Amp mods - Fender Blues Jr.

[Bret608]

Hi all,

Does anyone here play a Blues Jr, and if so, has anyone ever modded one? Did you go with a kit, or put a custom mod together yourself? I see there are mod kits out there, but I remember Brian Wampler had a book that took more of a "cookbook" approach.

I'm hoping pedal building will help me build up the guts and knowledge to take this on, and I'd love to hear what some of your experiences have been like.

Thanks!

Bret

[TNblueshawk]

Most people I have read do the BILM mods and seem to like them.

Here is an interesting thread

http://buildyourownclone.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=34321&hilit=BILM+mods

[Chi_Boy]

I did mine with all the Bill M kits.  I put way more into the amp than I should have, but it sounds good.  No regrets, just spent too much money.

I was new to it then and I don't think I knew about Mouser or Smallbear at the time, but all of the parts would be available from either one.  It's more a matter of figuring out what part to change and then what to replace it with.

[gtr2]

I have a NOS blues jr that I picked up for a steal for $350.  It was a new demo unit that had a broken reverb tank that I fixed.

It has the Jensen speaker which came in the NOS version.  Other than that it is stock.  I really like it and use it live every Sunday.

I keep the master up and the fat button engaged at all times.  I think for what the amp is the mods are not worth it.  It's money poorly spent IMO if your unhappy with the base tone of the amp.

I use it clean w/pedals for overdrive and love it.  I think people are unhappy with the amp because they keep the master pot to low.  It really needs to be maxed out.  Then I adjust the overall volume with the volume pot.  I get great tone that way and have no desire to mod mine.  I'd sell it before I do that, I'd get more money that way.  Plus working on Fenders PCB's is a pain 

Josh

Josh

[Bret608]

I hear you Josh, it looks like it could be a pain to work on. I'm actually not unhappy with the base tone, and like you, that was much more true after I realized the master volume liked to be turned up higher. I've had this guy for about 16 years, meaning the electros are about due for a change, so I was thinking why not make some other upgrades while I'm at it?

I'm with you on this Chi_Boy; I bet any of these kits could be put together for less if I knew what parts to get.

Now to check out the BYOC thread...thanks for including this TNblueshawk!

[rowland1]

I just sold my Blues Jr. But I had done most of the BillM mods, which I thought really improved the amp. The power supply capacitors improved the bass. I really liked the presence control.

I also swapped the speaker for a Hellatone G12H30 Celestion.

Probably the best "mod" I did was replacing the tubes with Torres Blues Forver tube set. http://torresengineering.stores.yahoo.net/bfobljrfe.html
Using the 12AY7 preamp tube gve me more clean headroom, which is what I wanted.

I just sold the amp last week - I have a Deluxe Reverb reissue on layaway!!

[Bret608]

Thanks everyone for sharing...the BYOC thread was certainly interesting!

Does anyone who's done the mods themselves have a list of what parts you used? Or maybe I should ask, if I'm in a position to source the parts myself rather than ordering a kit, would this actually save any money or hassle?

[jcuempire]

I have a tweed one that I bought new in '95 or '96.  The only thing I've done to it was a re-tube from Euro Tubes.  I opted for a the more headroom option because it sounds so good with a nice booster pedal for a nice breakup or cascaded ones for smoother distortion.  I have researched all the Bill M mods but have resisted applying them.  It's a "if it ain't broke" scenario for me.  Though a will consider getting a new transformer from Mercury Magnetics at some point.  Good luck