It's not a brown deluxe, it's a tweed deluxe

[cactuskeeb]

I've told everyone on this board that Trey used a brown deluxe to record billy breathes.  Apparently, Trey meant this "brown" deluxe: http://www.ampwares.com/ffg/deluxe_narrow.html

See:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7EB2NWJpMU

[cactuskeeb]

  Nobody gives a sh-t.

I guess the reason why I keep harping on this billy breathes amp is because it holds the key to Trey's narly overdrive that none of us--I'm willing to bet--have been able to get out of a combination deluxe reverb/two tube screamers (and maybe a compressor).  If you look at a post I did a while back on Trey's circa 1997 guitar amp tech, Bill Carruth, you'll see a picture of an amp circuit, from a silverface Twin, that has had its normal channel custom voiced, as it were, by Carruth.  That is to say, it's voiced as a tweed sound, so that the player can get a combined fat overdive tone--the modified normal channel, that Carruth voices a la the Tweed era of Fender amps--as well as the chean chime of a blackface, via the stock second channel on the Twin.  Does that make sense?  Does anyone else see the significance?

[SoundLikeMyself]

i do and i appreciate the insight.

[raisingfreen]

Cactus,
Have you used this amp (57 Deluxe, Narrow Panel or whatever)? If so any thoughts? I agree with what you said awhile back it is pretty gnarly sounding and does do the Billy Breathes sounding stuff pretty well. I decided to sell most of my floor gear and my DRRI to obtain one of these. So far I really love it. I got the 57 tweed reissue, which is supposedly all PTP or whatever they did way back when (I cant tell any difference with that stuff). Mostly I just like how light weight it is as well as the very resonate overdrive it has. I wish it had more clean headroom but I felt it was a good compromise. I found one that hadn't been marked up with Fenders new ridiculous price increase.

So now I have no overdrives as I like the amp as is. I was thinking of trying Analogmans Maxon OD9 silver with the built in Bad Bob boost (it appears this is something new or new-er). That seems like a very interesting combo as you can have both in one unit. Not sure if a clean boost will actually give me more clean sound on the tweed deluxe though (or even if thats what it is intended for). It seems it's the interactivity of the two volume knobs that really make this amp do various sounds, sorta like Neil Young's Wizzer control on his 55 Deluxe.

Sorry for reposting to an old post but I figured this was the best place to talk about this amp.

[cactuskeeb]

I've never actually played through a tweed deluxe but I know the sound, which you describe very well.  And you've hit on the big difference between the 50s era tweeds and 60s blackface Fenders; the former lacks the headroom of the latter.  That's about it in terms of the difference between them--although, it makes them sound like a hundred different things separate the tweed from the bface.  In other words, when you turn them up more-or-less 'all the way', the slightly tweaked circuit of a blackface, as opposed to its predecessor, keeps the tone clean(er), which, to Leo Fender, meant a positive step toward a better amplifier overall.  I kind of agree with Fender--the dead person, not the company, to be sure--in that a good overdrive always seemed, or, rather, seems to have been derived, in some way, from stompboxes; so go nuts with those but don't put them in front of a 57 deluxe. 

[raisingfreen]

Thanks Cactus, that will save me some money. I had a feeling I shouldn't do that. It just seems strange to be turning my volume knob for drive as opposed to my older setup with TS9>DRRI.

Now I just need to find some good volume pots that actually give me some volume without tone loss. I am converting my two volume, two tone, setup on my guitar to a single volume, single tone. What parts companies do you guys use. I also need a good wiring diagram(s) that actually makes sense as I am not a electronics expert, but can wield a soldering iron ok.

Maybe I should ask this one in another post as it might get some interesting stuff going around.

[cactuskeeb]

There are good wiring diagrams on the Seymour Duncan website, for just about any pickup/volume/tone combination you can imagine. 

[raisingfreen]

Thanks Cactus, that is a big help.

[GDCSH-1]

raisingfreen, If you looking to get inside of your guitar, www.rsguitarworks.net , give them a buzz, they will help you out with anything you need, I installed their pots and Jenson caps in my schecter CSH-1, I called them told them what kind of guitar I had, what sound I was looking for and they set me up with an amazing pot and cap combo along with vintage or modern wiring diagrams and pics, they have pre-wired stuff to, after the install it was like night and day and my guitar was a new beast, I'm getting tones that I absolutely could not get from my old electronics, completely noticeable I mean the electronics that came with my schecter were not the best in the first place but with the new setup I get no tone loss through the volume pots at all meaning I can actually use my volume on my guitar, and I can actually hear the difference in the slightest turns of my tone knobs, quality stuff, check it out

[raisingfreen]

GDCSH,
I cant thank you enough. that is exactly the type of site I was looking for. Cant wait to dig in some more and research the items I need. Thanks again.

[GDCSH-1]

Glad I could help! Here was the the little project, I installed one of their vintage kits, all new pots, jensen paper and oil caps, new switchcaraft jack and three way toggle, and I did a vintage wiring setup. Btw my guitar, which is a Schecter CSH-1, doesn't have a backplate so everything had to be done done through the bridge pickup opening like a gibson es, in the pic you can see the pots and big gold jensen caps set in that black template laying on top of my guitar, getting everything back inside of the guitar was a bitch but I took my time, the wires on the caps are very delicate, but the project was successful and everything works perfect. Good luck with your setup! 

[raisingfreen]

That looked like a real pain in the ass. You have skills. It appears by the setup that the 4 knobs on the vintage kit are all spaced the same on a lot of the guitars. That was one of my concerns with getting the kit in that they would be different spacing. I think I now understand what needs to be done. Mine is not a hollow body like yours so maybe it will be a bit easier.

Thanks.

[GDCSH-1]

The spacing is based on a les paul, they wire them with a little slack in case the knob spacing on your guitar is a little further apart so it shouldn't be a problem, I didn't get mine prewired for the fact of how I had to get everything in the guitar, and yes it will be a A LOT easier to install considering you have a backplate and the pre-wired kits are meant to just drop in the back of your guitar, I helped my buddy install the same kit, pre-wired from them in his les paul and the install was easy, the instructions are straight forward on what to solder to what and the guys at rs are real cool, they sent me pics and instructions of an install they did on a gibson es-355 which made my job a lot easier.   

[raisingfreen]

GDCSH,
Thanks for the info. I ultimately decided to put my guitar in the hands of Andrew Olson @ AO Guitars (Fortunately I live in Maine and not to far from his workshop. We don't have a great supply of highly qualified quality guitar tech's in Maine so I was very happy to find out about Andrew.) I dropped it off today to have him have at it. I basically am giving him complete creative freedom to go over the guitar and do what he see's fit (electronics, wiring whatever...). I will be writing another review about what I saw at his shop. Impressive to say the least.

[GDCSH-1]

Awsome, well good luck man !