Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Has anyone used a Fender Blues Deluxe reissue?... any experiences good or bad? Would like some opinions as I plan on purchasing one, I tried it out with my 620, sounds great but I have heard of tube and transistor problems.

Thanks

I have had 2 of these in the past and proved to be quite reliable, but I will have to say that the clean channel is the best tone out of the amp for me.
The Drive channel is just not as sweet as the Clean channel pushed or with a pedal. In a band performance venue when you switch to the drive you find that it just doesn't cut through with the kind of tone that the clean channel does with a pedal for the same drive expectation. Everyone has there own taste in distortion but when you go from the clean channel to the drive for some distortion - to me something is lost. I can't quite discribe it other than you loose warmth. I found myself always using the clean channel and a pedal for any drive tone. I personally prefer lower wattage amps with a Celestion Blue pushed rather than higher wattage tube amps with preamp distortion.
You may want to try a Blues Junior. There is something about the circuit in that amp that really shines when pushed a bit. There is quite a big following for the Blues Junior.
Of course you could always do some tweeking with speakers or tubes to satisfy. If you plug the Blues Junior through a cabinet with a Celestion Blue it it it comes alive and much more efficient (More Volume) and chimey.
But in general the Blues Deluxe has a real nice clean channel that has some great sound and warmth for the money and quite portable.
I'm currently using a Blackface Deluxe and switch between a G12H and a Celestion blue for speaker.
NOw if you want to give the Blues Deluxe some real nice tone hook it up to a Celestion Blue -but this does make the amp much louder respectively and you wouldn't be able to push you power tubes as hard for reasonable lever volume as you could with the Blues Junior as your head.
My 2 cents....

I had an original Blues Deluxe when they first came out. I had no problems at all with it. One of my current amps is a Blues Jr. I changed the tone stack caps and installed separate bias pots for each tube. I also replaced the speaker but it sounds best through my Mesa Boogie 1x12 three quater back cabinet loaded with a Boogie branded Celestion. If you use it to gig with you would probably need to mic it. I generally run it with the FAT switch engaged and the mater volume dimed. Then use the front gain as the volume. If you try to push the front end it gets to muddy IMO.