ET-65 in a Fender Blues Deluxe RI (report)

Hi guys. I just wanted to chip in a bit and comment on my experience with this amp. I've had it for 7 years now and have tried different tubes and speakers. This has been my only amp all this time, I've gigged and recorded with it fairly consistently so I'm very familiar with it and know it's strong points and weaknesses. (I apologize beforehand if my English isn't perfect, but it's my second language). For tubes, at the moment I have a Tung -sol 12ax7 in V1, JJ 12ax7 in V2 and a NOS RCA 12ax7 in V3. JJ 6L6s for power tubes. I haven't changed any components on the PCB other than the ceramic resistors, but that's another topic and it doesn't affect the tone of the amp. When I first bought the amp I started changing the tubes before replacing the stock speaker, mainly because I felt that the Eminence deserved to be broken in and then make a call. Well, it took a long time for the speaker to break in and eventually it did mellow a bit, but still it was too bright, too thin, flabby bass, honky mids...you get the point. Probably not as terrible as so many have described, but certainly there are MUCH better options out there. So my first speaker swap was with a Celestion GT-75, mainly because I had one laying around at the moment. And to be honest, it sounded quite good at first. Then I started to realize (and accept, thanks to my bass player) that it had way too much bass. Things were way too boomy down in the low end, even if I turned down the bass knob all the way down on the amp. Plus it made the amp heavier. So out it went and placed the stock one back in. After a while, I started to get the itch back again and started to look for another replacement to which I started getting interested in the vintage 30's. So I took the plunge and installed the v30 and I gave it some time to break it in. And then I gave it more time. And then some more. I used that for a bit more than a year and I still wasn't convinced. The sound changed dramatically. The mids were very present (more than I expected) the highs were not as piercing once the speaker broke in, but still not pleasing, and the bass rolloff was a bit too much for my taste; it made it sound thin. Now, by itself I kinda liked the sound; although it changed the compatibility of my pedals with the amp, but a lot of them were just too unbearable. So I was kinda justifying my purchase until I couldn't stand it any longer. Plus, oddly it didn't cut thru a band situation, I don't know how to put it into words, but I felt that it didn't "spread" or diffuse/disperse(?) the way it should. So now, this time around I took my time to do some more research and choose something that compliments the sound of the amp, not change it. After all, I love the BDRI for what it is and for what it can do, why mess with that? I had read some comments and rave reviews about WGS, and somehow missed the point the first time around. In fact, I thought that a g12 C or CS were my only choices until I started reading some posts and Vaughn suggesting the et-65 for fender amps. I really didn't find any videos or clips of a Fender BDRI with an et-65, so I took a leap of faith. Well lo and behold, this is THE speaker! It totally was everything I read about it online. I was worried a bit about the bass, but it's solid. I'm probably still in the honeymoon phase, but I know it's real love! LOL, all things set aside, it's a great speaker! The highs, the chime, the clarity is all there without the icepick! Mids are a bit mildly scooped just like the classic Fender tonestack, so this makes it very pedal friendly; drives and dirt sound absolutely great! And the bass is tight, I know many have described it as loose, but to my ears it's well defined, not too boomy, not too thin. I waited 2 weeks before writing this long post, so that I would be sure that the speaker has broken in and that I've used it in a gig. I still yet need to record with it, and when I do I'll try to upload some clips. In the meantime, if you're thinking of replacing the speaker on your Blues Deluxe, go for the et-65 it's a great choice! Ed.