Blues Junior Mods | A Step-by-Step Approach

Here are the ways to prevent/correct common failure modes in the Blues Junior while keeping the sound that you like.

At one point my work reveals underlying issues with the solder pads on the PCB coming off of the PCB. Some will say I damaged this board, but sincerely, I just removed the solder that was masking the pre-existing condition. Remember, I could have left that portion of the video out if I was concerned sane people would think I had damaged it. And you never would have known.

Some of the products I used in thiis video are listed below.

Chapters:

00:00:00 Intro
00:00:39 Discharging the Caps
00:06:57 Cutting Zip Ties
00:07:47 Removing the Output Jack Board
00:09:41 Disconnecting Quick Connects
00:13:38 Removing the Knobs and Input Jack Hardware
00:15:42 Removing the Ground Screw
00:16:22 Snipping Parts
00:20:17 Removing Board Screws
00:20:44 Pulling the Board Out
00:21:59 Desoldering Old Component Leads
00:25:29 Cleaning Flux
00:26:24 Desoldering Continues
00:29:14 Removing the Plastic Input Jack
00:30:57 The Output Tube Sockets
00:37:02 Putting New Components In
00:46:33 Installing a Switchcraft Input Jack
00:49:50 Putting Things Back Together
00:57:08 Switchcraft Insulating Washers
00:58:38 Testing the Amp
01:01:34 Ribbon Cables vs The Blue Wire of Hummy Doom
01:02:35 One Last Tip
01:03:04 Last Thoughts

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These are things I get asked about a lot :

Amp Tech Gear Used :

Hakko FX-951 soldering station
Weller SPG 80L soldering iron (chassis work)
Rigol DS1054Z digital oscilloscope
Thsinde 18B+ digital multimeters
Kester 60/40 solder
Techspray #4 No-Clean Desoldering Braid

Below are things that make this channel possible that people don’t usually think about. If any of these companies want to send me new and wonderful toys, I’m open to that. I can’t take free stuff when it comes to the amps I review, etc, but for the stuff below, bribe away!

Microphones/Audio Equipment :

Guitar Amps : Royer R-10 Hot Rod and/or Shure SM57 (noted in videos)
Voiceover Bench : sE Audio sE8 (small diaphragm condenser)
Voiceover Streaming : Shure SM57 with shockmount and windscreen
Voiceover Mic Arms : Elgato Wave Mic arms
Guitar Mic Stand : Gator Frameworks short weighted base stand with boom
Mic Cables and Guitar Cables : Mogami/Neutrik
Mic pre : MOTU M2
DAW : Logic Pro II on MacBook Pro 16 running Sonoma 14.5
Plugins : No effects other than level matching/normalization unless a recording
specifically has reverb etc added in post (rare, various Waves plugins)
Monitors : Yamaha HS7s
Monitor Stands : Gator Frameworks Desktop Clamp-On Stands
Monitor Isolation Mounts : IsoAcoustics Iso-Puck Minis
Headphones : Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro (main)
Headphones : Sony MDR-7506 (alternate)

Video Equipment :

Camera : Sony ZVE-10 with SmallRig Cage (main)
Lens : Sigma f2.8 18-50mm (main)
Lens : Sony ZVE10 kit lens (rarely used)
B Camera : Apple iPhone 13 Pro (rarely used)
Tripod : SmallRig 71” with SmallRig Fluid Video Head
Streaming Mount : Elgato Master Mount S with SmallRig Ballhead
Bench Light : SmallRig RC 120D
Bench Light Diffusor : SmallRig Lantern Softbox
Bench C-Stands (light and overhead camera) : Neewer Pro SS Heavy Duty
Streaming Light : SmallRig RC 120B
Streaming Diffusor : SmallRig Parabolic Softbox
Streaming Light Mount : SmallRig 148CM Wall Mount Boom with Triangle Base
Various Other Lights : Neewer LED Panels with Neewer Softboxes

Video Software :

Davinci Resolve 19
Inkscape
GIMP
Because seriously, screw Adobe
Ecamm Live (streaming software)