Is it plugged in?

As an IT specialist, I find myself asking that question. You really would be surprised how easy of a solution that is, and how often it is the correct solution. And how stupid it makes the people who have come to us with the question feel. Cue foreshadowing....

I had a minor freak-out moment last night. On the advice of a friend, I gave my Blues Jr. a once-over with the screwdriver to assure that all of the screws were nice and tight, and also to learn a bit about how it's put together. When I put it back together, nothing. Glowing tubes, no sound whatsoever. No noise, no guitar, nothing.

I thought I'd jostled a tube to death or inadvertently exposed the circuit board to air and thus killed it, and took 15 minutes seating and re-seating the tubes, checking the connections, before I noticed this:


Note: there are two 1/4-inch jacks on the back of a Blues Jr. One for the speaker, one for the boost switch that I don't have. They are not marked, and both are difficult to see or access. The boost switch input will not drive a speaker. That is all.

For anyone with a Blues Jr., the jack closest to the tubes is the speaker jack, and the other one is for the Fat Boost switch.