Found a Blues Junior for $400

[Robert]

I'm heading down to Calgary tomorrow and I'm running the half-marathon there on Sunday. Hope I can win the Master's title! You guys should place your bets now...:crazyguy

I browsed craigslist and found an almost new Blues Junior for $400. Not that I need another amp that bad, but I've always wanted a Pro Junior and the Blues Junior isn't that different. It would come in handy for those SRV moments, or else I can sell it locally if I get tired of it. Plus, I don't think I've ever owned a Fender amp! Can you believe it!

Is $400 CDN a good price for the amp? The guys says it's only a couple of months old, and hardly ever played. It's just the standard Blues Junior, not the tweed model.

[Spudman]

I say pass. You've got all the sonic options you need. Besides, the BJ isn't all that great compared to the Marshal that you have coming.

This will give you an idea of the difference
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJEentdt3f8&feature=PlayList&p=CEA39346824340BB&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=54

[mapka]

I have a blues deluxe and a Marshall JCM 900. I use the Fender mostly and love it. It suits my blues needs well and really only has a problem with heavier rock stuff. Just my two cents!

[duhvoodooman]

IMO, every guitar player should own a Fender amp. And the Blues Jr. is a good one, and highly affordable. Not to mention eminently mod-able! :dude

[Duffy]

The std is supposed to be a good amp stock including the stock eminence made, fender labelled speaker, however, people put in eminence Texas Heat's etc. in them. The newer ones are upgraded with a cream pcb board and other improvements. The cream pcb board vs green pcb board versions have been out for several years. The basic black is stealthy and preferred by many, as the amp can be a sleeper that surprises many.

The fenderforum.com has vast reserves of information on them in the Blues Junior Mafia thread that you can post any questions to, but browsing or searching the huge thread can answer most all questions. Super highly modifiable amp, with mods described in the thread.

A common mod is the typical fender volume control on the hot rod series is real touchy - it goes from dead silent to blasting in a slight amount of arc of the volume knob turn. There is a volume pot mod described there that replaces the pot with a gradual volume increase one, audio or linear, I forget. I need to do that to my hot rod deluxe!

A lot of people like them fine pure stock and even enjoy them at low volume but they excell when cranked up, as you can imagine.

Congratulations. Sounds like a very nice amp, absolutely, way cheaper than you would be able to get it Canadian, 499 USD, new.

[otaypanky]

A Junior is fun. It's surprisingly capable and quite portable. I have the tweed version and have experimented with all types of speakers. I currently have a Jensen Electric Lightning in it and I like it a lot. I tried a Pro Jr at a local shop and while I thought it sounded nice at low volume it didn't have much headroom and would not compare with my Junior for playing out at a jam, where people tend to not be real savvy concerning volume and dynamics.
Under the chassis is a foot switch jack for the fat setting. It's right next to the speaker jack but is not visible unless you look for it, and it could easily be assumed to be an ext speaker out.
Good luck in the marathon Robert :AOK

[ZMAN]

Robert: I think that 400 is a good price for a new BJ. I have a 65 Deluxe reissue, and a couple of DSL Marshalls, and I really like my Blues Junior. I was totally amazed at how flexible this amp is. There are several sites that you can find that have settings listed for specific tones. By tweaking the amp you can get literally hundreds of tones. I had a tweed Blues Deluxe Reissue and traded it in on a LP Goldie. I really liked the tone from the BJ better. Straight up they are excellent amps. You can also run it through your 2/12 Avatar and get amazing results.

[Tone2TheBone]

Blues Jr. all da way buddy!

[Robert]

I passed on it. I am more interested in a Pro Junior. But then I bought a Marshall Class 5 (http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php?t=15459) yesterday, so I should probably hold back on buying gear for a while!