Blues Junior Mods

[bbl4ck]

Since there has been some discussion lately regarding the Fender Blues Junior, I thought I would throw on the pile what I have just done with mine.

I bought it used for $350 and it already had the stock speaker upgraded to a Celestion G12 Vintage 30.

I just got this back from my amp dude who put in a Mercury Magnetics transformer and choke.  
Also, added the Clean Boost Module and Presence Control mod from Billm Audio.

Damn is all I can say...  This thing now has chime that will not end.  
I am still not in love with the way it sounds at the low end, but those mids and highs are out of this world and more than make up for any deficiency at the low end.
I was playing it in the sound booth at the shop and when I walked out a guy standing outside asked what the heck I was playing in there.
When I told him it was my Blues Junior, he was floored.  He owns a Blues Junior and was ready to bet money that was not a BJ I was playing

I love the way this girl sounds and will never get rid of her.  
Anybody looking to mod a BJ, I highly recommend these mods.

Anybody else out there done any mods to their Blues Junior???

 

[Jusatele]

I was planning on the twin stackmod
the biasing modsand the ceramic tube bases for the power tubes so I could upgrade the tubes
I also want to do the presence mod and the standby switch, I bought it after researching a bit and chose it over the deluxe because of the mods available for so cheap
seems this little amp has been well researched

 

[bbl4ck]

I was planning on the twin stackmod
the biasing modsand the ceramic tube bases for the power tubes so I could upgrade the tubes
I also want to do the presence mod and the standby switch, I bought it after researching a bit and chose it over the deluxe because of the mods available for so cheap
seems this little amp has been well researched

Yea, I also did the twin stack mod.  That is a pretty simple one and just involves a wire.
I also did the standby switch which is great for the price.  Save as much of those tubes as you can.
I purchased the ceramic tube bases for the tube upgrade, but decided I would see how it sounds without it first.  That mod is rather major because you have to cut the board in half.
Check out that Mercury Magnetics transformer and choke if you can find a clip on youtube.  It is a great mod.
Best of luck with your BJ;  I know you are gonna love those mods...

 

[NLD09]

The only thing  want out of mine is more low end response. My low E tends to die out when I play much of anything. If there's a mod that can do that i'll be happy.

btw. what exactly does a choke do?

 

[bbl4ck]

Well, I am not an electrician or an amp man, so I am going to show you what Mercury Magnetics says about a choke. 
This is of course from their web site and could be a bit bias on their behalf???

http://www.mercurymagnetics.com/pages/catalog/other/mini-choke.htm

"A Mercury Mini-Choke™ replaces a resistor and adds a discernable amount of tonal dimension to the circuit.

Chokes were originally used in vintage amps but seldom are now due to the economics of amp building (a cost issue, not a tonal one!). Chokes extend the life of the power transformer and rectifier. A choke is much more than a simple inductor. It can also store energy like a capacitor. Better voltage regulation results from using a choke that puts less stress on your power transformer help it to live longer. Chokes permit higher load currents to be drawn from vacuum tube rectifiers without exceeding their peak current rating. This means life extension for your tube rectifier! Solid state rectifiers run happier as well. If that's not enough, the tone of your amp will noticeably improve with a "peaked and tweaked" hand-tuned choke from Mercury".

All I know is that I love the final outcome...  :headbang1:

 

[Jusatele]

the TO20 mod is the mod to do about the Low E farting out on you, the original output transformer is pick because of size restrictions, It seems that the guy from Allen amps help design a transformer that fits into the space of the old one but has about 1/2 a pound more coil and magnets. What it does is make the response of the low end more accurate. It is one of the more expensive mods as the tranny cost somewhere around 60 bucks, but well worth it, I think that for an amp to have survived 15 years of production with only 2 major upgrades then these are mods are well thought out.
Another way to get more bass responce is to change the speaker and they have a range of speakers available.

 

[Jusatele]

I actually spent the last 6 months agonizing over getting a new practice amp as I will use it to gig, One of the defining choices was size and portability. I chose the Blues Jr knowing I needed to do a few things to it. I really looked hard at the Duluxe but it has its own set of mods needed and was larger. I sat in a room and played this up against the Deluxe and a new Vox 15 valve reactor for a hour or more. This thing does rock and it really puts out a lot for the price.

 

[TJD]

FYI if you have a Bjr.....I had the Texas Red edition which already has the c vintage 30 speaker..nice upgrade over the normal black tolex/stock speaker. I thought my amp sounded great and then I brought home a Boss Fender 59 Bassman pedal. I actually bought it to be an overdrive but it turned out to be the most spectacular clean boost...it really made the amp come alive  and provided piano-like low end and powerful mids and highs. If you have this amp you owe it to yourself to try this pedal. You won't believe it. I'm not even a Boss guy but trust me it's that good. You don't see them in stores ofter-at least in my area so you might have to look on line but here is a pic.

 

[Superlizard]

:icon_thumright:

MM has good stuff.  Slapped an OJTM45-16 (IIRC) output tranny in my JTM45RI back in '03; part
of my "JTM45RI to vintage specs mod" modding.