Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

You've all ready heard em'.

The Clean channel is cool, but the distortion SUCKS. Due to the fact that there is no seperate EQ for the Distortion. Further more it is not a three channel amp! It's a 2 channel amp with a distortion Boost. The "More Drive" feature SUCKS. I give the Clean Channel a 9 and the drive channel a 5 and the more drive a 2!

So far I haven't had any problems! I bought it used and it's still going.

Amp wise I don't know how fenders service is, I've never had to deal with them. But otherwise Fender's service is pretty good.

I won't bore by repeating the features...Gotta confess,I've had a hard time getting a bad sound out of this amp. Very versatile. My wish list would be level controls for the loop.

Using my 335,Tele w/Barden p/u,and Strat with EMG Vintage p/u all sound great regardless whether it's jazz or blues. It seems to do a great mid range-y Robben Ford sound! The "more drive" boost is usuable if the gain of the overdrive channel isn't set to high. If I really need mondo distortion,I add a stompbox. Noise levels seem very acceptable,much quieter than the Classic 50 I had prior to this amp.The clean side is huge sounding and reminds me of the fine old vintage Fenders I grew up with. Plenty of volume for most situations and very easy to carry around and fits beautifully in my car.

So far so good. I've owned it for 6 months and have only had to replace a pilot light bulb. No apparent problems on a gig.

I've had no contact with the company or repair station. Warranty seems good.

I've been playing for 30 years and bought this amp on impulse after playing thru it for 5 mins. I've always been partial to the Fender sound and reliability. I wanted to find another Fender to replace the Peavey Classic 50 I was using. The Peavey, though a nice amp didn't have the over all high quality sound this amp produced. The Peavey did one sound very well but not all sounds. Not only would I replace it with the same if lost or stolen, I would recommend it to anyone looking for a versatile,high quality,and affordable amp.

The amp has three channels, an effects loop, and footswitch for the lead channels. One feature I do like a lot is the Normal channel does not have a master volume. Do like the idea of tube pre-amp and power amp.

I use two guitars currently with this amp. A G&L S500 I bought in the mid 80's and a relatively new Fender American Telecaster. The amp seems to be versatile enough for me, though I agree with some of the others reviewing that it doesn't have the headroom if your doing ensemble work (buy the more powerful versions). I find the amp to be very noise free, except of course when you overdrive the shit out of the lead channels. I also agree with some of the reviews on this amp that the clean channel is quite nice and give it a high rating. The distortion is ok. My forte is doing rythm work, but I did want an amp that would get a little bluesy. The more drive channel is a little to bright for my taste.

Can't say much yet on reliability as I've only owned the amp for two months.

Ditto's on reliability.

Frankly I used this forum to shop for an amp and actually bought the amp without hearing it (even though you preface this forum saying don't do this). I knew I wanted a Fender amp, I knew I didn't want a lot of power, and I knew I wanted tubes. I immediatley replaced the cracker jack speaker with an Electrovoice EV12L. While it made a significant difference in the tone (for the positive) it added a substantial amount of weight. I fact, I'm not certain the handle will last, and the entire frame seems to "give" a bit when I pick it up. Something other owners of the Hot Rod Family may want to try. Turn all of the tone knobs to "0" and use the presence knob as a "tone" control. It really improves the quality of the lead channels to my ears. The lead sounds more like a vintage Marshall or Fender Bassman of the early sixties. It even makes the clean channel unique. I've owned a Fender Twin (1964), a Fender 75 (mid 80's), a bunch of Peaveys, and a Music Man (which I really like). I'm pleased with the purchase of this amp. The workmanship is probably typical of mass produced amps, but at $475 your not taking a big gamble. I would recommend the amp if you have a quality speaker you could throw into it, don't want to invest a lot of money, and are looking for tube performance. The scale of 1 to 10 means 10 is the shit. 7 is where I would place this amp.

I really love this amp. It has 2 channels with 2 selections on the overdrive channel. It has an effects loop, a foot switch with 1 selection for Clean/Dirty and 1 selection for Drive/More Drive (no reverb switch). I play a Tele and Strat with occasional efeects in the effects loop. The More Drive channel is a fixed boost over the Normal Drive channel, it really should be variable - I'm deducting a point because of this.

The sound is absolutely the sweetest sound I've heard. I've played for 26 years and have never been able to get "that sound" I like until I purchased this amp. I play Bluesy SRV style and this is it. I think what ever style you play, you could tweek this amp to sound right.

Not a problem. I've had it about 6 months or so.

I believe it has a 5 Year warranty. Haven't dealt with Fender yet however.

For me this is "the amp". I also switched to Fender guitars with single coils at about the same time I purchased this amp. So it is a combination of guitar and amp that has allowed me to get the sound I like. I have heard Les Pauls sound great through it also.

I guess it's all been said before in the other reviews, one clean channel and one drive master volume channel with a more drive switch, reverb, presence, bass, middle and treble. Great for blues and retro rock. The clean is so smooth I am actually playing non-distorted for the first time. It is very bluesy sounding so if you want metal or santana look elsewhere.

I use a Lonestar strat and Les Paul Standard. I love the sound of the Les Paul and the strat sounds great. Mostly I have all the controls on 5 with reverb on 1.5. With the more drive kicked in, it's great for that clapton cream sound. Without more drive, it's distorted but still clear, I love it. I have some good rack preamps and fx but I hardly use them cause I can get a great tone by just plugging a guitar directly in, instead of wasting time playing with knobs and buttons. I do worry that I might get bored with the sound some day, since this amp just basically does one great dirty and one great clean sound. The tone controls are fairly useless and the reverb is way too juicy but who's complaining? I like it more than a Boogie .22 I used to own.

I've only had it for 3 months but no problems. Other than the expected tube maintenance I see no reason to be worried.

Never dealt with Fender. At least they give you the schematics so it can be repaired by any competent technician.

I'd buy it again. It's got everything I need so I've stopped dropping in music stores checking out pedals, amps and racks. I also have a Piranha preamp and GX700 FX/preamp and bought the Hot Rod cause I was moving around and didn't have the space for a full rack. Although I can get as good a sound out of the rack, and a whole lot more, I hardly use the rack anymore.

The Hot Rod is an extremely versatile for a two channel amp. It has a footswitch for the clean and drive channels, with a more drive boost. It also has a bright boost for the clean channel. The amp has an f/x loop, power amp in, and a preamp out jack. The Hot Rod has your basic three band eq, volume for the clean, master gain for the drive channel. The drive channel also has a presence control. And of course it is all tube with Fenders famous reverb. At 40 watts this amp has plenty of loudness. Great for gigs.

This amp doesn't have the heavy type of distortion I'm looking for, so I use an Overlord to beef it up. But, for the price, this amp is hard to beat. The clean channel is unmatched at this price range in my opinion. The sound is very responsive and warm. I use a Stat with a Duncan Hot Rails in the bridge. The other pickups are stock. I play Rock, Hard Rock type of music.

Haven't had a breakdown yet.

Never had to use them. But the amp came with a 5 year warranty.

I'd buy one just for the clean. If I wasn't on a budget, I would use this one on clean and another amp for the distortion.

Features generally well known so no need to repeat. 40Watt miked up through a PA is more than enough power. Twin channel with "more drive" footswitchable boost very useful. Effects loop could do with a level control.

Playing Country, New Country & '60s/'70s Rock and Roll, this amp is versatile aplenty, coping with '62 reissue Strat and Tele and Ibanez DiMarzio equipped 540P. Clean channel is a delight with rich spring reverb typically Fender. Even at relatively low volumes Drive channel with careful EQing covers virtually all requirements with useful boost for that extra soloing power. I think I'm in love..........

Amp is only a couple of months old but regular gigging has so far proved trouble free, but that's only as expected. Previous Fender experience leads me to expect reasonable reliability.

I tried many amps, solid state, hybrid and tube and as soon as my Strat bridge/middle mix rang through I was in love. I ran it side by side with a Sansamp Tech21 Trademark combo but to my ears there was no comparison. It replaces a Marshall JCM800 which gave many years of reliable service but was basically dull unless wound right up. I also own a British made Laney LC15 15w tube practice combo and have gigged this (miked up through the PA) with great success and is also highly recommended.

Already been discussed a hundred times. You should know by now.

Sound is great! Clean sound just kicks major ass. Lots of volume and sound for 40 watts. Distortion is not metal, but is decent for a slight overdrive. More Drive setting is a little cheesy. Oh well, I don't really need it. Reverb is weak, but good for a slight touch to give you a fuller sound. Footswitch is easy to use but useless because distortion is junk.

Seems dependable. I've gigged with it, brought extra tubes just in case.

I wouldn't buy it again because then I'd have two. If it broke I'd buy an old super reverb or twin something or other. I play through humbuckers which someone said really suck, but for the full, rich and beatiful jazz tones, this combo kicks. Great amp for the price.

I won't bemoan the features. Ease of use is pretty good.

Clean - The amp truthfully has one of the nicest clean sounds available in the sub-$1000 price range. Wonderfully crisp and clear. It does seem to be voiced for single coils - my Strat sounds godlike, while the lower register on my PRS and Les Paul cause it to choke on the bass output, sounding a bit boomy.
Distorion - The other reviews seem to be quite divided in this regard, and I'm not entirely sure why. In my opinion, the overdrive channels are bordering on useless. Through the Strat, the bass is dramatically cut, far too thin sounding to be useful. While the humbuckers manage to eat the bass drain and still sound "okay", it still doesn't compensate for the buzzy, hollow sound that's just inherent. It's not crunch, it's not blues, it's crap. A Tube Screamer or the like is a requirement.
Reverb - It's not spring reverb. Solid state reverb cannot, will not sound like spring reverb. If you use reverb for general sound thickening like some, I guess it's passable, but true reverb freaks will be disappointed.
Clean sound gets a 10, but loses points for the distortion and reverb.

It seems to have withstood the rigors of my bedroom well.

Although it sounds like I've trashed the amp, I'm actually quite fond of it. The clean sound is fantastic and it distorts wonderfully with my Fulldrive in front of it. For the price, it really can't be beat.

It's great! Three footswitchable channels (well, really two plus a boost, but who's counting) with the footswtich included, effective EQ section, reverb, FX loop. What more d'ya need? A tremelo, maybe.

Perfect for what I do. The clean channel is perfect, all that great Fender clean tone, for jazzy stuff with a Gibson hollow body. The drive channel goes from slightly overdriven, great for chords and blues, to crunchy, and kick in the More Drive for some great sustain for lead. I back off the gain with the bridge pu of my Strat and get a great blues tone with lots of body, just enough cut, and anyways the EQ is quite responsive. With the neck pu, crank the mids and gain, it rocks. I love it...gives me great sound no matter what I play.
The reverb is WAY too over the top...that's my only complaint. I never turn it past 3, but it sounds fine as long as you leave it low.

Haven't had it long, but it's solid

N/A

I love it and would recommend it to anyone in a heartbeat. It's just the perfect size, sound, and features for me. I only wish the neighbors would let me crank it more! I think it gives fantastic sound, real tube tone, classic Fender clean, and all for a very good price.