Questions on the 1962 Bluesbreakers

[T Bone]

Been thinking about shopping for a used Bluesbreaker Reissue, wondering a few things. Are there certain years/eras I should be looking for or avoid? Are they all hand wired or just more recent ones? Any particulars I should watch out for?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this.

 

[Georgiatec]

There are two types, the hand wired and the normal PCB board. Hand wired are much more expensive. Do they sound any better? Maybe, maybe not.
I have a PCB board version from 2014 and it sounds spot on. 5881 valves not KT66, but you can convert to '66's should you wish (different bias resistor required).
I swapped mine for a 2061x head, so no idea what they go for (I paid 600 quid for the 2061x)
They are loud but, at 30 watts, not deafening. You will need a decent attenuator to use at lower volumes, but mine sounds okay at low volume with an O/D in front.
Happy hunting and post up if and when you pick one up.

 

[T Bone]

There are two types, the hand wired and the normal PCB board. Hand wired are much more expensive. Do they sound any better? Maybe, maybe not.
I have a PCB board version from 2014 and it sounds spot on. 5881 valves not KT66, but you can convert to '66's should you wish (different bias resistor required).
I swapped mine for a 2061x head, so no idea what they go for (I paid 600 quid for the 2061x)
They are loud but, at 30 watts, not deafening. You will need a decent attenuator to use at lower volumes, but mine sounds okay at low volume with an O/D in front.
Happy hunting and post up if and when you pick one up.

Thanks! Are they making both hand wired and non hand wired, or was there a transition time? Any idea what year they switched or started making the hand wired versions?

Ones I am looking at are much earlier, around 1990 to 1992 so far.

 

[neikeel]

The reissues have always been pcb amps. The limited edition hand wired are relatively less common. The pcb amps are not the same as the early amps electronically (the terms are arguably better) and the preamps are subtly different filtering is higher more like 50w.
I’ve just restored a 67 BB with EL34s and GZ34 it is like a true plexi when you crank it, more so than a KT66 amp which I usually find hard to beat.
The BB RI is a decent amp (but heavy unless you flightcase it on wheels) if you might want to use KT66 (you can do this without mods) then the later ones after 91 are deep enough.

 

[Im247frogs]

I've been looking at getting one as well, and I've missed a couple real good deals. They seem to be coming down in price whereas they've been outrageously expensive, even the Re-issues, for the last few years.

 

[Georgiatec]

The reissues have always been pcb amps. The limited edition hand wired are relatively less common. The pcb amps are not the same as the early amps electronically (the terms are arguably better) and the preamps are subtly different filtering is higher more like 50w.
I’ve just restored a 67 BB with EL34s and GZ34 it is like a true plexi when you crank it, more so than a KT66 amp which I usually find hard to beat.
The BB RI is a decent amp (but heavy unless you flightcase it on wheels) if you might want to use KT66 (you can do this without mods) then the later ones after 91 are deep enough.

I tried mine with KT66's Neil, but couldn't get the bias within the desired range, so went back to the 5881's. I read on the forum somewhere that the bias resistors need changing in order for the range to be suitable to KT66's. Mine sounds great with the 5881's, so I left it alone.

 

[neikeel]

I think it depends whose KT66 you use - as you know not difficult to piggy back a resistor on the ‘stop resistor’.

 

[Im247frogs]

Been thinking about shopping for a used Bluesbreaker Reissue, wondering a few things. Are there certain years/eras I should be looking for or avoid? Are they all hand wired or just more recent ones? Any particulars I should watch out for?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this.

Where are you located?

 

[trenchy]

There are two types, the hand wired and the normal PCB board. Hand wired are much more expensive. Do they sound any better? Maybe, maybe not.
I have a PCB board version from 2014 and it sounds spot on. 5881 valves not KT66, but you can convert to '66's should you wish (different bias resistor required).
I swapped mine for a 2061x head, so no idea what they go for (I paid 600 quid for the 2061x)
They are loud but, at 30 watts, not deafening. You will need a decent attenuator to use at lower volumes, but mine sounds okay at low volume with an O/D in front.
Happy hunting and post up if and when you pick one up.

Hey Curious what kind of transformer are in them, i just opened mine up it says 89 on the side and there are two drake transformers