Fender Blues Junior

Amp is a 2006. 15 watts, 1x12, all tube, 1 channel with master volume, reverb and "fat-boost" (which I don't use). I play mostly blues and blues based prog. rock and some popish-rock stuff as needed. This amp does quite well for me in terms of getting the sound I want and the volume I need. Stands up quite well with a reasonable volume band for rehearsals and smaller gigs. Definitely need to mic it for larger rooms. The enclosure is pretty small so you don't get a TON of spread, but I prefer a lower power amp mic'd up than using more powerful combos and stacks. No effects loop on this thing and I don't need it. I bought it for those "fender-licious" cleans and that's my base. My peal chain works great in front of this amp. I give a 9 because it has everything I need and very little that I don't.

The amp by itself gives a nice full sparkly clean tone. Fender seems to voice their preamps with alot of sweet warmth and fatness. I love that tone for cleans but when I drive it past mild breakup, well the tone just gets "confused" and muddled. Not my thing. With the master volume cranked, I get breakup around 12:00 on the pre. The breakup I get has alot more power tube drive than preamp drive. With the master lower, I get breakup a little later on the pre. As I said....not loving the OD sounds of this amp, but I'm fine with that as I bought this amp for it's clean tones and to use as a platform for my modest pedal board.

Here's my signal chain: '96 G&L Legacy >Planet Waves Tuner > Jekyll & Hyde OD > TS9 > Danelectro Delay. I love this guitar (it's what a strat ought to be) and my OD pedals I put MUCH research into before buying. That being said...the BJr really accentuates and brings out the best in my gear. Sure, it's no Matchless Chieftan, or DR. Z, or Buddha, or any other such boutique amp but for my budget and needs I am quite happy.

No issues yet. Heard some bad stories. Heard some good stories. I know there were some issues with the older "greenboard" ones. I hear they are fixed. Time will tell.

No experience

Been playing about 20 years now. Been getting paid for it for the last ten. I've owned quite a few other amps in my day some were great...some were not. When shopping for this amp I also auditioned Crate Palomino's, Pro Jr.'s, Roland Cube 60, and the hotrod Deluxe.
I just love the sound and portability of the Blues Jr. Plenty loud for most occasions (i.e. practice, rehearsals, pickup jams, small to medium gigs). At $400 new, not much else compares. There are better small amps for like 6-10 times the price. My pockets aren't deep enough to justify. Maybe one day... If this amp were stolen...I would get another.

Amp made in Mexico, year 2005. Its features, quite essential and minimalized are just the best to suit my taste (the less you have, the less will break!): 15 Watts of pure all tube power, single clean channel, bass mid and treble controls, volume (pre) and master (power amp), Accutronic spring reverb and -the feature I like the best- a really useful boost named "fat" controllable via footswitch (not included)that adds some juice to the tone for lead sound, making it cut through the mix as a blade through butter! As I wrote, it just have 1 channel and doesn't have any effect-loop; it's anyway really pedal-friendly and putting a really good overdrive in front of it will make it just sing. Its 15 Watts are more than enough to gig in small clubs and if you have to play in a theatre or a Stadium, I suppose you'll have to mike it. I won't give it a 10 here just because for the buck I'm convinced they SHOULD supply the footswitch.

The sound is clean and deep, very responsive to EQ settings and can make any guitar you plug in the way it's meant to play... I mostly use it with a Strat and a Tele (both loaded with Kinman pick-ups)and I can nail everything between Chicago and Rio Grande in the Blues territory (which must obviously be the perfect habitat for this amp): SRV, Johhny Winter, early ZZ Top, Allman Bros. and Lynyrd Skynyrd. It just brings the best out of my rig: the sound is clear, but never brittle, with tight bass response and always 3-dimensional.
It even seem to like some jazzy phrasing when I plug my full-hollow Ibanez semi-acoustic guitar.
I had tons of other amps in the past (Marshall JCM600 and 800, Fender Super Reverb, Hot Rod Deluxe, Mesa Caliber 22, Peavey Classic 50). This is by far the best I've own: after wandering for decades looking for an amp providing good sounds both clean and distorted, I realised that all I needed was a clean tone perfect to my ear and my taste, then a good overdrive that wouln't snaturate that sound...
The Blues Jr gave me THAT clean sound, but don't forget that THE sound is totally subjective: the same sound may be Heaven for me and Hell for somebody else...

It seems well built, despite some reviews I read here... It never let me down so far, though I often mistreat it a bit by gigging around in Clubs where I have to "squeeze" it a little ;-).
I always gig without a back up, even if I just got another one trading off my Hot Rod... Sofar, so good.

I never dealt with them.

I've been playing for 30+ years, a decade as a pro across late 80's and 90's with more Blues and Southern Rock bands than I can remember.
I'm really in love with this amp; I think it gives its best with the Strat, but let's remember that the amp is 25% of your sound, as 25% is in your guitar and the last 50% is in your hands and heart!
I wouldn't buy any other amp and I guess you hardly could find another in this price-range that sounds better! Oh, by the way... It weighs in under 18 Kg, so you won't have to rent a lifter to bring it out for gigs!

Mine was made in 2006. There are plenty of reviews here so I will focus only on this amp's usefulness in playing surf music.

I play surf music through this amp with an assortment of Fender and Danelectro guitars, generally preferring neck+bridge. You can get a good surf sound out of this amp. Needless to say, you will want to turn the reverb all the way up to 12 and leave it there all the time. You can get a good deal more reverb out of it by turning down the EQ's. I find that a setting of between 1-2 for middle and bass, and between 2-3 for treble yields a nice tone. It would be nice, of course, if the reverb could be turned up past 12, perhaps to 20 or 400 or so. But then again, the sky is the limit.

I found the Sovtek 12AX7's to be lacking in dirt and snot, so I pulled one and replaced it with a 1953 GE 12AX7 that trashes up the sound a bit more (I believe it runs a bit hotter as well). If you have a box of 12A?7 tubes around, try out a few others.

The Blues Jr pretty much has all the features you can expect from a small tube amp - single channel, 3 band eq, master volume and Reverb and 12 inch speaker.

One unique feature the act has is what they call a "FAT" switch, which is a fixed gain and low-end booster that's footswitchable. A good substitute if you don't have a Tubescreamer. It thickens up the signal and makes it more powerful - I'd leave it on all the time but I run a rather noisy flanger before the amp so can't have any gain boost after it, so leave it off. This is where an effects loop would have been great.

I've had this amp for a few years now so am pretty well versed with what it likes and does not.

First this is a Fender, not a Marshall 18w so don't expect a lot of overdrive. The name of the amp is Blues Jr, not Rock Jr or Metal Jr. What this means is it's designed to produce a Blues sound - as you turn up the volume the tone gets increasingly woolly and middy, losing high end detail. Personally I'm not a Bluesman (I play Indie rock) so I swapped out the 12AX7 in V1 with a vintage RCA 12AT7, which increases the clean headroom of the amp and suppresses the middy, woolly gain sound for further along the turn of the volume knob. You still have to be careful boosting the amp with pedal - a large volume boost from a pedal will of course push the amp into the woolly middy drive, so I tend to be fairly conservative with pedal volume, although some bright dirt pedals mix quite well with the amp's own overdrive.

The general dark, middy, woolly tone of this amp means it's probably best suited to single coils (not surprising again - it's a Fender). I play HBs (HSH) and think you can get the most out of this amp with lighter gague strings - I use flatwound 10s. Previously I'd used flatwound 12s (I'm no shredder) but the tone was really much too thick for this amp. I had to run the treble control on full and the Bass on 2 and it was still too difficult to balance between the neck and bridge. Now I run each EQ at around noon - if the tone of the instrument is good then there's little need to compensate at the amplification stage. I leave the volume at 5 and alter the master depending on whether I need to keep things quite. It's quite loud with the master maxed.

The spring reverb is ok, but nothing to write home about. Of course it's not tube driven, and it's a very small spring tank, so isn't that deep and has that small tank twang. Some guy on ebay used to offer a bigger spring tank that he'd file down so it would fit into the cab. I'd always intended to pick one up but never got around to it and I've not seen them listed for a few years now.

I also swapped out the stock speaker with a Jensen C12N reissue several years ago. From memory it improved the tone slightly, maybe by 10-15%.

Well I'm not a gigging musician so can't comment on how it stands up to being moved from place to place, but I've never had an issue with the amp. I was disappointed to read that Fender Australia would only honour the 5 year warranty if the amp was serviced by an authorised repairer annually.

I also noticed that the knob labels were very easily rubbed off (the ON under the power switch has completely rubbed off my amp).

One thing it is prone to is tube rattle, though this is more an issue of the tubes than the amp, and a risk with most combos. The stock grovetube preamp tubes in V2 and V3 rattle on the neck pickup with the volume is high enough. I'd probably worry about it more if I had an audience.

I've had a love-hate relationship with this amp. I'd fallen for a little Pro Jr, yet when I went back to the store the next day for the sale they'd discounted the Blues Jr, which I hadn't bothered to try, into my price range. The store was far to packed to try the amp out and I just assumed it was the same as the Pro, only with more features. I think the two amps have different purposes - the Blues Jr is obviously meant for the Bluesman and the Pro is better voiced for classic rock. In any event I've learned to live with the Blues and can appreciate that it's a pretty good amp for the money. It's never had an issue and is still running strong on 4 of the 5 stock tubes 4 years later. Ultimately I think I will eventually sell it in 6 months to help fund a holiday, and would probably look at something else to replace it when I return, perhaps a Deluxe Reverb reissue or possibly an old Princeton Reverb if I can find one. I think the Blues Jr is better than old Champs and Vibrochamps - they sound tiny next to one.

Anywho, they're available everywhere so try one out and let your own ears decide. Best to ignore criticisms from gear snobs because it doesn't measure up to their Matchless - it's an entry level mass-produced amp for God's sake. For what it is, it's pretty good. value. There's not a lot available in the alternative.

This amp has no frills, except for a "Fat" button, which gives it an overdrive effect. This is different than the Fender Blues Deluxe set up. The other pots are just for volume, master, reverb, etc..
I basically use this amp at my home, but may be suitable for a small gig.

This was my first tube amp purchase after having several solid state types. I play a Fender Telecaster, usually tuned in open E to play bottleneck with. I am very happy with the sustain I get with the amp fairly cranked up. The tone is powerful, but dampening the strings helps omit any clutter. So it works well for this application. I also just purchased an Epiphone Dot, which is generally rigged in standard tuning, and it's a blast to play throught this amp. It has a nice warm tone, and depending on how high the volume and master are set, I can rely on only amp distortion for good rockin effects. I also use a wah wah with the Dot at times, and I feel no need to add any other effects device to the set up to achieve any better tone. It's powerful for it's size, and it's got some versitility depending on styles and guitars

I had to have a tube replaced recently, but it's held up nicely.

I have found many players who are fond of this amp for different reasons. For the price it's a great investment for a smaller tube amp that packs a little punch.

The amp was made in 2006. 15 watt amp, EL84 Groove Tubes inside. Sovtek 12AX7 preamp tubes as well.

I play rock, but mainly a singer, so fine for me. For practice, home, small gigs...can't go wrong. It's not some wonder amp; simple is best.

VERY HAPPY with the sound. I have a Les Paul 58 VOS, and I have been playing everyday now! The amp is small so it starts breaking up at about 5. The FAT switch adds warmth to it, but don't expect "shred-head" tones. I have a LINE 6 Uber Metal for that. The reverb is tasty! For the size, a great sounding tube amp!

Just got it so can't tell you that....

Fender?

No comment.

Great value, will use this live. I hope I can advise people like this: I was a GAS maniac who went through axes and amps like wildfire. I slimmed down to just a Gibson J-45 acoustic, and the 58 LP VOS. I had a Mesa Boogie Lonestar 50/100W. I felt bad for the amp, because its chance to shine was being taken away by my living in a condo in hyper-sensitive Japan! Many friends came to my aid and so I got this. I admit the Lonestar's reverb and clean is not to be beat, but realistically, how could I play that amp? You know the answer to that.
This amp play beautifully, it's all tube, and your neighbors won't try to kill you. This can be used in smaller venues, so worth the dough. Been playing about 20 years. If it got stolen I'd buy another, but here in Japan, they're SOLD OUT along with the PRO junior. I was lucky to get one. Check one out.

We all know these by now!! but i gave this i high rating because i dont use effects loops, or any fancy channel switching, so it has enough features for me!!

This is not a fizzy ultra gain distortion amplifier so dont buy it if thats what you want!! a few reveiws on here have complained about the lack of drive on this amp but...ok...sorry..Its a BLUES JUNIOR!!! and the idea of a classic blues sound is to drive the power stage as far as you can and not use that nasty fizzy overdrive that you get on a lot of amps!! thats why its only 15w and not 50w so you can crank it!! The sound is very sweet, and is sensitive to pick attack. Hard to get a clean sound when cranked, but if you have a Strat/Tele/Ric or any single coil guitars,it should do the job well. But again it is a BLUES amp!!!It does that BB King SRV modern Clapton sound well!!! also good for Oasis The Beatles, any classic rock really!! But i would recommend using only classic type guitars with this! tried a Jackson through it and it sounded very dull! i use Strat, Les Paul, Rickenbacker 330 and they all shine there unique sounds through this amp! I have it set up driven and just use the volume on the guitar to control gain level, works well for me..but may not for others, so you do need to try before you buy!!!!

no probs yet!!

Been playing for 16 years, 12years live in bands!! I own a Marshall DSL100 head & cab!! and a Marshall 2554 Jubilee combo!! all great amps!! but this little thing is well up there with them!! i use it more than the Marshall Jubilee and those amps are fantastic!! dont listen to the crap!! its got plenty of power for most live places i play pubs & clubs and its fine!! If you use 100w amps, the bass then uses high wattage amps..the drummer then gets louder! the singer then gets a 5000w PA with 6 monitors!! and it gets stupid!!! we all use small combos in my band now, dont use the big stuff anymore! and have a much more dynamic sound then ever!! And for me the BLUES JUNIOR fits the bill well and does a great job!!!

I don't know the year, but I know it's Made in America. It's a single channel amp with a gain boost and reverb.

3 12AX7 preamp tubes feeding into 2 EL84 power tubes, into a Fender Eminence 12" speaker that I find is lacking but does its job.

15W tube

Really, it's all I want from the amp, so no problems, but an effects loop would be a welcome addition, as I would like to put an EQ between the pre and power sections of the amp.

Oh, and a standby switch would be a really good idea.

Here's where things are awesome.

Here's how I'd describe this amplifier: JCM-800 Marshall with tighter low end and much lower power. Oh, and if you're wondering, I do have a JCM-800, and that's my main gig amp. I've had the opportunity to crank this amplifier numerous times, and the sound it produces is very Marshallesque. With humbuckers, just stick an overdrive pedal in front with the level maxed out and the gain at zero, and the tone maxed. Maybe add a little drive from the pedal, and you're in the metal zone (but better sounding). Think Jerry Cantrell.

The sound from this amp is creamy and it really sings.

This amp is capable of playing an unmiced gig if you're okay with not having a good clean sound, though your volume knob will help. Paired with a more efficient speaker, this amp can almost do it all. I've played metal shows, unmiced, with this going into an Avatar 1x12 when my Marshall has gone in for repairs.

This amplifier sounds really great when miked for a recording or through a PA, and it's a convenient, relatively light, and great sounding amplifier. It's my main recording and rehearsal amplifier.

My two qualms are that its reverb no longer works, which I need to fix, and the speaker is pretty dull sounding, not to mention inefficient.

Reverb does not work, and that's half of why you buy a Fender. I bought the amplifier from my teacher, who sold it because he hardly used it, so it really looked brand new. I've used it extensively, so it has its nicks, but the reverb never worked to begin with on this amp.

I've never dealt with Fender. I'd imagine they do their best but given the size of the company, things fall through. But I won't give a rating here.

I've been playing 10 years, gigging for 5. Considering the deal I got on this amp, I think it's an incredible value. I'd replace it in a heartbeat.

My other amp is a JCM-800 4210, which I only use the clean channel on, as that's the real all-tube, JCM-800 channel. My signal chain is as follows:

Guitars:
1987 Fender Stratocaster MIJ
2005 Dean Vendetta 3.0 with DiMarzio Megadrive and Air Norton
Early '90's Charvel Model 3
Frankenstrat with EMG SC's, Kramer neck, Squier Alder body, Schaller Floyd Rose II bridge.

Effects:
Dunlop Crybaby
Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive
Digitech Screaming Blues
1985 ProCo Rat Pedal
Boss CH-1 Super Chorus
DOD Stereo Phaser (the maroon one)
Danelectro Fish & Chips EQ

Amps:
Fender Blues Jr.
1983 Marshall JCM-800 4210
Fender Frontman 15

This is my 2nd blues jr. !st was used and i sold it and just got a 06
model. brand new. You know the features,1 channel, reverb, fat switch,all tube 15w. I will be using it at church miked thru pa. wish it had a stand by switch [ what i do is turn master all the way down] wish it had a effects loop.

Like the label says,blues, awesome clean, lil meat when needed as you dig in, I got a Boss bd-2 also. I have a Prs swamp ash hsh, with a 5 way switch, a american tele deluxe with 2 Barden twin tone p'ups and a awesome strat copy with peavey wolfgang neck and anderson p'ups, got a kelley ts9, v-stack, boss chorus, boss dd-6 delay and a incredible BBE sonic max. stomp box.
Im a blues based player playing comtempoary christian music, very hi-energy.
Fat switch is ok, i like to get as clean as i can and let the pedals do all others

Had manyyy amps, fender has had problems i hear, none here

Ive called fender before for help, total jerks

Im 51, been playing since i was 8. I do have a 2006 peavey classic 30, upgraded to jj tubes and a weber silver dog.
If you cant get tone outa this thing stock, get guitar lessons, tone is in your fingers also, Ive had 'em all, guitars and amps.
I bought this cause I wanted some fender clean, also ck out the crate 30w class a palamino, got some sweet clean, fender style, also had a 15w palamino, i didnt like it. The peavey classic has a better od/ dist. channel, crate has a sweet fender sound clean, let the pedals do the work on the clean side

small light weight, does have plenty of punch. I use it mainly for a pratice amp but have used it in small clubs.

I`m a blues guitarist and like the tube tone, it does breakup OK but seems to have a hum when the fat button is engauged.

within a week the reverb went out and continued to fail approx. every 3 months just like clock work. in a 3 year period this amp was in the shop for a total of 36 weeks for reverb repairs. I wasn`t happy about that. Fender denied there was a problem but after 6 trips to the repair shop they finally replaced it with a new one. haven`t turned the new one on yet considering selling it and buying a Peavey 112 Valve King.

Fender Lies, numerous phone calls and e-mails between Fender and I along with the point of purchase dealer I bought the amp from. each time it was sent for repairs it was gone from 4 to 6 weeks, repair shop says to many to fix in their shop, humm! a friend of mine has same exact problem with his.

I`ve been playing guitar for 30 years, played most venues, bluegrass, rock, country and now blues. If this amp was lost or stolen I would not replace it, has been a piece of junk ever sience I brought it home. at the time i was looking for a small amp that would be easy to transport, I considered a Peavey and probally should have bought it. I own a 1980 Fender 75 112 combo and it is my main amp but weights in a 80 lbs, difficult to transport but does work fine after 26 years of service.

Features very basic and easy to understand- ideally it could have two channels clean/overdrive but for this price you could buy two amps or buy a volume boost pedal to get the same affect changing between clean /overdrive

Sound quality is the best. Really great sound.Its not and out and metal shredders amp. Think more blues warm sound tube overdrive at its best.

A definite addition to your rig with this amp would be to add a graphic equaliser as one of your pedals.This really refines the sound.

never had to deal with them.Had it 6 months never a problem

dont know

I would replace this amp if stolen.Definately the best.i have two other amps a marshal and a fender twin.The fender blues junior is the one that comes out with me every time

I bought it brand new in September 2006 from a shop in Denmark street (London UK). I have many good amps but I needed an all valve good sounding amp small enough to travel by tube and but to my gigs with my country-blues-pop band. You know all the features already. 15W: it's got plenty of power. With the band (good drummer) I never used it full power - too loud. I even played an outdoor festival once and was OK (obviously miked up). The spring reverb is decent not great, still very useful and usable. Fat channel gives a bit dirtier sound, a bit richer with harmonics and fatter. I had it on all the time. Nothing missing here! Very versatile for all styles. Heavy rock or metal is a no-no. Maybe could be used with distortion pedals as practice amp only. For me its magic was the portability.

I used it only with a G&L telecaster and a Fender Stratocaster and for the money is the best thing out there! For this money. It's got that valve rich and thick sound which can cut its way out through the band on stage. I did extensive researches before buying it and I definitely did the right choice for the budget I had. To my ears the best sound was with the volume as high as possible and the gain low, that way the power valves really breathe and the sound is more dynamic. I liked the mids and bass quite high (8) the treble on 3.
Maybe because my guitar is quite bright. Reverb always on 3. Quite impressive good sound for such a small box especially if you have a chance to really crunch it up to saturate the speaker. I read here that many people changed the speaker and the tubes. I put in some nice J/J valves and to be honest didn't make much difference. I wouldn???t recommend changing anything in this amp. It won't make too much difference. Just crank it up and happily play. It's a cheap amp and will still be a cheap amp. The best cheap amp around indeed.
After saving money I sold it and bought a Cornell Romany Plus but I have to say that the Cornell cost about four times more (and sounds four times better).

In the first out of the box the reverb didn't work. I think is a weak point the reverb in this amp. I unscrewed it out and kept it separate outside the amp in a foam envelope to travel by bus and tube on the trolley and connect it back just to play the gig.

I had to wait few weeks to get a new amp just after I bought it because the reverb didn't work. So check the amp in the shop before you go home.

In my opinion is the best amp out there in this price range if you play anything but metal. I would reccomend this amp but if you are picky about the sound don't think that you can change the speaker and it will sound amazing. Save some more money and buy something in a different price range.

All tube, 12 inch speaker, reverb, master volume (distortion capable). fat switch. bass-treb.-mid. controls.

YES YES YES-WARM BRIGHT BASSY- TRUE TUBE VINTAGE SOUND*THIS AMP IS IT*

tubes amps require maintenance. but this will be my main amp. if I have a problem, I will buy two, or three and have the same amp backing up the same amp.

don't know

This amp sounds good with pedals and by itself, sounds good with my strat and my acoustic. For 15 watts it sounds like 50 watts on other mosfet amps. this amp is a time capsule to back when the sound of music mattered. I'm very impressed, I will keep this amp a long time and will probably buy another one later as a back up.

This amp is extremely basic and so rating it a 10 is not because of the vast amount of different sounds, but more because it is an awsome amp for the money and it is versital enough to play a variety of music. The best feature and it's saving grace is the master volume. This allows you to crank the regular volume and us it as a gain. Other than that it has the typical fender controls, volume, bass, mid, treble, and reverb.

I love tube sound, and this amp is tube sound. If you want an amp with crazy off the wall distorsion built in than this is not your amp. However if you want a sweet sounding Tube amp with enough power to play small indoor gigs and practices, as well as outdoor gigs thru a PA.
I play Classic Rock and Blues, and I have a Telecaster, Les Paul, and a Melody Maker. This amp sounds good with all of them. If you can use floor pedals then you can achieve any sound you want. The clean on this amp is clear enough to facilitate any distortion pedal or overdrive pedal. All I use is a tube screamer and it gives me some beautiful leads.

I played a few with reverb problems. The guitar center guy said fender was having some problems with reverb units, but I think thats probably bullshit. I only gave it an 9 because I played 2 before finding one that was perfect. But hey if you get it new then you get a 5 year fender warranty so you'll be covered.

Fender has a 5 year warranty for anything that breaks. I have never had a problem with any fender I have owned. I have had a Twin, deluxe reissue, blues junior.

Anyone concerned 15 watts is not enough juice should be warned, this is a loud amp. I have played in a band for the last 8 years and I usually play with a twin. Due to weight and it being a pain in the ass to move around I bought this little joy. It keeps up with the drums and the rest of the band and I have pleanty of room to get louder. I should say I play really loud. I love my amps loud and I love to feel the music. This little thing, sound so good I may be using it more often than the twin. We'll have to see. I HIGHLY recomend this amp. Very light, beautiful tone, great value.

Volume, Master Volume, bass, mids, treble, reverb. All you need though.

I have been at music school for a while. Prior to this I had a Roland Cube 30. I liked the solid state sound that amp put out at lower volumes. It soon went to shit cranked. I should note I play jazz/modern jazz. Having had the privelege to play several differnt amps at school I decided that a fender was the way to go. I than had a friend from another country who is quite the heavy weight player. I noticed he was using a blues junior. I thought it sounded good despite the way he was eq'ing it. I couldn't afford the deluxe so I said hey lets try it. I have had it for months not and I love the sound it produces. I generally prefer what some would all a "dark" sound. Not like Wes's or Mehteny's but more like Rosenwinkel's. I can get there with this amp if I crank the treble..put the bass at 1 or 2...and put the mids at 5. I have been experimenting with odd eq's for a while...I find with that setting i can control the rest with my guitar. All the sound is there. I run a line 6 DL4 through it and sometimes an Alesis Nanoverb. I am hoping after the holidays to update it with a celestion since I tried one wth a celestion V30 and thought it sounded much better. Let's face it the stock speaker ain't great but my guitar makes up for it.
I am not a hobbist or at home Blues banger....so I don't find using the amp's distortion much useful. It is nice...but I do find the amp to sound "boxy" when it is used. Ironically I do use a Barber Direct Drive every once in a while...and that thing can not only make the amp rip....it acts as a clean boost aside from the one provided on the amp.

good thus far.

good

I dig the sound for what I do. I mean gigs are small venues so it is fine there. It is light and portible. I run my own effects through it like I said. I am not a fan of the reverb on it. It is fine..I just prefer a darker hall reverb. As far as the comment I read bellow mine about the amp's reverb only being useful at max settings. I find that to be completly ridiculous to be honest. Unless you are playing 80's music. I mean I find it fine at 3. I guess if you use tons of drive and are making up for technique or something that is fine to crank it. Just not a useful tone.
I like Harmony Central reviews...but you have to be careful waht you read. You get every kind here writing reviews; which is fine. You just need to search for the honesty. The truth is that this amp is a decent start to a small rig if you are playing small venues....or it is miced. It is an awsome start to work with. Add nice pedals if that is your bag..etc....and this amp is fine for the money. Infact, I don't think for the money you'd find much better. Although I heard Peavy classic 30's can compare.
If I had the cash I'd go with a Deluxe just becuase you can get a better tone for what I do.
This is fine though.
Don't buy if you play that nu metal shit...or are just looking to make alot of noise.

Reverb, all tube, small and cheap price

Out of the box you get the best for the money, but in all honesty not that great. Has a really ice pick tinny sound to it. Not bad just not great. I did a couple do it yourself mods and put a Weber 12F150 speaker in it. The mods I did were the Bill tone stack mod and lower the bias with a higher resistor value. The two mods alone did help a little, but the speaker made the best change. I looked and looked for a good speaker for this amp and it's hard to finds any good advice. The Weber has a VERY nice warm detailed sound. If you like warm smooth highs and a crapload of bass this is it. In no way could I live without my setup it sounds VERY VERY Good!! I'm giving it a 10 because I can't find a better sound anywhere. Better then my Mesa MKIII clone

Good

Never dealt with...that's good!!!

I know its not the best amp out of the box, but with anouther $120 in mods you can't find a better amp. I have owned a Fender Blues Deluxe, Ampeg VH-140 and a Roland Bolt 60 (police and Jeff beck have used it for recording). The blues jr, beats the deluxe with no mods but the Roland crushed this thing in warmth. After the speaker none of these amps can mess with this thing. Remember it's only 15watts so if you plan on playing a huge show or out side un-mic'd show you would be pretty stupid. For small bars and recording it's the best!

A 2006 Fender Blues Junior, manufactured during this last June in Mexico. All tube. The amp is quite versatile, I play country, blues, rock and jazz and this amp covers those styles with a very nice warm tone.
This amp has only one channel and that's how I like it - keep it simple! Six knobs: Master, Bass, Treble, Mid, Reverb and Volume. One input jack and one ON/OFF switch. One 12" Eminence speaker. That's all but it's just what I need, again, simplicity is the key word here.
I hardly use effects loops, headphone jacks or foot channel switching so I've got exactly the basic good little amp I was looking for.
As a 15 watts amp this is a mean little beast of prey. It has a lot of power and sounds like a much bigger amp regardless to its size and type. I use this amp mainly as my bedroom practice amp but I also gig with it once in a while.

The amp delivers sounds from the "Fender clean" to a classic overdrived tube amp. The amp can get distorted at very low volume settings which are very cool. The distortion isn't really a distortion but more of a warm crunchy overdrive. This amp is not for those who are looking for a head banger Metal sound.
I have a 2005 Les Paul Standard, a '52 Tele reissue and a 1988 American Standard Strat. They all sound great through this amp but to my ears the Strat sounds the best, especially while playing blues.
The amp keeps it quiet, even when I play single coil guitars.

I only have it for two weeks now - so far so good! It looks well built and reliable. As I???ve said before, I already gigged with it (without a backup) with ease.

I've dealt with Fender Consumer Relations once 'cause the "QA" sticker on the back was missing and I wanted to date my amp. They were helpful and got back to me fast with the answer. VERY NICE!

I love that this little amp can produce such a big warm tone. I play guitar for more than 20 years and heard few amps, this little baby is one of the best sounding. If it were stolen or lost I'd surely get another one - I love this amp!
I like it because of its lightweight and size - "Good things come in small packages"...
The amp was bought in Israel for 2800 NIS (650 USD).

2006 fender blues jr. 1 input, reverb, fat switch, all tube 15 watts. A friend of mine owned one of these for approx. 8 years and gigged all the time with it and never had any problems. Easily loud enough for gigs (although I mic it anyway) I play country, rock and blues profesionally and the amps tones were great, I was using a hot rod deluxe but wanted something with less power.

The tonal quality of the amp was great, sometimes a little boxy (really small cabinet) but my eq pedal took care of that, I use a tele, strat and es-175 and it worked well with all of them. I found the amp to be very quiet, it did break up a little at extreme volumes but isn't that why we use tube amps!! this amp loves tube screamers and boss ds-2

My amp must have been a dud because I have owned alot of fender tube amps and never had a problem, until this amp. With in a span of 3-4 months it was sent back and turned out it had a couple of cold solder joints, after that I used the amp at one gig and again started losing power and got really distorted took it in and they said it had some faulty caps in it, played the amp at home doing some recording at low volume and the same thing happened, took it in turned out the output tubes were shot, got it back again played 2 gigs and it happened again, I returned it to thew music store for a full refund, despite this I would still buy another fender tube amp as I have used them for 9 years with out problem and love there tone.

Both fender and the music store where it was purchased were both very professional and dealt with problems very quickly and were eager to help. Very Good service

I've been playing for 10 years, lots of fender tube amps, national tube amps, ampeg tube amps etc.... I have a bunch of guitars but mostly play the tele's, mps-9 pedal board, lots of boss pedals, george L cords

I will still buy fender tube amps, this will not sway my loyalty

Amp is a 04 model, it came with a guitar I bought.

I was not satisified with the sound, it was missing something, Tried every different setting, even with a few different guitars I still was unhappy with the sound. I removed the original tubes and installed some JJ"s. They woke it up some, something still not there but I think this little amp can do it. Time for a heart transplant. After some speaker research I decided to go with the Weber Blue Dog P/N Blue 12-A-15W. Alnico ring, British cone. Very expensive speaker, I did not want to try ten different low dollar speakers so I saved up for the big dollar one. After a few months I got the money together and called Weber 765-452-1249 and ordered the blue dog. I removed the Jensen and installed the blue dog and I will tell you this, you have to remove the bell cover or she will never fit. with the bell cover removed I mean she just fits in there. Pluged her in and have mercy, talk about a totally different amp. I thought about getting some of the mods done but I am going to leave her as is. This is not the same amp anymore and the sound is unbealiveable. I will take it anywhere now.

Reverb never worked when I recieved it. I have only had it about six months so far, no problems.

Never delt with them.

Been playing mostly off for a long time. Now it seems to be on. I am a fender guy and dont use effects to much, just the amp and a Maxon OD 808 to give it a little kick in the butt. This is a great little amp now, with the tubes and speaker change I give her a nine, she is a keeper. If stolen I would be heartbroken, and most likely get another one.

15 watts, All tube, 12" speaker, reverb Cream board version (newer one)

Just the amp alone with no pedals you can get a real nice blues/country sound and chunky break-up on chords. With pedals you can do whatever you want. I use it with a Dillion PRS copy with PRS pickups (HFS vintage lead). I liked the sound at first and then a friend came over with his ampeg SS-70. I thought his amp so SOO much better sounding so I bought an Ampeg VH-140c. I tried selling my blues Jr on Ebay and some dude backed out....just never got around to selling it. Then like two weeks ago I was getting real pissed at the muddiness coming from my Ampeg. I pluged in the Fender and could not believe I almost sold it. I noticed right away how much more sustain you get from a tube amp....I figured I would sell the Ampeg ang mod the Fender a little. I did some free stuff...solding jumpers on mid pot and changing some values with resitors and caps. I love my little amp. I really still suck at guitar and don't play out much but this amp is a sleeper....I have very nice tone. Better than most people who can play. I did a lot of research and bought a Weber 12" speaker (12F150)...I'm still waiting on it, but even without it my tone is great, just thought I would get it even better. The Weber speakers are handmade in USA for each order and you can get one for $100! This amp will go down in history as a Classic. Plus it's small and loud!!

Made very well....just don't drop it down the stairs or somthing

Never dealt with Fender

I been playing for over a year now...had a Fender Hot rod deluxe, Ampeg VH140 combo, Transtube Crate, and have played through a Dr Z, and Fender Champ. I play a SeaGull acoustic, Dillion PRS copy w PRS pickups and locking grovers, Dillion rosewood tele (Wilkison bridge, 59 Tele pickups, locking grovers, grap nut, and use 11's on both my electrics.

I love the sound size and simplicity of this amp...the mods help but only enhance the already good sound. I just like haveing a stock looking "sleeper" that people can't figure out. The only thing that I hate about the amp is that when Fender made these they put the labels for the knobs facing the back of the amp! To read the print you have to stand at the back of the amp!!?

This is a single channel amp with reverb.Includes 3 band eq and a master control with a fat switch.Retro chickenhead knobs.

I play blues and rock and this amp fills the bill quite nicely.I play a srv strat and a texas special fat strat.Amp comes quite close to srv,clapton hendrix territory.Nice clean sounds and can be overdriven easily.It takes pedals easily too.This amp is plenty loud.

I have had this amp since about 2002 and all i have done is replaced the tubes, and I gig with it alot.

Never had to deal with fender.

I have been playing since 94,but onle been playing electric since 2002.If it were stolen I would hunt down the person who stole it.It would be replaced.I love the fact the amp only weighs 31 pounds and sounds so great.I only wish it had a little more thump, but thats only due to its small cabinet size.

I have to qualify this review and say that I just got my Blues Jr. chassis back from the Blues Jr. Guru, Bill Machrone (BillM). I've had the amp for 10 years, but this is a different amp.

Tweed (not lacquered), built in 1995 in the USA. Green board, Rev B. Stock, you already know what features this thing has. With BillM mods I now have a new tone stack, revived reverb, and a presence/bright control which contours the sound in ways the treble/mid/bass controls never could.

The addition of the presence control is what makes this puppy sing. With the control maxed, the muddiness generally associated with these green-board BJrs disappears. Instead your notes leap off the strings with crystal clarity. My MIJ 62RI Strat sounds like a whole new guitar.

Roll back the presence and it sounds more subdued, like the stock BJ; great for Jazz and such. Pull up on the switch and you get a slight bright boost that helps cut through no matter where the presence control is set.

The reverb, which before had pretty much two useful settings--on and off (maxed and rolled all the way back), now has real uses. Before you had to put the reverb on 10-12 to get any useful sustain. Now anything above 4 is really pushing some reverb.

This is where the amp has really started to shine. I liked the warm mellow tone it had before, but now the range of sound has increased dramatically. Bright clean tones, muddy gritty overdrive, smooth jazz, and with the new tone stack, the tone controls actually shape the sound with incredibly versatility.

The amp has more of that bright clean Fender flavor. The new reverb lets you go from subdued to Dick Dale, whereas before it was like a child's "Mr. Microphone" type of reverb.

I was thinking about changing the pickups in my Strat (MIJ 62 RI Foto Flame) but nevermore. Before, I felt like the neck and middle pickup settings were pretty much the same. The neck sounded mellow and was fine for finger picking some chords, but it never cut through. Now, all five pickup settings have a very distinct flavor which are all extremely shapeable.

My Ibanez Artcore AK85 is a warmer hollow body guitar with two Ibanez humbuckers. It doesn't benefit as much from the upgrades, but it still loves the warmth. Great jazz flavors with the presence control pulled back.

Both guitars have the ability to shape the sound much more with the guitar tone and volume controls. Before, I had to use the amp to shape the tone, as the guitars' controls didn't contribute as much. BillM's magical mystery mods have given my guitars their ability to shape their own sound much better. I don't know how he did it but I sure love it.

You're not going to play any Metal out of this amp unless you get some serious outboard processing. But why would you buy an amp named "Blues Jr." to play metal anyway? If you want some serious classic rock and blues sounds though, this is going to make you a happy camper.

The overdrive is just sweet. Fully cranked, you get a nice gritty classic rock sound. Depending on the guitar, the amp is clean from about 4-5 and down on the gain but breaks up every so nicely when you push it just a bit. Very responsive to the guitar and your playing style.

The overall tone with the BillM mods is indescribably improved. This is a tone shaping machine.

This thing has always been the loudest 15 watts I've heard. The first time I took it to a small venue to gig I thought I'd mic it. I had to take the mic off and turn down the master a bit because it was actually almost too loud and was overpowering in a smallish venue. Given, my band was not a loud metal band with Marshall stacks, but this puppy puts out some juice.

The reverb tank crapped out after about 7 years and I replaced it with one from Mojo Tone for about $25.

The cheap plastic input jack broke after about 5 years and the guitar plug would move around and crackle and make bad noises. BillM replaced it with a nice metal shielded jack for $20.

Tubes need to be replaced in this thing every year or so because the bias is set so hot.

The gain pot got dust in it from being stored for a couple of years with little to no use. I couldn't clean it out so had it replaced for $10.

I gigged with this thing reliably for about 2 years every week and practices to boot. The tweed is a little worse for wear as it was never lacquered, but I may have it replaced and lacquered in the next year or so.

Overall, the case is built tough and it's a pretty solid amp. After this many years, there are bound to be a couple little problems. BillM said a couple of solder joints were cracked too. I never noticed that as a player.

No idea. Got it used and out of warranty.

I've been playing for about 12 years and had this amp for 10. With the new life breathed into it by BillM, this thing is a classic in my book. I would cry like a baby if it got ripped off.

I thought about ditching it for a new Vox modeling amp or something in the $300 range (I'm poor). But I figured the $230 I spent on upgrading it gave me a much nicer tube amp at even a better price.

I do sometimes wish it had channel switching, but hey, it's still sweet.

Before the mods I would have rated it an 8. Now it's a 10.

One channel, fat switch, reverb. Basic 15 watt tube amp with a 12" speaker.

My guitar teacher has three Fender Amps, Simular to this Blues Junior, and I alway admired thier sound. I have had four Amps since I began playing and was never satisfide with thier sound. I found this Blues Junior by fluke, and, in my small house, sounds just like the larger Fender Amps - BassMan etc. The clean channel is great, adn the distortion is not super crunchy. It sounds like the distortion AC DC would use. I'm getting a distortion pedal, then it'll be great. I feel like I've searched for the perfect lady and finally found her.

Had it for a month - it's still perfect.

It didn't come with a owners manual, but the Fender web site was very useful for finding it and downloading it.

I've been playing for three years. I play a Fender Squire Strat. Ifthis Amp were stolen I would get the same one again. Awsome!!!!

One channel, fat switch, reverb.. basic 15 watt tube amp with a 12" speaker.

Its simplicity is its beauty. It has a boxy tone that many may find unappealing but ironically makes the character of the Blues Junior. Its gritty blues sound - dirty and simple and boxy is what you get, and for this, the amp has few if any rivals I know of. Its 15 watts are tremendously loud, equal to a 60 watt "sterile state" Crate w/ a 12" Celestion. For $400 USD brand new you won't get better. As far as buying it and swapping out the stock speaker for a vintage 30, forget it, the stock speaker is an excellent match to the amp. And furthermore, don't concern yourself with swapping out the cheap Sovtek EL84's either, they have a warm easily distorted flavor that belongs in the Blues Jr. Fender has hit the target in most respects and the only things I can say to critique/advise as an upgrade would indeed be the "splashy" Sovtek 12ax7's and that it is a fixed bias amp as opposed to adjustable (factory set a bit hotter than it oughta be).
I speak from experience. I popped out the stock speaker for a celestion Vintage 30. "Wow, much better!", I thought. A year later I removed the Vintage 30 to put into a Blues Deluxe and put the stock one back into the Blues Jr. Guess what? The stock speaker is BETTER! So there it stays. I replaced the tubes for JJ's too. JJ 12ax7s improved the tone but only marginally for the power tubes. Point is, stock right out of its $400 box the Blues Jr. sings. If it takes $200 of upgrades to make it sound great, use them for guitar lessons. I've got a Blues Deluxe 1x12, Deville 4x10, Traynor YCV40 and a SS 60watt Crate(I use to beat to death with drum machines, bass guitars, you name it)and I love'm all a lot but my favorite is the Blues Junior.
Oh yeah, its overdrive is a bit unrefined sounding despite my love for it. A Peavy classic 30 seems to get top billing in this area. Fender's gain/od not the greatest.

Hundreds of hours, many at full tilt volume, and I replaced the power tubes once for JJ EL84's ($16 for the pair!)when a stock Sovtek went cherry glowing red on me. Reliability is ridiculously good.

Playing 25 years, LP, MIM and US made Strats. Vox wah and a TS808 is all I'll bother running into it. Guitar, cord, Blues Jr is more than enough if you can play though as long as your target isn't high gain metal. For Black Sabbath type tones I'll mix a dash of TS808, B.Jr gain and a fat measure of Master volume to overdrive the pinky sized power tubes.

My amp is new. Made in 2006. Mexican made. I play rock, blues and some kind like theese and this amp is very versatile and perfect for those music styles. 15 watts all tube Class A and 8 ohms into 12 inch Fender speaker. Tubes are 2x Sovtek EL84 power and 3x Sovtek 12AX7 preamp. It has one channel only. There is no effects loop headphone jack etc... Only 1 input. Although it's 15 watts its too loud for home. 15 watts is enough for live playing with mic. Wery well.

Sound is very very good for me. I love it. I am using Washburn x20 guitar with di marzio steve's special on bridge and seymour duncan cool rails on neck. Guitar is bad but with these magnets amp sings quite well. It can be a bit noisy without regulation on voltage and if grounding wasnt done well.

It is small so it's very easy to carry. You can pick your amp and play with your own settings on concerts...

It's new. (3 months) and havent got a problem since i have bought.

I havnt got an idea. Sorry.

It's a good amp. Small but beautiful tones and loud volume. It can be great amp for a long time.