Fender Blues Deluxe mods?

[MikeRocker]

So, I have a reissue Fender Blues Deluxe, which by and large is a great amp, and currently my main gigging amp, but there are a few shortcomings...most notably, how the volume pot on the clean channel (I pretty much use Clean exclusively, and get my OD/distortion from pedals) goes from Off to about 4...sometimes, I need to have it at about 1 or 2 for certain gigs, but it seems to just bypass lower volumes and go from silent to moderately loud (I'm thinking it's a linear taper pot and maybe it should be an audio taper?). Anyway, I'm aware that there are some mod kits, etc. available, and I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with these, or can recommend any particular kit/company/website? I think it's a great little amp, but it has the potential to be a lot better with the right kind of mods. Also, does anyone have any advice as far as switching out tubes/speakers? Specifically, what brands/models of tubes and/or speakers will be an improvement, and how will they change the sound?

Thank you very much for any help!

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Fender Blues Deluxe mods?

easy mod to replace the clean volume pot. definitely worth it. I did it to my old hot rod.
http://www.justinholton.com/hotrod/
Hot rods and blues deluxes are very similar. The mods on this page will work with a blues deluxe too.
Also the easy reverb mod (one snip and its done) and the twin style tone stack mod are worth doing.
While you are in there, upgrade the screen resisitors to a higher wattage too, and fix em in place with a gob of silicon (thats all described on the page too).
Don't bother doing any changes to the eq cap values. Ive messed wit hthem in a blues junior also, and found that stock sounds best to my ears.

As far as tubes go, jjs in the power section and tung sols in the pre is a sweet set up.

But the biggest difference will come from a speaker swap. Those gold fender/emi speakers are rubbish.
Have a look at an eminence cannabis rex if you want bluesy/jazzy cleans, or a texas heat if you want more headroom and fatness.

 

[MikeRocker]

Re: Fender Blues Deluxe mods?

Thank you very much for the info, looks like some very useful stuff on that site! Anybody else have any thoughts/experience?