Hot Rod Deluxe III Disappointment

G

greatbob6

New member
From reading about the updates to the Hot Rod Deluxe I was thinking that it sounded like a pretty sweet amp, at least on paper. I played the previous version of the Hot Rod Deluxe for the first time about a month or so ago and was pretty impressed, and I was pretty excited about checking out the updated version. Today I got a chance to swing by GC and they had the new amps out and ready to go so I sat down and checked it out.

I must say, I'm am somewhat disappointed in the III version. The clean channel was pretty amazing (although nothing to the DRRI I also played) but the drive channel I thought was awful. The clean channel was warm and full but also clear and beautiful...and then I switched to the drive channel and it lost all of its warmth and bottom end. It just sounded thin and weak...I was highly disappointed. I tweaked around with the settings for a while and then just gave up and switched back to the clean channel. Supposedly they had made the volume pot less sensitive but that wasn't my experience...maybe they only updated the master volume?

Anyway, just thought I'd share my experience. I'd love to hear if any of you had similar experiences with it. It probably doesn't help that I played the DRRI before playing this too...man I have bad GAS now.
 
Re: Hot Rod Deluxe III Disappointment

The drive channels have never been great on HRDx mainly known for good cleans at not too expensive prices.
 
Re: Hot Rod Deluxe III Disappointment

the drive channel master volume got the change. It's DEFINITELY less touchy. the difference from 2-3 is like... a normal amp now. Before it was like going from 2 to 7 or something.
I think they tightened the drive channel for a VERY good reason. That warmth you mentioned can (and often does) turn into a big flubby mess if you crank the master to like 5 or 6 on those older HRDx, that's what I always noticed. A lot of other people said the same thing to fender, or so it seems. Some of it was definitely the speaker they used to use and now they've changed that too. Well, I'm sure fender realizes that probably 1/3 of all HRDx users would swap out the stock speaker no matter what was in there.

I don't mind that the clean channel isn't quite as good as a DRRI... it's kinda supposed to be different and if it did sound as good, they'd cut into the sales of their own better amps too much I guess. The HRDx clean is brighter and snappier, and the well overdriven sound remains really punchy for longer than the DRRI. Some people might really like the add'l headroom.

Personally, I like the HRDx III a good bit more than the previous version. To each his own, i suppose.

If you like the DRRI a lot, look at the egnater tweaker. It's not dead-on by any means, but the USA voicing on that amp is pretty dang close EQ-wise to the fender blackface tone. The DRRI just has that "shimmer" somehow, and more natural, warm gravy-like feel.
 
Re: Hot Rod Deluxe III Disappointment

My solution to the "flubby" low end on a mkII Fender Hot Rod Series valve combo was (and remains) ten inch loudspeakers.

IMO, altering the resistance taper on the channel gain and volume pots is a change for the better. Ramping up the "tizz" factor to appeal to shredders is a change for the worse.
 
Re: Hot Rod Deluxe III Disappointment

greatbob6 said:
From reading about the updates to the Hot Rod Deluxe I was thinking that it sounded like a pretty sweet amp, at least on paper. I played the previous version of the Hot Rod Deluxe for the first time about a month or so ago and was pretty impressed, and I was pretty excited about checking out the updated version. Today I got a chance to swing by GC and they had the new amps out and ready to go so I sat down and checked it out.

I must say, I'm am somewhat disappointed in the III version. The clean channel was pretty amazing (although nothing to the DRRI I also played) but the drive channel I thought was awful. The clean channel was warm and full but also clear and beautiful...and then I switched to the drive channel and it lost all of its warmth and bottom end. It just sounded thin and weak...I was highly disappointed. I tweaked around with the settings for a while and then just gave up and switched back to the clean channel. Supposedly they had made the volume pot less sensitive but that wasn't my experience...maybe they only updated the master volume?

Anyway, just thought I'd share my experience. I'd love to hear if any of you had similar experiences with it. It probably doesn't help that I played the DRRI before playing this too...man I have bad GAS now.
Click to expand...

HRD:
-Still has the tube sockets mounted directly to the PCB
-Still has the same crappy screen grid resistors that blow up

You're still going to run into reliability issues because they didn't correct some of the most tragic design flaws with those amps. I will say however, that a retube with JJ's really helps the drive channel.

The DRRI is the real deal.
 
Re: Hot Rod Deluxe III Disappointment

or all those piles of actual vintage Fenders that can be had for cheap

it's like you got people spending thousands on new junk, and people spending thousands on nice handwired new stuff, then you got the rest of us buying the old cool stuff and spending money on beer and women
 
Re: Hot Rod Deluxe III Disappointment

I don't know... I didn't understand the point in releasing a new Pro Junior. Basically it's the same exact amp wth a new handle and easier to read control panel. :doh:


OLD PRO JUNIOR
3192451443_7cd5599242.jpg


NEW PRO JUNIOR
2230300000v2_xl-ee1eea1c378cdc4d8249a8fe098941a5.jpg




AND I actually like the mirror one better!
 
Re: Hot Rod Deluxe III Disappointment

Since I was at a GC I didn't really crank the amp...maybe the drive channel would be better if it was cranked. I did really like the clean channel...it was very nice and clear, which I like because I find the cleans on my HT-5 to be somewhat dull, for lack of a better word. I was just a bit shocked I think because you have this very nice full clean sound and then switch to the drive channel and it loses all of its warmth. Unfortunately, I think 40 watts is too much for me...the vast majority of the time I'm just playing at home.

I got a chance to play a DRRI at another local store today and again enjoyed it quite a bit. It had a Princeton Reverb next to it and so I plugged into that one as well...that might be a very good option for me because it seemed to have a lot of the mojo of the bigger amps but less volume, or at least more controllable volume. They also had a Super Sonic 22 watt, which again I thought the clean was quite nice but I wasn't super impressed with the drive channel. I liked the drive channel better on that than the Hot Rod Deluxe, but overall I think both of them would be better to just use dirt pedals on the clean channel.
 
Re: Hot Rod Deluxe III Disappointment

Andrew Lamprecht said:
I don't know... I didn't understand the point in releasing a new Pro Junior. Basically it's the same exact amp wth a new handle and easier to read control panel. :doh:


AND I actually like the mirror one better!
Click to expand...

The black will be much easier to read on a stage with all kinds of colored lights flashing on and off.
 
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