SeriesEpiphone Valve

This a 15watt all tube head. One channel with standard EQ, gain, and volume. There is built in digital reverb, as well as 16 built in effects. An included footswitch can turn the effects on or off. It runs on 2 EL84 power tubes with a fixed bias. UTILIZATION Its a one channel amp, very straight forward to use. SOUNDS This is a one channel amp with a decent crunch if you push the gain high enough. When you run the amp clean it has this great warm tone, very old school sounding. This can translate to muddy tone when you turn up the gain if you don't roll off the bass. This amp has a really unique tone, its very cool. It takes pedals very well too. The built in reverb is pretty nice, but all the other effects besides the delay are pretty useless. I left the DSP bypasses most of the time. Sadly its not a true bypass, which means some of the effect circuit is still active even when all the effects are off. There are some simple modes that can take the effects completely out of the circuit and it suppose to make the amp sound even better. The stock speaker leaves a little to be desired, it sounds much better with an upgraded speaker. OVERALL OPINION Overall this is a great first tube amp. It has a very classic sound, some built in effects, and takes pedals like a champ. The fixed bias also makes it really easy to maintain. With a couple upgrades the amp can sound great. It definitely tends to be muddy but if you take some time with it you can find some very unique and usable tones. There are definitely better sounding amps out there with similar features, like the JCA20, but this isn't a bad amp. Especially if you're looking for a warm clean tone with a touch of breakup, thats were this amp shines.

The Epiphone Valve Special is a true class A tube combo. It delivers 5 watts of single-ended power through an epiphone 10" speaker. It has a single input, and an 8 ohm speaker output (more on that later). An effects loop would have been nice but is nonexistant in this price range so I don't hold it against them. This lineup of amps and heads from Epiphone is most likely their answer to the Fender Junior amps. Having high quality tube sound in a simple package thats affordable appeals to everyone from a sound-savvy beginner, players that frequent small venues and are looking for an uncomplicated setup, to studio use since their low wattage makes them easy to crank up. The whole Epiphone Valve lineup is incredibly affordable. The Valve Special combo is a step up from the Valve Junior because unlike the VJ it offers seperate Gain and Master Volume controls (the VJ has a single level) and a moderately usable EQ, along with reverb and onboard effects. It also has a standby switch, which the lesser models do not have, so thats a bonus. UTILIZATION This amp is a breeze to plug into and play with minimal fuss. To be honest, I never looked at the manual. I easily got a good sound out of it with every guitar I own. SOUNDS This amp is not as versatile as many would like it to be, since it is a single channel amp. With that being said, I still get a wide variety of sounds from it, but keep in mind it will not give you a metal sound, or even a high gain sound without outboard effects/stompboxes. What it will give you is a fairly British sounding bark at high gains, moderate sustain, but still with clarity on the indivudual notes. More of a slightly crunchy overdrive that never enters "distortion" territory. My favorite strategy is plugging my Ibanez Ghostrider (Les Paul style) guitar in, maxing the Master Volume, and playing with the gain to get a perfect balance between chime and dirt. One tip for you if you have Gibson style pickups that clean up as you lower the volume (like mine do) is to use more gain than you want, and use the controls on your guitar to clean it up. It yields a creamy clean sound that is to die for if you are used to sterile solid state amplifiers. Sometimes I drive the amp with a TS9 Tube Screamer and get some great lead sounds that satisfy my need for Santana-like sustain. The reverb on this amp is very good, better than that of any of the other tube amps in this price range like the Fender Junior amps. Its fairly full up to 70% or so then gets flabby after that, so don't expect true Fender tube reverb or drippy surf style reverb. It works perfectly for me, as I like a good amount of reverb on my clean sounds. The built in effects on the Special suck. It would have been better to just leave them off, or just give a decent chorus effect in place of UNusable multi-FX. The delay is too drastic and will turn off most players with a tasteful ear, and the flange is absolutely, terribly cheesy. I do not use them at all. One more cool feature is that rather than hardwire the speaker to the amp, Epiphone purposely used 1/4" connections that can be dissconnected to use the 8 ohm output to drive a seperate cab in place of the stock 10". The stock speaker is not bad, but I did get some good results by driving the speakers of a 212 combo I had laying around. Its cool to have the option of driving different configurations, so its harder to outgrow this amp. OVERALL OPINION I've been paying this amp for nearly a year. Most of all, I like the simplicity, and the creamy sustainy clean to mildly overdriven sounds sounds. Its versatile enough to gig out small venues w/minimal outboard effects. FYI, I did swap in some JJ's Eurotubes and it made this amp sing like it does for me. I strongly reccomend doing this and not settling for the stock setup. I have tried the Epi Valve Junior, the low end Crate tube amps, and the Fender Blues Junior and Pro, and I think this amp wins when the chips are down. The reverb is better, is a bit more versatile in terms of the controls and what tones you can dial in, and is cheap. I picked mine up for under 200 on ebay including shipping. Its a great value for the price even if you bought it new. I would buy it all over again if I had to.

This amp by Epiphone is a 5 watt tube amplifier head with just a single volume control. It was touted as being great for recording or perhaps small shows if put through a decently sized cabinet. It's got no other controls, no effects loop, no reverb, no anything... just a volume control and a power switch. It's powered by a single EL84 tube and really just is what is as far the amp. Some say it makes a great modding platform, and Epi's even done a few of them over the years like that too. UTILIZATION Getting a good sound is okay considering there is only one sound - on. It gets slowly more overdriven and louder as you turn it up but the core tone stays the same. Since there are no EQ controls, the tone is pretty much going to be factored by your guitar, cabinet and the volume you're playing at. You could run pedals in front of it to change the tone as well, but of its own merit the amp doesn't offer much flexibility. SOUNDS This amp sounds the same with whichever guitars I've tried. The tone is a little flat for my liking and I'd have liked at least a tone control in order to tame some of the brightness or add some more in. Of its own devices the amp sounds fairly generic and boring... I'm not particularly a fan of sterile sounding cleans with no control over the amount of breakup. I admire the attempt but I think only having a volume control is a serious limitation to this amp and it definitely turns me off. It doesn't really do much other than that one quasi broken up clean sound unless you modify it or use pedals. OVERALL OPINION All in all I think the Epiphone Valve Junior is an admirable attempt, but it falls short of the mark for me. The lack of tonal flexibility, the rather flat and lifeless sound and the fact that it's so dependent on other tonal factors make it really unappealing to me. They're about $150 new which is overpriced to me considering you're getting a box with speaker/input jacks and a volume control. If you are looking for something to mod, maybe try one of these, but in its stock form it's really not worth much, at least to me.

The Valve Jr. Hot Rod is a factory upgraded model of the original Valve Junior Epiphone put out a few years ago. Most players were modifying their stock Valve Juniors, so I guess Epiphone decided, shoot we'll make even more money off of this great idea we had. The original had a only a power switch and a volume knob, the hot rod has a gain and reverb knob as well as a standby. I was a fan of the old Valve Jr. and I had sold mine, so with a bit of seller's remorse this upgraded model was an easy sell. It set me back $200 online. It's simple and well if guitarists were to be honest, they have way too many knobs on their amps as well as how many gigs does the Average Joe play a year where he needs 100 watts of tube power? Since it is easy on the budget, I'm more carefree about this amp. I can leave it in my car, let a friend borrow etc. I really like the way it sounds through a 4x12 cab. The tiny thing can really drive a 4x12. If I designed the amp, I'd have gotten rid of the lackluster reverb and added a tone knob instead. Well built. It isn't high quality. Hi-Fi audiofile guys would gawk at the electronics, but it's built for guitar players to have a cheap tube amp. Another fun amp. It takes pedals well and can drive most cabs with multiple outs for 4, 8 and 16ohm cabs. Would make a great backup if not number one gigging amp. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I've been playing guitar for several years now, solely out of solid state combos -- Peavey Rage 158, Crate GX40C and a little unit I built (Second hobby: Electronics). I play only for myself, not in a band. I purchased the Valve Jr. from Musicians Friend on sale for $99.00 -- and shipping was free. I thought that it would be a nice way to get into true tube sound and a great price. Since I don't play in a band it was perfect for in home playing. I love the units look and feel -- it's got a classic styling and the covering is well put together. Now to the best part - the sound. I was thinking that for $100 I was going to get something mediocre. Boy was I wrong. It's crystal clear until you crank it up, then you get a nice warm distortion reminicent of many old tube heads -- but of course not quite mimicking any. For bedroom/practice use I would say that this is a great unit. You could probably even do a small club with it and larger ones if they'll mike you. That isn't in my realm of experience though. My sole complaint about this unit is that it doesn't have a headphone out jack. It's got three jacks in the back for 3 different ohm loads but no phones jack on the front =(. This is built solidly -- It'll stand the test of time if you don't neglect it. There were no blemishes or scratches when I got it. All in all this is a terrific purchase for the price, especially if you don't already own a tube head. After I buy a bass amp I'll probably purchase a second Valve Jr. as a backup -- or the next "size" up. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com