Hot Rod Deluxe to Loud for indoors?
StickmanJam
Posts: 425
Hey all, I'm going to be in the market for a new amp soon (bought an American strat, 3 tone sunburst over the summer, and need a worthy amp)
I've really been intrigued form what I've heard and read of the Fender Blues Jr., and I may go that route, but just recently I put some thought into the hot rod deluxe. For now, I play indoors at my home, with an occasional jam session with my buddy. Question is, would this amp be too loud for indoors considering family and whatnot?
I really am leaning toward the Blues Jr., just wanted to hear some of your thoughts on this. thanks.
I've really been intrigued form what I've heard and read of the Fender Blues Jr., and I may go that route, but just recently I put some thought into the hot rod deluxe. For now, I play indoors at my home, with an occasional jam session with my buddy. Question is, would this amp be too loud for indoors considering family and whatnot?
I really am leaning toward the Blues Jr., just wanted to hear some of your thoughts on this. thanks.
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I have both of these amps, and both of them can be very loud. Loud enough to get my wife to come down from the third floor to tell me she can't hear her music. With that said, they also have master volume controls. You can get good preamp distortion by turning up the gain, and keeping the master volume low. You won't get power tube distortion this way, but preamp distortion sounds good at low volume. On the clean channel, you do not have the master volume, but I can get nice tones with the gain set around 2. I have active pickups on my guitar, so 2 still sounds pretty loud. I use the Hot Rod as my main practice amp.
But mr. justam
is who I am
"That's a repulsive combination of horrible information and bad breath."-Pickles
"Remember, death is a natural part of the workplace. So, when you see a dead body at work, don't freak out, just ring your death bell." "ting"-Toki Wartooth
I think they sound good at bedroom levels, and my definition of bedroom level is substantially lower than most peoples.
So, you need a master volume for civilised volumes, and pre-amp or OD channels let you have some OD a a level which does not involve mandatory blue light action.
That is why I bought the Fender, for the clean channel. For distortion, I use my Mesa amps.
But mr. justam
is who I am
"That's a repulsive combination of horrible information and bad breath."-Pickles
"Remember, death is a natural part of the workplace. So, when you see a dead body at work, don't freak out, just ring your death bell." "ting"-Toki Wartooth
i hope i didn't confuse you. either way, whatever your rig consists of, the volume is workable..and it is just a greaaat amp. i love it. the only thing i really suggest is that you get some different overdrive/distortion pedals rather than play the amp's drive. prefferably, the tube screamer turbo and the boss ds-1.
2008: MSG 1, Hartford, Mansfield 2, Ed Solo NYC 1
2009: London (O2), Philly 1, 2, 3, & 4
2010: Hartford, Boston, MSG 1 & 2
2011: Ed Solo Hartford
2012: Philly (MIA Fest)
2013: Worcester 2, Brooklyn 1 & 2, Hartford
I have heard some speculate that the box will drown out some of the tone, which I think is a load of shit. maybe on a stage, but in the house, it works perfectly. it's made by Omnisonic.
What does everyone think of the Blues Jr.? I've had my eye on it for a while
personally, I think it is too expensive for an amp with only 1 channel. a good drive pedal is nice, but there is something about a built in drive channel that a pedal won't do. when I use any of my distortion/drive pedals (moreso with the Tubescreamer than the more 'metal' pedals), they always sound better with a little of the amp's own drive mixed in. for $100 more, you could get an amp with 2 channels instead of one, though I'm not sure if they use the same tubes or not.
awesome. I haven't actually tried the blues jr. yet, so I'm curious to know how good of a classic rock sound it has considering the lack of a drive channel. Can you get a good PJ, Who-ish, Zeppelin type sounds from it. (with the BD-2 of course)
Also, can this baby get loud enough?
blues jr's are pretty loud. don't let the lack of a drive channel concern you. just turn it up.
no drummer. for now, its just me playing, and occasionally with my buddy who also plays guitar. But this would mainly be for in-home use for now.
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"Pearl Jam always eases my mind and fires me up at the same time.”-Jeff Hardy
blues jr. would be fine. bare in mind a couple things.
the 6L6s in the deluxe have a totally different character than the EL84s in the blues jr. the EL84s are more british flavoured. good for the "who" type tone when turned up in my opinion.
the deluxe will have tons more clean volume. you'd have to really crank the clean channel to overdrive it.
the drive channel on the deluxe sounds terrible. better off sticking to the clean channel and pedals with that one.
the blues jr, with it's master volume, at least lets you get some amp drive that sounds good before your ears start to bleed.
the deluxe is going to sound richer. bigger cabinet and all that.
recorded with loads of big names using just that amp). With either one I'd suggest getting an extension cab (no matter what
volume you're playing at a single 10" or 12" speaker tends to sound a bit small and one-dimensional). Yes they are both fairly
loud amps, I generally have to run mine on 2 with a full band (but you can use an attenuator which will allow you to crank it
and have bedroom volumes - just remember that using an attenuator shortens the life of your tubes). I've actually gone and
taped the volume on mine down so it can't move. Ultimately you can pull the chassis and make the amp into a head, then you
can run a better cab with a couple/few/four speakers (there are much better speakers on the market than what come stock in
either of these amps, which in-turn makes a fairly good sounding amp a really great sounding amp).
To me the HR's OD is basically unuseable (which is why I went with the OMEGA MOD), but if you were thinking about getting
a JR, then you'd be getting a clean amp anyway, and you'd be running pedals for OD tones, so that's no biggie with either amp.
Regardless, the Hot Rod seems to be a fuller sounding amp - running a clean channel on an amp with 6L6's seems to have a
rounder fuller bodied tone, more-so than running a clean amp with EL84's - it's basically just the overall tube characteristics).
Anyhow, that's my 2-cents.
Cheers . . .
- Ian C.T. vom Saal
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