Blues Deluxe vs. Blues DeVille
Mike Woo
Blues Deluxe and the Blues DeVille (i.e. tube complement, speakers,
controls, sound, power, etc.)? What do you BDX/BDV owners think of
these amps (and please try to be objective :-))? A friend of mine
is thinking of buying one of these, but hasn't had a chance to try
either one yet. Much appreciated for any help or opinions you care to
offer.
Caught In The Crossfire,
Mike
Mike
Brad Bechtel
> Can anyone detail the main differences between the Fender
> Blues Deluxe and the Blues DeVille ?
The Blues DeLuxe is 40 watts, one 12" speaker.
The Blues DeVille is 60 watts, with either two 12" speakers or four 10" speakers.
A friend of mine uses a Blues DeVille (four 10s) and is very pleased with it. It's plenty loud for any gig. In order to get a good sound, you have to turn it up. She had problems playing at home (in an apartment) - the amp is very sensitive; once you get above 2 on the volume knob, it's too loud for an apartment. She solved the problem by buying a volume pedal. She plays a Strat through it and loves the sound.
I think it's too heavy, but what do I know.
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>From: wel...@macromedia.com (Brad Bechtel)
>Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar,alt.guitar
>Subject: Re: Blues Deluxe vs. Blues DeVille
>Date: Wed, 14 Jun 1995 09:32:10 -0800
>Organization: Dept. of Redundancy Dept., Macromedia
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>Message-ID: <wellvis-1406...@198.95.203.163>
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>In article <3rko26$1...@sifon.cc.mcgill.ca>, Mike Woo <mi...@vm1.mcgill.ca> wrote:
>> Can anyone detail the main differences between the Fender
>> Blues Deluxe and the Blues DeVille ?
>The Blues DeLuxe is 40 watts, one 12" speaker.
>The Blues DeVille is 60 watts, with either two 12" speakers or four 10" speakers.
>A friend of mine uses a Blues DeVille (four 10s) and is very pleased with it. It's plenty loud for any gig. In order to get a good sound, you have to turn it up. She had problems playing at home (in an apartment) - the amp is very sensitive; once you g>A friend of mine uses a Blues DeVille (four 10s) and is very pleased with it. It's plenty loud for any gig. In order to get a good sound, you have to turn it up. She had problems playing at home (in an apartment) - the amp is very sensitive; once you g>t above 2 on the volume knob, it's too loud for an apartment. She solved the problem by buying a volume pedal. She plays a Strat through it and loves the sound.
I have a 4x10 Deville and I love it. The available volume settings are off,
loud and louder still. The 4x10 model sounds better, IMO.
>I think it's too heavy, but what do I know.
It is damn heavy. I'm putting wheels on mine.
A2000
friend was loving the amp and decided to give it a go. We got to Guitar C
enter and auditioned the BDV and the BDX. He decided on the BDX because
he could get to distortion and sustain quicker with the BDX without
blowing the roof off. However, although he can get to sweet and fat
quicker on the volume knob, he can't get quite the same fullness and
presence. I've got the 4X10 BDV and when I get enough room I can fill it
with ease. Itsd definitely not a home or apartment practice amp........
Kemp Watson
> Can anyone detail the main differences between the Fender
>Blues Deluxe and the Blues DeVille (i.e. tube complement, speakers,
>controls, sound, power, etc.)? What do you BDX/BDV owners think of
>these amps (and please try to be objective :-))? A friend of mine
>is thinking of buying one of these, but hasn't had a chance to try
>either one yet. Much appreciated for any help or opinions you care to
>offer.
>Caught In The Crossfire,
> Mike
I have had the DeLuxe for about 6 months now, and I'm just getting used
to it. Loved it when I heard it first, but soon had doubts.
Now starting to love it again.
The clean tone is absolutely wonderful, but the drive channel doesn't,
much.
Also, you have to crank the drive channel up LOUD to get a tone;
however, once it's loud, its killer.
I'm playing a Strat '54 40th Anniversary reissue with 10's, and have a
Boss Dual Overdrive pedal. With the Deluxe, this setup is great for
blues and 50's R&R, although the guitar hums a lot.
I also have an '86 Ibanez Artist, really crunchy/hot, and it sounds
like s__t through the Deluxe.
Kemp Watson ke...@interlog.com
Watson Industrial Software
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
____________________________
Q. How do you start a small business in Canada?
A. Start a large business, and wait ...
BRENT BURGESS
writes:
> Can anyone detail the main differences between the Fender
>Blues Deluxe and the Blues DeVille
>
Mike,
The blues deluxe is a 40 watt 1x12 set up and the blues deville is a 60
watt 2x12 or 4x10 setup. i've personally tested both deville models and
they kick ass!. I really liked the 4x10 model because it has a really
tight bottom end( I like tight bottoms, don't you?).The 2x12 model
sounds a lot like a twin reverb but with overdrive and an effects loop.
All of the above amps have effects loops and overdrive,reverb, 3 band
tone control and footswitch. I believe they both use el84's in the
power amp and 12ax7 in the pre amp.As far as the blues deluxe goes it
sounds great but if you want to compete with a drummer you are better
of with the deville.( more power and more speakers = more volume).
Brent
Franks Jr S. A. (Stacy)
> From: Mike Woo <mi...@vm1.mcgill.ca>
> Can anyone detail the main differences between the Fender
> controls, sound, power, etc.)? What do you BDX/BDV owners think of
> these amps (and please try to be objective :-))? A friend of mine
> is thinking of buying one of these, but hasn't had a chance to try
> either one yet. Much appreciated for any help or opinions you care to
> offer.
>
> Caught In The Crossfire,
> Mike
>
>
>
>
> * The Blues Cafe! Dallas, Tx. Home of BigD Online *
> * Dallas' Best BBS List! (214) 638-1181 8 Lines! *
> ---------------------------------------------------
>
The primary differences are output and speaker compliment. The Blues
Deluxe is nominally a 40 watt amp (actually less than 30 clean watts), and the
Blues DeVille is a 60 watt. They both use 2 5881 power tubes and 3 12AX7 preamp
tubes. The DeVille has bigger output and power transformers which accounts for
the power differential between it and the Deluxe. Otherwise their circuitry is
essentially identical. The Blues Deluxe comes with one 12" Fender "Gold Label"
speaker (which I think is supposed to be a copy of an old Jensen), and the
Blues DeVille is available with either 2 - 12" Gold Labels or 4 - 10's. When the
DeVille was initially introduced, Fender was putting 4 - 10" blue alnico speakers
in it - the same as they put in the tweed Bassman reissue. Now I believe they've
gone to these Gold Label 10's which I think is a rip - the blue alnicos are
much more musical (to my ears), and a better sounding speaker in general.
Otherwise they are both pretty good amps for the money - especially if you get
one at a discount (which you can most places). There were some reliability
problems initially (with the Blues DeVille), but those have probably been ironed
out. These amps are both good choices if you play blues or classic rock. They
are not metal machines, and probably won't produce the pristine high volume
clean tones necessary for country, either. I owned a Blues Deluxe for about 2
months. The only complaints I had were that the 1 - 12" speaker sounded tubby
(overly bassy) to me, and that the rated wattage was not accurate. We put it
on the bench, and the most power we could get out of it by changing tubes and
some other minor tweaking, was 30 watts. It produced 28 watts totally stock.This
was CLEAN wattage (before the onset of clipping), which is how amplifiers are
supposed to be rated. It would make 40 watts or a little more cranked up at max
THD. Apparently Fender has gone to this method of rating the power on their amps
(at least on these amps) which is cheating a little. This is the method Peavy has
always used to rate the wattage on their tube amps, so maybe Fender decided they
could get away with it too. This pissed me off, so I ended up sellind the amp.
The upside is that they are in such high demand, I ended up selling it used for
more than I paid for it new! Like I said though: in this price range (especially
dicounted) you'd be hard pressed to find a better overall value.
s.f. - f/w
Bob Pickwoad
>From: z03...@yp.uprc.com (Franks Jr S. A. (Stacy))
>Subject: Re: Blues Deluxe vs. Blues DeVille
Roger West
combo.
In <bobpick.2...@indirect.com> bob...@indirect.com (Bob
Urban J De Souza
Objectively, the amp is nice and clean. The reverb is lush and 12"
Gold label speaker is very warm. The tube break-in sound does'nt have
much
color with my Strat+ with FLS. The mid tone control seems ineffective.
However, a humbucker may kick it better.. I've been told the Blues
Deville is just a really powerful version of the Deluxe. It has 2x12 or
4x10 speakers for the extra power. The blues deluxe sound improves at
higher volumes...but
that could get really loud for your ears. The Deville is *NOT* for home
use...I've been warned.
=================================================================
Urban J. De Souza -- ujd...@psu.edu -- http://cac.psu.edu/~ujd100
Kenneth R Brownfield
[...]
>Gold label speaker is very warm. The tube break-in sound does'nt have
>much
>color with my Strat+ with FLS. The mid tone control seems ineffective.
No offense to FLS fans, but I couldn't get colour out of my
FLS-equipped guitar if I plugged it into a box of Crayolas.
The FLSs are great for medium to heavy distortion, esp. in a single
coil slot. Good power and high-end for dist., but esp. the reds just
kinda lie there playing possum without distortion. (IMHO of course.)
To get the most out of the Fender Blues or Peavey Classic amps, you
need either vintage humbuckers or vintage single coils. Very
generalized, but nothing TO ME IMHO sounds as good as Texas Specials
or Van Zandts through these and similar amps. By vintage I don't mean
old, I mean the non-(modern hot hot hot shred no mids) mentality.
All my HO, but these amps were designed roughly after the vintage
bassman (mass production modifies them _heavily_). You have to know
what to expect from these amps, and high-output shred pickups (the
laces were meant to lean in that direction) isn't what they were made
for.
No flame, just don't knock the amps till you try some other guitars.
Then you can insult them all you want. ;-)
>Urban J. De Souza -- ujd...@psu.edu -- http://cac.psu.edu/~ujd100
--
Ken. brow...@mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu