If you really want to highlight what makes the Deluxe Reverb different from the Blues Junior, pull the microphones away from the amps and capture how they sound in the room. Having spent a lot of time on both, the Deluxe fills rooms better while the Blues Junior ends up sounding very small.
We should probably add that the latest version of the Blues Junior ( IV) has cleaned up a lot of the issues that people had. I am not a fan of the amp, but when I played it in the store , it sounded a lot better than the one I used to have. Also the best setting is dime everything but the preamp volume.
@@larrygreene6522 They just sound cold and lifeless, not sure if tuning is the cause? I know if I did not own these amps already I would not want to buy them, at least if they sounded the way they did here
FYI, the "Boost" switch on the BJr isn't a "boost" at all - with it engaged (depressed), you're actually just engaging the full circuit with all tube voltages. If you depress the Boost button, it drops voltage to, I believe (it's been awhile since I've studied the schematic), one of the 12ax7s, meaning it's starving the circuit. Since there's a master volume, there's no real sense in disengaging the Boost button; better to just keep it in and adjust the EQ as needed so that you're getting the full amount of tube saturation.
I feel compelled to correct this statement. The boost button engages or disengages the bypass capacitor of the second gain stage. It's the widely used value of 22µF. With it engaged the boost of this gain stage is significantly increased. Although it should be an equal boost all across the frequency band, to me it usually feels like a bass boost too. DC voltages don't change at all - no "starving" involved here. The capacitor bypasses the cathode resistor which in turn bypasses the negative feedback that would otherwise occur through the AC signal (your amplified guitar signal) that is passing through the tube. No negative feedback = more gain.
I think that this comparison doesn't do much justice to Blues Junior - it's a way different beast at bedroom levels and Deluxe Reverb just has too much clean headroom because it was designed for being played on stage. Most people won't crank them that loud at home or set this way on a gig. But I applaud the general idea about comparing these two like this.
The jam-y stuff beginning at 8:20 sounds very In Rainbows era Radiohead. Me like! Also, if it were me playing I’d kick up the treble a notch or two when turning up the volume with both amps. YMMV, of course.
I wish they compared the 65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue. It’s entirely different from the 68 Custom. I think it sounds totally superior, and it’s often the amp pedal builders tune their pedals on. That’s really the benchmark for higher priced modern Fender sounds.
I bought a Deluxe used - minty - the guy went Tone Master. I think a low milage Amp for cheap is the way to go. You can get both and not have to decide. The Deluxe is hard to bring down to 0 volume but wow it sounds great.
Well I guess it’s worth it. In my headphones the blues junior sounded way clearer. I did really like the fully overdriven deluxe though. I would get the blues jr. and put a flint in front of it
There are different versions of the Blues Jr. this one has reverb, as well as the low, mid, and high tone knobs. I have a Blues Jr that’s only got the volume knob and one overall tone knob and it was about $500.
Applaud doing this comparison. But why an old Bjr? No criticism intended here but I have to say I own an '02 BJr and play my friends Custom '68 DR on occasion. I have never got sounds that bad out of either amp. For starters the DR's need treble up around 6-8 and volume at 6+ usually, and the Bjr needs master dimed, volume at 5-7 and EQ adjusted to taste (bass never above 4), depending on the Fat switch. That said, the old Bjr's that come with the Jenson need an upgraded speaker ASAP and I sometimes drop in a 5751 or two to clarify the gain. The DR's require no upgrades, they come well stocked, and kill the Bjr all day long on tone. For the money buying new, the DR is a better deal since you'll upgrade or mod the Jr to the tune of $200-400 trying to keep up with your buddy's DR - trust me on that lesson!
You answered a question I had in my mind for some time now. That is, with the BJ master dimed what setting does the volume knob need to be to match the breakup volume of the DR. I know master on 6-8 on a DR is the sweet spot. Looking for the BJ sweet spot with Master dimed and volume adjusted to compare with the DR sweet spot setting. I'd like to see a video comparison based on you comment.
I can speak for the Fender Custom Deluxe Reverb '68. It is a little bit different than its cousin, the Deluxe Reverb '65, due the speaker and other features but essencially, you can get those rounded clean tones. The best of the CDR68 is the Custom Channel and the Reverb/Vibrato is available on both channels (Vintage and Custom). The headroom available for clean tones is not as large than the DRi65, but the CDR68 is easier to crank for studio and home playing. On the begin, it was a little hard to keep used to the clean tone, and because all my pedalboard was made for a Vox AC15C1, and also the amp felt a little bit "cold", but now it plays warmer and sounds better. I definitely recommend this amp for any style, and also to pair on stereo/wet-dry setups with a Vox AC15C1.
Yeah, he really should have dialed back the bass on both of the amps way more. The low end was over driving the signal and it resulted in an incredibly fuzzy tone. It's not really a good comparison to keep the same EQ settings for both single coil and humbuckers, because that's not how people use their amps.
I would set the bass way lower and the treble at least a little higher. Even the single coils sounded bad to me with the EQ settings here. I know a Deluxe can sound better than this, and I've seen videos with Blues Jrs. that sounded much better (although I've never played or recorded with one myself).
Am I the only one that can't tell by what logic Fender names it amp lines? Reverb, tweed, blues, hotrod, princeton... what's the actual practical difference between models? Are they entirely different product lines or what?
A reverb amp is either black face or silver face. They contain reverb and include models like the deluxe reverb, the twin reverb and any other black or silver face amps with reverb. Tweeds were the early fender amps and tended to be more gritty and mid heavy, not scooped like a black face. The blues junior and blues deluxe are both mid priced amps that kind of do there own thing. Then you have the hot rod deluxe, the deville and all those other amps in the line. They occupy a similar price point to the blues amps but they were designed to be more “modern”. They are loud and pcb with cheap speakers and drive Chanel’s.
@@bacicinvatteneaca there were different iterations for both eras of amps like drip edge silver face amps and the transitions period to Norlin with black face but generally, black face have more treble and bass with less mids. The treble tends to not get to harsh though. Silverface has a more prominent mid-range and a harsher top end. They tend to be looser when they distort and they get Fizzy more quickly. I personally like silver face amps but they are more difficult to dial in and aren't everyones cup of tea.
I have a Blues Junior and an original silver face Princeton. The B Jr is boxy sounding. You can minimize that to some degree but it does have that boxy quality. The Princeton is much more open sounding but has less headroom.
When playing at home alone, my BJr (III) sounds boxy as hell when compared to my other 6L6 Fenders and a Vox AC15. I swapped to an Eminence, which made a bit of difference but didt take out the boxiness. I'll say this in its favor, in a band mix we don't notice it at all because the mids punch through really well and the boxiness gives it some focus. All the extra frequencies and openness of my other amps gets lost in the mix, so the BJr is my go-to practice amp. Esp when I don't feel like shlepping heavy amps. One other trick to know, the BJr works really well in a stereo rig - I can pair it with the AC15 or my Twin/Pro amps and it compliments each nicely. I keep it a hair under parity to the others and the BJr adds just the right amount of fullness.
Just got one and the noise issues are blown way out of proportion. You won’t notice it when you’re playing and even when you’re not, it’s not deafening or anything. The usual 60 cycle hum from single coils is much more of an issue than the idle noise from the amp.
You might need to flip the reverb tank around to get rid of some of the noise but once you do that, the general noise level is pretty much on par with a lot of vintage Fender amps. It isn't great in REALLY quiet situations but if you play at a pretty reasonable volume, you won't really notice.
Try it out. I picked up one on sale (maybe because the economy is slowing down) and if you're standing there in your basement yes but in an ensemble setting or on a small stage? Nope. I figured there are a lot of comments from people in their living room with this thing off their ear.
Well that didn't help. Yeah they have bass distortion and both have tubes and speakers. When is a amp review going to come out with great for recording or great for giging and certain venues. All we ever get is watered down amp reviews. I own both of these amps I live in the country with no one around neither would be good if you lived in an apartment or had close neighbors. So you are going to buy a amp you can never turn up if you have people around. Give what the amp is intended for.
The Hot Rod series has some serious reliability issues that will cost the owners lots of money in the long run. Not that '68 or '65 RIs don't have issues, but the Hot Rod series has it worse
To save some of you asses a lot of time and $$$..if you have to use distortion pedals with an amp, Just get any shitty amp for under 200 dollars and you'll be happy.
Surprising how it isn't even close. The modern Fenders are clearly built to have no personality to avoid putting anyone off - but resulting in a thoroughly bland amp compared to their classics. If you like that bland sound, you can just get a solid state power amp. You don't need to waste your time and money on a tube amp.
You need to know how to set one up - especially with the old ones the master volume knob is very sensitive and it's best to drive their preamps without using much of the power amp
If you really want to highlight what makes the Deluxe Reverb different from the Blues Junior, pull the microphones away from the amps and capture how they sound in the room. Having spent a lot of time on both, the Deluxe fills rooms better while the Blues Junior ends up sounding very small.
We should probably add that the latest version of the Blues Junior ( IV) has cleaned up a lot of the issues that people had.
I am not a fan of the amp, but when I played it in the store , it sounded a lot better than the one I used to have. Also the best setting is dime everything but the preamp volume.
I own both of these amps. I don’t think this video did either one justice.
Agree
Typical Reverb. They need to hire someone (like me) as an audio consultant. Besides the drum videos they do at Rax all their stuff sounds like garb
Is it because the guitar is so out of tune?
@@larrygreene6522 They just sound cold and lifeless, not sure if tuning is the cause? I know if I did not own these amps already I would not want to buy them, at least if they sounded the way they did here
FYI, the "Boost" switch on the BJr isn't a "boost" at all - with it engaged (depressed), you're actually just engaging the full circuit with all tube voltages. If you depress the Boost button, it drops voltage to, I believe (it's been awhile since I've studied the schematic), one of the 12ax7s, meaning it's starving the circuit.
Since there's a master volume, there's no real sense in disengaging the Boost button; better to just keep it in and adjust the EQ as needed so that you're getting the full amount of tube saturation.
...Please edit this comment to make sense. So, if you depress it, it drops voltage, but if you *depress* it, allows full voltage.
I feel compelled to correct this statement. The boost button engages or disengages the bypass capacitor of the second gain stage. It's the widely used value of 22µF. With it engaged the boost of this gain stage is significantly increased. Although it should be an equal boost all across the frequency band, to me it usually feels like a bass boost too.
DC voltages don't change at all - no "starving" involved here. The capacitor bypasses the cathode resistor which in turn bypasses the negative feedback that would otherwise occur through the AC signal (your amplified guitar signal) that is passing through the tube. No negative feedback = more gain.
On my Bjr, it's a "fat" switch.
Thanks for doing this, I’ve been wondering the same thing with these same amps lately!! 🤘🏼
I think that this comparison doesn't do much justice to Blues Junior - it's a way different beast at bedroom levels and Deluxe Reverb just has too much clean headroom because it was designed for being played on stage. Most people won't crank them that loud at home or set this way on a gig. But I applaud the general idea about comparing these two like this.
I've had a hot rod deluxe and a blues Jr for many years now, but I've been digging my pro jr for the last couple years.
The jam-y stuff beginning at 8:20 sounds very In Rainbows era Radiohead. Me like!
Also, if it were me playing I’d kick up the treble a notch or two when turning up the volume with both amps. YMMV, of course.
that pick guard is something else..
I wish they compared the 65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue. It’s entirely different from the 68 Custom. I think it sounds totally superior, and it’s often the amp pedal builders tune their pedals on. That’s really the benchmark for higher priced modern Fender sounds.
DRR is THE baseline
I bought a Deluxe used - minty - the guy went Tone Master. I think a low milage Amp for cheap is the way to go. You can get both and not have to decide. The Deluxe is hard to bring down to 0 volume but wow it sounds great.
Does a blues jr. really cost 750 now?😱
not anymore lol
Yes, currently $749.99
Well I guess it’s worth it. In my headphones the blues junior sounded way clearer. I did really like the fully overdriven deluxe though. I would get the blues jr. and put a flint in front of it
There are different versions of the Blues Jr. this one has reverb, as well as the low, mid, and high tone knobs. I have a Blues Jr that’s only got the volume knob and one overall tone knob and it was about $500.
@@MickeyDs14 That's actually a Pro Jr.
Thanks! Wait comparison Deluxe/Twin/bassman/Princeton
Some guitar players don't know how to adjust the amp knobs... and here he is on video
Wouldn’t a Princeton be closer to what a blues jr Is for?
Applaud doing this comparison. But why an old Bjr?
No criticism intended here but I have to say I own an '02 BJr and play my friends Custom '68 DR on occasion. I have never got sounds that bad out of either amp. For starters the DR's need treble up around 6-8 and volume at 6+ usually, and the Bjr needs master dimed, volume at 5-7 and EQ adjusted to taste (bass never above 4), depending on the Fat switch.
That said, the old Bjr's that come with the Jenson need an upgraded speaker ASAP and I sometimes drop in a 5751 or two to clarify the gain. The DR's require no upgrades, they come well stocked, and kill the Bjr all day long on tone. For the money buying new, the DR is a better deal since you'll upgrade or mod the Jr to the tune of $200-400 trying to keep up with your buddy's DR - trust me on that lesson!
You answered a question I had in my mind for some time now. That is, with the BJ master dimed what setting does the volume knob need to be to match the breakup volume of the DR. I know master on 6-8 on a DR is the sweet spot. Looking for the BJ sweet spot with Master dimed and volume adjusted to compare with the DR sweet spot setting. I'd like to see a video comparison based on you comment.
What was the tune played during the start of the comparing overdrive section!? Original or a published song?! It sounded sick!
What combo for fuzz pedals? 🤔
Mind boggling the DRRI is 2x what it used to be less than 10 yrs ago and 4x what I paid for mind in early 2000’s.
10 years ago or so I bought a '71 Deluxe Reverb for $1200. It was just as cheap to get the real deal back then.
I can speak for the Fender Custom Deluxe Reverb '68. It is a little bit different than its cousin, the Deluxe Reverb '65, due the speaker and other features but essencially, you can get those rounded clean tones.
The best of the CDR68 is the Custom Channel and the Reverb/Vibrato is available on both channels (Vintage and Custom). The headroom available for clean tones is not as large than the DRi65, but the CDR68 is easier to crank for studio and home playing.
On the begin, it was a little hard to keep used to the clean tone, and because all my pedalboard was made for a Vox AC15C1, and also the amp felt a little bit "cold", but now it plays warmer and sounds better.
I definitely recommend this amp for any style, and also to pair on stereo/wet-dry setups with a Vox AC15C1.
Medium overdrive on the Junior with that D’Angelico sounded like a nice fuzz!
Can you do one of these for 1x12 or 2x10 Marshall amps?
How much was a new Blues Jr in 2010?
am i insane or did both amps sound worse with humbuckers?
They're both super Saggy in a way I feel sounds off.
Well Fender is more known for single coils… but yeah, that’s why I went with a Marshall 1x12 combo amp a long time ago (the 90s, I’m dating myself).
I usually never have these problems with Fender amps and humbucker, BUT I also use pedals for my overdrive/distortion/etc
Yeah, he really should have dialed back the bass on both of the amps way more. The low end was over driving the signal and it resulted in an incredibly fuzzy tone. It's not really a good comparison to keep the same EQ settings for both single coil and humbuckers, because that's not how people use their amps.
I would set the bass way lower and the treble at least a little higher. Even the single coils sounded bad to me with the EQ settings here. I know a Deluxe can sound better than this, and I've seen videos with Blues Jrs. that sounded much better (although I've never played or recorded with one myself).
Am I the only one that can't tell by what logic Fender names it amp lines? Reverb, tweed, blues, hotrod, princeton... what's the actual practical difference between models? Are they entirely different product lines or what?
A reverb amp is either black face or silver face. They contain reverb and include models like the deluxe reverb, the twin reverb and any other black or silver face amps with reverb. Tweeds were the early fender amps and tended to be more gritty and mid heavy, not scooped like a black face. The blues junior and blues deluxe are both mid priced amps that kind of do there own thing. Then you have the hot rod deluxe, the deville and all those other amps in the line. They occupy a similar price point to the blues amps but they were designed to be more “modern”. They are loud and pcb with cheap speakers and drive Chanel’s.
@@Otis-Isom but do black face and silver face have different components or is it just a different packaging for the same thing?
@@bacicinvatteneaca different circuits
@@bacicinvatteneaca there were different iterations for both eras of amps like drip edge silver face amps and the transitions period to Norlin with black face but generally, black face have more treble and bass with less mids. The treble tends to not get to harsh though. Silverface has a more prominent mid-range and a harsher top end. They tend to be looser when they distort and they get Fizzy more quickly. I personally like silver face amps but they are more difficult to dial in and aren't everyones cup of tea.
I have a Blues Junior and an original silver face Princeton. The B Jr is boxy sounding. You can minimize that to some degree but it does have that boxy quality. The Princeton is much more open sounding but has less headroom.
That’s what I heard too.
When playing at home alone, my BJr (III) sounds boxy as hell when compared to my other 6L6 Fenders and a Vox AC15. I swapped to an Eminence, which made a bit of difference but didt take out the boxiness.
I'll say this in its favor, in a band mix we don't notice it at all because the mids punch through really well and the boxiness gives it some focus. All the extra frequencies and openness of my other amps gets lost in the mix, so the BJr is my go-to practice amp. Esp when I don't feel like shlepping heavy amps.
One other trick to know, the BJr works really well in a stereo rig - I can pair it with the AC15 or my Twin/Pro amps and it compliments each nicely. I keep it a hair under parity to the others and the BJr adds just the right amount of fullness.
Some say 68 Deluxe Reverb is a very noisy amp. I like the setup but if it's noisy, is it worth it?
Just got one and the noise issues are blown way out of proportion. You won’t notice it when you’re playing and even when you’re not, it’s not deafening or anything. The usual 60 cycle hum from single coils is much more of an issue than the idle noise from the amp.
You might need to flip the reverb tank around to get rid of some of the noise but once you do that, the general noise level is pretty much on par with a lot of vintage Fender amps. It isn't great in REALLY quiet situations but if you play at a pretty reasonable volume, you won't really notice.
Try it out. I picked up one on sale (maybe because the economy is slowing down) and if you're standing there in your basement yes but in an ensemble setting or on a small stage? Nope. I figured there are a lot of comments from people in their living room with this thing off their ear.
What guitar model is the Jaguar one?
*Could also be a Jazzmaster i guess...
Congrats, you managed to make both amps sound horrible. Recording audio is a skill.
For overdrive sound, blues junior. Cleans, deluxe reverb.
Does anyone like their blues Jr?
Well that didn't help. Yeah they have bass distortion and both have tubes and speakers. When is a amp review going to come out with great for recording or great for giging and certain venues. All we ever get is watered down amp reviews. I own both of these amps I live in the country with no one around neither would be good if you lived in an apartment or had close neighbors. So you are going to buy a amp you can never turn up if you have people around. Give what the amp is intended for.
The Hot Rod series has some serious reliability issues that will cost the owners lots of money in the long run. Not that '68 or '65 RIs don't have issues, but the Hot Rod series has it worse
issues like what?
To save some of you asses a lot of time and $$$..if you have to use distortion pedals with an amp, Just get any shitty amp for under 200 dollars and you'll be happy.
Both are cheap when you open up the backs.
Designed to fail.
Surprising how it isn't even close. The modern Fenders are clearly built to have no personality to avoid putting anyone off - but resulting in a thoroughly bland amp compared to their classics. If you like that bland sound, you can just get a solid state power amp. You don't need to waste your time and money on a tube amp.
I’d rather spend $1400 on a used quality amp than either of these two. Give me a Boogie.
Blues Junior sounds terrible. Boxy and flubby. Save $450 and go buy a Katana and you'll have a much better amp.
You need to know how to set one up - especially with the old ones the master volume knob is very sensitive and it's best to drive their preamps without using much of the power amp
Katana is a chromebook with a big ass speaker.
What is that first guitar?!? The sunburst one with the Bigsby looking headstock?!?
The very first guitar you see looks like a Black Bobbin Jazzmater.
It is one of our Custom JMs!
@@BlackBobbin Thanks!!!
@@seanmeehan1437 thanks!!!