Recommend me a good blues amp

srinivassa

srinivassa

New member
I have a few general purpose amps I use for blues. Between bluesy pickups, spring verbs, and real tube breakup, I can get a good blues tone out of anything.

But I'm starting to own up to the fact that blues is my main style. At this point, I think it's time to start thinking about a dedicated blues combo amp. Leave all the general purpose stuff I own to be general purpose, and buy something specifially for blues.

I see there are half a dozen different Fender reissues that I can grab. Truthfully, a Hot Rod Blues Junior looks like it would suit the bill nicely. I'm sure I can't go wrong with a Fender Reissue, but does anybody have any specific experience that is exceptional? I am looking for a broad, throaty crunch that even dimed sounds very rough and grainy. I'm looking for 2xfat clean with a 4xgooey reverb. I'd like a speaker that sounds worn in, almost broken. All in all very mellow, broad, and open sounds. Honestly, I would like vintage broken bucket, cracked tube, hound dog wailin' blues amp. Of course, I don't want to actually buy an amp that is broken, but whatever the modern equivalent is.
 
it sounds to me like you want a Fender Bassman 59' combo (4x10). I've heard GREAT things about the 59 reissue too.
 
Score a silver face Deluxe Reverb, have it blackfaced if necessary (the older ones are the same), add a seasoned V30...you now have a blues/blues rock beast. Even better, add a Super to the mix and have a lead/rhythm setup.
 
Depends on how much you want to spend. Naylor combos sound great for blues. Kingsley amps also.

 
rupe":2ap6s7z2 said:
Score a silver face Deluxe Reverb, have it blackfaced if necessary (the older ones are the same), add a seasoned V30...you now have a blues/blues rock beast. Even better, add a Super to the mix and have a lead/rhythm setup.
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this but with a different speaker. I know it's not common but I really like alnico's in Fenders.
 
Bassman sounds good, but it's a bit too close to the Traynor I already have. I like the sound of the bright channel, but the crunch gets a little tight-sounding. I'd rather have something open an throaty. Good amp, just not what I'm going for.

The same thing is true for the 65 Deluxe Reverb. I guess I like Fender clean, but it's not the blues tone I'm looking for. It's a little straight up-and-down. It would be more raw with a beat in V30, but it's awfully chimey and pretty. Extremely pretty, which ain't blues to me.

Truthfully, the Marshall Plexi is a must-have amp for me, but not right now. There will come a time when I have the money lying around, and that amp will knock out a lot of tone issues for me.

The Naylor combo really kicks some ass. It's a really soulful fat bluesy tone. I like it. I don't think I'm going to save $2700 for it, but it's got a fat honky overdriven clean that I really like. The Fuchs ODS is in that category as well. It's a nice edgy clean blues sound for sure. I don't think I would pay that much for it.

I'm thinking a lot of amps, like the Fender reissues can be driven more into a ballsy bluesy sound with an overdrive stomper and a blues distortion stomper. The only problem with that is that I can also do that with my Traynor. I'm looking for an out of the box amp that kicks it with raunchy blues tone. The Naylor is probably the closest one, but I'm going cheaper. The plexi would work if I got a good attenuator. Otherwise, there's no way I could practice with it. It might work for a small venue, but I would never be able to test drive it before hand.

This is my latest incarnation of the nasty blues amp, The Peavey Delta Blues. Price tag is nice and good range of sounds for plug and play blues. Still a bit loud overall, but I'm tempted by it.



Could just be the quality of the samples I'm getting, but this amaturish demo actually shows me a lot of the sounds I'm looking for in a blues amp. The clean may actually not be quite as ballsy as the Naylor, but it is pretty fat and not too jangly or pretty. The crunch is spread out and open sounding to my ear. I honestly stilll don't know if I can practice on this thing without my upstairs neighbor killing me dead. The guy demoing this thing has got it cranked wide open. Was that him banging? That guy just hates the guitar, just hates it.
 
Dr. Z amps. pretty much any amp he makes is money but the Maz 18 no reverb is sweet... I've seen a few on craigslist below $1000.




And then if you're really feeling crazy, you could check out a ZWreck head and cab. If I had $4000, I would totally get one. This amp sounds awesome, even with Brad Paisley playing (good noodling here!)

 
srinivassa":21gfo6kb said:
I am looking for a broad, throaty crunch that even dimed sounds very rough and grainy. I'm looking for 2xfat clean with a 4xgooey reverb....... All in all very mellow, broad, and open sounds.
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You can get that out of a Peavey Classic 30 (1x12). Put it side by side with a fender and you'll see. Pick them up for $350 used all day long.
 
A friend of mine has a Peavey Classic 30 .... it is not a bad amp.

Why not just use your Traynor ? I know what you mean .... but the Traynor will be better than most.
 
sinestro":am1hubyn said:
srinivassa":am1hubyn said:
I am looking for a broad, throaty crunch that even dimed sounds very rough and grainy. I'm looking for 2xfat clean with a 4xgooey reverb....... All in all very mellow, broad, and open sounds.
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You can get that out of a Peavey Classic 30 (1x12). Put it side by side with a fender and you'll see. Pick them up for $350 used all day long.
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Holy shit, someone else found out how good these little bastids can be :thumbsup:

I stuck a Celestion Alnico Gold in my Classic 30, kept it off the overdrive channel, installed some sweet glass into it, and had it modded by Ho in Vancouver. Thing was up there with a Matchless in close-mic A/B tests. NO BS!!!! :yes:

Killer amp and with some mods and a sweet driver like the Alnico, dude, it's blissful for clean and semi-cleans, and it breaks up soooooooooooooooooo beautifully.

Mo
 
I'm normally into 6L6/6V6 amps for blues and clean but that Zwreck sounds SICK even though it's running EL84 I'm in love!

how much is the ZWreck? anyone knows?
 
Joeytpg":2gk1prek said:
I'm normally into 6L6/6V6 amps for blues and clean but that Zwreck sounds SICK even though it's running EL84 I'm in love!

how much is the ZWreck? anyone knows?
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$4K I believe...amp and cab (they are not sold separately IIRC).
 
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