Epiphone Valve Junior Head 5W ?

[jefrs]

Epiphone Valve Junior Head 5W - I'm thinking of getting one of these and modifying it.

I'm not entirely sure why, seeing as I already have several perfectly good amps. I have a lovely old 8-in Elac speaker in a radio case that I've always wanted to turn into a combo. In fact I have two radio cases, the second looks very posh. So it's a home-build or buy a cheap amp and modify it. Home-build kits are not cheap, I can get a EVJ for less than the price of a chassis and transformer.

Has anyone got any pictures of the innards of this amp?
Is there a schematic available for this model?
It's a very simple looking amp, what are the preferred mods?

TIA

[Harmony Blitzer]

jefrs-i am listing some sites that might help? if i wasn't going to modify a 5w - i would go with the Peavey or Fender 5w. here are the sites that might hold a skematic for your amp? or you can contact the site if you do not find the information here at this site:

http://www.deltabluesman.com/
http://www.triodeel.com/
http://www.schematicsforfree.com/
http://www.tdsl.duncanamps.com/
http://www.webervst.com/
http://www.circuits.blogspot.com/
http://www.gtrheaven.com/
http://www.blueguitar.org/
http://www.skematicheaven.com/

hope i helped some?

God Speed......

[6942]

For $99 (US in 2006)....it is a real good value.
But I don't see the value in buying a $99 amp, THEN spending $150 in mods?
I replaced the stock tubes with NOS Sylvania & GE (around $50)....then enjoyed the crap out of the little 5 watter.

Steve

[bowlfreshener]

I actually own 2 of these, and they are completely stock. I say get one, but don't be so quick to get into the modding of these as the most recent versions already have a beefier OT, some cap and resistor value changes, and one of mine even came stock with a JJ EL84 and an EH 12AX7. As one person said on the Epiphpone Amp forum when the new versions came out,"They are taking some of the fun away from us." So for the price, I say get one, but you may find that the stock amp is gooe enough...

[6942]

I've seen a lot of the version 1 and 2 EV Jr. head amps show up on e-bay lately.
My guess is the owners purchased the newer version 3.
But most of them are being sold at almost the old purchase price?
Buying a version 3, then recouping most of the purchase price, by selling the older EV....is certainly cheaper than modding.

Steve

[jefrs]

Thanks folks. I got the amp. Now what can I do to it?

Thanks for the links, it'll take me a while to work through them.

It's £99 this side of pond, which is the usual usurious US/UK mark up even when it's Made In China.

The valves are Sovtek Made In Russia. I don't have spare EL84 but do have a small box of 7025/ECC83/12AX7/etc to go through.

Tested in the shop, and working when I got it home, but the EL84 was listing to portside. So I opened it up and the EL84 was only held in by its springs. One of the legs was canted over and would not fully enter the socket - easily fixed. 'ere, wots quality control?

This is a 240V jobbie. The mains hum is acceptable if not good. But what's that higher pitched fly-buzzing noise?

I do have 5W Laney L5T combo. Through the same Elac, the Epi sounds like the Laney on clean with BMT more-or-less centred and the tone at 8/10 (fairly high treble). I can lose treble at guitar or pedal, so really nice.

Through the 2x12 cabinet the Epi was a bit boomy, prolly the cab with Celestion G12 Seventy80's, though the L5T copes with it nicely.

Why did they build it upside down? - ok, it goes in a little combo, but valves convect better base side down with plenty of air above them. The chassis for the head is printed different to the combo, so why not just print it upside-down, and there would have been four less holes to drill and cover. Doh.

Thinking...
An extra or hi/lo input.
A tone control.
Triode/pentode operation.
A bit bit more bluesy crunch (without extra volume).

[jefrs]

Originally Posted by 6942

For $99 (US in 2006)....it is a real good value.
But I don't see the value in buying a $99 amp, THEN spending $150 in mods?
I replaced the stock tubes with NOS Sylvania & GE (around $50)....then enjoyed the crap out of the little 5 watter.

Steve

Nor do I Steve.

A good DIY 5W kit might set me back 300 squid (~$600), plain daft.

A few caps and pots maybe. I intend the chassis to go into a pretty valve radio case. A new control plate will be needed. Whilst I am about it I thought I might perform some cheap surgical improvements.

[jefrs]

Originally Posted by Harmony Blitzer

jefrs-i am listing some sites that might help? if i wasn't going to modify a 5w - i would go with the Peavey or Fender 5w. here are the sites that might hold a skematic for your amp? or you can contact the site if you do not find the information here at this site:

http://www.deltabluesman.com/
http://www.triodeel.com/
http://www.schematicsforfree.com/
http://www.tdsl.duncanamps.com/
http://www.webervst.com/
http://www.circuits.blogspot.com/
http://www.gtrheaven.com/
http://www.blueguitar.org/
http://www.skematicheaven.com/

hope i helped some?

God Speed......

Thanks for those. Going OT ;-) whilst scouting around schematicsforfree I found an effect pedal that makes guitar sound like banjo, that sounds a bit dodgy - should they be reported?

[chabby]

I haven't played mine since the day I bought it but did turn the matching cab into a 5E3 and it worked real good for that. Heck, all I had to do was cust a control cut out in the top, spin the speaker so the wires were at the bottom and screw in the 5E3 chassis and voila! Instant Tweed

[studio1087]

Through the 2x12 cabinet the Epi was a bit boomy, prolly the cab with Celestion G12 Seventy80's

Mine is boomy with any cabinet. The only mod that I made was adding this to my pedal board......


It sounds like you're talented with modifications. Add some sort of treble boost. I'm not changing a thing on mine. I think I paid $70 USD for the MXR EQ. The EQ is quiet and versatile.

[mechanicdave]

I sat down with one for about 10 mins and I couldn't find a bad sound on the dial. On the other hand the Vibro and SuperXD did absolutly nothing for me. Dave

[jefrs]

I know wot you mean Dave... some days you just got to plug straight into a simple little amp.

JLG thanks, I got a toy box full of fx. But why does EVJ sound boomy in 2x12 & L5T not(?) - both be 5W, both be nice through the 1x8 Elac cab (Wem/Vox AC4). BTW these two amps are nice in stereo.

FYI - I found everything you never wanted to know about tweeking EVJ over at forum http://www.sewatt.com

:-) :-) J--)

[giantslayer]

I tried one at GC a few weeks ago. It had the 112 cab hooked up. I tried it with the volume knob at most positions. I didn't play it for as long as I wanted as it was quite loud and there were other people in the store. It sounded really good. Good enough that I've been contemplating starting my rig over with one of those and a few good analog pedals ever since. At this point, my inability to afford that in addition to my current setup and the pain-in-the-butt involved with selling my current stuff have me keeping my current rig.

[marshman]

I was at 18watt when these guys hit the market and the site went nuts (similar to the monster thread about the GA-5). It's important to know 2 things about all those mods:

1) most were conceived to offset poor design parameters--too much/little filtering, heater supply hum, etc. Most of those issues have since been rectified by the manufacturer.

2) many of the remaining mods were designed with the intention of releasing more gain. I did most of them, since I was in there anyway, and found out the thing was a screamer, but just TOO hyper. Had to install a 12AU7 to be ble to use it.

It was defintiely a cool introduction to the world of amp modifications, but the current versions probably don't need much in the way of improvements.

[Tele 2K]

I got one a couple months ago, version 3, and other than tube swaps, I don't plan on any mods. I put in a JJ EL84, and a NOS 5751 I had and it's just a great sounding amp with Strat or Tele, also with a PRS SE SC for a while. In the store we tried it with an Epiphone Dot Studio and were blown away with how good this "cheap" amp sounded, better than SCxd, IMO.

It rates as one of my best guitar related buys- I paid $129 each for head and cab. Highly recommended!

VW

[robt57]

Originally Posted by Tele 2K

I got one a couple months ago, version 3, and other than tube swaps, I don't plan on any mods. I put in a JJ EL84, and a NOS 5751 I had and it's just a great sounding amp with Strat or Tele, also with a PRS SE SC for a while. In the store we tried it with an Epiphone Dot Studio and were blown away with how good this "cheap" amp sounded, better than SCxd, IMO.

It rates as one of my best guitar related buys- I paid $129 each for head and cab. Highly recommended!

VW

I got a Ver. 3 Combo 2 weeks back. What was the difference you saw [heard] with the other tubes? Gain and clarity or head room. Or should I say hair room?? I got this one NIB for 105.00 out the door and am pretty happy with the price for sure. I got 2 10"s for a cab, but want to get it to sparkle at least a little before I start up the table saw for the cab.