Blues Junior III

[hoserton]

I'm looking to upgrade my amp in the near future. I have a Fender Champ 600, but want to upgrade to something with better sound and has more flexibility (e.g., EQ, reverb), that also won't blow all of the windows out of my house. Does anyone have an opinion on the new model of the Blues Junior (Blues Junior III)? I mostly play blues, alt-country and power pop. I can get one for $499 Canadian with a $50 gift card, which seems like a pretty good deal to me.

 

[Gio_Force_One]

its a good amp for what you want to use it for.i played one a few months ago , it had a pretty decent tone

 

[straycat113]

I have an original BJ, it is a nice amp but I never found it to have any -WOW- factor. I never played a BJ III, but I would probably look in a different direction if I were looking for something new today.

 

[RocketRalf]

Here's a review/comparison to the previous one: Billm Audio » Blues Junior Series III: What’s Different?
I have one of the older version II back home. It's a fine amp for bedroom practice, gets a really nice clean tone that can take pedals, but the reverb is nothing special and the EQ is not too versatile either. Basically you get one good tone that you can alter trough pedals.

 

[Spudmurphy]

I have a blues junior - bought it a couple of years ago and unlike straycat, mine had/has the wow factor
Let me explain. I was working on the Strings n Things stand at an exhibition. On the stand the demonstrators were the Devil and Brian Kelner of the Bushman brothers.

I went to the exhibition with the intention of getting a Blues Junior and had a good deal whilst there. I brought it back to the stand and much later in the day as we were packing Brian tried it out and was knocked out by the sound - saying that it was a match for the (higher priced) amps brian was using in recording. He did say "wow" - honest. I've used mine in a lot of small venues and it has performed flawlessly - even didn't let me down when this happened - infact it sounded very dirty

So looking at the genres of music played I would defo say go for a blues junior - well worth the money - and it will make your EB's sound just great

 

[Slingy]

I like these amps too, but keep in mind this is a one channel amp with only 15 watts and no fx loop. 15 watts is however very loud for home use, but probably not enough headroom to jam out with a band.

 

[hoserton]

Thanks everyone. I think I'll pick one up and give it a try. There's 30 day return policy so it's hard to go wrong.

 

[peterd79]

I have a few options for you to investigate or check out online

My main rig is a Dr Z Maz Jr and my backup is a Peavey Classic 30 - so let me start the review

I sent my Maz to Dr. Z for a Mod and so i have been using my Classic 30 and Extension Cab as a back up

Low and behold i had a tube go out on me last saturday and i needed it sunday morning...
I called a buddy who has a Blues Jr III *RED* and asked if i could borrow it for Sunday Morning's Service.

The 15 Watts for me wasn't quite loud enough to push through our drummer and stand out... but i did hear from a few folks at my church they could hear when the drummer wasn't really getting after it... so it's all depending on your drummer. The Blues Jr III would certainly be loud enough if you and a buddy or two were jamming at home but would certainly want more head room when going out...

Another Option in the same ball park is the Classic 30...

here's a quick side by side
Blues Jr III -----------------------------Classic 30
15 Watts -----------------------------30 Watts ------(win goes to the 30 for headroom)
Vintage 30 Speaker (stock)-----------Blue Marvel Speaker (win goes to the Jr for the celestion)
Single Channel ------------------------Dual Channel foot switchable (win goes to the 30 for flexibility)
No Effects Loop -----------------------Effects Looop (Tie since i don't use the loop)
No Speaker out for added cab -------Speaker out option (win goes to the 30 for flexibility)
poor dissipation of tube heat ---------poor dissipation of tube heat (tie although the 30 seems to do a bit better)
*Both amps tend to run hot but that's the nature of el84's and i've resolved that with the classic 30 by adding ceramic tube sockets. Fender replaced their Jr III with brown (mylex ?) which is said to help but not up to ceramic while peavey has yet to address that problem.
Spring Reverb --------------------------Spring Reverb (tie)
Stock tubes are Groove Tubes (JJ) ---Stock tubes were Cheap (win goes to the Jr)

the stock speaker in the 30 in my opinion was garbage and replaced it with a vintage 30 which improved the tone drastically and then put in a vintage greenback to see what it would do... it's still in there and the vintage 30 is in an extension cab... and that combo sounds great.


hope this helps a bit for ya...
I've played my silo through both amps as well as a tele and it sounds great with either guitar... and i tend to play the same genre of music you're describing. hope this helps.

 

[serizawa]

The amp does seem pretty well suited for what you want, I think. Usually, I find that some of the tubes that Fender use stock are a little stiff sounding, but replacements from Eurotubes would probably put you in a great ballpark for what you want.

I run a VC30 only on one channel and use distortions/overdrives to get it where I want it to be, much preferable when I compare it to channel switching amps.

Post some clips if you ever get the time!

 

[mikeller]

For similar money you may want to check out Blackstar and possibly Egnater as well...

 

[RobertJFortner]

When I play alt country & power pop ( I play The Replacements and Paul Westerburg a lot, just to give you an idea of what I mean by Power Pop) I use a Vox AC15 (new model) ITs got a normal channel and a top boost channel. If you buy a AB box you can foot switch through the channels. Thats what I do. So I have a Clean and Distortion Channel. I think its a better amp, and Its only $599 (us). And my ALHH sounds BA through it. I didn't care too much for the Blues JR III when I played through it. BTW my store is a Fender Dealer and a Vox dealer. So I did the pepsi challenge with my rig. For my style of playing and my guitars the Vox sounded better. However, I don't have your ears. IF you like the tone then go with it.

And it sounds to me like you're going by Price. Have YOU played one?? Advice: But Don't buy an amp just because of the price. I had an /13 (because I thought it was the holy grail of amps)... I sold it when I got my vox ac15..Because that little 600 dollar amp was better to me..and the /13 was 2k.