Fender Blues Junior

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.

1995 Tweed made in USA. Very versatile from smokey blues to jazz, country, pop. Sounds great even with my acoustic plugged.

Warm Warm Waaaarm. It beats most of the boutique amps I've played, and I've tried a lot.

No issues yet, seems trustworthy

No need to deal with Fender.

Been playing about fifteen years. Perfect companion for my LP, Tele, ES-335 and other guitars. Great little tubey. Beats overhyped amps like Deluxe Reverb and co

It has a speaker and a cabinet and a cord for plugging it in. Just a treasure trove of options, buttons, amp models, cabinets, tone knobs, effects, pedals, Roth IRA deposits, foriegn car parts and optional options for optioning your options. It pushes 100 watts of power through a 1.2" speaker. 250 channels plus Direct TV and cable. Many deep menus for scrolling through the other menus and menus explaining the menu structure. Incredible depth and presence of the incredible depth. It can cover any style except most styles you would cover if you went undercover to cover a cover tune. Full coverage.
The 40 button footswitch switches the switching to the floor pedal for four by 10 pushbuttoning for switching. I switched to this floor pedal pedal and boy I'm glad I did! The grillecloth is chocolate, frosted with chocolate grillcloth. Try it. Has a killer bit of bite better than a bitter, buttery tone! Mine is the tolex version revision with the vision plan and medicare plus output jack. Two inputs putting in the power to the dynamic diecast moling motor with a factory installed fan module for the tubes. Nice chrome covering on the valve input putters. Weighs in at 340 thousand tons-light as father's feathers. Very versatile but varies very much.

Has a sound sounding sound. I tend to leave the amp in the on position when playing and the grillcloth on, too. By cranking the crank and the master volume you can get the sound yo want or don't want. And it's a full electric sound. Then it sounds better with a guitar too. It oscillates lately but is as stable as a three legged table with a toothpick jar underwater outside of Berlin or Japan in a dishpan by Don Van Vleeeeeterburg. That's why I bought it anyway. No worries. I was drowning out the other guys in the bathtub. Total action of supressing the press when pressed to express it. Hope to add the Billm mods to mod it. My guitarz are 1928 Mercedes Benze and a 1947 Jaguar S-type.

I tossed it from a Sukov T 381r9i fighter over the Ukraine at 300,000 feet. It fell for 7 hours and landed on a solid granite rock. Plugged it into a squirrel's anus and it fired up like a dustpan on the griddle. No worries. Buried it out in Nevada at a Nuke Weapons test site. After detonating a 500 megaton bomb strapped to the speaker, I found it worked just fine. Not bad. About as rugged as a jelly donut. Runs on batteries, house current or squirrel **** excretions.

I called Chuck at Fender. He sent me a million dollars and a free amp. What more could you ask for?

Too heavy. Way too loud. Doesn't even work unless you plug it in and turn it on. Unaware of the social dynamics of most Cuban-American churches or black liberation theology. Disconnected capacitors for a better overall sound. Government action subdivides the teaching repudiated by Dr. James Comb. Comes around to a situation between Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X. Promoted to a framework of nationalism.

Features listed below, a thousand times over.

I wish this amp had a Standby Switch, otherwise, I wish only that I had 17 more of these little things. I play everything from rock to blues to jazzy style stuff to country style stuff to whatever. This thing does it all.

Like most any food worth eating, this amp just gives the most incredible palate of hot and tasty. First, let me say that I haven't had this amp up past 4 in practice OR gigging. 15 tube watts is JUST THAT LOUD. Now, for the tone.

I'm playing 2 main guitars through this thing:

Epiphone Les Paul Classic - hot, hot, hot, hot tone. Loud and hot. Serves for the rockier side of our sets. Hot. Beautiful, crunchy overdrives from this amp with humbuckers. I've found that clean is not so easy with HB's, as the amp breaks up early (volume around 4, master volume isn't a factor). Comes out even hotter with the Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive pedal.

Whoa.

Fender Standard Strat - crystal glassy sound, you can dial in SRV tones or whatever sound you want for that matter. Not quite as loud or as hot as the Les Paul, but talk about tasty. Doesn't break up quite as early, so louder clean is easier with the Strat. Sounds really nice with the Danelectro Fab Flange pedal.

*drool*

That being said, the amp has a FAT Switch which I use as a boost for the Strat to even out the volumes from each guitar, and serves to give a nice break up to the Strat while not completely breaking up the Les Paul.

It's small, compact, and *relatively* light. Not too keen on the tubes exposed from the back, but with care, this seems like a solid little unit. I MAY look into getting a fan set up to cool the tubes, as well, as I use an amp stand which tips the amp backwards, keeping more heat inside the unit.

5 year limited warranty.

No idea about service.

Amps I Have Owned:
Fender
Vox
Laney
Crate
Traynor
Peavey
Yamaha

The Blues Junior beats the worthless crap out of all of them.

If I lost this amp, for whatever reason, I would have to replace it with 2 more. I am also looking at building an extension cabinet for it (sweet one like on the billm mods website). I looked at a lot of low wattage amps, because I wanted to be able to turn it up and get that tube overdrive, without deafening the neighbours. And in this amp, I've got that. I've also got an amp that's loud enough to use for practice and gigs.

all the features I need, but nothing special.

I play an archtop guitar in a jazz-trio setting so I am after a clean sound. Normally I use a polytone, but I borrow this from my bass player now for any other gig and use it in our rehearsal room. the amp has only 15 watt, so at a certain volume it tends to break up and it does that smooth and gentle and it shows a nice reaction to my picking dynamics, just a hint of compression to make me feel good. it is easy to get vintage jazz tones like burrell and grant green with this amp.
there is some noise, but thats always the tradeoff for an "open" tube sound.

so far it didn't let us down.

never dealt with them.

I play like 30 years, owned fender, marshall, boogie and some other brands. this is a nice amp to play in jazzclubs if you want a bit of tube compression and a hint of overdrive. sounds pretty warm and real. If I need more clean headroom I use my polytone.

Make this quick, there are over 500 reviews on this ampy--what else can I add???? Here's is my review. This SOB is awesome! Everything else is too heavy, too obnoxious, too loud, too much. I take this baby to the studio while other dudes take their stacks, and I rip their balls off, yeah, they leave a girlyman. Sure they get LoWD, but blah blah blah quiet is the new loud. Clean is the new distort. This 15megaWatt torch sinks the roof. Okay, that's my review.

The simple features are well documented. The beauty of this amp is what it's not. This is the amp for someone who has had enough of solid state and onboard effects. This is the amp for someone who cares about tone.

I'm using this amp with a Les Paul Custom and Godin SD. I play Christian radio rock/pop, so I don't use heavy crunch or distortion, so the bluesy tone of this amp is works very well for me. All tubes amps have a little noise, especially if other electrical equipment is nearby or the tubes are aging. I've been able to modify from clean to a little crunchy with the master volume. Just work with it, and be patient enough to realize the tube tone is so worth it over solid state.

I just purchased this new, so I can't say. I hope it's reliable; however, this is my second tube amp (first was a Peavey Classic 30) that was problematic. As with all tube amps, plan on replacing the tubes at some point. Buy them in advance. If you want maintenance free, go solid state, but know that you're sacrificing tone for toys.

Have not had to call them, and hope I don't have to.

I've been playing for 8 years, mostly acoustic. I have a Roland Cube 30 that I don't use, a Behringer ACX1000 acoustic amp. I have a Martin HD28 that's a gem, and several other lesser expensive guitars, a couple basses, and a mandolin.
If it were stolen, at this point, I would replace it (depends on reliability).
I love tube tone so much that it's worth any maintenance issues. I also love the simplicity (great, great tone without all the crap). To meet the needs of a few songs we do, I will have to add a couple pedals.

You should know the features by now. Single channel (which I like), master volume to control your gain/volume (which I like), reverb that is serviceable if dialed down (which I like), 3 tone controls (which I like). Obviously, I like the simple control system but the options it does provide.

I play Fender and Gibson guitars through Fender amps. That's my tone thing. I've gone through 3 Blues Juniors over the years. Just bought my third one. This is the type of amp that isn't necessarily your #1 thoroughbred, but it still manages to find a place in the back of the stable. It is great for what it is, IMO: a grab and go type of amp that doesn't take up a lot of a stage area but still performs. I hate when people try to compare this to other amps. It is what it is, people. Love it or hate it for that, but don't dis it for not having Marshall crunch or not being a metal amp or not have Twin Reverb cleans. Please, this is why there are other amp models out there. To please everyone's needs! The amp does old school rock and roll and blues spot on. With a few mod tweaks and maybe a speaker replacement, you can have yourself a great little boogie amp (by that, I mean boogie rock not Mesa/Boogie, just so you know). Tonewise, it'll never blow away your cranked Deluxe Reverb or an old 50s Deluxe, but jeez, what else will? Judge this little baby on its own terms and you'll be pleasantly surprised. I have been.

Not any more or any less reliable than any other amp out there on the market. Fender is a solid company. There may be a few duds that get out of the factory, but on the whole you can rely on it. Besides, any amp tech can work on them. Easy to access the board and make mods.

Never dealt with. I use a personal amp tech.

Been playing long enough to know tone and to still be searching for it. Like I said, I've had 3 of these amps in the past 15 years, so I'd say I know a little about them. It's an amp that I've had, used extensively, then sold to upgrade to a "better" amp, then gone back and bought another one. There's something about the BJ that satisfies my blues itch. I won't lie and say it's the greatest amp I ever played, but I will say honestly that I dig its tone and bottom end grit. My amp tech and I worked for 3 months on modding one to get it just right to cut through a band mix. I just bought another one to settle my jones for the BJ tone. Best part about it: When there's a jam somewhere, you can just grab it, throw it in the back of the car with your guitar and rock and roll to the gig. Plays well with pedals and that's all you can ask for. Main knock against it is IT IS A LITTLE NOISY. That's inherent in the amp and you can't really fix it. But once you play notes, you're not going to hear it at all.

I bought this amp in 2003 and at first I have to say that I didn't like the overall sound I got from it. I was playing in a high school band covering metal and I can honestly say compared to my buddy's Marshall, it sounded like shit. But as my amp and I have matured, I have realized metal is not this amp's style, it is meant for warm tone-rich blues, jazz, and with the right effects loop earth tone hendrix, 60's psychedelia.

I am using my Fender '84 American series strat with this amp, with a Dunlop crybaby, a Pro Co Rat, a Maxon OD808 Overdrive pedal and a foot-switch. Now being heavily into the blues and jazzy earth tone, it is a perfect fit. The clean channel is distorted but only at max volume. And the distortion is perfect.

I wouldn't use it in a gig without a backup, I recommend this for recording and personal enjoyment only. Small gigs are fine. Twice in the last year it has crapped out on me right before the gig then mysteriously worked after.

No comment.

Very very good amp, for personal and recording.

I bought mine from a friend that had hardly played it for $360. I think it's a 2001 or 2002 model. I use this amp mainly for gigs where space is a concern or I have to carry my gear long distances. Also if I don't want one of my more expensice amps in the weather or sight of thieves. I play blues and rock and the blues jr is pretty good at both. If you can mic it this amp will work anywhere. As far as features go, nothing impressive, but enough to manage.

I changed the speaker to the weber version of an alnico V30 and have all GT tubes. I play american strats & teles, a les paul, and a danelectro. I also use a THD hot plate. The strats and dano work well with this amp. I think it sounds best with the master all the way up and the volume dialed to your desired crunch level. I use the hot plate if I need to dial back the overall a little. I never touch the master. It's always on 12. This amp really sounds pretty damn good. It has tons of gain and is very responsive for what it is. I've gotten huge metal tones from this with my humbucker equipt tele. The cleans are good too, but not comparable to a princeton or anything. I've run it through a variety of cabs too. Sounds great into my 4x12 Marshall 1960AX.

I've toted it all over. In the cold, rain, summer heat, ect. It's always got it done. The el84's worry me on the road sometimes though.

Very solid little amp for the money. Classic fender tones all the way around. It's no Princeton, not by a long shot, but it IS loud enough to practice and gig with, and on stage it can give you the classic sounds that you need. I've actually had more musicians comment on the great tone I've got from this amp alone than when I've had my Bivalve and Marshall cab or 4x10 Deville out.

I replaced the speaker with a Celestion Vintage 30. This was the smartest thing I ever did. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! If you are looking to add a warmer, deeper, chunkier sound to this amp, then do it.
It doesn't alter the Fender clean at all, it just adds depth to it.
When you run an Ibanez tube screamer or a Marshall Guv'nor into it, it just sounds INCREDIBLE. All the distortion you ever need. Even for metal!
I have not tried the Billm mods, but I really don't want to mess with my amp by soldering and desoldering components. This was a very quick and easy replacement, but at a cost of 100 dollars, maybe too expensive for some people.

I bought my Blues Jr. in 1998, so it about 9 or 10 years old. Not too many features to write about. The fat boost switch is nice but standard. It would have been nice for a headphone jack but I can't complain. The reverb is sweet, classic fender. I really rather not have the bells and whistles for this amp. It's a good little gigging amp and great for some studio work as well.

I have several guitars an 88' Gibson LP STD, 01 Fender Special Edition Tele thinline and an Ernie Ball/MM Albert Lee. In the past, I have owned Fender Strats, a couple of Tom Anderson Cobra's, Standard Teles. They all sounded very nice through this amp. One thing I want to point out that made a HUGE difference. I replaced the tubes with Ei Tubes. Man, You could hear a substantial difference, the amp came alive. The tone is killer, the way the amp breaks up now is just incredible. Sweet mid's, crips highs. I only play clean with this amp, I don't care for the distortion and would rather push the amp a little harder to achieve it. If I need OD or distortion I'll use my pedals, i.e Pedalworx Texas Two Step, Fulltone Fat Boost, Roger Linn Adrenalinn.

It has held up well through many gigs, I usually use it as a backup for my Dr. Z Maz 18 Jr. however I often use it for a stereo effect. The tolex has manage to stay in excellent condition. The amp itself is solid. I've burned up a few tubes but thats normal.

I haven't had to use customer support. I would imagine with as many products as Fender sells it might be hard getting through, however if they have automated their call center, it might be breeze, don't know?

I've been playing for over 25 years. I've owned a JMC 800 Marshall stack, Marshall Mosfet 100, Fender 65 Twin Reissue, Fender Bassman, Peavey, and my main amp Dr. Z Maz Jr 18. This amp has been with me for over 10 years and I plan to keep it. Again, after I replaced the tubes with Ei's the thing came alive. I've actually had Musicians and band leaders request me to bring the Blues Jr. over the Dr. Z. If it were stolen I would try to find a used one. It's been a great little amp for the price!

I bag your pardon for my bed englsih, but it is necessary report my bad experience with the Blonde Blue JR. Like manny guitar player, I 'm a Fender Fan, and it was a dream buy a Fender ampli. A bought the Blonde Blue Jr in a 2004 trip to USA ( I live at Brasil ). Unfortunatly when the amp arrive in Brasil, I can observe 3 bad problems: 1) The amp goes out the factory with the reverb desconceted ( easy to resolve but shows de bad quality production ). The sistem to grip the ampli ( i dont know the word in english ), is the bad and unsecure sistem I ever seen. When I take the ampli in this vintage grip, it broke and the amp falls on the floor. Besides the bad production quality ( made in Mexico ), the sound isn't so great by the price. The ampli is very limited, there is no switch reverb, thers is only one channel, and no drive. I'm selling this and searching another ampli like Roland JAzz Chorus, or Laney Valv.

I layed for 500 people a couple of times, and after some hours started, the valves make sense and produce a great celan sound.

Fender may not obsevre just the profits, because the Mexican quality prodution pattern are very poor. My reverb was disconected and the vintage grip is a bad sistem unsecure to take the amplifier.I try to contact Fender but there was some warranty problemas, because i came from Brasil and the Equipament was buying at USA. You Know thats the global bussines.

BAd investiment. There is nothing to Leo Fender works. It its almost a Chinese equipament.

I bought this amp used, in nice cosmetic condition, but the reverb had crapped out so I got it nice and cheap from a friend. We all know the features, I don't have to go over them, I only wish it had a standby switch. As far as it being one channel, with one input, I've done an about-face over the years and don't really have the need for a multi-channel, high-gain brute of an amp anymore. My main amp is a blackface '65 Bandmaster, and the Blues Junior is a nice addition.

I can agree with other posters that the Blues Junior is a bit noisy at idle, there is a bit of 60-cycle hum that is always present, no matter what. So, even though I will probably bring this into the studio and figure out a way to deal with the hum then, I forsee this being an addition to my live rig as you don't notice the hum at all when used in a band situation, it's really not that bad. I am quite surprised by this amp's tone and volume, very impressed, actually. Very loud for a little 15-watt amp, nice, full sound, sounds great in conjunction with the Bandmaster. Not much for clean headroom, of course, it being 15-watts, breaks up a bit early. I haven't decided yet if I will change the speaker, which, although punchy, isn't that articulate at the loud stage volumes I play at. It's not that bad, it has it's own character, but by itself on stage it can mush out at loud volumes. All in all, though, this is a great amp, I really like it quite a bit, and have used it at a couple gigs now, once with my Bandmaster, where it sounded fantastic, and once by itself, where it did okay, but not spectacular. I have a feeling I will be filing another review in about six more months of usage, after I get more of a feel for the amp and how it fits into my rig. For right now I plan on using it next to my Bandmaster/4x10 cab and blend the two, and use it by itself for some of the tiny bar gigs. So, as far as sound goes, I think this is a nice little Fender with a couple issues due to cheap components, but overall it sounds very good.

The lack of a standby switch on a tube amp knocks a point off of the reliability section automatically. The tube sockets are a bit wiggly, also, and the tube cage itself can be easily moved. Knock off a couple points for that. I'll fix these little issues, not a major problem.

Been playing longer than many posters have been alive, I guess, just had my B-day, just call me 40-something. My first amp was a Peavey combo back in 1979, but have used Fenders (silverface Super Reverb, Bassman, now the blackface Bandmaster), Lab Series, tube Peaveys, rackmount stuff, Crate, Kustom, old Harmony stuff, etc. Tone is mostly in your fingers and your attack, but a tube amp always seems to complete the circuit in a manner most natural to me. I have nothing against modeling amps and good solidstate stuff, I've seen guys make Peavey Bandits sound amazing. If you can make your rig sound good, that's the point, not how much it costs or how fancy or rare your stuff is. For a weekend working warrior like myself, tone, reliability, weight and feasiblilty are key. Like another poster stated, dragging a 100-watt Marshall full stack into a 300-seat gig is becoming more and more of a rarity. If that's what you do and it works for you, more power to you. But for me, using lower wattage amps, turning them up a bit and getting them to sound big and full, then using a decent overdrive pedal is where I'm at. Anyway, we're all skronking away after that tone we hear in our heads, we just all have different ways to do it. The Blues Junior is a nice little helper for me.

Features are well documented;I like having three band EQ and master volume. I haven't used the extra speaker jack, but it's nice to know it's there. There is no effects loop, however, which is a bit of a bummer.

The stock tubes and speaker deliver a very usable sound -- and depending on what you use it for, it may be all you need. I needed it to have a tight, warm clean tone, so I put a used V30 speaker and JJ tubes for a higher output than the blue Groove Tubes. So for my purposes, stock sound is a 7, upgraded is a 9. Before mods, it had a nice clean tone with a smooth, bluesy break up with the volume cranked. With the mods I have plenty of headroom; the distortion sounds a little harder than with the other tubes, but I tend to use pedals for distortion. The characteristic "boxiness" is not an issue with the changes I made. With this set up, it is not a very "Fendery" sounding amp; the cleans are reminiscent of my brother's Mesa .22 cal. But the sound is exactly what I needed for my church amp, and I hope it will be reliable.

It's still new, and I've had no problems with it.

Stock sound is a 7, upgraded is a 9. I've been playing off and on since the 80's, and have been playing electric for a few years. My search for amp tone that I can afford has been a difficult journey, and this amp gets it done, especially with the mods. If it is a reliable amp, it will be a keeper, for sure.

Bought in Jan '08. Neede it in a pinch for a few gigs with a reggae band that sometimes delves into punk. 1 channel with a footswitchable 'fat' boost, basically a gain notch. No effects loop. Headphone option unknown. Wish it had switchable reverb, better distortion tone, or none at all. I use it everywhere I'm allowed to play. All tube design, sounds muddy on the crucnh tones, typical Fender.

I use a '95 Gibson LP Std through this thing. I knew what I was getting into when I bought this amp, it has that characteristic sweet, chimey Fender clean 'bounce' but, IMO, a God-awful distortion. I'm realizing very rapidly that Fender distortion is not Marshall, or even Crate/Peavey. I personally need an independent effect pedal in order to achieve a decent/crispy overdrive sound; in this case a Maxon SD-1. I use this in a ska/dub venture with a group of other old drunks. I'll say it again: the dist setting needs work from the outset WITHOUT MODS- but I'd rather have it like this. A neat little tube amp with great clean sounds and fartish crunch as opposed to an amp with to die for crunch sounds but horrific cleans. Fender in a nutshell. Gives me an excuse to search for a boutique dist pedal.

Yes I would use it without a backup. If it died I'd plug into the board.

I'm not sure but I can only assume it's hit or miss.

I 've been playing about 25 years, had a 'pre' run for about 5, now I just weeknd gig from time to time. I'd prob buy a Vox if it was stolen. I like its clean tone, reverb, and its size and appearance. Hate its dist tone.
Really is a great value. Like effect pedals (good ones, try non-Boss).
Wish it came with a vinyl cover, detachable power cord.

15 watts, 12 inch Eminence speaker, Standard 3-band EQ, Reverb, volume, Master volume, and Fat switch for more gain. Made in China or Korea, forget which since I didn't keep it). Knob markers are upside down - meant to be viewed from behind the cabinet. Didn't like that. Nice, vintage Fender look overall, though. Seems to be pretty well made. Its a single channel amp, unless you count the fat switch as channel 2. You can get an optional foot pedal to control that. No effects loop.

I'm a blues player and I like clean to moderately distorted tones. This amp has pretty good Fender cleans, but overdrive and distortion are terrible. I've played through cheap SS amps that have better overdrive. It also didn't take well to my pedals (Bad Monkey overdrive and Boss DS-1 distortion). Overall, this amp didn't compare well to my Vox AD30VT modeling amp, if you can believe it.

I played the amp everyday, constantly A/Bing it with the Vox. I just couldn't believe the little Vox sounded better overall. I finally returned the Blues Junior to Guitar Center after 29 days under their 30-day return policy. Its too bad, because I really wanted to like this amp (I'm a Fender fan), but after endless tweaking it became obvious that the Blues Junior just didn't cut it.

Bottom line - If all you want are clean tones, this amp is ok, but it totaly stinks in overdrive. There are better sounding and more versatile tube amps for the same price or less from competitors like Peavey and Crate. Even some SS and hybrid amps sound better.

Seemed to be well built overall, but the power tubes just hang there and easily loosen and start to come out of their sockets when you move or bump the amp around. On the other hand, you can easily change the tubes without taking anything apart.

Never needed them.

I've been playing for 5 years after a long hiatus and currenly own the Vox described above, an '87 MIJ Fender Strat and an Ibanez ARC100. I really didn't like anything about this amp other than its looks and a few clean settings.

Since returning this amp, I picked up a new Crate Palomino Series V50 212 for $399 on clearance from Guitar Center that completly blows the Blues Junior away in every respect.

Like Marshall, Fender gets a lot of mileage out of its name but its entry level products don't stand up to competitor's products in the same price range. If you're considering this amp, you need to check similarly priced tube amps from Peavy and Crate, just to mention two alternatives with better features and tone, IMO.

There is really no point in buying this amp IMO unless you just have to have the Fender nameplate. Its dissapointing to me that Fender would put their name on such mediocre product.

2007 Fender Blues Junior, 15w single channel tube amp with a 12" Eminence Gold Label speaker. Fat switch for slightly more gain from the preamp. It seems designed as a practice amp, although it can get loud enough for small gigs. My favorite feature is the Master volume knob so I can let it overdrive without pissing off the neighbors. I haven't been playing very long and I don't gig so this was just about perfect for my needs.

This amp sounds great. It has an excellent clean sound, and if the volume is cranked it dishes out some nice blues crunch that cleans quickly if you back off on the guitar's volume. As I said before, to avoid pissing off the neighbors and my family I take the volume all the way up to 12 and leave the master at just under 2. Jamming with my band, I don't need to take the master above 4 to be heard above the drummer. The distortion on this amp is good, but the BJ is no Marshall. It has enough dirt for blues and some rock, but if you want hard rock or metal tones you're going to need a pedal. I tried a Bad Monkey OD for a while, but I wasn't happy with how it screwed with my tone. I now use a BBE Boosta Grande, which transparently pushes my amp into Zeppelin territory. I play blues and rock through a G&L Tribute Legacy, and I get a great sound. I'm thinking of upgrading the speaker, but that's just my endless pursuit of tone.

I've owned the BJ for about 6 months, and because I don't gig, it has sat in the same place in my house for nearly all that time. It's been great, never given me any trouble.

I think it has a 5 year warranty.

Been playing about a year. This was my first "real" amp after a terrible Fender solid-state that was part of my Squier pack. I love this amp, and don't intend to part with it any time soon. If it was stolen, I would look around at a few other amps, like the Crate Palomino, which I've heard good things about, but I'd probably get another Blues Jr.

My experience with the Blues Jr. got off to a pretty rough start. My first one had a loose tube socket and the amp would crackle and feedback while powering up. Obviously, I returned it and got a different one. The second one is a keeper. My Junior is a 2007 model manufactured in Mexico, with the cream PCB. This is my first tube amp, so I am far from being an expert on tone.

I was a diehard supporter of Line6 products for years. I just got sick and tired of all of the tweaking needed to find useful tones with the digital stuff. I've made the conversion to tube amps and will not go back to solid state.

The Blues Jr. is a very simple amp. Basic 3-band EQ, master vol., vol., reverb, a 12" speaker, and those wonderful little glass bottles that glow and breathe fire. It also has a boost switch, labled "Fat", which gives a little more gain. The amp only has one channel, so don't expect myriad options if you're considering this amp. No effects loop and no headphone jack either. As I said, the lack of features on the Blues Jr. is what makes it such a cool amp. A simple amp, with simple circuitry.

Many love this amp because it's capable of copping a poor man's SRV/Texas blues tone. I'll admit, I love that tone, but that is not why I bought it. The Junior is an ideal low wattage combo that will give you a solid, transparent clean tone to use as a foundation for effects. I like to think of it as a poor man's David Gilmour rig. Set it up for a loud clean tone and use good old fashioned stomp boxes for overdrive and distortion.

My main guitars are a Fender Strat, a Fender Tele, and an Epi Les Paul. My effects chain is pretty simple. Guitar---Digitech Bad Monkey Overdrive---Visual Sound Jekyll/Hyde Ultimate Overdrive---Boss CE-5 Chorus Emsemble---Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor---Blues Jr. (As I previously stated, I had a whole stable of Line6 gear, so I'm really starting my rig from scratch, so my pedal board is pretty modest thus far.) With these basic effects, I can go from classic jazz to gritty blues to British Invasion chime to Zeppelin snarl to Sabbath Sludge to Cheesy 80s arena rock to all-out Shred. The Junior can handle everything I throw at it. I get great tone and response with single coils and humbuckers. The Junior is very versatile.

Be sure to check out the amp thoroughly before you buy it. My first one was problematic. I made the silly mistake of playing a floor model, but the amp I brought home was still in the box. Play the exact amp you're going to buy before you leave the store.

The amp is less than a year old, so I can't really comment on the reliability so far. I haven't had any major problems yet. Of course, the 5 year warranty from Fender makes it a whole lot easier to live with this amp. I do know that many people have owned Juniors for over 10 years and they're still going strong. I've had really good luck with every Fender product I've used, so I'm not really expecting any major hassles.

Never needed them, but I'm fortunate to have an authorized Fender service outlet within 5 minutes of my home. The 5 year warranty was actually a very big plus while I was considering this amp.

So far, so good. It does exactly what I need it to do. The tone is so much warmer and deeper than digital amps. The Junior loves effects. In fact, effects pedals sound so much better through a good tube amp. You could easily play a small to medium gig with this little amp. I'm not a gigging guitarist. I play and record at home, but I've also got young kids in the house, so I don't need a 100-watt stack turned to 11. If I want to play late at night and the family is sleeping, I can still fire up the Junior and get great tones at very low volumes.

I looked at many amps before purchasing the Junior. Crate V16, Crate V32, Peavey Classic 30, Vox AC-15, Epiphone Blues Classic, Peavey Valve King 112. Those amps all had good qualities, but the Junior had the most "organic" tone. It might not have all the bells and whistles compared to other amps, but it doesn't need them.

I've been playing on and off for about 18 years, but I've never owned a tube amp. The Junior is a great new addition to my rig. In fact, I'm thinking about getting a second one for a stereo rig. For the first time in all my years of playing, I'm genuinely satisfied with my tone. I've probably spent a small fortune in solid state gear since I first picked up the guitar and the solution was this simple and inexpensive little box from Fender.

If this amp were stolen I would have some major problems since it doesn't really leave my home. Hopefully there aren't any roving bands of thugs in my neighborhood breaking into homes looking for small tube amps. If so, I need to move.

Bought new in 2005 (Barcelona, Spain). Single channel tube amplifier. Volume, Master, Treble, Middle, Bass, and Reverb controls. A lovely, simple and cheap tube amp. The stock speaker Emminence (Gold Label) has been upgraded with a Jensen P12R (Alnico speaker).

I mainly play Jazz and Blues using a Gibson ES-150DC (hollow-body guitar) with the neck pick-up, playing at home and jams. I love the tone of this guitar with this particular amplifier.

Of course, do not expect to get a boutique tube amp for this price (this is what I consider 10, with that bell harmonics in the air), but at this comparatively low price I think it???s quite difficult to find anything better.

Different pre-amp tubes were tested (v1) and the most sweetest sound comes from the NOS 12AY7 (gain factor 20), increased clean head-room and breaking-up later than the stock 12AX7WC. In addition, this tube provides a characteristic vintage sound clean and overdrive. In fact, this tube was the v1 tube in different old 50???s Fender amps. I also tested a TAD 12AU7 (lower gain factor of 10) at different positions but it has less influence on its tone, apart from a lower output volume and practically no break-out. However, it provides nice warm sound for jazz in position v3. According to different reviews appeared in this website, I tested a pair of JJ EL84 as power tubes, but I didn???t like the tone I got. They sounded substantially brighter and the distortion was less pleasant to my ears than the obtained with the stock power tubes. But I am a jazz guitar player, so may be I???m not the most appropriate person to judge this type of sounds.

On the other hand, the overall performance of this amplifier can be substantially improved replacing the stock Emminence ceramic speaker by the alnico Jensen P12R speaker (25W). This was my first choice due to the remarkable creamier and vintage sound of the alnico speakers (don???t forget I???m a jazzer). After installation, the amp sounded mellower, sweater, less boxy, although a little bit brighter. My perception is that every day it sounds better, what could be explained by the continuous breaking-in of these type of speakers.

These two mods are relatively inexpensive and you can improve substantially the tone you obtain.

I also tested a Boss DS-1 overdrive pedal but the sound is also a little bit artificial, without soul. If you like the thickness and harmonics of saturated power tubes, I???m sure you know what I mean.

According to my experience, an attenuator is the only way to get nice distortion sounds at reasonable volumes. For those who like overdrive classic rock sounds at bedroom volumes I bet for the Weber Minimass attenuator (speaker-based). I normally play at attenuator setting of 5 (3-6 dB attenuation) for clean sounds and at setting 1-2 for overdrive sounds with master and volume amp controls higher than 7 (think of classic rock sounds of the 70???s). However, it is worth to mention that it has a perceptible effect colouring the final tone (a little bit darker) but the thick and tube sound you get is much better than the obtained using any overdrive pedal. Furthermore, you also get the option of adding different speaker cabs (4, 8, and 16 ??) without modifying the amp impedance. Think about I???m playing my hollow body guitar for saturated sounds and this is not the most appropriate guitar due to the lack of sustain. However, thinking of Steve Howe playing an ES-175 with distortion in that old Yes albums, do you miss any sustain?, it is a peculiar and characteristic sound.

So far, so good. But I play mainly at home, trying not to disturb my neighbours.

No experience

Playing guitar since 25 years ago. My overall impression is it is the best small tube amp for this price. It has one single channel, so you are forced to use a distortion pedal or an attenuator to get overdrive sounds at low volumes. You can also use the pre-amp overdrive tubes by pushing up the Volume control and controlling the overall volume with the Master control, but neither will sound like power tube overdrive. You can only get that by cranking the amp.

This is a 2007 Blues Junior.
It is a very simple amp; one channel with volume, 3 band EQ and a fat switch in the preamp section, master and reverb in the master section.
The fat switch boosts the preamp so it gives you more volume and breaks earlier. It's not an overdrive switch!!!
This amp is perfect for home recording because of its low wattage, but it can defiantly get loud enough for rehearsals.

For me this amp is a perfect blues/classic rock amp after I invested 100$ in a new speaker. It can easily compete with much larger and expensive amps!

First of all, the stock speaker is crappy! It lacks in lows and in details on the high end. The highs are shrilling and unpleasant with overdrive. I replaced the stock speaker with a Celestion Greenback (100$) and I got a brand new AMAZING amp!!! If you have the money for such an upgrade, you would thank me for this advice.

I'm using this amp with a Fender Tele and a Gibson Les Paul. Both sound great through, both clean and with overdriver.
The sound is very warm and reach suitable for blues, classic rock and even jazz.
You can get good sounds very quickly which is an important thing for impatient guys like me :-)

The EQ is very responsive, especially after the speaker replacement. For overdrive I use a combination of three pedals:
Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster -> Ehx Double Muff -> MXR 10 band EQ.
This combination is one pedal for me, I rarely use the double muff alone, and it sounds divine though this thing!
I have a much more expensive Marshall which I use mainly for rock, but this amp is much better for blues work!

The reverb is nice but it adds some noise... nothing too bad though.

I give it 8 because of the crappy speaker, but after the replacement it is a round 10 for me.

Standard EQ, Bass/Mids/Treble
2 Volumes, "Volume" and "Master", which comes in handy for natural distortion.
A "fat" switch, which beefs up the sound, and makes the natural drive more attainable.
1 input jack

I'm a bit of an audiophile, but the tone I want usually has a fair range: so simple amp controls are all I really need. The great thing about the Blues Jr EQ, is that it really compliments your guitar sound, instead of warping it, I love my jaguar tone, and the EQ on the Blues Jr is damn subtle, underlying the original tone of the guitar. I can perfectly tweak it to get what I want. Fuck big, complex EQ'ing, man. This works great.

No other channels for your distortion or anything, but I use pedals for my distortion anyway. Plus, this baby does it's own.

Only 15 watt, but damn it's loud. And hella versatile, and it loves pedals. Suits me fine. Unless you're a metaller or something I guess.

There's a buzz, but that might be my Jaguar (i'm semi-convinced there's a grounding problem in there). The amp breaks up well, so crystal clean tones will only last into a degree of volume. On a bedroom recording level, it does fine. And every now and then I crank it for a bit, just to hear it loud: and christ, this baby is loud, especially for 15 watts. If you want natural distortion, you can turn the "volume" control down, and the "master" control straight up (or you can just turn the whole thing up, but as I said I'm working at home just now), for surprisingly formidable distortion. Beats the hell out of my Boss Drive, I can tell you that.
The sound is warm, very natural and defined. There's a bit of "boxy"ness in there, I think that'll be down to the speaker. I'll think about changing that. I like that Fender tone, so I'll stick with the groove tubes.
It does everything I need to, and sounds mint while it's at it.

I've heard bad things about bias control leading to overheating tubes. Which scared me at first, but at present I rarely gig, so there's not a huge risk just now, and 4 months on there's no trouble. In future though, I'll definitely need to work on the bias, I've heard there's mods you can do. I'll need to sharpen up my practical skills before I try getting into something as complex (to me at least) as an amp.
Otherwise, this feels like it should last well. I'd probably gig with it without a backup.

Never dealt with them.

Been playing for about 3 years. This was my second amp, after my old practice amp (so essentially my first "real" amp). I spent almost a year running around looking for a good amp, went through first Marshall, then Mesa, then Orange, then Vox, back to Marshall, before finally settling on this. Sensibly speaking, I really should have saved cash and gone for a solid state combo like everyone else did, but hell, I wouldnt take it back. I'm not sure if I'm ready to deal with stuff like the bias, I'm pretty terrible with amp mechanics. As it stands though, I'm here with a cute, compact, and gorgeous sounding tube amp.

My setup is usually something like:
Fender Jaguar >> Crybaby Wah >> Boss TU-2 >> ProCo Rat 2 >> Boss SD-1 >> Electro Harmonix Small Stone >> Boss DD-6 Delay >> Fender Blues Junior.

Never sounded sweeter. I'm no veteran authority on amp sound and guitar tone, but on a basic level, the sound of this amp is perfect. I do everything from clean, ambient soundscaping to violent noise rock, and with an amp like the Blues Jr i can take it all in my stride. This is no substitute for a flashy, big, loud, ??10,000 amp, of course not, but it's a better competitor than those crappy solid state Marshall combos I could have gone for, god forbid. It'll do me for now, and then some. :)

All the essential features and nothing extra - high, mid, low, reverb, volume, master volume, fat switch, one input, no headphone jack, speaker out (disables amp's speaker), 15 watts, eminance 12-inch speaker, no standby. With the fat switch, you might say it has two channels.

A disclaimer or explanation might be in order before I critique the sound so that you understand my vantage point. I've only been playing for two years and have never played through a really good tube amp like a twin reverb or an AC30. My experience is limited to an old Squire Reverb 25 sidekick and a Vox AD30VT modeling amp. I have a good Fender Strat, though, and two pretty decent Ibanez humbucker guitars.

Now, on to the sound. You can dial in some nice sounding clean tones. Nothing great, but pretty dman good. The overall sound seems to be a bit diffuse in the sense that pick attack doesn't effect the tone as much as I would like. I got an AB switcher to compare it to the VOX and, interestingly, I found myself trying to dial in the Fender to make it sound like my VOX settings for the Fender blackface model. The Fender's reverg is nice, but not appreciably better than the VOX. In general, I thought the VOX had a punchier, more defined sound that articulated the pick attack better, but then there were times on certain settings when I thought the Fender sounded better. That punchy versus diffuse impression might be related to the fact that the VOX has closed cabinet and the Fender is open, which leads me to think I might like a closed cabinet sound better. In any event, it was close. The amps were clearly different and I had a hard deciding which I liked better for clean tones. Keep in mind that I wasn't comparing all the VOX emulations to the Blues Junior, only the blackface and tweed models in an effort to make an apples-to-apples comparision.

So, the cleans are pretty good with some very nice sweet spots here and there, but the amp totally falls apart when you go into overdrive. I'm not talking about really driving it into distortion, which in fact was horrible. It didn't even sound good with just a little overdrive, even when the overdrive was coming mainly from the power stage (master up, volume down). The pre-amp overdrive sounded even worse (volume up, master down). The amp quickly became muddy, harsh, and completly unlistenable. I just couldn't dial in an accptable overdriven tone no matter what I did. I tried using pedals (Bad Monkey, Boss DS-1) which was a big improvement, but not good enough. The VOX is definitly better in the overdrive department, and even took to pedals better, which was surprising.

Bottom line - the Blues Junior is a good amp for clean tones only.

Seems solid.

Don't know, didn't need them.

I finally returned the amp after almost a month (30-day return policy from Guitar Center). I really tried to like it, and maybe it had some nicer clean tones here and there than the VOX, but overall, thats not enough to recommend it with the overdrive being as bad as it is. For $150 less, The VOX is a better value, and if you are a newbie like me, you'll appreciate its versatiliy more.

Basic features: Volume, Master, Treble, Middle, Bass and Reverb with a "Fat" button to boost the preamp gain and fill out the tone. I think it has all the features you need and nothing you don't for a small, basic tube amp like this. A Standby switch would be nice, but not a big deal. Surprisingly powerful for a 15 W, 1X12 of its size. Should have plenty of volume for rehearsals and small club gigs when you crank it, yet quiet enough when turned down for home use too. Separate volume and master is a nice feature, since you can set them to the same for your clean sound or crank the volume and leave the master down to adjust the ammount of breakup/overdrive you want.

For a small package and an affordable price it really gets that great fat Fender tube tone. The Fat switch really helps too, giving a volume boost and boosting the low and high frequencies for an even fuller tone. I'm a little disappointed with the bass response, which sounds a little hollow/flabby, and not very well defined. But it's really not bad considering the price and the size. Sound should be versatile enough for most styles of music (it really nails blues/country stuff, and would make a good small jazz amp too) if you spend enough time dialing in the right settings and experimenting. You can also get a nice dirty/breakup sound by setting the volume and master knobs apart, although most of the time I run it clean and use a Fulltone Fulldrive 2 for my overdrive.

One thing I noticed is it doesn't seem to handle pedals as well as my Fender Deville 410, which is of course a bigger and more powerful amp. The Fulldrive for instance sounded a little fizzy and squashed compared to the much more natural, responsive sound I get through the other amp. Likewise when I played my Boss GT-6 (multi-effects) through it. But for the size and price, I can't complain. The surprisingly good Fender tube tone and power make it alright.

I have a made in USA model. Haven't had it for long, but it seems solidly built.

Haven't had to deal with this, so no opinion.

I bought this amp because I wanted a quality tube amp that was smaller, lighter and more portable than my big Deville 410 that I could easily haul to rehearsals and jam sessions, yet would still be loud enough and have good tone. This is a good amp for that. I am still planning on using the bigger DeVille for most live gigs, but the Blues Junior is great for rehearsals/jam sessions because it is half the size, weighs half as much, is easy to tote around, but still sounds good. I think of it as a mini version of my Deville. Obviously it's not as powerful or tonally versatile as the DeVille (or some other bigger and more expensive Fender amps), but it's still a pretty decent compromise nonetheless for its size/price. (After all, what can you expect for $300?)

I think it's a great value and as I said before, a very economical amp. It's affordable and portable, but doesn't sacrifice tone, power or quality. Ideal for a smaller practice amp, for small gigs, or a good amp to start off with if you're looking for a basic, portable amp that's well-made and sounds good. I have a feeling it would be a good choice for home recording as well. It's nothing fancy, but leaves nothing out and doesn't have any bells and whistles you don't need. It's got that Fender tube tone we all know and love, just in a smaller, more affordable package. For it's sound, price and size, it's a good choice.

This is a modern entry-level working-man's professional tube amplifier designed for the masses, intending to look and feel like a vintage Fender amplifier. The one i purchased is a used brown-tolex MIM likely originally purchased from MF. Condidering its size and price, i think it has enough features to satisfy. A small amp with decent reverb and a wide tonal range plus enough power for most gigs is good. These days, with good, cheap pedals out there, this is all the amp a person would need. The amp is lightweight and easy to carry. It nails the Fender tone completely, although the speaker is not the greatest, nor is the small reverb tank. But for the price, it is not an issue.

As i said, it nails the Fender tone of yesteryear. It is very much like a mini-Twin Reverb due to the excellent clean tones (solid state rectifier, same as Twin Reverb). I was surprised by this due to the EL-84 power tubes. I was expecting more of a british note, but Fender did a great job of dialing in their signature sound. The distortion and "FAT" switch are o.k. and remind me of what modded Fender amps from the 60's and 70's have going for them. It stays clean for quite a ways when cranking the vol up. If tou turn the reverb down all the way, you can get some good old-style tweed sounds. This is the closest thing out there to one of my all-time favorite amps -the SuperChamp.

Well, it was in the store and needed repair before i bought it - the input jack had issues and the reverb wasn't working. Apparently it was minor, they fixed it & it works fine. Any tube amp will have issues from time to time. I've banged it around enough already to determine it is basically well-made and well-designed. I don't care what amp you have - always bring a backup to a gig if you can. That being said, this is as good as any other amp out there in this price range.

This is a very popular amp, like the Volkswagen Bug of amplifiers. There should be no problem finding repair services. Fender is a pretty good outfit, I've actually gotten through to talk to a real person before! I think the warranty is 5 years. This amp is likely beyond warranty.

Currently I own a 1960 Ampeg Reverberocket, a 1966 Vox Cambridge Reverb tube amp (Sepulveda), A 1960's Silvertone (Danelectro)1482, & A 90's Sovtek Mig50H. I have owned at one time or another just about every version of the Fender "Reverb" amps (my all-time favorite being the Princeton Reverb, 2nd favorite is the Superchamp -i wish they would re-issue that one!)I have replaced the speaker -big improvement, and will put a bigger r-tank in. I love the look, tone, size, and price of the amp. This is like a mini Twin Reverb as far as tone. The circuitry is fine as-is, don't mod this amp - just put in a better speaker. If you don't like Fender tone, get a different amp!

Very basic features. One channel, no Effects loops, no Headphone jack (wich i wish it had), it has Volume, Treble, Mid, Bass, Master, Reverb, and fat switch button that increases the pre amp gain. It's all i will ever need for my style. I keep the fat switch all the time. the tone knobs seem well balanced. So far i use this at home but hope to use it in a band and in live settings. it has plenty power for home use but if i where going to use it with drums, bass and other insturments i would run it through an external speaker cabnet (perhaps a 4X12 fender cabnet).

This amp pretty much has only two settings on it's own, clean and dirty. I dont belive it was made for that nu-metal or heavy metal crap. It's pretty much made for one style and one style only, and that's my style. I love this amp's clean sounds. It tends to be more crisp and bright on most settings. I play an Ibanez AF-105 hollowbody. It really brings out the guitar's natural dry sound alot. I belive it will make any guitar sound the way it was ment to sound on the clean setting. The clean seems to stay clean at louder volumes, with mabey a small hit of natural breakup at max volumes.

When you turn up the Volume to max and turn down the master you a get your dirty sound. I dont care for the dirty sound as much because it sound kinda boxy and muddy through my hollwbody. I prefer to use a good distortion pedal on the amp's clean settings. Right now in useing a Boss DS-1 for that cruchy White Stripes type of sound, but im looking to upgrade to somthing better soon.

My style involves a bluesy sounding guitar crunch sound but NOT blues music. think rockabilly (Stray Cats, Reverend Horton Heat, Carl Perkins, Buddy Holly) and some indie rock (The Strokes, Sonic Youth, or the White Stripes). This amp sounds perfect for these styles!! With rockabilly i play clean and just turn up the reverb and you get that wet sticky reverb slap'n sound while palm muting, and it sounds just like Luther Perkins playin style that made Johnny Cash so famous or turn up the Volume for a little overdrive and it sounds like The stray cats kinda style. This is the style I love and this amp hits the nail right on the head.

This amp is rock solid! because it is an all tube amp it's a little more prone to damage if it was droped or mistreated, and tubes dont keep there quality forever.

Never dealt with fender but heard others say they are great. One year warranty!

Iv been playing now for about 8 years. Iv gone trough a few guitars and amps such a a Fender Automatic SE, and a Marshall MG50DFX that cost about the same price but a hundered times worse wich the blues Jr blows away as far as quilaty and sound. I wish it had a 2nd channel (with footswitch) and better sounding overdrive. What i really want is a Fender Blues Delux, but at $400 bucks the Blues Jr is perfect.

I bought the laquered tweed NOS model new at my local GC for about $500. For details check the website. Basically you have a single Jensen and 2 12AX7s and 3 EL84s rated at 15 watts

The only feature I would add is a standby switch. But you can turn down the volume so I suppose that's being picky. Maybe an effects loop might me nice but it's not essential.

This amp is designed for anything from a bedroom to a 100 seat venue. I've never played it with a drummer but it is strong enough to punch through a mix of bass and rythym guitar. I'm not rating it a 10 because there aren't a lot of features. But read on because that's not really the issue here.

Okay here is where the rubber meets the road. Let me qualify that I am rating this in comparison to other amps in this category. It's not going run with a 100W high gain amp or even a 50 watt Deluxe or Twin.

But in a small to medium venue the sound is better than anything I have ever heard. And believe me I have tried virtually every product made in this category of sub 25 watt amps.

Here is the testimonial I loaned my amp to a guy, whose name I won't mention out of respect for his privacy and I don't know if he would appreciate the gratuitous product endorsement but suffice to say he is generally considered one of the 10 best guitarist in the world.

He cranked that baby up to 12 on the master to get a really clean tone. The only stompboxes were a tremelo and delay. The sounds that came out of that amp had a 100 people in the audience dropping their jaws in amazement. It sounded like a wall of amps in stereo. The complete range from country to funk to Hendrix was covered and absolutely nailed.

The amp as a very clear strong tone. Since it is not overpowered you can get the gain up there where the tubes really open up and sing without shattering eardrums. When I see guys rolling in a small club with a Marshall stack I wonder what their thinking. This amp with the master at 12 and the volume at 5 is going to sound far better than a Marshall TSL with the master and volume at 2 or 3.

I shipped my amp via ground freight across the country. The case was beat to hell so I knew it took some abuse. I remove the tubes for any long distance trip. I pop the tubes back in and this bad boy cranks right up. No problems whatsover.

But it is a tube amp so I would keep a stock of spare tubes. And be advised EL84s or not uncommon but generally not in stock at your local superstore.

have not need any support.

I've been playing for 40+ years and own enough gear to start my own superstore. Maybe not that much but I do own about 20 fine guitars and 10 amps. And I have a PA system and recording equip in my house.

I won't go into details but know my collection includes Tele's, Strat's, LP's, Rickenbacker 12's, Marshall, Fender, Peavey and don't even get me started on acoustics.

I don't post here very often but I did think it was only fair to talk about his amp. When you get to a certain stage in life this is the amp for you.

Everybody is looking for that beefy big bottom sound. Unfortunately there is a tendency to think the way to get there is with abigger amp and then crank it down as needed for the venue. Also most guys go for distortion and crunch because it is forgiving to a novice player.

But if you think clean is better then this is it. And you want an amp that is mated to the guitar and appropriate for the venue. You want to be able to turn the amp up enough to where you are getting the performance that is designed for that amp.

Most musicians don't have the luck to play huge concert halls or stadiums. Usually they venue is 100-200 at best and often much less. This is the best amp I have found out there for that purpose.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Didn't need it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

8 for the BJR stock
10 for BillM's mods

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No backup needed for this thing.

N/A

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What is the cost for this?

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

Total $788

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

So far so good.

Haven't contacted Fender.

For the "Blues Senior" a 10.

USA-made in 1997. Features described below.

This is a very nice sounding amp. Mine is stock except for output tubes that were replaced last year. You can play any style(yes, even metal) with a little tweaking and FX pedal(s).

Ok, I bought this new in 98 and have easily logged over a thousand hours on it. I've forgottenly left it on for days at a time, it's taken a tumble or two in the trunk of my car, and it's bumped it's fair share of walls. Having said this, the tolex is in great shape, and it's not missing knobs, doesn't have ripped grill cloth, and the reverb works fine.

Up until recently, I have used it regularly at practice and at live performances with no problems.

The biggest reliability issue I've experienced is that i've had numerous tube socket solder breaks with this amp(one of which was onstage). The good thing is that you can resolder those pins without removing the chassis, but it's still sucks and leaves me wondering when it's going to happen again. So I've started bringing a backup to practice and shows and using an A/B AB splitter to run them together in case the BJ takes another dump on me.

Bottom line, tube socket solder job is subpar and this is the USA model. It'll be interesting to see if more users report the same problem with the Mexican model as they age a little.

Warranty expired and I never had to have any repairs or service perfromed on this amp within the warranty period.

I've been playing on and off for about 17 years. Seriously playing and gigging the last 5 or so I guess. I own several guitars, a handfull of older amps < 30 watts. My gigging amps are a Gibson GA-15rvt and the Blues Junior. I like the FAT boost and use it for lead work. I don't use much reverb(usually set it to 2 or 3 at most), but it's fine as small as the amp is.

It's a really nice little amp and has served me well for such a small investment, BUT, it does have it's issues. I don't like the power light location... makes it easy to walk away from the amp and foget that it's still on-especially after a few beers.

If it was stolen, I'd probably buy an Ampeg Jet or a solid state Epiphone Triggerman 60. I wouldn't buy a new Blues Junior.

2007 Blonde Model. Single channel, Mid, Treble, Bass, Reverb, Master, Volume and Fat switch. All tube Circuitry. 3 Groove tube 12AX7's and 2 Sovtek EL84's.

Pretty straight forward amp. Perfect for you blues guys.

Let me first say that if you are expecting a lot of Overdrive, this amp is not for you. Period. I was actually kind of expecting a good amount of OD because of the classic rock and instrumental music I play. But it really suits me when I play stuff by Cream. I like gain for the stuff I play though. I've got a T.C. Jauernig DGTM pedal coming in a couple days so hopefully it helps me on the exact tone I am looking for. I play a MIJ Fender strat w/ Lace Sensor gold Single coils at the neck and middle and a Dimarzio Super Distortion humbucker at the bridge. I like to coil split the humbucker while playing on the OD channel. Sounds great. I like to have my reble at about 7 or 8 and bass and middle at about 5.

I really like the clean channel. Sounds fantastic. Definitely a nice blues sound when I am in the mood for playing a little bit of blues. The cleans with the Lace sensor in the neck sounds awesome.

Apparently changing the speaker makes this amp sound better, but I don't think I am going to do anything to this amp. Maybe, just maybe later on, but I think this amp is good as is stock. Plus there are a few mods out there.

Some of the knobs are very loose. I know it isn't just the knob, the whole pot just wiggles around. The treble, master and middle knobs wiggle, while the others dont wiggle at all.

This amp is only 2 weeks only, so I can't really comment on reliability. I can just hope I don't run into any issues.

Haven't dealt with Fender Customer service ever.

This is actually the only amp I own. I am one of those guys who kind of sells and buys. It's mainly due to the fact that I am a broke student. But of course I am planning on buying a new amp soon and I will keep this Blues Junior, if I manage to get more money. ;)

I wish it had more gain, but hey, I don't blame the amp. It's intended for blues and classic rock. It's my fault for not doing some shopping. But I was on a limited budget and for it's price I don't think it can be beat. Hell finding used tube amps within my budget was very difficult.

One 12 inch speaker, 15 watts of tube power, treble, mid, bass eq, a volume and a master and spring reverb, a fat switch that adds treble and bass. Oh yes, and classic fender tone. Simple is best. I use it for home practice and when playing with friends. Its loud enough to play over any drummer but not too loud that it doesnt sound good at that volume. Its a shocker how loud this thing is.

The amp is simply fender clean tone in a small box. 15 watts of the best fender tone at room volume. You can get some distortion, or should I say very little distortion if you turn the volume up and turn the fat switch on but its not any good. The clean is great. Its the sound of a cranked clean fender tube amp at a level where you can still hear the drums. Glassy warm and clear. Love it. The eq works but it very subtle compared to some other amps. Its there but you cant really get anything too harsh, meaning almost every setting sounds great.

Its a tube amp so its bound to have problems someday. Right now its rock solid and I can depend on it to turn on with no problem.

No idea.

This is the absolutely best practice size amp you can buy. It sounds great quiet but when you turn it up its even better. I compared it with the Epiphone Valve standard, the Crate classic 30, the Roland cubes, everything half decent at this volume and the Fender blues Junior was the only one that had me playing in the store for a good hour. If I lost it I would go out there and get it again. Im thinking of getting another one for no reason. Im a pedal guy so anything its missing can be added, but for the blues plug it in and play. Sound great either way.

Check Fender web site for details.

This is an update to my previous review now that I've played this amp for awhile and have since gotten another amp for some comparision. What I've discovered is that my Strat with single coils is a better suited axe for this amp than my LP. I've decided that this amplifier without pedals doesn't cut it for me. Without pedals this amp sounds single dimensional, boxy, flat, and blah even though I was originally pleased with the tone improvement after doing Bill M's mod to the tone stack. I just can no longer play through this amp without my pedals unlike my new amp which doesn't need any pedal per se. Benefits still remain with this amp, though. The pluses of this amp are its price and availability used, compact size, lightweight, and portability, and lower tube replacement expense. Therefore it's still a keeper amp for these reasons and playable with pedals.

Totally reliable. Not much to break.

Non-existent.

I would still recommend this amplifier for someone who is on a very limited budget or who isn't picky about trying to dial in a very particular tone, and/or who wants convenience and portability. The one worthy feature that is missing on this amp is a standby switch, but that seems to be the case with most lower powered, inexpensive amps these days. I wish it had one. All tube amps shouldn't be without a standby switch.

This is a 1996 black tolex model. Stock it was ok for blues-rock-country styles, but just didn't have a real good tone. It was ok, and had a "tubey" sound, but something was kind of too fat and flabby. Y'all know what this thing's got- 1 channel, reverb, fat button, which exaggerated an already fat condition. Not fancy- just 15 watts of real tube power- loud enough for most small clubs and practice. I recently saw Lee Roy Parnell in concert and this was all he was playing through! What did he know?

Again- fairly good basic sound, but I found a cheap 15-20 minute fix. As you have read, a lot of folks find this amp interesting enought to fiddle with, to try and make it better. Me too. But I just wanted a tighter sound, that projected a bit better, and had a bit more edge to it. I mainly play blues- but also dabble in classic rock and some country, using a 59 RI Les Paul. All I did was to take out the heavy magnet Fender stock speaker, went to Guitar Center and bought a $29.95 Celestion 50 watt speaker. Take the back off, drop 4 screws that hold the chasis- pull 4 screws off the speaker- pop in the new boy, pop all the screws in, and WOW!!!!!!! It transforms into not quite a Marshall sound, but close. Like a fender cloned to a Marshall. Very nice now- I'll use it for rehersal and live shows.Put an Ibanez tubescreamer on it, and you got a real tone maker!

It's worked fine for 5 years. I bought it used, never had 1 problem, and yes I use it with no back up. It's just an old simple Fender circuit- if you don't drop it down a flight of stairs, I'll probably last as long as those 50's tweed Fenders. But it costs $399 new-cool!

Never dealt with Fender. never had to. My local retailer stands behind his stuff real well.

I've been picking over 30 years, in all kinds of bands- opening concerts for name acts- clubs- etc. Always looking for good sounding amp, and I thought this one was cool because it was small, portable, looked good, but it just didn't quite have THE sound till I replaced the speaker. Now it may be my #1 amp for awhile. I have a Marshall, Crate, Peavey, and a Music Man amp. But I love the tone of the Blues Jr better than the rest. It doesn't need any extra frills. It's just a good basic club/recording/practice amp- 1 channel + reverb. It's all you need.

For the money, this is one of the best sounding amps out there. I'm not a fan of the british tone and too many amps sound buzzy and indistinct when they try to go hi gain. This amp is a very smooth sounding amp in overdrive. In stock form, I give this amp a solid 8. Cleans are nice and the reverb is typical nice Fender.

There are mods out there but here's what I highly recommend that is easier to do and has the MOST impact in tone. First of all, you may want to consider changing the speaker. Stock speakers are not always the best. I use an Eminence Texas Lite which is a lite weight neo magnet speaker and sounds really good. Get a good speaker cable. I use a Lava Canare speaker cable which is very smooth sounding.

Here's the pinacle change that I would recommend above anything else...

GET A MERCURY MAGNETICS BLUES JR OUTPUT TRANSFORMER ($90 http://www.mercurymagnetics.com/pages/mainframe.htm )!!!! The sound impact is remarkable, the whole amp is pushed into boutique territory. Look at all the high end boutique amps (Fuchs and Carr use MercMags)...they use quality output and power trannys for good reason. The MercMag is color coded just like the stock transformer so installation is very easy. Just hook up the wires exactly in the same spots as the old transformer. Mounting is easy also. I used one existing screw hole and then drilled another for the second mounting. The MercMag is about twice the size so you have to drill another hole. Very easy, took me about 1/2hr to do.

I haven't done any tone stack mods to this amp as I really don't think the amp needs it now. The MercMag adds so much punch, harmonics, touch sensitivity, smoothness, etc that NO tone / capacitor change can even come close to reaching this level. This amp absolutely ROCKS now. Stock the amp sounds anemic in comparison. You should here the amp with the output cooking. Very smooth, chimey, tight, with a touch of compression that would make you swear there was a tube rectifier in there somewhere (but no mush). I would easily compare this amp to an amp in the $1000 dollar range with the upgrades I've made. Overdrive is rich and ballsy with harmonics leaping out and a nice fat smooth midrange.

The only other change I plan to do is to add another 47uf of power capacitance to take out some more of the output hum that is common with this amp.

Forget all the mods out there. I've been modding amps for a long time and I can tell you from experiance, cap / resistor changes are nice, but for the amount of time, difficulty, and money, changing the output tranny is the most impactful change you can do. High end tube audio and high end tube guitar amps use high quality output transformers. You should also. I'm floored by the impact its made to this little amp. Feel free to email me with questions. The change is very, very easy to do.

This is a black tolex blues junior with the 60th anniversary sign on the back so I guess it's made in 2006.

The feature I don't use that much is the reverb which isn't that good. Maybe they could offer a version without it and sell it cheaper.

Haven't used the amp with the band yet. It's got a great size: it's got 15 tube watts and a 12 inch speaker, yet it's small and light enough for public transport.

I really love the sound of this amp. I had the hot rod deluxe which i liked, but I prefer the blues junior. All I have to do is to turn the mids down a bit and turn the bass up a bit and I'm in tone heaven.
Maybe it's not as good as my 90s model Vox Ac-15 but it's got a warmth that the vox doesn't have. I also tried a pro junior and I have to say I hated it, to me it sounded boxy, muddy, terrible. I prefered a frontman solidstate practice amp to the pro junior. I was afraid that the blues junior would sound similar to the pro junior but it's more like the hot rod deluxe, only better!

To me the sound is warm, clear, sweet and sparkling at the same time. A nice defined sound, not muddy at all. Putting in JJ preamp tubes made the highs rounder and less harsh (not that they are that harsh in the beginning). I prefered the stock sovtek power-amp tubes to the JJs I also tried, though.

I realize that there are many people who prefer this amp with a modded tone stack. I tried these mods (search for billm mods on the internet), but I gotta say I prefer the amp without them. So I reconverted the amp to the original tone stack. The mods will make the amp sound more like a hot rod deluxe, make it sound bigger, but to me the 'sweetness' of the tone gets lost. So I ruined the warranty only to realize I prefer the amp stock. Seem like these mods are a matter of taste, but I knew the risk before and If I hadn't tried the mods I would always think to myself "maybe it would sound even better modded". But

The only thing so far which I don't care for too much on this amp is it's reverb. It's just not as deep and warm as a quality spring reverb like on my pre custom classic ac-15. The amp's tone suffers in my opinion if you engage the reverb. But it is a real analog spring reverb and maybe better than nothing.

But otherwise this amp can sound like a marshall like recent red hot chili peppers or classic fender like on abbey road. I use the amp without the boost switch engaged but I think it's a good feature which boosts and fattens your signal for solos.

Just a sweet sounding amp! But you have to turn down the mids to about 5 and turn up the bass to araound 9. With all tone controls in the middle it sound a little boxy.

Oh and one more comparision: I also tried the ldt version in tweed and with the jensen speaker but I did't like it, sounded harsher, muddier that the standard black model with the eminence in it (which I got, and which sounds fantastic, if I didn't already mention it!)

fantastic amp! Maybe you could give the amp a 10 "for the money", but I rate it a 9 in absolute terms. I even like the way it smells...

Mine is 2004, great for blues and rock'n'roll. I use it home, for small gigs, bigger gigs I mic it up.

I was not satisfied with the sound, it was to boxy. I got me a T-Rex M??ller, overdrive/boost pedal, a Ibanez compressor and KAWOOM! there it was! I also own a Hot Rod deluxe, but prefer my Junior from now on.

Love the lightness and simplicity-one channel, no frills, just plain what you see is what you get

For anyone interested, you can go to Eurotubes.com on the web and the guy there has created custom tube-sets for Blues Jr.'s that help the amp perform according to your desires or needs. For less than $60 you can re-tube with matched sets that either increase cleanliness, or that increase drive at lower volumes, and all points in-between.

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

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

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

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

No experience

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