Jazz at Durham Farmer's Market

My jazz band played the Durham Farmer's Market last Saturday. The gorgeous weather and receptive crowd made me feel great. We also put together a few "new" tunes for the show, including the Farmer and the Dell and the Mario I Theme. When we played Mario, there was a kid who took out his cell phone and video recorded us. I'm probably on a snap chat somewhere in the cloud...

The gig gave me a chance to try out my amp after the mods, and I gotta say, it sounds pretty good. My only complaint is that there doesn't seem to be much bass left in the mix. Maybe I did a bad soldering job when I modified the amp. But, maybe I'm still adjusting to an amp without that boxy bass sound. I will say that dialing up the bass on the amp does change the sound. It seems to open the sound now (like the sensation of taking ear muffs off) rather than giving me a low booming. I might need to take it it for a look see by a trained amp tech. Check out a video from our gig!

Blue Junior Re-vamp

One of my amps is an original revision-C, made in USA, Blues Junior. I like it because it's tube, very portable, and good for small club gigs. I've been really craving a different sound from it lately. The amp can be a bit boxy. It sort of sounds like a small, Fender amp. After the mods, the Blues Junior has a very open, crisp sound without harshness.

First, I changed all the tubes. I swapped the stock 12AX7 tubes with 12AY7, which do not distort as soon. Practically, this means you can turn the amp to a higher volume setting without distortion. I went from breaking up at about 4-5 on the volume, to about 7-9.

Second, I swapped the stock Eminence speaker with an Eminence Cannibus Rex. This is a warm, speaker with a bit more bass/mid response.

Finally, I performed the "Bill M" mods. Well, technically speaking, I had to purchase these from Fromel Electronics because Bill M (go ahead and google "bill m mods" and you'll find his site) never sent me the mod kit! This involved changing a few pieces on the circuit board (soldering required), fixing the horrible stock reverb, and changing the mids so that you can completely dial them out of the mix.

The amp really sounds good. I can't wait to fire it up and especially run a screaming blues solo through it. Here's a quick sample I hastily put together: