Fender Pro Junior III 15-watt 1x10" Tube Combo Amp Reviews

This amp is great but lots of people advertise it as an amp for home use. The truth is that this amp is freaking loud and volume past 2-3 can blow your windows off if you live in an apartment or something like that. It sounds good when cranked up but it is unlikely to do so at home.

Great little amp. Sick clean tone that has a hair of break up. I had mine modded slightly to clean it up and had 20 more watts added, but it's great stock. You won't believe how loud it is.

Ok, so this is a great amp. It's loud enough for almost any gig, and it is extremely light. It's also very affordable, and seems like the perfect grab and go gigging/recording amp. Here's where it fell a little flat for me.....The stock speaker farts out. Anything from about B down to E caused a nasty little flubby sound. Upgraded to an Eminence Legend 1058, and for another 60 bux, you're pretty close to a better amp. Also the stock tubes were very microphonic. Anything passed 5 on the volume dial and I could hear a ringing sound that became more and more prominent as I turned the amp up. I upgraded to a pair of Sovtek el84m tubes which can handle super hot circuits like the pro jr. Now it stays punchy and solid all the way up. I kind of expected to have to deal with these two issues when I bough the amp, so I wasn't surprised, but I was still slightly disappointed, as I thought Fender would have addressed these issues by now. I also had to tighten almost every screw on the amp which is something I did not expect. Even after tightening up everything, the amp still rattles a bit when you really get it cooking. I think that's kind of unavoidable on such a small amp that puts out so much sound. So anyway, a week after I bought it, it's now a playable amp that I would feel much more comfortable taking out to a gig. Be aware though, this is a dirty amp. If you play with humbuckers, don't expect much of a clean tone unless you have a great touch, and like to use your volume knob. However, if you want a very tamable beast that has a little chime in the top end, and you don't mind doing a little upgrading, this unique little amp could just be the perfect amp for you.

I use it in a church praise band so it sits in a room offstage with a mic in front of it. I was using a Princeton Reverb with unsatisfactory results so I though I'd try this. It works great!

I bought this for a studio/practice amp but now use it on stage all the time. Don't listen to the, "it might be useful for a small gig or practice situation" comments. I've played this in front of 2500 people and it killed it. This thing is loud and proud. I must say I changed out the stock speaker and added a Eminence Rajin Cajun. Well worth the investment. It will stay cleaner with more headroom. I love love love this amp.

Have 2 fender pro juniors. An original tweed version and a newer pro junior iiI which I just picked up second hand....wonderful amps for me...both units have non stock speakers; Celestion Vintage 10 in the old one and an Emminence Copperhead in the new one. Have also installed dr. Z brake lite attenuators in both, would be too loud otherwise. Fantastic tone from both of these little monsters. Have used on tiny stages in little clubs and at outdoors festivals miked up. I love the simplicity of these amps and using the volume and tone knobs, and touch on guitar to get big variety of tone...these are pretty touch sensitive...have had the old one worked on to correct the noise issue but the newer pro junior iii hasn't been a problem...ALSO they are so light and easy to carry around....fantastic especially for the $!!

I'm just a local weekend warrior that plays in small clubs around the area I live in...usually two or three Saturdays a month. Anyway this amp has really proven to be the best fit for me and my situation. I normally gig with a Stratocaster with the HSS pickup configuration, and I run the little ProJr on about 3 seldom as high as 4 on the volume and use the tone control basically as a "cut"...I start out with it about three and bump it up to get more cut through the stage noise as needed...rarely gets above 5 or 6. Oh...I always put the amp up on a stand; we rarely mic up the amps (outside we might or maybe if there's someone else running sound). The only mod I've made is replacing the power tubes with Mesa EL84's for more clarity (JJ"s work good too).

All this is to say that it's proven to be plenty loud to fill up a club for the music we play (pop, country, R&B, soul, classic rock) and with literally a handful of pedals (overdrive, wah, trem, reverb) I've got a versatile and VERY portable rig. (I can get my entire rig in the trunk of my Corrolla).

Hadn't had one of these in a long time..I had one of the first tweed ones with the Eminence Blue Alnico when they first came out. On a whim I ordered one from Sweetwater. The III series pro junior, it has been said..addressed the noisey-ness of these little buggers. My thought was to pickup a little practice and recording amp for quick rehearsals and recording.

Plugged it in and while the overall tone was nice the noise/hiss/hum was super present. OK, let me play with some preamp tubes...

Oh wait..Fender now has a little cage on the back - that makes tube swaps kinda impossible unless you are double jointed or can take the back panel off. Why? I'll say I gigged the old one regularly and never had any problems..

Out comes my power drill to take the back panel off and the screws must be made of cheddar as they instantly start to strip and make metal shavings all over. Just a regular drill..that I have used on a ton of amps. Seriously - the screws disintegrated.

Return of the amp is now probably not a possibility.

Played around with a bunch of tubes, but still not there yet. Noise Noise Noise.

What a shame....Fender.....why put this stuff out - are the margins that bad these days?!?!...is this is the going rate for a new Fender amp? I know I didn't spend a ton of money for this one...but I still feel like I paid too much for what I got.

I love this little monster of an amp. It is so easy to use; only a tone and volume knob to adjust, yet puts out awesome tone projection for such a little amp. I can run any guitar through it and get some great tones. Great for the bedroom, practice with friends, back stage, and it can be hooked to a larger cabinet to open this amp to even great heights. Don't be fooled by it's size that it doesn't have a punch. It is a powerful and great sounding amp. I would also encourage anyone considering this amp or any instrument to buy from Sweetwater. I've bought from other on line music stores in the past. BUT Sweetwater is definitely a Customer Service oriented business which offers the customer free extended warranties on many if not all of their instruments. They follow up with the customer yet never overboard or always calling. I only wish they had a Sweetwater on the West Coast.

All I can say is side by side this thing kicks a Blues Jr through the goal posts. Built solid, has good tone and is light and easy.

I would give this guy five stars if the tubes it shipped with were not so noisy. I had read about and researched these amps, and was well aware that they tended to be a little noisy, but heck, I thought something was wrong with it. The tone was great, but the noise when the thing sits at idle (volume down) or way up, was too much. At around "5" on the volume knob, it was tolerable, but I don't often play it that loud. I had already planned to swap out the stock el84's, and doing that did the trick. Super happy now! Great at low volumes, nice and hot when cranked. This will be the last amp I buy for a good long while.

I've had my Pro Junior for about 12 years. It is clean the way clean should be and can get all growly and spanky when pushed. Put a Tele through it, crank it up and ride the A-train to Tone Heaven.
This Pro Junior has become sort of a go-to in my studio. A number of other guitarists (having brought their own awesome amps) have ended up tracking through the Pro. All-stock. No mods.
If you want to use it for gigs and have to compete with a drummer or get loud in any real way you will probably have to push the little guy past clean. Not a criticism, just an observation.

There is no Holy Grail; there is no greatest guitar, amp, pedal, player, composer or showman etc.—everything is subjective. You like apples; I like oranges. You like metal; I like blues. Nobody's right if everybody's wrong.

I am just another sergeant in the vast worldwide army of music loving musicians. I have no ambitions beyond the simple joy of making music. It really doesn't matter if it's good or bad, and nobody has to like it but me.

Although I would absolutely love to get my money for nothing and my chicks for free, that's not the goal. I just want to bang on the drum all day; and when I can't do that, I wanna rock and roll all nite and party every day. Anything beyond that is a bonus.

I have Strat's, LP's, Martin's and an Ovation; along with Fender, Marshall and Roland amps. I might as well list my Yamaha piano and Ludwig and Pearl Drums as well. Love 'em all, each-and-every one.

My latest Fender Pro Jr. III addition is no exception. Its sweet tone, lightweight and bang for the buck make it a highly practical and easy choice for a general purpose, multiple genre tone machine—think blues, rock, jazz and other similar possibilities.

Unfortunately, like all tube amps, it's way overpriced. Get one before they increase the price.

I was looking for a tube amp that could replace my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. I loved the tone of the Hot Rod, but it just had too much power for my studio, I could never turn it up above 1 on the volume knob. I was at Gearfest and took my problem to one of the reps there and he immediately took me to the Pro Junior III. I was a little skeptical at first, the Pro Junior only has one tone knob on it, no high, mid and low like my Hot Rod had. Also how was a 10" speaker with 15 watts going through it going to sound. And finally, was 15 watts enough power. Well, I didn't need to worry about any of those things, the Pro Junior delivers great tube tone with plenty of power. In fact I rarely turn the volume above 3, this thing is amazing. The Sweetwater rep told me Jeff Beck is touring with 2 of these amps, and I can see why. If you are looking for a tube amp that can really deliver, take a serious look at the Pro Junior III.

I went to my local music store and was looking for something smaller and that had EL84's in it. I saw this thing and thought it was a joke, all i can say is WOW. I got an Ibanez Ts-808 abnd was blown away by the tone it had. If you are a pedal junkie, this amp is suited for pedals.
Its a great purchase!