What's wrong with the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe?

[GuitarStv]

I brought my guitar in to the music store this week intending to buy one of those Traynor YCV amps. I said that I was looking for a nice clean sound so the guy helping me recommended a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe to try out . . . there was no comparison. The HRD just sounded better clean, the highs are beautiful (it was a little hard to get down to practice volume but I figure I can just throw somthing in the effects loop to be used as a volume control) it's a little bass heavy, but I was able to dial that out. I know that it's only 40 watts, but it has volume to spare. It even seemed to take pedals pretty well. Is there anything wrong with this amp that should keep me from buying it?

 

[kmcguitars]

Re: What's wrong with the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe?

Here is everything you wanna know about the HRD, But were afraid to ask.
http://studentweb.eku.edu/justin_holton/
It's a pretty good amp IMO. Not completely void of issue's ,But for the money I'd say it offers major bang for the buck. They come with a 5 year warranty from Fender. Definitely the best cleans of any amp in that price range. The main gripe most have with the amp is the O.D. channel and more drive channel leave a bit to be desired. But it takes pedals well,so no need to even use the O.D. channel. Add a SFX-03 to the equastion... NOW YOU HAVE A 3 CHANNEL MONSTER

 

[aleclee]

Re: What's wrong with the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe?

If you're looking for a combo with lovely cleans that takes pedals well, there's nothing wrong with it.

IMO, the OD channel is kinda weak but if I were putting together a rig with pedal-based dirt, I'd probably pick up a HRDx.

 

[thucydides]

Re: What's wrong with the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe?

I used to own a Blues Deluxe, which was a tweed covered 90s predessesor of the HRD. I completely agree with the first two posts re the great clean channel, the weak OD channel(s), and that they take dirt pedals nicely. Very nice amps, great bang for the buck, IMHO.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: What's wrong with the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe?

I really love the clean channels on them, and personally prefer the 2-12 version.

I think a lot of players expect the gain channels to be true highgain, but they're not, and sound ratty if you approach them that way. It's best to use the gain channels as clean as possible, so they serve as boosts, not highgain.

 

[bungalowbill]

Re: What's wrong with the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe?

Sorry about the hijack....How does the Blues Deluxe compare? I have my eye on one 7 can't plug in until tomorrow. I'm gonna use it as a non master amp.

 

[drew_half_empty]

Re: What's wrong with the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe?

i had one for my first amp, and they're not bad, i wasn't really expirienced enough at the time to know how to get good sounds out of em, but

if i got one of the hot rod series again, i'd replace the tubes, go for the 2x12 DeVille, and get much higher wattage/SPL speakers (the one in there breaks up & sounds pretty terrible)

but then again i can't ever, ever mic my amp, so a 1x12 might be enough for you i dunno

I'm gonna add that if you use the drive channel (not more drive), well, the gain knob & the master volume are like interrelated, so you can get some pretty good sounds out of the drive channel if you **** around enough with those 2 knobs

 

[Stratcat]

Re: What's wrong with the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe?

There is nothing wrong with a HRD, it has the Classic Fender Clean Tone and with a few choice pedals, you can get a lot of great overdrive tones.

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: What's wrong with the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe?

Had one for awhile...

It did everything reasonably well, but aside from the cleans, it didn't really excel at anything.

it was kinda dissapointing; it really left me wanting more than it had available.

It did take pedals well though.

I traded mine for a second Blues Junior and $100. I'd planned to do the Billm mods like my other Blues Jr. and use it as a backup but my brother was so impressed with mine he offered to buy it from me on the spot if I did the mods.

If you're a big fan of natural overdrives then I would suggest something else. But as an amp where all you'll use is the cleans and let the pedals handle the rest it's as good a pick as any.

 

[thucydides]

Re: What's wrong with the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe?

Sorry about the hijack....How does the Blues Deluxe compare? I have my eye on one 7 can't plug in until tomorrow. I'm gonna use it as a non master amp.

They seem to be about the same as the HRD minus the "More Drive" channel. I don't know if any other circut changes were made beyond adding that "More Drive", but I have a couple of friends w/HRDs, and the clean sounds like what I remember in my Blues DeLuxe. The tweed was cooler, though, IMHO!:smokin:

 

[WhoFan]

Re: What's wrong with the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe?

I love the cleans from the Fender Hotrod Series.... wonderful clean amps... I saw Simon Townshend-(Pete's younger brother) using a Deville last month in England and he had some nice tones going.... I was right up front.. He had a Clapton strat with 2 P90's and a 2 Post Fishman bridge-(into a Fender Acoustisonic)..... He had a Pedalboard with some toys but it seemed like most of his OD was a pedal of some sort.... it was Blue with 2 switches.... He seemed to click on one switch for solos and the other for rythym..... A few other pedals like a Boss Delay and that was it... It'll be interesting to see if he has the same amp and pedalboard on the Who tours starting in a few weeks in Europe... They'll be in the States in September!!!

But anyways the HR Deluxe is a nice amp for cleans... i'd buy one myself... I use a few Peavey Classic series amps for their clean channels and pedals for overdrive.... The Fender has more sparkle and life then the Peaveys, but i got them dirt cheap so i'm not complaining

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: What's wrong with the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe?

Sweet . . . thanks a lot guys! My birthday is coming up on june 6th (06/06 '06 is that a bad sign?) and I think that I might end up buying one . . . can't seem to find anything else that does what I want as well as that one. OD doesn't bother me, as I've been using OD pedals for ages and am used to them . . . I heard a guy playing one at a jam last friday and it definately had all the power that I'll ever need.

 

[DankStar]

Re: What's wrong with the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe?

I played through one at GC (the 4-10 version), and was blown away. I could tell that it was begging to be turned up and head plenty of headroom to spare. I loved its overdrive by itself. With a 4-10 set up, you'd have an extremely portable half stack. I spent a second with the cleans. Seemed pretty good, but I was more interested in how it was "hot rodded."

 

[lastwinj]

Re: What's wrong with the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe?

hot rod deville....solid state boost

 

[kmcguitars]

Re: What's wrong with the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe?

hot rod deville....solid state boost

What do you mean?? If you look at a schematic for the Hot Rod series you will see a fair amount of silicone. But none of it is used in a boost capacity.
The Jfets are used for switching functions not gain boost. The op-amp drives the reverb. I don't have the schematic in front of me now, But from memory
I think there are 2 J-111s for the Drive & More Drive channels.When engaged I think they simply loop some more voltage to 1/2 of V2. This is why many HRD owner's swap the V2 tube for a lower gain type. (12AT7 or 5751) to help smooth out the drive .

 

[stevie_bees]

Re: What's wrong with the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe?

Birthday on 06/06/06? You need the DEVILle not the Deluxe!!

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: What's wrong with the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe?

lol, I'm engaged, on devil is enough in my life at the moment . . ..

 

[Stevo]

Re: What's wrong with the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe?

I really love the clean channels on them, and personally prefer the 2-12 version.

That's my opinion also. Lots of headroom. It does not have that bell-tone like a Fender Twin, but it has plenty of clean power for gigs.

The distortion is not too bad for single coils but I don't really like it for humbuckers.

It sounds a bit small on stage, thus the preference for a DeVille.

 

[Pecan]

Re: What's wrong with the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe?

I tried one. I prefer the classic 30's cleans. But yeh its cleans are nice. Thats about it though.