I wondered why my Fender Deluxe sounded so dull

[bent-string]

Hi all,

I have a Fender 5B3 Deluxe amp, and I just had some fun last week building a new Telecaster
which came out good, (I alway's thought Strat's had that sound) but Tele's have that magic. I also
because of Chemo my hands got a bit stiff and this will help give me some relief, now I've been
trying to play it but the sound is a bit dull(using Seymour Duncans Antiquities) so I did a cap change
and took out from the preamp section in the front, two of those Red Jupiter molded caps (new) and replaced
them with the old Ajax blue caps, even after a few minutes the difference was noticeable a bit brighter
with a little more zing. It goes to show you even if there old there's a bit of magic in those caps and the
new kids on the block just don't have.

 

[Digital Larry]

meau jeau

 

[dan40]

Were you able to measure their actual capacitance before installing them? They may have drifted down a bit in value which could lead to a slightly brighter sound. A lower capacitance reading would actually reduce the low end a bit but this would sound like the amp is slightly brighter and maybe a bit tighter on the low end.

 

[W.L.Weller]

Isn't there an early version of the Deluxe without a 1M resistor at the input? Basically that even though there are 2 inputs, they're both the padded #2 input?

 

[bent-string]

Yes there are two 5 meg on the board sitting in between the two .1uf caps, I also switched
out the two GE 6V6 GT's fo another pair of Conn (organ) 6V6's and it's sounded better still.

 

[W.L.Weller]

I was confusing later deluxes, forgot the 5B3 is still a grid-leak biased first gain stage.

Deluxe Models

Fender Deluxe Amplifier Evolution

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