Fender Blues Junior

Most features have been covered in the existing entries... My Blues Junior came with Groove Tubes(!). I agree with those desiring a Standby switch and the dials should be placed on the front of the amp where they can be accessed easily during play. I use this amp for professional gigs in SMALL clubs.

I use the Blues Junior with a Gibson Night Hawk and a Gibson Les Paul Custom. My style of music is Blues (from Chicaco to finger-picking...) and this suits my music just fine. The amp sounds SWEET for finger-picking and WAILS for some SCREAMING BLUES at higher volumes. For its size, the Blues Junior is amazing!

No experience with this category (A Fender is a Fender is a Fender!)

The Fender warranty is five years. No experience - no opinion (yet!).

I have been playing 25 years. I own a Gibson Night Hawk, Gibson Les Paul Custom, Ovation Accoustic Electric, and two accoustics (a Taylor and a Martin). I own a Fender Super Reverb Amp (HEAVY and LOUD!). I have owned Marshall amps in the past - they just did not do justice to the Blues. Their tone was NOT the sweet sound produced by the Blues Jr.

This is a tweed-model, I guess from 1995. It has 1 channel, volume (gain), fat switch, treblemiddlebass, master & reverb, 12" Eminence-speaker, like everybody elses. I consider it pretty versatile cause it can sound bright and fenderish as well as very dark and raunchy (with a std- strat!). The main features to me are SOUND SIZE & WEIGHT. Plus: you can get them used at great prices.

I play mainly classic/alternative rock with a USA std strat and I usually play marshall, but I also do some not-so-loud gigs and rehearsals with another band, and here the BJ fits the bill perfectly. I'm not exactly into Blues but I like the sound of this amp very much. The amp by itself can go from shimmering clean sounds to pretty loud and distorted (no metal sounds of course), with quite a good variety in between. The 2 volume-knobs plus the fat-switch help a lot with that. It can't be very loud AND clean - but that's to be expected. It is a bit noisy at higher settings but it's not annoying and you don't hear it when you play. I usually keep it on a semi clean setting (vol. & master around the middle) with a bit of reverb and use a TS 9 for more drive and loudness if requested. I also use a mesaboogie V-twin pedal with it (with the gain backed off-off/otherwise it gets way too mushy for me) and it sounds just great: from clean to drive to over-the-top feedback soloing.

Have it for almost two years, no problems so far, but I've heard they're not as well-built as fenders used to be. The jacks and knobs do seem a bit flimsy.

No experiences so far/from what I've heard about the company I'm glad about that.

Been playing for about 15 years and own/have owned several other amps, mainly fenders and marshalls. First when I got it I was a bit disappointed because it seemed to be too loud for home-use and not loud enough for rehearsals/gigs, but after I got used to it I'm really pleased with what this little amp can do. I'm gonna use it for (mic'd) gigging in the future because I'm tired of lugging marshalls around and all these engineers asking me to turn them down to "2". If this one was lost I'd be very sad. The only reason I wouldn't go out and buy another one instantly is that I just got a sf Princeton Reverb, which is a very comparable amp, exspecially as mine has a 12"-speaker installed. I'd say that the basic sound of the Princeton is even better than the BJ's (it is 20+ years and has more of a "sag", is overall even warmer and yet more "in your face") and it does have the unbeatable tube-reverb, but it doesn't offer the broad variety of sounds from clean to drive as the BJ does. But even Princetons are getting costly - so you'll have to check your funds and decide for yourself... Anyway - I love the SOUND, SIZE & WEIGHT of this amp (oh, I also like the looks) and there's really nothing I hate about it. Time will tell about the reliability of the parts - but for now (exspecially at used market prices) I'd say this amp is "Fantastic Value".

The past reviews summarize it but if you're lazy to scroll down: 15W (LOUD!), 12" speaker, no HEADPHONE or FX LOOP, 1 channel, EQ (Bass, Mid, Treble), Reverb, Master and Volume Control. Oh yeah, there's a FAT button which kicks the gain up a bit. No STANDBY SWITCH :( and the tubes are GROOVE TUBES: 6L6 for Pre-AMP (3), EL84 for the Power-AMP (2). In short, a very good PERSONAL TUBE AMP, for small gigs or the bedroom.

I bought this as my first TUBE AMP, and I have no complaints. VERY CLEAN sound (can someone say CRYSTAL?)... definately for Blues. Use an external box for Overdrive/Distortion if you're into Alternative or Rock. I know I'll be saying old stuff by mentioning WARMTH and GREAT TONE but it delivers! I've compared it to my solidstate Peavey TRANSTUBE (25W) and there is a difference on how the chords and notes sound. I think this is part of the natural compression of tubes.

5 years transferrable warranty, hey, no complaints here! Just bought it, so only time will tell. As far as Tube Amps go, the TUBES are the main cause of trouble (loose, aging, and noise).

Never called them - YET

I've been playing for 5 years. I've got a Gibson Les Paul with EMG pickups, I use Danelectro Pedals (Cool Cat, Fab Tone and DanEcho) for principal effects. They all blend together seamlessly. There's this saying about not matching a Fender amp with a Gibson (only a Marshall will do), well, I've proven them wrong!
I just love the tone! Kinda like Pizza and Beer... they're just perfect!

1998, US made all-tube amp. 15 watts, 12-inch eminence speaker, reverb and the usual bass/mid/treble. No bells or whistles, no funny extras, just simplicity to the max. But this has been said before. I give it an eight since it's not very versatile, but then... it wasn't meant to be. You want versatile, buy a Boogie Heartbreaker or something. This thing was built for one purpose only... roots music.

The name says it all... "BLUES" Junior. If you play blues (anything from Wes Montgomery to Jeff Healey), this is your amp. I play blues, country and some jazz through it on a Mexican Strat, an Ibanez S540FM and an Ibanez AF120 Hollowbody. The "clean" on this amp is not superclean, but it's very warm and more alive than when it would be clean (like my Princeton). But the real fun begins once the volume goes past 4. I use it on 5 for my S540 and on 6 for my Strat. This is the kind of overdrive I was looking for for my roots playing. Not too harsh or thin, but very creamy and lush. I soon found out that without the FAT-switch activated (for extra mids) it sounds a bit thin, so I keep it on all the time. I roll back my mids a bit, keep the bass about halfway up and the treble on 12 (since it's a very dark-voiced speaker). I've read some people complaining about noisy reverb... Well... there's a little hiss, but it's barely audible and when you start playing you don't hear it at all, so no problem with that. But really, it's for roots music only! I tried to keep it clean and hook it up to my Boss MetalZone, but it came out sounding like a fuzzbox. That's no good... But the amp itself is a tone-monster. I compared it to some of its bigger brothers (HotRods), but they couldn't live up to this thing. Also, the fifteen watts can get pretty loud, so small-sized gigs are a goer. Even bigger gigs, I suppose. Just mic it and you're in business. This tone's a winner.

Haven't had it that long, but it already survived a couple of bumpy car-rides and after a good look inside, I have to say it looks pretty sturdy.

Never dealt with Fender (never had any problems with my gear, so...) but the guys at the music shop are great.

Going into my tenth year of playing and this is the first tube amp I own. I also own a Princeton (a Japanese solid state amp from the late seventies, good warm clean sound) and a Fender Princeton Plus (which I still use for clean sounds). I still like solid-state clean better, but this thing really has the sort of overdrive that the solidstate amps can't deliver. Beautiful! Also, 482 USDL is a lot compared to what you might pay in the US, but I bought it in Belgium, where it's a very good price! In this price catagory, you can't find anything better. Believe me, I looked around! If you're into roots music, and you need great tube overdrive, buy one! It beats a tube-preamp of the same price, cause then it still depends on how it's compatible to your amp. If my Junior ever got stolen, I'd be ready for the loony bin.

I have to start off by saying that the Blues Junior is the best musical investment that I have ever made. I found a slighlty scratched floor model at my local music store and talked the manager into a smokin' good deal - with 5 year warranty included. The features of this all-tube amp are enumerated in previous reviews, but I want to focus on a couple of important aspects - volume and tone. The 15 watt output is conservatively rated because this baby is loud. It is so good that I use it on gigs in medium sized venues and have no trouble cutting through with strong leads. At home it blows my walls down with its standard 12" speaker. The tone is warm, vibrant, and just plain unbelievable - I will expound on this later. My only two complaints are the lack of a standby switch and the labels on the control plate facing backwards (shame on Fender for this mistake which causes me major aggrevation when I need to make adjustments from the front of the amp).

The outstanding tube tone is where this little powerhouse shines. I have 2 Ovation acoustic/electric guitars and a Mexican Standard Strat. When my 6-string Ovation is played through the BJ, I get a wonderful, clean sound that maintains a fine "acoustic" quality. If I want a more blusey tone, a sight tweak of the preamp volume gives it to me. My 12-string Ovation Legend sounds like the angels ascending the "stairway to heaven" when I play it clean with a touch of reverb. Although some other reviewers have complained about a noisey reverb, I have no such problem even at levels over 6. However, the primary reason that I bought this amp is for the way my Strat sounds through it. For over a year, I suffered a lot of angst about the way the Strat sounded through my old transistor amp. It was hard, metalic, and lifeless; I was ready to trash the guitar. The first time I plugged into the BJ, I was astonished - there was that warm, funky, Strat sound that I always wanted. The FAT setting (used with an optional footswitch) is really nice and adds a cool overdrive whenever I need it for leads. If I could rate the sound higher than 10, I would - you gotta try it to believe it.

I have only had the Blues Junior for a short time, but many years ago I owned a Fender Super Reverb and never had any problems. I really like the fact that Fender backs their newer amps with a 5 year warranty.

N/A

I did a lot of research prior to buying the Blues Junior. The only other small tube amp that I was considering was the Ampeg Jet reissue. When I played them side-by-side and evaluated the features, the Blues Junior was the obvious choice by far. This is a fantastic value. If my baby was lost or stolen, I would break down the door of my music store to buy a new one.

This is a Fender Blues Junior 15 watt tube amp, made in '97, I believe. 12" Fender designed speaker, 3 Sovtek 12AX7's and 2 Sovtek EL84's powers this lil' monster. All the basics are covered here. Solid state reverb and a "FAT" switch to thicken things up a little bit. Only has one channel, no FX loop, nor standby switch, but for that matter, you really don't need 'em. What sets this amp apart from the rest is TONE.

I've played a variety of guitars through the B.J. but my main axe is a '97 Squier Super-sonic. The sound of the two together is absolutely amazing-i've finally achieved the sound I've been looking for. I play a fairly diverse range of music-everything from Sabbath to SRV to Rancid and I can get whatever I need out of the Blues Junior. It's isn;t particularly noisy until you edge up the reverb past about 5 or 6, but you really don't even notice it after a while. I run a Elector Harmonix Big Muff Pi, an Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer and a Vox wah through it and the amp sounds fantastic.

I've had it about a year now, and no sign of trouble as of yet. Occasionally the tubes my come dislodged after a long car ride, but that's no big deal. And every so often my roommate will run his bass through it (doesn't seem to understand that it'll blow my speaker!!). Not really worried about it falling apart or anything.

Never tried to contact Fender, cuz' I never really needed to.

For the money, this amp is just incredible. Gives those of us on a tight budget the chance to get a decent sound for a relatively cheap price. I'd definitly buy it again if I had to, this amp is the backbone of my sound!

If you've read the other reviews, you know about the layout. I'll concentrate on my subjective comments about the tone of this amp.

I did NOT expect to like this amp. Years of boutique snobbiness have instilled in me a strong preference for point-to-point amps with reliable components. I still have misgivings about the quality, but I cannot fault the tone. Really thick and warm, not too bright. Sustain is great, feedback comes effortlessly. This amp really digs my pedals, especially the Rat overdrive (makes my Metalzone-playing friend sound like bees buzzing in a bottle of flat, warm coke.) I've recorded this amp with great success, too. Through a 2X12 Dr. Z cabinet with Greenback RIs, the tone is almost too good to be true. I play it just the way it is with a full band, and it can hold its own, if the drummer isn't too loud. I back of the gain quite a bit to avoid over-compression at those volumes.

What can I do to avoid the inevitable meltdown of this amp? Does anyone specialize in bullet proofing these things? Maybe installing a standby switch, better jacks and sockets, etc.? If I were more handy at fixing things, I would even like to chop it down into a head only.

No idea.

Wow. Great sound, even better than my SF Deluxe Reverb. I've recorded this amp side by side with a tweed deluxe, and it sounded nearly as good on tape. The quality issue is serious, though.

Based on the features listed in prior posts, I bought this amp...Perhaps the best feature is the 12" speaker insead of the usual 10" or even 8" of most low wattage amps. As far as other features, i would love a foot switch for the FAT drive instead of the button. Also, why are the labels on the controls always facing the wrong way??? Other than these nits...tone is the only feature you really need and this little monster has bags full of it.

This amp has blown me away for the past two weeks. Using a '68 reissue strat, I was totally impressed with the tone quality...fat and warm with great compression at higher sould levels. Before purchasing, I was going to rip out the pickups in the strat. From the first time I plugged in, it was my old music man, not the guitar. I swear someone left a tweed in my living room. If, however, you are looking to play anything but the Blues, forget it. (This is a ggod thing!)
As far as other amps, I looked at the Peavy 20 and 30...Impressive, but sounded too modern and like the Music Man this amp replaces. Finally, I really like the compression at higher volumes...real claptony....

This is the perfect amp for home. At 15 watts, you can rip at home without any potential for a visit from big blue or having to resort to playing through a practice amp that sounds like an AM radio. Mike it up in a club and you are good to go. You wont pry this one out of my dead hands......

15 watts, 1x12 tube combo (2EL84, 3 12AX7), high, low, mid, reverb (solid state), FAT switch (boosts pre-amp gain), optional foot switch.
A back-to-basics, no frills tube amp, simple to use. Plenty loud for gigging in a small club, tho it doesn't have a lot of headroom for clean sounds at high volumes. Generally, I plug my strat in direct and go- no effects necessary. Its great for blues and classic rock- shredders should look elsewhere, or use a stomp box.

I play a '97 American Standard Strat with stock pickups, and the amp sounds great. One plus is that you can get both pre-amp and power amp distortions at relatively low volumes. Definitely has that classic Fender brown sound. Crank up the master volume, and it really wails- smooth, creamy, fat overdrive. Reverb sounds good but gets a little noisy when set higher than 6. Not for drippy surf sounds.

I've had for about a year and its been reliable- it gets knocked around a bit but everything seems to keep on working fine.

It's never broken down, so I don't really know.

I've been playing for about 9 years- I do love this little amp. I've been thinking of buying another and definitly would if the one I had was stolen. Its the best sounding little tube amp you can get for the money- a bargain for those looking for vintage tube sounds in a new amp.

This amp is for the musician that needs a fantastic sound and only that. It is pure simplicity and you really can't get a bad sound out of it. 15W RMS power output. What I feel is important to note is just how loud these 15 watts are. It has a three band EQ....traditional Fender Bass, Middle and Treble. Very useable Reverb. One channel with Volume (preamp gain) and Master (overall loudness). A footswitchable "FAT" switch (footswitch not included) which slightly boosts the preamp gain. Fender's intent IMHO is to make a perfect sounding small amp directly aimed at Blues guitarists and harpists who don't need or want to fool with lots of gizmos. But I do give a low score for features mainly because Fender ommitted some simple features that I really think they could have included on this amp without raising the price: namely a headphone jack and/or recording line out and a speaker mute switch. You can disconnect the 12" internal speaker (by way of a barely accessible jack in back) and connect an 8 ohm external speaker cabinet. This is fine (and I can't wait to see what it would sound like with say a 2X12 or 4X10 cabinet) but disconnecting an internal speaker can be a bad idea since if the amp gets powered up with no speaker load it can do real damage....hence a mute switch would be safer. I wouldn't recommend trying to use the speaker jack as a headphone jack (as someone else suggested) since this can possibly damage ears, headphones, and amp not neccesarily in that order. The sound of this amp is so good that I think many musicians (including myself) will want to gig with it...and it just may be loud enough for that...but a line out for recording/sound reinforcement would be very welcome, especially since Fender in their own marketing suggests that this would be a great studio amp. You can always mike it, though.

This amp is a godsend! Beautiful Fender sound...nice darkly voiced tone coming through the 12" speaker. I play blues with a stock Gibson LP Standard and it is just wonderful what this amp does for this guitar. Cleaned up it is a dead ringer for the '65 Blackface Bandmaster I had in college (why did I ever sell that!). Drive it hard (Volume anywhere above 7) on the neck pickup and it's Albert King's huge sound ala "Blues at Sunset". The drive you get out of this thing is perfect for blues...very smooth tube distortion, beautiful sustain...will make an OK guitar sound very good, and a very good guitar sound classic. You'll get a wild, raccous Chicago blues sound (Hubert Sumlin comes to mind) that can be used for rock, and even some alternative/grunge music but don't expect this one to thrash in the metal zone...not by itself. Even with the Les Paul's hot humbuckers and the Volume (gain) driven to the max...single lead notes will ring very clear, preserving the guitar's natural tone...chords and double stops will give you a nice growl....I am starting to see how B.B. King can play so loud and with such fantastic sustain while still sounding so clean....this amp can make it possible for you! Jazz guitarists should also check it out...with a nice archtop or hollowbody I would imagine it can sound heavenly and it would have easily enough power (and headroom) to play coffee house gigs. As others have noted...the reverb does hum at you at settings above 6. I really think that you have to be a real purist to be offended by this...you will not detect it while playing and it seems to me that after about 10 minutes of playing you won't notice it when you pause either. I am not really an expert on reverb sounds (I played so many years with the Bandmaster with no reverb) but I do like the reverb sound on this...it is wet and lush and very useable with no perceptible feedback or ringing (make sure that the amp is level and not tilted though) and IMHO the hum would only be a problem recording, not rehearsing, warming up, or gigging. The FAT switch is a nice little feature that I do plan on using when I jam with friends. It doesn't seem to alter your tone (maybe alittle midrange boost) but punches the gain some but not enough to use to emphasize your solo...you will still have to use a combination of guitar volume and the switch to really make your entrance. That's the way I prefer to do it anyway since rolling off your guitar's volume will really clean up the sound which will allow you to really explode when the solo comes! (again ala Albert King)

If this amp is anything like the old Bandmaster I had then it will be as tough as a tank. The whole package seems very sturdy and solidly built...reinforced corners might have been a good idea though. There is a back plate that is designed to protect everything in back but the tubes seem alittle exposed...the edge of a bench or table could easily penetrate the access slot and crunch all of the tubes...just be careful! We shall see....I baby my equipment so I don't really expect problems.

5 year warranty that you can register for right on the Fender website! Haven't dealt with the company yet...the dealer I went to was very helpful. I would have liked it if the Owner's Manual had more info...doesn't need to be the disertation that Mesa's manuals are but some helpful info on maintenance, tube changing and other technical details would be nice since tube amps need TLC. It did come with complete schematics.

First off I would like to thank everyone who submitted a review on this amp. I really depended on the info I got from Harmony Central and everyone gave valuable insights. I really love this amp...it is exactly what I wanted...I had been dreaming of owning another great tube amp since parting with the Bandmaster and this is a dream come true plus some....namely having wonderful and useable overdrive and good reverb. I am really glad that I didn't get anything bigger (I had originally wanted a 30 watter) Remembering my gigging days with the Bandmaster (a 50 watter), I recalled many frustrating nights being told by the sound man to turn down to the point that my amp lost all of it's gutsy drive. That won't happen with this little gem. I considered the Laney VC30112 (liked it but decided 30W too much for my needs), the Mesa/Boogie Subway Blues (fantastic amp but half a grand for 20W???), the Crate VC2112RB (very nice Class A tube amp with some of the additional features I wanted but the overdrive wasn't quite as nice as the Fender's). The Mesa was what I really wanted but I could not justify the huge expense....IMHO the Fender sounds just as nice except the reverb...Mesa's reverb is excellent. The Laney was very nice but reports of poor quality control, lack of dealers and service in my area and just too much power for my needs cancelled that idea. The Crate was a close second...it just seems to be alittle more suited for rockers. Perhaps in the end it was nostalgia for the Fender name that made my decision. I am very satisfied, will buy it again if it is ever stolen...even thinking of getting the Pro Junior possibly if I get a band together so that I can run them together. These small amps are really the way to go; they sound so good cranked and since it seems so many music clubs now have house PA's, the low wattage is not really an issue.