Picked Up A Blues Jr. Today From Lou

[Jeff_H]

What a sweet little amp!

My Marshall has a very Fender like clean channel, but more in the vein of a Twin. This little beast is something else entirely. I just spent the last 45 minutes with it, and fell in love. A pair of EL84's and 3 12AX7's power this honey for those of you not famalier with it. I turned all the knobs to the now infamous Fender "Magic 6", or whatever you want to call it. All of the knobs on 6 except for the reverb. This thing just sings for the blues. I always thought having one channel would be too limiting, and I think it may be for rock, but for blues this is perfect. Even with the volume way up, if you roll back the guitar volume the clean is still nice and sweet, but when you hit the strings hard this little devil will bark. The really nice thing is you can crank this thing up to get the power tubes cooking, and not bust eardrums or make the neighbors too angry.

The stock tubes sound decent enough (Sovtek 12AX7WXT's), but I popped a spare JJ that I had laying around into V1 and it really gave the amp a whole new character. Nice warm smokey sound...smoother. I have a spare V30 that I'm thinking of throwing in this little sweetheart also, and probably some JJ EL84's as well.

This amp, combined with listening to Eric Clapton and SRV with Lou this afternoon has me inspired all over again to work on my blues licks. I thought I was going to let my daughter use it to learn guitar, but I think I'm keepin' this baby for Daddy!

 

[BluesJunkie]

Re: Picked Up A Blues Jr. Today From Lou

Cool. :cool2: :headbang:

I love mine. It's tiny but full of tone.

 

[Frantic_Rock]

Re: Picked Up A Blues Jr. Today From Lou

Ya man i know where you're coming from.

EC and SRV are EXACTLY the music u wanna play with a BJ.

I have a limited edition blonde one - i don't think they make these anymore.
Mine has a jensen speaker.

I put a Keeley SEM DS-1 in front of it wih the tone rolled way down. This gives me smooth, powerful distortion for Eric Johnson tunes.

I can also get good jazz tones with my strat thgouth it.

I find the reverb tank not so good. I use a Boss ME-30 unit to drench the signal in digital reverb before going in the amp.

This amp would be perfect if only the reverb was better. It just completely sounds artificial to me.


I've been riding these tubes for 6 months now. Do you know what would be a good full replacement and how much would that cost?

thanks,
Alex

 

[Jeff_H]

Re: Picked Up A Blues Jr. Today From Lou

Alex -

JJ's seem to be the tube of choice for the Jr's from what I've read posted around here. You can pick up the 12AX7's for $10 apiece, and the power tubes shouldn't cost more than $40. $60-70 bucks + a bit for shipping should have you set. Order from Bob at Eurotubes if you want JJ's....he's the expert on them.

I may also throw some of the NOS tubes I have in there for kicks, but the one's I have are generally geared towards Marshall tones, so not sure how those will do in the Jr. I just can't get over how nice it sounds for a little 15 watt single channel 1x12. I always thought of them as little practice/warm up amps, but this will smoke for the blues.

 

[Curly]

Re: Picked Up A Blues Jr. Today From Lou

hahaha ... yeah, very easy to get attached to one ..

that's why there's that whole "Blues Junior Mafia" over on the FDP forum

you can get a number of different tones by varying the two volumes, too

 

[sweet_lou]

Re: Picked Up A Blues Jr. Today From Lou

It's a good thing we didn't play it before I left :laugh2:

I'm happy your happy.

We had a great time see you soon!!

Oh yeah Bob called me on the way home he will ship me the cab for 160.00 so I went for it, a new adventure.

It is solid pine painted a cream color with a burgandy screen. With an open back.

 

[Fresh_Start]

Re: Picked Up A Blues Jr. Today From Lou

Jeff, buddy, if the speaker is stock the best upgrade you'll ever make is a replacement. Ted Weber can set you up - just tell him what tone you're going for. His ceramic "Blue Dog" is the bomb here as far as I'm concerned. Nice chimey, smooth highs and no more flabby/farting bass. JoeBarrChord uses one too... wonder where he went?

Chip

 

[PUCKBOY99]

Re: Picked Up A Blues Jr. Today From Lou

What a sweet little amp!

I always thought having one channel would be too limiting, and I think it may be for rock, but for blues this is perfect.

IS THAT WHY THEY CALL IT THE "BLUES" JR.???? :laugh2:

Dude, sounds like you & Sweet Lou are gonna be doin' some rockin' up there in "Note Cacalacky".....very cool!!!!!

 

[bgood]

Re: Picked Up A Blues Jr. Today From Lou

Mine's got JJ's and a ceramic Blue Dog. It's a green board blonde but with good reverb. I run a Boss OS-2 in front right now. Haven't settled on that OD but it aint bad. Going to try to a Blues Driver. I like my amp and have gotten away with gigging it in a small room. As long as you don't need clean headroom - you can probably get away with it in a blues situation.

PS - this amp LOVES my Lester but forget about clean at any gig volumes. The buckers drive this thing hard.