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Home :: Products :: Blues Jr Conversion
The Fender Blues Junior is a respectable amp in its stock form. But imagine taking all that complexity (and cheap parts and PC boards and solid state) and turning it into one of the most sought after tube amps in the world.
We will convert your Blues Junior to a hand-wired, point-to-point, all-tube, boutique amplifier circuit of your choice from the following options:
s2amps.com will disassemble your Blues
Junior and reuse its tubes, transformers, speaker, chassis, and cabinet
to build you a custom boutique amplifier. We will make it with premium components
and back it with our incredible warranty. Lead time is 3 to 4 weeks upon
receiving your amplifier (some upgrades may take a little longer). Be sure
to check out our
gallery for photos of conversions we have done recently.
We also offer a Pro Junior conversion to:
You may order using the shopping cart below or include a check or money order with your chassis and mail it to the address at the top left of this page (be sure to include contact information, a description of which circuit you would like, and $19 return shipping). We will also accept a 50% deposit to begin work on your chassis with the balance to be paid upon completion. Current delivery time is 3 to 5 weeks as of 02/15/2008.
| Blues Junior Conversion | $469 | |
| Pro Junior Conversion | $449 | |
| SoZo Capacitor Upgrade | $49 | |
| Carbon Comp Resistor Upgrade | $24 | |
| Mercury Magnetics Output Transformer Upgrade (8 Ohm) | $99 | |
| Mercury Magnetics Output Transformer Upgrade (4, 8, 16 Ohm) | $169 | |
| Mercury Magnetics Power Transformer Upgrade (120VAC) | $99 | |
| Custom Tweed Cabinet | $270 | |
| Line Out Jack (post output transformer) | $24 | |
| Effects Loop (passive series) | $49 | |
| Post PI Master Volume (if not part of circuit) | $24 | |
| Standby Switch (3 position) | $24 | |
| Vox Style Cut Control (if not part of circuit) | $24 | |
| Power Dampening Control (some models) | $24 | |
| Stainless Face Plate Upgrade (brushed or bright) | $24 | |
| Tone Tubby Ceramic Speaker | $... |
|
| Eminence Ceramic Speaker | $... |
|
| Tube Kit for Blues Jr (specify brand) | $45 | |
| High Gain Tube Kit for Blues Jr - JJ | $58 | |
| Tube Kit for Pro Jr (specify brand) | $36 | |
| High Gain Tube Kit for Pro Jr - JJ | $45 |
Tweed Deluxe Strat
Micro Plexi Strat
Jim / Leo Strat
Jim / Leo Les Paul
Add your clip to our library!
| Front Controls | Varies by model (see text above) |
| Indicators | Neon pilot lamp |
| Input | 1/4" instrument jacks |
| Output | 1/4" speaker jacks |
| Fuse | 2A Slo-Blo |
| Power Transformer | Existing Fender or Mercury Magnetics |
| Output Transformer | Existing Fender or Mercury Magnetics |
| Tubes | Not included |
| Tube Sockets | Micalex silver plated |
| Capacitors | Mallory or SoZo, Silver Mica |
| Electrolytics | Tech-Cap high voltage |
| Resistors | Carbon film |
| Jacks | Neutrik and Switchcraft |
| Potentiometers | Carbon composition |
| Hookup Wire | Oxygen free silver tinned Teflon |
| Shielded Wire | OF silver tinned braided Teflon |
| Solder | Silver content |
| Chassis | Existing Carbon Steel |
| Faceplates | Laser engraved Alumamark or Stainless |
| Rectifier | Solid State with s2 Virtual Tube technology |
Unfortunately no. The reverb circuit in the BJ is Solid State, which means the impedance of the tank is not compatible with tube circuits. Also, there are not enough tubes in the BJ to support tube reverb. We haven't had a single customer to date who missed the reverb once he or she heard the tone of a boutique amp, however.
It is hard to say one of these brands is better than the other--they are both very high quality. They just sound different. Generally speaking, SoZo caps are a little mellower and smoother sounding, whereas Mallory caps are a little brighter and have a little bit more "spank." I like Mallory caps in most circuits, but SoZo caps do capture the tone of the old British mustard caps and sound great in British circuits. We will also use Sprague Orange Drops upon request--these are the brightest and most hi-fi sounding of the bunch--very 70s Fendery.
A Jim & Leo is a two channel version of the Marshall 18 Watt amp with the addition of the preamp from a tweed Deluxe. So you end up with a two channel amp having a Marshall 1974x on one channel and a 5E3 Deluxe on the other. The Marshall (Jim) channel is spot-on to the original. The Deluxe (Leo) channel captures the tweed growl of the real thing, but doesn't sound exactly the same because of the different phase inverter and power tubes used by the 18W. Still, both channels are unique and very usable. This is our most popular conversion.
This can be done! We can do this using either EL84s or 6V6s. The BJ is a perfect platform for a 5E3 Tweed Deluxe or a Brown Deluxe. While the BJ power transformer is designed to produce the lower voltages typically used by EL84s, it does put out enough juice to run 6V6s. The B+ on the BJ is ~340VDC. The Tweed Deluxe runs around 320VDC. Brown Deluxes are listed as 375VDC. The Deluxe Reverb cooks its tubes at about 420VDC. So the BJ's voltage is pretty much perfect for a Tweed or a Brown, but a little on the low side for a Black Face. Still, the voltage is enough to support a Black Face if you don't mind a little extra overdrive and compression, and we really like the results :)
Large changes in voltage will be noticeable, where tubes running at lower voltages tend to overdrive more easily. But imagine plugging your amp in at your house where the wall voltage is 128VAC (like mine), then plugging it in at a gig, where the house voltage is 115VAC. Every volt on the primary equals about 2.2 volts on the secondary in this range, so the primary difference of 13V in our example equates to nearly 30V on the secondary. Did you hear the difference in the tone of the amp?
Except for the rectifier, yes. We use SS rectifiers since the Fender power transformer is designed for them. But we do use our s2 Virtual Tube (tm) technology to simulate the sag of a tube rectifier upon request. Otherwise, the circuits are identical unless you request specific tone tweaking.
We mean we can build you a stock single channel 18W, a hot-rodded version of the same, one with treble, middle, and bass controls, one with high gain, etc. We can do a lot with this circuit, so feel free to ask us if you have a crazy idea of your own. Want a micro Plexi? How about a mini Trainwreck? We can do that too.
Yes. If you stick with the stock output transformer (OT), we add an auxiliary jack standard. If you upgrade to the premium Mercury Magnetics OT, we include separate 4, 8, and 16 Ohm speaker jacks as part of the upgrade.
There is literally a difference of about $10 in the cost of parts between the two conversions, so our cost to do the conversion is almost the same. Therefore the price is almost the same.
The single most important upgrade is the speaker. Amp makers are spec'ing speakers (and output transformers) to be cheap to make--paying less and less attention to how they sound. The output transformer is almost as important. Replacing the Chinese stock unit with a US-made Mercury Magnetics unit makes a huge difference in tone. Next in line is tubes. Companies often use Sovtek 12AX7WA preamp tubes and similar power tubes. These tubes sound more than a little bit like cardboard, but are nearly indestructable. This is important when shipping amps all over the world, but better tubes sound so much better!
We apply our proprietary aging process to the speaker to simulate hundreds of hours of playing. This mechanical and chemical process loosens the cone, surround, and spider, which smoothes out the highs, rounds out the bottom, and allows the speaker's midrange to bloom.
This site created by Steven Scott for s2 Audio Technology / s2 Amplification, copyright 2004-2008...blah, blah, blah...and stuff. All rights reserved. Specifications and components are listed for information only and are subject to change without notice. We probably used some trademarks on this page. Those belong to someone else. Users of this site consume any and all products and/or information presented herein at their own risk.