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Post subject: 15 watt amp or 40 watt amp?
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 4:30 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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If all goes well and as planned,I am getting ever closer to purchase of guitar and amp. My Sales Engineer at Sweetwater Sound strongly recommends going with a 40 watt amp,...so I have tentatively chosen the Hot Rod Deluxe for use at church once I get some lessons under my belt,etc,etc. My sales engineer says to go 40 watts as it will give you more headroom before it starts to break up than a 15 watt Blues Jr. would,...better to have that extra "headroom" with the HR DLX,than not have it with the BJr whereas I would really be pushing that one to keep up with the organ,piano,and congregation singing. We don't use drums,...at least not yet,anyway. Guys on another guitar site I belong to tend to think that the 15 watt BJr would be more than enough,especially if I have it on a stand,up off the floor so it can project sound better. So,initially I was going to go the BJr route,but I am rethinking that now. I'm not knocking the BJr at all,...I just feel that overall,I would be better off with the HR Deluxe at church. Our sanctuary seats about 130 people,even with the overflow area full. How do you see this? :?:

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If it aint' broke,...don't fix it! I like to keep my amps and guitars factory original,...no mods necessary,...don't want them,...don't need them!

My gear as of now;
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Post subject: Re: 15 watt amp or 40 watt amp?
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 4:37 pm
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I see a situation ripe for a Deluxe Reverb re-issue.

You'll never need 40 watts for a church service and I doubt you'll find many opportunities there to use the "hiss" or "more hiss" channel-switching feature.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: 15 watt amp or 40 watt amp?
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 4:54 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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Arjay,...I had thought about the Deluxe Reverb Re-issue,...isn't that about a 25 watt amp?
Only thing is it's pretty pricey,...but I will check that out anyway. Thanks loads! Anyone else want to shed light on the subject?

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If it aint' broke,...don't fix it! I like to keep my amps and guitars factory original,...no mods necessary,...don't want them,...don't need them!

My gear as of now;
Standard Strat
Hot Rod Deluxe III amp
Champion 20 amp
'59 Bassman LTD Reissue


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Post subject: Re: 15 watt amp or 40 watt amp?
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 4:57 pm
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Twenty-two watts by specification. But that figure is very deceiving. I think you find it plenty loud.

As for the price -- you get what you pay for.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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Post subject: Re: 15 watt amp or 40 watt amp?
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 5:01 pm
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The DRRI is 22 watts as is the Super Sonic 22....both worthy of consideration if your budget allows.

I'm w/ Arjay in that I don't care for the "drive' on the HRDlx. In that series, I far prefer the sounds from a Blues Deluxe around the same price, but also 40 watts.

I also own a Blues Jr. but too often it runs out of headroom and distorts when I want it clean.

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Post subject: Re: 15 watt amp or 40 watt amp?
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 5:18 pm
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DRRI if you can afford would be very nice. Check your local CL also, deals always to be found.
WOW even sales people are labeling themselves as "engineers" now :!: :?: :!: :?: :!: :?:
I don't know how all these modern day "engineers" are doing things, I have a few so called engineers at my job.
Whatever happened to the days of going to college to earn an engineering degree?
The only other legitimate engineer out there are the ones that drive the choo-choo!

Sorry to vent on your thread, but i'm tired of overused terms to make some peples employment sound more important than it is.

Good luck with your search, and buy the best you can afford.

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Post subject: Re: 15 watt amp or 40 watt amp?
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 5:22 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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Arnold Layne wrote:
DRRI if you can afford would be very nice. Check your local CL also, deals always to be found.
WOW even sales people are labeling themselves as "engineers" now :!: :?: :!: :?: :!: :?:
I don't know how all these modern day "engineers" are doing things, I have a few so called engineers at my job.
Whatever happened to the days of going to college to earn an engineering degree?
The only other legitimate engineer out there are the ones that drive the choo-choo!

Sorry to vent on your thread, but i'm tired of overused terms to make some peples employment sound more important than it is.

Good luck with your search, and buy the best you can afford.


Awww,...you're fine,...but I do agree with you and ask why Sweetwater would call their sales people "sales engineers",..."sales rep" is for more appropriate,don't you think? LOL!! At the moment,HR Deluxe has the nod from a budget standpoint,but I can check out the other two you guys mentioned. On the DRRI,...having a vibrato channel over an OD channel like on the HR Deluxe would be nice,...but sadly,DRRI may not fit the budget. Now,the Blues Deluxe RI might be a possibility,too,as it will be more within budget. Oh,...one more thing here,...I will be playing an Epiphone "Dot" guitar through whichever one of these amps I end up with. Haven't bought amp or guitar just yet,...but very,very soon. Just about have a vehicle paid off,...will be in three months!

_________________
If it aint' broke,...don't fix it! I like to keep my amps and guitars factory original,...no mods necessary,...don't want them,...don't need them!

My gear as of now;
Standard Strat
Hot Rod Deluxe III amp
Champion 20 amp
'59 Bassman LTD Reissue


Last edited by KC9SYJ on Tue Feb 12, 2013 5:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: 15 watt amp or 40 watt amp?
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 5:31 pm
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KC9SYJ wrote:
Arnold Layne wrote:
DRRI if you can afford would be very nice. Check your local CL also, deals always to be found.
WOW even sales people are labeling themselves as "engineers" now :!: :?: :!: :?: :!: :?:
I don't know how all these modern day "engineers" are doing things, I have a few so called engineers at my job.
Whatever happened to the days of going to college to earn an engineering degree?
The only other legitimate engineer out there are the ones that drive the choo-choo!

Sorry to vent on your thread, but i'm tired of overused terms to make some peples employment sound more important than it is.

Good luck with your search, and buy the best you can afford.


Awww,...you're fine,...but I do agree with you and ask why Sweetwater would call their sales people "sales engineers",...sales rep is for more appropiate,don't you think? LOL!!


It is good to see venting. It means someone is paying attention and pointing to the silliness passing for culture these days.
Sales engineer is the kind of brain fart we get from people who do not work for a living. Justifying a worthless existence by coming up with catchy terms. Orwell wrote a book about this kind of language usage.

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Post subject: Re: 15 watt amp or 40 watt amp?
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 5:41 pm
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i just got a new blues deluxe reissue today. i was a little worried because i thought it would be too loud. boy, was i wrong!

i plugged into the second channel, turned it up, and the clean headroom was just amazing. since i don't play metal, the second channel gives me just enough headroom.

i had a 150.00 off coupon from guitar center, so it dropped the price to 619.00. made my day. the coupon is still available on the g. c. website

could be worth checking that amp out too


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Post subject: Re: 15 watt amp or 40 watt amp?
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 7:34 pm
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God wants watts


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Post subject: Re: 15 watt amp or 40 watt amp?
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 11:26 pm
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KC9SYJ,

One of the best things that you can do to help you make your decision is to take your guitar to a place that has the amps that you want to check out and try them to hear with your own ears what each amp sounds like.

It seems that you've looked around and I agree with your choice of the HRDlx. Recently, the quality of the HRDlx has improved (HRDlx III), and unfortunately the newer DRRI has been more problematic. Considering your budget, I believe that the HRDlx is a perfect choice for you. I am a proud owner of a HRDlx for about 15 years, and I can tell you that a couple of new preamp tubes can make the drive channel sound very nice, everything from blues to rock, if you don't already like it as is. The HRDlx is very versatile and can get some nice cleans tones at low and high volume, as well as some nice drive tones at low and high volume.

I also agree that the BJr would probably be loud enough for your church, but wouldn't stay clean at a loud volume as well as the HRDlx. It is nice to have some extra clean volume if needed.

If you like the DRRI, I would try to get a used one to fit your budget, from a reputable seller, and an older model at that, so as to avoid the problems that the newer ones have.

I can't disagree with the suggestion to check out the BDRI as well.

BTW, I used to be KAAU 6492.....many years ago.

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Post subject: Re: 15 watt amp or 40 watt amp?
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2013 8:29 am
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The HRDlx doesn't really have all that much headroom. The drive/more drive channels, fizz more fizz leave a lot to be desired. I owned a HRDlx and finally sold it due to severe reliability issues. Every SS22 I've tried hissed like a bag of snakes. And no, you don't need 40 watts for a church service.
The DRRI would be perfect and you do get what you pay for or don't pay for. You can find clean, used DRRI's for around $600. I gig and rehearse with two amps. Either my Egnater Rebel 20 or my Tweed Deluxe clone that I built. After lugging around a 100 watt Twin Reverb for 30+ years, I finally realized that all I ever really needed was 20-25 watts and some good efficient speakers.
I like Sweetwater, but the whole "Sales Engineer" thing cracks me up. I would rather take the advice of working musicians than a sales person any day of the week. Working musicians don't work for commission's and bonuses. :wink:

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Post subject: Re: 15 watt amp or 40 watt amp?
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2013 9:17 pm
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Another vote for the DRRI. I'd take one of those over the HRDlx any day.

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Post subject: Re: 15 watt amp or 40 watt amp?
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2013 10:51 pm
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63supro wrote:
The HRDlx doesn't really have all that much headroom. The drive/more drive channels, fizz more fizz leave a lot to be desired. I owned a HRDlx and finally sold it due to severe reliability issues. Every SS22 I've tried hissed like a bag of snakes. And no, you don't need 40 watts for a church service.
The DRRI would be perfect and you do get what you pay for or don't pay for. You can find clean, used DRRI's for around $600. I gig and rehearse with two amps. Either my Egnater Rebel 20 or my Tweed Deluxe clone that I built. After lugging around a 100 watt Twin Reverb for 30+ years, I finally realized that all I ever really needed was 20-25 watts and some good efficient speakers.
I like Sweetwater, but the whole "Sales Engineer" thing cracks me up. I would rather take the advice of working musicians than a sales person any day of the week. Working musicians don't work for commission's and bonuses. :wink:


In my experience, in fly over country, you don't find deluxe reverbs, old or new, for $600, or anywhere close. FYI


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Post subject: Re: 15 watt amp or 40 watt amp?
Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2013 6:19 am
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Sure do. Just stay out of the music stores. I can get two tomorrow. One for $625 and one that's in a little better shape for $645. They're private sales from friends I've played professionally with over the years. You'll never find one in Guitar Center or Sam Ash for that. Even then you can get them on sale for $850 or so with the 15% off coupon that most people get and sometimes even up to $200 off. Anywhere between $600-700 is a good deal. Anyway you look at it it's a way better sounding and better built amp than the HRDlx.

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