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Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 10:29 am
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dta74 wrote:
if you think 2 is too loud... the worst i've seen was getting my amp back after witnessing a local superstar (grammy-nominated too) play my blues deville at an open mic night... seeing the volume on 6. Granted, he was playing Van Halen....

go to ebay, search for "fender volume box"

get one of the $10 versions, basically a small box with 1 volume knob... put it in the effects loop (or at the end of your signal chain if you're actually using the loop). As you turn the pot, it shunts the signal to ground, essentially becomes a master volume. You can crank both channel volumes and back off the overall level with this box.

This is also easier on your power tubes, as you are turning down the volume BEFORE you hit the power stage, unlike an attenuator box like a THD HotPlate which forces you to run the power tubes at high volume then shunts the speaker level signal thru a series of resistors.

I borrowed a friend's one time and it worked pretty well. But honestly, I'm not looking for power tube saturation out of this amp. If I wanted that, i'd play the deluxe reverb or a 50 watt non-master marshall... at full volume... :-)


Good stuff man! I don't know if I need to do any of this anyway. You've been a big help and I appreciate it.


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Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 10:32 am
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crazyunclebill wrote:
Well, I bought a Blues Deluxe! I preferred the sound which, to me, is less "sharp and piercing" than the DRRI. Yeah, I'd love to have both, but diamonds and roses notwithstanding, I'd have an "unpleasant situation" around here! :shock: The 40 watts of this amp is certainly way too much for home use, so I also purchased Groove Tubes conversion kit that drops the power into the 15-18 watt range---a little more manageable, but it still never gets above 3 even if I'm plugged into #2 input. I'm still fiddling around to get the sound I like with my different guitars. The amp really likes HSH Strat and LOVES the P90s in my Goldtop! I'm having a bit of a time getting a good overdriven sound with my Koa Strat loaded with Texas Specials--it stays pretty clean on the top end no matter what I do. I'm sure if I wack the volume way up it'll grind real nice but I'll also be meeting with local law enforcement if I do that! I haven't worked too much yet with my 3 pickup HHH Black Beauty Custom, but it drives the front end well so I think I should get some good tones there. I am running only a Blues Driver in front of the amp and have been told to try a Tube Screamer--maybe that will be next.
Conclusion so far: A reaay nice straightforward amp. Good looks, nice tone, plenty of power for gigging, and too much power for the house. It works nicely with my one pedal. So far, I'm a pretty happy guy! :D


Congrats bro! I've got the same amp and love it. I use a Danelectro Daddy O overdrive pedal for crunchy rhythm play. The Master channel just doesn't get nasty enough for me for that purpose.


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Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 10:56 am
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You can get the amp to do a lot of things as it is a piece of electrical equipment but i agree with the previous post. i'm not sure if i would want to change the overall design/function of the amp with something like a GT conversion kit. it does sound that the tone would be affected in a negative way though volumes can be reduced. that being said-i've only learned about them from the posts here so if anyone can further educate those of us who don't know-please do. does it make more sense to get a power attenuator to bring down the volume and bring up the grind? maybe not if one doesn't want tube-driven drive right? somebody help me!


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Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 11:01 am
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ok.. if you really want to lower the volume level... put the amp on a couch or soft-back chair... tilt it back so the back of the amp isn't sitting flush against the cushions... this will do several things:

it will elevate the amp off the floor... you wont' be transmitting vibrations thru the floor.

the cushions will absorb the sound/vibrations

the amp will be higher up and tilted back... hopefully pointed at your head... you won't need to turn it up as much, tho it will sound brighter.

Also, if it's too bright... or if you normally play with the amp behind you, blowing at your knees... try a 3x3 inch square of duct tape, applied to the grill cloth, directly in front of the center of the speaker cone (s). This will diffuse the high frequencies radiating from the center of the cone...

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93 Blues Deville 212
05 MIM Strat with 96 Am. Std. "Delta Tone" and Dimarzio Virtual Vintage pickups
98 Carvin Bolt with Dimarzio and Duncan pickups
Muzique.com Mini-Booster and MOSFET Booster
Ibanez TS-9 Reissue (TS-808 and flat-mid mods)


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Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 11:41 am
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Well, I'm kind of overwhelmed by all the response! I have seen the volume control on e-bay and for 10 bucks I'm gonna give it a try. The Groove Tubes adaptor Gt 928 PR does drop the power, but doesn't seem to have a lot of effect on the volume issue. I'm thinking that it's not exactly what I thought it would be, so I'll probably go the same way dta74 went and sell 'em. The little volume control in the effects loop seems like a simpler solution and allows the amp to remain "as designed". I have thought about a lower power amp but have decided that I will most likely buy a Champ or Epi valve Junior and use that as a building block to mod into something that may or may not be "just what I wanted"! It should be a lot of fun to do and a good learning opportunity. Hopefully, I won't electrocute myself or burn down the house! :oops: I will say that at low volumes (read living room level) that I did not notice a significant tone change when going to the GT kit from the stock 6L6s. This could be more of an issue at increased levels...just my opinion. Thanks for the info on the back panel. It did seem less than solid---I'll watch out!

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"FrankenStrat" P90s
Nashville Tele
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Tele 1980s Vintage
Gibson Les Paul Special
Gibson Custom Shop "Montana Gold" J200
Fender "Blues Deluxe"


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Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 11:58 am
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yes... I've lost 2 sets of tubes due to hits on the back panel. Granted, the tubes continued to work afterwards, but not something I like to see upon setup....

The deal with the tube converters is more of an issue with full volume. The EL-84s making 15-20 watts per pair will still get just as loud as the 6L6s making 40 watts. The difference is that 84s will be running at full blast where as the 6L6s will still have some reserve (headroom) for large transients (volume spikes such as a heavy chord or an extremely loud distortion pedal).

Also... due to differences of internal design and construction, the 84s will sound different than the 6L6s... Supposedly those converters run the tubes in Class A, but then you're running class A tubes with a transformer that was not designed and matched for this type of operation... its a compromise... and not necessarily a good one.

Check current ebay prices and listings to see how many are currently for sale... if the market isn't good right now, it probably won't hurt to wait... tho some other lucky person might find them to be the perfect christmas gift.

Also... the volume box I had works backwards: as you turn the knob up, it turns the volume DOWN. Just don't be surprised by this. Try setting the volume box so its at the minimum (quietest) setting... crank up your amp and they turn up the volume on the box. You should notice that channel 1 really doesn't get that dirty, but channel 2 with gain and vol at max gets nice and gritty...

_________________
93 Blues Deville 212
05 MIM Strat with 96 Am. Std. "Delta Tone" and Dimarzio Virtual Vintage pickups
98 Carvin Bolt with Dimarzio and Duncan pickups
Muzique.com Mini-Booster and MOSFET Booster
Ibanez TS-9 Reissue (TS-808 and flat-mid mods)


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Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 12:30 pm
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Thanks for the info. I just ordered the volume knob on e-bay so it should be here in a few days. The GT kit is certainly not the worst thing I've wasted money on! :roll:

_________________
Custom made all Koa Strat SSS
"FrankenStrat" P90s
Nashville Tele
Light Relic Baja Tele
Tele 1980s Vintage
Gibson Les Paul Special
Gibson Custom Shop "Montana Gold" J200
Fender "Blues Deluxe"


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Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 12:49 pm
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they're not necessarily bad... just not right for this application. They're really made for people who want to crank their amps up to full volume... with less headroom.

Also, referring to another post, a volume pedal in the FX loop might not work. Most vol pedals have a 250k pot. the volume box I had (and yes, I had to open it up to see what was inside) had a 1 Meg linear taper pot.

_________________
93 Blues Deville 212
05 MIM Strat with 96 Am. Std. "Delta Tone" and Dimarzio Virtual Vintage pickups
98 Carvin Bolt with Dimarzio and Duncan pickups
Muzique.com Mini-Booster and MOSFET Booster
Ibanez TS-9 Reissue (TS-808 and flat-mid mods)


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