Fender BJr. not harmonica friendly ???

SirJackdeFuzz

SirJackdeFuzz

New member
Guys, what am i doing wrong here . . .


. . . Blues Jr. squeel like a raped pig at anything past 9 o'clock on the vol ! :blackeye:


OK, it is a super-super cheap mic that i use, but i thought that is how the harp-blowers got their signiture tone in the 50's, but using thr bottom of the line type stuff !

I have a 6m cord (ermmm, 14 od feet away from the amp), and still, no go !
At that distance away from the amp, i hear the sound louder from the harmonica infront of me, than from the amp. Infact, i can not hear the amp over the sound from infront of my face :eek13:


Please help . . .
 
Re: Fender BJr. not harmonica friendly ???

Requirements for a harp amp (both for tone and for feedback issues) are very different than for guitar. You want lower preamp gain, lower plate voltages, less high end, 6V6 or 6L6 output section, and a simple preamp design. 10" speakers seem to work better than 12"'s for most players. The Blues Jr., which is pretty much the opposite on most of these parameters, is not an ideal candidate for harp without some serious mods. For starters, you can clip that 100pF bright cap out (C1?). Try some tube swaps (12AU7 or 12AY7 in V1). Parallel the 100K slope resistor with a 10K to get you to 56K; more of a tweed character but then you will have to lose some preamp gain to balance it out. Your warranty is now null and void...but it might sound a little better for harp. Or just sell it to a guitar player and buy an old Kalamazoo or Silvertone...
 
Re: Fender BJr. not harmonica friendly ???

dude, that reverb circuit in the blues jr. and the fat circuit is adding a couple of major gain stages which are not microphone friendly...

You should have gotten a Pro Jr. :) harp player friend of mine had a blues jr. and had the same problem, he went to the pro jr.....and then he went on ebay and picked up a 1950s/1960s Gibson Skylark...and that amp can freakin honk!
 
Re: Fender BJr. not harmonica friendly ???

I've seen quite a few harp players using Blues Jr's, but they usually mic the amp through a PA. This way, the amp doesn't need to to be way cranked, and can be more remotely located away from the harp player.

Several years ago I gigged with a band featuring a hot harp player. The solution for us, with limited PA and monitor facilities, was to run the output from his Super Champ through a closed back 2x12, or sometimes through a closed back 1x15. The closed back cabs really helped control the feedback, and really throw his sound out there.
 
Re: Fender BJr. not harmonica friendly ???

MMMMM, don't think i am going to mod my Blues Jr. to try and make it harp-friendly. I'll keep it as a low-wattage guitar amp !

But i might ask that lil 'ol Texas amp building co., better known as Celtic Amps, to make ma a 4x10 Bassman LTD Clone - just better than what Fender can ever dream to make !!! Besides, i am very new to harmonica too - only got this one a week or so before X-Mass !

Looks like it is gonna be a steep learning curve !
 
Re: Fender BJr. not harmonica friendly ???

i play with a harp player who uses a blues jr. he runs the mids and bass most of the way up. treble and reverb off gain about half and the master as high as he can get. get a decent mic and start there and see what works, just turn the volume on the mic off before you bend over to adjust the amp settings. i keep a rubber ball in my cable bag to whip at the harp player when he squeals
 
Re: Fender BJr. not harmonica friendly ???

Not sure exactly how a raped pig might sound, but I'm guessing it's not a good tone? A decent dynamic mic will help ALOT. You don't have a noise gate of some sort, which can close when you're not huffing on that harp?
 
Re: Fender BJr. not harmonica friendly ???

There is a difference between mic fedabck and the amp sounding bad. I am not sure what a rapted pig sounds like either and I grew up with family who raised hogs! I guess we did not have any PETA based sex offenders. But, from the description it sounds more like feedback form the mic and not the amp.
 
Re: Fender BJr. not harmonica friendly ???

More-Gear-Than-Skill said:
Not sure exactly how a raped pig might sound, but I'm guessing it's not a good tone? A decent dynamic mic will help ALOT. You don't have a noise gate of some sort, which can close when you're not huffing on that harp?
Click to expand...



HAHAhaha - that is about al i do, huffing that is :laugh2:

No, i just got an uBER-Super-cheapo mic (R50.00) just for sh!ts and giggles - never thought it would be a good mic, BUT i did think it would be better than it actually is !
Like i said, the sound from the harp is almost twice as loud as the sound comming from the amp, before she squeels ! Like this...:yell: :yell: :yell:

If i am remotely succesfull with the harp, i might pull the trigger on the one and only, "GREEN BULLET", Harp mic !
 
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