Bassman LTD vs. Hot Rod DeVille

SirJackdeFuzz

SirJackdeFuzz

New member
So, SD-Forum Fender Guru's (and amp fanatics) . . .


. . . what is the tonal diff's between the Bassman LTD and the cheaper Hot Rod DeVille (or even the Blues DeVille for that matter) ???


Bassman LTD - http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=2171000010
Hot Rod - http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=0213201000
Blues - http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=2232100000


All three are 4x10's.
The Bassman is a single channel amp, ie. no gain channel !
The Hot Rod has three channels, 2 of 'em gain/drive.
The Blues has one "normal" and one gain channel.
(...we know all of this already)


* Do they sound remotely simmilar ?

* Can the Bassman keep up with the gain of the other two ?

* Does the other two have as much honest "crunch", as the allmighty Bassman ?

* Will the 60watts from the newer models produce a lot more headroom than the lower powered Bassman, at 40watts ?
(in other words, less crunch due to more head room = later break up?)

* Is the extra money for the Bassman LTD worth it, over the other two, seeing that it has no drive/gain channel ?

* Do you have any of these amps ?
If so, what do you feel are their strong & weak points.


All info welcome !

MANY THANX
;)




PS

. . . a guy sent me a 1m30sec. clip of a very basic home recording he did with only a Bassman LTD, a RAT (for lead only), and a drum backing track, and it sounded out of this world :smokin:

It helped that he used a sweet riff too !

I'll try and post the clip . . .

(hope this works - i some problems with it)

http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=3920947&q=hi
 
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Re: Bassman LTD vs. Hot Rod DeVille

Let me just say this...the only ting those amps really have in common is that they are 4x10 combos and they were made by Fender.

-Do they sound remotely similar? Maybe they can be diled in to have some similar tones to each other, but as a rule they are very different amps.

-Can the Bassman keep up with the gain of the other two? Well, no...at least not w/o a pedal of some kind...with a boost or OD pedal a Bassman can get pretty nasty but the other 2 have built in gain boosts and master volumes and will get far more crunchy...even though, IMO, the tone it just not as good!

-Does the other two have as much honest "crunch", as the allmighty Bassman? Im not sure about this question...all 3 amps will crunch out if you crank them but I still think that the Bassman will sound far better than the other 2, but these are my opinions and Im sure someone will disagree!

-Will the 60watts from the newer models produce a lot more headroom than the lower powered Bassman, at 40watts? The difference between 100 and 50 watts is a fairly big jump in headroom but not in overal volume, however the difference between 40 and 60 is not really a big jump...the 60 watter might (and I do mean might) have a slight jump in overall volume and might have more clean headroom but since you're only talking a difference of 20 watts don't expect it to be a night and day difference.

-Is the extra money for the Bassman LTD worth it, over the other two, seeing that it has no drive/gain channel? That is a personal thing...some guys would have a hard time playing w/o a gain channel and a master volume. However I don't need it and to be honest I don't really even want them on my amp! The Bassman LTD is a nice amp, not as nice as a good handwired Bassman clone but for the used price of around $700 that can't be beat...FWIW, of the 3 amps we are talking about the Bassman LTD is the ONLY one I would use.

-Do you have any of these amps ?
If so, what do you feel are their strong & weak points. I do not own any of these amps but have tried them each several times, Im sure I made my opinions clean in the above posts...but to be sure for what you want you need to go play these amps to make up your own mind.

Good luck with your search!
 
Re: Bassman LTD vs. Hot Rod DeVille

Here is the clip of the Bassman LTD - this clip seem to work!

OK, not the "traditional" Bassman sound, as he did use a RAT for the lead part, BUT all the guitar-parts are a Bassman LTD.


http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=3920947&q=hi

I love the over-all tone (Rat or no Rat !)


Can they crunch meven more than this ("without", the help of a pedal) ???
 
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Re: Bassman LTD vs. Hot Rod DeVille

Christian . . . is there anything you DON'T know about Fender amps ???


Thank you for that very well answered reply !

I think i'll PM you in the near future about some amps that i would like to get soon (two of 'em, both Fender - or clones of Fender models)

Yet another tone i am searching for - but i believe this is a 15watt 5e3-like clone !!!

http://www.juhnke.com/mike/mp3s/Tumblin.mp3
 
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Re: Bassman LTD vs. Hot Rod DeVille

i'd say go for the bassman

the blues deville was supposed to be a hot rodded bassman, fell a little short, it sounds good but, eh

then the hot rod deville was supposed to be a hot rodded blues deville. They fell even shorter on this one

there are REALLY good tones you can get out of all 3 amps, but if you don't need a master volume i'd go for the bassman.

jumped channels for rythm & a TS into that for lead tones, mmmm
 
Re: Bassman LTD vs. Hot Rod DeVille

bassman? consider the blackface pre '68 circuitry...
 
Re: Bassman LTD vs. Hot Rod DeVille

I have a Bassman LTD, I used to have a Twin Reverb, and my friend has a Hot Rod Deluxe.

Tonally, the Hot Rod seems to be more compressed in the upper mids to me, and it's not as rich sounding. Anyway, I love my Bassman, it's the warmest sounding amp I've ever heard, and it sounds SOOO good at all volumes, even with everything on twelve. Compared to a Twin, the bassman has more bottom end, more warmth, and less treble sting.

The Gain channel on the hot rod deluxe won't do much for you, in fact a boss SD-1 will do you much better.

I just took a session with my LTD using an SD-1 for the first time as I usually play clean. I was really impressed by how good it sounded.

If money is no object, I'd get the LTD; a Hot Rod Deluxe will get you close, but it's just not the same.

Also, if you can manage without reverb, there's no use in having it. As the owner of victoria amps says, too much reverb can drown you out in a live setting.
 
Re: Bassman LTD vs. Hot Rod DeVille

+1 for the most part, go with the Bassman LTD, great amp with far better speakers and the classic sound of a good tweed. The overdrive on the other two (The preamp that is the channels or whatever) sound like garbage at low levels. The think the clean sound has that "untouched" character, more natural and clear compared to the other two from my experience and just a blast to crank up. The normal channels and bright channels (4 inputs) can be jumped, blending the channels and the channels themselves have a different characters from one another, so its good to fool around with for gigging sounds and stuff. But definitely drop the extra cash for the Bassman.
 
Re: Bassman LTD vs. Hot Rod DeVille

I will admit I don't know much about new Fender amps but I don't care to...the ones that I have played and/or owned just don't impress me much! If you need/want any help I'll help in any way I can, feel free to PM me anytime!
 
Re: Bassman LTD vs. Hot Rod DeVille

i had a ltd and it was a cool amp. the solid pine box and alnico speakers are nice as is the tube rectofier. first thing i did was to rebias the amp a little hotter and put a 12ay7 in v1 (and the hottest 12ax7 to v3) to get more of the tweed flavor. jump the channels and go.

i got mine for $600 used, i swapped two p10q's in for two fo the p10r's and i liked the extra beef. for the money its alota amp if you get it used, new is kinda steep. i got rid of it because the way i wanted to use it, it was too loud.

i liked it best with the channels jumped, volumes at about 9, treble and mids way up, bass way down, and presance to taste. the problem is that it was too loud for the small clubs i play at those settings
 
Re: Bassman LTD vs. Hot Rod DeVille

jeremy said:
i liked it best with the channels jumped, volumes at about 9, treble and mids way up, bass way down, and presance to taste. the problem is that it was too loud for the small clubs i play at those settings
Click to expand...

Could it be because that the volume was at 9 ? :smokin:
 
Re: Bassman LTD vs. Hot Rod DeVille

Even though most of my amps nowadays are British types, I've owned a lot of Fender amps. I'm too lazy to type a full description, so I'll just rate them.

Blues Deville. 7.5
Hotrod Deville 6.5
90s Bassman reissue 8
new Bassman LTD 9.5....no negatives....just a bit loud before it crunches.
Concert Reverb (Pro Tube Series) 8.....very versatile and great features
Twin Reverb Reissue. 6.5
Supersonic 8.5......good tone and features. Great gigging amp.

I'm not snobby about channel switchers, so I just rated everything according to it's overall quality, tone, and value to a player looking at current Fenders.
The only one there I haven't personally owned is the Supersonic.
 
Re: Bassman LTD vs. Hot Rod DeVille

Stratman said:
Could it be because that the volume was at 9 ? :smokin:
Click to expand...

but it goes up to 12! so its only like 7.5 on the 1-10 scale :)

and thats where it sounded best. outdoors it was tony the tiger!!
 
Re: Bassman LTD vs. Hot Rod DeVille

I have played all three at some point, and even rented a Hot Rod DeVille for one show. That amp is a very versatile and quite toneful thing, and as long as you aren't expecting miracles you might enjoy it. You won't get a Marshall-like crunch out of it, but the More Drive channel is actually not a bad tone. The gain on this one is far better than the Hot Rod Deluxe or the Hot Rod DeVille 2x12 - the smaller speakers help tighten up the farty low end a lot of high gain Fenders have a problem with.
 
Re: Bassman LTD vs. Hot Rod DeVille

from my research and the fact that I have a bassman, I would go with the bassman and get a distortion pedal (I would recommend the Jeckyl and Hyde Ultimate overdrive and then you would have a three channel amp) or it makes any distortion pedal sound good, but it won't hide anything. REALLY Dynamic. Plus I think the Bassman is one of the loudest combos made.
 
Re: Bassman LTD vs. Hot Rod DeVille

Gearjoneser said:
new Bassman LTD 9.5....no negatives....just a bit loud before it crunches.

Supersonic 8.5......good tone and features. Great gigging amp.
Click to expand...

I agree.. you should really look at the Supersonic. It sounded great when I played it - you could nail that fender crunch/light gain even at lower volumes.
 
Re: Bassman LTD vs. Hot Rod DeVille

More-Gear-Than-Skill said:
aaah the supersonic! Deep pockets...
Click to expand...

Hey mate !!!

You've been quite - working to much ???

Well, i might aswell get a good amp NOW, as i got the job in the States, and i start end of Jan !
So, why not get something there, seeing that i will be paid in USD's :usa1:

. . . and after the Bassman (and probably an "attueautor-thingy"), i will drop into the lonestar state (lovely 'county'), and get a Celtic too.


Cheers
:)
 
Re: Bassman LTD vs. Hot Rod DeVille

I love the Bassman tone for thick clean with a strat it is my fav tone. Many love the lead tone you can get out of it with a good distortion pedal.
 
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