Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Limited Edition 112 Combo

Bought new in 99. I play blues, mess around with jazz, some gospel, old rock so I only really use the clean channel. It has a "bright normal" button which is obnoxous. The effects channel sounds worse than most other amps. Maybe that's because I am not very interested in other than clean and I don't use any of those pedals. I'll start with a 10 and then take 1 off for "bad try" on distortion and 1 for a volume control that goes from 0 to 120 Db in <1cm and practically useless after that.

I have been playing for about 45 years and use a Guild Bluesbird solid body and an Epiphone jazzbox. My last amp was a '66 Bandmaster. I did not expect this to be the same experience. This amp is quite average sounding until.... when it warms up (about 20-30 minutes) and the tubes get very hot; it becomes 1966 again. I give this amp a 10 for sound but take off 1 for making me wait.

It starts up every time;10. But it has what I consider to be a design flaw. The input jacks are integrated to the circuit board and the mounting threads are plastic! It took about 3 years of very careful use for threads to strip and the jacks to work loose. Warranteed but in the shop(20 miles away) for 2 weeks. I hope Fender enjoys the 80 cents they saved on the flimsy design. Oh wait, they probably paid the repair shop 40 or 50 dollars to fix it. Anyway the same thing happened again (out of warranty) and I hard wired a standard jack from the circuit board and it works great. Reliability = 10 less 3 for the incompetent engineer whom I will meet someday.

The dealer in Chicago (Chicago Music Exchange) could/would not do the repair so they sent me to a radio repair shop that was Fender authorized. The warranty period was 5 years which is better than most amps. Fender lived up to their promise - 10.

Overall this has been a pretty good amp for me. It sounds fair which turns to great after about 1/2 an hour. If lost or stolen it would be a choice between the 410 Deville with Jensens or just bite the bullet and find a black face Deluxe or Vibrolux. A vintage Vibrolux might run about $1000, the HRDeluxe was $500 new. This amp seems like more than 50% of the fun of a Vibrolux so it is a good value

This is my second review of this amp, after 2+ years of use.

The amp is a 2003, and is versatile for the classic rock, blues and jazz i play.
It's noisy when channel switching when practicing alone but the noise gets hidden in a live playing situation.

It has plenty of power for what is was designed for.

It would be nice to have a seperate reverb level is each channel.

I use this amp with a 335 and a fender strat.

the over drive channel is noisy, but the clean channel is why you buy the amp, i use a ts9 instead of the over drive channel.

It's dependable i've used it for 2 years with out a backup.

the only problem i've had is if you walk away from the amp with a guitar plugged in it puts to much pressure on the input jack, and it's dead, and you need to get it replaced. In a live setting you go to the second guitar input. The best way to fix this is to put a strain relief loop on the amp to prevent this. BTW the guitar tech that replaced this for me said this is common and the jack is part of the circuit board so it's an expensive and time consuming replacement.

I've been playing 35+ years, i also own a MB MKIIB which is great but is to heavy to move around.

I would replace this amp

hello fender -->
remove the noise when channel switching,
add a seperate reverb controls for each channel, and
a cord holder to prevent input jack failure, when to much pressure is on the input cord.

This amp is a Limited Edition lacquered tweed, jensen p12n 50w alnico speaker equiped Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, made in mexico by mexicans rather than made in the USA by mexicans.
It has an additional plate with fender limited edition amplifier on the rear right.
It looks gorgeous.
Amp is capable of some serious volume.
I have found that I can get some good driven sounds out of this amp even at "TV" volume levels!(unlike the other reviews have said-strange), and it gets better as you turn it up.
To call it a 3 channel amp is a bit naughty of Fender.
Reverb is about as good as it gets for solid state, ie peter green-albertros(have I spelt that right?).
I would have liked it to be true 2 channel, ie independant tone controls, but then it would cost more wouldn't it?
Plenty of features for me - it is a better amp than I am a guitar player(Im reasonably good :D ).

I have used my "great" strat and my "very nice" old sg through it, and they sound better than ever, glorious at high volume.
As someone else said here "you could not sound any better for the money, or more money for that matter !",
Clean channel is slightly darker than the typically imagined Fender clean, but sparkles up nicely with the bright switch.
I actually like the drive channel, and the more drive sound.
I do not have unusual taste, when I rave about something, players I demonstrate the item to, tend to agree with my exitement.

I have only have this amp a couple of weeks, I know that there were gremlins to do with heat that affected some components reliability, acording to a gut called justin holton, who's site is a gold mine for deluxe and deuville owners (type in 'fender blues deluxe tweed jensen' into your search engine and you should find him).
also this newer models now have some different types of plastic input jacks to to the old type breaking so often.
Fender have to use plastic jacks for some inputs to conform to some european electrical equipement bullshit.
I cannot rate reliablity yet so I will leave it blank.

I have e mailed the Fender europe guy asking for info on this amp, he has not replied yet, but I have had good experience of Fender USA in the past.I will reserve judgement untill he replies, if he does not I will "let Fender have it" in another review, and choose a rivals product if possible in future, yes I am vindictave(even if I can't spell it).
Shop I bought it from were great.

I have played for 20 odd years and own/have owned some good sounding gear,this really is a fine amp, if you do not think so - you must either have way too much dissposable income and be able to afford hand made gear that is bound to outperform mass produced kit, your amp is faulty or you like 'Busted'.
I can't compare this amp to the standard model as I have not had a go of one, I am sure it is fine though.
I would seek out this jensen equipped model though if you can, as the speaker is 150 british pounds alone, which is almost as much as the price difference and you get tweed too..
Speed music in Swansea. Wales,UK tel- 01792 455456, have one for sale at the moment (22/5/05) if you want one, I am in no way linked to this shop!!! but they are great guys.

Just a complement to my previous entry.
I've now understood that this amp needs a lot of
different stompboxes to do my bidding. So I've bought some od's
and a really funny big muff.

One question though, does anyone know what effect the speaker is?
I've heard 50 watts, but some say 100.
I want an extensioncab for stereo so I want to know what to buy!

mail me if you know!

HRD Special Edition in Brown Tolex with the C12N Jensen Speaker. The brown tolex has white "chicken head" knobs and a cream colored grill cloth. Beautiful looking amp.

I'm tempted to give it a 0. Worst #//??\\*# amp I ever used. Not so much the sound but the controlability. Wrong value pots, bad circuit designs, Gad were they drunk when they designed this? Sure at a loud volume which means anything over 2 in this case it sounds pretty good but you can't control anything. The tone controls aren't normal. Nothing seems normal on this amp. The Reverb is absolutlely AWFUL. Maybe they meant they 'Hot Rodded' the Reverb? The output is outrageous and again the knob is useless past 1 or 2. Overall this amp is loud, rude and a damn shame. It makes a mockery of the Fender label. I have a Blues Deluxe and I absolutely love it. I replaced this one with a Traynor YCV40WR and it's 10 times the amp this one is.

Probably is didn't have it long enough.

Fender dealers traditionally offer great service and support.

Yikes.... maybe this amp is the new trend in tone? I doubt it though. Any Silverfaced Fender is many times the amp this one is. Again I'm tempted for 1 - "What a hunk of junk" but I guess tone and taste is subjective. My major gripe is not the tone but the controls. THis amp is a great big hassle to use. IT's definitely no Bassman.

Built in 1999 I think, although I bought it new..hmm..

Jensen, blood speakercloth..

cover and pedal included.

Everything I need. Would have been nice with a 212 version, but with an extensioncab it's a 10.

I use a Fender Stratocaster 62'reissue, body is made in Japan 93 and neck in US 94. I use Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups and soft picks. I sold all my effects after having bought this amp. it just needed some time to do everything I need it to do. I play in a covers-band and I need the amp to play anything from sixtiestunes to Judas Priest, and although it?s hard to get really nice distortion on the drivechannel, most is easy to do with the "more drive" button.
I love this amp with the singlecoils, but I've tried it with a Gibson SG and it sounded quite crappy. happily I am an singlecoil-man.

It hasn't died on me yet but I haven?t giged it yet so let's see...

I live in Sweden and the local fender website and their support team has helped me with many of my stupid questions..

I've been playing for 13 years and this is the first tube-amp I?ve owned. I love the sound and it's loud enough for my needs. Would it be stolen I'd hunt the motherfucker down and drop the amp on his balls. I choose between this amp and a cybertwin, this was definitely my sound.

only thing that I miss is the fact that it?s 112 not 212. other than that this is probably the amp I'll use forever. maybe a blackface something later on but I think combos sound better than heads.

You all know the features...

This is where this pupy shines...

Tried one out in the store (a blonde one) and, knowing the standard hot rods, I certainly did like that one better - i think, not only the Jensen speaker, also the blue edition groove tubes make the difference - the ltd. edition deluxe sounds warmer, it just doesn't scream at you like the standard hot rod does. AND - one of the shop members owns a '65 deluxe reverb (not a reissue) with an oxford speaker and found this one as good as the dluexe reverb - in fact, it does sound very similar!!! I tried the old DR and must say, he was right!!! Clean on 4 gives you a very punchy clean sound with a very slight breakup - GREAT!! Reverb is fine, although blackface reverb would be finer, but what the fuck, who cares, when the rest is that good!!! Overdrive is good - just do that trick: crank the master to the max and control the amount of overdrive with gain - up until 4 (a good match with clean on 4!!!) it sounds very bluesy and classic rock-ey... FINE!!!

Don't know, didn't have he money - have to wait until the next ltd. edition!!! *cryyyyyyyyy*

Dunno

2004 Fender Hot Rod Deluxe with Jensen Speaker. This amp is fantastic. I use it with my Strat. It's versatile enough for everything I play- Rock, Blues, Jam Band stuff- although I don't think it would work in a metal setting. It has a beautiful, thick, creamy clean tone. It's a perfect sound for blues and rock. The overdrive is good in my opinion, it adds some sustain and grit to that fat clean tone. I almost always have an external overdrive pedal hooked up, but I have no problem with the on-board overdrive. The included footswitch and "more drive" feetures are really nice too. It also has great spring reverb, although it starts to be too much reverb at a setting of about 4 or 5. Overall, this amp has all you could ask for as far as on board features in a tube amp go. An excellent amp!

I play a souped-up 70's japanese strat copy. It's got american Fender pickups and pretty much sounds just like an American Fender Strat. My guitar sounds great through this amp. The amp has got a fat, beautiful tone. I'd highly reccomend it for blues or rock of any kind. This amp is also very quiet. I haven't gigged with it yet but it deffinetly seems loud enough for a small gig. The clean channel is absolutely beautiful. For a thick, sparkling, clear tone, especially for blues, I'd highly reccomend trying out this amp. The overdrive is pretty good too, and its subtle enough that you can get some sustain out of it and still hear that beauitful tone of the clean channel, which is great. I really love the sound of this amp. As far as amps I've ever owned (which isn't too many) or others I've played in stores, its one of the best sounding tube amps I've heard. The Jensen speaker does somethign to this amp too, because I played some standard hot rods and they just did not sound this good.

I've only had this amp for a few days, but I have faith in its durability. Fender makes very sturdy products in my opinion.

I play this amp with my strat, a vox wah, a boss od-3, and sometimes my big muff pi. I absolutely love this amp. If it were lost or stolen I would cry, and then I would go out and work my ass off to find another one of these limited edition Hot Rod Deluxes, whcih are becoming very difficult to find. I compared it with a hot rod deville and a reagular hot rod deluxe in the store, and I've played many other amps in the past, and no other amp of this size that I've heard compares to this one. If you are considering a Fender Hot Rod amp, really work to track down one with the Jensen speaker, it is totally worth it. Overall a great amp, and a great purchase.

Same as listed in the others but this is the limited edition with Jensen Speaker with brown tolex.

I am running it with an a gretsch and occasionally with my Gibson jazz hollowbody. I play a little of everything: jazz, funk, rock, rockabilly, soul. With both guitars the sound is great...I bought the amp about 6 months ago and wanted to wait until I really had time to use it before I wrote about it. I am not a fan of the built in distortion, to me it sounds just fuzzy but I mainly use the clear channel and for that I am surprised how happy I am with it. Very clear, punchy, warm, and responsive. I had debated getting a more high end Fender amp but I found that I just liked this one the best and it just happened to be less than half the price I was willing to spend. I like the sound much better than the Roland Jazz Chorus and I actually like the tone for jazz better than the Polytones I tried out...which I though sounded warm but a bit muddy for my taste. I have only had the amp up to 4-5 once during a gig but I am surprised how loud the guitar is for only being 1-12 and 40 watts. The sound is what drew me to this amp. Its pretty verstile for different setting. I don't think you can get a better amp $500.

No problems with it for reliability and I have dragged it around quite but already. Seems to be made like a brick and it is on the heavy side.

N/A

I have been playing for about 15 years. If it were stolen I would replace it right away but maybe with the stain/laquered maple hot rod deluxe with Jensen Speaker.

Laquer Tweed. Great looking. Other comments here tell you the specs/features of this amp quite nicely. For me features include a great ease of use. The footstwitch, channels, presence, allow you to change from raw cruching sound with sustain to a very clean almost accoustical sound out of my tele. You get three settings. Nice. It is also very loud. Of course, it should be miked in a really large setting. Also, it's easy to haul around, being about 45 lbs.

Country, rock, blues, folk. I generally use a custom VibroKing for my main amp. My experience with it so far tells me that this smaller amp can hold up its own. In many ways I like it better. I got it originally becuase the vibro-king is so heavy that you can wrench your arm out of the socket lifting it using that tiny handle. The hotrod didn't let me down because it's small. I played on the standard version (without the vintage jenson) at the guitar store. This is must better, more rich sounding. I'm very happy.

Fender has been good.

Forget it. Fender has a reputation for me of being difficult. Your dealer is your best resource if problems arrise.

I use a tele on it so far, but I can feel it in my bones that a strat or my Gipson would really sound great on it.