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Mercury Magnetics
Transformer Demonstration Project
The Valve Junior FEATURING the Mercury Mod
The Mercury Mod kit for upgrading your Epiphone Valve Jr. (combo or head)
Can you actually get RECORDING QUALITY tone for less than $400?
YES! And change forever what you thought you knew about guitar tone.
Background: Inside of all the greatest-sounding amps ever built lies buried treasure. The source of this profound and amazing amp tone is the transformers. Pro-quality transformers are not easy to build and they are also expensive. When an amp builder is unaware of, or chooses to ignore this fact by installing cheapo transformers, the tone of the amp tells the tale.
If you find playing your amp fatiguing or just plain boring, if your childhood memories of Uncle Bob's "armpit fart concerts" sound better than the amp you're stuck with, then you are probably an unwitting victim of tonally anemic, low-budget transformers.
"If my place caught fire, my Mercury Modded Valve Jr. would be one of the first things I'd drag out to the sidewalk... despite the low cost."-- Bob Dragich
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To help prove the point, Mercury has designed a Mercury Upgrade for the remarkably inexpensive Valve Jr. amp (combo or head). This demonstration Upgrade Kit features high-end, pro-quality performance transformers like those in great-sounding amps costing anywhere from hundreds to thousands more. Our Upgrade Kit makes the modified Valve Jr. the lowest-cost introduction ever to the wonderful world of boutique amplifiers.
This means you can experience pro-grade tone with all of the feel and expanded range-of-control the pros enjoy -- without draining your wallet!
Give Paul Patronete or Patrick Selfridge a call at (818) 998-7791 and get started on the right path to pro-quality tone today!
"I finished the Valve Jr. mods over the weekend. AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! I have been playing guitar for 21 years and this is, without a doubt, one of the best amps I have ever played -- and it only cost me $400 total!!!!! Unbelievable!
I had a longtime guitar-playing friend over on New Year's eve and we recorded all night long with the Mercury Mod Valve Jr. Needless to say, he wants one and will be ordering the amp and kit VERY SOON!!! I am eventually going to order a second kit so that I can run them in stereo. Can’t wait to hear what this thing sounds like with upgraded tubes.
I have a new found respect for the iron that is used in all my amps... and more specifically for the fine people/engineers at Mercury Magnetics. As a budding DIY amp builder, all my new builds will be using Mercury Magnetics trannies. Way to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
-- Jonathon Short
About Mercury's EVJ project: Ever wonder how much better YOUR amp could sound just by Upgrading its magnetics (transformers)? Here's your chance to discover the night and day difference. On occasion we'll get a couple of identical amps sent to us for A-B testing purposes. Typically one of the amps is kept bone stock while the other is given a Mercury transformer Upgrade treatment. The results are always dramatic -- with rich, lush improvements in tone and harmonics, and the distinct absence of ear-fatigue that only enhanced magnetics can reveal.
In house, we call the "B" in these tests the Mercury Upgraded version. These A-B tests have always been popular around here and are responsible for thousands of converts to our cause.
"Update on my Valve Jr. upgrade! Wow, nothing but kick ass, balls-to-the-wall tone!"
-- Gilbert Cruz
That set us to thinking about conducting an A-B test on a fundamental guitar amp. One with only the minimum components to do the job. Hummm....
After a little digging around we found our guinea pig -- the Epiphone Valve Junior Combo (thank you Bob Dragich). Talk about your fundamental (and remarkably inexpensive!) tube amp. Check this out:
5 watts
Single-ended, Class A
One generic 12AX7 preamp tube
One generic EL84 power tube
Generic power & output transformers
Generic 8" speaker
Epiphone's Valve Junior combo (and now the head, too) proved to be an almost ideal demonstration platform because it is such a basic, stripped-down tube amp. Just 2 tubes, 2 transformers, 1 speaker, a simple circuit board and just a handful of other parts -- along with 1 input jack, 1 volume knob and an on/off switch. That's it, no computerized components, no tone knobs, no added f/x circuits, nothin'... you just can't get any more elementary and still have a playable tube amp!
"The amp tech was floored. He couldn't believe the tone. I highly recommend this insanity!"
-- Craig Lunsford
All this for about $100.00? Yes, but as you might expect, the stock amp is anemic and thin sounding -- not exactly an inspirational amp. Let's see, what can we do about that....
Side note: It should be mentioned that our goal wasn't to build the perfect amp, only to demonstrate the effect of quality magnetics. But it quickly became apparent that we'd transformed the little Valve Jr. amp into an extraordinary "I've gotta record with this!" keeper. As the demands poured in we decided to develop the Mercury Upgrade into a kit and make it available to the general public.
"Holy smoke, I thought the amp was going to get up and walk around!! Are you doing mods like this to other amplifiers? Very, very impressive complete tonal spectrum sound! Nice job."
-- Marcus Earling
The Mercury Mods....
The project was headed by Mercury's Sergio Hamernik, and Los Angeles-based amp tech wizard, Alan Cyr (www.Amp-Exchange.com). After examining the original circuitry several custom AxiomŽ-series transformer and Mini-Choke™ sets were designed and tested, as well as a number of circuitry mods to improve on the original design.
Along with a custom-designed set of transformers, and much needed clean-up of the circuitry, the amp remains stock. If you are an experimenter you may want to try different speaker and/or tube configurations, but oddly enough, those components deliver relatively minor tonal changes compared to the absolutely H-U-G-E improvement of the Mercury trannys. The result is a remarkable harmonically responsive and toneful little amp that runs quiet and sounds B-I-G. No wonder so many first call LA session players are grabbing them up and heading to the studio!
We've definitely transformed the bland little Valve Jr. into a keeper. Here in Los Angeles, the Mercury Upgraded Valve Jr. is one of the hottest, most in-demand insider amps around. Those who've heard it immediately want one -- and at such a low cost to make the mods, who can afford NOT to!
"I A-B'd the Mercury version of the amp to the stock Valve Jr. head, and found it hard to stay plugged in to the non-modded version amp. I must say, the Mercury Mod might be a bit pricey, but it is truly worth it. For the cost of around $400, I have one of the best recording amps on the planet. Believe me, I have tons of vintage amps, old Marshalls, Fenders, Ampegs just to name a few and this little baby just kills! The big bonus, it's pretty damn loud at 5 watts. You could use it at a gig with it miked, and you'll be the envy of all your guitar player buddies. As for me, I can't stop playing it, very cool!"
-- Phil Antonucci
Sound
Samples & Mercury Mod Users --
Want to hear an Mercury Upgraded Valve Jr.? Sound samples are available at Alan Cyr's www.Amp-Exchange.com. Note that these recordings were intentionally made under primitive conditions (see photo to the right). Special thanks to LA musician, Phil Woodward, for all of his help with this project.
Here's a really ambitious review, complete with educational How-To video instructions, by www.GearScorecom. A big "thank you" to Luigi for his amazing compilation!
Check out Mike Yankie's point-to-point version of the Mercury Upgrade. Lots of sound samples there, too!
Check out Paul Anwiler's A-B comparison clinic with a stock Valve Jr. pitted against a Mercury Upgraded version....
Check out these sound samples from Steve McCabe's before & after Mercury Upgraded Valve Jr.
Surf and Saddle this 2 (YouTube.com entry featuring Mercury Upgraded Valve Jr.)
For more information, assistance, quotes
or inquiries:
9167 Independence Ave. • Chatsworth,
CA 91311 • FAX (818) 998-7835
Info@MercuryMagnetics.com
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www.MercuryMagnetics.com
PRICE LIST / CATALOG
(818) 998-7791
