Fender Blues Jr. vs. Vox ac15cc1

[Callum620]

Need opinions on which amp to buy, played them both , love them both can't decide... using my 2007 620. Fender Blues Jr. vs. Vox ac15cc1(not the celestian blue's)

[tennis_nick]

Well it depends. Both seem to have the tonal quality of the flagship of either company.

The Fender will be handy when it comes to changing tubes, the Vox has them a bit hidden away. besides that, I prefer the Vox myself...

[ric330]

If there is anyway to do a side by side I would highly recommend it. The Blues Junior uses EL 84's in its' power section and if the Vox does not have the Celestion Blue in it then it would be a good comparison. The Vox is Cool and always a winner and if you get the Celestion Blue later than you have a great small giging amp. On the other hand the Blues Junior is a great compact tone machine with a big following. I myself used one for quite a while and loved it pushed. If you make a cabinet for a Celstion Blue and use the Blues Junior for your head...Oh yeh - that really sounds cool.

[btomlinson]

I have a question for those of you that know. I currently have a Blues Jr. It sounds kind of small. The VOX AC15CC1 has a larger cabinet. Does it sound bigger? They are both 15 watts.

[schoolside]

I have the Vox AC15CC1 and it's a very good amp. The Vox is not overpowering in a small room yet can provide additional volume over a Blues Jr. when needed. The top boost and reverb are very good. Just add a Rickenbacker, a little compression and you will be in tone heaven. If you want to kick it up a notch in quality get the Fender Deluxe Reverb RI.

[wj350]

Are you going to be toting the amp around? 31 lbs vs. ~48 lbs.

[firstbassman]

I have a question for those of you that know. I currently have a Blues Jr. It sounds kind of small. The VOX AC15CC1 has a larger cabinet. Does it sound bigger? They are both 15 watts.

Sorry, what do you mean by "small?"

[charlyg]

I'm doing a few things with my Blues Jr. I have a Mercury output transformer with 4-8-16 ohm outputs. I bought a 4 ohm Weber British Classic, I'm lowering one of the bias resistors to 27k, for a little cooler operation, and of course, tubes, JJ's as I liked them in the Hod Rod Deluxe I had for a week or two!

[soundmasterg]

Personally I can't stand Blues Jr's. They are hard sounding to me and don't have any refinement, and are not easy to work on. But then I build amps for a hobby so I can build myself something better. I haven't played the new AC15's, but I own an AC30 and love the sound, so I would probably like it. There are lots of other Fender products out there which are better sounding than the Blues Jr IMHO.

Greg

[firstbassman]

Personally I can't stand Blues Jr's. ... and are not easy to work on.

This guy would probably disagree with you:


http://home.comcast.net/~machrone/bjrinfo.htm

[soundmasterg]

Yah that guy would disagree with me about the sound of the amps, but he said this on his site...

Gaining access to the back of the circuit board is not all that easy--amp techs hate these amps for a good reason.

and that is part of what I was referring to about working on these amps. A vintage style PTP or turret or eyelet board amp are much easier to work on, and many modern PCB amps are much easier to work on and better made also than the blues JR. Each to his own though....

Greg

[ken_j]

I agree that it is difficult to work on a Blues Jr. I have done Bill M.'s tone stack and bias mod (the mod with 2 pots, one for each tube) on my Blues Jr. I also changed the speaker trying to get a fuller sound from it. I like the amp best when playing it through my Boogie three quater back 1 X 12" cab. For that reason I am considering converting it to a head.

[scott_s]

Personally I can't stand Blues Jr's. They are hard sounding to me and don't have any refinement, and are not easy to work on. But then I build amps for a hobby so I can build myself something better. I haven't played the new AC15's, but I own an AC30 and love the sound, so I would probably like it. There are lots of other Fender products out there which are better sounding than the Blues Jr IMHO.

Greg

Had I a Blues Jr, I'd probably add a small filament transformer and 5Y3. Or some sag resistors at the very least!

- Scott

P.S. I'm in the same boat, though -- if I want a particular amp, I'd rather build it myself than buy it. Unless I get one for a really good deal, I suppose...