Vintage from tips to toes or from sparkling sound to solid outer look, Fender Blues Junior III is the third edition of one of the best series of amplifiers. Its predecessor first appeared in music shops back in 1995 and has won the hearts of both guitar players and their audiences across the globe.
Fender Blues Jr. iii has it all to make a perfect jazz amp.
It can produce a really smooth and mellow sound. It’s affordable when it comes to buying, portable when it comes to transportation and easy to use when it comes to performance.
Just like any amp in the series, Blues Junior III is also great in other musical genres, especially blues – hence the name. It can give your guitar that deep dark voice that makes a good man’s heart weep.
Fender has finished manufacturing of Fender Blues Junior 3 and now you can buy next generation of this AMP:
| Image | Product | |
|---|---|---|
One of the most-beloved small combo amps in the world 
| Fender BLUES JUNIOR IV
| Check Price |
COMPACT POWER IDEAL FOR BLUES AND CLASSIC ROCK 
| Fender Blues Jr LACQUERED TWEED Limited C12N
| Check Price |
Long-revered by players of all stripes 
| Fender PRO JUNIOR™ IV
| Check Price |
Specifications Fender Blues Jr III
- This amp is an all-analog combo amplifier. It has two EL84 power tubes and a preamp of three 12AX7 tubes providing 15 watts in the output–enough for a small gathering or a concert in a club.
- 12″ Fender “Lightning Bolt” speaker by Eminence is appraised for the high-quality sound across its frequency range. However, if it’s not enough you can always add an extra speaker to your liking.
- In addition to this, you’ll get a spring reverb, a fat switch that adds 6dB of gain and circuit mod called ‘sparkle’ to make your trebles sound cleaner, and basses richer. Finally, you can connect a pedal to this device and get better control of your music.
Fender Blues Jr 3 Design History
Fender Pro Junior III 15-Watt 1×10″ Guitar Combo (2010 – 2016)
The vintage Black textured Vynil covering with black grill cloth and dog-bone handle give away that specific jazzy ambiance of the 1950s. The dimensions of the amplifier are rather compact (HWD: 16″, 18″ and 9.18″) and it’s lightweight (31 lb).
You can easily carry your Fender Blues Junior III wherever you want to perform.
“Royal Blood” FSR Limited Edition Fender Blues Junior III 15-Watt 1×12″ Guitar Combo (2010s)
“Butterscotch Woody” FSR Fender Blues Junior III Limited Edition 15-Watt 1×12 (2013-2014)
“Creamy Wine Two-Tone” FSR Fender Blues Junior III Limited Edition 15-Watt 1×12 (2014)
“Silver Noir Two-Tone” Fender Blues Junior III FSR Limited Edition 15-Watt 1×12 (2014)
“Plum Crazy” FSR Fender Pro Junior III Limited Edition 15-Watt 1×10 (2014)
“Cannabis Rex” FSR Fender Blues Junior III Limited Edition 15-Watt 1×12 (2016)
Fender Blues Jr Controls
The control panel is placed on the top of the amp but remains unseen by the audience. Many musicians highly praise chicken-head knobs not only for their usability but also for the nostalgic appearance.
Just as we mentioned above, Fender went simple with Junior Blues III. However, simple doesn’t mean bad. Many guitarists praise this amp for the opportunity to focus on their music and performance rather than obsess over sound tweaking.
A. INPUT — Plug your guitar in here.
B. VOLUME — Adjusts preamp gain. Increase the Volume setting to produce more distortion and sustain. Use lower Volume settings to produce cleaner sounds.
C. FAT — Press IN to boost preamp gain for extra distortion and sustain.
You can use a foot-switch (optional) to activate the FAT boost remotely. See Footswitch {J} below.
D. TREBLE / BASS / MIDDLE — Adjusts tone character.
E. MASTER — Adjusts the overall volume output of the amplifier.
Use MASTER to adjust the volume of the amplifier after you have set VOLUME for the desired level of preamp distortion.
F. REVERB — Adjusts the level of the Reverb effect.
G. POWER INDICATOR — Illuminates when the unit is ON.
H. POWER SWITCH — Switches the unit ON/OFF.
I. POWER CORD — Connect to a grounded outlet in accordance with the voltage and frequency ratings specified on the rear panel of your amplifier
J. FOOTSWITCH JACK — Plug in a footswitch (optional equipment) to enable remote selection of the FAT boost circuit. The FAT switch {C} on the control panel is disabled when the footswitch is connected.
K. SPEAKER JACK — Connection for the internal speaker –or– an 8Ω external speaker cabinet.
An 8Ω speaker load must always be connected to the Speaker jack when the unit is ON to prevent damage to the amplifier.
L. TUBE STABILIZER — A shock-absorbing stabilizer is installed on the output tubes to minimize the tube vibration and microphonics that normally develop over time. The stabilizer can be used with all output tubes compatible with your Blues JuniorTM III amplifier.
M. FENDER® GROOVE TUBES® — Your new Blues Junior III amplifier comes equipped with the highest quality tubes available, sourced from various manufacturers worldwide. Because of occasional irregularities in supply, the specific tube type used in each amplifier is subject to change without notice.
When replacing the EL84 output tubes, please note the specific tube markings on the original tubes factory supplied with your amplifier. For example, EL84 output tube types include, but are not limited to: GT-EL84-R; GT-EL84-S; ST-EL84-R; etc. The installation of a different type may require significant adjustment by a qualified technician to avoid reduction in performance and tube life.
Additionally, Fender Groove Tubes
Fender Groove Tubes tests and sorts our EL84 output tubes based on their measured performance. The sorted tubes are labeled with a fine rating of 1–10 and may also be labeled with a coarse rating color of BLUE, WHITE or RED.
A pair of matched EL84 output tubes with the same fine rating (and coarse rating, if applicable) as the original tubes will be the perfect replacement. However, replacement tubes with a fine rating within one number of the original tubes can be used without rebiasing the amplifier.
If you have questions or concerns, please contact your Fender dealer or authorized service center.
N. FUSE (NOT SHOWN) — In the unlikely event of an electrical fault, your Blues Junior III amplifier is protected by an internal fuse. If the unit should suddenly stop working, take it to an authorized service center to have the fuse replaced and the cause of the electrical fault inspected.
Here’s what Fender Blues Junior III has to offer you:
- Chicken-head knob controls:
- Classic 3-band equalizer with trebles, basses, and mids.
- Volume knob that controls Junior’s preamp. Increasing it will enable you to obtain and boost the distortion.
- Master knob changes the volume of the sound of your amplifier.
- Reverb control to add an echo effect,
- A “Fat” switch that enables you to provide richness to your sound by adding 6 dB.
Tip: How to get a jazz tone with Fender Blues Junior III
Set your controls as follows:
- Treble: 4-5
- Middle: 5-6
- Bass: 7-8
- Volume: 1
- Reverb: 1
- Fat switch: Off
This way you’ll get that clean jazzy sound you’re after. Some musitians, however, find the sound to be too sterile at Volume 1. If you have the same feeling, just try increasing the volume just a bit until it starts distorting. As a result, you’ll get a less flat sound.
Tip: How to get a blues tone with Fender Blues Junior III
Set your controls as follows:
- Treble: 5
- Middle: 7
- Bass: 7
- Volume: 11
- Reverb: 5
- Fat switch: On
Use Fender Blues Junior III with Fender Telecaster to get the most of your blues sound. The guitar and amp are pretty much peanut and jelly of the music world: together they produce the ‘flavor’ few people can resist.
Performance Fender Blues Junior III
The tubes give on of the best Fender amps that nostalgic analog sound that digital has been trying to copy for decades — to no avail, obviously. Coupled with jazz guitar, it enables you to have a great clean tone, but you can also get rocky or heavy by tweaking your EQ and volume respectively.
Summary
Fender Blues Jr. III is a great amplifier for both beginners and matured musicians. It’s great for home training, concerts in medium halls and studios. It’s the best amp for jazz players but it will also be great when performing blues and other genres.
So what do I plug this beautiful Paul Reed Smith SE into? There are a lot of amps out there, and again like the guitar choice, especially as a beginner, it’s probably good to look to the guitarists one likes and the gear they use to guide us in choosing our stuff, that is until we have a “sound” we’re going for. I live in a small apartment in New York so a Fender Twin Reverb is probably not an option, and the cost is slightly higher than I wanted to spend. I know a little bit about high end audio and I do know that I’m a fan of the warmth of vacuum tubes.
So my choice? A Fender Hot Rod Blues Junior. Basically a moderately priced 15 Watt all vacuum tube electric guitar amplifier, 3 pre-amp tubes, 2 amp tubes. It doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles but it’s easily loud enough to play a small gig and the tone is outstanding. It came recommended to me by a number of people. A little higher maintenance than a solid state amp but what can I say?
Mmmmm…Tubes… The tubes can also be upgraded as well as the main speaker which I hear a Celestion will greatly improve the tone overall as well. I’m sure I’ll have an entry for Blues Junior speaker upgrade at some point. There’s even some boutique custom companies like this that will perform a complete hand wired overhaul and obviously an amazing improvement in custom sound.
You get the idea, the Blues Junior has some legs in the guitar world.
Other options I considered? Vox and that’s about it. I didn’t want to break the bank but at the same time, I like to know I have the best available. There’s a lot of amps with all kinds of effects and stuff on them. My word of advice is, ignore it all. When the time comes you can get pedals for that.