Hey guys,

first of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Fabian and I live in Germany. I'm the guitar player and singer in a Blues Trio. We play mostly Hendrix, SRV, Bonamassa and a lot of self-written songs.
My setup:
- DIY Strats
- Fernandes Telecasters
- Gibson Les Paul VOS 1960
- modded Fender Bassman LTD.
- orig. Fender Blackface Super Reverb

I'm really happy with this sound. Real bluesy tones;-)

But, Im looking for a different sound. That's way I'm thinking of getting a Ceriatone OTS.
I want a amp with fenderish clean sound and a blues-rockin' smooth, fat Overdrive (something like Bonamassa) for my Les Paul and Strats. Nik has sent me some sound-descriptions of the different Overtones and I think the HRM Bluesmaster will fit to me.
I don't want to take 2 amps with me for a gig. Maybe I can take only one the HRM BM for getting my Blues sound.

But one question is left.
I don't know if I should buy the 50W or 100W version.

Can anyone give me an idea of the differences of the 100W and 50W?

Thank you very much
and

Merry christmas!!

Fabian

I don't need a extreme real clean. I love it when the amp breaks up a little bit if you play hard and gets clean if you play soft.
I play small club gigs but also big gigs with a real big stage. But on a big stage you'll have a microphone in front of it.

But I've read that the 100W has a more open and better sound even at lower volumes. What is your opinion on that?

I didn't thought of speakers yet. First of all I have to decide which version and then I will look for speakers.
The only thing I know is that I want a 2x12 cabinet.

Thanks

Fabian

Hello,

thanks again for your help!

Maybe 100w will be ok. I'm only afraid the amp is too loud for me. Once I had a Marshall JCM 800 with 100W. It was just too loud to play at home or in a small club. It only sounded great if you played it loud on big stages.
That's why I thought of the 50W or 100W. If it's possible to play the 100W HRM BM with lower volumes then it will be ok. And if the HRM BM sounds better than the 50W even at lower volumes it will be perfect for me;-)

How's about a Weber Speaker in combination with the HRM BM?

Thanks

Fabian

pickmaster's results of his test are at:
http://ceriatoneforum.com/index.php?topic=715.msg5631#msg5631
which says:


With the BM50, I've tried Vintage 30s, Celestion Lead 80, Eminence red white and blues, Celestion Gold, Fane AXA12, Eminence MLE (Bass/clean driver), Matchless 2x12, Weber Blue dog ceramic (doped). The Celestion Gold sounds much better than any of the others

Cheers
Tone

I've had other amps built with a trimmer to adjust the amount of boost for the PAB
For the BM,  by default it's too much of a boost for my liking. Used to be more still apparently. I like enough boost to take it up a level, rather than 3 or 4 levels
I'm told if you have a 100k trimmer put in instead of the 68k between mid pot and earth, you can tweak it.
I haven't had it done yet

Nik should be able to do it

I've never tried EVs, I'd be happy to try them. My cleanest drivers are the ones I use for my Twin II's 2x12: Eminence ME12-1008LE, which I think are not bright enough for the BM50. I used to swear by them as a clear way to expose the amp's real sound, but with a few 5E3-derived amps and a DC30, I've accepted that some amps can't work properly with a clean, clear driver. Certainly a Twin sounds better through a clean clear driver than through v30s

I agree that 100w is the one to get, I got 50w but I am not convinced it's worth it to lose that headroom, for a Marshall clone I would say 50W every time, but this is a fendery amp.
I assume the half-power is a triode switch, which although not ideal (better to lose 2 valve like the DZ30), is done very well on my BM50

I usually play straight into the amp, so not too keen on the FX loops.
If I do use FX, it's usually just a delay or compressor with true (or nearly true) bypass anyway, but I am mainly doing recording and adding FX later

On speakers I'd say:
Like the amps themselves, you can get a shortlist of people's favourites, but you'll need to try them out to find yours.
If you know few people with good gear, you may have to buy more than you need and sell items on, but it's worth it.
If the EVs are bright, I have no doubt they could work well, and Celestion Golds do too. You can never tell until you personally try it

On a side note.
When you have an excellent amp (e,g, the BM, a DC30, etc), and find the speakers you like best, you then reach a great but horrible realisation that almost all the solos by your favourite guitarists on CD sound like the amp was lame, and that the amp you have sounds way better. OK, the recording, mixing and squashing onto CD doesn't help, but we really have such excellent gear these days that it's sad we can't take it back in a time machine to give to our heroes. I know people like to worship vintage gear, but you will find it hard to locate many recordings from the 60s or 70s that can match the tone I can dial up in my amps. Even recent recordings fail to capture how excellent these amps sound when you're in the room, but isn't that the same with any instrument?
OK, the Deluxe, JTM45 and AC30 were great, but look at what we have now, DC30s, Dumbles, boutique amps with whatever refinements you want

Hey Sloe,

Just wanted to say that I went from a modded Bassman LTD to the Bluesmaster 100w.  Never looked back.  I loved the Bassman, but I needed good OD at lower volumes. 

Side Note: One thing I did to mod out the Bassman was to swap out the Jensens (I really hated these speakers) for the older Eminence Blues, which I really liked.  Which did you prefer? 

Never tried the Bluesmaster with 10" speakers, myself, but I think Tone is right that Pickmaster did.  Check out his postings.