Lookin’ for a fun weekend project? How about spending some quality-time with your soldering iron while converting a cheap Epiphone Valve Junior amplifier into a faux-Fender Tweed Champ?
I was looking for some interesting DIY mods for tube amps this morning when I came across Premier Guitar Magazine’s article titled: Rags To Riches––Turning an inexpensive amp into a vintage beast. It’s a moderately in-depth look at how to modify the already decent-sounding Class-A Valve Junior ($140 street price,) into a “Fenderized” tone monster.
As author Dirk Wacker (singlecoil.com) writes––
“I’m sure you all know the famous Fender Tweed Champ – it’s one of the classic little amps that can be heard on countless recordings. It featured a punchy and percussive Fender clean tone and a ”true, from the bottom of the heart“ overdrive, full and warm sounding – in other words, a tone combination to die for. The Epiphone Valve Junior can be modded in this direction and I had the pleasure to play the modded Epi side by side with an old Fender Tweed Champ – the differences in tone are really minimal…”
This mod’s probably not for the absolute newbie, but it doesn’t look too difficult for someone with a passing understanding of electronics and soldering.
Of course, as with any modifications having to do with amplifiers, it’s always best to err on the side of caution… even an uplugged amp can carry a lethal voltage if the filter capacitors have not been discharged. Proceed At Your Own Risk!
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March 13th, 2007 at 8:07 am
Cary,
I checked out singcoild.com and I could not find any mention of the modification of Epi Valve Junior at the site.
Any suggestions?
BTW, I do own an Epi Valve Jr..
Thanks,
Eddie
March 13th, 2007 at 8:34 am
Hi Eddie,
The author seems to have written the article specifically for Premier Guitar Magazine, so I’m guessing it won’t be appearing on his website. The link to the article is here.
If you decide to do the mod I’m sure a number of my readers would be interested to hear about it. Maybe you could send us some photos, or just let us know how it went.
Good Luck!
March 14th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Thanks Cary.
I’ll let you know if I do the mods, that is if I’m still alive.
Eddie
March 14th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
Hehe… good luck!
; )
March 15th, 2007 at 11:02 pm
I discharged a filtercap into my index finger one time. A while later there was a little black hole in the end of my finger that took forever to heal.
Some solder sniffing bench techs like to play hot potato and toss those things around to each other. I think it’s called DeVry University Disorder Syndrome aka “DUDS”.
March 16th, 2007 at 8:15 am
“I discharged a filtercap into my index finger one time. A while later there was a little black hole in the end of my finger that took forever to heal.”
Sounds painful, Stratblogster. Glad you’re still around, man.
“Some solder sniffing bench techs like to play hot potato and toss those things around to each other. I think it’s called DeVry University Disorder Syndrome aka “DUDSâ€.”
They must also be brain damaged from sniffing that solder. It’s called heavy metal poisoning. He, he.
GE