Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

2007
this suits my music style as i like to play blues and rock
this doesnt have as many effects as huge marshall stacks but it is much cheaper and sounds better it has 3 channels clean od and more od
the only feature i wish it had would be a propper solo boost as more od doesnt work in a loud enviroment but it doesnt matter otherwise i would of bought a different amp.

I use a Zakk Wylde Gibson Les Paul Aged with EMG pickups
this amp suits my music style as i play load as i want everyone to hear me
this amp is stupidly noisy ive never needed to put above 1 1/2 but have put it to 3 1/2 before scared my mate s@!$less
this amp is very good at making heavy metal and blue sounds
as long as ive had my amp ive never put it so load it distortes
i love the distortion as it suits the way i play

YES
NO

NEVER NEEDED IT!!! BUT MY GUITAR TEACHER WHO HAS THE SAME AMP PHONED THEM UP AND THEY WERE LEGEND

BEEN PLAYIN 5 YEARS MY DAD HAS A RECORDING STUDIO WITH ALL THE LATEST EQUIPMENTS SO ROCK ON!!!
DEFINATLEY GET IT AGAIN
LOVE THE WAY IT PLAYS AND LOOKS DONT HATE IT AT ALL
DIDNT HAVE TO COMPARE IT USED IT WITH MY GUITAR TEACHER FOR YEARS SO I WENT AND BOUGHT ONE
IVE GOT ALL THE STUFF I NEED

OH YE I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW HOW MANY OF THESE PEOPLE ACTUALLY OWN THIS AMP OR ARE THEY JUST MAKING IT LOOK BAD...
OH YE AND HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE EVER PUT IT TO 12

not sure of the year
this amp will do everything except heavy metal
2 channels with a more drive boost
i wish it had separate eq for each channel
i gig all the time with this amp plenty of pwer its a loud 40 watts
tube amp beautiful clean fender tone and with the right pickups the od screams

i use 2 guitars (mainly) epiphone les paul and a old strat with jeff beck noiseless pickups tele thin line for country gigs
it suits my jazz/blues style perfectly the od really works for me but it does not mask anything so you have to have your chops up
the amp gets a great jazz tone and the od does great texas blues classic rock and with the more drive it can get close to an eric johnson type tone
the clean will distort but i never play it loud enough for that it does the job fine on 3!
distortion needs tweaking but if you take your time it will pay off for you

yes if you change the tubes every 6 mo or so its very reliable
just tubes

na

been playing over 30 years
yes i would buy another one no doubt
i love the tone i don't (hate) anything about it but i would like eq for od as i stated earlier
this is a class amp it does take some tweaking but its really worth it and it will make you a better player as it sounds beautiful but you must relie on your hands as much as the od

Made in 2007 I believe. It is Sea Foam GREEN, and it is the only one of that color that I have seen. You can only get them thru Sam Ash Music....!!
The amp is quite versitile indeed. I play all styles except Grundge/Thrash....whatever it is called.
You know the specs as far as the channels, etc,. so lets skip all that part..........you should know that by now.
I Play night clubs in Honolulu and for me it is pretty much all I need. I love lots of clean headroom. The amp is only 40 watts rms, so you have to know that it is not going to be clean AND super loud. It just wont. For that kind of gig you drag in your Fender Twin Reverb. But for the general gigging INDOORS, this amp is fine.
Beautiful tone....gotta say.
Feature wise: it has all I need. I do not use the effects loop. It is a very straight forward type of amp......and that's a good thing.

I usually use my home built strat type of a guitar. Carvin bolt on neck (love them), Lace Transensor pups. Callaham vibrato bridge, Torres tone controls. I really like this axe.!
Amp sounds nice and full and round. Very Fenderey, and that is why I bought it! I usually have the amp on about 5 volume wise, as we get to playing a bit loudish.
I took out the Celestion speaker that came with the amp. It was a lower grade Celestion, by the way....not the Vintage 30. I DID put a Vintage 30 in the amp and used it a few times..........eh. I now have an Eminence Red Coat neodenium speaker in the amp---The Tonker Lite. It sounds just great and makes the amp about 7 or 8 pounds lighter to lug around. I think that it is a better sounding speaker FOR ME as it is rated at 125 watts and therefore maybe a cleaner way to go.
I replaced the V3 tube with an 12AT7 and that makes the volume now behave in a bit more linear fashion. (You wont get all the volume power at the volume setting of "3")
I do not utilize the overdrive channels.....YET.
I just did a mod on the amp: I heard that the tone is muddy at lower volumes, so I bought this kit that has you solder in a few capacitors onto the volume and the drive pots. Easy job. Cheap mod. Does it sound better? I don't know. Probably a bit better. I was happy with the sound from the factory, but now I can say the I have addressed this issue and took a bit of action. I bought a mod kit from a guy here in Hawaii. He sells the stuff on Ebay.
SPEAKING OF EBAY----------I bought Svetlana 6L6's form a Ebay seller; "SRS-Webstore". They sold me 2 6L6's, and one was bad! Glowed bright red after about 4 hours of use. It caused a fuse to blow on the amp. I contacted them and asked for a replacement. Even went so far as to dispute the purchase as SRS was not responsive to my requests for a replacment. (The amp WAS correctly biased.) Bottom line was I got screwed by them. They never stood behind their product. I would not buy anything from them again, ever. "SRS-Webstore". ******...
I will buy JJ tubes from Eurotubes in the future....they seem like very very helpfull guys.
I put in some JJ's and biased them but tures out these JJ's were rated a bit lower than the Eurotube JJ's. So, in the future, I will called them and buy their JJ's.
By the way, biasing this amp is a 5 minute job. The biasing pot is right behind the back panel. If you know what to do, it is a quick job.

This amp has not been wrung out yet so I can 't make a statement about it's reliability, other than what was noted earlier about using a bad tube......FROM "SRS Webstore"!!!!
I CAN say this: when I went to replace the speaker (which is a bit of an ordeal) I found that only 2 of the 4 speaker screws were secure! The other 2 screws were wayyyyy loose. That don't cut it, Mr. Mexican production-line guy!
Also, a very odd thing: when I would rock the amp back and forth slowly I would hear this faint "tink"......"tink" sound. (????)
I took a look inside the reverb tank (by the way, the tank bag was poorly constructed and a bit sloppy at one side of the bag) and found that a small metal pin that keeps the reverb "carraige" from bouncing all over the place, had fallen off, and was rolling around in the tank itself!!!
I removed that stray pin (about 3/4" long) and inserted a substitute pin of my own. I just threaded a skinny screw into where that pin was. After all, you do not want your reverb tank "carraige" to bounce too wildly around as I guess you can wear out the small springs that keep the carraige suspended. Odd ****........!!
Internally the amp is so so in it's construction and design. The pots and 1/4" jacks are all mounted (soldered) DIRECTLY onto a board, so if they need replacement it is a headache of sorts. As opposed to the pots/jacks being mounted on separate metal framework with flying leads going to their respective points. Tube sockets also are not the most robustly mounted........so just don't wiggle the hell out of them when you are switching out the glass bottles every so often. By the way, CLEAN your tube pin sockets...!! CLEAN'EM!
So, build quality is not GREAT, but remember this is a very afordable unit. It should last for years and years if properly kept.

I have called Fender a few times and to my delight I have gotten to speak with very cool and helpful guys.....

I have been playing for 35 years. I have a Twin 65 Reissue, a Super Reverb 65 Reissue, a Reverend Hellhound (GOOD!), a Fender Prosonic in Green lizzard, A Crate Power Block, a Roland Cube 60 (GOOD). I have tried Boogies (Great build quality) and a few Carrs. (Nice)
For the dollar spent this HRD is hard to beat. If stolen I would be bumming cuz as I said it is SEA FOAM Green. NOT the Foreest Green...SEA FOAM GREEN. Super looking! Good amp. Very lush and punchy when you need it to be!
If this were a 60 watt amp, it would be absolutely perfect for me. If I need more clean juice for the gig I am on, I take the Reverend Hellhound. If I need even more juice I take the Super Reverb or the Prosonic. If I need absolute JUICE I take the Fender 65 reissue Twin.

I bought this amp new in 2002.
I play classic/ hard rock and blues. Personally I think this amp is not suitable for anything but practicing at low volume.
3 channels, clean, drive, and more drive.It came with a footswitch which I never used because the only channel I could get a descent sound out of was the clean.
It is 40 watts which is plenty loud for playing with bass, drums in clubs.
I'll give this amp a good rating only here because it does have a lot of features, and it is loud.

I used this guitar with a Les Paul Standard, and a Fender Strat, both modified with vintage pickups.
I'm sorry but this is a lousy sounding amp. It doesn't have anything about it that should represent a Fender amp. With the volume above 3 it just sounds horrid. The reverb is okay, not very springy, but better than some other amps at the same price range. The drive channel on this thing is awful, and the extra drive channel is worse.
The only way to use this amp is with an overdrive pedal in front of it on the clean channel.
This amp has no head room so don't expect the chime of a vintage Fender amp cause it's not gonna happen.
The only way I could coax a descent sound out of this thing is at low volume, and to be honest,why buy a 40 watt amp if when it's turned up it sounds like garbage? I even changed the tubes to JJ's and put in a Weber speaker to see if it would make a difference, and it did, but my Peavey Delta Blues 210 30 watts smokes this amp.

It worked whenever I turned it on, so that should be a good thing. Sure wish it sounded good while it was on.

Never tried to contact Fender.

I've been playing for 25 years. I believe I have a great ear above all else, and this amp does't cut it.
I have a Crate Palomino V16 15 watt class A, a Peavey Delta Blues 210 30 watt amp, a Marshall JCM 800 212 50 watt amp, and a Marshall JCM 2000 TSL 100 head. All of which smoke this Fender, and I love vintage Fenders.
I hate everything about this amp and nothing about it.
I'm gonna give this overall rating a 5 because of the features, and the dependability. The sounds are just bad. Sorry Fender.

New last year, Mexico (don't worry--just as good as the identical US-made one I used to own) simple, useful feature set which doesn't need to be re-stated at this point---see other reviews. Just what you need, no silly and useless bells and whistles.

I swear by these amps, bought one when they first came out ('96), loved it, gigged it hard and never had a problem, either with my sound or breakdowns. Foolishly sold it after buying into stupid internet "music" (ie: gear queer) forum balderdash, and wasted money and time on a 4-year amp-o-rama which led right back to the Hot Rod. I tried Mesa, Peavey, Crate, Egnater (nice) SS, tube, digital, name it. All right, I still like some Marshalls, but the lowly HRD has NEVER failed to give me a terrific guitar sound, clean and drive, that sits right where it needs to in a band. I'm a 50-yr. old relic who remembers when EVERYONE had a damn Deluxe Reverb, only because they couldn't swing a new Marshall. Again, the blackface-meets-tweed circuit design on the HRD just sounds like heaven to me. I can turn knobs, use effect loops and drive channels just fine, and so I can get my sound FAST with this thing, and it sounds fat, creamy/bitey/driving AND with the right frequency presentation for electric guitar, a feat many other amps can't seem to match. For the asking price, 10. Guitars are an American Deluxe Fat Strat, and an Epiphone "66 Custom Shop" G-400 (SG) plus a couple others not really important. They all sound like they should.

First one was a horse, we'll see with #2. So far, great. 9.

I've actually gotten them on the phone, yes I freakin' have. They were helpful. Haven't needed them for this amp, or the last one. 8.

Playing since around '72, guitar, drums, cello, a little singing. Lots of bands and gigs and not done yet. Fender sells thousands of these because----they sound great w/gig-worthy power (mike it or get a Red Box if you need more) you can actually carry it, and they can be as versatile as you are. Don't believe the "harsh/muddy/blah-blah naysayers----trust me, most of these guys wouldn't sound good no matter what. If you can play, this gem won't let you down. Keep it on the road, bros!

Mine is a 2006. I play it at home only, I don't gig, and I keep it under an amp cover. It looks and sounds brand new and probably will for years. It's a very decent and reasonably priced amp, no matter what anybody says. I pretty much think this amp is my benchmark for all tube amps. There are much better ones out there, but I sorta think anybody who would pay $2000 for a tube amp is either a highly skilled working musician, or stupid, or a well paid professional.

It does tend to get dirtier with volume. Clean tones don't compare to my old Fender Twin, but this amp doesn't have nearly as much tendency to feedback. I would agree that it sometimes poses a problem to get the desirable tone at low volume, but that can be adjusted with the right effects.

The amp has a second channel for fatter and dirty tone - but I usually don't need it. Volume is more than adequate for any situation. If you're playing a giant venue and need more volume you should just mike it.

Reverb is ridiculous - a throwback to the old days. It's traditional almost to a fault.

I'm sure I would take it anywhere without a backup and probably will at some point.

don't know. I've never needed it.

I've played for many years, but never professionally. I would buy a used HRD like mine if it were stolen, or a Peavey Classic 30 or 50.

In fact, I'd possible buy a blues junior because I don't feel that I need an amp as big as the Hot Rod Deluxe. I have friends who gig at nice sized clubs with a Fender Blues Junior and it always sounds warm and has great tone.

I don't know what year this amp was made, possibly it was made in the future.
I play mostly Eygptian Ska , and Ukranian Peasant folk blues, and this amp handles both very well.
Mine has 14 channels because I use it with a Fulltone multi-channel warp dinesional multiplier.
Features wise I wish it had an internal holder for spare dilithium crystals.
I never really use the on switch, because I play the amp acoustically.
I use this amp mostly at our meth lab, and the power seems adequate.
I wish it had a dock for my Ipod so I could use it as a really loud speaker !

I am using a Vintage 1962 Strat that I recently routed out with a dremel tool , and intstalled two Epiphone Humbuckers into, also a B-bender, a Floyd Rose, and a Hipshot Nipple Tweaker.
Yes it suits my musical style as I stated previously.
As I mentioned earlier, I play the amp acoustically so I do not use the on switch, the amp is very quite
The sounds this amp can make are many, when dropped it sounds like splintering wood,if I hit it with the palm of my hand it makes a dull "thunk". The little glass bottles on the inside make a nice tinkle when removed and juggled together in your hands.
Playe accoustically this amp has little to know distortion even with everything on 10 ! !

This amp is vastly more dependable than my exwife and I always used her on a gig without a back-up

This amp has broken, but it has never broken down.What are tubes ?

During a seance at my house I was able to speak to Leo Fender directly, he was the one who suggested I play the amp acoustically he also said we should not buy anything that was not made in the USA because it is crap !

I have been playing since before I was born.If this amp was stolen I would track that little monkey-face down and set fire to his gonads,and watch while he danced to my music.

My HRD is from the early years of production. It is American made. Same features as all the others... Has all you need, clean, drive, drive-boost and decent spring reverb.

Ok here is why I posted a review!!!! This is a $600 40W tube amp!!!! Not a $1200 boutique tube amp... It is surprisingly loud for a 40w combo!!!! Playing with a complete band is not a problem with this amp!!!!

Now here is the thing with these amps!!! You have to CRANK them!!!! It sound great at higher volume=!!!! Do not forget that you have a volume knob on your guitar!!!! Try to use it to see what are the different tones you can achieve!!!

My set-up is an 1978 Les Paul Pro Deluxe with on P-90 pick-up at the neck position and a Dimarzio Humbucker at the bridge position (By the way I love my guitar!!!). I am ALWAYS on the more-drive channel. My HRD in handling both pick-ups very well!!! In practice mode or in live mode I am on the more-drive channel!!! The drive pot is around 4.5, the master volume pot is at 4.5 (or higher!!!!) and the more drive is always on!!!! If I need clean tones I lower the volume on my guitar!!! GREAT CLEAN TONE!!! If I need a little grind I give a little more volume on my guitar!!! If I need good modern tones or heavier rock tones I put my guitar volume to max!!!! It is that easy!!! Try it!!! It worth it!!!!

With this kind of set-up I can reach all the tones I want!!! If I play in larger venue I add a 2x12" speaker cabinet to my HRD. With this set-up, man, I get a little more bottom and it is as loud as a 100W Marshall!!! (almost!!!!)

Not to mention any type of chorus, delay, etc... sound great in the HRD!!!!

So my conclusion is do not be affraid to crank your HRD and please do not forget that you have a volume knob on your guitar!!!!! :)

Never had any problem since I own my HRD... 15 years!!!!

Never used it!!!! But I founded a lot of info over the net!!!!

My overall rating is 9. I don't think you can get a better deal for a good sounding 40W tube amp combo!!!! You can get one used for around $450!!! The Peavey Classic amps as well as the Traynor amps are copies of Fender amps!!!! Don't forget this!!! I did try those amps (peavey and traynor) but I kept my fender. I am not saying that the Peavey and the Traynor sounded crappy but... :)

One last thing!! The HRD is the entry level tube amp at Fender!!! Don't expect the HRD to sound as great as a 1977' Super Reverb!!!

Bought this Hot Rod Fender Deluxe back in 2002 - 40W tube power, 12" Speaker, 3 Channels (2 + Boost), Reverb, Presence, EFX loop, External Speaker Jack, 2-button footswitch, PreAmp Out, PreAmp In, 3-12AX7A Tubes & 2- 6L6 Tubes, 45 lbs, this amp is heavy for its size. I added 14" tilt back legs-nice, all the features I need.

This was my first tube amp, after owning only solid state amps for over 10 years. I really love the tone I get from this amp, should have went with tubes much sooner. I play hard rock & blues styles, as mentioned in other reviews the drive on this is not for metal, but I don't use the drive channel anyway, I start with a great clean sound then use my effects processer for (color) distortions, chorus', delays, I do use the reverb & presence (classic Fender). When I play my Strat thru this amp I get beautiful chimmy ringing, punchy, clean tones, I'm not really into single coils but this combination is awesome. When I want to shred I use my custom (Ibanez inspired) guitar with Seymour Ducans, switch to the neck position (Hot Rails) and this amp sings. One thing I don't like about this Amp is the volume pot. It can be a bitch to dial in a low practice level, all the volume control is between 1 & 3, at 3 this amp is screaming. This Amp can get muddy, but with some tweaking (scoop out the mid) it's controllable. All in all I love the sound of this amp.

After owning this Amp for about 2 1/2 years, it went out on me, It was still under warranty so I took it to the Authorized Fender Repair Center and things went down hill from there. The place was a computer repair facility. They had my amp for 2 months when I got it back it sounded horrible, I asked them if they plugged a guitar into it, they said no they used a sound scope (what a joke!), Then they told me I needed to change out the tubes I had put in it before bringing it to them, no improvement, so I had someone else repair it on my own dime (resistor). I have had no problems at all sense & this has been 2 1/2 - 3 years ago.

After going thru all the crap with the Authorized Fender Repair Center, I wrote Fender a nasty gram. A couple weeks later I got a phone call FROM FENDER - I couldn't believe it, the guy told me he had a check in hand to reimburse my expenses, said sorry for my troubles & thanks for the letter, they would be evaluating the repair center. I give the repair center a 1 and Fender a 9 for making it right. Fender should be more aware of who they qualify as an Authorized Fender Repair Center. Two months without my Amp #@%!*.

I've been playing for over 20 years, currently own a Fender 50th anniversary American Strat, Custom 24 fret w/ Seymour Ducans & floyd (main guitar), 12 string acoustic, Ibanez bass, waiting on a Carvin Carved Top being built now -can't wait, Zoom GFX8, Ibanez Weeping Demon, Crybaby Wah, 4 track & other stuff. If it were stolen I would buy another one. Other than the volume control & the warranty work hassle I have really enjoyed this Amp. Great tone, beautiful cleans, searing leads, classic Fender reverb.

2 channel, 40W, 1x12 tube combo; 3x12AX7 (pre) and 2x6L6 (output) tubes; volume, normal/bright switch on the clean channel; drive/more drive switch, drive and master volume on the drive channel; channels share a standard three band EQ and presence; reverb; FX loop; special design Eminence speaker. Nothing out of the ordinary but it has everything I need.

This amp is a great companion for my Telecaster. There's plenty of low end to round out the guitar's spankier tone. With a Tele, the clean channel has a very well balanced voice that cuts nicely through in a loud band. I often find the others asking me to turn down. In that case, the bright switch is very useful, as it allows me to stand out without overpowering other instruments. The drive channel has a wooly character to it. Great for strumming at lower drive settings and fuzzy leads when "more drive" is engaged. However, I need to use a pedal if I want a more "British", crunchy tone. Good thing that the Deluxe handles pedals so well. My Boss OD-3 sounds like boutique overdrive through this amp at just about any setting. The reverb is way over the top but it sounds nice as long as you don't turn it up past 2 on the dial.

Too early to tell...

I hear that Fender's pretty good at this but I never had to deal with them myself.

I bought this amp to replace a solid state Fender I've been using for the past couple of years. It was a tough decision, I tried about 9-10 amplifiers before settling for this one and I'm satisfied with my choice.