Members Ronzo II Posted July 12, 2006 Members Share Posted July 12, 2006 Originally posted by sh*t4braynes Are the above mentioned mods easy for a beginner to tackle? Thanks. Yes. Just have someone show you how to discharge capacitors safely before you do anything else. Work slowly and carefully. In less than an hour, things improve markedly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the new guy Posted July 12, 2006 Members Share Posted July 12, 2006 Originally posted by Ancient Mariner http://www.18watt.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=9053This is a good place to start.In summary:- Do the Fender Champ "100 ohm resistor mod" to reduce hum. However, as the Valve Jr appears to have a B+ of over 350V, we need to use a bigger resistor to get the voltage down to around 300V. So place a 330ohm 10W resistor betwen the rectifiers and R12. Then connect another filter cap (preferably 47uF) between the rectifier end of the 330 ohm resistor and ground. Edit: The B+ voltage in their Valve Jr has turned out to be 365V!!! It appears therefore that we will have to use a 1k or 1.2k resistor between the filter caps, instead of 100 ohms.- Use an insulated input jack, and jumper it's out connection to ground on the PCB, to get rid of a ground loop.- Cut the heater connection tracks on the PCB, as they bring in hum, and run separate wires above the PCB for the heater current.- Get rid of R6 and replace R7 with a 100k. That will dump the same amount of signal, with less hiss and loss of high frequencies. Try higher values of R7 up to 1M for more gain.- Change C4 and C3 to 2uF, so that the tone doesn't get all mushy when overdriven- Reduce R9 to 620ohms (or less) for crunchy overdrive, instead of fizz- Change R1 to 1M to reduce attenuation of the guitar signal- Change R2 from 68k to 10k to let more guitar signal in and reduce noise pickup.There are additional mods, but this will be a good place to start. I built a similar circuit with OK parts and it sounds great to me - spanky and gritty with a 12AU7 in V1 and a crazy gain monster (for a 2 valve amp) with a JJ 12AX7 in V1. Thanks for the info..... Are these mods for the head or the combo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dixie789456 Posted July 13, 2006 Members Share Posted July 13, 2006 i don't know why people keep knockin these amps. its a great amp. i can make it sound just like my fender bassman RI but at a LOWER VOLUME. yes that is the point of the amp to sound like a higher watt amp but at lower levels. if you don't like the sound put a pedal or two in front of it. i can get any sound i want out of this amp, and do it at levels where my ears don't bleed. i play mostly blues so its great for that, but i can get any tone! yes even a good metal sound. but anyway not every amp is for every person, but this is one of the best practice amps i've ever had. hell it was less than my fender 25r and sounds 100% better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Speed_Racer71 Posted July 14, 2006 Members Share Posted July 14, 2006 sink more money into it and have it modded lol:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the new guy Posted July 16, 2006 Members Share Posted July 16, 2006 Originally posted by Bob Sacamano I read a bunch of reviews and it sounded like this amp would be a really good buy for the price. As it turns out, you get what you pay for and nothing more. I don't need to go into a long description of the tone, but lets just say that I'd rather have the $100 and it's going back. I've come to the same conclusion. I really tried to like this amp, and no, I did not expect a whole lot for 99 bucks. I tried plugging straight in, I tried various pedals, I tried diferrent cabs, etc, etc.I even thought about doing all the mods, but decided that time would be better spent actually PLAYING the guitar. I was caught up in the same hype as everyone else, and at some point you just have to step back and admit......this is a mediocre amp at best. For all you guys that love yours, thats awesome, rock on dudes ! mines going back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members utterhack Posted July 19, 2006 Members Share Posted July 19, 2006 Originally posted by willash cheers, thats the only thing wrong (and annoying) with these things if it had a gain control it would be so much better... But then you'd be getting preamp distortion, not power tube distortion. Different beast, and not the point of this amp. Want more gain, get a Tri-Metal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Pepi Posted July 19, 2006 Members Share Posted July 19, 2006 You guys that hate the Epi VJ have you at least changed R1 to 1Meg and R2 to 15K and short out R6 and change R7 to 100k? I can't believe the Epi design engineers put that tone sucking R6 in the preamp section Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jem7vwh Posted July 19, 2006 Members Share Posted July 19, 2006 I still love mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members badtoneno Posted July 22, 2006 Members Share Posted July 22, 2006 I just picked up one of the heads just for the hell of it. I can't see how anyone could rag on this amp for 99 shipped.I've spent 10 times that on boutiques that had worse cabinetry, tolex, and components. This is why the Chinese are going to own us.I plugged mine into both a Splawn 4x12 and a Marshall 4x12 w/V30s and a LP. Dimed, this thing sounds pretty damn good. Sounds a lot like a blackface champ I used to gig with in college. Pretty damn loud too.No clean to speak of here at all but I'd expect that. It could use a bit more harmonic content. I'm sure a couple tweaks could really improve things quite a bit. IMO, the cabinet is almost worth the 99 bucks you whiners! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NoirAbattoir Posted July 22, 2006 Members Share Posted July 22, 2006 It's a great tube amp for $100 bucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NoirAbattoir Posted July 22, 2006 Members Share Posted July 22, 2006 It does sound best through my Marshall 4x12. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members badtoneno Posted July 23, 2006 Members Share Posted July 23, 2006 Originally posted by ColorsoundKid It does sound best through my Marshall 4x12. Yeah, its pretty damn loud in a four banger too. I think you could probably gig small bars with it if you didn't need a clean. It will get over a drummer easily. I should say I immediately swapped out the tubes for JJs and it made it about 10% better right away. I'm thinking about doing some of the mods. I'd love to hear how much of a differenct the Mercury kit makes on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KirkHammett1 Posted July 23, 2006 Members Share Posted July 23, 2006 I just ordered the head version a few hours ago. I've been out of the loop, somehow missed these things. I cant believe its 99 bucks. Seems like many hours of fun. Pretty excited actually. Cant wait until Wednesday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members badtoneno Posted July 23, 2006 Members Share Posted July 23, 2006 Originally posted by KirkHammett1 I just ordered the head version a few hours ago. I've been out of the loop, somehow missed these things. I cant believe its 99 bucks. Seems like many hours of fun. Pretty excited actually. Cant wait until Wednesday. Have fun. I can't think of a better way to spend $99 that doesn't involve hookers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JimiRules Posted July 26, 2006 Members Share Posted July 26, 2006 I really dig mine. I run mine through my Carvin 4X12. I just keep it clean and use my Keeley BD-2 for distortion. I goose it with my Boss SD-1 and Bad Bob boost for leads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members charliedango Posted July 26, 2006 Members Share Posted July 26, 2006 I had a choice between a Roland cube and a the Epiphone Valve Jr in the same price range. I tried them both and went with the Epi. I'll spend the serious cash on my show rig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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