#149715  by Capt Rosebuddy
 
Guys, I have a 12(ish) year old FBJ that is literally collecting dust in my music room. It was my first "real" piece of gear so I'm sentimentally attached to it, but man do I hate the sound that thing produces! I'm wondering if anyone has ever successfully mod'd one for a Garcia application, it seems like it could be done, but having never undertaking such a project I'm hesitant to start ripping components out of the thing. I suppose the sockets, tubes, pots, tank, and transformer could be salvaged but beyond that I wouldn't know where to start. What kind of circuit would work? I've always liked the idea of a master vol Garcia rig, to emulate the pre amp > separate power amp footprint, so the FBJ has that... curious if anyone has any thoughts.

Thanks!
 #149718  by TeeJay
 
The billm mods at billmaudio.com include a twin tone stack which is awesome (I modded the BJIII). I also replaced the baffle with a 10" cutout for a K110. Sounds really good. The stock cab really could not handle 12" JBL I found. They do sell some larger aftermarket cabs that might accommodate a bigger speaker better. The tone stack and a great speaker is a good place to start but billm has extensive mods if you really want to go deep.
 #149719  by WilliamC
 
Yep, the BillM mods are the place to start. They're very easy but you will need a few simple tools if you've never done any previous electronics stuff.

There are a number of threads here about using/modding the Blues Junior - just hit the search function.
 #149720  by Capt Rosebuddy
 
I've check'd the BillM site a few times over the last year, evidently he's fallen on some hard times health wise lately and hasn't been doing amp work. I'll take another look, any idea if that mod retain the orig PCB board? I'd like to convert it to a point to point circuit.
 #149722  by TeeJay
 
The billm mods retains the pcb board. I have not seen any PTP conversions as I think the cost would be high.
 #149723  by TI4-1009
 
Capt Rosebuddy wrote: I'd like to convert it to a point to point circuit.
Overrated.

I have a Mesa Lonestar and a Vox AC15C1. Both have PCB boards and are tone monsters. It's the components and the circuit, not the method of connecting them together. IMHO.
 #149724  by Alligator
 
Before you do any mods, put the fat switch on, turn off the bass, turn up the treble and mids to taste. See if that does anything for you.
 #149726  by Capt Rosebuddy
 
Alligator wrote:Before you do any mods, put the fat switch on, turn off the bass, turn up the treble and mids to taste. See if that does anything for you.
Yea, I've eq'd it every which way, not super stoked with the sound,

The advantage to point to point, especially if the circuit is being changed in an appreciable way is that it's much easer to get at the components. I feel like there's a market for a drop in p2p kit for the blues jr.