Blues Junior III Settings

[wire-n-wood]

I'm a relatively new guitarist, in my first band at 40+ (late bloomer?!%*#...) My primary guitar is an American Std Strat. My only amp is the blues junior iii. My band plays some blues, some 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s rock... I play a sorta bluesy lead. I'm looking for some insight into how I can get the best out of the amp.

I know that there is the "whatever sounds good to me" approach... but it's my first and only amp, so I don't have much scope regarding what is possible and what works. I'm hoping for some ideas about how you set this amp, and what you're looking for.

This started when I was jamming with another friend and I commented that I sounded very twangy. He suggested turning down the mid. I'd never thought of adjusting the mid, or what that might achieve. So please don't be shy to tell me some basics that might seem obvious to you.

How do you use the volume/master combo?
What do you get out of the bass/treble/middle balance?
What is the reverb good for?

The fat switch I feel a bit better with. On for soloing, off for rhythm. Like I said, I'm starting at the basics here.

 

[wire-n-wood]

Anyone, anyone...?

</final and only bump>

 

[gatordoc]

For single coils, I think the amp is a little bright and lacks some bass, so I like to keep the treble set way down to around 4, bass up to around 10, and mids around 7. If you want a more Blackface tone then keep the mids down as well. Keep the channel volume low and the master volume way up if you want to keep it clean and just the opposite if you want to get some overdrive. Run the reverb around 3 - 4 if you want to thicken the tone a little.

 

[wire-n-wood]

For single coils, I think the amp is a little bright and lacks some bass, so I like to keep the treble set way down to around 4, bass up to around 10, and mids around 7. If you want a more Blackface tone then keep the mids down as well. Keep the channel volume low and the master volume way up if you want to keep it clean and just the opposite if you want to get some overdrive. Run the reverb around 3 - 4 if you want to thicken the tone a little.

Cool. I'll give that a try this weekend. Thanks.

 

[jlagrassa]

I would start off with all the tone controls at 12:00 and set up the master volume and preamp gain your going to use.... do you just plug straight into the amp? Strats can be real bright so I would start backing off the treble and add some bass to to fill out the sound then adjust mids to taste.

Stand back from the amp after you make adustments so you can hear what the amp sounds like at a distance and just keep tweaking the controls till it sounds the way you want...... I would also suggest changing the tubes a good start would be to use JJ ECC83S in the preamp spots and a pair of JJ EL84 power tubes these would help darken the tone a bit as well as tighten up the low end!

www.eurotubes.com has tube kits you can buy for this amp!

 

[metz420]

For single coils, I think the amp is a little bright and lacks some bass, so I like to keep the treble set way down to around 4, bass up to around 10, and mids around 7. If you want a more Blackface tone then keep the mids down as well. Keep the channel volume low and the master volume way up if you want to keep it clean and just the opposite if you want to get some overdrive. Run the reverb around 3 - 4 if you want to thicken the tone a little.

Agree 100% - the settings you listed are mine exactly! I like to use a Voodoo Lab Giggity to add a little grit and shape the tone a bit to "fill in the blanks" where the amp itself falls short. I've got the Blues Jr. III Two Tone with a C.Rex speaker and I really like how it sounds vs. the stock speaker.