potential Hot Rod/Blues Deluxe buyer question?

[Weshunter]

am i better off buying a used made-in-USA model and saving a couple hundred bucks or buying a new one?

any opinions vs. the Egnater rebel 30, 20, or tweaker (i realize they are significantly different products, just broad impressions if anyone's played through both)

how about hot rod deluxe v blues deluxe? any opinions?

[Spudman]

It kind of depends on what sound you are after for one thing. Plenty of people have been pretty happy with non USA HR Deluxes. I've got one and it's great. There are plenty of them floating around and you can snag a good deal on a used one. But really, what sounds are you after and is it supposed to be a long term investment or a stepping stone on your GAS fulfillment quest?

[Weshunter]

wow, great questions. i could go either way on the HRD. There is a guy in my city who builds really great amps and he also mods HRD's with hand wiring and all that. I don't think I'll ever need more than 40w. I'm already in the process of building my extension cabinet for whatever amp I end up with and I don't know that I'd ever really need more than the HRD +all my pedals (and the pedals I will get) and the extension cabinet.

I'm going to be playing pretty much classic rock, jams, soul, funk, country -- stuff like that. nothing real high gain, no metal or anything like that. I've heard of reliability problems with the HRD's and I'd prefer to steer clear of any on-gig failures.

[Spudman]

The only consistent issue that I've heard, and personally fixed, is the circuit board mounted input jacks. As long as you are respectful and don't put a lot of tension on those jacks with your cable you probably wont have any problems. The HRD is a great sounding amph as is and will certainly cover all the styles you mention. However, if you aren't going to be gigging out you might want to consider an even lower wattage amph. The HRD is pretty loud and ballsy, and playing that way at home might stress other people. I've never had the need for an extension cabinet and if you are building a cabinet then you might want to consider just a head of some type. Otherwise, it's a great multi faceted amph.

[vroomery]

Yeah I can speak from experience about the incredible volume of the HRDx. Its also heavy which makes for some fun when your gigging. it does sound really good to me though. It takes pedals really well and the spring reverb tank sounds good. My only reservation on the blues jr is that most of the ones I've played sounded really sterile and cold. There are some special versions that sound much better though.

[mapka]

I have a blues deluxe that I bought in 2009. don't play out but I am real happy with it for the stuff I play at home. I like it for the music I play (blues, country, classic rock).

[ZMAN]

I would agree with what Spudman said. I owned the Blues Deluxe reissue and it took way too much volume to sound good.
For home use it wasn't that good. Also Compared to the HRD it doesn't have the more gain channel. I like the tweed cover though. I traded it on a US Strat, and I bought a 65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue. At 22 Watts a much better sounding amp, that can pull double duty at home and at a gig. The HRD is basically the same as the BDRI with that extra channel.
Vroomery. I think he was talking about a Blues Deluxe not the Blues Junior.

[vroomery]

My bad. Sometimes I miss important words haha. Carry on :thwap

[Weshunter]

i think i've decided on a used HRD and will get Jim at Omega to mod it. The one I think I'm going to get has a Blue Dog in it already. I've already got a WGS ET-65 that I was going to put in my extension cab. I was going to pair it with a Blue Dog, but since this combo already has one, I'll have to get something else to go with the ET-65, maybe a Cannabis Rex, they seem to be popular w/the Omega HRD crowd.

[ZMAN]

My bad. Sometimes I miss important words haha. Carry on :thwap
I do the same thing. It is getting so bad I have to read the posts twice. I read so many I just skim through and that is not good.

[vroomery]

Weshunter
I'm sure you'll be happy with that. There are so many speaker possibilities out there. The included Blue Dog is definitely a plus.

ZMAN
Yeah, I just get lazy. I guess I just need to sllllowwwww doowwwnnnn every once in a while.

[Ch0jin]

Weshunter
I'm sure you'll be happy with that. There are so many speaker possibilities out there. The included Blue Dog is definitely a plus.

ZMAN
Yeah, I just get lazy. I guess I just need to sllllowwwww doowwwnnnn every once in a while.

Festina Lente as they say....(or should that be said)