[The Atomic Ass]

Originally Posted by Leon

so, i'm pretty positive that my next high-voltage device will be the Epiphone Valve Jr head. it's $129, 5w, and sounds surprising great for the price. now, while i love it's raw, rock'n roll sound, there's the nerd in me that can't wait to get inside it to dink around. anyone tried any of these mods?

DVM's Valve Junior Mods Page

i'm interested in doing the noise-reduction mods, as well as the power transformer swap, but the tone shaping mods... maybe i'll wait to see how the amp sits with me for a while.

Noise reduction mods are basically for the v1 board only. v2 and v3 (and if you bought a new one it's most likely v3), aren't affected much by noise. That, and only the combos ever had v1 boards. The head came out with the v2 board.

And I can attest to one thing about the stock unit: It needs the R1 & R2 mods definitely, and it loves a hot guitar signal.

So what kinda cab are you running it into?

[Leon]

a closed back 2x12 with V30's. i've also got a 4x12 with V30's, and my Nomad has a C90, but the cable soldered to it won't reach

it's a pretty quiet head, even with the volume dimed. are those mods (R1 and R2) mods that are needed for the v1 combo? what did they accomplish?


...and, no pics yet, i left my camera at home, where there is no internet yet

[technomancer]

Congrats Leon, these seem pretty damn cool

[budda]

let me know how it goes, Leon .

one of my best friends got one of these, he's modding it as well - 2 extra gain stages i believe, for more volume not for more crunch haha. i think he wants to fit an attenuator into it as well... not sure.

i keep tellin him to plug in, he's always playing his acoustics

[ohio_eric]

Originally Posted by budda

i keep tellin him to plug in, he's always playing his acoustics

Friends don't let friends play acoustic.

[The Atomic Ass]

Originally Posted by Leon

a closed back 2x12 with V30's. i've also got a 4x12 with V30's, and my Nomad has a C90, but the cable soldered to it won't reach

it's a pretty quiet head, even with the volume dimed. are those mods (R1 and R2) mods that are needed for the v1 combo? what did they accomplish?


...and, no pics yet, i left my camera at home, where there is no internet yet

Oh wait, scratch that... I forgot that only applies to v1 and v2. v3 already has it done. If you have a black circuit board you don't have to worry about it. It's supposed to take some of the wool off the amp. But reducing R2 to say, 33k will probably liven the amp a little anyway.

Chunkier filter capacitors tighten up the bass nicely.

[JJ Rodriguez]

Are any of the mods a high gain mod? Like could you make this thing have tons of tube distortion but still have it 5W for bedroom jamming?

[The Atomic Ass]

Originally Posted by JJ Rodriguez

Are any of the mods a high gain mod? Like could you make this thing have tons of tube distortion but still have it 5W for bedroom jamming?

Dimed it does AC/DC, if you have hot pickups. Anything beyond needs either a distortion pedal, or a tube preamp depending on your tastes. The mods can wring a little more gain out of it, but you're still nowhere near metal territory.

And 5w is NOT bedroom level without an attenuator. It's still very deafeningly loud, even with a 1x12.

[darren]

You're probably just better off slamming the front end of it with a DS-1.

[The Atomic Ass]

Originally Posted by darren

You're probably just better off slamming the front end of it with a DS-1.

Since I prefer tube signal paths, I'm going the Damage Control route. Now that will make my VJr metal.