Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Limited Edition 112 Combo

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.

Fender Limited Edition Hot Rod Deluxe Brown Tolex with upgraded Jensen speaker.
40 watts, 3 12AX7 preamp tubes, 2 6L6 poweramp tubes, solid state rectifier and reverb.
Local shop got it in mid 2006, made in 2005 or 2006.
2 channels with shared EQ, "more drive" channel is more of a volume boost for the drive channel.
Footswitch for channel switching, bright switch, high and low inputs, full eq with presence knob, standby switch.
Really wish the reverb was footswitchable (something Fender also fails to include on the $1100 Supersonic combo).
Linear volume pots are highly annoying.

Fantastic glassy Fender clean, plenty of headroom.
Drive channel does nice blues/rock overdrive at lower settings, "more drive" is a nice feature at lower settings but gets buzzy and harsh quickly.
Nice deep reverb, play it with Fender Strat and Tele, Schecter with EMG's and Artcore with JB/Jazz combo, unlike a Mesa F-30 I owned briefly sounds great with single coils and humbuckers.
Clean channel takes pedals extremely well, use it with a Digitech Screamin' Blues and Danelectro French Toast, eventually will add an EH Metal Muff or a Visual Sound Jekyll and Hyde.
It's the quietest tube amp I've owned or played, very little excess buzz or hum (which is nice).
I just added an Omnisonic volume box off ebay, acts as a master volume in the fx loop and is extremely useful.
As many have stated, a relatively inexpensive tube swap should help out the drive channel quite a bit, but I decided to review the amp stock, I'll probably order a set of tubes from Eurotubes in the near future.

Haven't had any reliability issues, Fender was easy to deal with on prior occasion regarding a bass amp.

See above, 5 year warranty.

Very good amp for the price, compared to just about everything from $400-$800, initially purchased a Tweed Blues Deluxe and a lightly used Mesa F-30, but both were returned. Strongly considered a Deluxe Reverb Reissue, Peavey Classic 30, and a Vox AC15CC, but went with the HRDx for sound and quality issues.
I have a sick obsession with new gear, can't guarantee I wouldn't try something else if it were lost or stolen, but I'd certainly miss it.
Really needs footswitchable reverb and audio volume pots, and apparently benefits from better tubes (applies to apparently every tube amp), but it gives you "that" Fender tube sound at a great price.
Very popular, can be had new and used for a good bit less than sticker price.

This is a very loud valve combo with 2 channels and spring reverb. Footswitch & cover included.

After buying this amp I was very disappointed with the sound of the drive channel - my guitar (Gibson SG) sounded muddy and undefined with the neck pickup and better with the bridge pickup but the tone I was looking for was just not there. I was Dazed and Confused (sorry) having spent lots of money on what I thought was going to be a really great portable & loud gigging amp. I play rock, rock 'n' roll, and heavy rock and some punk stuff to lucky pub goers in London, UK.

This amp's drive channel does not cut the mustard UNLESS YOU REPLACE THE VALVES with decent quality replacements. The Russian Fender Groove Tubes are rubbish unless you drive a 1970's Russian spaceship. I spoke to the man at WATFORD VALVES in the UK and he supplied me with two TAD 6L6WGC STR power valves and three HARMA ECC83 valves. These cost me about #70 (UK pounds) including delivery.

Watford Valves recommend that you re-bias the amp for the new tubes but, I found that it didn't actually need it. But, if you want to do it, all you need is a multi-meter and a little confidence. The off-the-shelf setting is around 71mv and I reduced it to 68mv (recommended by Justin Holton - The Unofficial Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Owner's Guide - brilliant website!). 71mv is fine though. But be aware, the higher you go, the shorter the life of the valves. They recommend that you go no higher than 80mv or you'll cook the valves. It's a trade-off, the higher you go, the better the sound gets - well, to a point!

WOW - what a difference!! Now, my HRD has a beautiful creamy / bluesy tone for rock songs and a bit of a bite for those punk numbers. It sounds awesome with my JV Tele and my SG.

I'm told that replacing the speaker also improves the tone (Celestion Vintage 30 is a favourite). However, I haven't done mine because the Fender Eminence speaker is just fine.

The clean channel was just great at the beginning and even better now! - loads of headroom, just lovely clean Fender rounded tones! The clean channel starts crunching around 3-4 on the dial but, even loud gigs I hardly ever turn up more than 2.5.

This worried me a bit. When I took the HRD apart to do the valve thing I noticed that the head of one of the loudspeaker retaining screws was missing - it was stuck to the magnet of the speaker. OK, Faulty screw! But, on further investigation I realised that two screws were faulty and my speaker was only being held in place by the two good screws. Fender, please, if you're reading this, please use better quality screws - it would be really embarrassing if, during a gig, the speaker unit just fell out!!

N/A

I've been playing for about 25 years and have had various amps... Session Sessionette 75, Marshall Valvestate 100, Peavey Classic 30 - all great amps but my HRD is the best. I would definitely buy another one but I would also buy a new set of quality valves straight away. TIP OF THE DAY - Keep the old valves as spares for when a valve fails on power-up before a gig. Also, always leave the HRD in standby for 10 mins before switching on or off - it really does make your valves last longer.