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If you really must go US, then the best replicas of blackface deluxe you can get in my not so humble opinion is going to be a Magic Amps.
The explanation is nonsence though; they have used bias mod tremolo because the optocoupler are not RoHS compliant!
It would probably be relatively easy to modify it to that, given that it's one of the major advantages of a hard-wired circuit.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
"Ya canna change the laws o' economics", as Scotty almost said....
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Feedback : https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/58125/
My point is, as good an amp as it is, it would be pretty embarrassing having this happen to you in a pro band with players you'd never met before. It doesn't really reflect well on you if you know I mean. Got me thinking whether it is worth the hassle as you rightly say.
I also have a vibro prince and a tweed deluxe. And yes they are just as good as the vox version. Although I'm selling at the moment I might just end up keeping it.
Mike Moody from Magic, puts a lot of effort into recreating small details from these circuits, that go by unnoticed to a lot of builders. I can go into details about what some of these efforts if you want. But basically I can tell you his amps are a really good representation of real old amps. Is service support is phenomenal. I've owned and still do own old amps and his are the closest match I've been able to find.
Today I ABC'd a 65 ddri, a 65 prri and a 64 handwired custom deluxe, which was interesting.
The 64 completely outshone the 65 deluxe, sounding much more articulate and with more complexed harmonics. It was much brighter too, but that could have been the new speaker that needed a bit of use.
The 64 was much noisier at idle though, which was surprising. It had a fair bit of both hiss with nothing plugged in, and hum on the reverb. Nothing that would be heard at rehearsal/gig volume, but would be noticeable at home volumes.
The 65 sounded great, but more muffled than the 64, was heavier to lift, but was near silent apart from the trem which was quite ticky.
The Princeton however was splendid, it had the brighter and more articular nature of the 64, but could have done with a bit more bass in my opinion. Was completely silent too and had much more usable volumes for home use.
All great amps, I couldn't make a decision at the time so have a lot of thinking to do. At the moment though I'm leaning towards saving heaps of cash and just going for the Princeton!
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
The amp I use most often, however, is a recent handwired BF Princeton Reverb clone with a 12" WGS (again sorted by Dave!) that is just a fantastic amp. Still needs servicing like a vintage amp every once in a while.
Agree though, there are a lot of nice new amps on the market these days. My needs are sated though so I don't want to think about them and trigger any GAS obsessions!
Edit afterthought: --- and... thinking back - I did a few large venue tours using the Bandmaster Reverb - I had I recapped and blackfaced by JPF amps (picked it up dirt cheap with a blonde Tremolux cab in 2011) and never an issue with reliability, despite it being treaded fairly hard.
www.rexterguitars.co.uk