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Post subject: NAD New Blues Jr III Day For Me
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 9:41 pm
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Roadie
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Location: Marysville, WA
So a couple of weeks ago, I bought my dream Strat, the American Special HSS, and because I had some cash left over, I ordered a Blues Jr. III on ebay. I bought it for $350 including shipping.

Here's my review:

I had played an older Blues Jr before, and I had played the III in the store. But nothing every sounds right until you get it home. I knew ahead of time that it is not for Metal. I also knew that tons of people say that it sounds 'boxy.'

The Clean Tones
The Cleans seem to ring more on this amp then they did on the older BJ that I had played. They also seem to take longer to decay. Does that make sense? The older BJ seemed to maybe box in the sustain where the III seems to let the tones ring to decay.

15w is a lot of tube power, and there is plenty of headroom on this amp. You can get cleans at a very loud volume. The amount of headroom actually surprised me a bit.

The Reverb.
You can't please everyone with one reverb, but I really like this reverb. I play with little reverb in the first place, so turning the reverb up to 2ish takes the edge off and still allows the tone to decay the way that I would like.

The Overdriven Tones
I play heavier blues and some classic rock. As I mentioned, there is a lot of head room on this amp, and getting a ballsy overdrive at a low volume is a bit of a challenge. When you crank the volume, barely tapping the Master is going to change the overall volume A LOT.

That being said, the overdriven tones are just so full of Fender Character. There is just no mistaking which brand amp you are playing when you drive this tone. The humbucker on my HSS Strat really kicks it into gear even at pretty low volumes and I can get some really ballsy tones.

My favorite overdriven tones are when I engage the fat switch and play through the middle and neck on my Texas Special pickups. It may be the most Stratty I have ever heard a guitar sound...IN A GOOD WAY. Messing with the drive levels gave me some very pleasing John Mayer type tones as well as some really cool Texas Blues type of tones.

I plugged in my Boss Blues Driver and My Ibanez TS9, and I have to say that the Blues Driver seems like it was produced for the Blues Jr. I produced some of the most throaty mid tones that I have ever heard while messing around today. I may sell the TS9, because the Blues Driver is more than enough and produced some really great rock tones even at low volumes.

Believe it or not, I am actually more pleased than I thought that I'd be with the Blues Jr.III. In fact, after I made the purchase on ebay, I read so many negative comments on forums and reviews that I almost assumed that I was not going to be happy with it. I was starting to think that I would try it out and probably end up selling it. But after one day, I am already dreaming of all of the possibilities. It is just simply a fantastic amp that I can see myself having a lot of fun with.


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Post subject: Re: NAD New Blues Jr III Day For Me
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 10:25 pm
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ok now go put you a FullTone OCD pedal in front of this amp and liven it up a GREAT deal. :wink: you think you like it now................ 8)

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"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."


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Post subject: Re: NAD New Blues Jr III Day For Me
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 10:34 pm
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Roadie
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way cool jr wrote:
ok now go put you a FullTone OCD pedal in front of this amp and liven it up a GREAT deal. :wink: you think you like it now................ 8)

I'm actually thinking of getting the Lovepedal Kalamazoo. heard a friend play it through his Blues Jr and thought it was really cool.

I'll try the OCD too.


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Post subject: Re: NAD New Blues Jr III Day For Me
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 10:46 pm
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do so, you'll love it.

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"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."


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Post subject: Re: NAD New Blues Jr III Day For Me
Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 8:55 pm
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way cool jr wrote:
do so, you'll love it.


Alright. You were right.

The OCD is absolutely a "next level" pedal. I can't believe how amazing my tone is with this drive. Using it as a clean boost sounds great and the drive is just amazing. You still get a vocal type midrange, but it leaves your low tones intact which adds a lot of beef to the tone of the amp. I tried it next to my TS9 and TS9dx and blues driver, and it left them in it's wake. I could never choose between the Blues Driver and the TS9 before because the Blues Driver has a cooler sounding low end and mid range, but the highs can be a bit naked and thin, while the TS9 has a better treble sound but allows the bass to break up too early taking some of the power away from the tone.

The OCD solves both problems, while giving you a better clean boost to boot. The OCD sounds great with my texas specials as well as with my atomic humbucker.

Thanks for the recommendation!


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Post subject: Re: NAD New Blues Jr III Day For Me
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 12:42 pm
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A new Strat, a new BJ and one of the best OD pedals on the market. Sounds like you've had a good year!

Also worth trying if you get a chance, is the Fulltone Full-Drive 2 Mosfet. Switch it to FM (flat mids) and it will sound glorious as well - like a TS9 but without the flab and a better low end. I have virtually the same rig/guitar as you. Add the Fulldrive to your OCD, and all your possible low to mid gain OD needs will be met forever!

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Post subject: Re: NAD New Blues Jr III Day For Me
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 12:51 pm
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Location: Marysville, WA
adey wrote:
A new Strat, a new BJ and one of the best OD pedals on the market. Sounds like you've had a good year!

Also worth trying if you get a chance, is the Fulltone Full-Drive 2 Mosfet. Switch it to FM (flat mids) and it will sound glorious as well - like a TS9 but without the flab and a better low end. I have virtually the same rig/guitar as you. Add the Fulldrive to your OCD, and all your possible low to mid gain OD needs will be met forever!

Thanks

I had to sell almost all of my guitar stuff as well as a few golf clubs to afford it, but I am really happy with those purchases. I was actually looking at the Fulldrive 2 as well. I may have to seriously check it out to determine if it is next in line.


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Post subject: Re: NAD New Blues Jr III Day For Me
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 2:01 pm
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Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2011 11:30 am
Posts: 41
Location: Nashville
Congrats on your NAD!

I, too, just brought home a new Blues Jr. III -- and I couldn't be happier. Great tones from clean to dirty and works well with the new Blues Driver pedal.

I'm most happy because this NAD follows on the heels of three other joyful-turned-frustrating NADs (and returns) -- a Marshall Class 5 that I liked everything about except for the lack of anything resembling a Fender clean; a Blues Deluxe RI that I loved but developed a bizarre hiss/buzz/chirp within a couple of weeks (and local GC did not have any more in stock); so, home-tested a Vox AC15 that had similar bizarre noises within minutes of unboxing and plugging it in.

After testing/interchanging all five guitars in the house, three other amps, and every cable combination imaginable, I was confident that these new amp problems were not caused by anything in our home. And, the bizarre noises were also present when we returned them to GC.

Fortunately, the folks at Guitar Center were incredibly understanding and accommodating throughout the three dud amps ordeal. And, they were especially understanding to our testing the Blues Jr. III for a long time before leaving the store with it Sunday.

On a positive note, I seem to be among the fortunate ones who has a Mustang III that is free of the unwanted digital noise being reported in the forums. Just hope it stays that way! :)


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