I recently got up the nerve to dig into my Epiphone Valve Junior combo and install Bruce Hutcheon’s BITMO Spanky upgrade. It was simple to do, with excellent instructions. While I was shaking and sweating the whole time (not a good thing to be doing with a soldering iron), after about 45 minutes my amp sounded a whole lot better. Brighter, with more sparkle all the way through the range and more clean headroom. Only downside? The distortion can sound a little brittle if the guitar’s tone is all the way to the treble.
Watch this space for some sound samples and information on using this little amp with a Marshall 4×12 cabinet (it sounds silly, but it’s a pretty good sound!)