Which Fender tube amp?

Terry B

Terry B

Humble student of the blues
dvs said:
My choice to upgrade to a new Fender amp from my Blues Jr. would be a Princeton Reverb, probably with a 12" speaker, but I think you're looking to go bigger (or louder) as well, so in that case I'd go with the Deluxe Reverb. I'd move away from the Hot Rod series, that would be too much like just getting the same thing only bigger.
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I'm really starting to lean toward the Deluxe Reverb, (thanks to a lot of the great advice here) but think the Princeton would be a great fit for carrying in your motorhome.
 
Stinger22

Stinger22

Blues Junior
dvs said:
My choice to upgrade to a new Fender amp from my Blues Jr. would be a Princeton Reverb, probably with a 12" speaker, but I think you're looking to go bigger (or louder) as well, so in that case I'd go with the Deluxe Reverb. I'd move away from the Hot Rod series, that would be too much like just getting the same thing only bigger.
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The PRRI would be a nice upgrade!

I've got a DRRI and a Blues Jr and played the Blues Jr more including gigging.
 
CapnDenny1

CapnDenny1

Student Of The Blues
The HRD is a big step from the BJR. I think it has a nice sound.

Deluxe Reverb sounds great, but only 22w. It also only has clean, no gain channel. So any distortion you want will have to be a pedal, or you have to drive the amp loud enough that the output starts distorting.

The Princeton, and Twin are the same.
 
Terry B

Terry B

Humble student of the blues
CapnDenny1 said:
The HRD is a big step from the BJR. I think it has a nice sound.

Deluxe Reverb sounds great, but only 22w. It also only has clean, no gain channel. So any distortion you want will have to be a pedal, or you have to drive the amp loud enough that the output starts distorting.

The Princeton, and Twin are the same.
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How do you like the gain channel on the HRD? Some reviews are less than favorable.

I gotta say, since going down this rabbit hole I've fallen into my old habit of looking at and going toward more and more pricey stuff. I just spent the last hour checking out the '64 DR hand-wired. :confused:
 
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B

Bernie Fitz

Blues Junior
dvs said:
My choice to upgrade to a new Fender amp from my Blues Jr. would be a Princeton Reverb, probably with a 12" speaker, but I think you're looking to go bigger (or louder) as well, so in that case I'd go with the Deluxe Reverb. I'd move away from the Hot Rod series, that would be too much like just getting the same thing only bigger.
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The Hot Rod "Series" includes the Blues Jr, along with the Deluxe and Deville. In my limited experience I don't hear much similarity between the Hot Rod Deluxe and the Blues Jr.
 
CapnDenny1

CapnDenny1

Student Of The Blues
The gain channel isn’t great, but it's better than not having it at all. I could probably get a decent sound by adjusting the tone and reverb etc.

There is another series from Fender that hasn’t been mentioned. The BassBreaker series. They have 5, 15, 30, and 45 watt models, in both combo and head versions. They have really good gain channels. As good as just about anybody. And the cleans are good, unless you compare them to a DR or a Twin.

I wanted one so bad, and bought a broken one to fix. I paid too much, but I won the auction. It was a simple fix. But I ended up selling it. Not because it was bad. Not at all. It is a really nice amp. Nice clean, great gain. It had JJ tubes, so I think it could have really benefitted from some nicer tubes.

But I preferred my Egnater Rebel 30. I think the Rebel 30 is a great amp. I designed a custom speaker cab and a cab for the head to match. I am just so happy with that amp, that unless I find something a lot better, that I can afford, i have no need to replace it.

So the Bassbreaker would have been sitting there unused. It was in great condition, and pretty pricey. So the cash was worth more to me than the amp.

I’ve sold other amps for the same reason, they weren’t better than the Rebel 30. A Blackstar, a Tubemeister 18, a Rebel 20, an Egnater Tweaker 40 and a 15, a Blues Deluxe, and others.

But if you want it to be a Fender, and want nice gain, maybe check out the Bassbreaker series. Chappers and the Capt did a good review of them

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YuE7mZxxnNM
 
Terry B

Terry B

Humble student of the blues
CapnDenny1 said:
The gain channel isn’t great, but it's better than not having it at all. I could probably get a decent sound by adjusting the tone and reverb etc.

There is another series from Fender that hasn’t been mentioned. The BassBreaker series. They have 5, 15, 30, and 45 watt models, in both combo and head versions. They have really good gain channels. As good as just about anybody. And the cleans are good, unless you compare them to a DR or a Twin.

I wanted one so bad, and bought a broken one to fix. I paid too much, but I won the auction. It was a simple fix. But I ended up selling it. Not because it was bad. Not at all. It is a really nice amp. Nice clean, great gain. It had JJ tubes, so I think it could have really benefitted from some nicer tubes.

But I preferred my Egnater Rebel 30. I think the Rebel 30 is a great amp. I designed a custom speaker cab and a cab for the head to match. I am just so happy with that amp, that unless I find something a lot better, that I can afford, i have no need to replace it.

So the Bassbreaker would have been sitting there unused. It was in great condition, and pretty pricey. So the cash was worth more to me than the amp.

I’ve sold other amps for the same reason, they weren’t better than the Rebel 30. A Blackstar, a Tubemeister 18, a Rebel 20, an Egnater Tweaker 40 and a 15, a Blues Deluxe, and others.

But if you want it to be a Fender, and want nice gain, maybe check out the Bassbreaker series. Chappers and the Capt did a good review of them

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YuE7mZxxnNM
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I'm not sure why one needs a gain channel anyway unless that's for people who don't have pedals. Not an issue for me but can't see why Fender would put crappy od on an amp they call their Hot Rod.

As for the BassBreaker, as the boys mention it is a shot at the Bassman / Bluesbreaker thing which I already feel I have well covered. But a good looking amp though for someone looking in that direction.
 
CapnDenny1

CapnDenny1

Student Of The Blues
Strange comment?

There are an awful lot of amps that have either dedicated gain channels or the ability to increase the gain and reduce the volume. In fact I think the old Fender stuff is about all there is that doesn't have gain as a basic amp control parameter. It's like saying, why does the amp have Treble or Bass, can they just use an equalizer pedal.

I don't use pedals. And I rarely use the gain channel on an amp. But I have several amps that I keep just for that ability. I see no difference between getting your distortion from a preamp inside a small metal box, ,vs getting from the circuits built into an amplifier preamp. Except if it's in the amp I don't need a bunch of cables and batteries and stuff on the floor.

The best Fender amp i ever heard was a 1964 Deluxe blackface, with no reverb. I'm sure I would have liked it more if it had reverb, but it didn't. It did have an old Electro Voice EV SRO/12 speaker with a coffee can alnico magnet, and weighed a ton. But I put in a pair of Tung Sol power tubes and an ElectroHarmonix PI tube, and it was amazing! The only amp I've heard that was better, was a Dr. Z, Route 66. My Twin Reverb is close, but the Deluxe was sweeter somehow. I suspect it was the speaker that put it ahead of my Twin. Those speakers weigh 20 pounds each, so I ain't puttin those in a twin.

Now I've never played a Vribro anything ,so I don't know about them.

I did play a 60's Champ. I was sure it would be all small speaker and boxy cab and sound horrible, but somehow it sounded great? It's such a simple design, it had no business sounding that good. I wanted to but one, but they seem to go for $700 so never mind.
 
Terry B

Terry B

Humble student of the blues
CapnDenny1 said:
Strange comment?

There are an awful lot of amps that have either dedicated gain channels or the ability to increase the gain and reduce the volume. In fact I think the old Fender stuff is about all there is that doesn't have gain as a basic amp control parameter. It's like saying, why does the amp have Treble or Bass, can they just use an equalizer pedal.

I don't use pedals. And I rarely use the gain channel on an amp. But I have several amps that I keep just for that ability. I see no difference between getting your distortion from a preamp inside a small metal box, ,vs getting from the circuits built into an amplifier preamp. Except if it's in the amp I don't need a bunch of cables and batteries and stuff on the floor.

The best Fender amp i ever heard was a 1964 Deluxe blackface, with no reverb. I'm sure I would have liked it more if it had reverb, but it didn't. It did have an old Electro Voice EV SRO/12 speaker with a coffee can alnico magnet, and weighed a ton. But I put in a pair of Tung Sol power tubes and an ElectroHarmonix PI tube, and it was amazing! The only amp I've heard that was better, was a Dr. Z, Route 66. My Twin Reverb is close, but the Deluxe was sweeter somehow. I suspect it was the speaker that put it ahead of my Twin. Those speakers weigh 20 pounds each, so I ain't puttin those in a twin.

Now I've never played a Vribro anything ,so I don't know about them.

I did play a 60's Champ. I was sure it would be all small speaker and boxy cab and sound horrible, but somehow it sounded great? It's such a simple design, it had no business sounding that good. I wanted to but one, but they seem to go for $700 so never mind.
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My apology if I came off dismissive. As I use pedals I'm not as likely to use a gain channel, especially if I have pedals that sound better to me than the gain from the amp.

I appreciate your insights, everything has tradeoffs... lots to consider.
 
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