Epiphone Valve Junior Tube Guitar Combo AmplifierThe Epiphone Valve Junior Guitar Amplifier is "the low-watt vintage tone-box every guitar player wants, but few could afford...until now."
Boutique amplifiers just became the domain of every guitar player out there. Take a listen and your jaw will drop. This little, low-watt powerhouse rivals $800.00 snob boxes no problem. The Valve Junior is vintage tone and crunch in an impressively affordable package. Perfect for recording, live, mic’d use and for practice when space is limited but sacrificing tone isn’t an option.
Epiphone Valve Junior Features
- 5 Watts, Class A
- 12AX7, EL84
- Single-Ended
- 8 inch Special Design Speaker
Boutique goes Newtique
The Valve Junior uses true vintage design philosophies to achieve incredible tone, warmth and responsiveness. Add that to Epiphone’s ongoing mission to deliver the best value in fine instruments and you’ve got an unbeatable combination. And don’t let the 5 watts fool you. The Valve Junior is LOUD. Here’s why:
Class A
One knob delivers Class A output through a single-ended circuit that responds to your play the way a compact amp is supposed to. Class A amplification delivers constant power from the tube, creating more responsiveness and volume. Keep it at about 3 and you’ll get punchy, clear tone that makes the strings of your guitar feel like they know what you’re going to play before you even hit them. The response is quick and lively. Turn it up to 10 and you get a classic crunch that’s gusty without saturating the harmonics.
Single Ended
Single ended amplifiers sound full, providing rich, luscious overall tonal coloration with enough clarity to bring out the nuances of your guitar and playing. Part of what we call volume is how much of the tonal spectrum is making it through to the ear. Fuller delivery of the harmonics being produced deliver more meaningful volume. At lower wattages, they’re coveted for a natural break up when turned to higher volumes, resulting in a creamy distortion that makes modern gain sound sterile and flat.
Durable Construction
High quality metalwork, detachable power cable, rugged, musical speaker and a lot of attention to detail make the Valve Junior an uncompromised and serious piece of gear. A 5 year warranty backs up Epiphone's commitment.
CLICK HERE for a review (PDF) from Vintage Guitar Magazine October, 2005.
About Epiphone
Since 1873, Epiphone instruments have been proudly played and endorsed by professional artists. And while every Epiphone is a compilation of over 125 years of experience working directly with musicians, only a few embody a single artists individual creativity and spirit. The Epiphone Signature Collection guitars are as legendary and as individual as the artists themselves.
Epiphone's passion has always been about more than just making guitars. It has been about making music. It has been about understanding what is inside every musican that makes them want to, have to, express themselves. And understanding the myriad musical styles, where they are going and how they might develop. For over one hundred and twenty-five years they have continually looked for new and better ways to help players take their music farther.
Epi Stathopoulo, their founder and namesake, was always on the forefront of music. He was the first instrument maker to embrace Jazz music and led the industry away from mandolin and banjo production and into making guitars. At the age of twenty-four Epi obtained his first of many patents that would change fretted instrument construction forever. The extension truss rod design, the first pick-up with individual pole pieces, and the Tonexpressor - the precursor to the modern day wah-wah pedal - were all epiphone innovations. But perhaps the greatest contribution to guitar making came in 1941 while Les Paul was experimenting in the Epiphone factory. These experiments led to the Les Paul Log and the first solid-body electric guitar.
Epi's vision of the future of music and guitar, as well as the importance of his work could be seen by, and in, those who chose to play an Epiphone. Musicians who themselves were visionaries. George Van Epps, Harry Volpe, Howard Roberts, Joe Pass and other Jazz players would make music history with an Epiphone guitar, as would Blues legend, John Lee Hooker. And the Beatles, who recorded Paperback Writer, Ticket to Ride, and the most recorded song ever written, Yesterday, with Epiphone guitars they purchased in 1964. It is an incredible legacy that continues today with Noel Gallagher, Lenny Kravitz and other artists who choose to make their music with an Epiphone
The same sprit of innovation that drove the Stathopoulos to start pushing the boundaries of guitar design over one hundred and twenty-five years ago is alive and well at Epiphone today. Styles of music will continue to evolve, new technologies will come and go and new players will continue to take music and guitar in new directions. But their passion for making music and their mission of providing musicians with a great instrument they can rely on to express themselves will always remain constant.