Tell me about Fender Deluxe Reverb

[fluffytone72]

I'm looking for smooth/fusiony overdrive tones with the aid of a couple pedals.  I want a 1x12 for it's weight, and it needs to be loud enough to compete on stage and still clean up decent on the volume knob.  I doubt I'll need to go past 4 or 5 on volume ever these days when your being mic'd even at small clubs.

I've heard a good silverface deluxe reverb or a deluxe reverb reissue with a speaker change will get me there.  Thoughts?

[Buffered]

What kind of guitar? With humbuckers, my DRRI was starting to clip on 3 and just got dirtier. If you're using pedals, you could probably find a 40W amp or so that weighs reasonably and has enough headroom.

[Jkendrick]

I've had a Silverface DR for about a year.  I'm not the most knowledgeable person on gear, but I like it a lot. I'm not gigging though. I get a very narrow sweet spot with my Seymour Duncan 59s. I set the DR at 2.5 to get break up with the guitar cranked. I can ease up on the guitar's volume to clean it up. Recently I've turned it down to 2 because I can really only play while my kids sleep and the tone definitely suffers. I'm thinking of getting a Bad Cat Unleash to allow more volume options while retaining the sweet spot tone. It's also worth noting I have a Weber California in it; not sure how that effects headroom. I revamped my board when I got the amp as well. With my old amp (a UniValve) the cleans were fatter, less shimmery and I used the more transparent TIM as my primary OD. With the Fender ' s shimmery cleans (which I prefer), I've gone back to a TS808  as my primary OD and even use a post -OD EQ to fatten up the lead tones.

I hope that's helpful.  I'm happy to answer any questions,  but someone like Heady has a lot more knowledge than me.

[Hoody]

I'd say this is the best overall and simplest amp you could get.  A speaker change is a must however, as originals (and a lot of the replacements) are too brittle.  I've tires v30's (not a great fit), cannibas Rex (pretty good, dark though), and blue dogs (perfect).  I've also had various other odd speakers in it I didn't love, can't remember them all. 

Just set volume at about 3, reverb at about 2-3, everything else at 5 and you're done. 

I prefer volume higher than Kendrick, but play with my vol knob about 50-65 percent.  Ends up plenty loud.  Speaker change will impact volume a good deal.  The blue dog makes it pretty loud. 

[Heady Jam Fan]

I use a 12AY7 in V2 and still run out of cleans with PAFs around 3 on the dial, especially without the Ross. As Kendrick pointed out, there is a narrow range of 'sweet spot' on the volume - the 'edge of breakup' territory, so to speak. If your at the sweet spot for rhythm and you kick on a lead boost, your amp will be a bit overdriven, which can be fine unless you want a super clean lead. If you set your volume low enough for clean leads, you won't be in the sweet spot for rhythm. Aside from a volume boost, this is where the Badcat comes in handy: I run my lead boost and delay in the FX Loop, so I set my amp right at the sweet spot. With the Unleash, my DR has more clean headroom than my Mesa.

The Blue Dog is a great speaker, but a little quiet if you really want to eek out all the headroom you can get. I'm digging the Steamboat Hemp 100 in both my DR and my Mesa.

I also use JJ 6V6S tubes which helps. You can run 6L6's and switch the rectifier to a GZ34, solidstate, or Weber copper cap. IIRC, this changes the impedance the output transformer wants to see. This can give a slight boost in volume, but its limited by the output transformer. You want the speaker to match the impedance though, or you won't get much change in volume (just a different tone/feel).

[Brian27]

I would get a Pro Reverb any day over a Deluxe Reverb. They have more clean headroom and some even have Master Volume which to me makes it the better choice between the 2. This is just my opinion.

[tsbot]

I agree with averyone here.  I have a blackface Botique DR and while I love it - it breaks up too early - and I'm a basement player w a drummer.  I'm happy with it, but if I had (and I have been looking) to do it again I'd search the 40w amp range.  Check out Vintage Sound Amps (what I have), he makes the gammet of Fender clones from the DR up to the Twin.  I was going to trade mine in for the Pro Reverb but I didn't have the $400-500 cash to blow.

You can't go wrong with 40+ watts - better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

[Jkendrick]

I agree with averyone here.  I have a blackface Botique DR and while I love it - it breaks up too early - and I'm a basement player w a drummer.  I'm happy with it, but if I had (and I have been looking) to do it again I'd search the 40w amp range.  Check out Vintage Sound Amps (what I have), he makes the gammet of Fender clones from the DR up to the Twin.  I was going to trade mine in for the Pro Reverb but I didn't have the $400-500 cash to blow.

You can't go wrong with 40+ watts - better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

I don't know. Just jamming in my basement is pretty loud even at the sub-sweet spot of 2. At 2.5-3 it's plenty loud for a full band. As I said, I'm not gigging so I can't really speak to that. But I'd rather have something at the DR volume sweet spot for my needs. Anything louder would be untenable in my situation. In fact, I'm anticipating using the Unleash more for attenuation than re-amping. Of course, it totally depends on your situation.

[Hoody]

I'm surprised people think the deluxe isn't loud enough.  Thousands of professional gigging musicians feel otherwise, even those in Nashville in mic'd.  To each his own.

I have (and had) 40 watt fenders, and the problem is they don't break up until its way too loud.  Usually people love these amps because you can control the breakup just by how hard you strum.  You set it at the sweet spot and it's plenty loud clean, and if you want slight grit you pick more aggressively.  It's always on call.  A 40 watt amp is very, very loud at the point of breakup.  Which is why people love the smaller DR.

Two other points to consider - you can get louder with a DR (I'd say almost as loud ad my 40 watt fenders) simply by changing the speaker.  If you have a Ross you can also add volume with less breakup. 

In the end I'm never over 3, and only 60% on vol knob and it's plenty loud for gigs.

[Jkendrick]

I'm surprised people think the deluxe isn't loud enough.  Thousands of professional gigging musicians feel otherwise, even those in Nashville in mic'd.  To each his own.

I have (and had) 40 watt fenders, and the problem is they don't break up until its way too loud.  Usually people love these amps because you can control the breakup just by how hard you strum.  You set it at the sweet spot and it's plenty loud clean, and if you want slight grit you pick more aggressively.  It's always on call.  A 40 watt amp is very, very loud at the point of breakup.  Which is why people love the smaller DR.

Two other points to consider - you can get louder with a DR (I'd say almost as loud ad my 40 watt fenders) simply by changing the speaker.  If you have a Ross you can also add volume with less breakup. 

In the end I'm never over 3, and only 60% on vol knob and it's plenty loud for gigs.

Yeah this exactly. Hoody, do you think my Weber California makes it significantly louder?

[Heady Jam Fan]

I'm surprised people think the deluxe isn't loud enough.  Thousands of professional gigging musicians feel otherwise, even those in Nashville in mic'd.  To each his own.

I have (and had) 40 watt fenders, and the problem is they don't break up until its way too loud.  Usually people love these amps because you can control the breakup just by how hard you strum.  You set it at the sweet spot and it's plenty loud clean, and if you want slight grit you pick more aggressively.  It's always on call.  A 40 watt amp is very, very loud at the point of breakup.  Which is why people love the smaller DR.

Two other points to consider - you can get louder with a DR (I'd say almost as loud ad my 40 watt fenders) simply by changing the speaker.  If you have a Ross you can also add volume with less breakup. 

In the end I'm never over 3, and only 60% on vol knob and it's plenty loud for gigs.

Yeah this exactly. Hoody, do you think my Weber California makes it significantly louder?

Most Weber speakers are about 97db sensitivity, and a quick google search seems to indicate the Cali's are in the same range. This is not a loud speaker - most Celestions are about 100db. My Steamboat is 100db. Eminence rates some of their speakers above 100db, but I also think they are a bit liberal in their ratings: I'm not sure a Red Fang that Eminence rated 102db was noticeable louder than a 100db Celestion Gold. [I believe the 3db difference would mean the 97db Cali is 75% as loud as the 100db Celestion, but perceived volume also depends on how the speaker is voiced].

I personally find the DR is just barely not loud enough to keep up with my band (particularly the drummer) if I want the amp to be a clean platform for pedals (and have some headroom left for leads), which IMHO is ideal for a jam band situation. However, its definitely true the DR is THE most popular workhorse amp for a reason. Its the most popular workhorse amp because most guys are playing blues or classic rock and they don't need sparkly clean cleans - some grit is ideal, and you just push the amp for overdriven leads. This will keep up with most drummers and fill most venues small enough that they don't need their own PA system anyway. Any bigger venues, this is all moot because they will have a PA and a 5w Champ would be fine.

I also notice a big paradox between periods when I am in a band, and when I take a break from playing in bands and just jam alone at home. When I'm not in any bands, just playing alone at home, almost any amp sound unnecessarily loud. However, during periods when I am playing in a band, a DR sounds pretty quiet to me - I turn mine up to 10 regularly and just role down my guitar volume knob if I want a cleanish tone.

[Hoody]

What was the db on the original oxfords and utahs?  From my experience they can't be as loud as the weber.  I made some other mods to my amp as well when I put in the blue dog, so perhaps those had something to do with it.

[Heady Jam Fan]

What was the db on the original oxfords and utahs?  From my experience they can't be as loud as the weber.  I made some other mods to my amp as well when I put in the blue dog, so perhaps those had something to do with it.

Yeah, I'll bet the Webers are louder than the originals.

[dontpanic]

Not to hijack here, but Heady have you played JBL's? I'm pretty interested in that steamboat (great price), and would like to know your thoughts on the sound as compared to a JBL if you've played em.

I currently play a boogie 50 caliber +. Smokin amp. Sounds just like a mark iii to me. Its got the black shadow in it, but I'm thinking a speaker swap could do some good. You mentioned you played that steamboat in your mesa, so you obviously know where it stands in the boogie world.

A little later down the road I will pick up a DR potentially, and would definitely be looking for a D120 or k120 to put in there. But if the steamboat is close, this could be a good deal.

[Heady Jam Fan]

Not to hijack here, but Heady have you played JBL's? I'm pretty interested in that steamboat (great price), and would like to know your thoughts on the sound as compared to a JBL if you've played em.

I currently play a boogie 50 caliber +. Smokin amp. Sounds just like a mark iii to me. Its got the black shadow in it, but I'm thinking a speaker swap could do some good. You mentioned you played that steamboat in your mesa, so you obviously know where it stands in the boogie world.

A little later down the road I will pick up a DR potentially, and would definitely be looking for a D120 or k120 to put in there. But if the steamboat is close, this could be a good deal.

I'm not all that well versed on the JBL's. They are American-made and American-voiced, so less midrange than a British-voiced Celestion speaker. I think the bass goes deeper and the treble goes higher on the JBL than a typical American speaker, like a Jensen. Some people compare them to EVM12L speakers: the JBL is more common in Fender while the EV is popular in Mesa. Both have a similar voice: extended frequency (in the bass and treble) and fairly flat midrange as they are both pro-audio speaker companies at heart. However, both brands have their own thing going on. That broad, flat response is great for the Fendery clean tone, but the darker British midrange tends to smooth out overdrive more and often cuts through the band mix better. The JBL's can be particularly rough (harsh) with overdrive if they have the metal dust cap. I tend to pick the midrange of a Celestion over the flat response of an EV, especially if I am playing with other musicians in my register (such as my band with another guitarist and a keyboard player). If I were in a 3-piece (me, bass and drums) and wanted to fill up more sound, I might use an EV. However, the Celestion (or Steamboat) always sounds better for my jam band tone IMO (and by Jam, I mostly mean Trey - the JBL might be closer to Jerry), and cuts through better with a full group of musicians.

Its tough to compare to the Black Shadow because Mesa used that label for a range of speakers including the EVM12L, the Mesa/Celestion C90 which is similar to a Steamboat but without the hemp cone, an 80's Eminence EVM12L copy with its own kinda thing going on, a different Eminence speaker that does not have a good reputation... So picks or specs on the speaker can help me to compare it to the JBL or Steamboat.

Will a JBL fit in a DR? I think its 50/50 with those bigger speakers. I was barely able to fit an EVM12L in my DR (but switched back to a Celestion quickly), some people aren't able to fit an EV in their DR. Depending on how heavy the JBL is, it can damage the baffle on a DR too.