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Post subject: New Blues Jr NOS! Questions for other Blues Jr owners
Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 12:26 pm
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Got my new Blues Jr NOS this past week and LOVE it! What a great little amp. Really good clean tones, breaks up nicely...I suppose it's pointless to go on and on, but I can't wait to get home and plug back in after work.

Wondering though about the stock tubes and biasing out of the box. I know there some amps for which it seems almost crucial to retube and bias them right away, I.e.: Marshall Haze. Is this the case with the Blues Jrs? From what I can tell, she seems rockin' out of the box, but wanted to see if others think a tube change and/or bias is necessary right away.

Also, this is the first tube amp I've owned that does not have a standby switch. That being said, during breaks, am I better off turning the amp off and then back on or am I better off leaving it on and then using my tuner pedal, which has true bypass, to cut the signal to the amp? I guess what I'm asking is, is it better to have the tubes heat and cool, heat and cool, etc., or just stay hot with no signal to the amp for longer periods?

Thanks!


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Post subject: Re: New Blues Jr NOS! Questions for other Blues Jr owners
Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 12:59 pm
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I just got a New BJII yesterday, Stock Black waiting until the Gold Rush comes in. The amp is great! I called Fender about the No Standby switch. Josh said, it will be fine, turn amp on, let warm up 5 - 10 mins, If you are going to be not playins more than like 15-20 mins, turn it off, (Master at 0), But less than 20 mins, leave it on. He stated that such a low wattage amp, it won't hurt the tubes. I guess we have to wait and see. But most of the 15 or lower watt amps, have no standby? And what I have read, going to Eurotubes is your best bet. They have many options on retubing the BJIII Amp. But I will wait a while, Let the original tubes break in, as well as the speaker. But I still think it is great to have a spare set of tubes for your amp! The amp is fixed Bias, so no need to worry, Also, Read the article on Eurotubes about this amp,, Helped me a lot!

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Post subject: Re: New Blues Jr NOS! Questions for other Blues Jr owners
Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 2:22 pm
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Thanks for the info. That's pretty much what I've been doing: leaving it on for shorter breaks, but then turning it off when I know I'll have to put it down for a longer period.

I know that you can get a mod from BillM to install a standby switch, but I would not attempt that myself, as I am not qualified to go poking around inside.

Funny to say, but of all the BillM mods, I like the jewel light the best!


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Post subject: Re: New Blues Jr NOS! Questions for other Blues Jr owners
Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 2:44 pm
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The blues jr nos tweed is one of my favorite small amps.
Right now, mine has a p12q Jensen speaker that's goes great in that amp
IMO. Mine is due for a tube upgrade, only because there's an audible rattle
that comes through the speakers.
I'm not gonna go fancy, some tungsols 12ax7 and TAD EL 84's.
Speaker wise, I tried the cannibes Rex in there and don't know which
I like better.

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Post subject: Re: New Blues Jr NOS! Questions for other Blues Jr owners
Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 7:36 pm
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The Bill M standby switch is super easy to install. Literally plug in and play very clear instruction and easy to do.


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Post subject: Re: New Blues Jr NOS! Questions for other Blues Jr owners
Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 8:26 pm
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On the BJIII, Isn't the pilot light a LED???

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Post subject: Re: New Blues Jr NOS! Questions for other Blues Jr owners
Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 10:23 pm
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mak1965 wrote:
On the BJIII, Isn't the pilot light a LED???

yes.


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Post subject: Re: New Blues Jr NOS! Questions for other Blues Jr owners
Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 6:57 pm
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Not to try and be annoying, but I play at small intervals sometimes like 15 mins, than about an hour later maybe 1/2 an hour and than maybe a little later another 15 to 40 mins.. I am sure i should be truning the amp off if not being used again within a 15 min period? and Does this on / Off thing hurt the amp? Thanks! Mark

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Post subject: Re: New Blues Jr NOS! Questions for other Blues Jr owners
Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 11:02 pm
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Once you turn the amp on, leave it on all day if you are going to play any more at all. It is the on/off, heating/cooling that is bad for any electrical device. Turning an amp on is actually when the most current surges through it anyway. Note when a light bulb most often blows.....when you first turn it on. :wink: Some amps even have a thermal device to limit the inrush of current when first turned on, and if, after warmed up, it is turned off and back on quickly, it can actually blow the fuse. Leave an amp on as long as possible for longer life. IMO, even an hour break is not enough time necessary to turn the amp off. A standby switch is much better than turning the amp off. :idea:

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Post subject: Re: New Blues Jr NOS! Questions for other Blues Jr owners
Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 7:19 pm
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Hi again, Got a new one for you BJIII guys, I am Loving the amp but need some effects. I have a VOX AD30VT amp that I am going out of the Headphones and into the BJ. It sounds great to me and I have the BJ on 2 on both the MV and volume, FAT Switch and reverb are off. The 30 watt VOX is bypassing power amp before the headphone jack, so I have that on 1/2 on the master. I am not hurting anything right? Note, when I use headphones on the vox alone, and since it is before the power amp output, Its low, so I am not pushing the BJ into bad territory? I just really cannot spring for an EFX pedal, and don't know what is good at a cheap price? Thanks a lot for the input

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Post subject: Re: New Blues Jr NOS! Questions for other Blues Jr owners
Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 9:27 pm
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Not a problem as long as you keep the volume on the Vox at a reasonable level, as you apparently have. Cranking the BJr would be cool though. :)

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Post subject: Re: New Blues Jr NOS! Questions for other Blues Jr owners
Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 9:38 pm
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if i'm home mine is usually on i would say at minimum 4-6hrs a day every day. Though i've only had it about 6mos no problems. 2002 Blu jr


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Post subject: Re: New Blues Jr NOS! Questions for other Blues Jr owners
Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2013 7:46 am
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shimmilou wrote:
Once you turn the amp on, leave it on all day if you are going to play any more at all. It is the on/off, heating/cooling that is bad for any electrical device. Turning an amp on is actually when the most current surges through it anyway. Note when a light bulb most often blows.....when you first turn it on. :wink: Some amps even have a thermal device to limit the inrush of current when first turned on, and if, after warmed up, it is turned off and back on quickly, it can actually blow the fuse. Leave an amp on as long as possible for longer life. IMO, even an hour break is not enough time necessary to turn the amp off. A standby switch is much better than turning the amp off. :idea:


:mrgreen: Yuk Yuk - aw the new tubeiphiles, the standby swich on they for a reason STANDBY i gotta go chat with the cutie i saw when i was playing...cuz she took my beer...STANDBY

BACK when dirt was being designed...(like the 70's for instance)...it was is common practice to fire up the tubes and leave them alone unless the start crapping out or doing things in one socket...that in other sockets they are fine in and vis versa and other weird things...but studios, TV studios... everybody left the tubes on.......heck, one of our USA front line 70-80's ground to air missile systems used massive amounts of tubes ....and we never turned on the standby switch per se (and 8K magnetic memory...and ya wonder why i bought beer for anybody...when i got a whooping 10MB in my pc AT (real IBM)

(BTW some studios had guys whose sole purpose other than serving the lead dude his coffee ("NOT ON MY BOARD")...was to MIND THE TUBES (the minder)... if he heard a noise come up... investegate it,...same in missile theaters and on massive mainframe tube based computers ....(worked on those pigs too)

Thermal expansion and cool down, inrush and outrush of current...transformer E fields collapsing all around

like my man who answered this post said...it's the on off on off cool down blah blah that cooks a tube..or a failure of a component or the tube it'self. Stuff like inrush (or is it out rush) of current to the circuitry (when you thump that switch with an inductorless power supply like in some amps...MASSIVE inrush current occurs...matter of fact at the INSTANT you turn on your amp and for a very short time after that...what the FUSE and, wall power circuit breaker (gfi) in a wall socket etc is a SHORT CIRCUIT...cuz the caps are not full of energy...so when it is presented to them it's all ME ME ME i want that current NOW...and i am a short....mitigated by resistors, or turn on delays.. (many modern amps ...many of fenders ) have mute circuits tied to RC nets to allow the POWER supplies to come up to the design goals (your personal computer has the same thing AND a sign that says POWER NOT GOOD and shuts down the power supply.....and STABLE...cuz when electronics warms up ...it can do REALLY SKANKY things to ...your amp, ears, mom and dad's ears...etc... BTW another reason the studios did and do leave their crap on was to THERMALLY stabilize all the components..so after the parts are warm and stable and been on for months and now you start hearing popcorn noise...ya got a carbon comp resistor puking out (more than likely)

you set the bias on a cold tube...it changes when it warms up..blah blah


typically a gig has a 15 min break time etc... or you are going on Letterman and turn on you amp and put it in standby.....NOT both switches up like ole Junior Brown did on Letterman -

so during L's mono log...that twin lit up and started just spewing noise (CUZ Junior had it plugged into his git steel (A BLATANT noise generator..a TELE (with non hum bucking S coils and pickups from a fender 8 string lap steel)... whoa baby -what do i recall from that?...A) letterman was ANNOYED noticeably, B) his producer ran up and tried to operate an amp that has been of the planet since the 60's (black face historical snobs)..and C) I haven't seen junior on the show since.......leave it on standby....WHAT kills tubes other than poor circuits, wife spilling her beer o your hot tubes...wait..i gotta rethink on that one, or BEATINGS they take in combo's or head that sit on cabs, roadies that think tubes are to look at....etc..

leave the standby on when you are taking a chill can coming back....i leave my amps on for DAYS after a retube..

DAYS you say...yepper's CUZ i like to BURN THEM IN...it goes back to MTBF learning (mean time between failure)...as a youngish engineer my task for a rather well known company was to predict MTBF for a given product....and these thing's were shook rattled heated cooled and immersed in humidity....damn near impossible to predict....

but the MtBF taught me one thing....it's called the bathtub curve...easy to under stand...it's MORE Than likely going to fail after being used a few times, hours etc (burned in) and then it gets to the field and as it approaches it end of Life (EOL) it may start failing more, or not..or might have started sooner than predicted).

WHY i like to burn them in...case in point...retubing my Vibro king (still have to send Jon thee bad tubes) i re-tubed it to KT-66's (not permanently yet..taking the chassis to a machinist friend to move the tube sockets out towards the back a bit...and some retainers are on order....but had it sitting on the bench and it was humming along i was taking measurements and all was fine so i let it run + 3 hours at on, 4 Ohm load and no signal applied bias sitting at -46 and change...all of a sudden the dreaded sound of a plate melt down...so i looked and man it was lit up cherry red.....blues tune... nothing done to the amp...i was doing emails and drawings just letting it cook...in a cool garage....

so i burn my tubes in..and i take spares to the gigs (groove tubes)

i hope that spills some beer into your morning cereal.... (5:15 PST time in the AM... hungry puppies to feed...or i become their feed....) :shock: :mrgreen:

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Last edited by rollo on Wed Jan 30, 2013 8:01 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: New Blues Jr NOS! Questions for other Blues Jr owners
Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2013 7:58 am
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:mrgreen: BTWi have had a ton of BJ's one i left stock and one i did the cathode follower mod...it was OK tihter feel..and i had more over all gain end to end, i did most of the billM mods..the only one i didn't like was the .015uf cap change too scooped for me...


now my forum fraidy cat lurker...who can't seem to write on the subject has...MANY (i ditched all of mine)...but he has 5-6 of them..we have tried all the speaker configs you can try and ...mods HE does..and his SOUND wonderful...send me a mail i'll hook you up...he's on the island next to mine...but he has some nice sounding ones (and chassis and parts for REAL old black faces just laying around AND I CANT convince him to sell me any of that JUNK...."i might need them sometime" let's see he isn't a guitarist but a leo fender type of dude...does killer crap to amps but needs a test toad to play them...

he has a 6v6 based power section..design fender would puke gold to have...NEVER had i heard a better 6V6 section....i pleaded with him to produce it or let me...but nope


anyway, BillM is a solid dude, (interviewed me years ago in Redmond like in the early 80's) nice to see he is doing something legit instead of being the editor to PC mag forever... have not tried his tranny change (but my buddy stuck some tannies on a BJ that made it freaking rock)...i'll go over one day with a pound of weed and say....give me all 'da secrets old man!

nice thing about a BJ once you dial in your tone...just mic it...not as imposing as a marshall stack...but at least you won't have your knuckles dragging on the ground as an old man...from carrying around a twin, super reverb VIBRO KING..."hand truck" you say?.... :shock:

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