Fender Blues Junior 15w All Tube Amp

I have never understood what all the fuss over valve amps was about. As an electrical engineer to me it matters not how the amp drives the speaker cone. This cone after all is what creates the sound. When I used to hear people talk about “warmth and tone of a valve amp” it just made me laugh. For this reason I have spent the last 25 years happy with either multi-effect units as pre-amps to P.A systems for gigging or various solid state amps for home use (the most recent is a line 6 spider 3 75w with a celestion speaker which up to now I though was fine for home use).

This year for my birthday I decided to treat myself to a valve amp to compliment my Fender Strat which I got last year.

I looked at loads of amp reviews on you tube and since I find it impossible to find any like minded musicians to play with I am resigned to playing at home. With two young children it is difficult to get a chance to play at any reasonable volume so this ruled out any 100 watt heads and as I have a dodgy back I did not want to be lugging any large cabs about.

The Fender blues junior seamed to offer me what I was after although I did consider the blackstar amps.

I decided to visit to Andersons and tried out various amps. How nice it was to go in a music shop that was not filled with Australian or new Zealanders on working holidays (as so many of the London shops are). The staff were so helpful and I never felt that they were trying to get rid of me. I ended up spending the best part of a Saturday in various testing rooms trying out the large selection of amps they have.

I came away thinking the blues junior would be fine but was torn as the tolex version gets loads of reviews that say this is wrong and this needs changing. I really liked the blues junior with the celestion speaker but as I have this in the line 6 I wanted some contrast. I nearly went for a mesa boogie ta-15 with a 1x12 but thought no I’ll stick with the fender.

The day came and I parted with my hard earned cash. When I got the amp set up it did not take me to long to get the tone I like. It also did not take long for me to realise that this baby runs very hot. The metal was hot to touch and you can smell the tubes cooking. I hope this is normal !

I love this amp ! why people feel they have to mod them is beyond me.

I am amazed at how the amps makes the guitar sound. I have a Paul Read Smith custom that sounds like a different guitar through this amp. The sensitivity is incredible. Just tapping the neck of the guitar you can hear the tone of the wood. Adjusting the volume on the guitar does nothing to the tone so now even at low volume when the children are in bed the amp sounds great.

In a lot of reviews people say that you cant get a metal sound and this is true until you stick an effects pedal in the signal to the amp. I have a boss MT2 that gives me all the distortion you could need. I have yet to add delays and a wah but I suspect that what ever I throw at this amp it will sound great.

In conclusion I have been very pleased and content with this amp and the service that Andersons have provided. I would recommend both to any one who like me was looking for a amp that gives a great clean sound at normal volumes (I have also cranked it up a bit and this amp is as loud as the 75w solid state). I have not focused on the specifics of the amp as you can find this all over the web. Just my personal experience.

I would never touch a transistor amp again – they lack warmth and tone of a valve amp !

as always, excellent service from Andertons whom I can't fault for their customer service, friendly and helpful. This "little" amp sounds great because you can really drive it hard and make it work, most amps nowadays are too loud to be turned up beyond 3 which means you are not getting the most out of the valves and you end up using a stomp box to create a crunch sound which defeats the purpose. I am using this amp for recording at the mo at ICC in Eastbourne and the feeling all round with the engineers and producer is - "nice"

I wanted Fender (valve) tones in a small package for home and rehearsal and the Blues Junior does that for me. It's not too loud for home use but can keep up in rehearsal and coupled with my Strat it sounds exactly as you would expect.

With an overdrive pedal I can get crunch at low volume but you would probably look elsewhere if you wanted a heavily overdriven sound.

I would have liked a stand by switch but it was the price Andertons were offering that clinched it for me.

I needed a small valve amp with a 12inch speaker and no frills for home/practice use, and the blues junior ticked all the right boxes for me. I didn't even try it as a freind of mine used one. It is a great amp with great tone, all the controls do what they say they do, very well.Its plenty loud enough and I think you could gigg with it in a small venue like a pub.