Amp: Blues Deluxe Reissue

[DetroitBlues]

Yes, I agree about Orange cleans - they don't get squeaky clean. The Blues Deluxe Reissue is a tweed amp - at least the one I tried out was. I don't believe I've ever knowingly heard a 5F4 or 5E3 Deluxe (unless that's a DRRI clone, then I have).

Looking forward to your report if you do get the time to try the DRRI w/your fav. pedals.

 

Isn't the Blues Deluxe just a tweed covered verision of the hot rod deluxe you hated?

[Stephen]

Take a look at www.brockwayamps.com. Have one built the way you want a a very fair cost. Stephen

[koula901]

Isn't the Blues Deluxe just a tweed covered verision of the hot rod deluxe you hated?

 

Hey DB - you got me there. I just did some research on the internet, and the two do seem to be very similar animals, if not the same one, with a few different spots. I can tell you for sure they sound very different to my ears, and I still hate the HR! reasons: HR is complicated, 3 channels, and don't like the sound. I'm also not sure it takes pedals well.

 

Here's what I found on the internet:

"On the surface the Hot Rod (HR) and Blues Deluxe (BD) are almost the same amp. Looking at their specs the only differences are the drive channels (more gain on the HR), foot switch and internal variable bias control on the HR, both are loosley based on the '59 Bassman - the BD has less low end than the HR due to different caps used in the preamp tubes a little different in making distortion, it shares the drive control on both channels, it has a different reverb circuit. With the bias control the HR can be modded with different power tubes."

[NoNameBand]

Isn't the Blues Deluxe just a tweed covered verision of the hot rod deluxe you hated?

 

I believe that the Blues Deluxe may have some variation in tubes and speaker.

[NoNameBand]

@ NoName: and what do you think Mark, do you like that Egnator?

 

@Southpaw - yeah, that Laney is a serious amp.

 

 

Yeah, I meant Renegade. I have the Tourmaster Ten Thousand..oh wait, its only 4100.

I really like the 3rd channel for stuff like ratm, foo's and stuff where the goofy kid inside can get a few moments in the sunshine.

It seems to be close to one of the gain levels and the sound I am trying to get out of my stomps for my fender amps. Why I dont know. I already have an amp that does it.

 

koula901,

I compared a supersonic head and renegade head today and liked the Renegade better in most things I tried. But I bought the supersonic home to play with for the weekend. Im sure there are some good sounds in it to find. So I will.

 

Katy, the Fender Supersonic is a great amp if it is to your liking. I like the Egnator Renegade and the Tourmaster for their flexibility. I'm not aware of any amp that has as much flexibility from Clean to Dirty in One amp. I say this because I believe this is your issue. It's all about personal taste. Eric Clapton is happiest with a pair of Custom made Fender Vintage Tweed Twins (40 watts each) and only One channel. He gets his clean and dirty from that. That means it's a good amp for him, maybe not you though. You've got to find the one that meets your needs across the board. Not many amps are as good at Clean as Fender, though there are exceptions of course. The hard part is finding the Dirty sound you are looking for and if you can find in One amp is better for you.

 

I can tell you this, the Fender Dirty sounds get better with a booster like a "Fulltone GT-500 FET Distortion + Booster and Overdrive Guitar Effects Pedal (Red)". I know a few guitar players that use this combo: this pedal and a Fender HR Deluxe, Tweed something, Supersonic, Twin etc. and are very happy with the result. The Egnator is a great choice also. I think you just need to do some homework until you find the sound thats in your head.

Good luck, you'll find it.

[koula901]

Hey NoName

 

The sound in my head is a Two Rock Gain Master - all $3,000 worth! and yes, I highly suspect I'm not going to get great cleans and dirt all in one amp, and I'm certainly not insisting it be a Fender clean. I don't think Fender will be for me as long as I need good high gain. I'm just checking out all the options.

[Gitfiddler]

Hey NoName

 

The sound in my head is a Two Rock Gain Master - all $3,000 worth! and yes, I highly suspect I'm not going to get great cleans and dirt all in one amp, and I'm certainly not insisting it be a Fender clean. I don't think Fender will be for me as long as I need good high gain. I'm just checking out all the options.

 

 

Have you considered Mesa products?

The Lone Star and Lone Star Special get great cleans and great high gain...once tweaked. Just another option for ya.

[smurph1]

This is a 40 watt 1 x 12 combo that I tried out at GC today. It was light enough at 45 lbs, but I wouldn't want anything heavier than that. This amp had the nice fender cleans that you'd expect, 2-channel with foot switch, reverb, and according to the internet and effects loop-though I didn't see that in person. The reverb is not the usual spring kind, but it sounded good enough. I went right for the distortion channel to see what it would do, and amp sounds like early Rolling Stones - it'll get you overdrive, but not full out distortion like with AC DC or Nirvana. I think this is a perfect blues amp - I was playing a mexi strat through it and it sounded quite nice. I also like the clean sound of the Carr Rambler, too, but I need an amp that I can play hard rock through (though not necessarily metal). What would you guys recommend for high distortion amp that reaches up to hard rock level?

My Classic 30 has GREAT Tube Overdrive!! Think Classic 70s Rock!! Plus it has a real spring reverb..My 2 Cents..

[koula901]

Have you considered Mesa products?

The Lone Star and Lone Star Special get great cleans and great high gain...once tweaked. Just another option for ya.

 

No I haven't considered it, but I will now! The come up at GC every now and then.

[tulk1]

No I haven't considered it, but I will now! The come up at GC every now and then.

I have an original Mesa Lone Star, from before they were "Classic". S/N 400. My guess is, that unless you go Head/Cab, a combo is going to be too heavy for you. Mine is a single 12" and weighs in at a svelte 95lbs.

[erictheweasel]

I have an original Mesa Lone Star, from before they were "Classic". S/N 400. My guess is, that unless you go Head/Cab, a combo is going to be too heavy for you. Mine is a single 12" and weighs in at a svelte 95lbs.

 

 

Any Boogie is going to be heavy. I had a Mk I reissue and it was a beast to lug around.

 

eric

[koula901]

I have an original Mesa Lone Star, from before they were "Classic". S/N 400. My guess is, that unless you go Head/Cab, a combo is going to be too heavy for you. Mine is a single 12" and weighs in at a svelte 95lbs.

 

Ah . . when I was young and spry, I, too, carried around a 100 lb and 100 watt 2 channel Peavey amp, also before they started called them classic. And you're right, nothing heavier than 45 lbs for me. My condo is up 3 flights of stairs, and with a sometimes bum knee and back, I gotta limit the weight. I'll probably by a dolly, eventually.

[DetroitBlues]

I believe that the Blues Deluxe may have some variation in tubes and speaker.

 

The tweed amps are based on original designs, but the hot rods are just that. Hot Rods of the original designs... I did play a HD III and I really liked it. Of course I was playing a Gibson LP Standard, not a Heritage....

[JeffB]

I have an original Mesa Lone Star, from before they were "Classic". S/N 400. My guess is, that unless you go Head/Cab, a combo is going to be too heavy for you. Mine is a single 12" and weighs in at a svelte 95lbs.

Exact reason I went head and cab. Also, I dont like Mesa C90 speakers for some of the sounds I wanted so hooking the head up to various cabs was a better option for me.

 

Quite often find myself trying to make my fender amps sound like the Lone Star and then when Im playing the LS I seem to spend time trying to make it sound like my fender amps.

[koula901]

The tweed amps are based on original designs, but the hot rods are just that. Hot Rods of the original designs... I did play a HD III and I really liked it. Of course I was playing a Gibson LP Standard, not a Heritage....

 

Are you trying to incite a riot here?

[koula901]

Exact reason I went head and cab. Also, I dont like Mesa C90 speakers for some of the sounds I wanted so hooking the head up to various cabs was a better option for me.

 

Quite often find myself trying to make my fender amps sound like the Lone Star and then when Im playing the LS I seem to spend time trying to make it sound like my fender amps.

 

How do you guys discover what type of cab you like the sound of -- do you take your head to a store and hook it up to various cabs?

[DetroitBlues]

Are you trying to incite a riot here?

 

Maybe... Oh, and I also used a Les Paul Special too, (P-90's)

[JeffB]

How do you guys discover what type of cab you like the sound of -- do you take your head to a store and hook it up to various cabs?

Something like that. I spend lots of time in the amp room trying different combinations. I play loud and dont care who I annoy.

[212Mavguy]

HI, Koula,

 

Enjoy your posts.. a lot! IMHO you are better off with a separate head and cab. More versatility in speaker choices for room sizes and acouisics, less damaging to tubes from speaker vibrations than combos. My most recent amp purchase is absolutely f-ing amazing in tone and it easily covers all the ground you are looking for and then some. A page or two back in the amplification/fx forum is a thread titled "I'm in serious trouble..." it's about my amp. KBP810 built an amp very similar to mine, both are Dumble clones. Mine is the 50 watt Ceriatone Overtone HRM. I have about ten amps in my stable, including some pretty high end boutique amps, but this amp of mine sounds great at bedroom to outdoor gig levels and killls them all for both tone and volume versatility.. Check out Ceriatone HRM on youtube, look for marinblues' clips. You might also find fellow HOC member Jack Zucker "sheets of sound" playing through his Ceriatone Overtone Special.. Most of the posted Dumble-y clips are fairly low in gain, the herd follows the Robben Ford/Larry Carlton thang. But that amp has a Marshall plexi soul inside, it does Marshall tones scary well, the HRM stands for Hot Rodded Marshall. or Hot Rubber Monkey. The original circuit was designed by Howard Dumble, and if you know anything about Dumble amps you know they often go for 30-50 grand a pop or more if you can find one used. My amp uses simialr parts and is the exact copy of the Dumble circuit while costing me something like 1600-1700 shipped last year for a fully assembled head and headshell. Took 8 weeks fromn the time I send the money. Nik at ceriatone is a class act like few other boutique amp builders. I've personally done business with three different boutique amp makers for a total of four ampswhile building up my collection. Build quality is wonderful..... and I can also get Fender Blackface cleans out of it...while running el34's!! The amp takes 6l6's or el34's. There is a Ceriatone forum for their amp users. Please don't waste your time and money on a printed circuit board amp with cut rate parts, which is what a Fender RI amp uses, along with Crate and Marshall for example. The amp head should come in under 45 pounds in the 50 watt version, and the tone from mine is simply HUGE, warm girthy, sustains like no other amp you will EVER own, and goes from clean to scream at bedroom to pant flapping volumes. Best of all, you will be the goddess of tone playing through a Dumble style amp. Other builders of these circuits, include K&M, (Two Rock) Fuchs, Carol Ann, Bludotone, Brown Note. All of these makers do up the Dumble circuits but not as true to the original design as the Ceriatone, with a price tag from double to four times the ceriatone. You can find these amps on eBay new and used. Boutique amp for boutique guitars!

[koula901]

212Mavguy

 

I do not know any woman who would not like a huge warm girthy, sustaining amp that brings her guitar from clean to scream at bedroom to pant flapping volumes! ; ) You're a good salesman, and I've got my work cut out for me. Will definitely look into all this, and check out the you tube vids. I appreciate the good education you've given me.

 

Oh, and P.S. Dumble's a good capitalist. I'm sure the only reason his amps sell for $50 grand is that there's only something like 30 of them that exist (there's some such story like that floating around).

[212Mavguy]

Actually more like closer to 300-ish of them. There was one listed on ebay a week and a half ago for 85 grand BIN...

[JeffB]

 

 

I do not know any woman who would not like a huge warm girthy, sustaining amp that brings her guitar from clean to scream at bedroom to pant flapping volumes! ; )

Ha ha. Ive got a really bat cold/flu. I can barely speak let alone laugh out loud with out pain. This line made me lose my chicken soup and inflicted serious pain on my already very sore throat. Thanks for that.

[bolero]

vox ac30 cc1 is a great amp with nice trem & verb, and excellent distortion....I like vox cleans as much as fender cleans, the shadows used them too

 

with a pedal they are very versatile for heavier stuff, I think iommi used one on the early sabbath tunes, with a fuzz

[212Mavguy]

Yep, the Vox is a good amp, but it runs its power tubes really hot.

 

@Tully...Get well soon, bro!

[RhoadsScholar]

+ 1 on the Full TONE gt500. I leave the Hot rod deluxe dialed in for a great clean sound which it does well. I use the Full Tone GT 500 pedal to get Overdrive, and Overdrive/distortion. It is great. You end up with 3 channels.

 

I don't think the Drive and More Drive channels are very useful on the Blues Deluxe, but the FullTone GT-500 pedal sounds really good with the Hot Rod deluxe. Runs about $170 at guitar center. Worth checking out as they will usually have the pedal and the amp where you can try it out first to make sure it is the sound you are after.