I have always wanted a tweed combo, and the Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue has captured my interest:
Is any one here gigging with this or a similarly spec’d combo (Blackstar HT Club 40 Mark II, Fender Hot Rod Deluxe IV, etc.)?
My guitar gigs are for R&B/Neo-Soul, Jazz-Funk, or Gospel acts in mostly small to medium venues (75 to 200 people) with hit or miss decent PA support for instruments. I more than likely will purchase the combo regardless, but do not want to get my gigging expectations too high. All of my present, as well as past, gigging setups have a higher amp output with at least a 2x12 cab.
About 80% of my gigs are on bass, but none of the guitar players I know use setups smaller than the ones that I presently own. Hence, the question.
On another note, my back will more than welcome the lower weight.
I have 4 strandbergs now, including a bass. I do enjoy the standard endur neck, but the bass neck is more rounded, and I have to say its the most comfortable neck I’ve ever played.
I’ve actually been very tempted to try sanding down the neck on one of my six strings but I don’t want to ruin it! The 7 string per Nilson signature comes with a rounded neck profile, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in stock
friend of mine uses a fender pro junior for comparable gigs and it seems to work. venues in my city usually have good PAs to mic amps, but it still cuts through on it’s own.
i talked to a guy who said he did a KISS cover set at a big brewery with an AC10 just fine.
I love hearing that kids are still listening to White Stripes.
My first pedal was a black Russian big muff, loved White Stripes at the time. I haven’t been without a fuzz pedal since so it must have made an impression on me. Fuzz is definitely one of most exciting effects, might make it more interesting to play bass solo.
Compressors are essential but I’m not sure if it would interest a kid. An octave pedal like sleepside mentioned is a good suggestion.
Ultimately, I purchased a Fender Bassbreaker 45 combo, and it should arrive next week:
I am a big Fender (and Orange) fanboy, but was initially planning to purchase a Marshall setup for brand and sound variation. The Bassbreaker 45 appears to be a good compromise for me, as it has more of a British amp character.
That said, the Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue is still on my gear wishlist, and I will probably buy it later this Summer as well.
For anyone who’s tracking guitar, I’ve recently purchased the UAFX Ruby pedal and am very, very into it. As a fan of AC30’s but not their weight and the volumes needed to get a lot of their unique sounds, the pedal scratches almost all of my Vox itches. There’s a real simplicity to it’s use as well. It’s very focused once you understand how each of the 3 amp’s are setup, control-wise. After I got used to the setups and plugged a couple of pedals into the front-end of the Ruby for fun, I got lost for hours just playing. It’s a very dynamic playing experience. It feels and sounds like an amp to me.
I think for my purposes, I really won’t be able to tell much difference between mic’ing up one of my amps and recording the Ruby DI into my interface. I’ll also note it takes pedals perfectly, including all of the fuzzes I’ve thrown at it at all levels of output you can imagine.
I decided to go ahead and grab the Dream 65 while they’re available at Thomann (EU) as well. I’d say that recording Fender’s has been the norm for me for about 20 years, so having a way to get the sounds I’m used to without the associated hassle is really exciting. I’ve got a perfectly tuned up, recapped SF Princeton Reverb I could track with, but the reality is that I bug the hell out of my family and get self conscious about playing at any decent volume, so I just never actually record anything. These pedals are offering me a completely viable, enjoyable solution. It’s the first time I’ve felt comfortable playing at home in a long time.
I own it and am in the process of selling it. There’s a lot of fiddly options that I find gets in the way of me just focusing on playing. For my brain and personality, I think a smaller feature-set, more focused sonic footprint and better sounds makes a big difference. I don’t want to be thinking about Cabinet IR libraries and what would sound better with different models. I want things dialed when I plug in and then I want to play.
I think for the right brain, it’s certainly not unmanageable. I’m just a tweaker by nature, so once you offer me the ability to start swapping out IR’s and I start reading that the AC30 sounds WAY better with this or that IR’s, my brain gets fixated. It’s my own achilles heel. I thrive on focused feature sets. UA does that better than Strymon, IMHO. I’ve owned a lot of Strymon boxes and have really enjoyed them on the whole, but the UA stuff really works for my brain and I love the way they all sound. It’s just my personal preference.
The video that really got my attention was the shootout at Sunset Sound where they mic’d up good specimens of the amps and just played through the pedals vs amps and went back and forth repeatedly. At a point, it’s really, really hard to differentiate. And again, I really feel like the “feel” of the amp is there, which is a big deal for me. YMMV.
