Fender Blues Junior

made in the 90's (green board version)
versatile?- does muted jazz, heavy rock, blues- pretty versatile
FAT switch is nice- foot-switch-able too
reverb is OK- I have heard they are noisy but mine is pretty quiet- tank is pretty short

Tube driven - put new power and preamp tubes (JJ's)- sounds like a tube amp should

I put a Celestion Blue (barely fits- had to remove the bell but it does fit)_major league difference- shimmers, wails, growls

I use a Fulltone OCD- really adds all kinds of sound options- check it out really worth the cost

Telecaster thinline 69 reissue

I did the "Bill's Blues Junior Mods" to this amp- changed the resistors to cool down the bias, tone stack mod to mimic a Princeton BF---- big difference----

Distortion is smooth and progressively harsher as you increase gain- not metal, definitely hard rock - the amp handles warm jazzy to classic rock
-----with a pedal in the chain you can get most any sound

Input jack is cheezzzzzzzeeeeyyyyy- plastic???? It sucks. Eventually I will swap it out with a switchcraft- the only beef I have with this amp is the input jack- it totally makes this amp risky for gigs

who cares?
since it was modded it is not covered

playing 35 years
own 66 Deluxe Reverb, 72 Twin, Vox AC15, Ampeg Reverb Rocket- fender teles and strats, gibson SG

I bought this amp with no tubes in it- $100.00 took a chance- put tubes in it, it worked fine- saw the mods and figured what the heck, I have always wanted to do surgery on an amp but didn't want to mess with a Stock Fender DR or Twin or Vox. The blues Jr sounds good without the mods- sounds different with them (mine sounds a bit cleaner at hi gain, a bit browner (tonestack mod has darkened the tone a bit) I'm thinking about trying a Celestion Vintage 30 in it to see what that will do to the sound- kind of fun at the 100 dollar price point.

this amp is a really sweet unit- handles all kinds of music- the mods are cheap ( I spent $4.00 on caps and resistors )- basic stuff- if you can use a soldering iron you can do the mods. All I got left to do is replace that crappy input jack.

You can get a good features list elsewhere, so I won't waste space for that. The amp has a decent amount of features. It only has a single channel, but the fat switch works REALLY well to get natural tube distortion. The reverb kinda sucks, but I'm not a big fan of reverb anyway (btw, its the exact same reverb tank that the older deluxe 90 had).

I'm using this with a MIM Telecaster, and it sounds amazing. I got this after my Deluxe 90 broke (and out of warranty), and I was worried it wouldn't have enough power, but boy was i wrong. It's 15 watts, but its just as loud as my deluxe 90 was (which was 90 solid state watts)... and the sound quality is just perfect. I did change the tubes to JJ EL84, and it made a difference, but nothing huge. I recommend doing it just for the reason I did: so you can use the stock tubes as backups. I play a wide range of music (blues, jazz, rock, punk, country, metal, anything really), and this amp has suited me perfect for anything. I cannot believe anyone would ever buy solid state after owning this thing. I only give this thing a 9, because the Hot Rod Deluxe/DeVille sounds noticably better.

I've only owned this thing for a couple months, but I would say its very durable. It's made very well, and I'm not worried anything will break, as long as I continue to take care of it like its my only child.

From my Deluxe 90 woes, I can say that Fender Customer Support is pretty much non-existant.... don't depend on them for anything.

Overall, I couldn't be happier with this purchase. This thing is definitely loud enough for a band, and it has just the right amount of features, and its small, and most importantly, its the best sounding $400 amp on the planet.

This is a pretty basic amp as far as features go, but the power boost and master volume features are terrific for such a small Class-A Tube Amp. The reverb tank in these little amps is superb as well. Though, including a foot switch for the boost with the amp would have been a nice touch, however I did purchase one for it at a very reasonable cost on eBay.

Originally I thought I might be able to use this amp to perform in small clubs, which I do accompanied by a bass player. However I found that even when using two Blues Junior?s in tandem, they didn?t give me enough power to cut through in noisy crowded bars. So I traded one of them in towards a Peavey Delta Blues 210 that does that seems to be doing the job quite well so far, but will save that for another review.

Now I use my remaining Blues Jr. as a practice amp, and on rare occasions in small venues. Now as a practice amp, which is how I will rate this amp, it?s the greatest. Like a 60?s Princeton Reverb Amp to the 10th Power! I play rockabilly, blues and a smattering of older 50?s/60?s R&B and for this purpose it?s unbeatable, in my humble opinion.

I play music of the 50?s & early 60?s, and for this the Blues Jr. is perfect. I play clean, distortion free and even on the boost this amp sounds crystal clear. For my taste in music this amp couldn?t possibly sound any better.

I have owned this amp for less than a year, but know others who have owned theirs for years and haven?t had any serious problems with theirs. Eventually tubes will need to be replaced, but that?s the nature of the beast so to speak. Right?

I bought this amp used from Daddy's Junky Music Stores with a two year warranty. These guys are very reputable, so I trust they will get the job done if the need for repair arises during that time.

I have been playing guitar since the mid 60?s. along with the Blues Jr. I own an Austin Sessions Master (ES 335 Clone), an Epiphone Alley Cat, an 83? Yari DY 47 acoustic and a Peavey Delta Blues 210 Class-A Tube Amp.

If my Blues Jr. were lost or stolen I would go out and buy another as soon as possible.

I recently bought a brand new Blues Jr Custom Lacquered Tweed Special edition amp.

I love the way this amp looks and wanted a small easy to carry around but good sounding small amp.

After living with the Blues Jr for a few months, the following things bothered me about the amp:

-It was a bit too noisy for my taste. I play jazz, some blues and rock. The Blues Jr just had too much hum and noise.

-It was not warm enough or clean enough for me overall. After buying the Blues Jr I listened to other higher end small amps (like the Carr and Dr Z). The Carr Rambler in particular was more of the sound I wanted. Of course I didn?t expect a $500 amp to sound like a $2200 amp but I wanted the sound to be a little closer than the stock Blues Jr.

That?s when I found Bill Machrone on the internet. Bill specializes in modifying amps like the Fender Blues Jr. After many e mails between us, Bill suggested and I agreed to do the following modifications:

- Replace the standard transformer with a Trace Elliott transfer

- Tube upgrades

- Cream board basic Bill Machrone mods

- Addition of a presence control

- Addition of an aux output jack

- Shielding on the wiring to reduce hum and noise

I was interested in also changing speakers. Bill suggested the Eminence Canabis Rex which I ordered from a dealer Bill suggested.

To make a long story short, my Blues Jr sounds unbelievable. It may not blow the doors off a Carr Rambler but it now can run with it and stay close. It?s that good.

Bill is great guy. I learned more about amps during my brief purchase than I ever knew before. He was patient, great at communication and did an outstanding job on my amp. On top of all that, he charges very little money for his services. I?m not going to tell you how much he charged me because one of these days he?ll probably decide to start charging what he?s worth!

If you want to modify your Fender amp, this is the guy you need to call or e mail.

Great after making the above Blues Jr mods!

So far dead reliable. No problems at all.

Not required yet from Fender but Bill has been unbelievable with his support.

I've been playing for over 20 years. I own a Kinal custom bass, SWR Super Red Head bass amp, PRS Custom 24, Custom hand made electric guitar, Fender Strat and Blues Jr amp.

Found it in a used gear shop about 5 years ago. Traded a Peavey Hybrid (Artist)and a few extra bucks for it. Serial number indicates one of the 1st 1000 which means it was probably made in Mexico before they moved the line to China. Was completely stock when I got it. 15 watts, 2xEL34, 3x12AX7 tubes, ss rectifier, Special design Eminence 12" speaker. 2 channel FAT overdrive, spring reverb, no effects loop, hidden foot pedal and speaker jacks. Volume, master volume, bass, mid, treble, reverb controls on top.

I am a harp player. Been at it almost 20 years now. Mainly classic rock. Have used this amp for every gig since the day I got it. Dropped in various lower gain preamp tubes (12AT/12AU) to mitigate the howlin feedback monster. Have had no issues other than the dreaded squeal associated with all guitar amps when you place a mic in front of them. After extensive research, sent the chassis to Ron Holmes (Holmeseng.com..highly recommended!) for some harp modifications. He dropped the gain, changed the caps, checked and sold me some new tubes and put in a balanced line-out jack from the preamp. I also swapped the "special design" Eminence speaker with a Jensen P12R Alnico which breaks up much sooner than the ceramic magnet stocker. I now have excellent volume on stage via the amp, run a standard 1/4" cord from the amp to the PA and project some serious tone with out ANY feedback and more headroom than I need. My bandmates are now telling me to turn DOWN! HA! 15 Class A watts outta this thing equates to some serious volume!

I can go from super clean Stevie Wonder to nasty crunch Little Walter/Junior Wells by adjusting the volume and master volume knobs. I dont use the cheesy reverb as it just adds noise. Added a Dan Echo pedal(also harp modded by Ron) to my pedal board to handle all delay/reverb applications as well as a Rocktron Hush feedback/noise killer if I need it. Also have a Harp Commander (yes, another Ron Holmes product!) preamp on my pedal board. This combination gives me EVERYTHING I have ever needed as far as harp sounds. Big, FAT and powerful sounds, ZERO feedback and versatility in exploring different sounds. I suppose one day I will pull the trigger and get the Bassman 4x12 but I cant really see haulin the thing around when I have all the tones I want with 1/4 of the weight and bulk.. Lent it to my guitar slinger who loved the tone with his Gibson SG so much (This is AFTER the gain mofications)....He went out and bought the Blues Deluxe Reissue..he is now in Full Fender Tube Tone mode. Again...He actually just needed a bit of reminding as he has an original Super Reverb thats sits in the closet! Nothing comes close to Fender tube tone!

As mentioned, have never had problem with this other than the stock reverb which I don't use. If stolen, I would have to hurt somebody and then go get another one. If you couldnt tell, this is my choice. Yes it's modded for me and I would do it all over again as I have found my sound...Only took me 20 years! Have attempted to find it with tranny amps, emulators, emulators thru tranny amps into the PA..other tube amps, (Peavey, Crate, Epiphone.....) Nothing comes close to a Fender Tube Amp!

Have never had to deal with Fender and they would probably just scratch thier heads when they saw the internal modifications made to this bad boy! I added some corner protectors as the tolex on bottom was starting to rip and tear...Only makes it look mo bettah! Overall a sleeper of amp. Tame looks....killer Tones/lightweight/inexpensive ready to go right outta the box. Add a few mods and this things is the shiznit!!!!

Normal options for a single channel amp

Stock amp...is decent for the price. Nothing ground breaking. The real magic came after I tweaked it some. Since I modify effects, preamps, and a few amps, I pulled mine apart and tweaked it quite a bit. I was very suprised! What was a huge improvement! I experimented with several different modifications that I designed, and modified the amp to be much fuller, warmer, and more responsive. After studying the schematic some more, I came up with my personal favorite modification for it - a mod to make it sound and react like a Vox ac-15 with a top boost.

Some soundclips:
Stock/modified amp comparison: http://www.indyguitarist.com/soundclips2/blues_junior_compare.mp3

Now, changing the speakers makes a huge difference. Here is a soundclip running the modified blues junior into an open back 2x12 cabinet with Eminence speakers (modeled after celestion vintage 30's):
http://www.indyguitarist.com/soundclips2/blues_jr-2x12cab.mp3

After modification for Vox ac-15 type tones:
(stock speaker): http://www.indyguitarist.com/soundclips2/fbj-voxmod-stock_spkr.mp3

(with 2x12 cabinet):
http://www.indyguitarist.com/soundclips2/fbj-voxmod-212_open.mp3


rank: 7 before mods, 10 after mods, I'll average it at '9'.

All PCB, fairly reliable if you don't throw the amp around. If it does need repaired, it should be fairly simple for any knowledgable tech.

n/a

As you can see, with some modifications ( I usually charge $150 to do these for my customers), and nicer speakers, MUCH nicer tones are available. Plenty loud enough for gigs too. Definately not for metal, but AWESOME for rock/blues/country/jazz type stuff.

rank: 7 before mods, 10 after mods, I'll average it at '9'. I bought this amp at Guitar Center for $350. So for $350 for the amp, $150 for a mod, and $60 for a new speaker, you can get tones very close to Dr. Z territory!

email me if you have any questions or need more soundclips: http://www.indyguitarist.com/contact.htm

It was made in the mid-90's

It does clean and slightly overdriven pretty well

one channel, plain jane

i LOVE it just the way it is

i use it for home practice guitar lessons

i use a fender fat strat or a esp semi-hollow-body with it usually

It does tube tones on a small scale...just what i needed

It's not noisy

It does clean....and slightly not clean

It distorts pretty quickly but nothing bad....just warmer

Brutal????? Not really

It doesn't break down apparently ever

Um.....i haven't dealt with them.....and i want to keep it that way

I've been playing about 6 years

Guitars:
1.Ibanez Talman Acoustic Electric
2.Martin DXME Dreadnought
3.Taylor Big Baby
4.Squier Affinity Strat (First Guitar)
5.Fender Fat Strat w/Floyd Rose Trem
6.Fender MIJ Blue Flower Tele
7.ESP EC-300AT
8.Ernie Ball Music Man John Petrucci

Amps:
Fender Blues Jr
Fender Hot Rod Deville 2x12
Line 6 Pod XT Live

Effects:
Keeley Modded Boss SD-1
Keeley Modded Boss DS-1
Visual Sound Route 66
MXR Phase 90
Boss RC-20 Loop Pedal
Star Touch A/B Switch
Jim Dunlop Cry Baby Wah
Boss DD-6 Delay


I would get it again...for that price...other wise....i really don't need it

I love how light it is

I didn't compare it to anything

It's great just the way it is

Try it for yourself!

Is a usado Blues Junior amplificador.

I buy usado frun my amigo, Jorge.

Souna mucho good.

Wenh I toca el Telecastero estring, el sound jump out
of de amplificador como J Lo's thong in Miami calor.

My las amplificador u to be a Marshall estack.

Mucho heavy. Too bad for Ramon when it went plah! on he's foot. Ai!

I buy de Blues Junior and it working berry too good.

Espect it to be working good.

My hacienda nex to de Fender Mexico factoria.

No ai problemo to get ayudo. Many amigo.

I like to be liking este amplificador foreber.

Souna many good with Telecastero.

Compera otro if este got stole.

You hear it an you will say:
"Blues Junior - Me too tam bien!"

2005 blues jr basic small tube amp with 12" speaker and reverb

i bought this because i wanted something lightweight but with a good tone.I was tired of lugging my 1966 fender blackface bassman around.sounded thin not as organic as the older vintage fender amps i own.but certainally had a nice sound for what it is.

well this is were the problem comes in bought one took it home and cranked her up only to her rattling comming from the cab this made the amp unusable to me.so i returned it and bought another one only to have the reverb go out on it.took it back!It's a shame that fender has gone down on there sound and quality-maybe they should make them like they did in the 60's.love my old vintage fender amps but this is pure junk!won't be buying any new fender amps again.

when it worked properly it had an ok sound.nothing like the older fender or vox amps of the 60's.I was very disapointed in this amp.guess i'll look for an old 60's vox ac15 or fender champ.i's a shame that the best amps ever built came out of the 50's and 60's.I feel for the young people who can't aford a classic vintage amp because there left with pure junk!

very basic

one sound to go

never had problems with it. it looked like a cheapy made amp. The amp got really hot in the back. When I played it, it had to work. Volume open. I don't know if the speaker holts up when playing this thing on 10, or even the chassis, light wood. I only took it to rehersals sometimes, never giged with it.

never dealt with them

If you accept that'there is only one sound, besides rolling back your potis on the guitar, and you like a really cutting through distorted sound than try one. I bought one several years back, second hand. I suppose it was made in the u.s. Never had problems with it, except... with the other guitarist in the band. I took this little amp sometimes to rehersals. Vol. on 10. My friend had a little marshall stack with several fx. He complined about my volume!!!, I was playing to loud! Hey, this thing cuts through. No bass at all...beautifull mits. It does sing, i played it with a strat. cap with p90, rock!
Unfortunately I sold it because I wanted some other stuff. I owned many amps, this is a reminder! Nowadays i play a marshall 2554, and some fx stuff. You cannot compare this amp with its big brothers and sisters -> the price, the watts. Nevertheless when miked you can...THink about as a special effect, nice to have in a guitar rig. I'm looking for this little animal again. If everything is miked in your band, this will stand it absolutely!
Versality it gets a 1, accepting one sound it get's a 9.

2004 Blues Jr. Stock w/Eminence Speaker. I'm sorry, but I don't look inside nor do I care to know what color the board is...gets a 7 for features, becuase, let's face it, there's not a lot of features to talk about...not that this is a bad thing, mind you.

Using a Am.Std Strat w/Lace Sensors, a Samick AV-3 (LP copy) w/Seymour Duncans ('59 and JB), and an Ibanez Artcore AS-73 (ES-335-type thing). Sounds good with all, but you will need to tweak the EQ to your taste..)

I play primarily rock, blues punk and some jazz. No Heavy Metal. No Country. Works great for this stuff. Nice, rich clean sound, breaks up nicely into a warm, thick vintage distortion.

I've only had it for about six months, but no problems so far. First few months were at home practice, but I have recently begun using it in a band setting and it is plenty loud enough, beleive me. (We have a couple of Marshall half-stacks and a Mesa .50 caliber at our rehearsal space. After my first practice with the BJ (now that sounds weird!), our drummer was surprised to see me unplugging from the BJ at the end of the night. He thought I was playing through one of the Marshalls! (yes, he IS a drummer, but I think you get my point: plenty loud!)

No dealings with Fender. If something broke, I would take it to my local guy and pay to have it fixed. (Sorry, but I am not going to be without this amp for the weeks (months?) it would take to ship it to Fender and get it fixed under warranty just to save a few bucks.

I've been playing bass for many, many, years, and I just got into guitar a few years ago, so I may not be the best guitar player, but I've heard everything over the years, from divine and sublime to the worst crap you could ever imagine, and I think I know what I like...

Now here's why I am writing this review: To those of you who complain about build quality, cutting corners, the "amp not being worth what they charge for it, etc.", I have one thing to say to you: what do you want for this price? I, for one, am very happy that I can get this TUBE amp for this paltry price. Is it a MESA or a Dumble or whatever? Of course not! Those amps costs thousands of dollars! Ever wonder why? So am I going to bust on Fender for using cheaper components? Are they not entitled to pay their workers, invest in capital equipment and, oh, yeah, make a little profit on top? PLEASE! Why don't you all wait until the peach fuzz on your chin thickens, you move out of your parent's house and into the real world before you complain that your $399 amp does not sound like a MESA! (and if you're still not happy with it, by all means, send it to me! I'm looking for another to run in stereo!)

2004 OR O5. VERY VERSITILE ROCK COUNTRY BLUES AMP.I PLAY HARD ROCK. 1 CHANNEL. PLENTY OF POWER TO GIG WITH A MIC. SMALL VENUES JUST CRANK THE MASTER TO ABOUT 6 OR MORE OR LESS AND VOL.@ 2.5 .

I LOVE THE TONE. THIS IS TONE HEAVEN EVEN STOCK. MUST BE PLAYED AT HIGHER VOLUMES TO THE TONE IM SPEAKING OF. THIS AMP TAKES A WHILE TO BREAK IN. THE REVERB MAY HISS ALITTLE AND MUDDY UP YOUR SOUND AT FIRST AND ALSO SOUND TO BRIGHT FOR SOME. JUST WAIT IT OUT.IT ALL COMES TOGETHER LATER ON. I LOVE THIS AMP THROUGH A 1960 CAB SET @ 8 OMS( YOU ONLY GET 2 12'S AT 8 OHMS WITH THIS CAB BUT SOUNDS GREAT. EVEN 4OMS MONO JUST RUNS HOTTER. BUY A SMALL FAN AT WALLY WORLD OR SOMETHING IF YOU WISH. IVE NEVER USED A FAN THOUGH ALOT OF GUYS DO I HEAR.

HAD ALL MOST A YEAR SO FAR SO GOOD

DEPENDS ON WHERE YOU LIVE. FENDER WARRANTY CENTER 40 MILES FROM MY HOUSE. THEY ARE GOOD. HAD WARRANTY SERVICE DONE ON MY DEVILLE 410. PROMPT AND FRIENDLY BACK IN 2 DAYS.

30 YRS. OWN ALL KINDS OF STUFF. IF STOLEN ID BUY A NEW ONE FOR SURE NO DOUBT. IVE PLAYED LARGE CLUBS WITH THIS AMP AND A SM57 IN FRONT AND SOUNDS GREAT NO MORE 100LB TWIN REVERB TO LIFT INTO THE CAR. SO SAVE YOUR MONEY AND YOUR BACK. BUY A BLUES JR , SM57 MIC AND SOME STOMP BOXES AND WATCH YOUR EARS AND MOUTH SMILE.

15w valve amp with 12 inch fender speaker. Treble, middle, bass, volume, master, fat switch and reverb controls. Three 12ax7 preamp valves and two el84 power amp valves. Great for blues, rock, country, jazz but not metal, well what do you expect from an amp named Blues Junior.

The clean tones available are quality and are great for rhythm amd lead, as for the dirty tones they are also. It sounds great for rock. The reverb is a bonus to the already great sounds and makes this amp complete. Brilliant sounds.

Works fine after many years.

One of the best 15w amps available and a bargain too. I have a Pro junior and this is more versitile but has a different sound. Great amp.

Well documented already.
Ive wanted one of these for years and finally got round to getting one, i read all the reviews here first but tried to approach the amp with an open mind, not wanting to buy an amp and then mod the heck out of it! So here goes.....
Its plenty powerful enough to play small venues, and my band is a seven piece inc.loud drummer and two horns (soul band).
The reverb is not very good. I dont use it at all.
YES The stock speaker DOES need upgrading.
I think its an amp you can really get to like and keep for a long time. Most people probably do that as they dont come up much secondhand here, considering how many are sold.

Im using a USA tele plus and a highway1 strat.
I tried playing with the dials on the amp and settings on my guitars for a month because i didnt want to believe the hype. Eventually i caved in and got a celestion vintage 30. This does make a whole lot of difference, the amp is not as fuzzy and i can now get those nice valve overtones i was searching for, and some nice bite from the treble.
Listen to the intro on sweet home alabama. That tone is pretty easy to dial in with the new speaker, but not the old.
SRV (listen to lenny) sounds are easily obtained with a strat, just set the volume to 9 and the master to 4, middle/neck pickup and away you go.
Thats seems to be the perfect setting for my blues junior, i may turn the volume down to 8 when using the hotter pickups in my tele, the amp sounds harsh to me after breakup point. Maybe the valve swap helps that but i havent tried changing them yet.
I leave the fat switch out, not sure what it actually does, if it boosts the tone controls or overdrives the valves, im not that technical, but either way i prefer to get a nice valvey clean sound like the one above, then use a decent pedal if overdrive is required.

If you put the fat switch in and volume on full its an acceptable overdrive sound, but not my cup of tea.

ok so far.

Unknown.

Didnt know it had a socket for a footswitch hidden in the back until i took it apart to put the speaker in. The speaker swap was pretty straightforward. The holes lined up too.
The way the valves are held in seems a little delicate, and when you take the amp apart to do the swap you then realise you are not actually getting much for your money. If you swap the valves too you are basically laying out for a wooden case and a circuit board with a plug attached. Forget about the reverb. Having slated it a little ive got to say im pretty pleased ive got one, and will prob keep it. but if you are thinking of buying one factor in the price of a speaker and set of valves and see what else is in the price range. Laney make some nice valve amps now, some with celestions as standard. I just sold the big 2x12 VC30 and it blew away any fender ive ever heard, but i needed something smaller. Pity the VC15 only has a ten inch speaker.
I dont think its great value for money, but then nor are harleys and i want one of those too.

My Blues Jr is the American made (green circuit board) model not sure of the year, bought it on ebay. Very simple and straight forward single channel with an additional "fat switch" to beef it up for leads. I retubed it with Phillips EL84's and Marshall 12AX7's, also swapped out the stock speaker for a Celestion Vintage 30, I would recommend the speaker mod to anyone who is not satisfied with this amp in its original form, tubes are an ongoing quest, always good to have extra's when gigging. As reviewed, reverb is the only on board effect and is mediocore. I use no effects running from guitar to the amp with no pedals, great fender tube sound and a great value. This amp is used for all club venue's and the 15 watts of tube power is plenty for most any stage appplication. If you need more volume, mic it. 1 point off for cheesie reverb.

I pack several guitars when I play out, in order of preference, Gibson LP 1960 reissue Gold Top, Fender USA Strat, and Gibson ES-135, also have a Fender Nashville Power Tele that makes it out once in a while when the mood strikes me. This amp and guitars can cover any classic rock sound you desire from clean David Gilmore Strat chimes to ZZTop full tilt growl. It needs to be said that you can attain most any clean or distorted sound at any volume level by working your tone and volume knobs on your guitar. The most brutal distortion cleans up quickly by dialing in your guitar volumes.

Very reliable, but once again, I suggest always travel with extra tubes, a few moments of popping a bad tube out and replacing with a good one takes no longer than switching out to another amp. This amp is preferred because its light weight, and easy to set up with great tone.

No opinion here, this is out of warranty and I usually do my own work.

I've been at it for 35 yrs plus, love the old classic rock stuff Stones, Zep, ZZTop, Savoy Brown, Cream, and younger bands that emulate the sounds of these old classics just to name a few influences, you get the idea, and can't get enough guitar time. I have a three piece classic rock band and this and other amps I own are great fun for our couple times a month gigs. I also own and play out a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe (USA model), another great amp, and Marshall JCM 600 w/4X10 bottom, also a great amp. Guitars as mentioned above with the addition of a few more Strats-EC custom shop, pink paisley for fun, Gibson Explorer 2. As I said earlier, I have stopped using pedals and prefer the pure tone and satisfaction of dialing my sound in using just the guitar volume/tone controls straight to the amp. If this amp came up missing, I would replace it and do the same mods I described above. Very versital and portable amp. Two thumbs up for the American made version. If you haven't played through this amp, take the time to check it out, you won't regret it.

Just the basic feature set here. It does have onboard reverb. Need to take a couple of points off for no effects loop and the reverb that is included is pretty weak.

I took some time before writing this review. I received this as a gift two years ago. It is a Made in Mexico version. I play this with a variety of guitars (American late Seventies Stratocaster, Ibanez with ceramic humbuckers, Gretsch 6120 (friend's), and even an acoustic with a Fishman electronics package). All guitars produced pleasing results. Make no mistake: THIS AMP IS LOUD. All guitars required some tinkering to coax out their own individual sounds. I was fairly pleased for the near 2 years of playing.

Earlier this year I got a chance to hear a friends Blues Junior that was modified with some NOS tubes. I was very impressed with the sound, a sound that I was not able to pull off with my stock Blues Junior. Off I was on a search for tone.

Long story short . . . changing the Fender Special Design Eminence 12? 8 Ohm to a Celestion Vintage 30 made a HUGE difference. The Blues Junior always had a good clean sound but started to get muddy (loss of tone definition) when it was overdriven. I was able to fix this with the use of stomp boxes but it was never a complete solution. Adding the Celestion solved the problem.

I could immediately tell the difference in construction between the two speakers. The mass of the Celestion has to be 3 to 4 pounds heavier than the stock Eminence.

I will perform the modifications in stages. For now the speaker is just fine. When the tubes need it I will replace them with JJ?s or perhaps go on a journey for some NOS replacements.

Note: The speaker mod was a simple. It took no more that 10 minutes to pull the old speaker and install the new one. No mods to the wiring position or screws placement was required.

No problems with virtually daily use for the last 2 years. That bing said, never gig without a backup.

I never had a need to call.

I have played guitar and bass for 27 years. I wish my skill reflected those 27 years.

As far as equipment goes, I have a 70?s USA Fender Stratocaster, an early 80?s G&L Fretless L2000e bass, an Ibanez Artcore AS83VLS, a 70?s Yamaha Spanish Classical and an Alvarez acoustic. My current amps are a Gallien Krueger 200MB bass amp with onboard chorus and the Blues Junior. I have also owned an old Ampeg tube amp for bass, a very large Peavey Bass rig (briefly) and a mid seventies Fender Twin Reverb. I continue to experiment with different pedals for the guitar and the bass. I have a 70?s Electro Harmonix USA Big Muff, an EH Small Clone analog chorus, an old Boss DS-1 Distortion Pedal, a 70?s Vox Wah and a Ibanez TS9 DX Turbo I use with the bass. I also have an old (86 I think) Scholtz Research & Development Rockman. I love that thing!

The Blues Junior is a wonderful amp. If it were lost I would buy another and quickly upgrade the speaker. The sounds are great but I would like an effects loop to be included and a more powerful reverb. The stock reverb is a short tank that does not provide enough depth. In comparison to other Amps in this class (Peavey, Crate, Line 6) I much prefer the Fender.

Given an unlimited budget for a small portable combo, I would still choose the Blues Junior.

There is a Fender dealer in our town, and I realized at some
point they almost always had a Blues Junior in stock.
For the sake of consistency I wanted to use it as a test platform
for A/B-ing different guitars in that shop.
Problem: I was having a hard time getting a good sound out of it.
There were several guys on the same guitar newsgroup that had them,
so I asked them for their settings.
Two guys suggested similar setting which I tried, and they worked great. I can't remember them exactly, but both bass and treble were
above 10, and midrange was about 4. After that, I got some
<very> useable tones out of it, in fact, <everything> sounded
at least good through it. I eventually got a Pro Jr, which has some
similarities, but I got it for $250 used, which I couldn't pass up
at the time. I still like the Blues Jr. though, and have used
it so much in stores that I almost feel like I've owned one.
For my taste the reverb was fine, as I never set it above 2.
The midrange control, which my Pro Jr. does not had
allowed the Blues Jr. to do well with humbuckers, where the Pro Jr.
in the store sometimes got muddy, and there was no way to clean it up.
(Note: I often abbreviate Blues Jr. to BJ, and Pro Junior to PJ)

I have mostly played Fender Strats and Teles through the Blues Jr,
mostly single coils, but a few humbucker guitars as well.
I never got a <bad> sound out of the Blues Jr., but some excelled
more than others... MIM Telecasters were my favorite on the neck
pickup for Blues tone.
I wasn't particular fond of the high gain sound, but that's not
the setting I normally use anyway, I like it either clean, or just
on the verge of breakup. I consider the Blues Jr. to have a somewhat
more refined sound than the Pro Jr., at least when both are stock.
The Pro Junior seems to have a somewhat rawer sound.
If that's what you're trying to get out of the Blues Junior,
maybe you got the wrong Junior!

Okay, someone was talking down the necessity of speaker and tube
swaps on the Blues Jr, and that's what motivated me to make this review. I do own a Pro Jr, and they use the same Sovtek EL84 power
tubes and the stock speakers are from the same bottom of the line
series of Eminence speakers. Fender obviously has had to meet a price
point to get the Blues Jr. out at $400 and the Pro Jr. at $300 for
your rock bottom new retail price. And corners have been cut,
especially with the speakers and the tubes.
I got my Pro Jr. used. It had a tube rattle. Finally traced it
to the EL84 power tubes. I liked the sound, so I got some new
ones. SAME RATTLE! And the last time I tried a guitar through
a brand new Pro Jr. it had the same characteristic tube rattle!
BRAND NEW! I don't know if a Blues Jr. shakes up the tubes quite
as bad as a Pro Jr., the BJ has a <little> more space...
but frankly, loose plates in something that gets that hot???
I don't think that's a good idea.
I got a pair of JJ EL84s, and not only do they sound significantly
better (although I liked the Sovtek's tone)but they <don't>
rattle. I have since noticed that JJ power tubes, and especially
the EL84s are becoming a defacto standard. You can get a pair
for $20, they sound good, and are reliable. And if you get them
from Eurotubes (Bob Pletka) or Lord Valve, you can get them
even more thoroughly tested. If power tubes fail, they can
take out your power supply and other expensive circuitry,
so $20 or so for a pair of JJ EL84s seems like cheap insurance to me.
You could spend big bucks on NOS tubes, but that's not necessary.
Preamp tubes are less mission critical, change 'em if you don't like
the stock sound. I use an Electroharmonix 12AX7 in v1, and a JJ ECC82 in v2, but the preamps are quite different, so obviously YMMV!

If your a novice, or not picky, or not gigging,
or just practicing at low volumes, the
stock speaker may do fine for a while.
My PJ's stock Eminence speaker overall was reliable, but running
my two humbucker guitar through it at volume, it made some <nasty>
noises, which stopped when I went back to single coil guitars.
I don't think I would want to play a loud gig with either
the BJ's stock 12 or the PJ's stock 10 inch speaker.
I have a Behringer Vintager with a 10" Italian made Jensen reissue.
I decided to swap speakers. My Pro Jr. was good before,
now it is excellent! I cannot believe somebody in these reviews
was minimizing the effect a speaker swap can make.
Three different speakers, and with each one, it sounds like a different amp. It's the <last> step in the signal chain,
the speaker is <crucial> to the tone.
I also have a Celestion 10" in an external speaker cabinet. Totally different flavor. If Celestions are not your cup of tea, or too expensive,
Eminence has a higher priced speaker line that's getting good
reviews, the Patriot series for an American sound, and the Redcoat
for a British sound (of course) Currently a Redcoat Tonker
is $89, and a Patriot Swamp Thang is $75 at Music123.
The reissue Jensen's can be gotten quite reasonably-
the 12" one that comes in the Behringer Vintager AC112 can be bought
new for $40! Yeah, you could spend a couple hundred bucks
on a speaker, but you could also spend something under $100
and <still> get a much, much better speaker than the stock one.
(or you could get the Behringer AC112 Vintager, swap speakers,
and use the AC112 as a backup, or sell it.)
So it's not a must do thing like the power tubes, but it'll
make a <huge> difference in the tone. I would try these
two things <before> modding the electronics and thus voiding the warranty. When choosing speakers, remember, the Blues Jr. already
has plenty of midrange!

N/A

If my Pro Jr. were stolen or lost, I might also consider a Blues Junior as a replacement.

I have heard that the reverb hum in the older models can be fixed
just by moving the reverb tank. I have also heard a vertically
mounted reverb tank is even better, because gravity has less of
an effect on the springs.

either 04 or 05 I just got it yesterday brandnew from GC. I play blues, jazz, and all kinds of rock. It suits it prefectly.. now that i have customized it =D
I like the features, it came with the Reverb its ok..
I use it for home, recording, and church.
The power is fine for me and what i do..
Well Im going to express my Blues Jr the way it is now..(Pair of JJ El84's Tubes and a Ceramic Weber 12F125 Speaker) With this done WOW it sounds like a vintage 60's amp.

I have a Gibson Les Paul Studio with BB pickups (come on the Standard models) The amp sounds PERFECT now..(Pair of JJ El84's Tubes and a Ceramic Weber 12F125 Speaker)

Prior to doing these modifications... It sounded ok just i felt like the amp was holding back. It sounded Muggy at high and to thin at low..(now it sounds rich and pure and very very clean)
When the amp was set at clean it was kinda muggy.
Distortion sounded the same.

The amp is durable and i really think i can depend on it. Ive been using the amp for many gigs with no back up and have no problems what so ever.

The amp was modified 3 days after i got it new. It has ot broken down on me at all.

I think modifiying the amp has messed with my warrenty.. but i dont mind if i have any problems i can get it fixed. If its worse than that ill just get a new amp

Ive been playing for 10 years now..
I had a epiphone LP for a while got rid of it and got a real LP now =D and i also have a Fender American Strat.
If it were lost or stolen id be really upset.. but i would just find a better tube amp..
I really recommend using this setup: (Pair of JJ El84's Tubes and a Ceramic Weber 12F125 Speaker) you really dont have to chage the speaker to get the sound but it will help alot more if you did.. it sounds like a vintage fender amp from the 60's. AMAZING thats all i can say..
but prior to the mods.. the amp is good bang for the buck..(i can just see its potential!)

Pre-amp volume, Bass, Midrange, Treble, Master Volume, Reverb.

The stock amp is a very good amp to begin with, and most users would probably be perfectly happy with the amp "as is". I decided to replace the EL84 output tubes with Ei Gold tubes and the overdrive sound is a little more defined now. Since buying replacement EL84 tubes is going to happen sooner or later, you may as well try another brand of tube just to hear the difference. I think the Ei Gold tube is a good alternative to the JJ tube.

I also replaced the stock Eminence speaker with a Jensen C12N reissue speaker.

Both of these changes result in a subtle improvement in the sound.

I was disappointed that the reverb didn't work, but considering this was a "blem" purchased from Musician's Friend, I wasn't too surprised, either. I'm contemplating replacing the reverb tank with something larger.

Since I'm using a Fender 63 Reverb unit between the guitar and amp(upgraded with Mercury Magnetics transformers and a Tung Sol NOS 6K6GT tube), the lack of reverb is not a problem. And the amp sounds great even without any reverb at all.

I can heartily recommended running a Fulltone OCD pedal between your guitar and the Blue Junior. Do that and the overdrive sound is superb.

So ... how much does all this cost?

Used amp $357
EL84 tubes $29
Jensen C12N speaker $61
Fulltone OCD $170

Still way less than a boutique EL84 based amp.

I'm considering getting the Bill M mods.

Last, but not least, I've played a number of Les Pauls and Strats through this amp, and my favorite is a custom "Super Strat" with a Pearly Gates pickup in the neck, and JB pickup in the bridge. The Blues Junior and the Pearly Gates make an excellent combination.

It's good to know an amp that only weighs 31 pounds can deliver a big sound.

Reliable so far.

Haven't deal with Fender.

Upgrading the tubes and speaker is optional. Try playing a Blues Junior using a Fulltone OCD for overdrive, and you won't be disappointed. The "tweed" version of the amp is no longer produced, but it already has the Jensen C12N speaker installed. Get that one if you can.

I don't know what year it was made but it has the green board.
I play mostly classic rock, and blues, and the amp seems well suited for this type of music. A one channel amp is all I need. If I need a different sound, I have pedals for that. I was disappointed with the way the stock amp sounded after I had played thru it for several weeks. I couldn't get over the boxy tone it had. So I made solid pine cabinet for it. I made the cabinet same height, and length but I increased the depth of the cabinet to 11 inches. (stock cab's are around 9.25 inches). Then I installed a EVM 12L speaker in the new cabinet. I now have a Blues jr. amp that will keep up with any gig I want to do. Large or small. The EV speaker added 3db of gain to the amp. Which is like doubling the wattage. I'm still thinking about the Bill M mod for the tone stack but I can do that myself. I also have plans for a extension 1-12 speaker cabinet in the works. It should sound awsome when I'm done.

I use Gibson guitars humbuckers, and P90's. This amp suits my stlye of music style well. It does get noisy when I'm playing with the P90's but you get that with single coil pick-up's. My modded amp has a great bluesy clean sound, and clipps nice when sent into overdrive.
I still haven't swapped out the stock tubes yet but I'm sure it's going to sound even better with a matched set of JJ's

Never needed service yet. I wouldn't use anything on a gig without having a backup. Murphy's law, you know!

Never dealt with Fender.

I been playing for over 30 years. If were stolen I'd just build another cab, and find another EV speaker to put in it.

This is an up date on my '99 Greenboard USA model.
One input jack. Volume and 3 tone controls, Master Volume and Reverb,on off switch, Fat switch/ foot control optional,15 watts, 12" speaker, thats all you need, thats all you get.

I've used this amp with several guitars over the last 5 years. My '62 Strat can get good twang for "Chicken Picken'" and "Surf's Up" with the Reverb about 4-5, I like that. I really like it best with my '56 Epi Goldtop with P-90's, it gives it a sweet but not to twangy edge, I like for Jazz. Also does well with slight overdrive for Blues/Rock and I can get a mellow clean Jazz tone (Joe Pass) with my Ibanez Archtop with humbuckers. This amp is very loud for it's size, I never turn it up past, 4 even jamming with a Drummer.

I have compaired this amp with some of the new Mexician cream board BJ's and I think they screwed up by changing the tone, they sound too bright for my ears and the Reverb is too hot. I also compaired this amp with some expensive Boutique amps, one, the Working Dog Boxer is a good little amp but I couldn't get a better sound out of it than my BJ could provide. I also compaired it with a Peavey Classic 30, and it can hold it's own against it, but the C-30 is twice the power, and is a very good amp, well built for about the same price, and the tone is very similar. In some ways I like the C-30 better. I think for the money the BJ is a good amp choice, you want to pay $1200 then get the Working Dog.

P.S. I did switch the driver tube to a 12AT7 for a little better and cleaner tone, with a little less gain, try it, I think its the best mod for this amp, if you like clean.

Okay, I had some problems with the reverb, the tank died, had to get another one (After Market). I recommend you consider putting the Tank into a Reverb bag, to help protect it, their cheap about $10 and worth it. Some people will tell you the bias is set to hot and your tubes will burn out too fast, maybe but I haven't had any tube problems at all, 5 years on my tubes and no problems and they still test good. I own a tube tester and test my tubes once a year on all my amps.

My main complaint is the EL Cheap-o componets, the input jack and pots are all plastic, and wll break if bumped too hard, if they do, then your infor some repairs. See Customer Support. So far so good, be careful.

I have never dealt with Fender for repairs and yet I know they suck at it. I've heard too many complaints, good luck.

Fender needs to work harder on this.

I've been playing guitar since about 1960 and have owned several real Fenders, and some other amps I liked better. Now that I've had it for a while and know it inside and out, I still like my BJ but think they cut too many corners to build it; I don't think they could build it with cheaper parts and make it work. I can jam and even do some small Bar size gigs with it, that's about it's limit. I would not buy another one nor a newer Mexican one. I'll keep this amp and use it a long time (I hope). If it breaks down I'll look for a Classic 30 or Delta Blues to replace it, I think for the most part Peavey is building better quality amps today than Fender is and their still made in the USA. Don't get me wrong this is still a good choice for a small amp, but not the best for the money.

This is a very simple, light, small amp with big sound for the money. I am currently using two - one for each of the stereo signal from my GNX4 Guitar Workstation and they sound phenomenal (to me). I had to get a stereo EQ to boost the midrange and cut some of the high end (even after adjusting the eq on the frequently used models on my GNX4). I am currently playing a Fender Showmaster HH FMT (two Seymore Duncans). I intentionally bought two of these instead of one larger amp.

This amp pretty much has a single sound alone. With my GNX4, I mostly wanted something that I could make very clean to accept the signal input uncolored. This amp works great.

I've only had it for a while, but I have had no trouble so far.

I have had no cause to interact with Fender. I bought these amps used and have no warranty (but haven't needed one).

I've been playing for about 25 years with church groups. This rig is the most versatile I have owned.

I believe this particular amp was made in '03 or '04. For what it is, an inexpensive small genuine Fender tube amp, I feel that it is more than adequate. I wish it had a standby switch. For a 15 watt amp, with a little overdrive, like a Danelectro Daddy-o, it is LOUD!

The guy I bought it from used his Ibanez AFS75T, his Fernandes Strat, his '50's vintage Kay, my '58 Les Paul reissue, my Telecaster, my Fender American Standard Strat, my Epiphone Les Paul Special with P-90s, and various other guitars for playing rockabilly, country and blues, and they all sounded like the amp, instead of the amp sounding like the various guitars. If you like the sound of this particular amp with your particular guitar, great! Otherwise, it is a little limited in its tonal diversity.

Very dependable, great for a gigging amp.

I've never had any trouble with a Fender product yet, but there is a Fender authorized repair facility here in town, so I would expect no trouble with repair or service.

For a beginner who wants a real tube amp or for the veteran player who needs a compact, loud little amp that is easy to carry,and easy on the wallet, this is a good little amp. I would recommend this amp to others who are willing to deal with its minor shortcomings.

The features are well documented below. It's a basic single channel 15 watt tube amp with reverb.

It's decent for Blues and Rock that doesn't require a huge amount of overdrive. I bought it for rehearsals and small clubs.

This is basically a one-trick pony. It can do a flemmy Fendery blues tone very well. Not very good for clean. The reverb is anemic.

I used a Fender Strat and G&L ASAT Classic with it. I bought it to play blues in small clubs and for rehearsal.

I had it for about one month, plugged it in one night and it started smoking. That was the end of it, and I never got another.

Thank goodness I bought it from a local dealer who let me trade it in toward a Tech 21 Trademark 60, who has tremendous support. I never had to deal with Fender.

If all you need is an amp that can do a overdriven blues tone, then this is the amp for you (but bring a back up). The reverb is so weak and is barely usable. For more cash the Tech 21 was a much better amp and has been reliable. I love Fender amps, and I own two others, but the Blues Jr. just didn't do it for me. Love the size and weight, but the reliability and the lack of versatility (especially clean sounds) is a turn off. I've been playing for more than 30 years, and have owned and experience with many amps. The Blues Jr. was a big disappointment. When I bought it, I thought I could get by with its one or two usable sounds, but was thankful when it died.

Made in USA around 2000-2001.

We'll----Hmmm---I play a lot of styles, I get bored playing the same thing over and over again, so that being said I needed a amp that could provide me with a large amount of sounds and I wanted a light weight amp. Here?s how I accomplished this with a blues jr. after I purchased the Jr I replaced all the tubes with tubes that would provide me with as much clean headroom as possible...very clean...I also replaced the stock Fender 12" speaker with a Weber high power California Classic...this speaker is the King of clean.....Here's The setup: Vintage Electra Guitar with Hummbuckers....Blues Jr......New Tubes.....New Speaker and a Vox Toneworks SE multi EFX Pedal..For those of you who live in a box and don't know about this pedal, the pedal uses a 12AX7 tube to produce the most realistic amp modeling ever (I also retubed the Vox Toneworks) I gig with this setup...all you need is a good mic on this little amp and you will be blown away. I get every sound off this setup; from Rect metal to crisp clean boutique...It's amazing.....AND LIGHTWEIGHT?.Now let?s sum this up?.Technology has finally caught up with the extremly heavy - high wattage tube amp?..you don?t need a giant HEAVY tube amp anymore?.Just a great multi efx pedal with a tube in it, a super clean small tube amp, a mic and your done??.hokus pokus? ?..Trust me??This will be the setup of the future, and you say why? Because it?s ?LIGHTWEIGHT and sounds outrageous. It?s all about the Toneworks pedal, you can do this with any small CLEAN tube amp. The tube in the Vox pedal makes it all possible?let?s give a big Thank You to VOX?.while everybody is still trying to duplicate the tube sound with digital, Vox combined the future with the past??..

no problems yet

Just a phone call away

I've been playing guitar for around 35 yrs.....I've been through every kind of setup possible....I've finaly found my setup. I was playing this setup with my band in a practice studio a few weeks ago, the band from the next room came over and asked me if I could help their guitar player get his tone right....He was playing out of a 100w tube setup...when they saw my little Jr they were dumbfounded...like..huh?... The change over coast me $50 in tubes and $95 for the speaker. Total coast was $300 for the amp + $145 for the change over...total = $445.00

2002 cream-board Blues Junior, with Billm mods, including Clean Boost module. Black, stock Eminence speaker. Single channel, MBT tone stack, Fat switch, master volume. I use it for clubs, praise worship, small fusion group--from smoky jazz to bluesy stuff.

I didn't think this amp had enough for me, and was going to trade it in on a Blues Deluxe Reissue, or just keep it for practice. But I heard a friend's Blues Junior with the Billm mods, and it made mine sound lame by comparison. So I sent it off to Bill and he convinced me to try the new clean boost module.

I play a Strat, Fat Strat, Tele and an old 335 clone, in a variety of styles, from power-chord rock to laid-back fingerstyle. The amp has always sounded good, but never great. Other reviews talk about the "boxy" sound, and mine had it too. The Billm mods cured that, and reduced the hum, too. Depending on the volume knob setting, it was either clean or distorted. Hard to keep on the edge of bluesy breakup or that thick, slightly dirty clean tone (does that make sense?) But the new presence control changes that and gives me a much bigger range of tones to chose from.

It was just barely loud enough to stay with a drummer for clean tones, but no problem with distortion. The boost mod changed all that. Now it's as loud as I want it to be without getting dirty.

But better than that, it now sounds ballsy! Big, round tone, much more like the Blues Deluxe, and surprisingly loud.

It's been very reliable so far. I keep a Behringer solid state amp in the trunk, just in case, but have never needed it.

It used to have a 5-year warranty, but the mods voided that. I'm not worried.

Been playing for 20-some years. Have had various Fender tube amps, that have been getting progressively smaller over the years. I'm just tired of making 2 or 3 trips or needing a van or busting my back lifting a Bassman out of the trunk.

I liked the Junior's size and weight, and thought the tone had potential. An effects loop or second channel would be nice, but I'm finding that less is more these days.

The tone with the mods still amazes me. It makes me want to sit down and play for the pleasure of hearing it. The clean boost makes it a whole new amp--better than my friend's Junior.

I've had this amp for quite for a few years now (bought new). It's a non-lacquered tweed covered model (green board). You know the features by now. It's pretty much the same as the newer models in this regard.

I play mostly an American Standard Strat through this amp. I play blues and classic rock mostly (which sounds like the case for many of the reviewers for this amp). This was my first tube amp. It sounds and feels much better than any solid state amp I've tried. Having said that I've never fallen 100% (or even 90%) in love with the sound. The tone's never sounded quite right to me. Without pedals, I can't say I'd give this amp more than a 6 (I'd give the very best solid state amp I've ever tried a "4"). Still, I've liked the amp enough to keep all these years.
However (and this is why I'm writing this review), I just tried a pedal set up on this amp that gave me the tone I had wanted from this amp. I plugged my Fulltone OCD into a Toadworks Mr. Squishy compressor and into the Blues Jr. I had the knobs on the Fulltone set 9 o'clock for output, 9 o'clock for drive and at noon for tone; Mr. Squishy was set to 4 o'clock for gain, 4 o'clock for squish, and about noon for output. With this setting and the amp tone about neutral (slight cut in mids), volume at about 40% and master at about halfway, I had this great clanging Texas blues (yes, the coveted SRV tone) I had always wanted from this amp! I spent about two hours playing with this set-up and it was fantastic. If you've got these pedals and this amp already, give it a try. Fantastic!
This pedal does not accept all pedals well. With the OCD (a stellar pedal which sounds great through my other amps), the tone is not quite right. Likewise with other pedals I own. However, the above set-up was perfect in my book, and makes this amp sound like a "9". See "reliability" as to why it misses the "10"
Overall rating for this amp is a compromise of "7", since I think it actually needs a good pedal to sound good for blues.

I've gigged with this amp, etc., but I've always babied it. Still I've had a few problems. The handle on top of the amp is about to go and needs to be replaced before it gives way. The cabinet has always rattled now and again at band volume (yes, it can hang in a band setting). I've tightened up all screws, but need to do it again periodically. The chassis itself vibrates now and again on certain notes, and now the metal plaque on back of the cab (with my serial number) has started a high-frequency buzz. It's riveted to the back, so I can't really tighten it. I'll have to figure something out, because this buzz is loud enough to be annoying. These errant noises is why I couldn't give this amp a higher rating in sound, despite the stellar Texas blues sound it can give you with the right pedal(s).
Also, a tiny spring in the reverb tank (from which the reverb springs suspend) gave way. I haven't found the replacement spring yet, so I've just removed the reverb tank and am using an Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail for reverb when I really need it.

No idea.

I've been playing for over 20 years and have lots of gear. I've also played in NYC studios through boutique amps as well as vintage gear. I have a pretty good ear for good tone.
This amp has always been tough for me to moan about because it was so cheap. Still, it's never quite grabbed me as a blues amp until now. However, the tone with the setup outlined above was dead on SRV. This one sound alone will be enough for me to happily keep this amp and use it for blues jams (since I have the pedals already). The two pedals together cost nearly as much as this amp did when new, so it's kind of silly to have to use them to get the tone. Still, my Blues Jr. is all grown up now. It's finally giving me a sound I can use to cut heads.
If you've never owned a tube amp and like classic rock and blues in particular, this amp is worth picking up (especially used). It's better than any solid state amp I've played. It's loud enough for a modest rock band, is light enough to carry easily, compact, and with the right pedals, can sound killer. I probably wouldn't buy this amp again (would probably get the Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb reissue instead), but not definitely.

you know

i am using it with both a gretsch hollowbody and a strat. sounds great with both - more bite w the gretsch, of course. i think it sounds great at this low price. if you expect this amp to be loud, have marshall distortion, tube reverb-delight, and the sophisticated clean sounds of a 30-year old deluxe reverb... then you have misunderstood a few thing in this world. it it horrible to read som of these reviews!
you get an amp with mellow sound, somewhat deep sound in it, a rather weak and noisy reverb-unit, and you get a little and light amp, with a tad of fender-sound.
i think a lot of reviews are to exstatic and some are too critical.
this a good amp, it is ok for blues (as the name indicates!), country and jazz. it is not meant to be a metal-amp!

have had one for 5 years and it works just fine.

i have been playing for 15 years, and have owned a lot of gear. this is great for rehersal, and it also works fine when recording. it is a little small, but i use it often when gigging in small pubs (up to 100 people). i guess on larger venues everybody goes thorugh the PA anyway.
so, please, stop wining - buy a better, bigger, more metal-ish or whatever. make your own desicion in life and dont blame fender or anyone but yourself if you bought it and was not pleased!

i'm a singer/songwriter playing kind of grungey folky stuff that sometimes mellows and sometimes kicks ass. this amp doesn't have many colours but i love what it does to my sound. i've been eternally trying to find 'authentic' tone with dist/overdrive pedals that are never going to quite cut it by themselves. a more experienced hand steered me down the low wattage tube path and i'm very glad he did

i use it mostly for home recording - traded my hotrod deluxe 40w in for it which didn't have a proper gain control so i would have to play it (the hotrod)at stupid volumes to get the tubes driving

now i'm happy and so are my neighbours. miked up with the gain at about 6.5 and the master out at 1.5 this thing sounds like a massive hot stack coming off tape but you can barely hear it outside.

my only observation is that i'll need a tube marshall (prob a 1974x) to team up with this and then i'll be set for recording and gigs. i love the fact that it's so small and light and i'll probably just mike it for that Shea Stadium gig *ahem*

i use a Dean Electro Jazz Stylist, a strange choice for my music i know, but it's a fat bodied semi w/humbuckers that really suits a dirty blues thing (even though i'm not a very good player). Single coils are next on my hitlist for more sonic versatility. i don't want a million so-so sounds - just a handful of awesome ones, and this amp feels like a keeper.

i'm going to get my **** together and swap out the eminence speaker for a vintage 30 and change the tubes as suggested by the master toneheads below. i mike for tape through an AKG D112 (another odd choice but it smooths off some of that eminence nastiness in the tops and generally rounds out the sound - big!)

noise isn't a problem for me at all. with the tape machine on standby i can barely tell that the amp is on. very impressive.

distortion gets over-muddy with the gain racked to 10 up but i imagine this is partially the guitar. it does great clean and great overdrive, both lovely and organic sounding. no one ever said this was going to be a shred monster so no surprises here.

whatever, i have my 'authentic' tone and it helps me realise my ideas a lot better.

<i>Why did you choose this one?</i>

i did a lot of hunting around on the internet for a 15w tube amp that was going to be what i wanted it to be.

a lot of my decision came from reading reviews on this thread - thankyou reviewers below and thankyou Harmony Central for providing this resource - i don't have a lot of ###'s and i can't afford expensive mistakes - no one's steered me wrong here

2003 tweed blues jr. The amp is versatile enough for any style. I play mostly blues and blues oriented jazz, nut I also play rock. It has one channel, all the channels you should ever need. I use the amp for gigs, practise, recording.

I have a 60 relic Strat, a pair of r-8 les pauls, a 61 les paul custom, a 52 tele, a Gretsch 6120, and a modified Epi Joe Pass. The amp is very loud for 15 watts and I always keep it cranked and use playing technique to control distortion or produce cleean tones. The amp is dynamic enough to go from all out distortion to crytal clear using picking technique. The distortion is very sweet and complex with a nice sparkle. I usually don't have much nice to say about production amps because the cost cutting techniques really eat the tone. I've been building "boutique amps" since the 1960's so I'm pretty particular about construction quality and tone, but this amp really delivers.

I don't know. So far no problems. If it needs repair, I'll probably rip out the pc board and build a new tag board for it. I got rid of the cheasy factory tubes when I first brought the amp home. It has Mullards in it now. Should last 20 years.

Fender is part of corporate america....need I say more?

I own a black panel twin reverrb, a Gibson Les Paul Jr., several amps of my own design and a black panel vibrolux reverb. If it were lost I would build a replica. It sounds awsome but I don't much care for the solid state reverb, however at this price it was obviously a necessary cost cutting measure. I've compared it to all commercially available 12-20 watt amps and several boutique amps it holds up against amps costing 5 times as much including the ones I build myself. I only wish it had a tube reverb circuit.

2005
Fender "tweed" Blues Junior
15 watts into 8ohms, 12" 8ohm Jensen Special
2/EL-84 groove tunes
3/12AX7 preamp tubes
6-vintage pointer knobs-1/reverb, 2/master volume,3/middle, 4/bass, 5/treble, 6/volume
fat switch..................very cool
16"Hx18"Wx9.2D 31 lbs.

.... I play a 2001 Gibson Les Paul Custom '57 reissue Historic edition w/Bigsby and a 2004 Carvin CT6T....both give the amp its own unique sound....I also used to own an American Series Stratocaster but sold it because I was never playing it....its sound was dead in comparison to my other two....

....for amps I also own a Fender 65 reissue Reverb Deluxe and recently punted a Marshall MG50DFX....

....there are 5 reasons I wanted
another amp....#1 I like having 2 amps so when friends come over who also play they don't have to always lug there amp over....#2 its size and weight makes it convenient to move to other rooms....#3 I fell in love with it the minute I saw it....the tweed is like that on the 59 Bassman....so cool.... #4 Theres something special about its tone and at only 15 watts it sounds incredible at low volumes....and finally #5 the ability to use two amps with a delay in between....

....the clean sound of course is outstanding....and when I want distortion I have plenty of pedals to shape its sound....even when I add any of my 7 pedals or Boss ME-50 its still retains its own unique tone....

....no Fan! ....extremely quiet....fans suck!

....Its definitely not built to be casually tossed around or bumped into much....so I wouldn't rate it high as road worthy unless you handle it with extreme care....it feels fragile....I only play as a hobby so I'm not concerned about a back up....time will tell on its dependability....I've been extremely lucky with my Fender Deluxe Reverb....never had a problem with it....I play 5 or 6 times a week....maybe 15 hours a week....

Never dealt with Fender....I don't abuse any of my musical equipment and treat them all as though there an investment.... so I hope I never have to contact them....

....I've been playing my entire life....though I still suck....my Dad always let me play his 1950 Gibson accoustic....now its mine....If only I would have realized what it could someday have been worth I wouldn't have tried to imitate Jimmy Page with a steel beam from my erector set when I was around 10 years old....

....other amps I considered....Ampeg J12T....a little more expensive but very cool looking and sounding....Marshall AVT20....at 280 dollars the price of the Marshall was very tempting and it had the crunch I like....but after my last experience with Marshall I was concerned about its realiability....all three sounded great in there own way....

....my 15 watt Blues Junior is all any one needs for the Basement or Bedroom....it will rock and scream for a tiny amp....and at 400 dollars the price isn't too bad....for small rooms and venues I prefer Fender....if I was playing stadiums and arenas I would favor Marshalls....

This is a 2003 Fender Blues Jr. Staock tubes, stock speaker. Many descriptions of the features below, so I won't repeat them.

I use a variety of guitars, but mainly a Fender American Tele and a Gibson Les Paul Faded. This amp just does not cut it as far as what I am looking for in amp tone. The clean tones does not sparkle, and the distortion is too muddy for my tastes. Volume wise it is great, but the tone controls are not the greatest.

Reverb broke in less than a year - otherwise it has been solid.

Never used....

The Blues Jr is not a bad amp, it's just not tonally what I personally am looking for. I would rather sell the amp and buy something else than mod the heck out of it to get my sound. My old '76 Fender Champ is twice the amp at half the price, but it's a bit small for some applications. I'm selling this one and the search will go on for a small tube amp I can be happy with.

Very simple 15 watt tube amp. Not many features but thats not what it was presented as. I love classic rock/blues bands like led zeppelin, earlier clapton,hendrix,etc. Not really a great amp for the modern guitarist or one that plays large venues.

I had owned and always played through a mesa boogie triple rectifier untill i got this amp. Initially purchased as a small practice amp,i soon realized it was far too loud for bedroom practice and put it in my basement along side my boogie. Well, it wasnt before long that i stopped using my mesa entirely in favor of this tiny amp. At the time i used a stock american series strat with ts9 tubescreamer,boss ds-1 distortion and crybaby along with other modulation effects. It has an amazing clean tone with just enough breakup to play some gritty blues. The distinct midrange voicing while using distortion reminds me alot of a british amp probably due to the el84 output tubes which are not typical of fender. With some reverb, a little delay and saturated distortion the singing tones the strat produced were very impressive. Its definetly more of a lead amp though. and wont churn out any chunky palm mutes or heavy metal tones anytime soon.While using my big muff nyc the pedal no longer sounds thin and feeble but instead has a great thick fuzz tone that i had in mind when i bought the pedal. I love classic rock and blues music, being very into bands like derek and the dominoes at the time im very pleased with this amp. I recently purchased a gibson les paul 1958 standard reissue and am only expecting good things. I would really be impressed if i could get a nice bluesbreaker/zeppelin tone out of this.

No choice but to depend on it, ive taken it a few places with no problems so far

Even though my boogie was 4 times as expensive i sold it in favor of this little screamer.However I must admit that my musical taste has completly changed from when i bought the boogie until now. Instead of searching for the heaviest possible distortion and highest output pickup i realized alot of the best tones can be found when you back off on the gain, stop trying to squeeze as many notes into a measure as possible, and just play what you feel. Although it doesnt impress your friends or look as cool as a 4x12 stack this amp has really delivered as a great practice and small gig amp.

1 channel '04 MIM model cream board stock
Jazz, blues, rock
enuf power for small gig, practice will keep up and over Hard hit drummer ... Suppose you could mike the little bugger but go for a 212 or 412 cab for clear tone ... can scream purty good with the right setup.

I run a BK Butler Tube Driver for most lead work, but can get a nice edge with Master vol 10-12 and Pre 3(clean) - 6-8 (edge) or Master 3-6 Pre up around 8.

Fat switch (pedal if you want) that gives a nice gain boost with ext 212 cab. Not real great with the 112 ... shake up dem dar tubes pretty good and gets mushy (JJ EL 84 tubes help a bit running this way ... but you will need to replace em oft I suppose).

This is a players amp ... loud enuf to get the job done if you want a good tone and like that stuff. I mike or di box out to my little mixer and add effects there (like you'd do when recording) Get everything that way ... dry monitor (touch of verb) and wet signal from powered monitors - main board send.

If ya want to buy this and spend a zillion denaros to mod it up, give Robben Ford a call is see if he still has the Dumble he's not using and spend the cash on that to fix it up ... then you could sell it and perhaps get your money back out of it?

Parker fly
quiet
warm fender tone
mild blues clip distortion -

Tone comes alive with ext Randall 212 cab - the fat switch gives a gain and mid boost that is quiet noticable with the ext cab ...

the stock speaker is alright if you just need to practice at lower vols ... too muddy at a band clip much cleaner with the 212 cab.

I suppose if you run the little bugger at higher vols, you will need to retube often. I keep getting microphonic tube noise from the tubes when run 112. The power tubes run real hot in this unbiased amp) Have put in JJ Tesla EL 84's and that helps the 112 (Emminence spk) tone a bit but still got dat microphonic noise when keeping up to a fender twin. Sounded like a vibra pedal was on my High E and B Strings and did I mention mushy?

dono

If ya mod it, you are on your own don't think they will like that much ...

42 years.
Best Hendrix/SRV/Jimi Page/Jazz type tones. Warm and sweet like only a little tube amp can give (not hard, clinical shedder, noisy, lifeless digital, colored, messed up, flat, lifeless tone like the solid state junk out there). It is inspiring to play this little fella.


rate this little bugger a 9 with the ext 212 Randall cab, perhaps a 6 running with the 112 setup.

What could I add to the 400+ other reviews?... Eeeeerrrr!... Oh yeah : it has metal feet, not rubber :)

Reading through the posts here and certainly on the very instructive Blues Junior mafia thread at the Fender Discussion Page, one could get the impression that unless you invest 1/2 the price of this amp extra into speakers and tubes and thouroughly modify it's circuit, this amp sounds lousy.
The only purpose of my post (who needs yet another review of the Blues Junior) is to reassure readers not aquainted to tube or speaker swapping and first time potential amp buyiers : this amp sounds VERY GOOD out of the box and considering it's price it's a killer.
Will it 'beats a Bogner Shiva hands down' or 'smoke a Blackface Princeton' c'mon, be realistic!
It stands proudly next to my Mesa Nomad, no it doesn't nail the Mesa tone (why would I need that, I have a Mesa!), it's not a Marshall, it's not a Twin, it's not even a scaled down HotRod Deluxe, it's a Blues Junior : one channel going from Fender bright clean to light warm blues growl, that's it. But at this, it's pretty good.
Need more gain? add your favorite overdrive/distortion up front and wail/scream/shred along.
Boxy tone? Well the cabinet is hardly big enough to contain a 12" speaker, who would expect it to sound like a 2x12 or 4x12 closed cab. Yes when I connect it to my Carvin Legacy 2x12 cab the 'boxy' tone (as far as it has one) is gone... along with the sparkle thanks to Celestion V30. But a Blues Junior in a 2x12 cab won't weigth 14Kg anymore!
Well my point is : You want an affordable, portable amp with great clean and growl tube tone, the Blues Junior stock fills the bill perfectly. And 15 tube watts is plenty loud to make the dog howl along with the neabours and their neabours, but also to play live with a drummer and a couple of horns (they can generate noise too!)

Try to touch the cab while playing, even at medium volume the whole cab vibrates heavily. I would give a push on the tubes frome time to time to make sure they stay in their sockets

Late 1990's Fender Blues Deluxe, 12" speaker, 15 watts. EL-84's. One channel amp with master volume. Footswitch for fat selection (whatever that is). No external speaker jack.

I use a modded 1950s reissue Stratocaster & 1970 Gibson ES-335TD. I bought this amp from a friend five years ago as a practice amp & portable one for jams/open mikes. I primarily play blues, so the 15 watt suited my style. Is a loud combo for sitting in at jam sessions, etc. Never used it in a band situation so not familiar with that.
Originally, I liked the tone when I first heard it. However, something seemed to be missing after I bought it. I've read some reviews that it seemed to be "boxey" and I concur. The reverb seems weak compared to a Hot Rod or blues deluxe. The tone seems to be more of a bassy/midrange type tone. There isn't a lot of distortion. I like to have an amp to carry around and not use effects pedals, etc. When I turn up the drive for a distorted sound, it comes out sounding like a weakly executed fart. So, I've settled to using a tube screamer for more of a dirty sound. Still sounds midrangey, even with the tone on the Tube Screamer all the way up.

In the five years that I've owned & used it, I've never had a functional problem or had it break down on me.

Never used

I've been playing for 19+ years. I've owned a Music Man 210/65, a silverface Fender Pro Reverb & Super Reverb and the Blues Jr. If it were stolen or lost, I would not buy another. I've heard other LE-84 amps (Peavey Classic 30 & Delta Blues) that blow the Blues Jr. out of the water. I'm looking to buy a used Hot Rod or Blues Deluxe, since I'm looking for a more portable amp. For me, the Blues Jr. just doesn't cut it. It might work for some people & that's fine. Maybe I like the tone of 6L6's better than EL-84s.

see below

YOU HAVE GOT TO CHECK IT OUT FOR YOURSELF. SEE IF IT FITS YOUR STYLE AND YOUR EXPECTATIONS!

to me, this is a great amp of great value. dont expect "boutique" for 300 bucks! remember, what many wise guys have written about this amp: speaker and valve change do not make miracles! the improvements are subtle.
i have made mods myself, making the amp sound better TO ME. i got a little tighter bass, which made me feel more comfy playing it. if you?re after the bigger better deal, go for it. Otherwise: STOP WHINING!

been playing for 15 years.
this amp is practical for gigging, sounds good, looks good, costs nothing. a no-brainer.

i hope you try it before you buy it. don?t believe me or anybody. you must see for yourself.

First of all I like to thank all who take up the trouble to write a review for their BJ. I read most of the reviews before I tested one of these beautifull small amps in pratice, which is very helpfull because in a certain extend you know what your are getting.

I am writing this review for people, who like me, were very excited about this amp by reading all the reviews. If you are interested in this amp, do yourself a favour, read a good part of the reviews and test this baby against your ears!! They will judge the BJ for you and not the ratings in the reviews.

You know the features by now, I will try to give a honest rating based on what the features of a small single channel tube amp should be:

The size and weight are a definte plus, although the small size comes with a disadvantage (more on that later)
Controls on top and up side down, not good, this could have been fixed with the later models, but somehow Fender refuses to take this remark serious. IMHO controls should be on the front for easy tweaking during playing standing (amp on a stand).
Input, there are humbucker guitars and single coils guitars, each having their own characterics. There should either be 2 inputs or only one but with a bright shift function.
Fat switch (foot switchable), this is a very helpful feature (on paper) for a single channell approach. Boogie style of channeling the signal through an extra gain stage when the fat switch is active. I like this since I am a guitar to amp kind of guy and the effects via the loop.
Master volume is a must-be for tube amp of today, so good. This one works fine. Master all the way up and controlling the volume with Volume (which is actually a gain controll) works fine with the BJ. Delivers a nice blues growl, but this approach is way to loud to use at home.
15W ? I can not understand people complaing about its power, these are 15 very, very load watts. The Eminence speaker is quite good in delivering the loudness of the amp. Would be more than enough for most your playing situations, even in small clubs, where I don?t see the need to mic it.
Reverb ? positive is that it has a reverb and seems to work o.k. for me since I like only a bit of reverb to my sound. It is however not a tube driven one and once you are used to the sound of tube driven reverbs, you know what I am talking about. This reverb sounds O.K. but cold to my ears. Don?t expect here reverbs like the ones on Twins or Deluxes.
I am not missing speaker outputs, head phones, etc. but a effects loop would be welcomed to hook up a good reverb or analog delay pedal.
Construction seems quite O.K. The model I tested had a protection for the tubes not to fall out. Since it was a used model I don?t know if that is original.

I will give it an 7. If it had an effect loop, a dual input and tube reverb, it would be a 10 for a single channel according to my feature wish list.

Now where it is all about.
I don?t buy new amps, but always search for a reasonable priced used tubes amps. The BJ came across and the on I played was from 2001. 100% original according to the seller. Tubes were Sovteks and were never replaced. For testing I used my main guitar, which is a tele with Seymour Duncan Alnico?s (nice vintage tone by the way). My main amp is a upgraded JCM800 1x12 combo (2 ch + rev) and I was looking for a small portabale tube amp for practice at home and to have a better/other clean sound next to the Marshall roar for my band. I will not compare the Marshall overdrive sound with the BJ?s because that was not the goal, mainly played clean and slight overdriven/break up . I played about one half hour through the BJ and after fiddling with controlls all the time I came to the conclusion that the BJ would not be a supplement to my sound. Is it a bad amp? no definetly not, for the price you pay for a used BJ probably very good. But it didn?t move me. For example there is hardly any bass response, which is I think is related to the cabinete construction and the speaker. The reason why people are changing the speaker is to have a speaker which is more capable to produce a bassier sound. The stock speaker is, to describe it in my words, too mid ranged and boxy. This and my tele and you know the sound I am talking about. The mid controll doesn?t help much to change this. I asked the seller to adjust the controlls to his favourite settings and as I was surprised to see that the mid controll was on 0. The clean channel was O.K. but not better than my JCM800, which was in the end the main reason I decided not to purchase this amp. I expected that a Fender clean would be better than that of Marshall, again it is probably caused by the cabinete size and speaker. The JCM800 is upgraded with an EV speaker and has a very good bass response, which has improved the OD channel sound, but it?s clean channel is compared to the BJ also surprisingly good.
For some reason the Fat switch didn?t work as I expected. This is probably a matter of taste, but gain/mid boost is only little and I noticed that I kept it on all the time in order to have the better blues orientated sounds.
I will not rate it. My reason of review is that I hope you remember my comments when playing one.

If you, like me, are/were excited about the BJ based on all the review below, just do yourself a favour and read the not so positive reviews once more before you test the BJ. There is a reason why many people have decided to change the speaker and tubes. Then skipp the reviews from people of which the BJ was their first tube amp, sure this is good amp against transistor amps. But the bottom line is that the amp is quite good but didn?t cut it for me. My search will continue, because that is what we will always be doing, trying to find your ultimate tone. In the near future I will compare the BJ against the new Koch Studiotone, of which I have heard a lot of positive reactions, is price and feature wise a complete other story, but having the same cabinete size and output.
I?ve been playing on and off for about 20 years, because work didn?t allow it. Have picked the guitar up about three years ago and am now playing in a rehearsal-only band. Gear consists of the aformentioned tele and JCM 800. Other guitars worth mentioning are a Wolfgang and a Charvel strat.

I purchased this amp used from a harmony-central ad. It was (I just traded it...see below) a tweed, late 90's made in USA, green board revision B model. Usual features. Had the gold label eminence designed by fender speaker.

This amp was really nice. I went through about 7 or 8 amps over the past 3 years:

Tech21 Trademark 10 (excellent amp for what it is - non-tube)

Music Man RD112 (best clean tone I've ever heard, but the transistor-based preamp made it so you couldn't use an overdrive pedal into it, and the "limiter" mode (overdrive) sounded horrible).

Fender Blues Junior cream board/new one - picked this up as a "rental" from guitar center for a band practice. Sounded *terrible* - ice-pick city. I would never buy a new fender blues junior after hearing that one.

Traynor YGM3 Guitar Mate Reverb - excellent amp but way too loud, closed-back, and way too heavy.

Mesa F30 - awesome heavy distortion, sterile cleans.

Mesa DC2 - sterile cleans, sterile distortions, useless overdrive. Terrible amp.

POD 1.0 - terrible and useless

Behriner Vamp2 - excellent for the price, particularly for recording to PC.

As for the tweed blues junior - it had great tone that went from fairly clean to slightly overdriven. Awesome for blues. Too much gain for jazz except for very low-volume situations (no drummer). Plenty loud. Somewhat boxy sounding, and the Billm mod does help with that, but the tone suffered so it wasn't worth keeping. The stock speaker sounded good to me. My blues junior went through tubes pretty quickly. They got *real* hot. Also, the reverb, although a short-tank, was surprisingly not bad. I demand a good reverb and I was concerned when picking this amp up that the reverb would be really useless, but it turned out to be pretty good. Not great, but fine. Much better than the Mesa I had before this amp. Problem though is, and it's a problem with most blues juniors - the reverb is way HISSY - very noisy, and it is bothersome in a practice/low volume situation. For what it is, this amp is excellent. If you want a blues amp, this is the amp for you. I only tried one effects pedal/unit through this amp in the time I had it - a Behringer Vamp2. At low volumes it sounded very good through the Blues Jr. I did not try it in a band/loud situation so I can't comment on whether the Blues Jr is versatile (so long as you have effects to use with it). I suspect that this older tweed green board model would have sounded great with some good pedals. The newer version blues junior I can confirm sounds like garbage both with and without effects (at least the 3 I've tried both in stores and the one I bought and then took back the next day). I give it a 9 instead of a 10 because this amp doesn't like high-output pickups (active EMG's) and the reverb noise is terrible.

I had some problems with mine but they were fixed. Tubes got noisy in mine fairly quickly (3 months of 2 - 3 hours a day usage).

never bothered.

I bought this because I wanted a practice amp and I found this one for sale for the excellent price of $200 via a harmony-central ad. I enjoyed the amp very much. I did use it for a high-volume audition and it cut through easily volume-wise, but it was a little boxy sounding. But I think with some tweaking it would work live easily and sound great. I highly recommend the green board blues junior. The cream board ones are garbage to my ears. Just my opinion. I know that most online reviews/websites seem to like the newer version better, but to me they sound like ice-pick city. If you like the fender sound, and you want a blues amp for relatively cheap, this is it. That said, even though I got lucky and found this one for $200 - most folks pay much more for the tweed ones since they are no longer made. In fact, I traded mine for an amp that goes for about $450 used, otherwise I would have kept the blues jr. I'm glad I bought it, and like the old MusicMan amp, I have a feeling that I may regret selling it. I've not regretted selling any of the other amps (including the more expensive Mesa stuff) that I've owned.

I think the BJ?s features have been described and discussed at length in this section. It?s a compact one channel all tube combo with 15 watts, a three way tone control, spring reverb, and a so-called ?Fat Switch? which basically pushes he volume by some degrees and thickens the sound. I originally bought mine to practice and do gigs in smaller venues because my Mesa/Boogie Mark IIB needs way to much volume to provide its then excellent sound. Furthermore, the Boogie definitely did no good to my 38-year-old back. So finally i decided to travel light.

To me the sound of the BJ as it came from the shelf was quite OK. Nice clean sound, nice overdrive both of which could use a little more bottom. As it?s a very small amp it tends to sound a little ?boxy? and the reverb is if not lousy so at least under the Fender average. You may have read a thousand comments on how to mod the BJ in order to give it more headroom, more bottom etc. I am sceptical if this really pays off. In my humble opinion, the improvements you will reach by replacing the original speaker by a Jensen or Greenback or even fool around with the electronics shouldn?t be overrated but considered as the kind of improvement you yourself might notice, but neither will your bandmates nor will your audience. If you really want to push the BJ?s sound you might better buy an external speaker cabinet for your gigs and live with the more than reasonable sound of the internal speaker for practice, jams etc. With my BJ, I changed the original tubes to JJ?s fort he power amp and JJ?s and GE in the preamp section. The GE was intended to give me the possibility of a reasonably loud clean sound ? which it did perfectly. All in all I?d say it sounds better with the new tubes, but it?s only a subtle effect.
I have been playing Guitar for 22 years now and use the amp with a Cry Baby Wah, a Mesa/Boogie V-Twin and Maxon Overdrive Pro for distortion, an old Boss Stereo Chorus and a small Boss Delay. Guitars I use mostly are a PRS Standard from the early nineties and an ancient Japanese no-name Strat with a neck on-through and Duesenberg P90s. I play Rock, Funk and Soul covers from AC/DC and Led Zeppelin to Doobie Bros. and The Commodores, and the BJ does a fine job with all of that. While it?s no exactly a metal machine (huge surprise, isn?t it?) it works well for all that Top 40 stuff and excellent when it comes to Blues Rock and ist affiliates. Nice little amp, far from being boutique, but nice ? haven?t used my Boogie for more than two years now.

No problems so far. The power tubes get pretty hot and have to be changed a little to often (approximately between 400-500 hours))

As I said before, to me the BJs a very nice little amp, far from being boutique but doing a good job. I picked it over Ampeg, Peavey and Engl amps with similar features. Only thing that bugs me ist that Fender did not provide a plug-in for an external speaker and a reasonable reverb.

I give the features a 9. Not because it has a lot of knobs and buttons, but because for me, it has almost everything i want. the fat switch makes the amp. all the fat switch does is boost your mids, and i love. its a single channel amp, so the tone sounds so pure. i've read a lot of people wanting a second channel. that's ridiculous. if you want two channels, get the hot rod deluxe. but be warned, the hot rod deluxe doesnt sound nearly as good. i owned both. i know. not even the same league.

i knocked a point just because the speaker output jack. i dont like how it is mandatory to bypass the internal speaker if i want to use an extention cab. also, i believe its only 4 ohms. I'd like a 4 and 8 ohm option. Fender, you're dirty people for doing that.

i'm not that hard to please with sound. i like a lot of mids and a fair share of overdrive. with this amp's mids maxed out, the fat switch on, and the preamp volume up, it sounds killer. i've spent upwords of nearly $2000 on single amplifiers, but was never satisfied until i got this thing. I'm not saying that this amp is for everyone, because it certainly isnt. but it IS for me.

i've read about changing the tubes. i will when one blows. i'm a gigging musician. that means i dont have money. i've had this thing for a couple years and the tubes are still going and i'm in no hurry. i'll also ditch the stock speaker when i feel the need to get an extension cab. again, i'm in no hurry.

i dont use clean tones. never been a huge fan of clean tones. if i want my guitar clean, i'll pickup one of my acoustics. to me, clean tones are like an orange car. orange cars are cool, but i dont want one, ya know? i always keep this as dirty as it gets, which isnt very dirty, its just right for me. if i use my les paul, i get a nice crunch and a lot of sustain. very ballsy tone. if i use my 335, its very similar but a bit smoother with a little less balls, but a little less compressed. the tele really brightens up this amp (as you can imagine).

my music is inspired by a lot of british bands and my tone somewhat reflects that. not as high and chimey, but you can tell the influence is there.

i thought about saving for a Koch or a Budda or a Vox AC30. Then I realized that I'm friggin' poor and wouldnt be able to get one for awhile and since i love my blues jr, why fix what aint broken?

gigged with it. practice with it. run vocals through it sometimes. run a synth through it sometimes too. never a problem.

i've dealt with fender a few times. sometimes theyre great. sometimes theyre not so great.

i bought this thing back before the price of steel skyrocketed, so it was a bit cheaper. within a month, the local shop is having a huge sale and a blues junior will cost me $342 (before tax) and i'm gonna pickup another for backup and/or running two on stage at the same time (expecting bigger gigs). Also, i think it might sound really good to have one really dirty and one kinda clean with some breakage. like i said, i love this amp. owned boutiques and other high end amps and this one really got to me. i'm not trying to say that this amp is the greatest ever. i'm just saying that its my favorite. it does what i need it to do. which is: 1) Not be heavy 2) Sound good 3) Leave me enough money in my wallet so I can get a McChicken on the way home.

The single channel architecture is the limiting factor.

I play old rock and blues. I picked this amp over the 30 watt Peavey because another guy in the band has a Peavey and I wanted my own sound. I think the sound is a little darker than the Peavey. She's moderately noisey when the preamp gain is high but I usually run it set around 9-10, (goes to 12). It makes a very good clean sound and has a nice creamy sustain when over-driven with plenty of detail. You can get little crunch on the bottom end with the FAT switch on. I play standard Strat most of the time and a Washburn HB35, (copy of Gibson 335). The humbuckers on the Washburn have a lot more gain than the pickups in the Strat and have a way of making this amp talk. I use an equalizer to boost the Strat to get a decent sounding overdrive. I don't like the reverb. My ears hear a clanking noise on the attack that sounds like two Coke bottles crashing together when it's turned up above 2. Nobody else seems to hear it. I think it's plenty loud and when I'm on stage I point it toward me and put a mike in front of it and run it through the PA.

I've never had a problem with it. I bought a full complement of backup tubes just in case and haven't used one yet.

Don't know.

I've been playing, (poorly), for 35 years. I use a DanElectro equalizer, (which crapped out), a Russian Big Muff Pi for higher levels of distortion, a Super Chorus and in-line tuner on my pedal board. I would buy another one if I lost this amp. The amp I used previously is a solid-state 80 Watt Crate. The BJ has it all over my old Crate as far as sound. I wish it had two foot-switchable channels, (one with a little more over-drive), and a nicer sounding reverb. For the money I think it's a good value.

So I just scored this new Blond Blues Junior for $399. It sounded okay, but I thought I could get it to sound better by doing some mods on it, as most people on this site have said.

First thing I did is replace the horrible stock Eminence speaker with a Celestion Alinco Blue for $310. Wow, what an improvement. But I still think it could have sounded better, and a lot of people here said to replace the tubes.

So then I bought a complete set of NOS Mullards (3 12AX7s and 2 6BQ5s) for around $300. It put them in the amp and I couldn't believe how good this thing sounded.

Then someone told me that you could improve the tone by putting in a genuine 5Y tube rectifier in this thing. (Nothing like adding some loose-fart tones to this amp). So I bought a quality tube rectifier for another $150. Wow, the sound's really turned to mush since I ditched that lame tranny rectifier. Awesome.

But then I started to think that the stock reverb unit sounded lame. So I bought a full sized spring unit for $100. It doesn't fit in the cab, so it's currently outside, but now it sounds AWESOME!

So I decided to have someone build me a solid birch ply cab for another $200. I couldn't figure out how to transfer the amp chassis to it, though, so I paid the carpenter another $100 labor to put it in the new cab.

Oh my GOD! This freakin' thing now sounds AMAZING.

Now I have a $399 Fender tube combo that sounds just as good as any new boutique amp on the market..... wait.... uh oh...

woops.... I just spent $1560 for this amp, not including tax!!!!

But it's still the best $1560 "$399 Tube Combo" that money can buy. Don't know what I'm gonna do about the PCB issue, though. hmm...

Last night I saw this awesome guitar player at my local blues club playing though a Blues Junior. He sounded "slammin'." Best tone I've ever heard. When I asked him what mods he'd done to his amp, he told me it was a stock $399 Blues Junior. Then he said something about "talent." "TAL-ENT?," I asked, "which mod is that?" He told me that "talent" wasn't a mod and I should look the word up in the dictionary.

I was gonna look the word up this morning, but I'm too busy modding my new Blues Junior right now.

The only feature I wish it had is a CD input so I can practice along with my Kenny Wayne Shepard CDs. I've never played out, but once I get those burnin' KWS/SRV licks together I may go to my local blues jam to try out my new amp.

For some reason, everytime I play with other musicians, they laugh at me. Not sure why.

When my therapist told me that I'm not really a musician, more like a wannabe amp-tech/internet geek, I threw a fit and ran out of his office. To make myself feel better, I ran home to do some more mods on my new Blues Junior.

In closing, don't overlook this amp. With a few mods and $2,000, you can get it to sound as good as any $2,000 amp on the market.

Now if I can just get the guts to leave my bedroom.....

I bought this amp about two-and-a-half years ago, and it was new at the time so I suppose it must have been made around 2001/2002... Before owning this amp I had a Trace Elliott Trident which is a totally different amp; it had three switchable channels including various other controls (half-power/full-power setting, serial/parallel effect loop), where the BJ has just one channel and no other features except the 'fat' switch. I wanted a portable change from the 40 kg. monster I had. So I went looking and the moment I plugged my telecaster (tele plus) into the BJ I knew that this was it: a beautifully simple smooth sounding bluesy amp. I didn't know that this was what I was looking for until I heard this little amp!!

My guitar is a telecaster plus equipped with a blue lace sensor neck pickup and two red lace sensor pickups at the bridge. The guitars' output is significantly higher than most single-coil pickup setups I know of. The amp does not produce the same clean sounds that I liked on my Trace Elliott. I suppose this is because of my 'hot' pickups. The sounds it does produce are, fortunately, exactly those sounds that I was looking for - so no problems there, merely an adjustment in the range of 'producable' sounds. The BJ is not the most versatile amp around, so its likely you'll either like it or hate it. I bought it because I love it! Having said that, there is room for improvement: the reverb is noisy when turned up beyond three. It is also very sensitive to changes in volume ie. responds differently at varying volumes.
The amp suits my needs perfectly: clean with a bit of an edge, or fuzzy smooth overdrive. No real tight metal or hard-rock gain response from this amp though...

No problems. I play it regularly without any hassle whatsoever.

Never dealt with Fender.

I've been playing electric for about 8 years now. Since owning this amp I sold all my effects pedals (except my vox wah pedal), as it sounded best on its own. I did buy a roger mayer voodoo vibe which I use regularly. This is in my opinion not an amp to use effects with. It's either hate the sound or love it, and play your heart out. That's what it's done for me. It got me focusing on playing guitar instead of worrying about all this gear... ...which is after all what playing an instument is all about - the BJ IS an instrument in itself

I had to write a review to try to dispell the tons of misinformation in some of the reviews of this amp. From reading most of the reviews of the Blues Junior, you get the impression that this is some kind of Holy Grail of small tube combos or else just complete garbage.

First of all, the "JJ Tube/Speaker" swap myth:

I really think that a lot of what gets repeated on this site is because someone writes something and then a whole bunch of other people just copy it without thinking. Yes you will get an improvement in tone if you replace the stock speaker and put in some good tubes. But the improvement will be **subtle** at best. The audience won't notice it and your bandmates might not even notice it. If it makes you feel better, cool. The stock speaker isn't a piece of junk. It's also not the best in the world. It's ADEQUATE for this amp. If you put in another speaker, you might get some tighter bass, more articluation, sweeter mids etc (depending on the model of speaker, duh). Replacing with JJ tubes will also give you a **TAD** more articluation, smoothness and slightly tighter bottom end. Don't believe the hype that buying $60 worth of tubes will turn this thing into "better than a $2,000 boutique amp" or some such nonsense.

It's also funny when someone says: I replaced the lame stock Sovtek tubes with Groove Tubes and now it sounds so much better. The poor soul who did this probably replaced his crappy Sovteks with..... crappy Sovteks. Groove Tubes doesn't manufacture tubes. They take regluar tubes (Sovteks and others) and put their brand name on it and charge more. You'd be better off by buying a matched set of quality tubes with the original brand name from an honest online broker that tests each tube. It will cost less and you will know exactly what you're getting. That said, I don't know why anyone would put NOS Mullards that cost more than twice what this amp costs into a Blues Junior. Just keep the stock tubes until they're finished, and then buy some quality replacement tubes. But don't expect it to turn your amp into anything much different than it already is. Subtle is the key word here, folks. (I seriously doubt a lot of the bedroom players here have the "golden ears" they make themselves out to have, just based on some of the uninformed claims they keep spouting).

Also, don't trust a review by anyone who says: "this amp sucks.... I bought it b/c I play Metallica, Slayer etc... and this thing sounds even lamer than my solid state Crate amp with my Boss Metal Zone." Anyone dumb enough to buy an amp called a "BLUES" Junior and expect it to play the above style of metal deserves whatever he gets.

I think that with this amp, as with everything else, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. IMO, it is worth the money, b/c you will get a good sound out of it stock and you can come by these cheap on ebay. Like I said, if you replace the speakers and tubes, you will get a subtle qualitative improvement. Nothing huge, but it may be worth it. I replaced my stock speaker with a Jensen C12N and some Ei preamp tubes with some JJ power tubes. Yes there is an improvement, but not NEARLY as much as most people are saying on this site. Try to talk to a professional musician who gigs regularly with this amp before you buy it.... and DO NOT trust some of these reviews without a HUGE grain of salt. Not knocking HC. It's not their fault. They specifically state that they don't want any "glowing," unrealistic reviews. It does a disservice to all the people who are putting down their hard earned money to buy this and other amps.

Buy this if you want a decent small tube combo that will give you fat Fender clean tone and throaty overdrive. Simple as that.

2004 model 15W with a 12" speaker. Volume, Master Volume, bass, treble, mid and reverb knobs. Fat switch for boost. That's about it.

Sounds great! I play everything from funk to blues to heavy rock. The cleans are real nice, although there's not a tremendous amount of purely clean headroom. The overdrive is VERY nice...obviously not real high gain (nu-metal players should buy a pedal or a different amp) but a true tube overdrive similar to what you'd get out of a tubescreamer only more natural.
Some have complained that it sounds a little boxy but playing with the EQ knobs I managed to clean that up.
As far as overall volume...this is a LOUD amp. Those who have said it's not loud enough....that's ridiculous...how loud does your band play????
The only possible weak link is the reverb which, while not terrible, is nothing to write home about. Don't set it past about 2 and it will sound ok.

Haven't had any problems but I've only had it for 4 months. I DID recently gig with it without a backup.

Never dealt with them. Hope it stays that way!

For small inexpensive tube amps I'd say this has the most bang for your buck. I've been playing for 18 years and I'm very picky about my tone and my gear, and I love this little amp. I also have a blackface Twin Reverb, and believe it or not I actually left that home and played the Blues Jr. at my last gig.
It was in a decent sized barroom and it was unmiked. I only had the master set at around 6 and the volume set around 8, so there was plenty of power left if I needed it. We're a pretty loud rock band to...
I'm giving this a 9. Will it ever sound as sweet as my blackface...no. But it is what it is and what it is is a very nice little amp.

Adequate. It's the Ford Taurus of the amp world. Never flashy but it will get you there most of the time.

It's an OK amp. I wish I had paid a bit more and gotten that Traynor YCV-20 instead.

I would like to have a better built amp, but this will do for now. For a bit more I could have had a Traynor YCV-20 with a Baltic birch plywood cabinet and Celestion Seventy-80 speaker.

Hasn't broken anything that I couldn't fix in a jiffy.

It is what it is.....an OK amp at an OK price. The problem is that it's so damn mediocre. There is nothing big to fault at the price I paid. It's easy to upgrade with better tubes and speakers, but for the additional price I could have had a Traynor YCV-20 that's better in so many ways. I screwed myself for trying to save a bit over $100. My vote is to pay $100-$300 more and move up to a much better class of amp. A friend of mine got a used Traynor YCV-40 in great shape for the same as I paid for this, and it walks all over this amp in every way. I broke my rule of only buying good used gear. It was a reflex buying decision when I had too much money to spend. Buy it used and don't spend a penny over $300 no matter if it's mint condition.

i play a gibson les paul standard with burstbucker 2 in the bridge and burstbucker 1 in the neck. 70's hard rock i.e. zep,aerosmith,zz top,kiss etc. is the type of music i play. after reading the reviews here at harmony central i was really exited about buying this amp. i usually play through a 1969 marshall plexi 100 watt head with a marshall 4x12 cab with 25 watt greenbacks, no effects just straight into the amp.i was looking for a similiar sound at lower volumes or at least something close. this amp is mediocre sounding at best. the sound is thin and tonally it ain't happenin'. while i am not a real gear freak i know good tone when i hear it and i think some of the people on this site need to have their hearing checked if this is their idea of good tone. needless to say i was very disappointed. what can you expect for 400 bucks. by the way i also own a fender prosonic which kicks ass and i cant believe these amps are made by the same company.

i've been playing for 27 years and if somebody stole this amp i would thank them and ask them to please not bring it back after they heard what it sounds like.

I play everything from Johnny Cash to Jimmy, SRV to Santana,Blue Grass to Blues. Does this ampdo it all? No. Almost though. I use a 69 Epiphone single pickup, and a 72 stock Strat, both bought used. Have too many effects to name. Single Channel with reverb and optional fat switch. This is the second BJ I have had, after an exhaustive search I came back and bought another one. Since most guitarists use effects these days, on board effects on an all tube amp are not needed. Plug in an overdrive, echo, and flange/phase (or whatever) set the reverb at 2.5 and go. In addition with all the custom mods and extension cabs out there you can grow with this amp up or down. Just mike it for most applications. Beyond that get a larger amp! I have been playing for 133 years now (-100) and should know. Also these sound great when you use 2 of them with stereo effects.

If you accept it for what it is and the price, this is a 10. The tonal palate is there to paint on with a solid great sounding base with or without mods. Of course better tubes and speakers will make any amp sound better. Out of the box, plug straight in, (for the investment)this amp nails a great sound.This replaced a modded Fender Bassman head, which was just too loud, set on 3 and everyone hated me.
Sounds best hands down with a Strat, best suited for Blues and Country, although with effects Hendrix covers and SRV are right there too. The BJ fits in with a band very musically, cutting through and blending in rich tones when needed. A lot of that comes from playing skills and not just the amp. Using a stock 72 Strat the BJ can be made to shimmer or distort in a clean or dark mode at low or high volumes, consider it a tonal mixing palate. It took 233 years to figure this out!
I use it with a 2X12 Ext cab, when playing live and set the volume on 7, up against drums, keyboard, bass and vocals have had no problem. It is miced with a SM58 thru a JBL sound system and we have a sound man
(Yea Brad!) which makes a huge difference.

Since it is the nature of man made things to break, I recommend having a backup. Don't forget extra strings, batteries, and a spare tire too!

My local dealer is great, helps out with warranties on items not purchased from him, which in turn sends as much business his way as I can. Perry@Express Music in Seminole Florida.

With 133 years of playing behind me it seems like I am returning to equipment I started with, (stone tablets and chisels)lol! I started with a Sears Silvertone 212 and an Epiphone guitar. I got the guitar for my birthday and my mom thought it plugged into the wall! She keeled over when I told her it needed an amp! So for Christmas I got a crappy (I thought) Sears tube amp. Now that it has been years of trying to get that sound back, the BJ fills a nice spot for me. IMHO.

This is a basic 15 watt eL-84 powered single channel 1x12 combo amp with master volume. All details at Fender.com. The amp is simplicity itself, and it's great for practice and small gigs. I wouldn't add a thing. (Yes, 15 watts is ample for playing with a basic rock band in a live setting. I never have this amp close to cranked live and often have to turn it down.) Master volume is essential to get overdrive tones at a reasonable practice volume. The amp's low weight makes it very portable and practical. There is very little not to like here.

I play in an amateur band, and we cover rock/blues tunes from the 1950s through today. For just about anything you can think of short of metal, this is just a cool little amp. After working my way out of solid state amps and through several other tube amps, I tried playing A/B through a Blues Jr. and a Fender Hot Rod DeVille 4x10. After a while, I found myself coming back and playing through the BJ only, so the DeVille is history. My guitars include a 1989 Fender Strat Plus Deluxe with Blues Van Zandt pickups (excellent!) and a stock 2003 Highway One Strat. I have a pedal board as follows: Boss TU-2 > Fulltone Fulldrive 2 > Barber Direct Drive > Boss MT-2 Metal Zone > Digitech RP-50 > BJ. Also, I run the BJ through an Avatar G212H cabinet loaded with a Celestion Vintage 30 and a Celestion G12H30 (although it sounds very good as a combo as well). This is a great sounding setup. Set at master on 12 and volume on 4 with the fat switch in, I get a great clean rhythm sound -- it lets pure guitar tone come straight through with lots of chime, warmth, and vibe. The sound is very different when set for dirty (volume toward 9-12 and master set for level). You can also get very different sounds when running overdrive/distortion pedals through the amp when set for dirty vs. clean. Use a quality analog overdrive pedal into the BJ with the volume set to 10 and you get a big, thick, classic overdrive sound that is very Marshall-like (especially through a cabinet). Rather than twisting knobs, I am considering A/Bing two blues juniors set for clean and dirty respectively and using my pedals to add on from there -- two great base tones, two independent EQs, two independent amps (built-in backup!). My BJ is a bit noisy, but it isn't a factor at all playing live. I have also put a set of JJ tubes in it. To my ear, it does sound a bit better than the stock set, but it isn't night & day. (I did it more to have a backup set of tubes than anything.)

I've had it for about 16 months and put several hundred hours on it. No problems whatsoever.

No basis for rating.

I've been playing for 17 years. Honestly, this is the amp that got me back on track with electric guitar. It -- along with a stock stratocaster -- really got me in tune for the first time with what good basic electric guitar tone sounds and feels like to play, and it really was a revelation. I had struggled through solid state amps (Fender Ultimate Chorus), digital multi-effects units (Digitech RP-1 & RP-5), high-gain pickups (SD Hotrails), and other tube amps (Carvin Nomad, Fender Blues DeVille, Marshall DSL401, Crate V15), but the first time I played through this amp with a basic strat in a band setting, I was hooked. After all those years and all that stuff, this simple little amp cranks out THE TONE? And you get it for $400? Do yourself a favor and give this one a try.