Re: [Harp-L] Epiphone Valve Special

["Splash" <celtiac@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

My local guitshop has both the Valve Jr. Combo and the Valve Standard Combo.
I have played with both.

The Jr. is a single el84 5-watter and has very little or no hum if you use a
good cable.  I turned it all the way up without anything plugged in and I
could barely hear some hiss.

I'm tempted to get one of these little Epi's @ $119 even though I'm waiting
for a Kazoo2 to arrive fron a recent eBaY purchase.  The Junior's kind of
'bright' sounding and I wan't able to turn it all the way up in the small
room without feeding back so I didn't get that real honking tone I was
looking for.

The Valve Standard ($299) is 2 el84s @ 15 watts and I really liked using the
master volume.  The digital effects are crap.  The reverb would be passable
if there was a provision for a footswitch. What were they thinking?  But
with a hot JT-30, and in a small room that seems to have been built for
feedback, I was able to get a real nice honking tone from the 15 watter by
turning the treble down, the middle and bass up, and diming the gain.  I
have played that amp in the store several times, testing different
microphone combinations and every time I do, I get a bunch of other
musicians coming into the amp room to see who's playing the mean blues harp.

I haven't had the chance to play with a Valve Special, but it looks like the
5-watt Junior with a tonestack, master volume and standby switch.  Plus
reverb and those pitiful digital effects.  A baby version of the Standard.
I'm thinking if they had one of these in stock at the right price I might
have taken one home with me the other day.

The new models have a DC filament supply (eliminated the hum that plagued
the earlier models).
For the $$ I think they have a lot of potential.  Especially if you are
familiar with a soldering iron.

There are a number of websites dealing with mods for this amp.

I'd like to hear the Junior with a 12AU7 in the driver and perhaps a cathode
resistor bypass cap, or maybe adding more load resistance (on a switch
labeled "crunch"?).  Bitmo is selling mod kits on eBaY.  Perhaps his
'Spanky' mod is like this.  There are also tonestack and standby switch
kits.

And I almost forgot.  Mercury Magnetics has a transformer upgrade kit for
the Junior too.

These things are still evolving.  Maybe I should get one now before the
prices go up.

PEACE
Scott
Believe in Magic!
----- Original Message -----
Anyone have experience with this amp?  It seems like a good deal!  I have
heard the speaker is crap and most guitarists don't like the built-in DSP
effects ... maybe that means they're good for harp?  Any suggestions,
reviews or comments from harp players are welcome!