If you have the hankering for a nasty blues tone that doesn't burn a hole in your wallet, you are handy, and sharper than a spoon then you might find the following information useful. First, the Fender Blues junior comes in various versions, the tweed new old stock (NOS) version comes with a 12" jensen speaker while the Blues Junior standard has a Fender Special Design speaker and vinyl tolex covering in nice colors. The latter unit is less expensive while the former unit is nice looking if you desire that retro look. The Fender Blues Junior standard model costs ~ $500 while the NOS is about $599. So much for the basic details.
The cool thing about this amplifier is that you can modify it at a relatively low cost and the yielding tones are impressive. This can be handy if you are living in cramped quarters and volume is an issue. BillM Audio is a great site for those wishing to upgrade and modify the Fender Blues Junior into a tone monster. For less than $200 dollars (USA) you can get your amp moving. Modifications were made to the amp in the video and if you take the time to watch the video I think you agree that the tone is much more adjustable and the range of adjustments is greater. The modifications are as follows: Basic mods, Heyboer TO20 output transformer, Presence control, Cathode follower, Switchcraft input jack, Preamp revoicing TwinStack. All for less that 2 bills!
Nice bass response! My pet peeve is still the fact that most reviewers fail to inform us as to the volume used (but you can see it on the video), guitar type, pickup type. And for the purists out there, yes, I know most of the tone comes from your fingers. Nevertheless, we all have a tone in our head that is conditioned by years of hearing things we like and if you've experienced that phenomenon then you are a tone chaser and never satisfied. If this wasn't true there would be only one amplifier, one guitar and we'd all be happy. That simply isn't realistic. Regardless, I get it! Tone is in the fingers... And amp and guitar and in the amount of coffee I drank ..... The temperature of the room blah blah blah.... I am simply trying to illustrate some alternatives that you may not know about so enjoy the ride.
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