Deluxe Reverb v. Tweed Deluxe

[black_doug]

I’ve been diggin Neil Young and Crazy Horse again lately so I voted tweed.

Besides that, I have never really been fond of the BF sound.

 

[ElvisNixon]

If your budget & the $ works out, then the Tone King Imperial MKII was designed to be a 5E3 on one side and a BF Deluxe on the other and you have one of the best attenuators built in and takes pedals exceptionally well.

I first bought a matched pair for my studio in ‘93. They didn’t have attenuation and the stock speakers were a love it or hate it thing. The amp was really loud and you did have to get them cooking to get “the” sound.

I bought a MKII version when they came out. It’s like they actually listened to their customers and made the changes that people wanted. The built in attenuation is the Iron Man II which is a great feature. It sounds really good at bedroom levels but can hang with a normal hitting drummer when you turn it up. Stock speakers are improved too.

I would sell both your amps and get the Tone King. One used on Reverb for $1800 and new $2,700.

 

[brookdalebill]

Howdy and welcome!
Deluxe Reverb.
Mind you, I’d keep both.
I’d use the DR for clean stuff, and the tweed for cranked up stuff.
I’m Mr. Clean, and I have the haircut to prove it.
I also love tremolo, and like reverb for faux-pedal steel stuff.
Neither would be my first choice.
I like more power, EQ-ability, and headroom than either offer.
For polite, clean playing, I reiterate, the DR.

 

[beyer160]

If you're using pedals, I'd keep the DR. The 5e3 is the definitive "plug straight in" guitar amplifier, using it as a pedal platform is like using a farm tractor to go to the grocery store. It's not that you can't, but it's not the amp's core strength.

A pedal like the Catalinbread Formula 55 will make your DR sound an awful lot like a 5e3, there's no real way to do it in reverse.

 

[MmmIlikemusic]

It looks like the only consensus is that I have loud bedroom amps. lol. I love them both. My primary guitar is my Danocaster (tele). Everyone once in a while I will get out the Strat or the ES-175. To me my pros cons list looks like this:

Deluxe Reverb:
-Signature Blackface tone
-Works well with all pedals
-I can get a pedal to make the amp sound more tweedy
-The amp would do well with most drummers should I ever play out
-Clearly more versatile
-Built in Reverb and Tremolo

Tweed Deluxe:
-It has one of my favorite cleans sounds between 2.5 and 3 on the volume
-But although it does take pedals; to my ears, it doesn't take all pedals well
-Tele + Tweed = magic

I think I'm going to take the advice of @King Fan and put one away for a week and pretend I sold it.

Thanks everyone!

 

[MmmIlikemusic]

Just saw this Justin Ostrander vídeo regarding use of the DR. Holy smokes he makes that amp sounds great. I might have to try tuning my guitar down a whole step.

 

[Liriodendron]

Most pedals were developed for the BF amps. Tweed Deluxe shines being pushed a bit, IMO. I'd sell the tweedy.

WTBS, I'd probably keep both and run them in stereo. I'd run dirt through the BF and keep the tweed clean, maybe add some time-based fx up front.

 

[Chiogtr4x]

It all has to do with 'utility' or fit, in your own musical environment

I'll take the Deluxe Reverb, I owned a '68 DR and it was really perfect for me for anything
( but I had to sell-$$!)

-for its bright clean tone and volume ( I can dirty it up with an OD pedal; shape that too...)

- its Reverb and Tremolo- both of which I use

- the 'courtesy AC outlet on the back! ( I plugged my little pedalboard into it)
Great amp!

 

[ahiddentableau]

Edit: Also want to say that I would take no stock in anybody else's opinion in a case like this. Keep the one you like better, only you know which one that is.

+1. Our opinions don't matter here apart from giving various justifications for keeping one or the other. You know you.

If I was playing the styles you mentioned I'd want the DR. But I'm not you!

 

[Fiesta Red]

I absolutely love tweed sounds.

The only plus is the built-in tremolo and reverb on the blackface…but there’s pedals that do that.

Tweed. All day long.

 

[ce24]

The Tweed Deluxe has a great clean sound if you know how to find it.

"No headroom on a Deluxe?" There's headroom on three out of four inputs. Bright channel / high sensitivity input is a grinder. There are some pretty good cleans available on either of the "normal" channel inputs especially if you roll off your guitar volume. Plug into the "normal" channel, no jumper, turn the normal channel to "7" and the bright channel to between "11" and "12". No other amp does that tone.


Bright=Instrument channel
Normal=Mic channel
1=HIGH passive. Louder
2=LOW active or HB lower vol.

Bright clean:
Input: Normal 2
Jumper: Normal 1 to Bright 1
Tone: 12 Vol Bright: 2.5-3. Vol Normal: 2.5-3
Fat n thick clean:
Input: Bright 1
Jumper: Normal 1 to Bright 2
Tone: 9. Vol Bright: 3.5. Vol Normal: 1-2.5
Jimi "Little Wing" clean:
Input: Bright 1
Tone: 9. Vol Bright: 2 Vol Normal: 6
Clean more compression and sustain:
Input: Bright 1
Tone: 9.5. Vol Bright: 8.5. Vol Normal: 12
Fat Strat/Tele clean less saturation:
Input: Normal 1
Tone: 9.5-10
Vol Bright: 1 Vol Normal: 6.5-7
"Dig in the dirt" clean:
Input: Bright 1
Tone: 9. Vol Bright: 5. Vol Normal: 0
"Sag" overdrive:
Input: Bright 1
Tone: 12 Vol Bright: 12 Vol Normal: 12
Touch sensitive overdrive:
Input: Bright 1
Tone: 12 Vol Bright: 10-11 Vol Normal: 10-11
Most distortion:
Input: Bright 1
Tone: to taste Vol Bright: 11
Vol Normal: 1
"Marshall" overdrive:
Input: Bright 1
Jumper: Normal 1 to Bright 2
Tone: 12 Vol Bright: 11 Vol Normal: 11
Strat/Tele touch sensitive crunch:
Input: Normal 1
Jumper: Normal 2 to Bright 1
Tone: 12 Vol Bright: 10-11 Vol Normal: 10-12

 

[charlie chitlin]

Need space?
Sell your TV.
You'll be smarter and play more guitar.

 

[tomtama]

For jazz and country, I'd keep the Deluxe Reverb.

 

[DavidP]

I voted DR, but FWIW, I have both, and run them together with an ABY switch....
If you get a DR, its relatively straightforward to tweak the normal channel circuit caps to make it 'tweedy'.

 

[middy]

.
Tough choice.

In my experience 5E3s have a smaller range of usability, meaning, the “glorious tones zone” is more concentrated in a sweetspot range that requires cranking it to a point that can make it difficult to use in a wide variety of situations, which is why I use a Fryette PS-100 with mine:

View attachment 1126580

So, also in my experience, the Deluxe Reverb is comparatively more versatile, with having more wattage and expanded tone control, not to mention reverb and tremolo.

Anyway, that’s my take on it…

.

The DR is more versatile as is, but I’ll take a mic’ed up tweed for the tone any day. The PS100 works great too, I imagine.

 

[gabasa]

Julian Lage has recorded some great tunes with tweed amps. Nocturne was recorded with a wide-panel Super (as was the entire Arclight album) I believe, and he used his tweed Champ for the live LA performance on YouTube. Incredible tones all around, I wouldn't hesitate keeping the tweed amp.

 

[kookaburra]

DR for the music you describe.

- the 'courtesy AC outlet on the back! ( I plugged my little pedalboard into it)
Great amp!

I miss those courtesy outlets!

 

[68goldtop]

Hi!

Just saw this Justin Ostrander vídeo regarding use of the DR. Holy smokes he makes that amp sounds great...

Yeah, that was great - thanks a lot!
Looking forward to try it out with my ´66 Deluxe

cheers - 68.

 

[Chiogtr4x]

DR for the music you describe.


I miss those courtesy outlets!

It worked for me!

I ran a 10' household 'lamp' ext. cord ( kept rolled up in amp bottom when not in use) from that Deluxe Reverb outlet, to an adapter mounted on my little pedal board with 'prongs' facing up, to attach...

Then the adapter plug went into Boss Tuner Power IN jack; daisy chain from Tuner Power OUT to power my 3 other pedals...

Simple- worked great + 10 years!

 

[JDRNoPro]

I grew up on BF/SF sounds and for your stated needs had to vote DR.

Having said that, over the past 2 or 3 years I have really come to appreciate the tweed tones (5F1 and 5E3) and love the touch sensitivity and complexity of them. My favorite "tweed tone" is right at the edge of breakup, controlling the amount of clean or crunch with my right hand. If I had your two amps, I'd probably keep the Victoria ( but......I have 3 other vintage SF/BF amps).