Fender Blues Jr.
Model/Circuit Number: PR295
Years of Production: 1995-Present
Era: Current
Configuration: Combo
Controls: Chrome top facing w/ white screened labels, controls numbered 1-12
Knobs: Black Pointer
Faceplate:
- Front: Power Sw, Pilot Lamp, Reverb, Master Vol, Mid, Bass, Treb, Fat Sw, Vol, In
- Rear: None
Cabinet: Reproduction Tweed Blues Junior Cabinet
- Dimensions: 6″ x 18″ x 9 3/16″
- Hardware:
- Handle: Black Plastic Strap
- Feet: Chrome Glides
- Corners: None
Tolex/Tweed:
Grill Cloth:
Logo: Cabinet mounted, Script
Weight: 31 lbs
Speaker:
- Size: 1 x 12
- Impedance: 8 ohms
- Model: Eminence(For more info, check out the Jensen Replacement Speakers)
Effects: Reverb
Watts: 15 watts
Tubes:
- Pre amp: 1-1/2 x 12AX7 (1/2 12AX7 left unused)
- Power: 2 x EL84
- Bias: Fixed, nonadjustable
- Rectifier: Solid State
Comments:
Reverb Driver: Solid State Reverb Recovery: Solid State
great amp, handy
Not a bad amp for what it is, although after peeking inside I was a little shocked at some of the electronic layou/construction. My main concern are the hard wired pots to the PCB board, a possible recipe for disaster and the junky plastic input jacks. Planning on having some mods done by the youtube famous Bill M (aprox $ 100.00 s worth) to sweeten the sound and get past the presently “boxy” sound; this will open up the amp and beef up the tone. In closing’ it s ok for a bedroom amp & practicing around the house, some jams here and there but I wouldn t gig w this amp on a regular basis; will stick to my 2 SF Deluxe Reverbs for real playing out.
You are certainly justified in your concerns regarding the way the pots and input jack are mounted in the Blues Junior. They are prone to breakaged at the first opportunity. On the other hand and as I mentioned above, the pots are cheap to purchase. Also, a decent Switchcraft input jack is $2 or less. If you can run a soldering iron and a de-soldering tool, installing a jack (and some short jumpers to the board) or the pots is not a difficult task.
Bill M has mastered the art of modding the Blues Junior and you can’t hardly go wrong with his kits. But his workload is such that, if you wish to have him do the minor surgery, his waiting list is a year long.
I mentioned above that I don’t play anywhere near as much electric as I do acoustic guitar, but I’ve gigged this amp at a few pretty decent size places and it’s plenty loud. The biggest problem I have in those instances is dispersion of sound. My solution is micking the little amp to the PA. (Then again a friend of mine, Denver Collins, has struggled with toting two Twin Reverbs to gigs for 30 years and isn’t going to change until they kill him).
poorly engineered. The attached pots to the board is the worst I’ve seen. Forces the tubes to be inverted and then the heat rises into the base and into the board. I’ve owned this amp for about 14 years and admittedly did not use it much. (didn’t care for it once I had it home) Tubes went bad from just sitting around so I decided to replace all of them. Was taken back by the lousy set up. I will change it a tad.
I agree w/ your comment regarding the pots (and input jack) attatchment to the circuit board. They are easily broken and require a bit of finess to replace. If there is a good side, it must be that the pots are cheap (under $4).
On the other hand, while you are correct that the tubes are inverted, a good number of Fender (and other) amps are arranged in the same way and, in the case of the Blues Junior, there is a tube retainer which holds them in place.
But the tubes are remote to- not attached to- the circuit board. The board is parallel to, forward of and above the location of the tubes. I sincerely doubt there is any adverse effect from rising heat. If you are concerned about it being an issue, when you “change it a tad”, you might consider drilling or otherwise cutting some heat relief holes in the top of the cabinet.
I’m really curious, too, how your tubes “went bad just from sitting around”. I’m thinking that, if that were the case, it would not be a fault of the Blues Junior amp, as every tube amp in existence would suffer the same problem. The tubes are, after all, sealed inside a vacuum. What could possibly harm them other than use or rough treatment?
Mine is a Mexican green-board, as compared to the American cream-baord.
An advantage to the green boards is that there is less hum and a better
placement of the reverb circuit.
I just replaced the treble pot and
modded the input jack with a Switchcraft independently mounted jack.
The amp has been previously modded with a Wherehouse Speaker and cathode
bias. I have considered (and may still do) BillM’s tone stack mod and
upgrade the (Mexican) capacitors.
This is a nice little amp for the
bits of electric stuff I do on a G&L ASAT. (Most of what I play is
acoustic, for which I use a Crate Gunnerson). Fifteen watts is plenty
for most situations and, when necessary, I can mic it to the PA while
retaining the sweet Blues Junior tone.
I own a heavily modified NOS version. And, I can assure you that the cabinet height is more than 6″. It is 16″. As BillM said, “there was a great amp lurking inside a good amp.” It just takes a good tech to pull that greatness out.
I’ve gigged with these and Pro jr’s for years and never had an issue. And as for volume concerns, if these aren’t loud enough for some guys, they have a band volume issue and not an amp issue. The list of nationals using these in pairs or otherwise is endless, and not short on tone hounds either. Using Twin reverbs in pairs instead of two of these and a few pedals is total overkill and must crush the audience, which if you really care about sound isn’t funny for those that have to listen to it.
I have a cream board Blues Jr. and I did the Billm mods including the standby switch, replaced the input jack and built a new pine cab for it. Has the original Fender speaker in it and 15 watts is more than enough for me. The mods did a great deal to open up the tone of the amp but I’m not real happy with it when I try to make it crunchy so I rely on pedals. Wondering what improvements have been made for the newer III and IV versions as far as tone and build quality. Has anyone done a comparison of them?
Forgot to add that the I also replace the crappy reverb tank with a MOD tank because the wires in the Fender tank kept breaking. For some reason the reverb foot switch no longer works. 🙁