epiphone Valve Junior Tube Amplifier Head
By
Num Lock, in Guitar Amplifiers
Overall Rating
Sound Quality
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I just bought mine last month, and it's the Ver 3. Sounds great out of the box, but I stuck an old Amperex 12AX7 in it after a few hours - much brighter than the stock Sovtek. Changed out the EH EL84 as well to an unmarked 60s era NOS EL84 (best guess is Matsushita.) Again, a huge change in tone - now the amp resonates beautifully. If I add an analog chorus it sounds so nice - takes me back to the late 70s when chorus pedals first came out. I siomply can't get my chorus to sound this nice through any other amp.
Reliability/Durability
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Hard to believe how well these are made.
General Comments
I plan on modding it further. Luckily the Ver 3 fixed many of the earlier version's shortcomings. I would really like to add an effects loop between the pre and power stages. Shouldn't be too hard as the schematic comes with the amp. I think I may also order the upgrade kit from AlnicoMagnet off eBay. He seems to be the only modder who specifically makes a kit for the Ver.3 heads.