Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

2005 green tolex/Celestion V30 model; apart from that it is exactly the same and has the same features as the standard HRD which have been listed previously. Has everything needed for an amp of this class, isn't particularly heavy and is a decent, robust gigging amp.

I use several US Strats, a P90 Tele and a Parker Mojo. Out of the box the sound was loud, curiously sterile and lacked that Fender "sparkle" but I figured a few months of breaking in the V30 and letting the amp settle in would clean it up.

Six months later it was still the same, so I pulled the standard Eminence speaker from my Blues Junior and swapped them over. That got the classic chimey sound back again, but it still wasn't great. (The V30 went in the BJ and it was a perfect match for the EL84s.) I have lots of tubes here so I spent a few days swapping the preamp and power amp tubes, checking out different brands and types and trying a wide range of bias settings. I ended up choosing a full set of JJs (pre and power), biased around 65mA and that came closest to that warm, bright edged, chimey Fender sound. (Higher bias settings gave a warmer sound but cut the tonal spread.)

Still left a couple of problems - the reverb has a dreadful metallic "ring" if used over 4 and the master volume was very touchy, giving large increases in volume for small movements. A reading of Justin Holton's HRD site showed how to remove the treble bypass resistors from the circuit; that removed the metallic ringing and it now sounds like my Deluxe Reverb RI. I also replaced the linear master volume pot with the R-VHD-250KA audio taper pot as described in Justin's mods, which made it a lot more controllable.

So, better but still not brilliant. At this point I tried a set of THD Yellow Jackets for a bit of fun. Nice sound and it is worth keeping a set in your kit, but they break o too early and it is an EL84 sound after all. I asked Bob at Eurotubes about putting in JJ 6V6s, bought a set, replaced the screen resistors with 1.5KOhm parts and rebiased it to about 35mA. (A 6V6 normally operates around 21mV per tube. Setting the HRD bias pot to near the maximum setting takes it to around 18mV per tube or around 35mA at the test point.)

The result is fantastic. It has the same chimey, warm clean as the DRRI and now the (formerly) useless drive and more drive channels have that classic warm OD that is blues heaven. It is also still loud enough for gigging though it would be running around the 20-25w mark with the 6V6s. I use a Boss OD1 and a ProCo Rat for an OD pedal and I also have a Boss ME50 for effects, but since the change I haven't bothered with the pedals for OD. I use the Drive knob set on between 4 and 7 depending on the situation and it just sings. The last change was to wire in a THD Hot Plate, hard mounted on the back of the amp so depending on the size of the venue you can just lean over and dial in enough attenuation to keep the volume to bearable levels while the tubes are nice and saturated. The HRD is a seriously loud amp for a small combo, and I've owned Peavey Maces, Twin Reverbs and other monsters.

So, if you have a standard HRD you already have the Eminence speaker and the remaining parts (2 screen resistors and an audio taper pot) cost about $5 and it takes about an hour all up to do the mods. If you are careful you can replace the screen resistors with the board in situ rather than taking the amp apart. The amp unit has to be removed from the cabinet of course.

I have quite a few speakers here as well and I must admit I end up putting the standard Fender Eminence back in each time. It seems to work the best with the HRD. I also use an external 4x10 Celestion cab at times.

The HRD circuits appear to be well made and with decent parts so it should be reliable enough, plus it is one of the most common amps on earth so most competent techies would be able to repair it. The manual contains a full circuit diagram too. I've had a lot of Fender gear over the years and it has been very reliable.

12 month warranty to the original owner in Australia. Have never had to use a Fender warranty so I don't know how it would work out.

Been playing blues, R&B, swing/jazz and 60's pop for around 40 years. I have owned lots of amps from garbage to boutique and with the mods this is up in the top few; it is like a good DRRI but with a bit more presence. There are lots of them for sale used and they go cheap; the same mods can be done on the DeVilles too if you want a different speaker combo.

Fender wouldn't have sold so many HRDs if they weren't a decent amp.

I've had 2 of these, both were bought used. The amp is fine for what I do, which is indie rock. It has 2 channels, clean and overdrive with the option of more drive. I haven't actually used the drive channel in a while because I prefer pedals. It also has built in reverb which sounds great. I prefer the built in reverb over my Line 6 Verbzilla. I use this for gigging and have never had to turn the volume past 4 and it goes to 12.

I have an American tele, a 72 reissue tele and a epiphone dot and i usually have them set to the neck position to get a good ful sound.

I bought both of mine used so that was probably my problem. The first one I had came with a different speaker, I don't remember what kind, but it needed to be replaced but it got stolen before I could do that.

The second I bought from Guitar Center used and paid for the extra warranty which was good because the amp suddenly after 5 months of use started to distort and drop in volume. I took it to guitar center, they thought it was a tube, we replace it and it wasn't. They gave me a number to get it repared and I called the place and a week later they sent me a check for the amp and I still have they amp. I plan on trying to get it repaired. It wasn't the tubes, it wasn't the speaker, so I don't know what the problem is yet.

I think I've just had bad luck with these.

The Guitar Center warranty was worth it this time and it lasts a year.

I've been playing for 6 years.

I just bought a 70s Fender Musicmaster Bass Amp for guitar and have a small Marshall solid state that got wet and doesn't work anymore.

I'm currently borrowing a friend's Deville and I'm kinda bored with the Hod Rod's. I might stick with Fender because I love the clean, but kinda want to try something new.

I love the clean, the reverb and the tube.

I wish it came with casters because it's freakin' heavy.

built in 1996 American made... added hemp coned speaker and jj power and pre amp tubes which helps tone very much.

Was able to work some good tones after months of using

used the amp for about four years and then went down hill from there.. During a gig lost power and began to smoke out the amp.. along with non stop fuse blowing. Purchased a deville and same issues only much sooner.. Beginning to get very annoyed.. so all in all nothing but problems.. I would never again rely on and new made fender amps period.......

I play a range of styles, from blues and jazz right up to heavier experimental rock. This amp can cover most of these bases and the ones in between. The controls are responsive and very useable. The amps effects loop does its job well and the addition of a second channel is, whilst not normally needed, very useful. I have owned this amp for 3 months its already come in handy when teaching. 2 channels, clean and drive, treble mid and bass controls. The 'more drive' button can be very useful! I mainly use it, when i'm not in the studio or teaching, live with a PA, so its normally got an SM58 in front of it. The only thing that lets it down is that , as with all fender amps, completely unuseable as soon as the volume goes over 3, unless your playing for glastonbury main stage where you can probably get away with leaving it on 8. Its got 12 as its max volume setting, this is insane!

Clean channel - YOU WILL NOT FIND A BETTER CLEAN SOUND THAN THIS ON ANY OTHER MAKE OF AMP. Fender are renound for an amazing clean sound and this amp does not disapoint. I play an American Fender strat, and when i'm feeling a bit more rocky a Gibson Les Paul BFG, and on the clean channel this amp has more tone than any other. I compared it with the deville, same sound but ??200 more! and the twin reverb. Again a very good clean sound but for the price i could not see a noticeble difference! Its better, but not by ??700! this amp has its own unique tone which just sings. The controls alter the sound to what you want, without destroying the tone either. 10 for this side of the amp.

Drive channel - A good sound. The more drive button kicks it up a gear and adds a but more, it is not a boost tho, i used to try and use it to big up my solo's but it just made the sound a but muddier! Is good for that blues sound, has a great tone, but in the end i get my distortion sound from a Fulltone, so i prefer that! Non the less, when i play at my church, i often just take my strat, a wah and this amp and i'm laughing. Can get all the variety i need out of it. It scores an 8 on the drive channel for not being the best, not being overly versatile and for the sound getting a little bit muddy when you push the drive up. But non the less a very good and useable sound.

I used to play an old marshall valve but played this and took it. So much more versatile. Tried it in comparison to a vox ac30, and a marshall vintage modern combo. I went for this.

overall, this amp rocks! my chain is american strat, morely pro volume, vox wah, fulltone GT500, boss OD-3, MXR phaser, small clone, TC Nova delay, fender hot rod. For my clean stuff i just use the amp. Not other pedals, just the amp. Says alot about it. Its enough on its own. Brilliant amp.

never had any problem with fender stuff. built like a brick, wheigh's it too!

never contacted, have heard good things though!

i no longer have any other amp, and i dont fel i need it. I have found my sound and it comes from this amp. Very versatile, easy to use, some crazy rocking tone, some bluesy stuff and the best clean sound that you'll ever hear. Its not the perfect amp, but for the price it might aswell be. I paid ??500 for it and would well have paid more. Highly recomended.

I bought this amp purely for clean sounds as I am A / B ing it with a Marshall DSL 100 for the crunch sounds. It has just enough power for backline before it starts to break up. All I needed feature wise were the Fender reverb which is awesome and basic tone control. Yeah it fits the bill.

Everyone knows that Fender overdrive is crap but as stated I didnt want it for that. The clean sound is gorgeous. Although we mic up the backline so it doesnt have to work too hard, it has just enoguh headroom without distorting. The clean sound rings like a bell, especially with my strat and Yamaha elctric 12 string. The perfect clean sparkle methinks !!

No problems at all.

Not needed !

For clean sounds only its perfect, for versatility it will not do it all so you would look elsewhere. For what I wanted its perfect. Only paid ??350 2nd hand and would get another if it got nicked !!

Let's see...features...well, it won't sneak up and kill you when you're sleeping-so that's about the only GOOD feature I can find with this terrible sounding POS.

Go ahead and look through these reviews. Guys who have experience with GOOD tube amps rate the HRD as mediocre. With good reason! This amp is a total poser. First off it's not a Fender sounding amp. The design is meant to replicate a "hot rodded" fender amp. I've owned a few hot rodded Fenders in my day and they were okay. This new HRD is a total piece of garbage compared to them-sound wise. In fact it's a loser compared to any of the new reissue "blues" amps of the same wattage-specifically the Blues Deluxe.
I actually bought the HRD amp for $500 on a "great deal" sale at Sam Ash. The price sort of blinded (or deafened) me a bit and I paid for her and took her home. For the next week I struggled and strained to get it to sound decent but no matter what I did, it would not seem to co operate with me or my guitars. Not only would it fail to deliver a Fender tone, it didn't deliver a useable tone and ran out of road at about 3 on the dial in the clean mode. Drive and more drive should be labeled "BAD" and "WORSE." My Barber pedals couldn't make the clean channel sound reasonably good. It's very VERY hard to get a Barber pedal to sound bad, mind you, but the HRD excelled at producing a terrible sound with my Barber collection. I was floored and kicked myself for being suckered by a low-ball price tag. You can't polish a turd and make it anything other than a shiny TURD. So I brought it back and did a little re-negotiating for a Blues Deluxe amp, which is a completely different amp than its Hot Rod cousin. In fact, it's very reminiscent of the old Fenders in appearance and tone. I paid another 140 for the Blues Deluxe and it's worth every cent. The entire HOT ROD line of Fender amps just leave me cold for the styles I play-country, rockabilly, rock and hard rock. I use Teles and Les Paul guitars.

Playing for over 40 years. Any time you read reviews that feature owners telling you how they modified their amp to get the tone they were looking for...BEWARE! If you can't buy a decent sounding amp for 400-600 bucks that rings your bell in the stock condition then save your money and pay the 800 to 1000 that's required. Don't ever buy an amp that you don't like and think you will MODIFY it into an amp that you will like. Been there, tried that, got the shitty amp and empty wallet to show for it. I took the HRD back, paid some more cash and bought an amp that I love. I'm way too old to get fooled but I ALMOST swallowed the hook to save some dough-a bad idea. Hot Rod Fenders just suck, period. That's my opinion. I wouldn't ever consider owning another Hot Rod.

LtdEd HRDLx, blonde tolex/wheat grille. Bought second-hand. Great versatility. Used to play quick, punchy, quirky, hurky-jerky indie-rock. Two channels, but I never use the built-in distortion channel (WEAK drive/distortion). The EFFECTS LOOP is this amp's saviour. If you use this amp and don't have a volume box - GET ONE immediately! This amp is insanely loud to push the tubes and get it to break up without making your ears bleed. Seriously, build a volume box - it costs $10. I rarely use stompboxes because the natural break-up is so nice. I nearly gave up on this amp before I tried running a volume box through the effects loop. Now I won't EVER get rid of it and I won't EVER play without a volume box. DIY - it's easy. Here's a link: http://www.fortunecity.com/marina/newland/2081/id3.htm

Played with a Jazzmaster/AVRI pickups. Awesome tone with volume box (again with the volume box). This amp alone is LOUD. VERY LOUD. "WHAT?!?!" Everything cranked and a volume box acting as a master volume really pushes this amp into a nice, natural distortion. I rarely use my stompboxes anymore... The second channel distortion is really thin and whimpy. It rarely gets used.

Mine has been pretty reliable. Sure, I would gig without a backup. I've heard that they can break down, but I've yet to experience that.

Blah, blah, blah. I'm a guy who's played guitar (bedroom and band) for about 15 years, but don't consider myself a "pro" by any stretch. I'm your typical guy on the street - except for the fact that I'm not pretending to be pro. Hahahaha... the main reason I'm writing this is because I wasn't overly satisfied with this amp and was planning to trade/sell it in order to get a Blues Junior. I found the link I provided above and decided to give building and using a volume box a shot. I'd never soldered anything in my life, but I thought I'd try. I ordered all the parts from SmallBear - it cost less than $10, made it up, tried it and fell IN LOVE with my amp. The breakup is so nice, I rarely use my OD pedals (honest). Trust me. Try it.

Bought mine in December 2007.

40w all-tube amp with overdrive channel (gain and "more gain") and reverb. Nice to have both of those on-board the amp. "More gain" setting, however, seemed so over the top as to be unusable.

As has been oft-said, the volume pot goes from nothing to hellaloud in no time, giving the impression in the shop that this amp could fill a stadium. But it can't: read below in the Sound Quality section.

Using it with a Fat Strat and Les Paul, playing a variety of rock cover songs, plus some driving blues.

Having started with a Fender Blues Jr, I felt that the HR Deluxe was its big brother and a logical step up in power for small gigs. This, to some extent, is true. At low volumes (<3) on the clean channel, the amp manages a deep and rich tone, though too bassy. Getting close to 3 on the volume, the natural break-up starts to happen, which is nice if you're playing alone in a big room, jamming some blues.

The problem with this amp - and the reason why ultimately I had to trade up -- is that for all it's loudness and power, it has very low headroom, so that even in practice situations it was impossible to stay clean. Yet it wasn't dirty enough for rock overdrive, yet adding an OD pedal in front at these volumes results in a flabby mess. Even for smallish gigs, therefore you'd probably want to mic it so that you could keep the volume knob as low as possible.

The gain channels I simply gave up on because they are just to flabby and "farty" sounding at anything above 2.

In my opinion, the Blue Jr remains a better amp and is more easily controllable.

So far, so good -- but has been relatively lightly used.

N/A

Been playing for about 4 years. When people say that acquiring guitar gear is a "journey" rather than a destination, they are describing my feelings about the Fender HRD. I don't regret getting it as my "next amp" after my Blues Jr for my first few gigs, but as your playing gets better you become more discriminating in your desire for a nice, controllable amp with good cleans (even if you play dirty). I think, to be fair, the price of the HRD is too low for anyone to expect the stars of it.

Incidentally, I am now trying my luck with a Fender Super-Sonic head and 2x12 cab. That should give me some headroom.

amp was bought new in 2007, so it was made in 06 or 07. you can get a decent clean sound from this amp on the lower volumes but the volume knob is very sensitive and any small adjustment can increase the volume quite a bit. When the amp is opened up it sounded good but a better speaker and tubes could do wonders. The drive settings I found too harsh. More then enough power with 40 watts powering a 12 inch speaker. Loaded with plenty of features and easy to use. A vibrato unit would be nice but would drive up the cost and i don't know if there is room in the amp for one.

It can cover a wide range of rock and blues sounds but i found that it didn't really do any of them all that well. the amp distorts early so anyone who wants a clean amp sould look elsewhere. If you want a dirty amp that you can tailor to your sounds, (ie. speaker replacement or mods and tube swaps) it is a good starter amp. As far as the pickups go, it likes single coil and humbuckers fine. Overall not a bad sound for the price range but lacks the kind of tone and build quality handmade amps have.

can't say as i only owned it for a year and just sold it because i bought another amp more to my liking.

why bother trying, if you need it fixed see your local tech.

I've been playing for 14 years and i've owned a 70's twin, peavey classic 30 and am now playing a early 70's all tube Garnet deputy I amp head into a 4x12 Marshall cab. I ended up selling this amp because it didn't give me the Fender kind of clean I was looking for. It did have some nice natural powertube saturation, from about 6 to about 9 i found it was at it's best but it is really loud.

I'll never buy this amp again seeing as i've already moved on to other amps. Again this is not a bad amp, it's just not that great either. Some changes or mods could bring it alive but for me it wasn't worth the expense.

Amp was purchased in 2006.

I play a fender stratocaster. I swapped out the single coil pickups and put in some humbuckers.

I purchased the amp for it's clean sound figuring I could get any distortion I needed from pedals. I gigged in a classic rock band for the last two years with this amp and although have been playing most of my life am fairly new to playing rock in clubs.

As far as power I am shocked at what it can do. I have played outdoors several times without miking the amps and this baby was more than loud enough. Played on volume setting 4-5. I am not sure why guys mess with stacks when a small amp like this is more than enough. Indoors / small clubs it will always have more than enough volume.

Although this amp was louder than #%$ for its size. The tubes would breakup up fairly soon on around volumes 3+. Some guys buy tube amps for just this sound. I personally dont like it. When the band is playing a slow mellow tune outside or at loud volume I want clean. The problem I found out was that the factory preamp tubes are very high output. This also explains the reason the overdrive channel is so over the top and dirty.

Heres what I did as recommended by the good folks at thetubestore.com:

"Changed the V3 12ax7 pre-amp tube to a 12avt7 to smooth out the od
channel clean this amp up I strongly suggest you try 12AT7 tubes in the V1 and V3 positions, and a 5751 in the V2 position. These tubes are 100% compatible with 12AX7's but have less output and therefore can not overdrive as easily as regular 12AX7 tubes do."


Worked like a charm. Clean at higher volumes with no tube breakup and the best part is that the overdrive channel is now much smoother. With the drive set on about 6 this baby sounds more like a Ibanez tube screamer. You get some nice texture instead of a nasty buzzing brutal overdrive that comes factory.

Another problem with this amp is the volume control. The volume control tapers way too fast and was done so that on the showroom floor the amp would appear to have loads of power even on settings 1 and 2. Hard to practice in the house with at low volumes. I replace the 100k volume pot woth a 250k and now it tapers very slowly. You have to get it up to around 4 before you get any real volume out of it and thats nice for guys that like more control over volume or in smaller settings.

The amp has been criticized for being a but muddy . I did the midrange control modification which is soldering a jumper between the left and middle terminals of the mid control. You can see it and many other mods here:

http://studentweb.eku.edu/justin_holton/jvmods.html

Sounds much better and less bassy.

I also did the reverb modication which is clipping Resistor R103 which rounds out the reverb somewhat.


The amp now has exactly the sound I was looking for. Believe it or not I now play rhythm using the overdrive channel set at lower levels. With the new tubes it sounds great.

Very reliable amp.

Input jacks of course went out but had them replace with some higher quality jacks. Safety regulations require Fender to use plastic jacks because of the way the jacks ground to the chassis. So plan on replacing these within the first 6 months with some higher quality jacks. Not a big deal.

I buy important pieces of equipment from the local dealer. They will replace anything that is defective. I am a huge fan of buying on the internet but want local service on electronics and music equipment. If you develop a relationship with them they will be more likely to give you a loaner when yours breaks down.

Been playing for around 30 years.

If this was ripped off I would replace or upgrade to the Hot Rod Deville. I think the four ten inch speakers in the Deville are a definite plus when it comes to delivering some great tone.

I chose this amp based on the reviews here. I usually dont mess with reviews but thought I might take the time to give back a little by submitting my own review.