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View Full Version : Played through a Valve Junior today...



Katastrophe
August 26th, 2006, 10:10 PM
NOW I see what the fuss is all about! These are great little amphs. Got a chance to play at an Austin music store today in my quest for the perfect Squier. All the store had were either Affinity models or the high end models, but while I was playing I saw a bunch of Epiphone "Valve" amphs in the corner of the amph room.

I would have ran over there, but it was only two steps.

Plugged in a Strat, and set the Mojo knob to about 10:00. Mostly clean, but just a little breakup in the tone. The tone was dark, but nice. A guy walks in and asks if he can crank the amph to hear what it sounded like. I said, "Go ahead, man!" He did, and I did indeed achieve screaming solos from this amph. Well, maybe not screaming, but the tone was thick and chunky. The amph is plenty loud for practice.

Who knew that such versatility could come from a little 5W Class A tube amph?? ***Smacks forehead, reminding self that DVM, Nelskie, and countless others knew***

I can't imagine how good this little gem would sound with the mods that have been posted on this site.

Also, while at the store, a kid of about 12 or 13 walked in with an SG, sat down at the Crate 50 W tube amph I was playing on, and promptly proceeded to kick my butt with some seriously good playing.

Cranium
August 26th, 2006, 10:58 PM
Yes its a great little amp, sometimes its not very clean and defined but it can obviously be improved with some tube changes and tweaking, its surprisingly loud, much louder then 10 or 15 watt solid state amps I played, its probably better then any other tube amp under $200 (if there is any!).

Nelskie
August 27th, 2006, 10:09 AM
I can't imagine how good this little gem would sound with the mods that have been posted on this site
Well let me tell ya' - it sounds fabulous! Of course, I've employed a couple of mods, and certainly, they have played a big part in the tone equation. However, I played this amp with just tube & speaker changes for about (8) months, and was totally satisfied with how it sounded - even without reverb! IMHO - this amp doesn't really need to be modded to sound good. And you can always employ mods down the road. ;)