Talk me out of getting a 65 Deluxe Reverb

Yes......I became a convert to the "Forte 3D" style cabinets......The original outfit is outta business, though there are replicas still being produced. I managed to get some good pix of the construction of those cabs and "reverse-engineered" them out in the shop.....Kinda got carried away and made 1 x 12s, 2 x 12s, 1 x 10s, s x 10s and even a 1 x 15. Gave me a great chance to compare different speakers.
What I like about them is that they combine the best of open back and closed backs, with sound reflected out either side.......As I like to tell people, a simple and relatively small 1 x 12 sounds like it is 3 feet tall and 5 feet wide. My favorite combination is one with an Alnico Cream and one with an EVM-12L. For my money, that is a combination that will take on pretty much any stack I have run across. Without breaking my back, of course....Although the 2 x 12 with that combination DOES probably weigh near onto 100 lbs. Moving two 1 x 12s is a lot easier......



 
You want to have some real fun? Take the Line Out on the Boogie and run it into the front of a Deluxe Reverb. I used to do that with a Mark IIC+ simulclass. The world’s heaviest overdrive pedal, but what a tone!
 
Well, almost 18 months later, I finally got one ! Found a killer used Dlx Reverb at my local shop (NStuff) on Black Friday. I do love what this gal does. Still preamp tube rolling, but my PRS collection and Clapton strat sound killer with this amp.
I'm keeping my Mesa Express, can't really part with it.

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Get on Guitar Center used and search for one of these (discontinued).
The DR's (especially the '65 RI) are really mid scooped.
This pedal (essentially a modeler) gives you mids control and also presence.
It REALLY helps with Fender amps EQ wise. I use as an always on pedal with either my 68 Custom DR or
Blues Jr/68 Custom PR combination.
I liked what it did so well, I picked up another for my small board and to have a backup since they were discontinued.
Reverb has them, but I found them on GC used search for a lot less.
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I am not a fan of Blackface amps and the DRRI in particular, but if you have to have a Blackface, my pick is a Princeton, preferably Brownface or Blackface/White Knob vintage Princeton or the Chris Stapleton version. The circuit is an evolutionary step between Tweed and Blackface. It does not have all of the midrange scooped out like the Blackface amps, which sound like crushed glass with any distortion or overdrive pedal without a midrange hump.
 
IIt does not have all of the midrange scooped out like the Blackface amps, which sound like crushed glass with any distortion or overdrive pedal without a midrange hump.

It's funny, I describe the Matchless C-30 and vintage AC30s as having that "crushed glass" sound. For me, that is a VERY desirable and wonderful thing!

I'm guessing we're using the same words to describe two different sounds. ;)
 
Well, almost 18 months later, I finally got one ! Found a killer used Dlx Reverb at my local shop (NStuff) on Black Friday. I do love what this gal does. Still preamp tube rolling, but my PRS collection and Clapton strat sound killer with this amp.
I'm keeping my Mesa Express, can't really part with it.

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Congrats! I got my EP Booster there that day - I don't think I went into the basement just so I wouldn't be tempted by anything else.
 
I finally found my Vox type amp, a used Bad Cat, Cougar 15. It was designed by James Brown, the Peavey designer of the 5150, Classics, Kustom Coupes, Hardtops and Defenders. Now, I can get those bright, Les Paul type sounds from my S2 MC Singlecut 594. I've always heard players like Joe Walsh and Don Felder, with a Les Paul or signature McCarty, using his DR Z amp, and wondered how he got those sounds. I can now get bright clean sounds, even while playing on the neck pickup.

Before that, I was using a Tone Master Deluxe Reverb for Blackface sounds or with an AC30 patch from my Zoom MFX pedal.

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Question. I read where a few people recommended having the bright cap removed from the 65 DRRI. Pardon my ignorance, but will the removal of this cap have an effect on both channels and is it a "night and day" difference?

This caught my curiosity because I need to take my DRRI in for some work and thought maybe I should have this done as long as the tech has it.

Thanks.
 
Question. I read where a few people recommended having the bright cap removed from the 65 DRRI. Pardon my ignorance, but will the removal of this cap have an effect on both channels and is it a "night and day" difference?

This caught my curiosity because I need to take my DRRI in for some work and thought maybe I should have this done as long as the tech has it.

Thanks.

I believe bright caps are usually only on the vibrato channel on that amp. I’d see if your tech can put it on a switch for you. My ‘68 Custom Vibrolux has bright switches on both channels, very handy.

It’s unfortunate that, as guitarists are using less watts, Fender isn’t moving some of those premium features to the smaller amps. Used to be the big amps were also the fancier ones, but it’s a little archaic to still do it that way.
 
Question. I read where a few people recommended having the bright cap removed from the 65 DRRI. Pardon my ignorance, but will the removal of this cap have an effect on both channels and is it a "night and day" difference?

This caught my curiosity because I need to take my DRRI in for some work and thought maybe I should have this done as long as the tech has it.

Thanks.

I believe bright caps are usually only on the vibrato channel on that amp. I’d see if your tech can put it on a switch for you. My ‘68 Custom Vibrolux has bright switches on both channels, very handy.

It’s unfortunate that, as guitarists are using less watts, Fender isn’t moving some of those premium features to the smaller amps. Used to be the big amps were also the fancier ones, but it’s a little archaic to still do it that way.

Yes, I too am pretty sure that the bright cap was only on the Vibrato channel of my '65 DRRI. But just using only the Normal channel wasn't a good solution, because I believe you lose both Reverb and Vibrato and the corresponding gain/tone-shaping that inherently comes with those being in the circuit. (My modified Vibrato channel without bright cap was still brighter & more lively-sounding than the Normal channel.)

And yes, I also wish that more amps built with bright caps on the input (including those lower-wattage Fender classics) provided them as a switch or a push/pull on the Volume. Would be so much more versatile.
 
I have a 1980 hardwired blackface DR with a mid 60s Vox Celestion Blue. Super clean up to 5, then the rumble begins. Who though 22 watts would be so loud?
I use it, my H head, or a Tweed Deluxe depending on the venue and crowd size.
 
I have had a couple of DRRI’s and loved them but just grabbed a few weeks ago a Tonemaster DR and have to tell you I am loving it. NO it isn’t a DR, but for my ears it gets a huge way there and weighs nothing, and attenuates down to TV levels for night playing. I am thinking of grabbing the Super Reverb one just because, 4-10’s and manageable volume sounds like a win.
 
I have had a couple of DRRI’s and loved them but just grabbed a few weeks ago a Tonemaster DR and have to tell you I am loving it. NO it isn’t a DR, but for my ears it gets a huge way there and weighs nothing, and attenuates down to TV levels for night playing. I am thinking of grabbing the Super Reverb one just because, 4-10’s and manageable volume sounds like a win.
I traded a little used Princeton Reverb for a Tonemaster DR, did all the firmware upgrades and have never looked back. I really like the attuation feature as well, but wish it had an effects loop. Really like the light weight and it is very close to a DR in terms of tones at high volume levels. At low volume levels, the Tonemaster DR sounds better to my ears. Also no tubes to replace. When you use your amp everyday, that is a big plus.
 
Since the original thread topic is now “derailable” without fear of incident, (I just made that up) I’ve paid little attention to these Tonemaster amps. Solid pine cabs and a good speaker would give them a significant head start on decent tone, but they are a grand and at that point they need to sound REALLY good. So I have a couple questions. How do they take pedals? And (that one should be easy, so…) is the “attenuation” nothing more than a voltage limiter, or something? Reducing power on SS devices (that do not rely on being pushed for best tone, like tubes) has always been a curiosity to me. Turning down the master should do anything a built in attenuator would do (reduce volume) without the possibility or driving stages that don’t handle it well into distortion. So I’ve always been curious to why solid state amp makers would put multiple wattage choices in their designs. A one watt setting on a 100 watt SS amp would certainly reduce volume but could introduce unpleasant distortions IF it really just reduces the power output. Yet some claim they sound good at very low volumes with no nasty distortion. Does anyone know how they really work? Traditionally, overdriving SS power stages would be undesirable in an amp.
 
Since the original thread topic is now “derailable” without fear of incident, (I just made that up) I’ve paid little attention to these Tonemaster amps. Solid pine cabs and a good speaker would give them a significant head start on decent tone, but they are a grand and at that point they need to sound REALLY good. So I have a couple questions. How do they take pedals? And (that one should be easy, so…) is the “attenuation” nothing more than a voltage limiter, or something? Reducing power on SS devices (that do not rely on being pushed for best tone, like tubes) has always been a curiosity to me. Turning down the master should do anything a built in attenuator would do (reduce volume) without the possibility or driving stages that don’t handle it well into distortion. So I’ve always been curious to why solid state amp makers would put multiple wattage choices in their designs. A one watt setting on a 100 watt SS amp would certainly reduce volume but could introduce unpleasant distortions IF it really just reduces the power output. Yet some claim they sound good at very low volumes with no nasty distortion. Does anyone know how they really work? Traditionally, overdriving SS power stages would be undesirable in an amp.

Technically I know squat about how it works. That said, you got me thinking about it, since my living room/practice amp is a Katana 50, and it has 3 wattage settings. What it seems like to me is not so much pushing the power stage, but it just gives a wider range of volume options - gets 3 ranges out of the master knob, as it were, rather than having the master volume knob be hyper sensitive.
 
Technically I know squat about how it works. That said, you got me thinking about it, since my living room/practice amp is a Katana 50, and it has 3 wattage settings. What it seems like to me is not so much pushing the power stage, but it just gives a wider range of volume options - gets 3 ranges out of the master knob, as it were, rather than having the master volume knob be hyper sensitive.
If you choose the lowest wattage and then turn it up, does it get nasty?
 
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