Epiphone Valve Junior Tube Amplifier Head

I got this amp in June and it has never worked. I have plugged it into every 8 ohm speaker box I own. Nothing- NO SOUND! I spent July in the hospital so I could never get the 45 day return. Maybe I'll use it for a BIG paperweight!

Posted by Out of Luck from Colorado on Aug 29, 2010

This amp sounds fabulous. I bought the combo version which comes with its own speaker - other than the addition of the speaker, it seems to be exactly the same amp. I also bought the Epiphone 12" speaker cab. Depending on what or where you are playing, you can just unplug the combo speaker and plug the amp into the 12" cab for bigger sound. So now you can have a portable amp plus a larger speaker cab when needed. I guess it just depends on your needs. Either way, buy this amp.

By the way, Musicians Friend customer service rocks!! The first combo I received was defective -they replaced it immediately and sent by priority UPS so I received the new one in 2 days.

Posted by Snakebyte from Arizona on Jul 15, 2010

this head is really great, the overdrive sounds fantastic. gritty, and rich at the same time. i only wish there were reverb built in. those are the only two knobs i think an amp should have. if you needs tone controls on an amp then either your pickups suck or you have too many effects running. ps i wouldnt buy this if your looking for a QUIET home amp. you have to get the volume knob turned to about 9 o clock before you get good tone, which may start waking up all you old dude's babies. but after 9 it gets better and better. great amp, works well in small club/ bar shows

Posted by teleman5000 from valley of the sun, az on Feb 8, 2010

i recently purchased the epiphone valve junior. wow is all i can say, i am new to the tube amp world but for the money how can you go wrong. I also wasnt sure what kind of cab i would run it through since i only had a 4 by 10 but let me tell you this thing has the snort to power that and more. very smooth breakup. you dont need to crank it to get the full effect tho. 3 o'clock is plenty. that said. the valve junior is an awesome bargain.

Posted by goose1 from Wisconsin Rapids WI on Jan 12, 2010

I went to a local music shop and traded in my solid state marshall HDFX 100 head for this little Valve Jr. Best transaction I've ever made. The amp takes all my pedals so well(fuzzface, octavio, wah, giga delay, dano chorus, etc) and the best part is that you can crank it without blowing your ears out. It gets really loud, just on the threshold of too loud. So the less stages on an amp, the more pure the tone, and this amp holds true to that. I've saving for a bigger head and I'm considering using an a/b switch so I can have all my stuff on the floor running through the bugera plexi 1960 head, then switch over to this for the leads... just pure tone. Buy this amp, you won't be sorry. Oh btw I'd probably say run it through a 4x12 cab for a bigger sound.

Posted by cadav3r from superior, WI on Dec 31, 2009

I was recently allowed the privilege to demo try this amp through a marshall 4x12 at a local Music GO Round store. The shop guy let me crank it all the way up for a minute... It ripped my face off! The sweetest sound I have ever heard... The distortion is so harmonically rich and the amp responds SO well to my playing dynamics that I had to put it on lay a way. Gonna pick it up in a few days. I used a Gretch junior jet II. I'm glad it doesn't have many features because it sounds perfect just the way it is. For the record, I'm huge into southern blues and that Detroit rock influence that made Jack White.

Posted by cadav3r from Superior, WI on Dec 27, 2009

I love this head. It's got a sound that reminds me of a champ. The true beauty of this head is turning it up to about 2:30 and letting it rip. Perfect for rock or blues slide guitar with a strat or tele. With its 4, 8, and 16 ohm outputs you can bring the head to a session and just plug into a spare cabinet. It fits in your suitcase and sounds great. Better tubes will make it sound better, but the stock tubes are fine. Overall, a great deal. I traded my old fender solidstate 100w head for it and it's the best trade I've ever done. Buy one, it's freakin awesome.

Posted by themanwiththeplan from San Francisco on Dec 13, 2009

I bought the Valve Jr head thinking it would be a great head for home practice but its way more. I have been bringing it to practice and to shows as a back up for any band member that might have amp problems. Last weekend our bass player had amp problems and he used this on top of his 2 15 bassman cab. It worked! Of course there was no huge pounding bass out of the cab but there was tone like crazy and it pushed the whole 4 sets worth. That in itself proves that this amp is worth your time and money if nothing more than a backup for your band. Its already paid for itself, grab one!

Posted by DJ from Southeast USA on Aug 31, 2009

I bought this amp because i wanted something more portable than my 65 twin or my 100 watt head and 4 x 12 cab. I was very pleased with the sound and have had no problems or complaints. I replaced the tubes with jj's and Ruby's I don't like sovetek tubes or EH that is what was in it.The amp sounded great but a little to bright for my taste. I play Hot rodded Strats,tele's,les paul and a PRS singlecut all sound great. I think this the best value for the money it has the sound of amps costing several hundred dollars more. If anyone buys one and has a hum check the tubes as they can be sensitive and we know how things in music stores get banged around. My amp is dead quiet i use high quality cables too like George L's and Mogami.

Posted by tn377guy from tucson az on Aug 14, 2009

I bought this amp a few years back. I actually like it a lot. I've since sold a line6 stack to buy a podXT(I need something smaller and more practical for me). However, I kept this head. I like it. But here's the deal with this amp. Unless you have a serious EQ pedal in front of it, you won't get a wide range of tones out of it. If you want a sort of warm, vintage, dirty blues sort of sound, this amp can do that pretty well. Crank it up or put an overdrive in front of it and it can handle many genres of rock. I know this because I traveled with a band for about 5 1/2 years, and for about three of those years, this amp was part of my main setup. Don't get this amp thinking that you can get eddie van halen out of it. You won't. It isn't made for that. You can, however, get a good, solid meat-and-potatoes tube tone out of it. Yes, it does it surprisingly loud. Not as loud as a marshall stack, no of course not. But if you either mic your amps live or only play in medium-small venues, this won't be a concern. People usually mic their amps anyway, so no big deal.

But here is a problem. I'm a lead guitarist. This amp isn't the best lead amp out there. It can still work, but you have to really play your cards right with it. The problem I most had with it is lack of clarity. This can be fixed with an EQ pedal, of course. Unfortunately, I don't make a lot of money...so I don't own one. But back to the subject at hand, this amp doesn't have a high threshold when you overdrive it. After about 50% with the little volume kbob, volume doesn't really go up much more, it is mainly just more overdrive after that. Don't get me wrong, the quality of tone is good. But if you are a lead player, your volume boosts won't be as gratifying when the whole band is playing and everything gets really loud. You will want more headroom to boost the volume than this amp will offer.

So, all in all, this is a great amp for the price, but you have to know what you're looking for with it. It is a great amp for recording or perhaps if your band is just a trio and you're the only guitarist(so that way you won't have such a profound need for more volume if you ever solo).

Solid amp, great price, just make sure you've done your homework before you buy it.

Posted by dgood07 from Lacey's Spring, AL. on May 8, 2009