Should I buy the Blues Jr...?

AndyJP

Here's my 10c... A guy was using one at a blues jam recently. At a decent sized bar.  With a strat it sounded fantastic in the mix.  Got to play through it and was really impressed.

olafgarten

I like the Blues Junior with a Strat or Tele, but it doesn't really like P90s or Humbuckers, they are fine on cleans but the distortion is far too dark, and that can't be dialled out. 

It's not really a classic Fender distortion at all. 

MattFGBI

Probably the best selling Fender amp at the moment. It's what we all use for function gigs. A few pedals and you can coax pretty much anything out of one.  

Jeremiah

I tried one in a rehearsal room once - it was OK but I preferred the Peavey Bandit.

TheMarlin

I had one, got shot of it pretty quickly. 

Voxman

I think Blues Juniors are like Marmite - you either love them or hate them - commercially they are very successful, and there are loads of BJ afficianado's - but I honestly can't see the attraction.  So I'm in the latter category I'm afraid.  I've tried one in store when I was looking for a smaller1 5w amp, and also had to play through one once at an open-mike - just hated it (similar comments to those made by others here).  

The 15w amp I finally bought was a Laney Cub12R (in which I put a Celestion Vintage 30 and changed the tubes to hand-tested JJ's).  For me there's just no comparison - even the 'stock' Cub just blows the BJ out of the water.  

p90fool

MattFGBI said:

Probably the best selling Fender amp at the moment. It's what we all use for function gigs. A few pedals and you can coax pretty much anything out of one.  

I'm genuinely amazed at this. I've owned one and usually have someone else's lying around the house, and I found them totally inaudible in a 5-piece wedding band with piano and sax.

It's light, portable and sounds ok miked up if you have excellent monitoring, but as far as onstage sound was concerned it may as well have been a DI box.

I wanted to like it, I loved the Pro Junior and used an attenuator with that in the same band.

ICBM

MattFGBI said:

Probably the best selling Fender amp at the moment. It's what we all use for function gigs. A few pedals and you can coax pretty much anything out of one.  

You can have any sound you like, as long as it's compressed, middy and slightly dirty - Henry Ford.




Actually I agree that they can sound quite good with pedals, but only at such a low volume that you're going to need to be mic'ed - which may not be a problem if you do that anyway.

What I really don't understand is why they're so popular when they're so overpriced compared to the Hotrod Deluxe - which is more than twice the amp for only a third more money.

professorben

p90fool said:

MattFGBI said:

Probably the best selling Fender amp at the moment. It's what we all use for function gigs. A few pedals and you can coax pretty much anything out of one.  

I'm genuinely amazed at this. I've owned one and usually have someone else's lying around the house, and I found them totally inaudible in a 5-piece wedding band with piano and sax.

It's light, portable and sounds ok miked up if you have excellent monitoring, but as far as onstage sound was concerned it may as well have been a DI box.

I wanted to like it, I loved the Pro Junior and used an attenuator with that in the same band.

From what I've gathered over the last year of posting here, is that most drummers in people's bands here are absolute jessies. 

Jalapeno

professorben said:

p90fool said:

MattFGBI said:

Probably the best selling Fender amp at the moment. It's what we all use for function gigs. A few pedals and you can coax pretty much anything out of one.  

I'm genuinely amazed at this. I've owned one and usually have someone else's lying around the house, and I found them totally inaudible in a 5-piece wedding band with piano and sax.

It's light, portable and sounds ok miked up if you have excellent monitoring, but as far as onstage sound was concerned it may as well have been a DI box.

I wanted to like it, I loved the Pro Junior and used an attenuator with that in the same band.

From what I've gathered over the last year of posting here, is that most drummers in people's bands here are absolute jessies. 

Ours is a psychotic tub thumper, noisy as a steel foundry - who gets even louder if told to ease off a bit !

DJH83004

No, don't buy a Blues Junior, invest in a '70s SF Princeton still affordable from the states for the price you are prepared to pay, swap out the mains transformer and fit a 12 inch speaker (lots of good advice on what to choose on the forum) - one rocking amp when done properly   

p90fool

professorben said:

p90fool said:

MattFGBI said:

Probably the best selling Fender amp at the moment. It's what we all use for function gigs. A few pedals and you can coax pretty much anything out of one.  

I'm genuinely amazed at this. I've owned one and usually have someone else's lying around the house, and I found them totally inaudible in a 5-piece wedding band with piano and sax.

It's light, portable and sounds ok miked up if you have excellent monitoring, but as far as onstage sound was concerned it may as well have been a DI box.

I wanted to like it, I loved the Pro Junior and used an attenuator with that in the same band.

From what I've gathered over the last year of posting here, is that most drummers in people's bands here are absolute jessies. 

Ours is mainly from jazz background and plays an Arbiter Flats kit very dynamically, and she's actually called Jackie, not Jessie.  

The drummer has nothing to do with it, the 15w Fender Pro Jr is very loud and very good, the 15w Fender Blues Jr is a toy on comparison in my experience. 

professorben

Jalapeno said:

professorben said:

p90fool said:

MattFGBI said:

Probably the best selling Fender amp at the moment. It's what we all use for function gigs. A few pedals and you can coax pretty much anything out of one.  

I'm genuinely amazed at this. I've owned one and usually have someone else's lying around the house, and I found them totally inaudible in a 5-piece wedding band with piano and sax.

It's light, portable and sounds ok miked up if you have excellent monitoring, but as far as onstage sound was concerned it may as well have been a DI box.

I wanted to like it, I loved the Pro Junior and used an attenuator with that in the same band.

From what I've gathered over the last year of posting here, is that most drummers in people's bands here are absolute jessies. 

Ours is a psychotic tub thumper, noisy as a steel foundry - who gets even louder if told to ease off a bit !

The current guy I play with is a lot more controlled, but still loud, the last two bands......serious bat shit crazy loud. 

impmann

Nope. Hateful things.

As said above a Hot Rod Deluxe trounces a Blues Jnr for pretty much *anything*.  I'd also say it's pretty shit for 'blues' too

Telejester

I wouldn't buy any amp that doesn't have an fx loop, I owned a blues jr for a while and I despised it. Boxy and directional sounding and the stock amp needs so many mods just to sound average. Sorry but I'm giving a resounding NO to the OP question.

Octahedron

I kinda felt like I would be fully committed to it, and have no reservations. But I have so many reservations right now. 

I think I might get my Jet City serviced, and keep it. The cost of buying the Blues Jr is just too much. 

Dominic

the little SUPERCHAMP 2 with aaaaaaaaa 10" ragin cajun speaker is the way to go - clean channel is a mini drri and they are cheap s/h because people confuse the 2nd channel modelling option -channel 1 is pure valve 6v6

ICBM

Dominic said:

the little SUPERCHAMP 2 with aaaaaaaaa 10" ragin cajun speaker is the way to go - clean channel is a mini drri and they are cheap s/h because people confuse the 2nd channel modelling option -channel 1 is pure valve 6v6

Sorry to disappoint you, but no it isn't - this is a common myth about that amp. Doesn't matter if it sounds good though.

The only valve part is the power amp, the preamp is solid-state/digital on both channels.

tbm

Had a Blues Jr (a second generation one) for a long time and loved it. i upgraded the speaker to a Cannabis Rex and it had a few BillM mods done when I bought it (presence and clean boost). Sold it on and almost immediately regretted it......until I got a Pro Jr. I'm not a blues guy at all, but the Pro Jr sounded generally nicer and louder to me, and certainly sounded better wound up. It has enough clean headroom for most situations - even with humbuckers, just roll back the volume - unless your drummer is stupid loud. And its feckin tiny. It is a bit noisier then the Blue Jr mind.

I've actually played a few Blues Jr IIIs, and I do think the sparkle mod and speaker upgrade improved what was already a really good amp, but for my money the Pro Jr is better. Trickier to pick up second hand though, as folk tend not to sell them on. But I don't think it's been changed in the last few upgrades. @ICBM can correct me if I'm wrong but the Pro Jr II and III are the same amp, right?

ICBM

tbm said:

@ICBM can correct me if I'm wrong but the Pro Jr II and III are the same amp, right?

I don't know, I've never seen a III.