No love for Fender's Hot Rod series?

[Tor]

I tried searching for topics on the Hot Rod series, the DeVille in particular, but found very little. How come?

I just purchased a Fender Blues Jr. for use in the band I play in for a choir. I need it for gospel, jazzish, funky and clean music, but there's some hard rockerish songs too, so I am thinking a BB Preamp will cover that part. That pedal looks wonderful in every aspect.

Anyways, I found the Blues Jr. definitely didn't have the clean headroom necessary for the job. Micing it up is not an option, due to how we do rehearsals. Drums, bass and keyboard will bleed too much. But I stumbled upon a great deal on a used Hot Rod DeVille that will equate the cost of the Blues Jr. (just for the giggle of it, US folks, the DeVille costs nearly 1800$ here. Consider yourself fortunate ).

Anyone with experience on the DeVille? What can you tell me? Thanks.

 

[JohnnyGuitar]

Re: No love for Fender's Hot Rod series?

I took my Peavey to an amp technician this week. The guy works with pro artists here and he knows his way around amp (he's not Scott F, but he's good).
I've asked him what would be the best all tube gig amp that I could buy if I'll save some money. He said that the Hot Rod Deluxe is best value for money and anything else is just perks - you don't really need it. The guy is a vintage Marshall fan and he owns a couple of 40 year old Marshalls and he claims that Fenders are the best amps are imported here today. Asked him about Rivera and Laney, etc... he said - "well, if you have some money to throw around, sure..."

I guess that most guys here could argue with that... in more then a few ways I don't agree, but the guy repaired, built, owned and used more amps then most of us so it's a pretty good recommendation coming from a pretty good source.

Cheers.

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: No love for Fender's Hot Rod series?

We have a blonde 4x10 at work, the only issue I have with it, is that it is hard on the ears in the long run....but nice tones!
Very useable amp, not horrible or annoying!
Takes most dirtpedals well!

 

[kmcguitars]

Re: No love for Fender's Hot Rod series?

If you go over to The Fender Forum. Those cork sniffing snobs have much distant for the Hot Rod series? They also think the DRRI is the next best thing since sliced bread? But here at the SDUGF I think the general consciences is the Hot Rod series are pretty decent amps (As far as price point amps go) I've had my HRD for close to 3 years now. Get the stock Sovtek 5881's out,And retube with some good tubes (properly Biased) And you will notice a vast improvement in sound. Another selling point for me is the Hot Rod series have a bias point on the PCB. Anyone with a DMM, Alligator clips and enough common sense not to electrocute them selfs can bias these amps. The only thing I hate about theses amps is the flimsy PCB construction method makes repairs a PITA. Also , On some older models, the 2 470 ohm 5W wirewound resistors R78,R79. are prone to over heat and burn the trace pads Fender now uses 330 Ohm resistors And it seems to work/Run cooler.

 

[barbarianbrute]

Re: No love for Fender's Hot Rod series?

i had a deville and liked it very much. i'm suprised by the comments i've found about its overdrive. i thought hte overdrive was very good and the cleans, of course, were great. i think the negative reviews about hte overdrive came mostly from people who expected this amp to do something it couldn't do - like numetal.

the overdrive can get heavy enough though for rock, so i don't know why anyone would complain about it. great amp, great price, and all tube baby. fender does manufacture the amps in mexico now, so i don't know if they decided to start using crappy components and stuff, but i had no issues at all.

i also had the supersonic for a short time and it was great.

 

[B Bent]

Re: No love for Fender's Hot Rod series?

None here! I just personally have an ear for old handwired Fenders.

 

[kmcguitars]

Re: No love for Fender's Hot Rod series?

Fender does manufacture the amps in mexico now, so i don't know if they decided to start using crappy components and stuff, but i had no issues at all.

They have always used marginal components in their price point amps. Most of the Production workers at the Corona, CA factory are Mexican. The only difference now is... They are made south of the Rio Grande by the cousin's of the Corona factory who couldn't get green cards.:cool2:

 

[barbarianbrute]

Re: No love for Fender's Hot Rod series?

They have always used marginal components in their price point amps. Most of the Production workers at the Corona, CA factory are Mexican. The only difference now is... They are made south of the Rio Grande by the cousin's of the Corona factory who couldn't get green cards.:cool2:

do you think that affected teh quality or is it about hte same?

 

[thucydides]

Re: No love for Fender's Hot Rod series?

I had a Blues Deluxe a several yrs back; it is the preceding two channel model of the Hot Rod. It was a great value, great cleans. The OD channel was OK if used as a slight boost, but it took OD pedals well, so no big deal.

Not sure if they really needed a 'more drive' thing. I've never really cared for built in distortions on most Fenders. Your favorite pedal will do a better job.

The clean is very nice. Go for it.

I should add that the new ones that I have heard also sound fine.

 

[thucydides]

Re: No love for Fender's Hot Rod series?

They have always used marginal components in their price point amps. Most of the Production workers at the Corona, CA factory are Mexican. The only difference now is... They are made south of the Rio Grande by the cousin's of the Corona factory who couldn't get green cards.:cool2:

:wrf:???

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: No love for Fender's Hot Rod series?

I had a Hot Rod Deluxe and have played a gig with a 4x10 Hot Rod DeVille. Both are great amps, especially the 4x10.

I eventually traded the Deluxe for a Mesa DC-3. I wanted a more convincing high gain tone.

The HR series sound excellent for anything from bubbly Fender clean to medium gain crunch. I think a lot of the negativity surrounding these amps stems from the fact that a lot of people compare them to three channel high gain amps, which is not what they are. If you set the channels to clean, a bit dirty, and a bit dirtier, you will be happy. As soon as you turn the gain up too high you will be disappointed.

Bottom line: if you're not interested in high gain, they're great amps. The 4x10 DeVille has plenty of clean headroom and enough volume for any rehearsal and most live shows. Plus, everyone knows that 4x10 amps are the bestest ever

 

[Kac]

Re: No love for Fender's Hot Rod series?

I owned the hot rod deville and liked it, and now own the Blues Jr. and like it even more.

not a bad series of inexpensive tube amps.

 

[Bludave]

Re: No love for Fender's Hot Rod series?

I tried searching for topics on the Hot Rod series, the DeVille in particular, but found very little. How come?

I just purchased a Fender Blues Jr. for use in the band I play in for a choir. I need it for gospel, jazzish, funky and clean music, but there's some hard rockerish songs too, so I am thinking a BB Preamp will cover that part. That pedal looks wonderful in every aspect.

Anyways, I found the Blues Jr. definitely didn't have the clean headroom necessary for the job. Micing it up is not an option, due to how we do rehearsals. Drums, bass and keyboard will bleed too much. But I stumbled upon a great deal on a used Hot Rod DeVille that will equate the cost of the Blues Jr. (just for the giggle of it, US folks, the DeVille costs nearly 1800$ here. Consider yourself fortunate ).

Anyone with experience on the DeVille? What can you tell me? Thanks.

Aren't Koch amps made in your part of the world? For that kind of $ you should be able to get a Koch and those are a whole lot better than the Hot rod series.

http://www.koch-amps.com/

 

[Tor]

Re: No love for Fender's Hot Rod series?

Thanks all for your input, appreciate it.

Aren't Koch amps made in your part of the world? For that kind of $ you should be able to get a Koch and those are a whole lot better than the Hot rod series.

http://www.koch-amps.com/

From Holland? Hm, they do look like very sweet amps.. I should have clarified the money-part a bit better; the Deville costs that much new in store, but the one I have in mind is a used one for half the price..
But thanks a lot for a great heads up for that brand, I have just heard the name occasionally, but they do look very good..

 

[BigAlTheBird]

Re: No love for Fender's Hot Rod series?

None here! I just personally have an ear for old handwired Fenders.

Yep. I'm a handwired man myself. PCB has no place with me.

 

[Saggy]

Re: No love for Fender's Hot Rod series?

I used to own a HRD (bought it in the Trading Post!) and it was a nice smooth tubey amp but the gain was seriously lacking for tight rhythm and leads you'd want out of a Jackson or EMGs if you get my drift.. Nice reverb, though. The Deville sounds a bit tinny for my tastes..

 

[Tor]

Re: No love for Fender's Hot Rod series?

I don't care for the overdrive channel, I wouldn't mind if it was a 100% clean amp.. This will be an amp for rehearsals, so I believe a pedal could be good enough for that use.. I use my own amp for concerts..

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: No love for Fender's Hot Rod series?

I've owned a Blues Junior and a HotRod Deluxe.

The Blues Junior is a great amp once modded. It has a certain tone to it that I love. I've played a slew of gigs with mine and always gotten a great sound. I've owned a few of them as a matter of fact. Great amps that will always have a home with me.

I owned a HotRod Deluxe and unloaded it after about a year. It has headroom and some dirt to it, but neither sounds were ever really all that desirable to me. I gigged it a few times and always felt like I had to apologize for the sounds it got.

 

[WhoFan]

Re: No love for Fender's Hot Rod series?

for loud clean sounds the HR Deville and the HR Deluxe amps are great for the bucks!!! i've seen them on stage with a few pro musicians.... the clean sound on a stock HR Deluxe blows my real 65 Deluxe away for clean tone.... sad but true....

i've never been a big fan of the HR distortion sounds.... maybe it's because i only hear them at low volumes... but i would use these amps to push pedals thru it anyways... I may end up with a Fender HR amp myself oneday... we'll see...

 

[Ayrton]

Re: No love for Fender's Hot Rod series?

The clean channel is one of the best, but the distortion channel could be much better. I seriously considered having mine modded, but after blowing my cash on two Marshall heads, the HRDX got sold.