Opinions on the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

[big_black]

I just want to see what people think of these. What can it do? What will it not be able to do?

I have a DS-1 I may or may not be using with this amp. I will be playing SGs through it...stock Standard (maybe with a C5 at some point), and an SG with a DD in it. What kind of tone will this give me?

 

[marvar]

Re: Opinions on the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

I don't care for this amp, I've owned two of them, and got rid of both.
THe other guitar player had one for awhile, but he put yellowjackets in it and ran EL84's in it, added a different speaker and it sounded ok.
I just don't care for the way their gain works. All the gain comes on very early.

 

[Stevo]

Re: Opinions on the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

I tried various tubes and speakers with mine. I ended up selling it, mainly because I wanted more of a Marshall tone. I don't really like 1x12 amps for gigs either. This amp is not really bad but it always sounded small to me when I gigged with it.

It's plenty loud, but hard to tweak the volume at lower levels - kind of on/off loud, and touchy.
It's plenty clean - not like a Fender Twin, but pretty nice, with lots of headroom.
The foot-switchable option is convenient. The crunch setting sounds pretty good with single coils, but I did not care for it with humbuckers. The distortion is pretty artificial sounding. The reverb is ok but not great.

 

[big_black]

Re: Opinions on the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

This will be an amp I use at home. I'm not really concerned about gigable volume levels. I also have a 120w amp. I figured the "more gain" channel would be pretty much useless.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Opinions on the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

I don't know what sort of Hot Rod Deluxe these guys were playing, or what they were trying to play on it (it's def. not a metal amp) ... I had one and I liked it a lot. The clean is outstanding - pretty much exactly what you'd expect from a Fender. The gain channel sounds very good with my guitars, and you can get a very cool bluesy or Keith Richards-like crunch on it. I didn't use the "more gain" setting very often, and I recall it not being a very useful tone. Volume is perfect for rehearsing and playing small gigs.

Overall, I found it to be a very cool, simple amp with great low and medium gain tones. I sold it to a friend when I bought my Boogie, and he still plays it.

 

[big_black]

Re: Opinions on the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

Cool, thanks. Anyone else?

 

[big_black]

Re: Opinions on the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

Will a DS-1 work with this setup? It is pretty uninspiring through the solidstate amp I am currently using.

 

[kmcguitars]

Re: Opinions on the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

As of right now I own 4 Amps. 3 of Em' are 1 trick ponies(Very good Tricks tho) And one jack of all trades,But master of none.
1) Champ 12- Great all tube practice amp,And good for home recording.
2) Princeton reverb- Great for Blues Jams and studio recording.
3) Laney Pro Tube 50 (pre AOR) For your Classic British Crunch.
4) Hot Rod Deluxe - Does ALL OF THE ABOVE ! with a volume box in
the FX loop I can jam all night at bedroom levels. Add a TS-9 or other OD
it's a great Blues/Rock amp. Add a DS-1 or BSIAB ll It does the Crunch thing.
I can sit it on top or my Celestion loaded Randall 2x12 Cab and run it at 4 ohms. I don't bother with footswitch channels Fender could have
left that out IMO. The Verb sounds good to me. Not great! but good. I wish
it was tube driv'in Verb, But fender used op-amps Instead? Overall it's not
the amp to end all amps. But for the price, portablity (44Lbs.) and power
(a Loud 40 watts) This amp offer's mega bang for the buck ! It all depends
how you approch it?

 

[casblah]

Re: Opinions on the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

I don't care for this amp, I've owned two of them, and got rid of both.
THe other guitar player had one for awhile, but he put yellowjackets in it and ran EL84's in it, added a different speaker and it sounded ok.
I just don't care for the way their gain works. All the gain comes on very early.

+1. Didn't care for the OD on this amp. But it's certainly has it's good points; and it's on the cheap.

 

[Stevo]

Re: Opinions on the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

This will be an amp I use at home. I'm not really concerned about gigable volume levels. I also have a 120w amp. I figured the "more gain" channel would be pretty much useless.

If you decide to buy one for home use, then you might consider the volume box that KMC mentioned above. It provides a way to stifle the volume, by putting a resistance in the effects loop. Otherwise, the volume is very touchy at low levels. It jumps from quiet to loud in about a quarter turn.

 

[Mephis]

Re: Opinions on the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

I got a peavey classic 50 2x12 with real black tweed covering (Instead of that cheap blonde tolex they put on the HRD) for $500 even. [BRAND NEW, not used]

A HRD is $600, is it not?


This peavey is UNBELIEVEABLY loud, and it can get as quiet as a 5watt practice amp.(Thanks to a working volume knob) Has very big marshall like gain, and far better cleans than almost anything else out, and if you crank the cleans+ turn back the master, you get a great AC/DC tone.

But it has alot of volume to go before the cleans will distort, so it shouldn't be a problem, I love this amp.


Probably the best bang for your buck amp out there.

 

[Boston Joe]

Re: Opinions on the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

I've tried a number of these amps-- I find it rather unresponsive; any guitar I may plug into them sounds choked-- "un" tube for a tube amp... and not very effects friendly.

... But that's to my ears. I prefer an amp that breathes and compresses only if I hit a chord with a good degree of force. I like gain, but not fuzz... punch, not just crunch.

 

[Curly]

Re: Opinions on the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

FWIW, 40 watts a lot of power for just home use

tube amps sound their best when pushed a little ... IMO, you won't get to that point at home without being pretty loud, and using the master volume or pedals to help get there at lower volumes kind of defeats the purpose of a tube amp to begin with

just IMHO, of course

 

[matt99camero]

Re: Opinions on the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

For what it is, a cheap, real Fender Tube amp it's as good as it gets. Great cleans, good reverb, plenty of power for gigs. Personally I don't find it small sounding by itself, when put next to a 2x12 you can tell the difference though. I'm not to hot on the drive channels by itself, thought every once in a while I'll set the drive low and boost it with a TS-9. Mostly I use the clean channel with pedals. Great blues tones with a TS-9 in front. My favorite pedal through the HRDx has to be a Spina modded DS-1, can get some good classic rock tones to AC/DC like tones. I've got JJ 6V6 and ECC83S tubes in mine which brings it down to about 30 watts but it's still LOUD. I've never had to turn the volume above a 4, even in an 800 seat auditorium unmiked. The volume knob is a bit touchy but I don't have a problem playing it in my apartment. I don't see myself needing another amp like this for a long time. I've got bad gas for a DR. Z MAZ but thats a different kind of amp.

 

[aaronl]

Re: Opinions on the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

I got a peavey classic 50 2x12 with real black tweed covering (Instead of that cheap blonde tolex they put on the HRD) for $500 even. [BRAND NEW, not used]

A HRD is $600, is it not?

This peavey is UNBELIEVEABLY loud, and it can get as quiet as a 5watt practice amp.(Thanks to a working volume knob) Has very big marshall like gain, and far better cleans than almost anything else out, and if you crank the cleans+ turn back the master, you get a great AC/DC tone.

But it has alot of volume to go before the cleans will distort, so it shouldn't be a problem, I love this amp.

Probably the best bang for your buck amp out there.

wow now this is free enterprise at its best!
what are the re-sell on those peavey's like?

 

[Mephis]

Re: Opinions on the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

atleast what i payed for it lol^

 

[chill]

Re: Opinions on the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

The other guitarist in my band uses an HR Deville 212 with an Edwards LP clone with covered HB's...the bridge bucker is pretty bright like a JB. He mostly uses the drive channel, sets the treble, master, and presence at about 1:30-3:00, bass around 10:30-noon. The overdrive is dark and middy because the tone stack is early in the preamp, but it can be quite bright (at times painful) when set for a bright tone. It also seems to brighten up when the volume is turned up.

Ditch the JJ tubes and the 212 is a decent amp. Not great but decent. I was surprised at how good it sounded after hearing so much bad stuff about the HR drive channel online.

Back to the original question about a practice amp for home: the champ is a good pick and the Electar tube 10 is a lot like a champ. They won't get you much gain without a pedal, but you can get them into poweramp distortion fairly easily. Maybe something with a pair of EL84's like a blues jr, a peavey classic 20, mesa subway rocket/ studio 22, astroverb/atomic 16, or bedrock 600 series. Or a DRRI. If you want something small and high gain, look for a Peters or Matamp C7.

HTH!