Alternatives to a blues junior

olafgarten

I imagine the Orange AD30 would get you in that ballpark, probably sound a bit darker and would have more gain available.  

markslade07

Egnator Tweaker? I've got the head version, and it's pretty decent and very flexible

Bucket

Laney Cub 12R has a fair few parallels with the Blues Jr spec-wise and is less than half the price - I tried one a long time ago and remember thinking it was quite good. May be worth a look.

stickyfiddle

Laney VC15 micced up, or Lionheart 20 if you're really set on not mic-ing

JCA2550

Another plug for the Session Blues Baby here. Also, I know it's a 1x10 combo but if you get the chance, it's well worth demoing a Vox AC10. Compact, reliable great sounding grab and go  combo.

tone1

ICBM said:

notonlybutalso said:

Is that against the blues junior? i didn't know they had reliability issues.

Yes, they do. This is a not untypical failure…



My dislike of them is largely for this sort of thing - the tone is a matter of taste (although I do find them boxy and one-dimensional, I admit), but the build quality is a more objective issue. This failure is caused by very poor board layout.

My dislike of them isn't snobbery, it's because I think they are a not very well-designed, fairly poorly-built, and very overpriced amp for what they are. Unlike its bigger brother the Hotrod Deluxe - which is less than 50% more expensive but has almost three times the power, roughly twice the features, and is noticeably better-made. If the Blues Junior was less than half the price of the Hotrod that would be closer to its real value.

Is the Pro Junior prone to this as well? 

ICBM

tone1 said:

Is the Pro Junior prone to this as well? 

Not as far as I've ever seen. The only fault I've ever come across more than once (and only twice) on a PJ is the cap in the Zobel network on the OT failing, which results in very low output, but is easy to fix.

tone1

@ICBM ; thanks...I was thinking of putting something Fendery into a nice cab I have available...think I might give the Blues Junior a miss now though...

notonlybutalso

tone1 said:

@ICBM ; thanks...I was thinking of putting something Fendery into a nice cab I have available...think I might give the Blues Junior a miss now though...

Yeah that was my frontrunner when i started this thread and now it has fallen and had to be sent off to the glue factory

terada

RiftAmps said:

the_twin said:

notonlybutalso said:

the_twin said:

Session BluesBaby. Has the advantage of not blowing up every 6 months. 

Is that against the blues junior? i didn't know they had reliability issues. Or just against valve amps in general as the session is solid state?

I had a mark 3 Blues Junior. Valves would last 6-12 months. When they fail a grid resistor is often collateral damage. I had it modded to run at a lower bias, but that didn't make much difference. When it caught fire in a similar manner to ICBM's picture, I decided I'd had enough. 

If I'm ever in a guitar shop that sells these, I always have a peek at the EL84s to see how cooked they are. Usually the answer is very, even when new.

How do you tell? Any tips?

the_twin

Look at the paper label or lettering on the valves, which will show heat damage or have partly burnt away. 

terada

I see. Thanks for the info

crunchman

notonlybutalso said:

hmm very interesting, than you gentlemen. i didn't know about the biasing and reliability issue of the JR and that is a huge tick in the "against" column now. Continuing on, are there any in a similar vein that are built more conscientiously? because i will admit to rather liking the tone. I reckon i am ideally after a one channel 20 watt combo with decent headroom to it that doesn't break up when running at gig levels, and a nice mid push character about it a la el84. I like gear that is a little out of the ordinary, for example i most recently sold a Koch Studiotone 20 that i LOVED which had some great features.

Apologies for any incoherency, i am under the influence of Hobgoblin and Bier De Luxe

That's as partly down to the circuit not just the type of power valve.

You can get a "mid push" out of other valves as well in the right circuit.  A Tweed style Fender has a lot more mids than a blackface/silverface style.

With all the comments on valve life, EL84s don't tend to last as long as most other types at the voltages they are run at in a lot a of guitar amps.

Try out some other amps (6V6, 6L6).  The '68 versions of the Princeton Reverb and Deluxe Reverb have a different tone stack and more mids than a typical blackface style circuit.  Might be worth trying them.  If you have the money, then the Lazy J 20 is stunning.

RiftAmps

terada said:

RiftAmps said:

the_twin said:

notonlybutalso said:

the_twin said:

Session BluesBaby. Has the advantage of not blowing up every 6 months. 

Is that against the blues junior? i didn't know they had reliability issues. Or just against valve amps in general as the session is solid state?

I had a mark 3 Blues Junior. Valves would last 6-12 months. When they fail a grid resistor is often collateral damage. I had it modded to run at a lower bias, but that didn't make much difference. When it caught fire in a similar manner to ICBM's picture, I decided I'd had enough. 

If I'm ever in a guitar shop that sells these, I always have a peek at the EL84s to see how cooked they are. Usually the answer is very, even when new.

How do you tell? Any tips?

They'll look like the two on the right

BluesyDave

RiftAmps said:

terada said:

RiftAmps said:

the_twin said:

notonlybutalso said:

the_twin said:

Session BluesBaby. Has the advantage of not blowing up every 6 months. 

Is that against the blues junior? i didn't know they had reliability issues. Or just against valve amps in general as the session is solid state?

I had a mark 3 Blues Junior. Valves would last 6-12 months. When they fail a grid resistor is often collateral damage. I had it modded to run at a lower bias, but that didn't make much difference. When it caught fire in a similar manner to ICBM's picture, I decided I'd had enough. 

If I'm ever in a guitar shop that sells these, I always have a peek at the EL84s to see how cooked they are. Usually the answer is very, even when new.

How do you tell? Any tips?

They'll look like the two on the right

Are they not just reliced?      

notonlybutalso

crunchman said:

notonlybutalso said:

hmm very interesting, than you gentlemen. i didn't know about the biasing and reliability issue of the JR and that is a huge tick in the "against" column now. Continuing on, are there any in a similar vein that are built more conscientiously? because i will admit to rather liking the tone. I reckon i am ideally after a one channel 20 watt combo with decent headroom to it that doesn't break up when running at gig levels, and a nice mid push character about it a la el84. I like gear that is a little out of the ordinary, for example i most recently sold a Koch Studiotone 20 that i LOVED which had some great features.

Apologies for any incoherency, i am under the influence of Hobgoblin and Bier De Luxe

That's as partly down to the circuit not just the type of power valve.

You can get a "mid push" out of other valves as well in the right circuit.  A Tweed style Fender has a lot more mids than a blackface/silverface style.

With all the comments on valve life, EL84s don't tend to last as long as most other types at the voltages they are run at in a lot a of guitar amps.

Try out some other amps (6V6, 6L6).  The '68 versions of the Princeton Reverb and Deluxe Reverb have a different tone stack and more mids than a typical blackface style circuit.  Might be worth trying them.  If you have the money, then the Lazy J 20 is stunning.

I have definitely played a lot of amps over the years and ok my perfect tone is probably an amalgamation of the tube, the circuit, the gain structure, the cabinet and speaker cone.

I unsurprisingly didn't explain myself very clearly in that last comment. I think the thing i like about 84's and 34's too over something like a 6L6 is not just the typically more pronounced midrange, its more about where that mid hump is. I like the mids to be slightly lower on the spectrum to make it fuller without it being too flubby, and i also just like the response the 84's give me. For my style of playing they just feel chewier. Again like i say thats just my personal preference and how it fits with my playing style but i will take those points on board and go try out a 68 reissue reverb or two