How to make a Blues Junior sound bigger?

[aaron]

Is there anything pretty simple to do to make a Blues Jr sound... A little fuller? Bigger? Deeper? I really liked the one I played today at GC, but I couldn't get it to sound as full with the bass all the way up as the HRD next to it did at a normal setting. I know a lot of it has to do with the small cab, but maybe it can be corrected? Any input is appreciated. Thanks!

Aaron

 

[SoCalSteve]

Re: How to make a Blues Junior sound bigger?

I don't know what the stock speaker is but a speaker change can do wonders.

 

[drpietrzak]

Re: How to make a Blues Junior sound bigger?

Speaker or run it into a cab. Depending on clean or OD tones you are after chose the speaker to match. The box is tight on those and it gives it a bit of a boxy vibe. I run mine into a 2x12 or large 1x12 and it open it up a great deal.

A very under appreciated amp I think.

 

[Mac-P]

Re: How to make a Blues Junior sound bigger?

You can drop in a Weber 12F150 speaker (copy of a vintage Jensen C12N), but the BJ is not gonna push bass like a Twin (or Deluxe for that matter).

EL84 tubes (which are in the BJ) are not the tubes for low end. 6L6's (like in a Twin) are. Also, like you said, the small cab is only capable of so much bass. There are several mods you can do (do a Google search on "Blues Jr. Mods"), but again it ain't gonna get the classic 6L6 Fender clean with the big bottom and shimmery top.

Having said that, I love the Blues Jr. It has it's own sound and it's a good one. It sounds great with a band and sits well in the mix with bass and drums.

 

[PUCKBOY99]

Re: How to make a Blues Junior sound bigger?

Speaker & an EQ pedal:beerchug:

 

[Stratcat]

Re: How to make a Blues Junior sound bigger?

Trade the BJ for a Hot Rod Deluxe.:smoker:

 

[Jeroen]

Re: How to make a Blues Junior sound bigger?

Is there anything pretty simple to do to make a Blues Jr sound... A little fuller? Bigger? Deeper?
Aaron

Buy a bigger Blues Junior :wink:
A Blues Deluxe or a Blues DeVille might do the trick :laugh2:

 

[drew_half_empty]

Re: How to make a Blues Junior sound bigger?

well, when people say "bigger & fuller" my first instinct is to say use a little bit of reverb, TINY bit of delay, maybe a tiny bit of chorus

but in this case, where you're asking about bass response, yeah a new speaker & an EQ pedal would do the trick

 

[ledzepp29]

Re: How to make a Blues Junior sound bigger?

I know what you mean about the lack of fullness in the blues junior, but what I've noticed is that the tweed special edition verions of the BJ sound much better and are much fuller. I found out its because he tweed one has the italian made jensen 12' speaker, I forgot which one but it makes a huge difference.

My advice is to either get one and invest in a nice speaker or go for one of the tweed ones, they look much cooler anyways! I'm planning on going for one of the tweed ones myself.

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: How to make a Blues Junior sound bigger?

Trade the BJ for a Hot Rod Deluxe.:smoker:

If those two amps were any less similiar one wouldn't be tube....

Check here:

http://home.comcast.net/~machrone/bjrinfo.htm

Both the Tone Stack and Reverb mods are major improvements to the design. Reverb, by nature on most amps, will cut a bit when cranked and the Blues Jr. is no exception to this. If it's a cream board then the presence/brightness mod is nice to have; I added it to mine and find that I tend to go by the cream board specs more often than not and run the Presence just shy of dimed.

A new speaker will help, but nowhere near the amount that the mods will. You will typically find, however, a volume boost when you do it. I put a Reverend in mine and it sounded like it added a solid 1/4 to the overall volume of it. This was confirmed when I did the exact specs with another one with the stock speaker.

The Blues Jr's sound fantastic when opened up. They can do a good bedroom clean with some pedals and into mid-sized places. I've played entire three set nights with JUST my Blues Jr and gotten compliments on my tone. These days I've no trepidation about walking into a gig with a guitar in one hand and my Blues Jr. in the other and that's all I need to have.

The HRDX's are nice amps....but when opened up and cranked tend to sound pretty terrible. If you need an amp with just headroom the HRDX will fit the bill; they can be loud, often times too loud for most people.

I've owned both the HRDX and Blues Jr's. I traded my HRDX for a Blues Jr and some cash and will be shipping the amp out to my brother in L.A., a major tone snob who fell in love with my original Blues Jr. and the mods I did to it when he was out here on the East Coast.

BTW...the difficulty level of the mods is minimal. It took me no more than 20 minutes and less than $20 in parts to make the amp a total keeper for me.

 

[drpietrzak]

Re: How to make a Blues Junior sound bigger?

Trade the BJ for a Hot Rod Deluxe.:smoker:

Not for me. I would take my Blues JR over the HRD. But, each person has their own thing.

 

[jeremy]

Re: How to make a Blues Junior sound bigger?

love my jr!!

i use a greenback and decent tubes. a couple people have poked around in there but basically the bias was lowered a little and i replaced the plastic jack with a normal switchcraft, i guess they run pretty hot stock and mines a '95 so its had a long hard life for a cheap tube amp. i run it wide open, everything on 12 but the reverb and if the guitar makes the bottom end mushy i roll the bass control back till it tightens up enough. fat switch off.
everybody loves this amp and i use it on plenty of small gigs and it is my all purpose sit in amp. plenty of volume for small clubs and sounds great mic'd

i plug straight in, no pedals, and find using a 12at7 in the v3 pi slot helps to get the best tone at a lower volume. i use a good strong balanced jan.
changing v1 really effects your overall tone (true of most amps) i cant remember what i have in there, i think a darker telefunkin.
only half of v2 is used as far as i can tell, i think i have a chinese gt12ax7c in there.

love this little thing. the damn reverb quit again last week but im gonna fix it for the upteenbillionth time.
i have a '66 fender deluxe reverb and a 5e3 that our very own scott fitzpatrick built (his first born i believe) that both sound really nice and holy s@#* do they sound good with both running thru the a/b set up.
i keep a hotter 12ax7 pi tube in my bag o stuff in case i need a little more volume.

love my jr!!!

 

[Fresh_Start]

Re: How to make a Blues Junior sound bigger?

Skarekrough already pointed you to Bill Machrone's page - check it out!

This thread in the FDP is great too: Blues Jr. Mafia (I just bookmarked one page a while ago, so skip through it for what you want.)

The Weber ceramic Blue Dog speaker did wonders for my Blues Jr. Plenty of bass now. Running it through a partially closed 1x12" Avatar cab overdid the bass for me, but might be the ticket for you.

Hope this helps.

Chip

 

[Rich_S]

Re: How to make a Blues Junior sound bigger?

I think a "Blue" or G12H-30 (either from Celestion or Weber) would work wonders. As an experiment, you could try running the BJ through a 4x12 cab (or whatever good speaker they have handy) in the store to see if it's the kind of improvement you're looking for. If so, buy it and swap the speaker.

 

[greendy123]

Re: How to make a Blues Junior sound bigger?

You should be able to get alot more bass and a fuller sound if you just plug into a closed back cab.