Kinda' feel like I'm talking to myself here, but I did see that a few folks had some interest in it, so I'll keep posting my trials, tribulations, and tonal discoveries with this amp.
Standard Fare: The Epiphone Valve Junior: A pre-mod review
There few feelings that are better than the one guitarists get when they buy a new piece of gear - amp, guitar, pedal, etc. Not only does it have direct tonal benefits, but it often times has the effect of re-connecting guitarists with some of the core elements of their playing. My recent, and somewhat unexpected "re-awakening" came courtesy of a little $120 Epiphone tube amp. I purchased this amp primarily as a replacement to my Vox ADVT amp, which I'd recently sold to a friend (who'd just picked up the electric). But could the Epi fill the Vox's big shoes?
Well, after a little over a month playing my Valve Jr., I can say that it's done that, and more. That being the case, I felt the time was right to, as Chef Emeril Lagasse' would say, "take it up a notch," and replace the tubes and speaker. Not that the Epi sounded bad, mind you, but because I thought it could only sound better. After a little research on the 'web, my head was literally spinning from all of the ideas. But I had to keep in mind that this was a $120 amp. Filling it with fancy upgrades and electronics might somehow spoil its lustrous simplicity. With that in mind, I set a goal: to keep the mod costs under $50. This, I felt, would still keep the "bargain" aspect of this amp in tact, and provide me with a noticable improvement in sound.
I'd read on a few web forums that the alnico (meaning aluminum / nickel / cobalt magnet vs. the the stock ceramic magnet) speaker was the way to go for this amp. Wanting something with a more of a "retro" vibe, I decided that alnico speaker was the answer to the speaker equation. Anyways - Weber had a sale on their 8" Alnico 8S about a month ago, and I bagged one for $25 ($35 incl. shipping). Jensen also makes an alnico speaker - but it's in the $75 range, and I thought that was more than a little spendy for this particular amp. Now, if you're talking a vintage Fender Champ resto - yeah, maybe I'd go that route. But for a mass-produced, Chinese-made, Class "A" wonder-rig, I'll take the Weber, thank you very much! Tube-wise, I'd worked with an outfit called Eurotubes (J & J tubes) when I re-tubed my Peavey Classic 30 last fall. The service was impeccable, and the J & J tubes I ordered from them turned my C30 into a veritable tone machine. Hoping to conjure some more of that vacuum-bottled magic, I e-mailed Bob Pletka (owner / mad amp scientist) at Eurotubes, outlining some of the songs / tones that I'd been digging while playing through this amp. As luck would have it, he'd done a few of these amps already, and knew exactly what J & J tubes would make this little Epi groove. At a reasonable $18 ($24 w/ shipping) I said "sounds good", and rec'd the tubes in the mail a few days later. Including the tubes, that brought the total cost of my new mods to $59 (w/ $16 of that in shipping). Thinking back, maybe $50 was a little on the frugal side. But a new 8" alnico speaker and some hot rod tubes for less than $60 - yeah, that's a pretty good deal. Score!
Since I'd only had the amp for a couple of weeks, and wanted to really "hear" the differences that the upcoming mods were going to make, I decided to play the Epi in its stock form for awhile - you know, really give it a good listen. Initially, I thought that the wait would be unbearable, knowing that I could literally change the sound of the amp in an afternoon. But as the days & weeks rolled by, it began to gnaw at me less and less. Soon, it'd been a month - - then a month and a half. Aside from the previously mentioned "hum" issue, the amp really does sound good in stock form - even with the somewhat unspectacular Sovtek tubes. The factory speaker is a Weber-designed speaker, and not some AM Radio knock-off that they'd normally drop in an lower cost amp. Aside from the obvious facts of lower-end wiring & circuitry components (which can ultimately be corrected), you won't find a small tube amp anywhere near the price range, much less one that actually sounds decent.
As you know by now, this amp does not have any tonal controls, reverb, or anything else. Just (1) chicken-head volume knob. Amp afficianados, however, know that you don't need a lot of knobs to get good tone. The Class "A" design is really the key for this low-watt Epi combo, in that both the tone & gain are derived by controlling the volume of the amp, and the volume / tone controls of your guitar. Yeah - definitely old school. But it's what those cool cats at Sun and Chess studios cut their teeth on back in the 40's and 50's, and I don't think I need to go into how totally happenin' their sound was! Anyways, with all of the bling-bling available on today's new amps, it's almost funny (at least to me) that one of the hottest *new* trends is going back towards vintage designs. And in the case of the Epi -"barebones" vintage designs. Having had this amp for a couple of months now, I can clearly see why this is happening. These amps are a total kick to play through!
As for the tone, the lower volume levels (up to 11 o 'clock) produce a clean, even tone that responds very nicely to your strumming / picking nuances. However, everything you play through this amp you hear - string drag, being out-of-tune, mistakes - everything. Some might look at that as a negative, but let me tell ya' - it
REALLY forces you to play better. Not only that, but sans effects, reverb, etc., you totally "hear" what you're playing. One of the first "clean" songs I played through this amp was Led Zeppelin's "Tangerine", and boy, did I ever sound like a hack. A month and half later, I can make this song chime beautifully through this amp. Practice makes perfect! And believe me, you'll
love practicing with this little guy.
Another cool thing about this amp is that it responds
very differently to various guitar / p'up combinations. My Squier Tele had that trademark "twangly", bright register, whereas my Epi Les Paul had a fuller, wider tone, w/ nice bite to it (thanks to the SD humbuckers). Pushing the volume past 11 o'clock, the amp begins to show the first signs of that "natural" tube overdrive. This OD gradually increases up to the 2 o'clock position, but as it does, there begins a slight, and continuing decline in the note definintion (something I will touch on in Pt. 2). Surprisingly, for 5W, this little box gets LOUD!! As the volume passes the 2 o' clock position, all the way to fully juiced, the gain / OD factor is akin to a snortin', kickin' bronco - that is, a gritty, unapologetic, almost borderline rude tone.
But, is it usable? Hell yeah! Man, I grabbed my Les Paul, and roared through Brownsville Station's "Smokin' In The Boy's Room" - it was pure, rock n' roll bliss. As you move up the volume level, one important thing to keep in mind: as long as you're semi-attentive to your guitar's tone / volume controls, you can keep this little bronco under reign, and get those cool, natural, over-driven Class "A" sounds. On the flip side, if you want to throw caution to the wind, and just get plain ol' crazy with some old AC~DC, this little rig just begs for the attention!!
The bottom line is this: there's plenty of mojo to be found in the Epi Valve Junior - right out of the box. And after playing it for awhile, you'll probably find yourself wondering why all amplifiers don't have just one knob!!
Stay tuned for Part II - Rocket Surgery: A post-mod review!! 
My wife also thought the little Epi was "cuter", so maybe that was what swung me to the Junior instead of the Special!!! Ha ha ha!
