Epiphone Valve Special Guitar Combo Amplifier (5 Watts, 1x10 in.)

Feature:
Least useful are built-in effects. I use the chorus occasionally just because I don't like to carry around any more stuff than necessary. Reverb is decent for digital effect, though.

Quality:
Seems well put together. You could quibble with some of the components, but look at the cost, and there's no evidence they cut any corners delivering a class A amp in the $200 price range.

Value:
I admit I didn't play a bunch of models in the class, but I'd have a hard time imagining anything substantially better in terms of bang for the buck, whether you're using it for practice, miking onstage or both.

Desirability:
What's not to like? Blistering overdrive sounds in your bedroom or not lugging 150# of stack to your job? You need this amp.

Sound:
Very nice tube sound, and a lot of flexibility with independent gain and volume. I'll downrate it a notch with the stock speaker, which I think is just lacking in treble capability. I've since upgraded to a "Ragin Cajun" and now the tone controls really work.

Ease of Use:
Nothing confusing about this rig.

Support:
Never had to deal with it.

Overall:
I'd probably just get another one of these if I ever needed to. A couple pedals and this amp covers a lot of ground, lets me spend time playing, not futzing with gizmos.

Feature:
Well knowing this is a single channel amp, you don't buy it expecting the versatility of $1000 tube combos, but theres a lot of tones that can be pulled from this amp with some tweaking. You're not going to get a high gain sound, or tube-driven reverb but the digital reverb thats there is quite good. And the DSP effects prove frustrating, as anything beyond the most mild setting are too extreme. I dig the 8 ohm speaker output on the back, meaning I can easy push a cabinet of my choice, and the standby switch is a welcome addtion since the Valve Junior head and combo don't have one. An effects loop would be nice, but for the price range I'm quite happy to have a master volume, quite usable eq stack, and decent reverb.

Quality:
The amp came without a problem. Great fit and finish, especially considering the price. Its hard to tell how it will hold up. I've had solid state amps crap out on me after a couple years of regular playing, so if this last that long I'll be happy.

Value:
Personally I think this amp stacks up a lot better than the Fender Pro and Blues Junior, as well as those tube class A Crate amps. I would have bought the Valve Junior head version if it had reverb, but it was worth paying for the Special and getting standby switch, eq stack, master volume.

Desirability:
This is one cool looking amp, vintage look with black vinyl and gold basketweave grillcloth. If I were in a band I would gig with it and mic it up, rock it with pride. Gotta love the chicken beak knobs.

Sound:
I love the creamy full clean sound of this amp. I could max out the master volume and treble, and put the bass, mids, and reverb pointing straight up at 12 o clock and play arpeggios and chord comping all night. Pushing the gain beyond 50% and you get into some ok blues territory, and maxing out the gain produces a good raunchy bark but the stock speaker struggles to keep up. For the moderately clean sound with my humbucker-equipped LP style Ibanez Ghostrider- I would give it a 10, anything beyond 50% gain I give a 6-7, so an average of 8 on sound.

Ease of Use:
If you can't get a good sound out of this then you need a better guitar. I've only had mine a couple days and haven't even swapped in better tubes or tried different speakers, and I'm digging it. One great thing, is that it LOVES stompboxes. Setting the amp clean (gain 1/4 up, master 1/2) a DOD Grunge gave me some crisp and chunky high gain sound perfect for riffing and palm-muting. My TS9 Tube Screamer pushed the amps natural overdrive into great high gain soloing tone.

Support:
Haven't needed it.

Overall:
Between some stompboxes, and the natural tone of this amp, I can cover a lot of bases and I am really enjoying playing again. I wish the effects were more usable. If it was stolen or broke down through no fault of its own, I would replace it in a heartbeat.