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Epiphone Valve Junior to Bass! A thread of tiny modding and major sound

#41
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Weber SE15 It's a clone of the Hammond 125ESE

For those of you who know just how small the stock output transformer is

Should be pretty amazed about the size difference.

When I get this thing mounted - I should have ZERO problems getting full bass response from this tranny.

it's cheap too - about $25 cheaper than ordering a Hammond 125ESE direct from mouser.

no brainer here folks.
 
#42
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I think the pictures say it all.

The little box between the transformers is the stock output tranny. Yeah - I know - it looks like a "choke" HAHAHAHAHA

The output tranny mod went well. Real top line easy stuff.

Tomorrow I get the rest of the components and Saturday night i finish off those mods and test.

Forget the mercury mods stuff. This transformer is literally the same size of the power transformer and it was cheap!

Still have under $200 invested, including the amp price.
 
#44
Mod is done.

Or almost done.

I chose to hold off on the PA in feature.

I also burned out a component while trying to run a screen resistor

So as it stands the B+ and bias resistors are still set to 220ohms - so the little bugger is still hot - but MAN was it quiet when I put a 300ohm resistor on the bias and 330ohm on the B+ - or this could have been the screen resistor doing funky things.


All in all I lessened the gain. improved the bass response. and drastically increased the size of the output transformer.

I'm tracking for my EP tomorrow and it's bass time.

P-Bass with chromes - Valve junior - a 115 or a 410 - RE20 into Logic

hopefully lots of sexy stuff will happen tomorrow.
 
#45
We had a long conversation with the lead designer from Epiphone about the Valve, Jr. He was really interested to hear that people were using it for bass, and was very receptive to our input as to how they might be able to... well, let's not let any cats out of any bags... :hiding:

He did show me the Valve, Jr. Hot Rod, which has a Gain, Master, and a spring Reverb. And get this, it has a dummy load, so you can use the "Reverb" out as a line out (with or without reverb) and drive another amp. :cool:

Pics to follow, soon!
 
#46
Tom B - sounds like they've got some cool cats working for Epi these days.

My mod is done. And i recorded six tracks with it.

It definitely has a sweet spot now and I could probably stand to throw a 5751 in there.

it seems to have a ceiling now and the OD doesn't sound as sweet. but before you hit it - WOW sounds like a classic tube amp.

Dare I say it has too much bass?

A quick freq analysis of one of my tracks has the majority of focus in the 80 to 120 hz area with a very full lowend - but because I was using flats AND a somewhat dull sounding 410 - I didn't get much content above 2khz.


it's a totally different beast now.

The two major - bass amp making features were the larger output tranny and the retooling of the power filter caps - hands down. the amp just feels more powerful.


That stock output tranny is a joke.
 
#48
BassJunkie730 said:
Tom B - sounds like they've got some cool cats working for Epi these days.
Click to expand...

Most definitely! And if you don't mind, I am going to e-mail Alan a link to this thread. I think he would find your mods very interesting. Here is a shot of Alan with the Epiphone amp display:

Invalid Link Removed
 
#51
Crockettnj said:
Humpty Bumpy.

TB- anything from epi as to a bass-specific version?
Click to expand...

I saw Alan at Summer NAMM, and I jokingly went up to him and said, "So, when will we get to see the Bass, Jr?" His immediate response was that the prototype was about ready for playtesting. :cool:
 
#55
Chris V. said:
If it turns out to be the same price as the guitar head I'm going all in that sales will be through the roof.
Click to expand...

When last I spoke to Alan, it was going to be based most closely on the Hot Rod version of the Valve, Jr., but I think without the reverb. What that does mean is that it will have the option to use an internal load and run a line out, so that you can take all that good power tube goodness, and send it to another solid state (or tube!) amp. :cool: :bassist:
 
#60
This was a cool read.

I'm picking up a head and cab next week. I don't know if I will get to crazy with mods. I'll probably replace the stock speaker with one voiced for bass,...maybe a neo magnet speaker. Any tranny replacement will have to be done by a qualified tech since I probably couldn't build a boost pedal without messing something up.

This will be my first tube amp. I'm mainly just interested in having a tube platform to experiment and record fuzz boxes on bass at home. I'm hoping to move onto bigger and badder tube amps for gigging if all goes well.

Any chance the clips linked are still available,...links seem to be not working for me.
 

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