Fender Pro Junior

Just bought new in box, so probably built in 2003 in Mexico. Features have been covered a few hundreds time below. But one feature that I really like and use with the Pro Junior is that its own speaker is connected into a standard speaker jack. This is very hidden -- you have to turn it upside down in the back. But once you see it, you can easily enough pull it out to plug in another cab. This little feature convinced me this was the was to go, since I just wanted a very clean low-watt 'head' amp to go into my speaker cab for home playing.

I'm only giving this a seven, since the features are so spare. But I really wanted a pure and simple amp.

I only play at home, and this is my clean amp, and should be a really nice complement to my 'dirty' amp - the Zvex Nano Head. (Best amp I've heard for overdriven sounds.)

The cleans sound great. Not as great, IMO, as Deluxe Reverb or the Dr. Z amps I've heard. Probably better than the Peavey Delta Blues I had. The cleans sounds very good with the combo speaker, and great with my 2x12 cab, which has Celestion V30 and G12H30 speakers.

The other thing I'm very pleased with is how the Pro Junior makes my digital MagicStomp modulation settings sound warmer and more musical. I am VERY HAPPY with how my metal monster Warp Factor sounds with this guy!

I imagine I'd like a little more bass thump with the Pro Junior, but I haven't tried using my pedal EQs to compensate yet.

I cranked the Pro Junior into a cab at Guitar Center, and it sounded wonderful, but very loud. Haven't tried that at home yet, gotta' wait till everyone else is out of the house :)

Made in Mexico, huh? So far, nothing feels substandard about it. I haven't heard the bad hiss problems reported elsewhere here. It looks, feels, and sounds solid so far.

Don't know. Hope I don't have to know.

Ideally, I would have preferred the same package with a 6L6 tube. There IS something about Fender cleans that can't be beat for this price range.

My amp is a 1994 Tweed covered PJ bought in Hong Kong with the ceramic speaker. The amp itself has a ply cabinet, single ten inch speaker, two 12AX7 valves, two EL84 valves, volume, tone, solid state rectifier, 8 ohm speaker output, light and a power switch.

The power amp is a class A/B design that kicks out about 15 watts. The preamp has two gain stages using the first 12AX7. The second 12AX7 acts as a phase inverter for the power amp. The circuit itself is a pretty simple design and is very tweed Fender like.

As you can tell this amp has few features to speak of.

I guess that a lot of peoples disappointment with this amp is that it doesn't have a typical Fender clean sound. By that I mean a very clean full blackface sound typical of the 1960s amplifiers. This is down to the circuit and valves. What sound this amp does offer is more of a 1950's Fender sound. The amp isn't super clean at lower gain settings and quickly starts to break up a third of the way up. Past half way and all the tubes are clipping a great deal and it only gets dirtier.

This amp is primarily suited to blues or rock'n'roll. It doesn't have the kind of gain needed for metal and isn't clean enough for Jazz at anything but the lowest volumes.

The sound does have a great deal of dynamic range with very little compression coming from the valves or the speakers. So the dynamics of your picking do vary the volume and break up a lot. It is easy to sound quite brash and sloppy with this amp if you don't have control over your dynamics. Certain notes jump out when other uncleanly picked notes keep quiet. I'm not sure if replacing the solid state rectifier would give the amp some compression and sag as this type of mod isn't easily achieved. Replacing the rectifier with a valve based unit requires replacement of the power transformer.

The small size of this open backed combo directly influences the sound making it boxy in nature. Small combo's just cannot sound big like a large cabinet. There is plenty of power coming from the amp to power a larger set of speakers. I myself am waiting for a Tweed Twin type pine cabinet to hold the power amp, I'll post the difference in tone as and when I can.

The circuit can be quite noisy. Particular problems are with AC hum. Having a decent set of preamp tubes can make some difference. My amp is loaded with Electro Harmonix 12AX7's and JJ EL84's. It is still quite noisey though by modern standards. A newer model PJ I tried out in my local guitar shop had a lower noise level. I suspect that aging capacitors are causing the extra noise in my amp.

In my humble opinion the amp sounds good. It has bags of real power amp distortion on tap if your ears can stand the volume levels. To achieve a nice level of overdrive within an apartment or terraced house you won't make many friends.

The construction isn't the best. Nowadays we have a plethora of well built point to point low watt valve amps to choose from. The PJ is a mass produced amp with PCB electronics. The valves are mounted on a PCB board too.

I have had to re solder the input jack once thanks to a dry joint and today I have experienced a horrid crackling staticy sound when the amp was turned right up. After reseating the power amp valves the problem went.

Doesn't sound too rosey but that's all the problems I have had in ten years of ownership.

No idea

I bought this amp because back in 1994 there just any other small valve amps available. Since then I have grown very found of it but realistically I would not buy one again. I would choose from the numerous small class a boutique amps that exist. This would no doubt cost me much more though than I paid for the PJ.

It's cheap, loud, bluesy and reasnobly reliable. If you have the extra cash buy something better.

This is a bare-bones two-knob (vol, tone) number w/ 2 EL84s (very un-Fender-y) for power. 1 x 10" speaker; printed circuit; light and easy to handle. If you need channel-switching, etc., get osmething else or use effects.

It's a total surprise of an amp -- this thing sounds great! It can be run clean and chime-y or overdriven to an impressive roar. Its performance is in utter contrast to expectations... a true little giant. AS many reviewers have noted, you need to ditch the complete crap tubes that come stock, as they are microphonic, noisy, and harsh, and since the lousy stock speaker (Eminence, I'm told, though I don't know for sure) will blow (literally and figuratively) you should definitely go for one of the vintage reissue Jensen's (bell cover won't fit; leave it off) and the result will be incredible! I have a whole bunch of boutique amps, including Champ-types (Top Hat)and though I am tempted to ditch the Pro-J to show off something spiffier, the little guy just cannot be put down. I have some good tubes in mine -- JJ EL84s (the best new tubes) -- and the sucker rules. At 15 watts, it's surprisingly loud and I've used in in mid-sized venues just fine. Really cuts. And the 10" has surprising bottom -- not tons of bass, but the Jensen does not get floppy (it's tight) and there seems to be plenty of power to drive the low end without letting the treble get shrill. Gotta love the junior. As other have noted, it sounds much better than its tempting "next size up" brethren. Leave your ego aside and let the little guy rock.

Gotta say that the original tubes and speaker suck. My speaker blew early on, despite never being really pushed, and the original tubes were utterly horrible -- sounded bad to begin with, lots of extra noise, etc. I assune Fender just threw in ultra-cheapies, unfortunately detracting from a great amp in order to pinch a few pennies. But heck -- the amp is a bargain, and even with the upgrades it's still a great, great deal. Once the tubes and speaker were swapped, the thing has run perfectly.

Fender? They'll honor their warranty; it's a huge corporation, so your treatment depends on your dealer. I didn't get any of my work done under warranty because I didn't want to replace the blown crap speaker with a new crap speaker.

This amp's a keeper, period. As I say, there's a lot of fancier stuff out there, but this guy's a versatile workhorse. It is a deal and a half. Also, there have been some cute options produced, like my white tolex version, that have visual appeal definitely lacking in the cheap-looking black version or fakey-vionatge tweed, if you can fine 'em.

Tweed blue frame speaker v/t control class A amp no buzzing as in other reviews.

Sounds good with S or H Pickups and has a nice chime in clean 1-5 starts to distort after that.Can use for any style . If it dosn't have enough highs in distort mode use a treble boost.(this is like a small AC30 if you need an edge to your sound a slight boost wiil make a huge difference.) This amp wasn't made for brutal distortion or a ton of bass it's only 1 10" speaker. Sounds great for what it is.

IT's one of the first one made from what I can tell and has the original tubes so it couldn't have been use that much. It works great for me but being that it's Class A it probably burns through power tubes a lot quicker than Class AB amps.(EL84 aren't a big money item)

I've ben playing for 30+ yrs.I've got 3 marshall (69 100 trem 2 77 JMP 50 ) 4 fender ( showmen ,pro ,bassman, princeton reverb) a kittyhawk M5 misc Vox ect. One of the best value I've ever seen even at new prices ,most Class A 15 watt amps will cost you at least twice as much.

1994 Tweed MIA Pro Junior. It came with the brown Eminence speaker. This is a single channel, EL84, 15 Watt amp with just a volume and tone knob. Lots of folks tend to go with the Blues Jr. because all the extra features(MV, reverb), but this is just perfect. There is too much power for a bedroom/apartment amp and more than enough for gigs. The simplicity of this thing is beautiful.
The real reason I picked this up is that I gig often enough in NYC where lugging a big amp around is a problem. The weight and size of this thing is very nice for those of us with bad backs. I can go jam and throw this thing in the car or hop on the bus or subway with no real problems.

First thing I did was get rid of those noisy crap tubes it came with. It hummed and rattled like crazy. Had some balanced JJ EL84s and tried a pair of JJ's ECC83s tubes. Bob at Eurotubes recommended a balanced tube for the phase inverter slot. These knocked away the hum and some of the rattle. Took it apart and hand tightened every screw and it help quite a bit. Eventually I put an NOS tube in the V! slot and it absolutely crushes.
The Eminince speaker was not bad, but I felt like it got a little flakey at higher volumes. I found a Weber 10A125 for a song on ebay, took off the magnet cover in order to make it fit and have never looked back. I found the ten inch speaker,in general, a little boxy initially, but my ears adjusted to it and I found it to sound quite nice with my Holy Grail in front of it.
I basically play rock, roots rock in the style of Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt, Wilco and fool around with jazz from time to time. My main guitars are a 2000 G&L ASAT Special, an Ibanez AS180, and a 1991 MIM Strat. I usually run a fair amount of effects through my amps, but I've just been running a London Fuzz (Ge) and Holy Grail. I can coasx any type of rock sound I need out of this. At about halfway on both the volume and tone, this thing is too loud for my house. I can get Neil Young craziness out of it.
Here's the kicker. Try this thing through an extension cab. I have a 2x12 loaded with Reverend Alltones and its unbelieveable how loud it feels. I have used this for small clubs and will use it again. It will cut....just need to raise it off the ground.

The guitar input has been a little dodgey, but its given me no major problems. I've used it without a backup live and haven't had a problem. I will probably do so in the future for more NYC gigs.

I bought this used and wouldn't contact them anyway.

Been playing about 20 years. I've owned a fair amount of amps in my life. Basically, I got rid of a RI AC15 and replaced it with this. Frankly, I like this better. Shoot me. My other amp is a Reverend Hellhound 40/60 cmbo and I am getting a SF Deluxe Reverb.
If you are looking for a small portable affordable tube amp, give this amp a shot. The Blues Jr. is a nice amp and there are a ton of mods available for that, but with the PJ, just change the stock tubes and you have a very good sounding amp.

The Pro Junior is a very simple valve amplifier ala Fender vintage Tweed Champs. I purcharsed it exactly one month ago and it was made in Mexico eariler this year (2004).

Very basic layout - single channel 1x10" combo with tone and volume controls. Features 2 EL-84 and 2 12AX7 valves, line out (just unplug the speaker in the combo's cabinet), vintage cabinet / interface design.

I appreciate the simplicity of this amp - that's its beauty! Raw, powerful, beautiful tone. However, an effects loop would have been nice for time and modulation effects. I like to use reverb and octave pedals and while they sound good through the input, I know from my other, effects loop-equipped Fender amp (1987 Fender Deluxe 85 solid state) that they sound better through the loop.

Amp has plenty of power - clean tones don't require as much volume as overdriven tones to cut through. This amp really shines with clean tones, but the overdriven tones are brilliant. Just turn it up (like my old Squier Champ 15G dodgy practice amp!!! Not a flattering comparison, I know... I was merely referring to the controls, not the tonal quality...). Ahh... simplicity!!!

I play a variety of music - grunge and stoner rock, blues, classic rock, some fusion and some 80s metal. I use two Strats - one is a 2003 American Standard Strat and the other is a Squier Strat that I have rewired with custom pickup switching and tone controls (see Fender's Mr. Gearhead website for some great schematics on how to trick up your Strat - but don't wreck your 'Number One' guitar!!!).

I thought I had a pretty good tone with my old Deluxe 85. My friends loved it and are now clamouring to get a hold of it - no way! The Pro Junior does the clean thing just as well, but differently. Whereas the 85 has a very modern, but toneful sound, the Pro Junior sounds like a little Bassman or Vibroverb... has that lovely warm Fender valve amp tone.

Overdriven, the amp is brilliant - SRV, AC/DC, Zeppelin, Hendrix (with FZ-3 and wah) like tones are accessible depending on how you use the tone and volume controls on the amp and the tone and volume controls on your guitar. It's a marked change from the Deluxe 85 - it has so many knobs... but most setting are useles and only one or two are good. Fender seems to have captured the one or two good ones in this amp and so the lack of knobs is not really a pitfall at all, but a blessing! The two advantages the Deluxe 85 has over the Pro Junior are that it offers far more gain (well, it was made in the 80s) and so for tapping and legato licks it's great; the other advantage being the effects loop (see above).

Some have complained that the Pro Junior hasn't a reverb unit. Buy the Blues Junior if you want that - I tried the Blues and didn't like it. The reverb was nowhere near as natural or lush as my Deluxe 85's. I plan to get myself an RV-5 or Holy Grail.

Seems dependable. I bought it in a city 1820km from my remote location and it survived the air trip (packed effectively within a tough case and in the fragile compartment of the aircraft). One valve had half-worked it's way out of the socket, but it just pushed it back in.

Fender dealers have been great with support in the past for my two other amps and three guitars so I can't imagine that will change anytime soon.

Fender has authorised dealers everywhere in Queensland except my town. No problems, however - I know that when I go into the city I can always take my gear into the guitar store I frequent and know that Rob, the manager / technician will either be able to fix it himself or know someone adequately qualified to do the job.

I have been playing for 9 years now. I own three amplifiers and three guitars - my pride and joy being my American Standard Strat with my Pro Junior. Effects-wise, I use mainly Boss pedals - FZ-3, NS-2, OC-2, MT-2 (although the MT rarely gets used these days). I also have a Crybaby wah and plan shortly to buy an EHX Holy Grail reverb or Boss RV-5.

If my amp got stolen I'd be shattered and would seek vengeance if / when I found out who stole it. I would purchase this amp if I had my time again. It's a lovely sounding amp at a reasonable price.

Extremely simple (on the surface): one knob for tone, one knob for volume...there are Boss pedals that have more knobs than this amp! It is still very versatile, because of 2 factors that really determine your tone: 1) hand attack/dynamics, and 2)the type of electric guitar you are using. The little amp just growls, too...really lush tube tone for a little amp. If you want clarity at a high volume, do not get this amp. If you want super-saturation at high volumes, play a humbucker through this amp at a high volume. A single-coil guitar at high volume, yields a nice blustery blues tone that still defines high-end chords well, like an E9, for instance...

II have played a Tele, Les Paul, and Danelectro through this amp with assorted pedals. Great rock and roll and blues sounds. from "0" to about the half-way point of volume, good country and jazz tone is available, as well. Also, the speaker jack is removable, making this a great talkbox amp. I sometimes drive a 1X12" speaker cabinet, and that is where this amp REALLY shines, when it drives something larger...more clean headroom. Great for the studio and small gigs!

I have taken my PJ to a wide variety of situations, and the little thing is strong, yet easy to cart around.

no dealings

I the need arose, I would certainly replace it. For my needs, this amp rules!

Limited features, but thats just what I like. Volume and tone knob. Simple and perfect!

Beautiful clean, beautiful with pedals. Just a wonderful tone from this little amp.

This is my 3rd PJ in 1 month. I took all back because of the very loud hum. They switched out the pre amp tubes and boom...the hum was gone. The pre amp stock tubes are worthless. Change them out with Electro Harmonix and it is so quiet.

Just change out the pre amp tubes and you will have a little tone monster on your hands. I love this little amp!

Just simply a volume and tone control. I love those features! Me, being an obsessive compulsive, can't stand amps with lots of knobs. That leaves me constantly tweaking this and that. I love the simplicity of this amp. A single 10" Eminence speaker and single input jack. No line out or reverb, which is fine by me. Very light-weight and portable due to its size. Like the champs of old. Rating the features here is purely subjective to user tastes, but I will give it high marks because the simplicity is what I really love about this amp. And 10 being very versitile because it's clean first and there's no annoying high-gain you have to deal with like on other smaller combo amps.....

The sound is what I love about this amp. I know I said I love the portablility too, but when compaired to the bigger Blues Jr. (which is also a great amp) I prefer the sound of the Pro Jr. I've always wanted one of these amps ever since my Uncle had one several years ago. Why I fought off getting one in favor of something else, I'll never know. However, after finally coming to my senses and trying to clean up a Crate amp with lower output tubes, I just decided to say "the hell with it" and sold the crate and bought the pro. I truly love the sound of this amp. I also have an admiration of Weber speakers and while the stock Eminence speaker sounds good, I replaced it with a Weber Alnico. With this amps propensity to break up at half-way, I knew the Alnico would only add to the great tones of this amp. Could I get an even better sound re-tubing it? Well, maybe, but I love the sound as it is now. For low volume grit, I bought a Guyatone OD-2 and couldn't be happier. I now have the ultimate low-volume amp for me. For gigs and more punch, I have a Twin with it's own aresenal of pedals that can handle any volume I desire. The only problem with that dude is it's heavy and hard to get in and out of a car. Now I can tug along my Pro. for easy jamming at a buddies house without worry of a failing back being re-aggrivated by my sonic giant in my music room. I also have a Vibrolux on the way for situations that involve more power than the Pro Jr. but less power and more portability than the Twin. As you can see, I'm a bit of a Fender amp fan, but after having many different brands, I've always been unsatisfied with the other amps clean channels. I've found going clean first and then adding different pedals makes more sense to me. Not for everyone, but to my ear I am happy.

The Pro Jr. is a great sounding amp. I don't experience that buzz others talk about. Perhaps they fixed the problem. With the stock tubes and speaker, you can rest assured this amp sounds great. With the alnico, I get a bit more of the tweedish nature of these amps in full form. With it's ability to break up early, the speaker adds a more touch-sensitive dimension to my playing. My teles, SG, Semi-hollow and strats love this amp. And as I mentioned above, I could care less about not having reverb. On most smaller amps I've owned, the stupid reverb didn't work anyway. On top of that, I never used it much. The pure tone from this amp sounds too good to ruin it with annoying chimey echo. In addition, the surf is not up in Nashville. I don't use the reverb much on my Twin either. I'd rather run a subtle delay instead.

I can't express how happy I am with the sound of the Pro Jr.

Seems reliable enough. It's not an expensive amp, and it's made in Mexico, but from my understanding, the Mexican made stuff is fairly decent these days. Fender finally figured out how to get a bunch of mexicans to show up for work by buying them all alarm clocks, so that would explain the consistency. A simple circuit board layout and not much else to it leads me to believe as long as I don't abuse this amp, it should last for as long as I want to keep it.

Never really had to use Fender support. I've heard complaints, but until they do me wrong, I won't complain. I won't make false claims either, so for now, it's a no opinion.

I sounded off in the sound rating category. I will reiterate this is a fine sounding small amp. For low volume level playing, this amp produces a lovely warm clean tone. Stock speakers, tubes and all. I do kind of wish the housing was a bit bigger to allow the natural warmth of this amp to resonate even more, but it's not a big complaint. I also had to remove the magnet cover of the alnico speaker just so it would barely fit. But it fits now and all is well. For higher volume, you will get a natural tube distortion that really sounds great. I find this amp to break up a bit earlier than the Blues Jr. despite it's identical output rating of 15 watts. But, the circuitry is different, and the smaller speaker probably has a lot to do with that being the culprit to its early break-up. Again, that's fine with me. I really no longer care for master volume amps. No, I'm not a vintage purist. I just hate having to fool with extra knobs. In addition, I've never had a master volume amp I've been completely happy with. I've had a couple of Rivera's that were nice, but their cleans still didn't meet the cleans of my Fenders.

The Pro. is a versatile, portable and great sounding amplifier that anyone can be happy with. If you like lots of gain, then the Peavy Classics and the Crate Vintage Clubs are not bad choices. If you need lots of headroom, then I wouldn't be looking at a low wattage amp in the first place. If you need portability, enough volume to do small sized gigs and a quick practice amp, the Pro is a great choice. The Blues Jr. is a bit more versatile and offers reverb and more headroom, but to my ears, I prefer the sound of the Pro Jr.

You'll also notice while these now sell for close to $300.00, they hold their value fairly well. You will see them on ebay for around $210-$250.00 which is pretty cool. If you look at the Peaveys and Crates, you will automatically seem them selling used for $200.00 less then they were purchased new for. Even the Blues Jr. doesn't seem to hold it's value quite as well.

1 jack, 2 knobs. This amp is better for not being infinitely configurable - it is what it is and does what it is meant to do, well.

I use this amp with a Schecter c1+ and a Line6 variax. It sounds good with everything except for the acoustic models on the variax - even the sitar sounds good. Note - this is a small tube amp, and it is all about power tube overdrive at volumes that do not violate city noise ordinances. You don't need a pedal - the tone starts straight up on both knobs and goes from there. And the tone is nice indeed. There is no bottom, so you won't get grungy nu-metal, but you do get amazing lead tone. This is a good thing in a traditional blues rock combo, as the parts of the frequency band that get amplified are in exactly the right place and you cut through a lot better than you think you would. The amp colors, but leaves the essence of your guitar behind. I generally use the guitar models on the Variax and the pickup switch on the schecter to get different sounds. Overdrive is, as you would expect, extremely dynamic and responsive to pick attack and the guitar's volume knob.

I am on my fourth Pro Junior. Number 1 buzzed sometimes. I eventually sold it because I thought I needed a bigger amp. Number two was horrid - it buzzed and hissed all of the time. Since I bought it new, I returned it to the store for warranty service, which took nearly two months. The tech never got it fixed, and obviously doesn't read this list. The third one was a loaner from the store, and sucked - it produced about 1/2 the volume of most juniors I've played and sounded flangy/out of phase-y. The fourth one was the new one fender shipped after utterly failing to fix number 2. It is perfect in every way - no hiss, no buzz, awesome tone and has been a consistent, durable amp that gets played out 2-3 times a week without incident for the past 6 months, give or take.

Fender warranty service is a black hole. The amp goes in, but no information about repair status comes out without considerable prodding and cajoling. The shop that did the service work apparently doesn't stock the basics, like caps and tubes. Every diagnostic step had a 3-5 day wait whilst parts were shipped from somewhere in the Fender universe to the dealer. Frustrating.

a bargain for the price. If its not loud enough, get another. I'd really like to have a second one to mod with a 2x12 celestion vintage 30 loaded cab, or just to play in series with number 4, but I'm not sure I'm up to the struggle involved in getting a good one. If it was stolen, I'd shop, but I'd probably end up buying another. Nothing close to the price does what this does as well as this does it.