Product Review: The Fender Blues Junior Amp

If you are looking for a good tube amp on a budget, the Fender Blues Junior is an awesome choice to investigate. This amp has a 12-inch speaker, is fully tube powered, has separate circuits for volume and drive and is overall very versatile. This amp is not a reissue of an older model, it's a unique creation all of it's own. It retails for around $450 but can be found for much less used. For a tube amp on a budget this one can't be beat. They are also readily in stock at most Fender retailers.

Although this amp is rated at 15 watts, don't let that persuade you to underestimate it. This is a firecracker of an amp that is more than plenty loud. It's also light enough to not break your back to pick it up. The circuitry was based from the 1950's tweed style Fender amps but has a lot of nice modern appointments such as a printed circuit board and separate volume and master controls useful for getting a natural tube overdrive. When using this amp, I have found that the natural tube overdrive sounds much better than using a pedal for the effect. The stock speaker sounds great and well as the overall range of tone that it is capable of.

I have owned one of these amps for over 4 years now. It is a great choice for live gigs as well as just playing at home. It's not heavy to lug around and fits nicely in the backseat, trunk, or floorboard of a pickup in my case. At live gigs, it is plenty powerful and sounded awesome. It had no trouble at all with cutting through all of the noise and other things that make some amps unsuitable for live shows. I also use a variety of Telecasters, Stratocasters, and one Ibanez jazz box and this amp has worked well with all of my guitars. Just as the name states, it is a great choice for playing blues and getting that slightly overdriven tone that most blues players love. I have also used it for country music and well as some classic rock.

After 4 years of faithful service, this amp has had minimal problems. The tubes have held up just fine, the circuitry is fine, and overall it has been great. The only weakness that these amps have is the reverb. After a period of time, the stock reverb tank units can develop a ground fault in them. Although this happens a lot, it's really not that big of a deal that would make me not want to have one. The unit can be removed and replaced with just a Phillips head screwdriver. An even better replacement unit can be found around 20-30 dollars online or by order at a local music shop.

Compared to most solid-state amps that retail for around the same price range, this little amp may surprise you. The all tube tone is much more robust and full than solid state. The Blues Junior uses EL-84 power tubes, which are relatively small and inexpensive for when you do finally wear a set out. Most of them last for several years before needing to be replaced even under daily use. Although its rated for 15 watts, this amp sounds much louder and powerful than solid-state amps that are rated for 40 and 50. Even playing in a loud bar, I have never even gotten to use half of what it is capable of.

For all tube tone without melting your plastic, check out this amp. It's genuine Fender and bound to please just about anyone. No matter if you're a pro or just playing Skynyrd songs on Saturday night, this little monster won't disappoint you! These have been around for going on over a decade now and just about all of the bugs have been worked out of them. Not to mention, Fender amps are really a nice touch to any ones' living room!