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Same here; love both of them. If you can get a tweed Deluxe for $400, grab it, retube it and get a good amp tech to go over it and you will have a killer amp for $550 out the door.
Originally Posted by setemupjoe
Stock from the factory, both sound about the same, speaker and power differences aside. THD for days or pristine clean at the stomp of a footswitch. I haven't compared schematics or anything, just speaking from my own experience. When I acquired my Deluxe it sounded just like a smaller, lighter version of my Deville, which is the 4x10 blue speaker configuration.
After a year or two, the Deluxe was missing some gain even after retubing, and I felt that I was popping power tubes on the gig too frequently. (I, too, was using this as my "leave it at the club" amp that got pushed hard in a very loud stage situation and mic'ed.) I brought it to a local amp tech whom I had known to do very good work, and asked him to replace the plastic input jacks with Switchcraft, give the whole signal chain a once-over and install a bias pot while he was at it. I mentioned the power tube issue too.
When I got it back, the Deluxe sounded very different. More of an authentic blues tone, less saturated THD, and a lot brighter. At first I didn't like it, but later decided that two amps that sound different offered more flexibility than two amps that sound exactly the same. The Deluxe was my "light" amp that I used mostly for jazz gigs that I didn't want to haul the heavier Deville to, and the clean tones were still pretty much the same. It was just the distortion channel that got bluesier and less Santana-y. IIRC the tech mentioned that it may have been biased kind of hot and he set the bias to factory spec.
Moral of the story is that these two amps can sound like carbon copies of each other or they can be radically different. Depends on setup.
I've gigged both amps extensively but only had a problem with the Deluxe - just a random component failure that happened in the practice room.
Both are very warm, smooth-sounding amps that are great for jazz, blues, or saturated distortion, but the saturated THD requires proper tubing and bias. I use JJ 6L6s in the power section; last time I retubed the DeVille I picked the "gold higher-output" 12AX7s that supposedly break up a bit sooner... TBH I didn't notice a huge difference from the "normal" JJ 12AX7 set for this amp. Either tube set is great for jazz. YMMV; some people feel that 6L6s are "boomy" but I think of them as "warmer" than EL34s.
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09-08-2020 04:05 PM
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Check out the Michael Landau Fender DeVille.
Lots of headroom, same weight and also same size. I do also own the BD, if you need headroom,there is no better amp like the ML DeVille...
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Originally Posted by andreas.nitzsche
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I found my Super Champ X2 wasn’t loud enough to use with a big band.
Similarly, I wonder if a 20-watt Peavey Classic would be loud enough.
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Peavey Delta Blues 210 is the loudest 30 watt amp I ever had with a very tight and focused sound. Great reverb and tremolo circuits too. Weighs around forty lbs. Might be another used alternative, I think it was discontinued.
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Deville cames as 4x10s or 2x12s good amps. Years ago I had 2 and ran them in stereo.
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Played a Hot Rod Deville on a session last night…. Not happy with it; even with bass on zero it had too much bass. It was a little better when using the low input ( ES-330 with P90s usually doesn’t need that).
Volume control is strange: on 3 you have maximum volume almost, which is way too loud, after that the volume doesn’t do much anymore.
I knew of this symptoms since I own a 90ies Blues Deluxe of which I altered the circuit by changing quite a lot of pots, resistors and caps in the tone circuit and the phase inverter to blackface (AB763) values. I also put a 12at7 as PI and installed a bias potmeter. Another very useful mod is the “Twin Stack Mod” that connects teo terminals on the mid pot so it’s hooked up in the circuit the Fender way, not the Marshall way. And I bypassed the presence pot, it’s out of the circuit. It just has an 100R to ground, as does the AB763 circuit (Deluxe Reverb, Twin Reverb).
The amp is now useful for jazz with a hollowbody guitar. Before that it definitely was NOT.
https://i.imgur.com/Bss9Q3t.jpeg
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The hot rod volume control issue is well known haha. You’d think they’d do something about it.
However, I’ve never found it a deal breaker. While I don’t own one but have often performed with one as they are a popular house amp. If I see a HR on stage at a club or festival, I am usually pretty relieved. Mind you, I have a this volume knob thingy on my guitar…
(if you play with Drive etc this might be more problematic… there’s some discussion in this vid
)
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Just wondering, the blues junior is imho an exceptionally good sounding amp. Not good for jazz?
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I gig with a blues jr. I’m going for a more Charlie Christian sound than a totally dry clean or chorus sound. Originally Posted by Eck
I’m not saying those tones aren’t there as much as I’m saying I haven’t even looked.
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They are only 15 watt, for small jazz settings will do I guess, but on larger stages they don’t stay clean and I don’t thingk they deliver that good of a good jazz tone (they are bright). Originally Posted by Eck
Here’s a jam session I used one that was provided by the venue. From 13:40 you hear me using it clean (without effects), it gives a nice jump blues tone, but wouldn’t be too useful for jazz I think.
Last edited by Little Jay; 11-18-2023 at 02:12 PM.
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I may be missing something here. The Blues Deluxe is a 40W 2x6L6 amplifier - it’s not 15. We have one in our backline that I’ve used when it was on stage and the others were out for repairs or put in the back room to open up the stage. It’s fine for jazz and the clean channel has decent headroom. When I use it with an archtop, the bass is rolled almost all the way off, middle is at noon and treble is between 10 & 11. With a solid (HBs), bass is about 10 o’clock, mid and high are around noon. I leave bright off on all of these amps. Originally Posted by Little Jay
This model has the most extreme volume taper on the clean channel that I’ve ever used - it goes from whisper to scream very quickly between 8 o’clock and 9 on the clean volume pot. I bought an original Tweed one when they first came out (early ‘90s?) as an early attempt to get away from 60+ pound amps. I used it a lot for about a year, but it was still too heavy to hand carry very far with a guitar case in the other hand, and I was starting to dislike the flabby bass. Even though I was still playing 6 strings at the time, I needed a tighter, cleaner bottom.
The Blues Deluxe will do the job nicely for many jazz players. The 15 Watt amp that’s apparently being confused with this one is the Blues Junior, which is a 2xEL84 amp that’s OK for low volume or reinforced jazz playing. But it does break up early, and I find the best tone I can get from one to be a bit loose and unfocused. Archtop detail is lost, although it’ll kinda flesh out and jazz up a solid at low volumes. The slight lack of focus is a little thunky if you get the tone pots right.
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I was responding to Eck’s post about the Blus Junior…. Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
I have the Blues Deluxe and it wil do jazz, but - at least for me - not in a satisfactory way. I described in my previous pot why: too much bass with hollowbody guitars with humbuckers and P90s (it’s great for strats and teles with thin strings).
Mind you, installing a bias pot allowed me to adjust the bias and that works wonders in these amps, the Reissues have an adjustable bias and when properly set it will sound a lot better. Perhaps that’s why my experience with the Blues Deluxe has been positive when I got it in ‘93 and played a Srat but when I changed tubes and got an Epiphone Sheraton and later en ES-333 the amp didn’t do it for me anymore. Only after I modded it I started liking it again ;-)
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You’re quite right. I forgot the volume, a gig like that not for miking a soft playing amp, and even if a single coil is brighter it feels like that’s the better marriage. First time I heard a junior I played with a lipstick pup in a shop. No comparison really. Originally Posted by Little Jay
Volume is such an extremely decisive part of the equation!
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I sold my Blues Deluxe years ago 'cause I didn't need such a cannon. Tweed and Reverb Deluxes are just enough for me.
But I modded it to tame the monster bass side. It was my first soldering mod, and so it is very simple:
Open the back of the amp, search for the Middle pot and solder a jumper between middle and left lugs.
Voilà! The tone controls work now as in Twin Reverb. When all are on zero, You don't hear anything. Now You can turn the bass as much or little You need.
And if You decide to sell it stock, just unsolder the jumper.
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Yes the Twin Stack mod is a good one for both the Blues Deluxe and the Blues Junior.
Did that one too on the Blues Deluxe, but to really tame the bass I also put a new bass pot with a considerably lower value (I think it was 1M and I put a 250k but 100k would have even been better).
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12-08-2023, 03:31 AM #42joelf GuestHow much lighter? Originally Posted by medblues
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For example: much loved Jensen Tornado Neo 12" speaker weighs 2 kg. The stock Eminence is about 3,33 kg. So it makes a 1,33 kg lighter. Originally Posted by joelf
Then there is Jensen N12K which they designed for Tone Master amps. It weighs 2 kg too.
Either one might be a update in sound too, but it depends on Your ears.
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12-08-2023, 07:42 AM #44joelf Guest
So, converting from kg, the amp would weigh 37.067852 lb w/the new speaker.
Hardly 'quite a bit lighter', but better than 40 lb anyway. I'm more interested in sound anyway, can deal with weight if needed. Got a luggage cart.
Thanks for your response. Also, someone else said if you can grab a Deluxe for ca $400, and get an amp tech to retube and generally go over it you'd have a hell of a better amp.
I'm intrigued. I have a Champion 100, pretty good at aping tube sound for a solid state amp; also a Roland AC-33, good for portability, AC-DC and 2 channel capabilities. Surprisingly full-bodied and warm sound, too. Got rid of an AER and Toob combo, and just now a Bud 6, b/c I hated the tones (dry, sterile, no body or warmth, IMO. [Toob was muddy and thin-toned]). Now a good tube amp would make my sonic life complete on any kind of gig...Last edited by joelf; 12-08-2023 at 08:22 AM.
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