Amps for blues

[feb52]

What do you think would be a good amp for blues, has anyone played the Peavey Delt blues amp with thw 15" speaker or the Fender Blues junior.

feb52

[bai1975]

I have the BJ tweed version and think that it is a good amp. Fender tweed with a FAT switch to give a mid boost and comes with reverb. No mods done but it can get a little boxy sounding at times. The Peavey is a well built amp and has a very good non Fender like clean, reverb and vibrato. The 15" speaker retains the low end great as well. I do have to use a separate OD pedal with the BJ because the OD the amp produces naturally is not very good IMO. Try them both and see what your guitar works better with.

[hooch1]

Classic 30 is pretty much the same amp as the Delta Blues except with a 12 inch speaker if you want something closer to the BJ in size.

[endzone]

Guess it would depend on the kind of blues your playing and the sound that you are looking for. There's a lot of amps that are qualify as blues amps. I love old Silvertones and Valco's and I don't think I've ever heard a Fender tube amp that wouldn't put out good blues tones. Peavey Classics and the Delta Blues have a lot of fans as well.

[Robin Nahum]

Not sure what tone you're after but you might want to try out a 5E3.

[tooncaster]

I want to give a little love to my VOX Valvetronix VT-15 tube/combo amp. I usually play my Epi Dot Studio (an ES-335 down market copy) and get a lot of great blues tones from the clean, tweed and AC-30 settings. But I have been shopping for a tele, so when I try one out at the store, I plug it into the store's VT-15, and it sounds great. I default to playing blues licks, and both the guitar and the amp produce those tones naturally. It sounds great to my ears.

Most tube amps I have tried, esp Fender and Vox, produce great blues tones.

[superhand]

a cheap one

[Telefone]

I have both of them. And I love them. I play the Jr. at home and the Delta Blues with the band. Reverb is better on the Jr.but the Delta has tremolo a efx loop, and external speaker jack. Although the Jr. takes pedals great right into the input.Only thing I wish they both had is a standby switch. Close your eyes and pick one lol.

[Tele66]

I have a standard black tolex BJr and a Texas Red special with NOS Mullards. I use either one with our blues/rock trio for pub gigs. They are plenty loud enough for small gigs and as said above, take pedals well. And, they are easy on the back!!!

[Todd 3465]

Originally Posted by feb52

What do you think would be a good amp for blues, has anyone played the Peavey Delt blues amp with thw 15" speaker or the Fender Blues junior.

feb52

I used the Peavey Delta 30 prior to getting the Fender Jazz King and found the amp had an issue with microphonics in the pre-amp tubes. I had to put dampers on the tubes. Other than that, it has a very nice, sweet tone.

IMO, the Fender Blues Jr has so-so tone and reverb (at least with P90 pickups). I feel the that Pro Junior has better tone if you can find one that does not hum too loud.

If you are really serious about tone and want a tube amp for Blues, you should try a tube head with a 2 x 12 cabinet. I'll bet you will never go back to a combo amp...

Good luck!

[jjkrause84]

Really any of the usual suspects would work fine. I would say though that the only Voxes good for blues are ones with a Normal or (better yet) an EF86 channel. Other than that as long as it's not a fire-breathing gain-beast you're probably safe

[BigDaddyLH]

Originally Posted by Todd 3465

I used the Peavey Delta 30 prior to getting the Fender Jazz King

Aside: There aren't many Jazz King owners around here, so I have to ask: how do you like it? What guitar and music do you play through it? It's a pity Fender stopped making it and the Steel King. (Peavey has stopped making 15" steel guitar combos, too. Evans is the last major one left, as far as I know.)

I dig 15" speakers (had a 15" MiniBrute). There's a Jazz King languishing in my local music store, which I like to play, but I wonder if I'm the only one -- it's more of a Marshall/Orange place. I'd take it off their hands but I'm just a living room player, and I don't want to rattle the windows

[jefrs]

EF86, let's see - the AC15 is the one with the EF86, but Rory used the AC30, and Jimi described him as the world's greatest blues guitarist. When I think of an AC30 it is his sound, not The Beatles. There are now two types of AC30 available, the Vox and the JMI http://www.jmiamplification.com/, guess what, it's the JMI that's the authentic one. The AC30 is possibly an unusual choice for a blues amp but can be most effective.

Rory also used - Amplificateurs: VOX AC 30; STRAMP Power Baby TYP K-85, 80 W, 2 x 12"; Ampeg VT 40MK I; Ampeg VT 40 MK II; Fender Bassman1954; Fender Twin1954; Fender Concert1961; Marshall Combo probablement un JCM 800; Marshall Top et un 4 x 12" (solo en grandes salles) http://chnoss59.free.fr/htlm/equipements.htm

Just because it has got 'Blues' in the name does not make it a good blues amp necessarily.

It depends what type of blues you are playing, generally speaking, most medium power valve amps will do the trick, so will a fair few solid state ones.

[BiggerJohn]

Originally Posted by feb52

What do you think would be a good amp for blues, has anyone played the Peavey Delta blues amp with the 15" speaker or the Fender Blues junior.

feb52

The Delta Blues 1x15 is a durn good sounding amp. If you want to hear one in action, there are You tube videos of Anthony Paule using one at the Poor House Bistro in San Jose. Great clean tone. Smooth transition into overdrive. Skip the Blues Jr.

Other excellent candidates are ANY tweed, brown, black or silver Fender, just about any 4-hole Marshall, any old Ampeg or Gibson.

[Todd 3465]

Originally Posted by BigDaddyLH

Aside: There aren't many Jazz King owners around here, so I have to ask: how do you like it? What guitar and music do you play through it? It's a pity Fender stopped making it and the Steel King. (Peavey has stopped making 15" steel guitar combos, too. Evans is the last major one left, as far as I know.)

I dig 15" speakers (had a 15" MiniBrute). There's a Jazz King languishing in my local music store, which I like to play, but I wonder if I'm the only one -- it's more of a Marshall/Orange place. I'd take it off their hands but I'm just a living room player, and I don't want to rattle the windows

Hi BigDaddy!

I'm a professional Jazz guitarist. I use the Jazz King with a Godin 5th Avenue Kingpin (which BTW is made in your country!). When I'm in NY city, I play with a big band and find that the Jazz King is awesome filling big venues.

It's a fine amp. Fender is kinda weird; if they don't sell a million of a model, they drop it. They just dropped the entire FM DSP line. In my eyes, that was dumb. I've used the FM65DSP and FM212DSP and they were fine amps if you 'set the controls right'.

Take care and have a nice long weekend...

You should buy the Jazz King at your local store if they still have one. It will be worth something in 20 years!

[BigDaddyLH]

Originally Posted by Todd 3465

You should buy the Jazz King at your local store if they still have one. It will be worth something in 20 years!

I'm printing this out now to show my wife

[Strongpersuader]

Would someone please define to me WHAT IS a good amp for Bues? What features an amp for playing the Blues should have

I define myself primarily as a Blues player, but Blues have spread on a vary large musical territory nowadays, so it makes me also wonder about what kind of Blues people are talking of. Just wondering....

[hooch1]

Yea, its kind of like asking what kind of guitar to play the blues. The tone and feel is in the fingers. As long as its not a active pickup Ibanez through a high gain Soldano, you should be ok.

Jack White plays these plastic guitars so he has to work for his tone. Maybe you could apply that same theory to amps and try to get a good tone out of a 90's model Squier 10.

Originally Posted by Strongpersuader

Would someone please define to me WHAT IS a good amp for Bues? What features an amp for playing the Blues should have

I define myself primarily as a Blues player, but Blues have spread on a vary large musical territory nowadays, so it makes me also wonder about what kind of Blues people are talking of. Just wondering....

[redddog]

I've owned and gigged with everything from a JCM 800 to a Peavy Bandit to a Roland Jazz to a Deluxe Reverb.

I currently have an AC 30 CC1 and it's my favorite of them all. GREAT tones across the spectrum from jangly clean to just short of very heavy distortion.

[Marzio]

go vintage or go home. go to a real guitar store and try out amps from the 60s :)