MasterKtulu
New member
Fender Hot Rod Deluxe III “Upgraded” Speaker?
Well I just Bought a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe III, and I like it a lot. I know some people love these amps and others love hate them for whatever reason, but for 700$ New I think it’s great for what it does. I’m more of a “bedroom” player and on a budget anyway, so buying the perfect 3000$ tube amp was out of the question. I was looking for an affordable tube combo amp that had a great clean sound and also had an effects loop. I’ve had a Marshall JCM 900 MKIII Master Volume 50W 1X12 Combo for the past 18 years, and it sounds great at what it does best but a clean sound isn’t it. Before buying the amp, I heard a lot of people complaining about the drive channel, and I can understand them to a point. I think it sounds great at low gain, for a smooth Blues or Classic Rock sound, but at higher gain or with the More Drive switch on, it becomes a bit thin sounding and grainy. But from the beginning, I was planning on buying a bunch of effect pedals, so I’ll use the drive channel for what it can do well and that’s it.
Now for the “upgraded” Speaker… I have a hard time believing that the previous (Eminence Fender Designed?) speaker was any worst than the Celestion G12P-80 (Chinese made Seventy 80?) Speaker that is in this amp. After breaking in the speaker a bit, I start to notice that this speaker sounds like my old Celestion G12T-75 speaker that originally came in my Marshall JCM 900 MKIII did but does a worst job of it. The bass is tight but at higher gain and at higher volume it starts to fart. The mids are scooped making it sound thin. The highs have a bit of that shimmering Fender sound on the clean Channel but on the drive channel they sound harsh. For fun I plug in my 2X12 Cab loaded with two Eminence Private Jack speakers (Eminence’s 50W version of Celestion Greenback) and compare the different speakers. Well the Private Jack isn’t the perfect speaker for that “Fender Sound” but it’s a lot better than the G12P-80. The bass is rounder, the mids are pronounced but always sweet and the highs are smooth. I loose the shimmering highs on the clean channel but now have a very versatile smoother and rounder sound. And the drive channel is a lot better, as rhythms jump out of the amp and leads sing without ever being harsh. I them combined the amps speaker with the cab, and they really don’t mix well. The cab only shows the weakness of the Celestion G12P-80 more prominently. So I remove the Celestion G12P-80 and replace it with the Private Jack speaker that is currently in my Marshall 1X12 Combo and leave the 2X12 Cab plugged in my new Fender amp. Now the 3 Private Jack speakers make my new Fender amp sound huge and a lot better than before.
For now I’ve put the Celestion G12P-80 in my empty Marshall, calming some of its prominent mids. It sounds better in my Marshall than it did in my Fender, but I’ve lost that classic Marshall sound that I had with the Private Jack and now have a more Hard Rock/Metal mid scooped sound that I outgrew a while back...
Well I just Bought a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe III, and I like it a lot. I know some people love these amps and others love hate them for whatever reason, but for 700$ New I think it’s great for what it does. I’m more of a “bedroom” player and on a budget anyway, so buying the perfect 3000$ tube amp was out of the question. I was looking for an affordable tube combo amp that had a great clean sound and also had an effects loop. I’ve had a Marshall JCM 900 MKIII Master Volume 50W 1X12 Combo for the past 18 years, and it sounds great at what it does best but a clean sound isn’t it. Before buying the amp, I heard a lot of people complaining about the drive channel, and I can understand them to a point. I think it sounds great at low gain, for a smooth Blues or Classic Rock sound, but at higher gain or with the More Drive switch on, it becomes a bit thin sounding and grainy. But from the beginning, I was planning on buying a bunch of effect pedals, so I’ll use the drive channel for what it can do well and that’s it.
Now for the “upgraded” Speaker… I have a hard time believing that the previous (Eminence Fender Designed?) speaker was any worst than the Celestion G12P-80 (Chinese made Seventy 80?) Speaker that is in this amp. After breaking in the speaker a bit, I start to notice that this speaker sounds like my old Celestion G12T-75 speaker that originally came in my Marshall JCM 900 MKIII did but does a worst job of it. The bass is tight but at higher gain and at higher volume it starts to fart. The mids are scooped making it sound thin. The highs have a bit of that shimmering Fender sound on the clean Channel but on the drive channel they sound harsh. For fun I plug in my 2X12 Cab loaded with two Eminence Private Jack speakers (Eminence’s 50W version of Celestion Greenback) and compare the different speakers. Well the Private Jack isn’t the perfect speaker for that “Fender Sound” but it’s a lot better than the G12P-80. The bass is rounder, the mids are pronounced but always sweet and the highs are smooth. I loose the shimmering highs on the clean channel but now have a very versatile smoother and rounder sound. And the drive channel is a lot better, as rhythms jump out of the amp and leads sing without ever being harsh. I them combined the amps speaker with the cab, and they really don’t mix well. The cab only shows the weakness of the Celestion G12P-80 more prominently. So I remove the Celestion G12P-80 and replace it with the Private Jack speaker that is currently in my Marshall 1X12 Combo and leave the 2X12 Cab plugged in my new Fender amp. Now the 3 Private Jack speakers make my new Fender amp sound huge and a lot better than before.
For now I’ve put the Celestion G12P-80 in my empty Marshall, calming some of its prominent mids. It sounds better in my Marshall than it did in my Fender, but I’ve lost that classic Marshall sound that I had with the Private Jack and now have a more Hard Rock/Metal mid scooped sound that I outgrew a while back...
