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Post subject: Blues Jr. vs. Ibanez TSA-15???
Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2015 3:25 pm
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Has anyone played both the Fender Blues Jr. and the Ibanez TSA-15 combo with the built in Tubescreamer? I realize I may be asking a biased crowd but I would enjoy some feedback on the two!

I would also enjoy any opinions as to any other 15 watt tube combo in the same price range for home blues/blues rock playing!

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Post subject: Re: Blues Jr. vs. Ibanez TSA-15???
Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2015 5:34 pm
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I have played both and I own an Ibanez TS 15 head which I just bought from Sweetwater Sound. Both are extremely bright amps, The TS 15 Head into my EVM 12 L cabinet is only usable to my ears with most of the treble turned almost all the way off and the bass at 10:00. It is also fatter sounding then the BJ with a beautiful bass side. A nice well rounded amp. I never had any use for the Tube Screamer and still do not, but it had a decent tone stack and no other "fancy" items to junk up the amp. The treble control controls much too high of a frequency range and turned all the way off the amp has a nice fat sound without the bass side being to overbearing and the bass and treble notes are just as loud as each other.

The tube screamer is just OK and I will never use any of it's functions, the boost may have some use in the future although I never need a boost function truthfully, I had ordered the foot switch with the amp but it was out of stock so I cancelled it after trying out the Screamer.

Not a bad practice or small room amp. Well worth the $299 I spent, although I will have to change out the tubes in the near future, as the OEM ones are far too cold for my taste.

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Post subject: Re: Blues Jr. vs. Ibanez TSA-15???
Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2015 6:00 pm
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I own both amps (although my TSA15 is a head). My take is nothing like the above post. Some of my random thoughts:
-The Fender BJr. is considerably louder.
-The TSA15 is much cleaner w/o using either the TS or boost. It can be slightly dirty in the 5 watt mode.
-I did not care much for the BJr. until I converted it to a head and played it through extension cabs. Now I'm a big fan.
-To my ear, the onboard TS of the TSA sounds just like any TS (808 circuitry).
-The TSA needs a reverb or delay pedal to suit my taste.
-Both have good tone to my ears.
-I think the BJr. is over-priced.
-Fender's warranty repair network is the BEST!

If I could only keep one, it would be the BJr., but I would not likely buy a new one and convert it to a head due to cost. The TSA is nice and well priced, but a bit on the weak side (volume-wise) for some live performances (even mic'd unless there is a dedicated monitor). It is great for in-home use.

If I owned neither and was in the market for a low wattage amp, I'd probably buy one of the many 5E3 clones on the market.

YMMV

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Post subject: Re: Blues Jr. vs. Ibanez TSA-15???
Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2015 9:43 pm
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I bought the TS 15 Head for in home use, and as a small grab and go amp head. I agree with the post above it needs reverb and I do use a nice Digitech Digiverb in front of the amp also, although the tone is fairly clean without the verb. I do use a Tube Distortion stomp in front of the amp input for overdrive sounds.

To my ears the Screamer is just like what I remember hearing when the original screamer came out in the 1960's I never liked them, too grainy for my taste in tone. From the day I ordered the amp I doubted if I would use the screamer, and that is the way it turned out. If I was going to play out I would of course use my Hot Rod Deluxe/Cannabis Rex combo.

But for family road trips and in house jams the TS 15 head and a small 1-12 open back cab is the ticket. I recommend it, it has the nicest clean tone due to the 6V6's. I am not an EL type of tube fan. I find them too grainy as well (But many more players do like the EL sound than not). The Blues Jr has EL 84 tubes in it, I am not a fan of that sound or I would have opted for the Fender, as I am a definite Fender amp fan......

With my Nady TD 1 tube distortion stomp in front, the TS 15 head sings like a hi dollar unit..........

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Post subject: Re: Blues Jr. vs. Ibanez TSA-15???
Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 6:05 am
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Perhaps the above conflicting comments are relative the the different speaker combinations employed as speakers will have a dramatic impact on the ultimate sound?

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Post subject: Re: Blues Jr. vs. Ibanez TSA-15???
Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 9:09 am
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John Sims wrote:
Perhaps the above conflicting comments are relative the the different speaker combinations employed as speakers will have a dramatic impact on the ultimate sound?

Certainly a possibility.

I've used both heads into 3 different 2X12 cabs; 1) Celestion G12h & V30, 2) WGS Retro 30 and Reaper HP, 3) Emi Wizard and Swamp Thang. All sounded different, but good to me with no extreme undesirable frequency spikes.

Taste plays a major role here and of course, there's no correct/incorrect taste.....just differences.

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Post subject: Re: Blues Jr. vs. Ibanez TSA-15???
Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 9:59 am
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The TSA-15H is still on my radar, That extra 6V6GT makes me think a nice deluxe tone is possible ???
Get rid of V-1 12AX7 and go with a nice 5751, some good old fashion USA 6V6's and I'll bet she comes alive !

Like these I just picked up on Reverb
https://reverb.com/item/480358-sylvania ... l-d-getter

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Post subject: Re: Blues Jr. vs. Ibanez TSA-15???
Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 11:57 am
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Its one of life's trivial dilemmas! $500 range is a lot for me to spend on a home blues amp considering the wrath of she who must be obeyed! So I can't have both!

I can noodle on a Blues Jr. at GC all day long... the problem is that the Ibanez TSAs seem to be only available online. But I hear good things about them and many YouTube video reviews favor it over the Blues Jr. And it can be had cheaper!

I do like the 15 to 5 watt switch... does the Blues Jr. have the ability to switch to lower wattage?

If I went with a TSA I was thinking of the combo like the Blues Jr... any advice as to whether or not the head/cab edition would be preferable?

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my gear:

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Post subject: Re: Blues Jr. vs. Ibanez TSA-15???
Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 12:44 pm
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Tiger J wrote:
Its one of life's trivial dilemmas! $500 range is a lot for me to spend on a home blues amp considering the wrath of she who must be obeyed! So I can't have both!

I can noodle on a Blues Jr. at GC all day long... the problem is that the Ibanez TSAs seem to be only available online. But I hear good things about them and many YouTube video reviews favor it over the Blues Jr. And it can be had cheaper!

I do like the 15 to 5 watt switch... does the Blues Jr. have the ability to switch to lower wattage? No, not without modification ($$$).

If I went with a TSA I was thinking of the combo like the Blues Jr... any advice as to whether or not the head/cab edition would be preferable?
I see you have a cab. Why not save the extra $ head vs. combo?...If you like the sound of your cab. You could probably unplug the speaker to your G-dec and use it w/ the TSA15Head as well for lesser volume.

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Post subject: Re: Blues Jr. vs. Ibanez TSA-15???
Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 4:33 pm
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That is a thought! I am not very tech-savvy with these things and don't know what tube heads would be compatible with my Fender Mustang V cab. If the TSA-15 head would work through the Mustang 4x12 cab I might consider that.

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my gear:

Jackson USA Phil Collen PC-1
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Fender American Special Stratocaster
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Post subject: Re: Blues Jr. vs. Ibanez TSA-15???
Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 4:48 pm
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Tiger J wrote:
That is a thought! I am not very tech-savvy with these things and don't know what tube heads would be compatible with my Fender Mustang V cab. If the TSA-15 head would work through the Mustang 4x12 cab I might consider that.

According to the specs of each, it will work fine. The Mustang Cab has two inputs (1 per side), 8 ohms each. The TSA15H has outputs to handle 2ea. 8 ohm loads. You'd have the ability to run all 4 of the speakers or just two at a time with the TSA's flexible output.

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Post subject: Re: Blues Jr. vs. Ibanez TSA-15???
Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 10:43 pm
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As for my new opinion on the TS15 Head

So at first I was not sure I liked this little amp, it was far too bright for my taste, but after a little trial and error in setting up the EQ on both the amp, and on my tube distortion stomp, and buying a Volume Box from Carl's Custom Guitars to put in the efx loop, I have come to admire this little cheapie $299 at Sweetwater.

It borders on Deluxe Reverb tone, clear as a bell but it is also very deep and round sounding. I was going to send it back until I got the volume box hooked into the efx loop. By turning it down 1/4th the way it mitigates the piercing highs just enough to make the thing sound beautiful on the cleans and outstanding on the overdrives. I am liking it a bunch.

I also use another Volume Box in the EFX loop of my Hot Rod Deluxe which helped to make that my all time favorite amp. That is how I learned just what it would do to mitigate the highs just enough to make the sound very pleasant without that shrill pick attack.

The TS 15 head is a definate winner for cheap. I also got in touch with Bob @ Eurotubes and I will be pulling the trigger on some gold pin pre amp tubes, and a matched pair of moderate grade 6V6's in a month or so.

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Post subject: Re: Blues Jr. vs. Ibanez TSA-15???
Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2015 12:49 am
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Hate to burst your bubble, but the TSA15 does not have a true efx loop. A true efx loop allows insertion between the preamp and the power amp. On the TSA15, what you have is the ability to insert after the tubescreamer circuit as opposed to prior as occurs in the guitar to amp signal chain. Either way you cannot insert between the preamp and power amp. If you look at the block diagram of the amp, you will see this verified.

It is nothing like the HRDlx and nothing has been accomplished that could not have been done the same with the tubescreamer level knob.

By all means, do some experimenting with new tubes, but don't waste your money on gold pins. It's all hype; extra cost with no significant benefit.

I hope this post doesn't offend you, I'm only trying to help you and others who may read it.

In the end, I'm glad you like it as I do also.

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Post subject: Re: Blues Jr. vs. Ibanez TSA-15???
Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2015 10:06 am
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Thanks, I never looked at the block diagram, however, the Volume Box did exactly the same thing for me in the TS15 head as it did in the HRD, it absolutely mitigates the highs in a similar way no matter what the signal path might be. And I might add the Tube Screamer did not do what the volume box did for me. I tried every setting I could think of on the screamer before I bought the 20 dollar volume box. Once I plugged in the volume box it did exactly the same thing as it did for me in the HRD.

Hearing the thing in person is more accurate than reading a block diagram amigo, no offense taken.......

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Post subject: Re: Blues Jr. vs. Ibanez TSA-15???
Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2015 2:43 pm
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Well, I pulled the trigger on a new-open box TSA15 combo amp on eBay! It was significantly reduced from the $449 pricepoint at GC and Sweetwater and the ilk and it came with the 2-button footswitch normally $30 extra.

I took to heart the idea of getting the TSA15H and playing it through my Mustang V cab, but I only paid $60 over the price of the head and got a free footswitch - plus it appears the combo has the same rear-amp features as the head so I can easily disconnect the combo speaker and play through my cab anyway.

All reviews, advice and video demos lead me to believe I will enjoy this little amp for the home use I am buying it for... especially with the 15 to 5 watt switching. I have been jonesing for a Fender Blues Jr. for a year now so I am a little nervous at switching gears at the last minute. But the TSA reviews favorably with the BJ and some reviewers prefer it. Also I am concerned that the BJ will be too loud for home use despite that it is also a 15 watt. And, of course, I saved almost $200 off the price of a new Blues Jr. III!

I'll post my thoughts when it arrives... although I will not be able to play it side-by-side with the Blues Jr. III.

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my gear:

Jackson USA Phil Collen PC-1
Warmoth Custom-Build Stratocaster (The Andersong)
Fender American Special Stratocaster
Squier J. Mascis Jazzmaster
Fender Mustang GT40
Eleven HeadRush w/ two Alto TS212 FRFRs


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