So, as my normal amp is presently out of commission, the other guitarist in my band let me borrow his Fender Hot-Rod Deluxe. I was actually surprised how well I liked it, and figured I'd share my thoughts and impressions with y'all.
Not sure if it's a three channel design or a two channel with a built in boost, but either way, it works, and can get clean light breakup sounds and a heavier rock distortion. The cleans are well...it's a Fender, does anything more need to be said? I know Fenders are reknown for their clean tones, and why was refreshed for me. I thought I was getting a nice clean out of my Mesa. I will not hesitate to say that the Fender is noticably better. Big and deep without getting muddy or unclear, and sparkly clear bright highs. I'm going to have to spend some more time with my Mesa's clean channel when I get it back from the shop.
However, with only 40W out of a pair of 6L6GCs into a single 12" speaker...headroom? What headroom? From 0 to 2 on the volume control the loudness ramps up very quickly. After 2, the power tubes start to break up. I can't help but wonder if the volume pot is a linear pot instead of a logarithmic taper pot like a volume should be. Either way, I didn't spend much time with power tube distortion as the amp had to get loud to do so. But it is undeniably a cool sound. I was thinking to myself. "Ooh, that could make for some *really* cool edge-of-breakup overdrive sounds. But that's not what I was looking for. My other major gripe is the shared EQ between the channels/modes. IMO, that sorta thing makes it difficult to dial in the ideal clean, drive and boosted drive all at the same time and forces a compromise. Maybe I'll get better at compromising while my Mesa's in the shop, but I miss independent EQ on each channel already.
The Drive channel can actually do some decent distortion sounds, but it doesn't get heavy enough for my tastes. Nor does it get quite tight enough. The low end sounded and felt...chewy for lack of a better word. An overdrive pedal as a boost does help to tighten things up, but its still not quite the sound I'm looking for in a heavy distortion for chuggy rhythm or for lead work. I suspect the lack of tightness in the low end was because the power tubes were just barely starting to break up. If the Deluxe had maybe a little more headroom, it could get a little heavier and stay a little tighter. All in all, not a bad sound, just not my sound. And yet, despite all that, I still sounded exactly like me. There's a lesson in there somewhere...
Either way, I figure I can turn this to my benefit. If I can tighten up my playing so I can sound heavy with not enough gain while my Mesa's in the shop, I should be able to get some better sounds out of the Mesa once it's repaired.
Not sure if it's a three channel design or a two channel with a built in boost, but either way, it works, and can get clean light breakup sounds and a heavier rock distortion. The cleans are well...it's a Fender, does anything more need to be said? I know Fenders are reknown for their clean tones, and why was refreshed for me. I thought I was getting a nice clean out of my Mesa. I will not hesitate to say that the Fender is noticably better. Big and deep without getting muddy or unclear, and sparkly clear bright highs. I'm going to have to spend some more time with my Mesa's clean channel when I get it back from the shop.
However, with only 40W out of a pair of 6L6GCs into a single 12" speaker...headroom? What headroom? From 0 to 2 on the volume control the loudness ramps up very quickly. After 2, the power tubes start to break up. I can't help but wonder if the volume pot is a linear pot instead of a logarithmic taper pot like a volume should be. Either way, I didn't spend much time with power tube distortion as the amp had to get loud to do so. But it is undeniably a cool sound. I was thinking to myself. "Ooh, that could make for some *really* cool edge-of-breakup overdrive sounds. But that's not what I was looking for. My other major gripe is the shared EQ between the channels/modes. IMO, that sorta thing makes it difficult to dial in the ideal clean, drive and boosted drive all at the same time and forces a compromise. Maybe I'll get better at compromising while my Mesa's in the shop, but I miss independent EQ on each channel already.
The Drive channel can actually do some decent distortion sounds, but it doesn't get heavy enough for my tastes. Nor does it get quite tight enough. The low end sounded and felt...chewy for lack of a better word. An overdrive pedal as a boost does help to tighten things up, but its still not quite the sound I'm looking for in a heavy distortion for chuggy rhythm or for lead work. I suspect the lack of tightness in the low end was because the power tubes were just barely starting to break up. If the Deluxe had maybe a little more headroom, it could get a little heavier and stay a little tighter. All in all, not a bad sound, just not my sound. And yet, despite all that, I still sounded exactly like me. There's a lesson in there somewhere...
Either way, I figure I can turn this to my benefit. If I can tighten up my playing so I can sound heavy with not enough gain while my Mesa's in the shop, I should be able to get some better sounds out of the Mesa once it's repaired.
)
