Fender Blues Junior

Overall Rating: 6.7 out of 10

My first impression playing through this amp was pure awe. I have owned this amp for two years now and my feelings toward it have stayed the same. I personally am more picky about my amps than I am with my guitars, and this amp certainly exceeds my standards as far as small amplifiers go.

 The main reason that this amplifier stands out from most small amps is that it packs such a huge punch. True to its name, this amp is really a blues amp, and if you spend time playing with the controls you will see why. The Blues Junior has a fat switch and control which can make yourself as fat and crunchy as you want to be. Between the fat switch and the main volume you can crank that baby and get it loud enough to stand up to most 150-200 watt speakers, as far as my experience goes. While it still doesn’t have the power of large amplifiers, its great for a blues jamming amp, because lugging around huge speakers I’ve heard is not too fun.

Another great thing about the Blues Junior is that it has great reverb. I play a Stratocaster most of the time but I plugged in an Ibanez Jem once and between the reverb and tone controls (treble mid and bass) I produced a tone similar to Carlos Santana. While it is not the most flexible of amps, it does allow for flexibility between blues, jazz, and rock.

The Fender suggested U.S. retail price for the Blues Junior is $650.00, which is slightly expensive for what you get out of it. However, there is a good chance you will be able to find it for much less at your local music store. You can also find it at Fender’s website.

So now for the final review:

Tone Flexibility: 5.5 out of 10
Tone Quality: 6 out of 10
Loudness: 6 out of 10
Portability: 9 out of 10
Worth (Monetary): 6 out of 10
Reliability: 8 out of 10
Cool Factor: 6.5 out of 10

Overall Average: 6.7 out of 10