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Post subject: Blues Jr question
Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 9:07 am
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I really like all the reviews I have read on this and loved the way it sounded when I played one. The only drawback to this amp for me is that it does not have a headphone jack. I am gonna need one to keep the peace in my house!!! I would like to know if it possible to add one??? Or is there an equivilant amp, both dollar,quality,and tone, that has one??? I have seen so of the hybrid amps that seem to have them but would really like to stay all tube if at all possible. thanks


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Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 4:40 pm
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Timp, I can't help you with your problem, but I agree with you. I live in close quarters and I'd love to get a Jr, but the lack of a headphone jack was a deal killer for me.

With home recording getting more popular, I'd like to see more amps with Line Out jacks, too. Can't afford $1K for a Princeton Recording Amp.


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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 5:05 pm
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Can't get the Blues Jr. with no headphone jack either. Looking at the Champ 600 for a great tone at low volume.


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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 5:14 pm
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strat58cat wrote:
Can't get the Blues Jr. with no headphone jack either. Looking at the Champ 600 for a great tone at low volume.

I've heard good things about them, but I haven't tried one yet. I like the price . . . but I'd like a few more features, too.


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Post subject: Headphone & Tube amps
Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 9:44 am
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I'm a proud new owner of a Fender Blues Junior.

I got sucked into getting a modeling amp (Vox AD50VT), thinking it would be what I needed, but I returned it less than 30 days later. I couldn't get the tone I wanted, no matter what I did. For just a little more I got the Jr. and love it. Real tubes. Real amp.

The sacrifice was versatility (and some more $$$, but not by much), but I would rather have an amp that does at least 1 thing really well than emulate 11 amps "okay". That's just where I'm at. Others may want or need the versatility when gigging or recording and getting a true tube tone (rather than pretend) isn't as important.

The other thing that sucked me in was the convenience of having a line-out on the Vox (many solid-state amps have a headphone jack too) which cut the speaker so I could record silently. You can't do this with a tube amp unless you have a power attenuator or load with a speaker tap. You'll blow a tube amp whereas a solid-state amp will be just fine.

So, no headphone jack on the Junior, partly because it's a tube amp without a built-in attenuator/load. Even if it had one you would have to get the attenuator/load, otherwise the speaker would still be blaring. To me, this is an acceptable tradeoff for having a great (considering the price) amp.

You can get yourself an attenuator/load from THD (Hot Plate, $300+), Weber (MASS, MiniMASS, etc., prices generally below Hot Plate), or other companies. Weber even has a headphone tap that acts as a load with a headphone connection.

So far, I'm loving it. Fewer options, less flexibility, 1 channel, but for the price, unbeatable tone. It's real. Other tube amps in this price range or cheaper can be found, but you'll face the same conundrum with the headphones.

Robert


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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 1:49 pm
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What about comparing the Blues Jr. to the Carvin Vintage 16 where you can flip a switch and change to a 5 watt amp to get full tube tone at lower volume, and then go back to 16 when you need it. Even without the headphone jack I can find a place to play the Blues Jr. if it can play good tone at low volume. Can you get the same benefit using the preamp on the Blues Junior by upping the pre-amps and then keeping the volume low? Is the tone as good as with a 5 watt that rolling? I'm really in the market for an amp and I'm looking for the best one. I want to stay with Fender because the quality's good and the tone's real, if it can do as well. So, Blues Jr. low volume work as well as the Carvin when you flip it over to 5 watts for low volume?


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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 2:50 pm
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I checked the Carvin out online and it looks sweet, but I would strongly advise you to play through it and compare it to the Fender. They get the 5W/16W switching by changing the way the power amp uses the tubes: Pentode and Triode modes.

Others can tell you exactly what that means, but your ears will tell you what it sounds like. My experience is that these sort of engineering workarounds affect the basic tone of the amp too much for my liking. Your mileage may vary, and you have to be the one to decide. Best way is to play them both.

I was looking at the Peavey Windsor head when I was shopping around for my new amp and compared it directly to the Fender and the Fender won hands down. I didn't play anything from Epiphone, but they make some small amps too.

I would say don't compromise on the amp. That's what's going to make you happy. The sound from the amp. If you compromise on that for more/different features (like I did in my earlier post) you will spend more time trying to get it to sound right than you do using the extras. In my case that was the basic Fender Blues Junior - the right basic sound for me that I can build on. I'm making everything else work around that. Not vice versa.

Not a perfect world, obviously. However, I was recording direct today and awestruck by the fact that nothing sounded bad. I spent my time making it different (and tweaking around the edges), but I didn't have to spend 2 weeks bringing it up out of the crap-heap.

Low-volume-wise, you can get a pretty decent tone out of the Junior by lowering either the master volume (power amp gain, below 2) or the volume (pre-amp gain, again below 2 or thereabouts) and raising the opposite. Creamy/clean versus crunchy. You can't, however, max them out together.


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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 4:26 pm
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Hey that's great thanks for the information about how to get the Blues Jr. sounding good at low volume. This forum from Fender has been a great way to learn a lot. Plenty of Americans designing and making all this stuff work right, from the Blues Junior to the forum, and you know, Baja CA's just down the way and a lot of the same guys work down there so no quality problems with the Blues Junior right?


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Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 5:11 pm
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I'm Fender all the way, but . . . has anyone checked out the Peavey JSX Mini Colossal? It has many of the features of the Princeton Recording amp including the power attenuator for half the $$$.

No reverb, though. Curious.


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Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2007 4:43 pm
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Quote:
Low-volume-wise, you can get a pretty decent tone out of the Junior by lowering either the master volume (power amp gain, below 2) or the volume (pre-amp gain, again below 2 or thereabouts) and raising the opposite. Creamy/clean versus crunchy. You can't, however, max them out together.


I agree completely with you. I play my Blues Jr. in a fairly small college dorm room and sometimes I just don't want to entertain the whole floor. Using these settings, I still get some great tones out of the Blues Jr. I did take the fact that the amp didn't have a headphone jack into consideration when purchasing one but for me, the tone was just too nice to resist making the plunge. It was my first amp upgrade in years and I haven't regretted the decision for a second. It can really produce great tones at either low volumes or the higher volumes.


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Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 10:51 am
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For silent playing on the cheap, you might consider adding a G-DEC Jr ($179) to your BJ. It's small and light, sounds fantastic through phones and it has a whole built-in practice band. And even has a little speaker, though there's no comparison with phones or a good monitoring system.


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Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 12:49 pm
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I checked out the gdecjr. and I did like the drum machine and other backing. However, for my main amp, the speaker/output is too weak. Also, I already have an amp (the one I continue to use while negotiating with my spouse) that's solid state and has earphones. My wife the elitist pianist tells me I keep time very well - except every now and then when I can't and then don't I know it. So I won't be desperate for a drum machine metronome.


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Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 1:10 pm
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The Blues Junior is mine now, after much negotiation with my spouse. Perfect condition and everything works beautifully, like I described in other posts. Awesome musical instrument. The 12 inch speakers sets it apart. Bone stock, this combo's got range from pure clean treble to base you'll never get out of a little speaker like my old solid state amp. Low loudness playing is good, because with little loudness out of the master you can get any sound from pure clean with drenching reverb to super high gain heavy distortion and everything in between using the base, mid, treble, volume, reverb and fat switch, and the controls on a Highway One Strat. The Strat and Blues Junior combine to create a tremendous musical instrument for a reasonable price.


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Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 10:18 am
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Congratullations!!

Now can you come talk to mywife, I ain't gettin very far!!! :D


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Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 12:26 pm
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strat58cat wrote:
The Blues Junior is mine now, after much negotiation with my spouse. Perfect condition and everything works beautifully, like I described in other posts. Awesome musical instrument. The 12 inch speakers sets it apart. Bone stock, this combo's got range from pure clean treble to base you'll never get out of a little speaker like my old solid state amp. Low loudness playing is good, because with little loudness out of the master you can get any sound from pure clean with drenching reverb to super high gain heavy distortion and everything in between using the base, mid, treble, volume, reverb and fat switch, and the controls on a Highway One Strat. The Strat and Blues Junior combine to create a tremendous musical instrument for a reasonable price.


Congrats! I love my Blues Jr. Especially after doing a few of the BillM mods. They have really woken this amp up. Check them out at http://home.comcast.net/~machrone/bluesjunior.htm. Most are easy to do and don't cost a lot either. I have done the Tone Stack, Twin Stack, and Power supply stiffening mods. I also did the easy bias mod where you just replace one resistor to cool the tubes a little. I also replaced the reverb tank with a Ruby Tubes tank. Very well spent $25. Get it here: http://www.mojomusicalsupply.com/item.a ... id=4040105. I have the Presence control and pre-amp boost mod kits on the way.
Email me if you have any questions. I will do my best to answer them for you.
t_somers@bellsouth.net

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