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Topic: new item, Epiphone Valve Junior head, $99! |
Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
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Posted 13 Apr 2006 10:47 pm |
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www.epiphone.com and hit the amp section
This tiny critter sounds like the fun new thing, anyone try it?
The combo version is said to have a bit of noise, but the head is supposedly clean and warm at low volume, cranks like a Champ and can push a 4/12 cab, with a 4, 8, 16 ohm 1/4" jack selection on the back panel.
They've been back ordred to Hawaii for a long time, so maybe they're selling big. |
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Karlis Abolins
From:
(near) Seattle, WA, USA
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Posted 14 Apr 2006 4:56 am
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Ron, I bought one of the heads recently after hearing about it on the non-peddlers forum. It lived up to the hype and is very clean as far as noise is concerned. I found the sound "undistinguished" in that it did act like a champ but it didn't have that classic coloration that made the champ so famous. After looking at the circuit diagrams and comparing them to the champ diagrams, I bought some resitors and "champed" the circuits. It sounds like a dream today. For less than $20 dollars in parts and a couple of hours of mods, I have a $120 champ. I am running it into an 8 ohm detuned speaker cab with a single 15" Weber Cali and this thing just doesn't quit. I have experimented with different preamp tubes and like a 12AT7 a lot althought they all sound good. I just ordered a 10" speaker to put in a new smaller cab.
For a $100 you can't go wrong on this amp even if you leave it stock.
Karlis |
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Brad Sarno
From:
St. Louis, MO USA
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Posted 14 Apr 2006 7:32 am
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I noodled around on a couple of these little Epiphone tube amps at the store. They sounded pretty nice. It's really impressive these days how much you can get for your US dollar when you take advantage of cheap, exploited, often underaged Chinese workers, and horribly toxic and wasteful environmental manufacturing processes that would never be allowed here in the US. That amp made in America would probably cost triple that price, and would pay the workers wages that are many times more expensive. And some of that price would be spent on manufacturing proceses that had to adhere to EPA environmental standards to protect Americans from toxins like benzine and dioxin. You just can't afford to make things in America any more. Americans vote with their dollars. The bottom line wins out. Go China!!
Sorry for the sarcasm. I'm just trying to make light of what's become of our country. I know we're all guilty of contributing to the demise of the American worker. Who among us isn't guilty of shopping at Wal-Mart? C'mon now. I bet I couldn't even count how many time the phrase "made in china" appears in my home whether it's on a VCR, cordless phone, electric shaver, soap dish, popcorn popper, computer printer, etc. At least they still make Moon Pies here, I think.....
Brad |
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Mickey McGee
From:
Phoenix,Az
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Posted 14 Apr 2006 11:03 am
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| What Brad said is so true-last night I watched a cable program on China-hi rise buildings looked like a big USA city but they say China is two countrys now China A lots of money to the state and some people and China B POOR-they will build you a cheap amp on top of a dung heap then wipe off the dung box it up and ship to the USA. |
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Karlis Abolins
From:
(near) Seattle, WA, USA
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Posted 14 Apr 2006 2:48 pm
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Brad, I certainly think your comments about offshore manufacture of the items we can buy is pretty much to the point. I would be interested in hearing your experience as a manufacturer regarding the labor performance of your employees (perhaps offline). I think that the quality of the valve jr. is first rate. It is very simple with a small number of components on one pcb. It has a box with tolex. 1 connector in front, 3 connectors on the rear, an off-on switch and two transformers. Could the same thing be made in America and sold for $100? The valve jr. was designed in America and Gibson is an American company. They are making money on this item and will probably sell thousands of units. Is the cost of living in America inflated beyond what is reasonable in the rest of the world?
Karlis |
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Brad Sarno
From:
St. Louis, MO USA
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Posted 15 Apr 2006 1:51 pm
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Karlis. Yea, I was just kind of having fun ranting. Honestly, things have moved so heavily to China that we're actually beginning to see some very high quality stuff being made over there. Lot's of tooling and operations have been moved there from Japan and other places known for quality work. I guess we're all beginning to accept the new reality in which we live. It's just a natural result of global capitalism and competition. There is a whole lot of disposable crap coming out of China. But there is also a new wave of well engineered, decent quality production coming from there as well. Heck, tonight I've got a gig and I'll be playing a G&L ASAT made in Korea. I don't want to sound hypocritical. I'm also guilty to a degree, at least as a consumer.
But personally with my own products, we're old school holdouts doing everything we can to keep it USA. But our market is very small and our products are "boutique" handmade devices and are not mass produced, so these aren't pressing issues. I know I could have a Chinese factory make my Black Boxes and preamps, and they'd probably cost me about 1/3 or less of what they cost me now, but I won't do it. I believe that there are hidden costs when it comes to "saving" money that way. Someone, somewhere pays for it, somehow. I like hand building every single unit myself, and I hope to continue that way unless the volume gets so big that I just can't. If that day should come, I already have local people in mind to help take on the load with me. I believe that if you make a really good product and back it up, then people (or at least professional musicians) are comfortable paying what it costs to do it that way.
Regarding my employees, well it's just me and my lovely wife. We do everything. We design, order, stuff, solder, assemble, pack, ship, etc. Being this small, we just don't enter into that arena of having to contract out labor abroad, or even out of our home for that matter. We have our chassis made right here in St. Louis by a company that uses US steel. Our circuit boards are manufactured in Detroit. My CAD engineer is also local. The components inside my gear do come from all over the place as there are only so many options when it comes to resistors and pots and caps and the rest. My Switchcraft jacks and Dakaware Knobs come from Chicago, my signal caps are handmade in France, my filter caps are made in Taiwan, my cable strain reliefs are from Mexico, and so on. But we try as hard as possible to keep the stuff supporting US companies.
I understand that mass production is an entirely other realm and to survive in that world seems to require the use of China (or Korea or Indonesia or Malaysia, etc.) and all it has to offer. So I won't judge, but I do feel sad for what's become of American manufacturing. As I said before. Americans vote with their dollars. I guess we get the America we're willing to pay for.
Brad |
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Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
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Posted 15 Apr 2006 2:34 pm
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Thanx for your input on the amp Karlis.
There are some more mods to be found on a google search that sound great in case I'm not fully satisfied with it out of the box. |
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Brad Sarno
From:
St. Louis, MO USA
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Ben Jones
From:
Seattle, Washington, USA
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Posted 16 Apr 2006 6:44 am
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tempting yes because they are so cheap, but really...what are they useful for? They are too noisy and loud to be used for home recording. They are not loud enough to play with a drummer. That pretty much leaves "practice amp"..and for that, yes...not a bad amp but not anything super special either.
after saying all that I DO own the combo. It never gets used, but will resell very well once they stop making em.
I guess one cool use of those combos or heads would be to get two of em and set up a cheap stereo rig?
what woud you guys do with these if you bought one?..Im curious |
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Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
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Posted 16 Apr 2006 7:48 am
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At this point, curious is where I'm at, but for 99 bux a pop you can get 2 (or more) and do the cool stereo rig, or as I plan, see how it performs in conjunction with a solid state rig, or chain 'em up just for fun (if indeed they are as quiet (head version) as stated. Lots of upgrades and mods to choose from that show real promise.
For us lazy folk, it's cool somebody finally did the hard part and gave us a toy off the shelf that can be easily tweaked and abused. Should be a gas! |
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Brad Sarno
From:
St. Louis, MO USA
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Posted 16 Apr 2006 11:47 am
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It looks like a couple of these guys have mods that quiet down the hum and make the pretty quiet. Plus, it's really hard to beat a 5 watt amp for recording and tone. I'd say there's plenty of good use for a 5 watt amp. Playing alone at home, 5 watts is pretty loud. I read that some of that early killer sounding Roy Buchannan stuff was recorded on a Fender Harvard, which is essentially a 5 watt Champ but with a 10" speaker. And then of course there's Layla.......
I'm kind of interested in some of these tweed kits you can build. Mojo makes a kit as well as half a dozen or more other people. You can build a Champ, a Deluxe, or just about whatever. Some of these kits come with everything, and they're a lot cheaper than buying a new boutique or vintage Fender amp.
Brad
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 17 Apr 2006 7:05 am
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I one of these on order and it has been shipped. I am wondering what type of speaker you are using with it? I am looking at a Fender speaker enclosure with a 12" speaker. I plan on using the combination for lap guitar.
Erv |
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Ben Jones
From:
Seattle, Washington, USA
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Posted 17 Apr 2006 7:36 am
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well when you guys get the heads, It would be great if you came back here and told us about em...I'd love to hear your opinions on it. I admit the head version is very attractive.
my 2 cents on the combo is its a good little practice amp, surprisingly loud at five watts, noisy but you can mod it if you are inclined... the tone is good but not good enought to knock my other tube amps out of the picture for recording. |
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Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
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Posted 17 Apr 2006 9:06 pm
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| Seems like it favors the 16ohm with a twin or quad cab, and no fears of killing the amp with a mismatch(!?!). |
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Papa Joe Pollick
From:
Swanton, Ohio
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Posted 17 Apr 2006 9:38 pm
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| 4,8,or 16 ohms. |
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Larry Weaver
From:
Asheville, North Carolina, USA
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Posted 19 Apr 2006 3:51 am
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New territory here for me. Is it possible to use the Valve Jr head as a preamp into a solid state rig? I didn't see any sort of line out, just speaker outs. Also, with two of them, how would one chain them for a stereo rig?
thx,
-Larryw |
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Joseph Meditz
From:
Sierra Vista, AZ
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Posted 20 Apr 2006 6:56 am
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Is this head made of plywood or particle board?
Joe |
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Karlis Abolins
From:
(near) Seattle, WA, USA
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Posted 20 Apr 2006 12:05 pm
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Joseph, I looked at the inside of my head. It is painted black. The only "end grain" I can see tells me it most likely is plywood.
Karlis |
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Will Holtz
From:
San Francisco, California, USA
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Posted 20 Apr 2006 3:45 pm
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| The folks at Harmony Central claim there is a revised version that has the noise problems fixed. |
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