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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
 Posted - 09/26/2006 : 10:31:45
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the band disintergrated last weekend folks.... and i now find myself starting again.....so i've been thinking about scaling down on my gear(not my boss pedals of course...!!)i'm a bit sick and tired of humping a big ol' musicman combo and my marshall rig around to small gigs and i don't want to frighten any new band members...!!!i was looking on the net and i saw the fender blues jr with the jensen speaker had been reissued so i got a good price with shipping off a shop in germany...now the same shop had some lovely amps ie... engl,rivera,hiwatt etc but i found either they had too many bells and whistles on them for me or in the case of the hiwatt it was 2000 euro ....and i run a stereo setup so.....not really a runner unless i win the lotto...!!! anyway back to the fender i was planning on buying two(works out at about 1400 euro plus free shipping)and it has what i like in an amp,one channel and simple to use...if anyone has one i would be interested to know how it reacts with pedals and any other thoughts anybody has on these amps ..if i get time i will go into the city to try one out if i can find one in a music shop...as usual all comments welcome folks..... |
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Big Boss Man
Gold Member
USA
564 Posts |
Posted - 09/26/2006 : 18:48:04
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I used to have a Fender Blues Jr. I was able to get a decent AC/DC type of sound with a BD-2 and the Fender BJ. The amp seemed to work well with pedals in general. My only concern with this amp is reliability. The reverb on mine died. I got it fixed under the warranty coverage. The amp shop also discovered and corrected a few other manufacturing defects while fixing the reverb. They did not seem to have a lot of confidence in the reliability of this amp. I wound up selling mine because of this. Too bad because it is a decent sounding amp.
I would consider some other amps, like a Victoria 20112 or Victoriette, Bogner Metropolis, Carr Mercury, Dr Z Maz Junior. These all cost more but are vastly superior in both sound and quality. I will be in the market for one of these amps in the next year or two. |
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 09/27/2006 : 12:16:48
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i had heard rumours of this big boss man,i read somewhere that there is no bias control in these amps to control the output valves and the valves run 'hot' because of this....and some of the pcb's and internal components are not the best...i have to say my own amps are at least 30 years old and i have had them open before and the insides are a work of art....you can see the care and attention/pride in the persons work who put it together...its just the weight/space/volume factor with big amps...by the way they are not being 'retired' or sold just being kept for bigger gigs....have you any experience with rivera the clubster or pubster range...? these are a little bit more expensive but i heard the built quality is great...and i suppose i could just run my pedalboard through the clean channel...some of the amps you mentioned ie...Dr Z,carr etc are very hard to get in ireland i would have to go to the U.K. or europe to find them and they are very expensive by the time they get there... and my situation is probably the same as most...house,kids etc.. my budget is limited and divorce is imminent if i buy any more gear with big price tags... i think the rivera is about 875 euro... again with free shipping so i could probably stretch to this, another amp i looked at was the cornford hurricane but its about 1500 euro so again by the time you multiply this by 2..... anyway keep the suggestions coming in...thanks.... |
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Big Boss Man
Gold Member
USA
564 Posts |
Posted - 09/27/2006 : 19:00:05
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Yes, I am a sucker for expensive point to point wired boutique amps. The amps by Carr, Dr Z, Victoria, Bogner, etc really are works of art though.
You might want to also consider some used Fender amps, like a Princeton Reverb or Deluxe Reverb. The Silverface versions are reasonably priced in the US and can be modded to Blackface specs. I never tried any Rivera amps but they are probably worth checking out. Paul Rivera did also work for Fender in the late 70s - early 80s so you might want to consider some of the Fenders from that era. I'm not sure specifically which models he helped design. |
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 09/29/2006 : 01:08:17
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| i've been doing some research on the rivera amps,the pubster 25 is a simple one channel amp by rivera standards..!! and the build quality seems good,it got some very good reviews on harmony central... suprising because its usually so negative there....the price in the shop where i looked at the blues jr is 799 euro each with free shipping so i think i will go for it..... its supposed to be very light and portable and its made in the good ol' U.S.A. the only cocern was that the speaker was a 10" and it might be a bit boxy soundwise but most people that reviewed it said this wasn't the case....its basically a modern day superchamp..i think these were the amps paul rivera worked on at fender big boss man...that era about the mid 80's....by the way what are you using ampwise at the moment....?......... |
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Big Boss Man
Gold Member
USA
564 Posts |
Posted - 09/29/2006 : 01:36:40
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Never tried any Rivera amps but I read a lot of good stuff about them. Paul Rivera has been designing amps for decades and his company is still fairly small so I would expect good stuff from him. Not the Mexican sweat shop crap Fender churns out.
I play a Carr Slant 6V and Marshall 2554 Silver Jubilee together in stereo. I also have a Peavey Classic 30 and Fender Vibro Champ. At some point I want to add another small amp for recording and practice. I am thinking about a Carr Mercury, Victoria Victoriette, Dr Z Maz 18, or maybe a Bogner Metropolis.
Good luck with the new amps. Let us know how the Rivera sounds. |
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 09/29/2006 : 13:16:25
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| i'm going to order them over the weekend,so it usually takes about five days door to door from germany i'll keep you posted.... |
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fender blues jr tweed edition........
