I live in an apartment and needed a small amp that had good tone at low volume, yet could be ranked up a bit outside the domicile. I actually brought home a Fender Champion 30 and was pretty disappointed at the thin tone at low volume. I took it back to the music store in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and traded up to a Fender Blues Jr. I'll tell ya, it was just what the doctor ordered. It's an all-tube amp (5 tubes), and has luscious tone at lower volume (compared to the competition). I play a Strat through it, and it took some tweaking of the treb-mid-bass to optimize my pickups, but once found it is sweet. I haven't played it at higher volume yet, so check out the other reviews here for more on that.

I like the fat tube tone in the small package (15 watts w/1x12)...it projects a solid presence at lower apartment volume with a nice bluesy tone, or you can dial it in pretty clean. Other reviewers here have gigged with it and say it's great at higher volumes as well.

The tone is a little darker than I was accustomed to, and took a little getting used to. But once I did, I really, REALLY like it.

It's well built, looks and feels solid. The design is simple, but I happen to like the no-nonsense, get-the-job-done look.

I like it better than anything I tried under $500. I think it's a great amp at $385. And I really, really like the tone with my Strat. The thing is, alot more money may buy you a bigger and better amp, but for $385, I think it's more than worth every penney. And, check out the other Blues Jr. reviews at this site.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com