Fender Blues Jr. or Fender Pro Jr. or other suggestion

[treyhaislip]

I currently play through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe (1995 MIA FWIW) and while I absolutely love the tone it is extremely loud where I usually play (usually have it on 3.)

So I'm looking for a smaller tube amp (love the Fender Clean Tones) and was thinking the Fender Blues Jr. or the Fender Pro Jr. as both are 15 watts, which would be less than my HRD's 40 watts.

From the specs it looks like the Blues Jr. uses 3 12AX7s and 2 EL84s while the Pro Jr. uses 2 12AX7s and 2 EL84s. The Blues Jr. offers Reverb while the Pro Jr. does not (don't currently have a Reverb pedal but that should change in the not so distant future.) The Blues Jr. also offers tone controls for Treble, Mid, and Bass while the Pro Jr. just offers one tone control.

I really like the simplicity of the Pro Jr.; however, I like that the Blues Jr. allows for more control on the EQ.

Your thoughts?

EDIT: Forget about the Apartment, 9/10 I play my acoustic in the apartment and only plug in the tube amp to try out a new pedal or pedal arrangement before a gig.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Fender Blues Jr. or Fender Pro Jr. or other suggestion

Try a Princeton Reverb as well.

 

[blakejcan]

Re: Fender Blues Jr. or Fender Pro Jr. or other suggestion

If you're in an apartment you'll still probably play the BJ or the Pro on about 3.

If you want something apartment friendly w/ cleans you're kind of in a tough spot. Lunchbox size amps don't do cleans well. Just stick with what you got, play it low and get your OD from pedals is my thot.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Fender Blues Jr. or Fender Pro Jr. or other suggestion

Try a Princeton Reverb as well.

Thank you for the suggestion, I will definitely look into the Princeton Reverb. The big pull to me for the Blues Jr. is that it uses a 12" speaker...I tend to go for the 1x12s. That being said, the only tube amp I've had that was less than 40 Watts was a Bugera V22.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Fender Blues Jr. or Fender Pro Jr. or other suggestion

If you're in an apartment you'll still probably play the BJ or the Pro on about 3.

If you want something apartment friendly w/ cleans you're kind of in a tough spot. Lunchbox size amps don't do cleans well. Just stick with what you got, play it low and get your OD from pedals is my thot.

Ha! Tube amps are notoriously loud. lol Well, we all kinda allow for noise until 8/9ish–that's when the neighbor's kids usually go inside. Its actually been a great experience in the apartments–I don't complain about everyone elses' (grammatically correct?) noises and loud movies and I've yet to get a complaint about my guitar. But after 8/9ish it gets quiet throughout–we all try to be respectful of eachother.

I mainly play my acoustics at the Apartment–when I play out I would like to get more power out of my amp but even at 3 the HRD can really cut through–I love it but would like to push the amp more than I am.

 

[guitarplayer100]

Re: Fender Blues Jr. or Fender Pro Jr. or other suggestion

Blues Junior. Cheaper, bigger EQ and bigger speaker than Princeton. If you like your HDR you can't go wrong with BJr. I wouldn't look at ProJr due to it's smaller speaker, no master control, one EQ knob only and no spring reverb and almost price of BJr. 15W is still loud IMHO. Hope it helps.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Fender Blues Jr. or Fender Pro Jr. or other suggestion

Blues Junior. Cheaper, bigger EQ and bigger speaker than Princeton. If you like your HDR you can't go wrong with BJr. I wouldn't look at ProJr due to it's smaller speaker, no master control, one EQ knob only and no spring reverb and almost price of BJr. 15W is still loud IMHO. Hope it helps.

Thanks! That's what I was thinking with the Blues Jr...there was a Fender Pro Jr. in tweed for a very reasonable price on CL and I was intrigued. But basically what you said was my thinking for going with the Blues Jr.

 

[JimmyO]

Re: Fender Blues Jr. or Fender Pro Jr. or other suggestion

Big disclaimer - I haven't tried the blues junior. BUT the pro junior is my go to amp for around the house and garage band jamming. I do not use reverb in a band, instead I use an analog delay - vapor trail - to get some ambience, it cuts through the mix better. I use an od and distortion pedal for the gain and use the pro junior for fender clean tones. Around half volume the pro junior starts to generate its own overdrive so I use my OD pedal to boost for leads. It's a real basic setup and I can easily carry amp in one hand and guitar in the other. I use it for classic rock and blues and you can crank it up and use the guitars volume and tone controls to go from clean to lead tones.

It gives a warm tweed style tone that just gets better as you turn it up and responds to pedals well. The only downside is that it is biased pretty hot so carry a couple of spare power tubes. On a good note the bias is fixed so no rebiasing needed with tube swaps. Jeff Beck has been known to play live with a couple of pro juniors and an overdrive pedal.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Fender Blues Jr. or Fender Pro Jr. or other suggestion

The Pro Jr. is NOT a quiet amp.

It only has a single volume. The way it works is not typical. In an apartment you would get in trouble all over the place. It goes from silent to quiet to loud pretty dang fast, like from 1-2, and then it is just more gain.

I love my Pro Jr. - but you want a Blues Jr., or honestly, I'd seriously get over tone and just find something small that sounds good like a small Solid state or modeler with headphones.

 

[JimmyO]

Re: Fender Blues Jr. or Fender Pro Jr. or other suggestion

The Pro Jr. is NOT a quiet amp..

Ace an is correct. It can get loud. If you are looking to get overdrive from the amp rather than pedals then the blues junior may be better as it has a master volume. I run my pro junior at 2 on the volume at home, with an overdrive pedal, and my wife still watches TV downstairs with no problem. But from there the volume does jump up and to get amp overdrive it will be way too loud for an apartment. Depending on what you are looking for Fender also makes the Super Champ 15watt tube/modeling amp. If you are looking just for home use you could consider something like that, and use your hot rod deluxe for rehearsals and live etc.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Fender Blues Jr. or Fender Pro Jr. or other suggestion

The Pro Jr. is NOT a quiet amp.

It only has a single volume. The way it works is not typical. In an apartment you would get in trouble all over the place. It goes from silent to quiet to loud pretty dang fast, like from 1-2, and then it is just more gain.

I love my Pro Jr. - but you want a Blues Jr., or honestly, I'd seriously get over tone and just find something small that sounds good like a small Solid state or modeler with headphones.

Big disclaimer - I haven't tried the blues junior. BUT the pro junior is my go to amp for around the house and garage band jamming. I do not use reverb in a band, instead I use an analog delay - vapor trail - to get some ambience, it cuts through the mix better. I use an od and distortion pedal for the gain and use the pro junior for fender clean tones. Around half volume the pro junior starts to generate its own overdrive so I use my OD pedal to boost for leads. It's a real basic setup and I can easily carry amp in one hand and guitar in the other. I use it for classic rock and blues and you can crank it up and use the guitars volume and tone controls to go from clean to lead tones.

It gives a warm tweed style tone that just gets better as you turn it up and responds to pedals well. The only downside is that it is biased pretty hot so carry a couple of spare power tubes. On a good note the bias is fixed so no rebiasing needed with tube swaps. Jeff Beck has been known to play live with a couple of pro juniors and an overdrive pedal.

Ace an is correct. It can get loud. If you are looking to get overdrive from the amp rather than pedals then the blues junior may be better as it has a master volume. I run my pro junior at 2 on the volume at home, with an overdrive pedal, and my wife still watches TV downstairs with no problem. But from there the volume does jump up and to get amp overdrive it will be way too loud for an apartment. Depending on what you are looking for Fender also makes the Super Champ 15watt tube/modeling amp. If you are looking just for home use you could consider something like that, and use your hot rod deluxe for rehearsals and live etc.

Lots of good stuff here. First, I really shouldn't have mentioned the apartment–90% of the time I'm home I play my acoustic and I can play my Hot Rod Deluxe before 8/9pm around/just under 3 without a single complaint so far (been there a year next month.) Second, I would like my clean channel to get to the natural distortion–something I can't do currently with my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. My thinking (hope lol) is by going from 40 Watts down to 15 Watts at the same volume (not same number on the dial but over noise level) on the 25 less Watts that I can have the natural distortion pushing the amp on the clean channel when I strum/pick harder. I play in an old Church building that surprisingly has fantastic acoustics (they covered the inside of the old stained glass windows with acoustic foam panels.)

Thanks for the info–I'm thinking at least giving the Blues Jr. a shot. Thanks again!

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Fender Blues Jr. or Fender Pro Jr. or other suggestion

In that case, Princeton Reverb may not be your amp. Even with the inefficient speaker and reduced negative feedback switch I had installed it's still pretty darn loud when it's breaking up. Sounds great but pretty loud. Also great with a KOT, TS style or transparent style OD pushing it.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Fender Blues Jr. or Fender Pro Jr. or other suggestion

In that case, Princeton Reverb may not be your amp. Even with the inefficient speaker and reduced negative feedback switch I had installed it's still pretty darn loud when it's breaking up. Sounds great but pretty loud. Also great with a KOT, TS style or transparent style OD pushing it.

Thank you for the suggestion and info! I'm always up to researching other options.

There is an awesome amp shop in Decatur, GA called Acorn Amps. I need to bring my HRD back to them to get a new handle put on and I will ask them about what they would suggest. I did find a really cool Rivera Pubster for sale but it is 45 Watts...so I'd be in the same boat. lol

 

[jimijames]

Re: Fender Blues Jr. or Fender Pro Jr. or other suggestion

I totally empathize but let me tell you even my 5w epiphone valve junior was too loud for my apartment, and I lived on the end of the block with no upstairs or downstairs neighbors... The thing is even a single ended small bottle amp like the valve Jr. Is going be be really loud before it starts to distort. My experience with tube amps is that even with logarithmic taper pots you really need a master volume amp and you'll still have to lean on preamp vs power amp distortion.

That being said I subseqently gutted the valve Jr. And redid it as an 18w 1974x clone which sounds massively better clean but wow buddy is it even louder haha. That being said I did get a chance to crank it for the first time in 2 months and my word it sounds good hot.

Basically, my recommendation is going to be either invest in a really good dirt pedal (e.g. either a legitimate high-voltage tube pre or your favorite flavor of dirt) or use a good iso cab.

Fwiw fender cleans are great but I think the 1974x is as good for a straight ahead tube clean sound... Doesn't have that fender magic but it's a very taught and straight ahead sounding. I prefer it with my telecaster because it's a little less country sounding clean lol.

Another great option is a power brake so you can get the amp cooking but I find that the cranked amp sound is ultimately a combination of volume and pushed tubes. My amp only has a 5751 and a 12ay7 so even cranked it's mostly power tube distortion which is some kind of wonderful. Just IMO though.

Yet another idea is to embrace the 1970s and build a transistor-based dirt box. Runoffgroove has done some great things with transistors and I find them to be a reasonable facsimile when volume doesn't otherwise permit cranked tube goodness. Check out the flabulanche over at madbean pedals for a great example of a fender-style transistor pedal that also has a lot of EP-style magic going on.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Fender Blues Jr. or Fender Pro Jr. or other suggestion

I totally empathize but let me tell you even my 5w epiphone valve junior was too loud for my apartment, and I lived on the end of the block with no upstairs or downstairs neighbors... The thing is even a single ended small bottle amp like the valve Jr. Is going be be really loud before it starts to distort. My experience with tube amps is that even with logarithmic taper pots you really need a master volume amp and you'll still have to lean on preamp vs power amp distortion.

That being said I subseqently gutted the valve Jr. And redid it as an 18w 1974x clone which sounds massively better clean but wow buddy is it even louder haha. That being said I did get a chance to crank it for the first time in 2 months and my word it sounds good hot.

Basically, my recommendation is going to be either invest in a really good dirt pedal (e.g. either a legitimate high-voltage tube pre or your favorite flavor of dirt) or use a good iso cab.

Fwiw fender cleans are great but I think the 1974x is as good for a straight ahead tube clean sound... Doesn't have that fender magic but it's a very taught and straight ahead sounding. I prefer it with my telecaster because it's a little less country sounding clean lol.

Another great option is a power brake so you can get the amp cooking but I find that the cranked amp sound is ultimately a combination of volume and pushed tubes. My amp only has a 5751 and a 12ay7 so even cranked it's mostly power tube distortion which is some kind of wonderful. Just IMO though.

Yet another idea is to embrace the 1970s and build a transistor-based dirt box. Runoffgroove has done some great things with transistors and I find them to be a reasonable facsimile when volume doesn't otherwise permit cranked tube goodness. Check out the flabulanche over at madbean pedals for a great example of a fender-style transistor pedal that also has a lot of EP-style magic going on.

Thank you for the info and suggestions!

I love the tone I am getting right now with the Hot Rod Deluxe and honestly, should've left the whole apartment thing outta it. I play in small to medium sized Churches and that is where I would like to have the amp pushed more. I typically play my acoustic at the apartment and the electric through a Boss Processor...so I should've left the whole apartment thing out.

Thanks again for the input!

 

[NotCardio]

Re: Fender Blues Jr. or Fender Pro Jr. or other suggestion

OK, not to beat a dead horse here, but you cannot crank a Blues Jr into power tube distortion and have it even remotely approaching anything that would be considered lower volume, which is what you said you wanted. You can dial the master down and go for broke on the preamp tubes, but again, that's not power tube distortion. Even 5-watters are going to be loud. I've got a Bugera V5 that you can switch down to 1W or .1W, and even at .1 it's loud if you crank it.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Fender Blues Jr. or Fender Pro Jr. or other suggestion

OK, not to beat a dead horse here, but you cannot crank a Blues Jr into power tube distortion and have it even remotely approaching anything that would be considered lower volume, which is what you said you wanted. You can dial the master down and go for broke on the preamp tubes, but again, that's not power tube distortion. Even 5-watters are going to be loud. I've got a Bugera V5 that you can switch down to 1W or .1W, and even at .1 it's loud if you crank it.

Thanks for the info! I was able to crank my Bugera V22 which was almost half the wattage of my Hot Rod Deluxe–so I would still like to give the Blues Jr. (less wattage than the V22) a try. Plus, it is a smaller amp than the HRD which would be easier for carrying. lol

 

[Lucy Diamond]

Re: Fender Blues Jr. or Fender Pro Jr. or other suggestion

Hello, [waves]

I have a 5 watt handwired Fender Champ and even that would be too loud for an apartment past, like, 9 o'clock on the dial.

Of your choices, I think the Blues Junior will give you the most for your money. They are loud when they need to be. They don't lose much when they are played through at lower volumes. They push nicely into breakup when you want them to and there are T O N S of mods out there for them if you ever want to mix things up a bit.

The amp is small enough to isolate it by putting it up on a chair or the couch or something which will make it seemingly less quiet to your neighbors.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Fender Blues Jr. or Fender Pro Jr. or other suggestion

Hello, [waves]

I have a 5 watt handwired Fender Champ and even that would be too loud for an apartment past, like, 9 o'clock on the dial.

Of your choices, I think the Blues Junior will give you the most for your money. They are loud when they need to be. They don't lose much when they are played through at lower volumes. They push nicely into breakup when you want them to and there are T O N S of mods out there for them if you ever want to mix things up a bit.

The amp is small enough to isolate it by putting it up on a chair or the couch or something which will make it seemingly less quiet to your neighbors.

Thanks for the info! Really am not worried about the apartment–put that in there but in hindsight I mainly play my acoustic at the apartment and practice the electric at other locations. I have played the tube amp at 2/3 at my aparment when trying out new pedals or re-organizing my pedals...no complaints at all in my 11 months there (as mentioned above, we respect an unofficial 8/9ish quiet time. lol)

But you hit on what I was talking about with the apartment–not losing much when at lower volumes, the HRD does not like being lower than 2/3 (which, is almost the lowest) so that was my line of thinking for orininally mentioning the apartment.

But for my gigs, I wanted something less watts that I can push more at the same volume (decibel wise, not knob wise) as the HRD.

I'm really thinking the Blues Jr. is what I'm looking for. Had put the HRD up for sale but took the listing down because it just sounds too good and you never know when you will get a gig that needs a more powerful amp. Thanks again!

 

[jimijames]

Re: Fender Blues Jr. or Fender Pro Jr. or other suggestion

Thank you for the info and suggestions!

I love the tone I am getting right now with the Hot Rod Deluxe and honestly, should've left the whole apartment thing outta it. I play in small to medium sized Churches and that is where I would like to have the amp pushed more. I typically play my acoustic at the apartment and the electric through a Boss Processor...so I should've left the whole apartment thing out.

Thanks again for the input!

Okay small to medium sized churches got it, my bad on the confusion

You sir want an 18w Marshall, with a drummer and a bassist and especially 12ax7s in the pre you've got a rock machine that will also play clean. Excuse the Billy Mays Lololol