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Post subject: Brand new Tweed Blues Jr issue
Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 7:14 am
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Hey,

I have just brought a new Fender Blues Jr, its the Tweed version with the 'Vintage 30' speaker, i have only played it a few times and its great, i just wanted to know though if its normal for the stickers/decals on the two EL84 tubes/valves to look as though they 'burning' away, there turning brown, is this something to worry about or just normal for these amps, they do seem to run quite hot.

Any help will be great,

Thanks,

Fender-Shaker


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Post subject:
Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 8:20 pm
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Location: Bucks County, Pennsylvania, USA
Hello Fender Shaker,

Firstly, welcome to this Forum.

I got my NOS tweed about 2 years ago and shure enough
the lettering has turned brown and in some spots is totally
dissappeared. My amp continues to work fine so I suppose
it's not a big deal. It has been reported these gems run hot
but mine keeps on running so I'll sleep easy.

Cheers.


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Post subject:
Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 1:03 am
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Location: Mill Bay
84s do run quite hot.


Craig


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Post subject:
Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 2:02 am
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Thank you for the welcome Mr Bill, and to you both for the reply, very helpful indeed, i didnt think there was much to worry about but its nice to settle the mind, just for reference though, how long do these tubes last as they run so hot if i use the amp a few times a week for no longer than an hour or so, also is there a prefered brand that copes better in your opinion.

Thanks again


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Post subject:
Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 8:28 am
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Location: Bucks County, Pennsylvania, USA
Hello Fender-Shaker,

Tubes can really go at any time,
I've had tubes that lasted 18 years and the
amp worked fine. On my Blues Jr some days
it's on from dawn till midnight---sometimes,
not being played the majority of the time I just leave it on.
Maybe not a good practice but, oh well.

Having replacements on hand is always a good idea
especially if you own only one amplifier.

Cheers.


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Post subject:
Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 10:08 am
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Mr Bill wrote:
Hello Fender-Shaker,

Tubes can really go at any time,
I've had tubes that lasted 18 years and the
amp worked fine. On my Blues Jr some days
it's on from dawn till midnight---sometimes,
not being played the majority of the time I just leave it on.
Maybe not a good practice but, oh well.

Having replacements on hand is always a good idea
especially if you own only one amplifier.

Cheers.

It's not a real good practice. Why leave the amp hot if it's not being used for long periods of time? It just heats the board unnecessarily. The components have limited lifespans.


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Post subject:
Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 12:33 pm
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Hello 63Supro,

Over here, on some days it's like
a holiday weekend at Grand Central Station.
I just leave it on.

Cheers.


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Post subject:
Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 10:21 am
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Mr Bill wrote:
Hello Fender-Shaker,

Tubes can really go at any time,
I've had tubes that lasted 18 years and the
amp worked fine. On my Blues Jr some days
it's on from dawn till midnight---sometimes,
not being played the majority of the time I just leave it on.
Maybe not a good practice but, oh well.

Having replacements on hand is always a good idea
especially if you own only one amplifier.

Cheers.

I leave my marsahall on the same way then $@!&* at myself about it..But then i get over it because i don't have to wait for the amp to warm up..Part of my split personality i think...


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Post subject:
Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 5:59 pm
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Location: Birmingham UK
Good choice on the amp. I upgraded my BJ with a Celestion V30 driver some years ago, and it saved the amp as far as I was concerned.

I'm pleased to see Fender are using these speakers in the Red Texas BJ as well as your own model.


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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2009 8:37 am
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adey wrote:
Good choice on the amp. I upgraded my BJ with a Celestion V30 driver some years ago, and it saved the amp as far as I was concerned.

I'm pleased to see Fender are using these speakers in the Red Texas BJ as well as your own model.


This always has amazed me ..Some people hate the Blues Jr and with the stock driver i can see why i have two older U.S.A models that i daisy chain for some smaller gigs..When i bought both of them the first thing i did was pull the driver and replace them with Celestion super 65's...The Blues Jr is a fantastic sounding amp with a terrible stock speaker..Why Fender hasn't figured this out is beyond me..


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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2009 8:48 am
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The same reason they use the crappy Groove Tubes. Fender bought Groove Tubes so there's the other reason. Egnater supposedly stopped using JJ's branded as Groove Tubes. It's just JJ's now.
Groove Tubes does not manufacture tubes, they are a vacuum tube sorting house.

So many of the newer Fender amps have so much potential if quality parts were used. It's a shame. I won't buy another Fender amp until the quality and QC changes.


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Post subject:
Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 6:22 am
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Location: Birmingham UK
Invader.CC wrote:
adey wrote:
Good choice on the amp. I upgraded my BJ with a Celestion V30 driver some years ago, and it saved the amp as far as I was concerned.

I'm pleased to see Fender are using these speakers in the Red Texas BJ as well as your own model.


This always has amazed me ..Some people hate the Blues Jr and with the stock driver i can see why i have two older U.S.A models that i daisy chain for some smaller gigs..When i bought both of them the first thing i did was pull the driver and replace them with Celestion super 65's...The Blues Jr is a fantastic sounding amp with a terrible stock speaker..Why Fender hasn't figured this out is beyond me..


Amen brother..

I've heard several BJs with various 'bill m' mods completed, but the biggest leap forward is in the simple upgrading of the driver. Do that and you may not need anything else. Like to try some replacement valves tho I think, the stock Groove Tubes in mine show no signs of flagging just yet however..


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Post subject:
Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 6:30 am
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adey wrote:
I've heard several BJs with various 'bill m' mods completed, but the biggest leap forward is in the simple upgrading of the driver. Do that and you may not need anything else....


First of all, why should you have to replace the speaker on a new amp as soon as you get it home?

Second, egged on by members of various online forums, notably the "Blues Junior Mafia" at the FDP, I did replace the driver in my Blues Junior. It still sucked.

That amp has no touch sensitivity... it's just a "guitar enloudener." Now, if you're standing on the pedal the whole time you play, maybe it works for you... but for me, I was looking for some kind of subtlety, some kind of breath of life, some sort of responsiveness. The speaker didn't fix it, the tubes didn't fix it, the pedals didn't fix it. It just laid there like a lox, and I never got a single decent track recorded with it.

So, if you dig it, fine. But buying a brand new amp that needs a pile of mods sounds kind of silly to me. Even sillier when you try all those mods and it still doesn't cook.


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Post subject:
Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 7:22 am
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My new Egnater sounds great right out of the box. No speaker changes because the speaker cab is voiced for the amp. No mods, because it's so flexible it doesn't need them. It came with JJ's. It says in the manual GT's but they say JJ not GT. I've read that Egnater dropped Groove Tubes right after Fender bought GT.
The amp is touch sensitive and dynamic.


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Post subject:
Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 9:00 am
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I think the idea with the billm mods is to take a 400 dollar amp and make it into a nicer amp.Does it work? I dont know, i never modded mine.Obviously it isnt everyones amp.I dont really use mine much anymore due to the boxiness.At the time it was a great amp for the money.My first tube amp, even gigged with it some.Still do on occasion.As far as the speaker swap, i am with you there.I dont get it.It isnt just the blues jr either.You look at almost every amp fender makes and alot of people are swapping speakers.Even the deluxe reverb is a common victim.I think its like people swapping out pickups in their guitars all the time.Some even before they actually play the thing.Makes you wonder why they bought the thing in the first place.


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