Ideal custom cab size for a Blues Jr?

[Blues Jr]

I'm thinking of getting a new larger cab for my Blues Junior w/BillM mods. I found an ebay seller who builds them for a fairly good price.
It's sized at 21" wide x 17.5" Tall x 10" Deep, but he also can do custom cab sizes as well. The size and look are based on the Carr Mercury cab and I kinda like it.

I still would like the cab to be relatively small, and don't want to go into a Hot Rod Deluxe size. However, something a little bigger than it's current stock size will be nice i think. Just wondering if that's a good size from this ebay seller or not for those you in the know.

Thx.

[Billm]

A larger cab won't make much difference tone-wise. If you decide to do it, do it for the looks, not the tone. Otherwise, the bang for the buck is very small.

[don jon]

If it were me, I would use a tweed Deluxe type cab. BillM's advice makes sense. I just like the looks and size of a tweed Deluxe. It's purdy, and the perfect not too big but not too small size IMO.

Great idea by the way. If I still had any of my BJ's I would like to see/hear them in a sharp looking cab. You should keep us updated with pics once it's done.

[Colo Springs E]

.....I think a larger cab will make a difference in the tone. Several very small combos I've tried in the past sounded sort of "boxey" to me, the BJ being one of them but also far more expensive amps like the Mesa 5:25 (even the one with a 12" speaker).

Has anyone here done what the OP is proposing and can give us some first-hand observations?

[johnreardon]

My BJ is now in a solid mahogany cabinet and drives 2x10 speakers. To my old ears, it does sound different, but whether that is down to the cab size, the wood or speaker changes, I don't know.

My main regret is that now the BJ is too heavy for me to take out, so I tend to just use it at home. I would agree with Bill that value for money is disputable.

[moodus2006]

I run my Bjr into a cheap marshall 4x12 and it makes a difference tone wise. I understand that Bill has the lowdown on the type of circut/electronic reason for it's boxyness but I happed to plug into this cab with it and I liked what I heard. (Took a lot of that highend off.. smoothed it out a bit)

[Blues Jr]

Hey there,
Thanks for the replies. Don't get me wrong, my Blues Jr with Bills mods sounds great with the stock cab. I bought the amp used, with some of the mods already done and then I added a couple of more, most notably the bigger transformer. I think the transformer was the single most important mod. It makes the amp sound huge for it's size.

The cab itself was a little beat up when i bought it, and therefore I got the amp for a really good price used. The tolex is ripped in some places, there's a rip in the grill cloth, and the cab itself is banged up a bit as well. I could get the cab fixed up, but I think a new look would be cool. So a cab change will primarily be cosmetic, but I do think there is something to gain in having a cab that's a little bigger in size.

[muchxs]

Make sure some provisions have been made to close up the chassis ends and properly support the chassis when mounting a BJ in a custom cabinet. Leaving the chassis ends open means that it's possible (not likely but possible) to stick your fingers in exposed high voltage through the open chassis ends. It's a "C" shaped chassis, the chassis can and will bend if it's not supported at all of the original mounting points.

[SirJackdeFuzz]

The Port City 1X12 Over Size gets my vote for an extra cab for any BJr.

http://www.portcityamps.com/112.html

Just turn it on its ear, i.e. vertically, w the BJr ontop of it, and you are good to go !

;)

[SirJackdeFuzz]

BUGGER . . . just saw you want a brand new cab for the entire amp.

[Billm]

.....I think a larger cab will make a difference in the tone. Several very small combos I've tried in the past sounded sort of "boxey" to me, the BJ being one of them

My customers put BJr chassis into almost every cab size and configuration imaginable and the differences are small until you get to something like that 4x12. I regularly run one of my BJrs in a 2x12 configuration, but my goal is to move more air, not change the tone.

As far as the "small equals boxy" equation, no one would accuse a 5E3 of sounding small or boxy. With the right components, the BJr can sound absolutely huge.

I just finished adding some mods to a customer's Blues Junior. It already had the usual tone stack, presence control, output transformer and 6V6s and it sounded great, but he was annoyed by the fact that his PRRI had deeper bass, despite the smaller speaker. So I installed larger coupling capacitors in the preamp, which added another octave of bass response. It goes toe to toe with the PRRI now in the bass department without changing the traditional clang and clash of the BJr's upper registers.

I was testing it with a Tele and a 335 clone and was pretty happy with the bass I was getting. On a lark, I grabbed my Yamaha APX900 and plugged it in. Woohoo!

Acoustic guitars through electric amps usually sound like doodoo, but after dialing back the bass and boosting the mids a bit, I was getting a very deep, round, woody tone out of it. I usually play the Yammie through an Ampeg B2 head and a tuned 2-way cab with a midrange horn. The tone is balanced, crisp, kind of hi-fi. By comparison, my customer's BJr through its Cannabis Rex is a little boomy, but very articulate. This setup would be completely usable in a coffee house or bar. You could easily switch back and forth from acoustic to electric with just a couple of knob tweaks.

Of course, playing at home or a small venue is one thing, filling a large room is something else again. I need to test this setup in a bigger environment to see if the bass holds up. But I'm optimistic--it totally exceeded my expectations.

[Blues Jr]

Originally Posted by muchxs

Make sure some provisions have been made to close up the chassis ends and properly support the chassis when mounting a BJ in a custom cabinet. Leaving the chassis ends open means that it's possible (not likely but possible) to stick your fingers in exposed high voltage through the open chassis ends. It's a "C" shaped chassis, the chassis can and will bend if it's not supported at all of the original mounting points.

Good idea! I'll ask about it, thanks.

[Blues Jr]

Originally Posted by Billm

My customers put BJr chassis into almost every cab size and configuration imaginable and the differences are small until you get to something like that 4x12. I regularly run one of my BJrs in a 2x12 configuration, but my goal is to move more air, not change the tone.

As far as the "small equals boxy" equation, no one would accuse a 5E3 of sounding small or boxy. With the right components, the BJr can sound absolutely huge.

I just finished adding some mods to a customer's Blues Junior. It already had the usual tone stack, presence control, output transformer and 6V6s and it sounded great, but he was annoyed by the fact that his PRRI had deeper bass, despite the smaller speaker. So I installed larger coupling capacitors in the preamp, which added another octave of bass response. It goes toe to toe with the PRRI now in the bass department without changing the traditional clang and clash of the BJr's upper registers.

I was testing it with a Tele and a 335 clone and was pretty happy with the bass I was getting. On a lark, I grabbed my Yamaha APX900 and plugged it in. Woohoo!

Acoustic guitars through electric amps usually sound like doodoo, but after dialing back the bass and boosting the mids a bit, I was getting a very deep, round, woody tone out of it. I usually play the Yammie through an Ampeg B2 head and a tuned 2-way cab with a midrange horn. The tone is balanced, crisp, kind of hi-fi. By comparison, my customer's BJr through its Cannabis Rex is a little boomy, but very articulate. This setup would be completely usable in a coffee house or bar. You could easily switch back and forth from acoustic to electric with just a couple of knob tweaks.

Of course, playing at home or a small venue is one thing, filling a large room is something else again. I need to test this setup in a bigger environment to see if the bass holds up. But I'm optimistic--it totally exceeded my expectations.

Now this sounds interesting. Keep us informed Bill.

[emtjr928]

+1 on the interesting. I plug in an acoustic sometimes as well. I'm always up to tinker. lol

[rolijen]

I have a really cool cabinet from an early Allen Accomplice that is essentially a slightly larger version of the BJ cabinet. In fact, David made the early Accomplice chassis so it would be a drop in replacement for a BJ chassis (enabling kit builders to drop their newly built amp into their BJ cabinet). This cabinet is almost the size of a Hot Rod Deluxe but made for the BJ chassis. With a good 12" speaker, this cabinet rocks the house. If you want more info, PM me.

[TheOutlaw]

old thread i know..

i've been curious if anyones put a BJ into one of the mojotone tweed twin cabs or something similar with 2x12"?

[uriah1]

I have seen some BJ 2x10 and TV front..that look cool..not sure about sound..
but made out of pine, so probably not bad

[73Telecaster]

I've done most of the Billm mods and the transformer change was huge! It does sound like a much bigger amp. I also have it biased a little hotter. Mind you, since I've done these mods I haven't heard it with my older V30 speaker (I switched it out to a Heritage G12M to break it in).

I want to convert the BJr into a head and use it through a 212 Bassman type cab, those are my ambitions anyways. Which I would put the V30 and Greenback in.

[BiggerJohn]

Tweed Pro size.

[JKjr]

I've plugged my BJr (bone stock save for tube substitutions) into a bunch of stuff, never actually mounted it in anything. Like Bill M I don't hear enough difference through assorted 1x12's to make it worth swapping but 2x12 is a whole 'nuther story. I really like it through an Avatar with G12H30/V30, and that cab's very similar to my BF Bassman cabs. I'll use it when going places I don't want to take a Bassman, and it's really a pretty nice rig, surprisingly loud and full. It just plain kills through an open back maple cab with 2 old Jensens I use with another Bassman, but everything kills with that cab so it's hard to say. Plugged into the JBL's in a BFTR it's not really a good match, but it likes the ceramic Webers (I forget which number) in my old Blues DeVille 2x12 enough that I've considered cloning that cab and permanently mounting the chassis.