Dear Fender... This is Still The Standard
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- Опубліковано 12 вер 2024
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The Blues Jr. is an economical Princeton. The Deluxe Reverb IS THE STANDARD.
I loved my Blues Jr, so much I took it to Colombia. To keep it safe I had to take it in the carry on. 3 flights. Over 15000 steps carrying it, and I’ve played it all over Colombia. The mountains of Antioquia, the banks of Guatape, the Caribbean shores, the streets of Bogota. I like to open the master all the way up and the crunch comes in pretty low
The riff is „Slayer: Reign in blood“.
lmfao🤣
I am currently using a Hotrod Deluxe and a Blues Deluxe in stereo and am loving them!! The whole Hotrod lineup is amazing, can’t go wrong with any of them!!
I play out with my hot rod. Heavy bastard but the blues jr just isn’t loud enough.
I bought an aftermarket all pine larger cabinet for my Blues JR.....not boxy at all anymore...actually sounds amazing 👏
So did I..opened it right up! Also put in a C. Rex, pulled out the crappy caps for F & T's, changed some resistors, cut the bias & run it with minimal mids...fat switch off. I'd bet money its the best BJ mk2 within many, many of miles of me.
Love my Junior it’s made its way from the bedroom to the bar on occasion.
Do you have to make it too loud for a good gain sound
Saturdays are not the same without your videos. The fact that I can finally understand your super fast talking and lack of comas is so fun!! 😂
Blues Jr. is such a beast, especially the tweed versions. It's really all you need. Takes pedals extremely well too, so shaping your tone can be endless. I use a delay in front of mine and its such a huge sound.
it sure is!
The tweed gives it the extra sparkle
I too started my tube amp journey with an X2. I happened to plug into a blues jr. at my local GC a few months later and was blown away with how good it sounded. I soon after picked one up from the local classifieds and never looked back. As someone who just plays for his own enjoyment it’s everything I want and need.
I plugged into a Tweed Blues JR IV at my GC as well. It was used for $499, looked brand new. It sounded phenomenal. I bought it the next day. Love it.
same this happened to me lol
I've had both the Blues and Pro Juniors, and easily prefer the Pros (when I have a good pedalboard). It's 10 lbs lighter, just as loud and even punchier, and great for home and gigging.
Agreed!!!
Been my amp of choice for years for many of the reasons you mention. A word of warning to gigging players: try to transport it in an upright position. If you lay it down, the reverb will more than likely break. Also be careful when storing the cable in the back, as the tubes are not really protected by that spring retainer and it is easy to end up bending them in the sockets.
I’ve been praising Blues Junior’s for decades - a few mods and you can do anything with them. ❤
You always tell such good stories Mike!
I used to do the same thing only with basses. I was obsessed with/still kind of am, with handcrafted instruments. When I toured, I always received a lot of praise for my setup and my tone. Playing bass in a progressive death metal band allowed for a lot of experimenting, and I found perfect tonal harmony with a Ken Smith Elite six string bass going through a Mesa/Boogie Bass 400+ amp and a Mesa/Boogie 8x10 Powerhouse cab.
Bro, I just bought a two-year-old tweet Blues Junior with the Jenson speaker last week on sale. Just the clarity of tone over my modeling amp, it's no wonder it's been a celebrated classic amplifier for such a long time. I'm looking forward to gigging with it soon!
Mike, I have a homemade tube amp with no reverb and I wanted a Twin Reverb. I had enough to get a cream wrapped one and realized this one was solid state. Well … I already have the homemade tube amp and I’ll get a reverb pedal. Sweetwater is sending the solid state twin. I’m looking forward to it because it has XLR direct out I can use for recording. I wanted a tube twin when I started looking but not enough cash. I’ll let you know what I think. I expect the quality will be good. It shows that when I played in bands I was Peavey all the way and always wanted a twin tube amp. Oh well I wanted a nice amp for home recording. Keep the videos coming, God is proud of you.
If your solid state Twin is a Tone Master, you're going to love it. I have a Tone Master Super and it's incredibly lightweight (and still sounds great). The tube version is a tone (so you'll save your back with little loss in tone).
Given your current living situation and fondness of the Princeton, I’m surprised you haven’t checked out the Princeton Tone Master yet! I’ve had one for almost two years and it’s incredible! The reverb even does that overloaded reverb tube thing that the Princeton does, it’s astonishing how good it sounds. I’ve owned a Hot Rod Deluxe, 65 Princeton, 68 Princeton and currently have a Blues Deluxe, Champion 600 and TM Princeton. The TM Princeton suits my needs perfectly and is probably my favorite amp I’ve ever owned because of its usability at all volumes and line out.
Deluxe Reverb is the standard
no not really
Agreed
Love the Blues Jr
I have the Older Vox valvetronix hybrid amps with the 12X7A tubes in them 2007 and 2009 never sell them incredible amps wish Vox would reissue the Older models like I have..
Definitely 👍
I have a 2005 Vox valvetronix hybrid amps and I agree with you I would never sell mine
In my experience, the only problem with the older models is that they don’t last. They’re proven to have cold solder joints , and other electronic issues over time, I can’t remember now. I’ve reflowed both of mine over the years to keep them going, but the issue comes back. Great sounding amps, but I just couldn’t play them reliably.
@@danduntz2539 mine are 20 years old only changed the 12x7A tube once and zero issues in 20 years
My first tube amp was a little 5 watt Crate with an eight inch speaker. I loved that amp. But, it could not play with a band. My next amp was a Blues Jr. At first it was okay. But lacking oomph. Like you said, Mike, the Blues Jr is the most hyped amp on the interwebs. So, I asked my virtual friends who recommended the amp for a possible issue. "Change the speaker." was the ubiquitous response from the peanut gallery. "Try the Celestial Vintage 30." everyone said. So, I did and it did help a little but still not the sound I was chasing. The next step from all the Blues Jr. lovers was to switch out the tubes. Okay...now I'm starting to realize that the Blues Jr. was not so great out of the box and that for me to get what I wanted, I'd need to spend more money than another great amp would cost. So, I sold the Blues Jr. My next tube amp was a Brian Cox tweed deluxe clone (for about the same money as what I would eventually spend on modifying a Blues Jr. to my liking). The deluxe is perfect for me. It's hand wired and I ordered it with the mac-daddy speaker, tubes and transformer. I've had it for a long time and it's still my favorite.
Strat and Blues Jr. is a vibe! All you need in a lot of cases. Loves to be overdriven.
Mike, with all the research you are doing....you really need to add Lyle Caldwell's Psionic Audio channel to your homework list. Search for his Blues Jr vids. You might never buy one. Yes they sound ok for the $$...for a while... but there are some serious engineering issues with that amp. They can and should be fixed before seriously playing that amp. HRDs have similar issues (which Lyle also documents), I fixed mine prophylacticly , and my '96 continues to run nicely. For your own credibility, I wouldn't be so unqualified in your recommendation of these amps. Hope this helps your experience with that amp, or at least your algorithm.
Ditto!
This!!
I like how you approach the videos as we're just hanging out and having a nice conversation about music with you as a viewer.
I have a blues deluxe reissue tweed, 40 watts and a single 12 inch speaker, and I love it!!!!!!!!!!!
I have the Fender 57 custom deluxe tweed. And it's starting to be my favorite.
Bought a Blues Jr v4 for a pittance from a student who had discovered that amps and tenement living don't mix. Was as near to new as you could get. Was blown away by the sound, warmth and presence it generates without having to be pushed to its limit. Last week I plugged my LP in without noticing its volume was at 10. The sound from the amp, even on a relatively low setting, made the whole room vibrate (in a good way)! But it's great for double or single coils. Oh and the reverb is *really* good.
Years ago, I played through a cheap 5E3 clone and that sound became my gold standard. Today I use a 5E3 amp sim for recording and use a 70's silvertone amp for live gigs. The silvertone has a nice clean but never really gets dirty.
5E3's are incredible amps....I love my Brian Cox tweed.
Mike, you should do a comparison with the AC15. Same wattage, valves, and around the same price.
I really enjoy your videos ... always informative and straight to the point ... great delivery ,always positive energy.
Ok Mike, my first tube amp was a BJ also. For all the reasons you mentioned, it was the perfect amp for at home and the occasional jam session. Sold it and bought an X2.
Not being fully satisfied with it, I swapped the original Fender speaker out for a Jensen Alako, replaced all the tubes with new old stock, American tubes, which required revising the amp. Really not that tough if you have a small screwdriver and a voltmeter.
It changed the x2 to into a monster tone machine.
Everything from vintage tweeds, to fire breathing dragon, Marshall. .
I eventually but a Mesa boogie Fillmore 50, because I needed a second amp (one to leave at church, and one for home) That said the Blues jr. will always have a special place in my heart!
Always enjoy the comments. This one especially. The spectrum from “best ever” all to way to “landfill”. The true art, to me, is the ability to bend these tools to make the best sounds you can. The key is sonic flexibility. Every combination has a sweet spot. I’d want to be Sherlock Tones.
I didn't call it landfill because it sounds bad. I think Blues Jrs sound quite good... right up to the point they cook themselves because Fender builds them to fail. Not a bad amp for your ears, but a bad amp for your wallet.
@Mike Cole you should check out the videos from Psionic Audio about the Hot Rod Series and how he has seen so many Blues Juniors come in with burnt tube sockets and leaking caps.
My first thought on seeing the thumbnail
exactly. this sounds like good sounding but crap built amp. I would just get the tube15 from stageright/monoprice instead.
@@mammouth2727 The Monoprice amp is a rattletrap. If there were no other good cheap amps available it'd be an okay option, but in a world where there are Super Champs and Katanas that sound much better and don't shake themselves to death, the Monoprice only exists for someone who has a tiny budget and wants the "tube" cachet.
My Blues Jr is 29 years old and I am still gigging with it. Tonight in fact at The Woodshed in Brewster MA. It’s been modded like crazy but it’s the best amp I’ve ever had and I’ve had almost 100.
My Blues Jr. Is my go to amp. I love it!
I've had my Blues Jr. for at least a decade - always with the "fat" switch on - and I'm inclined to agree that it's quite cost-effective. I have a couple other amps, too, but gravitate to the Blues Jr.
Loved my blues Jr. Sold it though and upgraded to a blues deluxe. Thinking about getting another one. great little amp. Wish I hadn't sold it..
I have owned all three amps that you spoke of. The Princeton, the blues Junior, and the SX2. The Princeton has been the best amp I have ever owned or played. I was a little surprised that your video made no mention of the fact that SO many people have found the BJ to be brittle and quite treble biased. Mine was so bad that I resorted to to playing a loop for hours on end at high volume in an effort to try to relax the speaker. It didn’t help at all. After a year I got so sick and tired of the amp that I sold it. As for the SX2, it is considered a hybrid tube amp. It certainly wasn’t horrible, and it makes a good beginning amp, but the tone is just not up to the level of a true multi tube amp. I didn’t care for its tone.
Sir, you are correct! So I came into a '90s USA Blues Deluxe' on the used market 15 years ago. It was unreliable and took years and a trip to Fromel Electronics (Seattle) to straighten it out. To this day, it's amp #1 for me. Only a Magnatone could un-seat it, maybe. At the time of repair, John Fromel asked if I wanted 20 watts instead of 40 (I did not see that question coming). If I have one regret, there are times I wish I had gone with 20. But, that's a compelling reason for me to go after a Bluss Jr. They are awesome!
These amps... they're frustrating to me. They SOUND absolutely amazing. I typically ran mine without using the "Fat" switch wanting something a bit more flat. At one point I had the NOS Blues Junior with the Jensen speaker. I also added the MOD Reverb tank and thought I had found THE perfect amp for me. I was also looking into the "Bill M" mods and planned to send my amp or chassis to him for his upgrades. At the time, ten years ago, I was doing a lot of solo looping Jazz gigs and also enjoyed playing this in trios. For both Fender teles/strats as well as Ibanez Artcores - this couldn't be beat - even preferring it to my twin. But then, the challenges were tough to handle. Even though it sounds great, the reliability wasn't there. Mostly due to the configuration - a lot of corners had been cut to make these, they run hot, and blew fuses. Not just at a gig (that I had to sit out of), though even just plugged into my apartments wall outlet. I stopped trusting it and it sat as mid century modern furniture for a year until I sold it... which I hated to do. Also, while 15 watts is enough for small and medium size gigs, it doesn't have a lot of options for capture. On large and outdoor gigs it sounds like the tiny amp that it is when mic'd and there aren't any real other options. When I sold mine I went back to using Roland/Boss solid state because for the same weight/output they have good line out options to send to FOH for outdoor/large theater gigs, and offer versatility. I still love that sound and miss it, especially for the cleans that I do... but ideally, one day, I'd love to have a point to point handwired type thing with better parts and a rearranged configuration. Also XLR outs like some of the modern Fender Twins have. Or, spend double the amp price for one of those Tube Expanders that offer a lot of these functions. To me, the Blues Junior sits both sonically and output wise between the Gibson amps Charlie Christian used back in his hay-day and the Tweed craziness of Neil Young. I know business is business - they're tryin gto keep these to a price point and fight inflation... but to have an amp that looks and sounds amazing but has those problems was a deal breaker for me.
My dad uses a Junior. Its wonderful, and sound managers love it, nice and simple :)
Literary just walked out of my local guitar store and played every guitar I picked up through the Blues Jr.
I ve been playing on a Fender hot rod for 17 years, and this is to the best clean sounding amp ever, for less than 1000 dollars, great deal obvously
So take a good look at my face
You'll see my smile looks out of place
If you look closer, it's easy to trace
The tracks of my tears
Ok it’s not Smoke .. do you know Skokie? Probably some John Mayer song, but you should get into some old Motown. The rhythm guitar playing in Motown is amazing.. just an old dude talking to a young dude.
Proreverb!
Totally agree. I’m 73 and still have yet to hear better rythym playing than that found on old Motown records
Nice playing and very nice sounds. I owned a BJ many years ago because it was a lower priced tube amp. I liked it, but when I was playing various Les Pauls in different stores I played through an AC30 and my mind. was. blown! I play with my fingers a lot and found the AC30 let me be so much more expressive than the BJ. I eventually traded in the BJ on a Voc AC15 which I had for years and really loved. My current 'fave amp' is a "Tweed" that was made from a kit. It has a warm 'organic' sound. Beautiful.
Great videos on your channel. I’ve owned 3 over the years. I did the full Fromel mods on 2 of them. I’ve been playing since the 70’s and a classic rock guy. I sold all 3, I’ve settled on the Fender LE Bassbreaker 15 with the cream back. Far more versatile and more to my liking. I’ve also owned a 70’s Princeton Reverb but a one trick pony. I’ve played thru JCM 800’s which were great. My other fav is the Headrush MX5 and also the Katana. I was never impressed with the blues jr.
loved my blues jr. I'd probably still have it if I had room but I needed to make space and it made more sense to keep the handwired princeton
I still have my blues jr after 20yrs
I like the Junior a lot. My favorite Fender amp so far is the Vibrolux 2x10. I tried once a 1959 4x10Bassman reissue and I was speechless. Really sweet sounding. The Blues Junior is a great gigging amp, too much for domestic use, even a 1 watt can be too much. It depends on the speaker size, for the living room 1x8 might be enough.
I have a Blues Jr but what I like even more is my 80's Silverface Fender Musicman Bass amp that I put a 12' Celestion V Type speaker in. It's a tone machine and has become my one of my favorite guitar amps.
I love how much your playing is progressing. Sounds killer man.
Nice video. Nice demonstration of the Blues Jr. An amp that seems to get forgotten but must be selling is the Pro Jr. I think it must be selling because it's still around. Years ago I got what at the time was special edition that had a Jensen 10" speaker. Nowadays that's the default. I often forget how darned good that thing sounds until I plug into that amp and play. It's not what you would use for a pedal amp, it doesn't have reverb or tremolo, but that's not something I miss with this amp. Basically I set the tone and the volume, keep it there, and then just muck with the tone and volume on my tele. (The control panel on my tele is upside down so I can use the tone knob as a wah if I want, or the volume knob as a fade. Works nicely on the Pro Jr.) It's a pretty satisfying sound. I hope you'll give it a try some time.
I own a stage 160, it was 100 bucks.. it peels the paint off the walls on volume level 2.
I’ve had mine since 2005 or thereabouts. I should put new tubes in it but it still sounds fine. Recording works well with it. In a band setting I find it loses a little punch but still very useful. Easy to carry around. The only thing that went wrong was the reverb tank needed replacement.
i have a kalamazoo model 2 from the 60's that i really like. i believe its only 10 watt's but with small tube amps you can actually crank up and not knock shit off your walls lol my fender hotrod is way to loud to play casually and actually get the tubes working
That Blues Jr is a great amplifier. I currently use a Tone King Imperial. It’s my go to amp because of the built in attenuation. I can play it at night and no one knows.
Watch amp tech videos on the Blues Junior or anything in the series. The boards burn up. Including the rev 4. They may sound great for the price to you or anyone else, but they're objectively being built with a major design flaw that will cost serious money to repair down the road. Brad's Guitar Garage even offers replacement output boards he designed because it's so common.
It would be a good practice amp IF Fender fixed BIAS ISSUES, replaced the shitty pcb plastic input jack with a metal switchcraft loose wired to the board, and used 10” Jensen speaker instead. We are talking a couple of dollars in mfg changes.
Pro jr is one of my favorite modern amps- BJ one of my least faves-hate the master volume fenders. But thats just me- its still a great amp.
All you need is Xotic EP Boost pedal and reverb pedal and any other pedal you desire and it’s on ! Blues Jr. has too much hum .
Hey Mike, you should check out the Marshall DSL combo series, maybe the 20CR or 40CR. Those amps got a price cut recently and a lot of people have been buying them in the past few months. I'd be interested to see what you think about them brother.
I've just installed some new amp models on my MultiFX - and of them all... something called a 'Fender 65 Blues Deluxe Reverb' is the one that calls to me - even nicer than the 'Fender Twin' model that came with the device; I'm now using the Blues Deluxe as the base for most of my presets! There's just something about a Fender sound that works right!
While I enjoyed the Fender Blues Jr, I believe it was the Fender Princeton Reverb that really turned my head back to see what I was plugged into. I also took turns playing with a Mesa Boogie Subway Blues, a Laney VC30, a Tech 21 Trademark 60 (inspired by the story of Les Paul's use), and Mesa Boogie 22 Caliber amp. I kept the Princeton through all of them and I would encourage you to try one out versus the Junior.
I bought my Blues Jr in 1997, an American Made Fender Blues Junior. The original, American made Jrs are much different than the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generations. I wouldn’t trade that amp for any amp in its class. The only problem with any Blues Junior, and it’s chronic, is the reverb. Sometimes it’s the tank; sometimes it’s a tube or cap, etc. Once that’s fixed it usually doesn’t happen again. If the problem-or perhaps another reverb problem-pops up, it’s most often a quick and inexpensive fix. These amps are roadworthy and easy to get a quality sound from. In 1997, I got my Jr for $325 cash. Unfortunately, Blues Juniors are now a $500 amp. Still a good deal for a working musician. With most any 12,” a Blues Junior will do the job for you.
A guitar store in Toronto advised me to consider the Blues Jr. six years ago, and I bought it and I've been fairly wowed by it since. It's true that setting the Master on '2' or '3' can get you knock-out power, and while the sweet spot is in the clean range, it's not without some filthy bite. I own a Jazzmaster, and if I turn the guitar volume up to '4' the power I get I feel in my hands and stomach and feet.
man I can believe it! haha I just wanted to see a review of the Blues Junior and Your video appeared!
The Blues junior is a terriffic amp AFTER the Bill M Mods
why not get an amp you don't have to mod?
I purchased a Blues Jr and then gave it up for a Blues Deluxe. I keep a Lion Tamer in the FX Loop to play at a reasonable volume. I mostly use les paul guitars. I love the natural breakup of the humbuckers throuh the Deluxe.
This is great stuff Mike. Love the way you explain things. Thanks again.
I got to go with the 65 Princeton. Reissue or the Vibro champ
i have a 93 blues deville. I love it!! I really really want a blues jr. too
you hit 240k while i was watching congrats love the videos
I thought you were at first talking about a VINTAGE 12 watt tweed Fender Deluxe.
Have owned two Blues Juniors, selling them each time thinking I needed a bigger, more expensive amp. Now I wish I had one again.
I will always love my blues junior 4 lol
Man, the local Guitar center in El Paso, TX has a Blues Junior on the floor. It is always my go to amp when trying out guitars. That amp sounds amazing
I'm using a Bassbreaker 15 (tweed version with a Greenback speaker) and I love it for its versatility. More often than not, I'd go with a minimalistic approach, just guitar -> cable -> amp. It has all I need.
Yeah man. I love Fender amps Mike. I have not played a Jr. You have inspired me to look into a purchase though. I've paid attention to people who have played them over the years though. Thanks for another great review. Cheers sir. 🎸
The best small Fender combo ever is the Bassbreaker 15
I bought a bass breaker back when they canme out and I was disappointed with how muddy it was. Traded it for a DSL40C
The tweed vibrolux is better
I owned one of these for a month when I didn't know how to play much.
I sold it. To a real blues player. For about $400 iirc. I regretted it before the sale was done. While he was trying it out. He sounded *fantastic* on the thing.
Now I can play. May need to get another.
It’s an amazing amp I used to have one and always loved them ! Switched to a Deluxe Reverb now with Trey mods
A BluesJr is on my wish list. Currently, I'm running through a Fender G DEC 3 (15w) which is a great little practice amp I got about 18 year ago from a, then, co-worker for $50 and it was about 3mos old. I don't gig and it's plenty loud when the wife and kid are out of the house. For what it is I gotta say I'm pretty impressed, even as old as it is. It's got way better sound than those Fender Cyber things they came out with, even as low power, tiny little amp. The presets are very decent. My main amp was a Princeton 65 that quit working on me and I haven't had the $ to get it fixed.
The Blues Junior is a great amp. It’s best for me when I dime the master and use the volume to adjust the level. It’s really full and lets the power tubes do their thing.
I've been researching amps, flipping between tube and solid state a bunch. I came across the Blues Jr. It is my front runner tube amp right now. I played it recently in a guitar store, it sounds awesome to me. But when researching, boy it seems the reddit community hates it big time. Its probably the most polarizing amp I have researched. I probably overloaded on reading about it, and I think playing it just dissipated all the doubt I had encountered from online comments. Interestingly one of the most common objections to it is the performance at lower volume. I thought the master cranked and volume at like 2-3 was really nice balance of tone vs overall output. Anyway, I say just play what ya love right?
I adore my Blues Jr. I picked it up for a steal, secondhand in a Boxing Day sale. I think I paid less than $300 CAD for it. I've had HRDs and a Blues Deluxe. The Blues Jr. is my favourite or them all - clean and crisp. A very different sound from the Mesa Electra-Dyne I have (clean channel is a BF Fender Deluxe on steroids), but it has its own charm and appeal, especially with that FAT switch!
I do love Fender tube amps. My hotrod Deluxe is nice, but the DeVille Michael Landau version is my go-to and live show amp.
I went in to my local GC recently to try out amps, including the Blues Jr. I love reverb and was disappointed at how lame the reverb is. That's my only criticism. Why did Fender do this?
Bought an original Blues Deluxe in the 90s, too noisy, sold it. A few years later picked up a Hot Rod Deluxe. Too noisy sold it. Picked up a point-to-point Fender 75. Much quieter.
Nice video. This is one of theirs I haven't tried. I bought the '57 Tweed Deluxe, which worked very strangely by modern standards and sounded great ... and gave me headaches...yes literally headaches. There must've been some frequency in there that didn't agree with me. sadly, it had to leave.
I still have my '65 reissue Princeton and Twin Reverb. I'm not sure how this would compare, although it does breakup without you going deaf, something that i fixed with a couple stompboxes. But that reverb-line clean is too great to not have. I'll try one of these at GC the next time I'm there, you've got me curious.
Great channel. Thank you from New Zealand.
Gotz me a blues jr.type iv . Dark brown Western embossed tolex with the Cannibis Rex speaker . I love it . Gonna do some mods on it . Add a resistor to the circuit to help tame the reverb . Also want a new 1/4” input ( that plastic is crap ) . The bias is too hot but better than the type iii and those crappy caps fender uses gotta go along with some other stuff . It’s a shame Fender hasn’t revised their circuit boards . There’s a company called Frome that sells a hundred dollar kit to address those issues and I’m going to attempt it myself .I’m good at soldering just need directions . A good amp tech would do it but it’s gonna cost a lot more .
Also have a HotRod deluxe special edition type iv tweed
that I I did the George Benson mod to it , changed out an input tube $12 . It has much better volume control now . Also want that Frome kit .
Good luck with it ! They do sound great !
Re-mount that same amp with a few tweaks into a Deluxe cabinet and you have a solid, versatile platform. The one downside of the Blues Jr. (imho) is that the cabinet is so small with relation to the speaker that it makes even the best speaker sound boxy and kind if woofy.
A nice birch Deluxe cabinet fixes all of that.
I once re-mounted a Blues Jr. into a Peavey Classic 30 Cabinet and that worked great.
If you don't already know, Google the Bill M. Blues Jr. mod's.
It's a blueprint for how to make the Blues Jr. a truly stageworthy amplifier, put together by a truly talented engineer who made perfecting the Blues Jr. his pet project.
If you do all of the mod's you end up with a 22 watt amp in a Deluxe cabinet with master volume and 6v6's. The only essential you're missing at that point (again, imho) is grid bias tremolo.
RIP, Bill.
Have had mine for a while... still great... loves pedals...loud enough, but not too loud. I play my 50th anniversary 1 watt marshalls the most (JMP and JTM)... but yeah... rules. If you have a few different mics it makes a big diff too.
I changed the 1st capacitor from 45mf to a 22mf making all caps 22mf , it got rid of the boxie sound and made it sound much looser.
I was deciding between the blues Junior and the hot rod iv. Ended up getting the hot rod. The junior just didn’t have a full sound that I was looking for. Obviously just my opinion. I’ll have to drop by my local shop and try it out again.
Great review Mike, thanks! Best wishes.
Never played a Blues Jr, but I LOVE my Super Champ X2!
The riff sounds like tracks of my tears. I used the blues junior for years gigging it in a ten piece band with a full horn section and never had any trouble being heard.
I never understood why guys leave the fat switch in all the time because you can use a one button foot switch And along with a good overdrive pedal you can cover a lot of ground and still have some nice clean headroom.
I was able to cover material everything from Ohio Players to Beatles to Santana. Solid reliable and good sounding amps.
I have a pro junior and it's more suitable for home use sounds wonderful with a boss blues driver
This is really awesome. How about doing a video about the Fender Super Sonic, too?
My favorite fender amp....57 tweed 5e3. I got a Mojo tone clone....cuz I couldn't afford the Fender. Love it!
I'm with you. Nothing beats a cranked tweed deluxe.
It’s got that REM hard rock sound of the 90s.