valve+Junior+Combo/10/1


I can't see why people would keep putting more and more money into an inexpensive Chinese-made amp. Two new tubes (at less than $25) makes the VJ combo an unbelieveably great sounding amp. Continually dumping more money into it is like slapping extra racing stickers on the side of your dragster.... it makes you feel good, but nobody else notices the difference.

 

[Outlaws]

I can't see why people would keep puting more and more money into an inexpensive Chinese-made amp. Two new tubes (at less than $25) makes the VJ combo an unbelieveably great sounding amp. Continually dumping more money into it is like slapping extra racing stickers on the side of your dragster.... it makes you feel good, but nobody else notices the difference.

Then why even spend the $25 on new tubes? No one else will notice the difference.

 

[travelin travis]

Everything I've read says leave the speaker, change the output transformer.

 

[hungovermorning]

Everything I've read says leave the speaker, change the output transformer.

That's next for me. I swapped ou tht etubes, I put in a Holland made Hammond 12AX7 and an EI EL-84. Like it's been said, honestly does wonders for the tone. I figure changing the transformer would be a good thing as better iron never hurts. I'll post when I change it and get some noodling time.

 

[travelin travis]

That's next for me. I swapped ou tht etubes, I put in a Holland made Hammond 12AX7 and an EI EL-84. Like it's been said, honestly does wonders for the tone. I figure changing the transformer would be a good thing as better iron never hurts. I'll post when I change it and get some noodling time.

It would be great if you could post a couple of sound clips of before and after tubes, transformer (if you have the old one).

 

[Buck62]

Then why even spend the $25 on new tubes? No one else will notice the difference.

That's the one (cheap) mod that makes a HUGE difference.... a difference that my tone deaf wife even noticed!

 

[battleminnow]

On a side note, how long does 18watt.com usually take to approve a new member? Apparently one can't view the forums without approval.

Pete

 

[timboZ]

On a side note, how long does 18watt.com usually take to approve a new member? Apparently one can't view the forums without approval.

Pete

I registered 2 weeks ago and got accepted a day later.