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Post subject: Clean Sounds from Blues Junior
Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 1:32 pm
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Hello All,
just got a Blues JR.
the question i have is how would i get cleaner sounds at higher volume levels? would changing the speaker or tubes help?

any advice would be helpful

thanks
8) 8)


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Post subject: Re: Clean Sounds from Blues Junior
Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 1:47 pm
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newlife15 wrote:
Hello All,
just got a Blues JR.
the question i have is how would i get cleaner sounds at higher volume levels? would changing the speaker or tubes help?

any advice would be helpful

thanks
8) 8)
The best you can do is start with the master on 12 and bring the volume up to taste.You might have to mic it to get to the volume you need.Also run the treble up pretty high.I find if I have the master set to anything other than 12, it can get muddy in a hurry.


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Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 2:05 pm
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ecc81/12Au7 valves will help things stay cleaner for further up the volume dial.

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Post subject:
Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 6:26 pm
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Hello Newlife15,

The Blues Jr. never will have the glassy cleanness
of many other Fender Amps, that's just the way it is.

Many spend bucks to make it better, but it'll still have
the BJ tone. As for the tube change I did it, tried both
At's & Au's and there was a subtle tone change but what
was more noticeable was the volume robbing especially
the Au's.

If you need total cleanliness, you need a different amp.

My Vibro-Champ XD is even cleaner than the BJ.

Cheers.


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Post subject:
Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 11:05 pm
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The Blues Junior and Pro Junior are not capable of perfectly replicating the classic Fender clean sound for two main reasons:

(1) They have EL84, as opposed to 6L6 output valves. EL84s break up early and in a different-sounding manner than the 6L6s in the vast majority of Fender amps.

(2) They are low powered. This means that the headroom -- in simple terms that's the volume at which your playing remains clean -- is very limited. The things break up well before half volume, and don't get anywhere near to the volume level of a twin or even a deluxe. A 100-watt twin, for instance, will break up later but that break up will come at a much, much higher volume. (Yes, I know that the volume difference is not that great, but this is relative).

Your best bet is to crank the master volume to 12, and as Budglo said, slowly increase the volume control. You should get a nice breakup (where single notes or softly-strummed chords stay clean, and hard playing has a bit of an edge) around 5 or so.


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Post subject: Re: Clean Sounds from Blues Junior
Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 9:24 am
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newlife15 wrote:
Hello All,
just got a Blues JR.
the question i have is how would i get cleaner sounds at higher volume levels? would changing the speaker or tubes help?

any advice would be helpful

thanks
8) 8)


You said you just got it.
I would say - take it back and get an amp that will do what you want.
The amp to get depends on your budget and your needs.


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Post subject:
Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 2:53 pm
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Vulkan wrote:
The Blues Junior and Pro Junior are not capable of perfectly replicating the classic Fender clean sound for two main reasons:

(1) They have EL84, as opposed to 6L6 output valves. EL84s break up early and in a different-sounding manner than the 6L6s in the vast majority of Fender amps.

(2) They are low powered. This means that the headroom -- in simple terms that's the volume at which your playing remains clean -- is very limited. The things break up well before half volume, and don't get anywhere near to the volume level of a twin or even a deluxe. A 100-watt twin, for instance, will break up later but that break up will come at a much, much higher volume. (Yes, I know that the volume difference is not that great, but this is relative).

Your best bet is to crank the master volume to 12, and as Budglo said, slowly increase the volume control. You should get a nice breakup (where single notes or softly-strummed chords stay clean, and hard playing has a bit of an edge) around 5 or so.



I have to respectfully disagree. With the chickenhead knobs dialed in with volume about half (it goes to 12) and tone on 3-4, my Pro Jr sounds very clean with ample headroom for small venues (and mic'd with a e609 if needed) and I've only changed the speaker to an Eminence RC. I do use a BBE Sonic Maximizer too though.

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Post subject:
Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 11:23 pm
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Miami Mike wrote:
Vulkan wrote:
The Blues Junior and Pro Junior are not capable of perfectly replicating the classic Fender clean sound for two main reasons:

(1) They have EL84, as opposed to 6L6 output valves. EL84s break up early and in a different-sounding manner than the 6L6s in the vast majority of Fender amps.

(2) They are low powered. This means that the headroom -- in simple terms that's the volume at which your playing remains clean -- is very limited. The things break up well before half volume, and don't get anywhere near to the volume level of a twin or even a deluxe. A 100-watt twin, for instance, will break up later but that break up will come at a much, much higher volume. (Yes, I know that the volume difference is not that great, but this is relative).

Your best bet is to crank the master volume to 12, and as Budglo said, slowly increase the volume control. You should get a nice breakup (where single notes or softly-strummed chords stay clean, and hard playing has a bit of an edge) around 5 or so.



I have to respectfully disagree. With the chickenhead knobs dialed in with volume about half (it goes to 12) and tone on 3-4, my Pro Jr sounds very clean with ample headroom for small venues (and mic'd with a e609 if needed) and I've only changed the speaker to an Eminence RC. I do use a BBE Sonic Maximizer too though.


Fair enough Mike. I own a Pro Junior as well and, while I love the amp, I would say that it doesn't produce the classic Fender clean sound that the '65 Reverb Reissue series, for instance, can. I actually set mine more or less the same as you. I usually set the volume just a shade past 6, but at that level it's not nearly loud enough for my taste (which is why I mic it with an SM-57). It does, however, at that volume, have some excellent bluesy breakup. The PJ is by far the best sounding small amp Fender makes, in my humblest of opinion.

I guess I was trying to say that it doesn't do "classic Fender clean." I think it sounds more like a Vox than anything, actually. They both use EL84s...


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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2009 6:42 am
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I bought a blues junior and returned it for the same issue. You need more headroom if you want a cleaner sound. I tried lower gain preamp tubes, but it made little difference.

I ended up with a blues deluxe and I'm quite happy with it after changing out the tubes


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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2009 8:54 am
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Vulkan wrote:
Miami Mike wrote:
Vulkan wrote:
The Blues Junior and Pro Junior are not capable of perfectly replicating the classic Fender clean sound for two main reasons:

(1) They have EL84, as opposed to 6L6 output valves. EL84s break up early and in a different-sounding manner than the 6L6s in the vast majority of Fender amps.

(2) They are low powered. This means that the headroom -- in simple terms that's the volume at which your playing remains clean -- is very limited. The things break up well before half volume, and don't get anywhere near to the volume level of a twin or even a deluxe. A 100-watt twin, for instance, will break up later but that break up will come at a much, much higher volume. (Yes, I know that the volume difference is not that great, but this is relative).

Your best bet is to crank the master volume to 12, and as Budglo said, slowly increase the volume control. You should get a nice breakup (where single notes or softly-strummed chords stay clean, and hard playing has a bit of an edge) around 5 or so.



I have to respectfully disagree. With the chickenhead knobs dialed in with volume about half (it goes to 12) and tone on 3-4, my Pro Jr sounds very clean with ample headroom for small venues (and mic'd with a e609 if needed) and I've only changed the speaker to an Eminence RC. I do use a BBE Sonic Maximizer too though.


Fair enough Mike. I own a Pro Junior as well and, while I love the amp, I would say that it doesn't produce the classic Fender clean sound that the '65 Reverb Reissue series, for instance, can. I actually set mine more or less the same as you. I usually set the volume just a shade past 6, but at that level it's not nearly loud enough for my taste (which is why I mic it with an SM-57). It does, however, at that volume, have some excellent bluesy breakup. The PJ is by far the best sounding small amp Fender makes, in my humblest of opinion.

I guess I was trying to say that it doesn't do "classic Fender clean." I think it sounds more like a Vox than anything, actually. They both use EL84s...


Okay, I see what you're saying and I agree. Even some of the boutique amps use EL84s, but I can see the british sound connection.

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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2009 1:02 pm
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Miami Mike wrote:
Vulkan wrote:
Miami Mike wrote:
Vulkan wrote:
The Blues Junior and Pro Junior are not capable of perfectly replicating the classic Fender clean sound for two main reasons:

(1) They have EL84, as opposed to 6L6 output valves. EL84s break up early and in a different-sounding manner than the 6L6s in the vast majority of Fender amps.

(2) They are low powered. This means that the headroom -- in simple terms that's the volume at which your playing remains clean -- is very limited. The things break up well before half volume, and don't get anywhere near to the volume level of a twin or even a deluxe. A 100-watt twin, for instance, will break up later but that break up will come at a much, much higher volume. (Yes, I know that the volume difference is not that great, but this is relative).

Your best bet is to crank the master volume to 12, and as Budglo said, slowly increase the volume control. You should get a nice breakup (where single notes or softly-strummed chords stay clean, and hard playing has a bit of an edge) around 5 or so.



I have to respectfully disagree. With the chickenhead knobs dialed in with volume about half (it goes to 12) and tone on 3-4, my Pro Jr sounds very clean with ample headroom for small venues (and mic'd with a e609 if needed) and I've only changed the speaker to an Eminence RC. I do use a BBE Sonic Maximizer too though.


Fair enough Mike. I own a Pro Junior as well and, while I love the amp, I would say that it doesn't produce the classic Fender clean sound that the '65 Reverb Reissue series, for instance, can. I actually set mine more or less the same as you. I usually set the volume just a shade past 6, but at that level it's not nearly loud enough for my taste (which is why I mic it with an SM-57). It does, however, at that volume, have some excellent bluesy breakup. The PJ is by far the best sounding small amp Fender makes, in my humblest of opinion.

I guess I was trying to say that it doesn't do "classic Fender clean." I think it sounds more like a Vox than anything, actually. They both use EL84s...


Okay, I see what you're saying and I agree. Even some of the boutique amps use EL84s, but I can see the british sound connection.


Correct me if I'm wrong, i'm no pro, but if you do all of the BillM mods and change to a better speaker, won't that solve most of these problems. His mods include a much better power transformer amongst other tweaks.

Here is the website if you don't know: http://www.billmaudio.com/


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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2009 2:37 pm
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I hear that Bill M mods are pretty useless. Sort of like polishing a turd (not that I think the BJ is a total turd). No matter what you do, the circuit stays the same, and it is just better to buy another amp all together if you're not happy with one.


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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2009 3:44 pm
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hendrixfan99 wrote:
I hear that Bill M mods are pretty useless. Sort of like polishing a turd (not that I think the BJ is a total turd). No matter what you do, the circuit stays the same, and it is just better to buy another amp all together if you're not happy with one.


-The Screamin' J


It will be a subjective debate because I've seen a lot of fans of the Blues Junior . I don't know enough about the amps to say if the Bill M mods make a difference. So what amplifier do you recommend in the 15-watt range?? I hear good things about the Orange Tiny Terror. Anybody have thoughts. I really want a good tube amp for my new custom shop Strat.


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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2009 4:16 pm
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Jeff_P wrote:
hendrixfan99 wrote:
I hear that Bill M mods are pretty useless. Sort of like polishing a turd (not that I think the BJ is a total turd). No matter what you do, the circuit stays the same, and it is just better to buy another amp all together if you're not happy with one.


-The Screamin' J


It will be a subjective debate because I've seen a lot of fans of the Blues Junior . I don't know enough about the amps to say if the Bill M mods make a difference. So what amplifier do you recommend in the 15-watt range?? I hear good things about the Orange Tiny Terror. Anybody have thoughts. I really want a good tube amp for my new custom shop Strat.
If you have a nice custom shop strat , i would get a really nice amp for it.If you are going for classic Fender tones then i would look to the Princeton reverb or something similar. I know some here rave about the new Egnater amps.I have played them and they do sound nice.Versitle too.The deluxe reverb and even the original champ is always nice.It depends on if you are buying used or new.I seem to like the used amps these days.The Fender silverfaces are pretty good bargins these days.


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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2009 5:44 pm
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budglo wrote:
Jeff_P wrote:
hendrixfan99 wrote:
I hear that Bill M mods are pretty useless. Sort of like polishing a turd (not that I think the BJ is a total turd). No matter what you do, the circuit stays the same, and it is just better to buy another amp all together if you're not happy with one.


-The Screamin' J


It will be a subjective debate because I've seen a lot of fans of the Blues Junior . I don't know enough about the amps to say if the Bill M mods make a difference. So what amplifier do you recommend in the 15-watt range?? I hear good things about the Orange Tiny Terror. Anybody have thoughts. I really want a good tube amp for my new custom shop Strat.
If you have a nice custom shop strat , i would get a really nice amp for it.If you are going for classic Fender tones then i would look to the Princeton reverb or something similar. I know some here rave about the new Egnater amps.I have played them and they do sound nice.Versitle too.The deluxe reverb and even the original champ is always nice.It depends on if you are buying used or new.I seem to like the used amps these days.The Fender silverfaces are pretty good bargins these days.
And people needing cash these days are selling them right and left. Blackfaces too. I love it. 8) Mike

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