Re: Looking for a good tube amp under $1000 suggestions?
I feel like the Hot Rod Deluxe has good bass response for fender if you have the right speaker and good tubes. It has a lot of snap and punch in my book so if you generally like the amp but just wanna take out the shrill and change the bass reponse, you could probably get away with a HRDx and a good celestion speaker. I feel like celestions with fenders helps tame ice pick and give smooth gain sounds.
Deville is good, but also bright/shrill in the same way as hot rod deluxe can be. It has more headroom so it can be worse cuz the sweet spot where the amp is "breathing" is a bit louder than the HRDx.
Honestly though fenders more expensive amps seem constructed a little better to me, and sound more traditional.
I have a Supersonic 22 and a 68 Custom Princeton currently and have had a 65 Deluxe Reverb reissue in the past...
The Supersonic is really good as a pedal platform and has a gain channel that smokes the hot rod deluxe except that the HRDx is a little louder and tighter bigger bass. But it is a very nice gain channel. It has a solid state rectifier so it has the tighter bass and more punch than some of the tube rectified options.
The 68 Custom Deluxe and DRRI have tube rectifiers and do sag a little. It might feel spongier to you than playing a hot rod deluxe.
The custom princeton I usually use no pedals but I play cleanish or light dirt mostly. But I saw Baroness do a show and the guy was using a Princeton with dirt and fuzz pedals for all the gain, and it was gnarly in a great way and just loud enough for the small club. He could get the amp well cooking. He was downtuned and it handled it, but a lot of his tones are very fuzzy and nasty, totally different from the other guitarist who had a half stack of some marshally flavor. And he didn't lose to the bass guitar either. Maybe the 10" speaker helped keep his sound mid focused and out of the bassist's area.
Also, something used in the Mesa camp might do it. They have ones with fenderish cleans but bolder sounding. But not harsh generally. And Gain channels that are excellent. Someone will chime in.
