What's a good upgrade for the Blues Deluxe/Hot Rod Deluxe?

markj

Back to the original question. I had a Blues deluxe and changed the speaker to a Swamp thang. and put a 12ay7 valve in the first position. It did improve it a bit for the better but ended up moving it on not long after 

fretmeister

A used JCM800 2203x reissue and a used cab with G12-65 cones in it.

Use the balance to see a shrink to get you away from that clean headroom nonsense.

impmann

If you like the sound of the HRD, don't bother with the 5751 "upgrade"... I tried it and the amp sounded as flat as a fart.

The best investment I ever made was a Lion Tamer - it makes the amp totally useable at any volume. My HRD has a Celestion speaker in it from the factory - and I've never felt any need to change it, as in a mix it sounds amazing. If you put it under the microscope solo I'm sure you can find "better" tones using more expensive amps... but genuinely, it a live (and recording) context with a mix the HRD sounds great,

As for swapping to a Twin... well, they do sound significantly different. There is a lot *less* mid - and the top end is far more sparkly on the Twin. Its a fantastic sound, but... Twins weigh the same as the average hatchback and revalving one costs the same as a holiday in Spain. 

Genuinely, buy a Lion Tamer and give that a try before doing *anything* else.

ICBM

impmann said:

If you like the sound of the HRD, don't bother with the 5751 "upgrade"... I tried it and the amp sounded as flat as a fart.

Genuinely, buy a Lion Tamer and give that a try before doing *anything* else.

Despite their popularity I’ve disliked every 5751 I’ve ever tried. (Almost as much as EF86s .) Flat and dull, for me.

A 12AY7 is a much better replacement for V1 in Fender amps - it’s more effective at lowering the gain and has a really nice open, clear and slightly brighter tone. You do need to be careful with some amps though, if the plate resistors aren’t high-enough rated it can burn them out.

The Lion Tamer shouldn’t alter the sound, other than the natural change that happens when you turn down any loud sound, and it will definitely be a smaller change than a different amp.

Corvus

I had a BD with a vol box, thought it both improved sound & feel. Best mod though was binning the stock Fender/Emi speaker, I don't like those things. Top end was harsh, bottom end too big. After a couple of swaps it ended up with a V30 - I know on paper that should be 'wrong' for the amp but it seemed good as a pedal platform. The top & bottom were calmed and the tone controls worked way better. My boy's Blues Junior was also improved in the same ways by swapping out the same speaker. 

jonnygreentrees

RE the Lion Tamer and any other passive volume box, won't this alter the sound (as I think it does) because you have a lower level signal hitting the power amp tubes?

StefB

jonnygreentrees said:

RE the Lion Tamer and any other passive volume box, won't this alter the sound (as I think it does) because you have a lower level signal hitting the power amp tubes?

The OP said a few comments back he’d already tried a lion tamer and didn’t like it, yet no-one seemed to believe him. 

Plus he may have wanted to use the effects loop for effects. 

ICBM

jonnygreentrees said:

RE the Lion Tamer and any other passive volume box, won't this alter the sound (as I think it does) because you have a lower level signal hitting the power amp tubes?

It will alter the sound because lower volume sounds different - irrespective of whether it actually changes the sound of the amp in any measurable way.

You can only tell whether it actually changes the sound if you record both the full volume and the reduced volume, and play the results back at the *same* volume. Obviously this is a moot point if you feel that turning it down changes the tone, but it also means that any other means of reducing the volume won't work for you either.

andy1839

I'm still in my honeymoon period with a newly acquired Carr Rambler.  Very Fender, very clean, very loud.

Certainly cured my Fender style amp GAS.

Great volume taper too.

Dave_Mc

ICBM said:

impmann said:

If you like the sound of the HRD, don't bother with the 5751 "upgrade"... I tried it and the amp sounded as flat as a fart.

Genuinely, buy a Lion Tamer and give that a try before doing *anything* else.

Despite their popularity I’ve disliked every 5751 I’ve ever tried. (Almost as much as EF86s .) Flat and dull, for me.

Yeah same here. Well, admittedly I've tried one. That was enough!

(I tried it for my VHT Special 6 where I was trying to increase the headroom. It basically did the same job as just turning down the volume slightly, and probably didn't sound as good as the 12AX7.)

p90fool

jonnygreentrees said:

RE the Lion Tamer and any other passive volume box, won't this alter the sound (as I think it does) because you have a lower level signal hitting the power amp tubes?

Well it can certainly alter the balance of gain levels between the preamp and power amp sections, but if the problem you're trying to cure is a twitchy volume pot at its lowest settings then you weren't working the power section hard anyway, it'll literally just be quieter. 

Actually, one unexpected side benefit of the Lion Tamer for me was that when you run the clean channel flat out while reducing volume with the Lion Tamer you do get a fair bit of crunch from the preamp/phase inverter, which warms things up very nicely, especially with a good boost or drive pedal.