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Hi!

I'm looking for a low wattage amp to play at home. The chapest options I've found are this two little beasts. It's funny there isn't much difference in price between both and Blues Junior has more features that the PJ. Can someone explaing me the advantages and disadvantages of both? And, are they worth buying?

Thanks!

Blues Jr. - more tone controls, more flexibility - many people do not like the sound (including me) - lots of information out there in terms of how to mod one to your liking. - you have to go through the hassle of modding it (simple speaker change often does nicely).

Pro Jr. - great sound out of the box - better tone than Blues Jr, in my trials. - I've heard from one person on this board that it eats tubes.

Another cheap way to quot;fixquot; the tone of a Blues Jr. is to replace the tubes. I've been looking into getting a new speaker for mine, just to see what difference it makes. I just can't decide on one. I've never messed with the Pro Jr., so I can't offer anything on that one.

both are good amps, it depends on what you want to do.

the pro isnt as loud but sounds better stock, less features but turn it up to 8 and it sounds really nice.
the blues jr sounds ok out of the box and has lots of features that the pro doesnt, even a footswitchable boost. the speaker really needs replacing to get the best tone.

for both amps i recommend the european el84's (jj/tesla el84 or the groove tube gtel84s), a fatter warmer tone with a smoother break up. preamp tubes are a taste thing more than anything else.

i use a jj/tesla ecc83, chinese 12ax7, and jan 12at7 (v1 thru v3) with a greenback in my jr and it sounds great but there are lots of other cool posibilitys too. even a pro jr would sound better with a jensen p10r or webber upgrade.
bottom line, nice relatively inexpensive amps that can be nice tone toys with a little effort

I think my choice would be the BJ. It seems more usefull for home aplications...

Bump (I would like to see more inputs)

from : localhost/home.comcast.net/~machrone/bluesjunior.htm

I would get a Blues Jr and do this guy's mods (above link)

If you have trouble finding the recommended part he can provide them.

He sells the tone stack caps for $5. He also sells parts with detailed installation instructions for the following:

A presence control $10 (highly recommended)
An adjustable, balance-able bias kit is $20 (comes with a drilling template and biasing instructions). Each tube can be adjusted separately.
adjustable bias that adjusts both tubes; it doesn’t allow individual balancing. $10.

I do not work for this guy and I have yet to do his mods on my own amp but they have received rave reviews over at the use a JAN GE 5751 in the V1 slot the New JJ ecc803 in the V2 and a Mullard NOS 12AT7 (mil spec) in the V3 slot as the phase inverterThe 5751 is a great V1 tube!