Cole Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 I would like to start modding my valve junior. I have some general soldering skills and feel i'm pretty good. I was wondering what mods are easy that most people start with. Sandby switch, bitmo, OT. I have a V1 combo but sometime this week am getting a V3 head and cab and am selling the combo. So what's easy and has good results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluefoxicy Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 From the mod thread: Stock Valve Junior: Versions 1, 2, and 3. http://www.sewatt.com/files/sewatt/StockVJ_1-3.pdf Starter Mods: These Mods will help improve tube life, and improve your tone without dramatically changing the amp. http://www.sewatt.com/files/sewatt/Basic.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoki Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 I would like to start modding my valve junior. I have some general soldering skills andfeel i'm pretty good. I was wondering what mods are easy that most people start with. Sandby switch' date=' bitmo, OT. I have a V1 combo but sometime this week am getting a V3 head and cab and am selling the combo. So what's easy and has good results.[/quote'] Hey Cole What kind of tone are you after? After doing both the Marshall and Vox mods if I were going to do just one thing for the tone to a new V3 the one I'd have done first (assuming yours ships with the JJ power tube as mine did) is to change C1 to the 0.0022uF Mallory 150 from the Vox mod path and maybe after that take R6 and R7 down to 100k. I don't know if other's may agree with this, but changing C1 on that path really gave the most noticeable difference of any of the work I'd done to either amp. It tightened up the bottom a bit and gave the amp a ton of versatility from sparkling jangley but full cleans at low volumes (in conjunction with R6 and R7) to just an amazingly sweet overdrive when pushed. On the Marshall path I felt it was a more cumulative thing where each part I changed sounded a bit better until when it was done it sounded fantastic. Best of all those 3 parts will run you about 3 bucks plus shipping (you can go get the 100k resistors at radio shack tomorrow if want!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWANG Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 I think the ot first. you have to get your voltages in line with it. So if you do it last, you do it twice. But if you're getting a V3 you may want to skip the ot. as they improved it quite a bit. But for outright easy results the ot is probably the most dramatic thing, esp. once it tests out with the other changes that needs. After that, you can look at things like the standby, or adding a gain, or tone control, or nfb. But first you want to decide on what tone you want, what gain you're going for, things like that. what you want for your combo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cGil Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Ditto on the starter mod link, bluefoxicy. Good call. Cole, if you do the starter mods in the link, plus swap two more caps ( C1 and C2 ), you will improve both your expected tube life as well as yout tone quality dramatically. If you want a crisp clean Fendery top end, use .022uF Orange Drops caps. 400v will do, 600v is fine. For a smooth Marshally top end, use .o22uF Mallory or Sozo caps. Again, same voltage rating. After that, if you want a little more overall brightness, just add a tweed tone pot. Gil... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cole Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 I don't know what a good price for my combo is. It hums like crazy and has three stripes going through the input and volume control so i think it is a V1. I bought it last fall. I was planning on seeing if the local guitar store would take it as a trade in to go toward my Vj Stack. As for The tone I'm after. I love playing through voxes at my local guitar store. I find them just a bit bright for my tastes. I've never played through a vintage marshall or even a new one for that matter but I love the tone of them. My favorite bands are Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton (and all the bands he has been in Cream, Derek and dominoes, etc.), and Aerosmith who all at one time played through marshalls and i love this tone. I just don't want as much gain as these new marshalls. When i play through an amp with EQ i usually boost the midrange a bit because i love the thick sustain of a lot of midrange. so whatever i do i want some good midrange thickness. My signal chain is PRS SE with P-90s... Boss NS-2 noise suppressor... EH big muff (which I'm also selling)... Epiphone Valve Junior. I'm also ordering an EH LPB-1 and a weber attenuator. I would really rather buy a kit rather than just parts becaus without instructions or pictures i will screw something up. So i'd like a kit or 2. I would enjoy a standby switch and possibly a high/low gain switch, and just general stuff for better tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWANG Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 V1 combos are probably the hardest to mod. Hum was a consistent problem. A trade in will just get you a sore hind end, and I don't mean a spanking. Ebay it or email me and maybe we can deal, trade, whatever.. I've been wanting to mod another amp, and I don't mind the problems. My vjs will do the led zep, etc, well enough for me. We like the same stuff. and with just a few mods you can make that head monster. We both have p90s, too so.. I think I can say that with certainty. I find time after time that if I want any effects with the VJ, it's a little reverb, or that and a little delay. And even then, I miss the pure tube of it. TWANG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cole Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 Hey Twang, I went to the lets see your amps post and saw your "humble efforts"... WOW. Your Vjs are loaded! I don't believe i want that much in my amp. I was wondering where you got the standby switch, the bright switch, and the crunch switch. Are those very difficult, if not where did you get them at. I don't really want any extra knobs on mine but i like the switches. What would you recomend for the early Page/Zeppelin tones. These are my favorites: What is and what should never be, heartbreaker, and Ramble on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cole Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 Hey Twang, I went to the lets see your amps post and saw your "humble efforts"... WOW. Your Vjs are loaded! I don't believe i want that much in my amp. I was wondering where you got the standby switch, the bright switch, and the crunch switch. Are those very difficult, if not where did you get them at. I don't really want any extra knobs on mine but i like the switches. What would you recomend for the early Page/Zeppelin tones. These are my favorites: What is and what should never be, heartbreaker, and Ramble on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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