Fender Blues Junior

MIM 2007
Single channel.
Separate Volume and Master controls. Treble Bass and Middle tone controls. Fat switch. Reverb.
12 inch speaker.
$791 Australian dollars new.
Solid but elegant retro looks.

I bought this to replace my Pro Junior. That one was great but only suited my Fenders. The mid-heavy Ephiphone Casino and Gretsch Jet baritone were unplayable through it as the PJ couldn't shape their bassy tones. The Blues Junior takes on everything I've got, the Casino, the Gretsch, the Dano 12, my Strat and most of all my Tele. A little tone adjustment and each one speaks in its own voice.

I only ever play cleanly and I like an amp where I have to back the treble off rather than wish I had more. To give you an idea, I never roll the treble above about 4 with my Telecaster. The bass control is a little weaker than the treble or the mid. Is that the speaker's limitations?

This amp provides and rich clean tone without any exhausting harshness , from Gretsch to chiming Fender.

There is a very slight buzz but it is swamped by the buzz of a single coil guitar in idle. So not very instrusive. I had been borrowing a friend's Deluxe Reverb which had a hiss that was louder.

I routinely changed all the valves for EH and JJs. The stock ones sounded ok, but I had the others already and knew I could rely on them.

While this amp doesn't give the sparkling airy highs that a Deluxe Reverb does, it's a fraction of the cost and treats what gets plugged into it with respect and enthusiasm. I would play this amp all day but I have a job and neighbours.

The sole drama I've had with this amp makes for a couple of seconds of light comedy. I turned it on one night and plugged the Tele in and oops no sound. Light was on, all vols up. Nothing. I checked the back. the V1 valve was dark. Oh dear. I got a replacement and put it in (unplugging, putting the amp gently on its front to do so). Hey presto, the sound of Fender! But, yikes, the amp started thunderclapping, huge rumbles and crashes of arcing electricity coming from within. Dang! I mentally intoned, busted already. I switched it off and lifted it to take it sadly upstairs to languish until I could organise a repair. As soon as I hit the first step I heard a sharp rattle. Uh oh!

I rushed into my room and had the back o' that baby off in seconds. There, rolling a little from side to side, trying to look innocent, was a screw from the circuit board. No bloody wonder! I even saw the hole it was meant to live in. I replaced it firmly and turned the amp back on. Lovely quiet Fender amp. I plugged the Strat in and a jig of suh joy and delight that the neighbours bought a jug of their finest mulberry wine and ... no that bit happened while I was sleeping, later in the evening.

So, why was the screw out of place? Shoddy QC? Had it been a return that the shop had repaired ... but for that detail? I frowned until I remembered how much I dig this amp. Not a moment of drama since. And precious little comedy.

Didn't need it.

I wanted a valve amp for a range of guitars with very different voices. I found one. It looks good, it sounds good, it records well, I can lift it and perform basic dance moves. I lvoe this amp.

This is a follow up review. Features are the same now as they were before

Here's the different part. After having replaced the stock speaker with a c12n AND performed the BillM mods on this amp, i say with confidence that this amp is a total sleeper and is very under-appreciated. You can get an extra little bit of coolness by connecting it to an external 2x12 cab with some decent drivers in them, but the c12n is a really awsome match. I find myself spending about equal times between my 59 bassman reissue and this amp now. It's insane. It sounds much better than the tweed model does stock, and between $5 in electronics and $96 WITH TAX for the speaker (i haggle a lot) i would reccomend buying this amp and performing the modifications over buying the tweed model, unless the tweed is worth the additional $100 above the total cost of a new tolex model after the mods.

First Blues Jr. was a 2004, second which was supose to replace the firt one was a 2003. Is a great practice amp but do not recommend it for gigging. single channel, joke of a fat switch, only good feature is the speaker which functions well through another amp when slaved.

when compaired to other amps the Jr. is lacking, no distortion to mention and as clean as it is they have a loud hum present when the volume is increased. I play a Jerry Donahue 1952 Telecaster CIJ and it does ok, but still a buzz that isn`t present with other amps. I`m primarly a blues musician but do dabble in some rock and country.

Like I mentioned earlier this is the second Jr that fender sent me after the reverb continued to fail on the first one. The reverbs on these are junk, now the second one has failed after only a few hours of use. The first one failed after the first week. I don`t even consider using it at any type of show.

Fender lies!! repeated trips to the repair shop with the first one, after 3 years and 26 weeks of shop time they finally replaced it. the problem is they replaced it with one that is older that the first one and yes, it`s no good either. The dealer where I bought it has went to bat for me over and over but fender still insists it`s an isolated incident, go figure that one, review after review mentions the reverb failing. fender lies!!

I`ve been playing guitar for over 40 years. I have a 1980 Fender 75 which has endured time well, last of the point to point amps. when the Jr failed over and over I purchased a Peavey Valve King 112, great amp, no issues what so ever, and it wa considerably less that the Jr. The main reason I purchased the Jr. was to use for pratice, didn`t even hold up to that. If it were stolen and would feel sorry for the thief, would not consider replacing it with another fender product. had enough run around from fender.

Unsure of year made
Veratile enough for Blues, Country, Oldies some Classic Rock
One channel. Volume,Treble ,Bass, Middle Master, Reverb, and a handy " Fat Switch " No Loops No tricks Just a good small Fender Tube Amp built for tone and ease of working
Only feature I wish it had was a single button switch for the reverb off and on
I use all the features on this amp
Tubes ! If it dont glow - it dont go with me ( up on any stage anywhere)

This amp can do Fender relative clean with the volume set down and the master cranked up The single channel will break up nice and full at master volume past 7, but with no unexpected bloomings or loss of anything
The distortion is great for blues and classic rock, with something like a Boss DS1 you could probably even cover a bit of heavy metal but this is a blues amp, and should be used for styles generating and associated closely with that
I use Two Les Pauls, an early 60's Re issue reviewed here, My Orville Les Paul with new classic 57 Gibson Humbucker in the neck and Burstbucker 3 in the bridge/ rear
PRS CE 24 with Vintage Bass /HFS
Squire Strat ( Japan 62 type re issue )
It only got noisey when using unpotted Humbuckers thru it at max over drive with either a TS 9, or Boss DS1
Suits my style pefectly, anbd handy easy to tote around
I took this where I sometimes sit in with a local country/variety band and one of the guitarists thought it wouldnt catch their volume levels, The Blues Jr, and my Les Paul delievered in spades with room to spare
Betting this could make a killer Harmonica players amp too
I own 2 other Fender Amps, a Crate VC20R I like alot with a AB /Y splitter box I have I the Tube Screamer TS 9 ,an MXR EQ Pedal I can have a varity of amp sounds from clean ,crunch, to raw ZZ Top like distortion and drive and enough power to deliver at local venues without miking

have gigged it without back up, and would and most likely do ut again
The Amp did make some funny noises, but a change to JJ Power tubes and a check by my amp repair guy revealed no appearant problems I highly recommend this amp

Had it looked over when it made funny noises, replaced power tubes out of pocket , since I bought it used Never deal with Fender Warranty, no opinion here on that

I have been playing over 35 years, the bulk of that has been thru mostly Fender tube amps I play mostly Les Pauls, My PRS, and Squire Strat ( Japan) thru this with comfort and ease, knowing if I do my part, the amp will deliver well, It's a little economical tone machine ,like any gear, if I own with intent to keep, if stolen, I'd try to replace it,and Heaven have mercy on the theif
I really dont hate anything about it, wished I could have had a tweed model for the asthetics but this one works fine for me
I own six amps 3 of them Fender's only one of them is on the way out, My Fender Hot Rod,
Fender Pro Reverb Sorta re issue I intend to keep Most of the places I play in my area either wouldnt have space or wouldnt allow my 50 watt Marshall JCM 900 Half Stack , nor do they much like my Seymour Duncan Convertible 100 near dimed out ,

2006 Blonde muscians friend special.
1 channel wonder.
This little amp have 5 tubes (3 pre-amp) 2 Power.

It rocks. Super clean to overdrive. A Tube Screamer just lights this baby up.
It has good reverb for a small amp.
Master Volume and a fat switch.
Crack up the volume roll back on the master then use your touch to go from clean to crunch. Very classic sound with a fender strat or tele.
it sounds VERY big though a mic, I am considering making this my main amp.

I am very disapointed with Fender Quality lately. The Mexico assembly is not working for them. I bought two new Fender amps in a month. The Blues Jr. reverb tank was blown right out of the box and another amp the foot switch worked 3 stomps before it went out.
Fender needs to cut costs some other way. This kind of rap can kill a company.

Fender took care of the problem through local service center.
Hey they know me by name I have been there so much (not a good thing).

Playing 20+ years. I have owned all the popular amps.
THsi is cool because it is problay the best sounding amp for the weight and price.

I was looking for small (portable), tube, and clean when I bought this amp, so I compared this to all similar sized/watted amps with 12" speakers and this one won. The only real competition is the Peavey Classic 30, but the BJ has much better reverb, and a better clean channel. I also looked at the Pro Jr, but that one didn't have the reverb. This also has the "gain" knob separate from the master, and with the eq, and the guitar's settings, you can get a lot out of this amp, just take your time, and try. Like a Tele, I think this amp is much more versatile than it appears to be.
The vintage appearance (chickenknobs) is very cool too.

At first I had Master at max, treble at max, bass at max, and mids at minimum settings. I had the volume and tone on my 52 Tele maxed out, and then I would use the Volume on the amp to get loudness. This pretty much gave me the clean sounds I wanted (along with Dan-O tape echo and Tuna Melt tremolo) for country and rockabilly, and for a while I was satisfied, but then it started sounding a bit ice picky on the skinny strings.
Solution: I keep the guitar's volume at zero, max out the volume on the amp, max out master, treble, and bass and use the guitar's volume to control loudness. This cuts off the harsh highs while maintaining the twang I want. I use this on the neck pick-up, and when I switch to the bridge pick-up I just roll back the guitar's tone knob know a bit.
Having the treble maxed gives me the twang, and cranking the bass really fills it out. Reverb, if any, doesn't need to go past 2 or 3, except if you're riding that pipeline.
I've also used this to get crunchy overdrive, similar to AC/DC.
Like others, I recommend getting a really nice clean tube tone out of this, then using pedals to achieve your specific sound.
I also recommend keeping the master maxed, as it seems to make the reverb and eq's sound better and more responsive/dynamic.
I am going to try a 12AT7 in V3 and a 12AY in V1 to see if I can get more clean headroom, but I have found very usable out-of-box tones.

After owning for about one year, and only taking it to about two gigs, I started getting a buzz. When I took it to the shop they replaced the reverb unit, and it was fine for several months/gigs after that. But now it is "ringing" when I hit an A note. Probably just a loose/faulty tube.
Paint on faceplate will wear off really quick, otherwise, take care of it and it will probably be fine. I wind my cord through the carrying handle to minimize any potential stress on the input jack, which others have said failed on them.

The store I bought it from said they would throw in a Fender pedal if I bought it, and it took them months (literally) to get one, so I finally gave up and accepted the other-brand pedal they offered initially. Then when I had the reverb unit changed, it took then a long time too. They blamed it on shipping delays of the replacement part. It was under warranty, so the repair was free, but I didn't have my only amp for over a month.

What this amp offers is portability, tube sound, and value. It is basically one of the least expensive tube combos out there, and like I said earlier, the only amp that gave it competition was the Peavey Classic 30, which I still have my eyes on. You can probably get fuller better tone out a bigger Fender amp, but then you lose the lightweight portability. I play small clubs and bars in NYC and this is perfect for that.

My amp is a cream board, 2001 blues junior, made in mexico. I can see how someone might knock this amp for not having many features, but that's the point. The more channels there are on an amp, usually, the more channels suck. After some minor modification, (see below)this amp has all the features you need- an EQ and seperate pre/post amp controls. Stock i give this amp a 7 for features (becase the EQ is not as usable) but after i give it a 9. It kinda only has one tone shape to it, but between the volume controls, the volume of the guitar, and the fat switch, you can take that one tone's intensity anywhere from a mild break-up to a very british sound

This one is long, but kind of important if you want to get the best out of this amp. Stock, i give this amp a 6. There is a fellow out there named Bill Machrone who does wonderful work with these amps, and publishes a lot of it. The mods are called the Billm mods. I performed the tonestack mods, the twinstack mods, and a version of his bias mod. The factory bias is SUPER hot and will eat your tubes alive. I put a bias switch on mine so i can have a hot bias (factory setting) at low volumes for an awsome "your amp cooking" tone (and to warm it up really fast) and a much cooler bias for a less muddy tone with more headroom when cranked. After these mods, i give it a 7.

If you do this and install a better speaker like a c12n or a cannabis rex, i give it an 8. However, if you do the mods (minus the speaker) and hook it up to a really good sounding cabinet (in my case, a 2x12 open back with 2 celestion g12t75 speakers) i give it a 9 without regret. With an amp this size, the enclosure just isn't big enough to wring out it's full potential

Also, replace the tubes with some groove tube golds, and make sure the power tubes have a high rating (like 8-10) and you will be blown away what this little thing can do. I use mine as an amp head, and it blows my heritave vtx AND my musicman 100rd out of the water, and i will venture to say it sounds ALMOST as cool as a tweed bassman. it's the loudest 18 watts you will ever experiance.

With the stock bias, i would not consider it reliable. Your tubes get so hot that i have actually vaporized parts of the mercury shields at the tops of the tubes. Burnt tubes will fail. Once you fix the bias problem, i would give it a 10, especially if you use an external cabinet. There is less vibration that way, and some say vibrations can cause early failure in power tubes.

Never had to deal with them. I hear it's piss poor though.

I am a tone freak and an audiophile. Though i have only played 7 years and have no professional experience, i consider myself a bit of a condesseur (spelling?)as i am VERY critical of musical equipment. If it's not perfect or very close do it, it will drive me crazy. I have also played through nearly every common, commercially available, from 5150s to vintage fenders to reissue marshalls, randalls, crates, hiwatts, voxes, etc. I play through a modified schecter c1 plus (custom 5 in the bridge, original bridge pickup in the neck.) with NO pedals, partly becase it does not really like pedals, but partly because it doesn't need them. ON the bridge setting, it gets a very vox-like grind when pushed, and when dialed back sounds very much like john mellencamp, on the neck it sounds creamy and smooth. This amp is not for you if you dont want to tweak it some, but for 2 hours worth of work and $5 worth of parts, it sounds PHENOMINAL. I am very happy with this amp

Bought it late 2002 for about $300. Basic features have been covered. I started having problems with my input jack and sent it off to Bill Machrone for repair and mods.

Added a presence control, a clean boost w/sw, tone stack mods, a better output transformer, an aux speaker jack, power stiffening, preamp boost, just about every mod he had! It cost more than my initial investment, but after 5 years of use that was OK. Bill's work is absolutely perfect, and I couldn't be happier with the enhanced sound. I loved my Blues Jr from the start almost 5 years ago, and it just got a lot better.

8 for the BJR stock
10 for BillM's mods

Again I loved the sound of the BJR from day one. With the mods it is better. I especially asked for more clean headroom, and BillM deliverd. Clean sweet sounds with plenty of headroom. I'm running a 12ay7 for a preamp tube currently. Someday I'll change it back to a 12ax7 to check it out but for now I'm lovin it where it's at. It will still distort, not quite like it used to, but when I want more distortion I hook up my TS9. Before the mods I had the normal BJR hum, nothing too bad, but now it is damn near silent.

I mostly play a 96 Anniv. American Standard Strat with a Warmoth neck, and Fralin pickups. When I want get a little dirty I play a Schecter C1 Exotic.

I also have a THD BiValve 30, and while the BJR is not in its class, it is a great sounding amp for the money, and down right incredible sounding after the mods.

I don't gig, just informal jams. I always take my BJR. Too much hassle to take the THD and cabinets. I've had the BJR about 5 years. Once under warranty they replaced a micorphonic tube. Other than that I have never even changed the tubes until it was modded. The plastic input jack was stripped and getting loose. It has actually been that way for about a year before I decided to get it repaired. Other than that I've had no issues.

Had 1 warranty repair a couple months after I bought it, turned out to be a microphonic tube. They covered it with no problem!

I've had several amps, tube and otherwise. Also go back to tubes though. Except for my Fender AmpCan I take to the lake, its awesome! Cureently I have the BJR, the THD, a small Crate acoustic amp, and the AMPCan. A Strat, s Schecter, an EPI acoustic, A Go Guitar, and a Speedster. Also an old Yamaha 12 string!

The only thing I really hated was the plastic input jack. Foolish of Fender for trying to meet a price point for price of a $1 quality input jack!

If the BJR was stolen I'd would definitely replace it. And I'd definitely have it modded again. Nothing I've played really comes close to offering the sound, quality, and value in a small practice amp.

This amp is very plain jane, but if you have good effects pedals it does not matter that much. No OD channel, just a beautiful reverb.
Tube Amp... beautiful tone. But this part is for features.
15W of power, but it sounds very loud for 15W...

No visible headphone jack (you have to reach into the amp and rewire the thing), one footswitch jack (for FAT).

Only 15W, but it's loud enough to cut through and be heard in a 300 seat church sanctuary.

This amp sounds beautiful. It's among the nicest reverbs I've ever heard. I play a mix of soft rock, blues and hard (almost punk) alternative Christian.

No distortion channel, but it sounds awesome at low volumes with my BadMonkey OD. Crank it up and the OD tubes in the amp itself work miracles!

I run a Zoom 2.1u->BadMonkey (and sometimes a SuperComp). My axe is a Cort Z-22

This thing is built like a tank... for a week or so the reverb went out and I was horrified... I opened her up and found out that it was just a fuse that popped out of it's bracket. Once I pushed it back in, it was good to go again!

No backup needed for this thing.

N/A

I've been playing for over 15 years. This is my first amp over $100... and it was worth every penny (of course, I did get it for a gift).

It would be nice if it had a bit more power, but it's loud enough for what I use it for.

Lack of features (no trem, practical headphone jack, etc) is what keeps this amp from getting a perfect score. It sounds amazing though!

The church members who bought this for me researched very well.

This is a follow-up to my Dec. 2005 review.

The Blues Junior is a great little amp, but I think Fender gave it a box that is too small. I ordered a combo amp cabinet from Mojotone that was originally designed for the Fender Pro (tweed version, not the reverb version) that Mojotone calls "Tweed Pro". This cabinet is significantly larger than the stock BJ cabinet, and houses a 15 inch speaker instead of a 12 inch speaker. I also upgraded the Accutronics reverb tank from the stock BJ reverb unit to a top of the line six-spring reverb tank.

I installed a Jensen C15K 15 inch speaker in this Tweed Pro cabinet, along with the new reverb tank.

Let me tell you guys, the sound now has a much fuller and richer dimension than the stock unit had, and the weight was only increased by about eight or nine pounds, it's still less than 40 pounds.

The Jensen C15K is rated at 100 watts and no matter how hard you hit it from the amp, there is no "cone cry" that you hear from speakers that are being overdriven. That's a big plus for me.

My 10 rating is for the modded amp, the original rates an 8.

What is the cost for this?

Mojotone cabinet $278 plus a $25 charge for the different chassis cut-out
Jensen speaker $86 (get it from South Valley Vintage)
Blues Junior $399

Total $788

The Blues Junior becomes the Blues Senior. The Mighty Mite.

So far so good.

Haven't contacted Fender.

For the "Blues Senior" a 10.