Ordered a new DRRI, be here this week. (maybe)

[Toto'sDad]

Ordered DRRI:

I once owned a DRRI but as near as I could figure it was from the late 90's pretty old. I tried to like it but couldn't it was noisy, probably needed more work than I wanted to invest in. I got a decent offer on it, and sold it.

The other day I played a DRRI again, the new model and really liked it. Don't know maybe my taste changed. I ordered a new one because the one off the floor had been there quite a while. (6 months or more) I liked the floor model, but hopefully a new one will be at least as good, could even be better. They get a lot of abuse on the GC floor.

I have been playing a Blues Deluxe for a couple of years, and like it too. My question would be, since I've had zero problems with it. Keep it, or peddle it?
I'm not hurting for the money, space is a minor problem, but I can live with that. Maybe even buy a tube kit and spruce it up a little. It sounds super with my Strat, not so much with my Tele. I figure the DRRI should be a better match for my Tele, at least the one I played with an American Special Tele sound pretty peachy.

Opinions?

[Syclone879]

I love my DRRI! I've had it about 1 1/2 yrs. I play a semi-hollow body Schecter. I got new tubes (JJ's) pre amp only. I removed V1 and replaced the reverb driver 12AT7 (I believe) with a 12AU7. I couldn't be happier!

I've thought about getting a new speaker and adding Reverb to the normal channel (Fritz Mod?) and possibly getting power tubes and bias hotter. I like it so much now though that I haven't felt much of an urge to spend the money. Although I do think I would like it better, from what I've heard, with those mods.

I hope you enjoy yours; Have fun!

[telex76]

My DRRI sounds great. Remember they are most times cold biased from the factory.
If your not happy with the sound get it biased a little warmer.
Keep the Blues Deluxe, but if you get the DRRI set up right, you won't be playing
the BDRI much.

[waparker4]

Originally Posted by Syclone879

I love my DRRI! I've had it about 1 1/2 yrs. I play a semi-hollow body Schecter. I got new tubes (JJ's) pre amp only. I removed V1 and replaced the reverb driver 12AT7 (I believe) with a 12AU7. I couldn't be happier!

I've thought about getting a new speaker and adding Reverb to the normal channel (Fritz Mod?) and possibly getting power tubes and bias hotter. I like it so much now though that I haven't felt much of an urge to spend the money. Although I do think I would like it better, from what I've heard, with those mods.

I hope you enjoy yours; Have fun!

I love my drri had it about 8 years. Got the 12au7 the reverb as well, couldn't praise that move higher, which may get tiresome to the rest of the tdpri

I replaced the power tubes recently and put in the Weber 12f150 50 watt.. nice sounding speaker. It also sounds nice through a reconed old alnico organ amp ... there is less crunch but the notes seem to jump out more in the cleans... you can interpret that yourself

The Fritz mod makes sense if you always want an ambient amount of reverb eg. But it does make the channels very similar, I made them different by putting a 12ay7 in v2.

To the op, sometimes I am amazed at how my strat sounds through it after playing other types of guitar for a while.. its a good match. And if it were me I would keep the bd, its handy for gigs or jams just above what a dr can keep up with for cleans.

[Syclone879]

Originally Posted by Toto'sDad

Ordered DRRI:

I have been playing a Blues Deluxe for a couple of years, and like it too. My question would be, since I've had zero problems with it. Keep it, or peddle it?

Opinions?

LOL! I got so caught up thinking about the DRRI that I missed the point of the thread!

I would say keep it. Then you have a backup if need be or an extra amp for a friend. Especially if you're not hurting for money. It's insurance if one day you do need quick cash, you can sell it.

[rokdog49]

Had mine about 2 years now. Bought it used in immaculate condition off ebay for around $600. The previous owner already had swapped out the original tubes for some JJ's. I pulled the stock speaker C12K and popped a Weber 12F150 light dope in there. The speaker made the big difference to me. The original is not a bad sounding speaker (obviously). The Weber is absolutely hands down a better sounding, clearer speaker with more range to my ears and others who have heard it. In any case, this is a great amp. Have fun!
I wouldn't sell any amp I liked unless I really needed the cash.

[vincent]

Congrats. It's a great amp. As long as your not hurting for the cash, keep the Blues jr.

[Captain Bb]

I have a DRRI and a BD. Nuff said.

[Green Lantern]

There's no good reason for selling the Blues Deluxe if space and money are not issues. I would keep it around. It will probably come in handy. Plus, I don't know if you have more amps, but I wouldn't want to be stuck with just a Deluxe Reverb. It doesn't have quite enough headroom for some applications, but I don't know if that would apply to you and what you may use it for.

[jonzer]

There's a bunch of suggestions on modding and tweaking your brand new amp. My advice is simple. Play it. Play it a lot. That speaker will sound better the more you play it. In fact, I think you should have bought the floor model as it's been used a lot.
I bought a used DRRI and it sounds better today than when I bought it. Also, found out some of the tubes weren't the correct tubes and that's from the factory. That might be something to check out.....or my amp guy could have lied to me because lord knows he's done that before.

[Toto'sDad]

Thanks for all the replies guys, I picked up the amp tonight at the GC, watched the local Blues Playoff and the guy who I thought was the best, was the guy the judges picked. Actually it was a tie with another guy, but the guy I picked was the best! They will play off with some others two weeks from tonight.

I got it out of the box and to tell the truth was slightly disappointed at first, but after dialing it in, which with two knobs shouldn't be that big of a deal, but I messed around with it, and my Tele, then cranked it up a little and played it for a while and it's coming around. I do like the controls on the Blues Deluxe better, no doubt. The Blues Deluxe right now sounds better to me, so I'm probably going to keep it. I'm gonna stay with the DRRI this time though. As I said I had one, and got rid of it, then missed it. I think having the two of them may be the route to go. We'll see.

I'm just going to play it for a month or two, let it settle down, maybe adjust one of my guitars to suit it. See how that goes. I really appreciate the replies. I'll play it for a while, and then take it and have the bias set. I feel like I need to get to know it before I do anything at all. It was REALLY tight when I unpacked it. Might be my imagination, but it seem to loosen up a little in only an hour or so, maybe I just got used to it. I think the floor model definitely sounded better, maybe this one will free up in a while..

[rokdog49]

Give it a chance. Breaking the speaker in will help. The DRRI is very versatile, that's one of the attributes it has going for it. There is a learning curve on tone, but enjoy the process.

[Toto'sDad]

Well, I'm getting closer with the DRRI. I piled up a bunch of pillows today if front of the speaker, and on both sides, threw a couple on top, and threw a quilt over the pillows, and pushed the speaker pretty hard for about twenty minutes. I was careful to keep the back open and not crowd the front so it didn't overheat. It sounds WAY better.

I do wonder if the amp is biased cool, because this one doesn't put out nearly as much heat as the one I had before. I don't know if that's a clue, or not. But I do know it's running a lot cooler than the first one I had. I think I'm getting the hang of it. If you change anything, it changes everything. I thought is was less complicated than the blues deluxe, not so, the amp is a lot more sensitive to subtle changes. I mean subtle changes. If you move the bass control, it affects the treble, if you change the reverb a tiny bit it affects the overall tone. I used the vibrato/tremolo today, messed with it, and the reverb, got some cool 50's stuff out of it. Hard to get the vibrato channel just right, just have to keep fiddling with it.

[Paul G.]

Well, welcome to the club.

One came home with me today, and it wasn't even on my radar. I needed a small gigging amp, I was looking for something around 30 or 40 watts.

I hadn't played one in about 15 years, and don't remember liking it that much. But this thing blew every other amp in the store away. 22 watts? OK, maybe but it sound clean and full and very loud. Good reverb, OK trem (I may need to work on that).

A little negotiating and the nice kid put it in my trunk. Will be taking it to my gig tonight for a full and proper testing, but I'm feeling very good.

P.

[jonzer]

When I first got my DRRI, it was used...but barely. Nothing was broken in. I loved it in the store and at home, I thought it was really thin and tinny sounding. Like a can or something.
Playing it loud and with OD pedals really helped. Now the sound is much fuller without any pedals. My telecaster sounds nice and fully and very clean. I plug in my Epi Dot and just use the bridge pup and crank the amp....someone's calling the cops but it sounds so good.

[JDRNoPro]

DRRI is a great amp - I loved mine. Only reason I don't have it now is because I gave it to my grandson..............but still have my SFDR.

The key factors to great DRRI tone are the same as for any DR :

- proper tube bias
- good quality tubes ( I like NOS but current production Tung Sol are pretty good)
- well broken in speaker
- Learn how interactive the controls are

[Alex W]

Originally Posted by Toto'sDad

Ordered DRRI:

I once owned a DRRI but as near as I could figure it was from the late 90's pretty old. I tried to like it but couldn't it was noisy, probably needed more work than I wanted to invest in. I got a decent offer on it, and sold it.

The other day I played a DRRI again, the new model and really liked it. Don't know maybe my taste changed. I ordered a new one because the one off the floor had been there quite a while. (6 months or more) I liked the floor model, but hopefully a new one will be at least as good, could even be better. They get a lot of abuse on the GC floor.

I have been playing a Blues Deluxe for a couple of years, and like it too. My question would be, since I've had zero problems with it. Keep it, or peddle it?
I'm not hurting for the money, space is a minor problem, but I can live with that. Maybe even buy a tube kit and spruce it up a little. It sounds super with my Strat, not so much with my Tele. I figure the DRRI should be a better match for my Tele, at least the one I played with an American Special Tele sound pretty peachy.

Opinions?

A valuable bit of advice, which I have regretted when I failed to follow it, is Never sell an amp that you love. Aside from that, it sounds good to run two amps daisy chained. They don't have to be the same volume, so if one amp sounds "better" than the other then the lesser one can be used just to fill a special role. For example, you can crank the reverb up on the Blues Deluxe but the keep volume lower, so it functions as a reverb channel with independent tone and volume controls. And just having separate speakers in cabs physically separated from each other helps make a big full sound.

[Toto'sDad]

Very thoughtful post, I'm probably going to keep it, I really do like it quite a lot. In fact I'm probably going to order a 12Y7 and a 5751 to experiment a little with the volume sweep, and breakup of the BD. Good thought on stringing 'em together, and the new tubes should help with that. I bought the BD new, and the little I could get for it, well it's worth more to me than the few dollars would be. I've spent a lot of time playing it, and contrary to internet opinion, it's been trouble free.

Thanks,

TD