Re: [Harp-L] Blues Jr. valve set-up

[Rick Davis <bluesharpamps@xxxxxxxxx>]

I do not care for the tone of EL84 power tubes in harp amps.  That
would include the Fender Blues Junior.  These amps can be made to
produce a harp tone you can live with, but it is not nearly as rich
and full (in my opinion) as the tone you can coax from a 6V6 or 6L6
amp.  One of the main virtues of the Blues Junior is that it is cheap
and plentiful.  You can find used examples on eBay for $400 or less.

I would recommend that harp players interested in the Blues Junior
save more money and buy a Fender Princeton Reverb re-issue amp.  Or,
they could opt for one of the smaller custom harp amps from makers
such as Mission Amps.  The difference in tone between these amps and
the Blues Junior is huge.

You can jam all kinds of different pre-amp tubes into the Bjr but it
will not change the general character of the EL84 tone.  I got the
best results just swapping in an NOS JAN Philips 5751 in the V1 socket
and leaving everything else alone.  It lowered the gain just enough to
make the amp usable.  A 12AY7 tube would give similar results.  A
12AU7 tube is not really suitable here.  If you have to choke off the
gain that much, you are using the wrong amp.  Using a 12AU7 tube in V1
will effectively make the Blues Jr a 3-watt amp.

On another topic, I would agree that the Bulletizer from Greg Heumann
at Blowsmeaway.com is excellent.

-Rick Davis


On Tue, May 8, 2012 at 8:19 AM,  <badtabes@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Here's what I've found works well--V-1 jan phillips 5751---V-2 Telsa
> ECC83S---V-3 Telsa ECC81. Tat's just me. Also look up the Bilm page---the
> "twin tone stack mod" is free, effective, and easily done even by someone
> like me who's hardley ever soldered.