miguel_angelo's Boss Amp Rig

Earlier this year I entered my local music shop to buy a new amp. I was looking for a modern digital modeller like the Katana or the Catalyst, I previously had a THR, great amp for home, not a viable option to gig unless you plug it to a PA.

So after trying the digital modeling amps I was not particularly impressed, I didn't spend too much time tweaking, sure they are versatile with lots of sounds and fx, but of the batch none the amps didn't make me smile in with 5 minutes of tweaking. Before exiting the shop I stumbled upon this little guy, I had tried an early tweed Pro Jr IV in the past with the alnico Jensen and found it way to loud with piercing highs, but I asked to try this newer (and cheaper) SE version out of curiosity, the guys at the shop laughed as it was nothing like what I said I was looking for (on board attenuation and fx, headphone out, etc) . Well, just 30 seconds after I plugged it in I decided to buy it immediately.

This amp is AMAZING for it's modest price, I paid 400€ for it brand new. it's also very light and portable for a 15 watt tube amp, I can fit it inside my motorcycle top case! Very flexible amp, I can play around 2 volume at home with a solid and dynamic clean sound, throwing an overdrive when I want more grit and compression, around 3 to 5 it provides very loud yet defined clean tone, perfect for a Jazz combo, and above 6 it doesn't really get much louder, instead it starts overdriving and tightening up while not sounding boxy or flabby, just blissful. Maximum I tried was 9 (it goes to 12) and IT FREAKIN' RIPS. For fat clean tones at bedroom levels I just put it on 4 and dial the volume down on the guitar, best clean and warm tone I ever had at home. Fender seems to have modified the volume pot to provide more usable tones throughout the whole range, indeed I'm very pleased with it at low volumes, the volume knob feels like a dual gang gain potentiometer on a Klon centaur pedal, raising volume and progressively introducing compression and distortion. Unlike the digital modelling amps with their infinite tweaks and twerks the Pro Jr IV SE just feels WAY more direct and lively, expressing the true voice of my guitar and playing. I'm also quite happy with its ceramic speaker, but will try other options when opportunity arises.

If you feel digital modelling is killing your creativity with thousands of options and infinite tweaking, just get this small two knob beast and embrace it's simplicity, it will make you a better guitarist!

January 2023 EDIT:

So I've had this amp for 3 months now, and I love it more and more. After reading about the excessively hot fixed bias on the Hot Rod series amps and the way they smoked valves and pct's I found an interesting post on TDPRI https://www.tdpri.com/threads/pro-junior-iv-cathode-biased.1104745/ where the OP says he found out to his surprise that his recent Tweed Pro Jr IV showed that fender moved to cathode bias. I decided to open my SE and to my surprise the guts are very identical with the same and newer black pcb (just some minor US / EU Voltage differences), featuring an identical 270 ohm resistor coming out of pin 3 of each EL84. So I guess the Pro Jr IV SE is now Cathode Biased, which makes way simpler to bias and also improves reliability. Regarding fixed vs cathode bias tone and recalling my first experience with an early Tweed Pro Jr IV (fixed bias), I agree with the words another user posted on el34world forum: "Fixed biased tends to be louder & it has a crisper and cleaner tone than the cathode biased which I tend to think of as a softer and perhaps more compressed tone".

It's all been said in other reviews, great open sounding "amp-like" overdrive with no big EQ changes, very dynamic response to pick attack and pickup volume, super flexible drive pot from cleanish boost (a lot of it!) to medium gain crunch and everything in between, it pairs amazingly well with my Fender Pro Jr IV. The tone control is a passive one that works great to tame higher frequency harshenss, depending on your setup (speaker, pickups, etc). Honestly this is one of the best overdrives I ever played and I love that it was also the cheapest one.

Nice to see 1MegaOhm input and great quality buffer at this price point, also nice that it only draws 10mA, so a 9V battery lasts at least 80+ hours in continuous use, as long as you don't forget to unplug the input when not using. Suprisingly quiet unit, up there with the boutique manufacters such as Wampler, Earthquaker, etc.

I first had the newest one made in Malaysia which features SMD components and it's pcb only occupies less than a third of the inside of the pedal. That's OK for me, SMD have much tighter tolerances which results in better consistency and reduced values drift, many boutique manufacters have gone this route.

Later I got an earlier one with Through-Hole components, because I really like the pedal and most likely this one will hold the best value. Honestly they feel the same, if anything maybe the non SMD has a bit more bass? I didn't have them side by side, so don't quote me on that. Anyway I'm planning on doing a simple mod to reduce it a bit, namely reducing the C13 33nf capacitor to a 22nf. It's the advantage of Through hole components, much easier to mod/replace/diagnose.

My favourite chorus pedals (Waterfall and Anadime) were based on the CE-2, but the Waza marketing/concept kinda bugged me and I was avoiding the CE-2W with it's modes switch, I wanted something really simple not to waste time tweaking and also a pedal with low power consumption that could run on 9v battery for quick setup. The Micro Chorus was under my radar, until the graceful day I stumbled upon an absolutely mint 1989 MIT CE-2 with original box and documents whose owner was willing to trade in another item I had, so I pulled the trigger! I can now say the legend is true, this pedal is MAGICAL! I love it's simplicity and warm dimensional sound, not too pronounced, not too fast, just right. The fact that it's used on countless recordings I grew up listening to lends it some extra special mojo no doubt. So if you're in the market for a "boutique" chorus I strongly suggest you spare some extra 50 bucks and grab this legend while they still sell for <300€!