Fender Hot Rod Deville - too bright

Re: Fender Hot Rod Deville - too bright

Don't overthink it. You know the amp is the issue. You have a ToneZone there for God's sake, it doesn't get much darker than that.

Sell the stock speakers, try and scrub some pennies and buy some nice speakers like the Swamp Thangs, Cannabis Rex or the (insanely loud) Wizards.

You'll thank us. :D
 
Re: Fender Hot Rod Deville - too bright

I'm using a home made tube screamer, a metal muff for solo tones, and that's about it. The tube screamer is pretty warm. The MM i'm using as a solo tone, but its not very bright either. I'm going to try to locate those speakers or just buy a new set. Really liked that swamp thang tho :)
 
Re: Fender Hot Rod Deville - too bright

It's a 2x12 and I already have the two eminence

Which two eminences?
The fender eminence special designs suck. Flabby bass and unpleasant piercing top end.
There are so many models in the eminence line because they all sound different.
Its not just about brand, its about the model.
So...which ones do you have installed? Ill bet 100 bucks they are not the texas heats.
 
Re: Fender Hot Rod Deville - too bright

I think I mentioned earlier in the thread, but I own a swamp thang and wizard that are in an amp back at my house. I'll try to take them but my dad has kind of claimed ownership of them because it's in his amp. If I can get them back to school I'll install them post haste, and if I can't bring them back I'll buy a set of cannabis rexes or a mix with one of those and a swamp thang. I'll also get that EQ pedal running and try to sort out the shrillness and muddiness from rolling the treble back all the way on the amp.

If anyone has any other suggestions I'm still open to them!
 
Re: Fender Hot Rod Deville - too bright

OP...do you live near me.?
I have an Eminence GB12 you can try.....very nice speaker in that amp.
If I HAD to pick an Eminence for that amp (or any BF/SF Fender) it would be the Texas Heat. It is all personal of course, but as described above, the stock 125 is mediocre to most ears.
good luck
 
Re: Fender Hot Rod Deville - too bright

EQ in the loop will help a lot.
I like to open up the amp controls a lot, and set the EQ pedal to cut as hard as necessary until it sounds right.

As long as my amp has an FX loop, I'll always have one or two EQ pedals there.
 
Re: Fender Hot Rod Deville - too bright

you definitely do not want a wizard in there. It is loud and present and cutting as hell. Great speaker, but the opposite to what you are looking for. Its kinda like a cross between a g12H and a v30.
Swamp thing will add bottom, but it is also very loud and efficient with a very modern scooped and powerful kind of tone. It is more along the lines of mesa black shadows.
What you need is something less efficient, and smoother on the tops than either of those speakers.
Cannabis rex is good. Fat bottoms and smooth highs. Loud. Great for lower wattage (around 20 watt) amps.
Texas heat is even better for the more powerful deville. Thick mids and enough headroom that they wont break a sweat in the low end. Not as loud as cannabis rexes, so you can crank your amp a little more and run its tubes a bit hotter without it being too loud (ie needing the earplugs).
Both the cannabis and texas speakers will allow you to have the treble up a bit but without getting the icepick frequency.
 
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Re: Fender Hot Rod Deville - too bright

Which might sound better for a very broad stylistic range and a very bright amp. Cannibis Rex + swamp thang or Texas heat + swamp thang? I play a lot of grateful dead and phish, and treys smooth ass lead tone is near ideal for me
 
Re: Fender Hot Rod Deville - too bright

texas heat and private jack is a winning combo. Especially for recording. Put a mic on each and pan them left and right. Great sound. Similar volume levels, but the private jak has that sweeter, woodier tone that is reminiscent of greenbacks. The texas heats add the muscle and thicker low end. Nice combo.
Sounds like this....(private jack in the left, texas heat on in the right) Pans are at 10 and 2 o clock.

very versatile setup because if you want a pure american tone, just mic the texas. If you want a more brit rock tone, mic up the private jack, or blend them how you see fit.
Cannabis rex instead of the texas would be ace too. its just a bit louder and a bit more bottom heavy. The swampy is a much more modern hi def kind of speaker (think modern metal), so smooth is not what it does best. Crush is more like it.
If you like that phish sound, a pair of tubescreamers or similar is a good bet too.
 
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Re: Fender Hot Rod Deville - too bright

So I have a swamp thang in that peavey and I really like the clarity it adds. This would be mostly for a live setting so a mix of crunch and clarity (like my wizard + swamp thang) works really well for me. Plus I may be able to bring just that one out so if not have to buy one more which is easier on me
 
Re: Fender Hot Rod Deville - too bright

I can vouch for the C. Rex smoothing out the highs in a nice way in a fender style amp. There are still plenty of highs, but they're just not piercing any more.
 
Re: Fender Hot Rod Deville - too bright

If I can't get the swamp thang back, then a Texas heat/c Rex pairing will be ordered!
 
Re: Fender Hot Rod Deville - too bright

Yeah.....there's an idea.
That C-Rex is an interesting speaker. Hemp Cone, of course, and very "smooth".
I realize assemblers at Eminence are not making 80k Dollars a year, but it warms the heart to see a "manufacturing" oriented business, with their history, that has been able (or just plain CHOSEN) to stay and make a go of it in The USA.
Between the:
Patriot
Legend
Red Coat
series.....they have a speaker for everybody.
good luck with that pairing, I am sure it will be a great improvement :cool:
 
Re: Fender Hot Rod Deville - too bright

So I just did an experiment and it went... oddly... I used just the TS I made and my guitar. I played at pretty low volume: about 2 out of 12. The Eq was set to about noon with a small boost on the mids, dirty channel with no "extra drive", drive set about 4 of 12. This amp was a totally different animal and makes me think it is a speaker issue. The low volume was full, nice with no TS drive, although the bridge was a bit quacky and honky. I used the tone at full to near full on the neck, and between 1 and 6 on the bridge. Overall it was nice, but it was fantastic with the drive on. Rolling the guitar volume back made i clean up very well actually, and using slightly reduced tone settings on the guitar it was able to hit all the different tones I wanted, save for the smoothest soloing tones that I will probably use the metal muff or my fuzz war for that.


This is so weird. The issues present at higher volumes. Woolly mids, muddy lows, piercing highs. I think that some clarity in the speakers, some rolled off highs, etc will go such a long way to fix this. But from the issues I described and how they get worse at volume, could it be the power amp?
 
Re: Fender Hot Rod Deville - too bright

dude. it is common knowledge that the stock speakers suck.
You can even get them to flab out using a 15 watt blues junior.
 
Re: Fender Hot Rod Deville - too bright

I rarely if ever used stock speakers in my life (weird I know). I grew up using a peavey from the 70's, a line 6 practice amp (that amp sucks anyhow), a homemade blues Jr equivilent with weber speakers that rocked, and then upgraded the peavey with eminence. I have almost 0 experience with modern stock speakers lol
 
Re: Fender Hot Rod Deville - too bright

dude. it is common knowledge that the stock speakers suck.
You can even get them to flab out using a 15 watt blues junior.

Yup. My 15 watts Tweaker sounded loose as hell through that speaker, and my Cube 60 could have killed it easily if I wasn't careful.

It did sound good for certain things, like a very vintage voiced clean sound (think of House of the Rising Sun) and I got a decent Ritchie Blackmore live tone out of it sometimes. But not much else.
 
Re: Fender Hot Rod Deville - too bright

So after playing a bit more today I am pretty excited to get new speakers. If I don't get the swamp thang back from my dad, my mom offered to buy one of the two 12"s needed. I may run it as a 1x12 C.rex or add a swamp thang (I just love the clarity they bring to the table) with my own dinero.
 
Re: Fender Hot Rod Deville - too bright

There you go.......If it comes to that, I think you would be very happy with the C-Rex.
Good luck either way.........
 
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