In cathode bias with the feedback loop disengaged it was much looser, browner and more touch responsive a much better blues sound. I have replaced all the tubes and used contact cleaner as well and it did not fix it. Fender hot rod series amplifiers can be found on every stage in the world, large and small, and are used by guitarists from all walks of life. Instead of a nice pure tone, i get a buzzy, undefined sound. A replacement fixed that problem, but another arose. The point of the video is to help you get a handle on what kinds of boosts, overdrives and boosts might suit your gain needs, depending on your playing style, volume level and of course your. The reverb went out on my fender blues junior iii several months ago, and i took it to the dealer to get it fixed.
Add renowned fender reverb, flexible controls, fat switch. I think fenders intent was for the little screen reisistors, r35 and r36, to act as fuses and burn out if theres too much screen current. Ive had this one about two weeks and its started having. Not getting the most out of your blues junior, then try this trick amp fender blues junior iii tweed bandcamp. To improve the life span of the tubes, you need to bring the bias setting down.
It is aimed at achieving the warm, tubedriven tone common in many styles of american blues and blues rock dating back to the 1950s, while remaining both portable and affordable. May 22, 2016 on first impressions at least, the fender blues junior iii is perfect. It is the cannabis rex limited edition one and at first i loved it. When you buy products through links across our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. More fender blues junior problems discussion in ampage area started by cvr31, mar 4, 2015. Fender frequently releases limited editions of the blues junior. Fender 68 princeton reverb vs the vox ac10c1 amplifier an. Buy fender 2231500971 blues jr iv surf green p12q limited edition amplifier. Talk with your fellow tone freaks on the webs liveliest and friendliest.
Blues juniors and pro juniors have been cracking their solder joints since the mid1990s, when they were still made with lead solder. Apr 10, 2016 this is the second one ive had and its developed the same fault as the first one. The problem is that the concentrated heat from the el84s goes straight up into the sockets and you get all that expansion and contraction. There isnt any hum or oscillation or anything like that. Those solder joints were dressed with newerthicker solder, and as a precaution, the preamp tubes were also dressed.
Fender introduced the blues junior in 1995, and has revised and updated it periodically since then. Crackling comes from loose springs in the tube sockets again, usually the output tubes or from cracked solder joints where the output tube sockets attach to the tube board, behind the two 4conductor ribbon cables. Dec 16, 2008 a fender hot rod deluxe is on the fritz. This is the second one ive had and its developed the same fault as the first one. Sep 23, 2011 compared to the blues junior really not as good as its cracked up to be, the deluxe reverb could be called the twin reverb junior. For distortion i use just my boss ds1 pedal with clean amp sound. Older blues jrs that are made in the usa are all getting due to have their filter caps replaced and many of the current blues juniors made in mexico are known to have leaky filter caps. While it is dressed that way it is nothing like a tweed. Blues junior reverb mods felixv replied apr 21, 2020 at 10. It features 15 watts of tube el84 power, and it has a single channel with basic eq as well as a fat switch which pumps up the midrange and gain a bit and onboard reverb as well. More fender blues junior problems gretschtalk forum. I found that pushing up on the bracket that holds my el84 tubes when the cracking happen, it stops it. Blues jr snap crackle and popping discussion in amp central station started by tim allard, jul. The unbrokenstring crew is amazed at the tough life that this tweed fender blues junior has endured.
Combo amps free delivery possible on eligible purchases. I bought this blues junior in december 2007 and it immediately became one of my favorite amps. I recognize that the blues junior has reverb and some overdrive, but i am planning on running pedals for guitar andor using it for harmonica so thats not that big of a selling point for me. In the course of selling and building amps i often get asked how my amps will compare to fender blues junior. Turns a few solder joints were cracked where the sockets were mounted on the pc board pretty common with board mounted sockets. Need new blues junior schematic 103revc telecaster. Fender blues junior iv 15w 1x12 tube guitar combo amplifier. Improve the tone and reliability of your fender blues junior amp with a new set of high quality caps. Its golden tones are generated by an alltube signal path using a pair of el84 output tubes and 3 12ax7 preamp tubes.
A cracked tube will definite the audio quality signficantly. Fender blues junior 1990s tweed price guide reverb. It has minor changes over the last one, like front. The serial numbers for these amps begin with lo, indicating that they were. Vintage makeover to a longtime favorite the blues jr. How often to replace tubes in blues jr music gear zone. This amp is made as virtually all fender for blues, funk, country music is not seeking another heavy saturation.
Ive always noticed a pronounced fuzziness on low frequency notes, especially the bottom two strings. The fender blues junior is like a smaller version of the famed hot rod deluxe and deville amps, right down to the cosmetics. Ive been playing my fender blues junior and recently its just not doing it for me. I had been through a long search for an amp that could give me classic fender tone at a reasonable volume and weight. These nofrills amps are affordable, reliable and loud, and they pair extremely well with stomp boxes. Shop for the fender blues junior amp cover in brown and receive free shipping and guaranteed lowest price. Fender hot rod 02205700 blues junior iii 15w ltd tube guitar combo amplifier, tweed. Has anyone here owned or played both the fender pro jr. Quick video on the output tubes and biasing of a fender blues jr. Fixing the reverb tank billm audio blues junior mods. Fender hot rod 02205700 blues junior iii 15w ltd tube guitar. Blues jr snap crackle and popping telecaster guitar forum.
If so, would you please share what differences you have found. This warmtoned favorite takes our 15watt, tube preamp and power amp platform and pushes it through a 12 fender special design speaker. Find fender blues junior in canada visit kijiji classifieds to buy, sell, or trade almost anything. I gig and rehearse twice a week with a junior cranked to the gills and i have half a dozen friends in the local blues scene who us em as well. At this stage, you can also check to see if any tubes have cracked. I wont be much help, but my new blues junior started getting a crackling noise and it turned out to be the tube sockets. Covers failures due to drops, spills and cracked screens and other mechanical and electrical breakdowns. Selling fender blues junior because i barely use in top top condition a great amp there are better if youre got about 2 k spare it comes with a flight case included in the sale fully pointtopoint handwired including all new alpha pots, orange drop caps and metal film power resistors. Im no amp tech but one thought that comes to mind is the possibility there may be some cracked solder joints on the tube sockets. The problem with this guy were the solder joints on the power tube sockets. Shop for the fender blues junior lacquered tweed 15w 1x12 combo and receive free shipping on your order and the guaranteed lowest price.
Fender literally wrote the book on electric basses, laying the foundation for musical innovation and evolution. Fender blues junior iv 15 watt electric guitar amplifier. Standard fender blues junior uses eminence speaker. Some people have hacksawed the ends off the tank to make it fit, but the ruby tank will probably give you all the reverb youd ever want. Compared to the blues junior really not as good as its cracked up to be, the deluxe reverb could be called the twin reverb junior.
That pedal show get more from your fender blues jr, loud. Fender blues junior for sale in uk view 24 bargains. Blues jr tweed vs 65 deluxe reverb reissue my les paul forum. New and used items, cars, real estate, jobs, services, vacation rentals and more virtually anywhere in ontario. Jul, 2018 this is a shootout between the vox ac10c1 and the fender princeton. Mar 31, 2019 in order to avoid the cold start problem, some manufacturers like fender keeps the bias high. In certain situations, it can sound really good but as a daily driver, i find that it sounds too small, too constricted. Blues junior history can be divided into two major categories. It is regarded as a highquality, simple and portable tube amp for stage or studio use. The setting at done at the factory and you cant change it at will. Unfollow fender blues junior to stop getting updates on your ebay feed. Any new production tubes grooves, jjs, tung sol, ehx, sovtek, etc etc run just fine in a junior. Blues jr snap crackle and popping telecaster guitar.
There is a lot of sand and highfrequency crap in sound. Fender introduced the blues junior in 1995, and has revised and updated it. Unfollow fender blues junior amp to stop getting updates on your ebay feed. Unfortunately, the fender blues is a non adjustable bias amp. The fender blues jr is a 15 watt class a amp and it only requires you to pop in and play with your choice of output tube saw a bj recently and the output tube plates were running very hot visibly glowing red in subdued light.
Why a fender blues junior does not sound like a vintage. Lacquered tweed takes fender s 15w gem and gives it the true vintage treatment with a lacquered tweed covering and a vintagevoiced 12 jensen speaker. Buy fender hot rod 02205700 blues junior iii 15w ltd tube guitar combo amplifier, tweed. With all due respect ive read a lot of your posts and you know youre stuff this is way too alarmist. He cofounded and was originally the principal designer for budda amplification, though he launched east amplification in 2010. I am going to probably get some crap for saying this but i think the blues junior is not really all it is cracked up to be. The blues junior iv features the classic fender look of sparkling silver grille cloth, lightly aged to give it even more mojo. Sep 24, 2014 accordingly, the big f has updated the format over the years, and the blues junior iii, launched in 2010, features a number of additions that have gone down well. It sounds perfect with telecaster and stratocaster guitars, but its a bit bassy for my taste when gibson guitars are plugged into it. Fender blues junior lacquered tweed 15w 1x12 combo guitar. On first impressions at least, the fender blues junior iii is perfect. First one lasted about a month before a valve went bad. Oct 07, 2019 the unbrokenstring crew is amazed at the tough life that this tweed fender blues junior has endured. As of lately, fender released new edition called blues junior iii, which replaces the standard one.
They were all cracked causing that annoying crackling sound. Dec 27, 20 with all due respect ive read a lot of your posts and you know youre stuff this is way too alarmist. Discussion in the effect effect started by bwd81977, feb 19, 2015. Some users resolder them first thing, when they get a new bj. The basic construction of the blues junior is very different from vintage fender amps. Many thanks just ordered replacement tubes for a blues junior, not sure if thats the cure yet amp wont power on, but the fuses arent blown either. The blues junior has become such a common commodity that holds a place as a moderately priced amp that everyone. After a bit of exploration i discovered that both power tubes jj el84s had been dislodged from their sockets, and that one of the tubes now had a broken tip. Parts for fender vintage blackface amps 19641967 parts for fender vintage silverface amps 19681983 parts for fender hot rod deluxe. My previous amp was fender pro junior and it worked great.
These amplifiers are very similar on paper but they sound quite a bit different to each other. All are welcome, from seasoned pros to absolute beginners. I own a fender blues junior and recently had to replace a fuse because it blew and the amp wasnt powering up. The crappy black plastic sockets were replaced under warranty with more black plastic sockets, but that fixed the problem. Basic construction differences from vintage fenders.
Repair of broken headstocks, like this one, is rapidly becoming our speciality. Can we bring this poor thing back to life brian salvaged this amp from the curb in front of a house in north carolina while volunteering in the cleanup following hurricane florence in 2018. When i max all the controls i can barely get any volume out of the amp. A a hi jeff, i own a fender blues junior and recently had to replace a fuse because it blew and the amp wasnt powering up. It features 15 watts of tube el84 power, and it has a single channel with basic eq as well as a fat switch which pumps up the midrange and gain a. The junior s fender meetsvox sparkling highend and fat midrange make both single coils and humbuckers positively sing. Failing output tubes are the first place to look for popping noises. Plugging in, the clean tone was exactly what i was looking for. Jeff bober is one of the godfathers of the lowwattage amp revolution.
It is as if i am playing a amp with a 8 speaker as opposed to a 12 and that is not really appealing to me in the slightest. Hi guys and gals, when i did my shaft mod, i unplugged of course, opened up the back, discharged the powersee bills explaination how to do this elsewhere on the siteand slid my finger under each pot as i was pushing the knobs back on, you may need to push a little and wiggle the knob a little to get the larger ring down inside the faceplate, so support the pot from underneath before. If we cant fix it, we will send you a reimbursement for your product purchase price. By the way, i got doublelucky in that swapmy trading partner not only took the swap evenup, but it turned out he was an amp tech who specialised in fenders and had rebuilt the twin reverb to complete 1965 specs. The blues junior iii is a 15watt warmtoned, longtime favorite the perfect grabandgo tube amp for stage and studio. Volume knobs cranked to 12, bass and mid at 3pm, treble at noon. What ill try to do here, is to help you really learn about the fender blues junior itself, its tonal character and versatility, give you some introduction on history of this amp, drop some audio clips that i hope will be useful to you, and ultimately help you decide whether to go for one or not. The included 1button footswitch is used to remotely activate the fat switch, boosting the midrange for pronounced tonal thickness when soloing. A week ago i plugged in my blues junior 2001, green circuit board to play, only to get nothingno power light. Lacquered tweed takes fenders 15w gem and gives it the true vintage treatment with a lacquered tweed covering and a vintagevoiced 12 jensen speaker. When it is hot for a long periods of time, the tube gets worn out faster. The blues junior is somewhat prone to cold solder joints, especially on the valve sockets. A common misconception about the blues junior is that the blues junior basically a tweed type amp. The creamcolored board is laid out entirely differently and better than the green board.
Blues junior lacquered tweed guitar amplifiers fender. The pro junior iii is a simple, uncluttered 15watt tone machinea great grabandgo tube amp for stage and studio. Add our renowned fender reverb, flexible controls, and. Theres is only one thing about this amp that i dont like. Quick and sloppy, bomb ass riffs through my new fender blues junior iv. Shut down during a gig, it was very hot, master and volume both at about 6, no discernible strange noises before shutdown tone was getting thin maybe. The fender blues jr is part of the popular hot rod series of tube amps from fender. The juniors fendermeetsvox sparkling highend and fat midrange make both single coils and humbuckers positively sing. Engaging the feedback loop and or the fixed bias would make it tighter, cleaner and brighter. The longer tank, used in the hot rod deluxe and blues deluxe, is electrically compatible with the blues junior, but it doesnt fit inside the bjr cabinet. Accordingly, the big f has updated the format over the years, and the blues junior iii, launched in 2010, features a number of additions that have gone down well. Getting rid of blues jr discussion in ampage area started by floeighty2, apr 4, 2016. The blues junior is a tube guitar amplifier introduced in 1990 by the fender musical instrument corporation. Hot rod amps deliver unmistakable fender tone and are the perfect platform for musicians to craft their own signature sound.