Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue

[ElNumero]

I stopped in Sam Ash in St Petersburg today and poked around for a few minutes. The salesman wanted to sell me everything under the sun! I just kinda said ho hum. But I did spot a Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue in tweed, the amp looked sharp. I did not play through it, but wondering if anybody has actually tried this amp out. 

[Gitfiddler]

Will, I owned one several years ago.  Nice enough amp.  It was like a Blues Jr., but all grown up, and housed in a great looking, vintage-like tweed cab. 

To me the Blues Deluxe RI is like a super model...all pretty and sexy on the outside, but a real drama queen that takes forever to get ready for the dance.  Mine had a decent tone out of the box, but I goosed it with better tubes and a Weber AlNico speaker.  THEN it really sang!  At the time I was playing with a rather loud 10 piece band, and it was a bit under powered unless miked. 

Overall the downside of this line of Fender amp is how cheaply they're built.  The input jacks are crap and fail often.  The internal PCB is susceptible to failure, and amp techs hate working on them.  Even installing an upgraded speaker is a major PIA due to the poor fit of the chassis to the cabinet.  I quickly tired of all the dough I was putting into it in order to make it...something it wasn't...and sold it to a very happy young blues player.  That's when I started buying Heritage and '80's Fender Rivera-era amps.  Happy now. 

[JeffB]

45 minutes ago, Gitfiddler said:

Will, I owned one several years ago.  Nice enough amp.  It was like a Blues Jr., but all grown up, and housed in a great looking, vintage-like tweed cab. 

To me the Blues Deluxe RI is like a super model...all pretty and sexy on the outside, but a real drama queen that takes forever to get ready for the dance.  Mine had a decent tone out of the box, but I goosed it with better tubes and a Weber AlNico speaker.  THEN it really sang!  At the time I was playing with a rather loud 10 piece band, and it was a bit under powered unless miked. 

Overall the downside of this line of Fender amp is how cheaply they're built.  The input jacks are crap and fail often.  The internal PCB is susceptible to failure, and amp techs hate working on them.  Even installing an upgraded speaker is a major PIA due to the poor fit of the chassis to the cabinet.  I quickly tired of all the dough I was putting into it in order to make it...something it wasn't...and sold it to a very happy young blues player.  That's when I started buying Heritage and '80's Fender Rivera-era amps.  Happy now. 

I thought the Blues Deluxe was such a cool looking amp and took my ConcertII in to trade "up" to one. I was going to spoil myself and I felt pretty good about the whole idea.

The store owner talked me down off the ledge!

I was so impressed with his honesty and ability to communicate ideas and concepts to this dummy that I pretty much only ever shopped there for along time.

Eventually I worked for him. That was a mistake, unfortunately.

[kennyv4]

I've owned three different Blues Jr's,  and have played a few Blues Deluxe's.  The JR's are not warm enough for my style of music, probably due to their cabinet size.  The Blues Deluxe sounds fuller, but depending on your needs maybe overkill.  Give the Fender Deluxe Reverb or Princeton Reverb a test drive.  Both amps are very warm, take pedals well and break up nicely.  I own both of these amps and for around one hundred dollars more the Deluxe Reverb is my top choice.

 

 

 

[Kuz]

I have found that they sound like a Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue.

[ElNumero]

14 hours ago, kennyv4 said:

I've owned three different Blues Jr's,  and have played a few Blues Deluxe's.  The JR's are not warm enough for my style of music, probably due to their cabinet size.  The Blues Deluxe sounds fuller, but depending on your needs maybe overkill.  Give the Fender Deluxe Reverb or Princeton Reverb a test drive.  Both amps are very warm, take pedals well and break up nicely.  I own both of these amps and for around one hundred dollars more the Deluxe Reverb is my top choice.

 

 

 

I have a Deluxe reissue, wish it was an original, but for now this will have to do it. But I like it and had zero inclination to buy that amp or anything else in that store. Ever feel like your totally gassed out? That is the way I feel now. I hope I don't go into remission however. 

[Yooper]

On 10/24/2017 at 11:10 AM, Gitfiddler said:

That's when I started buying Heritage and '80's Fender Rivera-era amps.  Happy now. 

Thanks to your earlier mention of these amps, I found an '83 Rivera Champ II.

27 pounds and 18 Watts of growling attitude. 

[Gitfiddler]

1 hour ago, Yooper said:

Thanks to your earlier mention of these amps, I found an '83 Rivera Champ II.

27 pounds and 18 Watts of growling attitude. 

Yessir!  I call it my 'Baby Dumble', especially when connected to an ext.cab.

[kennyv4]

EINumero, good luck with being gassed out.  After each new purchase, I always tell myself that's it, no more.  Hate to tell you this, but that doesn't work.  My new rule of thumb is every time I buy another guitar, I sell one.  Not so true with the amps, 9 amps and still counting. Although I am down from the 17 amps that I use to own.

[ElNumero]

On 10/25/2017 at 2:05 PM, kennyv4 said:

EINumero, good luck with being gassed out.  After each new purchase, I always tell myself that's it, no more.  Hate to tell you this, but that doesn't work.  My new rule of thumb is every time I buy another guitar, I sell one.  Not so true with the amps, 9 amps and still counting. Although I am down from the 17 amps that I use to own.

I thought that would work Kenny, but my Heritages are like my children.  You cant just get rid of one because you gave birth to another one!!! Its not working, I have 14 Heritages in the stable now. This has got to stop. 

[kennyv4]

I am so envious of your stable ElNumero.   I use to own 17 guitars, but my bride made a good point when she said, what the heck am I going to do with all these guitars and amps if you die before me.  Hence the reason I sold off many of my guitars and amps.  Children do grow up and go off on their own.  Of course I'm not buying that on guitars.  Would you post a family photo?

[DetroitBlues]

2 hours ago, kennyv4 said:

I am so envious of your stable ElNumero.   I use to own 17 guitars, but my bride made a good point when she said, what the heck am I going to do with all these guitars and amps if you die before me.  Hence the reason I sold off many of my guitars and amps.  Children do grow up and go off on their own.  Of course I'm not buying that on guitars.  Would you post a family photo?

He could, but it would be a dark, deep closet coated under a few inches of dust.  not a pretty site.

[ElNumero]

8 hours ago, kennyv4 said:

I am so envious of your stable ElNumero.   I use to own 17 guitars, but my bride made a good point when she said, what the heck am I going to do with all these guitars and amps if you die before me.  Hence the reason I sold off many of my guitars and amps.  Children do grow up and go off on their own.  Of course I'm not buying that on guitars.  Would you post a family photo?

Ask and you may receive. I have actually been planning this for a while then submitting the photo to Vintage Guitar hoping they would publish it!

6 hours ago, DetroitBlues said:

He could, but it would be a dark, deep closet coated under a few inches of dust.  not a pretty site.

You are terribly wrong DB, those days are long gone. These days my Heritages are all out in the open, waiting with open arms for them to be played. Stop by some day when you are in Florida and you will be in for a surprise.

[DetroitBlues]

Oh?  Did you open a guitar store?

[ElNumero]

16 hours ago, DetroitBlues said:

Oh?  Did you open a guitar store?

If I did, the Heritages would be so high on the wall to keep all the little greasy fingered acne laden tire kickers from handling them!!

[JeffB]

32 minutes ago, ElNumero said:

If I did, the Heritages would be so high on the wall to keep all the little greasy fingered acne laden tire kickers from handling them!!

 

Put guitars in the hands of kids, treat them with respect and instill a sense of belonging and comradeship in them  and you can pretty much guarantee a future supply of expendable income coming through the door.

Not only that and better than that, its pretty cool to relive your initial  love of guitar watching them be overwhelmed when you let them plug a cool guitar into a cool amp and play their stuff.

For me that was the best part of working in a guitar store. Striking up a conversation with a kid then grabbing the object of his or her desire off the wall and letting them hold it and play it, wide eyed, grateful, speechless.

Some of those kids are now 24-28 and some still in contact. Some gig regularly, some went to the conservatory and now teach, some have put out cd's and toured. They still buy guitars and amps 13yrs later and they will for life.
I cursed them made then guitar consumers player for life.

Old coots already play and buy, you dont need to worry about them, they kinda take care of themselves. Some old guy pulled down an expensive  guitar off the wall for them to play when they were kids and theyve been afflicted ever since.

 

Or you can do what you want.

[yoslate]

Dig your post, just above, Jeff, and concur wholeheartedly!  My son grew up around guitars, and he played bass for a little while; has a phenomenal ear (his mom's) and memory and a reverence for musical instruments.  We were in Nashville  maybe twenty years ago, when he was about eleven.  Spent an afternoon at Gruhn's, the larger, newer shop.  He was ogling basses hanging on the wall.  There was a desk, in the middle of the room, at which sat a young woman, kind of keeping an eye on things.  He spied a mid-sixties P-bass he wanted to cradle, and asked me to get it down for him.  I directed him to the woman at the desk, "Ask her."  He did.  She spoke to him warmly for a minute or two, then got up and lifted the bass down and handed it to him; got him a chair to sit in.  Told him if there was anything else he wanted to play, just ask.  I've always loved that moment.