[PaulJay]

Hey, I just got a deal on one of these i couldn't pass up. Does anyone use one? Can you get a Jerry tone out of this? I notice it has a preamp out power amp in. Would I benefit by gong into a SS poweramp or would it be good enough alone? I have e-120 or a weber cali to put in. Thanks for any help. ,Paul

[James-T]

Put a K120 in. Use a clean boost in front of it to cook the tubes You cant go wrong It's a fantastic amp and yes it gets great jerry tones. I've also run my fractal ultra through it. The 4 cable method. It gets some great tones even as a power amp and sounds fantastic with the ultra in front of it as an effects unit.

Somewhere I have a demo of this I think. I'll try to post.

Hard to mod and the volume pot is stupid. It's either no volume or loud. Those would be my complaints.

Peace,

James.

[James-T]

Here's the demo I did last spring. It's useful in that it compares the BD to the 73 SF Vibrolux. Actually I know now that the Vibrolux has been blackfaced. It's definitely got the higher end dialled in more than the BD. More of a E72 tine and the BD is a bit more middy, more modern perhaps - probably not the best description.

Anyways it's a great amp with the D120 and the stock speaker was great as well. It's a bitch to replace the speaker, but I did it on my won. Took about 2 hours.

Peace,

James

[PaulJay]

Hey James, Last night I did a search and found your video, but thanks for posting it again. Your playing is great and the amp sounds really good. I have a weber cali that's supposed to be a d-120 clone i'm going to throw in. I'm thinking of laquering the tweed too, just for fun. I was wondering if the clean channel is close to the Pro Reverb RI. I think they are both 40 watts and use similar tubes.I know the reissues are quirky, but I got it for dirt cheap so figured I would take the chance. Thanks again. Paul

[James-T]

They say the are voiced after a vintage deluxe on the fender YouTube demo but my manual says they are voiced after a bass man. I think they are thier own beast. A decent amp. Mine sounded pretty similar to my 73 sf twin actually. When push comes to shove all the fenders of that power sound pretty similar. As you can see from my demo. I really like my Vibrolux. It was the same price as my BD was new. That Cali should sound great in that amp.

I actually miss the fender special design Jensenine came with. The bottom end sucked but it had a great break up. Not true Jerry but a great tone none the less.

Thanks for the kind words BTW.

Peace,

James

[Terrapinnation]

hey there.. I have a blues deluxe RI. Its a great little amp.. I shouldn't say little. this thing is LOUD. I have changed the speaker to the Celestion G12 Vintage 30 60 watt. SOOOOOO much better than the "eminence by fender" piece of dung they load it with at the factory. I also got the Fromel Supreme mod kit. Gonna be installing it next week. The Jensen Speaker they put in the original version and the limited edition... I don't like that speaker ...its Just too damn bright and harsh. The Vintage 30 smooths it out nicely. It makes the drive channel usable. The fromel mod is supposed to tighten up the lows so it's not so flubby on the lows. And it will make the amp more reliable! I'm looking forward to that! I'll keep you posted on the mod. But once these little details are addressed.... It's a fender through and through.... great tone... headroom... reverb!!! I mostly use pedals infront of the amp with delay and phase going through the effects loop.

[Terrapinnation]

Anyways it's a great amp with the D120 and the stock speaker was great as well. It's a bitch to replace the speaker, but I did it on my won. Took about 2 hours.

2 hours? really... all you have to do is take the back cover off and take the chassis out of the cabinet.. takes 20 minutes.

[Jon S.]

The BD is designed to run "blusier." You might be better off with a HRD for your purposes. Special thanks to friend and tech Steve Dallman for the following:

HOT ROD VS BLUES DELUXE/DEVILLE

The first stages are classic Fender except the BD uses a 22uf cathode bias cap while the HR uses a larger 47uf, which will create a bit more low end.

Coupling cap next is .01BD Vs .022 in HRD. Still a little more low end in the HR. The bright switch in the BD is next. This is a non-standard Fender design, which bypasses a 100k resistor with a 750pf cap. As the 100k resistor is attached to the 250k-volume control, it is only effective in clean mode. The drive control in the HR is between the first and second stage.

The second stage is unbypassed in both amps. In the HR the bright switch is a .068 cathode bypass cap that is non-functioning in drive mode.

The tone stack follows the second stage. They are identical except the HR uses a 130k mid slope resistor, while the BD is 100k. This will create a little less low end in the HR.

The drive control precedes the 3rd stage in the BD, a standard Fender bypassed gain stage. The 3rd stage is used in both clean and drive in the BD.

In the HR the 3rd and 4th stages are used in drive only. This tube is unbypassed. In More drive a 1uf-bypass cap is switched in on the 3rd stage and a 22uf bypass cap is switched in on the 4th stage. (The 4th stage is not used in the BD, but is just waiting to be modded in.)

Note on bypassing. The gain in a tube stage is set by 3 components, the plate resistor, (typically 100k in Fenders, larger for more gain) the cathode resistor, (typically 1.5k in Fenders, smaller for more gain) and a bypass cap that bypasses the cathode resistor. The cathode cap is not always used but when it is, it will increase gain in different frequency ranges. 22uf will increase gain across the entire guitar spectrum. Smaller will only raise gain in higher frequencies.

The master for the drive channel follows in both amps. From there the amps are nearly identical, except the HR has somewhat fuller reverb due to the design of the reverb return. (The reverb circuit and the effects loop are solid state.) The HR has an extension speaker jack that uses the 4-ohm speaker tap on the output transformer. The BD has this tap but it is not used (but could be added by a tech.)

In general these amps are similar. The BD will not stay as clean at higher volumes due to the 3rd stage always being active. The HR has “improved” distortion (drive) with “more drive” added. The HR has fuller reverb and an extension speaker jack. Both are good designs with plenty of classic Fender tone.

May I add that improvements can be made to the Blues. The earliest Blues Deville's used the 2nd stage of V2 as a cathode follower just before the PI. In all but the earliest, the 2nd half of V2 isn't used. This can be modded into the drive channel for huge improvement. (See the Blues Deluxe mod in the Technical section at Duncan Amp Pages...)

The reverb can be improved by clipping C50. Bias adjust can be easily added.

[Jon S.]

I might add as well that I owned an original issue BD for many years. It was a total piece of shit. This is one case where the RIs are MUCH better built. Do NOT buy an original if you go the BD route, buy only a RI.

For my own POS original BD, it took a wee bit of effort but it's sounding good now (see below).

[James-T]

Well being an architect I like visualize things more than fix things. You know how it goes measure once cut twice. That's me. I think I needed to get different screws for the D120, took my time to make sure I was doing everything right and taking lots of union smoke breaks. Switching speakers on my twin was definately easier.

But a seasoned expert or any other normal human could do that job in 20 minutes.

That's why I draw for a living.

Peace,

James.