Well a belated Happy New Year to all.
Prior to xmas I went and put some money down on a Blues Jr amp. This was to be my first taste of a tube amp; prior to this I have only ever had SS. As I had a 3 week overseas vacation planned I didn't bring it home. Until NOW!
Picked it up yesterday...
It sounds SO sweet.
Oh and while I was at the shop, this lonely little Strat followed me home...
So now I have a beautiful Fender family. I'm lovin' it!
Cheers!
Congrats Markus, you are the proud owner of the trio inferno, a Strat, a Tele and a Blues Junior. Enjoy.
On another topic, a while ago we spoke about the Ernie Ball strings, I told you I'd give them a try and now I can tell you that I officially switched to the Slinky 10-46 on my Tele. Great strings.
Give us an update on your new rig. See ya.
Claude.
Hi Markus,
Hope your holiday was great.
Man that new amp, and Strat, is Sweeeeeeeet! Great pics too!
How does the humbucker sound?
Bill
Hi Guys.
My holiday was really good. 2 weeks in Vietnam followed by a week in Thailand where I celebrated my 40th b'day.
I can't believe how sweet the amp sounds. I'd originally made up my mind on a Frontman 25 but when I went to try one out the guy convinced me to try the BJ. They had a bit of a special on which meant it was actually about 50 bucks LESS than a Pro Junior so I didn't see I had any choice but to get it.
When I went to put a deposit down before xmas, I noticed a nice Arctic White SSS Strat which I wanted to get but when the day finally came, on closer inspection I noticed the paint on the back had some slight discolouration. As they didn't have any other white ones in stock and I didn't want to wait for weeks (or months) I had a look at the Midnight Wine HSS. Didn't even plug it in; just got a feel for the neck and took it. I mean, I KNOW what a Strat is gonna sound like and I figured if I didn't like the humbucker I can always swap it out for a single coil.
Got it home, took the strings off, polished the frets, oiled the fretboard and fitted a set of Elixir coated strings (I'm converted to these now) and it was good to go. Plugged her in and WOW. Love it. For standard ceramic pickups they sound fine to me. What a difference a decent amp makes. Even my stock Tele sounds SO much better now. The humbucker is quite a bit brighter and louder than the rest. I could probably play around with the heights of the pickups and even it out a bit but it's not over the top or anything. The neck and middle give me the great warm blues tones I just love whereas the humbucker turns it into a rock machine. Great combination which I'm glad I got.
My Tele now has a new lease of life also. I'd convinced myself it needed a pickup swap but now the bridge has lost its trebly harshness and the neck has lost its dull muddiness and they sound fine. I haven't tried my O/D pedal with the BJ yet. I can get plenty of dirt by cranking the volume on the amp and backing off the Master. This is one thing I'm really happy with this amp. I was worried that it might be too loud in my small office / study but I can get plenty of "fullness" of sound without too much actual volume probably thanks to the 12" speaker moving plenty of air.
Now its back to playing. I've got 2 days left until its back to work. Hopefully it'll rain for those 2 days so I don't have to spend them out in the yard!
See ya.