Fender Blues Junior

99 model. black tolex. Very versatile in my opinion. The fat switch is a nice option. The speakers sucks though. Its just one of those Fender Special design speakers. Im fixing to replace mine with an Eminence(vintage 30 take off but good speaker). I use it mostly for practice or rehearsal. I do wish it was more powerful though because i love the tone i get out of it. Everything is still sock except for the speaker im about to put in it.

I play strats. My main two are a 98 American Std. and a Robert Cray Custom Shop. It sounds great with the single coils. Once again its just the speaker that could have been better. I play blues rock, srv, etc...but some of my writing is in drop d and i get my basic stevie tone out of it but the amp also has this low bellowy growl to it(especially in drop tuning) which is what i like. The reverb gets noisy. I always have the fat on with the the preamp(volume) almost all the way up. Master Volume about 8, Treb 8-11, mid-6,bass-5. Its got a really good natural distortion.

I have traveled with it and it is solid as a rock.

Never had to deal with Fender.

been playing 41/2 years. I would definitely repurchas if it were stolen or lost. Its the perfect amp for those imprompt jam sessions and practicing and writing. Very versatile. I only wished it were more powerful. I also play a 66 blackface proreverb, and i use the blues jr when i want a little more grunge in sound.

Mine is a 1997 Blues Jr. in black tolex with stock 12" Eminence speaker. Has the small reverb tank, and standard Bass Middle Treble controls. Nothing fancy here, but all one needs to get excellent tone with the right amount of tweaking. Mine has no fat switch pedal, nor an amp cover.

I play a Fender 62 Reissue Strat, a 1993 American Standard Strat with Texas Special pickups, and a 2000 Les Paul Classic with the stock humbuckers. .

For those owners still struggling with getting the best sound from this amp, I offer the following: Make sure you get the amp off of the floor and try to listen to it standing back about 15 to 25 feet. It makes all the difference in what you will hear from the speaker. From that position you will notice that the tone controls really do make subtle differences in the sound when they are tweaked. Also the speaker is quite directional and one has to stand directly in front to get the full effect of the frequencies. For those that complain that it may not be loud enought to gig with, read the Fender manual. Fender states that the amp is designed for low to moderate volume. I use mine strictly for practice at just that level. I believe that it could me mike'd and perform acceptably in live performances. My own preference would be to go with a larger amp for those situations though. There I think I'd prefer more headroom.

I have thought about trying other speakers, but the stock one is now broken in and has opened up after four years of playing, so that I don't think I'll change anything. The reverb does hum some at higher settings, but so did the one in my Blues Deluxe; even more so.
This amp sounds wonderful with single coils. Not quite as good with the Classic's pickups. They are high output which for me, means I have to be more careful with the tweaking of the tone controls, and master and volume controls as well. I have learned to control the hot humbuckers though.

My styles range from Jazz to Blues, some Country, to Roots music, so the overdrive function is something that I seldom use. Again, with the right amount of tweaking, I think I could get that overdriven sound for Blues and R&B. Metal sounds I think would need your favorite pedal rather than the amp's function. My settings are usually on Bass 10, Mid 2 to 2 1/2, Treble 10 to 12. Master is up around 9 to 10, and Volume is 2 to 3. The Fat switch I leave off.
Treble 10 to 12. Master is up around 9 to 10, and Volume is 2 to 3.

I've had no problems with my Blues Junior. I haven't transported it much, so it really hasn't been tested for shock and abuse. I think with care in handling it will stand up. This amp is not built with point to point wiring. The Blues Junior is of the printed circuit design and care has to be used in handling this amp. I have switched to Tesla preamp tubes and I've cannot say that I hear a great difference than the Sovtek/Groove Tube brand. The power tubes are Sovtek. I may try the Teslas there also to see if there is much change in the sound.

I've never dealt with Fender, but my dealer has been around going on 30 years and I have a good relationship with them, so I don't really worry about not being able to resolve any future problems. I have less than a year to go on the 5 year warranty, but at this point, it doesn't seem like it will be called upon.

I've been playing guitar 50 years now and I'd have to say this is the best sounding amp I have owned. I've tried solid state and it does have its place in amplifier design, but I prefer the tube sound. This amp does not excessively color the sound the way so many other amps do. I get the impression that I'm listening to my guitar the way it really sounds. Being a player from the 50s has formed me into a player that would rather listen to his guitar than the amp. I strongly recommend the amp. All guitarists thinking about buying a small tube combo should give this a try. I'm really pleased with the purchase and the price/quality of the Blues Junior. I would rather play my guitar and concentrate on it rather than worry about complex amps that take time to tweak. Life is too complicated as it is to worry about those issues. This is also an easy amp to lift and carry. It only weighs 31 pounds. It seems the guitar world has come full circle from the 50s in that small combos (the choice of the majority of players then) has come back into vogue. I started out with a Gibson Skylark...I guess I haven't progressed much....or have I?

Blonde, impulse purchase from Musicians Friend, had it about a year and half. Cool looking with EL-84's, reverb. Pretty basic, nothing wrong with that.

It's a good practice amp, but that is about all. I put in a Greenback and retubed. Still leaves me wanting to crank up my blackface Bassman and piss the neighbors off. I use strats, a frankenstrat w/PAF, SG, and Les Paul. I like the way the strat sounds with a tube screamer for some sterile technical blues/jazz style playing. But this one doesn't really rock. The distortion is not that great at all. I haven't found it to be very noisy however.

This isn't a bad amp, but it really doens't do a sweet clean, or a nasty overdrive remarkably well. A good entry-level tube amp, but you're likely going to outgrow this one.

Never gone out on me, never needed service, not even a tube replacement.

Never needed.

Overall, not a bad entry level tube-amp, yet not a good one either.
I guess Mediocre would be my one word description.

I've been playing about 15 years off an on. I have a Fender Bassman (one black one silverface), an Orange solid state, had Mesa Boogie Subway Rocket Reverb.
I love the way it looks. I don't love the way it sounds.
I didn't compare it enough to other products, like i said it was an impulse purchase during a major gear aquisition period.

Bought used in 1996 or 1997, so I'm not sure of the year of manufacture. Very basic small combo amp that utilizes 2 EL-84 tubes in the power amp section and 4 12-AX7 tubes in the preamplifier section. The reverb and rectifier are solid-state. Since I prefer amps with spartan features, the lack of effect loops and other superfluous 'bells and whistles' suits me fine.

Have used this amp with a variety of guitars - Gibson Les Pauls, Fender Stratocasters, and Epiphone Archtops. To my ears, this amp sounds good when played clean as possible (volume low, master high). The sound is a little 'dark' (as other reviewers have mentioned), but that is to be expected with the EL-84s. The reverb is mediocre, to be sure - I can't bear to turn it on. But with all of the aforementioned guitars, the amp produces a pleasant, somewhat sweet darker tone (it sounds especially good with the Epiphone for a Jazzy sound). What the amp doesn't seem to do is produce the nice, 'open' and detailed clean sound of a Deluxe Reverb, but a reissue deluxe is at least double the price, so comparisons in that direction seem unfair. For the money, the sound is acceptable for practicing, jamming and 'small room' gigs (although I don't think I would record with it - I always use my other amp (Mesa-Boogie) for that (recordings are permanent representations of your art !).

I've owned this amp for over 5 years and it has broken down just once (the tube sockets needed to be resoldered). I've used it to play some gigs (usually I use my Mesa-Boogie Mark 2), and the sound was acceptable, but nowhere as good as the Boogie (or other Fenders I've owned).

Never dealt with Fender.

Been playing for well over 20 years. I play the guitars and the Mesa-Boogie mentioned above. If this amp were lost or stolen, I would certainly purchase another (although they no longer offer the nice vintage style tweed covering that's on mine). What I really like about this amp is that it only weighs about 30 pounds, and compared with the Mesa Boogie (or a Twin for that matter) is a joy to carry to gigs and jams ! What this amp lacks in sound quality, it makes up for in portability and value (it is relatively inexpensive, as tube amps go). So considered as a companion to another higher quality (and higher powered with more 'clean' headroom) amp, I think the Blues Junior represents very good value for the working musician.

Volume, master Volume, Mid, Bass, Trebel, FAT switch, Reverb and On/Off switch (wish it had a standby but hey).

O.K, I have read alot of the opinions on this amp and must agree with the "Dark" and "lifeless" statements. But (and this is a big j-lo sized but) this amp can be made to truely come alive with minimal mods and very little out of the pocket.

Lets start with the speaker. CRAP! Total crap. Yank it out and pitch in the trash 'cause thats what it sounds like. I loaded mine up with a old Jensen C12R that I had laying around and man that made a whole lot of difference. Much warmer fuller sounding tone, not at all shrill and brittle, good low end response and breaks up nicley (you can buy Jensen re-issues of these and other classic jensen speakers for dirt cheap).

Second the tubes. As far as I'm concerned these can follow the speaker into the 'ol dump. I don't for the life of me know why people like fender,GT, Sovtek (all the same tube just re-labled and re-packaged) other than being fairly reliable, They sound like s?@t. I popped in a set of JJ Tesla tubes all the way around and the results made my jaw hit the floor. Beutiful clear highs, chiming mids and great low end without being to boomy. None of my freinds can belive that this is the same amp, I am absaloutly in love with it. And as far as volume goes. I practice with my buddies and their gear is as follows: Drummer: Pearl Birch shell drums with all the bells (literally), Lead Guitar: a crate half stack Bass: 500w Gaillen Kruger head w/ 1 15" cab and my little Blues Junior hangs in there with all of it somehow. No one can belive it.

So in clossing I would like to say that this is a good amp that can easily be made great. And so my rating is a 8 stock but a 12 (you blues Junior owners get the joke) when modded out. So come on guys stop bitchen and start playin' around with. You already bought the thing you might as well start having fun with it!

Has takin all the shleping in stride and still sounds great. One of the cleanest PCBs I have seen Inspires confidance and yes I do gig with it.

Never had to deal with them. Thats a good thing right?

Love it. Would cry if it got stollen and would definetly replace it.

There's only 200 other reviews to get the features from, but yeah...
My only gripes are lack of standby switch, which will wear out the tubes faster, and that the reverb is hummy (though you don't really notice it if you don't use too much 'verb).
I'd also prefer a bright switch to the fat boost (which seems silly on an already fat-toned amp), but I get the same effect by running the treble very high.

Lots of people diss on the BJ for being to dark and "mushy" and having solid state reverb. I'm giving it a 10 because I love the tones _I_ get. The BJ sounds FANTASTIC for a tube amp in its price range! The amp is the bastard child of an aggresive vintage Fender and a thick, darker Marshall. I like it!

You don't like thick tones? EQ the amp correctly! I have run it with the bass and mids all the way down and the treble all the way up (with a Tele no less!) It gets a great vintage fender sound this way...like my '66 vibrochamp but a bit more aggressive, and better sustain. I usually keep the highs up around 10, and the bass very low, and the mid to taste, and seldom use the fat switch.
That said, the amp is very dark, and only sounds _really_ good with single coil guitars.

I play: '84 Am Std Strat (maple), MIJ '62 RI Strat (rosewood), '62 RI Tele (RW, single coils), '72 RI Tele (humbuckers, maple), Danelectro DC-2, and DeArmond SG copy through this amp. All fairly nice, though the '72 Tele is fairly tubby. My '62 Tele has incredible spank and just sings through the BJ.
I played a Les Paul custom through it, and it had great sustain but was too bassy (though this was before I played with the EQ too much).

The BJ reacts VERY well to pedals, better than my friend's early 70's Deluxe Reverb or my BF champ. Fuzzes (I have a Fulltone '69 and a Prescription Yardbox) sound incredible. The fulltone in particular sounds wonderful with the BJ. I set the amp to slight overdrive, give it a tad more mids....just like Jimi, excellent dynamics, cleans up, sutains. Props to Mike Fuller!
I also use a Vox valve-tone and a Marshall bluesbreaker (both 1 & 2). All can be tweaked to sound really good with this amp. I actually prefer using a pedal for my overdrive tone because when you turn the volume all the way up on the amp you get a bit of noise.
The reverb is noisy above 3, but you can't really hear it while your playing unless its above 7. It sounds good around 3-4. Not like a deluxe reverb, but still good. I understand you can eliminate this hum by using a filtered power source for your gear... I might have to check that out.
Overall (if you've bothered to read my tonal novella here) this amp sounds real good, you just have to play with it a bit.

I would gig with it with a spare fuse and set of tubes.
It hasnt failed me yet, but I'm always suspicious of reliability.
Once I turned it on with the speaker unplugged, and another time with a couple preamp tubes out (yes, I'm a moron sometimes) and there was no damage.
It does rattle at very high volumes, but I don't play that loud regularly, so I don't worry about it damaging the tubes.

Have not dealt with fender. There is a warranty on some parts of this amp though.

For an amp of this size and price, it is excellent, and continues to impress me with tone, sustain, and just being fun to play.
If I had to change anything about the amp I would get Fender to make it not rattle at very high volumes, and fix the reverb hum. That bright switch would be nice too, but if you read my "Sounds" section you know the fix for that!

You all know what the amp has. Now mine has a built-in attentuator and a new speaker. I'm heavily modifying this amp, so I might go with an effects loops and some other toys.

Okay, this is where I've been playing a lot. I almost sold this amp about 2 weeks ago. The stock sound was far too upper-midrangy, bright, and very harsh. I just couldn't get over it. It's a tube amp, so it's loud, and if you want good overdrive you have to crank it up to painful levels. For this reason I almost bought a Vox Valvetronix (Line6 is just plain old crap). I decided to keep the amp in one last desperate attempt at keeping a tube amp. Boy, was that the best decision I've made!

Here's what I did: I got rid of the stock eminence speaker. That thing was just an incredible hunk of junk. Absolutely no bass, very midrangy, harsh and brittle. The speaker is one of the most overlooked parts of guitar tone. It's the voice of everything! All Blues Jr.'s I've played have sounded like this, so it's not my amp. I slapped in a very old 40 year old alnico speaker my dad had. Okay, much better. Next, I talked to some guitar amp tech's and asked them how to attentuate the sound without compromising tone. (basically, I wanted to crank the amp, while being able to adjust the volume going to the speaker). I installed a little device that did this. Now I have cranked amp tone at speaking volumes or loud as hell! This is not just a thin sounding blues amp anymore! It has quite honestly the meatiest overdrive I've yet to hear from ANY comparable amp, and a lot of more expensive amps.

I'm also going to retube it, since I hear that most Sovtek tubes are quite lifeless. I haven't heard any other tubes, so I can't give an opinion on this. I'm going to go with Ei tubes. All these people who are ripping this amp apart are right. BUT, all the people who are praising it are also right.

Most people I know that own a guitar have modified it in some form or another. Yet those same people, and the same people who have been reviewing this amp poorly, aren't performing modifications on their amp to make it better. The mods I performed are simple and inexpensive! Now I have quite honestly the best amp I've heard for under $400, and quite honestly better than most amps I've heard in any price, period.

I do have to say that I ordered a Weber C12N speaker and put it in. That lasted about 2 hours. It sounded absolutely horrible with that speaker. No bass, extremely crunchy, and no smoothness at all. As the speaker broke in, these traits got worse. I sent it back. More on Weber VST below.

Had it 2 years. No problems at all.

I am my customer support! My rating is for me!

If I had to rate Weber VST, I'd give them a 1. I don't understand all the raving reviews on those people. They didn't help me at all. I'd write long emails to them asking very detailed questions on their speakers. I got responses that were 1 or 2 sentances long. I even called Ted on the phone and I literally had to force him to answer my questions while he typed on his computer. Very annoying. This might have had something to do with me getting a speaker that they said would fit my wants in tone perfectly, and ending up with a brittle piece of crap. Common, Weber, customers do care how you treat them. I guess I can call that a $26 lesson.

With my simple modifications, this amp is great. I've read people who have put this thing through a 4x12 cab and compare it to a great sounding marshall. I won't say it sounds like a marshall, but it does sound great. Don't be affraid to modify your amps, people! It will make an incredible difference, and may take an amp that you don't like and make it exactly what you want. That's what happened here, and I know it'll make a difference with other people. By the way, total cost of my mods ended up being $30 for the attentuator, $26 in shipping for that Weber speaker I didn't keep, and about $20 in small parts and wires.

This is a basic one channel tube amp with volume,three tone control and a master volume control.
15W RMS and a 12" speaker.
Spring reverb.
No effect loop.
No headphone.
It's a blues amp.

I use custom made solid body guitar with one humbucker Shadow(bridge) and a single coil Bartolini (neck).
I play hard rock and blues/rock.
I bought this and used and I've quickly modified the amp cause the sound was too dark and the distorsion muddy.
I've changed the speaker with a G12M "greenback" Celestion and i've replaced the tubes too with three 12AX7A Sovtek and two EL84S Groove Tubes.
Now i'm satisfied but I have to say that i use always a boss se50 basically as equalizer and compressor.
Sometimes I use also a Marshall Bluesbreaker 2 in the boost mode so i can hear the natural sound of the overdriven tubes.
I use always the boss se50 reverb cause the internal spring reverb it's too noisy (when I'm recording, live it's acceptable).
The rating is referred to the modified amp.

it's a cheap amp but it's little and if you have an home recording studio in your bedroom like me it's a good amp for the price.
Now with the mods I like it very much.
It's my creature now.
Maybe in the future I'll try others tubes on this amp to improve the sound.
Don't use 12AX7 Electro Harmonix on this amp (I've already tried it) the sound become too much clean and cold like and Hi-fi.

The features are well documented in other reviews. I use the Blues Jr for the odd rehearsal and as a practice amp. It sounds good for blues, country and '6os pop rock. It cuts through with a drummer in small rehearsal spaces but bottom line, Jimmy, this is a beginner's amp with some uses as a recording tool. Mic placement is critical to getting a variety of tones out to the board.The only drawback I find is that the reverb is not foot switchable. No, this amp is not a 5150, a Rivera, Mesa or Marshall, and those reviews that make such comparisons are way off target.This amp is about the pre-'70s Fender pallette of tones.

I have usually been running a '62 Gretsch 6120 and early '80s Schecter tele with hot, splittable single coils through the Blues Jr with great results. I also put Danos through, but prefer the first two. Single coils with lower output need not apply to the amp. For country, rock and blooze the tones are fine in rehearsal. The distortion has enough edge for a bit of tonal colour; I use Tube Screamer, Blues Booster etc pedals for serious gain tones. I don't get the clarity at volume that I get from my AC30 Topboost, '65 Vibrolux with Celestion 10 inchers, etc., but the Blues Jr pulls her weight and fits on the back of my bike (see below!). This is not a sophisticated tone tiger, folks. It reminds me of my Princeton II without the volume and gain.

I have a tale to tell! On the way to a practice, I strapped the Blues Jr to the back of my BMW K100LT and took to the highway. My bungee cord job didn't work, and at 130kmh (80mph), the Blues Jr flew off and dragged behind the bike until I could safely pull over. The back of the amp was skinned and the wood was roughed up bad. I got to the practice, plugged in, and apart from the rattling of gravel, she has worked fine since. I don't reccommend this torture test for all your fave amps, but this experience sure told me that the new Fenders are better built than some might believe. Will it last like my hand wired, steel boarded amps from the '50s and '60s? I am now more inclined to think it just might.

My experience with Fender has been good. They have had almost as many distributors in Canada as I have owned Fender amps, but I have restored numerous collectables (some of which I still have) and parts and information have always been available at not unreasonable prices. Of course the Canadian dollar is now at an all time low relative to the U.S. buck, so I might have to revise my thinking.

I have been playing since 1963. I own about 18 guitars, ranging from bass, baritone, 6, 12, solid body, semi acoustic, lap steel, arch top, flat top, etc. to a mandolin with a Barcus Berry pickup. I have owned more amps over the last 35 years than some people in this country have seen snowfalls (especially if they are from Victoria, B.C.). I would replace it again (although I wouldn't replace my Super Champ at current used prices). I neither love nor hate the Blues Jr, I just appreciate it's size, sound and versatility. Compared to my Vibro Champ and Super Champ, it has a greater volume and features than the former, better clean tone and less maintenance headaches than the latter, and it gives a better mellow jazz tone than either at a reasonable volume.

If there was such a rating, I'd rate the Blues Jr. a 7.5.

This amp covers the basics, bass, treb, mid, volume and master. I dont believe most people would consider this as versatile, but I give it a good rating because it works well for what I play. I play hard rock, blues and heavy metal. Our song list includes everything from old classic Bad Company, Nugent and Judas Priest to newer stuff like Godsmack, Creed and Nickleback. I believe you can tinker around with controls all day long in a studio setting but when it's live it is best to keep it simple. I use this amp in a bar band with another guitarist who uses a Marshall solid state 30 watt. The Jr. kicks his ass every time and leaves him crying about his lack of tone and power. The 15 watt rating is very deceptive, this amp is loud! Our drummer is a total pounder and I can get over him without a problem. When I play in a big hall I mike it with a SM57.

I use a Gibson Les Paul 20th Anniversary (Dimarzio PAF Pro in bridge) and a Joe Perry Signature Model Les Paul with this amp. The only pedal I use is a Mesa Boogie V-twin pedal. This pedal effectively makes the Jr. a 3 channel amp and adds a little more gain. I believe the Jr. and the V-twin pedal are a perfect match. I also have replaced the stock speaker with a Weber and the tubes with Tesla's. Make no mistake, this did improve the sound, but the stock sound was good also. I have no problems with the reverb unit being noisy as some have had.

I have played live on a regular basis with this amp for approximately one year now with no problems. I never take a backup because I can run the V-twin pedal straight into the board if the amp blows. So far no sign of trouble.

I've dealt with them in the past and they were pretty decent. The 5 year transferrable warranty is a plus but I have not needed it.

I have been playing guitar for 25 years in bands and studios. I also own a tweed Pro Jr. which I use to practice with at home. Over the years I have used the following amps. Earth Revival 100w 2x12, Fender Twin Reverb, Marshall 50w half stack, Carvin x-60, Crate, Marshall VSR65, Marshall lead 12. There have been others but I have used a little bit of everything both tube and solid state. If this was lost or stolen I would buy a new one ASAP. I love the size, weight and power of this little tone box. I would like to see Fender add a Headphone jack and a speaker out but that's about it. This amp has been getting hammered on lately and with respect to everyones opinion I would like to make the following comments.
1. This is not a boutique amp. It is also not $1500.00, the overall price/performance ratio is fantastic.
2. Some of these amps do not sound as good as others. If you get a Jr. that sounds bad try another one. I have been amazed at how much of a difference there can be from one Jr. to the next.
3. Try some of the speaker and tube mods that are listed on the web. These can make quite a difference also.
4. I personally recommend using the V-twin pedal with this amp. Try it I think you'll like it.
5. Buy a used one on Ebay. They go for about 250.00 to 300.00. These amps retain their value, if you really cant get it to work for you then sell it and you'll probably get back about what you paid.

I play Blues and Rock; the features on the BJ are spartan, but that works fine for me as I'm a beginner.

I play a 1995 Gibson Nighthawk Special (2 pickup), and play mostly Blues and Hard Rock. I found the amp to be noisy when I brought it home, but not really a problem. After playing it for a few weeks, and then bringing it to a jam session with friends, I became disenchanted with the tone: flabby base, generally muddy sounds with the volume turned up beyond 3. Not much tonal color at all. So I looked up reviews on this page, and took the advice of so many who wrote, "CHANGE THE SPEAKER!" After doing some research, I put in a Jensen P12R speaker and changed all the tubes to JJ Teslas. The result is nothing short of miraculous! My desire to play has been resurrected. Not only are the notes clear and distinct, but playing loud power chords kicks it into a delicious distortion; not quite a roar, but very pleasing. I just made this switch today, so I'm still playing with the settings to find what works best.

Had it for 10 months - no problems

haven't needed support

If it were lost or stolen, I might buy another but first I'd demo the Reverend Hellhound, which can be had for only a couple hundred more (considering I spent an additional $107 for new speaker and tubes to make it sound great). I've only been playing for about 3 years, mostly at home and with friends. Previously I used a Peavey Express 112 with a Celestion G12M70 speaker - it sounds OK, but no comparison to my upgraded BJ. I bought the BJ in the first place because I needed something with tone at lower volumes ( protect the baby's hearing). The Peavey doesn't sound good until it's really loud. I do wish it had a headphone jack.

Nothing you haven't already read. Decent feature set for an all-tube practise box.

I took this amplifier out on a 7-day rental from my local shop. I got it home and plugged in my Jackson Rhoads. For 6 hours non-stop, I sat and really enjoyed the clean sound. I played with it a bit, it had a decent high volume breakup, but nothing outstanding. The tone controls weren't really very effective - they didn't offer enough in the way of actually changing the tone. My style is generally alternative, but occasionally I scoop the mids and rip in to some metal. Scooping the mids here had little effect on the tone at all. The gain was quite poor overall. No real distortion to speak of. I found that I couldn't even begin to approach a Nirvana level without using a Boss Metal Zone (which is great with solid states, but takes a little out of the tube sound). Unfortunately, most of the music I play requires decent distorion. I found it lacking in overall versatility and tonal qualities when I compared it to a Marshall AVT 20. The Marshall sounded better clean, was louder, better tone controls (gave a better variation of sound), and better gain levels (What I needed a pedal for on the Fender took a 7 on the Marshall, you can get a JCM800 crunch out of it with ease). The reverb really wasn't too shit-hot at higher levels, but was fine at lower levels (<4). For most rock/alternative/metal fans out there, the Marshall would be a wise choice. My dad personally prefered the Fender for country and blues. So style does matter, and so does opinion. I have also tested a Crate GX30, Peavy Classic 30, Vox Cambrige, and Laney LC15, and I must say the Fender probably ranks midway in that list while the Marshall rules the roost. See if your local shop will let you rent the amps, that way you'll get some good playing time with them and construct you own opinion about what works for your combo.

It never gave me any problems, but it was only one week. I won't pass an opinion on this.

Fender has a few channels for support (e-mail, phone, snail mail) and generally have a decent warranty. Since my experience involved two e-mails which were responded to within 24 hours, I would have to rate the support as "pretty good".

I've owned a few axes over the 4 years I've been playing. I now play a Jackson with EMG single coils. I have also tried an Epiphone Les Paul with humbuckers on this amp. There is nothing too outstanding about this amp over it's competition. I wish it sounded better and had better tone controls. I play through a JCM800, a Fender Squier, and a Crate GX15. I wouldn't buy one knowing what it sounds like now, there are better choices for different tastes, and this one just didn't satisfy me.

Made in 2000, has a 12 inch speaker driven by a 15 watt all-tube amp. I play blues/rock and I thought this amp might deliver me a really good clean tone that I could then dirty up by adding expensive boutique pedal effects, but I was wrong.

The Blues Hunior just didnt sound very good at all. I have used a 100 watt solid-state Fender Stage Lead amp for the past nine years and this Blues Junior, even though it has tubes, sounded much worse than my solid state amp. After playing through a Marshall AVT 50 for about two hours in a music store, I unplugged and ran over to the Fender Blues Junior expecting a warm clean sound and what I got was a shallow harsh sound that was too bright. Now dont get me wrong- the treble brightness on an amp like a Fender Deluxe Reverb is normal, but the Blues Junior just had an awful thin tone that was unacceptable to me. A better amp is the Fender Blues DeVille, but as I said, a Deluxe Reverb has them all beat by a mile, and isnt that much more expensive. You get what you pay for.

Probably isnt as well-made as the old Fender amps from years and years ago.

In my opinion Fender is mass-producing alot of junk these days so I wouldnt even bother to contact them- they sell "Strats" for 200 dollars and that is just a stupid and silly marketing of cheap products. A real Strat, a real one thats also good, costs almost ten times as much.

I didnt buy this amp. There are about two dozen other amps I would rather buy than this Blues Junior. Listen to this amp before you buy it.

single channel amp blah blah blah...

I cant believe how many people love this amp! I have considered this amp on and off for three years. I wanted a small tube amp for practice. It seems like a beatiful package but gosh the tone sucks. I'm sorry but if the guitarists that use this amp and rave about it were the only guitarists alive I'd throw my gear out and start playing a banjo. This amp has NO TONE!! I feel so cheated by the folks here. I read reviews like crazy. I tried it out the best I could at the store but I was an idiot and decided to just take a shot at it and buy it. A lot of that decision was based on the reviews here. I figured over 100 people cant be wrong. this amp has to sound great right? Wrong! The clean channel is just borderline. My reverb isn't noisy but it doesn't sound all that pleasing. kinda fake to me. The amp lacks bass.The highs are shrill. As you turn the amp up it seems to want to shake apart. The overdrive you get from this amp must be the worst I have ever heard. I dont mean to be hugely negative here. I normally give gear it's chance and I think I gave this amp enough of my time. the overdrive sounds very harsh, very grainy. COmpletely unpleasant. It gets worse the louder you turn it up. At first I thought that the lack of bass, the harshness of highs, and the grainy overdrive could be contributed to the speaker so I plugged it into my 2X12 cab and my 4X10 cab. The bass response was slightly better but still weak. The overdrive didn't improve at all. very dead amp. It is decent for practicing. It does beat a solid state 15 watt 8 inch or 10 inch combo. BUT I just cant believe that people actually gig with these things. I cant believe they would want too! My warning is this. Really try this out if you are considering buying it. Please Please dont just take these reviews for the end all choice. DOnt take mine and dont take theirs. Listen to it and work it hard before you put your money down and walk out the door with it. I give it a 4 only because it's better than a little solid state practice amp but it is nothing more than a practice amp. all those who use it as more should be shot.

my gear is
AMPS
carvin 2x12 bel air combo, carvin vt50 head with 4x10 cab,
crate vc5212, sovtek tube midget, blues junior, hot rod deluxe(the same awful sounds as the blues junior just a little better cleans)

EFFECTS
boss ds-1, boss fz-3,
danelectro eq, flanger, trem, danecho, coolcat, fabtone
mxr dist+, dyna comp,phase 90, flanger
Ibanez ts-9dx, ts-7, de-7
EH big muff(russian), Big muff(USA), Small stone
dunlop crybaby
pro co rat
GUITARS
american series hardtail strat, Fender Toronado,
gibson les paul jr special, peavey tele copy, squier stagemaster, squier telecaster, 2 fender mexican strats, old ovation acoustic

This amp has a three band EQ and a gain boost (Fat) switch . One would think it would offer flexability. Wrong! It sounds awful at any setting.

The cabinet is nice. It's a shame they wasted it on this junk.

The only reason I'll give it a four is because the amp does "look" great.

I use a Levinson Blade (Strat copy) with a S/S/H config. It has Fender Lace Sensors and a Gibson '57 Classic HB. As far as I'm concerned, The BJ was a total waste of money. I guess I was putting to many expectations on a $370 amp. I really wanted to like this amp, so much so that I kept it beyond the return deadline; only to find out it stunk.

The amp is generally muddy. If you try to dial in some treble and cut the mids It sounds extremely brittle. I could not get a useful sound from this amp. It's awfull!

I don't think I could bring myself to sell this junk to another poor sap. I plan on eating the loss and using the cabinet for an Allen Amplification (http://www.allenamps.com) "Accomplice" retrofit kit. That is the only way I can justify keeping it.

I don't expect to keep it long enough to find out if it's reliable.

Again, this amp is history. I hope I don't have to call them.

This amp is totally useless. A solid state Peavy would run circles around this amp. Do yourself a favor and listen to it before you buy one. From what I have heard the Devilles sound just as horrid.

I bought this amp new in September, 1997 for and sold it in April, 2001. It has volume, master volume, bass, middle, treble, presence and a "fat" switch which seems only to increase the gain without making the tone "fatter." I did not buy the optional "fat" footswitch. This is really a one-channel amp which permits you to boost the volume for lead playing.

I used this amp first with a Hamer Californian equipped with EMG pickups and then with a Fender American Standard Stratocaster. I play music which has 50s and early 60s guitar tones, with occasional distortion. The clean sound is mediocre. Over the years (I'm 54), I've owned two Fender Twins, a Fender Dual Showman Reverb and a Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue (which I have now), as well as an Alembic F-2B preamp played through a QSC power amp and an Ampeg VT-22 extension cabinet. All of those amps gave me a "Fender" clean sound. The blues junior does not. When I tried the amp in the store, I liked the tone. After playing it for several months, I concluded that the amp was "nasal" and no knob setting was going to give me the "Fender" sound. The clean sound reminds me of various Peaveys which I have owned (VTM-120, Triumph 60 combo, Artist 112), not bad but not a Fender. There are other clean sounds which I have liked (Mesa/Boogie Mark IV, Mesa Rect-O-Verb), but the Blues Jr. sounds lifeless. I even tried running the guitar first through a Boss GE-7 graphic equalizer and a Boss CS-3 compression/sustainer. Still, the sound was mediocre.

The distorted sound is also mediocre, not the high gain that one would get with a Peavey 5150 and not the sound of an overdriven Fender. Perhaps in a band setting (I do not play in one) the amp's sound would be good. I don't know.

I never had a problem with it. However, I played it only for recording and practice at home.

I never needed service.

I have been playing since 1976.

I think this one ws new in 2001 - paid about $350 from Musicians Friend.

Pretty minimal on the features - but that can be considered a good feature unto itself.

15 watts RMS, 12" emminence speaker, 3 12AX7's and two EL-84's. Solid state rectifier. Weighs about 30 pounds, and is just under a cubic foot in dimension, so it's nice and portable.

It's got one channel, pre- and master volume controls, 3-band EQ, reverb, and a footswitchable 'Fat' (gain/mid/bass boost) switch. No f/x loop, channel switching, headphone jack, etc. Some of us consider the *lack* of such doo-dads a plus.

A good entry level tube amp for 'roots' music - blues, country and classic rock. Not a metal/thrash amp really. Probably loud enough for small gigs (definetly so if you mike it), though I've not gigged with it. Some say it's not loud enough for jamming with a drummer. I'd say that probably depends on your drummer.

I guess the one thing that would be nice is more gain on the Fat switch, but otherwise its got everything I'm looking for. this was not designed to be a swiss army knife amp.

I have a couple of Danelectros (a DC and a Mod-7) and two Squier Tele's (one with a neck humbucker) -- they all sound very good through this amp, except the Mod, which doesn't sound so good period.

I tend to play a lot of 60's garage stuff and 70's punk, and this works well for that. I haven't noticed much noise, though I've never really cranked the master beyond 4 for any length of time as it gets LOUD past 2 very quickly. Some reviews here and elsewhere complain about the noise in the reverb, but I've had no such trouble. I've heard that Fender has improved the reverb on the later builds.

The EQ is not radical, but does give noticeable and usuable changes to the tone. Overall, I'd say the clean sound is better than the dirty sound, and I suppose that's pretty much a Fender trademark. this amp doesn't do shred without a pedal, and even then only reluctantly.

I'm running the amp totally stock right now, but I will probably experiment with new tubes and eventually a new speaker. Stock, I'd have to say this amp sounds damn good for a tube amp under $500. Could it sound better? Sure. It can be a little muddy when trying to get a dirty sound, and the bass does sound flabby when cranked. A new speaker may help there. Many of the reviews here tend to either praise this amp excessively or condemn it harshly, neither of which is very accurate. My '66 blackface Champ has better tone overall, but is only good as a practice amp. I bought this amp to use when jamming with another guitarist and a drummer, and it does that satisfactorily for me.

This amp was designed to be an entry level practice/jam amp with a fair range of 'classic' tones. It's not the Holy Grail of tone, but it's got the basics covered.

Only had it about 4-5 months. So far, no probs. It's only been in my room and the neighbor's garage, so hard to say. Seems sturdy engough...

Haven't had to deal with fender, but I've heard nothing good about them recently. If I had trouble with this and it was under warranty, I'd send it back to Musicians Friend, otherwise I'd take it to my local amp tech.

Been playing about 18 years (wow, how did that happen?) I also own a black face Fender Champ, and a Music Man 210-65, which is incredable, but too loud and too heavy for what I need right now.

If it were stolen, lost or destroyed, I'd definetly buy another as soon as I could.

Overall, this amp is a really good deal for the money, and is also a fine platform for upgrades and improvements.

This is a follow up post. I have now had the blues jr for a year. Listen up, I am a professional musician and have been playing long enough to know a turd when I hear one.

THIS AMP IS AWFUL!!!!

Trust me, I wanted to love it, but this amp is a total dog. The tone knobs do very little to nothing when tweaked. In fact, the lame reverb actually changes your tone more than any other knob on the amp! If you are a little kid or have never used ANY other amp before then I guess this amp sounds fine. But if you are actually into guitar tone at all, STAY AWAY!!!!

A few words to describe this highly overated amp:

Muddy, lifeless, rumbly, midrange shrill, completely unchimey, and boxey.

I'm sorry, it's the truth. After reading the glowing reviews for this amp I got one thinking that it would be the holy grail of tiny tube amps. The first one I got DID NOT WORK. The second one, in perfect working order, sounds just plain bad.

I understand that kids and novices have a hard time discerning between what sounds okay and what sounds great, but don't believe the hype on this amp, unless of course you are into totally useless and muddy guitar tones. Sometimes the truth hurts.

STAW AWAY!!!! I would not wish this amp on my worst enemy. If you have ears which cannot tell an awful tone from "SRV", then immediatly buy this amp!

If this amp had the control panel of the Hot Rod Deluxe, it would be THE perfect amp! I would like to be able to switch on the go from clean to drive.

I play a lot of "Stevie Ray Vaughan-type" music. This amp gives me everything from a powerful mid-rangey tone (fat switch ON) to super clean bell-tones. The greatest thing is that I can crank this amp enough to get the tone I want without running the first three tables off! Great for small club gigs.

I've only had it a short time, but I've never had any problem with Fender equipment.

N/A

I've been playing for about 20 years. Tonally, this amp does everything I ever wanted an amp to do. It puts out the tone of a "Twin" on "10" without making you grit your teeth and run for cover! (at hundreds of dollars less!)

nice amp.

Tokai Strat, Gibson ES-125TDC - great with both guitars

I have been playing for 38 years, amp is good size and weight, but could use a little more bottom end IMHO - I may try changing the speaker to a Jensen Alnico. I have late 60's and early 70's siver face Vibro Champ, Princeton Reverb and Super Reverb - this little guy compares to all other tube Fenders - a nice little amp.

This amp is a perfect match for some people. It produces outstanding sounds (see below). It has sparse controls -- choose your volume and master to get the saturation you want, and then some eq and reverb.

It cannot get SOME sounds which are important to SOME people (see below). In this sense it is not full-featured (nor is it intended to be).

One odd feature is the wattage. 15 watts in tube is very loud. It has 2-3x as much power as you need for a home practice amp, basically playing with the stereo or by yourself. Your ears will ring at 3. However, it does NOT have enough power to play with a band (at least not with a drummer). So you'd need to mike it, which is inconvenient. This is because there is no LINE OUT or HEADPHONE jack, which would also be convenient b/c then you could drive your cheap solid state amp as a cabinet (i.e. make you own mini stack) and it would sound gorgeous. This can, I'm sure, be added, but would no doubt nullify the warranty. It's just a little frustrating b/c 15 watts is ALMOST loud enough, to play with a drummer, but not quite. The leads would probably be there, but there is definately not enough clean headroom to do do chord work.

How hard would it have been for them to add a line out!? Maybe they feared this would compete with the Deluxe if they did.

It sounds close to perfect for what it does. Set both volume and master at 4 and get an almost perfectly clean sound. But when you really bear down -- or do doubles stops -- it gives a hint of power tube saturation that will make you weep. You'll have to set it higher with a Strat (I use a Les Paul) because of the lower output. I keep it right on the edge of breakup and it sounds perfect.

Raise volume to 12, turn master down to 3, and you get a nice hard rock power chord type sound. You'll never approach Marshall level of drive, but that's not the reason you bought this amp. You bought it b/c the clean sounds with just a little bit of saturation give you a new reason to play.

I compared the amp with... In this price range, the only Vox you are getting is a hybrid with tubes in the pre-amp. This is a gimmick. Tube distortion in the pre-amp stage is not what makes guitars sweet. You need power tubes. The Vox actually does not even work well as a solid state -- the Marshall AVT is better. I could get a decent tone out of the Mashall, but not as good as out of the Blues Jr. I also tried out olded all-tube Marshalls for significantly more money the the Blues Jr. I got good tones, but no better than the Jr. There is somewhat more versatility there (you can get a harder rock sound and more volume with the Mashalls), but for my purposes, the extra $300 didn't get me anything. Maybe even a slightly worse clean tone, but still good.

Fender's Deluxe gives you a quite similar sound, and somewhat more versatility. It's louder and has a lot more clean headroom. Peavey's Classic is also quite good at this. But you get what you pay for -- these are a lot more than the Jr. They will also be more expensive to retube, and you'll have a tougher time saturating them at household levels.

It would be nice if someone produced an even lower wattage all tube amp. Okay -- I know Elektar makes a 10 watt version, but you can't try it. I have also heard that Marshall is coming out with an all-tube 10 watt. But if it sounds like a Marshall, it's probably wouldn't fit the bill anyway.

Even a 5 watt amp would be sufficient. It would be really cool to get that saturation at reasonably modest levels -- but a 5-watt tube amp turneday up would still be very loud. It would be cheap as well, probably using 1 pre-amp tube and 1 power amp instead of 3/2 as mine has.

I've had this amp since April, which is about 8 months now. This is the limited edition model with blonde tolex, oxblood grille cloth, and a leather handle. Together with the narrow panel cabinet, top rear control panel and chicken head knobs, it has a real 50's look. Musician's Friend was having a great sale, so I was able to get this for only $300, including shipping. Currently they sell for about $390 with shipping additional. If you watch the MF website, they sometimes have a nice little clearance like this.

When it first arrived, I though it looked cool, but the sound was just OK - kind of your typical decent, but not great tube amp sound. So, I played it a little on occasion, but it wasn't my regular amp. A buddy who does quite a bit of amp work was over to jam one Saturday, and he played through the BJ and insisted that I get new tubes. He said the particular tubes in this BJ had become microphonic. I just replaced the three stock 12ax7a preamp tubes with some JJ/Teslas and it really woke my BJ up! My friend advised me to put a 12at7 in the first slot to increase the clean headroom. It works!
My main guitar is an American Std Strat with Rio Grande pickups. I also have a Les Paul Studio with the stock HB's. The Strat is heavenly through this amp for blues. The LP is great for the Led Zep and ZZ Top material.
This amp tends to emphasize the mids, so turning the mid control to about 3 works best for me. It's surprisingly loud and able to work small to medium clubs with no problem. I tend to leave the "fat" switch on most of the time, although I don't need it with the LP. I tend to play the Strat quite a bit more than the LP, though.I don't use any effects, since it comes with reverb. That's the only "effect" I need and it works well on this amp. Others have written that it's a problem, but maybe I'm just lucky.

I'd give it a 10 except for the tube problem, which really isn't a problem with the amp itself. I'm just disappointed that the original tubes pooped out so soon. But, who knows - they may have been defective from the factory. Anyway, the amp itself is sturdy and reliable.

N/A

I'm convinced that the Blues Jr is the best amp on the market in terms of volume and tone for the price. It sounds as good as more costly amps for a fraction of the price. If you're a beginner, the BJ will make you sound better than any cheapo practice amp, and it doesn't cost that much more. If you're an experienced player, the BJ is a super little compact package that's perfect for jamming and can hold its own at a gig, too. If you record, it sounds great on tape. Fender did their homework on this one. If I can find one of the early tweed models, I'll have to grab it and experiment with a stereo amp setup.

Bought this amp in 1998 with the intention of using it as a small practice amp - and one I could cart easily. At the time, was not too concerned with loops, channel swithching, etc. Simplicity ruled.

Took this puppy home, and confess that I didn't play through it much at all, initially thinking its sound was a thinish copy of EC's "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" when using a strat, neck pickup.

Recently hooked it up to a variey of cabinets using various sizes of speakers. Found an earth-chilling sound playing this amp through a 4X12 cab and fooling with the dials. Compared this set up to other gear I was using regularly, and decided to stick with this combination for now.

Amp is very versatile for those of us who like the guitar-straight-into-the-amp sound. A guitar straight through a tube amp usually yeilds the very best in your instrument's tone. This amp will add just enough bite (drive) for that crunch (with bridge humbucker) or dark brittle (with neck strat).

Also - this amp is LOUD!!!! Forget size - forget wattage - I have used this amp driving a 4 x 12 cab performing live in my band, mostly with a strat. It is acutally louder than some other gear that I have used out live.

All in all, for those of us from the Hendrix tone era of "Come On Pt.1" or Johnny Winter's "Rock Me Baby", I rate this amp a 10 in these areas: tone, volume, portability, and pure-blood versatility.

I have used this amp with a Strat, Tele, LP and Ep. Great for blues, jazz (when set clean) artisan classic rock when slighly overdriven (see above references). It is no more noisey than other amps. This is a basic straight ahead amp. Plug in and play. No mosquito distortion here - this one comes right out of the heart of your playing.

I did have to get the reverb unit replaced - it did break in transport. Apparently the wires used in this area are extremely thin. So watch out - don't let this amp bounce!

Did not deal directly with the company for the reverb's repair. Repair was under warrany - took it to the shop of a local amp repair expert - the kind of shop that we need more of!

Been playing guitar for 37 years. Have owned a variety of guitars and amps. After going full circle (started with guitar straight into amp, then on to pedals, eventually to processors, wireless devises, computers, then back to pedals), I now play with 2 pedals - chorus and distortion - but most of the time the guitar is plugged straight into the amp.

Most of the really great sounds, I have found, come from the 'natural gear' - great-sounding guitar through a great-sounding amp.

FOR THE SERIOUS:

Try all sorts of combinations - some guitars sound better through different amps - and, like this Blues Junior, most amps sound different with different speaker cabs.

Start with playing a guitar unplugged. Check the obvious: the neck. Ideally, guitar should be comfortable right away, like shoes on your feet, soon as you put it in your hands. Watch out for any guitar with tuning problems or too many "dead spots" - places where the string vibrates less and is less resonant. Watch for poor fretwork, bridgework or poorly cut nut.

Next, plug guitar into a variety of amps. I mean amps, not processors or modelers! Now you can take it for a spin.

If you have not taken the opportunity to roll in several cabs in to your music store's glass booth, you will be AMAZED at how different your guitar and amp will sound when the speaker cabs are changed!

Do this ONLY if you're serious. Seek permission to crank it up as the folks in the music store might not appreciate your rendition of "Spooky" when there are 3 John Denver acoustic types in the srore!

Let your ears be your guide!

Good luck to all of you!!

Late 2001 Blues Junior--Surprise! Fender revised the way the reverb connects into the rest of the circuit. The new circuit diagram has a March 2001 date; no idea when it went into production.

As everyone knows, the Blues Junior is a 1-channel all-tube amp, 15W, three-knob tone stack, no effects loop, no phones jack. I wish it had these last two.

I play at home and at church, and it's plenty loud for both. More importantly, it keeps its tonal qualities when played quietly, thanks to the Fat Switch (gain boost), and adjustable preamp gain, which Fender calls Volume.

I mostly play an old Univox Coily, which looks like an ES-335, but is hollow like an Epiphone Casino. Dual humbuckers; sounds like 1965 all over again.

The tone stack is very versatile, with lots of boost and cut available in three ranges. The distortion (above 6 on the Volume control) is more intermodulation than clipping, which is nice for the music I play. The tone thickens on single notes, but breaks up when other strings are vibrating. Chords are chunky and distorted, but the music still comes through. It's very touch-sensitive, and using the Fat switch on a pedal gives you a nice lead-rhythm change.

The clean settings (under 4 on Volume; anywhere on Master) are suitable for jazz and other clean guitar styles. Cranking up the reverb and treble gives you a bright surf guitar jangle.

NOTE: I had another Blues Junior (the previous circuit design) prior to this one (it was a birthday present), and it DID NOT sound like this. I had to crank the treble to 12 to get any highs at all, and the reverb was noisy at anything over a 2 or a 3. I took it back to Guitar Center, and swapped it for a new one. It also buzzed. The replacement is much more musical, but the only difference I can find between the two is the way the reverb hooks in.

It's only a week old. But the 5-year warantee gives me a good feeling.

Guitar Center swapped out the previous one with no argument, even though you couldn't hear the things I was complaining about in the noisy store.

I've played guitar for 35 years, but have played electric for only a couple of years. I'd replace the Blues Junior with another in a heartbeat--in fact, I'd love to have two. One to keep stock and one to modify. Gotta do something with that unused triode stage!

I wish I could have compared it to a Carvin Nomad, but I really don't need that much power. I tried a Crate and some used amps, and the Blues Junior sounded better. And now that they've improved the reverb, it sounds MUCH better.

Small tube amp with reverb and suprisingly loud,good sounding and cheap.No EFX loop. A gig able small tube amp

sounds good cranked and using my volume for different tones. It is loud I would not recommend this as a practice where volume is a issue.
Dist.& Overdrive Pedals work good w/ this.

great just reverb was a little to noisey for my liking

Fender could be better, Better than marshall I would say

for under 400.00 I think this is one of the best amps. It did get replaced w/ egnater tol 50. But I do wish I still had it. You have to crank this amp really to appreciate it and if you have a speaker cab even better.If your into light break up sound this is pretty good.

I bought this in early 2001. After 15 years of solid state & hybrid amps, Musician's Friend listing this at $299 on their website was good reason to take the all tube plunge(I've since gotten the Hot Rod Deluxe, Junior's big brother). I got the blonde tolex version. I knew it wasn't chock full of features, but I(at first)intended to use it for practicing at home, and the occassional jam. Maybe as a back up in a pinch. It doesn't need anything it doesn't have, and at $299 NEW, UNBLEMISHED(I still think MF screwed up. The next time I checked, this version of the Blues Junior was ON SALE for $329!I haven't seen the Blonde Blues Junior for under $399 since)I don't have much to gripe about. The reverb is frequently bad mouthed, but I find mine VERY full & deep(I LOVE reverb). No stand-by switch, but I'm sure Fender knows what they're doing there...
It has everything a little blues club amp needs, so I'm still giving it a high mark.

I used to use Strats through my Junior, until I got bitten by the Reverend bug. I have an Avenger TL being delivered tomorrow, and I've been playing a Rocco exclusively for months. With the Rocco's humbuckers tou can get a very organic sounding grind going. Rolling off the the guitar's volume(or using single coils via the Rocco's coil tap feature)cleans up the sound significantly. Don't let the wattage fool you, I've used mine at rehearsal in a BIG room with a hard hitting drummer and a Mesa half-stack. I had to nearly pin it, but I had no problem being heard. Forget "crystal clean" at those volumes, though. But I can get "clean enough". Very midrangey tone, and this amp loves my Drivetrain pedal. Without a pedal, you can get a moderate, warm blues-rock crunch. Although a hard-rock fan, I use this sound for rhythms, and use the Drivetrain for a lead boost(for the most part. Sometimes I leave the pedal on all the time.) Very tasty. Clean sounds are more "tweed" than "blackface" sounding, if you know what I mean. With some tweaking, this amp is capable of a variety of blues and rock tones.
Be warned: this amp needs to "break in" a few weeks before sounding it's best. Wait a while, you will be rewarded. The reverb isn't a DRRI, but it's still big sounding(see "reliability" for my reverb issues). I love the tone of this amp. I was very surprised, as I hadn't had the opportunity to play it before I bought it. But again, for $299...

I don't think I've ever brought a 2nd amp to a gig, but I think this amp could cut it. I did lose my reverb after a couple months of use. That was due to a shoddy solder joint, whose failure fried another component(warranty covered it, the reverb is BETTER than new now). I don't know if that has to do with regular high volume use(I've been using my Hot Rod Deluxe the last couple months of rehearsal, but I have the itch to use the Junior for the next couple)
The metal panel for the controls gets a bit warm after an hour or so at band volume. I don't know if it should, but it doesn't seem TOO bad. I played the Junior exclusively at home and rehearsal for 3 months straight, and the reverb was the only issue.

Fender's been great with questions and service. very friendly, very helpful, my warranty covered my reverb repair. 30 minute drive to an authorized Fender amp tech, not too bad.

I've been playing for 15 years or so, I've owned a LOT of gear. My current guitars are a Reverend Rocco(I LOVE this guitar), and a Reverend Avenger TL I'm picking up tomorrow. If this amp had just a LITTLE more headroom, it would be all I use. I may get another someday(black tolex version), and an A/B box to gig with the 2 of them. I would replace it if lost or stolen, in a heartbeat. I don't know of another tube combo value like this. I bought it on a whim, because I wanted to go all tube, and the price of this amp was just SOOOOO RIGHT. I got lucky.
My favorite amp I've owned.

This is an update to a much earlier review. As for features, there's 214 reviews for the Blues Junior (there's a reason why so many people have this amp), one of them must have something on this.

I play a rarely wonderful sounding Epi Les Paul with 2 Seymour Duncan Seth Lovers which I've coil split. The sound of this amp is where I've been playing. One thing I've noticed with this amp is how people keep complaining or complementing this amp's speaker and boxy tone. I have to agree with this. It is very mid-rangy with little bass (due to speaker design and the small cabinet). The amp itself is a modern-low-budget work of art. But, as with all amps, the speaker can do soooo much for the tone of your amp. So, I decided to experiment. I made myself a 2x12 speaker cabinet and put some old speakers in (one 60's era speaker that sounds absolutely great, no idea where it came from, and a '67 Jensen c12r) I put the first one in because it was laying around the house. I was pleasantly suprised at how smooth this speaker sounded. The '67 c12r sounded like crap alone, but gave a nice edginess to the sound when used with the other speaker, plus it was only 10 bucks. I also still use the stock speaker (still in the amp) for the expressive mid-range it provides. This new setup made this amp into a low-wattage (but still plenty loud) tone monster! And I'm still using crap speakers! So what's my point? With really good speakers like a Celestion Blue or Jensen P12P, this amp will kick major rear-end. Those speakers are very expensive, but they're worth it. The beauty of this setup is, you get very chunky lows and great highs, but you don't have to risk blowing the windows from your house when you turn it up. Obviously, the more speakers you have, the better it'll sound (that's only my opinion, others will argue this). Now, do I have the money to get a 4x12 cabinet and fill it with $220 celestion blue speakers? Hell no. But if you do have the money for that, then definately go for it, you will not regret it. For those less fortunate souls like myself who must put up with thin wallets, it doesn't take alot to build a cabinet, and if you can find some old used alnico speakers, you will fall in love with this amp all over again. I give it a 8.75, which might be too generous, but the euphoria of my new found tone hasn't worn off yet. I'm sure it will be worth a 9 with 4 Celestion Blues pounding away. (10's are for those special amps we will never get to play. We know they're out there, we know the tone of them will make us cry, but I doubt we will ever find them. Searching sure is fun, though).

I play well over 10 hours a week. Sometimes I get sick of playing, go upstairs for a while, then want to come back and play more. So, my amp goes on, off, on, off.....torture for a tube amp. I've had it for more than 2 years, and still have the same tubes, which sound pretty darn good. I'm sure you can do better, but I won't look into that until I need a retubing. When I do, I've hear Ei tubes rule the roost.

This amp is awesome. It's got great blues tone. It is, no matter what anybody else says (my word is the word of God ;-)) not good for heavier sounds (I think most reviews agree with this). BUT, this amp takes overdrive pedals extremely well. I use a Boss SD-2 with beautifull results. For luscious blues tone, get this amp. For rich, harmonic overdrive, stick your favorite pedal in front of it. No need for an FX loop, the sound really richens up when you dial in a little more pre-amp than necessary. Is it perfect? For my needs yes. But for the price, you cannot beat it for great tube tone.

Bought it third hand, but it was only 5 months old at the time (2001). Indistingishable from new. Basic controls: bass, treble, mid, master, volume, reverb, fat switch. I bought it mainly because I can't do much lifting (my main amp is a Hot Rod DeLuxe, which is heavy for me), and I needed something I could toss in and carry without wrecking myself for playing. It fills the bill. Versatile enough for the music I play, which is mainly basic rock and roll and contemporary country. The only versatility drawback is lack of a separate clean channel; if you want a huge difference in sound, you have to walk over and tweak the amp controls. Personally I like to control everything from my playing position, so I recommend running it totally clean (master on 12, volume 6-ish or as needed), with a good pedal board setup to get the dirty.

The sound is decent, and suits my needs. Running an AS Strat or Tele, or 1965 Jaguar with humbuckers. First, it's got plenty of power. The loudness of this 15-watt baby is a textbook example of the psychoacoustic law that says you need 10 times the power to get twice the loudness. In other words, under most conditions, it will have no problem hanging with a 40-watt tube amp. As compared to the HRD, the BJ has less extended low end, less extended high end, aand a more projected or boxier midrange. This doesn't necessarily sound bad. It really cuts through, with an edgy sound that's great for chord rhythms and bluesy stuff. Very compliant and pick-responsive. Chunky or extreme distortion cannot be had with the amp alone. Use pedals. I run a Boss OD-3, Marshall BBII, and Boss Metal Zone for various flavors. The clean channel will no doubt distort when you get it up loud, especially with humbuckers, but in any setting where I've used it, it stays plenty clean. Also as compared to the HRD, it has more background noise (insignificant in a gig setting), and an anemic reverb. The reverb provides a little depth, but no more. If you want a real reverby sound, forget it.

Hasn't broken yet, nor has any Fender product I've ever owned, all the way back to 1970. I never use amp backups at gigs. So far, so lucky.

Haven't had any experience, since nothing's broken. 5-year transferrable warranty.

I've been playing about 33 years. If it were lost, I'd consider another one, or maybe a s.s. amp with similar features, although I tend to dislike s.s. clean sounds. My ideal amp would weigh 10 pounds and have the impact of the Hot Rod DeLuxe, but no such animal exists. For a small product and big bang for the buck, this one is tough to beat. If it had a deeper low end and more extended high end, with footswitching between clean and drive, I wouldn't own any other amp. The power is just ideal, in my opinion. Wish I'd known the benefits of low powered amps when I was young, naive, and poverty-stricken. I highly recommend the amp.

I ordered this amp in August from Musician's Friend. (I only just got it, becuase it's one of the blonde models and was on backorder for two months...) Anyways, it's a 1x12 tube combo with one channel and controls for reverb, master volume, bass, middle, treble, and volume. There's a "Fat" switch that's supposed to boost the mids and lows, but I think all it does is muddy down the tone. There is a LOT of power in this for 15 watts; it drowns out the drummer I play with in a tiny 8x10 room. May not be suitable for really large shows, though. That's all- very simple, but that's what I expected.

I play an Epiphone Les Paul Custom (which I have also submitted a review for, if you care) with 2 humbuckers. I play everything from jazz to blues to rock. This amp does it all well- with the volume down, it can get a great clean tone. Turn the volume up and the master down and you can get a great old-school Santana tone. With the volume all the way up, you get great distortion tone for dirty blues or rock. The distortion isn't hard enough to play any metal or hard rock, but with the aid of a hard distortion box I'm sure it will do it. There is a little noise- not really noticeable at bedroom levels, but the louder you go the more upfront it gets. Then there's the tube hiss; unpreventable, but very quiet. This may not be an extremely versatile amp if you play EVERYTHING, but for my purposes it's great.

Never had a problem, I'd gig with it but I'd probably use a solid state backup just in case the tubes blow out or something.

Standard Fender 5 year warranty. I've heard mixed things about the company, though...

I've been playing for about 2 and a half years. I consider myself a gear head, and this amp has the best tones I've even gotten out of my Epi. If it were stolen, I might get the Blues Deville for a little more power and control. Other than that, it's an INCREDIBLE value. For $350, a tube amp like this is a godsend. Great tones for what I do, but I wish it had a few more options.

this is an addendum to my previous review.

IF YOU HAVE ACCESS TO A BIGGER SPEAKER CABINET- YOU MUST- I REPEAT 'MUST' PLUG THIS AMP INTO IT.
I HAVE A 2X12 MARSHALL WITH VINTAGE-30'S THAT I PLUG INTO. OH- YOU SHOULD HEAR THIS...ITS LIKE A DIFFERENT AMP.

YOU CANT BELIEVE THE ABSOLUTELY HUGE SOUND AND TONALITY. EVEN WHEN I GO INTO THE SPEAKER IN MY H.R. DELUXE (WHICH IS A MESA/BOOGIE CELESTION) IT SOUNDS AWESOME.

IM GOING TO BUILD A BIG CABINET FOR THIS HEAD AND PUT IT IN THERE- LIKE FENDER SHOULD HAVE.

I HAVENT RAN IT THROUGH MY MARSHALL 4X12- BECAUSE ITS 16-OHMS. I BET I WOULD PEE MY PANTS IF I HOOKED UP TO THAT.

FENDER SHOULD HAVE PUT THIS CHASSIS IN A CABINET THE SIZE OF THE H.R. DELUXE, OR DEVILLE. IT WOULD ELIMINATE THE BOXY MIDRANGE.

NO PROBLEMS.

FENDER SHOULD HAVE PUT THIS CHASSIS IN A BIG CABINET. IT TOTALLY ROCKS.

Standard features Treb. Bass. Mid. Reverb. It also has a Fat switch witch that boosts your Mid's and adds gain. So is this amp versatile enough for my styles? Yes! I like blues and this amp does blues. Its a small 15 Watt tube amp that is loud enough to play at small gigs. I mainly use this amp in my dorm so I have plenty of volume to piss the neighbors off if needed. When compaired to my other practice amp (Solid State Peavy) it pretty much kicks ass. Im only giving it a 9 because I think the reverb could be better.

I play through a 60's reissue strat/ts9/crybaby/blues jr, and I find this to be your standard blues setup. I usualy play with my volume set at 6-7 treb & Bass at 7 and mid at 6, with the reverb set at 12. With this I get a killer clean tone that I can turn to instant dirty blues with one step on the ts9. I then set the master at whatever suits the eviornment usually 2-4 during the weekday and 4-12 on the weekends.

So far I have used it for about 2 months and it hasn't borken yet. Also this amp was a floor model that every one messes with. I give it a 9 cuse only time will tell.

Don't know?

Over all I think this amp rocks and I don't know why every one else is pissing and moaning about changeing the speaker and tubes!

Y'all know the feature by now...one channel of 15 tube watts simplicity. I guess as a stand alone plug and play amp it couldn't be LESS versatile. However, if you play blues, classic rock, or oldies, it does most basic tones very well.

I play primarily a home-bulit beauty which allows the humbuckers to be split, so I can get that single coil or humbucker sound. Second guitar is an old strat, however I only play it if I break a string on my primary guitar. I play in a classic rock and blues band...you know...something all us 35 year old guys would like. This amp is just right for this style of music! DON'T let 15 watts fool you...this little baby can really rip. I've played it at stadium gigs with absolutely no problem concerning power. Just mike it... when you play a venue that needs alot of volume, you have to mike even very powerfull amps anyhow to balance the sound distribution. In a normal volume gig (private party), you don't even NEED to mike it. If you want crystal clear tone, get a different amp. If you want to tear the wallpaper off the walls, get a different amp. This amp sounds so good because the low wattage allows you to push it just a little and get that sweaty tube sound goin' at a reasonable (and most would say loud) volume. The distortion from the amp is in no way brutal, however hook up your favorite pedal and you're there. It handles pedals extremely well, and is very quiet. One gig, I had trouble with my pedal board wiring, so I had to go straight into the amp...you know it was surprising what you can do with a simple one-channel amp. I can set the amp to get some good grit with my bridge humbucker, then switch to the single coil, and back off a little on volume, and it's really a nice clean. You can do this, but you won't get brutal tears-in-your-eyes overdrive without a little help from an over drive pedal.

No problems as of yet. Seems well built.

Not had to deal with them.

I've been playing 25 years. I use a Line 6 distortion modeler (with compressor), Boss delay, and a volume pedal. Within the last 5 years, I used to own a line 6 Flextone. Great...nay...incredible amp in the bed room, but it kind of gets lost in a live gig. There is just too much to choose from with the flextone, and I realized that it is better for me to simply get the tone I need by learning how to manipulate my volume knob and switching to the proper pickups to get the sound I need. So, I bought a Marshall TSL 2000. Incredible sound, and good versatility, but WAY too loud. To get that great sound it is capable of, I had to hurt someone with the beast. It was like owning a Ferrari and having to drive it in a school zone! The 15 watts of the Blues junior is just perfect. Once you're old like me and don't really give a crap if you look like you have a powerull, impressive rig or not, you may realize that most all amps are way too over-powered for this kind of music. Those big stacks are for guys with Napolean complexes! I just let my playing and pure tone do the talking for me. Just get a good guitar with versatile pickups, a good small tube amp (Blues junior is a great choice, in fact there are few other good, inexpensive tube amps in this wattage range) and your favorite pedals to overdrive and add ambience. I'm real happy with it.

Made in 2000 or 2001 probably. Amp is quite versatile. 1 channel with fat switch to add more preamp gain. No effects loop. No headphone jack. Its really basic, just guitar input, basic eq, preamp volume and master volume and reverb. I use this amp in my home and at little shows. Gets an 8 because while it may not have a ton of extra features, it has everything you really need. But... the fat switch is kindof pointless i think. 15 el84 tube watts through a 12 inch speaker is plenty loud for any application, because if you are playing a gig where its big enough so that its not loud enough, it will surely have a pa to mic your amp. 3 12ax7's in the preamp. Its a small, relatively lightweight amp which makes for easy moving.

I use a fender american telecaster for styles ranging from oasis to mxpx to weezer to travis to placebo to presidents of the united states of america. The amp screams versatility. I have never noticed any noise problems. I love the amp's clean sound. It can go plenty loud without breaking up. Just crank up the preamp volume if you like and she'll break up nicely. I hooked up my Line 6 POD to this amp and came up with some really neat sounds.

I gig without backups because I am poor and not enough of a real musician for it to be a big deal if I screw up a gig. It's new so no problems yet. It's a pretty simple tube amp so I am sure any problem is pretty easily fixed.

Never had to deal with fender. I think the warranty is 5 years.

I've been playing for 5 years or so. I have a wide variety of guitars. I had a marshall jcm-800 half stack prior to this but decided to downsize to make it easier to gig- this amp is really small and surprisingly loud. Also cus this has a really cool sound. If it dissapeared I would get it again because it is small, simple and sounds good. What do I dislike about it....? Well I think that I may get another one just for the additional volume, so I suppose if it were louder then I wouldn't have to do that. BUT... if it were any louder, it would be too loud. Also I suppose it would be nicer if it had a second channel. For that you can get the fender deluxe, but it is a lot bigger and heavier and louder and I really think this one sounds a heck of a lot better. With 2 amps I get the benefeit of a quieter lower watt amp when I want and the additional power as needed. I toyed with the idea of getting a line 6, but better 1 or 2 great sounds than 50 mediocre ones. I would reccomend it for pretty much anyone. You can just stick some stomp boxes in front of it and get whatever sound you need, in this small inexpensive package. I saw a national touring act play at a decent size venue (500-1000 capacity) with one of these and it sounded really great. I don't give out 10s, theres always room for improvement.

Purchased used on EBAY for $250. I use it for clean sounds and use distortion boxes for overdrive. I bought the amp to use at home for figuring out songs. It is too loud for that I have to keep the volume and master volume at 2 (just barely on to achieve an acceptable level at home). I just wanted something small with reverb. So it has everything I need for this application.

I play with both humbuckers and single coil, both vintage type pickups. Has a nice clean sound and works well with various distortion boxes. I don't care for the master volume overdrive, but there aren't many amps that I like for that feature. The speaker and reverb have been criticized by many on this board. For the money I think they are both fine. My reverb is NOT noisy at all, it does sound good, maybe I wasn't expecting much after reading the previuos postings.

I wouldn't use it for a gig. 15 watts (any amp)will not compete with my drummer. Fender equipment is usually reliable so I will give it an 8, due to the obivous less costly construction, you get what you pay for. In the case of this amp I feel that you get a little more.

No opinion here

I've been playing for 30+ years. I've owned many amps (Fenders, Marshalls, Boogie, etc...). I think the amp is a nice little package for the money, I don't think I would have bought it new for $380. As stated the speaker sounds like it is voiced correctly and the reverb is OK. The clean sound is very warm. I wish it had a little less output, I am tempted to try it at a jam but I don't think it would hold up under extreme volumes. If you are looking for something with the power to play with a band with clean headroom this is not your amp. For a small practice or beginner amp it is excellent.

This is a follow-up review of the Blues Jr. "97-'00 not really sure.
Proved to not be versitile enough. I really needed the effects loop. Tubes sound nice nice but are a liability. Not the be-all-end-all I thought it would be.

Amp sounds wonderful when it is stable. Tubes need to behave like some people--moody. This amp was like the weather, some days it would shine other days it was so dark. The feedback was wonderful and that tone just dripped out! Gets distorted pretty quickly. Not a lot of clean headroom but you can mike it. And we all must remember it is a Blues amp. Not a do all amp. Mine started losing the ability to amplify the e-1 string at odd times--like gigging! It did the same thing with two different guitars.

Tubes are unpredictable like the weather. Mine sounded so good; then, started being dark on some days and just right on other. Lost amplification of e-1 string on two different guitars. Weird. Amp was only a few weeks old and I sent it back.

Musician's Friend is to be highly commended for their 45 day policy. They stand behind it if you communicate clearly and honestly with them.

Playing 25 years. Now play a Ephiphone Casino, own two Fender Champs, which I run in stereo for my tube amps--wonderful tone. I have discovered the Peavey Bandit 112S, 2001 model (see my review of it) and it is the best overall amp I've ever owned. I still say the Blues Jr. is one of the most toneful amps ever made, but if you want good clean headroom, metal sounds, jazz and blues in a troublefree loud good looking amp, take a close look at the Bandit 112S and transtube technology. It's the latest thing and it is much more than a one-trick-pony. I still use the Digitech RP 100 and it sound a 10 through my Champs and the Bandit. Figure out what you want in amp and how you will use it. If one channel is good for you then the Blues Jr tube amp is hard to top. Thank you.

All tube, 1-12" speaker, reverb, master volume, fat switch (boost)

Sorry folks, though the clean is nice - it is not the Fender clean tone everyone knows and loves. If you want that tone, pay $300 more and get a vintage blackface or silverface Princeton Reverb, because the reverb on the Blues Junior is LAME. I was hoping it would remind me of the '67 Vibrolux I had to sell (moving costs), but was not even close. The reverb tank is very small on the Juniors. The fat switch was of no use to me. Not much gain can be dialed in - get an overdrive pedal of your choice and leave the settings clean.

Very reliable

N/A

Good overall beginners amp, until you want to step up to real Fender clean tone with dripping reverb, in which case you'll need a vintage Princeton, Deluxe, etc. If you want to stay in this price range, I think you'll be happier with a Peavey Classic 30, which has a nice clean channel and an excellent overdrive channel.

Basic amp with reverb and master volume. Does the job well

To me, the amp shines with my 62 strat or my strat plus (the plus is a less bright than the 62). I love the Fender sound and this combination works the best. I do not use any pedals in the blues band. I just use the strats and the amp turned up with the master at half and the drive or volume at half. I roll off the guitar volume as needed. Sometimes I run the master on the amp almost full.

For 15 watts it is wonderfully loud when it has to be. I can easily get that early Santana sound from this amp. I can also get that Ted Nugent cay scratch fever sound also. I do try to mimic the tone and distortion of tunes that I am covering. I have not had any problems doing this. This amp breaks up nicely. When playing tunes from collective soul, I have to use my metal zone or rat pedal to get that more distorted sound.

This amp is now my main amp that I use daily and for all gigs. Outdoor gigs (festival size with th 9 piece band) requires miking since every instrument including the horn section gets mic'd.

No it is not like my vibrlux reverb or my super reverb or my twin or dc3 or whatever. It is a great little no frills amp that has great tube tone, a good reverb, and breaks up nicely. It won't give you that wall of Marshalls or Boogie sound easily. I have run my Jstation through it and mic'd it and got a real nice stack sound though.

My reverb wasn't all that noisy like I have read here. With both master and volume controls max'd there is some hiss. There is the usual single coil noise when standing less than ten feet to the amp when it is cranked - more so than most I would have to say.

I think the bottom end gets a little flabby at loud volumes. I will try different speakers to hear the differences in sound. Enough people here suggested that the amp is better with Celestions. I am not a real fan of Celestions but I have enough of them to try out.

I have had over a dozen Fender amps and they have all been reliable except for my Fender Stage solid state. I haven't had any problems with it. I am considering a second one just to mess around with my stereo chorus pedal. I do not think I would have to have a back up amp with me. BUT I always do no matter what amp I use, I always have a backup. There is nothing worse than screwing up a gig because something broke. That is just unexceptable.

The warranty is 5 years I believe. I have dealt with the local Fender dealer in the past with a solid state amp problem and they just gave me another amp. So you can't beat that. So based on MY local Fender rep I would say give them a 10 but I have heard otherwise about other dealers.

Bear with me for a moment. I have been playing for over 37 years. I have owned Fender Twins, Bassmans, Vibrolux Reverbs, Super Reverbs, Plexi Stacks and just about every new TUBE Simulating amp, preamp or floorboard. I am not kidding.

Presently I am using a real 62 strat, 94 strat plus, Music Man Axis, Peavey Wolfgang Special, Kramer focus 111, Parker Deluxe, 92 Tele, Kramer Striker.

I play in a 9 piece blues band, a trio with female singer, a classic rock band with female singer, and a good ol rock band. My style of guitar playing is best described as trower/hendrix/srv/clapton (I am in my fourties). I also play some heavier music like dokken, ozzy, vh, and the newer sounds like tantric, saliva, stp etc.

I purchased this amp because I love the feel of the guitar when played through a tube amp. The guitar responds differently (I won't get into this). I needed something small and easy to haul around to gigs without hurting my back AND giving me the tone that I need. This amp fits the bill for me. I will no longer use any of my pedal boards (gt3, gt5, ecc). I am tired of programing patches. I use a modified ts5, mt2, morley jd-10, vintage rat for distortion sounds, steve vai bad horsie wah or cry baby, dan electro stereo chorus, dano echo. I have no problems obtaining the clean sounds or distorted sounds that I need to perform with the different bands.

To answer these form questions..... I havce covered the gear that I own and how long I have been playing. I would definitely replace the amp if it were stolen. I love its size and sound. I don't hate anything but I wish it had an extension speaker option. I compared it to the Deluxe 90 solid state amp when purchasing it.

I don't wish it had anything else. I think amps are getting too many bells and whistles and they are unusable unless you spend another few hundred dollars on somekind of switching pedal board. The simple the better.

From the 50's. Well weathered blues monster. Has that unmistakable sound that only the original 50's amps have. Pure bourgeois blues sound. I play a Squire Affinity Tele, and this NAILS the Surf/Buddy Holly clean sound. I wish it had a little more power though.

Perfect clarity, with just the right amount of overdrive. Only the Blues Juniors manufactured from '55-58 have the bell like sound that Buddy Holley made so famous. Perfection.

Experienced some bad overheating problems from the start. I returned to Darky's Pawnshop in Kelowna, B.C., where I bought it, and the Sales Staff explained that unfortunately, this was a cronic problem with the 1955 Blues Juniors.

Have never dealt with Fender. Have never had problems with my Fender Frontman though; a great amp.

The folks at Darky's Pawnshop in Kelowna, B.C., Canada really know their stuff, and were very helpful. They are willing to locate the nearest Authorized Fender Rep. and will ship the amp at their expense to resolve the overheating situation. What more could you ask for?

Same as stated before. Mine is the older tweed variety. Not too versatile, but it gets the job done. I don't own it anymore as I returned it for a refund. I'll tell you my story later on.

Sounds super. One day I went into the local hole pawnshop Darky's Pawnshop where they'd sell their grandmaw for a case of whisky. A couple of dirty and smelling scumbags showed me to a decent Fender Blues Junior. They wanted 500 Canadian so I told them to shove it. I went there six months later and there was the amp. Covered in dust with water damage on the bottom of it. It stunk and looked like hell.
I offered them $150 and they said OK cause they had already got cash for it under an insurance policy. I took it home and played it for the next four months.

After about four month of constant playing it started acting up. If it was on for more than an hour it would overhead and shut down. I opened it up and the circuit board was nice and melted. I knew I had to dump it fast, so I cleaned up the amp with some solvent my father has in the garage. It looked like new. I went back to the Scummy pawn shop Darky's Pawnshop and luckily the staff had changed. The new guy was some jailbird that used to work for Two Small Men with Big Hearts until they fired his ass for stealing.

I showed him my Fender Blues Junior and told him that it was one from the 50's. Luckily he was as dumb as everyone who works for that Kelowna, B.C. moving company. He tried it out and paid me $600.

It's great when the little guy can stick it to those scummy, slimmy, liar pawnshops. I had a good time with it and made a profit. I hope eveyone can do this. This amp was reliable enough for me so that I could dump it to some moron at a pawnshop. Yeah!!!!!!!!

I don't know??

I have played for 4 years. I am 22 now. I don't have it now, but it was probably hot coming from Darky's. If you ever visit Kelowna, B.C., Canada, stop into Darky's Pawnshop and Two Small Men with Big Hearts moving company to see the dirtiest, most dishonest, and stupidist morons in all of Canada.

Made in 1999 or late 1998. Simple set-up. Tubes. One channel. Treble, mid, bass, master and volume knobs. Reverb. Fat-switch which will pump up your mids and get you a fatter (hence fat-switch?) sound. 15 Watts.

No frills, very basic tube amp. The 15 Watts are pretty loud. I live in an apartment and usually keep the volume level at a 2. With the controls at 12 (maximum) it's LOUD. I've gigged with it in an outdoors situation and they told me to turn it down. In all honesty, it was a drummerless gig, but still...

I use it with an Ibanez AF120 (jazzbox) and a Yamaha Pacifica 604W (Strat). I don't know what many of these people find wrong about the speaker? It sounds fine to me. It doesn't colour the sound of your guitar... It brings it out. Master at about 4 it has lush, dark jazz sounds and with the Yamaha and the master at about 7 it's got a nice, bright bluesy singing tone. Master at 12 with the Yamaha's bridge pickup (double coil) you get nice crunchy classic rock sounds (think Free/Bad Company). If you want more gain, try the SIB Varidrive in front of it... Works like a charm. I also don't seem to have any trouble with noisy reverb like some. I can turn it up all the way without any hiss. Nice fifties sounds (like classic Freddie King). The rattling chassis only happens when I turn the volume/bass on my SIB too high. Since it's a pretty dark-voiced speaker it can't take that amount of bass.

I find it interesting that in spite of its size and limited features it is NOT a one-trick-pony.

Plenty loud for small gigs. For medium to bigger gigs... This is the year 2001: Mic the sucker.

Since the day of purchase (January 1999) it's been in the rain, at gigs, next to the radiator in the bedroom, etc. etc. and it has yet to let me down. Never been serviced yet, still has its original tubes and still sounds okay.

I've been playing for 12 years. I've found in my search for gear that if you really look... There's some grade A stuff out there that won't eat up your wallet. I have a Landola jumbo acoustic (good prices, quality gear from Finland), a Yamaha Pacifica 604W (which competes with Strats of two/three times the price), an Ibanez AF120 (if you want a quality jazzbox without forking out $ 10,000)... And this Fender amp... It's affordable, you can play it in the bedroom as well as on stage, it's got tone, it's reliable, it's lightweight... Go to your local music store and try one. And try it with your own guitar if possible... For anyone playing jazz through classic rock it's a good deal.

The amp was purchased new by the previous owner in Dec. 2000. I just bought it from him on an ebay auction....we both happen to live in the same town....cool, no shipping! The amp was stock except for the 12AX7's were changed to Phillips.

I play a Strat Plus w/ Lace Sensors and American Standard Tele with Vintage Noisless. I use an Ibanez TS9 with the 808 mod for Distortion. I play on our church worship team as well as a Christian original/cover band. I just replaced the speaker with a Celestion Vintage 30....big difference. I chose the Celestion from reading all the reviews in this database....thanks for your input. The stock speaker does cut out and kind of flap on the low end and does come thru on the highs. With the Celestion all the highs, lows and mids are very clear....great ditortion with the tubescreamer. I did the A/B test the BJ with my Silverface Princeton and it was very close....the Princeton still has the edge in tone.....but not by much! Actually I bought a a BJ in 97 used it for 6 months, then compared it to a Blackface Princeton, the BF blew it away with tone and I sold the BJ within two weeks. That's before I read about the speaker change...IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE!!!!

will see in 30 years!

I've been playing on and off for 20 years.....in the last 10 years I've been playing the most. I have a 62 Deluxe, a couple of Champs, Late 70's Princeton, a Super Champ and the BJ. I am mainly writing this review in favor of the speaker change....the BJ is now a viable amp that gives me the tone I want. An 8 with the Speaker change, 6 without!

Volume, Master Volume, Fat Switch, Treble, Middle, Bass, Reverb. 1 x 12 class ab tube combo.

This amp sounds decent stock. The stock Eminence speaker was OK. But it was too bright, couldnt handle the low end at moderate volumes and was too harsh on the high end. I put a Weber C12N and it smoothed things out and turned this into a great little amp. I currently use a G&L Legacy and Fender Roadhouse Strat. This amp sounds great clean and through a analogman modded ts-9 its tone heaven. I also switched the Groove Tubes (Sovtek) to JJ/Tesla EL84's and JAN Phillips 12AX7's. I am extremely pleased with the sound of this little amp. I play blues and use it at home. Although I love the sound I rate this an 8 if it is stock.

Well I really have no opinion as its only a few months old.

Been playing 8 years. If it were stolen I'd probably save for a Dr. Z MAZ Jr. I do love the sound of this amp though, but come on, who WOULDNT rather have a Dr. Z! Well if you are looking for a little tube amp for around the house or are just a couch player, this is the amp for you. Sounds great with a new speaker and re tubed and really doesnt sound all that bad stock.

vol, treble, bass, middle reverb, fat switch single channel tube amp

I'm currently using a Tele, strat, Epiphone Blues Zephyr Deluxe, Casino, les Paul..along with a couple hot rod strats (a la VanHalen style) and this is one of the most versatile amps around.

I'd used my first BJ for about 7 years of regular gigging..only problem I've had is one of the power tube sockets went bad, but was easily repaired

I've been playing guitar for nearly thirty years using a range of amps from the fender Twin Reverb, crate G-212, lab series, super reverb, and the BJ has more vibe than any of them..and I'm talking STOCK. many other BJ owners have declared the stock tubes and speaker to be lame, but I've had no dissapointments in volume or tone..in fact, I just purchased two more Blues Juniors!

I use an American Standard Stat 88', no modifications. off the rack.It's a great guitar, very quiet single coils. pretty unusual right ? I love the sound i get from the 15 watts it's plenty enough volume for the basement blues jams or the occasional jam night at my local pub. Even when competing with bigger gear. I play agressivly maybe that makes up for it.I use it with a George Dennis Tremolo / volume pedal. It sounds exactly like John Hiatt's intro on "I wish it would rain " AWESOME. Having read some other reviews, alot of users recommend changing the speaker. PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU HAVE CHANGED IT TO ? If this little amp can be improved i'm up for it

I traded a Marshall JCM 900 Lead amp for the Blues Junior I know I gave up alot of power, but that Marshall gave me a head ache every time i plugged in.I don't miss it one bit. I love my Blues Junior.

2001. Great little blues amp. Must change speakers and tubes to acheive a quality sound.

I use a Mex strat with SD Nashville single coils and a little 59 in bridge. I wrote previously that I put a Weber Bluedog and Mullard and Philips NOS tubes. Someone wrote that better speakers with tight bass will cause rattles and I did have to have a tech work on that as well. YOU MUST CHANGE SPEAKER AND TUBES TO TAKE THE AMP IN THE DIRECTION TONEWISE YOU WANT. Mine sounds 1/3Fender 2/3 VoxAC 15 but darker and richer. Great for blues, 60-70s rock etc. Still breaking in but gets better everyday. To do better I would have to go with an expensive boutique amp starting at $1,800 or better. With all the work done by a tech and including the parts amps final cost was around $800. It will destroy any $800 amp off the shel and competes with boutique sound. REPLACE THE TUBES AND SPEAKER WITH WHAT YOU WANT TO DEFINE YOUR SOUND AND YOUR THERE.

Replace the speaker and the tubes to take you where you wasnt to go at prices way below boutique money.

Single Channel, 2001 Blonde Blues Jr. (3) 12AX7 and 2(EL84), and a lame-ass-speaker. A line out would be sweet, but i can probably do that myself.
I use it for beer drinkin' and jammin, and home recording, plenty for that. Features are adequate for the price.

I play mostly blues, and Television-esque Punk with a few strats, and a Frankenstrat w/ Lindy Fralin Woodstock 69's in it.
I had almost given up on this amp till i read the review about changing the speaker. Put in a Celestion Greenback, and it's freaking incredible. Two different amps really. Sounds almost as good as my souped-up 66 Bassman. Whoever first posted that about changing the speaker, my hat's off to you.
I don't have any reverb hum that the other people are talking about, even with single coils, but amps are finicky anyway, so i'm sure there are some lemons out there.

I'm always changing tubes and tinkering, so i don't know about regular use, but it has never just gone out on me.

Never dealt with them other than sales.

I've been playing several years. Metal as a kid, and blues/jazz etc.. as an adult. You're not going to do death metal on this as it's not designed for that, but I imagine you could play anything from country to hard rock without much problem. Just do yourself a favor and replace the speaker with something of quality and you'll be much happier.

Anybody got any good mods for this one yet?

I bought this amp April 2001. Its All-tube pre-amp and power amp circuitry. Delivers 15W through a 12" speaker. Features 'fat" switch, spring reverb, chicken head knobs, footswitch jack for fat on/off. I wish the Reverb was better,and I wish they threw in the footswtitch.

I am using an Mexican made Fat Strat with it. They make a great pair. It is plenty loud for jammin at home. I use a Boss BD-2 Blues Driver. I love the sound. I normally play blues, it handles distortion pretty well.

I don't gig. but I haven't had any problems yet.

For the money I would by another one. Although I would someday like to get a Hot Rod deville.

I got this little tube combo about a year ago. I think it's a 1995 or 1996 model. It has the tweed covering and the usual features you've read about - volume, bass, middle, treble, master volume, and reverb controls. Fat switch for more gain, and this has a footswitch to turn the Fat on or off. The previous owner replaced the speaker with a Jensen and also replaced the input jack. I don't know how much difference that makes. It also has some GE tubes in it, instead of the regular Groove Tubes. Nice compact amp with plenty of power for its size.

I play a lot of rockabilly and classic rock, a little blues. My main guitar is a Fender American Std but I play a Ric 650 also. This is my main amp, the only other amp I have right now is a Vox Cambridge 15 that I practice with. The BJ is what I use for gigs and jams and it does the job perfectly. I like to run it on the edge of overdrive. It has a nice rich tone thats kinda surprising for such a small amp. It gets enough volume to cut through, but my band isn't that loud and the places I play in aren't that big. It sounds good clean, too. But like I said, it sounds best to me as it starts to break up. I keep the reverb cranked up to about 10, because it's kinda weak at lower settings.

I got this last year, and I never had to do anything but turn it on and play. It's the best amp I've owned, so far.

I think it's out of warranty all ready.

OK, I started playing 4 years ago, but I'm all ready 30 years old, so I started kind of late. That's OK, because its something I always wanted to do, and I can play some decent licks now. Anyway, for what I need this little amp is just about perfect. I love the tweed look and the tube tone. The only improvement I'd want would be better reverb. I bet Fender must sell these BJs by the boxcar load. A really good piece of gear.

Features are simple and basic... but that isn't really what you are looking for when you try this amp out.

I have owned this amp for 2 years now and have a love hate relationship with it. First off the reverb on mine just plain blows, noisy as all hell. Don't play with it on mine. I have gigged (miked at a roughly 100 seat theatre) with it and it seemed to hold its own against my over zealous bass player :) Not the most versital amp, kind of has it's own sound which it does very well, blues. When playing deeper on the guitar the amp does its thing very well, but when it comes time to reach into that very high zone (17 fret and higher) the amp doesn't seem to respond very well, at least on mine. Note it is not the pickup heights, because on other amps we play with the highs do pickup quite well. It also doesn't seem that the knobs do all that much to the tone unless cranked to extremes. Have played better, BUT there are a LOT worse out there.

I have had to open it up and fix it a few times..... just a pain really. Although on its defense I lug it around quite abit.

No comment....

Been playing for a while now....same ole' gear as everyone else, american strat, standard paul. I use two pedals, old school muff (2nd version, it's ok as muff's go) and a vox wah modded by me to true bypass (DPDT). If it were stolen, wait, no one is going to steal it. Don't get me wrong, this is a great little amp to plug into and just play. Like I said I love it and I hate it. Right now I happen to feel in between, it played well this afternoon, but two days ago I was ready to throw it out the window. Who knows?
Overall for the money and the good deep blues sound it gives you it is a great little amp. This review is based on the original specs on this amp, no speaker changes, tube changes blah blah blah.

The features are pretty well described in the many many reviews below this one. I wish it had a stand-by switch.

The whole purpose of this review is just to say REPLACE THE STOCK SPEAKER! I've had this amp for a month. After playing around with mine for a while, I was really getting sick of the flabby low end and boxy midrange of this amp.
I plugged it into a friend of mine's home made cabinet containing a single Celestion Vintage 30, and wow! what a difference.
It sounded ten times better. So, I threw a Vintage 30 in the Blues Junior and viola, no more flabby low end no more boxy midrange. The amp took on a whole new character. Next I'm, going to replace the stock tubes, and I should have a real little portable tone-monster.
So please, if you don't like the way the Blues Junior sounds REPLACE THE CRAPPY STOCK SPEAKER NOW. You'll be glad you did.
It would probably sound great plugged into a 2x12 cab, I've never tried it though.
For a sound rating, with stock speaker I'd give it a 6, with a decent speaker, it's a 9 easy. I dont give it a 10 because, with a better speaker in there that has more bass response, you get a lot more rattles out of it at high volumes, but it's a cheap little cabinet so what can you expect?
Also, the reverb on mine is not bad. I've heard a lot of people complain about noise, but mine is not noisy at all. I think they had a bad run of them for a while.

Don't know, seems pretty flimsy.

I've been playing for over twenty years. I like to play a little of everything, blues, surf, old rock, Hendrix.
I use either a Twin or a Blues Deville for gigs. The Blues Junior doesn't have enough clean headroom to compete with our drummer, so I probably will never use it live. But for a portable little amp to use around the house, low volume gigs and recording it's great, IF YOU REPLACE THE CRAPPY STOCK SPEAKER. I give it a 9 with mods.

This is an update to an earlier review. After using this amp for a year and reading the good and bad reviews, I was curious as to how the
BJ would hold up to direct comparisons to a number of the better tube
amps out there. I used my Fender New American fat strat and a Gibson
Invader with zebra humbuckers to get a good idea of the relative sounds with both a good single coil and humbucker guitar.

The BJ excels in clean and slightly distorted sounds. It has more
of an open and shimmery ringing sound than the Rivera Suprema and
Marshall TSL 602. The tone is perfect for blues and folk songs.
The Fender Hot Rod Deluxe had a similar sound, with more volume (and
weight!). I have three thoughts about the overall tone. Those who prefer a different speaker probably like the warm flowing distortion
of the Rivera with its Celestion V30. It comes close to that classic Marshall sound. The BJ fails miserably with that sound. The stock speaker does have a flabby low end that sounds very harsh and unmusical when pushed hard. At high volumes the bass has a sweet spot
for me of around 3 for the humbuckers and 5 for single coil. More than that and it simply falls apart. For that reason, I am downgrading
the sound from my original '10' to a '9'. With that said, the BJ I have was still quieter than the Marshall and Rivera amps. They could
not produce the beautiful singing tones of slightly overdriven sound
that is the hallmark of the BJ. Another interesting point I found is that amp placement for the BJ is important. When playing, it sounds
much better close to a wall. Placing it in the middle of a room can
make it sound flat, and you really have to change the EQ a lot to
get a decent sound. That may be why those who play it in a smaller room close to a wall tend to give higher marks for the BJ. It will
still never be a shread machine, but for what I play it is still one of the best amps out there. The reissued Super reverbs sound great as well and the reverb is much better, but for $1000? Geesh!

No problems at all during the past year of lugging it around to various gigs. I take care of my equipment, and this amp has been
a solid performer. I never had the buzzing that others have mentioned.
All screws are tight. I still haven't had to contact Fender and hope I never will from the horror stories I have read.

No need to contact them.

It is a great little amp for the money, and I would recommend it
to anyone. I can't understand those who buy a BJ and then complain about it. Why did they get one in the first place? Did they not try it out thoroughly first? Maybe putting an upgraded speaker in would help tighten the low end and make those who want a heavier distortion with better single note definition happy, but it can give a great
sound as is if you know how to set it up properly. Also, use a good
guitar. I played a cheaper Ibanez on it and it sounded horrible. Even a good amp can't work miracles on a lousy input signal. Just let it do what it does best and don't expect it to go into hard distortion happily. Use a effects box or get an amp that was made for that. It is
a great amp for Fender classic shimmery tones.

Late model w/black covering

I TOTALLY AGREE WITH OTHER USERS WHO HAVE SUGGESTED REPLACING THE STOCK FENDER (EMMINENCE) SPEAKER. I CHOSE A JENSEN REISSUE C12N. THE DIFFERENCE IN TONE IS AMAZING. I USE A WARMOTH STRAT WITH SOME OLD DIMARZIO PICKUPS(NOT SURE OF THE MODEL) AND THIS AMP NOW HAS GREAT CLARITY ACROSS ALL FREQUENCY RANGES AND WILL TOTALLY RIP IF YOU PUSH IT. FORGET EVER USING THE FAT (MUD) SWITCH. THE REVERB WILL NOT GIVE YOU THE TOTAL FENDER VERB SOUND DUE TO IT'S SMALLER TANK SIZE BUT IS MORE THAN ADEQUATE WHEN PLAYING WITH A BAND WHEN NO ONE CAN HEAR IT ANYWAY. THIS AMP IS EXCELLENT FOR SMALL TO MEDIUM SIZE CLUB GIGS.

No problems

I HAVEN'T HAD TO DEAL WITH FENDER.

I BEEN PLAYING FOR 30 YEARS. I WOULD DEFINITELY GET ANOTHER OF THESE AMPS AND REPLACE THE SPEAKER IF IT WERE LOST/STOLEN.

i think this amp is a 1996 model.
you know the features.

the point of this review is CHANGE THE SPEAKER!!!

the amp will sound exactly 10 times BETTER !!!!!

not a lot of features- which is a feature in itself...SIMPLE CIRCUITRY a la BASSMAN.

while its still FENDER-ish, its different because of the EL-84 power tubes. i really like the tone.

i havent had any problems with my amp.
CHANGE THE SPEAKER.
i put a CELESTION v-12 80 in place of the crappy Eminence.

N/A

i really like the amp.

its small, light and has reasonable volume and great tone.

CHANGE THE SPEAKER. trust me- it will sound 10 times better with a CELESTION speaker. it compliments the circuitry and tone SO MUCH BETTER than the crappy Eminence speaker.

The tighter, high-wattage speaker accentuates the bottom end and really cleans up the tone. plus, you get a better wide-open, crunch tone.

i want to get another amp and run the pair for bigger venues.

This little amp is a real powemachine! Though it's 15W:s it breaks the waves. I love the clean channel but i truly wish it could burn just a little bit whan you fire it up. I miss that it don't distort as much as I wish.

I'm using a Gibson lespaul Gary moore signature mostly but I also use a Fender stratocaster '96. I love theese combinations, with the paul you have a fat clean sound and with the strat you have a very funky delta tone kind of sound! I guess it doesn't matter what guitar you combinate with this amp, the amp does a hole lot of work with your sound! It is a great basic sound.

I thinnk this amp can put up with alot, I've played with it a pertty deal and had it in over -10C cold with no marks on the sound. I would depend on it on a gig with no backup what so ever!

I havn't had any problems what so ever with it yet and I owned it for a year now! I doubt the company would deny me help if i asked.

I use a marshall guvner and a bluesbreaker 2 with the amp and that is a superb combination!! I also use a wha wha, Crybaby, which lifts the possibilitys with this amp.

Although my scores are on the low side, this is NOT a bad review. You know the deal already... Master, Volume, Treble, Bass, Mid, Reverb, Fat switch, one 8 ohm 12" Fender/Eminence speaker of unknown wattage, 2 rebranded Sovtek EL84 tubes and 3 rebranded Sovtek 12AX7WA pre-amp tubes (Groove Tubes do not make tubes, for those who don?t know). I have the Musicians Friend special so it's got blonde tolex and a leather handle. I think it?s really nice looking.

I had been looking into this amp (and others like it) for quite a while before purchasing it. I wanted a small tube amp for home recording and practicing since I?m spoiled on tube amps and can?t go back to solid state. I use this forum quite a bit to get an idea of what's up with a product before buying it. There are a lot of interesting opinions as well as biased (both negative and positive) ones. I knew before buying it that the speaker is garbage (if that offends you, sorry) and that the tubes are the cheapest 12AX7 you can buy (you can not debate that, they are), and anyone buying it should keep that in mind. We?ve debated these topics on the FDP and the Blues Jr. Mafia threads (www.fenderforum.com). Many people think that this amp is great stock, I don?t. I think it?s good, great for the money, but not great in comparison to other 15-watt tube amps. It?s very dark and restricted sounding. You can almost hear it wanting so hard to be a great amp, but the shackles of the poor speaker and tubes keep it from being so.

A lot of people here complain about "we'll there's no effects loop", duh, it?s a $300 15-watt tube amp. "The reverb is noisy", so is mine, but it is not overpowering and if you don't push it past 3 you're fine (I think anything above that is too much anyway). "I got it and it sounds like shit! I HATE IT!!! I HOPE SOMEONE STEALS IT!!!"... why do you buy an amp that you think sounds bad? Didn't you play the thing before hand? If not, you're an idiot.

What you have to realize is that it's a $300 15-watt tube amp (I can?t express this enough)! For those who have no idea, that?s VERY inexpensive. What do you expect? I expect a crappy speaker and cheap tubes and no effects loop. Some people expect it to sound like a Matchless for $300. Well, I have news for you people, there's a reason that a Matchless will run you around $3,000, so don't expect a $300 amp to compare. $300 is a STEAL for this amp, EVEN WITH the bad speaker and crappy tubes (which is why I gave it a 7). It could be a 9 or 10 with very little effort from Fender. Better tubes and speaker, thicker wood for the cab, and have the dials pointed the right damn way? what were they thinking? People stand BEHIND their amp? What you can change is the tubes and the speaker and trust me, it?s worth it. If you understand that going it, you?ll be happy.

Features with stock I?d give it a 7, with mods I give it a 9.

I see a lot of people with the idea that and amp with 2 or 3 sounds (even if they do them poorly) is ?versatility?. I have a theory that a great clean sound IS versatility, because you can make a clean amp sound however you want with the right pedal (not to mention that these people with their supposedly ?versatile? amps always have about 150 pedals and a 12 space rack filled with processors anyway). It?s much harder (if not impossible) to get a good clean sound than a good distorted sound. Out of the box this thing sounded pretty good clean. Not great, but good.

Before I bought it I compared one to a 15 watt Gibson Goldtone. It held it?s own next to it, not as sweet or robust, but wasn?t blown away by it. The Goldtone has a better speaker and such (thus better sound), I believe it?s a Class A amp, but is almost double the price and has almost no EQ?s. Obviously I bought the Blues Jr.

I noticed the harder I drove it, the more limitations I found, especially with the speaker and the pre-amp tubes. More complex chords sounded pretty crappy and buzzy. I plugged in my Vintage RAT pedal and it feel apart. The speaker just couldn?t handle it. I?ve read a lot of discussion about the speaker in these things and may people say ?well, you need to break the speaker in before it sounds good??. What? The thing sounds like crap and you can?t polish a turd. I?m not sure it breaks in and sounds good so much as you get used to the crappy sound.

Having already played it, I knew that when I ordered it I wanted to replace the speaker and tubes, so I also ordered 3 Sovtek 12AX7LPS and a Celestion Greenback (8 ohm) speaker with it. First thing I did was throw the tubes in. The LPS give a much rounder, more articulated and robust sound, even with the OEM speaker. Also seemed to decrease the reverb noise in half, oddly enough. Musicians Friend have them at a very cheap $6.99 (it?s normally around $12) each. I did notice that once I installed these tubes it popped more and would occasionally cut out for minutes at a time. I replaced the third tube (phase inverter tube I believe) with a 12AX7EH and the problems went away immediately. I guess Musicians Friend doesn?t check the tubes before sending them out. Oh well.

Now came the speaker. I decided on the Greenback for a few reasons. On the Celestion web site, they have MPEG?s of what the speakers sound like, and it sounded the best to me (for my sound). I?ve read a bunch of people putting in Vintage 30?s in which is all well and good, but that?s a 60 watt speaker, which a 15 watt amp seems like overkill. A lot of people also put in Weber?s, but I don?t know much about them and I don?t even know anywhere that carries them. NOTE : If you?re thinking of replacing the speaker or hooking a external cab to it, realize it pushes 8 ohms! The cab or speaker HAS TO BE 8 OHM?s OR YOU WILL DAMAGE THE AMP!!!!!! I read a lot of people hooking them up to a 16 ohm 4x12?, this over time will damage your amp as well. You could run two 4x12? that are set up for parallel (ie ? running at 8 ohm) but who knows how that would sound. A little 15-watt amp pushing a full stack! I?ll probably try it one day when I?m bored.

Putting the speaker in I noticed that although none of the screws were technically ?loose?, none of them were tight. For those who complain about a rattle, try opening it up and tightening the 4 speaker screws. Once it was in, it was a whole new world. The speaker allows the amp to open up, it really widens the sound. Sometimes it?s hard to believe it?s a 1x12?. It makes the amp sound far less muddy and confused. Not everyone is going to want to pay $100+ for a Greenback or a Weber, but I?m sure the Celestion G12L (around $50ish) would sound much better than what is in there.

A lot of people tend to believe that only a single coil guitar sounds good on Fender amps, I disagree. I?ve been using a Gibson SG Standard, Les Paul Classic, and Les Paul Junior Spec

Here?s where I get worried. Since the cab is pretty weak, and I had the problem with cutting out (although I assume it was the pre-amp tube) reliability may be an issue. But it?s got a 5-year warranty.

I've never dealt with Fender, so I'm not sure how helpful they'd be. I do know that they're not going anywhere.

I?ve been playing almost 10 years now and I?ve been getting more serious about it in the last year or so. This amp is exactly what I wanted. I feel that even though I had to make some simple mods to get the most out of the amp it?s still a great amp. I think that Fender could easily make adjustments so that the amp is a 9 out of the box. 1 ? Make the cab out of thicker wood, 2 ? Use a higher quality speaker, 3 ? Use higher quality tubes, 4 ? Invert the knobs so that they?re right-side up, 5 ? Fix the reverb problem, 6 ? Maybe add an effects loop. With the exception of the FX loop, the other things would add maybe $100 to the overall cost, but is worth it.

I think for the price, you can?t beat it. If it were lost or stolen I'd might check out some higher end products, but I'd probably end up buying another and doing the same mods to it. Obviously it isn?t the best sounding amp money can buy, but it?s one of the best tube amps you can buy for under $700. To me, with the new speaker and tubes? it?s priceless.

I honestly believe with or without the mods this amp is a great value at the $300 range. I have to give it a 9 overall. 10 will the mods.

2000 Blonde Blues Junior
This is a modified Blues Junior. Let me tell you what I did to it.
First off i bought two of these because one wasn't enough volume for my drummer in the studio. I took both heads out of the chasis made out of particle board and pulled out both speakers. I then built a
solid birch cabinet to house both heads and speakers. I used 3/4" birch wood. I remounted the speakers in the cabinet and then the heads in the cabinet. When I connected both heads I noticed a grounding problem so I called a tech and he told me to put a cheater plug on one of the heads(no ground) then reconnected both heads togther using a morley channel switcher. I can now use one head at a time or both heads at once. The solid birch cabinet I built improved the tone of these amps tremendously and now I can use both heads on about 8 at the same time and both 12" speakers are in the same cab. essentailly making it a 30 watt 2x12 amp. Then i replaced the cheap tubes with NOS GE12ax7 tubes. What a difference. Clean notes ring for days and sustained notes for days. It is an amazing improvement

I use strats only through this rig for blues playing. Humbuckers through this amp don't work well because it's two midrangy. It has the best tone for days with a good strat !!

If you want to hear what it sounds like listen to the track You Don't Love Me No More on my mp3 site. http://www.mp3.com/jackfalk

I bought this amp new in 1998. As for the features, check one of the zillion other posted reviews. It's a one channel 15 watt tube amp with a solid state rectifier and no tube on reverb. No effects loop. 12 inch 8 ohm Eminence made speaker. My speaker is called a Fender Reissue "Gold Label" speaker in the manual. Odd how Fender likes to just stick their name on things they didn't make (Sovtek Groove Tubes...). Wow, "Gold Label"!! Sounds impressive. It ain't. I have used this amp for 3 years for home recording and jamming with friends. It is very loud and not a bedroom amp by any stretch of the imagination. If you really soak the tubes you're going to be heard by your neighbors neighbors if you live in an apartment. Even to just go for the point in the headroom right before it breaks up is going to be heard loud and clear by your neighbors. Still, you can play at a low volume and use it for practice and get a nice warm sound. I will say that I hate the placement of the knobs. When you stand in front of the amp they are facing the other way and to make matters worse you have lean your head over to read them upside down. If you stand behind the amp they are very convienient. More often than not though, I think most people, even if using the amp for live playing, would rather knobs face the front.

It has few features. The reverb is worthless and the Fat switch is also worthless.

I have used it with a Les Paul Studio that came with 2 humbuckers with a coil tap switch and an extra single coil pickup in the center and more recently a Carvin DC with two split-able humbuckers. This amp sounds muddy trying to use humbuckers unless you are going for a heavy sound with a distortion box. You can get a decent chimey tone with single coils without the mud. A distortion pedal is necessary for grind, crunch and metal sounds. Saturating the tubes for overdrive produces a muddy mess in most cases. Dropping the bass might help, but the main problem is some chords will sound great but others will have too much mid-range and sound like crap. The amp is very mid-rangy. Treble needs to be set high and bass fairly low. I agree with other postings that the tone controls don't change the tone as much as the ought to. I think this amp has a piece of crap speaker and would suggest replacing it with one of the new Reverend speakers. I talked to a guy who did this and he said it helped a lot.

The Fat switch should be called a Mud switch. Put a piece of tape over it with the warning-Never Press This.

Now for the Reverb. This is the noisiest, worst reverb I've ever heard in my life. What was Fender thinking? Turning it up even in the clean setting adds a lot of noise to the amp and it sounds clangy and ruins the sound completely. Need another piece of tape...

In spite of all of the negative aspects of this amp, I give it a 6 for sound quality (instead of a 4) because it is capable of a good clean tone with the right pickups and right tone settings. It deserves an 8 for the clean sound, but the other tones drag down the score.
People saying they are getting SRV are wrong. He never played a Blues Junior so don't kid yourself. You might be getting something similar but it's not the same.

Mine has never broken and I've never had a problem with buzzing or rattling. But like I said, I have kept the bass low on it so maybe that is why it doesn't rattle. It probably does rattle with the bass cranked and the gain cranked, but it will sound horrible in this situation anyway so it's not an issue.

But since it doesn't appear to me to be built like a tank, I only give it an 8.

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This amp is over-rated. So why have I used it for over 3 years? I'm not rich and it is not a bad amp, just an over-rated amp. There isn't enough definition in the bass end. Not enough kick and punch in the right places. Like I said, changing the speaker will improve things, but how much, I don't know. If you're going to spend another $100, just spend a couple hundred more than that and get a better amp.

This amp can't do the blues as good as people are saying, it has a great clean tone, but when you try to drive it a little (or a lot) like is needed for blues it sounds muddy and too mid-rangy and distorts in the wrong places to be getting all these 10 ratings. It is true that the clean sound is very good, and this will sound great for strumming full chords (excellent actually), but when you go to pick a lead sound you'd better have a pedal ready because your notes are going to shrink out of sight and/or sound very boring compared to your chords. People may be getting decent blues overdrive tones using various pedals.
So on a final note, yes, with some pedals you can improve the sound and a speaker replacement might get you a great little amp. But as I said, the amp doesn't come with these extras so I rated it "as-is" and others ought to start doing the same. Plus the reverb sucks. I think a lot of people also over-rated it because it was their first tube amp and they were impressed with a tube amp can do.

Because of it's low price I give it a 7.

Features volume with master, nice clean reverb, treb/mid/bass, and a fat switch (which BTW is inconvieniently located under the amp frame). Only one guitar input jack.

Definitely check out the WEBER speaker comments in the next paragraph! But for now, I am using a Japanese Fender strat, with the stock pickups (humbucker, single, single). I'm using the MXR Dyna Comp, TS10 Tube Screamer, and the Rat, w/ Boss DD3 delay, and TC Chorus.

I bought the WEBER C12N 12" speaker on advice at harmonycentral.com. Definitely one of the best purchases I have made on gear in a long time! Totally an excellent tone. I just can't believe how cool it sounds. It fits great in the Fender Blues Jr, as the baffle - to amp frame is a 6 1/2" limit, the speaker is 5" deep. The speaker has a ceramic magnet, but is plenty warm. The amp was originally sounding brittle with the Fender speaker. When I put the Weber in, is sounded similar, but heard from other people that it has to "break in". I played live for about 2 hrs, and that was more than enough time for the cool tone to arrive. This amp is only 15 watts, and I had the master and volume on 4, and it delivered a stage shaking tone, believe it or not. Like Weber said in the description at their site, it sounds fat, clean on clean tones, and breaks up nice with distortion. And also, it has the "vibey" tone (kinda jangly?). I will highly recommend this speaker to tube amp miesters.

So then, the Blues Jr is a good answer to the original Princeton from 1970, (which has the rectifier tube). Yet, many Blues Jr users have complained about the brittle sound, and lack of tone. I did replace all of the tubes with Groove Tubes (though the original EL84 power tubes said GT and Sovtek). I would give the amp a 6 rating with the Fender speaker, but a 9 with the Weber speaker. Well tube heads, the Weber is the perfect blend for this amp, especially if you have to play at low volumes. I would leave the FAT control off, since this tends to muddy the sound. If Weber and Fender could join forces, this amp could be a huge seller in the niche market for small combo's.

Unfortunately, amps are designed with one of two philosophies in mind: 1) reliability , and 2) tone. This is not a hard wired amp, like old Fender Twin's or the Vibrolux. It has the stomped out circuit board design, which frankly, increaces productivity speed, lowers cost, and often degrades tone. Yet, Fender happened to hit the mark pretty close with a balance between reliability and tone. Time will tell how reliable this amp is, but mine has been working fine for 2 yrs.

I haven't had to deal with Fender for any problems.

I started playing when I was 6 years of age. I went to Atlanta Institute of Music for 9 months (taught by GIT grads). I have 3 CD's out, and also play a Taylor 714CE, which is another story (highly recommended).
It would be great if the Blues Jr had a footswitch for the reverb. This is the "mis". Do away w/ the fat control. Put another guitar input, so that we have a normal hi impedance input, and a second w/ more gain (like the bassman head). The tone knobs make more of a difference with the Weber speaker, but not w/ the Fender speaker.

This amp is a single channel, master volume, all-tube type amplifier with reverb. I bought this used from a friend as I was really wanting a new practice amp with reverb and a 12" speaker. I've always liked fender tube amps (actually I've only puchased tube amps, never found a solid state one I've liked) so this seemed to fit the bill. The footswitchable "FAT" setting is a nice feature, but I might have perferred a "BOOST" type of feature for bringing the guitar out front for leads. Of course, I intended this for a stay at home practice amp....

For the price (either new or used) I don't think you can beat this amp. I know people buy tube amps for the overdrive, but to me if the clean sound isn't there, the amp just isn't worth anything. Between the fender tube circuitry and the 12" speaker, this amp does a good job of emulating the clean sound on my Twin Reverb II. I play mainly rock/jazz type music and my guitars are the traditional American Strat and an old Les Paul. With the Strat, I can't really get a saturated-type overdrive with this amp, but the Les Paul can produce a pretty good driven sound. This amp has worked very well for recording, and while there are probably better reverbs, I haven't been dissappointed as some of the reviewers have been. I was happy it was at least a spring reverb. Since there isn't channel switching on this amp, I have been using an Ibanez Turbo Tube screamer for overdrive during practice sessions and rehearsals. For blues and jazz, this amp produces plenty of nice natural overdrive, but if you are looking for the brittle Marshall sound or the super-saturated Boogie sound, this amp won't do it alone. A little more gain would be nice for the Strat. The clean sound is impeccable to my ears, however. This amp is so portable compared to most of my other amps that I have actually ended up using this on MANY jobs. I am interested in trying some of the real tube overdrives with this amp for that reason, but haven't gotten around to it yet. In short, this amp produces a wide enough pallette of sounds for my style playing with the exception of very saturated overdrive. In fact, the sound has exceeded my expectations to the point that I have been using it on band jobs. It has made me interested in looking at Fenders larger combo amps that have channel switching and perhaps a higher gain stage preamp. Of course, then that amp would be approaching my Twin Reverb II in size and weight. Oh well. I have yet to find an amp that satisfies all my tone desires...maybe a large Boogie for that saturation mixed with a Fenders clean sound.

I've never had a problem with any of my amps and with reasonable care it would be fine without a backup. Having said that, I don't go out without a backup of every essential item in my rig. I always have at least two guitars, straps, amps, sets of strings, etc. In my younger days, of course, we ALWAYS played without backups and (luckily) I never had a problem and I've used many Fenders from old Vibroluxes and Champs all the way up.

I've never actually used any factory service on an amp...always use the local guru who has been working on amps since the electric guitar was invented (literally!)

I have been playing guitar for about 20 years and I own a large variety of equipment...I'm definitely an equipment junky. If I had to choose just two amps to own (remember, always have a backup :-) ) I would definitely select this as one of the amps. If I ever stopped playing out and wanted to reduce the collection (heaven forbid!!!) this would be the one amp I would keep for playing at home and the occasional band job.

This amps fits a perfect nitch for me...it's a small combo amp but it has spring reverb and a 12" speaker that helps give it more of that big amp sound. For all the feature hounds out there, don't pass this amp up because of it's simplicity. You owe it to yourself to do a side-by-side comparison with any other product.

For a "low cost" amp, the Blues Junior deserves a perfect score.

This is a great little amp. It's actually my first Fender and even though I bought it about 4 months ago, I'm still infatuated with the warm smooth tones this little amp puts out. I've owned my share of Crates and Peaveys, all solid state. I have a digital recording setup at home and I could never get a good smooth warm bluesy-rock tone recorded from any of my solid states. I bought the B-JR, put a mic in front of it and it sounded *amazing* recorded. I didn't even mess around with any of the tone controls at that point. It just sounded great. Oh yeah this amp packs a might punch for it's size. I'll never buy another Solid State amp again. I'm looking at a nice '74 Super Reverb for my next buy... Bliss!

I've only got one guitar, A cream Standard Strat. I put in some active EMG's a while back. The guitar is super clean and makes no noise. The EMG's are actually hotter than the standard single coils. I recommend this pickup swap for anyone with a strat. I play rock but I like to have different distorted sounds. When I record, I'll lay down some rythym tracks and I'll want a smoother mellower tone. I'll lay down some noodling or patterns over the top and I want something with more power and crunch. The B-JR can put out any sound you want if you play with it. I'm pretty simple. I go from strat to Dunlop Cry Baby to Ibanez Tube King (different pedal than the tube screamer) and then into the amp. Oh, The reverb absolutely sucks, why in the world did fender put such shit reverb on this amp? I'll NEVER use it - it makes everything sound tinny and horrible! I need to get a good reverb pedal. Other than that it is a fantastic sounding amp. I'm going to give it a 10 even though the reverb....

No probs yet - seems pretty solid

I'll use a local repair shop.

I've been playing for about 4 years now. I've played drums for 12 and found that I could not be as expressive as I wanted. You just can't make music with drums! The more I've played guitar the better I love it. I play for around 2-4 hours a day. Then I'll go for a ffew days no playing and then come play again. I've also got a Yamaha FG 402 acoustic, A Shecter custom bass, Cry Baby, Tube King, Zoom 505 (don't use any more but not too bad for a beginner to experiment with), Ratt distortion. I would absolutely buy another one of these amps if it were stolen. it is a perfect home amp and I'm going to start p[laying next week so I'll see if it's loud enough to gig with. I have a feeling it can be heard over drums... If you are thinking about getting this amp, do it!

This is a good quality all tube amp for practice or situations where being very,very loud is not required. The "secret" of the Blues Jr. is that it's speaker is not soldered into the amp but plugged in like it is an external cabinet. For small clubs just unplug the built in speaker and plug in the cabinet of your choice. The amp has enough authority to drive a 4 X 12 cabinet and give a good sound.

This amp makes me think of a "baby" Fender Bassman or Fender Twin. For sure it's in the same family line sound wise. As such it's a good amp for Classic Rock and Blues and gives you most of those kind of sounds. I am using a Strat and an ES 335 Dot and both guitars sound good. The amp is dead quiet unless I provoke it by standing right in front of it with the Strat. Then I get the expected single coil hum.

I have owned this one for over a year with no problems. If I were going to a gig I'd just bring some spare tubes and then not worry about it.

This amp was delivered to me by the men who drive the famous brown delivery truck and arrived with some minor damage.Playable,but not 100%. The local Fender dealer had me up and running in just a few days.

I have also owned a small Crate VC amp which is very similar (in a general way) to the Blues Jr. I prefer the Jr. now because it has a much better reverb and has a wider range of good sounds. I'd replace this amp if it were lost or stolen. This amp loves working with good pedals!

Regarding the note below a Weber P12B Bluedog will fit but it requires a tech to shave 1/8-1/4 off the chassis to accomodate the top of the magnet structure. This is not a big deal and does not weaken the chassis structure. Just purchased one and I am putting in the Weber and NOS tubes Mullard CV4004 in preamp driver followed by Philips 12AX7WAs and Philips EL-84 power tubes. Can't wait to pick it up.

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The features of this combo are well known. There are a few items that I wish it had like tube reverb, an extension speaker out, fx loop, channel switching and so on. However, if Fender made these improvements, they would have a 15watt Hot Rod Deluxe. Maybe Fender ought to partner with Weber and offer speaker upgrades? It rates an eight because it lacks some of the features named above. A seven maybe better but I like the amp too much to go that low.

What can I say, It sounds very, very good. It offers alittle clean headroom that evolves into a variety overdrive textures as you work the controls. There are alot of blues and rock sounds in this amp. As you might guess, It sounds great with Fender guitars. I have three strats and two tele's and they go together with this amp like pizza goes with beer. I cannot comment on how well other guitars sound through the BJ but judging by the other reviews in this database you could do alot worse. Oh by the way, it is LOUD for its diminutive size and power rating. I would like the ext. speaker cab out so I could run it with my Mesa Theile cabinet. Whoa!

I have had the amp for four years with no problems yet. My reverb is not noisy. I can max the reverb with no noticeable degradation of tone. I do not play it every day either. If you buy this or any amp, get a cover for it. It helps the resale value by keeping the dust off your pots and inputs. This extends the life of the amp and keeps alot of those annoying little nicks off your tolex/tweed. Is this amp bullet proof? Hell No! However, it has proved to be pretty sturdy so far. It has PCB construction but I can drive 10 minutes to a dealer that is a Fender Authorized Repair center.

Never had a reason to contact Fender directly. They probably prefer that you work through their dealer network.

Listen, this is the best selling tube guitar amplifier in the Fender line. You get excellent tone for the price. It is so popular that Fender markets about a half dozen variations in finished wood and plastic cabinets. A 2x12 custom shop version is also available and others are probably on the drawing board. Why, because guitarists dig it! Even Allen amplification will turn your Blues Junior into a point-to-point fire breather for a healthy price. This is one of the few tube amps (outside of a Champ) that you can play in an apartment or townhouse, at low volume, without pissing someone off. But it does have more than enough volume to piss off your neighbor as well. Lets not forget that there is a Blues Junior Mafia on www.fenderforum.com that is chock full of believers. A website of suggested settings also exists (I cannot remember the URL but I think it is available though www.amptone.com). What does this all lead up to? In the final analysis, buy what you like after you LISTEN to the amp. Let your ears decide. The Blues Junior works well for me but it might not be your cup of tea. I have played for a long time but not in a real band situation in years. I have other amps but I reach for the BJ alot.

P.S. - It sounds especially nice with my JD Tele

Enjoy!

Update to previous comments!!!!

I took out the Celestion Greenback, and put in a Celestion Anniversary Edition G12H. This is like a Greenback, but has a heavier 50 oz. magnet, and is rated at 100 db instead of 97 db. Excellent! MUCH more loudness and volume, and it stays cleaner longer. Can now be used on stage with NO problems!!! Do it...It works!! (Do not try to put in a Celestion "Blue" Alninco 15 watt speaker. They will not fit, and the amp will distort the voice coil, and the speaker will be ruined.)

American Made Tweed 15 watt tube combo. One 12inch speaker, one channel

I use my Blues Junior with both a Fender 60's reissue Stratocaster (3 single coils) and an Epiphone Dot (Archtop with 2 Humbuckers). These two guitars have totally different tonal characteristics which suit my playing style (Blues/Jazz/Classic Rock). When playing the strat the Blues Junior is a clean amp that goes plenty loud for any gig. Just yesterday my group played an outside gig and the other hooked up through the PA, but since I am normally the acoustic rhythm guitarist, I didn't bother as I was only using the Electric for 3-4 songs. When we played a song where I used my strat I was totally impressed by the fact that I had volume to spare (the other guitarist actually thought that I was plugged into the PA and looked to see if my amp had been mic'd. I love the tonal range available with this classic style amp. I recently purchased the strat and if I am playing blues I just crank the volume and Master on the amp and play lightly when I want a clean tone, but have the option to play harder for a dirty tone. I have thought about upgrading the tubes as my amp is one of the original Tweed models and I have played it for 3 years (it relaxed in the showroom for a while)

No problems. I have used it many times without a backup amp.

Haven't needed any repair work.

I love this amp and would like to purchase another tweed blues junior if somebody wants to sell theirs. I don't really like the looks of the new black and grey models. I have also thought about purchasing one of the new Fender Custom Shop Woody Junior models because they look beautiful.
I deffinitely recommend this amp!

My little brother bought this from Musician's Friend new and it has the blond covering, not real tweed, but it still looks like it from off stage. I think Fender stopped making them in this color a few years back and Musician's Friend just buys them whenever the can get their hands on a few. Looks very cool. Power amp and Preamp volumes, highs, mids and lows, reverb, you know the drill. Beats out spinal tap as controls go to 12. Preamp boost switch a nice touch for simulating a volume boost pedal, but not enough for total blow out. Power tubes the same kind as used in Vox AC30's, but not used the same way. Everything you'd expect and more from a $300 tube amp.

I've used it with my 89 american strat and my brother's new Nashville tele w/ tex mex pickups and a strat pick up in the middle. Been able to coax excellent tones from old school clean to townshend powerchord cleanish to Cream style distortion to Neil Young Crazy Horse wacked out distorted. For a Rust Never Sleeps electric Hey-Hey My My I just crank everything, press the boost switch and throw a fully cranked Fuzz face in front of it. Minus the abscence of a vintage LP, the sound is great. Really dirty sound that's loud. For those of you that don't know, this thing's 15 tube watts can match a 50 watt solid state with similar speakers no contest. I'm considering using it in a 600+ seat auditorium gig I've got coming up (if my brother will lend it to me), but I'll be bringing my Ultimate Chorus just in case.

That said, everything in it is geared for a vintage sound. Shredders, metal heads etc. need not apply. Preamp distortion is serviceable, but the best stuff comes from cranking the power amp as well. Reverb works, but I guess some people don't like it. I don't know, reverb's reverb, I don't use it heavily so I don't care all that much. There is a little buzz that you notice if sitting close to the amp on certain notes. I think it's one of the springs holding the power tube, but it's hard to experiment as those things get hot when the amp's on. The speaker is designed to have a vintage sound which is good for Neil Young/Keith Richards style distortion and Buddy Holly clean, but not so great if you're looking for a squeeky clean/shimmery sound.

All in all if you're looking for a good variety of vintage tones at a good price, this amp's where it's at.

I would gig without a back up if I didn't have one, but in general that's not a good idea with tube amps. I mean, they've basically got 5 light bulbs inside that could blow or break at any time (especially during transport). Only had it for a few weeks, haven't gigged on it, but it seems as sturdy as any tube amp

Never dealt with them on this amp. The warranty is 5 years transferrable, which is nice since many guitar players switch gear quit often as playing situations change. I did get them to send me a manual a while back for my strat. came as requested. Mostly people deal with their dealer, so I don't see this as a big question for fenders.

I've been playing for probably five years, maybe more it's not one of those things I keep track of. I learned on my uncle's 60's duosonic (a fender student model) which I still have, my main guitar is the strat, I've got a Martin DC-16GTE, Line 6 pod 2, fuzz face, cry-baby, fender Ultimate Chorus (not so great, but it's loud) and probably some other stuff that I'm forgetting. If it were stolen, it would probably be me stealing it from my brother so I'm not worried about that. I basically love the amp despite it's volume deficiencies for larger venues (actually you could mike it just about anywhere that it's not loud enough to play). The buzz is annoying, but that's easily fixed given a run down while someone else is playing.

The amp fits my blues/blues rock/classic rock/guitar rock style perfectly. I would recommend it to anyone who wants a good amp for a low price. It blows away the vintage gear settings on my pod simply by having true tube characteristics when running stuff into it and when cranked or quieted.

Great amp, great price, great choice.

15 Watts Single channel, Master and Gain (good call), Bass, Mid Treble. Reverb. All tube design, tranny Reverb. "Fat" switch footswitchable (useless. Why not make the reverb footswitchable??? Could do with a headphone jack.
I like simplicity and this amp is relatively no frills, not a huge tonal range on its own, but I think I found a good match. Read on...

I play a Jap tele, which is a great guitar. I like to play rock, alt, grunge, pop, blues, heavy stuff, clean stuff whatever.
I believe this amp could fulfill all those styles, but the tele's not quite the metal machine I used to play. The amp itself is fairly clean and punchy, with a nice growl in the upper reaches. My only problem, and it really is a bit sad, is the reverb is noisy and actually changes the tone. (I wont be using it.) I may install a quality speaker one day.
But read on...

I believe Fender stuff to be reliable and dependable (more so than Marshall) The cabinet is solid, I sit on it when I practice. One consideration is there is no retainers on the preamp tubes. PCB's (printed circut board) are always going to be flimsy but it lowers costs. Also, If there is a fuse it is not accessable externally.Would gig without backup certainly. (Take a screwdriver.)

I bought it secondhand hence no warranty. I used to work for the mob and they have 5 year warranty on all amps, 1 year on speakers. I think they have a good policy there.

OK, I was looking for a smallish amp that I could transport easily (london underground) but could still get over the top of a mix for about 200-300 quid. I conducted a fair amount of homework via this website and it came down to a crate VC30 (for sound, A class), a vox Cambridge 30 (size, weight, features and price) or a Marshall combo (but ive been there!)
I only wanted to buy one amp once, and after much consideration I settled (reluctantly) on the Vox, not entirely happy that I was buying a hybrid. Then at the eleventh hour I saw this little bundle and gave it a whirl. It was a bit too clean (however nice) for what I wanted. Then the guy at the store gave me two pedals. A Boss Super Overdrive and Boss Blues Driver. WOW! The amp rocked! Loud as the hammers of hell. It wailed. The guy behind the counter could'nt believe it either. I bought the lot there and then. I set the amp up loud and fiddle the Blues Driver for gain and tone. Pedal off for clean.
Every once in a while you find a setup that feels spot on. This is it. I don't write reviews but I think this website is fantastic and I think my new sound is right on the money. If it was stolen I'd cry.
I dont give it a 10 cause Fender got cheap with the reverb.

Needs a dedicated speaker line out....might make this amp way better being able to connect to another cab without disconnecting the existing speaker. Plenty of power for small clubs, but would benefit with a 2X10 configuration.

This amp's name is Blues Jr. Any questions? It always amazes me when bedroom shredders try to achieve Creed-like grind on an amp like this. ZZ Top maybe, but not metal. This amp is fantastic.....a little vox-like, a little Marshall-like, a little Fender-like.....it growls when pushed with the right guitar (take the hint shredders), and can be spanky clean, though it does breakup at volume regardless. Roots rockers, Bluesmen, and AltCountry guys will love this amp. Perfect for small clubs.

I use this as my main amp gigging with the Moaning Lisa's....(Moaninglisas.com) and have the Pro Jr as a backup. So far so good.

OK....it's a corporation with a 1-800 number with recorded messages........

Bang for buck.....toss up between the Pro Jr and the Blues Jr as the best amp Fender makes. These are little screamers that will make Marshall stacks obsolete.

same as above.

seriously, people!
this amp is no killer!
watch out for uncritical reviews in this coloumn.
this amp has an ok tone, but is no killer, as so
many claim.
the reverb is lousy and noisy, it has no highs,
the buttom is muddy, there is a buzzing sound in the
amp at all levels and i regret buying it.
a friend of mine is gonna modify it, and he has a lot of
work to do.

bought it a month ago

the dealer is gonna try and get rid of the buzzing sound and
the noise from the reverb.

if it were stolen, i`d be happy. i could get my
insurance money and buy a better amp - second hand.
this is an ok amp - nothing more.

I just bought this three weeks ago for the unbelieveable price of $300 shipped. What a deal! It's the special edition with blonde tolex and the leather handle, giving it a cool retro 50-ish look. Otherwise, it has the same features as the others reviewed here.

My first intention was to use this as a practice amp. My previous practice amp (Peavey Bandit) had started to die after many long years of use and abuse. Well, I was amazed at the volume and tone form this compact lil' 15 watter. I swear it has more volume than the Bandits' 65 watts, and much better tone. So, last Friday I brought it to the gig. My usual gigging amp is a Crate Vintage Club 30, which has some very good tone, but it isn't the most reliable thing in town. The Blues Junior was plenty loud and it sounded great. I'm gonna be using it a lot more aften for live shows, I can tell you. I play an Am Std Strat, a MIM Tele with SD pickups, and a Gibson SG. Mostly 70's and 80's rock standards with some blues tossed in for good measure. With the Volume and Master controls, I can dial in the overdrive I want. I use Dano chorus and Boss BD-2 pedals and they work well with this amp. I just don't have anything bad to say about it. This is one of those rare times when I actually got more than I paid for.

Well, I've only had it short time. But I've owned and played Fender amps in the past and they were all pretty solid.

5 year warranty. Hope I never need to use it.

I've been playing for a dozen years and gigging semi-regularly for the past 8 years. My band has a regular Friday night appearance at a local watering hole and we draw a good crowd. This little amp is surprisingly strong and sounds a lot bigger than you'd expect it to. Looks cool, too. Sometimes sipmle is better. It doesn't have multiple channels and a dozen control knobs or built in effects rather than reverb. Just good, warm tone in a handy size. I can't think of another amp in it's price range that would compare favorably. The $300 solid state amps are mostly disappointing in tone, and their volume never sounds like the rated watts. This 15 watt tube job delivers plenty of volume, and does it a very nice price.

made in 2000
In its native form its got a great clean ring but needs to be real loud for distortion. Since i mainly want to use it for home recording via a speaker mike i am using a mesa vtwin peddle to cover distortion at resonable volume levels and it sounds pretty good plus of course the clean sounds are well catered for.
It has everything I need as all my sound shaping take place in my gt5 and the mesa peddle. Also reverb is ok without being too over the top but once again my gt5 can cover this area if need be.The tone controls arent up to much...thank god my guitars sound ok right off thro this amp.
It is way loud enough for my home use..prehaps even a little less power might be more usefull to drive it right but I also would like to gig with this setup if need be so im not complaining.
Its a very tidy looking amp (black vinyl)..easy on the eye and my back!!...looks straight out of the 1950s but not at all cheesy...will look cool forever and matches my tele 52 custom shop to a tee!! I auditioned mesa boogies , marshalls and larger fenders before settling on this amp....they were way too loud or they didnt distort right for my taste so I decided to go for a clean amp and keep on using my vtwin.

I use a custom les paul, fender tele with seymour duncans and a musicman shilouette special. My style is keith richards to jimmy page and anything else that grabs me on the way. I think the amp is way too clean at home studio volumes but with the vtwin it suddenly all makes sense...the combinaton of all valve amp and preamp gives a ring that sounds sweet to my ear and im really fussy about getting those ditortion harmonics to work in unison. If I turn the amp full up I will get some nice crunch but since i live in the most densely populated part of hong kong i cant get away with too much.
It seems to easily hit that cutting early zep sound as well as the stones and the who with a crunch distortion from the vtwin...and with the gt5 anything is possible .

everything ok

n/a

played for 8 years
lp custom,tele,musicman,boss gt5,vtwin
get another
i love its looks ,its small size, the clean sound the low price and the fact that its a fender.
i wish it had the mesa preamp built in (now wheres my tool box)
i have enough cash to buy any amp i could lay my hands on and this was the only one that did it for me and my setup!

This is a typical Blues Jr. that was bought at Musician's Friend clearance center in KC. It is made for MF with rough blonde tolex and oxblood grill clothe. All other features are standard.

These sell for $379 in the catalog, but this one was damaged and reduced. It was tagged with missing parts/tubes for $225. Only one preamp tube was in place, and no visible damage on cab or grill. It had to have been dropped to take out the tubes. Broken glass in bottom of unit.

I've been looking at these units for a while, and the blonde unit is very nice looking. Looks like a "custom shop" unit. For the money, the Blues Jr. has plenty of features, and a 12" speaker. Only reason I rate this 8 is because an effects loop would be nice.

I realize Fender has to call it quits somewhere to keep the price in line. I ended up paying $150 as is. Had to buy 2 preamp and both power amp tubes.

I bought some Fender preamp tubes and a set of matched groove tubes and the unit plays great.

A variey of sounds can be coaxed from this unit. I used both a 6120 and a Strat with tex mex pickups, and pretty darn good tones can be had. The stock speaker can get a little muddy on the bottom end in some instances.

THis amp has many personalities. Good clean sound, nice overdriven sound, and a nice "lead drive" sound with the fat switch engaged.

I did order a WeberP12R speaker, but have not installes it yet. I have done some tube testing with some incredible results.

I left the power tubes alone, and put in a late 60's pair of 7025's in position 1 and 2. In position 3, a RCA 12 AU7 was installed. All of these tubes were marked for Bell & Howell.( the old camera/projector company) Not sure who made the 7025's, but they say USA on them.

These tubes totally transformed this amp. It is softer and mellower sounding, but very musical/harmonic. The amp sounded good before, but is unreal now. I'm now a firm believer in "old tubes"

Should be a normal tube amp. Give it regular service and keep spare tubes........should last a very long time.

Never had to deal with Fender directly.

I would buy this amp again in a heartbeat at the regular $379 price. The deal I got just makes it a little sweeter.

The blonde tolex with oxblood grillclothe is a real looker. The sound with the NOS tubes is wonderful.

The reverb sound pretty good for being a solid state set up. It does get a little noisey when turned past 5 or 6, but I pay it at 3 to 4 and use a couple of Dan Echos for the thicker stuff.

I think Fender has one heck of a little amp here. I play all sorts of music, use a variety of pedals, and this little guy can sound just great. Can get loud, but with these tubes, tone is fantastic at low volumes...just what I like.

This one is a keeper.

same as above, i guess.
i don` t need more knobs than this. i`m just looking for a nice tone.

the reverb is the noisiest i`ve ever heard. and it`s not exactly one of the best reverbs i`ve heard, either. sounds rather cold, and is
pretty weak.
the overall tone is pretty good, but i think i`m gonna change speakers. i need more of both top and bass. i thought the amp would be better than this, but it`s very cheap.
i think it`s loud enough.
i works best with my 62` reissue strat. i also use an ibanez blazer, but it`s too bassy then.
the amp is fine for blues and countryish styles. it also works for jazz when played with humbuckers or hollowbodies.
this is not a fantastic amp in any way, but it`s good in it`s field and price.

so far, so good.
i`ve just had it for a month.

i`ve been playing for about ten years, and have owned a couple of marshalls and a carvin valvemaster. they were all too big and too loud. this amp is small, loud and pretty dynamic, which is good.
fender could make this a much better amp, if they put in a better speaker and a deasent (and quieter) reverb.
this is a nice amp if you use it for rehearsal and gigs in small clubs. if you`re looking for great distortion - look somewhere else.

I bought it in 1999 used.Not sure when it was made.Typicle Jr in tweed. In my opion the base middle and treble do very little.(not much in the reverb departmet also).I play a fender american lone star strat and can get a wide range ot tone with just the guitar controls and the master and volume controls on the amp.

I mainly play rock and blues. What I like about this amp is you can get realy good tone at low volume.On the other hand , if turned up this little SOB is LOUD. Just playing around with the master and volume controls can get you from very clean to very dirty.It is great for sitting around the living room or playing to a small to mid size room. I lke it alot.

It has never let me down. Only thing is the tubes wiggle loose sometimes.

Never dealt wiyth em. Hope I never have to!

I have been playing off and on sence my teenage years. (I am now 47).I researched fairly well before I bought this amp and would say that for the money and the type of playing that I do that I could not have done better for myself.

The features have been described already,so I will not list them all.
The features I like about this amp is the low wattage all tube design.
The 12 inch eminance speaker sounds very good,and the independant pre-amp,power-amp volume controls.

In my opinion,the sound is the most important feature with any amp.The BJ has a great clean sound with smooth compression and bell like clarity.Chords sound full with every note ringing out.I like the pre-amp volume for dialing in the desired amount of overdrive.You can easily get that "just breaking up" tone at any volume.This amp is voiced with a warm tone,with plenty of treble.The bass responce is a
little weak (not that this is bad).The reverb sounds good ,though not overpowering.(I like just a hint of verb anyway).Overall it has a very good blues tone. The distortion is more like overdrive, so don't expect metal tones from this amp.If your looking for that electric blues tone with a driving edge,this amp will deliver.I played all my guitars through this amp,(les paul,62 re-issue strat,custom strat w/duncan pick ups)And the 62 re-issue strat sounds fantastic.I have had poor results getting a great tone with my strat in the past. With this amp,I am very pleased with the strats tone.(the BJ is my first fender amp).Maybe I should have got one years ago?

Mine is new,so only time will tell.The cabinet is strong and well made.

N/A

This is a good amp in its price range.There are a few things that I don't like about it. The pots have plastic shafts that feel spongy when turned (will they be durable?)Real metal housed pots would have been a better choice.The rear of the cabinet is very close (too close)to the five tubes.It gets very hot fast.These are small things that should be overlooked if you are considering buying one.Its easy to pick apart any product.Fender has designed a great sounding amp with a few cut corners to keep the cost down.I am pleased with the overall sound quality and workmanship.

Have two of 'em. One from 1999 and one from 2001. Features....plain and simple. One channel (with FAT switch which I do not use). Pure Fender. I play mostly Blues style guitar, regardless of who I'm playing with or what we are playing. We play lots of different styles of music. Pop to Classic Rock to dance music. To make it the PERFECT amp for ME, would like to have an effects loop. Use it in small clubs to outside jobs.

I'm using Strats, one with Seymour Duncan Vintage Rails, one with Lace Sensors. Also use a Les Paul Std. and a PRS Custom 22. For me, this lil' puppy does it all. We go from pure dance music (Top 40)to Blues oriented rock and everywhere in between. My lil' BJ delivers every thing I could ask for, depending on which guitar I'm using. I just set the amp, leave it alone and change guitars.

Use them all of the time without backup. They have never let me down.
And I crank the livin' H*** out of 'em. For me that's where the tone comes from.

No need for repairs far. Five year warranty standard.

Been Playing for about 35 years. Have owned 'em all. Fender, Marshall, Sunn, Peavey, Boogies, you name it. Still have an old Bandmaster and Deluxe Reverb. Refuse to get rid of them. Had 'em since the 60's. But don't use them anymore. I use my Blues Jr's. For ME, it's MY AMP of choice. Don't know why others find them less than desirable, but I will buy every one they want to get rid of. These will become very collectible very shortly. The normal price of $300+ is a lot for what most people look at as a "practice" amp. I use these every time we play, regardless of the size of the club. If the club is big, we just mike it like we do almost every other job. The soound man loves it too. He doesn't have to deal with it bleeding into the other channels. Rarely do I ever hear someone say "turn that thing down". But then again, I guess I'm a little strange. I use light guage strings, thin picks, play left-handed upside down. Eveything against "the Rules". But, if you play the Blues, and are not concerned about being louder than everybody else and you trust the sound man, I would very seriously consider buying a Blues Junior. One add'l note, if I playing an outside job, I just use a 4 X 12 cab. Trust me, these things rock! On behalf of myself, and ONLY myself, I say, thank you Fender. And to all others, if you have one and don't like it, please do not hesitate to call me to sell it. And for Pete's sake, quit turning the bass up to 10! What, are you crazy?

This amp is really good! It's 15 watts, but really loud. It has 1 channel, no switching or loops or anything. Very simple. Bass, Treble, Middle, Volume (Gain) Master (actual loudness) Reverb. and fat switch, just a gain booster. The controls are fairly simple, not much you can do with them, except the gain.

I use a strat with humbuckers and a Guild hollowbody with humbuckers. It's a good amp for what I play, mainly blues and rock. The amp can really distort, or sound really clean.. I use a MXR distortion pedal cause the distortion on the amp is really trebbly sometimes

Very good! Never broken, everything works good still, I've had it for two years, never even had to replace the tubes

Never had any problems yet.

This is a really good amp! I've been playing for 2 years, and this is a great starter amp, it sounds really good with most guitars, in my opinion. I would like it to have channel swtiching, maybe, but other than that, it's a really good piece of equipment

Real basic, but so is the amp! Easy to use. Agreat little single chanel amp. What I like most is the ability to set so many tone combinations using the master and volume controls. From clean to rat city. I am strictly a Blues player, 42 years, and I've owned every Fender amp known to God. This is the best little amp they have made!

I have to be honost here: My amp has had two changes. One is a new set of good tubes, and the other is the most important. I took out the stock speaker, and put in a Celestion Greenback, 25 watt. I play a Strat (who doesn't), a Jazzmaster, and a Custom Heritage 550. All work great with this amp. I have used it on stage with no problems. Want a little more "room fill"; mike it! Fender could do a little better job testing this amp at killer volumes, as there are vibrations somewhere in the thing. One thing for sure, the tone settings from clean to filthy are in the millions!

So far, so good! It hasn't laid down yet, and believe me I tried to blow it up one night with total distortion, sustain out the wazoo, and turned up LOUD. No problems. I just waited until the steam quit coming off before I put it in the car

Unknown to me at this point, but my past workings with Fender customer service have been quite good.

See above, as I have already answered most of this. Rating? With good tubes, and a good speaker, a 10. To prove I'm not kidding, I have a 1961 Bassman with 2 Celestion G-10's in a Vibrolux cabinet with a Fender reverb installed, and a mid-range push-pull pot on the bass control, and I'm thinking about selling it and keeping the Blues, Jr. Bye......Automatic Slim

This is a 1996 tweed covered unit that I shellaced to give it an even greater retro look than it had plain. It has the features that all the other reviews hav already mentioned. But it looks so cool. The current production black tolex BJs are good amps, but they just don't have the mojo that a narrow panel tweed cabinet gives you.

There are always a lot of 10 ratings here on HC. I really love the tone of my BJ, but it's not a 10. I give it a nine based on the fact that it sounds huge for a low priced 15 watt amp with a compact cabinet. I play an American Standard Strat and a Les Paul Studio DC. Mostly classic rock and blues. Both of these guitars produce a very good, mid-heavy tone through the BJ. I use the Fat switch with the Strat to reduce the treble 'sting'. By adjusting the master and volume knobs, you can get a super smooth overdrive that's creamier than A&W root beer. And believe it or not, this little amp has enough volume to play clubs. I'm not alone on this. At least two other lead guitarists in town use a BJ as their usual gigging amp.

Well, I won't say bulletproof, but I've never had a single glitch. But the BJ is a mass produced item, so bad ones make it through Fender's QC screen from time to time. Some have been reviewed here in this thread. My advice would be that if you've gotten a bad one, just exchange it for another. Chances are astronomical against getting a second bad unit.

Never needed any.

The BJ is a very good value. Plenty of volume and you can dial in the tone you want for blues, rock, country, or jazz. Not a punk or metal amp, though. My main amp is a Peavey Delta Blues. It's perfect for larger rooms, but it's a bulky thing to cart around. The BJ is a nice, compact, easy to carry amp that works well for small to medium rooms with a band that isn't trying to blow the windows out. Like others have mentioned, the reverb isn't as strong as you'd expect from Fender, but it's ok. Definitely better than nothing. And it has a really nice retro vibe with its 50's styling. This is probably going to be a collector's item in the future. Figure it out, guys. There's a reason Fender sells so many of these. And that reason is tone and volume in a compact package at an affordable price. If it was sports car, it'd be a Mustang GT. Not enough to compete with a Vette or Jaguar, but it'll blow the doors off of 90% of what's out there. And at a price the average working stiff can handle. Good job, Fender! Now, if you'd just bring back the tweed and get rid of the black tolex...

Purchased new this year. I play rock, jazz, and country- primarily rock and jazz. I am using the BJ in an A/B configuration with a Mesa Boogie Subway Rocket. The BJ will be used for clean and clean boost while the Boogie will be for crunch. I have two distortion pedals - Marshall Bluesbreaker II (boost mode) and a Marshall Jackhammer - that I can route to either amp via the FX loop on my BOSS GT5. I also use the PAN effect on the GT5 as an A/B box - hard left to the BJ, hard right to the Boogie.

Features: 1x12 15w, single channel w/FAT switch (re: boost), 3-band EQ - reverb - 12AX7 Preamp tubes (3) - EL84 power amp tubes (2) - jack for external footswitch to control FAT boost (not included - I use the BOSS FS1 Latched footswitch) - reverb - slightly open-backed cabinet - controls are top-mounted.

I wish it had an FX loop and that the input jack for the FAT footswitch was more accessible. It is way up in the amp next to the speaker input jack - I had to put a 1ft patch cable with a female adapter on it so that I could easily plug and unplug the footswitch cable.

I use it mainly in my home studio and the occasional live gig. For what I bought it for - clean and boost - you can't beat it. Nothing sounds like clean Fender amps - although when you drive it hard the FAT boost adds some OD to the clean signal.

I mainly use the following configuration: PRS CE22 or Fender 50's Reissue Strat -> MXR Micro Amp (balances outputs of PRS and Strat pickups) -> BOSS GT5 (BBII/Jackhammer in FX Loop)-> BJ/Subway Rocket.
My style is the "less is more" approach as I have never had the gift of speed - I find the BJ really helps me nail that full, tone-ful clean sound that Fender is known for (think of Eric Johnson's clean sounds from Ah Via Musicom or Venus Isle), and the boost switch really helps you stand our in the mix. I don't use the reverb in the amp as the GT5's digital reverb sounds much better, but the reverb is typical guitar amp reverb and I may opt for it in some cases.

I does seem to "choke" when use a lot of FX, but I take a "less is more" approach here as well. It sounds great with a chorus, phase shifter, or vibrato, and it takes to the Marshall distortion pedals very well. BTW - these are GTREAT pedals and only $79 - like a Marshall without having to carry around a 4x12!

I don't care for the OD "cranked" Fender tone - the same voicing that makes it a great clean amp doesn't do much for distortion so that's why I use another amp for crunch and lead.

Fender is a pretty reputable company, so I don't think I'll have issues. I've owned several of there products in the past and have never had any problems. I would not hesitate to take this amp out without a backup.

As most manufacturers try to hold down costs, customer support departments are woefully under funded and under trained. Don't expect much from them and you'll be fine.

I've been playing for over 20 years and have owned more gear than I have space to list. I am a fan of the smaller 1x10 or 1x12 combos (I've owned a Roland Bolt 60, Peavy Classic 50, G&K ???, and a Fender Champ SE) and this is one of my all-time favorites. I also looked at the Tech 21 Trademarks, Line 5 Spiders, the solid-state Fenders, and the Hot Rod Deluxe 1x12 - it was just way too loud at its "sweet spot" for my tastes.

With this amp, the tone is classic Fender clean, and the FAT switch is great for clean or slightly OD'd solos. If you are looking for classic tube tone on a budget- this is the amp for you. I would rate it a 10 if it had an FX loop.

I believe this is a 1998 model, which I bought used a year and a half ago. It's the black tolex style, with silver/gray grille cloth. Three band tone controls, volume, reverb, and master volume controls. Three 12ax7a preamp tubes and a pair of el84 power tubes for 15 watts of output into a 12 inch speaker. Single channel with a Fat switch. No really outstanding features that would make it stand out from other low wattage tube combos. But it packs a lot into a small, easy to carry cabinet. And it looks good, too.

I play a Fender American Std Strat, Am Std Tele, and a Les Paul Studio. My style is the blues, and mostly the older stuff such as the Chess artists. I find that the controls on this amp are effective in shaping the tone to get the sound I want from each of these guitars. I only use the Fat switch with the Tele, as it gets too muddy with the LP and sounds kind of flat with the Strat. The sound has the subtle complexity I like in a tube amp. I ilke to play at the edge of overdrive, and with the controls for volume and master volume, it's easy to dial in what I'm looking for. I appreciate this because I prefer to not use pedals. With the controls all set flat, the tone is a little too bassy, which is surprising from a small box like this. But tweaking the tone controls will allow the brigthness I want. The reverb is weak, and needs to be turned up quite a bit to have any effect. Otherwise, the sound is rich, well defined, and pleasing. Plenty of volume for jams and small gigs.

I've used it almost daily for the past year and a half without a single glitch. Haven't needed to change tubes, even. I don't gig on a regular basis, but I've used it in small clubs several times with a blues trio; drums, bass, and me. It worked perfectly. I'm sure it would handle larger settings if you miked it into the PA.

No repairs, no need to contact Fender. As a matter of fact, I've never had a problem with Fender amps or guitars that couldn't be handled quickly by the dealer.

This isn't going to compete with the boutique gear or high powered amps. For a basic, low priced tube amp the BJ offers a lot. The sound is very pleasing and it produces a useable volume for playing small venues. My only beef is with the reverb. It's better than nothing, but not much. Fender is known for great reverb, and it falls short here.

I bought this little Fender amp in late 1999, partly because I didn't have a piece of Fender gear in my on stage arsenal as a solo blues and fingerstyle musician. It's a single channel, single input, 15 watt with a 12" Fender Special Design speaker covered in black tolex. I've seen them in tweed, too. Fender issues alternatives like this occasionally. This little (16x18x9) amp has a switchable "fat", or boost switch, thin spring reverb and vol, treb, md, bass, and master.
I'm sorry, Fender, but this amp is a toy! You could use it for practice, but not on stage.
I play solo, with a rackmount tube preamp made by Realtube, Dan-Echo dig delay and with powerful Barcus-Berry humbucking pickups on my resonators. It did not have enough power for a bar with 50 people in it!
I have a '65 Vox Pacemaker that must still have a good ten watts in it, a 10" speaker and plenty of use -- it is far superior in tone than the Fender and has withstood years of abuse.
Being all tubes I thought the Fender would be more tuneful.
Not meant to be played out -- a toy, only!

I tried to get more bass out of this amp, using the humbuckers and preamp, while playing a small bar in beautiful Door County, Wisconsin last summer. As the bar filled and I turned up, the amp fell apart. It sounded like I blew the speaker, all shaking and bursting -- and I was only turned to about 5 on the amp. I pulled out of the Fender and played straight into my Crate 125D's (2 of 'em), and had a much better sound.
Boost channel is muddy, not crunchy. Treble is thin, not piercing. Bass is mushy, not powerful at all. Overload the mix of master and volume and you have fuzz-tone, try to play a chord or even a power-chord with that!
Playing blues I was hoping for some power and crunch, the amp had none.
This is for the living room or basement only!

You could NOT depend on this amp if you are playing out. It doesn't have power or depth. I ran the 30-yr-old Vox into the ground, with vol knobs that go to 6, I played 6 1/2. On the Blues Junior, with vol knobs that go to 12, 6 was too much. I have played the Pro Junior, little bro to the BJ. Play it on 10 all day, it still works, just don't take it out of the house, either. I played the Vox on 6 1/2 for years, it is lovely crunch. I played the BJ a little too loud once, and it died.
I had my fav amp tech tighten the chassis, check the speaker, and change some tubes, (one year old), and then traded the little toy in on a real amp.

I never called Fender, or even consulted their rep, I got rid of the amp.

I have been playing for 37 years, everything from Christian rock in the 70's to a Led Zepp band. Back in the old days, I played Super Reverbs, had two of them and was never short on power or tone. The Super was (is) a real workhorse, made for playing out. The BJ is a nice little, in the house, amp. It is not made for playing in any room with people in it. The amps that it could be compared to are modern-day 15 watt, 12" spkr, little square boxes: Crate, Ampeg, solid-state min-combos, etc. Don't think you are playing on a gigging tool!

Used and I don't know the year it was made. It probably isn't very old bacause it's in pretty good shape. I play Blues on this amp. It has all the features I need. I use it for practice at home with both single coil and humbucker guitars.

I use Strats, Teles, and LPs with this amp. It works fine with all my guitars. I know that a lot people complain about noisey reverbs on these amps, but mine couldn't be quieter. I just use the volume and gain knobs to dial in as much distortion as I want.

I've had no problems with my amp since I got it about four months ago. I have used it almost everyday.

I switch between this and a Marshall Studio 15 and a few silverface Champs and a silverface Princeton.
I would buy another, but I would have to buy it used to be reasonably sure that it wouldn't be noisey.
I can understand the problems other people have had. I tried out several new and used models which were noisey.

Basic master volume single channel 1x12 combo amp (bass,mid,treble) with reverb and a "Fat" switch that gives a gain boost. The boost is footswitchable, but it's a pain accessing the footswitch jack. Modern amp with vintage styling. The Blues Jr. gets it's 15 watts from 2 EL84 valves. Fender cut as many corners as they could get away with to build this amp (i.e. cheap tubes, generic speaker, circuit board mounted tube sockets, etc.)The EQ on this amp is pretty much useless. I did not intend to buy this amp. I was bidding on a Fender Prosonic combo on E-Bay and the guy who posted the amp (retailer) had forgot to post a reserve and closed the auction early. At the time of the auctions close I would have won the amp for $250 which would have been a awesome deal. Well needless to say he wasn't keen on selling me the amp for $250. I told him that my high bid was $300 and to keep me from suing his ass perhaps we could work out a deal on another amp for that price. He told me that he had a Blues Jr in stock that was new in the box that he could sell me for $300 out the door including shipping. I agreed and the rest, as they say, is history.

As a stock amp the Bluse Jr. is a pretty uninspiring amp. I can't believe all the reviews where everybody is claiming to get a SRV sound out of it and what a great blues amp this is. This amp is OK at best. With my Peavey raptor and my DOD American Metal pedal I don't sound anything like Korn or Limp Bizkit and that really chaps me! (JUST KIDDING) I really do think this amp is only OK at best, but I play mostly Noise Pop and Vintage Rock/Country/Surf Instrumental (50's, 60's & 70's) Brit Pop and a few other styles. I use this amp with Fulltone, Roger Mayer and Visual Sound pedals and USA Hamers and American Fenders. Now for the sound of the Blues Jr.........

After several months of trying to get this thing to sound good (I had been using it for recording and practicing at home) I finally decided to let Curt Emery over at Emery Sound in El Cerrito, Ca. have a go at modifying it since he did such a great job on modding another amp for me. Curt builds awesome amps as well and I highly suggest checking them out at his website (www.emerysound.com). What Curt told me was that the preamp section was basic vintage Fender design and would not need modification. He then told me that the power section was voiced to sound "better" at lower volumes. In other words it was designed to sort of please everyone without ever really sounding great.

As far as the modifications went, Curt replaced the output transformer with a bigger 15 watt transformer, installed a cathode/fixed bias switch and added a tube rectifier simulation trick that he picked up. He then fixed the reverb (it wasn't working on my brand new amp) and replaced the generic Fender Speaker with a Celestion Greenback speaker. This isn't even the same amp anymore. The notes jump out of the amp and bloom in the air. I can get way more useable sounds and the amp that ever before and the EQ even seems to respond better. The sound is similar to a cross between a Vox AC15 and a Fender Deluxe Reverb without the awesome reverb or tremolo (the reverb while not awesome is pretty good). I would never dream of selling this amp. Infact if I could get a 30 watt 2x12 version of this amp I would be a happy man indeed. I had a little extra cash and I had Curt re-cover the amp with purple vinyl so now it looks as cool as it sounds. If you have a Blues Jr. and you're not especially happy with the sound, send it to Curt and let him turn your amp into a killer class A tone machine. You won't be sorry. P.S. Greenbacks Rock!

While I'm sure my amp will hold up, the reverb wasn't working when I bought it new. That bugs me.

Ha! I've actually received better customer service from Marshall (Korg USA) if you can believe that. What a shame for an American company to provide such poor customer service.

I've been involved with music for almost 18 years 15 of them spent with the guitar and I have a lot of GREAT guitars and tube amps. Until I had the mods done, this was not a great amp or even a good one. Am I expecting a lot from an amp that I paid $300 for? Yes and no. This amp retails for around $500. There are 15 watt amps out there for $700 that blow the doors off the Blues Jr. for a mere $200 more. I think that Fender could make this amp sound much better with a little effort and just a small increase in price. I would rather pay the full $500 retail and get 15 watt recording/practice amp that sounds great than pay a $300 discounted price for an amp that sounds generic and bland.

I've had this amp for about a year. I've used it with Fender Strats, Andersons, G&L's, PRS's, Ibanez's, etc... Frankly, I think these amps are WAY overrated. They're flat and one dimensional at clean settings and farty/hollow sounding at cranked levels. The small pan reverb is all but useless. Compared to my other similar amps (Blackface Super Reverb, Hotrod Deluxe, Classic 30, Mesa Recotoverb) the BJ is completely outclassed. The BJ is a decent practice amp, an average harp amp (with a Green Bullet mic) but for guitar they're really not all that great.

Almost all BJ's have rattles and minor fit and finish problems. The PCB construction is cheezy (open one and look) and the tubes are about as bad as Sovtek/GT will put their name on. I personally wouldn't gig with one.

I'm generally not an amp Nazi, but in this case I feel I need to provide a counterpoint to the other flattering reviews. The BJ has it's place, but aside from the severly budget constrained beginner or tin-eared bedroom rock star, this amp is off the mark. Fender gets a "close but no cigar" on this one. The Electar is cheaper and sweeter sounding while used Classic 30's, Deluxes and Champs can be had used for about the same price and kick butt all over the BJ.

As many have said below, this amp's strength is in its simplicity. I am a recording engineer and the studio-supplied guitarist (if you need blues, that is.) This is a blues amp, pure and (at the risk of being redundant and repeating myself) simple.

I use a custom rosewood-bodied, bubinga-necked strat-ish guitar with Seymour Duncan Live Wires pick-ups. All I play are the blues and this is my favourite amp for this task ever! I used to play a red-knobbed The Twin, with it switched to Low and two of the power tubes pulled. Mine measured 30 watts, and with the volume set to 2 you could play for 20 minutes before your ears started to bleed. Usually the volume knob was balanced at 0.8 and I'd try to sit as far across the room as possible, or behind it because it was so damn loud!

Then I met the Blues Junior. I'd gone in to buy a Roland Blues Cube 30, which a friend of mine had and which I could turn to 1.5 . They were out, but my salesman mentioned they'd just got a "small" fender tube amp, and he strongly suggested I try it. I sat down, he turned it on, and I was truly amazed! Then he mentioned the volume was maxxed-out and the Master was at 3. And I could hear him easily.

I knew as I was driving home to get my guitar that I was going to buy it. My five minutes with it and an old flying-V (dripping blood motif, even!) left me with the distinct impression that I had just been introduced to God Himself. I had to know for sure, just in case I'd really, really missed my guitar calling and should be playing bloody guitars, so I had to try it with my favourite axe.

I sat and played in the store for two hours before I realized I was still in a public place. The tone just flowed from the amp... really, pools of the stuff had formed all around me and the amp! Blues, blues, blues... This was no "practice amp." This was a well voiced, well conceived little box. If you've ever worked in the studio, you'd appreciate this amp all the more. It can be cranked without injuring the guitarist and still get that "full driven" sound delivered in a tight frequency range. I've had lots of guitarists forego their own amps (in the studio) in favour of the Blues Junior. We've done lots of Rock, Alternative and Art Rock with it now, and we even had a Country band surprise me with the tones they got out ot it.

The tone controls aren't huge, sweeping pots that "change" the sound, but rather they're designed to affect the important frequencies of your tone, without losing the sound of the guitarist.

If I were to rate this amp against ALL the amps I've ever heard, I'd have to give it an 8. Amps under $1500US, I'd give it a 9. For under $700 it's a definite 10.

As long as you don't physically abuse it, it's super-tough. Even normal transporting has never hurt this guy. (It seems suseptable to beer and cigarette burns, and drunken tantrums - I am a rec engineer ;o)

But go ahead - play it with both volumes at 12 for 5 years straight! You'll likely only ever change the tubes just out of curiosity. Tough little amp.

No idea. My music store is great to me, though.

I've been playing for 22 years. Like I said, I used to use a twin, but it was way too loud to use to its full potential. The Blues Juniour is a tremendous amp. I like it more and more each time I play. It's my amp of choice for pretty well everything.

Sure, it has its drawbacks - lack of standby switch, lack of EFX loop, lack of channels and, thereby, channel-switching - but that's the Whole Thing! This is as simple and pure an amp as you're ever likely to find. One continuous pathway for the sound, with a dedicated, usefullness-based tonal concept. This is definitely not a multi-purpose amp, and doesn't do a thing to try to hide that. Like it's name implies, it's a Blues amp, and is truly Great at what it does.

The only people whom I've met who didn't like the Blues Juniour (no-one's ever dis-liked it!) were guys with really sharp angles on their guitars named Shreddie-Freddie or something. Maybe they need a nice "dripping-blood" motif. ;o)

Blessed be, everyone!

The Blues Junior keeps it real simple with only the basic controls: Treb, middle, bass, volume, master volume, reverb. However, these controls can give a lot of tones when experimented with. The "FAT" switch is really nice for a little boost overdrive, especially with the master around 4 or above. It gives a nice bluesy sound. Maybe another channel would be nice, but I can't complain because it's tube and the price is fantastic, it's unbeatable.

I can't stop raving about the sound I get from this small wonder. The tubes seem to breathe nicely and give the guitar a simple clean sound. I've never played a clean sound as often as I do on this amp, but it's Fender so the clean sound is the best in the biz, what else should I have expected?! The "FAT" switch adds a nasty little punch for rock and bluesy stuff. But if played with, you can get some really nice smooth jazz tones and clean sparkely rock-a-billy, chicken picken sounds. Really nice little package. Perfectly compliments my all natural american strat! The more you crank it, the better it gets, for really nice distorted lead, I'd reccomend a tube screamer. That makes for an unbeatable combo.

This thing is a workhorse. For small gigs or gigs with nice acoustics, I only bring this amp. People are surprised by its big tone in a 1x12. The amp has never broken down over the 3 year period I'v owned it. Plus, it's got a 5 year Fender warranty! I know it will last.

I never have to deal with Fender because their stuff is the best! I know I'm bias, but I'm Fender all theway. The amp has a 5 year warranty, but I don't think I'll hold them to it, because this thing sounds like it can go forever. I gave the 8, because I don't know if Fender is nice, but there products definitely

I own the All Natural Fender American Strat and this Blues Junior is the perfect companion. The price in combonation with the Tone is unbeatable. I'll put this amp up against any solid state you pay under $600 for, easy. The tube sound and warmth you get can't be touched and the reverb is pretty nice too. I get all kinds of sounds from this little number than I get from my Princeton Chorus or Marshall Solidstate. I use thing all the time and don't plan on changing anytime soon (unless I get that new cybertwin!!!). I'd buy it again in a heartbeat, I swear you can beat it's overall deal. Buy this AMP!!

I've been playing for 22 years. I sold my Twin after I abandoned it for two years because of my new (used) Blues Junior. It's ugly from the front, the black tolex is badly cut and obviously glued; from the rear it's just gorgeous... I don't usually like "chicken head" knobs, but they look wonderful with the chrome-ish plate. And knobs that go to 12! And that blues tone! I don't know if it's good for much else than blues, since that's all I really play, but it's very versatile as a blues amp. I love mine. ;o)

I will skip this part since other reviews have
covered this nicely.

How does this thing sound? Not to hot. Generally
speaking, this amp sounds muddy and flat. This may
sound unfair, but it sure is true, at least on the
one I recieved.
Now I know that most people think that it can
sound like SRV, and with a quick twist of a knob,
produce a thick, modern rock tone. I personally
don't think so. First of all, the tone knobs
barely do anything, although they look freakin'
great. I thought they were broke at first untill I
finally heard some sonic changes while playing
thru a distortion pedal. Plugged straight into the
amp, good luck hearing a huge difference.
Turned up loud, it really doesn't sound much
better. It folds up and muds out. You can never
get that trademark glassy, jangly fender tone. The
tubey highs just are not there. Actually, if you
buy this, do not expect that classic fender tone.
Iv'e played thru Vibroverbs, Bassman heads and
combos, Twin Reverbs, old Prosonics. The Blues
Junior just does not have a tone that would fit
into that class. I will say that if you have never
owned a tube amp before, or had a super-cheesy
one, you might think this amp spits out dead on
SRV or Eric Clapton tones. It definetly can be
coaxed into copping decent versions of such, but
if you are serious about tone, or need a versitile
recording amp without tonal compromises, you
probably ought to look somewhere else.
I know that I'm acting like this amp cost me
$1,200 so I will back off a little. In saying that
this amp is in the $300 range, you could do alot
worse. The clean sound still smokes many a solid
state amp, and with a good distortion or overdrive
pedal, you will be able to get some enjoyable,
useful tones.
Now, the reverb does have a quasi-classic
fender amp sound, but it decays too fast, and is
pretty discrete compared to actual old fender amps
with the large reverb tanks. It can add a nice
feel to some kinds chops, but overall the reverb
seems to have been a second thought when they
designed this amp.
So far, I've played a '62 reissue telecaster
and a fat strat thru this little thing. The tele
sounds flat and wierd, but the strat sounds fairly
good. I prefer the tone of this amp at lower
volumes, but tone is highly subjective. For the
price it holds it's own, but I guess I expected
more from this classic-looking little Fender.

The first one I got was defective (reverb
didn't work). The one I have now seems pretty
good. Contrary to popular belief, most tube amps
are rather durable.

N/A

I've been playing guitar for long enough. I
own an Ampeg Reverberocket (1962), Guild
Thunderbass head and Cabnet, and a '60's Bassman
Head to name a few. My friend and bandmate's
Marshall Plexi gets the most use.
I bought this amp to record with. Next time,
I will go for a different amp, but I'm sure to
shell out more. I must not hate this amp, because
I play it all the time, but am left feeling a
little jipped. Honestly, for an amp in the $300
range, you can't expect a whole lot.
Thanks for reading.

The features are simple enough: volume, treble, middle, bass, and reverb, with a master volume control and a "fat" switch. I wouldn't call the controls versatile, especially when compared to all of the digital "modeling" amps on the market lately. But this minimalist approach appeals to me. A good sound is easy to find.

First off, my primary use for this amp is Jazz playing. I play a Heritage 575(ES-175 style guitar) going directly into the amp(no boxes -- especially NO chorus). I like a warm tone that is not too shrill and not too bassey, and this amp nails that tonal spot perfectly -- without any destructive rolling off of the tone knobs on my guitar. This is not the polytone minibrute sound many modern jazz players favor(I don't understand the jazz guitarist's obsession with these). It is warm, dark, smokey-sounding tone perfect for complimenting a jazz ensemble. The size of this amp make it exceptional for jazz uses. My one other amp(which I am now considering selling) is a reissue twin reverb -- louder and physically cumbersome). The twin reverb is a great amp, but I find it unacceptable for jazz. First, the sound is too loud and too big. It is not subtle and smooth, but hard-edged and often shrill. Second, the bass responce in the twin reverb doesn't work well with a large, humbucker-equipped hollowbody like my H575 -- it sounds tubby, without the low end providing what I consider "warmth."
But now I have the blues junior to solve all these problems. The sounds are warm, with each note having good definition. Chords have great body, single note lines on the unwound strings sound flowing, with a nice mellow pop to each note. I really liked the voicing on the EQ, each new tone setting I find inspires me. Personally, I think the small tank verb is great. With jazz playing, the "boingy" surf sounds of some fenders sounds harsh. But the blues junior's is nicely subtle, somewhat dark. Even at 12, it is not over-the top.
When cranked, the amp distorts fairly heavily. While this sound and volume does not suit Jazz, I can get a great rockabilly tone(with lighter gauge strings as well). The distortion is far better than any fuzzbox or seperate gain channel. It is natural and powerful, very throaty sounding.
As far as tone settings go, I like to keep the bass low, around 2 or 3. The treble I usually put slightly past the midway. The midrange knob I set to 2 or 3. Sometimes I like to roll off the bass and mid, using only the "fat" switch and treble. I keep the master cranked at all times, and the volume around 3.

I've hardly owned the thing yet. This amp's construction is great, and I'm careful. I don't expect any problems(I hate sending things in for repairs).

I'm extremely satisfied. I've been playing for around 7 years(I'm 18 years old). I've owned a lot of amps and guitars. First I had a squire strat, then a 67 fender mustang, then a G&L ASAT Special(great guitar). Recently I bought the H575 and it has become my main guitar. I've owned a score of amps. First, a few solid states, then a musicman 212, a peavey classic fifty, borrowed a fender super reverb for a while, owned a musicman 412 for one day, then a "super twin" for several weeks, then I settled with a twin reverb. For the jazz style that more and more interested me, however, none of these amps worked. Now I have the spectacular blues junior, and I'm satisfied.
Really, no one needs an amp bigger than this. It would save everyone's hearing a great deal if more players would use smaller amps. Plus, there's nothing better than an entire rig, guitar and amp, that you can carry all at once. The reviewer somewhere on this list who called this amp a "toy" that wasn't fit for "real" musicians is full of shit. If this person somehow has the idea that this amp sounds unmusical, he must think music sounds like, well, I don't know, Steve Vai or Joe Satriani or some awful shit like that.

Fairly versatile. Is at home really if you are playing in a small to mdeium size Blues Club. One channel, with Master Volume. No effects loop. No big deal on the loop. I bought this amp to jam with my old buddies without lugging all of the other monsters around. I used to use a 62'Bandmaster at the large clubs and a Classic 30 at the small to medium clubs. Now I use this Blues Junior exlusively. I just mike it at the larger clubs. The sound man LOVES it. I love it!

I'm playing a Strat with Seymour Duncan Vintage Rails. I use a Tube Screamer with the Jr., and this is absolutely the closest thing to pure SRV Texas Blues that you can get without serious amp mods. I've been looking for this amp for about 30 years. I've used Deluxe Reverbs on and off for years and this one blows them away! Fender won't tell you that because look at the price those things are bringing. This is their best kept secret in years! I'm selling my Clasic 30 to buy another one of these (just in case they disappear). If I can afford it I'll buy every one I can get my hands on. This little puppy turns heads!!! Good design on the speaker. When you crank the Classic 30 to get the tubes cooking, the speaker starts to fall apart...the Blues Jr. doesn't do that (being only 15 watts I guess). But make no mistake, this puppy is LOUD! It kicks the crap out of a Deluxe Reverb! While I was content with the Classic 30 at first, the Blues Jr. is now my first love. Great Fender tone, great crunch...great amp! I love jammin' with guys that bring in the pedalboards that take up more floor space than my wall to wall carpet, and all I have is my little Jr. and my TS9. And then at our first break, they start asking me about my gear. I just love it. Nuff Said!

I've only had this one for about six months so I'm not sure how durable it is, but to date no problems. (knock on wood) Use it all of the time, but I always have a backup.

5 year warranty...haven't needed it so far.

It is a little wimpy at lower volumes. But, then again what amp isn't?Ever played a Marshall at 1 1/2? The reverb is not as lush as that of a Deluxe Reverb, but very few amps in this world can make that claim. If playing at a small club, I would much rather walk in with this thing than a 50 watt Marshall or Boogie. I've played through a lot of amps in my years, but I finally found MY amp. Sometimes people chuckle when I walk in with this little monster, but when we start crankin' it out, they have a whole different expression on their face. I can't wait to get my next one. I'm gonna buy every one I can get my hands on. Forget trying to find Princeton Reverbs and Deluxe Reverbs! These little puppies are gonna be very collectable someday. And in the meantime I'm gonna crank 'em! Blues Junior and a TS9 Tube Screamer...deadly combination!

Not a midi channel switching monster. It is what it is, which is good. It is a 15w all tube Fender amp, with all the tone controls you would expect from Fender. Has master volume, and a fat switch (which increases the gain)

I am a dedicated Marsh@ll person, I bought this on a whim, so I could go jam with friends without having to carry around 4x12 cabs and 50 and 100w heads just for a couple hours of fun. This amp sounds really, really good. It starts with the clean Fender sound we all know and love. When cranked, this puppy really sings. It's loud enough to be heard over any drummer (except mine-lol), but that's why they make microphones. But you can get that power tube cooking, amp cranked to 12 sound without the neighbors calling the cops. The sound when cranked is in between early clapton, and early santana, very organic, sensitive to all your pick strokes, articulations, and just about all but fingernail color-lol. The reverb leaves a lot to be desired, but I like it dry anyway. Sounds better than a bluesbreaker that I almost bought. I give it a nine only because the reverb is less than impressive.

Only had it a week, 5 year warranty (I still haven't called MF to let them know that they forgot to ship a warranty card. It seems well made, I will check the screw tension (based on other reviews) before I really cut loose. I always check tubes in any Fender, or Mesa first anyway, because they are mounted upside down!

5 year warranty, will have to ship to MF if there is a problem, hope I got a good one.

Here goes: I've been playing for 20 years, I own a Marshall MKII, JCM800, and TSL100(the best amp ever), I also own a Sovtek Mig50, a vintage bassman head, and a musicman 130. I owned several other amps over the years in search of the perfect tone (does anyone ever find it?). I play mostly rock, alt, metal, but for expressing myself at the purest element of myself, this is the amp. I intend to record some of the stuff that doesn't fit my bands format, and this is the amp I will use for that. This amp is Fenders best kept secret, it sounds as good as any vintage Fender, with a master volume to boot. It can be a little wimpy when the volume is maxed, and the master low, but let the power tubes start cooking, and you will be rewarded. This amp sounds better than several bluesbreakers I tried out, better than several boogies I tried out, better than the classic 30, better than even some boutique amps. I highly recommend this amp to anyone who likes to hear a glowing little amp cry, scream, sing (no whining). It will bring out your personality as a musician. If you're a metal head, add an OD box, or whatever in from of it. Worth more than the asking price. If it were stolen, I would get another without hesitation. Probably the best value out there now.

This is a KICKASS amp. Nothing fancy, but you can get a really nice vintage-sounding overdrive. I mostly use a Zoom 505 for distortion and other effects. The amp's reverb sucks, luckily the 505's doesn't. But no matter what I play, I can make it sound right.

I mostly use a Fender Heavy Metal Telecaster with 3 duncan humbuckers and a Strat with a duncan and 2 rio grandes. I play blues, metal, hardcore, punk, and rock and this amp can do it all with the right effects. I love my 505. I can't take this amp much past 3 without getting yelled at .

I haven't had any problems and don't expect to. Fender amps are all good. If only their strings were as good as their amps.

This is a great amp for a great price.

I believe it was 1996 when I got this beauty. I am basing this as if your guitar is plugged directly into the amp (no additional boxes). If your a Zepplin/Ozzy/AC DC fan, this may not be the amp for you. If you ike everything else, then it IS the amp for you. It is somewhat limited by a single channel, no effects loop or external speaker outputs, but that's not what this amp is for. It's best served either in your room, or as a "yuppie" ansemble in your local Starbucks.

I play an array of Fenders, 73' (all original) & 93' Strat w/JB in lead position, 99' triple pick-up Cutom Shop Tele, 56' Les Paul Jr. and a 58' reissue 335 Dot Neck. This amp has that "Leo" tone. People comment all the time that it's the best guitar-to-amp tone they ever heard and I agree! It does have that "Fender Noise" but the tone more then makes up for it. As usual, the noise goes away when the pick-up selector is between pick-ups. It breaks up nicely (think SRV) at high volumes and because it's 15 watt (ALL TUBE) you CAN ACTUALLY DO IT (Unlike my Marshall. Just ask my neighbors)! Very vintage blues/rock tones. One additional note, put the amp on a hardwood or tiled floor. It tends to get "muddy" when sitting on carpet.

I've had the same tubes in since I bought it new in 1996! Yes they're scorched, but awesome sounding just the same. No problems. The 5 year warranty included with this amp was as sure a bet for Fender as Secretariet was in the 1973 Belmont!

The dealer I bought it from is great and always inquisitive. Based on other reviews of Fender's customer Service, I believe I will always go to the dealer I got it from.

I've been playing on-and-off for about 20 years. I quit playing for about 10 years (inclusive) while getting my degrees in college and because I had a solid state amp and a "humbucking based guitar" that had an annoying sound. I got intested again after a friend had a Blues Deluxe and an American Strat combination that sounded unbelievable. I bought the Blues Junior to play at home and the Marshall to play out. I will never part with either amp!

I think the amp was made in 1997 so says the packet with it. This amp is versatile enough for me. The knobs for bass, mid and tremble, master really change the sound even from one number change. I play rock, blues, and some folk sounds. It has one channel with a fantastic fat button that does what it implies--make the sound fatter. Wish it had a footswitch but no big deal. I will use all of the features. I use this amp for playing at home and will jam with it. Maybe small gigs. Power is noticed very quickly when you jack up the volume. If someone blindfolded me and hooked up this amp and I hadn't seen it I would think it was 4' tall and 4' wide! It will give you a headache and rattle the windows! This is an all tube amp and it even has an eminence 12" speaker! Mine is the blonde Blues Jr and it looks like a quality built amp of the 1950's, chicken head knobs, beautiful oxblood speaker cover, real metal plate on the back with Fender Blues Junior written on it, serial number, model on plate. Talk about tone, wow!

I use a Rogue A/E and it sounds heavenly through this amp. My Digitech RP-100 multi effects unit sound great through this amp also. You've got to try this combination! I love playing Beatles, Stones, Blues, and this amp will purr for you. It can be clean, warm and then loud and bluesy with just the right feedback to give you a sustain in your notes to cry for. Is there a better sounding amp anywhere? The distortion is good enough for hard rock maybe not the heaviest of metal but you can fix that with a stompbox. You can also get tubes that will cause more distortion. This amp is dreamy. It is like sitting front of a fireplace, comfortable and it gives you wonderful full tone at low volumes. My solid state has to be cranked up to sound decent. Comparing the tube and the solid state is like comparing color to black and white. You've got to give this thing a listen. Can't wait to gig with it sometime.

It has a 5 year warranty. I just got it so I can't say for sure but it looks so solid and nothing was loose on my amp when I got it, just good old fashioned look and built quality. Man, I should bought one a long time ago. No wonder you can't find these things used! At least I couldn't. I be easy with mine.

Musician's Friend is fair and square. They keep their word. They deliver the good and will take them back within 45 days of purchase if you are not pleased.

Been playing 24 years. Have owned lot's of gear. Have a Rogue solid state amp and Rogue AE 300 wonderful guitar. If it were stolen I'd be one madd man. I'd buy it again. I don't hate anything. I compared it to Crates, Peavey classics, in fact I cancilled an order on a Peavey class 50/410 after rereading the reviews on this baby. The 50 watts of tube was going to be too much and that amp weighs 62lbs. It's a good amp; I just don't need that kind of power. By the way, no other amps under $1000 has received the consistent excellent review s the Blues Jr. has gotten and I know why not. It is tops. I'd like to play a Fender guitar through this thing and would like to find a Fender forum or chat site to discuss this wonder amp with other and learn more about the E.Q. settings and so-forth. One last word, IF YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT BUYING A $100 OR $200 SOLID STATE AMP--DON'T, GO AHEAD AND TAKE THE DIVE AND BUY THE BLUES jUNIOR, YOU'LL NEVER REGRET IT AND I KNOW IT WILL BE WORTH MORE MONEY 10 YEARS FROM NOW THAN IT IS NOW. THINK ABOUT IT. DON'T MAKE MY MISTAKE OF BUYING CHEAPER UNPROVEN STUFF--GET THE PROVEN, GET THE AMP THAT SOUNDS LIKE AN OLD FASHIONED JUKE BOX.

I bought the amp new in November 2000. It has all the features previously mentioned, same tubes, 15w, etc. Several reviewers have lamented the fact that the 'fat' switch isn't footswitchable, but mine is. Of course the footswitch isn't included, you have to buy it, but the jack's there and it's covered in the manual.

Personally I'm glad I didn't pay more to have a footswitch included, as I haven't liked the sound I get with fat switch on -- too boomy, too dark, too Jim Hall.

The amp got its first trial at two consecutive night concerts, outdoors, with my blues/reggae/roots rock band Be-Bongo. I was half-expecting to have to mike the amp, but was getting all the volume I needed with the master and volume each set at around 5-6. See Sounds for more comment on the master/volume combo.

The treble, bass and mid controls are deep, with plenty of latitude -- definitley not a one-trick pony amp in my opinion.

I like the fact that this little amp does come with an external speaker output so one can experiment with different size/design cabs, different speakers, etc.

The only feature I wish it had is tremelo, though I'd just as soon get a hi-quality outboard trem I suppose.

I give it a 9 because for me the fat switch is a waste of circuitry.

I'm running a Fender American Deluxe Strat with vintage noiseless pickups and a maple fretboard, and only one effect, a Visual Sounds Route 66. My previous amp was a Fender RocPro 1000, which is a pretty nice amp except I got tired of lugging it around and it was way more volume (100w) than I needed most of the time. I'll keep it around for awhile to make sure the Blues Jr covers it all, but so far it looks like it's going to.

Just a quick note about the RocPro 1000, I liked the clean sound I got out of it, but to get decent hi-gain sounds, even using the overdrive channels, I had to turn it up to levels unacceptable to my bandmates. The Route 66 stompbox pretty much solved that problem, fattening up the tone at lower levels, and providing the necessary grit for blues, etc. I was pretty happy with that set-up but the weight got to me -- I always had to make two trips from my truck, one for the amp and one for the guitar.

I can carry the Blues Jr (31 lbs) in one hand and the axe in the other very easily. OK that's some background on why I went for the BJ.

Having read the reviews posted here, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the BJ, sound-wise. I figured worst case I could buy a new set of pricey tubes and a Weber speaker replacement to get it sounding really good, and I still wouldn't be out too much cashola. I still might give that a try further up the road, but I have to say I'm pretty happy with what rips through this amp already.

It runs pretty clean at a setting of around 4 or under (assuming master and volume are equal) and begins to break up nicely afther that (or lower of course if you drive it using the master/volume combo). I quickly found, at least in the concert situation I just came out of, that I didn't need to work it the latter way, as running the amp over 5 I got all the overdrive I needed and then some (so I kept the master cranked at or above volume at all times).

At first I wondered if maybe it was a little hairier than I needed, even set that way, but experimenting with the guitar controls, I more or less adapted the levels to my satisfaction (it cleans up nicely as you back off on guitar volume, and the highs attentuate accordingly). Consequently I found that I didn't have to use the OD side of the Route 66 at all. In fact I really feel I could almost do without the compressor side, but will continue to experiment with that before I abandon a pedal I've grown pretty fond of.

The sound is, as other reviewers have pointed out, very warm, as one should expect from an all-tube amp. In fact it's downright hot, with a much wider frequency spectrum than I expected. Simply put, once I adapted my style to this amp, which pretty much tears a hole in the air for all to hear -- to understand its essential nature, think Jeff Beck on Rockola -- I found that it was pushing me in new directions, which is always a nice result. My drummer flipped for the sound and after the second night couldn't stop slobbering over how 'strong' my playing was.

I'd said in my review of the Route 66 that it's easier to get a big sound out of a small amp turned up than it it is to get a big sound out of a big amp turned down, and for me the Blues, Jr proves this point very nicely. Frankly it doesn't sound all that impressive at living room volumes -- kind of blunt and lacking in harmonics -- but once you crank it a bit in a band situation, the sound opens up the harmonics just blossom.

I'd been thinking I might have to spend $1500 on a Dr Z Maz 18 or similar boutique amp in this power category. But this thing sounds pretty much like what I imagined the Dr Z would sound like, for less than $400. If the Dr Z sounds a thousand bucks better, my senses probably couldn't stand it.

The reverb does a pretty good job, considering the size of the tank. I expected something really lightweight-sounding, but it's all the 'verb I need. A setting of 4 puts it right at the edge of the surfline.

So yeah this thing ri

I've only had this amp a short time, but it's already survived some pretty harsh conditions, including sitting in the back seat of my truck in the tropical sun for 24 hours when I was too hung over from the first gig to drag it into the apartment. It sat in dew-wet grass behind the stage for a couple of hours each night before our band went on, and that didn't seem to phase it. On the 2nd night I baptized it with a good dose of neck-against-the-cabinet feedback, trying to channel a little Jimi on top of a rap-funk number we often close with, half expecting the speaker to go at any minute (too much high-octane Chang Beer again, I'm afraid). And it's been jerked in and out of the truck a dozen times in the past couple of days, dragged to afer-hours jam sessions around town. (By the way, this is the main reason I need an amp like this -- I couldn't bear to lug the RocPro to short jams like that, and I don't like playing through strange amps; if I can't get my tone right I can't play right either.)

I get no rattle or hum that I can hear above the band, and none when practicing at home either. Guess I got lucky.

A couple of reviewers mentioned a noisy reverb unit. There's a definite hum associated with the reverb as the chicken head points past 2, and it gets louder the more 'verb you mix in. When I tried it out in the shop that sold me this amp, the guys at the shop were concerned that it was more hum than usual, and they wanted to try repairing it. However I could immediately tell that the hum would be totally inaudible when playing with the band, which turned out to be the case. I needed to gig with the amp that next day, and they said they needed to keep it at least two days, so I said I'd get back to them. If I were going to play through this amp as a solo artist, the reverb hum might concern me, but I don't, and in a band sitch it's of absolutely no consequence. Something else onstage always seems like it's humming anyway, man, I've never been in a band that was dead silent between numbers -- wouldn't be rock and roll otherwise, would it? Anyway, if the hum were bad I'd be worried, but it's a pretty sedate hum as electrical hums go -- less than the hum of a single-coil pickup for example. On the other hand, since the shop is offering to check the reverb for free, I'll take them up on the offer one of these days. Given what other reviewers have said about the reverb, it sounds like it might be part of the package, and if so I can live with it 100%

Based on its performance so far, I'd say this a pretty reliable amp. I'd give this category a 10 if I'd had it longer. For now I'll pass on a rating, as it doesn't seem fair to rate it highly yet, or to take points off just because it's new and hasn't had time to prove itself fully.

Haven't had to deal with Fender on this unit yet. One thing positive I can say about customer service right off the bat, though, is that I think it's very cool that Fender included a complete circuit diagram for the amp, so that if I have to get someone to work on outside Fender, they'll know what's what.

Let's put it gently, I started playing electric guitar the year bfore Are You Experienced? was released. I've played every kind of amp from weird off brands that don't exist anymore to double Marshall stacks. The best single amp I ever owned was a mid 60s Super Reverb, which I unfortunately sold quite a while ago. I've tried a few of the boutique amps (except for Dr Z, Two Rocks, etc -- I refuse to pay over $1000 for an amp; for a guitar, yes, but an amp, no), but for me nothing quite does it like a Fender.

If this amp were stolen -- here's where I'm supposed to say I'll track the thief down and then stuff his dead body into the back of the amp, right? -- I'd go out and buy another one. It wouldn't hurt the wallet too badly, as it's a very affordable piece of machinery. I should probably buy another as a backup anyway.

The only other amp I'd consider getting right now would be Fender's 65 RI DR, which at 22w is probably more versatile than the BJ, plus it has tremelo. However, none of the dealers where I live carry the DR -- they say it will take months to get one.

I'm very happy with the BJ. As long as it lasts the next year without blowing up, I'm not likely to want to replace it with anything else. I will experiment with some NOS tubes like Jan/Philips or Mullards, just to see how much further I can take the sound in this box. I might think about getting a second cab with a Weber C12. I'd then save the extra cab for larger venues.

Don't buy one if you just sit at home and play, as you probably won't be that impressed. It needs to cook, like any good tube amp.

All in all, I really can't imagine a better value in a guitar amp.

limited but what you do have is damn good.

FREAKIN GREAT.....I have had this amp for like 2 years now. I love it. This is my third review. I have finally found my sound. For a long time I was worried about getting other peoples sound but I realized I needed to make my own and this amp is perfect. I use a strat with Texas Specials and a Les Paul with Duncans. I have a tubescreamer and big muff for distortion and a 505 for some wierd trippy effects. It is wonderful. It is a cross between all my influences. Which goes from Incubus, 3 doors down, creed, to SRV and clapton, and even a little JIMI, and on occasion some hardcore junk (don't want to play it but it is easy and is what people want to hear) I really can't say enough nice stuff about it. Don't listen to the people in here that don't like it. They are just old and think the only equipment that sounds good has to cost thousands of dollars. It is real loud for a 15 watt amp. I would really like to get a cab to plug into it. Possibly a 4X12 or 4X10. One problem. The reverb sucks really really bad. It is very noisy. That is alright though that is why I got a 505.

Be gentle with it and your good to go. Watch you fingers when putting it in your truck. I smashed my finger under it. It hurt really bad

Wouldn't know

KICK ASS THAT IS ALL I HAVE TO SAY ABOUT IT.

I'm not sure when this amp was made, but I bought it new in '98 so I think it must have been made not long before that. For blues and clean stuff this amp is amazing. However, it only has one channel, and no distortion. If you want an amp for metal or rock, this isn't it. You would have to buy too many pedals. This amp has both regular and master volumes. A cool thing with this is, if you keep the master low and crank the volume, you get a nice crunchy, overdriven sound. This amp also has a footswitchable "fat" switch that adds some tone. If this amp had distortion or another channel, it would be perfect. It has great spring reverb, and its simple construction allow all the features to be put to use. I mainly use this amp for practicing and jamming, and for that it is adequate. For gigs it may work also, it is very powerful for its small form. The Blues Junior is powered entirely by tubes, this may contribute to its imaculate clean and mellow sounds.

I love this amp for blues, but it just isn't made for metal. It suits some sides of my musical style, but not enough of them. I play blues, metal(Metallica) and rock(Hendrix, Sabbath,Zepplin). This amp sounds great with pedals, but I like just plugging directly in to amps. It doesn't have much variety(clean and more clean). Its lack of distortion is what stops me from keeping it forever.

I have never had a problem with the amp itself. My problems have come from the pedals I use in conjuction with it. It is extremely well made and practically indestructable.

I've never had to deal with the company, due to the amp's durability and reliability. The warranty that accompanied the purchase was 3 years long, I think.

I've been playing for almost four years. Along with this amp, I own a Fender strat(I love Fender), a Jim Dunlop original CryBaby wah-wah, and a Danelectro Fab Tone distortion pedal. If this amp was stolen I would buy a different amp, I need more versatility. I love the amp's clean sounds, but I hate how I'm forced to use pedals to get even the slightest bit of distortion. Once again, I like this amp, and if it had distortion I certainly wouldn't be looking for a new one right now.

My Blues Junior is the newer black tolex not the tweed. You've seen the features already. Pretty basic but very functional. More than enough power for nearly any application, including large gigs. I've used mine indoor and outdoor in small venues up to very large. As long as you mike it, no problems. You might need a little back in the monitors on a large stage though.

A number of people have complained about the lack of versatility of this amp. Many have said the Blues Jr is for blues only. WRONG! I play in 2 different bands covering nearly every style including heavy sounds like Creed, 3 Doors Down, etc. I can get every sound I've ever wanted with just a little tweaking and the right pedal. I bought this amp so I could stop lugging around my '78 50 watt Marshall JMP head and 4X12 cab and my '63 Fender Concert 4X10. I used to A/B those 2. Now I just take the Blues Junior and my '73 Les Paul and my pedal board (several other guitars also as backups). Or depending on what I need for that night I leave the pedals out. Running the Les Paul straight in and cranking the amp up wide open, it sounds identical to the Marshall. Especially if I run it through the 4X12 cab. Only difference is it cleans up better. I'm not kidding. I used this amp in this fashion on several tracks in the studio and the Marshall on other tracks. I forgot to write down which I used on which tracks. On tape, you can't tell a difference. Nobody has been able to say this track was with this amp and this is with the other and neither can I. But, you have to spend some time getting to know the EQ, etc to get what you want. You also have to pay attention to the other variable. Your guitar can't suck if you want good tone. With this setup I can nail the classic Angus Young sound without the wall of Marshalls cranked to 10.
If you want heavier/different sounds, get a few quality pedals. For the Creed type stuff, I use a Danelectro Fab Tone and run the amp clean.
You just have to spend time getting to know the amp.
I am contemplating swapping tubes and trying out an old Greenback just to see what it does.

Haven't had any problems yet. It's been used in probably 200 live concert situations plus more rehearsals and jam sessions without a hitch. I rarely even carry a backup anymore.

Again, there isn't much I can't get from this amp. I own both a Marshall JMP 50 watt half stack and '63 Fender Concert 4X10 and hardly touch them anymore (although they will not be gotten rid of). Typically, I play the '73 Les Paul classic, but I also own a Mexican strat, an Aria Pro Hollow body(335 style but no center block) that was one of only 12 ever made in Wine Red, and a custom made guitar that is way cool - mahagony body with P-90s but shaped like a tele w/ a tele neck. It sounds like an old Paul without any muddy midrange. Very cool. Anyway, I would buy another. It is exceptionally nice through a good 4X12 cab. Remember, you have to experiment with this amp, and don't expect it to make a piece of junk sound good. Use a good sounding instrument and this amp will rock for you.

I got my Blues junior new in 98. I traded a silverface fender twin reverb for it as well as for some other stuff. Don't get me wrong the twin is a great amp but my wife and I were about to have a baby and carting around heavy amps isn't in the cards for me anymore.The amp has vertually no bells or whistles, just solid tube sound.I change tones with a Digitech RP12 so for the amp to have channel switching and the like is pointless for me. I just use the amp at home and once in a while I get out and jam.The junior is a VERY loud 15 watts. I've owned high powered amps before and had jam mates tell me to turn down.This way I can cook the power amp a bit for tone and not be arrested.

I have a 57 strat reissue and a custom guitar I had built for me.The custom has the same tone woods as a Les Paul with a Gibson P 100 in the neck and a Duncun Seth Lover humbucker in the bridge. I try to emulate the sounds of Hendrix,Cream era Eric Clapton and serveral others." Why don't you have a Marshall stack? You ask? No room, a landlord ,and no roadie.Again I change sounds with the Digitech unit but the Junior gives a certain warmth to the RP12s' sounds that I like.

Works great and has never broke down. I've pushed pretty hard too.

I haven't dealt with Fender for any breakdowns but I have e-mailed requests for ideas on sound and amp settings and they've got back to me every time.

I've been playing for almost 20 years. I don't own a lot of gear anymore as guitar playing has kind of taken a back seat to my wife and little boy but I've had tons of gear go through my hands. I've had Marshalls,Boogies,and a few Fenders prior to my little friend. I love the fact that the power amp can be worked hard without spliting your ear drums.I've always been more interested in tone than in technique. I might try something else if this was to get stolen but I like to try different things every few years anyway. This is a great amp over all. If pure clean Fender tone is what your after in a small package,go for it. I think you could definately gig with it if you had a good P.A. and a drummer who wasn't overly loud. I'm a firm believer in the idea that tube amps sound better the louder they're turned up.At 15 watts you don't need to sacrifice tone for disturbing the peace.