Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

All the specs for the amp have been previously listed. It had everything I wanted in a Fender amp.

I use this amp with my Fender Mexican Telecaster. The clean channel is very bright and sounds amazing. The overdrive channel gives a good dirty sound, and I don't understand why so many posts complain about it. The amp is noise free, just a little hum while it's idleing, but I had an Ultimate Chorus before this and that hummed like crazy. No worries about this aspect though. It's only noticable in a COMPLETELY silent room. I don't think it's overpowering for a bedroom amp, it sounds really good at low levels. The reverb is just fine. Don't listen to the other posts. It's super quiet even on 12. I love this amp and I hope to own it forever for just practicing quietly and loudly at home.

Fender has a 5 year warrently and I don't expect to have any problems.

I love all aspects of the amp, I probably won't use the extra drive switch too much, and it is a little hard to get the volume levels of the two channels to match up when switching, but those are my only two MINOR gripes. Go buy it!

This section has been more than covered by previous posts

I use this amp with stratocasters an american standard and a road house(texas specials) I use a TS-9 (808 mod) for overdrive. I have been quite happy with this amp. as every other post has said the clean channel is God like..perfect. Yet most people have an issue with the drive/moredrive channel. I would agree that getting a smooth good sounding OD WAS dificult...unitil... I replaced the Eminence/Fender stock with a Celestion Vintage 30. IF YOU OWN THIS AMP YOU MUST DO THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can not believe the difference this has made. The Drive/More Drive is now thick rich fat and full! I have owned many different amps in the 20 years I have been playing. I have never been this satisfied with my tone.

Fender has developed a winner! Back up???? I think I will get another Just in case fender feels the itch to modify later models. I don't know what I would do without it.

I have been through just about every type of gear out there. 2101 stereo rack systems, marshall heads, matchless combo. This thing is incredible for the money. There are quite a few "high end" amp companies that should feel ashamed of themselves after listening to this inexpensive combo.

I use this amp for rock, hard rock, blues, rhythm and lead and fingerpicking. If I played more country or jazz, it would serve just as well. The clean channel is everything I wanted.. I can get a smooth acoustic type sound, and a strong clean electric rhythm, as well as lead sounds. I like the overdrive channel a lot. It's not a metal sound.. it's great for blues rock... light to aggressive. You can switch from clean to drive to more drive at the footswitch. The more drive is ok, but it's set too loud... a control for the more drive master volume would be perfect. If you had control over the more drive master volume you could switch from clean to more drive or from drive to more drive with the amount of boost you want.. not some absurd huge leap which is what it has. It has an effects loop, but I never use it. I wish the reverb had a better master control. It's ok reverb, but there's nothing over three except big sproingy stuff. It does have a bit of high end on it, too, but that doesn't bother me much. I play this in the house... big room... often have the stereo cranked loud.. I rarely get over three on the clean channel, and not that loud on the drive vol. I have cranked it right up and it just gets better. Fuller, richer, the clean channel starts to sparkle, the drive starts to really exhibit tube touch characteristics in spades. Neat! This amp has enough power for any stage application save arenas or the like.... and it has enough outfront volume for any small to medium lounge or honky tonks gigs. I'd take this on the road anytime. I could see a country player being real happy with this amp. As much as a blues or rock guy. And it has a nice bottom end... so I think a jazz player could find some nice tones in here without any problem. But if I had to call it something, I'd call it a blues amp... I've had mine about three months.... I went over it with a close eye to detail.. I couldn't even find a screw head not straight, or a loose tolex piece, or a rough edge etc. Excellent craftsmanship throughout. I'm really happy with the amp. It's light. It's loud. It's tube. It's fender. I love the controls... they are mostly for stage use.. it's pretty hard to get it down to apt. volume.. but it can be done.

I'm using an epiphone sheraton II with twin humbucks exclusively. I'd love to add a tele! This is a quiet amp unless you're really asking a lot of it... and I don't think it's any noisier than most tube amps would be on twelve. I can overdrive the clean ch.with the neck humbuck pretty easily... back off a bit on the guitar vol. and it pretties right up. I love the tonal range on this thing... I see some others have said the differences between the clean and drive tones is problematical .. but I don't have any complaints. I expected a nice clean fender sound, and a good drive sound with nice reverb. The clean was as good as I could have asked for, the drive was way better than I hoped, and the reverb is useable--better than OK, if not great. The more drive is really nasty when cranked..... gravelly, not sandy, and sustains like crazy.. but it's also kinda noisy... noise gate the more drive and you've got something you can use. I like it, but I'd love it with a master vol. I can get smooth santana type sounds.. early clapton... chime right in with george and john... all within the limits of humbucks, of course, it's pretty as hell fingerpicked... I jam with a lot of classic blues stuff, and classic rock stuff, and country rock stuff, and I like to fingerpick accompaniement and solo stuff.. this amp handles all this stuff. It's a stuff master.

No problems in three months of daily use. Quite a few hours cranked really loud... 5 to 7 vol. control. I probably have averaged three hours a day since I got it. Nothing strange has happened at all. I hear these amps run through tubes... I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Sorry.. can't help here..5 year warranty on all but the tubes. I can't see anyone ever using the warranty on this. I'm going to give it an 8 rating... based on how impressed I am with how solid and well done it is.

I've been playing since 1965. I've owned scads of gear. If this amp were stolen or lost.. I would either get the Hot Rod Deville 4 X 10 model.. or this one. I would be tempted to go Carvin, by the way... if the circumstances were right.. they have some great tube amps there in their tween series. more tubes. much better reverb.. and price competitive, too. I love the look of the thing... the rear control panel, the chrome, the chicken heads... but mostly I love the sound, the way it operates comes in second, even with it's failings, because the tone controls have a wide range, the drive is better than I expected. I hate not having a vol. control on the more drive. I dislike the reverb circuit. I shopped mail order....(musicians friend) I was prepared to go with a Roland Blues Cube, but I decided to try less power, fewer speakers and TUBES and I'm glad I did. If Fender redid just the reverb circuit... they'd sell more of these. If they put in a second master vol. for the more drive... they'd have damn near a perfect amp. I don't think an amp should be expected to go from great clean country or jazz to rock hard rock and metal.. while still being able to play some mellow blues, or some bright R&B..just like I don't expect a jeep to ride great on the highway or rip at the drags... I don't expect a cadillac to corner like a vette. But I think this one comes close... it's a lot of damn amp in a small package.. someone else said it sounded like a little twin.. I think that's a good description. I plan on building a matching cabinet for one more twelve..and I think I'm going to go with a fender speaker, too. If fender had a nice matching one twelve cab for this, I bet they'd sell them right away. read all the reviews on this here you can... I read them before I bought and they were -averaged out- right on the money. I'm mostly adding this just to give fender a congrats.. I think it's a fine amp.

No need to repeat

This is the best clean channel I have ever heard. That is exactly why I purchased the amp. I use a Digitech GSP2101 Studio Tube preamp/processor, so an amazing clean channel is all I want. It is so sweet, quiet and LOUD it is unbelievable for the price. I will not go into detail about the drive and more drive settings(I don't care because my processor does a superb job), because they both suck and I will never use them. They sound like your amp is inside cardboard box. Pity the footswitch is included in the price; I'll never use it. I'm giving this category a 10 for the clean channel and 0 for the drive channels;they are unusable for rock, blues, metal, or anything else.

Just got the amp, so I can't comment.

Never dealt with them. Hope I never will.

IMHO, If you want a small mid-priced tube amp that wont break your back or your wallet, run to your local store and buy this amp. If your worrying about the dirty channel, don't. Buy a good quality distortion pedal or processor with the sound YOU LIKE, run it through the clean channel, and, you will hear the best bottomy sound you could imagine in such a small amp. My processor, running through imput 1 on the clean channnel produces the sweetest distortion I have ever heard. I also own a Marshall JCM 900 100 watt combo, and the distortion on this will not touch the GSP2101+deluxe setup. I used to be a Marshall man. I still like Marshall distortion, but the clean channel on my Marshall sucks. The 40watt Fender also sounds LOUDER than the 100watt Marshall! My personal opinion on getting great tone: always make a good clean channel the basis of your tone, and work from there. Since distortion is subject to personal taste, find a pedal(s), or processor that you like the sound of. Unless, of course, you can find one amp with the perfect clean and dirty channel. Good luck! A few may come close, but I have never found one. I you didn't already guess, I love this amp. Strats, Les Pauls, Jacksons, they all sound great through this amp. When I have the cash, I'll buy another one as a backup, or to run my rig in stereo.

Already described in detail, great amp for the money. The master volume control on the gain channel is too sensitive, making it difficult to easily match the volumes between the two channels--generally the gain channel is way too loud versus the clean channel. Also, the reverb is pretty useless past 4.

I use a Standard Tele and a Strat with Dimarzio Virtual Vintage single coils and a Duncan JB bucker in the bridge. Mostly blues, classic rock. The clean channel of this amp is worth the cost alone, and I find the dirty channels to be decent as well except as noted above. Tube Screamer really makes the dirty channel sing. The clean does start to break up above 4. One important note--I had problems with real annoying microphonics in the Groove Tubes which came with the first two of these amps I tried, ruining the clean channel tone. (Fender started shipping all of their Tube amps with Groove Tubes 1/1/98, a supposed improvement). One of them actually smoked and burned with minimal encouragement. I finally found a new (late 97) Deluxe with the old Fender/Sovtek tubes and love the amp. SO--the jury's still out as far as I'm concerned on the Groove Tubes, and keep in mind that most of these glowing reviews come from people with the pre-98 tube arrangement. For what it's worth...

See comments on tube problems above for amps shipped since 1/1/98... Have a good relationship with your retailer and you won't have any problems.

5 year warranty.

Overall I would definitely buy it again as I don't think there's an amp that can touch this one tone wise for comparable money. I do wish they'd mellow out the reverb some and rework the master volume situation on the dirty channel.

3 Channels--Clean, Drive, More Drive. Bass, Middle, Treble, Presence. Footswitch included for Channel switching. Cover included. 40 watts. 1 x 12" gold label speaker. Effects loop and reverb complete the feature set of this well designed unit. about 46 lbs.

I am not gonna mince words--I love this amp. It simply has the sweetest sounds I have heard out of an amp in this price range. I play mostly rock, and blues with a very little country and some oldies. I've owen many amps over the years--always looking for that perfect sound, the sound that makes you think "Wow, I sound great". Well...you've got to hear the clean channel on this baby. Then, after you wipe the drool off your face, hit the channel switch and hang on. The drive and more drive channels will BLOW YOU AWAY. This amp was designed as close to perfection as you will find. It sounds great doing any style of music at any volume, really. It is virtually noiseless, has great reverb, and 40 watts of the the sweetest tube sound on the planet. (Did I mention how much I love this amp?) My wife is getting jealous of my Hot Rod Deluxe!

Like most Fender amps I've owned, it's built like a tank. I have a great dealer so no worries. I gig with this baby with no backup although I sometimes run it in stereo with my Blues Jr. which is loud enough to carry me if the Deluxe ever craps out. I had a Peavey Classic 50 that burned up on me several times mid-gig. I would never gig a Peavey tube amp without a backup (no offense Peavey). My Fenders have never let me down.

Have dealt with Fender several times in the past with mixed success. I don't really care though because I have a great dealer. That's the name of the game with Fender.

I've been playing 20 years, many bands, many styles of music. Main loves are rock and blues. Have owned many amps by Fender, Ampeg, Vox, Univox, Sunn, Roland, Peavey, Traynor, etc. Fender tube amps sound the best. Especially this one. In my humble oppinion, they got it right with the design of the Hot Rod Deluxe. It's as close to perfect as it gets. It does every sound well. I can't stop playing it. Don't even hesitate....go buy one NOW. I LOVE THIS AMP. I'll keep this one forever.

Playing original rock, r&b and jazzy r&b I find my new Deluxe a dream.
No, the clean channel does not have infinite headroom. It begins to break up past maybe 6, but prior to the entrance of that distortion the sound was quite loud and it was sweet. I can get bell-like tones that intrigue me. I can also get some obnoxious honking. Seems to me that the high gain channels are a bit like a flamethrower (not that I've owned one, but I Have seen them in war movies): great awmighty destruction at the trigger. Now I've got to learn how to control it. I've only had the Deluxe a few weeks, so I'm still exploring.

Using the alnico humbuckers in a Peavey Odyssey LesPaul-type it will go from hard clean to scream with no more adjustment than to turn up the guitar volume. That I like. In fact, this is the kind of gain I've wanted for decades. I love its ability to feed back and sing and allow you to control the mess.

Have been playing for some 30 years; began with a Silvertone 2 - 12 back in the cylindrical age. Have owned various small Fender and Gibson tube amps plus a brick house Super Reverb. Most recently have used a Princeton Chorus (transistor, if an updated design) which was not a bad amp, especially at lower volumes. It was loud for 25 watts (has twin 25 w amps, so it's weightier than it looks). But at maxed volume it was brittle and did not sing nor in any way come close to the sound of a tube amp.
I'd like it if someone who's really, really into the Hot Rod Deluxe would write about explorations in fx boxes, the loop and other settings.

By the way, the Drive channel has balls. The More Drive has yet to be well tested because I simply don't need it.

This amp is very versatile for Jazz, blues and classic rock applications, The 3 channel setup is very very natural to use and is helpful. The clean channel is nice and warm, the drive channel is great and tubey and if you hit the more drive button, it's like turning the amp up to 15. I use this amp in just about every performance situation, and I was surprised that the 30 watts really cut through. Be very careful if you replace the final tubes though, I put in a pair of hot rodded Groove tubes and they blew out the power transformer... twice!! the reverb is great. The absence of a headphone jack is a drawback but in no way should afffect a decision for against the great sound of this amp The amp itself doesn't provide a very good "metal" tone (mid scoop) but if you run a Boss Metal Zone or comprable pedal, the tubes make it sing.

I use a '73 strat with the original hardware. It suits my Jazz/blues/rock/fusion needs beautifully This is an extremely quiet amp for a tube amp. There is the natural warm fuzzy background noise but it is really low (you do know the amp is idling though). the amp can't make metal sounds very easily, but it can warm up any pedal or effect you send through it. I used a Gibson sonex with a Seymour Duncan Invader in the bridge through a Boss Metal Zone into input one and I got a SLAMMIN sound for doing Metallica. The clean channel distorts at 7-10 but it's a final tube kind of crunch it makes the guitar sing and is very responsive to dynamics The distortion rages but not by itself, you need to make it scream, it adds beautiful sounds to the tones you generate, but I wouldn't count on the overdrive to muddy up the sound. If you want lots of fuzz, run a Dallas Arbiter Fuzz face (or comprable) into it and you won't be disappointed

This amp is very dependable, but not indestructable I used a Fender M-80 for 4 or 5 years and THAT was a tough little bastard. With the tubes you gotta treat them with more respect I had the amp break down after putting in some new power tubes (the power supply burnt out), but this was the fault of groove tubes and not fender. I would use this for giggin without a backup. I put some hot preamp tubes in and the Gain on this amp WRECKED them in 5 days. They ALL went microphonic, so don't go nuts customizing this one

No problems They were curteous, no problem finding a store nearby.
the warranty is 5 years

I've been playing for 10 years and my setup is a '73 strat with original everything, a Uni-Vibe pedal (the soul of my sound), a Dunlop Cry-Baby, and a Korg PME which has an analog delay on it that 'aint bad. If it were stolen or lost I would cry for about a week, and then I'd buy either the same unit OR its larger 2x12 65 watt cousin the Hot Rod DeVille I love the sound and the versatility. The dynamic qualities of this amp are great. The distortion gets fiercer and quieter as your playing changes.
The only thing i wish it had was a headphone jack

The features including more than one channel, footswitching, reverb and 40 watts into a 12 inch speaker seemed to outpace other amps that I looked at in the price range, which were mostly Mesa Boogies. I suspect that some Peavey Amps have comparable features for the price, but I did not try any because of an old and maybe irrational prejudice. A headphone jack would be nice, and the layout of the controls is a little confusing with respect to what controls affect what channels. Why not simply have a master volume and gain for each channel? It doesn't seem like it would add alot of expense, and that way you could have one channel running a little dirty and the other really really crunchy, instead of one channel that can only be absolutely clean.

The clean channel is definitely the selling point and is what sets this amp apart from others I looked at, mostly Mesa Boogies. The clean channel has a fullness, deepness, and ringing quality that the Boogies lack. I think the disagreement about the merits of the distortion channel really is an indication of the fact that any evaluation of distortion sound is quite subjective. I agree that this amp will not serve anyone who wants a heavy metal or grunge sound, unless they use a pedal. But for my purposes, which mostly means I would like some distortion on occassion but want the personality of the guitar to come through the distortion, the amp is fine.
I play a standard strat and was amazed at how quiet the amp is when the pickups are set in the two or four positions. I think the noise in any other positioins is inevitable.
I also played a PRS with a bolt-on neck through the amp, and the amazing quality of the sound produced with this combination is why I want to obtain a PRS
Are my ears going bad, or did I notice some clipping on the clean channel when the volume gets up to about four or five?
I agree that the reverb is out of control and not useful above 3, but its fine, actually quite nice, when set at or below that level.
The bottom line is that this amp sounds better for my purposes, which include somewhat restrained volume levels and a high value placed on clean sounds, than any other combo that I have played through.

I haven't had the amp long enough the comment intelligently but my experience with an old Fender Bandmaster head, and some MusicMan amps which are very similar to Fenders, makes me think it will problably be fairly reliable, unless the quality control has gone to pot in recent years.

The five year warranty seems generous, but I haven't dealt with the company. There are authorized service centers close to where I live.

I have been playing off and on, including a stint as a bass player, for about 20 years. I would definitely buy it again. Love the sound, don't really hate anything about it.

40 Watts, all tube (2 6L6's & 3 12AX7's, all Sovteks) 12in eminence speaker, footswitch (with LED's), Reverb, 2 channels, 'More Drive' switch and a 'bright' switch. Has All the normal controls as well as a presence knob, 2 inputs, and effects loop (labeled Preamp out and Power amp in). Great Looking, crome control panel, top mounted (retro style) I've had it for 2 weeks, so far its been _amazing_. This is my first valve amp, so I expected it to have the very wide range of OD that a tranny amp has. Saying that, the amp _is_ capable of a wide array of sounds. I play rock, and careful adjusting of the knobs gives me enough versatility to cover what I play most often. But if you like to _rock_, playing Grunge or Heavy Metal, you'll need an FX pedal.
I wish it had a 1/2 power switch, or something the same, as the master volume for the OD channel is very sensitive. A tiny touch gives a large increase in volume. I use it mostly for bedroom practice so this is an important factor. However, this doesn't mean this amp is too loud. The tone at low volumes is still great. Cranking it gives a house shaking volume!

I play a US std. Strat, all stock. First the clean sound; Unbelievably good for an amp at this price, the bass is punchy and tight, the trebles are not too harsh, the mids are well pronounced. The 'bright' switch increases the treble, into a strong twang. 10/10 Overdrive; This is slightly dissapointing. At max, it gives a 'crunch' that still lets the guitars characteristics through clearly. But I would like it to go a bit further into shred territory. But , overall the sound is perfectly adapted to blues, indie, and soft rock. 7/10 More Drive; This just increases the gain, and sustain, but makes the sound 'fizzy' rather than 'heavy'. It really adds to the sound, think Purple Haze. But at max, the more drive only brings it up to skimming the grunge sound. Also it isn't adjustable, which is annoying. The extra drive can be used to give more 'depth' to the overdrive, if engaged then varying the ammount of drive. 6/10
Overall the tone from the amp is warm and resonant, only harsh if the bright is engaged. The reverb is great when set below 3, but any higher, it becomes unnatural, and sometimes unusable. The tone from the clean channel is brilliant, only the OD lets this amp down (thats were the points were deducted). This can be rectified by changing the power tubes to Svetlana's or NOS, which makes the clean sound even better, and livens up the OD. On another point, people in other submisssions have said there is a loud pop when changing channels. I have only replicated it once, and it was probably due to me pressing on both f/s buttons at the same time. However there is a faint click, which I found to be the OD led changing colour, from yellow to red.

5yr warranty, so you'd think they're pretty sure of its quality, however, see below. The amp itself is heavy, of rugged build and covered in tolex 'for long lasting good looks'. Havent gigged it yet, but im sure it will be fine, I payed enough for it!

Comes with a 5yr warranty, but my dealer says its pretty useless, as they only replace or fix after 4 yrs if the amp has never been played and was under constant surveilance for that time. The dealer would probably send it back to the Fender distributer here in the UK, as they are incapable of fixing themselves. Fender should do something about incompatent dealers.

Great amp, let down by a weak OD, but don't let this put you off buying the amp, the clean sound is _amazing_. A cheap pedal will be a fine partner for this, actually I bought a Big Muff for it. Would I buy it again, Yes and No. I would have liked to try one of the Laneys, or even the Marshall JCM 601, but there were none in Northern Ireland when I was looking to buy. But _no_ regrets, this is a fantastic amp, should last for years if treated right, so theres no need for me to buy it again ;-). I also tried the H&K tube 50 , but it was too heavy metal for me, lacked character and a good clean channel. There were a few things that would have made this _the_ perfect amp for home, studio and giging uses (1/2 power switch, speaker emulation with DI, and perhaps a parallel effect loop, with mix control). Fender had a chance to make an absolute killer of an amp, but instead they made a amp lacking a few features required by many people, although not me, for a modern amp, especially as its supposed to be 'hot rodded'.