Tweed or Ac30

MIKA-the-better-one

When considering a slightly broken up tone, what do you think copes better, a tweed, or vox ac30 sound.....
Tweeds would be Fender blues deluxe, 59 bassman ri
Vox would be ac30 or ac15
Also how does the Deluxe reverb shape up to both of these, any experience or owners of these amps???

AlanRatcliffe

All different animals. The Tweed Fenders and the Vox amps are both mid-heavy, but there the similarity ends. The Fenders are rawer and grittier. The Vox is more refined, serving up a more compressed, complex, fat punch with a dollop of chime on top.

Which Deluxe reverb? The blackface reissue? That has the scooped mids that all the BF Fenders share. Cleans that can only be beaten by a BF Twin and arguably the best edge of drive tone of all the Fenders - at a small venue friendly volume.

Max

imo try the vox Ac30 hand wired 2X. Its an awesome sounding amp. I heard it with a crappy guitar and the clean was amazing. If I had the cash I would buy it.

MIKA-the-better-one

Alan Ratcliffe wrote:
Which Deluxe reverb? The blackface reissue? That has the scooped mids that all the BF Fenders share. Cleans that can only be beaten by a BF Twin and arguably the best edge of drive tone of all the Fenders - at a small venue friendly volume.

You make it sound so lovely ?
It does seem a great amp, I just worry that 22 watts is not enough :/ I know stupid loud guitarist thing..... I guess once its propped up high and mic's its plenty loud....?

I am simply trying to decide on deluxe reverbs, blues deluxe ri, and ac30.....

The blues deluxe and vox sound very similar, on videos.... I just wish I oculd see in person.....

So I take it alan, you would go for a DRRI over all of them?

Bob-Dubery

If you're going to the USA now then wait until you get there. You'll have way more options, including boutique builders like Divide By 13. Probably hot rodders/modifiers in most towns.

AlanRatcliffe

Yeah - I'm a big fan of the DRRI. It shows? ? I'd probably replace the speaker with a higher efficiency one that has a tighter low end (probably a Celestion Gold to skew it a little to the Vox chime. If I wanted to keep the Fender amp tone intact but improve it the Eminence Texas Heat is probably the best bet).

The BF amps are all very similar in tonality, so it's pretty easy to find the best one for the job. Deluxe Reverb is the best all rounder for most of the venues you are likely to play. If you need the extra volume for the audience, mic it up. But... if you need more volume to hang with a loud drummer, move up to a Vibrolux Reverb (35W 2X10) or Pro Reverb (40W 2X12). Next step is a Twin, but if you're using amp drive, a Twin will kill small birds at 1000 paces by the point it starts breaking up and will break your back at loadout. While you can make a Twin break up sooner (I do), you might as well step down to a Pro and save about 10KGs off your back.

MikeM

Here's an idea. Get an Ac15 heritage or a DRRI. Then a couple weeks later once you have more money, get the one you didn't get and go stereo. ? more than loud enough and crazy awesome tone ?

Oh and instead of going DRRI, you can always go for one of these

http://www.allenamps.com/accomplice.php

Maybe with 6L6s, in head version? And then get a 2x10 or something... Punchy, lightweight, loud and awesome <3

MIKA-the-better-one

Well I if I had a bit more money I would get a Bad Cat 30, or Blackstart artisan 30......
But after plane ticket, and downpayment on a place to stay, and all living stuffs, I have about R1000 for an amp ☹ so no boutique amp YET........
Maybe I can score second hand but I doubt......

I generally will be playing with louder drummers, so I am really swaying ac30 way, the new c2 version which I read is beautiful..
Although the ac15 with alnico blue is also tempting as MikeM points out, I just do not know if they are loud enough.....
DRRI, I think with the Super reverb is the best Fender RI amp, and would definatly sound nice with a speaker upgrade, I dont think I want to go the twin route, as fun as its been in this curreent band I want to get more breakup and saturation in my sound..... ?

I may have to go to Music Connection and see if they have the new ac30's in, or a DRRI
I expect a DRRI is loud enough when propped up....

bottledtone

There is also the option of taking a twin reverb and replacing the 6L6's with 6V6's, as well as the bias voltage and getting a "super deluxe".
The voltages on a twin reverb aren't too high since the amp is rated at 85 watts, so the V's should be fine. High quality V's though.

MikeM

I'd rather go the other way around. Instead of weakening a giant amp, I'd pop some 6L6s and bigger iron in a DRRI. I have had a twin and it's just ridiculously too heavy.

MoJo-JoJoe

I've owned a ReIssue Blues Deluxe (which is not the same as the original), an AC15 Heritage combo, and a DRRI. I still have the DRRI.
The Blues Deluxe RI was a very strident and bright amp ... far more so than a HotRod Deluxe (I've owned 4). The AC15 was nice, but a real one-trick pony ... and to be honest I'm not mad about AC-30 tone and the 15 was close enough. My AC15 and Blues Deluxe ReIssues sounded NOTHING alike! The DRRI is perfect in every way ... they come with a really nice Jensen for the last couple of years which really is good enough (though I do have a Celestion Gold in the cupboard waiting to be tried in the DRRI). What makes you think Alan likes very similar tones to me? Or is that I like very similar tones to Alan? ?

BTW I have a 1995 Fender Super Amp (very similar to a Super Reverb) and it's the best sounding amp I own ... just too much for most of the venues I play(ed).