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Post subject: Fender NOS Blues Jr -Are 2 Better?
Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 6:32 pm
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I have a few amps & I picked up a fender Blues jr a little over a year ago. I got it because I needed a smaller low wattage amp to play in my band at small venues. I like to run amps clean & use my pedals for the dirt. I am amazed at how great the jr is & handles my distortion pedals(Wampler 65 Black, Super Plextortion & Pinnacle) the Jensen speaker delivers full & powerful! The Jr is loud & keeps up with the band great. I guess I am wondering is there an amp that sounds just as good but maybe a pinch fuller? I am thinking about buying another jr to run together for bigger venues. Any advice?


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Post subject: Re: Fender NOS Blues Jr -Are 2 Better?
Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 6:46 pm
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Have you ever played a Deluxe Reverb?

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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Post subject: Re: Fender NOS Blues Jr -Are 2 Better?
Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 7:11 pm
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Retroverbial wrote:
Have you ever played a Deluxe Reverb?

Arjay

I haven't but it has peaked my interest! :D I had a blues deville 4x10 and it was a great amp just had problems controlling the volume


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Post subject: Re: Fender NOS Blues Jr -Are 2 Better?
Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 8:03 pm
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How are you setting the BJr, sometimes that can make all the difference. If you like running it as a clean base for your various pedals, here are my suggestions you might like to try.

A tip - Run the Master at 12/12 and leave it there, then use the Volume knob just as you would on a Non-Master type Fender, this lets the amp open up and breathe, it makes a BIG difference to the way the BJr responds and sounds, even the Reverb will sound more like a proper Fender should. I find turning the Master down chokes the whole amp.

Here's how I like to run a BJr, usually my settings end up very close to the following, gives me a nice big clean tone to start from.

Master - 12/12
Volume - between 4 and 5/12
Bass - 8/12
Middle - 3/12
Treble - 4/12 (Adjust to taste from here)
Reverb - 3/12 (to taste)

Once I have the settings as above I like to just then use the Treble like a "Tone" control, adding or removing top end as needed.

If that is different to what you do then give it a try, I think you'll like it.

Another tip I would give is to try your BJr into a larger sized cab and see how you like it, the stock cab size is quite small and restrictive. I Converted my BJr into a Head and use it with a larger cab containing a CRex speaker, the amp sounds very good like this and MUCH bigger/fuller than it did in stock form.

Image


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Post subject: Re: Fender NOS Blues Jr -Are 2 Better?
Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 8:26 am
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No457 Snowy wrote:
How are you setting the BJr, sometimes that can make all the difference. If you like running it as a clean base for your various pedals, here are my suggestions you might like to try.

A tip - Run the Master at 12/12 and leave it there, then use the Volume knob just as you would on a Non-Master type Fender, this lets the amp open up and breathe, it makes a BIG difference to the way the BJr responds and sounds, even the Reverb will sound more like a proper Fender should. I find turning the Master down chokes the whole amp.

Here's how I like to run a BJr, usually my settings end up very close to the following, gives me a nice big clean tone to start from.

Master - 12/12
Volume - between 4 and 5/12
Bass - 8/12
Middle - 3/12
Treble - 4/12 (Adjust to taste from here)
Reverb - 3/12 (to taste)

Once I have the settings as above I like to just then use the Treble like a "Tone" control, adding or removing top end as needed.

If that is different to what you do then give it a try, I think you'll like it.

Another tip I would give is to try your BJr into a larger sized cab and see how you like it, the stock cab size is quite small and restrictive. I Converted my BJr into a Head and use it with a larger cab containing a CRex speaker, the amp sounds very good like this and MUCH bigger/fuller than it did in stock form.

Image


That may be the direction I may go. I have no complaints about the JR & I keep the master vol around 3 never really any louder even with my drummer who can be loud at times; the amp (stock) gives me everything I want & my pedals work great with the amp! I may look into getting a 2X12 Jensen cabinet.


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Post subject: Re: Fender NOS Blues Jr -Are 2 Better?
Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 2:31 pm
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guitkrazy wrote:
That may be the direction I may go. I have no complaints about the JR & I keep the master vol around 3 never really any louder even with my drummer who can be loud at times; the amp (stock) gives me everything I want & my pedals work great with the amp! I may look into getting a 2X12 Jensen cabinet.


It sounds like you may not have understood my explanation.

If you want the amp to sound "fuller" and clean, as you have asked, you need to turn the Master Volume to it's max position (set it at the number 12) and then use the other Volume knob (this is the preamp) to set the Volume you want to run at, usually that knob will end up set at somewhere between 3 and 5 if you want the amp clean and loud. Try it and you will see what I mean. So the Master is at max and you are then going to control the overall volume of the amp with the other Volume knob, slowly bring it up to the loudness you require. That is how your amp will sound as good as it can for a clean platform to run your pedals. Setting the Master volume at "3" is going to sacrifice a good chunk of any real tone your amp can deliver and will further exaggerate all the poorer traits the BJr is capable of, such as boxiness, small sounding, and poor reverb.


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Post subject: Re: Fender NOS Blues Jr -Are 2 Better?
Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 6:36 pm
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guitkrazy wrote:
I may look into getting a 2X12 Jensen cabinet.


Your Blues Junior is optimized for an 8-ohm load so be sure your cabinet has a corresponding impedance. The 12's should be 16Ω each, wired in parallel. Disconnect the amp's internal speaker before proceeding.

Arjay

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