Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

i have an american made one bought in the late 90s i think....the linear volume pot sucks its a marketing gimmick....you turn it up to #1 and omg its so loud in the store you would think oh boy ill really be able to cut through the band with this thing.. but after 2 on the volume ,it doesnt get much louder at all .if it had an audio taper pot then the volume would be even as it should be all the way up to 10..

it has an ok clean sound and nice reverb but heres the thing...i bought an old bassman head from the late 60s with the ab165 circuit.for 175 bucks . I replaced all resistors and capacitors with a kit from torres engineering ,for about 80 bucks. And i rebiult the circuit to aa864 specs....then i A Bd them through the stock speaker in the HRD and wow, theres night and day difference.. no comarison the bassman has such beautiful tone compared to the Hot rod deluxe .its the kind of sound where i just dont want to put my guitar down .

never play it much play bassman head instead

im gonna sell it and but anouther bassman head i think

Features are fine: Golden Fender Reverb and notoriously bad Fender distortion. But everyone already knows what Fender's strengths are, so this isn't a problem.

Again, good clean base sound, that you can dress up with your favorite pedals. Or just bask in the springy reverb goodness.

TERRIBLE!

The new string of HRD are AWFUL. I ordered a blonde on from Musicians Friend, and had to return it almost immediately because of an electrical problem.

It took a month to get a replacment, an it had a broken reverb unit. A Fender with no reverb? It's a CRIME!

MF sent me a 3rd one overnight so I could have it for a gig--but it was even worse. The piece of junk would barely turn on, and made the worst racket you've ever heard--even with the volume OFF.

These models were all Made in Mexico, so maybe Fender is just really cutting corners on cheap parts and poor assembly.

They should be ashamed to sell this kind of junk--and have the nerve to charge $600 for it!

I won't make this mistake again. I might buy an old used American Fender. Maybe. I'm so disappointed I don't know if I can spend my money on another Fender.

Disgusting.

Fender doesn't respond to customer service inquiries.

I've been playing for well over 10 years and have owned other Fender amps in the past, and they were great. That's why I wanted to upgrade to this bigger model. Several friends own the same model and adore it--but theirs were American made.

Fender should be embarrassed. The name doesn't mean anything anymore.

DO NOT waste your money on this piece of junk. I got 3 broken ones in a row (what are the odds?!?!)--it seems likely that they're all pretty poorly made.

This is for a blonde tolex, oxblood HRD, which I think was made for Musician's Friend only. You guys know the features.

I had one of these when they first came out in the mid 90s, used it for several years. I bought my current one on ebay, without a speaker. I installed a Reverend speaker, and it sounds really good with the amp, better than the stock speaker Fender uses. I have always loved the clean channel on these amps, especially the fat low end. Reverb is good, too. I use the channel switching, but only the first gain stage; the more drive function totally sucks. I set the drive very low, no higher than 3, with the master (for gigging) at 4. This setting, with single coils, serves basically as another clean channel, with just a little dirt. I use a VooDoo Lab Sparkle Drive and a TubeScreamer for distortion, the SD for a little, the TS for a really overdriven sound. I use an Eric Johnson Strat, a Reverend Slingshot, and a Reverend Charger HB. I use the amp's bright switch only when playing the Charger, due to the darker humbucker sounds. I run my tremelo, chorus, and delay through the effects loop, and the other pedals between guitar and amp. This works really well.

The first one never crapped out, and I gigged with it a lot. I'm assuming this one will be as good.

Owned a ton of Fender gear, but never dealt with the company.

Been at it since 1964, still gigging at almost 57. Obviously, I like these amps, or I would not have bought one again. It's probably as good as anything in the same price range. I just wish they would do something about the more drive function........eliminating it would be a good idea!

I have a 2005 Fender hot Rod Deluxe. I use this amp predominantly for rock and dirty blues. It isn't the most versatile amp ever, but it does exactly what I want it to. The clean tone is good, but better if you use extra pedals.

There are three channels; clean, drive and more drive. Although really it's just two as the difference is rather slight. I tend to mainly use the more drive channel and the clean. It would be better if there were separate tone controls for the drive channels, but it is fine as it is.

I use this amp for jamming with my band and playing pubs and clubs in my local area.

The amp's main strength is in my opinion the sound it gives on the drive channels. The more drive channel really helps to give your solos that extra impact. If you turn the presence up and have a bit of reverb then it sounds very aggressive and cuts through very well.

I have had no problems at all. Obviously it's a tube amp so I am careful with it. I would have no hesitation in using for those big occasions.

I have never had to deal with Fender regarding my amp, so I don't know about there customer service. I bought it form Peter Cook's Guitar World in Hanwell just outside of London. They were very helpful, delivery was prompt and the price was as good as I could find.

I have been playing about four years, but only seriously or two years. I have used a very wide range of equipment in this time. I use a slightly modified Eastwood Airline DLX, this guitar sounds excellent with the fender amp. It sounds amazing with the drive channel, and also very good on the clean channel. I found that if you turn th middle up when using it on the clean channel it sounds a lot better. I did a great deal of research before buying it and I don't think there is anything to match it in it's range for the price. As i said before I wish it had separate tone controls for the drive channel, but this really issn't a major problem.

I love this amp, It goes extremely well with my guitar, and was exactly what I was looking for. I would gladly reccomend it to anyone.

I bought this amp brand new in the summer of 1998. It is USA made and must have been manufactured around late 1997 or early 1998. It was bought in Sioux Falls, SD at a fender dealer. Defining the "channels" is somewhat difficult depending on what your idea of a channel is. Basically you have your "clean" channel and a "driven" channel. Both utilize the same "Middle" "Bass" and "Treble" controls so you can't really say you have two "independant" channels, although both have their own "Volume" control, the "Master Volume" knob being the actual volume of the "drive" channel. If you dialed back the "drive" to zero on the "drive" channel then you DO basically have a 2nd channel. There are two input's for your guitar. The 1st one is a little "hotter", nice for your humbucker guitars. The 2nd is somewhat "mello-er" for a single coil guitar. I, however, rarely use the 2nd input, unless somebody else wants to plug-in and play along with me. The "Presence" knob adds a little more top end and there is a "brightness" switch to again add just a tweek more. So let's be completely honest. This amp isn't that versatile. If it's just you, your guitar, and the amp, there aren't going to be many "different" sounds to get out of this amp. But sound versatility isn't what this amp is designed for.
I am going to rate this as a seven as far as features are concerned. The reason being that it should be looked at as a way to introduce the distinct sound of a "Lower" wattage tube amp at a reasonable price to a consumer who probably hasn't read Aspen Pittman's "The Tube Amp Book" from cover to cover.

Ok, this is the catagory I've been wanting to add to for 8 years now. If you are reading other peoples Hot Rod Deluxe reviews in trying to make up your own mind as to whether it's the correct amp for you then you need to take others opinion with somewhat of an objective grain of salt. I was in a large-chain guitar store and a mom-and-pop guitar shop, both were selling these amps nowadays for about $600-$700. Now to me that's a pretty cheap price for a 40W tube amp. This is NOT a boutique amp. It is made on an assembly line, and if you're only able to find a non-USA made one then it was probablably made by people that put as much love into making these things as the people that make my burrito at Taco Bell. Now that's not saying it's a bad burrito but these people have a quota to fill and it shouldn't come to anybodies surprise that there just isn't the kind of quality in these amps as say that $3,000 Matchless Cheiftan you've been eyeing at the pawn shop. But you know what? This little guy costs about 1/5th the price. I can't believe anybody on this forum would post a review saying they plugged in their '57 gibson Les Paul and can't find a good sound. Dude, why are you playing your $2,500.00 guitar in a $600 amp?
I don't believe you could ask for better sound quality from a $600 40W tube amp. Let's all be completely honest for what we're asking this little amp to do. Assuming you're playing guitar in a band, you wouldn't bring this guy into anything bigger than a normal sized club (lets say about 100 audience members) without any kind of sound reinforcement. It's not designed to be a Marshall or Mesa Stack. Why would anybody buy this amp if their intentions where to be in a Slip Knot/Lamb of God cover band.
I have two main guitars that I use with this amp. The 1st is a mid 90's American Standard Strat (notice I did not say "American Series") The 2nd is a newer Gibson SG Standard, so I believe I have both ends covered as far as Humbucker vs. Single Coil sounds.
That being said, both guitars distinct voices carry through this amp.

So, from now on, in this forum, can we dispence with the critics of this amp who plug in their Jackson Soloist, or B.C. Rich Slipknot endorsed shredder and then find the lack of bottom end disheartening?

I have never experienced any negative issue regarding this amp. Just to see what it would be like, I replaced the 2 stock power amp tubes with a pair of Groove Tubes without rebiasing. I noticed a deep, low, hum at higher volumes. I'm not sure what the issue was so I put the original tubes back in (nothing was wrong with them anyway) and haven't had any issues since, just $50 blown on unneeded tubes.

It's fender, it's a factory so no, they aren't going to give you detailed print-outs on all of the MODs you want to do to this amp. Bottom line, if you are pushing this amp to do what it wasn't intended to do than don't be mad if you can't get any customer support from Fender. I, myself, have never needed to call them.

About a year ago I thought I would take my Tube Amp collection to the next level by buying a new Fender Twin Amp that was missing it's foot pedal so Guitar Center sold it to me for $800. What a mistake. Yes, it's louder than the HRD, but that's because it's 100 Watts, it also weighed more than twice as much. And in what gigging context would I need to use all 100 watts, eventually the other members of my band would be drowned out.
Like I said above, this is NOT a boutique amp. It's a $600 40W amp. Based on that fact alone, this is an incredible value for such a portable, powerful combo.

2006 Hot Rod Deluxe Blonde version 40 watt tube amp. This is a very versatile amp (using the clean and some pedals). I play all styles of music from jazz, blues to metal and this amp does it all big and bold, but dont plan on using the distortion channels for your heavier stuff, your gonna want to use your pedals (which the amp has an effects loop too). There aren't any features I wish it had, actually I wish it didn't have the distortion channel, although when using the drive at low levels is ok for some blues. It has a pedal for channel switching but I haven't even taken it out of the plastic, I've been able to get all the sounds I want out of the clean with effects. This amp has plenty of power at 40 watts, might even be too much for the hobby player in their music room, pretty stout sounding amp. It has all the features I need.

Sound wise this is very versatile to me. You need an excellent clean sound to build the rest of your sound from and this amp definately has a great clean Fender tone. It takes to pedals very well, which gives you a limitless possibility of styles in which it can tackle. The distortion channel on the other hand leaves something to be desired. I didn't buy the amp for the distortion anyway so it makes no difference to me. I play this with several guitars, Ibanez, Fender and Gibson. One thing I did notice is the more expensive your guitar the beter the amp sounds. I played it with my Mexican Tele and I thought wow this thing sounds great, then I plugged in my American Strat Plus and WOW, I never heard my Strat sound so beautiful, it just sang! Not saying that a guitar with cheaper pickups in it won't sound good, but a great guitar will definately show it's true colors through this amp. I have been able to create all the sounds I need with this amp for all my music styles so I am very satisfied. On the noise side of things it is very quiet when I plug in my Strat and Tele, I was very pleased with this after getting hummed out of town with my Blues Junior.

So far no issues for me, I have noticed people commenting on the plastic input jacks and having issues but I dont beat the crap out of my music equipment so I am not worried.

Havent needed them.

I have been playing guitar for 25 years and have owned alot of different amps and guitars. For its price point you cant go wrong with this amp, as long as your not planning on using the distortion channel as your main rock sound. I havent played too much with the distortion channel, but I would imagine with a little tweaking you could get some decent sounds out of it for certain styles of music. That is the main thing with this amp, people complain because out of the box it doesnt go from clean jazz to acid metal. They want an amp with 6L6 and EL84 tubes and a kitchen sink too. If you want a pure Fender tone get this amp, it loves pedals and you can make it sing in any music genre. If you want Vox British tones then buy a Vox (which to me are real tinny sounding amps that cost twice as much) just my opinion. For the money you aren't going to find a nicer tube sound. If there were anything I wish it had, it would be "not" to have the distortion channel, build it just like the majority of the other fender amps, clean and vibrato channel at the same price point. If this amp were stolen I would get another, it is a great little 40 watt tube amp.

1997 USA made hrd(I wrote a review earlier this year on a "FENDER DEALER" made in Mexico deluxe limited POS)this american version is like rating a whole different amp.I still am NOT going to admit that this amp. has 3 channels though and if fender had any pride in themselves they would'nt either.Notice that I am giving this amp.a 10,Due to the fact it does have the features I was looking for and this is the proper "tool" for the job/style I need it for{blues,country,southern/classic rock.

This amp.is a great marriage with my american deluxe strat.w/s-1 system.Of course I use pedals with this amp.(blues driver,ch-1 super chorus)But,THAT'S ALL,I some times use ch.2 to get a little more "break-up",But after playing for about 45 years I have enough knowledge to know what I need for the sound I am trying to accomplish.Rating this amp.based on a hardrock or british tone or anything that requires a lot of distortion,IMHO you picked the wrong tool,not that the tool is bad.I wear a size 13w shoe,and have enough sense not to try on a size 10m,and bitch that it don't fit!!!.with that being said,the mexican verzion don't fit,and feel this site should have the usa and mexican split into different catagories.

So far so good,but I always carry a back-up,never heard of a usa model dying on stage,But I have personnally had issues with the shitty mexican one,AND IT WAS A DIAMOND DEALERS ISSUE,fmic must sure love their dealers,eh?

YOUR KIDDING,RIGHT?,as stated above I have enough gray whiskers to know that if you spend any time with the frontline people who answer the phone first,HELL...YOU JUST INFORMED THEM THAT FMIC...IS FENDER guitars!!!

I've owned a lot of different gear,and collected a lot of gear over the years,I know that it's hard to afford to keep-up 2 or 3 amps. or guitars.But,one thing I know,if you like different styles of music,and want to play the different varities,you need a varitey of tools and equipment,and cannot expect this basic amp.to do it all,and by the way this thing weighs about 45lbs.,which late at night(at my age)looks far more appealing than my 75lb Peavey classic 50410,or my 77lb.CrateVC50310,or that wonderfull 100 lb.TWin

This amp does an alright job for those who are trying to get into the tube amp scene without paying an arm and a leg. You'll need your pedals with this one. The only real effect this amp has is reverb. It has a second channel but it's not a true second channel; it doesn't have its own tone controls. So, in reality it's a one channel amp. It comes with a foot switch to change between the channels. I has an preamp in, high and low input jacks. It does have enough power for most gigs. It has a linear pot in the master volume spot which is a bit annoying for me. It makes the amp super load at vol. 0-2 but it doesn't give you much after about 5. I've made quite a few mods to my amp replacing the master volume pot with an 250K audio pot was the first one. I also replaced those cheap plastic input jacks. Mine broke on me within the first year. (Fender should really no better then to make a part out of plastic that is threaded to receive a metal nut!)I put in the old standard metal ones that cost about $1.00.

The amp sounds fine clean but you really can't get a good distroted sound without an effects pedal. If you're playing blues this is fine, but if you like anything with a more brokenup distortion than blues get a distrotion pedal. The stock speak isn't too bad. I wish the would just charge an additional $80 and put in a good quality speaker. I replaced mine and it made a huge difference in sound. Also I've replaced the tubes with TAD 6L6GC-STR tubes. This gave this amp a cleaner high end but they still distort nicely. I was able to live with the original setup until I started using this amp to play with people with nicer amps and I got jealous. So I modified my amp.

This amp has given me a few problems with a few bad resistors that I've had to replace and of course the cheap plastic jacks they use on this amp. But over all, it's been a pretty reliable amp.

I've never dealt with Fender for customer support. I figured it would cost a buttload to ship this thing to have it looked at and fixed tha's why I've always done my own repairs. I've had it long enough that it's not under warranty any more. (I was lucky enough to have purchased this when they were still made in the good old USA). Guys buy a used American made model if you must get one. The new ones are made South of the border.

I've been playing for about 16 years. I also have an old 80's peavey amp that's actually not half bad. I mainly play my deluxe strat, but I do have a les paul studio for metal, and my old Ibanez blazer series from when I was 12. If this amp were to get stolen I wouldn't buy it again. It took a few hundred dollars more than I paid for the amp plus some time trouble shotting it to make it soudn the way I wanted it. Not that it hasn't been fun moding it but I would like an amp with a little more power, nicer stock sound, and better quality parts.

You all know the features.......... basic clean and MUD and MORE MUD.

This amp is perfcet for clean.........to a point......but the gain is MUD.........crappy mud that only gets worse. Fender tricked everyone by putting in linear pots instead of audio taper. This makes you think what a loud amp it is even on 1.......theres not much more past about 5 except...........MORE MUD.

Well.............who knows........all the new ones are NOT MADE IN MEXICO...........but asian sweatshops........ so you take your risk.

Um............fender........well dont expect any help without an argument.

Ive been playing for over 30 years........own a swag of vintag collectable guitars including a 68 335, 5 Les Pauls form 72 to 77, a 62 strat and a few re issues. Fender has not made a good amp or guitar for that matter since the early 60's. It only now relies on its name to sell cheap and nasty overpriced asian muck. This sis the worst amp I have ever used or heard in over 30 years. One to be avoided.

This amp doesn't have a wide variety of features. There is one tone setting for all the channels on the amp, but it serves it's purpose... at least in my case anyways. I bought the amp because it is, in my opinion, the best tone for your buck. I only use the clean channel and use stompboxes for OD and Distortion.

I give this a 8 based on the tone you get for the $$$. I use a PRS Custom 24 with HFS and Vintage Bass pickups. I run through a Crybaby wah, Ibanez tube king, fulldrive 2, dl4, and an EH pulsar, I use true bypass loops so my whole signal is True bypass. I play a wide variety of styles with this amp ranging from Worship music to hard rock. The Cleans are very nice on this amp, but the gain channels arent the greatest, which is why I use pedals. This amp sounds good with just about any gain type pedals I have used with it.

I've had it for a year and gigged 2-3 times a week with it and have never had a problem.

Haven't had to deal with fender

I've been playing for 6 years. I've gigged without a backup for a long time until recently so I guess i still would if i counldnt afford a second amp. It would be nice if it had a better gain channel, but for the money its the best out there.