Me and this little Epiphone valve junior have been through heck togheter. the same goes for my ADA MP1. i always wanted to get a tube power amp to fully use my ADA. and always wanted to get a good distortion box to have good fun with my EVJ.
after seeing a mod for the EVJ that parallels the gain stages in the 12ax7 and completely bypasses any master volume, making the amp run at its maximum... I started putting two and two togheter and began my conversion. So after changing the OT on the VJ to a Heyboer, changing all the inside components to a 'marshallized' type. adding a EQ... it's been relegated as 5w Power Amp with a 12ax7 and a EL84. this low power amp is probably more versatile now than many other little amps on the market :D I then bought a Raxxess shelf to strap the amp on a rack, also racked the little power attenuator (a L-PAD- and some caps...) So i can have all sorts of distortion. i can run the amp with zero attenuation and get big clean tones. or get my dirt from the preamp. i can then turn down the speaker volume and crank up the ada so the power tube breaks up and get power tube distortion at moderate levels. it's quite nice.
I'm also fixing up an old Digitech footswitch to have full switching control on the ada. i'm replacing the shitety little tactile switches with momentary carling spst stomps :D 4 of them were dead anyway.
don't mind all that marker pen. i need to order one final 2space blank panel to put in front of the Valve and attenuator and mount only the power button and the attenuator controls to it. I also stuck one of these little led lamps in the back when i need to work out some stuff in the dark. a stupid idea but really useful!
I'm quite stoked to get these two pieces of gear working togheter. it's a great little rig for small pubs and bars. I even have an onboard compressor in the ADA and onboard chorus. and i'll be able to loop my delay boxes between both. hooray
