Fender ___ Junior options

denz32

Recently moved into a smaller place, which sadly meant I had to get rid of my Fender twin. Absolutely loved the cleans on it but they're massive, massively heavy and the volume is now massively pissing off everyone (i would struggle to dial it in between 0 and 1 and that's loud for home use, so the power has been wasted on me).

So, i've been looking for Fender twin-esque cleans on a budget, in a small combo that I can use in the house. Naturally, tried out a Blues Jr and a Pro Jr, (Princeton is out of my budget unfortunately) both sounding good. 

So, currently the options are...
Blues Jr is tweed iii version - second hand, very good nick £450
Pro Jr is standard iii version - brand new, £350 as local guitar place wants to get rid in order to push the new iv verison

Had my heart set on the 'new' Pro Jr plus maybe a nice reverb pedal to assist. Tweed Blues Jr has thrown a spanner in the works and now I'm not sure. Which would be best for home use? 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Cheers.

Gagaryn

Pro Jr sounds better then the Blues - blues doesn't get much love on FB.

denz32

Even a tweed with Jensen speaker? I've tried other Blues Jrs that were little bit underwhelming but i thought this one sounded pretty nifty. 

Shame I can't test the two side by side. By the time i get to test the second amp i can't recall how the first was.

longjaw

The Pro Junior sounds much better in the comparisons I've seen on YouTube.

p90fool

That's a tough one, I'm a big Pro Jr fan but wouldn't recommend either for your purposes tbh. 

Princeton is the only answer I'm afraid, neither Jr is anything like a Twin. Save up longer and do it right. 

denz32

I'm not really trying to exactly replicate the Twin, I just thought I should specify that i'll be using the amp mainly for the cleans. Though the Pro and Blues Jr are different, they both do clean sounds quite well in their own way i think

benmurray85

I have a PJ that I use at home and it’s fucking loud. Luckily I hate my neighbour so I don’t really care but you have to be careful with the volume control and you will definitely need a pedal if you want any kind of drive out of it. 

noisepolluter

I used to have a lacquered tweed blues junior - to be honest, the Jensen C12N didn’t do it many favours. All the treble just came out the front in a narrow beam which was downright unpleasant if you were in the firing line.

The amp also used to have quite a bit of background noise which was very intrusive and difficult to ignore at low volumes. Other higher wattage fender valve amps I’ve tried/owned ran much quieter.

For solid bass and clear treble which is a bit less directional, the Celestion G12H works well to get the most out of a blues junior. I have to say though, if the going rate for a second hand tweed one is above £400 then I would seriously hang on and get a second hand Princeton, or alternatively a second hand hotrod/blues deluxe as they’re not *much* bigger or more expensive (still 1x12 and I’m sure I’ve seen them going in the low 400’s or less), have amazing cleans and run just fine at home (with judicious use of drive pedals if necessary). Reverb is also much better.

cbilly22

Always the Blues Cube option for low volume fender sounds.

ICBM

Pro Junior without question, out of those two.

If you do want more of a ‘small Twin’ sound and can’t stretch to a Princeton, try a Super Champ XD. It does have a digital preamp, but sounds good at low volume.