Blues Junior III Stealth (with the CREX)- too loud

rlw

Simple question - being sensible for a moment (still wanting a Falcon) my gut feeling is that the this amp is a great gigging amp but plain too loud - even with the master volume -  for most domestic uses. Add the apparent voltage and valve issues and it seems like money not that well spent.  Yes?  No?

bandmaster188

I bought one a couple of months back and yes they do have a few issues, being set for 230v instead of 240v which is a very easy fix by the way and that they are biased way too hot from the factory. That said though I've been having some fun with mine, we recorded some stuff a few weeks back and although I took my regular gigging amp as well as the junior, I used the junior for the whole session, plugged into my 1x15 cab by the way as they sound so much better with an external cab. I wouldn't say they are too loud for gigging, just right in fact. You can get some decent low level tones from it especially with a drive pedal. They can be fairly easily modded to fit a bias control but this obviously voids the warranty. I've been wondering if the bias can be cooled down by using a different rated valve from groove tube. Mine came fitted with a number 10 which apparently gives the most headroom. It's a shame these issues haven't been addressed by fender as apart from these fairly major problems, they're not bad sounding amps really.

bandmaster188

By the way, this groove tube rating system, what do the experts think about being able to alter the bias using the grading system without altering the amp? Numbers 1-3 give early breakup most distortion Number 4-7 are medium breakup and best all rounder Numbers 8-10 give cleanest headroom least distortion. If I were to change my number 10's to say a 7 would this make the bias a bit cooler or run even hotter or am I barking up the wrong tree here? Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread!

NPP

I play mine at home with the master around 8-9 and the preamp very low, plus pedals for drive if required. Perfectly useable at low volumes, though I'd prefer to exchange it for something more expensive at the moment.  

bandmaster188

Something for the same budget as a blues junior worth looking at is the vox ac15. It has a bigger cabinet than the junior so sounds less boxy. And you get tremolo and reverb.

thecolourbox

And it doesn't sound like a Blues Junior

Jalapeno

thecolourbox said:

And it doesn't sound like a Blues Junior

It won't with the Cannabis Rex speaker either :P

MattFGBI

bandmaster188 said:

By the way, this groove tube rating system, what do the experts think about being able to alter the bias using the grading system without altering the amp? Numbers 1-3 give early breakup most distortion Number 4-7 are medium breakup and best all rounder Numbers 8-10 give cleanest headroom least distortion. If I were to change my number 10's to say a 7 would this make the bias a bit cooler or run even hotter or am I barking up the wrong tree here? Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread!

Normally, if you have a bias adjuster, you'd need to re-bias the amp for the change in rating.  However in a Blues Junior I've found that the lower numbered GT's make it run a bit cold and the higher numbers a bit hotter. I'd go for a medium rated valve if you're thinking of changing. 

rlw

Bought a Cornford instead...

bandmaster188

MattFGBI;477489" said:

bandmaster188 said:

By the way, this groove tube rating system, what do the experts think about being able to alter the bias using the grading system without altering the amp?

Numbers 1-3 give early breakup most distortion

Number 4-7 are medium breakup and best all rounder

Numbers 8-10 give cleanest headroom least distortion.

If I were to change my number 10's to say a 7 would this make the bias a bit cooler or run even hotter or am I barking up the wrong tree here? Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread!







Normally, if you have a bias adjuster, you'd need to re-bias the amp for the change in rating.  However in a Blues Junior I've found that the lower numbered GT's make it run a bit cold and the higher numbers a bit hotter. I'd go for a medium rated valve if you're thinking of changing. 

I've just got an email back from groove tube and they said the same, a lower number will run cooler and draw less current which can only be a good thing in an over biased amp .