The Deluxe Reverb Club

One of the most raved amps around here needs a club too!

I'll start with my RI:

http://onfinite.com/libraries/1199004/c98.jpg

I'm in, but will admit that I've played my Princeton Reverb most since it joined the family. My Deluxe is louder and I enjoy it a lot too.

I've got 3, a blackface from February of 1965, a Silverface from 1978 that I've modded to total blackface specs, and a R.I from 1992 that I'm finally happy with since I got new power tubes and biased it hotter than it came from the factory.

My '77:

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u116/march68/DeluxeR.jpg

Me gots a '73, with the circuit "returned" to AA763. Great amp. Wish the cabinet was solid wood, though...

I was wondering how long it would take for this club,given the popularity of this
amp. I have a year old Blonde DRRI with the Jensen Alnico. It sounds great
but I wish I could get the "roach vibrato" to slow down some. LB

I'm in. I just picked up a circa 2000 DDRI to go with my PRRI, modded black Blues Jr and boat anchor 410 Hot Rod Deville.

My early 64, note missing channel numbers, a factory goof I'm told

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y260/CocoTone/gear1.jpg

T.

It no longer has the hang tags hanging on it. An '08 purchased right before Christmas that year.
Love it. Running RCA blackplate 6V6s in it. Stock preamp tubes.

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk163/pchilson/DRRI/front_full.jpg

How about mods?
I clipped the bright cap and got a weber speaker 50 W light dope 12F150 if I recall correctly.
I've tried to put a switch to the bright cap but it added a lot of noise. Still don't know what went wrong!

My '66 and '69. Deluxe Reverbs RULE!!

http://www.tdpri.com/telephoto/data/539/medium/IMGP0017.JPG
http://www.tdpri.com/telephoto/data/539/medium/IMGP0016.JPG

I'm not in the club but plan on buying a reissue as soon as I can afford one!

To those that already have one, am I right in thinking the Deluxe Reverb Reissue handles pedals well?

If you play it loud, yes. If you play at home you may find that the OD pedals sound a little "fuzzy" in the Vibrato channel. Clip the bright cap and you don't have to worry about it anymore.

If you play it loud, yes. If you play at home you may find that the OD pedals sound a little "fuzzy" in the Vibrato channel. Clip the bright cap and you don't have to worry about it anymore.

Sounds ok. I need to find a lightish amp (weight wise - bad back!) which can play nice and clean tones plus dirty up if required using pedals.

I still don't understand why people call the Deluxe Reverb a light amp! Maybe it's because I'm used to have lightest amps I can't see where the DR is light! When I had the AlNiCo speaker it was a lot more lighter, but even then I wouldn't consider a light amp... unsless you have a twin reverb! Yes, the Deluxe is lighter... but not a light amp IMHO.

Here's my '94.

http://www.tdpri.com/telephoto/data/539/medium/Deluxe_Reverb_RI_10001.JPG

NOS tubes and a Weber Sig 12B speaker and a purple jewel light from a 60's Kustom 200 bass amp.

I still don't understand why people call the Deluxe Reverb a light amp! Maybe it's because I'm used to have lightest amps I can't see where the DR is light! When I had the AlNiCo speaker it was a lot more lighter, but even then I wouldn't consider a light amp... unsless you have a twin reverb! Yes, the Deluxe is lighter... but not a light amp IMHO.

I've got a Flextone III XL which is 76lbs - that's why I consider the DR a light amp!

1965 Black Face Deluxe Reverb, bought this in 1979 for $90.00.

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk237/ramseypete/65DeluxeR.jpg

I've got a Flextone III XL which is 76lbs - that's why I consider the DR a light amp!

Ouch! I get it now :lol:

Ouch! I get it now :lol:

I'm going to sell the Flextone and get a DRRI...the DRRI will sound a whole lot better and be much much easier to carry around!

Just don't put an EV speaker in it! :grin:

Well...I'm going to join the club real soon...just put my two amps up for sale locally.

All done, two amps up for sale...new amp ordered and paid for (waiting for its arrival!).

One amp sold - one more to go.

On the deluxe reverb front though - I've been tracking my amp and two packages arrived in my local postal depot. I wondered if maybe the firm I had ordered from had sent me two amps by mistake...all was revealed this afternoon when the postal van turned up and delivered the first package...wait for it...the plug/ cord came in its own package but the amp wasn't there...should be here tomorrow! Can't wait!

That tele's long gone but I still got the red head and the SFDR.

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb138/jaydawg76/DSCF0015-2.jpg

love em !!! i play one all the time with a alnico tone tubby, early 70,s and have a 1974 that looks like it was never out of someones bedroom since 74 that id love to sell ! it looks new, but i like taking the rougher one to gigs and not have to wory about roughing it up :)

I love my DRRI. I bought it 4 years ago and never plan on getting rid of it. It's an '01 or '02 model. It seems like a steal at $560 versus the price for a new one these days! The only mod I plan on doing is either putting a weber 12" in it or converting it to 2x10 configuration. I did add a green amp jewel light to it so it would stand out on stage. My wife swapped her red light out in her silverface bassman to a blue jewel light.

and o yea, a puple light insted of red is way cool on those blackfaces !!! :) :)

i've had mine about 2 years and love it.I just installed a weber 12f150 speaker and had it retubed with jj's but threw a tung sol in v2(i don't use the first channel)plus I put in a purple lens.:grin:very nice

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y260/CocoTone/gear1.jpg

T.

What else could you need in life...... besides a tele of course.

I have some videos on youtube..
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/wildricechris/DeluxeReverb1.jpg

I've got a '79 DR. Sounds so sweet. I like the stock speaker but got an Eminence Legend 1228K in it right now. My main amp.

I'm in. I been playing mine for over 10 years!

Here's mine...it was built by Paul Rixon of Robin Amps. Pretty much an exact copy (except for the Eminence Red Fang AlNico speaker), and a few other mods. Paul did the amp, I did the cabinet (was a Mojo Cab). Sounds amazing and the Tremolo circuit is perfect...much quieter than my old '65 DR. Love the DR sound!

Wow! That teles damn near bigger'n you...

I think my hat makes me look smaller than I am:grin:

Mine's kind of an oddball. I bought it in 1992 from a guy in Fullerton named Sam Hutton. He was a cabinet builder at Fender back in the 60's.

Seems that, after retirement, he still built cabinets for amps and he had an old silverface Deluxe reverb head sitting on the workbench. He found a lonely old 15" speaker and paired them up in a new cabinet, giving rise to this old beauty:

http://www.drewswerds.com/pub/img/guitars/Guitar-pics-001.jpg

I'll call it a 1970 Deluxe 15 Reverb. I've since replaced the speaker with a Jensen 15" AlNiCo and it sounds great. Nice and heady. Clean. Doesn't dirty up much, unless you really crank it.

Incidentally, the guy's house was like the warehouse behind a museum. Vintage amps stacked up in the garage, in the hallways, in the kitchen. It was crazy.

I ended up trading him a blackface Bassman head and some cash for it.

I heard he died a few years later, which is too bad. I enjoyed hanging out at his house the few times I visited. Nice guy. Liked to talk and wasn't opposed to answering questions from a wide-eyed kid. His other hobby was making artifical houseplants. Go figure. :smile:

That's a great story, Drew. Sweet amp...but the neck on that Tele is something else! Real purdy!

That's a great story, Drew. Sweet amp...but the neck on that Tele is something else! Real purdy!

Thankee kindly! :grin:

Dem's my babies, right there... :mrgreen:

I got my first Deluxe Reverb in 1966. :shock: At the time, I wished I had a bigger amp. -LOL-

I've had several DRs over the years. These days I have a DRRI, rebiased, bright cap clipped, speaker swapped out for a Weber 12F150. Ahhhhh, yesss! :cool: CS

1965 Black Face Deluxe Reverb, bought this in 1979 for $90.00.

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk237/ramseypete/65DeluxeR.jpg


:shock::shock::shock: $90?



I love my Re-issue!

I bought this now-ragged '65 in 1977 for $150. It suffered in the belly of a tour bus for a few years - a testament to Leo's nearly indestructable design and construction. The "Esquire" ('63) had been ruined with a polyurathane brush job and 3 home made pickups that didn't work, which was a huge stroke of luck for me as a cash-challenged teen: $115 plus new pickups. For me, it has that rare magic whatever-it-is that I seem to find only in guitars from the 50s and 60s. As if it's making the decisions from note to note and I just follow along behind - the wonderful ghost in the machine.

28291


zed

Well my reissue has arrived and I'm going to be taking it through it's paces over the weekend. I won't bother posting a pic...you'll know what they look like!

Here is my beloved DRRI w/ Jensen speaker and Green Jewel light pictured with my MIM Deluxe Roadhouse Strat.

I'm in!

I picked one up a few weeks ago while my Twin reverb was in the shop for warranty work.

I got a heck of a deal on it considering Fender's recent price increase, $825 out the door for a brand new DRRI.

The speaker is still breaking in and I love the overdriven sound from this amp more than any other that I've played. I wish there was a way to get that sound at 2 on the dial.

Here's mine the way it looked when it came to me and the way it looks now. The cabinet work was done by a friend of mine who builds cabs for a living. I did all the work on the amp itself, including a bit of rewiring (it was kind of a mess inside when I got it).

Bill

For some reason the pics got reversed. The clean one is the way it looks now. :lol:

Nice, how did you come up with a blackface control plate? I'd like to have one
.

Well I've been playing my reissue today (it's my first all tube amp) and I'm over the moon about it. Beautiful warm tones. I think I'm going to find the elusive tone I've been searching for quite quickly.

My brother made me this finger-jointed solid pine cab for my DRRI. After I got this one I picked up a silverface, and then lucked into an all original 65 Blackface, so I decided to do something a little different to my DRRI. Dark green tolex and 2 x12 about the same size as a Super Reverb cab.


http://i830.photobucket.com/albums/zz229/jlex765/65DRRIin2x12cab-1-1.jpg

Here is my 78 silverface DR. I have 5 pretty nice amps and this is my favorite.


http://i830.photobucket.com/albums/zz229/jlex765/amps002-1-1.jpg

And last but not least here's my DR from february of 65. All original except for a cap job.new screen resistors and tubes.

http://i830.photobucket.com/albums/zz229/jlex765/amps003-2.jpg

I hope to have a 65ish some day, here's my DRRI:

http://www.frankdenigris.com/amp.jpg

:shock::shock::shock: $90?



I love my Re-issue!

Marshalls started to rule with the Big Hair bands building up to the 80's Mega watt stacks and Rack mount Digital, Pink Strats w/ Humbuckers and Floyd Rose Trems..

The old school stuff was cheap I bought a 70 Twin for $65.00 nobody wanted clean I just wish I bought more.

My '65 DRRI is sweet. Stock except for bumping the bias a little.

What's good attenuator to use with the DRRI? I'd like to get the tone of "6" on the volume knob, at "2" so that my ears don't ring for the rest of the week.

I have a Ben Fargen modded DRRI from '06 that now sounds absolutely amazing after the mod. Took a great amp and modded it to be incredible. I run Bendix 5991 6v6, Telefunken pre amp tubes and a Weber 12F150 50watt with pre rola done. Amazing tone.

I have a few small amps (Roland Cube, Vox Pathfinder 15r, Fender g-Dec 30) but have a DRRI on left channel split with a Gretsch Playboy on the right. Love the stereo play between them very much. I am a bit overpowered for my living room, however:shock:

The most versatile amp (for my purposes) that has an authoritative sound: I have used mine on blues, straight-ahead jazz, fusion, funk, r&b and noise rock gigs. It has a fantastic sizzle and balance.

Hey RotelliCaster,

What's good attenuator to use with the DRRI? I'd like to get the tone of "6" on the volume knob, at "2" so that my ears don't ring for the rest of the week.

This may be a bit of Fender heresy here, but I always carry a pair of yellow jackets with EL-84s in 'em rolling around behind my reverb unit. When I find myself in a small room, I just yank the 6V6's and plug in the EL-84s. They don't sound that much different - a little less full in the low end maybe - but I think the DR circuitry has more to do with the sound of the amp than the tubes. The Yellow Jackets change the bias circuitry to a cathode bias, which is an interesting change once in a while -- a little natural compression; feels springier, very responsive. Most of all for your purposes, it drops the amp's power from 20 watts to about 8, and it'll start growling early on. And no need to re-bias: plug and play. They cost about $100/pair. Just make sure to get the ones that drop your output power.

I'm not a big fan of the attenuator thing, though, I must admit. Something gets lost in the "life" of the amp somehow, not sure what it is.

zed

Thanks Zed,

The yellow jackets look like an interesting way to get the tone im looking for at lower volume, I may give them a try.

They seem to run a around $100 a pair and then there is the tube cost too. If they work well then it will be worth it.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30280680&id=1182691183

April 1964 DR... Purchased in 1980 for $180.... Best amp I've ever owned!

Oh well.... Take my word for it! :) It is quite the Amp!

The more I play through my DR the better I like it. at first I thought it sounded a bit box and I was too used to the clean of my TRRI. I guess the speaker is starting to loosen up in the DR and I love the break up of this amp.

I've looked at a few mods for this amp and two seem to be extremely common.


cut the bright cap on the reverb channel.

bring reverb and trem to non-verb channel.


I'm inclined to do the second mod if any, that would give me a bright and a warm channel, both with verb/trem. Another thing that I understand about the second mod is that it puts both channels in phase and allows you to jumper the two.

What does channel jumping do for you?

1965 Black Face Deluxe Reverb, bought this in 1979 for $90.00.

I think I just threw up a little in my mouth, given what I paid for my clone.

But I am SUPREMELY happy with it. My 2008 Oldfield Club D'Lux. Basically the blackface circuit with a brownface trem circuit. Nice, nice, nice amp. Has the ceramic Tone Tubby in it. Hard to see in the picture, but that's brown ostrich tolex.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w118/JDaveG/100_2735.jpg

I've been playing a DRRI for the last three years.. great amp. I've done the cap mod but had a mini switch put on the back so I can go between the mod and original sound.

Lately I've found myself opting for the normal channel more.. just seems to have a tighter sound for what I do. The VIb channel with the cap mod still sounds a tad bit different to the Normal channel to my ears. I guess there's an extra pre amp tube at work?

Here is my beloved DRRI w/ Jensen speaker and Green Jewel light pictured with my MIM Deluxe Roadhouse Strat.


I use the exact same rig.

:shock::shock::shock: $90?



I love my Re-issue!

Here's my '65 DRRI.

Bought for $105 in 2009... That's right... 2009

Thinking about parting with my recent nr.mint 65 RI. I love it but overwhelmed with 1X12 amps right now. Looking to trade for a Pink Paisley CIJ Tele,tweed Champ RI,blackface or early siverface Princeton no rev. or sell.

Can I join up? I have a 64.

My brother made me this finger-jointed solid pine cab for my DRRI. After I got this one I picked up a silverface, and then lucked into an all original 65 Blackface, so I decided to do something a little different to my DRRI. Dark green tolex and 2 x12 about the same size as a Super Reverb cab.


http://i830.photobucket.com/albums/zz229/jlex765/65DRRIin2x12cab-1-1.jpg

Woah,

How loud is that feller?

I joined the 65 DRRI club about 4 weeks ago.

Mine now has RCA blackplate 6V6's, a Mullard, Telefunken and RCA in the 12ax7 spots, and a GE and Mullard for the 12at7's, pretty sweet amp. Once I get the Weber California back from Weber it'll be even better.

Is there a separate club for the DRRI and the real ones?

I bought this yesterday. Photo taken in the parking lot of the Fender dealer before I put it in the trunk of my car. I'm a happy boy in this shot.

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k106/johnlg-2006/photo-7.jpg

I've got the DRRI and the PRRI. I'm done buying amps. Now I just need to play them and become a relic as they become the same!

Congrats John! You'll really like it. I got mine in June-used-but pristine.

It sounds incredible with my 52 Tele RI, the Strats or the Les Pauls. A very versatile amp.

Bill

Mine is a '66 that I got for $350 almost 20 years ago. Since then it was serviced by Lord Valve down in Denver and it sounds excellent. I think about replacing the speaker, but never have.

My two '65s... DRRI and Magnatone 401 (in a custom cab my dad and I built)

http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac94/sixstring821/IMG_5839.jpg

Mine is a '68. I've replaced the grill cloth w/ some old grill cloth I had from a 2x12 Fender cabinet & the faceplate is a blkface replica, since the orig silver plate was totally wrecked. The amp was recently gone through by an Amp-Tech friend of mine. The orig Oxford speaker wasn't cuttin' it, so I went ahead & installed a Jensen P-12N RI speaker, along w/ some new Tung-Sol pre-amp tubes...It has never sound this good!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v420/Rnbguitars/ES-339inside009.jpg

Sooo... I went into the guitar store today looking to get a more gig-worthy amp than my Champion 600 (which I love, but it just doesn't have the volume). The guy at the counter suggested a Fender Deluxe Reverb for nice clean tones, but I asked to try a used Hot Rod Deluxe that was in my price range. It was... not bad. Definitely loud, and the overdrive is something to shake a stick at, but it didn't quite have the sweet, ringing clean that I was looking for. Then, just for fun, I tried the Deluxe, even though it was far above what I came in looking to spend.

And now I have to try and get some work done with a silver-and-black beast purring away behind me. Somehow, "you get what you pay for" has a habit of destroying my wallet.

Somehow, "you get what you pay for" has a habit of destroying my wallet.

Funny how that works isn't it? Congrats on a great Amp!

Funny how that works isn't it? Congrats on a great Amp!

It really is true, though... I mean, I've gone through about 6 different cheap amps over the years, because I kept trying to find alternatives to dropping the cash on a good one. Whereas if I'd spent the dough on a good to begin with, I would've saved money. I'm not saying that people can't be happy with cheap/affordable gear, but the DR just sounds miles above any modelling amp I've tried, and I've tried quite a few of them. It has a shimmer to the cleans, and a bone-crunching overdrive when you turn it up, that I haven't been able to find in a cheaper amplifier. I can't wait to take it out to a jam and crank it up properly.

So, what're people's favourite settings for their different guitars?

I've had my '68 for a few years, now.
The original Jensen was a little tired so I loaded a Reverend Alltone 12" in the cabinet. The 12AT7's are Mullard CV4024's, the 12AX7's are Tung Sol RI's, and I've got a pair of Marconi 6V6's (the rectifier is a Weber WZ34 Copper Cap).

This amp sounds like heaven to me - glorious clean tones and it'll sing when you open it up. Takes pedals well, too, which is nice when you can't realistically crank it up to that natural breakup point.
Add that delicious Fender reverb and tremolo, and it really is the perfect combo amp.

Plus, I think the early "drip-edge" Silverface amps are some of the coolest looking amps, ever. :cool:

Oh, I forgot to add - I also installed a BLUE pilot jewel.
And everyone knows they have the best tone. :rolleyes:

Oh, I forgot to add - I also installed a BLUE pilot jewel.
And everyone knows they have the best tone. :rolleyes:

Your onto something with the tone. I ran a DRRi with a blue jewel for a while before my wife swiped it for her Bassman head. I was considering selling the amp and getting my own Bassman with a blue jewel until I replaced the DRRI light with a Green jewel light. I was blown away by the sound difference!

It's with a certain amount of sadness that I join this club. A buddy of mine passed away last Monday and left me his mid '70s DR (and a parts Tele w/ Bardens-it's gonna be one of my gig rigs). Not sure of the year. It says Deluxe Reverb (no "Amp") in blue but doesn't have a pull boost. It needs a cap job, bag for the reverb tank, and the ticking in the trem fixed. A back panel would be nice too, but it sounds great. Wish I "didn't have it" though.

It's with a certain amount of sadness that I join this club. A buddy of mine passed away last Monday and left me his mid '70s DR (and a parts Tele w/ Bardens-it's gonna be one of my gig rigs). Not sure of the year. It says Deluxe Reverb (no "Amp") in blue but doesn't have a pull boost. It needs a cap job, bag for the reverb tank, and the ticking in the trem fixed. A back panel would be nice too, but it sounds great. Wish I "didn't have it" though.

Sorry to hear about your loss. I know you'll remember him kindly every time you play it.

And you know if he left you a rig like that, it's because he knew you'd play it like it ought to be played.

Sorry to hear about your loss. I know you'll remember him kindly every time you play it.

And you know if he left you a rig like that, it's because he knew you'd play it like it ought to be played.

Thanks for the thoughts! Dave and I used to hang out at a place called Whitey's in Arlington on Tuesday nights when Bill Kirchen used to host open mic there in the '90s. It was Dave's "Kirchen rig" (Bill used a SFDR a lot at the time...). I'm proud to own it.

My late '69 will be with me until I die.

http://toxicservers.com:8000/files/69deluxe.jpg

Here's the only proof that my '64 no-logo for which I paid $250 around 1985 ever existed. Sold in 2003 (for a heck of a lot more than $250). I miss it but the '69 actually sounds better.

http://toxicservers.com:8000/files/64deluxe.jpg

DRRI here! love it, but i don't play it nearly enough. it's too much amp for a lot of my indoor gigs. i use my PJ for those. but inthe summer at the outdoor and big venues i take her out and crank her up! it's bone stock except for the brandy new set of JJs i put in and biased it hot