suggested settings for classic Fender Deluxe out of markIIb

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gonzo

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just looking for starting zones....

using a fender strat, deluxe and twin tones, where does that begin on the IIb?
 
Hey George,

Thanks for digging up that quote of mine. I'd forgotten that I'd written that...

It's now been a couple of years and its still true. In my living room, I've still got my IIC(+) and my Fender Deluxe Reverb reissue. Despite the Fender heritage in the Boogie, when I need *that* sound, I have to go over to the Fender.

For the OP, the strat + blackface is such a distinctive tone. The strat plus IIB will surely give you some truly awesome tones, but you won't be able to get that surf-ish deep wet thump out of the Boogie. It just doesn't do "Miserlou"...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJmI6fAPUSk

Chip
 
thanks for the replies, guys....

i knew it wouldn't nail a fender deluxe tone, but just a way to get a bit closer will be good enough.

i have another flavor to add to the stew....


EL84's instead of the 6L6's, by way of a set of groovetubes substitubes.

can you say Fender/Vox/Boogie tone?
heheh
 
What speaker do you have? Is it open-backed or closed-backed?

Also, what kind of Twin / Deluxe tones do you like? Is the the spanky clean funk sound, the drenched in reverb surf sound, the edge of breakup blues sound, jam band push, rolling stones grit, turn to 11 roar? So many choices. What are you looking for?

Chip
 
First Post... and this seems to be where I need to be. Grew up playing used blackfaced Bandmaster and Showman amps. Giddily bought a 60w MkIIb in early 80 and spent 20+ years trying to make it sound like I wanted, both as a combo (which is not my preference) and through Bandmaster (w EV SRO's) and irresistably for the last 7 years a Tremolux cab (with Eminence Copperheads). Swapping speakers, with no Magic Revelation, for the last few years finally got me to go shopping and ended up, tentatively, with a Fender SuperSonic that had more of what I was looking for. Dropping a JBL 12 in the Fender made it love that's lasted for several years now. The Mesa keeps drawing me back from its sheer BUILD beauty and I still have this irrational need to go back and try again. Never works, always it's (stealing a Miller line) A world-class Almost. The Supersonic is easier, more versatile and just ALWAYS sounds right. I worry about it's long-term reliability, it's not built like the Mesa. Planned to sell the boogie and still can;t quite. Here I find folks fighting the same fight. I just bought an immaculate Blues Jr, did most of the BillM mods and like it a lot. Confession and introductions over, I guess what I'm lookign for is a last-ditch attempt at making the Mesa into something I like to PLAY as well as admire, before I finally decide to give it a working home it deserves.

Floor's open..
 
It's a tough lesson for me to follow myself: every amp has its own inherent sound, go with the amp that best fits the sound in your head. Don't force another amp to fit into the sound that another amp does naturally. In this case, ff it's the Fender that makes the sound and the Boogie doesn't, go with the Fender and be happy. Life's short, play.

With that said, I also understand the strange pull of boogie. There is something magical about their aura. Once turned on, there's also something very authoritative about them...HELLO, YES, HERE I AM, I HAVE ARRIVED. I love that. My boogie can also go way way way louder than my Fender ever could and still sound decent. Despite what they say, my tube Fender sounds like crap on 10. So, in a band setting, the boogie can go the distance with ease and with awesomeness.

But, with my Boogie, you won't, really, get that true Fender sound.

A big part of the problem (IMHO) is that the Boogies sculpt out the sub-lows. I'm talking about the deep deep stuff that the guitar doesn't really produce...none of its notes on a guitar go low enough to demand the sub-lows that blackface/silverface circuits allowed through. Still, when you're playing clean but loud, and you thump the string (or do a massive plam mute on a bunch of strings), there's a deepness produced from a Fender amp that my boogie have never made. WHOMP! I'm thinking it's those sub-lows that give the Fender its Fenderness.

If you must keep tasting Boogies (and they are tasty to taste), have you tried a Mark I? That might be the ticket. The Mark I is an old enough design that it much more true to the Fender roots....fewer gain stages along with bigger cathode bypass caps and bigger coupling caps (ie, deeper sub-lows). I've never played one, but it might retain more of the Fender sound that you're looking for. Give it a try! If you like it, get one in the beautiful hardwood. Yum. Then, you'll maybe have the kind of awesome-sounding, sexy-looking boogie that we all strive for.

Chip
 
to anyone who's owned a boogie as long as i have (since 1981), i think it's an obvious fact that it wont 'do' a pure fender sound.

i know that already, from 30 years of using it.

heheh


but, i was just curious how close others might have gotten.


i've never used any fender amp, including the hot rods, supersonics, or other, that can even come close to the high gain thing i do with my Mark 2b.

that said, i think i wanna buy a fender deluxe now.

LOL
 
chipaudette pretty much sums it up.

Fender Deluxe (especially the Black Face) are one of your classic tube amp. Boogies MarkIIB uses powerful OT transformer especially design for Sylvania 6L6s while Deluxe uses small OT, rectifier tube and 6V6s.

My 40 years of hearing most classic tube amps, I laugh when someone has a versatile so-so amps and claimed it nails most classic tube amps. I figure their tolerance of hearing is not that great distinguish between tube amps.
 
I'm editing this 'cuz I now see you've had your Boogie for about as long as I've had mine, gonzo (cheers!). I'm sure you know the ins and outs. But I'll leave the rest in here for anyone who's surfing and is interested:

I've had my Mark IIB since '80. It's a 60/100 combo. I had a Fender Twin, which I sold 'cuz it was so heavy, and a Pro Reverb which was stolen. Both from the '60s. Both great amps. I don't miss the Twin. I miss the Pro like nobody's business.

My 3 cents: you'll never get that Fender sound. If you concentrate on what you've got, though, you will get g-r-e-a-t sounds. It's a Boogie. Keep the bass to a minimum. 1-3 (3 can be too much, at times). They're notorious for getting mushy when you've got the bass too high...especially in the lead drive. Keeping it to a minimum makes all the difference in the world.

The IIB's a very underrated amp. I finally found a great techie who loves 'em and really put some time into mine. Convinced me to replace the original EVM12L with a Jensen C12k speaker and I'm lovin' it. It's got an incredible clean tone and, if you're into the transparent OD, the lead tone's great for blues and country. Takes to pedals beautifully, too. I'm playing my Strat and Tele through it mostly, lately. The Paul and Silhouette sound great, too.

Does yours have the 5 band eq? I love that feature. I like to put a heavy scoop on it in the clear tones for funk rhythm work and jack up the highs/push down the lows in some lead situations. Click the two together when I'm going into that mode...

The Treble pot pull switch gives some really nice extra punch to solos in the lead mode.

The IIB's a really fine amp. There are some issues with the effects loop and reverb. And some people don't like the lead drive. Personal tastes. I'm still rolling the idea of the mod that Mike B at Boogie does around in my head and will make a decision one of these days. That's a whole 'nuther story...but I'm not stressin' it. The amp rocks as is...
 
gitapik

well, i love my mark2b.
always have.
and one of the main reasons i got it, way back when, was to get tones that WERE NOT fender tones.
but i loved the geneology of the boogies, and that was a great solution for me.

mine does have the 5 band.

i've been experimenting alot, with my super strat..
and i've found a great compromise setting that, on the lead channel, lets me toggle on the guitar between my single coil settings and humbucker, and still get chime on both.

there's a nice grind, that's great for rock rhythm work, and if i step on the boost pedal or the direct drive, i'm into hard rock and solo territory.

i use a combination of the treble and mids wide open, the treble pull drops the resonant peak just enough to make it girthy, and the vol pull for a bit of treble bite that works great with the presence at about 5.
then, i roll the 750 down about one notch, and roll the 6k down about 2 notches, and that takes all the fizz and smear out.

clean channel, with gain set about 7, is a bit gritty, but is great for solo work, and with the guitar vol rolled back, cleans up nice.


i have zero issues with my fx loop.

and i've modded the bass with a different cap, but basically i never use it, it does add some meat, but at the expense of flab.


i'm thinking of adding a TA-15 to the lineup, as a recording amp.
don't think i'll ever sell the mark2b.
 
gonzo

I dialed in those settings and they totally rock. REALLY nice. I've got an all single coil Strat and it's awesome with that tone. What's really cool is that you can play with feedback at a reasonable volume. It's not tearing my eardrums apart. Really fine stuff...thanks so much.

My thing, lately, is about funk and blues. I'm kinda going the opposite way of most: the rhythm stuff's on the 5 band and the lead's on the dials. With the 5 band radically scooped like metal in a clean setting (750 at zero), I can get an incredible tone for funk rhythms. Works well with fairly clean lead OD tones, too...especially with a walking bass. Very dry. I absolutely love it.

With that setting, I'm using the pots to color the Lead tones and getting a Texas Blues thing. I dime Vol 1, put the treble at 8, bass at 2, and mid at 3 or 4. Lead Drive's at 6 (7 if I want it) and Lead Master's whatever the room can carry. Pull Bright on the Lead Master. Presence at 5 and Reverb's to taste (not too much, though). Stock stuff, but it's perfect for that sound. It gives such a nice, dry, transparent tone. If I want to add some meat, I pull the Treble pot.

So many great sounds.

I'm hearing some great stuff about that Trans-Atlantic. I've got a funny thing happening with the low watt thing. While my IIB was in the shop for some work, I pulled out my old Peavey Backstage (late '70s) to practice and jam on. Looks like this (but with a blue Post and gray Saturation dial):

Screenshot2011-05-05at103617PM.jpg


If you try to use the Saturation as a heavy distortion, it sucks. I dialed it in like this:

MASTER: 7
PRE: 3
SATURATION: 5 or 6

...and it just rocked. Takes pedals well, too. Great sound with a good OD and delay pedal in front of it. It's loud, lightweight, 20 watts with a 10" speaker, and it's got a sound. What's strange about it is that I've been looking at some boutique and stock low watt amps, lately. There are some great ones, but I keep playing the Peavey and think, "maybe I should save my money". I have a hard time accepting that a cheap (you can get them off Craigslist or eBay for $50-75) ss amp's this good...but it's got it going in a big way. It sounds like a tube amp. I'll probably keep saving and looking. Grab something if it grabs me...but the Peavey's sticking around. Can't break the **** thang.


Cool stuff, gonzo...thanks...
 

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