Buying Guide for Fender Blues Junior Guitar Combo Amp

[slash29]

This is not Johnny Depp

[ruffian1868]

I just got my Blues Junior home after waiting ages for it to arrive. Unpacked it from the box, plugged it in and .........nothing. Back to the music shop ! Where's the quality control these days ? Very disappointed !

[poobumm78]

does it come with a footswitch?



[jak729]

@poobumm78 its a single channel amp no overdrive channel

[wedontknowone1]

@turboscreamer dude send me more info!!

[slento86]

this guy was my teacher for a year at music college. very good player but wasn't very popular with students

[joed424]

i wish they made this in a 2x10

[Vaderkid08]

"You sound like your from LONDON"

[SuperMarioZombies]

This isnt a bad amp but it could use some mods. Lacks bottom end. To much treble. Also sounds boxy. The Hot Rod deluxe sounds so much better but it's to damn loud. The volume on 2 is fucking ridiculous.

[SuperMarioZombies]

Spinal Tap?

[CampfireHedphaz]

Phenomenal guitarist, reminds me of Jack Sparrow somehow.

[SirRafaelPinto]

Hi everyone, it's probably a silly question but can you plug an 1x12' extension cabinet and play it along with the amp? Also I like to play The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, The Libertines etc so wich one's better (using a dirt box too): Vox Ac15c1 or Fender Blues Jr III? Cheers

[omgm0n]

@SirRafaelPinto Arctic Monkeys use Vox AC30s (and others like Bad Cat, Hiwatt etc.), Strokes use Fender Amps, Libertines use Marshall and Vox AC30s also.

You could get good tones for all of them with each, but I'd say if you're playing mostly clean the Blues Jr, but the Vox has a better breaking up/overdriven sound.

[LedZeppZoSo]

it doesnt just go to 10... it goes to 12 which is 2 higher

[blastofo]

blues juniors are the bomb for home jams and recording. i wanted a twin reverb for like 10 years, and when i finally got it i realized that it was just too damn heavy and powerful for my apartment. i'm much happier with the junior.

[MultiScoffer]

the tweed imo, sounds much better.

[Linsenpuppe]

Increase the values of the coupling caps to 22nF, do the tonestack- and twinstack and cooler bias mods and the power supply stiffening described by Bill M, add a presence control and you´ll come close to "real" Fender sounds ;-) Add a cathode follower, and you´ll turn this into a really good amp.

[ToddeeTheTeleMan]

Can this amp do alt/punk rock? like Foo Fighters, or Green Day. Or would i need to use my DS-1?

[ToddeeTheTeleMan]

Can this amp do alt/punk rock? like Foo Fighters, Green Day kind-of tone?

[Jst0911]

@ToddeeTheTeleMan i wouldnt buy a BJ for those kinds of stuff

[ToddeeTheTeleMan]

@Jst0911 ok thanks man. you got any suggestions of other amps i could use? i play a tele btw :)

[Carlovfx]

@ToddeeTheTeleMan I have a Line6 Spider IV 75W which it's perfect for that kind of stuff. The 75W is incredibly loud and screaming, you could chose to go for something with less power probably but for your kind of music it's excellent. I use the Line6 for every kind of punk/rock music and the Blues Junior for blues and old style rock.

[ToddeeTheTeleMan]

@Carlovfx Oh yup sweet as thanks man

[Carlovfx]

@ToddeeTheTeleMan you are welcome :)

[469Shooter]

FYI Mate - the controls are "up-side-down" because back in the day they were meant to sit behind and play. If you do that you'll see all's well.

Cheers

Great demo by the way.

[Darryld1]

As a rule, I give Youtube review videos about 1.30secs to convince me of anything. I gave this guy 1:39secs, stopped the video, wrote this and....

[ThreadedBullet]

kinda....

[Aerosmitty77]

yea canyou hook external cabs up???

[musicman19191]

@Aerosmitty77 theres no direct output / input but u can obviously mic it

[seicheberlin]

yeah because THAT was definitely THE classic fender sound -_-

[ragingstorm33]

play the fucking thing omg

[PF1964]

Is the Blues jr iii good for more jazzy sounds?

[DCooper720]

@PF1964 at lower volumes yes you can do jazz but if you turn it up too high it will start to break-up, so i wouldn't suggest it for playing jazz live with a drummer

[tonybowers123]

These go to Eleven!

[jdom1]

@tonybowers123 They actually go to 12, somebody had to beat the Spinal Tap sound ;-P

[PF1964]

Blues Junior or Hotroad?

[nintendoor1]

can you hook up an external cab to this thing

[JOHNNYG99X]

nice review .. you look a bit like Eric Clapton from the early seventies !

[YoWassupMang]

Just bought a BJ (ba-dum tss). Can't wait for it to arrive.

[Keepsu]

Turn the master up and those EL84s will rattle like hell.

[1ocd]

Fat guitar!

[sonicsmainman1]

FAT switch!

[Ilovemyfender2]

I lovew my blues junior and this demo does it great justice.

[bellers]

great demo

[licklibrary]

@ moopadopolus. Unlikely! Maybe the other way round!

[moopadoopolus]

Lovley playing, and tone, inspired by Guthrie Govan at all??

[radomu1]

This is much more larger and louder than what it may look on this video. It's good enough for stadium gigs, when it has a PA with it. Seriously.

[saskekun101]

i'm thinking about buying this amp with the epiphone les paul is this a good

choise for the amp?

[vazkilzan]

@saskekun101 fender blues junior is really great man. i have a fender hot rod deville and it is just too freakn loud for my room but i recently ordered this amp and it is a really easy to use compact amp. one of the smallest tube amps in the market, and that great tube sound too. i definently recommend buying it mate. if you ever need it to be loud then it's best to mic it. that's why the microphone was invented =) cheers mate.

[RockHardPianist]

Michael has such a cool distinct sound!

[dec151974]

Just a fantastic amp! My personal main-stream favorite.

[slaughter950]

they go to 12 man! :P

[BuzzCrumhunger]

But these go to 11...

[EirikRayVaughan]

what a cool guy

[66vapor66]

check out my vid, there you can hear the fender blues junior pretty well.

[wilhopebay]

i want this amp!!!

[EuphorbusBTB]

The EL84's makes it more Brittish sounding, than 6v6 US.

Fender amps control panel reversed like all tweed amps, from back in the day when you would be performing behind your amp onstage;) 

[aerodynamic3794]

Are all 5 Groove tubes?

[licklibrary]

Ht5.

[123karsten123123]

this or a orange tiny terror or blackstar ht-5 ?????

[legumes12]

@123karsten123123 Depends on what you play. If you play more blues, get this, if you metal, the blackstar, if you play harder rock or regular rock, the tiny terror.

[animalmother4]

@123karsten123123 i played a blackstar last week, cool amp but its a hybrid, i could go all tubes, solid states suck cock

[VarashTR]

@animalmother4 What are you on about? the Blackstar HT-5 is all tube.

[RICHARDMedia]

@VarashTR Tube preamp, solid-state power section =)

[wilhopebay]

great sounding amp!!

[borkles]

I have that same shirt!

[wisesatyr72]

Not a fan of reverb..I wished it had chrous and compression I have the same amp

[josh48439]

what pickups are those?

[josh48439]

what pickups is he using?

[biekanez1]

Hallo Michael.

How often do you have to chance the tubes of this amp. Can you play this amp with low volume and get nice bluesy sounds. I don't wanna have trouble with my neighbours. I like the Fender blues junior more than the fender superchamp xd.

[jesusofsuburbia57]

@biekanez1 you should change the tubes every 6-8 months, and it has a master volume so you can overdrive it at low volumes.

[arsenalfanforlife]

what a rocker! that guy is awesome

[DanteGuitar]

Michael knows what he's talking about. :)

[simon1589]

less talking....just play !

[jakandjakesjams]

I loaded this in a different window and listened to the first 30 seconds while i did something else. I flicked over my tabs and spat my coffee in hysterics apon seeing the the body that belonged to this high english accent.

[MrJackanthony]

@jakandjakesjams haha. Just made my day:P

[me412fan]

i have this amp and even though it's small it's actually very loud if you crank the volume, i would recommend this amp for soft rock and obviously blues, as always you can plug a pedal in if you want more gain, but this amp is mainly a clean amp w/ slight reverb etc. if you want like a Nirvana or Smashing Pumpkins sound this amp is ok for that but i would just get a marshall instead for anything w/ alot of gain

[jeTTa002]

Does the sound stay clean with playin with drums?

[MrJackanthony]

@jeTTa002 Not sure what you mean but any fender stays stays cleean n clear even at very loud volumes.

[jeremiahtaylor601]

'' ALL CHUBE "

[LateNightShredder]

Lick Library needs to make a play like Michael Caswell DVD

[KrankySourPants]

"Idiosyncratic"; I lerned a new word. =D

[teamhex]

Can you plug this puppy into a cabinet? Id really like to get one, but I want to be able to plug into a 4x12. Iv heard 5w tube amps can drive 4x12's so I figure....

[tomleech92]

its a 15w tube amp

[teamhex]

@tomleech92 It sure is....but what do you mean by that?

[tomleech92]

@teamhex i mean its 15 watts not the 5 watts like you said.

[teamhex]

@tomleech92 If you read the comment, youll see that I said 5w tube amps can drive. Not it is a 5w amp. I heard 5wat amps can push a cabinet. Can this 15w amp do that? Some aren't pre wired to push to external speakers.

[tomleech92]

@teamhex apologies. Their isnt anything on the fender website. Just go to a guitar shop and have a look.

[CoolH741]

Fair but tricky. Active pickups? Studio, probably tweaking the highs to damp the trebble. Small gigs... plenty of volume, if you mic it, perfect for a small club if you play screamming overdrive. Jazz, old Blues, Rockabilly and Chicken picking delight at a low volume, not enough headroom in that range for a club, maybe if you play in a church though or a gym.

[licklibrary]

He is a pirate!

[mattbonann]

He looks like a pirate :)

Great reviews

[bloebje123456789]

is it good for live performenses?

[speedRickspeed]

it's rated 15 watt.s but many people underrate that. 'cause it's all-tubes it's way louder than people think. so for small gigs: yes. and you can always use it if you mic' it :)

[cparpro9786]

this guy is great

[uteanatinny]

I've just bought this amp I must say that this was a good straightforward video overview of exactly what this amp delivers.  Compared to my other amps it's like a 'lens' that magnifies the unique tonal qualities of each guitar sound and deliver it ...'pure and simple'! ;-R

[bassnutter]

I know Mike and can say he is a genuine nice guy. He's a top guitarist and can play most guitarists under the table.

Although I will say he does not suffer fools for longer than he has to.

Looks like someone was jealous of his tutors abilty. You know what they say, learn from experience and practice, practice, practice.

[danne9501]

noel gallagher uses this live even on the big arena gigs

[Cwildenradt]

Wow, the number of "kind of's" and "sort of's" that were rattled off here will be tough to beat by aspiring amp demo video producers.

Good demo of the amp though!

[Ilovemyfender2]

Just got this amp...pretty sweet. For all you guys who are wondering about the FAT switch, there is a $20 footswitch for it, and I use it for a solo boost. Though when I'm doing only clean work, I leave it on.

[Piranha900]

Awesome!!!!

[horsty123456]

Daddy?

[joed424]

can you hook this up to another cab?

[LyricalPoet777]

theres alwys a speaker output you can find to go through a cab, or even better, a home stereo!

[Account091027]

"you can get great fender type of sound"... oh really? thought fenders are famous for giving you that peavey distortion.

[BlackDiamond351]

haha i was just about to post a comment about that :L

[louisalive]

@Account091027 fender were established way before peavey.

[SteveTones01]

@Account091027 that comment is brilliant!!!

[lostsin645]

@Account091027 HAHA! He's a genius. Don't question him or he may point out another obvious fact.

[BMXplease11]

@Account091027 dont be a dick man.. also this amp rocks

[danne9501]

@Account091027 arent fender older than peavey

peaveys gets fender sound not the other way around

[jammers5]

@danne9501 I doubt anyone owning a fender amp is trying to coax a "peavey" tone out of it!

[sgbigsby1989]

@danne9501 fender made amps before they made guitars. infact marshall cloned the fender bassman circuit in their earliest amps like the bluesbreaker. just another wee bit of info to back you up there

[danne9501]

@sgbigsby1989 yeah thanks, though i allready know that

[DavidRayT]

@Account091027 I prefer Fender's take on the Triple Rectifier tone.

[supermanjamil1992]

Who is this cat, I'd like to hear him play more.

[guitardudeoftheuk]

I have one of these amps and They are fantastic, this chap talks of putting a peddle through it , i am into the great Rory Gallagher

( This bloke does a couple of good sessions on Lick Library of Rory) and to get Rorys sound i put a Flynn Amps Classic 0c44 booster through it with a 62 vintage Reissue Strat, its just brilliant.If you have one of these amps and like Rory , try it you wont be disappointed.

very informative Demo.

[gspete1340]

I had the pleasure of meeting the late, great Rory Gallagher...great man, great guitar player!

[guitardudeoftheuk]

Fantastic, i would have loved to have met the man, shook his hand, and just have hoped a fraction of his skill on the guitar would have rubbed off. your a luck chap. :-0)

[eatthemoon13]

Can any1 help me ive got a blues jr look like this a friend sold me. but says made in the usa? is this an orginal? whats the differnce? im trying to figure out how old it is etc

[erocypsi]

Hey there,

USA blues jr. were the first two years of production. You can usually be sure it's the U.S. version if it has a hum when you turn up the reverb. This was one of the failings of the original amp. The speaker is the same as the newer version, but the board is different. It has a distinctly darker tone (better IMO) than the newer version. Overall, it is about the same as the Mexican counterpart, just early production.

[sured]

2:40 to 3:00 --> just push the fat switch!

[sured]

By the way I am about to buy a Brand New Mexican Blues Junior for $550 - $600 U.S. dlls, is this a good deal?

[Cyzos1]

Why is that Fat switch even on this amp - surely you're just gonna leave it on; it makes the amp sound sweet!

[TehSadest]

Holy crap that fat switch does ALOT to the sound!!! .......Well I'm sold.....

[michaelmseventyseven]

I realized I think i subconsciously hold reviews in higher regard if they're done buy someone with an English accent. The accent just makes him seem more legit. lol.

[Ilovemyfender2]

More "professional", per say. lol

[michaelmseventyseven]

Haha, yeah. Also, I realized I used the word "buy" in the wrong context rather than saying "by". Just clearing things up so I don't look like an idiot.

[stevoe1000]

@michaelmseventyseven well, He might just be from spinal tap..then his reviews are complete bollocks :)

[mrtrevorblack]

Good review! The Fat Switch on these amps is the difference maker. I used to have a 4x10 Deville, but it doesn't have it, and after playing one in a music store, if it had I never would've sold it

[nedgey]

How does he get his guitar to sound all gargly like that?

[Maloclips]

might be raking muted strings. SVR and Hendrix were good at that. Don't know if that's what you mean though. Other than that... it could just be the way the amp breaks up.

[fallenseraph277]

whammy bar

[capsaicinrain]

notice at 3:19 he taps the trem bar, my guess is he lightly taps the string with his thumb to "pinch" it, and tap the trem at the same time.

thats my best guess.

[mofemobile]

whammy

[TyLaw321]

would this be louder than drums?

[JxEngel]

Depends on music style and if you still have factory speaker... I installed a mod kit and an eminence texas heat and its loud enough for bluesy rock

[dolphinmusicvideos]

YES. More than loud enough...

[Fran100]

would this amp be loud enough to gig with in clubs?

[PageandPlant4Life]

Love the jeff beck playing. But, I already have the amp

[Doddus]

Fender Blues Jr. Vs Fender Pro Jr.???

[erocypsi]

Pro Jr. Sounds way more boxey. The 12" speaker makes a huge difference on the blues Jr. Also, the Fat Switch on the Blues Jr. add a great overdriven bite for blues. Just my opinion though.

[popomczowzow]

I A/B'd the BJ with other fender amps like the deluxe VM, Hot Rod Deluxe, Blues Deluxe, and Hot Rod Deville.

It was the best sounding one, and the most practical, since the other ones were FAR too loud for home use.

[bassnutter]

Sorry but the reason he waffles as you so put it is because he knows his stuff.

The amp he's demo'ing is not exactly a high gain monster, hence the inclusion of ''blues'' in the model name.

Tone is a personal preference and fender in my opinion are not the most versatile amps around unless you have an array of effects.

This is not an attack on anyone here but this guy is a pro session player that has more experience than most people and knows his stuff big time.

[ufan4life]

great video made me go out and buy one . your videos are well made and full with info keep up the good work

[alexgoodbourn]

Man i love the playing! Ala Jeff Beck. Love this amp, might get the hot rod deluxe!