Fender Blues Junior

The features on this Amp. have already been described; so no need to go over that.

I'm writng a 2nd review from the previous one stated in the "triplej@india.com" I wrote in Aug.

I've since decided to sell this amp. as I feel for "live" gig situtions it's just a tad small; it tends to push the speaker when cranked with a drummer up to about 7 - 9 on the master; this forces it to break up way too much and sound rather harsh; at least for the blues rock style that I play.

I don't like using the PA to mic. it up as the venues I play in never have the time /luxury of a sound check, and there is never anyone around to run the board so the levels are never right; so I used this straight off the stage; this is where the prob. begins.

I ended up buying a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, its the big brother to this amp; and does the job for those medium sized venues w/o the need of a PA mic. so I can use it stright off the stage.

Don't get me wrong, this is a gret amp. for the bedroom and small venues; just not quite large enough for those 200 - 400 people bars w/o a PA mic.

For this I give it a 7.

No probs. here !

Never dealt w/ Fender.

The perfect amp. for the bedroom and small venues; a great tube/ bluesy sound. It lacks the guts for larger bars w/o the PA mic. Perfect for clean tones and low gain stuff; harsh when it comes to anything with any med - high gain material.

All info has been dragged out to death, so I won't bore anyone with the details here.
Mine has a nice tweed covering. Great looking little amp.
I wish it had an effects loop, but it's okay that it doesn't.
I use this amp strickly for home practice, or as a second amp for practice at home thru dual output delay unit. More than enough power for practice at home. Fun to hear two amps, the other is a Fender Deluxe.

I am using this amp stock. It is a shame that everyone needs to 'mod' the thing to death. I have found that most mods do not make the amp sound all that much better, just different. I am only tempted to change speakers, but I do that alot for fun. I do like the sound of Celestion V30's too.
Amp is not noisy. It sounds just fine for what I push through it. I play mainly rock and blues. I use an extensive pedal board set up.
The distortion is not brutal on this amp. That's good. It's fairly clean sounding, and I dirty it up at will through my board. I run the amp fairly clean.

It's a Fender. This one is dependable. It has never given me any trouble.

Never had to deal with them. I deal with the store where I purchased. They deal with Fender if need be. They say that the Fender folks are pretty reliable and pleasant to deal with.

Been playing since 1975. Own a Deluxe and a SuperSonic. All great amps. Own a Carr too, always something wrong with it. Sounds good when it's working, which is not often.
I like my Fender amps. I have owned at least 12 of them over the years. I have never had any problems. Guess I am luckier than most.
I play a Heritage H137 with dualP-90's, a very good Strat, a MusicMan AxisSuperSport, a Gibson Les Paul Jr. double cut single P90, and a home made Tele that is just awesome sounding with SD antiquities in it.
If this amp were lost or stolen? I would end up finding another. I like it's sound, size, look and portability. It's perfect for what I use it for.

I am the proud owner of an ???Acoustic Control Corporation??? 160H guitar amp???. Don???t worry, I???d never heard of them either until I discovered it (covered in dust) in a dingy old guitar shop. It???s a 1981 all valve amp and I personally have never heard an amp that has a smoother overdrive, crisper clean or sweeter reverb. If I were forced to describe it, I???d say a cross between a mesa and a fender twin. But why am I writing this???

Last year I moved to University and needed an amp to bring with me. I didn???t want to bring the ACC amp as it was too heavy, too valuable and irreplaceable. My style is very blues based ??? influences are Clapton, Gilmour, Knopfler, Stephen Stills???you get the idea! After much research (mainly harmony central!) I concluded that the Blues Junior was the way to go, along with a boss blues driver to boost the drive for the heavier stuff. I ordered online and was very excited when it arrived???

The first thing that struck me was the controls facing what I consider the ???wrong way???, in other words the knobs are dials upside down as you face the speaker. Maybe I???m missing the point, but it wasn???t a great first impression...

Now believe me, I wanted to love this amp as much as the ACC, but after many hours of playing it with my Strat, I felt somewhat disappointed. I had two big issues with it; the main one being the reverb which I felt was terrible. I couldn???t find a happy compromise ??? either you couldn???t hear the reverb at all, or it just swamped the whole sound and not in a nice way. Another problem for me was the harshness of the overdrive, with or without the blues driver. It totally lacked the ???smoothness??? that I like. After the hours of playing, I fired up the ACC and realised that it was in a different league altogether.

Having said all this, there is no question that the Blues Junior is ???good??? (the other reviews will fill you in on the good bits), but I wouldn???t say it was great. Perhaps it???s unfair to compare it with a vintage classic, but the blues junior didn???t make my strat ???come alive??? in the way the ACC does. In the end I sent the amp and boss pedal back for a refund and brought the ACC to Uni with me, the sore back is worth it!

I???m really sorry fender ??? you make great guitars but your Blues junior doesn???t quite make the grade in my books. I???m sure with some valve upgrades and other tweaks it would sound better, but I feel that after spending nearly ??400 on a 15watt amp, it shouldn???t need further attention. Finally, please bear in mind that these are only my personal opinions ??? you may love this amp, but don???t make the mistake I made of not trying one out before clicking ???BUY ???.

You know the drill on this. The only reason I don't give it a 10 here is the lack of a "standby" switch.

Beautiful for the bars I play in and the distances I travel. I place it on a bar stool for small bars { 100 - 150 people } and mic. it for med. - larger venues { 250 + }. I travel to and from gigs by bus.
I've read many reviews for mods on it; I don't get it, it's fine right outta the box; "joe beer drinking bar fly" doesn't hear the tone differences so what's the point?

No probs. as yet - had over 100 gigs to date over the past year ...

I live in Korea, is Fender even over here ?

For what I do { three piece blues / rock }, it's just what the doctor ordered ! I don't use any pedals: never have / never will w/ any amp. - use your fingers and heart !

Alright, what to say first. Well I can't really say too much, because there really aren't that many features to this amp. Which isn't really a bad thing. Volume...Gain...3 band EQ...reverb...Middle Boost (of sorts, it just adds a little spank) It was just what I was lookin' for. I'm a gigging country musician in nashville and am a Guitar player for the US Army and well, we play a lot of country tunes. It sings for classic rock and I'm convinced that you could play some heavier rock through it if you wanted. My only real complaint, is about the reverb. Its a little loose sounding to me. But that's fixable at lower levels or through a sound board.

I'm running an American Telecaster with Bill Lawrence naked singles, and it sings. It is a little bright but easily fixed with a simple EQ Pedal of your choice. I also rigged it up to run with an extension cab that I built that has an Eminence Patriot Texas Heat in it. Nothin' but beautiful sustain and country twang comin' out of this amp. I've been playin' around with my pedal board and there isn't a single thing that sounds the least bit questionable. Great Compact Gig amp.

I already use this on gigs without a backup. And all i have to say about the reliablitiy is:

"Its a Fender"

Take it for what its worth.

N/A

overall this is a great little compact gig amp. Very light and it doesn't take up much space. For the money you can't get a better amp. Like I said, the only thing is that its a little too bright. That's it.

Heavily modded. nice if it had a tremelo. Tubes just sound better.

The tone stack has been changed. all now work properly. Bias of el84s now lower and vintage 30 speaker added to a brown tolex amp.
My amp tech is great. He recommended after the mod a 12at7 in the 1st spott. I'm using 3 electroharmonics 12ax7 with good results. the el84s are jj. It could use a slightly bigger cab made of pine. Distortion is good. Clean so so. but u dont use a 15 watt amp for the cleans unless playing fairly soft.

It works bring extra tubes. Nice midranngy with vintage 30. It will do close to stevie but you need to do the mods.

I've been playing 45 year and have many or had many amps. Ive played many boutique and other amps and think with the mods this is a nice sounding amp. about a 9. Its close to a vox or matchless except for the cab.

This is basically the low down on this amp. The electronic components used are generally of secondary quality. The output transformer is the size of a peanut and the speaker is also second grade. The stock tubes flatline and leave this amp sounding dead. The tone and volume pots are flimsy and soldered onto the circuit board.

With that said....the tone you get from a stock BJ is OK. Change the tubes for some decent ones and the amp starts to sound good. The speaker doesn't do a very good job unfortunately and the sound can be harsh and muddy. Change the speaker (Vintage 30) and the improvement is substancial. Tones can still be harsh and the driving the preamp hard still has some issues. Change the inferior output transformer to something that resembles an electric component. Change the capacitors in the tone stack to get a functional EQ and the change is complete. With these changes the definition when driving the pre-amp hard is superb, fantastic handling of louder tones, mean attack and of course the clarity of the cleans is breath taking. Stock-OK Upgraded-Wow

Reliability? I don't think so. But then again, as long as you don't let heavy stuff fall on the controls, because this will break the circuit board, you should be pretty right. Unless you??re an upcoming sex pistol of course.

It's a company, I'm hoping they have customer service.

It's a good amp at the price. And when you're sick and tired of playing a good amp, you can upgrade (speaker and output transformer...the 2 most important) then you have a great amp.

I???m reviewing a BJ that I purchased new in late 2006 and have subsequently modded. I originally bought the amp because I wanted a low-wattage tube amp for home and rehearsal use. My thinking was that if I could use it at small gigs it would be a bonus. I also have a hand-made, point-to-point ???63 Vibroverb clone which is my main gigging amp. I play classic rock and R&B on an Ernie Ball/Music Man Silhouette Special with single-coils.

Well, the stock amp only made it out to 1 rehearsal. It was too thin sounding??? no depth, for lack of a better word. I also found that the overdrive was quite harsh with the pre-amp volume cranked (although I typically run my amp clean and rely on my CMATMODS Signa Drive and JAM Red Muck for overdrive/distortion).

The first mod I made was to intall an Avatar Hellatone 30 speaker (re-branded Celestion G12H). This seemed to add some fullness as the speaker is warmer and smoother, with better bottom-end than the stock Emminence.

But the amp again only made it out to 1 rehearsal as I felt it was still lacking something. I continued to use the amp at home, although the sound quality gradually deteriorated over time. As it turns out the amp was cooking the output tubes because the bias is set very hot on the stock amp.

I considered dumping the amp, but instead did some research on mods and decided to try a number of the BillM mods (lowered bias and tone-stack mods), as well as a new Mercury Magnetics output transformer. I took the amp to John Fletcher ??? a tech here in Toronto ??? and had him make the changes along with a new set of tubes (a Tung-Sol for the first 12AX7 and JJ???s in the rest of the 12AX7???s and EL84???s).

Sound quality is such a subjective thing, isn???t it? Nevertheless, the modded amp sounds significantly better to my ears. In general, the amp sounds warmer, fuller and??? ballsier.

So??? was it the BillM mods that did the trick? The output transformer? The tubes?

The tone-stack mods seem to have made the controls more effective. The amp is capable of producing more bass (limited by the size of the cabinet, of course) and I have more control over the mids.

With the pre-amp volume cranked, the overdrive is much smoother, less harsh. I???m thinking that???s the new pre-amp tubes.

According to Mercury Magnetics marketing hype, the single most important mod you can make to any amp is upgraded transformers. As I understanding it, the stock output transformer is a piece of junk, so the new one is bound to be an improvement. I???m going to attribute the ballsier sound to the transformer.

There seems to be quite a controversy over lowering the bias. All I can say is the improvement resulting from the other mods overshadows any possible negative impact and the EL84???s should last a lot longer!

Finally, although it never bothered me, the stock BJ had a fair amount of hum. The hum is significantly reduced since the mods.

I guess that I could have done all the mods separately to assess the impact of each, but I have neither the time nor the inclination. I just wanted a usable amp and that???s what I???ve got!

I???m really enjoying the amp at home and it has made it out to both rehearsals since being modded. Will it replace the Vibroverb at gigs? Probably not, although I may use it at our next gig, which is a small, 100 seat venue. The fact that I???m even considering using the BJ over the Vibroverb says something (possibly, that I???m crazy!).

The stock amp cooked tubes pretty quickly, but no problems other than that. I???ve recently had the mods done, so it???s too soon to comment on reliability, although John Fletcher???s work is top-notch!

I???ve never dealt with Fender, so I can???t comment. On the other hand, John Fletcher is great and I highly recommend him. You can get in touch with him through the Twelfth Fret in Toronto.

I can???t give the modded BJ a 10, but it???s a solid 8, which is a vast improvement over the stock amp.

15 watts made in Mexico. I had mine modded by The Ampsmith. Enough power for anywhere I play. I always leave the fat boost on.

It sounds great with a strat but with an es-335 gibson it sounds great. Very grindy. I tried lots of speakers but settled on a celestion vintage 30 (60 Watts). I tried alnico blue, a couple of different jensens and a webber 30 watt pre-rola ceramic 12 and like the vintage 30 best. There is a mid hump but I like it that way. Great for bluesy grindy fedbacky psychodelic stuff. Lots of grind and shimmer. My tech biased the tubes cooler. JJ el84s. He put in a 12 at7 inverter but it sounds good with 3 12ax7 electro harmonic tubes as well. I tried new old stock 12 ax7s and 12 ay7 and the eh 12ax7's sound just as good and they are newer. My tech converted the t,m,b so they are all completely controlable. He did something else that I am unsure of but it sounds great.

Bring extra tubes. No problems only been converted for a month or two.

I take it to the Ampsmith and he makes it sound better than stock. I have 10 amps this one is the one I take usually to a gig. I replaced the reverb with a ruby tank but went back to the original as it was to fendery and with high gain it was too much reverb. The ruby is good if you play clean with a typical fendr sound. I don't generally play too clean.

I've been playing 45 years. I have played a lot of amps. This is up with the best for sound maybe not quality. It is not point to point or hand wired. The potentiameters seem flimsy as does the input jack. Other then that it is a great grab and go amp. You dont even need overdrive pedals.

The features are all fender like really good for clean bluesy sounds.

The sound quality is really good.The sound that comes out is crystal clear (you don't have any distortion options anyway..).Even if you you want to use it together with some pedals for a heavier sound, it works cause the core of this amp is clarity...So i would suggest to try it together with some effects etc and see how it sounds.
I bought it for a practice amp but as it turned out, its power is enough for small performances.

I play 6 months already so far so good.The amp seems pretty solid together with the knobs.The only thing worth mentioning is that the 3 preamp tubes don't seem to have something to hold them in position so its better to take them off in case of carrying.

Didn't need them so far

I currently own an Epiphone LP custom and a modified Yamaha Pacifica.
If it was stolen i would instantly buy the same fantastic amp.
I just love the bluesy and clear sound that comes out of this amp.

I bought the amp in 2004 or 2005, I can't remember, and I bought it new, so It was probably made in 2004-2005. It is a really nice amp, for playing classic rock. But it's deffinatly not a metal amp. I play anything from blues, to heavy metal, and everything in between. Its an amazing blues amp, but it can't handle the higher gains...
I do wish it had a channel that would allow for high gains, but I doesn't... The reverb is great though.

I run either my Mexi strat or my Epi Les Paul Custom through, after a string of distortion and effects pedals, and it sounds ok.
the clean tones are great, its good for balads and blues, and soft rock. Buuut, thats not me. The amp itself is not noisy, but when you run a boss metal zone... it is noisy, so I also run a noise suppressor.
I run the master volume all the way up, fat switch engaged, and use the gain volume for my volume, as that doesn't distort it as much. If the amp is distorting, it wrecks the distortion from the effects string.
and the distortion from this amp couldn't kill a flea... you could deaffen it with the volume though...

Very. Very. dependable amp. I've used it in every gig for the last 3 years my band has played, with out backup. the only thing is, the reverb box has broken 2 times. soldier failour, the second time i never got it fixed... but i have dropped this amp several times, and it hasn't failed...

havn't dealt with fender...

Ive been playing almost 6 years, its been my only amp, and I'm looking into a marshall for my main amp. this will be my practice amp after that... If it were stolen... I would be mad, but I wouldn't buy another one...

Bought used with serial number removed so I can only date is a post 2003 model by the PCB. All the specs are well known to you readers. It has everything i could wish for save for maybe a standby switch. I play light and classic sounding indie rock with my 4 piece band. Mostly clean with a little saturation.

Ok, here is the thing: I am obsessed with this little amp. Ive been stalking them for several years but feared the low wattage. I love the small package and overall aesthetic. I finally bought one to take with me overseas and it sounded great off the bat. But, I have a HRD with Celestion Vint. 30 and had to try the same in my BJr. Of course, it improved the clarity and dynamics. Finally, I did the BillM TwinStack mod this afternoon. It now sounds like a dream. There's a touch too much hum with the strat single coils but overall worth it. Im curious to play with the band now. The Celestion boosted the volume a touch I think.

Not sure yet. It handled the mod just fine and seems like a solid little guy. Id rather P2P wiring but what can you do?

Not tried yet.

I give it a 9. I just cant get over the tone and surprising loud volume. Im taking a risk bringing this to Europe but if it performs well it will be my go to amp.

This is a 2008 model MIM. I am a drummer and a "strummer". I have several guitars and also a Dean Markley CD60 amp. I wanted something more portable and light weight than the DM when I go and jam with friends amd this fits the bill perfectly! My main styles are blues and rock covers - 60's to 80's/
Single channel' FAT switch etc etc.
I don't wish it had any other features because if I wanted more I would have bought something else. I did a great deal of research on this amp before I decided to go ahead and purchase it. I read the Blues Junior Mafia forum on the FDP site as well as reviews here. I tried the amp about six times at different music shops and decided to go ahead and buy it. I insisted on a BNIB model rather than one off the floor.

As I said I own several guitars. My main guitar is a self built custom strat with Lace Sensors - red dually in the bridge, a silver in the middle and a blue at the neck. I can get some awesome tones out the amp using this guitar. I play mainly rhythmn and the amp handles it very well. When I play a (basic)lead break it has the guts to cut through. I use a variety of settings depending on wht I'm playing but normally Reverb- 1, Treble- 5, Mid - 4, Bass- 6, Volume- 5 and Master- 8. I control the volume with the guitar knob.The fat switch is great when on and give the amp just that more bite. I didn't buy the optional footswitch and I usually have it off and use an MI Audio Blues Pro pedal and a Boss CE2 chorus. I just want it simple!

I have owned this amp for only 3 weeks so can't really comment.I would(when I'm capable)use it at a gig as it s bloody loud and would mike it up if needed.

I spoke to a guy at Fender Australia last week and he was extremely helpful. I was asking about mods and speaker replacement. I decided that as Fender have been building amps for what 50 years?? surely by now they would know what they doing. I may replace the speaker for a Celestion vintage 30 and JJ Tesla tubes but at this stage why bother. It has a 5 year warranty which is pretty good these days.

I have been playing or struuming guitar for about 40 years and have finally at 57 gotten serious! I'm sick of lugging my drum kit around:o)
I own a custom built strat, a Genesys Dot copy,2000 American series Strat, Maton Flamingo, MIM 1993 Strat, Maton EM 225C. As I said earlier my other amp is a Dean Markley CD60 and this compares extremely well with that .
If it were stolen I would buy another. Portable, light, loud and a good amp! Want more features? Get a different amp!! Mods? - Can't see/hear the point other than MAYBE the tubes and speakers. I wonder about those guys on the FDP forum.However Billm as he's known is very helpful.I asked him a few questions and his response was quick. I've read what he can do to possibly improve this amp but for me at this point in time ... all is well!

Early 2000's edition... All tube... "12 Fender Loud Speaker... Reverb... Black Tolex & Silver Grill mesh... 15 watts... Blah, Blah, Blah...

Simple...

Straight forward...

I've played it with a variety... From Peavey's to Gibson's... Obviously, the better the guitar, the better the sound... But it's excellent... You can tell its tube... Warm... Nice natural over drive... IT's as noisy as any other tube I've played... Not much variety in sound... It's a Fender... You get nice clean tones, to shimmery to slight over drive... When you start to push? It pushes back... Resistant to being completely overdriven... (It's neither good now bad... It's a Fender...) Keep the drive down and use a Big Muff Pi or Tube Screamer to crank it... (Had to get a MArshall for my dirtier sounds...)

Reverbs nothing to write home about...

Very dependable... Heavy sucker though... After a a few weeks of use some of the Tolex near the tubes started to peel back... I had to glue it back and tape it down with aluminum tape... Other than that? The fit and finish is solid... Knobs, inputs and switches as solid... Graphics and name plate solid as well...

Never dealt with the company... After about 7-8 years its still thumping strong...

Been playing about 10 years...

Currently...

I have a completely moded Epiphone Dot, Schecter Hellraiser, Guild Cherrywood Acoustic...

A selection of MXR, Dunlop & EHX Pedals...

Fender Blues Jr., Marshall MG100 Half-Stack, Silvertone 10 watt practice...

If it were lost I would def get another... It's quite handy, and very very loud... Good for clean tones, or when I don't feel like moving the massive half stack...

My amp is a tweed 1995 Made in USA Blues Junior. It is still stock with the original Eminence speaker and green circuit board. I believe the later Blues Juniors have a cream circuit board that makes the overall sound quite a bit brighter. The amp features have been listed by other reviewers so I won't go into them in detail. Without any pedals in front of it the Blues Junior is a one trick pony - it does a great LOUD clean for 15 watts and that's about it. Hence the 6 for features. I bought the amp for home use but have gigged with it for the last 10 years as it is so easy to transport.

I have 2 Strats (a US Strat Plus and early 80's Jap JV), a G&L ASAT semihollow, and a Washburn J9 Jazz guitar. I play mainly indie pop rock and some fingerstyle jazz. The amp has a fairly dark, mid-rangey sound with all the tone controls set at 12 o'clock. I find that this darker voicing really suits brighter guitars like strats and tele's as it helps smooth off the naturally hyped top end. My J9's humbuckers sound like mud without some creative EQ and the extended bottom end of this guitar makes the cabinet rattle at certain frequencies. I've tried out the later Blues Juniors but I don't like their sound at all. IMHO they are far too bright and lack depth or body. I'd call them pokey. I much prefer the darker sound of my green circuit board model.

When the mid tone control is rolled back to 3 and the bass and treble are turned up to 8 or 9 some classic Fender clean tones start to emerge from the mid range fog. I leave the tone controls set around this region. The fat switch introduces a further layer of mid range mud and I never use it. The amp's natural overdrive is nothing to rave about. I try to keep the amp clean and use a Boss OD-1 for overdrive or my DG Stomp modelling amp for anything heavier. The Blues Junior loves pedals. Even using a simple boost pedal pushes the tubes a little bit harder and give more warmth and body to the tone. The original Groovetubes tubes did nothing for the amp and I replaced them with a matched set of JJ Tesla's from Bob at Eurotubes.com. I highly recommend these tubes for squeezing every last drop of sweetness from the amp. The reverb on these early Jnrs is, ummm, bad. It is noisy and the reverb quality is average at best. I never use it. The sound quality is 7 with the JJ tubes in, 5 without. For the record the sound of a Vox AC30 comes close to a 10 for me.

The gain volume pot has never been right from new. Not much happens until you reach 4 and then it springs to life at a fairly ear splitting volume. The input jacks are poorly constructed and are evil to replace. I've been through 2 even though I'm gentle with my gear.

Other than that the amp has been very reliable. It's been gigged in some pretty extreme temperature/humidity environments and has never complained once.

Fender Australia are a waste of time. Send them a question and you won't hear a thing. Their website has a disclaimer directing people with complaints or questions to a Fender dealer. I prefer to cut out the middle man and buy any Fender stuff directly from the US over the net.

I've been playing for 30 years, but I started when I was 5 so I'm not THAT old (yet) :-) I have a Roland Cube 30 as my other amp at home and I really like it for clean tones. My J9 Jazz guitar loves that amp. The Cube 30 can pull off a sound very similar to the Blues Jnr at a fraction of the cost, but it won't go as loud as the Blues Jnr.

If my Blues Jnr was stolen I'd probably go looking in the Vox or even Laney direction for another low wattage amp. I tried a Laney VC15 a while back and it had beautiful chiming cleans and the kind of valve break up I wish the Blues Jnr had on board.

I got one of the pre-2001 amps. Appearantly there were some changes made to the reverb section.

15 watts all tube
preamp: 3 x 12AX7
power: dual EL84
12 inch speaker

there are two volume controls, one for the preamp and the master vol for the power section

It's pretty cut and dry. no distortion or overdrive channel. it has a fat switch, I think most people just leave it engaged. No effects loop either, however it takes the whole pedal chain really well before the amp input.

I'm using a mex strat with Dragonfire pickups in the neck and bridge and a DiMarzio Blue Velvet in the middle.

From the guitar straight into the amp it sounds great. it has a really nice soft clean fender tube tone that's well compressed, but not quite as poppy (responsive) as the older fender amps. For amps of this size the only one I usually compare it to is the Peavey Classic 30. I think that on clean, this one cut through a little stronger than the Peavey. To beat this one out on tone you'd have to venture up into the thousand dollar price tags.

Again there's no onboard drive channel, but it really processes preamps well. I currently use a Nady TD-1 for my distortion and a Boss SD-1 for overdrive boost. Like all tube amps, it sounds great with the tubescreamer type overdrives. My favorite to play with is the Chandler tube driver. They sound great together, especially if you're into that Eric Johnson tone. I've always thought that a good base for using well controlled distortion and overdrive is a clean fender

I had a power tube fail on me once, but that was with the stock Groove tubes. I never really liked groove tubes, so I got some Sovteks which supposedly are from the same factory. I felt like there was a noticably better difference between the two and I haven't had any tube problems since.

Fender will be around forever they got really good warrantees too. I think I got mine with 5 year warrantee. I think they're about as good as you're gonna get

The value of this amp has carried over the last 14 years or so. I think I got mine when it was selling for about $250 back in 1997. Since then it's been steadily rising and I've seen more of them up on stage at big concerts.

I seem to have outgrown the desire to have a fullstack behind me on stage, now I usually put this amp in front of me and mic it through the PA mix. That's pretty much how they usually work it even if you got a monster set.

This is by far the best tube amp tone for the money out there.

As a player of rock and blues I feel this amp has everything I need. Great cleans and an overdrive that is enough. The reverb is a great touch for lots of clean stuff I like to play especially Hendrix. The fat switch adds a nice touch of mid and gain to your sound so I found it quite useful. A well deserved 8 to me of course.

I use a Mexican made stratocaster with stock pick ups and let me tell you this thing can pull out some nice warm cleans, sprinkle a little reverb on top of that and you have a beautiful clean tone. Now for that overdrive, I was a bit hesitant when I first got it as I was not able to turn the master above 2, but as soon as I went to my band practice cranked the master to 4 and the volume to 12 and I was amazed at how creamy the overdrive was, you will not be disappointed blues and rock fans. I have a Fulltone OCD coming in the mail soon, I'm very excited to see how these two pair up with one another.

So far no problems, the amp is very well built in my opinion and feels as sturdy as a rock.

None needed.

I think this is a fantastic value for a musician on a pretty low budget looking for a gig worthy amp that has tone unlike the losers that use the Marshall MG's at my school.

I bought it from a friend. I think it was new back in 2005. I have owned it for a year and use it to play small clubs. It is my main practice amp at home. I use the fat switch all the time. Never turn it off. Mine is stock but it came with a beam blocker which I don't think is a major modification.
Nice compact cab. Decent reverb (had to buy a new tank for it), and good controls. Decent stock speaker. Pretty average features for a small amp. IT'S PLENTY LOUD. Takes pedals well.

I play mostly clean. My band does classic oldies and some classic rock from the American and English sides of the Atlantic. Think Beatles, Dave Clark 5, hollies, Jerry and the Pacemakers, Buddy Holly, Dion, Ventures, Beach Boys, etc. We also venture into Cream, Stones, ZEP, Doobie Bros, Eagles and other "Classic Rock" stuff where a little overdrive is needed. I use a MXR Distortion III (M-115) pedal for overdrive.
Cleans are very round and clear with a Strat. Slightly more hair when using a Les Paul. The OD pedal works well with this amp. Nice harmonics push through in either clean or overdriven modes. This is a nice sounding little amp. Yes it is overpriced, but if you pick one up used it's worth it. I stole mine for a mere 200 and paid another 40 for a reverb pan replacement. I'm using Telefunken 7189 tubes for the most headroom along with American made NOS preamp tubes.
With the Master volume at 10 (goes to 12) I use the gain (drive) knob to set the volume. Stays clean to about 5-6. Pretty loud at this setting. Can't really find anything to complain about. It's a good sounding compact amp. I'm very happy with it in all respects.

Seems well built. Who knows?

I've been playing in bands since the 80s. I own other amps besides the BJr. My guitars are all strats or Les Pauls. My large venue amp is a Blues Deluxe with a matching tweed extension cab.
To sum it up: This is a very nice 15 watt tube amp with a great sound for clean or slightly overdriven sound, which is what i use it for. I'm very satisfied with it. I'd buy another one.

Mine is an '07 model, made in Mexico. I find the amp to have a very warm disposition to it, compared to the emotionless tone of my old line-6. Has very good tone for texas blues, tons of mid, especially with a tube screamer. Having separate volume and master volume controls is nice, as it lets you get a little more grit out of the amp at lower volumes. The reverb is useable, I don't use very much, but it could be better. However, when compared to the complete garbage reverb found in some other small amps, this one performs nicely.

I play a Stratocaster with seymour duncan texas hots in it, and mainly play through the neck pickup. I hear people complain about the strat lacking mid, but with this amp and pickups, can get a very strong, SRV like tone out of it, no lack of mid here. I'm not a big fan f the "fat" switch, as it really doesn't suit my tone at all, I just really don't like the kind of overly muddy sound it gives it, it's like turning your tone knob waaay down. Overall, this is the best 15 watt amp I have heard, and with a price of around $500 CDN new, it's also one of the most affordable.

Just picked it up a few days ago, no problems as of yet.

Haven't dealt with fender in regard to this amp yet, however they have been good in the past about other things.

I love this amp's tone, especially when used with my keeley tube screamer. If it was stolen, I'd buy another one, or break the neck of whoever stole it. Great little practice amp.

Standard BJ with Fender Eminence speaker. Can't really give it 10... I just wish it had emulated headphones so I could enjoy it into the wee small hours!

SOUND QUALITY. This is why I'm writing a review and I hope this will help if, like me, you're maybe not quite so expert at choosing gear and rely on these reviews for guidance.

I've been playing on and mostly off, for years and have just got back into it ??? with good gear, a tutor and (now I'm a bit older) a much more critical appreciation for TONE. I (try to) play 52 reissue and 60's classic Telecasters. Having flirted with Les Pauls and a 333, I have come to the conclusion that I love Fender tone... I might add a Strat just to see the look on my wife's face!

I have just bought the 'Standard' Blues Junior. I already have the Limited Edition with the Jensen C12N, which I've had for six months. (Don't ask why I've got them both... long story, but I've sold the Ltd Edition and it's waiting to be wrapped and posted... mistake... read on).

I've read all the reviews about changing the speakers, with a mix of curiosity and scepticism. It's to answer the few reviewers who state that changing the speaker will only make minimal difference...

YOU MUST HAVE CLOTH EARS!!!

The difference is HUGE. The stock speaker is okay, but when you play them alongside each other it sounds thin and almost tinny. Some might say 'bright', but I think it lacks any of the warmth and creamy depth of the Jensen. It's like the difference between strawberries and milk ??? and strawberries and cream.

CONCLUSION: Try it stock and if you like it that way, fine, but be prepared to spend ??60.00 for the upgrade.

I still give it 8 with the stock speaker, but 12 with the Jensen!

As a platform for upgrade I give it 10.

You know the basics of this 15 watt one channel amp, Volume, 3 Tone controls T, M, B, Fat Switch. Master Volume and Reverb a 12" speaker in a small cab, easy to carry and loud enough to gig.

Sound is okay but not clean enough or tight enough for Jazz at moderate levels, okay for Rock and Blues. What the heck it's called a Blues Jr. right? I would have liked it better a bit cleaner and giged with it more often. You can get a pretty good OD sound using the master and the Fat switch.

Got this amp free. Didn't not work, some parts had been removed or replaced as a mod was done and as far I could tell it didn't go well for the original owner. Some of the problems were: Reverb tank didn't work and the factory fixed bias had been set too high and burned the sockets, fried the tubes and some resistors. Several resistors looked chared, a few had been replaced with different values, a hole was burned in the mother board. The plastic volume pot and the plastic input jack were broken off.

Time for some repairs. Got some new resistors a reverb tank, volume pot and input jack. Patched the hole in the PCB and wired in some circuits where it was fried.

Found a schematic on the net. That's is all I needed.

Okay I got it working and is sounded pretty good. I learned just how cheap Fender can make an amp and sell it. I would not buy this amp even new, they cut too many corners on quality. I know several good players using them and they seem to like them. I think they will do a good job for a few years and then you'll have some trouble, well I hope not. For the same monney or less I think you can find a better amp.

15 watts, single channel, 12" 8 ohm Eminence speaker, one input, Volume (gain), Master volume, Highs, Mids, Lows, "Fat" switch, Reverb, 8 Ohm speaker out, optional footswitch input for "Fat" boost, On/Off switch. A very simple, but versatile amp.

The only thing I wish this amp had was a standby switch and another speaker out. You have to disconnect the internal speaker if you want to use an extension speaker or cab.

I use this primarily with a Fender American Strat HSH (DiMarzio HB at bridge, Seymour Duncan HB at the neck, stock Fender single coil in the middle), Fender American Tele with stock single coils, Gibson Faded SG with stock pickups. I also play a Epiphone Casino with P-90 pickus, and a Gibson LP Studio with stock pickups through it at times.

I play in a Classic Rock band and this is the tone I am after, that late 60's, early 70's overdrive. Think ol' Bad Company. After all these years that is still the overdrive I love, not really a fan of the modern super-distortions.

I might be a little different than most posters here who talk about the great clean tones you can get with this amp. That's absolutely true, you can get pristine, warm cleans, very beautiful with some soul, not dead like so many amps. But I prefer dirty tones, that overdrive of yester-year. I like to crank Volume (which is really your gain)to max (12), and then adjust volume with Master. I usually crank Bass and Mids to max, and set Highs about 6-7. Believe it or not I get a very old school Marshall tone like this. I turn up Master to get the volume I need for solos, then turn down using my guitar's volume to clean up a little for my rhythm sounds.

This amp makes a little noise when Volume and Master are maxed, but really not that much, no problem at all. At lower settings it is very quiet.

If you turn the knobs you can get a lot of different tones out of this amp. I find you have to keep Lows higher than most amps, otherwise this amp can sound smaller or "boxy" as some complain. But with Lows up high it sounds very full. I leave the Fat switch engaged at all times, I just like a fuller sound.

With Volume and Master maxed and my guitars volume maxed you get a very thick, but singing tone great for lead guitar. It has good sustain and sounds very "alive" which is important to me. I like lead guitar to sound on the verge of out of control. I get good harmonics and it's easy to get feedback too. I am kinda in that old Hendrix school, I like my guitar to make some noise when playing lead. For rhythm guitar this is a little too much and you can lose string definition, my Casino with P-90s especially. So I back off my guitar's volume just enough to get a good tight sounding crunch. Sometimes I back the volume off to get a clean setting, but not completely clean at these settings. But that's the way I like it, I like a bit of breakup even playing clean. After all, it's ROCK music!!

So, this amp can get some great Classic Rock overdrive. But you can't get Metal tones or Grunge or any of that stuff. You can do that with pedals though and it sounds great.

The reverb is very good in my opinion, I keep it around 2-3. But you can get some good Surf tones at higher settings. Some complain about the reverb, but I think it is just fine.

After all that, the best thing I can say about this amp is this; I own quite a few amps including a Hot Rod Deluxe, Epi Valve Jr through a 2 X 12 with Celestion Vintage 30s, a Marshall DSL401, and a very old '58 Premier 2 X 8 amp. These are all good sounding amps, but I always come back to the Blues Jr. It just sounds better. In fact when I bought this amp I tried many amps in this size and power range like the Vox, Peavey, Crate (tube) and others. But I kept coming back to the Blues Jr everytime. It is not the perfect amp, such a thing doens't exist, but it is very, very good. I like the old school single channel amp sound, and the Blues Jr does it very well.

My amp has a little problem, I have to make sure the power tubes are seated well before I play or they can make some noise. There might be a short or cold solder, I'm not sure. I have to make sure they are completely vertical. So, before I play I push up on them, and make sure they are vertical. I can play for many hours without a problem. I am not afraid to gig with this amp and have many times. I probably should have taken it back, but I just push on the tubes and play. Other than this minor problem the amp has been problem free. I have owned many Fender amps and they are reliable in my opinion.

I've never contacted Fender, so I can't give an opinion here. 5 year warranty.

I've been playing 36 years, played in bands as a teen, took 20 years off (marriage, family), but have played consistently in bands the last 10 years. I own seven electrics, two acoustics, five amps, and two full PAs, guitar pedals all over the place. If my BJ were lost or stolen, I am not sure if I would buy it again, not because it is not a great amp, but just because I am always trying something new. I have gone through many amps over the years. But, I might. I love that the BJ is a small portable amp (sick of hauling heavy gear) with very good tone at a very affordable price. I have owned many amps that cost more that didn't sound nearly as good.

In it's price range, the Blues Jr is one of the best sounding amps out there. Forget the gadgets, go for the tone!

Ok I'll add my 2 cents. Mine's one of the 2003 models, made in Mexico. Screamin little amp, very portable, plenty of power for practice, mic it for gigs. Not exactly feature-packed, footswitch for boost is about it.

Use with all kinds of guitars. Crank it up, that's where the tone is. Does what it's supposed to do.

Fat button on the panel never worked, footswitch still works tho. Doesn't make a lot of difference anyway. No standby switch so turn the master down until the tubes warm up and they'll last longer. Always take a backup to a gig, are u crazy?

Never dealt with Fender.

Everyone who plays out should have one of these things. Seriously, probably the best size/sound/price ratio of any amp out there. Easy to carry, plenty of tone, not too pricey. I'm a 20+ year player and have all kinds of equipment. I'd buy another one of these tomorrow,

Volume- essentially a gain knob to get some nice crunch paired with a master knob which actually controls the volume so you can get breakup at low volumes or cleans at higher volumes if you want. Also has treble, mid, bass knobs and a "fat" switch. Has a built in spring reverb tank. No standby switch on this 15W all tube amp. There is also a footswitch to control the fat setting (on/off).

I play more alternative rock than anything and it can get some really nice tone. Its good for any kind of rock/blues style. I would not recommend it for metal. It has a slight hum which is to be expected. My Boss DS-1 modded distortion sounds nice through it. I also have a bigger distortion pedal that sounds great through my epiphone valve junior but not through this blues junior. I havent messed with the settings on it yet though. The reverb sounds fantastic; one of the reasons I bought this amp. I usually use an effects chain but I actually prefer to plug straight into this amp because the tone is so nice.

When I got it the reverb tank was broken, which I hear is a very common problem. I ordered a new one for $29.05 so easy fix! Hopefully this new one will last longer (it is the same model; Accutronics 8EB2C1B) because I try to take good care of my stuff. I would imagine if I brought this around to gigs a lot, the reverb tank would likely break again. It takes a reverb pedal well enough though. Obviously, since it's a tube amp, it is more likely to break than a solid state. I definitely would not tour with this amp without a backup, and I would feel more comfortable if I had a backup on any gig.

As a straight up amp, this thing kicks butt. The only reason it is not my main amp is because my Valve Jr takes pedals better. Plugging straight in though, this beats the pants off the Valve Jr. Also; this thing KICKS! It is LOUD!

Single channel, single input with gain and master volume. Three band EQ and a good sounding reverb. The stock tubes and speaker are adequate. Nice compact, lightweight cabinet. There is a FAT switch that adds some fatness to the sound, which I keep on all the time. It has a red indicater lamp. Black tolex, chrome chassis. PCB circuit board populated with average, generic components. Output is a LOUD 15-18 watts. No doubt about it, this is a nicely sized club amp and recording amp with classy features for its price.

I'm using this with a 1986 BOSS ME 5 and a 90s Les Paul Standard, loaded with a 490R and a 498T Gibson pickups. I have played Fender Strats and Telecasters through this too but my Gibby is the main deal.
My present musical project involves a lot of clean rhythm playing in a 4 piece oldies (surf, rockabilly, 60s British and so on) band. We also do a lot of 60s and 70s classic rock (Eagles, Led Zep, Doobies, Santana and so on) so I do use some overdrive and distortion patches for that stuff. Our typical club dates involve medium sized rooms and crowds of 50-100 people. Coffee houses and sports bars/restaurants mainly. I have a 2006 sixty watt Fender Blues DeVille 4 by 10 amp for larger shows. It's a very nice amp too, but our bookings are about 90% smaller rooms so it doesn't get near the playtime that the Blues Junior does.
The Blues Junior is quiet. Even at higher gain levels it is quiet with the Les Paul. I don't use the amp's OD very much but it sounds good enough to use for heavier jams, all by itself. It records
For clean playing the amp has a sweet, fat sound using the ME 5 and the LP guitar. The clean patch on the ME 5 is nothing but pre EQ. No gain, no effects and no compression. Works very well for surf and early British stuff. Very sparkly. I also use a second patch that has a little overdrive but mostly clean tones, for a very slight overdrive. A third patch is decidedly overdriven and a fourth patch is a medium crunch rhythm or solo distortion tone depending on the pickup choice.
The amp stays clean till about 6 on the dial with the clean patches. With the overdrive and crunch patches the amp gives up nice harmonics. No problem with the stock speaker under heavy OD and Distortion.

No problems so far.

I fix my own stuff.

Thirty five year player. I have performed with all manner of gear over the years, in all kinds of bands. The Blues Junior fits into my present scheme of musical expression and I see a place for it after this band is over.
It sounds very, very good and it's light, loud enough and reliable. That's the bottom line, it has all the attributes necessary for the project I'm involved in. It's the right tool for the job I'm doing, you could say.
I would buy this amp again, to use in similar circumstances and I'll be keeping it long after this project is closed out. I'm totally satisfied with it.

I'm a harp player, and don't need many features. My Blues Junior (purchased new in about 2004) has all the features I need. Mainly:
separate volume, and gain controls; and reverb.

I don't see too many reviews here, for the Blues Junior used as a harp amp - but it works very nicely for that. I use a stock Shure 545SD microphone,run through a Lone Wolf harp delay pedal; and have changed some of the tubes (to make the amp a little more harp-friendly). My setup is nothing exotic - but it sounds really good! I've had a couple of much more expensive amps (including a vintage Fender Princeton Reverb), but keep coming back to my little Blues Junior.

I can get plenty of volume to practice with my band; and enough to play small venues, without micing up. For that much volume, the Blues Junior is compact, and not terribly heavy. It's simple; it's not fussy; and it's a bargain, for the money.

My first Blues Junior had a defective reverb unit, and it took forever to get that straightened out. After being in the shop (under warranty) for six weeks - still not repaired - I finally returned it to the dealer, and started all over. I think Fender could have managed the warranty process a lot better.

No problems at all ,since then.

All in all, the Blues Junior is an excellent amplifier, for any but a professional harp player. There are certainly better harp amps out there, but they'll cost you three times as much, and/or require you to fuss around with "vintage".
If my Blues Junior was stolen, I'd go get another, tomorrow.

Clean and overdrive channel. Fairly straight forward 40 watt tube amp. Hard to see the controls with the chrome panel, but I don't do very much changing when I'm playing so that's no problem for me.

I had the stock speaker changed out to a Weber California. For my taste the stock speaker was a too thin for me. I like a more of a bottom end.

I've had the amp for over a year. When I had the speaker changed the repair person let me know that one of the tubes wasn't fully functioning. Other then that no problems.

No contact with customer support.

I use a Gibson 335 Dot Reissue and Gibson Les Paul, so I'm looking for a very old style sound with a lot of bottom end. I use a Keely Mod Blues Driver pedal for overdrive. The overdrive channel requires a lot of volume to get a full overdrive sound. As I'm sure you've read, the amp is very loud. Much more then I expected, but I had played solid state amps before. The overall sound is great, just have to get the volume up a bit to get the amp "in the zone".

Straight forward. No frills. Just what I was looking for.

Using a Gibson 335 Dot Reissue and a Gibson Les Paul. Plenty loud for a jazz trio or quartet for a jazz club. Gets a great clean sound, great range from top to bottom. Reverb is very full. For overdrive I use Keely Mod Blues Driver, which the amp responds to very well. I thought I might have to switch out the stock speaker but it sounds very good.

I bought it used about 9 mos ago and haven't had any problems with it.

No contact with customer service.

I very happy with this amp. I play in situations that require both a clean and overdrive sound and this amp can handle both quite well. I bought this amp because my Blues Deluxe Reissue was too loud for smaller club situations. I would recommend this amp for anyone wanting a very nice tube amp sound.

Simple, Straightforward, and Kick-ass..Just a single channel, but I put a tube screamer in front of it for distortion. It is light and LOUD. Mine is 2006 I think..I bought it new for around $400.

I play a Les Paul BFG, and a Mexican Fender Toronado..The Junior seems to really like the P-90 on the Gibson..The fatness of the pickup and the clean channel seem to like each other. Don't even dream about getting a big overdrive out of this thing..It is a Fender after all..Just use your distortion pedal dujour and you are good to go..

Very Reliable..Over the last two years that is..

Have not had any contact with customer support at all..The 5 year warranty is nice though.

I've been playing for around 35 years..I have a Line 6 Flextone II, a '59 Gibson GA-8 amp, A SWR STRawberry Blonde Acoustic Amp, and a '67 Fender Blackface Bassman with a 2X12 Cab..If I were to add one thing to this nice little amp, (I am nitpicking here) I would want an overdrive channel..I miss my old Peavey Classic 50 sometimes. It weighed a ton though.

Don't know what he/she is smoking but it must be high powered stuff! I refer to the review (?) by Felix the Cat, below. Duuude, get a grip! LMAO!
Okay on the Blues Junior or "BJ" as they say. Features are pretty simple, decent in all respects without any of the BS, which isn't necessary anyway. The cabinet is cool, the speaker is average but nice and the controls are simple. Good sounding Reverb and I think EVERYONE who plays through this has the fat switch on all the time. I must be the last person on earth who finally bought one of these. Doesn't everyone have one? LOL...

Les Paul--->MXR Distortion 3--->Boss Metal Zone--->Blues Junior. I play blues, rock and a few lightweight Metal selections from Van Halen, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, etc. I use the metal zone for heavy crunch and keep the distortion on zero. The MXR is where I get my solo tone and I use it to boost the metal zone too. Using these pedals with the Blues Junior is a breeze and its very easy to get good tone from this amp whether you use pedals or just go straight in. With the metal zone pushed up the Blues Junior produces harmonics at a ridiculous level. On its own the amp wont take you to to metal but its called a BLUES Junior, aint it? I've never played it underwater or in a parallel universe like Felix the Cat but it sounds pretty damned good in this universe! LOL

Be nice to the amp and the amp will be nice to you.

I played on and off in the 70s and 80s. I started playing for a few bands up in the 90s and have been playing shows since then. This amp works really good miked up through the PA or even as a monitor for the stage. I own a few other amps too, that I use for bigger shows that require more power but I always bring this one and have it going nearby to where I stand on stage. This is the perfect little amp for jams, for small coffeehouses or church worship bands. Hey its my favorite amp in my collection and I would buy another one. Yo Felix, good luck with that underwater gig. LOL

Its a simple amp, just the way i like them. the master volume switch is amazing for practicing at home. volume up, master down, and this thing has decent tone at an acceptable volume. By my standards, it does everything i need it to, so it gets a 10

I hate the sound of this amp. All i can hear is mud, mud and more mud. When i buy an amp, i expect to have to tube and re-bias. when i cant hear individual notes in a chord after all that, im pissed. The cleans are very nice but that doesnt compensate for this much suckage. For the price i could have done alot better.

seems reliable enough, though the reverb sucks fat balls

hahaha. talk to fender. surely you jest.

this amp way overpriced. if i was going to have to get it super modded and get a new speaker just to make it passable, then this thing should have been selling for 15$ initially.

Made in Mexico, bought brand new. Single channel, no effect loop, no headphone jack. It has a speaker out on the back that you can use for the speaker inside or for an external cabinet if you feel so inclined. It is certainly powerful enough for anything but maybe an arena, because any place larger than a bar is going to mike your amp no matter what it is, and they only mic one speaker, so in my opinion, it's best to get a small combo like this one instead of a stack. Don't get a stack just because everyone else has one. It's just stack envy. It's also great for recording. I'm giving it a 7 in this category because it has individual preamp (marked "Volume") and power amp (marked "Master") volumes, so you can get tube breakup at lower volumes if you need to. Lord knows it's better than using a DeVille's or a Deluxe's drive channel (yuck!).

I've got a '72 Reissue Thinline Telecaster (it's got humbuckers) with 500k pots (it comes stock with 250k pots, I've no idea why) and a frankenStrat with a stacked neck pickup (sounds great). I replaced the speaker in my Blues Jr. with a Weber Ceramic Blue Dog (only $100!). It's a Greenback copy, but greenbacks nowadays are made in China, while Webers are made right here in the USA. Bottom line: it's a hair better than a greenback. The EQ knobs are a little less responsive than I'd prefer, but you can shape most any tone with this thing, despite that. With the stock speaker, this amp is sort of lackluster. I put the Weber in, though, and it has this fat clean sound, but this kind of cool compressed dirty sound when I turn the preamp up. It's very harmonically rich. I've A/B'd my amp with a stock Blues Jr. (boring), a Blues Jr. with an Eminence Texas Heat (mushy) and one with a Jensen C12Q (too mid-y). Mine is hands down the best. This is my opinion and the opinion of the guy who owned the three Blues Jrs. I A/B'd them with! The Weber speaker also makes it take pedals better.

I can and have used this amp for jazz, blues, country, rock, folk, indie, and yes, even a few types of metal. It delivers.

I think I might do a full retube from Eurotubes. You can order colder tubes, which I think would be better, because the Blues Jr. is fixed bias, and the tubes run kind of hot as it is.

So far so good. Again, it's made in Mexico, so quality control suffers a bit, but it seems to be a workhorse. I've never heard complaints from many other guys I know with Blues Jrs. I did opt to buy it new (even though I'm an avid Craigslister) so I could get the 5-year warranty.

Only time I dealt with Fender is when I asked them if replacing the speaker would void the warranty. Answer: it will not! They were helpful and speedy, so I'll give them a 10.

Pretty solid amp stock, great amp with the new speaker. I'd buy one again if it were stolen, after about a month of crying.

The price paid is the amount the amp, speaker and speaker installation cost me.

Full suite of controls for editing, selecting warp drive factors, bending light and dark matter plus a pre-wired frontal lobotomy dial to remove one's own frontal lobes. Just plug it in and enjoy the inter dimensional aspects of this all tube design. Spark it up, Sparky!

I'm using this with a plastic guitar that I originally bought for my 3-year old daughter Jenny. Once I realized that Hasbro had actually crafted an instrument in the same league as the big guitar manufacturers, I was determined to find an amp worth of the Hasbro "Guitar Hero" model guitar.
Enter the Fender Blues Junior. For starters, the Hasbro's clear nylon strings vibrate and oscillate in perfect harmony with the BJr. So much so that I dialed my pals, Malmstein, Clapton, Satriani and Vai, and said. "Boys! You have GOT to check out this amp!" They had never heard of Fender, but they all had recently replaced all of their guitars with a single Hasbro Guitar Hero! Amazing tone! Ingwie had a pink one with my little pony prints on it. Clapton's had the blue top with the bubbles, as did Stevie Vai. Satch's was custom made for him-all chrome. Fantastic!
Back to the amp: I plugged in the Hasbro and sparked up the BJr. Upon hitting the first note of Flight of the Bumblebee (1/2048th notes) my front door crashed down and hundreds of the world's most beautiful supermodels streamed through the doorway screaming in one chorus: "I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU! I WANT TO HAVE YOUR BABIES!! MAKE LOVE TO ME NOW!!!" Wow, I was really surprised. That's how good this amp sounds.

Just to be sure, I had the US Army drive 100 Abrahms M2A Tanks over the amp. Then each tank took turns firing either HE or Sabot rounds at it from a distance of 1 nanometer. Not a scratch on the amp! Wow! This Fender company is good, very good! I never heard of them before but hey, they're rather obscure in the amp business, ya think? I would trust this amp even if the gig was underwater-in the Marianna trench. I will take it with me when I gig in other dimensions or different planets too.

I called Joe Fender and he answered personally. That's good service. I told him that I needed to pay off the national debt so he sent me the cash. Look for the story on CNN: "Fender guitar amp owner pays off 53 trillion in US Treasury debt! Wall street reacts by sending the DOW to 100,000!" No really, this WILL happen. Joe Fender is the greatest.

As an intergalactic phase reversal device it is absolutely un-paralled. Right?

I have had this amp for just over a year now and it is the best "gear" decision I have ever made. I think the features have been covered many times over on this page , so I'll skip them and get on with it. It's dead straight forward. For me this is perfect. An entirely simple set up.

I use an American Standard Stratocater (R/W) and a 60's Classic Tele as back up. They both sound brilliant through this box, although I have never tried anything else other than the Fenders. I use it completely stock, although I see a lot of people have modded theirs. I see no reason - personally - why I should do that, as this amp sounds incredible as it is to me.

For my preference, I keep the fat switch depressed all the time and have the bass set fairly high (10-12) the treble and middle at 12 o clock, and reverb at around 3 to 4. I set the master at full and use the volume to to suit whatever venue; usually no more than 5!! I also use a Fulltone Fat Boost for solos and a Fulltone Supa Trem for extra depth when required.

I use this amp for all my gigs, period - we play bars and fuctions. Anything we get offered. During the summer we played 2 outdoor gigs and this amp was more than capable of holding its own. We miked it to PA as it was a huge affair, but the sound on stage was perfectly adequate, in fact, more than. This amp can actually be too loud in some settings, in the wrong hands of course.

I work in a semi-pro 6 peice band, playing a range of hits from the 1950's & 1960's - Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Otis and Wilson Pickett, through to The Beatles and The Stones. It suits that fine.

What I had originally wanted was a combination of great tone and portability. Well, I got it and have never looked back. I have been told that I may never ever get rid of this amp, whatever comes out!!

Up until now there has been no problems at all. But it is my first tube amp in 25 years of playing, so we'll see. I see no reason for it to fail, however. I treat it with respect and it performs perfectly.

I have never had to deal with Fender. I would just go back to the store I bought it from if I need repairs or advice.

Playing, as I said, for 25 years. Mostly Rock n Roll, blues and 60's soul. I own a Tele and a Strat, and have a hankering for a Rickenbacker 620 when the funds allow!

I would certainly buy another if it were lost or stolen.

What do I love about it? Just it's size and tone, portability. Oh, and it looks nice on stage!

Very cool little amp. 15 watts of tube power, plenty loud, nice compact size, reverb, relatively cheap. Sweet, simple.

One of Fender's best efforts. Humbuckers sound fat and meaty, single coils edgy and twangy. IMHO distortion/overdrive pedals are unnecessary. This thing has a nice growl and scream of its own. Don't strangle it with effects, let it breathe.

The footswitch stopped working. Not a big deal. No other problems in 5 years. Always take a back up to a gig.

Never dealt with them.

Have owed tons of equipment over the past 30 years. This is one amp I would replace literally the next day if it were stolen. One of the best Fender has made in a long time.

Realistically this amp is a "6" or "7" when it comes to features, it is a single channel amp with limited gain. It does not have the "bells and whistles": effects loop, headphone jack, high gain, voicing switches etc. Truth be told it does not need the "bells and whistles" and is one of all time great amps, I highly reccomend it.

Simply this is a great amp, it can compete with amps two or three times its price. I play a strat and a late '70's Ibanez. I use a "tone-bone" for the gritty stuff. The sounds that come out of this amp are sweet. It is "voiced" just right and it is not hard to get a good sound. I had heard that the stock speaker is a bit on the bland side with this in mine I installed a Celestion Vintage 30. It makes a noticable improvement with both clean and dirty tones. The Celestion has a more clear sound in the upper register, clean blues with the neck pick-up on my strat sound clean and strong, 80's metal with my Ibanez sounds convincing. I am impressed with this amp - like I said you can pay twice as much and have nowhere near the clean sound this blues junior has.

Never any problems, mine is a 2003, I bought it used in '06 and have used it quite a bit. I do not gig but I do crank it in the basement. I have heard that they can not sustain exteneded high volume usage - I have had zero problems.

Never called them

Newer one...probably made in 2005 or so. Master volume, single channel with spring reverb. Eminence speaker. Nice black tolex cabinet covering. Lightweight and easy to carry around. Fat switch adds some gain and fatness (Duh, what else?)
Good EQ section. EL 84 duet. Three 12ax7 pre amp tubes. Well built (I hope!). Hencho en Mexico, amigos.

This is a terrific sounding little amp with the perfect amount of power and volume for me.
I liked this amp right away after demoing it. and so I bought it. Frankly, I can't imagine what's not to like on this little amp, assuming players look at it because it is a Fender with the Fender sound.
I installed a Weber #4 Beam Blocker (18 bucks) to compensate for the small cabinet but I kept the amp dead stock, otherwise. I'm using it for a coffeehouse gig I play regularly. It's small, sounds really good and nails the low gain Fender charm, which is what i was looking for. No need to mod it with new tubes and /or a new speaker, IMHO.
I play a Gibson Les Paul with 490R and 498T pickups or an Ibanez SA 160 (HSS) Fat Strat. The character of both guitars shines through the Blues Junior. Great 3D tone with the Beam Blocker installed. I use a Metal zone for a smooth, crunchy, rich sounding drive tone. The Metal Zone's gain is set to a hair's breadth above zero. Sounds great with the Blues Jr. Just step on the FAT switch for solos. Easy. Overall great sound in a compact package. It can easily cover my requirements in a small coffee shop / bookstore setting. Ikeep the Master volume dimed and the gain below 7.
Can't recommend the Weber Beam Blocker enough. It disperses the speaker's output and totally smooths out the way the high frequencies project. The amp just sounds bigger and more Fender-like with this simple, inexpensive device installed. Don't waste your dough...get a Weber Beam Blocker for your Blues Jr. before spending one cent on anything else. The Beam Blocker was made for this amp!
Overall I rate the Blues Jr pretty high for its out-of-the-box sound. Any deficiencies are cured with a 20 dollar investment in a Beam Blocker. Works for me.
No. I don't work for Weber! LOL

Time will tell.

I don't buy amps so I can drop another 100-200 bucks to "make it ALMOST boutique" sounding. To me that's just plain stupid. If you want a boutique amp, spend the dough and buy one. Assembly line amps like the Blues Junior are never going to match up to a hand built, point to point amp built by some amp building Einstein using the finest components available, no matter what speaker or tube set or Bill M mod you toss into it. Don't buy an amp that doesn't sound good to your ears. It's that simple.
On the other hand, buying the Blues Jr. is a no brainer. It has got to be Fender's best selling amp of all time. I bought mine used for a good price and I'm very happy with it. I think they are way overpriced but people seem willing to pay the big money to buy them so they are obviously people pleasers. I would buy it again (used) if it were lost or stolen.

see the dtails left bu other posters all I'll say is all this needs to be perfect is a standby switch. The Fat swithch is a HUGE plus

This is a great puchy little amp with the clean Fender tone most of us have come to LOVE over the years. The Fats switch gives me all the tone I can use for houshold settings. I had a Deville 4X10 buy i could never get the volume over 2 witout the police comming over. This is the best Tube amp for the money with the best tone bar none!!If you've got a Start ot a Tele and don't own one of these you don't know what your missing!!!!

Never had a problem. owned it for 8 years without any difficulties. change your tubes evry 2 years for the best sound...Normal maintinence and this amp is bullet-proof!

I won't comment and really get anoyed at reading I heard there this so...or I read that....if you don't know...don't anwser!!

This is the best little tube amp available at any price...blows a peavy or Blackheart or even a Traynor out of the water without even trying. The Fat switch adds versatility that most tube amps only dream of. I don't think (IMHO) there is a better 15 watt tube amp available and I'll include Vox when I say that (way too chimey and jangly and shrill for my tastes). This amp was made for Strats and Teles and is the best house amp money can by.In my opinion it gets a 10

Pretty good features for a tube amp this size. Basically the "fat" switch, master volume and reverb above and beyond the standard knobs. I don't care for the fat switch personally, but I can see how some players would find it very useful, particularly during live performances or just for higher gain. I think mine is one of the earlier versions of the newer board, MIM. The inards look very nice and well put together, but the speaker is sub-par, and the tubes are low quality.

I use Strats, Teles, LPs, and a Dano, and play mostly blues, with a little jazz and rock. I use the Blues Jr. mainly for recording, but I take it to practices, and some gigs when I need a particularly small or extra portable setup, and mic it. I play 60% slide in open tunings and the rest in standard. I think if you want the most from this amp, you've got to replace the speaker. I went through several and found that a Vox like speaker works the best for me. I'm currently usin' a Weber ceramic blue dog and I really like it. The AlNiCo Blues prolly sound pretty good too, but all the AlNiCo speakers I tried barely fit. I also replaced the tubes, which made a favorable difference. The reverb is what you'd expect with the short tank and solid state drive. I don't use the master volume at all. The Blues Jr. sounds pretty sweet through a 4x12 cab too.

I've put mine through it's paces and it's doin' fine. However, the EL84's always worry me if it's the only amp I've got. I keep mine swapped out regularly though.

I say 8 considering the price for what you get. If you factor in the parts you need to replace you still come out ahead of most everything else. I don't think the Blues Jr. is ever gona sound "great" in the big scheme of things, but with a new speaker it's certainly good enough to hold it's own. It's loud enough for small gigs and I've found it's tones very useful in the studio.

Very limited with the features if you compare to some competitors... But have exactly what I needed. I ran a pedal board for FX...This is OK with me. Won't explain the features, since I'm the 500 and something to talk about that amp. It's a 2007 made in Mexico, and it's find with me. Bought new in my area Music store.

I'm playing 3 guitars. A 2000 Gibson Les Paul Standard, a 2007 Standard Telecaster and a 2006 Epi Les Paul Ultra. Mainly the Gibson of course, and this little amp makes that guitar sounds great. I'm gigging with it (mic ) but even not mic, this amp is surprisingly loud by itself to play in a night club. Nothing to complaint yet about knobs, pots or speaker. When you need clean...you can have very clean...You need distorsion...you can easily get distorsion, just by turning the volume and the Master opposite ways. Can't be easier to settle. No noise comes out of it..even with my "single coil" telecaster. This is not a "brute" amp. It's a Fender after all, and this is not a machine for Metal. I'm playing in a cover band, Classic rock, rock and ballads and it suited all of those.

It feels reliable. It's Fender...should be good. Always carrying a back up and a full set of spare tubes, but it's just to avoid problems...

Prefer not to talk about service from Fender with Canadians..it's a joke :-(

Playing for over 40 years in a multitude of bands with so many guitars and amps, it would take a few pages to enumerate...I'm suffering of G.A.S. once in a while :-)
I have 4 amps. This Blues Jr just replace a Marhall Valvestate AVT50 as my main amp. I also have a Roland cube 30 to practice at home and an old Beckemer ( made in Quebec ) just collecting dust in my studio. I really needed a tube amp to perform, but every time I bought one, they were to "loud". We really don't need a lot of watt anymore, like it use to be in old time. Playing mic, makes everything easier, and that little bastard is so loud, but just at a point it will cut nicely because you are using most of his 15 watts instead of playing at a low volume with a higher wattage amp. Before I bought it, I test drove a Peavey Classic 30, Crate v18 and v33...and that little fender came over anything else for my needs. If it get stolen...I'll run to buy another one.

Pretty simple all tube amp.single channel with boost,3 band eq and reverb,single 12 eminence/fender speaker.

Out of the box the sound is good but not great.Its a very warm sound even with a usa telecaster which is my main guitar.It overdrives nicely at higher volumes both on the pre and power side and cleans up well by knockin the volume back a bit.the bjr is also LOUD!! Dont be fooled by the 15w.The eq is pretty standard fender fare and is useful in a subtle way.the reverb is adequate on lower settings but gets a bit washy on higher levels.
the speaker is a bit muddy and lacks clarity so i swapped it for a vintage 30 and the difference is amazing.the whole sound opened up.the warmth is still there but with a clear midrange and top end.its also louder now too.i also changed the tubes for a set of jj's and this smoothed the overdrive considerably.
my rating is for the amp with the speaker change.its a 7 with the original speaker.

the bjr could be used for blues obviously,country,pop....anything except death metal!!!!
it also works well with pedals,,,my ronsound hairpie sounds HUGE with it!!!

so far its been great but who knows what will happen.
ive swapped the speaker for a vintage 30 and the pots for cts metal stem pots and the sockets for switchcraft jacks.the plastic pots and sockets are junk but can be replaced cheaply by an amp tech and i think will improve reliability considerably......

overall this is a cheap tube amp with a great sound once the ****** speaker is swapped out.
if it was pinched or died id get another one in an instant.

It would be nice if the amp had an EXF in/out. Other than that the amp is pretty well put together.

When I first got the amp a did a lot of experimenting with different speakers. Finally, I broke down and bought a Celestion alnico blue.
What I have now is almost an identical sound (minus the tremelo) to a Vox AC15CC1x which runs about $950. I have about $700 rapped up in the fender. You can not use the same cabinet when using a Cellestion alnico blue. The speaker definitely made a difference. I have a Vox ac30 with a Celestion set up and pretty much use it only for big venues. If I am playing a smaller club, I prefer to use the Fender--30 pounds vs 68 pounds with difference in sound minimal.

So far so good. No problems

When I first got the amp the the tubes were loose. No problem. I took it Hendrix Sound in Kissimmee (He's Fender's fix it guy in Central Florida) and had it back home with new valve sockets in a week with no charge.

Playing for over forty years
Guitars: Guild Bluesbird AAA
Taylor T5 Custom
G&L Legacy (I prefer Leo Fender's guitar to CBS' Fenders
Gibson Angus Young SG
Gretsch White Falcon

Amps: Fender Blues Junior
Peavey Classic 50 212
Vox AC 30

If anything happened to the Fender I would probably replace it with another Blues JR and change the speaker to a Cellestion Blue.

Fender blues jnr 2008 made in mexico ....very self explanatory controls very well put together
it's a Fender and a tube amp so high expectations.....

i have to admit i kind of rushed into buying this amp as i had some gigs coming up and my old Vox was getting a bit tired.....i read all the reviews and took into consideration all the points and i'd agree with most of the comments here .....initial sounds are good ...it's clear warm and loud!...... just like it should be....but lacked a bit of vibe!!!...but i felt like i'd made a commitment to this amp and have made a few upgrades ...i've replaced the stock speaker with a Celestion 30th Anniversary G12-H.....a huge improvement in tone .....the eq actually doing something!!...and bought replacement valves from Dan Torres in the States ...2xruby tubes EL84 1xgroove tubes 12ax7 1xtungsol gold 12ax7 and one electro harmonix 12ax7 ....and the difference is remarkable ...i'm glad i stuck with this amp as i now love it ....every day i get up and can't wait to play again!!

so far so good

haven't used them

After years of just playing everything and anything i decided that when i bought this amp i was going to start listening a bit more .....and i'm glad i did...... most times you don't need as much gain or as many fx as you think you do!...... this amp will let you start playing like YOU...it's been an education to be honest ......i feel i know a lot more about guitar tone..... tubes and speakers etc....and can become a real tube amp geek!!! ha ha ...so as i say it's a good amp but with a couple of upgrades it's terrific.....

Enough for a single channel amp. Master Volume is very handy.

I play Jazz with an archtop and been using my telecaster recently. small to medium venues. the amp is clean and loud enough for me and breaks up when you hit the strings a bit more.
I love the sounds of Grant Green and young Kenny Burrell and this little amp is able to produce similar tone.

so far the amp has not let us down. It actually is the amp of our bass player, but recently I prefered it over my polytone.

nice amp!

2008 made in mexico...standard version with Eminence speaker. Basic EQ plus reverb and FAT switch. It's not a swiss-army amp, so if that's what you want look elsewhere or be prepared for a tangle of wires and pedals. The main feature is pure all-tube, old-school tone in a highly portable package.

Using it with American Telecaster. I'm coming to this amp after 3 years with a Line 6 Flextone. It's my first tube amp. There IS a difference. The tone out of this thing is warmer (despite the hallmark "brightness" of any Fender amp) rounder and more dynamic. It's strong and loud when it needs to be, but also sounds sweet at practice volume. The highs can be a little ice-picky at volume -- using a Tele doesn't help -- but you can adjust by rolling off treble and tweaking guitar tone knob. I'm not a pro but as far as I can tell it takes pedals just fine. I use a Boss Fuzz, Chorus and Phase Shifter for a range of blues and classic rock tones.

So far so good. Like the person below my reverb wasn't working out of the box. But before I panicked and sent it back I took a hard look inside and one of the plug-in connectors was unplugged at the reverb box. Problem solved.

I'm sure there are better small boutique tube amps but for 408 bucks (with a musicians friend 15%-off e-mail deal) it's hard to imagine doing any better than this. I considered a Vox ac15 as well but it's 600 bucks and a lot bigger and I wanted something I could tote from room to room or use out on the deck or wherever and this is perfect. I'm glad I went for a tube amp and glad I picked this one.

Don't know when it was made. Amp is reasonably versatile. Doesn't work with pedals all that well. Used for C&W, rockabilly music.
Kind of multi channel. Has a "FAT" switch. A gain boost, really.

I wish it was 6l6 based. Bought it thinking it might be a small HRD. Nothing like it.

Using Telecasters/Strats-Single coils.
Amp has a brittle sound. Really have to tweak the knobs to smooth things out. It is also a little noisy. Especially the reverb.
It can make a fair number of sounds. Overdrives OK.

I had issues out of the box. Not sure how this will hold up.

Fender was friendly but dumb on the service side. I bought the amp and it was delivered with the reveb not working. I sent it back and the reverb in amp #2 didn't work. I took it apart, found a loose wire, and repaired it. When I called Fender (thinking they would appreciate this tip off) they could care less.

I've been playing for 40+ years. Fender guy through and through. Have a HRD which has been great. The Blues Jr is simply not what I hoped it would be. I recently got a Kustom Dart 66-more versatile than the Blues Jr. by a long shot.

Made in 2006, this is a 15W 1x12 tube amp combo with reverb. Has "fat" switch, selectable with footswitch (costs extra -- I don't have this).

Being a tube amp, 15W is more powerful than you would think. In fact, it is very very loud. The main reason why you wouldn't use this in small or medium gigs is more that it would get too saturated at an acceptable volume; not that it couldn't REACH that volume!

For a small amp, has reasonable number of features, yet is also reassuringly simple.

I play rock and blues. The BJ makes a *perfect* practice amp, or perhaps solo busking! It sounds great at volumes appropriate for your living room, and also can get nice and loud if you are jamming with the band -- however at the latter volume, you won't be able to achieve nice cleans any more. The tube tone is rich and mellow, and starts breaking up nicely if you set the volume control(s) right. The lack of clean head-room at band volume is the main reason why this is only a practice amp for me.

Amp has separate Volume and Master Volume controls, which means it takes a little bit of dial-twisting to get various combinations of clean-loud(ish), dirty-loud, clean-soft and dirty-soft -- but a nice tone is achievable in all of those categories.

Also takes to my ME-50 pedalboard nicely. Basically, this is my day-in, day-out practice amp and I love it. I actually find it more useful than my Hot Rod Deluxe (BJ's 40W "big brother"), because the HRD is too loud for home use, yet also starts over-saturating at band volumes in spite of its high wattage -- therefore has no real 'home'.

The BJ seems expensive considering that an HRD is not *that* much more (yet has much higher wattage) - but don't be fooled: the BJ is an amp that you will love for what it does, whereas the HRD will frustrate you because you won't know where it 'fits' in your gear lineup.

So far so good. Would be nice if it had a Standby switch to help preserve the tubes.

For rock (not metal) and blues players, this is a good, solid Fender tube amp that will make a great companion to your daily playing. It's 'tube tone' is as good as you could ask for in a small combo.

At first glance, it seems a bit expensive for a small 15W, but having had one I now know how versatile it is and so can say that it is worth it. I would buy another.

Everyone else has done a stellar job listing features, so I will just say great tone! I give it a 9 for not having an effects loop. The stock speaker wasn't my style, so I replaced it with a vintage 30. I replaced the stock tubes with 2 JJ's EL 84's and a mulard in the preamp.

I love this amp do to the complex harmonics my pedals bring out in it. I am a metal player, but I also play the blues. I play through a LTD Eclipse 500s with an EMG 81 bridge and a 60 neck. I run it into a Fulltone OCD into a MXR 6-band EQ, into the amp. I have a slight boost on the EQ pedal in the lows highs and upper mids. I run amp mids at 4 with bass 7 and treble at 8 and a 1\2. I run a Dr. Z Airbrake between my amp and speaker so I can crank it and still stay married. When I need to go beyond that, I use a Z-Vex Box of Metal and it lights my amp up like a roman candle, AWESOME. The sound is wicked and it is my sound, not somebody else's. Over the years I have had more amps than most shops ever see in a lifetime. I have been searching for a good crunch that keeps it's clarity and for me this is it. Too much gain and it is just noise, even for metal. With the right set up any amp can be a metal amp. I love this amps ability with the right pedals to authentically sound great clean, dirty and everywhere in between. If you know how to build tone you will love this amp. On it's own it is a blues amp. With a couple of pedals and an airbrake it is a very versital little tone monster.

It's a tube amp treat it right and it will treat you right. I do however I dislike the input jacks on this unit and have replaced them all. Now I see no reason this would ever let me down. I give it a 7 due to the input jacks.

I called the company and talked to tech support. I asked about biasing the amp and he told me to read my 4 page manual. I was not impressed by the tech nor the manual that tells you in eight different languages what master, treble, Mid and Bass do, plus it never even covered the amp's bias BOOOOOOOOOOO!

I have been playing for 15 years now. I know more about amplifiers than most guitar store salesmen. I love my tone and I wouldn't trade it for all the Rectifier's or Marshall's in the world. The fender sound is fantastic and very accepting of good effects.

The best feature is obviously the great tone! As a stock amp it holds its own very well. Compared to more complex amps with loads of features, it pales...but when it comes to sweet class A tone it's a 10 so I'll give it a 10, considering its price point. I bought it used-in good condition-for only $200 bucks. A steal. I replaced the original Fender (Eminence) speaker with a Roland V75, which is a Greenback clone made by Eminence for Roland. It does very well in the BJ, tightening the low end and adding a bit of cone breakup. Other than that, it's stock.

After some experimentation I finally settled on a "best method" for obtaining the tone I wanted using an old (1988) BOSS ME 5 floor pedal. I play Les Pauls with the following pickups: Gibson Les Paul Studio with 490R and 498T; Jay Turser LP Goldtop with LACE Hemis and another Jay Turser (Serpant) with GFS Dream 180 pups. I have a strat, Tele and a 335 too but I mainly use the Les Pauls. ALL my guitars sound good through this amp.
For me the key to great tone using moderate-to-hotter humbuckers is a compressor set to a slow attack for clean and a fast attack for overdrive. The BOSS ME 5 has a good, transparent compressor that enables me to set a consistant "sweet spot" for the amp's preamp, which is very sensitive. Past the compressor I use the lowest possible setting for the overdrive on the ME 5 (OD #1, set to 1.) The combination of these ME 5 settings and the BJ conspire to deliver a fantastic, dynamic, rich clean tone. I highly recommend a combination of compression with boost pedals for this amp. (By the way, another great pedal to put after the compressor is a BOSS GE 7 EQ pedal. It has a built in boost along with the 7 bands of eq boost/cut.) The main thing is to set a consistent signal level going into the first stage preamp of the BJ. Very easy to do with a compressor / boost combination up front. Finally, I add a slight bump at 500Hz using the ME 5 EQ section to give the signal more richness. Works like a charm, folks.
For overdrive I use the BOSS ME 5 with the same settings for compression and overdrive except that I change the attack to the fastest setting and dial up the overdrive to level 2 (out of 7.) The EQ is set up the same as it is in the clean patch.
Clean is to die for in my opinion. It borders on the best sounding clean tone I have ever obtained using a LANEY LC 15 that died on me a few years ago. Not quite as luscious but close. Maybe a new set of tubes will get me there? At any rate, goosing the sensitive front end properly allows me to run the volume at 4-5 and the Master at 12 for a clean, luscious tone that breaks up as I dig in and sustains into harmonic feedback at will. PERFECT!
Overdrive is very tight with fantastic sustain and no feedback problems. Very bluesy sounding. Classic Rock and Blues tone...to a "T."
I have the mid and bass controls set to 3 o'clock and the treble set at 12 o'clock, always. No boost. Reverb on 2-4. That's it.
I'm very, very impressed with the BJ in conjuction with the ME 5. I highly recommend compression to smooth out the sensitive preamp and get the most from the power section's tube duet. With this setup I'm totally satisfied.

In the 15-20 watt tube amp under 500 bucks category this amp is a serious contender for tone champ. Lightweight and loud enough to backline at smaller venues. Mikes up well with the Shure SM 57 for larger places. A real winner for those who know how to operate a simple tube amp. Perfect for blues and rock players and would work for jazz players too. A little tone monster!

basic features, single channel, 3 shelving eq's, nice fender reverb (which i love), master volume, volume, fat switch (which i dont use). pretty basic. the only thing i wish it had was a standby switch and an effects loop.

this amp sounds amazing. this is a tone nuts dream, and guess what, im a tone nut. the only amps i prefer are fender and vox, but fender has an edge over vox i think. the cleans are amazing and it breaks up very nicely with volume at 4. i always run the master at 12. tubes like to run hot. i use this amp with my samick era sheraton which sounds amazing. beautiful and very pleasing to the ear. the fat switch only tends to make it muddy and not a good muddy. best bet for overdrive is to go by a tubscreamer. best peddle you will buy, want be disappointed. it fits together very well with this amp. WARNING!!!!!! if you are someone that plays metal and doesn't care about tone just loud nasty ugly horrible distortion this is not your amp, so dont complain about if it doesnt give you that, cause it want. go by a marshall or a mesa you retard. this amp in my opinion is best for americana style music. folk rock, country, jazz, and pop rock will sound amazing on this little tone hog. great buy and plenty loud. PEOPLE, they have this amazing thing called PA that will bring up your amp good in a mix. if you have an amp with over 40 watts of tube power you must be deaf. this amp has 15 and is great cause it breaks up at reasonable volumes.

pretty rugged but i dont tour that much so i cant tell you for certain.

go get this amp if you are into to tone. awesome amp for recording and club gigging.