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Build blog: T&T x Blues Junior III CRex
Stock
2018 Fender Blues Junior III LTD in a rather fetching Burgendy Red tolex & wheat grill cloth. It comes installed with an Eminence Cannabis Rex 12” speaker which, according to internet gossip, is the number one speaker upgrade for this amp.
Rebuild
The stock IC capacitors have been replaced with some lovely F&T’s & the first filter cap increased to 100uF, which dramatically improves the fullness of the bass response. The plate, grid and cathode resistors have been upgraded to Vishay 1 watt metal films, bright caps swapped with silver mica, signal path capacitors replaced with Panasonic and the tone stack caps with Sprague Orange Drops.
We’ve also re-engineered the bias circuit to allow you to switch between the original fixed bias and the latest BJ-IVs cathode bias, to give you more tonal options. To do this we’ve swapped the ‘Fat’ footswitch socket at the back of the amp for a two way toggle. The ‘Fat’ boost is still usable via the button on the control panel, but if you’d prefer to still have the footswitch we have other options available.
The reverb circuit, fat boost and other components have also been upgraded to match the Blues Junior IV & as with all our amps, we rerouted and dressed the leads to minimise noise & interference.
Components which are prone to failure such as the input jack and the leads connecting the main board with the tube board have been replaced with higher quality parts, and all the solder points have been checked for cracks/cold-solders and re-flowed if needed.
Revoice
The latest BJ-IV (which really is the BJ-V) is getting positive reviews from it’s users, so apart from changing the component values to match the IV we’ve kept the re-voicing to a minimum. If there are any updates/mods you’d like (e.g. the BillM twin-stack, un-sparkle mod) then let us know.
Refurbish
This amp came to use in great condition, so all we need to do was to give it a bit of a spit & polish to get it looking it’s best.
New Spec
Filter capacitors replaced with F&T’s, reservoir capacitor increased to 100uF for a firmer bass response.
Signal path capacitors replaced with Orange Drop and Panasonic film capacitors, values changed to match BJ IV specs.
‘Fat’ boost upgraded to BJ IV specs.
Plate, Screen and Grid resistors upgraded to 1 or 2 watt Vishay metal film.
Reverb circuit repositioned to match updated BJ IV design.
Bias cicuit modified to allow switching between original ‘fixed’ and latest ‘cathode’ bias, allowing a choice between higher headroom or more compression/earlier breakup.
Lead dress and re-routing to minimise background noise and hum.