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Post subject: Fender Blues Deluxe Upgrade
Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 10:07 am
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I have a Blues Deluxe. I bought the amp because I loved the clean tone. However, I am struggling to get a thick, full tone out of it when overdriven. What I am looking for in tone is not fuzzy distortion or to be over driven to harshly. I would like for the tone to clean up easily with a little decrease in the guitar volume knob and evolve into a thick, meaty, deep tone when pushed.

What kind of replacement speaker and tubes should I start with?

Thanks!


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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 2:43 pm
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I have the same problem with my HRDLx. Thus far I have replaced the tubes with JJ 6L6GC power tubes and JJ ECC83S preamp tubes with a high gain tube in V2. The tube change improved the overall sound of the amp by cleaning up the mudiness in the low end and smothing out the harsh treble in the upper end. It also improved the drive channels, made them a little less harsh. After that I changed out the speaker to an Emminence Cannibas Rex which is more articulate and further improved upon the changes made by switching the tubes. While I am very happy with the improvements made by changing the tubes and speakers the sound I am looking for isn't quite there yet so I am planning on sending it to Omega Amps to have Jim modify the circuit and install a mid-boost. Check out Omega Amps web page, Jim's modifications may be just what you are looking for since they are specifically designed to address the issues you are having with the overdrive tones on your amp.

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Post subject: Re: Fender Blues Deluxe Upgrade
Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 6:36 pm
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titanxt wrote:
I have a Blues Deluxe. I bought the amp because I loved the clean tone. However, I am struggling to get a thick, full tone out of it when overdriven. What I am looking for in tone is not fuzzy distortion or to be over driven to harshly. I would like for the tone to clean up easily with a little decrease in the guitar volume knob and evolve into a thick, meaty, deep tone when pushed.

What kind of replacement speaker and tubes should I start with?

Thanks!
Have you tried rolling off your tone when you use overdrive?A common mistake whith alot of people is to use too many highs when they use overdrive.I roll mine off to about 4-6.


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Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2009 8:05 am
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First I must say I am in the same boat, trying to get the sound I want from a hot rod amp.

Add up the price of all the replacement tubes (100$ ?) , replacement speaker (100$ ?), and any mods (250$ ? ) made to the amp..
Add that to the original price of the amp (800$ ?) .

How close are you to getting a new or used blackface that probably would not need any changes to sound right.

New deluxe reverb is 1200$, can probably find a used twin for similar.

I went through the same thing with my MiM axe making a ton of updates trying to get it to sound just the way I wanted. I managed to sell it with all it's mods (some still in unopened packages) for just about enough to get the Am Deluxe that sounds right to me with no mods.

Making mods and tweeks is great if that is what you like to spend your time doing :)

BTW: The Swamp Thang or Cannabis REX were/are my choice for replacement speakers, I found the REX a bit too clinical and laid back :)

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Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2009 1:11 pm
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I bought my HRDLx used for $200.00, that is the only thing that has kept it cost effective to make the mods. Thus far I have $200.00 in the amp, $79.99 in the speaker, and $70.00 for the replacement tubes for a total investment of $349.99. The mods I want done will cost $300.00 before shipping. I am expecting to have a total investment around $800.00 when all is said and done. If I am able to get boutique/custom shop tone for that price then the mods/updates will be worth it. If not, it will be a waste of time, but still no more than the cost of a new HRDLX, but mine was made in America:)

It doesn't make sense to buy a new amp just to modify it. Save the time, money, and headache and buy a reissue blackface.

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Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2009 6:26 pm
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peterp,

Just out of curiosity, and I am not trying to be a smarta**,what does "clinical and laid back" mean? I have just never heard of a musical instrument or component referred to as clinical and laid back? Emminence and a bunch of folks on Harmony Central recommend the Red, Hot, & Blues, but I didn't wat to put a 150 watt RMS, 300 watt peak, speaker on a 40 watt amp. Also, I thought the R,H, & B sounded awfully mediocre. I have been very happy with the Cannibas Rex, my very close second choice was the Private Jack (Emminence Greenback), but I wanted to keep my Fender tone as close to vintage Fender/Jensen as I could. Aren't you worried that the Swamp Thang might be too high of a wattage for the HRDLx to really push it?

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Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 7:20 am
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I think you need to get rid of the stock Groove Tubes - they are generally crap to be honest. Replace them maybe with JJs or even EHX tubes - you'll get a lot more balanced, less farty soung.

Speaker wise I'm not sure what you're going for but take a look at the Eminence Texas Heat, or Patriot (they are both over 40w capacity) or take a look at Scumback speakers.

If all else fails get a Jensen C12n 8)


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Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 8:26 am
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But there are loads of posts on this site where people have been in the same situation as you - myself included, at one point.


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Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 11:57 am
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:) Hard to describe a musical component :)
By "laid back" it seems to handle anything you throw at it without complaint or straining.
And for clinical I guess would be clean, uncolored sound.

However Billm ( of the Billm mods fame) thinks they are the other way around, 3rd post down he says what he thinks of them.
http://www.tdpri.com/forum/amp-central-station/119654-suggested-speaker-replacement-blues-jr.html

No, not worried about putting in a speaker rated for higher wattage than the amp is putting out. Those are just the max continuous and peak power input the speaker can handle.
In most cases the speaker is hitting 90+db with just 1 watt input power.
Remember Loudness is logarithmic you need to double the power for each gain of 3db
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Audio-System ... -Power.htm

Both these speakers work well in the Blues Junior as well :)

WRC73 wrote:
peterp,
Just out of curiosity, and I am not trying to be a smarta**,what does "clinical and laid back" mean? I

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