Fender Blues Junior Modified Zvex Box of Rock

[yobhsiFehT]

Ooh, that's a relief:S I'm working on downsizing to one of these amps, and I got to wondering how it would fit on my amp stand. Now I know:) Pretty sure we have the same generic On-Stage stand... Anyway, thanks for posting:D

[Guitarstring187]

This amp isnt a amp its your classic sound. I dont know if any pups wont sound vintage on this thing.

[EuphorbusBTB]

There's an EQ, find the frequencies thats hard on the ear, and attenuate them.

[blueskidd96]

Sounds great! What are your thoughts on the Carbon Copy?

[HollerboyHellbilly]

Sounds really great! I really like the feel of the spank from 1:00 to 1:30 and the Zep at the end. How do you like the MXR eq? Would you consider it a quiet effect?

[mKreifeldt]

Hi thanks! I think it's a really good eq. The worst I can say is it can be a tad "Hi Fi" sounding but I can deal with that better than something that just craps up your tone altogether. It's quiet if you use it properly, it does have a lot of gain available which can be cut or boosted at both the input AND output. All in all, it might be the only reissue that's actually better than the original.

[djteleboy]

sounds good but to much effect

[francisb528]

I really like the sound of your amp. I've been thinking of doing the Billm mods also. Based on some reading, I was concerned lowering the bias would suck some of the life out of the amp. But clearly your demonstration quells these fears. Great playing too!

[mKreifeldt]

THanks for the nice words. You should think of it as "fixing the bias" not "lowering" it. A correctly biased amp will sound MORE lively, not less. THe amp comes stock ridiculously over biased. Keep in mind I did quite a bit tot his amp. The single easiest thing you can do is jump the mid pot per BillM. That extends the range of the pot. Being able to notch out mids makes it sound more like a traditional Fender and less like a Marshall/Vox.

[francisb528]

great, thanks for the follow up explanation

[Rowan2]

Hey dude, my Blues Jr has a V30 speaker, but it doesn't like my crunch box. How does the Jr handle the box of rock? Is it capable of very high gain distortion?

Thanks, greets Rowan.

[mKreifeldt]

Hi,

Sounds like you have vintage 30? If so that can be a very bright speaker, especially in an open back cab. I don't have this amp anymore but the BOR worked really good, sounded just like the amp cranked. The BOR has a pretty thick bass, I got/get the best out of if by putting a vintage Ibanez PQ 401 in front of it. Lastly, the BOR is not a super saturated high gain pedal, it's a very uncompressed, open, cranked amp type of sound. I ran the JR clean with the BOR. Might sell both pedals!

[razzmoney]

Your not just sittin in your room bustin, your playin out with this vibe right?! Sounds great, get some gigs if you don't already!

[0191jdrummer]

i want this amp now

[lighteningboy]

Good times, bad times, yeah! This is the best sounding Blues Jr video out there.

[mKreifeldt]

Wow I am flattered but I don't think I deserve the compliment as I used a fair amount of pedal trickery to really get this amp sounding like I wanted it too. The amp was heavily improved over stock so it was a marriage of pedal synergy and good sounding amp.

[Danklin24]

I love the tone at :45! Damn

[scorpguitar79]

how did you convert the power stage to triode mode?

[mKreifeldt]

My amp-tech friend talked me through it, and I regret idon't remember exactly. Any good tube amp tech would know how to to do it. It made a world of difference, big tone boost for a small decrease in power.

[scorpguitar79]

congrats on your mods! They sound great! I have done some mods on my ac15 and it made a big improvement.

[Taud]

Do you ever find the mxr "clips out"?? ive seen it where the lights flash and the sound drops out for a second.... @_@ im scared to buy it now

[mKreifeldt]

No that has never happened to me. You can overdrive the unit itself, or overdrive an amp with it. But I use it mildly, never more than 6 db of cut or boost. I cant imagine it stopping making sound unless you are doing somethign really dumb with it. Beware of internet misinformation! There are a lot of flunkies that don't use gear properly and then give it a bad rap!

[Taud]

cool thanks bud, i just needed to be reassured, i was thinking of grabbing the danelectro eq just to clean it up a bit, but i love the gain and volume with the mxr ten band, ill definitely check it out like i was going to, lots of people tell me they cant live without it now ahaha amp just doesnt sound the same

[marcelcruzeiro]

Fantastic tone. Old style fender for sure. So, I own a hot rod deluxe and I was wondering how could I use an equalizer to get a twangy sound like you did there.... how should I dial? By the way, my amp has a lot of bass when cranked, and I guess that's a problem for twang, cause the low end kills the spanky attack...

[mKreifeldt]

Hi, thanks for the nice words. I use to be very anti-eq pedal but the mxr 10 band I used on this is really pretty clean if you don't go crazy with it. I was trying to make the amp sound more like a small speaker old squacky type sound. If I remember I did this by notching out 125 hz and putting a little bump around 1 kz or so. Yes, too much bass is a problem for distortion to sound good. The eq pedal would probably help a lot. Notching out 125 Hz probably simulates a 10 inch speaker.

[t0psecretshit]

sounds amazing!!!

[lighteningboy]

This is awesome!

[dcboogie]

Nice cowboy sound, great clip.

Yeah I like it.

[andrew0786]

killer tone man!

[leejackson13666]

sounds damned good! excellent sound. love it dude

[famouspogs]

wheres the MIDS man.

[mKreifeldt]

sucked out as they should be if you want an old fender amp tone which I do. The point of this video was to show folks that this amp doesn't have have to sound like wanna-be Marshall.

[liquidribs]

what do the orange drop mod do ? any noticable differences? i'm thinking of getting one for my tweed as well

nick

[mKreifeldt]

Hi Nick,

Orange Drops are big film foil caps that have much lower internal resistance. YOu will generally notice a fuller, more three dimensional sounding tone. It's noticeable but hard to describe. Best done with other mods because the board is delicate and should not be taken out too many times!

[liquidribs]

Thanks for the advice! Anyway your mods sounds like pure tone!

[mKreifeldt]

You're welcome. Do keep in mind I used an MXR 10 band eq to help simulate a smaller 10 inch speaker type sound by notching out 125hz. I tried to make this amp sound more like a small 50's tweed amp.

[mKreifeldt]

Thanks! I don't know your amp so I don't have any suggestions. The blues junior was a very deficient amp from the factory and needed a lot work to sound good. If you aren't up to messing around inside the amp I would highly recommend trying a GOOD eq pedal in front of the amp (no Boss please). I just got a vintage Ibanez PQ401 and it works like magic. Hope that helps, have fun!

[jeffers1234562]

woow that sounds great! what modifacation have you made. I have a fender blues deluxe and i want to make it better.

[jasspie]

sick sound man , very nice