Need some recomending a low volume blues amp

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dbone

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A buddy of mine recently picked up a Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue 40watt, he loves the tone but the volume is a little much for playing at home with family and all.
Whats a great sounding lower wattage alternative to this amp.
I'm open to all suggestions.
He's playing through a Gibson ES335 reissue.
 
Check out the Fender Blues Junior, 15 watt, tube amp, I think it's powered by EL84, but don't quote me on the tubes. I have gigged various venues with the amp, mic'ed through a PA. Amp takes pedals well too, in addition to the "decent" reverb already built in.
 
For *home* playing, there's really no point in getting a BJ - 15W is not that much quieter than 40 if you're going to crank it. The BJ is loud enough to gig with. And if you're not going to crank it, there's no point in getting a less powerful amp - just turn the big amp down, it will make far more difference to the volume.

Yes, I know that the HRD has a ridiculously fussy master volume control on the drive channel, and even the clean channel one isn't brilliant. Either - get used to the HRD's fussy controls and learn how to set it for a good lower-volume tone (it can be done! - the key is in using the EQ differently to how you would at higher volume), or get one of the 'volume boxes' commonly sold on Ebay etc which are essentially an extra master volume that goes in the FX loop (preamp out to power amp in) and let you get a lot more useful control from the amp's knobs, or - if it's real power-tube overdrive and nothing else that you want, you need a power attenuator. This is more expensive than the volume box, but still cheaper than a BJ and will make much more difference.

For what it's worth, I use my 100W Tremoverb with a Hotplate attenuator for home playing. It's much more controllable and capable of a better really-low-volume tone than any 15W amp I've ever played.
 
For me, the Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue sounds great clean, but the overdrive is buzzy, whiny, and decidedly non-fat.
I found it much more fun experimenting with overdrive pedals in front of the Blues Deluxe. One of my favs is the MI Audio Blue Boy Deluxe. Basically a tube screamer derivative, but better IMO. :D
 

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