If you had £800 lying around and liked the blues........

longshins

5f2a is cool too if you don't need loads of volume

MartinB

Neil said:

I'm sure all those great old bluesmen had eight hundred quid amps. 

The first couple of generations of blues guys generally bought the good working gear of the day (and really good suits) as soon as they starting making money.  This thing of fetishising cheap gear for blues is a recent phenomenon IMO. 

menamestom

Neil said:

I'm sure all those great old bluesmen had eight hundred quid amps. 

They would probably have cost more to be fair.  A late 50’s Tweed Deluxe was around $129, which was quite a bit relative to income at the time.

Neil

menamestom said:

Neil said:

I'm sure all those great old bluesmen had eight hundred quid amps. 

They would probably have cost more to be fair.  A late 50’s Tweed Deluxe was around $129, which was quite a bit relative to income at the time.

It would only be the heavy hitters buying the top range gear.

Certainly not people who just played cheap juke joints or at home. 

jacksparrow

princeton reverb.

richardhomer

jacksparrow said:

princeton reverb.

If Blackface Fenders represent your idea of a great blues tone - and for me they do - PRRIs are great sounding amps. As someone else suggested, a used DRRI would be great as well - if you’re intending to gig it may be a better choice.

Not that this should have any bearing - but both look cool too....

Telejester

Turning up the volume and huge speaker flubbing from the Princeton is instant deal killer, if only it had 12 inch speaker.

MartinB

Even a sturdier 10" helps with the bass flub on a Princeton Reverb.  I've got an amp built to the PR circuit with an Eminence Copperhead, and the amp runs out of headroom before the speaker complains.  

menamestom

Telejester said:

Turning up the volume and huge speaker flubbing from the Princeton is instant deal killer, if only it had 12 inch speaker.

Easy enough to put a 12” baffle and speaker in or hunt one of the special editions out.   I don’t get any flub from mine with a ragin cajun but it has also had a PT upgrade, bigger iron helps.  However, the flub is what some folks love about the Princeton, bizarrely. 

peteri

Another vote for the oldest generation Bassman head you can find. 

And maybe an attenuator!

bbill335

Telejester said:

Turning up the volume and huge speaker flubbing from the Princeton is instant deal killer, if only it had 12 inch speaker.

Traynor YGM3

cbakay

deluxe reverb reissue, change speaker to cannabis rex, clip bright cap. 

strat84

Another vote for a Bassman Head. Should be able to get a Blackface for around £800 or an early Silverface a few hundred less, then a cab of your choice. I've actually just been running mine through 4x10s and it sounded great! Like a Super Reverb but a bit thicker! Great Blues tone ;-)

57Deluxe

"If you had £800 lying around and liked the blues"
.

...it'd get spent on Bourbon and Bad Women...

Exorcist

If its just for gigging (not at home) then I vote for the Fuch's. Awesome for Blues/Blues Rock

andy1839

'94 Twin and a tubescreamer. 
(Not a head but all you'll ever need for blues)

noisepolluter

cbakay said:

deluxe reverb reissue, change speaker to cannabis rex, clip bright cap. 

I've also done this and can strongly recommend it. £800 should cover a second hand DRRI, the new speaker and having a the mod done.

The only difference is that rather than clip the bright cap I had the 'normal' channel modded so it runs through the reverb/trem circuit and is now in phase with the other channel for easier blending. Just another option for effectively the same result really- happily the speaker swap to a CREX also knocked 2lbs off the amp weight.

Telejester

I checked out the brunetti heads, the singleman 50 sounded lovely but pricey, was surprised to think the singleman 30 with 6l6 tubes sounded like it was all bass and treble with a big hole in the middle.

DevonChris

How about a Blues Cube Artist? It seems to nail the Bassman sound.