Fender Pro Junior

[(i_am_the_walrus)]

I went to Guitar Center to try out a Vox AD30VT, but ended up liking the Pro Junior they had better than the Vox. Unfortunately, they didn't have any Rickenbackers in stock, but with a Strat and an Epiphone Casino the Pro Junior seemed to have much more chime and complexity than the AD30 on the Fender and Vox patches. I'm curious if anyone here has played a Rick through a Pro Junior and what their impressions of it were.

[(ken_j)]

I've played a 610 through the Pro Jr's brother the Blues Jr. The Blues Jr has the same power and power tubes with more tone shaping plus reverb. It did very well. I have played a 64' Gibson 330 through a Pro Jr and it was pleasing and seemed to sound similar to the Blues Jr. I would take your own guitar with you for a test drive. I beleive Guitar Center does offer a 30 day return policy if you don't like it.

[(kennyhowes)]

I had a Pro Junior, and it had its good and bad points.

Good: great snarl and good volume, small package, cheap. And EL84s. Great in many applications. Plus mine had the cream tolex/oxblood grille. Pretty friggin' hip.

Bad: Blew the speaker after a year of heavy use; the god-dang tubes-rattling-against-something sound; no bottom end (it's a small amp, after all).

I did plug it into a 1x12" cab once to try that, and it was much, much better. But then why carry two little amps to the gig? I've since gone back to the AC30.

[(ken_j)]

The Blues Jr does have a 12" speaker stock. I have done two mods to mine. 1st a bias mod that installs individual trim pots for the output tubes. Fender runs them on the hot side, close to 12-13 watts. This mod drops them to about 7 watts at idle. 2nd mod is a tone stack. The original caps are similar to a 4x10" Bassman. This results in a poor bottom end through a single 12". The mod brings it more in line to a Princeton Reverb's circuit. Much better bottom end. Both mods ran under $30. Needless to say this cancels the warranty. There are also a few variations of the Blues Jr. The older ones with the green circuit board have more issues. The newer ones, like mine, have a cream colored board.

[(ken_j)]

Here's the link for the mods: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/machrone/bluesjunior.htm

[(i_am_the_walrus)]

Can you get a good chime from the Pro/Blues Juniors? I've heard some people complain about a lack of high end from these amps.

[(beatcomber)]

Pro Juniors are voiced to be dark. I think they sound awesome with Teles, but all my Ricks sound like **** through PJs.

[(i_am_the_walrus)]

I bought the Pro Junior, and I'm very pleased with how it sounds with my 330. Voiced to be dark? On the bridge pickup, I have to roll back the tone control a little because its actually too bright sounding even with the tone knob set to 1 on the PJ.

[(kennyhowes)]

I've gone back to the Pro Junior for live shows these days. Soundmen put their fingers in their ears when I load in an AC30.

The one I now have (a version III - in groovy "Plum Crazy" purple) has the previous complaints from all those years ago rectified. Highly recommended!