Blues Junior – Reverb doesn‘t work

[Michael L]

Hi guys,

I got a Fender Blues Junior amp from a good friend. But the built-in reverb doesn‘t work. Does anyone have an idea what there‘s to do / what the problem might be? Is it possible to repair such an reverb?

Or do you think it‘s better to use a reverb pedal (which one)?

Thanks in advance for any help

Michael

[GnLguy]

Michael

Initial trouble shooting of this is fairly easy. The Blues Jr has onboard spring reverb so its either the reverb tank, the connection to the tank and circuit board or the circuit is bad.

If the problem is in the circuitry, that will require a trip to the shop unless you are a tech. Buying a pedal would be the cheaper alternative

The reverb tank is usually in a cloth like bag on the bottom of the cabinet.
Gently take the tank out of the bag and check the connection of the 2 wires to the tank.
If those are connected well, follow the wires up to the chassis and check those connections.

Just be careful to not get your hands on the circuit board because even unplugged, there could be voltages present high enough to be lethal

If those connections are good, you can either buy another reverb tank and try it or buy a pedal. I actually prefer a delay pedal over reverb. If a friend should happen to have a junk amp, switch the reverb tanks and see if the Blues Jr works
If it doesn’t, buy a pedal – consider a delay pedal instead of reverb. To me, analog delay is a better sound than reverb but that’s just me

[John H]

I’m not an amp tech but you need to get it fixed. It’s really hard to find a pedal that can replace qualityFender reverb already built into a Fender amp. I would start with Youtube. I use Youtube to personally fix a lot of things around the home including guitars and amps. There are many resources online. Start here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9HPkL2MvmY.

Also, try this site: http://www.tdpri.com/threads/blues-junior-reverb-stopped-working-broken-amp-or-tank.339556/

There’s a good chance with some research you will be able to give your amp a good diagnostic review and get your problem corrected. Good luck. Keep us posted.

[snakechisler]

As far as I was aware I thought the modern Blues Juniors had a digital reverb in them and its just the really old ones that have valve tank reverbs in them?

Pedal alternatives I have an MXR and its fab and would recomend the HOF2 also

[Michael L]

Thanks a lot to all of you,

Yesterday I tried to find the cause of the problem but didn´t succeed!

So I think the cheapest solution will be a pedal.

Thanks again
Michael

[Michael L]

… Hi, me again:

I don‘t really know what happened: Yesterday I tried again the reverb of my Blues Junior – and it works fine now…!?!?

Thanks one more time for all your thoughts.

Michael

[GnLguy]

Michael L wrote:

… Hi, me again:

I don‘t really know what happened: Yesterday I tried again the reverb of my Blues Junior – and it works fine now…!?!?

Thanks one more time for all your thoughts.

Michael

Hi Michael

4 things come to mind:
1) It could be a bad solder joint on the circuit board
2) The cable that connects to the reverb tank could have issues. The connection on to the reverb tank is usually with RCA jacks, one of those jacks could have been pulled partially off of the tank or circuit board or there could be oxidation between the 2 jacks, causing intermittent connection.
3) The control pot that is used to set the reverb level could be dirty or have dead spots in it.
4) The reverb tank itself could have a bad connection internally that makes it intermittent

It would be easy enough to make sure that the cable is connected correctly – take the bag off of the reverb tank and twist the 2 connectors a bit. If there is any oxidation on that connection, twisting them a bit should help remove it.
With the amp turned off, repeat the process on the other end of the cable where it hooks into the chassis, you might have to set the amp on its side or top to get to this connection. I don’t know how the Blues Jr is made but the circuit board should be covered with a metal case but if any part of the circuit board is exposed, use caution to not touch any part of the circuit board

Just 3 possibilities to consider

[Author]

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