# anyone with the epiphone valve junior/hotrod?



## Steve Adams (Dec 31, 2009)

what a smooth little amp this seems to be, anyone with one?

I may have to get one for the proper tube sounds, to complement my line 6.


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## fraser (Feb 24, 2007)

ive got the old version- valve junior.
did a lot of resistor and cap changes to it, and added a master volume.
the original sound was nice- nothing special, but ill bet with a pedal or two it wouldve been great.
i bought it specifically to modify for a low volume amp that would distort nicely without rattling windows.
i toyed with mine for a couple months, trying different things here and there.
now it just kills- nice break up at low volume, but cranked its awesome.
takes a boost or overdrive nicely, but doesnt need it.
only drawback is its a bit of a pain to work on that pcb, and all the clips and connectors. if i had the skills and or time id redo it all with a simpler ptp wiring.
if it developes problems down the road, i might do that.
for the price its a really nice amp. i think it looks kinda cool too.
i painted the chassis on mine black, and it looks crappy, but ah well.

edit- just noticed youre talking about a different thing- lol. sorry, disregard my ramblings as those of a confused idiot.


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## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

I didn't even know that was available. I have a Valve Jr head which I modded using the Bitmo Mods. Sounds pretty good with a 112 cab. With a 212 it sounds great, especially if you can crank it. But...I picked up a Silverface Champ which I am totally in love with at the moment so that Epi VJ may have to go...

I wonder what upgrades were made to the Hot Rod VJ?


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## Emohawk (Feb 3, 2006)

I think it's just a modded VJ, but I may be wrong. I've never seen one.

I have a VJ head also that I've modded extensively. I also started with the BitMo mods, but things got a little out of hand after that! The only original parts left are the chassis, output jacks, power switch & PT. I agree about modding with the original PCB being a PITA, so I rebuilt mine using a turret board from Ken Watts (wattstubeaudio.com).

Here's a pic of the modded guts...










And one of the front panel...









I've also replaced the OT with a Hammond 125ESE. Huge difference.

With single coils it stays clean (and kind of Fendery) up to noon without the boost or fat modes engaged, up to about 10:00 with humbuckers. Gets into vintage Marshall crunch territory with the volume at 3:00+. With the boost engaged it's a real burner but still stays clean up to about 9:00 with singles, but all bets are off with buckers.


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## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

NICE. What did the Hammond Transformer set you back?? Is it worth doing?


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## Steve Adams (Dec 31, 2009)

supposedly the HOT rod head is coming out this year, its in the 2010 guitar players buyers guide.


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## Emohawk (Feb 3, 2006)

Stratin2traynor said:


> NICE. What did the Hammond Transformer set you back?? Is it worth doing?


I got it slightly used, and it was $45. I've seen it online in Canada for $65-75 new. The 125DSE would do the trick for a few bucks less, and even the 125CSE would be an improvement.

Was it worth it? I think so - at least for what I paid. The tone is thicker & warmer with a bit more clean headroom. The bottom end is stronger also. If I were to buy a new OT I think I'd go for the 125DSE. The ESE is really overkill for this application, but it does give me the option of moving to an octal tube for more power if I get the urge to mod this thing again.


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## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

Cool. If I decide to keep my VJ I may in fact do that mod. I always thought those Mercury Magnets adds were BS. Didn't believe transformers would change the tone that much but maybe there is something to those claims. Thanks.


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## Emohawk (Feb 3, 2006)

Stratin2traynor said:


> Cool. If I decide to keep my VJ I may in fact do that mod. I always thought those Mercury Magnets adds were BS. Didn't believe transformers would change the tone that much but maybe there is something to those claims. Thanks.


Well, the MM claims are another story altogether.

This is purely my opinion, but based on what I've read (I haven't actually done hands-on comparisons) I suspect paying the premium for Mercury iron over less expensive Heyboer & Hammond equivalents most likely amounts to pure cork-sniffing. In the case of the VJ or Little Giant (& the others in this market), paying $350 for a transformer upgrades to a $150-$300 amp borders on lunacy (that's $289 for the mod kit, $299 with the 6V6 mod, plus shipping, taxes & exchange). 

I'm not saying the transformers can't change the tone significantly - my experience with the Hammond in the VJ is proof of that. What I AM saying is the MM VJ mod kit is overkill, and unnecessary to achieve the results most of us are looking for. 

Unless you want to add additional tubes there's no need to swap the power transformer. In fact, it can handle an additional preamp or power tube as is (within reason). Also, the MM kit includes a choke, which you may deem to be necessary or not depending on what you want to achieve.

So really to do some serious upgrades to the amp's circuit, the output transformer, and even to add an additional tube socket you're looking at under $100 worth of parts and some time invested in online research (there's TONS of resources for the VJ). 

Now if Mercury was to offer their VJ OT at a reasonable price ($100 or less) that might be worth it if you can justify a bit of a premium for cool factor. I'm not sure they offer it as a separate component though.

BTW, Ken Watts (wattstubeaudio.com) sells the Heyboer version of the VJ OT for I think $54 USD. Ken's been real easy to work with. He sells MM also, and usually at lower prices than MM does direct, if you're interested.


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## fraser (Feb 24, 2007)

Emohawk said:


> I think it's just a modded VJ, but I may be wrong. I've never seen one.
> 
> I have a VJ head also that I've modded extensively. I also started with the BitMo mods, but things got a little out of hand after that! The only original parts left are the chassis, output jacks, power switch & PT. I agree about modding with the original PCB being a PITA, so I rebuilt mine using a turret board from Ken Watts (wattstubeaudio.com).
> 
> ...


that looks real nice! thanks for the ken watts link-:smile:


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## Emohawk (Feb 3, 2006)

fraser said:


> that looks real nice! thanks for the ken watts link-:smile:


Thanks! I really do have to do a custom face plate for the thing. With my bazillion other projects it always winds up on the back burner. There's a couple of small things I'd like to clean up (like the rectifier for the filament supply & adding some extra PS filtering) but it's running great and I don't want to mess with it too much.

I have no problem sending people Ken's way. In fact I just received a bunch of parts from him that'll be going into a '65 Deluxe Reverb project. He's easy to deal with & he ships lightning fast (same day in a lot of cases) if he has everything in stock.


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## Steve Adams (Dec 31, 2009)

Well,

my line 6 spider 3 is getting traded straight up for a new VJ. im going to do the full gammut of mods to it, the bitmo trio, reverb, retube, and change the transformers and caps....should be a little tone beast when done.


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