using Valve Jr as my main gigging amp with Rocktron Utopia

[Lt. Bob]

A little bit of explainig as to how that happened.

I recently got a Rocktron Utopia in my never ending search for a modeler that doesn't suck for live use. They're all great for recording where you can tweak that specific part .... but live? .....my POD sucks ...... my V-Amp is better than the POD but it still sucks live ...... my three Digitech units ... one an expensive rack mount .... suck, suck and suck. My J-Station actually gets a lot of use as a front end for bass. I run it into a Crown into an Ampeg SVT 410HLF cab. But for guitar? Suck city.

So I saw the Rocktron Utopia and they've always had the best sounds (remember when Sholtz came out with the Rockman and everyone was running their gits thru it into their amps 'cause his delay and chorus sounds were so good?).
And it's different than other modelers, instead of a zillion amp models .... some having different control layouts .... it has 4 preamp channels and that's it beside FX's ..... Clean, Texas, British and Mega for high gain stuff. The tone layouts are identical for all 4 preamps making it very easy to tweak and since they put everything into only 4 models (not of any specific amp), they did , in fact, have the sound quality I was hoping for. Sounds very much like an actual amp and has very nice sounding FX's.
And you can set up speaker emulation on only one side so you can run no emulation to your amp and have emulation to the PA. Very cool, and it's a good speaker emulation too. You can pick 8, 10, 12 , or 15 inch speakers .... you can put the virtual mic anywhere you want and you can even dial up or down the reactance of the speaker..... I actually put my PA on one side of the room and my amp on the other and after working on it about 30 minutes, got the PA signal to sound very very close to my amp. First time I've had anything that'd do that. So on teeny gigs I won't even have to have an amp ( I've already played a few gigs thru the PA without any amp and it sounded pretty real), and on big gigs I can always know exactly what my git sounds like out front.

So anyway ..... the last three nights just for the hell of it I ran my Epi Valve Jr. thru the 12" speaker in my Mesa and man, oh man ......... the Utopia into the Valve Jr. was freakin' magic. It was just luck I suppose but the two were very synergistic. You know how despite the fact that the V.Jr sounds very good, it is limited by having no tone control and you can't really get a clean sound out of it?
Well the Utopia provides the tone control you need and you can get that 'sparkle' on top that you normally can't get out of the V jr. Plus you can even get a clean sound out of it. You just dial in that digital unrealistically clean sound that modelers have and the V Jr breaks up just enough to counteract that and you end up with a very realistic clean tube amp sound.

So I'm gonna order two of those Emminence Red Coat Ram Rod 10"speakers tomorrow ....... build two nice matching cabinets exactly as wide as the head .....put some nice oxblood grill cloth on them and have a mini stack that should sound great without being all loud and shit.
After I do all that I may have to see about modding it up to the max. I don't think I'll have to though ...... it really did sound freakin' GREAT! But we'll see.

In the meantime ..... I can't believe a 5 watt amp is gonna be my main gigging rig. We'll see how it does on louder gigs but I think it's gonna cover them .....I only had it about 1/4 and it was fairly loud.
Very cool ..... I'm excited.

 

[mattamatta]

I'm itching to try my VJ head out in a jam scenario, and for some serious recording. So far I've just been able to do some quick clips of it, and play around in my apartment up here at school - it gets too loud for this place at the higher volume settings, so I haven't been able to experiement that much with it. Gotta get a master volume control in there so I can still cook the preamp tube a bit at a lower volume for just playing around. I can't wait to get it back home and do some jamming.

 

[Lt. Bob]

I actually have a fairly good sized amp collection ..... all tube amps and some fairly desirable ones. But the idea of using that VJ just appeals to me for some reason plus it won't be as loud as any of my other amps. Now that I've got it sounding good, it's gonna be fun to see peoples' reactions as they realize what I'm using.

I wonder if I can get a couple of those Epiphone badges to put on the speaker cabs?

 

[RandyW]

I actually have a fairly good sized amp collection ..... all tube amps and some fairly desirable ones. But the idea of using that VJ just appeals to me for some reason plus it won't be as loud as any of my other amps. Now that I've got it sounding good, it's gonna be fun to see peoples' reactions as they realize what I'm using.

I wonder if I can get a couple of those Epiphone badges to put on the speaker cabs?

I bought a Carvin vintage 2-12 cabinet with Carvin speakers sounds real close to the vin 30s just slightly less volume and treble than the celestions. I've used them on both my EVJ and EVJ special and they sound great. So great I can now take my supersonic in for factory service on the faulty reverb circuit and not even miss it.

 

[jonnyc]

The VJ take pedals and effects so well. I remember some people on hear argued whether or not one amp can actually take a pedal better than another but in my personal and in depth experience the VJ makes even lackluster pedals sound phenominal.

 

[Lt. Bob]

I bought a Carvin vintage 2-12 cabinet with Carvin speakers sounds real close to the vin 30s just slightly less volume and treble than the celestions. I've used them on both my EVJ and EVJ special and they sound great. So great I can now take my supersonic in for factory service on the faulty reverb circuit and not even miss it.

I've wondered about those Carvin speakers ..... they have an 8" speaker that I'd like to get a few of.
One of the things that I do need is for the speakers I use with it to be loud as possible. I am playing with full bands sometimes and I need a minimal volume.
One of the reasons I'm going with that particular Emminence is that they have high SPL ratings .... 100db as opposed to many others only being 97db or so.
I know it's not much difference but at 5 watts every little bit helps. ctually, the Mesa Black Shadow that's in my Blue Angel sounds better so far with the EVJ than any others I've tried it thru ....... don't know why.

The VJ take pedals and effects so well. I remember some people on hear argued whether or not one amp can actually take a pedal better than another but in my personal and in depth experience the VJ makes even lackluster pedals sound phenominal.

I totally agree ..... fror whatever reason pedals sound wonderful thru the EVJ. My Rocktron sounds good thru anything but it sounds its' best thru that damned little Epi.
I'm not sure why that would be ....... but the EVJ doesn't really have a typical preamp section .......really, just an input gain which sort of makes it a 5 watt tubed power amp. Maybe that has something to do with it.

West Labs has a mod (an expensive one) that adds a tube and bumps it up to 15 watts. I may consider researching what they do and trying it myself. But first I gotta get to cabinet building.