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Post subject: Advice needed on the Blues Junior for home use..
Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 2:52 am
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Hi Guys,

Im looking at getting the Blues Junior in the next few days.. can anyone tell me if they are good for home use? I read on some forums that they are way too loud for home use while others say they are perfect. I will be using it purely for clean tones Mark Knopfler, BB King styles, so will not be cranking the volume i want to stay in clean territory and the blues junior has the tone ive been looking for and a tone that to me sounds beautiful.

Ive looked at other amps like the Fender Champ 600 and the Vox Ac4tv but although they may be good amps they just dont have the tone of the BJ to me that classic Fender Jangle... and the small 5w amps sound a little boxy. However i do like the sound of the Bugera V5 which has the closest tone to the BJ clean in my opinion but still not perfect.

I am strictly a clean blues player so do not need to drive the amp into crunch territory and if i need a bit of dirt i would use a tubescreamer or something.

So whats your thoughts? Ive found my tone... just concerned it will be too big for home... or should i stop worrying and just go for it... after all the master volume is there for a reason isnt it??

Also i cant understand sometimes when guys say " you cant dime it out at home" but who would? we all have a TV but we dont watch it on maximum volume..it has a volume control, and i dont want the amp to crunch just beautiful cleans :)

You tube has helped in some respects with my thoughts but you tend to get guys trying to play full on metal on an amp designed for blues.. why do they do this buy a metal amp lol.

Thx in advance for your thoughts...and sorry if the above is abit rambling just would like your constructive opinions on this.


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Post subject: Re: Advice needed on the Blues Junior for home use..
Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 4:14 am
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I've had two of these amps. Just decided to sell them to move on to other things. I think they sound great. For what you are looking for I say just do it. It will be fine.


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Post subject: Re: Advice needed on the Blues Junior for home use..
Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 5:34 am
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"Classic Fender jangle" is the sound of 6V6s and 6L6GCs/5881s, not EL84s.

Many people complain that the Blues Jr (regardless of the version) is boxy sounding.

Otherwise, at 15 watts they are fine for home use but still can get loud if needed.

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Post subject: Re: Advice needed on the Blues Junior for home use..
Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 6:04 am
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bluesky636 wrote:
"Classic Fender jangle" is the sound of 6V6s and 6L6GCs/5881s, not EL84s.

Many people complain that the Blues Jr (regardless of the version) is boxy sounding.

Otherwise, at 15 watts they are fine for home use but still can get loud if needed.


+1 Bill. The EL84 is as far removed from the "Classic" Fender sound as you can get. The boxy sound is what turned me off to them. It's funny, my 74 Champ is anything but boxy. It's all a matter of putting the proper size speaker in the right box. People try to mod the amp to get rid of the boxiness, but the best thing to do is to use an extension cab. A better thing to do would be to look for a vintage SF Champ, Vibro Champ or Bronco. 6 watts is great for home use and recording. With extension cabs, I've even done small gigs with it. :wink:

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Post subject: Re: Advice needed on the Blues Junior for home use..
Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 6:15 am
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well its a tone i like anyway... thanks for the opinions guys really helps :)


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Post subject: Re: Advice needed on the Blues Junior for home use..
Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 6:59 am
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Good luck......

:roll:

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Post subject: Re: Advice needed on the Blues Junior for home use..
Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 7:16 am
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Owned one for a little while. With the Master Volume you can get it as quiet as you need, even with distortion dialed in. I thought it was a pretty cool little amp and it will definitely do the trick.

However, I sold it to help pay for a '67 Bassman, and the cleans on that amp totally, totally beat the cleans on the Blues Jr. You can find a used late 60s-70s Champ for the same price with tone to die for. If you can, get the "real thing" :D


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Post subject: Re: Advice needed on the Blues Junior for home use..
Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2012 11:46 am
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imo: I think it would be perfect for your home use. Clean tones and with a little edge on, as well.

I've been looking for a light grab and go for a while now. Small clubs and jams. Sold some nice gear and was set to pull the trigger on one of a few very expensive amps.

Then I had some time to kill in midtown, so I popped into Sam Ash and saw one of their new blue tolex BJ Jrs. They gave me a Tele and I spent some time with it.

It's light. It sounds real good...especially with the cleans (my main criteria). Tele and Strat. Clear as a bell. I like it stock, but liked the lower volumes more than the louder ones. 15 watts isn't going to get you very far with clean tones when you crJank it. Gets that boxy sound both with clean and distortion. But I still liked it a lot and figured it would work with small clubs and jams as well as quiet home use.

I went on line and found a tweed NOS version, mint, for a great price. Grabbed it.

I had billM do all his mods (including the conversion to 30 watts) and am suitably blown away. All the mods and the price of the amp and it's still half the price of the least expensive boutique I was looking at.

Though it's not exact, I can make the amp sound like a Twin or Deluxe Reverb, now (seriously). But with it's own voice. It's definitely not boxy at any volume. It was a really good grab and go, before. Now it's a great grab and go that I can use for small to mid size venues. I couldn't be happier.

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Last edited by gitapik on Tue Sep 04, 2012 7:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: Advice needed on the Blues Junior for home use..
Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 5:52 pm
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With the BillM mods and different speaker its a fantastic little amp.
It just depends on if you want to spend some extra time and money making it go from goof to great.
you may also want to change the V1 tube to a 12AY7 to keep it on the clean side. V3 - ECC81
also helps.


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Post subject: Re: Advice needed on the Blues Junior for home use..
Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 11:16 am
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Personally I would take the cash from the Billm mods plus the cash from the Blues Jr and just get a better amp. If you mod a new amp, you throw away the warranty. :wink: If you use the Blues Jr in any serious fashion, you will eventually need the warranty. :shock: Bench time can get a little pricey. That's what I find funny. If the Blues Jr is such a great amp, why mod it?? There are lots of better sounding and way more versatile 15 watt amps on the market for around the same money. The Egnater Tweaker comes to mind as well as Jet City and Ampeg. If you want nice cleans, and a nice reliable amp I'd roll with Ampeg. VHT makes some really sweet hand wired amps for not that much cash.

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Post subject: Re: Advice needed on the Blues Junior for home use..
Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 3:37 pm
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63supro wrote:
Personally I would take the cash from the Billm mods plus the cash from the Blues Jr and just get a better amp. If you mod a new amp, you throw away the warranty. :wink: If you use the Blues Jr in any serious fashion, you will eventually need the warranty. :shock: Bench time can get a little pricey. That's what I find funny. If the Blues Jr is such a great amp, why mod it?? There are lots of better sounding and way more versatile 15 watt amps on the market for around the same money. The Egnater Tweaker comes to mind as well as Jet City and Ampeg. If you want nice cleans, and a nice reliable amp I'd roll with Ampeg. VHT makes some really sweet hand wired amps for not that much cash.

Bottom line to why I buy any gear (and keep it) is that it sounds and feels great. I really liked the amp stock. Sound/size/weight. With the mods it's on another level and more versatile.

Warranties are great, but If I love the sound, that's where I'm going.

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Post subject: Re: Advice needed on the Blues Junior for home use..
Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 8:34 pm
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I wasn't going to elaborate, for fear of sounding "defensive"...but I think 63supro brings up good points, so I'll say some things that led to my decision:

> I had a definite criteria for this amp. I wanted a grab and go that was less than 35lbs. I considered some that were at 40lbs but didn't find anything that, for my tastes, sounded better than the BJ with Bill's mods. They sounded great. But not better. I wanted a light amp.

> I think the stock BJ is a really good amp. If it was a great amp it would cost more money. The mods I had done are in line with that extra cost. It's a serious amp, now, that can handle small to mid size venues without a PA, if necessary. Cleans and breakup sound fantastic. It's got the sound(s) I hear and a great platform for pedals.

> Bench prices: I bought it used, but the warranty is transferable. I don't take the loss of a warranty lightly. But I've got some good techs who give me fair deals and I take good care of my gear. If I'd found a new amp that I liked better as an overall package of what I was looking for, I'd have gone for it.

FWIW: I really like the amps that 63supro mentioned. Eganater makes tremendous amps. Twin City and Ampeg. Fender DRRI, too. Great stuff. I haven't heard the VHT line, yet, so I'm looking forward to checking them out.

Whatever floats yonder boat. That's what it is. I'm sorry if this sidetracked the OP. I love the BJ as a stock amp for home use and more. I'm just psyched about my new amp and tacked that on there.

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Post subject: Re: Advice needed on the Blues Junior for home use..
Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2012 7:05 am
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It's a great amp for home use. Takes pedals well. Miked up, you may not need another amp.

Once the stock speaker gets broken in - no more "boxy" sound. Just play it till it sounds really good, it won't take very long.


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Post subject: Re: Advice needed on the Blues Junior for home use..
Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2012 1:50 pm
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What some players don't understand is that when you mic a small amp, it doesn't magically fix anything. If that were the case, we'd all be playing tiny amps. Some of us compete drummers, horns and other instruments. Stage volume can vary with the size of the stage and the surroundings like drapes, hard floors and even the amount of people in the room. If your bandmates have larger amps, they just turn it up in smaller venues. You can get lost in the mix. You would have to send the signal through the monitor to hear yourself. If you play outside, I would use a Line 6 POD and just go through the PA before I'd take a 15 watt amp out even if it were mic'd. In my experience, 15 watts is a little too small for anything but the smallest gigs. Most bands don't carry massive PA rigs to small clubs. The systems are more suited to vocals and acoustic instruments. 20 watts is pretty much my minimum for small to medium sized gigs, 40 watts for larger gigs. I gave up doing large venues and sold my Twin and Sunn Scepter.

Breaking in the speaker won't fix the boxiness. It sounds boxy because the speaker is too large for the enclosure.

A cool tiny amp is the Electro Harmonix 44 Magnum
http://www.ehx.com/products/44-magnum great for home use and a backup amp.

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Post subject: Re: Advice needed on the Blues Junior for home use..
Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2012 4:17 pm
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63supro wrote:
What some players don't understand is that when you mic a small amp, it doesn't magically fix anything. If that were the case, we'd all be playing tiny amps. Some of us compete drummers, horns and other instruments. Stage volume can vary with the size of the stage and the surroundings like drapes, hard floors and even the amount of people in the room. If your bandmates have larger amps, they just turn it up in smaller venues. You can get lost in the mix. You would have to send the signal through the monitor to hear yourself. If you play outside, I would use a Line 6 POD and just go through the PA before I'd take a 15 watt amp out even if it were mic'd. In my experience, 15 watts is a little too small for anything but the smallest gigs. Most bands don't carry massive PA rigs to small clubs. The systems are more suited to vocals and acoustic instruments. 20 watts is pretty much my minimum for small to medium sized gigs, 40 watts for larger gigs. I gave up doing large venues and sold my Twin and Sunn Scepter.

Breaking in the speaker won't fix the boxiness. It sounds boxy because the speaker is too large for the enclosure.

A cool tiny amp is the Electro Harmonix 44 Magnum
http://www.ehx.com/products/44-magnum great for home use and a backup amp.

Yeah...without a good monitor system to go with the PA (and bandmates who are willing to work with the resulting mix), you're definitely in for a long night with a lower wattage amp in a mid to large size venue.

I won't pretend to know a lot about the workings of amps and guitars. I've played electric a lot but am really more of a solo acoustic player. I leave the electronics to the techs. But I do know what a boxy tone sounds like. It's not a 2x12 but the boxy sound isn't an issue on my BJ. Here's a link to Bill's explanation of why:

http://home.comcast.net./~machrone/bjr/bjtone.htm

What I'm digging now is the original Jensen C12n as it breaks in. I heard some other speakers that I liked better, but decided to stick with it despite the initial ice pick on the treble pup, just to see whether it smoothed out or not. Happy to say that it's getting better and better. Cuts through nicely and positions 1 and 2 on my Tele are crisp. I love that.

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