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[iCombs]

littlehat wrote on Mon, 22 January 2007 18:17

You can do this with a standard DI box that allows a speaker level input. The cheapest would be the behringer... http://www.behringer.com/GI100/index.cfm?lang=ENG

As far as I can tell, that has a cabinet simulator on ir for using your line output to the noard (if your amp has one).  It doesn't appeat to have any system for providing a load to an amp.

*EDIT* Nevermind...I RTFM.  Made sense.  I'll shut up now.

[Ryan Leigh Patterson]

A dummy load for a 5 watt amp should be pretty easy to build.  What is the typical resistance of a speaker (not impedance, two separate things)?  My circuit skills are terrible these days, but 5 watts is nothing to dissipate.  

This would make a great replacement for the Garnet Herzog, especially since Gar has passed on and Herzogs are just about impossible to find.  

Cheers

[neustation]

Hello,

18watt.com has a thread on mods for this little beast that is like 200 pages.

I think the MM mod kit is insanely priced, the resistor values are not really hitting the mark, there is a better and cheaper way to improve upon or "fix the problems" of the VJ.

Spend $10.00 on resistors and caps, and $35.oo for a Hammond 125DSE, and you'll be very happy.

Here are pretty much all the mods from 18watt.com:

R1   68K stock, change to 1M. Along with R2, creates a voltage divider that determines how much input signal gets into the amp. Stock only allows half of the signal to enter.                                       
R2   68K stock, change to 10K or leave at 68K with R1 at 1M.
       See R1                                                        
R5   220K stock, Could replace with a 500K pot for Master Volume Control                                                
R6   1M stock, Short out, or use 100k for less gain   100K   Along with R7, creates voltage divider for input to second gain stage.                                       
R7   1M stock, change to 91K – or 100k if R6=100k used.   100K   Replace with 250K or 500K pot for simple Gain control. Raising the value increases max gain.                                    
R8   2.2K stock, change to 1K or 1.5. 12ax7 bias for first gain stage.                                                   
R9   2.2K stock, change to 620 to 820 or 1.5K. 12ax7 bias - Larger values will bias the 2nd preamp stage cleaner, but you shouldn't go any higher than about 1.8k, as then it will start to distort more. 1.5k biases both preamp stages very neutrally for minimum distortion. Lower values provide more "crunch".                        
R10   220 stock, change to 1K 3 Watt. Reduces the B+ voltage looking for 300-310 volts at EL 84 plate pin 7 (Hint: Two 5 Watt 470 ohm in series put voltage right there on mine)                              
R14   220 stock, change to 240-270 1watt. Reduces the EL84s dissipation - stock is over the limit of 12 Watts (Hint: can add an 18 ohm or 22 ohm in series , or put 2 470's in parallel,if you can't find a 240).                                             
R15     1.5K stock, change to 5.6K to 10K EL84 Grid. Larger values more high end roll off.                                    
C1      .022uf, use Mallory 150's or Orange Drops Coupling cap - Mallory's warmer Marshall tone, Orange Drops sharper Fender like tone.                                    
C2      .022uf, use Mallory 150's or Orange Drops Coupling cap - Mallory's warmer Marshall tone, Orange Drops sharper Fender like tone.                                                   
C3      22uf stock, change to 1uF to 3.3uf 25v. Remove Affects low frequency -3dB cutoff point (along with R9) Use lower values for H/Bs.                                                
C4      22uf stock, change to 1uF to 3.3uf 25v. Remove OR 10uF reduce if it gets "farty". Affects low frequency -3dB cutoff point (along with R8) Use lower values for H/Bs.                                    
C5      22uf stock, Change tom1000uf 25v. Helps smooth the EL84's distortion tone. Could go up to 2200uF. I used a panasonic FM 1000uf 16v here, there is only about 10 volts on the PCB at C5, so any where from 16v to 25v would be good.                                                                  
C6      22uf stock, Increase to 47uF - 100uF if necessary Power supply filter - shouldn't really need to change on version 2 models unless you're real fussy about hum.                                        
C9      22uf stock, Increase to 47uF - 100uF if necessary B1 Power supply filter.                           
Output Transformer: Change OT to Hammond 125DSE or 125ESE (Output Jack Mouser 550-10201 Solder to board for combo) Change OT to Hammond 125DSE or 125ESE (Output Jack, Mouser 550-10201 Solder to board for combo) Stock OT is 7.5k impedance, EL84 is 5k, mismatched impedance means lower output, less than optimum frequency response.                                    

Thanks to Dr.Phil at 18watt.com

Out Here,

Robert                                                                                 

p.s. fletcher, I remember a long time ago you were trying to remember the "fuck you" riff from the Bowie album station to station, the song you were thinking of was, "Stay".
The guitar players on that song were, Earl Slick and Carlos Alomar(who at one time acted like a fukingasshole to me, fuku carlos u snotty queer). Also, Roy Bittan from the "e" street band played piano on that album.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

[Fletcher]

Thanks Robert... believe it or not, my 15 yr. old daughter was the one who found the damn song for me... it had been driving me nuts for a couple of years... she read the thread [why she did that I have no idea] then handed me a CD she had burned with her copy of 'Station to Station'.

I felt like a total moron.

[Tomas Danko]

You just wait until she walks into the control room after your eight hour struggle to have the mix gel, walk straight to a particular piece of outboard and tweaks one knob a little. And by the time you realize it's the final mix right there she's already left the room.

[Turtlehands]

If you get the bitmo 10-uator mod, it has a line out. You can record, or input it into another amp.

[0dbfs]

I picked up the epi-mini-stack and the fender-combo 5W amps.

I was looking for small studio tube amps to add to the collection and love them both right out of the box.

Can't beat the price and there are plenty of ways to get different tones out of both of them.

Looked into some of the mods but am happy with them as is for now.

No hum issues here with either.

Cheers,
j

[springman]

Based on the reviews from this forum, I just picked up the Epi head and single 12 cab at Banjo Mart today... What a great sound! It reminds me a bit of the Victoria Tweed deluxe ( itself a Fender tweed deluxe cone)- sounds good halfway up, sounds great all the way up.  I especially enjoyed playing lap steel through it ( sustain for days ), and plugging in an old Tele and embarassing the other engineers at Wellspring with my old Stones licks.  You can turn it up all the way and still hear yourself think- what a concept!
Eric Kilburn
Wellspring Sound

[Barkley McKay]

We got 3 sets (head and cabinet)for our college studios last year. They are great little recording amps out of the box.
It is also great to be able to teach how versatile a simple valve amp can be in the studio, especially when space is an issue and you need to get a good tone without exciting the space too much.
Most young guitarists these days don't realise how many variations of sound you can get just by changing the settings of the volume and tone of the guitar, the amount of gain on the amp, where you stand, how you position the mics etc.

Fit for purpose!

Barkley

[Jack Schitt]

Blackheart has a 5 watt amp by the same designer as the Valve Jr that includes a 3 band eq for very close to the same money.

I need to pick one of these up. The single tone knob was always the biggest weakness in the valve jr although the mods I did helped mitigate that a little

[0dbfs]

How about the Gretsch 5W?

Anyone given that a go?

Cheers,
j

[andychamp]

I've had my VJR combo for a bit more than a year now and always felt that the volume pot's sweet spot was a bit narrow.
I recently replaced the standard Sovtek output tube with a Czech tube from Tube Amp Doctor and found it a big improvement. The sweet spot is much wider and the breakup much smoother and much more responsive to picking dynamics.
I'm not sure I wanna do bigger mods for now, I think there's much to be discovered with different tubes.
Differen speakers also help getting a lot of different good tones. For now I've tried the built-in speaker and a 4x12 cab. I still have to try a 4x10 and a single 15.

[Fletcher]

It's pretty damn cool with a 4x 10" cab... then again 4x 10" cabs are pretty cool in general [ours is a Marshall... I have no idea of the model number].

Peace.

[leonardo valvassori]

I had an early 70's Marshall slant 4x10 with the heavy tweed grill cloth and like an idiot sold it and immedialty regretted it.

Now I feel like more of an idiot.

BTW, why by any amp just to mod it beyond recognition?
You could just spend all the money on what you really want.
I think the valve jr rocks right out of the box esp for the bread.

[Vertigo]

I'm a HUGE fan of MM (I use them in almost ALL my amps) and I can vouch for the Mercury Valve Junior mod. Fantastic. For studio use (post mod) it covers the entire range of bluesbreaker to plexi.

-Lance