Info Needed on a '95 Blues DeVille 4x10, Please

[Porkchop975]

Hey, there - new member. I've been lurking for a while and decided to join after purchasing a Blues DeVille 4x10. I've learned quite a bit about Fenders from this site already, but what I can't find is a whole lot of information on this amp.

I decoded the QA sticker as a November '95 model. I found it locally for $325.00 from an individual who said that the drive channel wasn't working. I got super excited, because I was looking for a tube amp that needed repair so that I could get experience doing so. I want to design-build my own tube amp, so I figure the best way start is to repair a few first. I was a little let down when I got this amp home, and found that the Drive pot was simply dirty and needed cleaning. A few shots of Deoxit and a few twists of the pots later, and the drive channel seems to work just fine (I went ahead and serviced all of the pots)...on the other hand, I got a pretty decent amp for only a few bucks. So, I guess this will be my "Plan B" platform where I use this as a test bed for modifications.

I'm an EE by trade with a history in electronic repair (televisions, assorted telecom equipment, set-top boxes, etc.). I'm also a decent woodworker, so I do plan to build my own cabinet as well.

So, I guess to get me started on this - what are some of the things to look for on this amp, quality-wise? What are some common failures seen? What are some common modifications to make? What are some common things to try and retain (if any) for vintage-value?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!

[Stevem]

These amps like all of these newer Fenders have a appetite for burning up the two 1/2 watt plate load resistors in the amps PI section so I would up grade those to 1 watt metal film types right off the bat.

Many folks also do not like the way the amp reaches peak loudness by the time the volume knob is turned up to 4.

Depending on your playing needs for gain levels and for better clean tones, stuffing a 12AY7 in place of the first 12AX7 changes the volume and tone issue in a nice way.

Since a AY7 will draw more current it would be a good move to up grade those two plate resistors also.

These amps are know for failing solder connections on the output tube Sockets on that lower board,so adding jumper wires, this is what I do to every amp that goes on my bench that will see non home playing a lot, not just reflow the solder joint.

The filter caps are known to fail at a early age also in these amps if they don’t get used much and on top of that they are not the best quality caps either showing high levels of ESR.

These things should give you some starter stuff to sink your teeth into for now.

[Porkchop975]

Thanks a lot for the information.

A lot of posts I read on the interwebs point to people hating the Drive channel - I don't hate it. It's just a different kind of distortion. I use a few drive pedals (overdrive, blues driver, fuzz, and a Klon clone). I can use the integrated Drive channel as another "flavor" of drive. I had a similar use for my Fender M-80's drive channel from the 90s. Its drive channel gets a lot of hate, too, but it was still useful in some situations.

I bought a JHS Blackbox to tame the volume. If I crank the volume up to around 4 without it, it's too painful to listen to. It goes in the effects loop so that you can still drive the preamp section really high, but tame the output of the preamp before it goes to the output section.

One thing I'm noticing is that I can hear the springs in the reverb tank slapping against each other when the volume is up high and the reverb is set to anything over about 1.5-to-2. Does that indicate that the springs are worn out? I can use a reverb pedal and disable the reverb tank if I need to.

[Stevem]

Yes, your reverb pan is shot!