Blues DeVille volume

[helliott***]

I recently acquired a Fender Blues DeVille Reissue. Like it, but it's too loud. Anyone have advice for toning it down? Can't play it above 2 or so. Thinking of an attenuator, but wondering if different tubes might calm it down.

[just strum]

Or you could drive south (go around the lake) and drop it off at my house.

I wish I had some real advice for you, but that's all I can come up with. I would have said an attenuator also, but I didn't realize tubes would make that big of a difference.

[duhvoodooman***]

You could probably swap a couple of the 12AX7 preamp tubes for 12AT7's (I don't know the Blues Deville preamp tube layout, offhand) and reduce the volume some, but your best bet is probably a good attenuator. Maybe one of these:

https://taweber.powweb.com/weber/masslite.htm

[ibanezjunkie]

you could keep it at a lower level and drive it with an OCD, Tubescreamer or like, but your best is definately a power or volume attenuator.

[SuperSwede]

Congrats on the amp! Whats the wattage on those babies?

[ibanezjunkie]

60 watts =]

and theyre about £700-800 new, nice amps.

[helliott***]

Yes, 60 watts, but it's the loudest 60 I've ever heard. So loud, you can't get the clean channel, which is by far the best, up high enough to clip. Sounds great through pedalboard and fantastic with my Vox Tonelab in front, clean channel. But an attenuator would allow me to run it hotter, so I'll probably look into that.

[duhvoodooman***]

So loud, you can't get the clean channel, which is by far the best, up high enough to clip.

Typical of the higher wattage Fender tube amps, from all I've read. Rumor has it that, while the 135W version of the Twin Reverb made from '77 - '82 theoretically could be pushed hard enough to clip, it would cause the universe to collapse inward on itself, creating a single, massive black hole. But a really rockin' black hole! : : They don't call it the "King of Clean" for nothin'!

[ted s]

Vood...

[helliott***]

at last, an amp I can use for outdoor gigs in a category 3.

[SuperSwede]

Typical of the higher wattage Fender tube amps, from all I've read. Rumor has it that, while the 135W version of the Twin Reverb made from '77 - '82 theoretically could be pushed hard enough to clip, it would cause the universe to collapse inward on itself, creating a single, massive black hole. But a really rockin' black hole! : : They don't call it the "King of Clean" for nothin'!

I had a old silverface twin reverb that was pretty loud... dont recall exactly the wattage but it was a 74/75 model..

In fact it was so loud that I still can hear it in my ears when I go to bed, and I sold it over 10 years ago A real classic Silverear Twin Tinnitus Reverb.

[TS808]

The volume pots on the Blues Devilles and Hot Rod Series are linear taper (I think)....regardless of what type they are, the volume pots on those amps JUMP in volume from 0-4 and after 4 as you turn it up, the volume increases at a lesser rate.

Alot of people replace the volume pots with one that is more even but then you are voiding your warranty. Those are loud amps. Even the 40 watt Blues Deluxe will rattle your windows.

Your options are an attenuator, or lower gain tubes as mentioned before. Just by me adding a 12dw7 in v2 of my Delta Blues, that made it less loud.

Also, you may want to look at THD yellow jackets. I used those years ago when I had my Hot Rod Deville. They lower the volume some, but it's still going to be loud.

[Jimi75]

Alot of people replace the volume pots with one that is more even but then you are voiding your warranty. Those are loud amps. Even the 40 watt Blues Deluxe will rattle your windows.

+1

I was interested in this amph for a longtime. Mod no 1 would be the change of the volume pot, a lot of people also buy an external volume pot and put it in the FX loop, if I remember correctly. It's a great amp, and the mods are absolutely worth doing them.

[lowatter]

You could install a post-phase inverter, pre-power tube master volume for next to nothing. Check out how I approached it on my 18W schematic for the "Blues Bandit" on my Flickr page...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10000602@N04/

[goonrick]

Don't know what to tell you on Deville other than invest in a power attenuator.

If anyone is looking at the Deluxe amps, there are instructions on how to convert them to use JJ 6v6 tubes. I helped a friend do this mod and it made a huge difference! The OD came to life and the amp had a sparkle that wasn't there before.

If anyone is tempted to get either a Hot Rod Deluxe or Blues Deluxe I highly recommend looking into this mod. It drops the power output from around 40 Watts down to around 22 Watts. It makes for a nice club amp.

[Tone2TheBone]

Typical of the higher wattage Fender tube amps, from all I've read. Rumor has it that, while the 135W version of the Twin Reverb made from '77 - '82 theoretically could be pushed hard enough to clip, it would cause the universe to collapse inward on itself, creating a single, massive black hole. But a really rockin' black hole! : : They don't call it the "King of Clean" for nothin'!

Ted Nugent's best sound came from cranked to the max Twins. Insane. He can't do that anymore.

[Robert****]

Somebody's gonna have to build a powerful amp by the name "The Black Hole" or something. Or "Black Hole Generator".

[deeaa*]

I used to have a BDV (2x12"), played it on gigs for several years.
It indeed is a very very loud amp. Also very prone to changing its sound if pressed against the wall as I recall - just had to be placed at least 4 feet off the back wall or the sound just died. Because it was of course open-back too, it was a big problem on small stages and coupled with its loudness I often basically flooded the entire bar or whatever with my guitar wailing, also behind the stage etc. and thus it was the last open-back amp I ever bought for live use.

Anyway; what I did to keep it crunchy even at lower vols is I 1.) put in a beefier 12ax7S on the input stage 2.) turn down the treble and bass some and upped mids 3.) used an EMG PSA-1 onboard guitar preamp on my LP to give it a VERY strong signal (it can give 20db of boost). I only used the clean channel, and it was always on the verge of breakup.

I also had the neck PU on the paul wired as two single-coils, and when I used those, it was quite clean, but switching to bridge it already had a hefty drive especially if played harder. I used 11 to 52 strings. Then I had a tubescreamer to really send it off for more gain.

I just posted this somewhere...I think this song really well shows off how the Deville sounded with an LP (all guitars except leads; those are HotRodDeVille):

http://www.saunalahti.fi/~juho/bm/BM...la_se_mies.MP3