Pro Junior Review

In the tradition of early Fender amps such as the Champ, Princeton and Harvard, the Pro Junior is a small, pure and uncomplicated all-tube amp. Crank it up for natural tube overdrive, and vary its response with your guitar?s controls.

Features:	6.7
Sound:	8
Reliability:	7.7
Impression:	8
Overall rating:	7.6
Users rating:	8.2
Comments:	11

overall: 8.8

Featured review by: jcs5234, on october 18, 2006

Features: Made in 2002, bought in 2003. This amp will fit most all musical styles except for metal. One channel, volume and tone knob, no other features to speak of but who cares? Although I wish it had reverb, I tried out the Fender Blues Junior which has reverb and I didn't like it nearly as much. Therefore, I run a Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Reverb in my line. I use this amp for practice, and for gigs I run two in stereo and change the settings depending on which song I'm playing. This thing is 15 watts but it's a loud little tube amp. I usually run it around 6 and I don't need to mic it in small venues. Larger ones I do, but sometimes I use a larger amp. // 7

Sound: I use this amp with a Fender American Standard Strat (1998) and a Gibson SG Standard (2000). Mostly I use the strat as I prefer to use mostly clean tones. I play blues, classic rock, reggae and it can handle any of those. The thing hisses kind of badly when around other electronic devices. Very good for rock tones but again if you want metal, don't get this thing because it wont suit you. Considering there is only one channel, and the amp is designed to overdrive as you turn up the volume. Very clean at low volumes begins to distort around 4. I like it around 6. You want two channels? then drop your guitar's volume for clean tones and bring it back up for bluesy overdrive. // 10

Reliability & Durability: Very reliable amp, only had to change the tubes once (when I bought it I switched out the tubes because the guy said that the one I bought had been in the store for a while and it sounded like the tubes needed to be replaced). I usually use two in clubs, but I would be comfortable using just one as long as it was a small place. I have no fear in it ever breaking down. // 9

Impression: I play blues, classic rock, reggae, etc and this fits these styles very well. I've been playing for about 7 years and when I bought this amp it basically became my main amp because of it's size and large volume, but it also has nice tone at lower volumes making it great for recording. Before I got this, I used a blues deluxe, but I really like the tone of this better. I would definitely get another one of these, but as my band is playing larger places, I'm looking at a Marshall bluesbreaker reissue and a Fender '57 Tweed Twin. I love the simplicity, I'm all about that in all of my gear. // 9

Reviewed by: unregistered, on february 08, 2007

Price paid: $ 299

Purchased from: Guitar Center

Features: This is about as simple as it gets. 15 watt all-tube combo, two 12AX7 preamp tubes and two EL84 power tubes. One channel. A single 10" speaker. Guitar input, volume, tone, on/off Switch. Very basic. Not that that's a bad thing. I wasn't particularly concerned about the lack of a "true" tone stack, ie seperate knobs for treble, bass etc.I've found the one knob allows for plenty of range. Nothing I wish it had, I don't use reverb, even on amps that have it. I also don't need seperate channels or a Master Volume, anything like that. So I'll rate it based on my needs. Might be a little simplistic for some. // 9

Sound: Ok, here we go. This is a dirty little screamer. I play Fender guitars, a Telecaster and a Stratocaster, depending on my mood, both with single-coils. With the volume on two or three, it plays clean. Very warm, bright, punchy. Very tight bass, not overly deep or flabby. Lots of character to the clean tones, lots of presence, notes seem to jump right out of the amp. I was very impressed. As the volume moves to four or five the amp starts to break up, very responsive and dynamic. Cleans up very well. The overdrive is very smooth and warm. As you reach the highest volume levels (it goes to twelve) this thing really sings. Big, fat, snarling tones, sustain for days. Not harsh at all. Even maxed out, the amp remains very responsive and articulate, and it cleans up great. On lower notes, especially with a neck pickup, the enclosure tends to vibrate and rattle a bit, but the bass itself is nice and defined. That's probably my only complaint. For my style of playing, the amp is spot on. If you need more than a classic rock-type overdrive, though, you might be disappointed. I give it a ten though, based on my needs. I still can't believe hoew good this thing sounds for the price. Mean, screaming blues tones abound here, or back it off for something more polite. The tone knob will roll of the treble and upper mids, going from very bright on 12 to very dark and slightly muddy on the lower settings. With my guitars, I usually go between 6 and 9. // 10

Reliability & Durability: It seems very sturdy. Not sure what the enclosure is made out of, but it feels solid. The tubes are covered on the back, but you still need to be careful. They're glass, after all. Seems solid though, guess that's something time will tell. Never had amajor problem with a Fender product though, guitar or amp. I'd probably not gig without a backup though, because there's always the possibility a tube could fail. // 7

Impression: This is exactly what I wasn'ted in an amp, a simple, no frills all tube combo I could crank without being ridiculously loud. Don't get me wrong though, it's still loud. Definitely solid for a small club gig or to play with all but the loudest drummer. The tone is to die for, smooth, fat, liquidy overdrive with sustain for days, or back it off for warm, punchy cleans. It's definitely a blues amp though, don't plan on playing anything harder than classic rock without a pedal in line. // 8

overall: 5.5

Reviewed by: FatMatt420, on october 17, 2006

Price paid: $ 276.5

Purchased from: Long and Mcquade

Features: No idea what year this amp was made in. Very basic amp, though. No fancy features. Just a volume knob and a Tone knob. Being a 15W tube amp, this amp is deathly loud. So I took it back and got the Traynor TTM30. I really do wish they could have integrated some EQ knobs and maybe an overdrive, but hey, you can't have everything. Well, you can, but that would make for one expensive amp. // 4

Sound: This amp doesn't really give you much choice as to how you want the guitar to sound and isn't very versatile, but I only used 2 settings (off and volume at max). Basically, this is an amp for you to begin with and get your ears used to being blown right out of your head. // 4

Reliability & Durability: This amp is very reliable in the sense that it will last a while. About as reliable as any other tube amp would be. Occasionally you will have to replace a tube if you are rough with it, so try not to be. However, if you take very good care of any tube amp, really, it will last just as long as you will. // 7

Impression: I play literally everything out there. This amp works for my music styles, I guess, but it's not something you would want to buy if you like screwing with EQ, or like having a reverb/overdrive. My favourite feature on it would have to be how loud it goes, though. It almost got me kicked out of my basement apartment. Apparently I was dropping pictures 2 floors above me right off the wall, shaking things off shelves and just plain pissing the landlord off. Hate your parents? Get this amp. // 7

Comments

[oscarstegland]

Yes its a simple amp but if you want a more complex amp buy the 40 watt version (It's more expensive but still a pretty good buy considering its a two-channel all tube amp.) But to criticize the sound on this amp is crossing the line. You could have mentioned that it's a purely clean amp, but that it has one of the best clean sounds out there.

[big-red]

This is a great fender amp for beginners looking for that tube tone. If its not loud enough why did you buy it? My friend uses this amp for recoding and sounds soo good, the reviewer obviously does not have a clue.

[thebrewfan]

I have the big version of it (40watts)...its so amazing.

[jcs5234]

you fatmatt are retarted. why would you buy it if you didnt like the tone or the features? personally i own two of these and although i do own larger amps i try to stick to these because i love the overdrive that this amp gives. no, there is no gain knob, but if you put the volume on about 4 with a humbucker guitar and 6-8 with a single coil, you get a nice, creamy, overdriven tube tone that sounds like the Almighty created this amp. If you want it clean and then kick into overdrive, its called the volume knob on the guitar. idiot.

[Gibson_Rocker13]

sounds like a pretty sweet amp im going to look into this seeing as how i dont use much distortion and use my ds1 for some fuzz/slight distortion

[123-Trav]

Would this be a good amp for me to run a pod xt live through? the features don't matter cos of the pod, but would this be loud enough to play with drums while still being clean? or will turning it up that much make it overdrive?

[123-Trav]

...oh he was joking about it being really loud, i get it.

[FatMatt420]

Ok guys, so.. where in my review did you read that this i didnt like the amp. I loved it because it IS LOUD. I got rid of it because I was dropping pictures 2 floors above me right off the wall (landlord was REALLY pissed). Please read the reviews fully before you post comments that are just plainly stupid ( this comment is for BIG-RED and JCS5234). And please try to refrain from calling me an idiot or a retard, it's just plain rude. Don't like my review? Then don't read it.

[pete the rat]

being facetious here, but they won't know if they like your review until they read it, now will they?

But seriously the man has a point, there's no call for low grade insults about his intelligence simply because you don't agree with his subjective opinions

I have one of these and the sound it makes is great. really great. No features, but for good simple tome you don't need them. Try plugging it into a 4x12 cab rather than the 10" speaker, loud enough for pretty much any gig and sounds unbelievable. The way it cleans up when you back off and bites when you hit the strings is pure bliss.

I wouldn't run a pod xt through it as this is set to model the tonal characteristics of a guitar amp and speaker, what you want for that is a plain pa or keyboard amp that won't colour the sound further with the characteristics of a guitar amp, that's the pod's job.

[shadow__666]

I'm thinking of getting one of these.

[butcherer]

Thank you for sharing that with us, shadow 6's. We were starting to wonder what you've been up to.