Telecaster Guitar Forum - View Single Post - I got my Pro Junior today (questions inside)

appar111 · May 30th, 2007, 07:17 PM

I received my Fender Pro Junior today at work (yay!). It's a standard black tolex version, with stock tubes (Sovtek EL84's and fender labelled Groove Tubes), and the stock brown ceramic speaker. In excellent condition for $230:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...5879&rd=1&rd=1

Couldn't wait to get it home tonight to try it out with my teles. I'd been looking for a small amp for cookouts, jamming w/ friends, etc. and had the Vox Pathfinder 10 for a couple days until I stumbled upon this Pro Jr. on ebay.

The sound is how I remember it from trying Pro Juniors at GC a few times in the past year or so--- clean from 1-4 on the dial, while still somehow sounding abrasive on the ears, harsh sounding at volumes 4-6 and good overdrive tone from 6-9. From 9 on up, dirt city!

To be fair, I knew this when I got it. It's just a little "ehh" when you hear it again. A little disheartening.

So here are my list of mods for this little sucker:

1. negative feedback loop mod - clipping the purple wire from the speaker out to the circuit board. I've read that this is supposed to make the amp sound less stiff and more tweedy.

2. new tubes - somethin' tells me the Sovteks are just not doing this thing justice. I'll either do TAD EL84's or RCA 6BQ5's for power tubes, and Jan-Philips 5751's or a combination of a Tung-Sol in V1 and an EH 12AX7 in V2 for the preamp tubes.

3. new speaker - a Weber Vintage Series alnico 10A125-O 30-watter

4. clear silicon caulking around the inside joints of the cabinet and around the power and preamp tubes where they plug into the sockets (had a Real Tube pedal that had this). I'll wait until I've decided on tubes before I do this obviously.

5. JMR tube dampers for the power & preamp tubes

6. removing the top center screw on the back panel to reduce hum

My question is, how much will all these mods improve the sound & performance of this amp? Most everyone puts new tubes in, so that's no biggie, and alot of players tend to replace the speaker, so that's not uncommon either. I like modding stuff, so it's fun, but every so often the process gets frustrating and I feel like I'm chasing my tail, and I'm hoping this isn't one of those cases....

Advice, opinions?

May 30th, 2007, 07:17 PM	#1 (permalink)
appar111 Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Ohio Age: 33 Posts: 1,276	I got my Pro Junior today (questions inside) I received my Fender Pro Junior today at work (yay!). It's a standard black tolex version, with stock tubes (Sovtek EL84's and fender labelled Groove Tubes), and the stock brown ceramic speaker. In excellent condition for $230: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...5879&rd=1&rd=1 Couldn't wait to get it home tonight to try it out with my teles. I'd been looking for a small amp for cookouts, jamming w/ friends, etc. and had the Vox Pathfinder 10 for a couple days until I stumbled upon this Pro Jr. on ebay. The sound is how I remember it from trying Pro Juniors at GC a few times in the past year or so--- clean from 1-4 on the dial, while still somehow sounding abrasive on the ears, harsh sounding at volumes 4-6 and good overdrive tone from 6-9. From 9 on up, dirt city! To be fair, I knew this when I got it. It's just a little "ehh" when you hear it again. A little disheartening. So here are my list of mods for this little sucker: 1. negative feedback loop mod - clipping the purple wire from the speaker out to the circuit board. I've read that this is supposed to make the amp sound less stiff and more tweedy. 2. new tubes - somethin' tells me the Sovteks are just not doing this thing justice. I'll either do TAD EL84's or RCA 6BQ5's for power tubes, and Jan-Philips 5751's or a combination of a Tung-Sol in V1 and an EH 12AX7 in V2 for the preamp tubes. 3. new speaker - a Weber Vintage Series alnico 10A125-O 30-watter 4. clear silicon caulking around the inside joints of the cabinet and around the power and preamp tubes where they plug into the sockets (had a Real Tube pedal that had this). I'll wait until I've decided on tubes before I do this obviously. 5. JMR tube dampers for the power & preamp tubes 6. removing the top center screw on the back panel to reduce hum My question is, how much will all these mods improve the sound & performance of this amp? Most everyone puts new tubes in, so that's no biggie, and alot of players tend to replace the speaker, so that's not uncommon either. I like modding stuff, so it's fun, but every so often the process gets frustrating and I feel like I'm chasing my tail, and I'm hoping this isn't one of those cases.... Advice, opinions? Last edited by appar111; June 1st, 2007 at 03:42 PM.