Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

[Kevinleeowen]

Guys, any opinions on the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe (http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=0213202000)?
After playing quite a few amps in the shop, played this and instantly loved it.
I'm looking for an amp at around this price level, not too loud as it will mainly be home use, but this will have to do for a few years yet, so want to make sure I don't regret it!
Love the tone from bands such as Oasis / The Who - up to as heavy as something like Slash G'n'R.
Will be playing a Gibson Les Paul Traditional through it (maybe changing the pickups further down the line - Seymour Duncans / Bareknuckles)
Any opinions???
Cheers!

 

[TimH]

Personally I think hot rods are great amps...especially for the money you can get them for used. A new speaker is a really worthwhile upgrade and maybe some tubes but honestly they sound great right out of the box, take pedals well and are built pretty solid. I watched HRD's go out of the rental department of the store I worked at week after week and always work. Can't go wrong.

 

[drod2045]

Awesome cleans - great pedal platform - not so good OD but can be used. Just get a dirt box to use with it and youre set

 

[sqadan]

Great cleans.... resign yourself to using pedals for breakup tones, and expect it to be LOUD.

 

[Voodoo Blues]

It is a great amp... although it is quite loud... but on those special days when you can turn it up, you'll love it even more.

 

[Rev2S]

I had one years ago and replaced the stock speaker with a Weber Blue. To me, it sounded much better after that speaker replacement. The OD on the amp sounds kinda crappy so I used pedals for my gain. The Rat pedal actually sounded the best with it.

 

[Cowboy]

Guys, any opinions on the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe (http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=0213202000)?
After playing quite a few amps in the shop, played this and instantly loved it.

I think you have actually answered your own question.

I will recommend two changes, in order of importance. 1.) Get a > $20.00 Omnisonic (or other) attenuator off of E-Bay, so you can dial in a lower sweet spot on that sucker for playing in smaller rooms.

2.) A quality speaker makes an unbelievable difference in those things. If the extra $$$ is a problem, buy used HRDx and spend the savings on a good speaker.

You'll be happy for a long, long time.

Cheers,
Cowboy

 

[gnugear]

I actually like the Blues Deluxe a ton! I think it has better cleans if you don't care about the OD channel (or plan on just using a pedal).

 

[fransoos]

It is a great amp... although it is quite loud... but on those special days when you can turn it up, you'll love it even more.

+1
IMHO the most underrated amp; clean is superb, OD barely usefull.
have a bogner duende but the HRD beat's it in clean and
reverb

 

[slicepaperdavid]

My Dad plays one from the early 90's, and its an amazing amp. He runs a Maxon 808 for overdrive and it screams. Amazing cleans/reverb, very LOUD, alot of headroom, and good bass response.

 

[joesl8]

It is a great amp... although it is quite loud... but on those special days when you can turn it up, you'll love it even more.

Yep, LOUD. Great tones however, the main problem with them are the volume goes from 1 directly to 11. You need to replace the pot so the volume change is more gradual.

 

[Big White Tele]

A great amp for the money, if your looking for the Fender tone!

 

[NortheastHick]

Excellent cleans and nice verb too.

 

[desertbluesman]

I have a Hot Rod Deluxe as my main amp. I use tube stomps for my distortion. I changed the speaker to an Eminence Tonespotter and put a Weber Beam Blocker in front of it. I also put in JJ Tubes and biased the thing hotter. Now the overdrive channel is quite decent, not as nice as the tube stomps but still usable. Right now it has awesome tones even at lower volumes, I also use a Volume Box which is a 250K audio taper pot in a little enclosure into the effects loop (I put my stomps between the guitar and amp) The Volume Box helps in taming the Volume controls.

 

[Wilbur]

Never understood why folks rave about these amps and complain about the lame OD channel. It's like they're ignoring the lame-ness of half the amp's channels to give it a good review.

I played one for a couple hours one night. Nice cleans. Lame OD. I wouldn't own one. Much better choices out there for the same money.

 

[Guitar Dave T]

I actually like the Blues Deluxe a ton! I think it has better cleans if you don't care about the OD channel (or plan on just using a pedal).

Agreed, as an owner of an original '93 Blues Deluxe with a V30 replacement speaker.

But either HRDx or Blues Deluxe are too loud for home use in my experience, unless home use is "playing with a band at home".

At lower than band levels, those amps just don't get to really flap their wings.

 

[Guitar Dave T]

Yep, LOUD. Great tones however, the main problem with them are the volume goes from 1 directly to 11. You need to replace the pot so the volume change is more gradual.

Or just get used to turning the volume knob carefully, and topping out around 3-4.

 

[Guitar Dave T]

Never understood why folks rave about these amps and complain about the lame OD channel. It's like they're ignoring the lame-ness of half the amp's channels to give it a good review.

I played one for a couple hours one night. Nice cleans. Lame OD. I wouldn't own one. Much better choices out there for the same money.

Really. Name one 40 watt, 1x12 tube amp that does as good a job with Fender cleans and is as good a pedal platform in that price range.

For the money, I have no problem completely disregarding the amp's OD settings. None of the vintage tweed, blackface or silverface Fender amps had an OD channel.

Consider this a really cool sounding 1x12 version of a Pro Reverb with presence and midrange controls and never worry about the OD channel again.

 

[noskasucks]

I have a blues deluxe and love it. If you want to use if for home use with i little different sound, and less headroom, throw in some jj 6v6s and re-bias it. I love the sound of these amps this way. Plus, you can take advantage of natural tube overdrive without going deaf.

 

[Guitar Dave T]

I have a blues deluxe and love it. If you want to use if for home use with i little different sound, and less headroom, throw in some jj 6v6s and re-bias it. I love the sound of these amps this way. Plus, you can take advantage of natural tube overdrive without going deaf.

You'll need to do more than that. With 6V6's, you're output tranny will be looking for a 4 ohm speaker load, and despite popular opinion, running a higher impedance speaker than the OT wants to see can cause cumulative damage to the OT.