Blues Junior Drowning in Reverb? | The Easy Fix Almost Anyone Can Do

[@edgoswick1271]

I enjoy all your videos. I've had my Blues Jr for over 20 years and always hated the reverb; I did this yesterday and the reverb is very usable. Thank you!

[@greymurdock2]

I have learned a lot from watching your videos versus other technicians Thank you for being specific and clear on how you fix the problems

[@filipkostovski873]

Love your videos. I'm not an amp technician, just a guitar hobbyist with an old blues junior. After watching your videos, I now understand more about what's been happening to my amp lately. Seeing all these people here makes me wonder why Fender made choices that apparently go against what people want. I'll never pay a premium to buy a new Fender amp. Old ones leave enough money for mods and fixes to get them right.

[@jcool0122]

The stock configuration sounded deep enough to make Dick Dale back off the reverb knob.

[@TheAaron3dg]

God, I am addicted to this channel! Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us

[@chriswhite9218]

I've never owned a high quality amp, even a tube, but I love watching you fix these sorts of amps, one day (when I'm worthy) I will get me a Princeton or blues jr and know how to maintain/fix myself thanks to all your videos, I'm from England and guitar an amp techs are expensive for decent ones. Thank you for all your doing 👍

[@craigshewchuk9018]

You can find a good tube amp cheap man! Keep looking around, I found a traynor from 76 for 300, not in England, but should be able to find a marshall somewhere over there no?

[@BrewReview]

Or an orange or a cheap used small wattage Vox! They’ve gotta be everywhere..

[@BITESIZEJONES]

Never worried about this. My BJR sounds great

[@debheise7158]

I bought a replacement reverb tank for about $25, put it in and works great!

[@kavudays]

Just made this mod to my Junior and love it! Without thr reverb drowning, it seems to balance other characteristics out as well and just overall sounds better. Love your videos!

[@qddk9545]

In a comment I mentioned another mod for reverb, namely to nip the bright cap on the reverb signal. I have done something similar to a Hot Rod DeLuxe. On the older schematic from ´95 it is named C26 (3,3 nF), and on the newer schematic it is named C23 (3,3 nF). It works like a bright cap on a volume pot, but here only impacting the reverb signal. On the Hot Rod it sounded good to remove it. It gave a more round and full reverb signal.

[@frankkissane1908]

Worked like a charm for me. Reverb is just how I like it.

[@evankolpack]

I have the opposite problem. I play a lot of oldshcool 50's/60's type stuff and soul/r&b. I often need LOTS of verb, and my Twin Reverb can do it, but my BJ on 12 sounds about like my Twin on 6 or 7. I'll find the equivalent resistor in my implementation of the BJ and up the value. Thanks for the tip!

[@dangitdan9938]

Well, 82k did it for me. I’d recently done the Fromel mod (supreme) to my faithful sidekick the tweed Blues Jr and had been noticing the reverb bleed I was getting and how extreme the reverb was. I added the resistor and I have to say the improvement was more than noticeable. I still get a fairly decent amount of reverb when it’s at 9-10 but even that is usable but I’m not drowning in it. This has always been my ride or die amp, many have come and gone, but this was the final mod to make it perfect for me. I’m sure over the next few months I’ll probably upgrade some more things, transformers and replace the stupid ribbon wire connectors caps etc, but I can’t thank you enough for your vids and advice. I think you’ve earned my trust with this one. Hahaha Question. Down the road, when I pull the board again, and I want to replace that resistor in the board but would like a bit more reverb than the 82k has it set to now jumping the on board resistor, what do I replace it with? I am guessing a 175k to replace the 220k would get me where I want to be? That’s removing the existing along with the added 82k and replacing both with one 175k? These boards aren’t much fun to pull out so if I can save myself having to do it more than once I’d be a happy boy. Anyway thanks again and I appreciate the time taken. 🤘🏻🤓🤘🏻

[@PsionicAudio]

Thanks! Rather than giving you a fish... www.digikey.com/en/resources/conversion-calculators/conversion-calculator-parallel-and-series-resistor

[@paulcargo4233]

I have the amp that I have been meaning to "tune up". I wish I had your tweed Blues Jr. simple must do list...

[@Mr.ABartley]

There’s hope?! This is the same problem I have with my 2018 Custom deluxe reverb 1968 reissue. To the point I took out the tank and looking for a replacement. I may not have to do that? Does your process work on my amp? If so this is a game changer. the cdr reverb - too much to soon. Thanks in advance for any input. Great vid. I enjoy tinkering and feel comfortable doing the work.

[@PsionicAudio]

Totally different circuit in your amp. Try the Mojotone medium decay Fender tank.

[@philandcatherinemuzio9476]

Very good video, as always. Thank you. 2 questions please- what type of resistor did you use? What would you recommend for a reverb tank with a shorter tail than stock? TIA.

[@PsionicAudio]

I used a 1/2W carbon film, though a 1/4W would have been fine. CF or MF. Sadly all the tanks that have the right I/O impedances that fit the cab space are 3 springs. But this medium decay MOD would be an improvement: www.tubesandmore.com/products/reverb-tank-mod-8eb2c1b-medium-decay-3-spring

[@philandcatherinemuzio9476]

@@PsionicAudio Thanks for the quick response. Much appreciated. Enjoy the day.

[@saddhabhaya3896]

Superb mod, thank you so much. I used a 120k in parallel so about 75k result, great range of reverb. Seems it could have changed the sound of the amp a little as that part of the signal routed through the op amp is not so apparent?

[@PsionicAudio]

That's the reverb only signal at that point. Doesn't affect the dry signal.

[@RiotBike]

For anyone wondering, it’s R50(330k) on the Made in USA green board.

[@billwittmer9015]

Kudos to you RiotBike! Working on Blues Jr. ( green board ). My customer wanted a really wet reverb effect. Like Dick Dale, Link Wray, Ventures, etc. Changed R50 in the feedback loop of thr TL072 to 470k. He got what he wanted!🤪. 2:01

[@richclayton5785]

Nice easy fix! Thanks so much…

[@edwardhannigan6324]

Handy trick to know Lyle..Cool result..Ed..uk..😀

[@robbysguitars8223]

I noticed the power lamp dimming and brightening. Is that what they all do?

[@davidsotomayor8713]

That might be an issue between the light and the refresh rate on the camera. Those indicators tend to be a little flicker-y, it would explain why it seems to oscillate or "throb" as the camera & light fall in and out of sync (and why it doesn't correspond to the signal.)

[@davidverbeeck]

I'm sorry to ask, but it looks like you've used an 820k, or am I wrong?

[@Satchmoeddie]

I just put a trim pot in where that resistor is, or a 20 turn 500K trim pot across the resistor. I have a ton of them, so maybe 40 cents? I don't know what Fender's amp designers are smoking, besides power tubes.

[@chriskrueger1865]

Excellent mod, thank you. Question.... I need to replace the damaged reverb pot in my BJ, would changing the pot value from the stock 50K to a 25K, 250K, 1MEG, etc., accomplish a similar result and eliminate the need for your mod? Thanks

[@PsionicAudio]

No, it would just make the reverb have more low frequency content.

[@chriskrueger1865]

@@PsionicAudio Thank you

[@shadtrisdale5444]

I'm not sure but i believe you could also use a potentiometer as a variable resistor in series with R44 giving you more control

[@qddk9545]

That would not be a good idea in that you will never get under 220K, so that means you could only get more reverb. If you do that you would have to change the 220K to a much lower value.

[@divebomb99]

I would pay top dollar to see a Fender engineer or two debate you on many of their design choices in a public forum. Watching them get eviscerated would be delightful.

[@ronj9448]

There might be no debate. You would have to bring in a bean counter who is trying to save pennies off thousands of these amps to make shareholder value.

[@kevinwager9284]

what are the color bands on the 82 k resistor? Thanks in advance.

[@nurrwick]

I had to do something similar to my Super-Sonic 22. Fender ended up issuing a TSB for reverb howl because the circuit is (was, in early revisions?) way, way too hot. I wonder who in Fender's engineering department loves producing designs that are effectively MOAR REVERB NOW hot takes. Unrelated, mostly - Though I got to the party late, based on forum post dates, a lot of early internet wisdom on the Super-Sonic reverb issue suggested swapping out one of the 12AX7s for a 12AY7. When the TSB came out, that initial wisdom vanished. I had a 12AY7 kicking around and tried it, and I figured out real quick why that wisdom went away - the amp lost a lot of character and volume along with that loss in gain. Better to have a circuit that actually does what it's supposed to.

[@rudykessen4834]

Hi; Great video. One question though...When I look at 82K resistors; they're available in 1/4 watt & 1/2 watt. Which one do I choose for this mod? Thanks in advance!

[@PsionicAudio]

1/2W.

[@rudykessen4834]

@@PsionicAudio Thank you!

[@MrPymx]

Hi ​@@PsionicAudio, nice video. I'd really like to tame the reverb on my bj 3. I just have a hard time finding some decent 1/2w 82k resistor in my neigborhood. I got some sent over the mail and they were huge in size.. would not fit. You mention 1/4w would also work. Is that ok?

[@I.Kamintsev]

imho blues juniors have way too much signal going to the reverb section, and since it's volume knob dependent it starts ringing badly, especially with humbuckers. and bright cap on the reverb pot which is linear is also not a good idea, i don't know what's the point of squeezing all the usable amount of effect in 1-3 on the dial. but that's just my pov

[@danielsaturnino5715]

Looks like you get alot of those amps. Thanks for the tip.

[@hombredecurry]

Bad cat with low reverb output any hints please I'm in uk

[@kswg2009]

I have the blues junior iv and the opposite problem. The reverb cranked sounds like the 2 level. I plugged the reverb tank into another amp and it was working great. Something must be wrong internally with the amp. Any advice is much appreciated!

[@BrewReview]

Might want to check the validity of the tank itself. A total replacement is peanuts, I’d just do that initially anyways. 👍🏻

[@mickizzo]

On vintage Fender amps with gobs of reverb I sometimes swap the 12at7 reverb driver tube for a 12au7. It reduces and sweetens the reverb. I never tried it on a newer Fender so I can’t comment on how it might sound in one of those.

[@PsionicAudio]

The reverb driver is supposed to be a 12AT7. A 12AU7 doesn't really like the current in that position in an old Fender. Either way, the reverb in a Blues Junior is solid state. So...

[@mickizzo]

I meant at7, my bad. I did this on my 66 Super Reverb about 10 years ago and so far it’s still sounding great.

[@mickizzo]

BTW I really appreciate your videos, your knowledge and attention to detail. Keep up the good work!

[@PsionicAudio]

Thanks, and I'm glad yours is holding up.

[@mickizzo]

Are we talking premature tube failure or should I be expecting some sort of catastrophic event?

[@richardlynch5632]

Brilliant 😎👍

[@mikehoehn1475]

Nice

[@lazvt8469]

My new model (IV) has reverb set "comfortably" in the 10 position...

[@rogerrogerschannel]

I have same issue with my 65 deluxe reverb reissue, What resistor is it on that amp? I can't turn reverb past 2 and half before to much.

[@PsionicAudio]

That’s a very different circuit. Best adjustment is to get a medium decay tank instead of long decay.

[@chipsterb4946]

Lol I don’t think the reverb knob on my Princeton Reverb clone has ever been above 5 and then you need a life jacket. Nice quick tip.

[@megwatts1903]

Forgive what might be a stupid question, I don't own one of these amps. Why is that red , I presume LED, light dimming and growing brighter?

[@PsionicAudio]

It isn't to the eye. Phone cameras don't like red LEDs.

[@megwatts1903]

@@PsionicAudio Trippy...

[@zuperdee]

The reason that red LED looks like it’s fading in and out on camera is that LEDs, unlike incandescent or fluorescent bulbs, have virtually NO persistence, so they ONLY produce light when there’s current applied, and since the LED here is likely being powered by either AC or unfiltered DC, this means it will actually be flickering at either 60Hz (on AC) or 120Hz (on rectified but unfiltered DC). Since neither of these perfectly match the 29.97Hz camera frame rate, the LED will look like it is pulsing as it falls in and out of sync with the camera shutter.

[@Eppie55]

Why is it that the Tweed and Hotrod bluesseries have such a metalic sounding Reverb compared to the old Fenders? A Bluesdeville/Dlx. sounds pretty Fenderish clean, but don't touch the Reverbknob otherwise the whole ampsound becomes metallic.

[@HamzaJamzaFamza]

I think they voiced it to sound appropriate with a fair amount of overdrive, whereas the vintage Fender amps were designed for clean tones only

[@ronj9448]

@@HamzaJamzaFamza Agreed. A short signal path in the originals

[@strangebirdsir]

Mine has always had next to no reverb. I’ve always had to use pedals with mine…

[@TonyClarkGuitar]

Why was the power light dimming and then getting bright again.

[@PsionicAudio]

It's an LED and it hits the frame rate of the digital camera just right. It doesn't do it to the eye.

[@verycrankyperson]

I liked it the way it was.

[@PsionicAudio]

Then don't do this. ;)

[@FMFVeteran]

😄😎

[@perrywildpigdaddymule1286]

I would like my usa made b jr jas this reverb

[@samuel_towle]

Reverb goes from 1 to "Man, or Astroman?"

[@Goomer]

It's a crummy sounding reverb anyway. I use a pedal with mine (TC-Hall of Fame)

[@andreborges2881]

DISCHARGE THE AMP BEFORE GOING IN. REMEMBER, PEOPLE, for the love of the gods.

[@PsionicAudio]

I do. Every time.

[@silverwings1843]

Another ludicrous fix..... Brand new IV had the reverb tank leads crisscrossed. Which gave a very whispy reverb effect. Ridiculous!!!!