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Ordered Another One!


Mickguard

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Just couldn't help myself...I was so happy with the sound of that Valve Junior (I recognize it's not to everyone's taste though), I just had to try another one.

Since no dealers in my area carry it, I still have to order online. I ordered from Thomann in Germany, I've read some good comments about them and their customer service.

In the meantime, I received word from someone at Gibson that they DID INDEED have an issue with the last production run of Valve Juniors (back in May) and that supposedly they've corrected the problem with the more recent run.

So maybe I'll get lucky? In any event, I'm already planning on changing the tubes, and possibly the speaker too. And hopefully there won't be any more noise to it than a normal tube amp.

Can't wait to hear my tele through it!

As for my DIY project...that's just too far away...there's no way I'll be able to attempt anything like that before next summer, at the earliest.

Oh yeah, and I have to say....the people at Gibson and Epiphone --in Europe at least-- are really good about responding quickly with emails.

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Musicians friend has the galaxie 10 on sale for $130. Idch do you think it would be anything like the valve junior? It looks prety much the same except it has a volume, gain, and 3 band EQ.

Does the valve junior have a EL84 or a 6L6 tube in it?

galaxie 10 link

Edited by Godin SD
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Musicians friend has the galaxie 10 on sale for $130.  Idch do you think it would be anything like the valve junior?  It looks prety much the same except it has a volume, gain, and 3 band EQ.

Does the valve junior have a EL84 or a 6L6 tube in it?

galaxie 10 link

The Jr has an EL84, that's what keeps it down to 5 watts... I don't think the Galaxie is available over here (?), but it's nice that they give you the standby switch...I'd be tempted to ditch my 15 watt Ampeg for the Galaxie, the build quality is supposed to be pretty good, bet it'd be great for shows!

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From what I've read the Galaxie 10 is very harsh sounding, and requires an immediate tube change before any type of warm tolerable tone can be attained. If your looking for an amp exactly like the Junior but with an EQ and standby, check out the Valve Special.

And Idch: don't forget to check for hum before you do any modding on this new one - I wanna know if the hum issue is any different.

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I didn't like the other Valve amps because they're using DSP effects...what's the point of that?

From what I've read, the older Electars are pretty nice amps if you can find one of them (although if you look on the Musicyo site, it looks like they're getting ready to reissue them?)

As for the Valve Junior's hum...well, we'll see how it goes --a lot of reviews on the Harmony Central site say that changing the tubes helps tame the hum.

For the price, it's a good option for right now...until I can find just the right switchable 6/15 amp...(it's really too bad Reverend discontinued the Goblin!)

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Well, again, you have the Carvin 5/16...

As for the Jr's hum, from what I can tell its MORE dominant in the ones set up for european voltage, but not completely within that criteria.

Heh heh, no you were just reading MY review in Harmony Central...if the new one turns out to be okay, I'll post a followup...

I found the Carvin over here...it's tempting, but they're selling it for MORE THAN TWICE WHAT IT COSTS IN THE STATES!!! I'd be better off buying it in the States and shipping it to myself.

Man, does that piss me off :D

Aren't there any European amp manufacturers left? (other than Vox and Marshall, of course...although as soon as Vox makes a reissue of the AC-4, I'm there...)

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Aren't there any European amp manufacturers left? (other than Vox and Marshall, of course...although as soon as Vox makes a reissue of the AC-4, I'm there...)

Plenty, they're just mostly boutique/smaller makers. Pretty much an 'all tube' game.

In NL, there's the excellently reviewed Koch Amps. Germany's got ENGL, Italy Brunetti, the UK's got Cornford. Just to name a couple. And I'm sure there are a whole lot more where they came from.

Isn't Trace-Elliot british as well?

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Okay thanks for the names...I'm going to be in Paris in a couple of weeks, maybe I can track down some interesting amps there (I live out in the sticks, there ain't nothing here!)

I like the look of the smallest Koch though -- a built in power soak!...they don't have any pricing on their site, so I imagine we're talking big bucks...

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Okay thanks for the names...I'm going to be in Paris in a couple of weeks, maybe I can track down some interesting amps there (I live out in the sticks, there ain't nothing here!)

I like the look of the smallest Koch though -- a built in power soak!...they don't have any pricing on their site, so I imagine we're talking big bucks...

They're fairly pricey, yeah. I think most all of the ones mentioned are above the 1000 euro mark, new, for the smaller models. Not positive, but fairly certain. I mean, I paid just under that for my second-hand rack-mount Rivera, but I don't think I'll be needing another amp more or less ever. Unless by some miracle I start gigging along, and the 50lbs of stereo tube power start killing me :-)

As for Paris, plenty of nice guitar stores there. Or there were last time I went. Get out at Pigalle Metro, ignore the fact you're surrounded by porn and hookers, walk down the hill some (montmartre to you back), and you'll hit a street bursting with guitar stores. There's even an amps-only store somewhere up the road, and some of them sell some second-hand stuff as well.

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As for Paris, plenty of nice guitar stores there. Or there were last time I went. Get out at Pigalle Metro, ignore the fact you're surrounded by porn and hookers, walk down the hill some (montmartre to you back), and you'll hit a street bursting with guitar stores.

Well, I used to live on the Oudezijdsachterburgwal, right off the Walletjes, so I'd feel right at home :D ...but yeah, Pigalle is great, never seen so many guitar shops in one place!

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Well, I used to live on the Oudezijdsachterburgwal.

Never in all my living abroad have I ever seen such a confusing looking name.... just... wow.

Holland's great for long compound names. Next to the oudezijdsachterburgwal, we've got the nieuwezijdsachterburgwal, the oudezijdsvoorburgwal and a couple of other similar names. It's great.

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You're havin quite the problem with this amp eh? Finding a small amp is a tricky buisness, thats why for my new one thats on the way i had to go for 45 watts! Yikes! It was cheap though and its all tube so I can deal, I just need to get some major ear protection now :D. What other amps are even in the 10 watt range?

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You're havin quite the problem with this amp eh? Finding a small amp is a tricky buisness, thats why for my new one thats on the way i had to go for 45 watts! Yikes! It was cheap though and its all tube so I can deal, I just need to get some major ear protection now :D. What other amps are even in the 10 watt range?

Yeah, I don't know if this one and I are meant to be...right now I'm looking at selling off my 15-watt Ampeg and going for one of those pentode/triode amps, that way I'll get my low watts for practice but also be able to switch on more power for gigs.

At least that's the theory, right?

You'd think more companies would start to figure out that there's a huge market for low-watt tube amps just waiting to be tapped into!

I'm tempted by the Crate V58, but I'll pay close to THREE times the US price...and that just pisses me off!

For the time being, at home I practice with my Sansamp Tri-AC...but there's no way that can compete with the sound of true tube tone...

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