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valve junior surgery photos....

exhaustedexhausted Posts: 6,638
edited August 2007 in Musicians and Gearheads
[dr. nick]the surgery was a complete success!![/dr. nick]

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=19926&l=0bc0b&id=668580992
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Comments

  • keeponrockinkeeponrockin Posts: 7,446
    Is the amp worth it? I need a low wattage tube amp.
    Believe me, when I was growin up, I thought the worst thing you could turn out to be was normal, So I say freaks in the most complementary way. Here's a song by a fellow freak - E.V
  • exhaustedexhausted Posts: 6,638
    i feel that the head version is. it's potential is really only limited by the cabinet you hook it to. the combo's speaker is just too small for me. mind you, the combo you can take into a cab too. it just doesn't have the 4/8/16 outputs.

    i've now put in $100 in upgrades (tubes, transformer and tone control). and really, it was sounding great with just the tubes and tone control.

    and now it's damn loud.

    also, the new versions have the input impedance and output transformer impendance corrected so they should be better out of the box than mine was.

    look at this and the fender champion 600. the epi's british flavour, the fender, american. the fender only has a 6inch speaker though.
  • All Those YesterdaysAll Those Yesterdays Posts: 2,723
    Cool, glad you got it done with out any problems.

    As for the valve Junior, yes the head version is totally worth it. They have version 3 out now that cost a little more, but has some of the normal mods already accomplished like input resistor etc.
    E. Lansing-98 Columbus-00,03,10 Detroit-00,03 (1&2),06, 14 Cleveland-03,06,10 Toledo-04, Grand Rapids-04,06 London-05, Toronto-05, Indianapolis 10, East Troy (1&2) 11, Chicago 13, Detroit 14

    https://www.facebook.com/aghostwritersapology/
  • JoooooshJooooosh Posts: 74
    In my opinion the valve junior is one of the best values there is, amp-wise -- definitely worth the price and then some.
  • IDgotIIDgotI Posts: 262
    exhausted wrote:
    [dr. nick]the surgery was a complete success!![/dr. nick]

    http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=19926&l=0bc0b&id=668580992

    Awesome. So with the new output transformer is the difference mainly one of volume and output level? Or was the tone changed too? Curious from that Reverb Transformer thread a few days back.
  • exhaustedexhausted Posts: 6,638
    it bumps the output but it's also purported to open up the bass response a bit more etc. i'm hoping it smoothes out the power tube distortion a bit too.

    i'll know more tonight when i can turn it up a bit.
  • All Those YesterdaysAll Those Yesterdays Posts: 2,723
    exhausted wrote:
    it bumps the output but it's also purported to open up the bass response a bit more etc. i'm hoping it smoothes out the power tube distortion a bit too.

    i'll know more tonight when i can turn it up a bit.


    If it doesn't do what you wish on the power tube distortion, look into R5.

    R5: increases or decreases power tube distortion.
    E. Lansing-98 Columbus-00,03,10 Detroit-00,03 (1&2),06, 14 Cleveland-03,06,10 Toledo-04, Grand Rapids-04,06 London-05, Toronto-05, Indianapolis 10, East Troy (1&2) 11, Chicago 13, Detroit 14

    https://www.facebook.com/aghostwritersapology/
  • exhaustedexhausted Posts: 6,638
    ok, got a chance to open it up this afternoon after work.

    the two biggest changes, overall volume is up, and the bass response is up. like, hit the low E on a strat and everything in the room rattles. that's with the volume at noon, boost on and it's still clean. loud. well into needing an attentuator if there are other people in the house. unfortunately, the attenuator really kills the sparkle on an amp this small.

    it feels like it's got a little bit more headroom. the whole thing just feels a little more open too.

    the distortion is still that gravelly type of grind typical of anything i've played with EL84s in it. it mellows out slightly as the amp warms up. still prefer 6V6 breakup but this is nice to have when the mood hits. it's not that i want more or less power tube distortion, it's just the character i'm not used to. it does the slightly driven voxy kind of jangle thing quite well though. that's where it excels.

    my favourite right now is the left relatively clean (noon) with the boost pulled, with a strat and some overdrive via the rat pedal, it's a nice texas bluish sort of thing. plug the rickenbacker in and it's a totally different flavour. volume anywhere from 10 to 1 o'clock is where i'm happiest.

    lots of fun.
  • IDgotIIDgotI Posts: 262
    Very cool. Thanks for posting that update. I enjoyed reading it.
  • All Those YesterdaysAll Those Yesterdays Posts: 2,723
    exhausted wrote:
    ok, got a chance to open it up this afternoon after work.

    the two biggest changes, overall volume is up, and the bass response is up. like, hit the low E on a strat and everything in the room rattles. that's with the volume at noon, boost on and it's still clean. loud. well into needing an attentuator if there are other people in the house. unfortunately, the attenuator really kills the sparkle on an amp this small.

    it feels like it's got a little bit more headroom. the whole thing just feels a little more open too.

    the distortion is still that gravelly type of grind typical of anything i've played with EL84s in it. it mellows out slightly as the amp warms up. still prefer 6V6 breakup but this is nice to have when the mood hits. it's not that i want more or less power tube distortion, it's just the character i'm not used to. it does the slightly driven voxy kind of jangle thing quite well though. that's where it excels.

    my favourite right now is the left relatively clean (noon) with the boost pulled, with a strat and some overdrive via the rat pedal, it's a nice texas bluish sort of thing. plug the rickenbacker in and it's a totally different flavour. volume anywhere from 10 to 1 o'clock is where i'm happiest.

    lots of fun.

    Never really thought of EL84's distortion as grindy, always sort of fizzy when you push them?

    But I totally agree on the 6V6 thing, even though I'm likely to use EL84 distortion more then 6V6.

    As for cleans it's 6V6's all the way for sure, and when it comes to handling pedals 6V6's get the nod.
    E. Lansing-98 Columbus-00,03,10 Detroit-00,03 (1&2),06, 14 Cleveland-03,06,10 Toledo-04, Grand Rapids-04,06 London-05, Toronto-05, Indianapolis 10, East Troy (1&2) 11, Chicago 13, Detroit 14

    https://www.facebook.com/aghostwritersapology/
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