Fender blues deluxe reissue mods

[Trav-ler]

I have a fender blues deluxe reissue which I felt produced too much bass tone even with the bass eq knob set to one-two which is the lowest setting. I had a Fromel supreme kit installed and the amps personality was significantly changed. It is brighter sounding but if desired can be adjusted to remove the bright tones and the bass tone is now sounding right with the eq set at four. It now sounds very much like a much louder blues junior with bill m mods. The tech also modded the gain channel to produce a little bit more gain than stock. His mods allowed the amp to produce more gain with the gain knob set at eight - nine than it previously produced set at twelve. I decided I wanted a little bit more gain and fitted a new eminence swamp thang speaker hoping that it would breakup a little earlier and produce more gain. The Eminance swamp thang does produce a whole lot more bass tone. Not the tight round kind but big fat wall shaking bass tone. I can turn down the bass eq from four to 1-2 to get a more musical bass tone but I now no longer have much adjustment available and the gain didn't really change much from the stock speaker. I am thinking about returning the swamp thang because it doesent sound at all like the you tube videos that I watched to make my decision from. My question is how much will the tone change as this speaker breaks in? Should I play it more? Will it loosen up and produce more gain and tighter more musical bass or will it pretty much produce the same fat mushy tone with only a minor tone quality enhancement.

This is the video I spoke of. Not sure how this was recorded but hearing the speaker live doesent sound like this review.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NAwonYJoxQ8

[Trav-ler]

Spoke with the tech who serviced the amp about the speaker. He said that generally as a speaker breaks in it will loose a little of its high tones and its bass tones will get a little smoother sounding due to the speaker loosening up. I will probably send it back.

[Trav-ler]

Before sending back the swamp thang speaker I decided to fit it into my blues junior amp. Being powered by the blues junior amp the swamp thang speaker sounds very different than it did being powered by the blues deluxe reissue. The overwhelming bass is now sounding much more in balance with the rest of the tones the speaker produces. It's louder, smoother, has lots of sustain something the stock Jensen c12n didn't have. It also produces smoother highs, it's got some grit with the volume turned up near max and the master set at 6-7 overall a much better sound. I can also turn the bass eq up around seven without the tone sounding like there's too much bass and it sounds pretty good played clean. It's so smooth and creamy I think it could be used to play jazz. Wonder why it dissent sound like the video when it's played through in the blues deluxe reissue? Also I fitted the Jensen c12n speaker into the blues deluxe reissue and it sounded very similar to the swamp thang speaker when fitted into the blues deluxe reissue. Too much bass and it couldn't handle the power of the BDRI turned past half. Anyone have any thoughts about this they would be willing to share?

[mickeydg5]

Both the C12N and the especially the Swamp Thang can handle the power of that amplifier. They both have good frequency response. I believe the Swamp thing to be a nice speaker. People seem to like it.
It seems the "too much bass" is associated with the amplifier itself.
The Blues Junior is voiced much differently not to mention the EL84 power amplifier stage. It is designed for less bass and more higher frequency focus. The Blues Deluxe is kind of opposite with its voicing and 6L6 power amplifier stage.

What are all of your Blues Deluxe control settings?
What is your actual power tube plate voltage, control grid voltage and idle bias?
Is the Treble control of the guitar at maximum(I assume it is)?
Try an EQ before the input or in the LOOP.

[Trav-ler]

I decided to leave the swamp thang speaker in the blues junior. I does everything the c12n does only better. I ordered another swamp thang for the blues deluxe reissue and installed it last thursday. Interestingly enough the second swamp thang doesn't produce as much bass? The amp is still biased to producing more bass than most amps do its just more balanced sounding now. While playing through the clean channel with the volume set at 3 i can set the bass eq at 4-5 without having too much bass. I set the treble eq at 5 and the mid eq at 4. This produced a pleasing tone and very smooth sounding too. I have a 91 american standard strat which is stock. I play using the neck pickup with the eq set at about 5 and the volume at 5-7. When i play through the drive channel i set the drive at 10 and the master at 3. The swamp thang speaker produces more grit than the stock fender speaker. This speaker is more sensitive to pick attack, eq settings, volume control, smoother high's. Its smoother and grittier and louder than stock. It also has an amazing amount of sustain. Much more than the stock speaker. While it could be fit into any amp. The swamp thang seems like it was designed for the fender tweed amps.

Quote;What is your actual power tube plate voltage, control grid voltage and idle bias? I don't know the answer to these questions. I did ask the tech if the idle bias was set correct and he said it was so i am assuming the other internal adjustments or critical voltage values are also correct.

[Trav-ler]

Last night I played through the blues deluxe at a band rehearsal. The room was much larger than my living room and the amp was placed on a no back chair. The amp sounded awesome and so very different. I could do more tone adjustments with the eq than I could playing through the amp in my living room. I am very pleased with the Fromel mods and the Swamp Thang speaker.