Epiphone Valve SENIOR.

[just strum]

It's all about what sounds good to you...it's completely subjective. I was merely stating my opinion about the Epiphone line and my experience with it. If you guys dig it, more power to you. Rock on.

I agree. My question was to see what you do like in the way of amps in that price range.

 

[schenkadere]

I agree. My question was to see what you do like in the way of amps in that price range.

I responded to that. The Roland cube series, the Tech 21 Trademark series or if you must have tubes, maybe find a used Carvin X series or Peavey Bravo for a good price on eBay.

 

[oldguy]

I responded to that. The Roland cube series, the Tech 21 Trademark series or if you must have tubes, maybe find a used Carvin X series or Peavey Bravo for a good price on eBay.

What about the Crate V5 you modded? How would you say it compares to a modded Valve Jr.? Is the Crate's overall build quality (pcb, wiring, etc.) better/worse/comparable?
I ask because as of this morning there's 170 posts in the Crate V5 mods thread. Like the V. Jr., I think a lot of folks are trying to take an inexpensive amph and make it better, and more power to them. Maybe not cost effective, but a great learning experience.

 

[schenkadere]

What about the Crate V5 you modded? How would you say it compares to a modded Valve Jr.? Is the Crate's overall build quality (pcb, wiring, etc.) better/worse/comparable?
I ask because as of this morning there's 170 posts in the Crate V5 mods thread. Like the V. Jr., I think a lot of folks are trying to take an inexpensive amph and make it better, and more power to them. Maybe not cost effective, but a great learning experience.

I love mine for cleans and for OD, with the addition of an EQ it's been great. I only bought it because it was 79.99 new at GC and it had a 10" speaker...they had one left and it was an impulse buy The mods cost me about 80 bucks, so I think for what I have, it is a great value.

Some guys are practically rebuilding the amp, but that seems more of a hobby and challenge. I wouldn't be bothered doing more than I've done. I don't have the knowledge or time to go further and I really like the tone I'm getting. I don't think it's a better amp, just different...although pretty sucky stock.

 

[oldguy]

Thanks! One more question if you don't mind.......... how loud is the Crate after the mods you did? I ask because the Valve Jr. I modded was loud stock, but after the mods, through my 2x12 Celestion loaded Avatar cab, or my 4x12 Epi cab w/ Lady Luck speakers, it's loud for 5 watts. If it's cranked, and you don't want clean, but prefer overdriven tone, it would keep up with a drummer easily. It could be used in a club setting w/ no problem. It's quite a bit louder than the Fender 600's 5 watts, I think because no signal's getting dumped to ground now. I bought the amp for $99, spent around $50 to mod it, and it's far better than it was stock . I probably wouldn't redo another one since the price hike, and the offerings by other companies now, but it was fun at the time.

 

[just strum]

For the record, I love my Valve Jr. I didn't do the mod, it was done by our own Duhvoodooman

 

[oldguy]

It's a different amph than stock, though, Strum. Not saying you wouldn't have liked the stock version, but Vood improved it a bunch. If the Valve Senior needs mods (if and when it's available), it might not be worth the trouble considering some of the other offerings out there. The Egnater Rebel is one that comes to mind. More money, yes, but it sounds great right out of the box, or so the reviews say.

 

[just strum]

What I've heard most often is that version 3 is the only one that people would consider not modifying. The way I understand it, Epiphone incorporated some of the mods and 3 has enough that you might not want to mod it.

Not being familiar with the mod thing, I can only quote what I've read.

 

[oldguy]

You're right. I bought the version 2 head. Transformer swap was the biggie, about $35 to buy it. The traces on board were also pretty crappy. The rest of the parts didn't amount to squat, just the time to solder them in. I didn't count the time I spent as anything more than learning experience. I enjoyed it.
There again, if the Senior is done right the first time, it might be a keeper.

 

[rock_mumbles]

Valve Junior vs Crate V5 (long winded...)

What about the Crate V5 you modded? How would you say it compares to a modded Valve Jr.? Is the Crate's overall build quality (pcb, wiring, etc.) better/worse/comparable?
I ask because as of this morning there's 170 posts in the Crate V5 mods thread. Like the V. Jr., I think a lot of folks are trying to take an inexpensive amp and make it better, and more power to them. Maybe not cost effective, but a great learning experience.

I'll chime in on this one...

IMO a modded V5 is probably a better bedroom amp as it's not quite as loud and has a cabinet designed for a 10" speaker, a miked up modded Valve Junior head with a decent cabinet is a usable moderate volume stage amp because they're pretty loud. At this point the Valve Juniors I have are more powerful, and they have cost me just over twice as much as my V5, but I have about twice as much time into modding the V5.

I've had 2 Valve Junior Heads for about a year, I bought a v2 used and a new "Scratch-n-Dent" v3. I bought them: (a) to have a small tube amp for our small blues gigs, and (b) to learn how tube amps work. BTW, I'm not really a guitar player, I'm a bass player and an equipment junkie, so I've used the Valve Juniors as a learning platform (tube amp education). I now know enough about tube amp circuits that I can help a friend with amps at his music store. Just recently I bought the V5 because I thought it would be nice to have a small combo amp for testing pedals and guitars etc., and I thought that I could make it sound just like one of my Valve Juniors, after all it has the same tubes...

Both of my Valve Juniors have Hammond 125ESE OT's and have gone through various stages of modification, I just reworked my v2 for the third time it's loud with a darker sound and good clean headroom, the v3 is modded to be clean but brighter and isn't quite as loud. My modded V5 is a pretty good amp, but it doesn't seem to be quite as powerful as a Valve Junior and so far it just doesn't sound as good.

IMO, the utter simplicity of the Valve Juniors circuit puts it a notch above the Crate, I don't understand the Crate designs, there is just too much junk in the signal path (circuit) in all of the newer V series amps. My brother and I have also modded Crate V18's.

OK, the cost factor, I got the V5 shipped to my door for $76 new in the box, the Valve Juniors were $115 each, I spent about $40 each for the Hammond transformers, and have bought new tubes and other small parts in the year I've had them. It's been a lot easier to get the Valve Junior to sound good, a lot of people have played with them, and a lot of mods are published. On sewatt.com there is still a lot of Valve Junior activity. As far as the V5, I didn't like the stock sound much even with a decent speaker, and I decided to go a different route than the mod I did on a friends amp (rocketfire mod with one cap change, actually his amp actually sounds pretty good). I spent most of my spring break fiddling with the V5 and I'm still not satisfied. In about an hour I just rebuilt my v2 Valve Junior into a really good sounding amp.

BTW, we always use at least one of the Valve Juniors in the blues band I play in. At the end of last summer we were using two Valve Juniors on stage to get a really interesting "composite" sound from the mix of a cleaner amp and a dirtier amp. Our guitar player can never hear himself good enough so lately he's been running the clean/bright Valve Junior into an Eminence alnico 10" speaker in an open back wedge cabinet as a guitar monitor, he can finally hear himself. Since I've rebuilt the v2 head, we'll probably be using it as the stage guitar amp miked up, and the v2 head will also become his new studio amp.

 

[Bloozcat]

That Blues Custom is one in particular I have played...OMG...what a horrible, hissy, buzzy piece of junk. I wouldn't pay the Valve Jr. price for that. Built like a toy and sounds like a toy.

Really....

I have one of the first Blues Custom 30's made. It's never been hissy or buzzy. In fact, the only rap on the BC 30 that's consistently mentioned is that it's too bright. Re-tubing and allowing the speakers a good 15 hours to break in took care of much of that. The minor tone stack mods I did solved the rest.

The EQ controls on the stock BC 30 are a real departure from other amps. The amp wasn't designed to sound good with a flat EQ response. You have to learn how to really work the controls to get good tones, and that takes patience. The tone mods I did really opened the tone up even more and the controls respond a little more as they do on most other amps now.

The electronics work is neat and clean. Everything inside is solidly built, including the cabinet. The speakers are well suited to the amps tone. While they could have used better (and more expensive) pots, jacks, and components in the amp, what's used is certainly not junk. At 65 lbs. there's a lot of iron in this amp as well, with the OT and PT more than adequate for the job.

The BC 30 is probably the most versatile 2X12 combo I've ever played in the under $700.00 range (I paid $500.00 new/shipped for mine). Not only does this amp come with true tube driven reverb (V3 & V5), it comes with a 5AR4tube rectifier as well. You just don't find that with other amps in this price range. It covers a LOT of tonal area, especially with the addition of the 15 watt class A mode.

I've spent a lot of time on many sites with other BC 30 owners comparing notes and sharing mods. I've even spoken on the phone with the amps designer, Pyotr Belov, about the amps circuit. IMHO, Belov and Epiphone have created a great amp for the money in the BC 30. The mods I've done have only validated the efficacy of the original design by enhancing what was already there.

 

[oldguy]

My SoCal sounds good too. Maybe one man's "horrible, hissy, buzzy" is another's "throaty, bluesy, responsive" amph............. or the build quality varies greatly.
I've read reviews dissing Dumbles and the big "D" clones lately too.
That reminds me......... how're you liking the Overtone, Bloozcat?