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Post subject: My 1st Fender valve amp for blues-where to start?
Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 10:26 am
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Hey guys,

What a dilemma. I have NO idea where to start. Heres my situation:

I play blues with a little bit of soul and funk inbetween. I use a PRS 25th Anniversary Swamp Ash Special with 3 Narrowfield pickups. This runs into my Orange Dual Terror which I revalved with Cryogenically treated Harma Valves.

I get complimented on my tone a lot. Other blues musicians really love the sound I am getting, and I have to say, I've been pretty happy with it too!

I've been having problems lately though. Before I bought the PRS I was using an old Ibanez JS100 - I'd put a Dimarzio Air Norton in the neck and a Bill Lawrence L500-XL in the bridge. It was sounding great.

When I bought the PRS it would obvious the pickups were more suited to blues, and so should be more to my style. However, I think all that did was further highlight how NOT for blues the Orange actually is. It can't really nail the bluesy tone that the pickups seem to want. I dunno if this makes sense to anyone out there - it's hard to explain. I'm not a big SRV fan, but I love that kind of tone. Not fuzzy, not gritty, but a nice thick blues clean and a nice smooth drive for soloing. The Orange is a lot more fuzzy with these pickups as they are closer to single coils, and the cleans are not as clean anymore.

To further complications - the Orange does NOT have reverb. I bought an Electro Harmonix Nano Grail reverb pedal but it's useless as the Orange also does NOT have an FX Loop. Two more major drawbacks. Then I bought a Keeley Compressor and a Chorus pedal, but they still don't work great in front of the amp.

Another slight irritation is that, even though its a very compact and convenient head, it still means two items to carry to gigs - the head AND the 1x12 cab.


I had something good going with tone - and I am sorry to all you Fender fans but I do love this little amp. I think as the rest of my rig changed it fit's in less, and for my gigging need's it is lacking in features. I need you guys to help me make the right decision. I feel a Fender amp has what I need but I've no idea where to start. (Used to use Marshall's, hate the wooly overdrive).

If I sold the Orange Dual Terror, the E.H Nanoverb, The 1x12 Celestion Classic 80, and some other things I no longer need - I'd have about £700[GBP] (I'm in Ireland).

I seen a really nice looking Fender Hot Rod Deluxe III Red October for 700. Seems great - 40watts is all I need, 3 channels would be brilliant, reverb, FX Loop etc... Then I seen a Fender Hot Rod Blues Junior III for 500.

After that I get lost with the big selection.

All advice highly appreciated. Thanks guys.
Steve.


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Post subject: Re: My 1st Fender valve amp for blues-where to start?
Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 11:34 am
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Skip both of those amps and get yourself a Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue. Much better amp than both unless you're looking for onboard OD which really isn't that great in the BJ. Hot Rod Deluxe is ok, but the DRRI is a perfect amp to use with pedals.

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Post subject: Re: My 1st Fender valve amp for blues-where to start?
Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 11:40 am
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Thanks for the tip - I'll read up on it. What strikes me immediately is that it is a good 3 to 400 bucks out of my price range.

Also, Yes - I really would like an amp that has great onboard OD.

Steve.


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Post subject: Re: My 1st Fender valve amp for blues-where to start?
Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 6:30 pm
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I have a Blues Deluxe Reissue, Blues Junior and an Egnater Tweaker 15 Head with a 2 x12 ext. All three will get the blues tone I like. I installed C-Rex speakers in the Blues Deluxe and the Blues Junior and I have two 16 ohm Texas Heats in the 2 x 12 ext.

The reverb is ok in the Blues Deluxe and Blues Jr., but a Deluxe Reverb would probably be much better. I use an Electro Harmonix Cathedral for the reverb in my Egnater.

The Egnater is probably the more flexible of the three and I practice a lot with that amp in my studio. It will get plenty loud with the 2 x 12 and I have it running through a Weber Mini Mass 50 watt attenuator most of the time. It basically will do Fender, Marshall and Vox tones with the flick of a switch

For over driving these things I am using an EH Soul Preacher, Hardwire CM2, Fulltone Fulldrive 2 Mosfet MXR 10 band EQ and a EH Big Muff Pi with tone/wicker.

The guitar I mostly play blues with is a Deluxe Players Strat with a rosewood fretboard, vintage noiseless pickups with a 12-16-20-26-36-46 mixed set of strings. The 12-16-20 come from a set of D'Addario EXL145 and the 26-36-46 come from Dean Markley 1973 Vintage Regulars.

For my classic rock stuff I am using a Blacktop Strat maple neck with EMG-DG20 David Gilmour Pre-Wired Pickguard/Pickup Set. I also have a Standard Telecaster. I am using Dean Markley 10-46 Blue Steels on those...

Detroit Blues is right about the Deluxe Reverb, just straight up plug and play and maybe a Hardwire CM2 to overdrive it. My Blues Deluxe is like that, but I sure wish I had the tube driven Reverb/Vibrato that the Deluxe Reverb has in it. The Deluxe Reverb has a tube rectifier as well...

If you are already getting complemented on your tone, a really nice tube amp will only make it better, well sometimes...

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Post subject: Re: My 1st Fender valve amp for blues-where to start?
Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 8:41 pm
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Hi steveyraff,

FWIW

Firstly, the DRRI is a great amp for blues, maybe one of the best. Not the greatest amp for using effects to get a heavier rock sound though.

Considering your description of budget, sound, reverb, loop requirement, power needs, versatility, it seems that the HRDlx III is perfect for you. I also think that the BJr would give you more of the bluesy sound that you want, compared to the Orange. And, with the BJr, you can use the money saved for speaker and tube upgrade and/or mods if you want to get more out of it later. Both take pedals well, as good as, or better than any amp out there. If you can do without the loop and the power of the HRDlx, I think that the BJr would work great for the sound that you want, and is closer in sound to the Orange.

I have a HRDlx I and BJr II, and they both have their own sound, but both are great for bluesy sounds, and both have reverb. Obviously the HRDlx has more power and versatility, at the cost of more weight. For me, the HRDlx got to be too heavy for me to carry comfortably, so I have been using my Twkr 40 head to jam a couple of times a week with a buddy. I play clean rhythm, and he has been using a Tiny Terror and has a great, crunchy, rock tone, playing lead, not really bluesy but cool. The last couple of weeks, I brought my BJr instead, and after hearing it, he was reminded of his BJr. He turned off his Orange, turned on his BJr, now we're playing the blues, great clean with some grit when we want it. My friend is now talking about selling his Orange too. :lol:

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Post subject: Re: My 1st Fender valve amp for blues-where to start?
Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 7:56 pm
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+1 shim
i have a tweaker 40 that i use with a jet city 2x12 cab and its loud.
but i wanted a portable, light amp and easy on the wallet. so i ordered a nos blues jr.
im impressed with the tone. i mentioned earlier on my thread, has 2 volumes turn one low and one high and you get clean or bluesy distortion.
now plug in a les paul into it and a new addiction begins. :mrgreen:

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Post subject: Re: My 1st Fender valve amp for blues-where to start?
Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 7:30 pm
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IMO, I'd go with a DRRI, or check out some of the Egnater offerings before any HRD amp. There's a lot more versatility in both the DRRI because of it's two channels with separate EQ, and Egnater has some seriously tasty tone controls. I use a Rebel 20 with the tube mix and watts control. Also my Egnater has been seriously gigged for over a year and a half with zero problems, my HRDlx lasted three gigs before all the nightmare stuff started.
Just a heads up, you don't need an effects loop to run a reverb pedal. I run my BYOC reverb in the signal chain with my, 74 Champ, Rebel and even my Pignose and it sounds great.

The sweet thing about the Rebel is the tube mix that has both 6V6 and EL84 powers tubes that can be blended, as well as a watts control that can take the amp down to one watt.
As far as the HRDlx, the reverb isn't anywhere near as nice as a DRRI and the Fizz and More Fizz channels are still pretty awful on the III series too.

Just my opinion. YMMV Try them all out if you can. :wink:

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Post subject: Re: My 1st Fender valve amp for blues-where to start?
Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 3:31 pm
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You want a Fender amp for the blues? then get one with blues in the name! Get a Blues Deluxe Reissue. You'll love it. For just blues you can plug in and go with cleans and a good overdrive channel. But the BDRI takes distortion pedals much better than the Deluxe Reverb RI, IMO. I have bought a DRRI twice thinking it was what I needed, and both times resold them because of how bad distortion pedals sounded through the channel that has reverb.

I just started another thread where I talked about even getting an expensive Marshall, but my BDRI sounded so much better (to me).

I am going to try the Egnater, like some other posters said - just for the heck of it. GAS always gets the better of me.


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Post subject: Re: My 1st Fender valve amp for blues-where to start?
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 5:24 am
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I would have kept the DRRI and found a different pedal. They sound great with a Fulltone OCD or a Tube Screamer. That's just me though. My Egnater is a no pedal required amp. It's easy to dial in exactly what I'm looking for. Plus so far heading up on two years of pretty steady gigging and rehearsing, the reliability is off the hook. If you want some seriously raw Blues tone, look at some old Silvertone amps, the Twin Twelve is awesome. It a plug and go amp. Supro, old Danelectro and the reissue Supro amps are great too. Don't be afraid to venture outside the Fender box. The Blues has nothing to do with equipment. :wink:

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Post subject: Re: My 1st Fender valve amp for blues-where to start?
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 7:53 am
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63supro wrote:
I would have kept the DRRI and found a different pedal.

+1
Clean or with a tube screamer type pedal the DRRI is still king of the Blues tone! A lot of people mention Blues tone, but I dunno what they mean by it... you got Ronnie Earl's clean Strat Blues tone then you got someone like Gary Moore with his "Blues" tone. If you're after a Moore tone, then forget about the DRRI, but if you want Earl or SRV or Albert Collins or BB or many other real Bluesmen then go for the DRRI, end of story. You can get clean or crank it up to 6 or 7 and get SRV tone, no pedal needed. Plug a 335 into it and at volume 4 that amp will scream Blues tone!

Anyone who can't get the sweetest Blues tone out of a DR or DRRI, with or without a pedal, either didn't spend enough time tweaking the amp or they bought the wrong amp.

Many years ago, '94 I believe, I fell for the whole Blues written on the amp thing, traded my Peavey Classic for a Blues Deluxe, never bonded with that amp... 16 years later and after taking a break from playing music for many years first thing I did was trade it in for a DRRI, got exactly what I paid for it back then :)

Good luck!


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Post subject: Re: My 1st Fender valve amp for blues-where to start?
Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 4:34 am
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A look back into blues history shows that most of the real deal players were playing, twins, super reverbs, Bassman's etc.....

The rest of this stuff is marketing.

The closest thing I found in the line of "hot Rods" was my 1993 blues deville with those blue alnico's, Should have never sold that amp, it sounded good ! real good !!
I bought like five blues jrs over the years, sure I would find one that sounded good, my first clue should have been how many were and are on Craigs List and at the pawn shops, i even had the two tone burst one that matched my 50th ann Strat.
Just never fell in love with the tone.
I'll chime in and say the very best low powered amp out there still is the DRRI.
Best bang for your buck ! and at 22 watts no HRD or Blues whatever will ever top it.

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Post subject: Re: My 1st Fender valve amp for blues-where to start?
Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 7:37 am
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Quote:
The closest thing I found in the line of "hot Rods" was my 1993 blues deville with those blue alnico's


I just traded a Blues Junior for a 1993 Blues Deville, stuck two Ragin Cajun's and two Eminence Legend 105's in it.. Bulesemus Maximus.. 8)

I also have a Blues Deluxe with a Cannibas Rex in it and it nails the Blues tone pretty good, but I have to admit those four tens kick some serious stuff out of them...

I plug my Egnater Tweaker 15 into them and it sounds pretty dreamy...

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In the hands of the right people it can change the world. Not bad for a hunk of ash, a few magnets, and some wire.
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http://www.youtube.com/user/bigskybluesband


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Post subject: Re: My 1st Fender valve amp for blues-where to start?
Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 8:22 am
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here is a shot at my home rig

Image

The little VHT has an RCA 6V6Gt and Tung-sol 5751 makes for some sweet early overdive tones at lower volumes, the Bandmaster at 40 watts and the Bassman at 50 can send stuff tumbling off the walls.

Honestly I play the big boys most of the time, Love that fender tone !!!

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Post subject: Re: My 1st Fender valve amp for blues-where to start?
Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 1:00 pm
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majorbytes wrote:
Quote:
The closest thing I found in the line of "hot Rods" was my 1993 blues deville with those blue alnico's


I just traded a Blues Junior for a 1993 Blues Deville, stuck two Ragin Cajun's and two Eminence Legend 105's in it.. Bulesemus Maximus.. 8)

I also have a Blues Deluxe with a Cannibas Rex in it and it nails the Blues tone pretty good, but I have to admit those four tens kick some serious stuff out of them...

I plug my Egnater Tweaker 15 into them and it sounds pretty dreamy...


Sometimes I get a little "ice picky" tone from my bdri and strat when jamming with a pedal and decent gain (when pick meets string). Would a speaker change help that? Aside from that occassional tone I'm loving the tone of the bdri.


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Post subject: Re: My 1st Fender valve amp for blues-where to start?
Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 1:35 pm
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C-Rex is a great choice for the Ice pick blues, that big cab behind me has a c-rex in the top and a Red Fang in the bottom. (see picture)

The c-rex is smooth and warm, the fang is brighter and pointing at my feet, not my head.
Not great for the first few rows of folks if your on an elevated stage :mrgreen:

Weber 12F150 also comes highly recomended for a warm way to smooth out the highs, I have yet to meet a Weber speaker I didn't love !

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Keepn' the Blues Alive

2004 50th Ann. Limited edition AMSE Stratocaster
2017 50's Baja Telecaster BSB

1968 Bandmaster with 2X12 cab C-rex speakers
VHT Special 6 Ultra combo

Visual Sound Route 66
Cmatmods Signa Drive


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