[Harp-L] Harp Amp Project: Fender Pro Junior

["Rick Davis" <bluesharpamps@xxxxxxxxx>]

I'm looking for suggestions.  The other day I spotted a MIM (Made In Mexico)
Fender Pro Junior at a very fair price on Craigslist, so I snapped it up. I
owned a Blues Junior amp a few years ago but did not like it much. I may
have given up on it too early. So now I'll take a shot at its simpler little
brother, the Pro Junior.

Where the Blues Junior is a Master Volume amp with a FAT button and all
manner of bells and whistles, the Pro Junior is bereft of features. It has
two chicken head knobs: volume and tone. That's it. One channel; no reverb.
The speaker in the Pjr is a 10-incher, two inches smaller than in the Bjr,

What the two amps share in common is basic circuitry: 15 watts, two EL84
power tubes, a solid state rectifier, 12AX7 phase inverter, and a 12AX7
preamp tube. They also share the EL84's tendency to sound trebly and to
chime when driven hard. That is not a good sound for blues harp.

Be that as it may, the Pro Junior is a pretty popular harp amp. I've heard
passably good tone honking out of these little amps at blues jams. Some of
my harp buddies swear that this or that speaker swap is the magic bullet
that transforms the Pjr into a monster little harp amp.

This particular Pro Junior looks to be completely original, and it is in
excellent shape, the tolex and grill unmarked. The tubes are all
Fender/Groove Tubes/Sovtek and are almost certainly the tubes that came with
the amp from the factory. The speaker is the original Fender Special Design.
I played the amp and it sounds like… well, it sounds like a stock Pro Jr.

I'd like to hear your recommendations for inexpensively turning the Pro Jr
into a better harp amp.

Photos and details at the Blues Harp Amps blog:
http://bluesharpamps.blogspot.com/2008/08/harp-amp-project-fender-pro-junior.html

Thanks!

-Rick Davis
The Blues Harp Amps Blog
http://bluesharpamps.blogspot.com/