• alan
  • Silver Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2009-11-26
  • Posts: 69

Topic: WHICH SETTING TO GET A GOOD GAIN ON THE BLUES DELUXE DRIVE CHANNEL

I 'd like some good settings to get a good sound on the blues deluxe drive channel with or without TS9

also need some good examples of equalization to get the best from this amp and have a good gain strength

don't find this amp too loud  particularly with the use of a ME 50

  • From: Lancashire
  • Registered: 2008-02-26
  • Posts: 700

Re: WHICH SETTING TO GET A GOOD GAIN ON THE BLUES DELUXE DRIVE CHANNEL

Alan put everything at 5, drive at 2 and master on full then balance the volume to your liking.

Add mids / bass / treble to how you like it, and remove them if it doesnt sound right.

I.e. if its too shrill up the mids and bass and drop the presence / treb.
if its too boomy drop the bass and lower the mids and add treble.

The best way to learn how to eq is to spend an hour messing around with it....

That being said my settngs atm are : Clean Channel only; Presence 2, Trebel 9, Bass 3, Mid 12, Volume 9 (and I use my guitar to control the volume).

I dont change the eq much for the drive channel (I remove the presence totally and add a little more bass), the great thing about these amps is they sound great when you have the tubes working.... So put the master volume up full and use the drive to add a little crunch you need (there isnt much gain available on the blues deluxe), then use th guitar volume to control how loud it is.

If your after clean bluesy / very slight overdrive stick to the clean channel (which is by far superior) put the volume on full and work the guitars controls... the amp is so simple to use once its set up like that.. Also something that most people dont utilise is the 2nd input, it drops the volume off -6dB?? this literally means you can push the amp harder with out deafing yourself (its also a much darker channel and helps tame strats and teles).

Hope that helps Alan

  • From: Pittsburgh
  • Registered: 2008-05-22
  • Posts: 261

Re: WHICH SETTING TO GET A GOOD GAIN ON THE BLUES DELUXE DRIVE CHANNEL

Personally I'd keep it on the clean channel and use a nice OceanEFX Pearl drive, Zen Drive or other nice OD pedal.  The Fender drive chanels are always a little buzzy to me.

DannyG's Website

  • From: Belfast
  • Registered: 2010-02-01
  • Posts: 110

Re: WHICH SETTING TO GET A GOOD GAIN ON THE BLUES DELUXE DRIVE CHANNEL

I have a hot rod deville 2X12 and it is a great sounding clean amp. For overdrive I honestly wouldn't bother trying to get a decent tone from the amp, (remember, you can't undress a bare ****.) One of the beautiful things about these amps are they love pedals. If you're on a budget try a Bad Monkey, or if you want more of the classic Marshall type sound try a Boss SD1. Both cheap but GREAT pedals.
If you can afford a lot more try a Zendrive, TS808, Keeley Blues Driver, or Love Pedal Eternity. I am not a fan of any Fulltone stuff. I feel it sounds cold and harsh, with Strats and tele's anyway....

Guitars: 95 Les Paul Standard, Relic Strat,
Amps: 1973 Marshall JMP 50 head and Vintage Modern Cab. I use no effects other than a Cry Baby on occasions.
  • Registered: 2008-03-07
  • Posts: 508

Re: WHICH SETTING TO GET A GOOD GAIN ON THE BLUES DELUXE DRIVE CHANNEL

another good tip for the FHD is to awap out the speaker with Celestion V30 or similar the stock speaker in these amps suck big time

"Everybody's entitled to my opinion. wink
  • From: Belfast
  • Registered: 2010-02-01
  • Posts: 110

Re: WHICH SETTING TO GET A GOOD GAIN ON THE BLUES DELUXE DRIVE CHANNEL

SOFTMC wrote:

another good tip for the FHD is to awap out the speaker with Celestion V30 or similar the stock speaker in these amps suck big time



That is very true, forgot to say that. I unplug the speaker cable and usualy put my deville through my Marshall 4X12. the difference in bottom end and focus is huge.

Guitars: 95 Les Paul Standard, Relic Strat,
Amps: 1973 Marshall JMP 50 head and Vintage Modern Cab. I use no effects other than a Cry Baby on occasions.
  • DAN
  • Gold Member
  • Offline
  • From: Lima, Ohio
  • Registered: 2010-01-14
  • Posts: 94

Re: WHICH SETTING TO GET A GOOD GAIN ON THE BLUES DELUXE DRIVE CHANNEL

Hot Rod Deville 2x12... nice clean amp. First dial in a clean sound you like, no matter what amp your're using,.... then slowly add the effects. I use the BOSS BD-2 Blues driver set at 10:30, and will use the BOSS SD-2 distortion (green light) crunch channel for my light distortion. The second channel (red) on this pedal will get you the metal rock searing distortion, I rarely go to. I use the Carl Martin Hydra Boost...just for a boost.
I put the Boss Tremolo & Ibanez analog delay threw the effects loop.
With the apparent dislike for the Deluxe's speakers....just keep working with them, slowly adding effects as I suggested.
With the Deluxe's speaker, I dont know if you can turn it into something it isnt. However my son sounds great threw his Blues Deluxe using the (yellow) BOSS SD-1 distortion pedal, and a BOSS DD-6 delay. No modifications, ....just keeping it simple....at least for starters. Then maybe start swapping speakers out if you really are not happy. Thanks >> DAN

79' Epiphone Genesis Custom, 89' pre-reissue Les Paul Standard, 90'Strat Plus,
02' Tele (ash), 91' Martin HD-28, Epi A-12 acoustic, Fender Hot Rod Deville 2x12