NAD Older Hot Rod Deluxe / tube change

SongsForTheDeaf

New member
I recently got a silver panel MIM Hot Rod deluxe for 350 used.... thing is a BEAST and roars and it still has the original tubes in it. It is crazy loud but does breakup with p-90s at medium to loud volumes a bit but not as much as my EL84 Traynor YGL2 which would be full out distortion at the same volume. With my downtuned tele it sings even more like it was made for this guitar. I use a Catalinbread SFT with a wren and cuff tall font Russian to get some roaring saggy tones and switch to a Hardwire sc-2 to get cutting high gain crunch that just rips with this amp... I think this amp has finally got me off of EL84 amps , I love how this inexpensive Deluxe sounds. One of the best distortion sounds I have ever heard was my brothers older silver panel Deville 4x10 cranked with his Ibanez tube king and this deluxe is like a 1 speaker version of that so it has a bit more loose bottom end but suits my style perfectly. Overall a very nice find for such a low price.


I was looking for spare tubes for it and was curious does it need to be biased if I get the same type tube set off the tube store website ? I'm used to cathode biased amps and a fixed bias Mesa LSS 4x10 so excuse my lack of knowledge. Can I get away with replacing the tubes and not biasing it ? Just want to know for the future

thanks for the time

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Re: NAD Older Hot Rod Deluxe / tube change

I replaced mine without rebiasing. You should be fine. Glad you like it, I hate mine personally lol.
 
Re: NAD Older Hot Rod Deluxe / tube change

oh ok wicked!

Yeah It depends what sound you are after, I found with these amps people either hate them or love them. I also found the older models are wayyyy better sounding then the new III series, the overdrive channel on the new and old ones are ****e though to be honest but the clean and reverb are perfect for me! then again I prefer big thick loud clean combos so this amp fits my style perfectly
 
Re: NAD Older Hot Rod Deluxe / tube change

Plenty of helpful information here. http://www.justinholton.com/hotrod/ The single best piece of advice is the safety warning on every page. Please follow it.

Forum member trevorus is experienced and knowledgable on the subject of Fender HR series valve amplifiers. Some others THINK that they are.
 
Re: NAD Older Hot Rod Deluxe / tube change

Hmm guess I should have done some homework. Granted I replaced them when I was like 19. I didn't care too much then. I know better now.
 
Re: NAD Older Hot Rod Deluxe / tube change

Frig that website said the blue labeled tubes are for earlier breakup.... That's what I don't want and that is what this Deluxe has !

Oh well a tube change will make it cleaner and a bias, I decided to take it in to be biased just because I'm really not a handy person and I would most likely mess something up !
 
Re: NAD Older Hot Rod Deluxe / tube change

Older Fender/Groove Tube labelled valves used a red, white, blue grading system. More recent ones have a numbering system.

In April, I revalved a HR Deluxe and a HR Deville 410. The former got the regular Sovtek 5881WXT (F/GT #4). I treated the latter to the 6L6-GC-S type.
 
Re: NAD Older Hot Rod Deluxe / tube change

whats a better tube in terms of lasting power and headroom....Winged C (SED) 6L6GC power tubes or TAD 6L6WGC-STR tubes ?

I have some spare JJ 12ax7s in my room so I don't need to order new preamp tubes

Great reviews of the winged C 6L6GC power tubes on the tube store so I'm leaning towards these
 
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