This amp is amazing. The sound can go from clean & warm to loud & raunchy with just the twist of a knob. I find that keeping it cranked is great (play light & the clean sounds full, start down-strumming & the crunch kicks in).

It has a power switch, a knob, & a bunch of outputs. What more do you want?

Just turn the knob...

It's really well built for the price range. The wiring is so clean & uncluttered. Seems like it'll last me for years.

Bang for your buck

The best support is never needed

It's sexy as hell

Musician/Producer/Engineer

Indie/Ambient/Pop

this little sucker sounds great for under 100 bucks!

5w class a great sound......who needs features, buy yourself an effect pedal

about as easy as it gets

epi didnt go wrong building this gem

your not gonna find a better product under 100 dollars..period

this I dont know so much about.....havent had any problems with it so havent had to go to them yet. 5 year warrenty is great deal though!

Musician

Metal, psychadelic, alternative, blues

You have to judge what you've bought by what it is designed to do. This one is not about clean headroom, it's about single ended class A tube overdrive. And it does it very nicely. For a hundred bucks.. it absolutley rocks! I love the touch sensitivity.. I love the crunch.. I run an old but trusty Digitech RP 7, which has it's own 12ax7 tube in it.. and recommend that you put a pedal in front, too.. any pedal.. this thing loves pedals. I love it's clean tones when I'm plugged into my cheapo behringer compressor.. and using that simple cheap pedal to drive the pre amp tube in the vj is sweet! The RP 7 will do just about anything, and the vj handles it all with great aplomb. replace the tubes. go jj/tesla.. even groove tube users have said they like them better than the sovteks..*I like sovteks, too.. but there are differences.. read about them.. choose!* consider a 12at7 pre amp tube.. it will add a bit more clean headroom and alter the break up just very small amount.

but you say.. what features, it only has a volume control. Well, you're wrong weedhoper, er. grasshopper.. it is easily modified. cheaply modified. all over ebay modification is up for sale. all over 18watt.com and yahoo vj groups.. and this thing has amp techs and amatuer techs all freaking out so the best feature of this amp is THE AMP ITSELF! that's a great thing, man. You can spend up to four hundred dollars on this amp head.. going from very nearly boutique quality for practically nothing.. to full on balls to the wall top of the line pro sound nobody could fault! wooo. for a hundred bucks? yeah.. ten on features for sure. imagine.. a couple of resistors.. a capacitor or two.. a switch, a knob, a pot.. and voila.. not even twenty bucks spent but way better sound!

plugged straight in, you should readily find a nice almost overdriven clean tone.. and a couple of overdriven sounds representing a range.. your guitars tone and volume controls are the main controls here.. crank it up. put chicken beak at 3:00.. then back off your guitar volume and from there you decide everything from bass and treble to clean/overdrive. that's the way it's supposed to be1 on the other hand. .. that's kinda hard on tubes.. and really darn loud for in the house. music room. etc. so put a pedal in front.. with just a compressor which has a tone control you can do all sorts of things. with a couple of pedals.. or a mulit. you can find the glass in the amp.. then set your pedal(s) to take full advantage of that. I'm promising you really good tones and pretty quiet, too.. for almost nothing. easy yes.. but you have to use the amp right.. the way it should be used.

I've had both of mine apart and yes, there are some parts that aren't as sturdy as point to point hand wired amps.. (amps which cost you a minimum of six hundred bucks these days) But if you exercise the reasonable care you should.. no problem. really good materials.. great fit and finish.. nice looks! hey I saw a guys vj with the rear cover put on the front.. only he covered it with vox grille cloth! man was that neat looking! and you can just use the rear panel on the front for a very serious metal type look.. glowing tubes show through, too. cool! great warranty.. I have no doubt that I'll never use it though. plastic corners on the amp.. that's about the worst thing. big deal. really this amp is mean to be a friend.. a long term friend.. something you keep and use for years.. and it's built that way. sometimes you put a little nick in your friend, but you don't say he's worthless after you do.

there are more five watt amps out there.. one is made at the same factory as the epi vj .. and has tone control. But I hear it's got some noise and other problems. fender has a five watter.. two hundred bucks. peaveys got one..six hundred I think. in the hundred dollar amplifier category, the epiphone vj is most probably the hands down all time winner. adjusting for inflation and all.. this is a much better amp than anything near it's equal from the sixties.. when I started, to today.

epiphone has always been great with me. very friendly, very fast. I believe this is a good company and under jim 'epi' rosenbergs direction will continue to grow the epiphone reputation.

I've mentioned the hottest feature of this amp as it's ability to be modified.. strongly improved.. for little money and with little effort. the same is true of it's cosmetic properites. just switching the front and rear panels produces a completely different look. with the red leather front panel you have something pretty spiffy looking.. and not plain at all like most. but with your choice of covering applied to the front panel.. you can go tweed, marshall, fender, ampeg, orange amp, any color or style you like. the piping is classy. the off white panel is really well chosen. on top of the new matching 1X12 cabinet.. it's very sexy classy high end looking.. and yet. it looks tough too.. ready to play. let's rock!

long time pro musician

rock blues country folk pop

Ive had this amp for almost a year now. It sounds dark, it is very loud I cannot even turn it up past 8:00 on the volume running into a Songworks cab with one 12 inch Jensen speaker. Very quiet no noise and very loud great for playing jazz or practicing late at night at low volumes, the tone is very pure very steady very beautiful very clean at low volumes.

Just one knob for volume but 3 speaker outputs.

Very well made I dropped mine and it didnt even scratch.

Good deal nice little amp.

Its kinda cool.

guitarist

blues and rock

So I didn't buy my first one here... soo sorry ZZ, I'm just buying 3 more. This little masterpiece somehow had slipped under my radars. I currently have a 1982 jcm 800; a jcm 2000 tsl60; and a peavey classic 50 head. Side note... the classic 50 is also a very under-rated amp... this thing smokes both of my marshalls in tone. Simply put... this amp is what every geetar player needs. turn it on and crank it up. That simple. Use the volume on the guitar for the rest! I'm running this thing through the 4x12 cabinet from epi...forget the name... it's designed to go with another amp, but I've seen it here for 250 beans. Can't wait to quit writing the review so I can plug this into my marshall 4x12 w/ vintage 30's

the list of features is endless. For instant it has a handle! also is so small you don't need a handle! (I think that's 2 features) It has an input jack! perfect for plugging in a guitar. And the knob is something else. IT TURNS!!! Now lets talk cord. It has a three pronger. Much sexier than the old school two prongers. Which way is up? hmm...? 3 prongs no question. maybe an effects loop???, no It's perfect.

turn it on. can't get any easier.

The only thing that I wish this amp had was a couple of hot bitzes that came with it. Guess I'll have to hit the stage for that one!

epi could have charged way more for this. I don't want to give them a big head, and jack the price up so I'll shut up.

As stated in a previos review... the best support is the one not needed.

It's a beaut. I want to hump it's leg.

25 years playing

all

this is the best sounding amp you can get for the money! it sounds like a $500.00 amp. the hotter it gets the better it sounds. can not get this sound for any solid state amp. i am runing mine with a 150 watt one 10 in cabinet. and it kicks i mean kicks. it is just great!! got it to day from zzounds got 4 hours of playing time on it. with out turning it off and like i said the hotter it gets the more it rocks.

thats what i like about it.one volume switch. thats all.

just turn it up and jam..

made nice. real clean looking. look just like 1960s.

this is a nice amp. buy it now. who kowns they might stop makeing it.

i bet it is a 10.

i dont kown about sex appeal. but it looks like a 1962 amp.

This little amp is truly incredible. I bought a pair to run as a stereo set up for my GNX4. WOW! This was the right purchase. This is also a great little amp for home brew modifications and learning tube circuitry. I've done a few awesome ten minute mods that have been just as remarkable as the amp. Helps breed a new sense of confidence in your amp when you know it inside and out!

It has the best possible feature set... none at all. A volume control and an on/off switch. Add you own features to an uncluttered amp and come up with something truly unique.

This is the definition of "no-brainer".

This is an inexpensively built amp. But for $99 it's selling for half of what it's worth. Both of mine arrived with loose tubes (something worth checking if yours should appear D.O.A. the day you get it, this is not at all uncommon with tube amps that have traveled a ways)

As stated in other areas of this review... you can not hope to do better for $99. In fact, I doubt you could do this well for twice that price!

I have never dealt with Epiphone directly but they have a very useful form attended by some of the most knowledgeable amp techs around

This is in fact a very nice looking "retro" style amp. Fit and finish and all cabinetry is top notch.

Hobbyist (on an insane level)

Nealy everything.

Great sounding low wattage tube head for 100 bucks what more can you say.

A volume knob

One Knob

Built like a tank

I dunno dont need it

this amp is awsome!! The clean tone is just beutiful and then when turned up over half it starts to get a nice over drive. I like to use it with my RP50 effects processor,way cool!

well it only has one voloume knob but it turns smooth with no noise. They also added three different om inputs on the back so you can use it with just about any cab.

if you cant figure this little honey out you'd best get an acoustic!

This is made in china?! Ive seen $2k boutique amps not as well put together as this.

you wont find a better value

don't know

This is a great addition to any ones home set up especialy for home recording. I love the look of this amp and it looks good sitting on top of my marshall mini stack {2 1x10 cabs} it sounds and way better than the marshall head that came with it and I thout it was all that!It is built really solid and should last a long time. If you are a clean player or like effects pedals this is perfect

active musician

blues/rock and jazz