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Post subject: Pro Jr.; Please offer sound advice
Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 1:39 pm
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Bought a new Pro Jr. for a small amp to take to work. And I received a very quiet one. No humm, hiss or extraneous noise. That's obviously not my issue.

Have a modest arsonal to play through it (see below), and at home play my 60's and 70's Rock into a '65 RI Deluxe Reverb in parallel with a Blues Jr. NOS via a Lehle Little Dual Amp Switch Pedal.

I don't care for how soon the tone through the Pro Jr. muddies up. Sounds very nice and clean up until volume begins to go above about '4'.

I replaced the Fender Special Design (Eminance) speaker (10", 30w, 8 ohms, ceramic magnet) with a Jensen P10R (10", 25w, 8 ohm, small 7 oz. AlNiCo magnet) after a fairly extensive amount of researsh. And it's not better. I was extremely fortunate in that I was able to convince Musicians Friend to accept it as a return even though I'd briefly installed it. (I love those folks. They've been EXTREMELY good to me.)

I'm sure you know the Pro Jr. is a 15w running through a pair of EL84's.

So is the Blues Jr. NOS, who's tone I love. (Stock speaker remains, a Jensen C12N, 50w)

And to complete the review, the DRRI is 22w running through a pair of 6v6's, who's tone I also love. (Also stock speaker, Jensen C12K, 100w)

Had attempted to seak advice from Ted Weber, but they appear to be so swamped and state so now on their tech assistance line, and urge e-mail questions. My note to them 3 weeks ago has gone un-answered.

Since trying the P10R I've read that perhaps a speaker with a ceramic magnet will stay cleaner longer.

I also can't help but think that a speaker with a higher power rating might also stay cleaner longer.

I've read over potential PJ mods, and don't believe most will apply, as they're geared to remove unwanted noise, as well as rebiasing the tubes which many think run too hot. (Have also read a number of folks don't agree with re-biasing mod either, as they feel it really saps tone.) I don't feel like farting around with soldering on the circuit board if it's not absolutely necessary anyway, and I don't feel that it is, or should be.

My question is, is my described displeasure, amp not staying clean long enough, a function of the speaker, like I'd thought, or is it a function of the amp?

Like I said above, my 15w BJ NOS w/EL84's sounds great to me, as does my 22w DRRI w/6V6's.

And again, this PJ is as large as I want to go with my 3rd tube amp, for portability reasons.

Also, if able when expressing an opinion on the source of the ploblem, suggested corrections would be most welcome.

Thank's in advance.

Dave

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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 6:37 pm
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And here's another thought.

I've seen some folks who'll turn your Pro Jr. into a Pro Sr.

Internally, the exsisting cabinet is 12 1/2" tall by 13 3/8" wide.

The external diameter of the Jensen C12N that's in my Blues Jr. NOS is ~12 1/8".

The only issue is the amp package would have to slide back almost 1/2" to clear the back of the speaker. There is ample room in the cabinet top and sides to move all 4 of the amp packages mounting holes 1/2" rearward. Plus, the pachage itself is already recessed 1/4" forward into the cabinet to allow the back 'partial' cover to fit flush. Something could easily be done to frame in that extra 1/4" of now protruding amp guts. For that matter, simple 1/4" x 1/4" wood strips, painted black tacked onto the inside edges of the back cover panel would do. If a guy even was concerned with it. There'd now also be an open gap in front of the controls on top of the amp but it wouldn't take much to cover that either.

I don't particularilly want to build a new cabinet, and although I could, I don't think it's necessary to fit a 12" speaker in here.

And if necessary, which I don't believe it is, an additional 3/4" of internal dimension on the vertical could be fairly easily achieved with a new cabinet bottom piece. This one fits inside the front, back and sides of the cabinet.

Again, I don't want the amp to be any bigger than it is. (Has to be able to fit into my locker.)

And I want it to stay 'clean' much longer than it does. If a new speaker is in order to be able to do so....Hmmm.....

And like I mentioned above, I just happen to have a C12N (and 'K' for that matter) to mess with.

Now obviously you wouldn't have the free cabinet space inside this lil dude as you would with a cab the size of a Blues Jr. but still...

I believe I'm going to make a front Pro Jr. cabinet board, the size of the exsisting one, with the hole cut properly for a 12" speaker (roughly 10 1/2") and do a little 'sperimenting. I don't need to permanently move the amp guts to test this out.


Last edited by dafreeze on Wed Nov 05, 2008 9:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 7:18 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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Joined: Sun Apr 13, 2008 5:58 am
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Location: Pacific Northwest
And one last thought. If this works out and the C12N fits and cleans up the sound in the Pro Jr., (tough to imagine a 12" not sounding better than a 10" in a single speaker application anyway, even with the more restrictive free cabinet space, but I'll just have to see), I wouldn't have a problem investing in an even better speaker in the Blues Jr NOS, as I got a STEAL of a deal on it. ($414, brand new vice $550, and NOT a scratch and dent), and just leave the BJ NOS's speaker in the PJ.

Like I said, I run the BJ NOS and DRRI in // at home, and wouldn't mind a little VOX tone out of one of those two amps. Not only does that Lehle I mentioned allow me to run them in parallel without any ground loop hum, but I can switch between them. Pretty cool. Actually, it's REALLY cool. But I like to be able to stay clean with fair amounts of volume. Celestion has come out with a new AlNiCo Gold speaker thats rated for 50 watts, vice the 15 watts of their famous and well loved AlNiCo Blue.


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Post subject:
Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 9:28 am
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I have 2 PJ's. One with a P10R. Like you, I don't find it sounds much different, but it does hold it's own better.

The other one has an Alltone 1025 ceramic in it. I like the sound of that one a bit better. It is somewhat louder, meatier...more marshally when pushed.

If you can find a used Alltone, I would jump on it...otherwise I would check into the eminence patriot and red coat speakers. Lots and lots of nice reports on those. Oh...the jensen NEO is a nice speaker too. I have the 10 incher in my Goblin and absolutely love it.


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