I have always had a thing for tube guitar amps. Through the years I’ve actually built a few.

First was an 18 watt Marshall I built from the ground up. I even bent up the chassis and learned how to dovetail the cabinet.

Second was 59 Bassman reissue that was a basket case. I bought it cheap. No speakers or circuit board, but it had transformers and pots. I handwired it to the original circuit.

A few weeks ago I started playing a bunch and got the hankering for an amp a buddy had back in the day. 1961 Fender Deluxes are running $4k these days so I figured I’d have to build this one. Looking around I discovered they make kits now! Easy button!


As I was putting the last finishing touches on it yesterday I got a call from an old drummer pal asking if I’d be up for some gigs. 31 covers and 6 originals by next weekend. Guess I’ll figure out if the new amp is reliable! LOL







The Bassman

I love hearing those tube amps hum. I have a fender 65 reissue twin reverb 80 watts.

Cool!

Any difference in sound between a classic older one and a new one?

Wow that's incredible. Nice work!

My main amp is a 100 watt Fender Twin. You just can't beat the sound of a good tube amp. So rich.

Yeah. They don’t make tubes and capacitors like they used to. You can fake the look and get close to the sound, but a copy will never have the smell of a 60 year old amp from the late 50’s.

Nice work!

Really nice Tweed.

A while back the Japanese were big on vintage McIntosh amps.

But NO Japanese parts on the rebuild!!!!

Jerry’s Wall Of Sound……..all tube powered……

LOL

Yeah, some of them old boys will get off in the weeds about stupid stuff.

I’ll never be able to tell if the newer fuse holder makes an amp sound different!

I don't know bupkus about such stuff but it looks really sharp!

That one gets a lot of people. It had been pretty abused by the time I got it. I put a few coats of Shelac on it and damn if it doesn’t look perfectly like an original!

I tell people it’s a 1960. Old fuggers always want me to bring it to the blues jams. LOL

No sense fugging around.

Always wanted to do a 5e3 to see if I could.

How does it sound...out by the new pool??

I just play for fun at home , but I love tube amps.

I just wanna learn how to bias one myself.

Bought a 65' Blues Deluxe reissue and it's scary powerful. 2 of those Russian Svetlana tubes made a difference.

Lots and lots of guys building the Tweed Deluxe. There are kits all over for that one. Some kits even come with the circuit board allready populated. Mount everything and solder the wires. Pretty simple.

Obviously the game changes once you power it up and things aren't working right. Tube amps will hold voltages in the filter caps that can kill you even after they have been turned off for years. Good to have a competent amp tech just in case.

This kit is dead quiet and no issues fwiw and I just put it together like a set of legos.

It's been posted here before, and this is the perfect place now.

One of the funniest scenes in movie history

No pool. We were second highest bidder. Still living in the ghetto.

Sounds great though.

Neighbors dig Zep riffs!

Cool.

I love the smell of tube amps. Brings back good memories.

All good brother....there will be another...better one

Guess I'll keep all this cold beer for myself...and my sisters

LOL

Bias isn't hard to do if you have one with a pot in it. In the old days you never biased anything but you could get real good tubes. My amp tech isn't very keen on biasing things and just says to run em.

I'm confused on the "65 Blues Deluxe". Did you buy a Deluxe Reverb in 65 or maybe a 65 Reissue Deluxe Reverb or maybe a Blues Deluxe for $65?

I hear you on that one man.

video or it didn't happen... Ren Fiddy.

I regret selling a late 80's Peavy tube amp, damn that was an awesome crunchy mofo, Master of Puppets was fun to play and so was Sanitarium but my favorite was Balls To The Walls ..... good times with hot girls, miss it all

Those 80's Peavey amps aren't worth losing much sleep over.

Nothing like the sound of a Strat or Tele through a Twin Reverb or a Deluxe.

Higg, what kind of guitars do you mostly play ?

I'm a one guitar kinda guy. I've had this 1971 Les Paul Custom since the early 90's. I took it to my first concert and got back stage and had some douche bag sign it. All the hardware has been replaced and it's beat to [bleep], but I love it. The 1974 LP Custom is just collecting dust these days.

Cool. Is that Carlos Santana’s autograph?

I play my 70 Tele mostly. And sometimes a 77 Strat.

My Les Paul Custom is a Epiphone Reissue.
Rarely ever play it.

Hiiggie

when you bringin' the blues band up to the Modoc?

Yeah. Raul Rekow played congas for him and I was friendly with his neice. 1993 or so when he toured with Bob Dylan.

When I met Carlos, I thanked him for signing it. He said "That's a nice box man!"

I saw him 4 years later when I turned 21 in Las Vegas. Same show and he said the same exact things and played the exact same set.

Then the Rob Thomas/Chad Kroeger stuff happened.

It's a great guitar though...

Played at the Likely Saloon a few times about ten years ago.

Golf tournie a late friend used to put on.

Stick.

Party.

Cool!!!

You ever try one of those Positive Grid Spark amps? They’re really inexpensive. You get an app for your phone to use with it, and you can make it sound like just about anything you want. It’s pretty cool for the price.

I have a few buddies with explicit instructions to shoot me if I ever own an amp that will change parameters with an app.

That said, I owned a pedal for a minute that you could download tones to by playing a digital sound on your phone through the pickups of your guitar.

Things are getting crazy.

I like the old stuff too. It’s just something fun to play around with.

I get it. I bought my daughter a practice amp that could sound like David Gilmour last year.

Meanwhile, the rest of us are buying Binson Echorecs for $2k trying to do the same thing!

LOL

That’s cool Higgy! But I liked it better when you showed your stunt rifles shooting targets at 1,000 yards.

Lol

🦫

I like shooting long distances with stunt rifles too, but with our dry winter and the component shortages, I've changed gears.

If it ever happens again, let me know. Take me about 45 minutes or so to get down there.

45 minutes?

You drive slow!

LOL

Thank you for saying that.

Actually, they do. I'm not a guitar guy but I am an audio guy. Good stuff is out there but it ain't cheap. And sound is where it's at.

Smell . . . ? No idea.

How's the sound?

I'm not in town. takes 20 minutes just to get there.

And, I usually take the county rd through farmland so's I can see the deer and the antelopes playing.

It's actually called a 1965 Blues Deluxe. but it's a foreign made reissue. No Reverb in the name.

Like I said, it’s close.

The 1961 Brownface Deluxe I remember playing 25 years ago just had that extra something.

It’s hard to remember exactly what it sounded like, but the look and the slight aroma of hot wax from the output transformer and cloth wire and the dust from years in a pawn shop or church basement certainly add to the memory if only slightly.

There is a big difference between listening to an album on tube gear and creating music with an inspiring guitar amp. That Fender sounded and felt like a great guitar amp should. This clone is about 90% from my memory of it. I bet I can gain about 5% with some Jupiter caps and a little tweaking but it won’t ever be 100