Epiphone Valve Junior
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The Epiphone Valve Junior is a small 5 watt class A electric guitar amplifier.
Contents |
[edit] Specifications
- Available as a 8" speaker combo version or as a head only version with no speaker
- 11 Ply Birch Plywood Construction
- 5 Watts RMS
- Volume Control
- Power Switch
- 1 Input, 1 Channel
- 1 x 12AX7A Preamp Valve/Tube
- 1 x EL84 Power Valve/Tube
- Single-Ended Class A Cathode Bias Design
- Solid State Diode Rectified
- Weight: 20.9lbs / 9.5kg
- Dimensions: 14.6" x 8.7" x 15.1" / 370mm x 220mm x 384mm
- Made in China
[edit] History
The Epiphone Valve Jr. version 1 combo was released in 2005 as a part of Epiphone's line of amplifiers. In January 2006 a head version was released and also a version 2 combo. In June 2007 a updated head version and a version 3 combo were released. The first Epiphone Valve Juniors (version 1) were only combo amplifiers and received only a fair reception, due to such problems as buzzing and hum caused by the AC filament voltage. Epiphone then released a head version, correcting these issues and changed the AC filament voltage to DC voltage. Version 2 combos also featured these modifications. The version 1 and version 2 combos feature a 8" 4 ohm Weber Ceramic Signature 8 speaker.
Epiphone has recently released Combo version 3 and a newer version of the head which have higher retail prices and feature a variety of tube brands based on availability including Electro Harmonix, JJ and Sovtek. The new versions of the head and version 3 combos feature updated transformers with 4, 8 and 16 ohm outputs and the version 3 combos feature a 8" 16 ohm Eminence Lady Luck speaker. In 2007, Epiphone released a speaker cabinet that can be used with the Epiphone Valve Junior, featuring a 1x 12" 16 ohm Eminence Lady Luck speaker rated at 70watts RMS.
- Combo version 1 has front panel stripes that run along the centre of the front panel and has a 4 ohm output only and a AC filament voltage.
- Combo version 2 has front panel stripes that run along the top of the front panel and has a 4 ohm output only and a DC filament voltage.
- Combo version 3 has front panel stripes that run along the top of the front panel and has 4,8 and 16 ohm outputs and a DC filament voltage.
- Head only versions have 4,8 and 16 ohm outputs.
- Early versions mainly have Sovtek tubes and later versions have a variety of tubes such as JJ, EH and Sovtek tubes.
[edit] Modifications
The Epiphone Valve Junior has become very popular to modify because of its basic design. There are many websites, kits, and forums dedicated to this purpose, including the Epiphone official amps and accessories forum. Some sites offer kits to match the gain characteristics of Marshall, Fender and Vox amplifiers. These kits often do not include a bridge rectifier to convert the version 1 AC filament supply voltage to DC, instead they suggest twisting the AC leads together to cancel the generated electromagnetic fields, a technique used in twisted-pair Ethernet cable to eliminate cross-talk.
The "Legacy Musical Instruments" company produces Grainger/Legacy branded amplifiers that are very similar to some Epiphone amplifier models. The Harley Benton GA-5 (GA-5H head version) is also very similar to the Epiphone Valve Junior.
[edit] Serial Numbers
The first 4 digits of the serial number are the date code MMYY (MM=month, YY=year). Version 2 Valve Juniors have date codes starting at "0106" January 2006 up to June 2007 when version 3 was released.
