I had heard so much on how the Fender Blues Jr.&trade was such a great sounding amp. Since I like
to build them instead of buy them I thought I'd give this amp a try. After reading lots
of post on the Fender Forum and learning
about a lot of the cool mods available (find them here Bill M's mods)
to further improve the amp's sound I was ready to start.
I had heard that the amp in its original form sounded a little boxy and, after incorporating the mods, I needed a larger
chassis and therefore, a larger cabinet. I'm not the world's greatest when it comes to applying tolex so I opted for an
all wood model. I had found a picture on the forums where someone had built a walnut cabinet for their amp. I thought it looked good and
did the same.
I started with a new aluminum chassis ordered from a fine craftsman in Texas named Ron.
rkwork@tisd.net. He does a great job delivering
a precisely constructed box.
I implemented most of the mods on Bill's site including:
- Presence Control
- Standby Switch
- Clean Boost
- Footswitch for Clean Boost and Fat Switch
- Tone Stack Changes
- Bias Board
- I also added a pot to reduce the hum from the 60hz heater supply.
The Blues Jr. uses a solid state reverb circuit. I wasn't sure if the power transformer could support two additional
tubes for the traditional Fender type tube reverb driver so I decided to duplicate the original ckt. I drew it out in ExpressPCB
and sent it off to have the board made.
In their original state the output tubes are biased quite hot. I decided to build a bias board to allow for controlling
the bias for each output tube.
The speaker selection was between a Weber 12F150 or the Eminence Patriot Cannabis Rex. The Weber sounded good but
was just too bright for my taste. In the end I went with the Cannabis Rex.
All in all I think it turned out quite nice. The Blues Jr. is a great sounding amp. Check out the Images and sound
clips. Let me know what you think,
Email Me.