Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Limited Edition 112 Combo

Read this review!! Enough about the clean channel sounding great and the extra gain being useless. Here's my take. If you're buying an amp to get a clean sound then buy a reissue super or twin or whatever. This amp is called a hot rod for a reason. Read sound quality!

I build my own guitars but they basically sound like tele's with humbuckers. My style ranges from heavy blues to hard rock. I,ve heard and read a million FEEBLE COMPLAINTS about the gain and extra gain channels sounding useless and fuzzy. The thing is to use your ears NOT YOUR EYES when setting your controls! The secret to great crunch out of these amps is in cranking the master volume way up all the way (if you can) and using your gain control as your master volume. At only 40 watts you can push those power tubes and really get them and the single 12" working for you. The crunch is real crunch from the v30 breaking up and the power tubes cooking rather than "fake" crunch from a 4x12 and head set up turned down with the gain up to "sound loud". Bottom line is the microphone that delivers your tone to the audience is getting huge tone. Don't undersetimate the drive channel without first trying the reverse volume thing!

My job is playing guitarand I,m constantly touring yet still don't have flight cases so my amps get tossed around quite a bit (with care). I always use 2 so if one goes down the second keeps going. They're usually cranked sothey vibrate quite a bit. Thing is I,ve never had a problem with any fender amp I,ve owned. It's a combo so treat it like you would treat a head rather than a cab.

Never needed it so can't comment.

I,ve been playing guitar for 30 years yet I ain't old. I,ve played with everyone from Randy Rampage of DOA to Bif Naked and I,ve always had the same aggressive punky blues tone regardless of what amps I used so to me to have a really arrogant tone in a small package is a godsend. The hot rod deluxe with the v30 sounds really gnarly and arrogant, like a junkyard dog thats' got somthing to prove. I got tired of showing up to gigs and touring with stacks that I could not get up loud enough to sound "loud". If you dig power tube and speaker crunch then give these little guys a try. They're called hot rods for a reason so if you're just gonna play clean like a washed up old man then plug into a pod and put on the headphones!

It's the Emerald Green model with a Celestion Vintage 30 speaker in there. I think made in 2006. I play a wide variety of styles, from instrumental to alt-country and it covers them all very well. I maybe wish it had a tremolo, but I've got an awesome trem pedal so wouldn't really need it. The clean channel is the real winner in this thing, I didn't even bother trying out the other two channels for more than a few minutes, they sound pretty bad. I just always use the clean channel and put pedals in front of it to dirty it up, works a treat. Reverb is OK, pretty heavy going and not very warm, but for what I do it works well. I'd say it's an extremely versatile amp.

I'm using it with a US Standard Telecaster and three or four boutique pedals. Basically, it really really sings and it sounds quite vintage. I tried out the standard HRD in the shop, and getting the Celestion Vintage 30 in this made it worth the extra cash. The tele is a naturally thin sounding guitar, but the Celestion picks up some nice creamy bass tones in addition to the lovely twang you get from a tele, so it's a great match. In my instrumental band I actually play a lot of "bass" parts on my tele! The distortion channels are balls though, don't even bother. Get yourself a tasty distortion pedal and stick to the clean channel. It takes a bit of volume to get it to overdrive, but you can do it if you have a drummer. It's a bloody loud amp, particularly with the Vintage 30, but it does overdrive if you push it with a hot signal at a tolerable volume.
The clean channel alone gets a 9 from me.

Always gig without a backup, never had a problem. Had it for a couple of years now and haven't needed to change the tubes yet.

Never needed the warranty so can't say.

Been playing for 10 years, this is my first "major" amp purchase. I wanted something that would give me a vintage sound without concerns about it breaking down or how it's been treated over 30 years. I'd say it does a pretty damn good job of that. The colour is cool too. It's not vintage, but if you dial in the right tone and use a good guitar with it, I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference, let alone with a full band playing. Just sounds creamy in the bass and glassy in the top, middle a bit weaker in tone, but overall a great amp.

This amp has 3 "channels" but only one is useable. The Drive and MOre Drive channels are harsh and un-musical.
As many reviewers allude to earlier, this is a one trick pony and that trick is the clean channel. That channel is worth the price of the amp, period. Gets a 6 because despite that fact that Fender offers a decent modicumn of features, they are for the most part, unuseable. Reverb is overwhelming past 3.

I am using the amp primarily with a Gibson Flying V and a variety of strat-like guitars.
Clean channel is everything you could ask for, with lots of chime and headroom. With a comnpressor and a good quality overdrive pedal, you can go a long way with this channel.

Fender typically does well in this area. Had a blackface Bassman from the 70s that never needed anything. Still has the same tubes.

Don't know.

My first amp was a Fender Deluxe Reverb, which I got in 1966. I loved that amp and learned how to play the guitar using that amp as my springboard to more serious amps that cost a lot more and never sounded as good. This amp doesn't sound as good either, nut I bought it when I was feeling nostalgic and couldn't resist the lacquered tweed model with a Jensen alnico speaker for $549. at Woodwind and Brasswind. (WWBW.com)
I'm glad I got it because the clean channel comes closer to that great Fender sound than most amps I have used including my Rivera Fandango and once you have a great clean sound, you can do anything. Put a good pedal in front and you can do anything you want. Put a compressor up front and get the most beautiful Sultans of Swing you could ever ask for.

White Lightning model with the Celestian G12 century speaker. Amp was made in 2006 or 2007 - not sure. It has two channels and 40 watts of power. No tremolo. It has reverb which is all I need.

I have been comparing this amp with my 1979 Fender Deluxe reverb amp using a '76 American Strat. I've been tweaking it to try to get both amps to sound identical using an A/B box.
The White Lightning comes pretty close (after 3 days of experimenting and tweaking). It has a bit more of a hollow sounding midrange and not as soft sounding in the mids as my '79 Deluxe. In other words, it's a bit more brittle and bity in the midrange.
In general it's not quite as sparkly in the top end but rather a tad more midrangy. It does have a fatter bottom and and more headroom.
Compared to the stock, black tolex Hot Rod Deluxes with the stock speaker, this thing sounds alot more sweeter. This Celestian G12 gives you more of that compressed sound that enhances a Strat.
The reverb sounds more hollow and colder than my Deluxe.
I haven't got around to using it at a gig yet. I haven't listened to the distortion channel at all. They're usually average.

Don't know. Just bought it.

I've been a pro player for about 30 years. I have a '79 Deluxe and a '72 Vibrolux modified and souped up.
Let me first say that for a 40 watt, one 12 amp; this thing has very little weight.
I bought this amp because it sounds almost as sweet as my 79 Deluxe thanks to the upgraded speaker that comes with the White model.
The only thing I don't like about this amp is that the midrange could be a little more thicker sounding and not as brittle. Only after days of tweaking did I manage to address that problem.
For the price, I ended up with a pretty sweet sounding Fender tube amp that doesn't weigh very much.

Beautiful Texas Red Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Amp - paid $649. Three channels - clean, drive, more drive. Two-button footswitch pedal. I play a lot of 80s metal, classic rock, southern rock. This amp does not stand up to my Marshall 5212 when it comes to playing metal, but for classic rock the tones are sweet and amazing. The clean channel is super clean. 40 watts, but the loudest 40 watts I have ever heard!

Three channels - clean, drive, more drive. Clean channel is very clean. I don't use the drive channel all that much, but the more drive channel is dirty. You can "help" the drive channel by using a BOSS SD-1 Super Overdrive pedal - which is a good investment for just $60 or so. I have been playing a Fender American Telecaster, a Gibson SG Standard, and a Gibson Les Paul Classic Antique through the amp and they all sound great, especially the SG! The amp is not noisy, but with the Overdrive pedal I am thinking of buying a Noise Gate to run at the end of the loop.

I've only had the amp for a few months, and so far I have not had any issues.

Never had a reason to call support.

I've been playing over 19 years, and this is just the second guitar amp I have purchased in the past 15 years. In the past, whenever I had put together a decent amount of cash, I'd go out and buy a guitar or bass. I finally took the plunge on this amp and it was the best purchase I have made in the last decade! It is loud and light, the sound breaks up a little bit sooner than I would like, but that might only be noticeable to an experienced pro or semi-pro player. If you are looking for a good relatively inexpensive amp, I highly reccommend this one!

--KL from OTHRS www.othrs.com

2006
This amp can play everything i need.
3 chanels i have a footswitch options for effect loops.
To bad it don't have a boost channel for solo's.
I have use this amp for rehersals and concerts it got a lot of power.

This amp is beatiful clean great for chords you can also use it for pop/funk kind a things. The distortion is the bomb is great this is what a distortion had to be for me. Very powerfull a lot of finesse it sounds like a wall of amps. I use this amp for pop/funk/rock/metal and black metal. Use dimarzio's as pickup's and you can play any metal you like, for the real heavy shit you can use a boss metalcore. The only problem with this amp you can't use it at home because it's very hard.

Never had any problem with it.

It is a great amp, great tone very versatile great tone you feel alive when you crank it up. I use it with a musicman sport/sub1. If it were stolen i try to buy the same. I love the sound and the simplicity. I hat e it is so very heavy. I work in a guitar store so i tried every amp they had and this one was the best there was under 1000 euro. Too bad it have no booest channel. Buy this one or another Hot Rod so much better than the crappy marshall trash they sound like crap try Mesa Boogie, Vox, Fender, Brunetti, Randell or Engl but no Line-6 of Marshall.

i have just my fender deluxe (limited edition white lightning) it has three channels ,effects loop,extension speaker output and all the the other stuff you would expect from this sort of amp ,

i play a range of styles i find the amp sounds brilliant every time i plug it in. The clean tone is just beautiful, i find my les paul and a my sg sound awesome through it . I do find the volume pots a little touchy, so i have ordered a onisoinc volume control off ebay to try wirh it
The distorion channel sounds great at lower volume but does seem to break down a little the more you push it , but i get round this but just knocking the gain down slightly,
I play all sorts of venues and this amp seems to cope with anything you throw at it brilliantly, i use a 2x12 extension speaker with it to give it that extra bottom end, i did have a brunetti m2 which was not overly impressed with, the fender deluxe just blew it away.

seems well made

never needed to contact them

if you want a light weight amp that stands out from the crowd then buy one of these.


4x12's and heads are all very well all the time if its not you having to lug it about!!!

This amp is the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe White Lightning made in 2006 with white tolex and a Celestion G12 speaker. I saw the amp at a music store around Christmas and was blown away by the tone. I play blues, classic rock and oldies. The amp has three channels with two inputs. The clean channel is shimmering and bell-like. It has a drive and more drive channels. The tone of the distorted channels is okay, but it's not what I bought the amp for. It has a reverb that is just killer. At 40 watts it is the lowest apm I have, and that's why I found it appealing.

The clean channel with the reverb of this amp when cranked is loaded with over-tones. The distorion is just 'so-so', but I am using a MESA Boogie V-Twin pedal for my over-drive. I have a Les Paul and two Strats that I play thru this amp. I play many differnt styles of music and it's nice to plug into this amp because it makes me approach things differently.

Have had no problems with it. Since it is a simple circuit, I'm sure could be repaired easily if there is a problem.

Never had a problem with any Fender piece of equipment, so I don't know.

I've been playing for 26 years. I have owned many amps. I presently have a Mesa/Boogie, MarkIII, Simul Class with the EV12M speaker. I also have a Marshall 30th Anniversary 6101, also with the EV12M. I am completely enamored with tones I'm getting from this amp. I have tried several overdrive pedals in front of it, such as, an Ibanez Tube Screamer, a Full Drive Two and a Full Tone OCD Pedal. It sounded awesome with all of them. The amp sounds like rock and roll to me every time I play it. For the price, it is difficult, if not impossible, to beat the value of this amp. My wife has even commented on how great it sounds.

awsome tone clean, or dirty

superb tone for the price

It takes a licking , and keep's on a ticking!

The local dealer is the best (The country music store. Texarkana, Texas!)Fender just takes forever, and two days to ship anything!

Great amp! For beginner, or pro.Great clean tone ,and if you need that kickin distortion it's got it all!

8 The Emerald green/white chicken head knobs/Celestion speaker model.

Has a 3 position distortion circuit - I use the # 2 spot for a bit of fur, and use my pedalboard for any more drive.

Great reverb. Wish it had a vibrato, but I knew it didn't when I bought it, so I can't bitch, can I?

Lovely bell-like clean tone - but a purring growl in the 2nd input, which can rage when pushed with a hot input signal.

Clean is good, but it breaks up when pushed hard - when the amp warms up, it breaks up sweetly, but easily.

Distortion is not metal-like - but any decent pedal will get you to that place.

The clean works great - the drive position is a bit furry, I don't use the "More Drive", preferring my footpedal.

I use an old Tom Anderson Schecter Strat with 1/4 Pounder PUs, a Tele with Duncan PUs, or a Les Paul. They all push the input pretty hard - a sound I like.

I play in 4 bands - from rock to country, and this amp suits each of them, up to the limit of 40 watts.

Credit the Celestion as a great match for the sound and power of this amp.

You know you have to let tube amps and speakers break in, right? This thing just gets better and better...

Noise has never been an issue.

Never had a problem. I service about every two years, so it's just about due.

Never had to deal with Fender, but I hear little good. Still, for a tube amp, you take it to the local guy when you need tubes biased, right?

Playing for (yikes) 30 years. I have a bunch of great amps - Fender Princeton, Deluxe Rever Reissue, Blues Deville, Pro Reverb, Trace Elliot Velocette, and a Marshall HalfStack, but this one is just the right size for all but Stadiums, so it gets the most work.