In praise of the Fender Deluxe Reverb

Bucket

I've been after a small valve combo for a while, for an easily portable, low-maintenance and inexpensive gigging setup that will give me a great clean sound to add pedals to when needed, and while I've suspected for a long time it was gonna end up being a Fender Deluxe, a lengthy visit to the wonderful Coda Music today just confirmed it. They had a secondhand '68 Custom reissue model in there, the one with reverb and trem on both channels and a modified Bassman circuit on the left-hand side. I spent a long time playing through it, with a variety of different guitars (Tele, Strat, LP, Jazzmaster, SG) and good god, it is just such a wonderful-sounding amp. I'd need it for cleans mainly, and those are gorgeous, but I love how they sound when you wind them up a little as well. Fuuuuucking loud as well.

So when I can afford to, it's gonna have to be one of those. Nothing else will do now, I know it. I assume the one from Coda will have gone by the time I'm in a position to buy, but if I'd had the money I would have bought it there and then.

And great service as always from @DougCoda and everyone else. It's worth the journey every time. My favourite shop in the UK.

richardhomer

They're great sounding amps. I tried one with a Laudau Custom Shop Strat - Fender heaven! All the clarity and brightness you could want but with bags of warmth and fatness.

Similarly - when I can afford one I'll be getting one.

Great that it's not a 'boutique' piece of kit also....

BGG

Been gigging a 68 Custom this last year, sounds fantastic.

Drew_TNBD

I like what loads of the post-rock bands do with them, but whenever I've used one I have found it a bit tame.

dindude

I recently tried the '68 Princeton and was very impressed. Preferred it to the normal reissue Princeton.

koneguitarist

dindude said:

I recently tried the '68 Princeton and was very impressed. Preferred it to the normal reissue Princeton.

Me too, but then again, I always thought SF Princetons were better than BF Princetons.

Bucket

Drew_fx said:

I like what loads of the post-rock bands do with them, but whenever I've used one I have found it a bit tame.

They really snarl when you crank them up.

Tame how, out of interest?

preston61

out of interest how do these compare to the normal DRRI? I had one and it was so bright that it made using pedals impossible, especially at lower levels. I wound the treble all the way down and it was still bright, one of, if not the worst amp I have owned (for that purpose). I found this all very strange because it has such a good reputation for being pedal friendly

Babones

Did it have the usual '68 hiss or ticking trem?

Babones

preston61 said:

out of interest how do these compare to the normal DRRI? I had one and it was so bright that it made using pedals impossible, especially at lower levels. I wound the treble all the way down and it was still bright, one of, if not the worst amp I have owned (for that purpose). I found this all very strange because it has such a good reputation for being pedal friendly

That's probably a result of lower volume and the 100w rated C12K speaker.

Gassage

I've heard they reject any notes played above the 21st fret on principle, so no good for @bucket

ICBM

preston61 said:

out of interest how do these compare to the normal DRRI? I had one and it was so bright that it made using pedals impossible, especially at lower levels. I wound the treble all the way down and it was still bright, one of, if not the worst amp I have owned (for that purpose). I found this all very strange because it has such a good reputation for being pedal friendly

It's the bright cap on the Vibrato channel volume control that does that. It becomes less noticeable as you turn the volume up, although on that channel there is another cap further on in the circuit which does it to a lesser extent as well.

The best solution is to run the guitar into the Normal channel (which has neither cap) and jumper to the Vibrato channel with the treble turned off and the reverb turned up further than normal.

ESBlonde

@bucket, this is the second time you've impressed me. Firstly the Gibson and now the DRRI, one day in the not too distant future you're going to sell all the pretty coloured guitars and get one good classic (if it's not the Gibson) and a decent classic amp (like the DRRI) and make wonderful tones, OK there'll still be too many notes up the dusty end, but at least they'll sound sweet.

;-)



I was probably just a little older than you when the penny finally dropped.

preston61

ICBM said:

preston61 said:

out of interest how do these compare to the normal DRRI? I had one and it was so bright that it made using pedals impossible, especially at lower levels. I wound the treble all the way down and it was still bright, one of, if not the worst amp I have owned (for that purpose). I found this all very strange because it has such a good reputation for being pedal friendly

It's the bright cap on the Vibrato channel volume control that does that. It becomes less noticeable as you turn the volume up, although on that channel there is another cap further on in the circuit which does it to a lesser extent as well.

The best solution is to run the guitar into the Normal channel (which has neither cap) and jumper to the Vibrato channel with the treble turned off and the reverb turned up further than normal.

I tried that and it stilled sounded dreadful. Maybe its time to try the new 68 custom ones out :-)