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Post subject: Re: Blues Deluxe reissue volume too high
Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2012 1:12 pm
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bluesky636 wrote:
bluesdelux wrote:
Great! Thanks for the resources. Good to know I can do it myself. The preamp tubes are the smaller ones, correct? Looking at the back of the amp, which one is the V1?


Looking at the back, tubes are counted from right to left.

Before opening up a tube amp, do a search on and read about tube amp safety. Tubes amps have very high voltages inside that can kill you, even if they have been turned off for awhile. Come back with questions when you are ready to bias your amp or change tubes.


I have read that—pretty crazy! Hopefully, I'll be ready before the Apocalypse!


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Post subject: Re: Blues Deluxe reissue volume too high
Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2012 2:15 pm
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You didn't mention what type of music you favor or whether you prefer very clean or OD sounds.

I purchased a 'volume box' from ebay which goes betwn pre-amp in and pre-amp out. It does two things: it allows the clean volume pot to be higher and then use the "vol. box" to control volume. It is less sensitive to movement, but the tone is not quite as clean due to additional pre-amp distortion (which suits my taste). For the drive channel, it allows one to max out the 'drive' control and put the master around 3-5 but keeps the volume lower and more reasonable. Of course it is noticeably dirtier which was the second objective of mine besides getting around the sensitivity of the amps knobs. All this is additional pre-amp distortion not power amp distortion as some might claim.

I love the sounds that result and the added volume control; you may or may not, but the cost is around $20 to experiment.

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Post subject: Re: Blues Deluxe reissue volume too high
Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2012 9:23 am
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IM4Tone wrote:
You didn't mention what type of music you favor or whether you prefer very clean or OD sounds.

I purchased a 'volume box' from ebay which goes betwn pre-amp in and pre-amp out. It does two things: it allows the clean volume pot to be higher and then use the "vol. box" to control volume. It is less sensitive to movement, but the tone is not quite as clean due to additional pre-amp distortion (which suits my taste). For the drive channel, it allows one to max out the 'drive' control and put the master around 3-5 but keeps the volume lower and more reasonable. Of course it is noticeably dirtier which was the second objective of mine besides getting around the sensitivity of the amps knobs. All this is additional pre-amp distortion not power amp distortion as some might claim.

I love the sounds that result and the added volume control; you may or may not, but the cost is around $20 to experiment.



I like blues and classic rock. Depending on my mood, I could play clean for hours and throw in a little OD here and there or vice versa. I have a Boss GS-10 guitar effects processor which helps control the volume since it has an output level. But, there are days I just want to go from my guitar right to the amp—plain and simple.


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Post subject: Re: Blues Deluxe reissue volume too high
Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2012 9:38 am
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bluesdelux wrote:
I like blues and classic rock. Depending on my mood, I could play clean for hours and throw in a little OD here and there or vice versa. I have a Boss GS-10 guitar effects processor which helps control the volume since it has an output level. But, there are days I just want to go from my guitar right to the amp—plain and simple.

For $20, take the gamble. You may like it.

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Post subject: Re: Blues Deluxe reissue volume too high
Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:39 am
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IM4Tone wrote:
bluesdelux wrote:
I like blues and classic rock. Depending on my mood, I could play clean for hours and throw in a little OD here and there or vice versa. I have a Boss GS-10 guitar effects processor which helps control the volume since it has an output level. But, there are days I just want to go from my guitar right to the amp—plain and simple.

For $20, take the gamble. You may like it.


I agree. My budget's tight though. Thanks for the option IM4Tone!


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Post subject: Re: Blues Deluxe reissue volume too high
Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2012 12:17 pm
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bluesky636 wrote:
The problem is that the preamp has too much gain with a 12AX7 in V1. Intall a 5751 or 12AY7 in V1 and the clean volume will work perfectly. Mine does.

Thank you for sharing this information. I was considering the so called "volume mod" until I found this thread. Will changing V1 to a 5751 impact both the clean and drive channels?


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Post subject: Re: Blues Deluxe reissue volume too high
Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2012 12:58 pm
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Had the same problem with my BDRI. Tried a THD attenuator without much success and a hassle to use live. Then the volume box thing which worked OK. Finally just bought a DRRI. Most gigs I play are small clubs but even large ones the DRRI is just great. The BDRI needs power tube power to sound good and it just has to be way to loud to get there. It's sits in the music room and seriously thinking about selling it since even at gigs where I could use it we would mic the amps anyway. Also a bear to lug around.

Try the volume box thing. You can build one for about $10 at Radio Shack but better to order one of the ones on Ebay. It will give you more travel on the volume control but you still won't be pushing the power tubes into that sweet spot.


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Post subject: Re: Blues Deluxe reissue volume too high
Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 7:08 am
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After reading up on this subject, it occurs to me that the "problem" is not with the type of pot used for the Master on the drive channel or the gain of the pre-amp tubes in the clean channel. All of the so called fixes (including the volume box in the effects loop) attack this issue at the preamp. For those of us that think this amp is too loud, 40 watts of tube power is probably overkill for our purposes. However, I really like the features of the BDRI compared to the lower power alternatives.

So I decided to change the power tubes from the stock 6L6's to 6V6's. In theory that should reduce the power amp output to something around 25 watts. A very simple bias adjustment and I was good to go. The stock bias setting was actually in range but I ran it up a little hotter.

I have not had an opportunity to use the amp at higher volume yet, but I can run this thing at home now without to rattling the walls. I am optimistic.


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Post subject: Re: Blues Deluxe reissue volume too high
Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 10:02 am
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I've had the 6V6 change out in my mind for a while. I was wondering, how does it change the tone. I really like the 6L6 sound, but even at most clubs I've played open jams recently, I've been told to turn it down or they mic it and have to put the volume on about 2. Without mic'ed, just can't get the volume over 4. It would be nice if someone had decibel readings through out the volume spectrum to show that 6V6's are not as loud as 6L6's. A Blues Jr. can still get loud 15 watts.

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Post subject: Re: Blues Deluxe reissue volume too high
Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 12:26 pm
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TEXASBLUEZMAN wrote:
I've had the 6V6 change out in my mind for a while. I was wondering, how does it change the tone. I really like the 6L6 sound, but even at most clubs I've played open jams recently, I've been told to turn it down or they mic it and have to put the volume on about 2. Without mic'ed, just can't get the volume over 4. It would be nice if someone had decibel readings through out the volume spectrum to show that 6V6's are not as loud as 6L6's. A Blues Jr. can still get loud 15 watts.

I changed the tubes out over the weekend and have not been able to run at any reasonable stage volume yet. But if you do a Google search on "blues deluxe 6v6" you will find a lot of discussion on the subject. It seems to be a fairly common substitution. You can get a matched pair of JJ 6V6's for $30 or so at eurotubes.com. Not too expensive to test it out.


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Post subject: Re: Blues Deluxe reissue volume too high
Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 2:37 pm
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Just so that you all understand, dropping the power of the BDRI from 40 watts to 25 watts is not going to make a significant difference in overall loudness. The difference between 25 watts and 40 watts is less than 3 dB in power. The difference in sound pressure levels will also be less than 3 dB which may or may not be sufficient depending on the overall room SPL levels. If you are playing at 110 dB SPL, dropping the power by 3 dB will still result in an SPL of 107 dB SPL. Still quite loud. In order to cut the overall SPL significantly, you would have to cut it by at least 10 dB (half as loud) which would require dropping the power to about 5 watts.

Changing V1 in the preamp to a lower gain tube allows you to operate the amp in a more linear part of the volume control curve, eliminating the sudden jump you get in volume around 2 to 3 on the volume control. The amp will still be as loud at full volume with a strong input, but you have more control over volume in the lower range. I regularly play my BDRI at home around 4 or 5 on the clean volume without driving people out of the room. I run a NOS JAN 12AY7 in V1 which has less than half the gain of a 12AX7.

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Post subject: Re: Blues Deluxe reissue volume too high
Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 2:50 pm
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+1 bluesky636

Using the 6V6 output tubes will give less low-end, and earlier output tube breakup, somewhat smoother sounding than the 6L6 breakup (have to crank it to get the 6L6 breakup on clean channel). This will give a perceived drop in volume, and definitely not rattle the room as much.

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