Fromel Supreme Mod Kit for Fender Pro Jr.

Preface this review with known pitfalls of people who buy things that are subjective in nature. A tendency to gush and claim that the differences are earth-shattering, on and on...For your consideration: My review of the Fromel Electronics Pro Jr Supreme Mod Kit.This amp has been in our home for two years.... I first attempted to "perk it up" with a Greenback Vintage Celestian. Meehhh... Still not speaking to me or my son. The amp was only around still because I had already dumped too much cash into it with the new speakers and tubes.We saw this mod. I purchased it in Amazon and paid Paul my tech to install it. I know enough to know I shouldn't be messing with these voltages unless I do it on a regular basis.Paul finished it and gave rave reviews. I wanted to keep my expectations down so not to be disapointed again.The amp is much louder than before. The amp is much more evenly balanced than before. The Fender Junior Pro has a openness that was completely unexpected. Ideas for uses for the amp came to mind as we played different guitars and pedals through it. It really spoke to us.I expected to be let down..... Now we are making plans for our Deluxe, Deville, Blues Deville.....Even shipping our Bassman up to Mr Fromel in Seattle.Remember: If you are not a pro, I would suggest you have a pro install this kit, or ship it to John Fromel in Seattle.Your expectations will be exceeded. Something that I have not had happen in many years.

This mod is mostly clear and easy to implement. Better if you have decent soldering skills, since you'll be dealing with a PCB. PCBs don't take kindly to mistakes. After the mod is installed, your second generation Pro Junior should sound great. If it doesn't, then I'd say that you've screwed something up. Follow the instructions to the letter and you'll be satisfied with this mod.

Sounds great after the mod, truly.Some people may not like the results but I sure as hell do.Easy to follow directions.

First it is important to mention that my customer loved it, and it was easy for me to receive all the parts in a kit. In consideration of this, I am raising my rating from three to four stars.But what it did not include was adjustable bias control kit, which is what I want personally.I used fixed resistor method to adjust the output tube bias to my liking.Manufacturer's Claim: Turns your amp into a boutique amplifier.Reality: In your dreams. Not quite boutique according to performance, but "closer" to boutique more accurately.Vendors Claim: "Total tonal transformation"Reality: Your amp will sound much like it did before, with a little more lower mid range, and possibly a little more gain. (I mean a LITTLE MORE) PARTIAL tonal transformation, with more reliable performance, lower noise, is more accurate.When you follow the manufacturer's instructions, your output tubes are likely to be incorrectly biased. This will cause undesirable distortion. (not the GOOD kind of distortion) Do you have an oscilloscope to measure and adjust the bias?Reality Also:If the amp is old, if your amp has defect noisey parts in it, installing this kit WILL probably improve it. Is your amp working fine? Why mess with perfection?Vendors claim: Replaces all resistors in signal path.Reality: Does NOT replace all the resistors in the signal path. Replaces MOST but not ALL.First, if you have "average" soldering skills, you should probably not attempt to do this. The circuit board is very delicate with thin copper circuit tracks, which are very easily damaged. This kit should be installed by a professional. An inexperienced person would probably make a big big mess out of this.Do you have a temperature controlled soldering station? Do you know how to use solder wick? Do you know how to de-flux a circuit board? Do you have electrical safety training? Do you know how to use a digital multimeter?At the very least, if the answer to any of those questions is" "no" , then you should not attempt this yourself.How long does it take to do this? For an experienced person, about 4-5 hours. Please do not be fooled into thinking that this can be done in one hour, complete hogwash. You want it done right, it will take considerably more time than advertised.How long will it take an inexperienced person to do this? You won't be able to do it! Guaranteed!In fact if an inexperienced person tries this, you are likely to turn your amp into a paperweight, or shock yourself.TRUE- Metal film resistors do have less noise, and are preferable to the stock carbon composition resistors. They are more reliable.TRUE- Silver mica capacitors do pick up less 60 cycle hum, and are preferable to the stock ceramic disk capacitors. You will be changing some of these capacitors.Questionable-Orange drop capacitors will give you better tone? I doubt it. There is no functional difference between the stock capacitors and the orange drop capacitors. In a blind test, I sincerely doubt that anyone could tell the difference. You will have a hard time convincing me that orange drops improve the tone of an amplifier.Since I have installed hundreds of orange drop capacitors, I can assure you that the sound quality is: "average." There is no magic improvement.SO ASK yourself: Is the amplifier noisy, crackling, humming? Then buying the parts to rebuild it may be a good choice, and these are good parts. Replacing bad parts with good ones WILL improve the amp, that's true.IS the amp working perfectly well? Then rebuilding it is more than likely, useless.When you take out a stock part and replace it with the same value new part, there is no difference really. And that's what this kit mostly is. You are taking good parts off the board and replacing them with the same value parts, with designer labels. Is that going to change the sound of the amp? It changes it a bit, and fixes it if the OLD parts were defective.You are actually changing the value of a FEW of these parts, which does alter the performance characteristic somewhat.You want to change the sound of the amp? Better speaker, better tubes, better guitar pickups will also make a huge difference.Does this kit really do what it says it will do? Some is imaginary, perhaps there is some truth mixed in with fiction. If the amp has old defect parts,then YES.How do I know all this? I am an experienced pro sound amp technician. I have one sitting on my test bench right now.But I do give the kit credit for providing the convenience to the tech and customer.