New (used) Amp Day

[koula901]

Some of you may have seen my post earlier today asking for suggestions for an amp. Well, I went to Guitar Denter tonight.

First, I tried out a brand new Blues Jr III - it was just too, too, trebly, sizzly. Yuk. Then I played around with the Egnator Tweaker -- much better, I was starting to learn that I like that American sound - got some nice Fender tones - that was the 15 watt. Tried this same amp in a 1X12 40 watt version -- much better, it has more of the volume I needed plus it as two channels, and light. But I wasn't in love yet, so I tried the Mesa TA 15 Lunchbox. This could get a wide range from sizzly to warmer tones, kind of similar to the Egnator, but not exactly. They had no Peavey tube amps to try.

 

I was just about ready to leave when I tried out the Fender Princeton - it had a really good tone, just not loud enough.

Right next to it was an old Blues Jr. Bingo! Real nice warm, fat tone -- just a perfect clean tone. Was fairly loud for only a 15 watt amp. Nice 'n' light. I don't know what year it was, it was used, only $200. The salesman guestimated it was a 1990s amp. The serial number is B-849051. Does anybody know a website where I can look this up? The reverb is broken, but I can always get that fixed. The jury is out on whether or not this will actually be loud enough, but if it turns out that if it's not, then I'll get a KBP810. Heck, I've paid more than this for some of the stomps that I have!

I cranked it up and it has a wonderful crunch to it. I'll bet it'll love my pedals! I don't think it has any BillM mods to it, but I love the tone, just as it is. If I ever mod it, maybe I'd just put a standby switch in it. I'm surprised at the huge difference between this old Blues Jr compared to the new ones. I was told the new ones are made in Mexico, and mine was made in the U.S. I looked at the tubes, they all say 'Fender' on them, and the speaker said 'Fender' on it too, but I have no clue what kind of speaker it is. Maybe looking up the serial # will tell me. I pick it up next Thursday, then I'll take it to band practice and see how it does. Oh Happy Day! : )

[tulk1]

Kat, you got a '90s BJr? Nice!! I've gigged a BJr before. It'll be plenty loud, no doubt. BTW, my gigging amp is only 15w. Congrats on finding that gem!

[bolero]

$200 that's a good deal!!

 

good analogy to pedal prices....definitely worthwhile...congrats!!

 

15 amps is loud....you should try that into a 4x12 or 4x10 I bet it will sound huge, but not overbearing

[kbp810]

Great find! ...and I'm with Bolero, I bet if you ran it through a 4x10/12 (or even a 2x12) you would be very, very, happy with the result.

[DetroitBlues]

The older Blues Jr's were made in USA. Fender has a website for product dating, your amp might of been built in 1991, but that doesn't sound right since the BJ came out in 1995. All 90's models were USA made. Was there only one letter or two before the actual numbers?

 

http://www.fender.co...-product-dating

 

Great find, I'm sure the reverb is fixable.... KBP should be able to help (if he has time!)

[koula901]

Detroit.

 

Thanks for the link. Just one letter - but I don't know if I was looking at the right tag as it's all silver and no signatures. I'll take a closer look when the amp comes home to mama next Thurs.

[schundog]

Congratulations, Katy! Blues Juniors are often poo-pooed, but I like mine a lot, and loved it even more once I had the BillM mods done and changed the speaker to a Eminence Texas Heat. If/when you decide to do anything, I'd do a speaker change first; probably the most noticable change you can make. you will have to remove the amp chassis from the cabinet, but it's an easy job; 4 screws takes the chassis out. The reverb problem is quite common on these. Here's BillM's article on how to fix it.

 

http://billmaudio.com/wp/?page_id=46

 

Also, the older Blues Juniors had a green PCB board, and had a darker tone. The newer ones have a cream board. There was an issue with weak reverb on some of the green boards. Here's the master on THAT.

 

http://billmaudio.com/wp/?page_id=34

 

Bill offers a standby switch now, but has said before that 15 watt amps simply don't need one. They don't hit the tubes with enough voltage when the amp is turned on to shorten the life of the tubes. I suggest reading through his site. The guy really knows these amps.

[koula901]

hey, thanks Brian!

[blackjack]

I hope yours, like the newer ones, has a speaker jack on the chassis. You can unplug the internal speaker at that point, and instead run to a speaker/cab you're interested in trying out. This would definitely be the first change for me. The bj cab itself could stand to be deeper, but if you like the idea of just the one package (instead of an extension cab), then put it in. A better speaker will give the biggest bang.

 

Tubes would be next, at least for me.

[FredZepp]

Congrats on the new amp... it sounds like you properly ran them through their paces and picked a winner.

 

You'll have a great time with your Blues Jr. and your pedals.

 

It sounds like you've got a good ear for what you want.

[Guest HRB853370]

Koula, congrats on the new amp. See you didn't have to spend a ton of money to get something to gig with. Now save your dollars for a Twin Reverb. Those amps will blow the ears off anybody!

[111518]

I've never had much contact with these amps, but from all the knowledgeable comments here it sounds like a very reasonable purchase and that your patience and rational conduct of this search is likely to yield a very workable amp at a low price.

 

Better keep it quiet ... if this sort of conduct became widespread it could be the end of the world of gear as we know it. (To actually play the $200 amp beside the boutique amps to compare the tone ... that seems truly dangerous.)

 

Congrats.

[barrymclark]

Man, that is a great grab! Sorry to hear they are given crap. They are wonderful sounding amps! I sold those things like crazy when I worked retail. Another great amp that REALLY got crapped on was the Crate 5w class A. I can't remember the model name... but it had an 8" Celestion too. It really sounded good. They didn't last long. The Crate name ran people off and they barely sold.

 

I am a little bummed I didn't think of the blues jr.

 

...but yeah, the Hot Rod series tend to be a bit more high toned.

[Hfan]

Congrats Katy good deal. I have a Blues Jr I did most of the mods myself. Any amp tech could do them pretty easy, makes a world of difference, though stock it is still a nice amp. If you do the standby switch (nice for swapping guitars with the power on etc) you may as well at least do a few of the basic mods while the chassis is out. Check out Bill's site. Been a while but the power supply stiffining and tone stack mods come to mind. Also an adjustable bias mod which will help you extend the life of the power tubes. These mods are very cheap and make a big difference.

 

What speaker has it got? I have the tweed version came with a Jensen 12 N (made in Italy) planning on an Eminence Canabis Rex down the road. The Texas heat is a good match as well. Eminence has a speaker comparator on their site.

[kbp810]

Congrats Katy good deal. I have a Blues Jr I did most of the mods myself. Any amp tech could do them pretty easy, makes a world of difference, though stock it is still a nice amp. If you do the standby switch (nice for swapping guitars with the power on etc) you may as well at least do a few of the basic mods while the chassis is out. Check out Bill's site. Been a while but the power supply stiffining and tone stack mods come to mind. Also an adjustable bias mod which will help you extend the life of the power tubes. These mods are very cheap and make a big difference.

 

What speaker has it got? I have the tweed version came with a Jensen 12 N (made in Italy) planning on an Eminence Canabis Rex down the road. The Texas heat is a good match as well. Eminence has a speaker comparator on their site.

I really like those Jensen P12N's (even the Italian made ones) - shoot me a PM if you ever feel like getting rid of it down the road.

[schundog]

I read an interesting thing in my new book "The Stratocaster Chronicles" last night. This is a quote from Brent's favorite guy (haha) Sterling Ball. "The first surprise was that Leo was hard of hearing. He really had a hard time hearing the high frequencies. When it sounded like butter to Leo, it wsa over-the-top harsh for the rest of us. Back then it was a hard fought battle to get Leo to agree to softening the high end. I think that in a funny way Loe 's hearing difficulties really shaped the way the world hears the guitar."

 

While Leo obviously didn't have anything to do with the development of the Blues Junior, this quote, if taken as fact, shows that Leo's name in musical history would be cemented even if he never built a single guitar. All this from a shy, unasumming, pocket protector-wearing genius tinkerer. Kind of sounds like some other guys I know up North....

[Hfan]

Katy, another good site w Blues Jr content and demos:

 

http://www.oldtonezone.com/category/understanding-tube-amps/

[barrymclark]

So..... when we will we hear some clips?

[barrymclark]

Congrats Katy good deal. I have a Blues Jr I did most of the mods myself. Any amp tech could do them pretty easy, makes a world of difference, though stock it is still a nice amp. If you do the standby switch (nice for swapping guitars with the power on etc) you may as well at least do a few of the basic mods while the chassis is out. Check out Bill's site. Been a while but the power supply stiffining and tone stack mods come to mind. Also an adjustable bias mod which will help you extend the life of the power tubes. These mods are very cheap and make a big difference.

 

What speaker has it got? I have the tweed version came with a Jensen 12 N (made in Italy) planning on an Eminence Canabis Rex down the road. The Texas heat is a good match as well. Eminence has a speaker comparator on their site.

Love that speaker!

[pegleg32]

Well done Katy, you sure can't argue with that price. Looking forward to hearing some clips of the band!!!!!!!

[koula901]

Hfan,

thanks for the info - I'll be sure to check out the web site. I think your ears and mine may have similar taste, as I really loved the tone of your KBP810 at PSP last summer. What kind of speaker does that have? I believe the speaker in my BJr is the stock speaker - it says 'Fender' on it -- may be the "Fender Special" speaker BillM speaks of. I won't have it home till next Thursday. But I'd like to get it to a tech to give it a good going over, it's awfully dusty, check out the tubes, find the serial number, figure out the speaker, and fix the reverb.

 

@barrymclark: sadly, I haven't yet learned how to work my Zoom H4N recorder - there just aren't enough hrs in a day, and the manual is lacking - even my engineer friend couldn't quite figure out how to work it; I haven't had the time to spend hrs fiddling with it. If I do, I'll start posting clips, but please don't hold your breath .

 

@Schundog: interesting stuff about Leo!! He did produce the brightest sounding guitars around.

 

 

The amazing thing about me finding this amp was, that I really didn't know what I was looking for until I heard it. When I did, it was an 'ah ha' experience.

[fxdx99]

LOL - well what took ya so dang long!

 

You don't waste any time - set your sites and GO. Nice post. Congrats on your new amp! Suspect you'll find 15W thru a 12" plenty loud, allowing you to get the power tubes in their sweet spot. Those li'l amps can really sing... Testify! (Moses has a 535, too, but couldn't find a vid of him with it...)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF1yrRduQQs

[DetroitBlues]

Katy, another good site w Blues Jr content and demos:

 

http://www.oldtonezo...ding-tube-amps/

 

Anthony does a lot of great demo's. First it was the stock standard versus NOS, then he did the full Bill M thing...

[koula901]

LOL - well what took ya so dang long!

 

Testify! (Moses has a 535, too, but couldn't find a vid of him with it...)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF1yrRduQQs

 

Can I have an Amen, brother!

[rjsanders]

got a used one around '98, had a Celestion Greenback in it. sounded great & displaced a Hot Rod Deluxe for gigging for a couple years (6pc blues rock outfit w/drums & percussion & B3), until i started using Riveras & playing outdoors. a keeper, i think (my son got mine)...