Fender Hot Rod DeVille 4x10 Combo

Not high in features but very versatile amp indeed! Play any style!
Now the volume being touchy is not a gimick for kids to be trapped in buying at all folks. Real pro's use the volume knob on the guitar. Thats why its there people. Ive seen pro blues guys 60yo crank the clean up and use the volume knob on the guitar for the desired sound. turn down for clean sounds and up for blues grind. It works! Without a pedal. You have to practise using it that way, its not easy. But wow!

I compared this with a SF Twin Reverb at Guitar Center. No difference in tone to my ears. I dont work. I gig only. 5,6 days a week so I think I know a good tone. Hope so! Clean channel cant be touched! period! Drive channel is excellent! More drive was a brilliant idea and sounds freaking great! True Tube Tone! Dont expect a built in METAL ZONE PEDAL though. But what you get is enough drive to get you through a gig if your metal zone breaks. You may not think so, but through a PA the more drive will shine through clear as a bell and make you think again. I let a friend use my HRDX and I listened to the more drive with a 57 in front and I think different now. You'll see. Remember, if you suck, you suck. Period! Keep working on your skills.

Well, take a chance if you want. I bring back up for every gig reguardless of what amp i use. Unless the gig is very close to home. You never know. This is my second Deville 410. I foolishly traded the first one for god knows what and Im sorry. But now I have another!

The Best!

Country to near Metal territory. This will do it all with FX pedals and come close without pedals. You could get by without pedals in an emergency. I did buy it again!

The amp was made in late 2004 or early 2005. It looks pretty cool with black tolex and a silver grille...kind of a vintage vibe...but all business. I dig it. There's one channel worth discussing and it has bass, mid, treble, presence and reverb. 4x10 combo, all tube with a solid state rectifier, which is perfect because I don't need Neil Young's tone and I don't need a loose bottom end to prove that I am sweet.

"The channel" is clean and sparkly. It is loud. It will not break up at any sort of useable volume. This is good news to me because I have a bunch of pedals that I put in front of the amp and they sound outstanding. I have a way too expensive homebrew overdrive, a way too expensive option five phaser and a carl martin red repeat. They all sound awesome through this amp. I play a g&l guitar that sounds awesome through this amp. A lot of my friends play through this amp with their pedals and their humbucker equipped guitars...they too sound fantastic. So at the end of the day, I treat this as a one channel amp for all all of my clean tones w/ a touch of reverb (classy), and it takes pedals very well. It has all the volume you need. Sweet clean tone...cannot emphasize this enough.

It's a tank. Major plus. I have considered going out and buying a budda, a marshall, a top hat, a vox...etc. These are all incredible amps. But then I play my fender and realize...
1) I never take care of it, it has no maintenance issues.
2) It's not that expensive and it won't bust.
3) It kills on the clean channel and let's me rock hard with pedals.
4) This amp is butter, it looks sweet and the reverb is very useable.

It's a tank, so I don't know.

If you need to have an amp that costs over a grand...go for it. I have expensive equipment that I enjoy playing too. That being said, my advice is to not blow cash on expensive amps unless you really want amp distortion. For some it's nice to have four channels and 15 knobs, but it's not worth it if you can kill a gig with one awesome tube channel and two or three decent pedals. I am so happy I bought this amp.

Oh yea...make sure to get the 4x10. It's candy.

Two Channel with boost, fx loop (why?) 60 watt, all tube signal path 4x10" Eminence speakers...Incredibly versatile amp, out of the box capable of everything from Alabama to Zappa, and back again.

The clean sound from this amp is untouchable...period. I've tried 'em all, and there's nothing out there that can play clean like a Fender, and this is one of their finest examples. Enough clean headroom to wake up Gerry Garcia.

The dirt ranges from a slight bluesy grind, to something not unlike an older JCM 800. There's enough grit here to easily pull off Priest/Maiden/ACDC, though not quite enough for say, Pantera or Megadeth.

The dirt has a tone of it's own and either you love it, or you won't, and I find that what I feed it has a large bearing on the sound. My main guitar is an old San Dimas Charvel Strat (SSS) with a Seymore Duncan JB jr in the bridge position. Sounds amazing for what I want out of it.

I turn it on, play, turn it off - repeat later.....never failed

Never broken a fender product (not for lack of trying). I've had a couple of their amps and a few guitars, all still serving me well.

No idea what their customer service is like.

Been playing guitar for years, bass for decades. Own piles of gear including Traynors,Garnets,even a Peavey or two (for the kids) All my amps are tube, 73 and 74 Fender Precisions, Ibanez Artist Hollowbody, Several other assorted guitars. For the money, you won't beat this amp, but like anything else, try before you buy, with your axe, and decide for yourself, it's not for everyone, but just right for me.

I bought this amp brand new from a music store in the UK. I have been playing over 30 years and now play in a 60s/70s gigging band. We cover blues , rock, country of that era and find the features excellent. The eq however is a little subdued. I find I have to turn the treble, bass and mid up to over 7 or 8 to get a huge noticablr difference in tone. This is 60watt valve amp which is very, very loud and has more than enough guts for any - and I mean any kind of gig

The sounds are typically US bluesy SRV/hendrix/BB King. In fact it is so versatile it can be used for rock and country. However as other reviewers have said - don't expect metal overdrive - not even on more drive. I can't understand how some people criticsize the gain channel. It is pure valve tone especially with the master on 5 and volume on 3 with the gain lights on the footpedal. Absolutely beautiful , just breaking up tone which sound fluidy and understated. The clean tone is superb. Te best I've heard on any amp. Beatles classics sound true and clear. You can add a little dirt by just flicking to drive and turning down the vol pot on the guitar. I only play my two strats through this amp. Never used gibsons or PRS etc. The single coils love this amp. You can get a real lift when you switch to bridge pickup on drive in a solo. I'm sure you cold hear me from across the pond if you listened hard enough. A gorgeous, pro sound.

Hope it never lets me down . If it did I would be truly disapointed.

Bought FROM an on line store in UK Yes I'm British. - Welsh actually! No problems encountered.

If it got lost or stolen I would have to have another. Perhaps I would spend a little more cash and get the Blues DeVille Deluxe rather than the Hotrod. But there is very, very little difference. The Hotrod sound is as good as it gets really. I stay away from effects. I only use a wah and a chorus/delay. I would never , ever use any kind of overdive or booster pedal with this amp. I think that would spoil the lovely natural overdrive on gain channel. I don't use more gain at all - but it's nice to know it's there. As a very experienced guitarist I can't understand the criticsism some give this amp for drive channel. I would ask them to check to see if their amp has a fault

needs another eq, well not really, because the other two channels are useless anyway

clean channel is awesome
one of the best i have heard
put an sd1 { or two } in the clean, and it's heaven!!

the dirty more dirty is so bad that its indescribable
the eq will not fix this, nor will a retube
this is a one channel amp

i would assume it's probably excellent

probably the same

outstanding clean channel - maybe the very best there is
worst dirty channel in the business
although the clean is incredible, i do not believe that any amp should ever have a channel in it that sounds as bad as this dirty channel
have to deduct points

I bought this amp used in mint condition. I believe it's 2003 or 04 model. It works great for the styles of music I play; Blues, contemporary Christion and some country. I personally like the "extra" features. I"m used to a Blues Jr, no bright switch, poor reverb, no effects loop, only one input, no external speaker jack. So this amp was big step up for me in features. I don't mind using my reverb sparingly and then leaving it, although a swtich would be nice, it's not a big deal to me. This amp has waaayyy more power than I need. I bought it becuase I was blown away by the sound of the amp, primarily the clean channe but have come to really like overdrive channels for blues and the more gain for that extra lead boost. I would like a bright switch for the gain channel so it gets a 9 for the lack of the reverb switch and lack of a bright switch in the gain channels.

Like most have mentioned the clean channel draws you in. I heard and played this for about 15-20 minutes at a local music store. Went home thinking I could get over it. But that sound and the price drew me back within just a few minutes. I had to have it. I've not been dissapointed. I really only us this in my music room, I consider it too much to gig with at my church. I use my Blues Jr. for that. The Deville sounds so big and has such great tone that I find myself dreaming about it when I'm away. (I'm sick, I know) I too am puzzled that some folks really diss the gain channels. I've run my Boss BD2 into it and compared that to the drive channel (not more drive) and I've found the effects to be similar. I find that I'm just as happy with the drive channel as I am using the BD2. So I us the BD2 with my Blued Jr. only. I play a variety of guitars through it and find that all of them can be dialed in to sound great. 3 strats, 2 tele's, a Les Paul, and a 63 Danelectro with lipstick pups. The amp is stock except for a tube replacement. JJ's for the OT, and EH 12AX7's for the preamp tubes.

I've only had this amp a couple of months. I did have to replace a couple of plate resistors to quiet down some crackling. That was an easy fix and is now very quiet in the clean channel. A bit of hiss in the gain channel, but I found that if you PLAY the GUITAR, that sound more than drowns out a littl bit of hisss. I haven't had the amp long enough to really comment on reliability.

Never used them.

For the money this amp is a killer deal. I love the sound of the 410's. I may not know what I'm missing by replacing the stock speakers, but I'm thinkning "if it aint broke don't fix it" I love the way it sounds completely stock.

This is a late model, & all the features were previously discussed.

I do have a bone to pick with the design of the footpedal. It's a big waste to have a two-button footswitch only operate channel switching and not the reverb. As a result, I don't use the footswitch.

It feels well constructed and doesn't rattle even at high volumes. It's a good-sized amp and has a nice stage presence. I was pretty happy that it's not backbreakingly heavy either-- definitely weighs less than a Twin.

Idunno if you'd call this a one trick pony. If so, its trick is infinitely listenable. You just need to go into it knowing its caveats.

This amp gets along well with all my guitars- an Italia Modena (vroom vroom), an Epi Dot and an Italia Rimini 12 string. I have a sparse pedalboard of od, fuzz, delay & reverb (because of the damn footswitch) and the amp operates noiselessly with them running in front.

10 for the clean channel, it's good business. Really good in fact, and it's the reason I use the amp. Very clear bell-like tones, extremely responsive to pick attack. As others have discussed, it's ***really frickin loud***. With the presence control set high and the bright channel engaged it's perfect for lead tones, rich without being shrill and sounds great in the mix. Some of the most beautiful sounds pour out when playing high up on the fretboard with a guitar equipped with P90s. Seriously, heaven raining down on the people.

As I mentioned, I play with a Vox V810 Valvetone OD that really sings. For fuzzy leads I use an EH Graphic Fuzz and it just wails-- think Airbag from OK Computer. Gigantic huge fuzz that eats up the room.


The reverb gets an 8 at best, it's a useable sound but not in the always-on / always-off position, so the lack of footswitch really kills it.

The drive / gain channels?? They're pretty miserable. Muddy, cold, flat. I don't really understand what Fender's logic was that someone would pay $800 for an amp but not drop a few bills on a distortion pedal.

Um, hard to say. I practice with this amp three or four times a week and have been for the last four months. Twice I've experienced it cutting out unexpectedly. It comes back if I power down the amp for a minute and bring it back up. I'm going to have it benched before I bring it on a gig, and there will definitely be a backup.

I'm overall pretty happy with the amp. If it fizzled at a gig I'd destroy it. I was working with one of the Valvetronix modelers previously and like the way this handles in comparison. It's comparing apples & oranges but the super expressive footswitch on the Vox was an excellent detail. It records well and cuts through the mix. It's a keeper.

This amp is mid 90's model, made in USA, has clean & overdrive channel with a "more" drive function that acts as an overdrive boost with more saturation (sort of a 3rd channel). Tone controls are straightforward Bass/Middle/Treble, with Presence, Reverb, Drive channel preamp volume and master volume. other features are Effects Loop, Aux speaker output and footswitch for channel switching. Tone controls are shared for both channel but there is not much of a tone variation from channel switching so this is not much of an issue. Features i wish it had would be Reverb footswitch function.

Clean sounds on this amp are very good, Reverb was a little swampy and overbearing, this was easily remedied by removing resistor R-103 right under reverb pot, very simple mod that improves reverb function immensely. Overall the clean sounds a lot like the old Fender "blackface" clean that we all know and love which is why i bought it.
The overdrive channel is not the best around but it is very useable. I find it works best when setup for milder overdrive to the point over good sustaing notes, then kick in "more drive" feature and this baby sings. I auditioned this amp with a modified strat and an Analog Man modded TS-9, I found the overdrive channel on a mild setting kicked Analog Man's ass, and the "more drive" is a nice bonus.
A couple of things worth noting-
this amp responds extremely well to effects running through the front end, my Aramat Green Machine Vintage Tone Project 60's fuzz, MXR EVH Phase and Vintage FX Tremolo all sound fantastic thruogh this amp. I have a Boss Delay machine going through the loop with excellent results.
Also, the stock Eminence speakers sound like crap IMO, i am just not a fan of early speaker breakup. Out goes the stock units, in goes a set of Jensen Mod 10-70's. These speakers kick major ass, are very inexpensive ($118 for 4) and completely save the tone on this amp, clean headroom goes up considerably. I would rate the sound quality about a 6.5 with stock speakers.
As it stands this amp will run circles around my Rivera S-120 combo but not my Soldano Decatone.

Not at all bad for a entry level priced mass produced tube amp. My amp has a couple of reliability issues with the footswitch that i have to look into. This is a very serviceable unit, pull the back panel and blammo, quick access to the guts for bias adjustments, ect. Build quality is good overall with the exception of those damn plastic jacks, which just plain suck. Otherwise pretty roadworthy.

I have emailed Fender about the heat resistant foam padding for the preamp tubes, actually got a response in less than a week and sent me the part free of charge for an amp i bought used, that is remarkable for a big corporation.
In addition, when you buy any Fender product it is like buying a Harley Davidson, you have tons of support in the aftermarket as far as parts, mods, and techs who can hot rod the hell out of these things. As a bonus you have name brand recognition for resale value.

I have been playing a long time, owned lots of gear and feel qualified to say that this is a good amp.
My main objective was to use this amp as a platform to have it modded and see if i can make it into a very roadworthy combo and bring the sound quality up near my Soldano so i don't have to schlep a head and 4-12 rig to bar gigs. So far i am most of the way there, next stop is to send the chasis into Omega amps for his tone mods and metal jack replacements. I've heard a lot of great things about them, stay tuned for that review on the Omega Amps section. If I accomplish all of this for well under a grand i would say that's a fantastic deal.

One of the best Fender amps ever produced. Enough headroom power to be loud and clean, or break up nicely on gain channel. Handles pedals well.

Gets loud fast. Too loud for home recording, but with its open back it's great for gigs w/o using a mic. 4x10's have tons of bass and fast response.

"More Drive" is not my style, but Fender seemed to have wanted to get loads of distortion at store volumes. Use a distortion pedal instead.

Sounds like a real Fender. Kind of has a mass produced vibe to it, but delivers the goods. I bet there are a lot of boutique amps based on Fender designs that would lose to the Deville in blind tests.

Loud enough for any venue. Heavy.

2006 Model. I play rock/blues/funk and the amp works perfect for all those. I can get a fairly high gain sound but why would you really need anything higher than that unless you're playing Cookie-Monster metal? 2.5 channels, clean, drive/more drive. No headphone jack, although I wish it did because this thing is LOUD. I'm fine with it not having a bunch of features besides reverb though, because I usually like Chorus Ensemble pedals and delay pedals anyway. I play in a touring band and this thing's a tank. Definitely enough power because I never have to push it above 4 and it still kills. All tube amp.

Playing through a Reverend Club King 290. Sometimes I do get a little squealing through the more drive but I never use the more drive. Thinking about investing in the Boss Noise Supressor. The music is perfect for my style, because quite honestly, I'm tired of all the "modern" sounds, the really high gain stuff that has no definition to it. I love the clean channel. Distortion is not brutal, but it'll scream even on 2 or 3. As stated before, this amp is extremely loud. I can't really practice on my own with it because below 2 or 1 you can't hear the distortion.

Yeah, I will use it on gigs without backups. The amp has never broken down and I've had it for quite some time. I love it.

Never had to deal with it.

I've played through a Marshall TSL, played through a Voodoo, other amps, and I do love this amp. It's no Voodoo or vintage Marshall, but for $799, I love it. I was deciding between an AC30 or the DeVille, and ultimately went with the DeVille because for the price, you can't do much better than that. Plus I got the blonde finish and it looks remarkable. If it were stolen, I would most likely buy another, but I have to admit, I'd like to save up and get the Marshall SLP.