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Post subject: Hot Rod Deluxe or Blues Deluxe Reissue
Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 10:01 am
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Im wonder how many people favor each of these amps because I'm going to be getting a new one soon. Any oppinions? And if you own one of these 2, please tell me how much you payed for it
:wink:


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Post subject: Re: Hot Rod Deluxe or Blues Deluxe Reissue
Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 10:26 am
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camcowx7 wrote:
Im wonder how many people favor each of these amps because I'm going to be getting a new one soon. Any oppinions? And if you own one of these 2, please tell me how much you payed for it
:wink:

I bought a blues Deluxe reissue (brand new) at the beginning of this year for $585, but I think the price has gone up a bit since then. I LOVE this amp. It has the tone I have always been looking for. It plays awesome cleans and takes pedals very well.


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Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 11:00 am
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High gain or Mild overdrive? Depends on your choice of music. I love the Blues Deluxe Reissue and a tubescreamer for a little extra grit. Both amps are the same price and are now around $699 at most on-line stores.

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Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 3:08 pm
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I just went to the local music store and played both of these 2 amps, they seem VERY similar, they have the same channels, reverb, etc, the Hot Rod Deluxe was $699.99 ( I live in Canada) but the Blues Deluxe didn't have a price tag on it. What exactly are the differences other than the tweed covering on the Blues Deluxe ( I don't know very much about amps and tubes and such)?


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Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 4:33 pm
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I have a Blues Deluxe Reissue as well. I love the clean sound and have quieted the thing a bit by changing out the 6l6 tubes for 6v6s tubes. Either way, both of the amps you are considering are quite loud by some people's standards. No matter what amp people play, almost everyone uses pedal effects for overdrive/distortion/fuzz, amongst other things, so I think you might want to give the two amps a close listen. I have read that they are different tonally, but I haven't a/b'd them or made any attempt to compare the two. They are also identically priced. If you watch Musician's Friend, you can often get a discount on a Blem amp, meaning one which was sent back to MF within their grace period. I've purchased many items through them, practically every expensive piece of gear I own was a Blem item, and nothing I have bought from them has shown up with any signs of wear or cosmetic damage. Usually the box is torn up, but otherwise I've received new gear at a discounted price. Of course that's just my experience.

Either way, no matter which of the two amps you get, you'll find it to be versatile and tonally a great sounding amp. Good luck.


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Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 7:24 pm
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camcowx7 wrote:
What exactly are the differences other than the tweed covering on the Blues Deluxe ( I don't know very much about amps and tubes and such)?


The difference is in the gain (in other words, its ability to distort). You can get much more distortion from the Hot Rod 'drive' channel and even more when you activate the 'more drive' feature. The Blues Dlx does not have a 'more drive' feature and its 'drive' is 'Bluesy' rather than drive played in the harder rock genre (Heavy Metal excluded).

The Hot Rod was developed from the Blues Deluxe. I think the clean channels are nearly identical in sound, and some people complain about the "drive' sound of the Hot Rod being too harsh. I think the best bet is to get the Blues Deluxe and a TS-9 Tubescreamer ($100) that you can activate when you feel that the mild distortion from the 'drive' channel isn't quite enough. However if you're into heavy metal, the Blues Dlx isn't the one and you should consult someone else with an ear for that sound.

And, as senggedorje has pointed out but in other words, don't get either of these for a 'bedroom amp' nor to use anywhere that you'll be 'catching it' for disturbing others while you play. For that check out the Blues jr. or SCXD.

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Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 9:47 am
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senggedorje wrote:
I have a Blues Deluxe Reissue as well. I love the clean sound and have quieted the thing a bit by changing out the 6l6 tubes for 6v6s tubes. Either way, both of the amps you are considering are quite loud by some people's standards. No matter what amp people play, almost everyone uses pedal effects for overdrive/distortion/fuzz, amongst other things, so I think you might want to give the two amps a close listen. I have read that they are different tonally, but I haven't a/b'd them or made any attempt to compare the two. They are also identically priced. If you watch Musician's Friend, you can often get a discount on a Blem amp, meaning one which was sent back to MF within their grace period. I've purchased many items through them, practically every expensive piece of gear I own was a Blem item, and nothing I have bought from them has shown up with any signs of wear or cosmetic damage. Usually the box is torn up, but otherwise I've received new gear at a discounted price. Of course that's just my experience.

Either way, no matter which of the two amps you get, you'll find it to be versatile and tonally a great sounding amp. Good luck.


I didn't know you could replace a 6L6 with a 6V6. Is a rebias all that's required? I personally like the 6V6 sound so I'm curious how this effected the sound of your deluxe. Could you give a some details on what this change did to the tone? Thanks.


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Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 10:30 am
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Jack Dotson wrote:
I didn't know you could replace a 6L6 with a 6V6. Is a rebias all that's required? I personally like the 6V6 sound so I'm curious how this effected the sound of your deluxe. Could you give a some details on what this change did to the tone? Thanks.


First and foremost, I want to identify myself as an amateur, novice, someone whose knowledge is truly limited.

I have read that the 6v6 in the distant past was thought of as a replacement for a 6l6, but this would depend on the plate voltage, which according to my understanding is the raw power going to the tubes. Most 6v6 tubes can withstand a plate voltage of no more than 350 volts. The Blues Deluxe RI and Hot Rod Deluxe amps have a plate voltage of 425. In most cases the 6v6 tube would fry almost immediately if installed in such an amp. BUT... there are 6v6s tubes which can withstand plate voltages of 475 to 500 volts. The GT's claim 475, the JJ's claim 500, so this is what made it possible for me to install the JJ's in my BDRI. As well as me biassing the amp. I used advice found at website which is touted as the unofficial Hot Rod Deluxe Owner's Guide. I can't vouch for all or much of any of the advice found at the website concerning the electrical workings of these amps, but I was able to follow their biasing advice and dial mine in.

As far as sound quality goes, I must again plead novice, but this is what I hear/don't hear: Gone is the sonic blast quality to the amp's power section. On "3", the clean channel of my BDRI was so loud as to be deafening. At that setting, merely hitting the strings caused the sound to explode out of the speaker. With the 6v6s, "3" on the clean channel is loud but pleasant.

Gone is the overwhelming bass boom. It still has a very nice, full bass sound, but it doesn't take over the sound of the amp.

It still breaks up between a clean channel volume setting of "4 to 5." The distorted sound is natural, has good highs, isn't isolated mostly to the bottom end as it used to be. But is still far to loud for my general purposes.

It still compresses nicely: since previously stating I'd biased it "cold," I've since biased it "hot," meaning right at 45mV. Which is apparently pushing the 6v6s tubes a bit. This has made for more compression which I prefer, though it's still a tad loud for my purposes.

I recently played a DRRI at low volume, and I think my BDRI has a livelier tone, yet it still has more power than the DRRI, even though they have similar plate voltages and are running the same tubes. I only mention this because I am running the same tubes, and I have read statements by folks that installing the 6v6s reduced the power in their BDRI/HRDx to about 20 watts. My sense is that while the power in the amp has been reduced, it's still louder than the DRRI.

I think amp technicians will tell you that if you wish to run 6v6 tubes in a BDRI that you should have several internal parts, such as the output transformer changed. I don't know all of the reasons why nor would I personally try to do such a thing with my amp mostly because I'm afraid of screwing the amp up or killing myself. Apparently running the 6v6s poses no risk to the amp itself. At least I have read this claim elsewhere, I certainly can't make the assertion myself.

Which brings me to issues of safety. If anyone is going to try to bias their own amp, I would suggest reading all you can about how to do so safely, because with the circuit board exposed, even with the amp turned off, one can easily electrocute themselves.

I changed the tubes solely because it was a great sound amp that became great sounding at too high a volume for my personal use. I biased it myself because I have a bit of Emerson in me, so I prefer to do what I can for myself. To take ownership as much as possible of the things I have and want done in life. I'll probably change the preamp tubes in the future, again, with the hope of having more low volume to work with. I'd like to be able to move the amp between a clean volume of "2-4" and have a palette of tone to work with. (That's my hope.)

I hope this was helpful.


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Post subject:
Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 11:06 am
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I think both are very close to each other. I have the Hot Rod Deluxe, and it's about a year old now. I've been very happy with it, and I've had no problems.

You should probably try out both and see which one your ear prefers.

I paid $600 for it, but they now sell for about $700.

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