Fender Deluxe 85

casper leblanc · March 2004

Any info on this? Opinions seem to be very diversed and extreme...

I saw one for 250 euros used...

Pacomc79 · March 2004

never heard of a Deluxe 85.

exhausted · March 2004

greenwood's old SS amp.

casper leblanc · March 2004

Originally posted by exhausted
greenwood's old SS amp.

That would be the one. Not a tube amp.

Pacomc79 · March 2004

ah, ok then. It probably has a nice clean tone as my ultimate chorus was nice and clean, and it's probably pretty loud.

casper leblanc · March 2004

85 watts. Suposed to be a work horse with good clean tone and, I quote, a lucious reverb.

Others think a trash can sounds better...

exhausted · March 2004

i honestly don't know enough to comment on it. other than the greenwood factor has inflated the price greatly. put an SD-1 or old shredmaster in front of it and you've got the foundation of early radiohead tone.

casper leblanc · March 2004

Pac and Ex don't know enough about it? It's the end of the world as we know it!

Hm, actually the mysteriousness makes it sound attractive. The price sounds good though, this way I could sell my busted Marshall 8080 for about 100/150 euros and only chip in about the same. I'm guessing the Fender would be an improvement on the Marshall valve anyway you look at it, no?

exhausted · March 2004

Originally posted by pearlwax
Pac and Ex don't know enough about it? It's the end of the world as we know it!

Hm, actually the mysteriousness makes it sound attractive. The price sounds good though, this way I could sell my busted Marshall 8080 for about 100/150 euros and only chip in about the same. I'm guessing the Fender would be an improvement on the Marshall valve anyway you look at it, no?

meh.

i haven't looked at a solid state amp in 8 years.
it would be good for cleans. i'll say that.

casper leblanc · March 2004

Damn! Finally an amp I could afford, nobody know a thing about it.

nailz100 · March 2004

Just buy it....try it out, if you like it...buy it.

mccreadyisgod · March 2004

I would saw my right arm off before buying another Fender solid-state amp.

But hey, don't take MY word for it.

casper leblanc · March 2004

Yeah well, I know it's not perfect, but what concerns me most right now is if it's an improvement to my busted up Marshall Valve 8080.

If I replace that with the Fender 85 and I sell the Marshall for like 100-150 euros (probably won't get more than 100 seeing the state it's in), then I don't really tear my pants financially on this on. I only chip in about 150 euro's.

Problem is, I don't know WHAT to look for. I'm a bedroom player, but I want something that might be just good enough for a small, small gig (who knows?). I don't want to spend more than 600 euro's on a used amp. Fender tube amps are way to expensive here, ranging from 800 to 1000 euro's used.

A Vox AC 15 or 30 sounds nice to me as well, but those are hard to find here and way expensive (AC 15 is over 1000 new). A Hot Rod Deluxe, is around 900 euros or more new.

I'n not a gearhead - no offence, you guys are the best! I don't know if I want a tube amp because you have to maintain those I presume. I just want to plug and play into something that makes my Tele sound good and sweet.

Suggestions are welcome! Remember you need to add about 30% to US prices to get what we are paying. Example: a Hot Rod going for around 600$ in the US goes at 850-900€ in Belgium

Edit: just saw an add for a Fender Super 60 (another red knob amp, lol) for 450 euros, with an extra set of tubes included.

Pacomc79 · March 2004

Pearlwax, If I were you I'd go for solid state at least for the time being My ultimate chorus was an excellent amp. The deluxe 85 is probably similar. Good clean headroom probably crappy distortion, This can be compensated with a good 30 euro overdrive or distortion pedal you can get later.

I say go for it. Out with the old. Hell it's a fender it probably looks cool too.

casper leblanc · March 2004

I probably will. One more question though, are Laney amps any good? There's a used TF 200 for sale here for 200 euros. Doesn't seem to be that good from what I read so far.

Pacomc79 · March 2004

Originally posted by pearlwax
I probably will. One more question though, are Laney amps any good? There's a used TF 200 for sale here for 200 euros. Doesn't seem to be that good from what I read so far.

There are some laney's that are awesome. Tommi Iommi used to use SuperGroup 100's with Black Sabbath in the 70's and I believe he still uses them to this day.

A buddy I had in high school had a really nice 2x10 that sounded great with his SG's. I've never heard of the TF 200

I'd check http://www.harmony-central.com for both of them.

http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/Data/Laney/TF200_112_Combo-01.html

Pacomc79 · March 2004

I've looked up both of them and decided either one would be excellent for under 200 Euros and would suit your needs for a resonably good sounding reliable amp. The Laney is actually a hybrid with an ECC83 (12AX7 in the US) preamp tube. Either one will be nice, the laney's overdrive will be much nicer than the fenders but that 65 watt fender amp is a pretty good one. I had 2 of them side by side in my Ultimate Chorus and that was a great and reliable amp for me, I only had one problem early on after I bought it. A loose soldier joint somewhere inside that cost me 90 dollars because at the time I thought it to be something worse. Other than that it was great. The digital reverb was fine as was the digital chorus which I almost never used but it was fine.

I think the laney probably has a better overdrive with the tube preamp and it depends on the character you like for the clean. The laney is 3 channels I believe like most new marshalls, Clean OD1 OD2

casper leblanc · March 2004

Thanks for all your reviewing work Paco, you rock

Eventhough the Laney is 50 euros cheaper, I'm somehow still leaning towards the Fender. Maybe it's cause of the name, like in the other thread, I don't know...

I also read the reviews on the Laney and it doesn't sound like my soundstyle. What I'm looking for is something sounding more alternative and not straight rock.

Besides, the Laney is like 150 Watts!

Pacomc79 · March 2004

Yeah, the Fender is going to be clean and nice, add a Danelectro Fab tone (maybe 40 euros) or (insert your favorite distortion pedal here) and the Fender will be great. You can't beat the look of that silver grillcloth either.

casper leblanc · May 2004

Yello!

So I finally got round to picking up my new amp, the intriguing Fender Deluxe 85 aka the Johnny Greenwood amp. It's not a tube amp, I might add.

First impressions:

it's way different then my Marshall Valve 8080, not only in sound but also in controls. And it's smaller

Haven't checked it all out, but the cool thing is you have a clean channel and boost channel (which doesn't sound that bad to me, but what do I know) and an option to use both at the same time, which gives you a very crunchy, warm sound, with a cool twang (with my tele that is). AND gives you tons of possibilities.

So allthough it doesn't have a middle in the clear channel, it does seem to ave a lot of options to find really different tones.

The red knobs look sweet

, here's a pic of one: http://www.h3.dion.ne.jp/~uchi-yan/instruments/image/dx85.jpg

Only two small downsides so far:
- it hasn't been played in a while, which you can hear when twisting the knobs, but that should settle itself I believe
- the music store the previous owner bought the amp put the small piece of rope of the price tag around one of the knobs, and I can't get it off. They also put their name tag on the cloth, can you freaking believe that? I won't get it off without damaging the cloth I think. Suggestions for this are welcome!

Anyway, will play and discover it this weekend, but things sound good so far!

Pacomc79 · May 2004

hey PW, cool. you'll probably like the fact that it's solid state with no maintence. The boost sounds cool especially combined. I'm glad you're happy.

As far as the string, Just pull the knob off. It should come strait off and lift off the string. I'd just color in the nametag with a silver marker or something.

casper leblanc · May 2004

Yeah, the low maintenance is a plus for me. It's supposed to be a tank, so I'm safe.

As for the knob, I've tried. A few knobs come of real easily but a few don't come of at all! And of course the string is around one of them. I've pulled hard, but don't wanna break it.

The marker thing is a good idea, thanks.

And the combined feature really appears to make it a very versatile amp. So, yes, I'm pretty happy. I think I've improved in amp for a decent enough price and just the change it brings will make me play more, at least the first couple of months. So hopefully the playing will also improves...

Pacomc79 · May 2004

Originally posted by pearlwax
Yeah, the low maintenance is a plus for me. It's supposed to be a tank, so I'm safe.

As for the knob, I've tried. A few knobs come of real easily but a few don't come of at all! And of course the string is around one of them. I've pulled hard, but don't wanna break it.

The marker thing is a good idea, thanks.

And the combined feature really appears to make it a very versatile amp. So, yes, I'm pretty happy. I think I've improved in amp for a decent enough price and just the change it brings will make me play more, at least the first couple of months. So hopefully the playing will also improves...

you'll certainly have fun with it. That's kind of what it's all about. I'm glad it's really versatile. Johnny Greenwood wouldn't play a shit amp you know. I bet it sounds awesome with effects too.

casper leblanc · May 2004

Greenwood combines it with a Vox AC-30. But Greenwood wasn't why I bought it, all the reviews, options, quality and comparisons made me decide to go for it. Though it does give it an extra coolness

that and the fact that they don't make 'em anymore.

As for the effects, don't know, cause I don't have any. And yes, fun is the name and the aim of my game.

Fender Deluxe 85

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