Valve Special or Valve Junior?

[gsh68]

Looking to buy a tube amp for home use and had basically decided on the Valve Junior. However the Valve Special costs only £40 more (albeit 40%) and has the added effects and master volume.

Are the effects worth the extra money? The £40 would only pay for one, perhaps 2 (if used) pedals, and if the effects are useable the Special would actually save me money.

Or should I go for the Jr, add a master volume mod (£9.99 kit on ebay) and buy pedals as and when I find I "need" them?

Thanks.

[Bakz]

Looking to buy a tube amp for home use and had basically decided on the Valve Junior. However the Valve Special costs only £40 more (albeit 40%) and has the added effects and master volume.

Are the effects worth the extra money? The £40 would only pay for one' date=' perhaps 2 (if used) pedals, and if the effects are useable the Special would actually save me money.

Or should I go for the Jr, add a master volume mod (£9.99 kit on ebay) and buy pedals as and when I find I "need" them?

Thanks.[/quote']Definitely recommend the Junior, it is the perfect practice amp imo. As far as modding it, break it in first, then do some research.

[gsh68]

Thanks for the reply. That's the direction I'm favouring I think.

[klast]

I have a Valve Junior, version 2, and had a Valve Special for a short while. The Valve Junior sounds pretty good out of the box and much better than the Valve Special. The clean sound of the Special is muddy (=wet blanket) at best. Since it has gain/master, it's possible to dial in not so bad overdriven sound at "home volume". The EQ has very limited sweep and the EFX ar mostly no good. The reverb and the delay are somewhat usable, but cause a buzz when used.

 

Klas

[brianh]

I have a VJ and VS and prefer the VJ and agree with klast's comments. But, I would also reccomend you look at the Fender Super Champ XD. It's tube, overdrives nicely and the effects are much better than the VS - actually usable. It also has a better clean sound than either of the Epi amps. They're selling for $279 US and I've seen them on Craigslist for as little at $200.

[gsh68]

Thanks for the replies.

I decided on the Jr, and as luck would have it won an auction for a <year old v3, for less than half retail price.

Clean sound is very nice (telecaster), but I haven't been able to crank it to get an idea of the break up at higher volumes yet because it's so bloody loud! I wasn't expecting that. I got another good deal on a Danelectro Daddy O overdrive so use that for a variety of tones at acceptable volume levels - ie no higher than 9 o clock/1/4 volume.

I really didn't expect the Jr to be so powerful. It may actually be too loud for my purposes (home noodling), which is a shame.