Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

I bought it used, came with a replacement speaker and new caps and tubes.

I love the sound of this amp. I have heard people complaine, saying it gets "muddy" at higher volumes, but iI think these people just don't know how a tube amp works. To get a good clean sound i usually turn down the volume of the guitar a bit and then crank the amp, then it sounds great. The regular drive distortion is pretty good. At lower volumes the distortions sound like crap, but as soon as you crank it a bitthey also sound good. I mostly use the "more distortion" setting and for meit is perfect. i really like playing alot of rock. The only thing this amp doesn't do well is Metal. For meta, I would sugggest a Metal Pedal.

Well, it actually has taken a few falls from about 3 ft. and it still works great.

I have been playing for 5 years, i take it very serious, i practice sometimes 6hours a day. I play through the amp with my 1972 reissue Fender telecaster thinline, my Eastwood JR Elite, and an old Ibanez. If this amp were stolen I probably would step up to the 4x10 Fender hot rod deville. i lovethis amp because i lovevintage "real" overdrive, and i dont think that a solid state can hold a candle to what an overdriven tube does.

The Fender Hot Rod Deluxe is a very versatile amp for the most styles of music, except Heavymetal, Punk etc. The three channels are working in a very nice mode and the Clean-Channel is simply the best Cleansound I??ve ever heard. The 2. Channel deliverys a Chrunchsound at its best and the 3. Channel (Hot) is a very nice singing Leadsound, very nice for Rock & Blues ! But Guys - I speak over MY Fender HRD, wich is tuned completly.
Forget the original Speakers and Tubes, they don??t work in a nice way - Eminence Speakers and also Jensen are nice for Cleansound, but NEVER for Chrunch or Distortion...! harsh-harsh-harsh ! Dreadful - I kicked them out after 10min playing !

Wich kind of Tuning I made ? Okay - change the Tubes (Original are 6L6B Groove Tubes) and replace them with Selected TAD6L6GC-SVT, much more Headromm and Power, then change the Preamptubes and met the TAD RT010 High-Grade Tubes in !(nice and sweet singin chrunch & distortion) And now MY secret of a fantastic sound (many of my musiciansfriends told my all the time: Mandy - your Sound is really blowin?? me away - what have you done with this amp..?) is the TONE TUBBY H1E Hempcone Alnico 12" Speaker..!!! This is really the best Speaker I??ve ever heard in my Life ! Much more clarity, bottom, nice mids and wonderful singing highs - without harsh when you play in the distortion mode! Forget all the other speakers guys! try it out ! You will be blowin??away...!

No experience ??til yet

No experience ??til yet

I??m a profeeional Player (www.intermezzo.li) and I played for over 40 Years and I tryed out so many Amps Folks, nbut this HRD is really my baby now. I also play an ORANGE Rockerverb 100 with a 4x12" Andy Dunlop Slope Box wich is also very nice sounding, but aganist my Fender HRD with this Tunig now I play the most time of the Gig with the HRD !
No wonder is the HRD Deluxe the most selled amp in the world, but it??s the same like with cars - you have to tuned it up for better results...
And the you will be in heaven with it ....!

The HRD has great channel switching features, a superb clean channel and reverb. The all tube deign is desirable. Nice chicken head knobs, cheap channel switching buttons. Rich in features, poor in results.

Sound quality here is obviously subjective, however, this design does not have the glassy cleans of a silver face or black face vintage Fender amp. The overdrive channels flat out suck, they are very two dimensional and flat. Stick with a tube screamer for any kind of overdrive. I modded this amp with the JJ/Tesla 6v6 and EC882 tubes with a slight improvement , but mainly to drop the extremely loud clean channel into a manageable beast. I've used a Fender Tele, Strat and Strings and Things Excalibur all without great satisfaction.

This amp appears to be solidly built, but further inspection reveals significant cheapness. The drive switching buttons are cheap and cheesy, the tubes are not chassis mounted, plugging into a circuit board. The power tubes are mounted very close to the speaker, resulting in premature failure in case after case. Alltogether, this is not a well designed amp. I would not rely on this amp to tour with. It might remain stable and unaffected in a home studio environment, but probably will not travel well.

Who knows, but they should have plenty of warranty work with this particular design.

Having played Fender Amps for over 30 years, this is the cheapest, most ill designed, and poor sounding of any that I've played through. Like all things in life, you get what you pay for, and this amp is no exception. The attractive package belie it's inherent flaws. The volume pot should be a deal breaker alone. I regret my purchase, and not taking more time to examine the amp and it's flaws. This one is going back in favor of a deluxe reissue, which addresses all of the concerns I've found to have with this unit.

Good features in general and for the price. I purchased the amp about 6 months ago. I wanted a tube amp but had limited funds so it seemed like the HRD offered the most for the least. Right size and power for my playing and gig venues

I thought the clean channel was pretty good but broke up way too soon. I don't use the drive channel all that much but felt it was over the top and difficult to get a good driven sound. So, like others, I went through the agony of what to do - new speaker, tubes, etc. Ultimately, I replaced the stock power tubes with SED SV6L6GCs (I did not rebais), the stock preamp tubes with all nos tubes - a mullard 4024 (V3), a JAN GE 5751(V2) and a GE 12AX7 (white letter) in V1. The speaker is Celestion Vintage 30. The amp sounds great now. I play mostly blues/rock/folk rock with a Strat and Tele - very clear, rich tone on clean and nice crunch on drive. I orginally replaced the stock speaker with a Eminence Texas Heat but it did not give me the sound I was looking for. Nothing against the Texas Heat speaker, more the wrong choice on my part.

So far so good but had to replace the lamp for the "on" indicator light after about two weeks.

Mixed bag - responded once to an inquiry on warranty regarding speaker replacement. Never received an answer to other e-mails.

Pretty good amp overall. Even with the investment in new tubes and speakers, it was still less to purchase than a higher end tube amp. Been playing 25 years and always owned solid stae amps but have had the chance to place through a number of tube amps in the past - twin reverb, champion and Marshal plexi. The HRD doesn't match those but I like the tone with the upgraded tubes and speaker. Plenty of volume.

I got mine back in 2003. It has 3 channels, clean, drive and more drive with 40 watts of power. It includes a foot switch, an effects loop and a second speaker out. Unfortunately there is no headphone jack. It is plenty loud and cuts through the mix like butter. Oh yeah, it is a tube amp running on two 6L6GCs and three 12ax7 preamp.

First of all, I have modified my amp. In stock mode, it wasn't floating my boat. The clean was good but the drive and more drive was harsh and muddy. It sounded like cardboard. It was lifeless and lacklusting. I changed the tubes and purchase from Eurotubes.com, three JJ ECC83s preamp tubes and two 6L6GC Power tubes. The tubes took the harshness and mud out of the amp. The next issue was the stock speaker was farting out at higher volume. I replaced the speaker with a Carvin 100w British Series and OMG! I could not believe what I was hearing. The drive and more drive sounded great! I am getting a nice smooth Marshall crunch from a Fender amp. The drive also has grit and attitude. The clean also had more sparkle. I can achieve early Def Leppard tones and 80s hard rock tone. I cannot believe my ears! I also found out that Carvin decided to bring back the British Series speaker. I bought mines from eBay. I have a Carvin SX200 loaded with British Series. Early on, I plugged the Fender to the Carvin SX200 and it sounded amazing. This was the reason why I decided to replace the stock speaker with a Carvin British Series. This is totally a different amp but still retains its Fender signature. This amp can do surf, british invasion, blues, jazz, 70s and 80s hard rock. My settings are 7s on tone, 2.5 on reverb, 9 on more drive. I have Epi Les Paul with Bill Lawrence L500L on the bridge and a Dimarzio Air Norton on the neck, a MIJ Squier Strat loaded with Bill Lawrence Keystone Pickups, a Charvel with a Dimarzio EVO bridge and two Carvin single coil pickups on the neck and middle, a Fender Heavy Metal Strat with a Bill Lawrence L500XL on the bridge, a Dimarzio YJM on the neck and a Dimarzio H2 on the middle. All my guitars sound great! My Les Paul sounds the best because it has a fatter tone. If I need more brute, I have my Boss MT2 pedal. Yeah, this amp takes pedal very well. I would rate a 5 in stock mode and a 10 with the modifications.

It only broke only me once. I lost volume all of a sudden. My amp is under warranty and repair was free even with my modifications. The volume pot was a culprit. It was been flawless ever since.

Never dealt with Fender. I still have another year on my warranty.

This amp is a sleeper. You have to look at it as a stock car. To get the sound that you want, you will have to modify it. This amp is a labor of love and I would buy it again so that I can modify it.

The Fender Hot Rod Deluxe is a 40 watt tube amp with three channels, clean, drive, and more drive. It also has the standard Fender reverb, and a two-button footswitch which controls the channel selection. For a bread and butter gigging amp it has pretty much all the features one could need for that function. More high tech features used for recording are not to be found here, but they aren't really what this amp is about.

I should mention that I do not own one of these amps, but I use one extensively as a rehearsal amp, because my drummer has one in his basement. I have gigged with one of these amps a couple of times.

As I stated above, the Hot Rod Deluxe has three channels, clean, drive, and more drive. Unfortunately, none of the channels sound very good. The clean lacks that classic Fender clean found in the blackfaces and silverfaces of old, and the drives sound undistinguished, certainly nothing like an old Bassman cranked or any variety of Marshall. I guess what you get in versatility you give up in quality.

One very positive thing about the HRD is that is an extremely loud amp given its size and weight. It's hard to imagine anyone needed an amp louder than this, so if you are looking for a versatile gigging amp and you want to make sure you will be heard, this is worthy of consideration. I don't think I've ever had it louder than 2 1/2.

I've used a variety of guitars with the amp - Strats, Teles, and Les Pauls mostly. The HRD is very consistent - it sounds decent but not great regardless of the guitar you use.

The band I play in plays originals which run the gamut from country/folk rock to punk-pop. I have little need for high gain or saturated tones, which is why Fenders and Voxes have always been my amps of choice.

For a tube amp (always something of an inherent risk) the HRD is very sturdy. While I would prefer to never gig without a backup for a tube amp, this would certainly one which I'd do that if necessary. The amp is well designed and sturdily built. I have never seen one fail, and I know several people who use them.

Fender is a great company with which to do business. I own and have owned Fender guitars and amps for 30+ years, and have owned some real relics. Fender has always been forthcoming with help in all of my dealings with them.

My overall opinion is that one could do a lot worse in search of a reliable and versatile gigging amp. I wish I could say that tis amp sounded nearly as good as my silverface Bassman or my friend's blackface Deluxe, but it doesn't. It has a generic quality to it that is uncharacteristic of Fender tube amps of old. Still, it's loud, versatile, dependable, portable, and reasonably priced. You can't ask you a lot more than that.

Given this amps size and price point, other amps to consider are the Peavey Classic 30, whatever Crate 33-watt amp is out now (Crates are much better than their rep) or the sadly now discontinued Vox AC30CC1.

you know the features. according to fender its the best selling tube amp ever.

havent checked the serial, but its from the first years of production (made in usa!)

has enough knobs and channels to satisfy me--ive been playing a single channel tube amp with extremely basic controls for the last few years.

i use this amp at home and with any luck, for gigs soon. loud enough for residential use, and ill stick a mic in front of it for gigs.

take the time to mess with the controls. take the time to get some new tubes (i would recommend eurotubes.com). and this amp will do whatever you want.

i'm asked by the review form "How brutal is the distortion?". its brutal, but not in a metal type of way. its crunchy and cutting.

i play rock and roll. i play surf. i do not play 'some jazz' or 'occasional metal'. this amp does the job 100%

its lasted 10 years, id take it wherever. havent owned it long enough to know if its reliable, but it looks to be untampered with so im guessing its built like a tank.

too old for warranties.

ive been playing for about 8 years. i own a few fender and gibson guitars. if it were stolen i would probably get it again, price to feature ratio is nearly unbeatable.

one thing i will probably do is switch the speaker to something warmer. maybe a cannabis rex. i think taking some of the edge off would help it out.

WHEN YOU BUY THIS AMP, OR ANY NON-BOUTIQUE AMP, CHANGE THE TUBES. go to eurotubes.com and have them set you up properly!

I bought my HRD shortly after they first came out, somewhere between '97 and '98, and it says it's an American Hot Rod Deluxe. I play mostly classic rock, some country rock, and some jazzier stuff. It came with exactly the features I wanted: a clean channel and a two-stage overdrive channel, common tone controls and reverb. It also has a presence control that I've never really been able to put to good use. Maybe my hearing is not sharp enough to hear the difference. I use the clean channel for most rhythm parts; I use the first overdrive setting for a fuller, fuzzier rhythm; and I use the second stage overdrive setting, "more drive," for leads. I play mostly in small bars, clubs, private parties.

As I currently have it set up, which I'll explain in a minute, it provides exactly the sound I want, but it took some screwing around with lots of combinations to get there. My main gripes with this amp originally were that (a) in its stock set up it is way too loud for most small venues, and (b) the "more drive" was even louder and very harsh. But in the clean setting and the first overdrive setting, I was very happy with the sound. Too tame the volume problem, I initially played with different power tubes. I first tried a pair of EL84s with the Ruby Tubes Tone Bone adapter, and this did indeed tame the volume some, and I really liked the sound, except for the "more drive" setting, which was still too loud and too harsh. I then tried a pair of JJ 6v6, which also sounded very good - much cleaner than the EL84s, but again the "more drive" didn't improve. I then tried a combination of various preamp tubes. JJ has a series of different tubes (European versions of 12AX7s, 12AT7s, and 12DW7s) which did marginally improve the more drive, but they went microphonic very quicky, and one shorted out making a horrible racket. Eventually, I found that using three EH 12AY7s gives me the clean sound, reduced volume, and a smoother "more drive" setting. But 12AY7's only provide 40 percent of the gain of 12AX7s, so I wound up going back to the orginal 6L6 power tubes. I've also replaced the original Eminence speaker with a Weber, which has mellowed the sound some too. Currently, my main guitar is a Taylor T5, which let's me switch back and forth between an acoustic sound and an electric sound. This is good for doing a number of tunes that use an acoustic on the rhythm and an overdriven sound on the lead. I also use a Fender Toronado (also first edition - I wanna say '97, but I'm not sure any more), an Epiphone Dot Studio, an Epi Les Paul Special (real cheap, but fun to play). This amp sounds fine with all out the guitars. I think for the harder tunes, the Fender Toronado sounds the best, but the Dot Studio with the tone knob turned way down produces a very good Santana sound too. I also have a Fender Esquire with only one humbucker in the bridge position and a volume knob. Since I prefer to play using the neck pickup, I really haven't spent a lot of time on this guitar through this amp; however, for a one-trick pony, it also sounds fine.

I've had this amp for 8 or 9 years and never had it serviced. I should probably get someone to rebias it, but so far I'm leaving well enough alone.

I've never needed customer support, but I've read that Fender is not the most helpful. However, I've used their spec manuals to set up my guitars and following their specs, they play fine.

I got my first guitar in 1965. I started playing in garage bands in the early 70's. I've been playing regular gigs for about 18 years. I've listed my electric guitars in the sound quality section. I also have several acoustic guitars. Besides the HRDX, I have a Fender Blues Junior (works great with pedals, and I gig with it too), a Fender Frontman 25R (mostly for practice, but in a pinch it can handle a small gig too), a Fender Acoustisoncic 30, a Peavey Basic 50 Bass amp (also for practice) and a Fender Rumble 100 Bass amp, and a Squire Precision Bass. If it were lost or stolen I probably try to find another one (American made), or I might see if I could find a Fender Prosonic 210 (and swap out the preamp tubes). So, I'm not hopelessly in love with this amp, but I'm happy with it.

Bought from only owner, the chassis is stamped 1997. It has clean, drive and more drive channels with a bright switch and presence control to add highs and sparkle. Solid state spring reverb and effects loop. 12 inch speaker with extension speaker jack. Footswitch to control overdrives. I play blues in small, medium and large clubs and the 40 watts is sufficient.

Bought stock, the amp sounded very good clean, but began to distort once I turned the volume up past 3.5 so I went to using the lower impedence second imput to gain headroom. I bought the amp to have a warm, clean sound for playing blues so I have modded the amp a bit. First mod I do to all my amps, large rubber feet to stabilize the bass and cushion the amp when placing it on hard floors and cement. Second was to change out the speaker to a Jensen Reissue P12N. I was going to put a Jensen C12N in it but loved the sound of the alnico speaker, tight but rich bass and smoother highs. Finally I have tried a large number of preamp tubes, NOS and current production. I want to maximize clean headroom (the ceramic C12N would add headroom, but the P12N sounds incredible) so I have gone to a Jan Philips 12AT7 in the phase inverter and Jan Philips 5751's in V1 and V2 to cut the gain. The Philips/Sylvania tubes sound rich and very warm, a perfect compliment to my 1986 MIJ 57RI Strat, 1983 MIJ Tele with Lindy Fralin Vintage Hots, 2006 Agile AL-3000 with P90's and 2000 Les Paul Deluxe. All four guitars are bright and the Philips 5751's provide great clean sounds that are very warm, harmonic and perfect for playing blues. When I play my 1979 Samick 335 clone with Gibson 57 Classic pickups I change out the V1 for a GE 12AX7. This tube adds some gain, but also emphasizes the highs giving the darker humbuckers a warm clean sound that sparkles. The 5751's in V1 and V2 and the 12AT7 in the V3 position also tame the overdrive channels and produce a very useable distortion (12AT7's in all three preamp positions really change the sound of the overdrive channels and make them very creamy sounding, but the clean channel loses some sparkle). I usually use my own pedals for overdrive (Analogman modded Maxon OD-9 tubescreamer and Analogman modded Boss DS-1), delay and reverb (Digitech RP50) but have gigged only using the HRD's drive channels and reverb. This amp tends to take time to really be able to tweak the settings and sounds but the 40 watts put out a great sound once you get it right. I use the Jensen C12N in a 1X12 sealed cabinet with the HRD when I play in medium to larger clubs to provide more clean volume. With the mods the sound is clean and bright without the overdrive pedals and it really screams when you use the overdrive channels or pedals. The final mod that I will do is to change out the Groove Tubes/Sovtek power tubes. I haven't decided which to put in yet but have Fender/Sylvanias, SED Winged C's and GE's to choose from. Without the mods this amp sounds very good, I would rate it at about an eight as the bass gets flabby and the highs can be shrill. With the mods that I have done, it has an incredible vintage sound when clean and it can really scream when cranked.

The previous owner said that he rarely played the amp for about nine years before selling it. I believe it based on the condition it was in when I bought it. I have had no problems whatsoever in the year in which I have owned it. I use this amp frequently to play sets in blues jams around town (average about once a week/45 minute sets)and have spent a great deal of time playing very loud while testing speakers, tubes, pedals, etc.

Never had to deal with Fender and from what I have heard from others, I hope that I never do.

I have been playing for around 40 years, on and off. I have five Fender amps: Frontman 25R, Blues Jr., Hot Rod Deluxe, Blues DeVille and 1972 Twin Reverb (all modded). This is the amp that I usually use when I jam with friends and in clubs. It is loud enough, has incredible tone and is small/light enough to transport easily in the backseat of my car. With the mods it seems to handle all of my guitars well. I have read about putting two 10 inch speakers instead of the one twelve. It might sound good (think Vibrolux), but I am happy with what I have. Those who want more gain, get a Marshall. If you play blues or classic crank it up rock, this amp will do the job. If it were lost or stolen, I'd get another one or a Blues Deluxe.

do not know the year. made in mexico. this amp is very versatile. nice looking, not to big, not to heavy. all kinds of rock, hard rock, punk, surf, blues and country. wish the reveb was footswitchable. 3 channel amp, 1 EQ. i dont use the fx loop. this is an all tube amp with ss rectifier. i gig this amp in bars. plenty of power. Gibson LP standard, America deluxe strat.

you can acheive vintage and modern tones with this amp.sounds great. clean channel breaks up after vol 3 and good blues grind there after. love the linear volume pot.input 1 for larger places and input 2 for smaller. volume 2 is my stage volume for clean and drive. i use stomp boxes too. these amps drive channels seem to differ with amp to amp so try it first. my drive and more drive sound fantastic. crunchy, crisp and clear. good bottom and clear highs. clean has a lot of bass when the amp sits on the floor and sometimes i use an amp stand to help with this if needed. ice pick sound goes away after full break in or turn the reverb off and use a reverb pedal.it helps. ive owned several of these and sold them for whatever reason but it was never because of sound or reliability issues and would wait till i saved the money again a buy another. $400 used is easy on the wallet. IMHO these amps sound great and dont care where its made. its still a fender amp and i love it. the stock speaker is fine.

well these amps are known for problems but many have had none. ive had a few problems in the past but the warranty worked fine. ive even had to repair USA Fender amps before so dont blame Mexico production. most new cars have to go back for warranty work, sometimes the next day or so. some dont. ALWAYS BRING A BACK UP AMP NO MATTER WHAT AMP YOU USE. it makes good sense.

Fender has top notch service IMO. you can call them and speak to a real tech. they are very nice and knowledgable and eager to help unlike Marshall with no email address or phone # on their site. nothing. although ive never had a problem with a Marshall, but the over all performance of Fender amps keeps me bringing a Fender tube amp to a gig.

im now 42yo been playing since 11yo. I currently use depending on the venue and mood; Hot Rod Deluxe, 59 Bassman LTD RI, Twin amp, Marshall JCM2000 DSL 100 with a 1960A cab, Marshall Lead100 Mosfet head with a 1960A cab. i'll buy again and again if needed. i love this amp and hate nothing about it. i like what i hear with this, hope you will too. some folks hate these amps and the tone but they are the ones that are never happy with any amp. nothing is perfect, trust me. good luck!