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Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 5:35 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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Well, Supro, thanks for the record clarification.

I like my BDRI and I hope to move up to a Bassman someday.
Honestly, I too thought about building my own amp and I've found
suppliers for sourcing components.

IF I ever built my own, I would be more inclined to build a head or rackmount rather than a combo.
I think I would be modeling from the Bassman and ??
I still have time to work all those details out.

For now, I want to be content with my BDRI.
If I am not mistaken you're experience is with an HRD (I may be wrong)
and I don't think I recall you messin' with a BDRI.
One thing I noticed is the circuitry differs in the HRD than the BDRI.
I've got th 5 year warranty so.... by then I may be able own a Bassman.

Maybe the amps that gave you a hard time just don't like you for some reason. Obviously, you don't like them.
It kinda reminds me of a saying in the trucking industry "Team driving is like a marriage, you either live out the golden years or you end up divorced."

Your mileage may vary. Mine sure does. :lol:


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Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 7:14 pm
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Actually the HRDlx was the only amp that ever gave me a hard time in the 40+ years I've been playing. I've had all kinds of amps, but Fender amps were always my main gigging gear.

The whole HRD series is poorly designed with thin boards, and lots of cheap components. The tube sockets are mounted to the thin boards so heat related failures are pretty common if you gig seriously with it. The Blues series uses the same cheap construction techniques but lacks the more drive channel which may be why they are a bit better. I was looking at one when I bought the HRDlx but I didn't care for the sound of it.

My main amp was 76 Twin Reverb that I've had since it was new that went to hell and back with me and was only in the shop once for a cap job. It also only had one tube change in all that time. The Twin is being sold soon and has been replaced with an Egnater Rebel 20. The Rebel has been rock solid for the past ten months and sounds incredible. I only changed one preamp tube to lower the gain a tad and it's right where I want it. It's all I need for the gigs I do now.

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Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 10:53 pm
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63supro wrote:
Actually the HRDlx was the only amp that ever gave me a hard time in the 40+ years I've been playing. I've had all kinds of amps, but Fender amps were always my main gigging gear.

The whole HRD series is poorly designed with thin boards, and lots of cheap components. The tube sockets are mounted to the thin boards so heat related failures are pretty common if you gig seriously with it. The Blues series uses the same cheap construction techniques but lacks the more drive channel which may be why they are a bit better. I was looking at one when I bought the HRDlx but I didn't care for the sound of it.

My main amp was 76 Twin Reverb that I've had since it was new that went to hell and back with me and was only in the shop once for a cap job. It also only had one tube change in all that time. The Twin is being sold soon and has been replaced with an Egnater Rebel 20. The Rebel has been rock solid for the past ten months and sounds incredible. I only changed one preamp tube to lower the gain a tad and it's right where I want it. It's all I need for the gigs I do now.




I have a pair of cooling fans that resemble the large square fan type
units in my rackspace computer case but are full 120 volt models. They have a cast aluminum body and both of them came out of an X-ray
monitor chassis.
To buy these new would be about $200 each, I later learned.
Lucky me when I dumpster dived, heh heh. they are pretty darned quiet
but I haven't tried 'em out yet with a mic. I figured I might rig up some
sort of cooling system for my fragile Blues Deluxe. (Any thoughts on that idea?)

I am sorry that you experienced a nasty relationship with the hot rod.
Incidentally, hot rod cars run hot and can be very temperamental like some hot blond that makes you go nuts.

I assume that you already own the Egnater Rebel 20 and have used it extensively in that time. I don't know about owning an faithful amp for nearly 40 years and one day hand it walking papers. That's like dumping a
faithful wife for a hot young blond who is probably going to get pregnant and hold you prisoner for the next 20 years. In this case, you'll be regretting the foresaking of the baggy woman... err umm the Twin. :wink:

Disclaimer: Any referance to hot rods, hot amps and hot women possessing a similar nature is purely coincidental and unintentional in spite
of the fact that they are a high maintenance fact of life.

Fair Warning To All: Beware of hot beautiful women, hot rods and
hot amps when you hear their siren calls that make you go "oooooh yeah".


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Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 5:36 am
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Twinhit, It's a sad thing for me but a close friend will be buying it and I have visitation rights and I can borrow it if I need it. The Twin a tool. A very reliable great sounding tool but it's too loud and heavy for what I do now. My days of big venues and bad PA system are over. A Twin is overkill in most situations for me.

Back to your fans. Fans can blow a bunch of dust, grease and smoke if you still play in places that allow smoking. I still know a few. It's nut really about blowing air into the amp but getting it out. I'd use them as exhaust fans.

I've had the Egnater for about 10 months. I sold the HRDlx to get some cash towards it. Don't ever try to trade an amp in. GC was looking to give me $275 for it I sold it on Craigs List for $475 in two days.

The Egnater has a lot of really nice features with tons of sonic possibilities. I still have a 74 SF Champ that is great and never saw a shop. I had to have my tech on a retainer for the HRDlx. It failed on stage 3 times in less than six months. Cold solder joints, 5 watt power resistors, filter caps went bad and well as a switching relay. and I never played the thing full up or abused it in any way. It has a 5 year warranty IMO because it Needs a 5 year warranty. Some are great and are trouble free, I just got the other end of the stick.

I now have a new found love for low wattage amps.

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Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 6:25 am
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I too have a few unused amps sitting in my closet.I think its best to sell something like that to someone who will use it , than sit in my closet collecting dust.I am not a collector hoping that someday it will pay off in a big way,but a musician who would rather see an instrument used.


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Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 6:38 am
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I agree budglo, components go bad when they're not used. I may take the money and put it towards a Tweed kit. I love low wattage amps. :D

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Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 6:46 am
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63supro wrote:
I agree budglo, components go bad when they're not used. I may take the money and put it towards a Tweed kit. I love low wattage amps. :D
Seriously thinking about the same thing with my Bassman.Hasnt been used since I got my drri.A s much as I love the bm, you really need to crank it to get the full use out of it ,and thats alot louder than any of the gigs I play anymore.I would rather see someone else get it that can put it to good use.My drri IS my tone now and as I am not getting younger,neither is my back getting any stronger, if you know what I mean.


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Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 8:38 am
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Yep, low wattage is the way to go for most gigs. Jeff Becks been using an old 50's Tweed Champ among other things. The trend now is low wattage amps. I rarely use distortion pedals since I bought the Rebel. Just a wah, chorus a little slap back echo if I want it. Nothing fancy maybe a boost. I build most of my own pedals. It's easier on your back and your ears. 20 watts is pretty loud and I've been playing a 100 watt Twin for almost 35 years.

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Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 11:00 am
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Isn't Jeff Beck still using mostly JTM 45's? I saw him years ago with Santana,great show.Anyway,I'd like to go lower wattage as well but I still have to keep up w/ the occasional other guitarist using a half stack & I'm just tired of lugging mine around,thus my 2 original amp choices of Bluesbreaker or Bassman.


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Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 11:30 am
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In Becks latest interview with GP magazine he recorded most of Emotion and Commotion with the Tweed Champ. He still uses Marshall's, but he's beginning to favor the Champs. He got some incredible sustain with the Champ. If you haven't heard his new CD it's a real gem. Joss Stone's on it too. Some folks can't stand her. I like her voice and she's real easy on the eyes too. :D

It seems like Becks starting to care about his hearing. If guys you play with are dragging half stacks to bars and small gigs, it's time to find some new guys to play with. I use 20 watts with a very aggressive drummer and still get over with no problem. My Egnater keeps up with 50-75 watt amps with no problem at all. All I do is plug in my second 112 cab.

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Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 11:58 am
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But see now your in "mini-stackville",I wanna make the transition from "stackville" to "comboville". :mrgreen: I thought about the DRRI but IDK.Alot of guys use small amps in the studio but I doubt Beck's gigging with his Champ.I always see him with a JTM 45.


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Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 2:20 pm
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emanym wrote:
But see now your in "mini-stackville",I wanna make the transition from "stackville" to "comboville". :mrgreen: I thought about the DRRI but IDK.Alot of guys use small amps in the studio but I doubt Beck's gigging with his Champ.I always see him with a JTM 45.


You need to read the interview. :wink: He's been playing some pretty small venues. He was just at the Iridium Jazz Club doing a Les Paul Tribute. The place is tiny. I saw Les there a couple of times and you can hear the pick hit the strings. Unamplified.

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Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 3:13 pm
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63supro wrote:
Twinhit, It's a sad thing for me but a close friend will be buying it and I have visitation rights and I can borrow it if I need it. The Twin a tool. A very reliable great sounding tool but it's too loud and heavy for what I do now. My days of big venues and bad PA system are over. A Twin is overkill in most situations for me.

Back to your fans. Fans can blow a bunch of dust, grease and smoke if you still play in places that allow smoking. I still know a few. It's nut really about blowing air into the amp but getting it out. I'd use them as exhaust fans.

I've had the Egnater for about 10 months. I sold the HRDlx to get some cash towards it. Don't ever try to trade an amp in. GC was looking to give me $275 for it I sold it on Craigs List for $475 in two days.

The Egnater has a lot of really nice features with tons of sonic possibilities. I still have a 74 SF Champ that is great and never saw a shop. I had to have my tech on a retainer for the HRDlx. It failed on stage 3 times in less than six months. Cold solder joints, 5 watt power resistors, filter caps went bad and well as a switching relay. and I never played the thing full up or abused it in any way. It has a 5 year warranty IMO because it Needs a 5 year warranty. Some are great and are trouble free, I just got the other end of the stick.

I now have a new found love for low wattage amps.



I hear the Champs are great, (haven't seen one in person yet) and the Blues Jrs seem to have established a faithful following as well.

For me, I am more stay-at-home recording on puter so gigging isn't expected anytime soon, unless of course they put chickenwire to protect me from the angry mob.
Because of my hearing, I need amplification. An amp that has Bass, Middle, Treble are desireable due to my hearing performance curves.
To tell you the truth I would love to be able to naturally hear these amps and guitars but I can barely hear my classical anymore. It's like playing in a padded cell with the volume way down. Some notes I can hear, other notes I cannot.
Shortly before Les Paul died, he was trying to get something going in the way of improving hearing aids. I wish he could have had more time to devote toward that end.

I've also thought about how bass amps have 4 tone stack knobs
Low, Low Mid, Mid, Treb or something like that.
I think it would be pretty cool to have a well design 4-8 pot tonestack where the guitar's frequency range can be shaped with greater resolution.


I got the dust business covered by means of low cell density foam filter like what I have on my rackspace case. You can find this stuff in vacuum cleaners so.... it's another pet project for me someday.
Only thing is, the amp case rear panel blocks the circuit board and a custom panel would have to be made and then..... sound proofing the cooling system would be a whole other affair to contend with.
that's the kind of tweaking I would be inclined to do, but it IS too bad the circuit just isn't up to snuff.
I wonder why one couldn't just build their own point to point amp to replace the BDRI/HRD pcb boards and use the stock chassis so in the end, the external appear remains the same but the guts essentially go back to the old school handwired type.
I've found a few places that sell the terminals and boards, caps, resistors sockets, etc.

IMHO, that would be a pretty cool project and any player that could do that is real player's player.

About your twin, well, a close friend is getting it and will let you borrow it if needed - that's cool.


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Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 3:18 pm
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emanym wrote:
But see now your in "mini-stackville",I wanna make the transition from "stackville" to "comboville". :mrgreen: I thought about the DRRI but IDK.Alot of guys use small amps in the studio but I doubt Beck's gigging with his Champ.I always see him with a JTM 45.


Actually the most recent shots of JB are with a couple of Pro Jr's and a big baffle board. No doubt due to his tinnitus.

A fan on the back of the amp isnt a nonsense at all. The main thing about it is getting good air circulation. Now someone once said to me on these boards 'yeah but you'll blow dust into your amp. Well the simple fact is you dont pick up that much dust over 6" and it's only a problem for a open chassis combo where the chassis opens up into the combo ala VOX (my pet hate). Also it doesn't do much good on a valve mounted under chassis amp design. The heat just goes up onto the circuitboard. It's gonna do that anyway, right? You may only get a couple of inches benefit with a fan in that case.

Anyways we should all buy JTM45's or 1962's and be done with it. Those amps have recorded the best ever tones in all of guitardom ever anyways. Well ok I'm biased, they've been a integral part of the best sound of Clapton, Townsend and Gibbons and I'm about to buy one for a ridiculously low amount of wunga.


Ignore all the above cept the Jeff Beck bit. Just the ramblings of a person of varying opinion :wink:

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Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 4:00 pm
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I'm just going by what's in his latest interview. I've seen him with a pile of tweed Twins too. He goes on and on about playing too loud and killing his tone. As far as the Pro Jr's go, they might be his, might be rentals. I've had Tinnitus for a long time. It ain't no joke, it blows big time. His must be agonizing. Clapton's too.

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