Fender Blues Deluxe (and Deville, I guess) RI amp info

[crunchee]

Officially, Fender calls the current Blues Deluxe a RI (it says so on the metal Fender info plate on the back of the amp), but I'm curious...was there an actual break in the amp's availability? For how long? Three years? Five? I don't ever recall a huge outcry about bringing this amp back, though it's entirely possible I missed the fuss...in fact, I don't even remember the news about it being discontinued in the FIRST place.

From scrounging for info online, as far as I can tell, the only real difference between the 'originals' and the 'reissues' is that the RI is made in Mexico, and they have an adjustable bias for the power tubes. The 'originals' were USA made, and did not have adjustable bias. Is there any OTHER differences between the two? TIA!

[dragan]

also why call it a "deluxe " ? nothing much like the deluxe of 6v6 fame ??

[JohnnyB]

There was a long break in the Blues Deluxe's availability. Fender started the series in 1993 and they were finished in tweed. Within 3-4 years they were replaced by the black tolex Hot Rod series; the Blues Deluxe in tweed gave way to the Hot Rod Deluxe in black tolex. So now they're bringing back the tweed version with chicken-head knobs and evidently a warmer-sounding circuit.

And yes, the Blues Deluxe and Hot Rod Deluxe are powered by a pair of 6L6s to make 40 watts rather than 6V6s making 20 watts like the vintage Princetons and Deluxes.

The full description is in the listing at Musicians Friend and also at the Fender website. They also offer a 4x10 Blues DeVille with alnico mag speakers.

[ArnieZ]

I had one of the originals and if I remember correctly it was tubed with 5881's a lower powered 6l6 variant. I moved it in part because the crappy plastic input jacks kept breaking. They are a small IC that solder to a board with 4 legs. Disassembly of the amp was a PITA and soldering tricky

ArnieZ