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Opened up my Valve Jr. Surprise!


polara

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I had been looking for a PowerBlock or something cheap and tiny for gig backup. Saw an Epiphone Valve Junior combo cheap...oddly was covered in alligator and had a red knob but whatever. Plugged in and it sounded pretty good. Better than I remembered. So I got it and didn’t think more. 

Last night it started crapping out on me. Opened it up because it seemed to be a loose input jack and what did I see?

Handwired innards. Huh. Still not working but it’ll be repairable now that it’s not all soldered onto a very light PCB. Accounts for the overall “not horrible” sound. Went ahead and ordered a Jensen MOD speaker for $30 to see if that might make it coffeeshop acceptable, since my other amp is way too loud for anything like that. 

49C1E835-5B64-449B-9E7A-A55110DBDC49.jpeg

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9 minutes ago, mrjamiam said:

Who'd a thunk?  And they even used a couple of carbon composition resistors, too, for extra mojo.  Get out your chopstick and start prodding for the loose solder joint.

Found it. Just needed to bend the input jack a bit as it was shorting out against itself. Crazy that someone would sink that much into building a handwired  practice amp inside a cheap Chinese box. I think the PT and OT are stock. Tubes are JJs. It makes a nice sound and cool overdrive but there’s no overcoming that boxy little 8” speaker in a tiny enclosure. Hoping the Jensen will make it a little better, and I’m still under 2 bills for a super light “in a pinch” lunchbox amp. 

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4 hours ago, polara said:

Found it. Just needed to bend the input jack a bit as it was shorting out against itself. Crazy that someone would sink that much into building a handwired  practice amp inside a cheap Chinese box. I think the PT and OT are stock. Tubes are JJs. It makes a nice sound and cool overdrive but there’s no overcoming that boxy little 8” speaker in a tiny enclosure. Hoping the Jensen will make it a little better, and I’m still under 2 bills for a super light “in a pinch” lunchbox amp. 

Those are highly sought after for modding like yours has been. I bought one and watched a bunch of YouTube vids to mod mine but decided just to buy a bigger amp. Nice score. 

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2 hours ago, BubbaVO said:

I hate this place.  Every time I think I can figure out a way to not spend on gear something like this has to show up.

I feel you. This place is a target rich environment that is constantly triggering me. And yes, I love it although I shouldn’t be looking in the first place to try to control my GAS. 

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The Jensen speaker was... unimpressive. Maybe if it gets broken in, but it sounds pretty congested and honky at first. Still, it's a practice amp with an 8" speaker. Beats most $150 amps, I guess.

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10 hours ago, BubbaVO said:

Would it be worth transplanting the guts in a box that holds a bigger speaker?

Nah, then it becomes A Guy Project, like building a speedboat from a dinghy, only spending three times what a good boat would cost to get a third of the functionality. It's a lunchbox with a speaker and will do in a pinch. If it was bigger it would become an actual second amp and kinda defeat the "grab 'n' go, who cares" amp idea.

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