Members AndyZ Posted May 24, 2006 Members Share Posted May 24, 2006 I give to you some very short clips comparing a stock to a modded Epiphone Valve Jr Head. My amp guy is thinking of finding a reasonable solution to upgrade these over some of the more expensive ones that exist already. After listening to these clips, it would be a great asset to have your opinion on the mods vs stock tone and what you think a fair price would be to have the mods done (labor and parts). This would help determine if it's something other Epi Jr head owners might want. The modded Epiphone Valve Jr Head has a Russian Military spec EL-84 and a NOS Tung-Sol 2ax7. The screen power supply cap has been beefed up and a new and much upgraded output transformer. There were other slight changes, but these were the main ones. The stock Epiphone Valve Jr Head has the standard issued Sovtek tubes. I let both amps warm up for 20 minutes before doing these clips. I know you all like details, so... the guitar I used was a modified Squier 51 with a 1991 Rosewood Tele Am Std neck, GFS Liverpool bridge pickup, GFS Fat Alnico neck pickup, rewired for a dual concentric volumes, push/pull tone to split the bridge pickup, 3 way on-on-on pickup switch. I basically used the bridge humbucker for all of it, except on the clean clip I also used the neck pickup for one part. Here's a pic of the guitar if you like... http://www.instituteofnoise.com/pics/squier51-az-close.jpg The cab was a 4x12 with Celestion 25w Greenbacks. Ok, here's the clips... each one is from 12-20 seconds long max, each being short to easily/simply show each's tone. No EQ. There was a very slight amount of reverb to give a bit of ambience. The guitar volumes were set to 10 as was the tone knob to max treble. CLEAN CLIPS: The part was first played on the bridge humbucker, then the neck single coil. (The difference is slight here but still an improvement).The amps were set to 9:00 on the volume... http://www.instituteofnoise.com/music/amps/EpiJrHead-Clean-Stock.mp3 http://www.instituteofnoise.com/music/amps/EpiJrHead-Clean-Mod.mp3 DIRTY CLIPS: The part was played on the bridge humbucker.The amps were set to 12:00 on the volume... http://www.instituteofnoise.com/music/amps/EpiJrHead-Dirty-Stock.mp3 http://www.instituteofnoise.com/music/amps/EpiJrHead-Dirty-Mod.mp3 CRUNCH CLIPS: The part was played on the bridge humbucker.The amps were set to 3:00 on the volume... http://www.instituteofnoise.com/music/amps/EpiJrHead-Crunch-Stock.mp3 http://www.instituteofnoise.com/music/amps/EpiJrHead-Crunch-Mod.mp3 Thanks again for listening and providing your thoughts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Japetus Posted May 24, 2006 Members Share Posted May 24, 2006 Thanks for the clips. What an impressive little amp. First off, there is a noticable difference. It seems much more clear and there is more of a "present" attribute on all of the tones across the board. As far as how much you could charge for mods...it's hard to say. It IS a $99 amp, so that must be taken into consideration...would people be willing to potentially spend more than the amp itself cost in mods...... I also wonder how much of the better tone was attributed to the new, high quality tubes vs how much with the new OT/ power suppy cap. Reguardless, those clips sound great, even stock! Great deal for $99...I have one on my wish list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Matter-Eater Lad Posted May 24, 2006 Members Share Posted May 24, 2006 I can tell from the stock clips that was exactly the problem I had with that head. It was like a Tone knob set very low. Lacked bite. Felt like I was fighting it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DirtyChains Posted May 24, 2006 Members Share Posted May 24, 2006 Thanks for the clips! My solution for modding the amp is putting decent tubes in and an eq between the guitar and the amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ancient Mariner Posted May 24, 2006 Members Share Posted May 24, 2006 The mods do make it clearer and crisper, with more bite in the crunch tones. My *personal* feeling is that changing the OT may be an expense too far on this amp. The other obvious mods - better filtration, orangedrop blocking caps and reduced cathode caps and resistors take a little time to add, but aren't expensive. You might get away with charging $80 to do that work - maybe $99 to replace the jack and R6/R7/R2 but a new OT would push the price over $140 and I'm sure people wouldn't go for that. I quite like the one I built, although I still optimising it. A 12AT7 sounds good in place of the 12AX7, which had a bit too much gain. Waiting for a 12AU7 to arrive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoboPimp Posted May 24, 2006 Members Share Posted May 24, 2006 hmm still not very impressive. The "crunch" still sounds flat and boxy like a toy amp, the clean is still muddy... better keep modding!! That is why I like to just buy good sounding amps to begin with rather than try to polish a turd. It's a waste of time. By the time you get something decent sounding, you've spent more time and money than it would have taken to just buy something good to begin with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lucius Posted May 24, 2006 Members Share Posted May 24, 2006 I liked the stock clean one better but the rest were the modded clips. A bit brighter I think. Cheers Lucius Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Megadeth7684 Posted May 24, 2006 Members Share Posted May 24, 2006 I think they all sound below average, but it's a $99 head, so I wasn't expecting anything great. I guess the modded ones were slightly better, but they all sound lifeless IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tonemeister87 Posted May 24, 2006 Members Share Posted May 24, 2006 I like both the modded and un-modded sounds. Especially the un-modded clean Cheers Lucius Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AndyZ Posted May 24, 2006 Author Members Share Posted May 24, 2006 I realize it's only a $99 amp, but with a few minor adjustments it still may be a worthwhile investment if the cost is low and justified, still beating out other low cost amps at the price point with the mods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Negative K3 fan Posted May 24, 2006 Members Share Posted May 24, 2006 i think the clips sound surprisingly well, the sound is extremely tube-like imo... i cant understand how someone can say they sound 'below average' and i know im not tone deaf... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Japetus Posted May 24, 2006 Members Share Posted May 24, 2006 Originally posted by RoboPimp blah blah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Negative K3 fan Posted May 24, 2006 Members Share Posted May 24, 2006 btw, gotta love greenbacks, even without reading your post, i knew it had to be greenbacks or sortlike speakers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AndyZ Posted May 24, 2006 Author Members Share Posted May 24, 2006 Thanks K3. It was just an SM57 close mic'd just slightly off axis. Nothing fancy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Negative K3 fan Posted May 24, 2006 Members Share Posted May 24, 2006 i listened to the clips a couple of times and i have to say im still impressed, the crunch with mod is my favorite. nice job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AndyZ Posted May 24, 2006 Author Members Share Posted May 24, 2006 Yeah that's my fave too. It sounds good too when you roll the guitar volume way back for a semi dirty tone as well. I purposely played simple stupid parts to keep the focus on the sound and not about the playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lorax Posted May 25, 2006 Members Share Posted May 25, 2006 The crunch mod sound is awesome. This amp really has alot of potential. Its so hard to find anything you can crank and get that real power tube crunch. I liked mine when I used it a little bit - it was lacking something - maybe its a mod like this that gets it to a higher level in my arsenal? Its interesting to think about - I would certainly send this head to be modded for another $100-$150 (gotta say that would be the max tho) if the result was worth it. If it was the $50-$75 range - it'd be a no brainer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TrueBlueLS Posted May 25, 2006 Members Share Posted May 25, 2006 I was looking at one of these amps and was tempted to put some JJs in it. Maybe if I have an extra $100 next month to play with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ancient Mariner Posted May 25, 2006 Members Share Posted May 25, 2006 I put JJs in my version, and it sounded good alone, but was too dark in a band context. As for it being a 'cheap' amp and therefore not able to sound good, the circuit isn't so far removed from many classic small amps. For many, simple circuits have the best tone, and they don't get much simpler than this: no tone-sucking tonestack, no channel switching. It DOES need careful valve selection, and I can't help feel that it has too much gain available, reducing the openness of the tone. More tweakeage on the way. If you didn't get a listen before, here's my demos: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=273037 Listen to the 'Metisse purity' clips. Just don't expect virtuoso playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members t-rave Posted May 25, 2006 Members Share Posted May 25, 2006 seems to me a crate powerblock is a much better sounding amp...it is a bit more money though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lucius Posted May 25, 2006 Members Share Posted May 25, 2006 Originally posted by t-rave seems to me a crate powerblock is a much better sounding amp...it is a bit more money though... Are there clips kicking around of that amp? (I'll do a search). Cheers Lucius Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AndyZ Posted May 25, 2006 Author Members Share Posted May 25, 2006 Thanks for the input so far! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members telephant Posted May 25, 2006 Members Share Posted May 25, 2006 Originally posted by RoboPimp hmm still not very impressive. The "crunch" still sounds flat and boxy like a toy amp, the clean is still muddy... better keep modding!! That is why I like to just buy good sounding amps to begin with rather than try to polish a turd. It's a waste of time. By the time you get something decent sounding, you've spent more time and money than it would have taken to just buy something good to begin with. Why do you even bother posting? {censored}ing kyke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoboPimp Posted May 25, 2006 Members Share Posted May 25, 2006 kyke? Originally posted by telephant Why do you even bother posting? {censored}ing kyke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gnugear Posted May 25, 2006 Members Share Posted May 25, 2006 Can anyone take a shot of the insides? I'd love to see the layout to see what mod options are possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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