I am leaning towards a Fender Hotrod Deluxe

[Left_Hand_Strat]

I used one at practice last night.

it was a spur of the moment idea from the weekend so we booked it and ended up using the room my old band used to use, low and behold i used my favourite amp!

Don't know which version it is although i suspect it is a Hotrod Deluxe II. but anyways...

it works well with pedals, which is something i noticed. my HT-5 is good but i seem to think it don't gel with pedals.

the fender clean channels are great and i like the gain channels too, not to much but just enough. only issue is it comes in a 40W format! might be a tad too loud at home, but does it matter?

so i might sell up the HT-5 and get a hotrod deluxe.

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: I am leaning towards a Fender Hotrod Deluxe

40 watts through a single 12 inch is nothing

actually I might be in the minority but I practice with my 40w bassman through the 4x12. When I had the Deville I practiced with that.... 40w through a 4x10.

I like practicing with big amps at home. Even though they can only get to about 1.5 at practice volumes they still sound good.

 

[Jay 77]

Re: I am leaning towards a Fender Hotrod Deluxe

If you're gigging, the Hot Rod can be a workhorse. If you're just noodling around the house, then it may be overkill. All up to you, I guess. Go with the sound you like.

 

[Kam]

Re: I am leaning towards a Fender Hotrod Deluxe

Cool amps. I could be wrong here, but I believe the III model is when they finally fixed the taper of the volume knob so that it's possible to get sounds between barely audible and 'Wow, is that my brain smeared on the wall behind me?' If you're buying new, I'd go for one of those.

 

[Left_Hand_Strat]

Re: I am leaning towards a Fender Hotrod Deluxe

Cool amps. I could be wrong here, but I believe the III model is when they finally fixed the taper of the volume knob so that it's possible to get sounds between barely audible and 'Wow, is that my brain smeared on the wall behind me?' If you're buying new, I'd go for one of those.

Yeah I found the video by Rob Chappers and the Anderton's crew on YT and they said the same thing in their review. they also mentioned the gain pot on the earlier versions being crappy due to the fact it went from no gain to PHWOARRRR YA B****RD! between 1 and 3, or something, LOL

 

[Reckless Abandon]

I like mine. Pedals work great with it. I also plug my pod into the power amp of it. Some of the better tones I've gotten. On its own I like the clean and using a slight crunch on the Od channel.

 

[jcthejester13]

Re: I am leaning towards a Fender Hotrod Deluxe

I had the 410 Deville (which I believe is the same as the Hot Rod III) for quite a while. It was a cool amp and I really liked the tone of all 3 channels. It has that great Fender reverb when you need it, and gritty blues gain on the drive channels. The only criticism I would have for the Hotrod series is that they don't handle octaves or fuzz as well as other amps might. The Hotrods are voiced more on the bluesy side and not so much built for heavier stuff. If blues or garage rock is what you are playing then it is a GREAT amp for that, but for heavier stuff it can start to pump out ugly farty sounds from the speakers.

Just my experience with the line. I have considered buying another one for a while, but I don't see it happening any time soon.

 

[Left_Hand_Strat]

Re: I am leaning towards a Fender Hotrod Deluxe

I had the 410 Deville (which I believe is the same as the Hot Rod III) for quite a while. It was a cool amp and I really liked the tone of all 3 channels. It has that great Fender reverb when you need it, and gritty blues gain on the drive channels. The only criticism I would have for the Hotrod series is that they don't handle octaves or fuzz as well as other amps might. The Hotrods are voiced more on the bluesy side and not so much built for heavier stuff. If blues or garage rock is what you are playing then it is a GREAT amp for that, but for heavier stuff it can start to pump out ugly farty sounds from the speakers.

Just my experience with the line. I have considered buying another one for a while, but I don't see it happening any time soon.

At the practice rooms I'm constantly playing Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, AC/DC, a bit of Hendrix and some sabbath and the results are quite pleasing, I have to admit!

 

[jcthejester13]

Re: I am leaning towards a Fender Hotrod Deluxe

At the practice rooms I'm constantly playing Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, AC/DC, a bit of Hendrix and some sabbath and the results are quite pleasing, I have to admit!

I used to push a lot of sub-octaves and fuzz through the 410 and it didn't quite have the bass response to keep the sound crisp. I have heard the 212 version handles those sounds better. But for straight-up rock and roll the Hotrods are a sweet little beast. I loved the crunch of the drive channel!

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: I am leaning towards a Fender Hotrod Deluxe

I loved my deville for blues, classic rock... just not the music I play... I got rid of it because there were no lows... I don't think it was the 10s either... because I drove it through an Avatar 2x12 and it just sounded way bigger. I think its just the circuit design....

Now that I have my Bassman stack set up... I can play this happily.

 

[Agileguy_101]

Re: I am leaning towards a Fender Hotrod Deluxe

I totally feel you on that Andrew. The bassman is pretty much perfect for that kind of music. Now tell me - when you're playing stuff like that, with that much gain, do you tend to crank your amp, or set it to just breaking up and unleash the sonic mayhem via pedals?

 

[jcthejester13]

Re: I am leaning towards a Fender Hotrod Deluxe

I totally feel you on that Andrew. The bassman is pretty much perfect for that kind of music. Now tell me - when you're playing stuff like that, with that much gain, do you tend to crank your amp, or set it to just breaking up and unleash the sonic mayhem via pedals?

I use both for my wall of sound type stuff. EHX is quite the little helper though.

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: I am leaning towards a Fender Hotrod Deluxe

I totally feel you on that Andrew. The bassman is pretty much perfect for that kind of music. Now tell me - when you're playing stuff like that, with that much gain, do you tend to crank your amp, or set it to just breaking up and unleash the sonic mayhem via pedals?

Usually when I am at home I keep the volume really low and use the crunchbox. Sometimes I set the Bassman at around 4 and use the the crunchbox to murder or the Bad Monkey to push it a bit but it's mostly the crunchbox now.

I cranked the Bassman today and it sounds good but most of the time I want more gain than this thing has on tap so I'll use the SHO or Bad Monkey to pump it up a little bit.

I have to admit though.... I sold my old treble booster to help buy this amp.... now I wonder what it would sound like through it..... :scratchch

 

[USAPatriot]

Re: I am leaning towards a Fender Hotrod Deluxe

In the early 80's I went through a whole string of Fenders, driving Bob at the Music Exchange (Colorado Springs) crazy. (You there, Bob? It's been like 25 years!) I'd keep an amp for a week or 10 days, haul it back and try another. Twin, Deville, Hot Rod and probably at least one or two others...for some reason me and Fenders never meshed though I did keep a Pro Jr for a very long time for backyard play. The HRD's are good but I'd rather have the Blackstar -Rod-

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: I am leaning towards a Fender Hotrod Deluxe

bang for buck Hotrods cant be beat.

 

[UberMetalDood]

Re: I am leaning towards a Fender Hotrod Deluxe

I saw the thread title and thought "that's a good way to lean." The HRD is awesome and you can get some brutal sounds with it and a little bit of help from a pedal. Another amp you can check out is the Deluxe VM which has a great sounding overdrive and clean channel that stays cleaner than the HRD. It doesn't have spring reverb, but it comes with a pretty good digital reverb and delay. It's also 40 watts, has an FX loop, etc...

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: I am leaning towards a Fender Hotrod Deluxe

I think it might be a bit much for home practice if the neighbors are an issue for you. You won't be able to really get a great sound out of it if you are keeping it on 1 or 2 to avoid pissing off the neighbors.

 

[stevie_bees]

Re: I am leaning towards a Fender Hotrod Deluxe

I'd be tempted to get the HRD and try and get yourself a little low wattage/desktop modeller for home practicing.

I only have my JTM45, so I use a V-Amp-2 for home practicing. Sure, the modelling is digital and the tones aren't spot on, but I'm the only one hearing it. It still allows me to get my rock on without receiving an ASBO!!

I figure that it's important to have my tone right for rehearsals and gigs, and happily compromise for a home practice setup.

 

[Left_Hand_Strat]

Re: I am leaning towards a Fender Hotrod Deluxe

I think it might be a bit much for home practice if the neighbors are an issue for you. You won't be able to really get a great sound out of it if you are keeping it on 1 or 2 to avoid pissing off the neighbors.

on one side of the house we have a rented house so people are always in and out and they are normally the scummiest tards on the planet (cause the landlord just wants money and we fell out with him after he verbally abused my mother when she was on her own in her car...)

on the other side we have an 80 year old mental bats*** german lady who fell out with us over chimney repairs cause apparently all the chimney is our responsibility but the deeds say its shared... that another issue... but anyway shes as deaf as a brick so i can whack the volume up as long as its reasonable, we aint pissed anyone off yet, so we're cool

 

[Scott_F]

Re: I am leaning towards a Fender Hotrod Deluxe

Good cleans, loud as frak. I had not heard the III had a decent volume taper. That was the absolute weak link that amp. I'm a sucker for Fender amp tones however.