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Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 2:27 pm
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dafreeze - that's a sweet looking Gretsch.


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Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 2:46 pm
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Powdered Toast Man wrote:
63supro wrote:
For $600 you can get a used Deluxe Reverb Reissue. You can get a used Silverface Champ in the $300-350 or sometimes less range. Mine's a 74 and sounds awesome I only paid 150 bucks for it a ways back. An Egnater Tweaker, I tried one last week and fell in love with it. Very cool amp. Lots of tonal variations and great build quality.


+1 I just picked up a 1973 SF Champ in excellent condition for $360 shipped to my door. When my band came over to jam this week, you should have seen their faces when I turned it on. Their jaws were on the floor. My singer plays harp through a Blues Jr - he plugged into my Champ and after about 10 seconds he goes, "yep, that's the sound right there."


That's funny, I take my Champ to rehearsals and low volume jams too all the time. I also have a harp playing buddy that loves the Champ. He also tried my other bandmates new Vibro Champ XD and he really preferred my Silverface Champ. The Vibro Champ XD sounds great until you put it next to a SF Champ, that's when all the flaws show up like the boxyness of th XD and the cheesyness of the effects.

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Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 2:55 pm
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Budget amps sound great until you play thru the real thing,then you see what all the fuss is about.Been there myself.I still have a blues jr but only use it for rehearsals when I dont feel like carrying the drri.


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Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 7:10 pm
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63supro wrote:
djv18 wrote:
I had a Tweed BJ for almost a year and there were things that I liked and disliked about it, but as already stated, you can't expect it to be something it's not; it is what it is...

I sold it a few months ago and bought a Supro Sahara, and I certainly have no regrets. :D


Now all you need is a Supro Dual one to go with it. If you already do. sweet.

The other thing I don't get is Tweed wasn't just a look, it was a sound. A certain type of circuit that just happened to be covered in tweed fabric. Now all of a sudden it's just associated with a covering and has nothing to do with the sound at all, and people talk like a Tweed Blues Jr is something special. It isn't. Like it won't break down like any other HRD series amp.Same with the term NOS. It supposed to mean "New Old Stock" not three words to be used as a marketing gimmick to sell stuff to an unsuspecting comsumer. :? :?



I actually came across a local shop the other day that I hadn't known about (hiding literally right down the road from me) and the first thing that I saw walking into the shop was a Dual Tone hanging on the wall. Next to that were two Airlines. Below them were a handful of Danelectros. They were all repros, but it was still cool because I've never seen those types of guitars in any shop I've ever visited. I ended up talking with the owner for a good 45 minutes about music and instruments, and it turns out that he was a touring musician back in the 60's and has been running the shop for the last 40+ years. Very cool guy. He quoted me some insanely low prices on guitars and amps. He'll certainly be getting a lot of my business in the future.

BTW, I know about tweed amps. My blues junior was in no way a "tweed" amp, but using that moniker certainly helps people understand which version I had. My next amp purchase (way down the road) will be a 5E3 variant. Nothing else I've ever played even comes close to their touch-sensitivity, not to mention their unique sound. Thanks Fender.

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Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 7:20 pm
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63supro wrote:
Knotty, I'm just curious what makes you think the Blues Jr is a Blues Platform amp? Because it has the word Blues in it? No disrespect intended, but any amp can be used for the Blues. My 74 Champ is a great Blues amp, my SS 72 Pignose is another great blues amp, My Egnater, Twin are great, and even my 1 watt home made ss amp is a decent Blues amp. My one watter is over 20 years old and hasn't died yet. My Champ and Twin are 30+ years old. My HRDlx I had didn't last 3 months before it started breaking down. I finally sold it.


I'm going camping tomorrow and I've decided to bring my little piggy and a strat instead of my acoustic. I love this amp. Everyone should own one... :D

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Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 12:32 am
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My BJr experience has been a very good one and I own two of them. I've owned my Custom Shop BJr for 10 years and it's never given me a single problem. It's the amp I've always gigged with, I've always run it with the Master wide open on 12 and mic'd up and it gets plenty of compliments on the great tone and looks.

Image


Cheers,

Snowy


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Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 3:26 am
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You want another one? :D

I appreciate the responses. Especially appreciate not being outright flamed for my opinion on this amp by those of you who like them.

I used to be a die-hard tube amp player, and one thing I thought about today is that I've never had one that wasn't either a Head+ 4-12 cab or the Fender HR-DeVille (4x10). Much bigger than I feel like lugging around these days.

As much as I'm surprised that Fender makes a tube amp as cheaply as a BJ (once again, my opinion) for the price it goes for, I'm surprised at myself for buying an amp simply because I saw the tubes staring me in the face and thought it would sound great with a tube change. And the portable size was certainly a big factor on me pulling the trigger as well. There was just no way to try the amp out first in this particular pawn shop, so I rolled the dice.

Fender+tubes always has a mental appeal to me. I'm just not feeling this amp, and I'm not too fond of the way it's built. That's not to say I don't worry about the way the HRDV is built as well. But once I popped some great tubes in it, it really does sound good. I'm willing to kind of cross my fingers on it, but not break my back loading and unloading it 2-3-4 times a week. Recorded our whole album with it though. It did great in the studio.

These were the amps I recorded my tracks with:
Image

All 3 running simultaneously into separate tracks, the HRDV for the main, the other two for texture and enhancements.. So I guess I thought I could tweak the BJ to give me somewhat of a similar sound that I could use for smaller live gigs, and sound like the recordings. But it just won't. The midrange is too weird, it sounds completely different, and I feel uneasy about the durability of it.

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Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 4:22 am
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I think you've made a very legitimate call, based on your own experience. We all have different experiences and that colours our likes and dislikes.

Cheers,

Snowy


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Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 5:54 am
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Thanks Mutt. That Club's the prettiest sounding and also the most authoritive guitar I have. Has a real nice snarl when I over drive on the bridge pup, too. BTW, the Gent's a heck of a rocker.

Thanks for the tips 63. And I did buy a used DRRI for $600 (+50/shipping). Amazing. 1 yr old, barely used and the speaker still breaking in.

Snowey that's gorgeous. Didn't know they exsisted.

Perhaps it's easy to forget pricepoints and marketing strategies when critiqueing.


Last edited by dafreeze on Sat May 08, 2010 6:02 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 5:57 am
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Of course you can buy a better guitar amp than the BJ. No doubt about it.

But plug a good Strat or Tele into one, turn the volume (gain) right up, EQ to taste and the master volume as loud as your playing surroundings will allow. Control the dirt with your guitar voume, and you're there. That sound is The Truth. Instant, blue collar, 1x12 rock n roll.

Mine has a Celestion driver, but otherwise it's stock - including the Groove Tube valves. Oh, and the reverb packed up years ago - no big deal, it sounded naff anyway. If I need a big spread of sound then I'll mic it. But don't try and use it for something it's not designed to do - you'll be disappointed.

Because of the law of diminishing returns, you have to pay a lot more cash to get a sound thats not much better than a Blues Junior.

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Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 7:03 am
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63supro wrote:
The sad thing is a lot of players seem to equate sheer volume to good tone. It just ain't so in many cases with lower end amps. Given enough time, anyone can afford a really nice amp. I knew guys when I was a kid who got nice gear just by cutting lawns or delivering newspapers.


This. One day, when I have the ability to justify the purchase, I'm getting a Bassman. In the meantime, I have a Classic 30, and I have to say, I don't mind waiting!


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Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 8:18 am
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prolog, the Classic 30 is a fine little amp made in the USA. Nothing wrong with them and most are as reliable as the sun coming up in the morning.

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Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 9:10 am
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I think it's a bit much to spend $200 and expect sonic perfection.

I have a BJ NOS, and it's light, portable and attractive and sounds good (not great, but good) when I plug my 335 into it. It's my first choice for the occasional folkie-style or church gig, due to its low power and good looks (the blonde 335 looks pretty good with the tweed).

But I also have three other Fenders: a DRRI (which I did indeed buy used for $600), a Jazzmaster Ultralight, and a Bandmaster VM head plugged into a Weber California Ceramic 15 cab. Each one excels at one thing or another, but the Blues Jr is the one I can carry in one hand, with the 335 case in the other, and sound good without a lot of tinkering or setting up or horsing heavy stuff around. It's just not the alpha male in the pack, that's all.

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Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 11:31 pm
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Right.. I guess.

Maybe it's because I got good deals on the other SS amps that I had bigger expectations.

Fender 85- $75
Ampeg SS70-$100
Roland JC-55- $150

I guess I thought the BJ could at least hold up to these amps. But in my humble opinion, I'm just not hearing it. Now I'm pretty sure it could be modded to sound better than the 85. But it doesn't appear to have more solid construction or parts at the moment. Playing it stock, it wasn't as good as any of these amps. And I would be skeptical of it being able to be modded to give me what the JC and SS70 could. The clean channels of these amps are quite good. And the distortion ch. of the Ampeg is just awesome and a major plus.

Meh.. Not the biggest deal. I'll just sell it and use the money for something else. I'm pretty sure I can get back what I paid. I'm not too worried about that.

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Posted: Sun May 09, 2010 3:54 am
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Best thing to do is get rid of it.

Life's too short........


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