650 with hi gains...

[johnashfield]

I had Paul W put in hi gains in my 650 and it was a big improvement over the hum buckers... but it still feels like the guitar is overdriving the amp...

do i need to change the wiring harness? or the pots?

[Clint]

What kind of amp are you using? You might want to try a different amp.

[wmthor]

You might want to consider swapping the pots. If memory serves me right, a 650 has 500k pots and a 330/360 has 330 pots. Many years ago, I swapped the Hi-Gains in my 360 for HBs. When I did, I switched the tone pots from 330k to 500k.

[Ric5150]

You might want to consider swapping the pots. If memory serves me right, a 650 has 500k pots and a 330/360 has 330 pots. Many years ago, I swapped the Hi-Gains in my 360 for HBs. When I did, I switched the tone pots from 330k to 500k.

There are good reasons to go from smaller pots to larger pots when going to higher impedance pickups, but going from larger to smaller isn't much different than just turning the volume down. If you want to turn down or decrease the volume pot, you may need to add a treble bleed cap/resistor to keep the high-end.

I'd also be curious what amp the OP is using. May need something else if there's no headroom with just hi gains and he wants to run clean.

[johnashfield]

I'm playing thru a 65 DRRI...

[Clint]

'65 DRRI, huh? I would think that would have enough headroom unless you are trying to keep up with bass & drums. Could be a bum tube or a bad speaker, I guess. On the other hand, I thought that "pushed, sparkly, on the edge of overdrive" tone was what the Deluxe was all about. If you're going for that classic, blackface Fender clean, maybe you need to up it to a Twin.

[JakeK]

'If you're going for that classic, blackface Fender clean, maybe you need to up it to a Twin.

I'd go Super Reverb before Twin, but that's just me. I feel Twins are just WAAAAAAAAAAAY too much power for anything these days. Supers are pretty loud, too, with that 4X10 thing going on, but they still can be somewhat manageable at low volumes. I've heard a Deluxe can actually keep up with bass and drums unmiked...never experienced it firsthand, but YMMV.

How loud are you running the Deluxe, John? If you're pushing it over 5, of course it's going to overdrive because that's what hot pickups do when an amp is pushed. I can never really find myself to push my Deluxe no louder than "3" without making my ears have the middle C whine. I've taken it to "10" before, when there was nobody in the house, and while it was an amazing sound, my ears were ringing like crazy.

[Clint]

Oh, I forgot about the Super Reverb. Good catch Jake. Still, that Deluxe Reverb should be plenty loud.