Epiphone Valve Special?

[chuck]

Hey guy,. anyone ever do mods to an Epiphone Valve Special? I'm looking to get more volume from this amp and also to clear up some of the muddiness. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Chuck.

[kiteman]

I don't know anything about the speaker in there but if there's a higher efficiently speaker available you'll have more volume.

[jim p]

Check over at the sewatt web site as far as mods. The valve special has a DSP and op amps in the signal path some people mod it over to just being a tube amp. If uses the same output transformer as the old Valve Junior replacing it would help a lot. The best choice for the money is the ClassicTone 15 watt transformer at Triode electronics about 36 bucks with shipping.

I checked over at Sewatt.com and in the FAQ section there is a link to postings on modifying the Valve Special http://www.sewatt.com/node/16248

[Andy]

aside from modding,a good eq pedal can brighten the tone and add boost

[jim p]

Just to add I asked over at Sewatt and the output transformer on the stock Valve Special is bad. It is not an air gaped core as an SE amp transformer should be so replacing it would go a long way to helping the tone of the amp. Also you could get a transformer with multiple output taps so you would not be stuck with just 8 ohms output impedance.
But to go along with above trying the amp through other speakers would be the best first thing to try, just use the head section and play through some cabinets if you can. I know the Bugera V5 sounds dark and that is due to the stock speaker, I was surprised that an 8 inch speaker would lack highs but it does.