Should I buy the Blues Jr...?

DJH83004

What to say, had many many pass my door, probably less than the amp gurus such as IC, but can't get on with them, if it comes to the point where you are bending a ribbon cable reduce oscillation  - not a good state of affairs 

tone1

ICBM said:

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.

Yep. I think it's the Superchamp XD that has the all valve clean channel plus a digital modelling channel and it's the Superchamp X2 is digital on both preamps. 
I had the XD with the Ragin Cajun

Octahedron

Well my decision has finally been made.

I got the news today that my car needs $2500 worth of repairs, so, even if I wanted the amp I can't afford it anyway! So that was an easy decision... 

Air con compressor is shot. That alone is $1300
Timing belt, that's another $650
Cracks in the drive belt nearly $200
CV boot on the left side is split... that's another $150
And a wheel alignment is recommended at a cost of $60

So that's nearly $2500. 

And the BJ is $850. 

So obviously I gotta go with what's more important here! 

I'm not sure many tears will be shed in this thread! I also have too much invested in my Jet City, and it's shown me what some upgrades e.g. speakers, tubes, etc could do for an amp. So I'll definitely be doing those when I can afford to do so! 

Wazmeister

ThePrettyDamned said:

I don't like blues juniors at all, so take this with a pinch of salt... 

They're loud - not in a nice, swampy, fill the room way but like a small dog barking - it's a very shouty amp. The speaker may help a bit... But I've tried a few that people have swapped speakers out and I still don't like them at all. 

The hot rod deluxe is nicer, more capable, sounds better at low volume (you may need a passive volume box in the loop, but that's fine) and is still portable as a grab and go. It also sounds more fendery than the blues junior, which sounds almost like a vox ac15 and a tweed champ had a baby. All mids. 

Of course, if you've decides you like the sound then you can practically ignore what I've said. 

Bang on - my thoughts entirely.

Wazmeister

Id probably get rid of the car first...

Octahedron

Wazmeister said:

Id probably get rid of the car first...

Unfortunately I need the car more than the amp...

ICBM

tone1 said:

Yep. I think it's the Superchamp XD that has the all valve clean channel plus a digital modelling channel and it's the Superchamp X2 is digital on both preamps. 

I had the XD with the Ragin Cajun

No, both of them are the same. Solid state/digital preamp, valve power amp.

It seems to be powerful wishful thinking that because it doesn't have 'models' on the first channel that it's valve.

The signal path is: input > analogue solid-state stages > analogue/digital/analogue converter > more analogue solid-state stages >  (line out jack) > valve driver stage/phase inverter > power valves. The channel 1 volume is controlled in the digital domain not analogue, although there is probably no other processing. I don't have any information about the digital processing, it's not on the schematic obviously.

But if it sounds good, it doesn't matter. There's no reason IC gain stages and A/D/A conversion should sound bad, for a clean channel.