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Post subject: Re: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2014 6:54 pm
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You might consider a good lead dress. Mine had very little hiss/hum, and this made it dead quiet. You have to put your ear right next to the speaker to hear the slightest hiss at full volume.

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Post subject: Re: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2014 6:41 am
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DrEvil wrote:
..........Some final thoughts.

The Blues Deluxe is a good amp but, as has been noted by a lot of folks, it has problems. I think very few people could love this amp without mods of one form or another.
................

Guess I'm one of the few! No mods essential for me.

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Post subject: Re: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 9:14 pm
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shimmilou wrote:
You might consider a good lead dress. Mine had very little hiss/hum, and this made it dead quiet. You have to put your ear right next to the speaker to hear the slightest hiss at full volume.
shimmilou, that's a great idea. I'm doing it.

IM4Tone wrote:
Guess I'm one of the few! No mods essential for me.
Don't mind us - it's an affliction, this tinkering. As one previous post on this thread said "Hey, I can make it better." And sometimes, when the planets and the moon are aligned the right way, it does happen.


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Post subject: Re: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 10:01 am
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Great amp in my opinion with a few simple modifications and here is what I have done..I swapped out the stock speakers in both my Hot Rod amps for the Jensen C12-K 100 watt speaker... this is the same speaker that is used in the George Benson signature Fender Deluxe. Also, I changed out two of the three preamp tubes for lower gain values (12ay7-12at7) instead of all 3 12ax7 tubes.

The stock speaker is way down on power and is virtually non responsive to the EQ settings. Changing out 2 of the 3 preamp tubes for lower gain values will take the jitters out of the amp as the volume comes up and allow the volume to come up in respectable increments. Also, this will let the power of the phase inverter yield a smoother signal transferring over to the big 6l6 tubes. $100. for the speaker & approx $40. For 2 preamp tubes. I have made these changes to my Blues tweed deluxe reissue and hot rod Deville 212 and both are fantastic sounding.

The sum of any amp to start with is the speakers that are used in it. Fender knows that most people will change out the speakers in most amps (as stated by Shane Nicholas of Fender), as they do with guitar strings/pickups..etc..players have their own preference for these things. Speaker changes along with a few preamp tube changes is a given with most amps as is with guitars with regards to strings and pickups.

If your going to go the route of re-doing the 'Tone stack'..you may as well just consider another amp all together..really whats the point if you have to go that far in to your amp for a more desirable sound :o

These Hot Rod amps are popular for 2 reasons with most gigging musicians, ..They take effects pedals exceedingly well and 2ndly, they will take any speaker you throw in them and kick $@! onstage at gig level volumes with a full body sound. Non the less, the amp market is more saturated than ever with GREAT amps available to everyone at many different price points...even the Solid state amps are Bang on for great sound with modern technology that is now available.

The problem with Tubes these days that I find is this...50% of time, your big 6l6 tubes will have one that will go micro-phonic on you sooner than the tube should have gave out with it's normal life expectancy. When one goes, you have to yank both because they are a 'Matched' set :lol: I love my 2 Hot Rod amps and will gig them on some nites like opening a fine bottle of Bourbon 8) But for the long road, I have the solid state Mustang IV as my work horse and it is King weenie without a doubt..it can do it all without breaking a sweat..welcome to the age of Technology :shock:

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Post subject: Re: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 11:39 am
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I certainly don't consider change out of pre-amp tubes to be a mod. Speaker changes...well that's even a stretch IMO. My definition of a mod is a change in circuitry and/or their components....YMMV

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Post subject: Re: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2014 4:39 am
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I bought a blues deluxe reissue in 2013. The things I didn't like was: too loud at low volume, annoying highs and "fatty" lows. After much research and experimentation this is what I did......replaced the stock speaker with a vintage Weber, replaced power tubes with JJ 6L6's matched, biased at 85 mV, in v1 I have a good 12ay7 (creamy), v2 a Tung sol reissue 12ax7, and v3 I have nos type 5751 or sometimes a good 12at7. With this the volume is much better, the tone is warm and creamy but some bite and has more headroom. My settings are vol4-6, bass 8-9, treb 4, mid 6-8, rev 2-4, pres 2-3. I play a les paul traditional which I can manipulate with the volume/tone knobs to obtain a variety of sounds and tones. Because of this I only have 2 pedals, a cry baby Wah wah and maxon tube screamer. Maybe the only other pedal I may get is a okko Diablo. My style is Peter Green, Paul Kossoff, Michael Bloomfield and Bert Jansch. Well these are who I like.


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Post subject: Re: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2014 4:52 am
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msbing wrote:
I bought a blues deluxe reissue in 2013. The things I didn't like was: too loud at low volume, annoying highs and "fatty" lows. After much research and experimentation this is what I did......replaced the stock speaker with a vintage Weber, replaced power tubes with JJ 6L6's matched, biased at 85 mV, in v1 I have a good 12ay7 (creamy), v2 a Tung sol reissue 12ax7, and v3 I have nos type 5751 or sometimes a good 12at7. With this the volume is much better, the tone is warm and creamy but some bite and has more headroom. My settings are vol4-6, bass 8-9, treb 4, mid 6-8, rev 2-4, pres 2-3. I play a les paul traditional which I can manipulate with the volume/tone knobs to obtain a variety of sounds and tones. Because of this I only have 2 pedals, a cry baby Wah wah and maxon tube screamer. Maybe the only other pedal I may get is a okko Diablo. My style is Peter Green, Paul Kossoff, Michael Bloomfield and Bert Jansch. Well these are who I like.

It's like eating a good steak. Why cover up the flavor with a steak sauce.


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Post subject: Re: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2015 4:19 am
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I'm a new user here and actually signed up due to this wonderful thread.

After struggling with a bad speaker cable, I fear my BDRI's tubes have taken some damage. Instead of just replacing them, I thought I might improve on it following the tips outlined in this thread.

I suspect my needs are a little strange compared to most BDRI owners. From before, I am an acoustic player. It's mainly curiosity and appreciation for the music of such artists like David Gilmour and Mark Knopfler that led me to getting a BDRI and a stratocaster a couple of years ago. I ended up selling the strat, but I've kept the BDRI. I play acoustic gigs with a couple of friends, but at one of our yearly gigs which is at a festical (where there's always some technical problem), sound has been much too loud for micced up acoustics and so I've bought two Godin guitars, an acousticaster (which I love!) and a multiac. We actually played a small venue like this on the BDRI (probably 2,5 on the volume knob) and it worked out perfectly.

So now I'm in a situation where I play acoustic-sounding instruments on the BDRI, but I also like the occasional Knopfler-esque distortion. Metal and so on is not for me at all. What I like most is a good clean - soaring notes, dynamic sound, detail. I like a bit of meat too and don't like jangly guitar sounds, but I also don't like muddy.

Now I need a tube replacement and I'm wondering if bluesky's suggestion is for me, with the JJ tubes. Or should I consider a different manufacturer considering I probably don't use the BDRI like most others?

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Post subject: Re: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2015 10:43 am
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My current tube configuration:

V1 = 5751
V2 = 12AX7
V3 = 12AX7
V4/V5 = 6L6GC

All JJs.

This might be best for your purposes:

V1 = 12AY7
V2 = 12AX7
V3 = 12AX7
V4/V5 = 6L6GC

I still prefer NOS 12AY7s, but they are starting to become expensive so I have been trying the EH gold pin 12AY7 again which is sounding pretty good. Not not as good as NOS but better than no 12AY7. Others may recommend different tubes.

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Post subject: Re: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2015 8:50 pm
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Thanks bluesky!

I am getting the NOS 12AY7 from KCA NOS Tubes as was linked to earlier in this thread. They also had a christmas sale on JJ 12AX7s, so I snatched up a couple of those too. Unfortunately, they didn't have JJ 6L6GCs in - and ordering them elsewhere would really drive up the price as sending overseas is expensive - so I had to settle for some Tung sol reissues there .. Hopefully it'll be fine and anyways much better than stock.

Thanks again for good tips and a great thread

:)

Now I just need a voltmeter.

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Post subject: Re: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2015 2:25 pm
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You're welcome, good luck and have fun.

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Post subject: Re: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2015 5:29 am
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I've thought about speaker replacement and I just found a pretty sweet deal on a Jensen C12N ..

I don't have any experience with this one, but I'm wondering if it might be a decent replacement for the BDRI stock speaker.

What do you guys think?

edit :

Sorry, after rummaging through this thread a bit more, I found someone had already brought up the C12N, to which bluesky's response was that it might be a little bright.

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Post subject: Re: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2016 5:59 pm
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This is my BDRI setup:
V1 - 5751
V2 - 5751
V3 - 12AX7
Power tubes 6L6WGB - Bias 65 to 70

You have to hold the bias down on these power tubes, but they sound great.
Not as much power, but great tone.
You probably get 30+ watts.


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Post subject: Re: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 9:19 am
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MickJagger wrote:
This is my BDRI setup:
V1 - 5751
V2 - 5751
V3 - 12AX7
Power tubes 6L6WGB - Bias 65 to 70

You have to hold the bias down on these power tubes, but they sound great.
Not as much power, but great tone.
You probably get 30+ watts.


"Bias 65 to 70" means absolutely nothing without knowing the plate voltage.

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Post subject: Re: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2016 9:08 pm
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Great thread and awesome info!
I recently purchased a used Blues DeVille Reissue 410 and the information posted here is greatly appreciated. When I bought the Deville, I opened it up and found someone had already been inside messing around... They had removed R52 240Kohm resistor and replaced it with a jumper wire, moved the resistor to sit between R9 270K resistor and the Negative lead of C36 and finally scratched through the circuit trace between the original R52 position and C53. I was wondering if anyone had an idea what this modification may have been for. I haven't found anything else out of the ordinary and all amp features including channel switching were working fine. My understanding of the circuit (correct me if I am wrong) that C53 is bypassed when running clean channel and the only circuit path between the first pre-amp section and the following section (V1-A to V1-B) when in drive channel. So what the hell? Any help would be appreciated.

On a side note: I pulled out the main circuit board (in hopes of figuring out what the previous owner's mod was doing) and while I had it out I did the mod to the master volume (removed R18 and jumped the relay) but instead of running a long wire from R45 to D2, installed a jumper from K2 pin 4 to pin 8. This can only be accessed from the back of the board and is not useful unless board is already being removed for other purposes. But it does keep the mod neat and easy other than that. It helps in taming the volume control (I have not changed any pre-amp tubes) for at home or band practice levels.


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