The Epiphone Valve Junior: £150 I Don't Regret Spending

Рет қаралды 10,244

Күн бұрын

🤘 Buy Me A COFFEE or Find my GUITAR COURSE, The Electric Delta Blues: / jamesonguitar474 😊
In this one I talk about the Epiphone Valve Junior head and cabinet I have, which cost £150 second hand. It is a Class A 5 watt amp with an el84 in it and it sounds way better than it should - especially if plugged into a good cabinet! I play it with a Telecaster, Stratocaster, SG and a Collings i35lc Vintage.
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Email me for direct lessons via video - jamesonguitaryt@gmail.com
Time Stamps:
0:00 Intro
0:54 Telecaster Demo
1:18 Bang for your buck!
2:35 Played through its cabinet
3:30 ITs cab doesn't sound great
3:58 Played through greenbacks
4:20 Setting It
4:34 Strat Clean
5:35 Strat Edge of Breakup
6:38 Strat Breakup
7:41 Lack of Features is GOOD
9:10 How loud clean?
9:47 Using Fryette to increase volume
13:05 Strat with FUZZ
13:53 Strat Univibe/fuzz
14:22 Only so much it can do
15:04 Future Mods?
16:16 IT's going nowhere!
16:44 Full volume with SG
17:42 Coming Up Soon
18:22 SG Demo

Пікірлер: 55

@TelevsionCanyons 7 ай бұрын

actually loved the tone thru the original 8 inch cab the most.

@JamesOnGuitar 7 ай бұрын

Hey all! I hope you all have a great christmas 🙌 also apologies for some out of focus bits in the second half when I’m talking to camera. Cheers!

@meeno_the_man 7 ай бұрын

I've got a little 5 watt hand made job, fashioned from an old '60s metal box of some kind of tube-device-gone-by and now I've got it running through my sumptuous 1x12 Morgan cab and it's a total gem. One volume knob and two other knobs that did something for the machine once upon a time but now are only cosmetic. I call it my Blue Tin 3P0 because in my mind it harkens to little friendly droid. I love it and it seems to love me back. You work to its strengths and it broadens yours. That a lovely compact to have with a machine, a compact-compact machine, as it were. Merry Christmas to you and your wife and I want to say Thank You for a terrific year of sharing your Tone Journey. It's been a real gift. Keep up the great work.

@UncleDansVintageVinyl Күн бұрын

I have the head and 1x12 cab and have had them for pretty close to twenty years. They're great. Plug straight in, dime it, and go. I got the head first, and for a while I was playing it through an old Teisco 2x15 cabinet. The Valve Junior sounded amazing through the twin 15s!

@ianholmes6078 6 ай бұрын

This is a 1x12" cabinet. The combo amp came with an 8" speaker. Yes, this is a killer amp for the price, and can be modded easily, which is great for people to learn on. I definitely recommend picking one up.

@adambrunner9462 7 ай бұрын

Glad you pulled out the SG. Still my favorite of your collection! I have a boutique "Ear Fuzz" 5 watt head with 2 10" webers baby stack. Its a type of champ circuit that is MY amp! Been thru Swart, Dr Z, Benson, Fender, Marshall, Tone King and the only one I will never sell is my Ear Fuzz. For me it has the sound at a home level I can play at! He also makes insane Fuzz pedals you should check out! Based out of Minnesota in USA!

@Adventuresingearland 7 ай бұрын

Sometimes it’s great to keep things incredibly simple isn’t it! Some wonderful sounds in there - lovely job. 👏🏻

@JamesOnGuitar 7 ай бұрын

V true! Thanks

@aminahmed2220 7 ай бұрын

What a fantastic video have a wonderful happy holiday season also a fantastic happy new year James ❤😊💜💛💙🧡💚🎸🇨🇦🌲☕🥛🍩🎂🍰🍶🍪🧁🇬🇧

@TimBentley 7 ай бұрын

Cool little amps. I've had one (a combo) since they came out. They were also a big thing in the modding community at one point, because the circuit is so simple. Great option to keep around for a different sound/feel, especially for recording. With a few tweaks they can do the "clean to scream" thing pretty nicely - amp volume at 12, roll the guitar volume right down for clean, all the way up for blistering lead tones.

@goobiecaro8135 7 ай бұрын

This is a great no frills blues amp. I own two sets. Both with the matching Epi 112 cab loaded with a Lady Lucks. Did swap out to Greenbacks at one point. The head did help me in noticing the differences in all my guitars. Nice vid.

@brandonpoole1670 Ай бұрын

I purchased one of those Valve Jr. half-stacks almost 20 years ago. Still have it! Never had any issues. Think mine is a 3rd iteration, with 4, 8, and 16 ohm outputs on the head and a 12” Eminence Lady Luck speaker in the cab (16 ohms). Cool to see someone else having fun with one!

@garycoates4987 7 ай бұрын

I bought one of these years ago, I love the hell out of it I've used it for a few coffee house gigs and larger gigs miked I do use a 2-12 open back cab with it which helps give it air

@jamesoconnor5154 7 ай бұрын

James I also watched berrie play that 59 with a value jr. Sounded great

@henryb160 7 ай бұрын

I loved it through the cabinet.

@bobdelair02 7 ай бұрын

I used to have the Epi combo version. Found it sounded good but was quite noisy (50Hz hum) ... Sold it after I got the Gibson Les Paul Junior (Mojotone version, not a vintage), which is less noisy and sounded way better to my ears. Recently I swapped the JJ pre amp tube for a vintage Siemens ECC83, which made the amp much cleaner and clearer.. Love the amp ❤. Have fun with it !

@aperezdeal 6 ай бұрын

Small world! I just picked one of these up!

@dirtcreature1 7 ай бұрын

Ive watched that Barry Cadogan video so many times! He's such a good player.

@graemero5532 7 ай бұрын

Magic little amp. Modding will interesting 👍🏻

@matthewcole6456 7 ай бұрын

Just bought one of these myself for $150! Great little amp! Playing through 2x12 with greenbacks haha!

@randallsmith7885 5 ай бұрын

Thanks for this review. Someone who lives near me is offering up a Valve Junior with a no-name 12" cabinet for $300 US. Seems like a good risk. I have seen a Valve Junior with an official Epiphone 12" cabinet for $500 US.

@RememberTheRegs 6 ай бұрын

Modded mine many years ago with the Bitmo mods, including one which adds tone control with boost and three seperate sounds, and a reverb. Makes this such a versatile little amp which is perfect for home recording. Not sure if you can still buy the Bitmo kits online though.

@ButternoteBackingTracks 4 ай бұрын

Great retro blues tone from these, nice demo! Check out Barry Cadogan demoing a 59 Les Paul. Awesome tones!

@GordonPavilion 7 ай бұрын

Another amp worth looking at, is the Vox Pathfinder 15R. It’s a transistor amp, but it sounds waaaaaaaaaaaay better than reality would otherwise dictate. I have two of them, amazing stuff that Vox should reissue.

@dirtcreature1 7 ай бұрын

I have the Head and 4x8 cabinet version of the 15R. Its the only solid state amp I have, but it does sound good.

@markbryant4641 Ай бұрын

You're not wrong Gordon. I have the same epiphone amp&cab shown in this clip and also the Pathfinder 15R. Both are simply amazing for the money. I recommend the Randall RX15 too. It's a great metal amp. I've been using the line out from the pathfinder to record directly into my laptop. It sounds excellent. Unfortunately when the line out is being used the amp's speaker isn't muted, which is strange. So I have it face down on the bed with all my bedding stacked on top. With a booster (Bad Monkey) in front the tone from the 15R directly into the interface is better than any sans pedals I have. Which is surprising. Rock on!

@giulioluzzardi7632 6 ай бұрын

Happy New Year! Year of the Dragon 2024. BTW, keep it simple, no pedals or gizmos to enhance the amps we need to hear them bone-stock, thanks.

@dananthony6258 7 ай бұрын

I wonder if you used a boss EQ pedal or actually that dumble pedal you got. Maybe be able to shape the tone with the original cab. Sounds great through the green backs though. I’m just curious.

@dananthony6258 7 ай бұрын

I bet a p90 les paul Jr would sound insane.

@jamesoconnor5154 7 ай бұрын

James im looking to get new pickups for my r9. Any suggestions?

@reverb508 7 ай бұрын

What a great little amp. Proof that cheap gear can still kick ass.

@IgorOctaviano 5 ай бұрын

Damn, this sg looks good. What color?

@christophervincent8420 7 ай бұрын

I was very tempted to buy one of those.

@stanislavmigra 7 ай бұрын

go for it. One knob and truth 👍

@reverb508 7 ай бұрын

For the price they go for used, it’s a no brainer. Just get it.

@christophervincent8420 7 ай бұрын

It's not that simple. I have 2 amps and 6 guitar. My wife is pretty much not wanting me to grab anything else. I have a 1wtt Supro and a Blonde Deluxe Reverb Tone master. She u don't want to push that envelope

@stanislavmigra 7 ай бұрын

@@christophervincent8420 those are rookie numbers :D

@reverb508 7 ай бұрын

@@christophervincent8420 Ah, I know that predicament. Godspeed lol

@darwinsaye 7 ай бұрын

I bought one of those in combo form, new back in the 2000s. Way too much honky midrange for my taste. I turned around and bought a Fender Champion 600 a couple of weeks later. I absolutely loved the Fender, and wish I had kept it.

@stanislavmigra 7 ай бұрын

Its great amp. People seems to be obsessed with controlls. This has as much as really needed

@heggy_69 4 ай бұрын

Damn, if the only problem is that playing it through the stock speaker sounds fine then thats not really that bad lmao

@leighsayers2628 3 ай бұрын

I have just bought a valve edition 5 plus .. rebadged as a legacy ..great looking retro look .. Does anyone know about these amps ..epiphone rebadged as Legacy .???

@markbryant4641 Ай бұрын

Hi Leigh. I bought the same amp&cab shown here when they first came out. Which was around 17 years ago. Some time later, but not too long I noticed the Legacy branded version. Both were for available at the same time new from shops. Which was weird. Based on that I'd presumed the amp wasn't designed by epiphone but rather the manufacturer and both epiphone and Legacy had decided to badge and sell em. ...but that's a presumption. Epiphone had a whole lineup of the same style amps.

@Rhythmanalysis 7 ай бұрын

I had one of these and it just always seems to be a bit dark sounding…

@JamesOnGuitar 7 ай бұрын

Hmm, doesn’t seem that way to me at all!

@saccomarcelo 7 ай бұрын

It’s very easy amp to mod

@bartc7170 Ай бұрын

I don't understand what you are trying to show us with driving a £150 amplifier with a £1000 preamp? Who would consider such a match up, except as a farce (if you can afford it). Why did you not use an equally affordable device, such as an Xotic boost pedal or a Line 6 Pod, which would have made it a more realistic, layman demonstration.

@markbryant4641 Ай бұрын

A lot of people, myself included are open to buying expensive gear as well as inexpensive. It's not unrealistic to play an expensive guitar and pedal into a cheap amp.

@bartc7170 Ай бұрын

@@markbryant4641 Are you up to selling me one of those expensive guitars for a couple hundred bucks? Doubt it. So where does your "realistic" part come in for those who can't afford it?

@markbryant4641 Ай бұрын

@@bartc7170. There are many people all around the world who have jobs. We use the money we earn to buy things. Some people are stupid so buy the most expensive items they can afford because they think that the most expensive item is the best. Others will buy an item regardless of its price. They value the item based on something else. I've been to hundreds of gigs and I always check out the band's gear. It's the norm that a musician will have both expensive and inexpensive equipment. That's the norm. I don't often see a player with only expensive or inexpensive gear. That doesn't even make sense. Yesterday I spent four hours playing a $60 Behringer Strat into Bad Monkey (no idea what they cost new) into a $2000 Vox amp. Your reasoning is that I should have been using either a $60 amp or a $2000 guitar. That's pretty stupid.