Fender Pro Junior

Reviewing a 2003 (revision D) Fender Pro Junior. This amp has a single input, one volume and one tone control. These are the only features a blues player should ever need. The simplicity of this circuit is what makes it sound so good. The only faceplate omission is a second input which is useful for running simultaneous amps. Some people have been referring to this amp as Class A. It is Class AB in reality and therefore requires matched tubes.

I use strats and teles loaded with single coils. These are the only guitars/pick-ups I am familiar with and cannot comment on how this amp sounds with Les Pauls, Humbuckers, etc.....
This amp has a great sound for the price. No question. Resembles the tweed era Fender sound (as does the design). Given the market which Fender was targeting on this model, there are some very cheap components and design short-cuts. Most of these can be remedied within a $100 price range. The tubes are not high quality and will almost certainly rattle. I experienced this with both of my Pro Jrs and a Blues Jr. I used to own (reverb ruins tone). Also the speaker is cheap (what do you expect for $300). I installed a 10" alnico Jensen from my '66 Super Reverb and it sounds like a true tweed. The omission of a stand-by switch is a valid complaint. All tube amps should have a stand-by mode for longer tube life and Fender knows better.

In reference to the component quality mentioned above, there are some cheap factors here. The controls are ciruit board mounted and are easily broken. I broke both of mine four days after purchase (guess I'm too used to rock solid vintage gear). There isn't much room inside to change the pots, but I think some of the smaller diameter 'real' pots will fit. Also the tube sockets are ciruit board mounted and, as with any ciruit board amp, a hard knock can crack the board.

Haven't dealt with Fender. Have always owned vintage gear.

For the price this amp can't be beat. I, for one, appreciate the fact that Fender is the only company making a no-feature tube amp in this price range. It is not a versitle amp. Anyone who buys this amp should be interested in tweed-era tones of tube distortion and saturation. Also, don't buy this amp if you are a reverb junkie. I used to be, until I discovered how much better my tone is without reverb or tremolo in the ciruit. My playing was also greatly improved once I ditched the reverb crutch. If you like SRV or Danny Gatton remember that they had all of the reverb physically disconnected on thier amps. You don't need to sound like you're in Carnegie Hall to sound good.

Mine is a 2002 made in Mexico Pro Jr fitted with 12AU7 tubes. The output tubes are stock.
Simplicity? Well, a single input, a single volume knob and a single tone knob makes for simplicity. Yet it doesn?t come anywhere near the simplicity OR the tone of my DIY 5F1 Champ, which is an absolute wonder of simplicity. I always turn the tone down to 0 which, I reckon, means the tone circuit is not engaged at all. So what little features the amp has don?t do me no good and I could just as well do without them.

I use it for blues harp with a Green Bullet and an MXR Micro Amp stomp box.
There is a number of mods you can do to the PJ to improve its tone further for harmonica, but all I?ve done so far is the tube swap. Changing the preamp tubes to 12AU7?s improved the harp sound IMMENSELY lowering the overall power and knocking off a lot of excessive treble. I always turn the tone all the way down to 0 and still I would like more lows (or less highs?). I?m curious to hear what the various schematics mods suggested to me by my amp tech can do to the sound.
As you?re probably beginning to understand I?m not overly impressed with the tone. It sounds too clean and lacks the tube amp character that you want when playing blues harp. I have to run the microphone through the MXR Micro Amp stomp box to drive the amp into distortion, but then to avoid feedback I must turn the volume down and any tube amp has to be pushed a little to sing. This should be done not primarily by pushing the input signal but by pushing the tubes. Operating at too low levels the amp just doesn?t get very tubey.

I changed the original plastic input jack to a metal switchcraft jack before even taking the amp from the store. Having changed hundreds of broke down plastic jacks, my amp tech told me he couldn?t understand how Fender could put such a weak input jack onto this otherwise great little amp. Neither can I, though, in retrospect, I?m no longer convinced it is ?a great little amp?, and the cheapo jack isn?t the only thing in need of replacement/improvement here.

The white text and numbers on the panel began peeling off as soon as I started using the amp, and I haven?t even been taking it to gigs yet. This is a relatively cheap amp, but this shouldn?t happen, especially not so short after purchase.

The tube sockets seem a little cheesy too, being soldered right onto the circuit board. Time will tell what they?re up to.

Never dealt with them.
One year warranty.

Being a tube amp it needs a little cranking to begin kicking and since I have not used it out, i.e. have not cranked it yet, I believe and hope that it has not yet revealed it?s true self to me. But it hasn?t by far fulfilled my expectations. All you guys giving the PJ such high rates, what have you done to your amps? Or is it just that the PJ is better suited for guitar than for harp? Lots of sources on the www claim the PJ to be the best option if you?re looking for a good sounding, tube harp amp and don?t want to spend a fortune on a vintage Fender Tweed. The PJ has yet to convince me on that one! A solid state to tube rectifier conversion (as described by Gerald Weber) and some additional circuit surgery might help, but then it is no longer a Pro Jr, is it? I?ll get back here with a new review when I?ve done the modifications. Until then, save your money or get a tweed style amplifier DIY kit instead!

Very simple, tube amp. One input , volume, and tone. 15watts, 10 inch eminance speaker. Might be nice if it had reverb, but that might take away from it's simplicity. Sometimes less Is more! I like classic rock styles, blues, love Neil Young's electric thing. This amp is so cool. It can do the above quite well. Does NY very well with the help of an overdrive/booster , and a reverb peddle.This amp was purchased new. Made Mexico 2005.

I use a mid 80's Japanese strat. Nice axe. Three single coil pickups. Not noiseless. Going straight into this amp, sounds nice . Very nice clean tone with volume under 5. At 5 and beyond it starts to saturate into a nice classic rock/blues tone. Use the guitar volume to control the drive, if you will. Dial up the tone pots on the guitar, and you can get that fender chime. Run the guitar through some kind of overdrive , boost unit and wow this thing sounds fantastic. Don't get me wrong, I love the amp with the guitar plugged straight in, great classic tones and all, but when I'm in the mood, some overdrive/boost works. As far as the hum issue mentioned in previous comments, yes there is a hum plugged in or not, volume up or not, its there. The suggestion to back out the screw on the back behind the volume pot to get rid of the hum! IT WORKS! This thing is loud! Holds up no problem and then some with full drum kit in my basement. I think you could gig with it in the right situation. Certainly a small club, coffee house type place.

Had this amp a few months , no problems so far.

Have never had to deal with Fender. Dealer I got it from are good guys, i'm confident they would help me if needed.

Playing 30 years , with the exception of a few years not, when the kids were very young. Have a couple of acoustics, Martin, Yamaha. The electric is a mid 80's Japanese Fender Strat, called a Contemproary Strat. Very nice through this Pro Junior. I've been through 4 different amps prior to the Fender PJ. I feel alot of people buy way too much amp for their needs, or more amp then they can use. For the average guy who loves to play, and likes more classic/blues type tone, and really very good tone I might add, this Fender PJ is perfect.You can crank this amp up and let it do what it's supposed to . Compared PJ to the Blues junior. Same 15watts but to my ears PJ wins hands down. Less dials to fiddle with, just plug in, turn it on and turn it up! Easy to carry around. Looks cool.

Volume and tone controls, simple and all you need.

I have had my Pro Jr for 2 years now. I still love this little beast. Great cleans and then crank that volume knob for some excellent overdriven crunch. I mainly play humbuckers and P 90's. My settings are volume on 9, tone on 7 and use the guitars volume knob for boost along with a Blues Driver for additional boost. This amp loves any type of pedals!

If you want even more amazing cleans, use an Aphex guitarXciter. Wonderful pedal!

I got no buzz from the middle screw only the traditional class a hummmm. Please remove the stock tubes asap. My preamp tubes were buzzing within the first week. Electro Harmonix pre amp tubes seemed to be very quiet.

I use this amp all the time. My daughter spilled a glass of water on it and I feared the worst. I used a hair dryer to dry it out and waited for 5 days before I turned it on and..........it was fine!!

No need yet, 5 year warranty is great.

I am 50 years old and have been playing since I was a kid. This is a great little amp. I have never plugged it into a 2x12 or 4x12 but I bet it would sound great.

For only $299 this is a great value in my opinion.

15w valve amplifier with a 10 inch fender speaker, 2 preamp valves and 2 power amp valves. Volume and tone controls. Simple. On it's own you will only be able to get clean sounds to rock sounds but no metal sounds. Enough features for me though.

This amp has loads of volume, it sounds more like 30w than 15w. When volume is below 5 you get a great clean sound ideal for jazz and country and maybe clean punk. Put the volume past 5 to start to drive the valves and go into blues and rock areas, it's warm and crunchy. This is the perfect rock tone for me. As there is only one tone knob you can't get much but it does a good job by itself giving you toneless tones to trebley ones. Sounds valvey.

Still got same tubes after a year and it still sounds fine.

A great rock amp, isn't very versitile but for me and everyone like me it's a 10. Also a great price. I've used a distortion pedal on this and you can get metal easily out of it that way

My Pro Junior is a cream colored maroon grill cloth style.I used to own a cream colored Fender Twin Amp and this gives me the look I miss!I just bought the amp from Musicians Friend and so it must be 2005.1 input,i volume,1tone all you need.Reverb and delay can come from other pedals and really make this amp shine!I use this amp for open mic blues jams and will use exclusively for playing out with my electrics.

I use a 1991 left handed Gibson Les Paul Standard and a SX Stratocaster style guitar.Both of these guitars sound fabulous through the Pro Junior!This amp is a blues amp and can be turned down for a sweet volume of jazz as well.It does hiss at louder volumes but if you are going to turn it up expect that.I was told to turn down some at my last blues jam and my amp was sitting next to a Fender Blues DeVille!We used the amp for harmonica with a Ruskin mic and I played the Les Paul later for the guitar jam.Wow!The amp accomodated both instruments beautifully!A good seeting for me is Volume 5-6 tone 5.After 6 look out!Plenty of blues crunch!

This amp is very well made.Mexican made but I looked in the chassis and it looked every bit or better than a vintage Fender tweed.Especially reliable since it is new and not vintage which can require a lot of maintenace.I would probably have another amp around anyway when playing out but this Pro Junior looks like it could take many hours of play.

Fender is big.I'm sure you can reqach them but have not needed them at this time.My vintage amps are serviced locally by other companies.
The 5 year warranty sounds good.

35+ years on the guitar off and on.Lessons back in the day and progression from pop,to rock,southern rock,and total blues these days.I have a 1965 Fender Vibro Champ amp,Fender Frontman 25R,and a small Orange Crush 10.One for recording, one for back-up,and the Orange for fun!I do use a few pedals.I really like the Digitech RP50 with some tweed and early british plexi settings. Also get some nice reverb types and nice delays.Also have a MXR Phase 90, original CryBaby Wah Wah,vintage reissue ProCo Rat for added boost to leads,
and a MXR Noise Gate if I want the hiss to stop.The Pro Junior is the amp to play and work with.I did change the Fender EL84's with some JJTeslaEL84 tubes.Way better sound.The Fender Sovetek 12AX7's work for now.The Fender eminence vintage ceramic speaker is nice.I'm sure you could swap out toWeber or Jensen but I like what is coming out of the amp right now.
I read reviews and had to try this amp.I did consider a Blues Junior but this Pro Junior has that 1950's circuit sound, easy to move, cool looks, and absolutely enough blues power.Through the years I've owned these Fender Amps.1966 Princeton Reverb,1969 Deluxe Reverb,1967 Bassman piggy-back,1962 Twin Amp,1972 Vibro Champ,1995 tweed Blues Deluxe,1994 tweed Pro Junior, and a 1962 tweed Champ.I like Fender.I grew up with Fender.This Pro Junior is the amp I want for my sound!

I Love the Amp!! I wanted that nice 'warm' tube sound, but didn't have a lot of money to spend, and didn't want that crunchy cold 80s solid state sound.

THE MAIN REASON I AM LEAVING FEEDBACK ON HERE ABOUT THE AMP IS THE BUZZ PROBLEM.
I also bought the amp, brought it home, and noticed the 'annoying buzz'. I bought it a year ago, but it did it from day one.

What the guy posted at the top about backing the middle screw out a little bit REALLY WORKS!!!!! No joke!! I was just getting ready to take it in for repairs since I am getting ready for recording with it.

OVERALL, you SHOULD buy this amp!! It's clean and warm. Leave the effects to the pedals, just go with a clean tube feel.

Even after the buzz problem, I still think this amp is great for the money. Heck, bring a phillips head screwdriver to the store and back the middle screw out until the buzz is gone if you hear one. It really works!!!

I didn't want to remove the screw completely, but you don't have to remove it. Just turn it until it's out a little bit. I agree though with a previous post!!! Hopefully Fender knows about the screw issue and how it relates to the buzzing. It would solve a lot of return issues I'm sure.

My amp is a 1995 USA blonde. It has one channel, no effects, purely a tone machine. its got a volume knob, and a tone knob. to get distortion you have to turn up the volume. if you want clean, then simply turn down the volume.

I mainly play rock, alternative, blues, jazz, and church music. It suits my style perfectly. the distortion sounds awesome!!! clean sounds very nice, (fender clearn, what can I say?) the distortion is very full, not some cheap thin distortion. I LOVE IT!!!
its a 15 watt... but clearly it sounds much larger than that!!! trust me!

Very reliable. atleast mine is! the 90s pro junior were made in the US. so pretty darn reliable. NO PROBLEMS YET!

never had to deal with them.

WORTH THE MONEY! SMALL AND COMPACT, EASY TO CARRY AROUND!!! PURE TUBE SOUND!! AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!!! I'm SERIOUS!!!!

This is a 15 watt, all tube, one channel, two knob combo built in 2002. I feel, like a lot of other reviewers, that this amps simplicity and tone potential are its major strong points... and being that it is class A and quite loud (but not SUPER loud) it is GREAT for hitting that "sweet spot" between clean and crunch and using picking dynamics and the guitars volume knob (and a couple of tube-screamers at time too) to EXPRESS your soul! I use this amp on open mike nights at local coffee houses and I use this amp when I jam with my band in clubs... so for what I do it is extremely versatile... for some one who is a gain God... your gonna need some pedals... this is pure warm tube clean or od in the same setting (its all in the way you hit the strings!)

I use a 1994 MIM Stratocaster with Fender Noiseless PU's and this amp LOVES that guitar... I play styles ranging from reggae and funk, to blues and jazz, to classic rock... Hendrix style! This amp is not noisey at all and sounds great on any setting of the volume knob. I put in some new el84's that have a "late" distortion when I got it so I can turn my amp up to about 8 before it is just dirty, not "sweet spot" clean while soft picking as mentioned above. After 8, it still sounds great but that's what I have tube-screamers for to push the amp into 9-12 territory when I need to... set up in the right way, a tube-screamer or two puts me into that Hendrix controled feedback type of lead tone... it is amazing! The amp was noticable louder with the new tubes and being that I've had it for a couple of years I think that everything has "broken in" really well. This thing is a tone machine especially for the price! I like it way more than both the Blues Jr. I used to have and my buddies HRDx which is WAY WAY too loud at the clean/od "sweet spot"! I will say that the HRDx does sound really good, its just way to loud for me... and the Blues Jr. was good too but mine had a HORRIBLY loud reverb hiss. That being said, I think the Pro Jr. is a GREAT amp for any skill level and most any volume level... club owners and sound guys LOVE it when I walk through the door with this 'lil beauty! Not many clubs that I know let you get your power tubes cooking with a larger watt amp and thats what it is all about- hitting the "sweet spot" at an appropriate volume level.

No problems here. It shipped with shitty power tubes but after I swaped them out, everything has been great... the pre tubes are all stock... the speaker is stock... it has ALWAYS been there for me... that being said, I never gig without extra tubes! But tubes are not a reliability issue- they are a maintainence issue.

Don't know? Five year warrenty I guess?

I'm 27 years old and have been playing for 11 years... if this were lost I would definately grab another one. I love everything about this amp... that being said, go out and try one and bring YOUR guitar and if you like it buy one... it is important not to buy these on just reviews... go try it! Another thing to remember, if you play a floor model, it is probably gonna be "broken in" more than the one in the box. When mine came out of the box, it did not sound as nice as it does now... it does get better with age but the fundamental tone is exactly the same. So give it some time to settle in (4-5 months) if you get one brand new. After that, happy playing!

Made in Corona Ca, love the simplicity of 2 knobs, thats why I bought it, reverb would probably suck tone if it were there, I give it a high rating because it has the features I am looking for, as few as possible.

Sounds killer through my '97 USA Strat with Custom Shop '69 pickups, as well as my '92 Danny Gatton Telecaster with Joe Bardens. Super loud for such a small cabinet, starts breaking up at about 4.5 volume, really doesn't need reverb but if thats what you want get a Blues Junior. I use it for dirty/clean blues and thats where it really shines. Plenty of grind, if I need slightly more I will run my Barber LTD low gain overdrive or my Tonebone classic through it. Have had none of the above problems mentioned yet. Tried my EH Holy Grail reverb with it and did not like the sound, although the EH reverb sounds great through my Fender Custom Shop Blues Breaker.

No problems yet, and I bought it used.

NA

Playing 27 years, besides the above mentiones guitars I also have a 2002 Gibson ES-335, a 1977 Ibanez ES-175 copy, 2001 Fender Custom Shop Blues Breaker with British made Celestion Vintage 30's and an Ampeg SS150 combo (sweet solid state amp). Traded my Epiphone Galaxy 10 amp for this one, the Epi has more features but suffers in good tone. Have owned the Blues Junior and was not happy with its tone, but this little monster has tone to die for. Strongly reccomend getting this if you have a Real ear for tone.