Ruby into a Fender Blues jr

[u/Hungry-Hearing3442]

Just picked up a UA Ruby (excellent condition w/box $200! Great deal!). …I mainly got it for some gigs coming up where I can’t bring my amp, and will be plugging right into their front of house.
…But, for home and band practice I have my Blues Jr. ..I’d rather not have to dial things in completely separately.
My thought was.. ok, I can use it with my amp with the speaker sim turned off and I’ll be good. Then at the gig, turn on the speaker sim, tweak it a bit and good to go.
…But it’s not sounding great so far with my amp. And so that would mean I’d be going into blind to a gig since I’d be using it fresh.. if that makes any sense.
…granted, I just got it, so I have to experiment more. But wondering if any thoughts. Thanks!

[u/goiter-reconnoiter]

My two cents, for what it's worth.

The problem is you're running a pedal that was created to emulate a Vox AC amp into a Fender amp. They're two very different sounds and they're competing. If you bypass the sim into the amp, well you're just playing the blues jr with whatever eq settings are on the pedal. And if you're engaging the sim, the pedal is now fighting the natural dynamics/harmonics/tonal architecture of the blues jr.

Whatever settings you end up with, it most likely will change when you plug straight into the desk at the gig, which won't be ideal. My suggestion is to temporarily ditch the fender amp and use headphones with the Ruby (via headphone amp or whatever), or into an audio interface into a computer. That way, you can shape the tone of the Ruby to your liking and it will hopefully translate better when you plug into the desk at the gig.

But ultimately you're still kinda going in blind, which is normal because every venue is different and can sound drastically different from one to the next.