Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

features all nice just as expected

Excellent sound quality, can do jazz, blues, country, no metal.
The character, Barry Obamamau or whaever his F...... is, has no buisness giving ratings on Fender amps. His assasination on this Deluxe is pathetic. He gave no sound technical logic, just rants about how it was terrible. Get a life loser!

Never had a problem. Mine is the USA made, not Mexico, if that means anything

no problem. I've been playing professionally for 38 years and Fender has always come through for me.

As I said playing for 38 years, would buy this amp again if lost or stolen.

It was made in Mexico i think its a 08 or 07 I fell like its a great starting tube amp for the money. i play things U2, Coldplay Sigur Ros...ect

Im playing a USA telecaster with single coils. The distortion is not great with the stock speaker i would replace it if your looking for distortion.

Its never broke down yet and i play at my church 2 or 3 times a week. The only thing that happend was my springs in the reverb broke...?

Ive been playing this amp for about a year. Its really good, but try to find a used one it will save you alot of money! If it was stolen i would prob would not get it again, only because my style of playing has changed from the time i bought it. The pros of the amp are the clean channel and how warm the the tone is and it looks sweet. The Cons are the mids can really mud up the tone, the amps construction is deff not the best but it can take a beating. And the stock speaker should be replaced if you ask me after (i replaced the speaker I got much better distortion and overdriven tones). The amp is great for a first tube amp or somebody who only plays at home. But i play at my church 2 or 3 times a week so i have found myself wanting more tone.

All tube preamp and power amp supplied by 3 ECC83's and 2 6L6's =
Output 40 watts w/ a S/S rectifier/FX loop.
Combo = 12" Special Design Eminence? 8 ohm, 50 watt Speaker
Three Selectable Channels (Normal, Drive and More Drive)
Features Independent Gain and Master Controls in Drive Channel, Bright Switch, Effects Loop, Reverb, External Speaker Jack,
Controls: Presence, Reverb, Master, Middle, Bass, Treble, Drive Select Switch, Drive, Volume, Bright Switch.

I'm reviewing a 2008 HRD made in Mexico. I was well familiar with the model when I bought it, as three of my friends have owned one. I play in a reggae/funk band and wanted a decent clean tube sound. It has enough power for small to medium large venues.

Fifty tube watts are loud. The basic sound is typical Fender, as good as any and better than most. I wanted a loud clean "ching" for reggae and funk, and was at first a little disappointed. It was great at lower volumes, but was breaking up at around four on the dial, which I only noticed as a problem at an outdoor gig. I spent a c-note to replace the stock speaker with a Weber California speaker and was quite pleased with the result. It is as loud as most situations would demand, ballsy and tight. I mainly use the clean channel but get a good sound with the drive channel by turning the master volume way up and putting the drive volume at about two. This gives it a snarly but not too distorted hot sound. As others have noted, the overdrive/more drive is too fuzzy for most styles and not brutal enough for metal. If you want a metally sound use a pedal, or better yet buy a Marshall. For Classic Rock, Jazz, Blues or Country this is just fine.

Like all tube amps there is a risk of blowing a tube. Carry spares. I also have a Roland Cube 60 which I bring along as a backup. The Fender sounds much better to me, though.

No problems so far. If a tube blows, it blows, it's part of the package.

This amp has gone up in price almost $300 in the last ten years, so it may be overpriced. I previously had a Carvin Belair, which is a 212 and every bit as good, and somewhat cheaper, but more weight to lug around, and I'm old. I chose this one based on what I knew to be true---a good clean sound plus portability and plenty of power. This is a best-seller for a reason. Those who say it sounds bad will never be satisfied with any amp. Perhaps they ought to work on their technique. The Carvin tube amps are good and a viable alternative, but this has more resale value. The stock speaker is cheapish, but that is easy to upgrade. I give it a nine for this price range, not in comparison to an expensive boutique amp.

Well documented; no need to go into details; your standard HRD.

Very nice, well rounded tone; perfect for classic rock and blues; nothing much heavier than that - this is not a metal amp.

Many bars throughout Seoul use this amp. so all I do is carry 'round a LP with a Boss "Dual Overdrive" pedal then plug in - dials are all set midway on the clean channel; your good to go !

I don't use the gain channel; too muddy for my taste and the "more drive" channel is useless unless you use it as a lead boost.

I'm not a pedal user; one is too many for me !

So far so good !

Is Fender in Korea ?

She's a beauty; just what the doctor ordered. Sold my Blues Jr. for this one. A much better amp. for med - large sized venues.

The BJ is just a bit underpowered for playing live straight off the stage and I never liked playing through a PA. Too much dickin' 'round w/ sound levels!

We never have time for a sound check in these places and there's never a sound guy around to moniter the board; so the HRD is the way to go if ya wanna play straight off the stage.

Fender really hit the nail on the head with this entire line, cosmetically anyways. "Gain" and "More Gain" are stupid ideas. What ever happened to a simple circuit, with tremolo in the second channel, that reproduces (see amplifies) the guitars inherent sweet tones and clips softly into a smooth breakup when overdriven? As someone stated earlier, one of the greatest features of this amp is that no-one wants it shortly after they buy it, so they can be readily found for cheap in the classifieds, sometimes cheap enough to get me thinking about using the rather cool looking box to house a classic circuit kit (which are often cheaper than the current Fender crap) and some good Weber speakers. If I can improve on the golden era Fender designs for $700, why can't Fender, with all their resources and cheap labour, do it for over a grand? I am well aware that this model belongs to the "Hot Rod" line and not the "Vintage Reissue" line, yet a gem is a gem and a turd is a turd.

Flat, uninteresting, spikey. The reverb sounds like your usual pawnshop brand solid state junk... perfect for tone-deaf youtube wankers, for wanking away on youtube whilst imagining they look & sound something like Stevie ray Vaughan (these people should not have access to amplifiers, think about it). If you've never plugged into a proper running tweed, blackface, or silverface model, then please disregard my opinion completely.

I would not depend on electronics built by this company.

Where I disagree with the previous poster is that the tweed-covered 1990's "Blues Deville" I owned really sucked too. Spiky as hell. This company is selling nothing more than the logo and some decent cosmetics.

(Sorry about my english - I??m from Germany)
My amp was build in July 1996. I bought it used in superb condition in 2007.
I use it for Jazz, Soul and Funk. It is a perfect amp for those styles.
It has two and a half channels: one clean channel, and one overdrive channel with a more gain option. I only use the clean channel, and for overdrive I prefere to use a tubescreamer-like box.
It sounds best for me with the bass, middle and treble allmost cranked up fully to 10 (works well because of it??s a passiv tone-circuit, which does not change so much), presence up to 7, reverb to 1 or 2 (very effectiv spring).
I play the amp for practicing with the band (volume max. up to 2) and on stage (volume max. up to 3 or 4).
It is realy loud, don??t use it at home in a flat! Even for practicing with the band in a small room it??s nearly to loud.
The stock speaker is an Eminence build for Fender. I changed it once to a Jensen Alnico speaker, but 10 minutes later the Eminence was back to its place: you can??t improuve what is allmost perfect!

I am playing a Hertitage H-575 archtop jazz-guitar for Jazz (treble switch on the amp on bright) and a Fender Stratocaster American Standard for funky sounds (treble switch off).
Very warm classic jazz-sounds with the archtop with the treble on the guitar only to 1-2. Very punchy funky sounds with the strat. And with a overdrive-box it realy rocks, but no heavy metal, only classic rock and Santana-sounds, but that??s what I like.
Sure, at a volume setting of 5 the clean channel starts to distore. But open air with 200 people listening and no P.A. for the guitar the volume on 4 was enough.

Until now no problems.

No customer support needed.

I??m playing since 29 years as an amateur.
Other amps I had before: VOX AC 30 (from the 70ies!), Lab L5 (B.B.Kings choice), Yamaha G100-210, Yamaha G100-212 (like Mike Stern), Fender Pro Junior, Roland Cube 60 (my amp for practicing and small gigs).
If the Hot Rod were stolen or lost, I would surely buy it again.
I compared the amp with a lot of different tube-amps: Fender Blues Deluxe, Blues Junior, Pro Junior ..., Vox, Hughes + Kettner, Koch, Laney, Peavy, ... Sure, the Fender Hot Rod Deville has a fuller sound with more bass, but: if you need a small light-weight tube-amp for a reasonable price with a good clean-sound and a lot of headroom: forget the rest.
The Fender Blues Deluxe, Blues Junior, Pro Junior: they never produce a really clean sound, only that crunchy sound, too distorted for me for a good funk and jazz rhythm sound.
Compared with the Roland Jazz Chorus: the Fender has a sound not so extrem clean but with more live, more sparkeling highs, is cheaper and easier to carry.

2005 model with clean channel, overdrive and "more drive" channeling.I use the amp onstage and in club situations.Plenty of swat for the watt here!Prescence is a nice addition.

Straight forward cleans with Rock and Roll or Blues in mind. Could get by doing Jazz. But, not really known as a Jazzer's amp.I lucked out and have owned 4 of them in the past (this one has a fairly decent overdrive channel). 2 of my former Hot Rod Deluxes had lousy overdrive channels. As for the review from the guy just below me:He really doesn't sound like the typed of guy that has had quite the experience with a variety of amp (as I have over the last 45 years as a Pro).The amp is great at what it does and is intended to do. It puts out a decent Fender tone in a moderate price range and is used by many many Pros in everything from T.V. performances to indoor/outdoor concerts to small clubs.Is it a Dumble, a Bogner, a Victoria? No! Thank God. I've owned them all and there is good and bad about every amp.

Fender runs hot and cold when it comes to customer support. You either Love em or Hate em. There's no middle ground in my opinion.

I own a Blues Junior, a Bogner Shiva, a Deluxe Reverb Reissue, a 69 Vibrolux, a Mark 4 Mesa and a Jazz Chorus 120. I would and have bought this amp again and again (4 times).It's just a great utilitarian amp with decent wattage and can be modded very easily.It has it's own sound that I enjoy.I believe in this case, you get more than what you pay for.

In my opinion the best features are: 1. Inexpensive to purchase, used. 2. Widely available. 3. Easy to sell to another sucker.
So there you have it. Unless you actually LIKE good tone, you'll write glowing reviews. If you DO like good tone, the moment you hear this amp at any/all setting, you will run from it. It's that bad. No, it's worse.

I'd rate the sound of this amp right up there with fingernails on the chalkboard, a roomful of shrieking toddlers, or an Obama speech. Ironically, it's cousin the Blues Deluxe is a wonderful sounding amp. I wouldn't walk across the street to urinate on the Hot Rod Deluxe-unless it was being used...then I would piss on the electricals to cause a short and blow it up. Am I being too subtle? IT SUCKS!

Hopefully it will die a quick death.

Fender guarantees it until you pay for it.

Overhyped, oversold PieceOf****. The happiest experience I had with this amp was receiving payment equal to what I paid for it-two weeks after purchasing it. Suitable for tossing from the nearest cliff perhaps, but as an actual musical instrument amplifier, please run away from this godawful PO*!

Mine is a 1998 proud USA made! You're all suckers if you got the crappy Mexy ones!

Man, this thing sounds incredible! It fits everything that I play, and it's just the perfect amp! I usually use it in venues where they try to limit stage sound as much as possible, so sometimes it's a bit loud, but other than that, I have no complaints. The only downfall may be that the tonal quality peaks at about 3, but that's also wayyyy too loud for some venues, so many times the full tone the amp may have never gets to come out.

I'm using an alder body Mexcan Strat with Tex Mex pickups. They sound gorgeous through the Deluxe. I've never heard the clean channel distort at all, which is really nice. The best part is, the tone is the same throughout the clean and OD channels! I've always hated going from one channel to the next, having my tone change suddenly without my knowing.

I also replaced the original speaker with a Hellatone 60, which is a Celestion Vintage 30 that has been played through for 15 hours to aged it slightly. It brings out the tonal quality very nicely!

I've always been able to depend on it. Never had a problem with it.

Never dealt with them.

I love every part of this amp. The warmness it gets is just sexual. It especially brings out the qualities of Fender guitars, making them sound like they really should! The spring reverb is also pristine. I couldn't ask for better.

You really only want the Clean channel

The distortion is lame.

But the clean seems to take pedals okay.

These are about 450 - 500 used. I do think this is a very simple, effective, no bs way to handle your tube-amp needs.

But, for me, the real-deal Super Reverbs are the way to go.

2008 Sam Ash exclusive "black and tan" limited edition model,only 125 made.Made in Mexico with Fender quality control.Clean,drive and more drive channels,effects loop,long reverb tank,2 guitar inputs(one normal and one attenuated)extension speaker jack.40 tube watts(6l6 and 12ax7 tubes)Tubes are very secure and tight in amp(vibration-absorbing stabilizers around tubes).12 inch made in U.S.A Eminence speaker.Footswitch for channel select/drive/more drive.I wish the footswith had reverb on/off.Full selection of tone knobs.Amp needs to be biased(sets the electrical idle of the amp).

Using amp with Gibson Les Paul standard.Have had it for a year now.I did swap out the tubes for JJ's.Fender usually has the amp biased COLD from the factory.I turned UP the bias(their is a little knob you turn,and check at a test point with a radio shack multimeter)the amp is much better now!!I use the amp for cleans,blues and overdrive tones.In front of the amp I run a Peterson strobostomp tuner and Digitech bad monkey.I like the stock Eminence speaker.A lot of people I guess dont like it and some come back to it after trying others.I have been looking for an excuse to swap it out,but I like it.Maybe its because I am using it for mainly clean&blues(no metal).Maybe people dont give the stock speaker a chance to break in.Maybe its because I have a real nice guitar.I think the amp has really nice clean Fender tones,the drive channel is good for the blues,with some reverb added you get a 3d quality to the tone.The more drive channel needs more tweeking and I really dont use it.The more you turn the volume up the fuller the sound becomes.This amp is a lot of fun to play and the tones are great!!!

I hear their are maybe some issues with the input jacks breaking and maybe cold solder connections but I have not experienced these yet.

I have not dealt with the company yet.I have 7 years on the warranty(how sweet is that).5 with Fender and 2 more additional through Sam Ash music store.

I have been playing as a hobby player for over 20 years.I have been through a lot of gear.Currently I own a Fender Tremolux,Epi VJ(ver.3)stack and some solid state amps.If something were to happen to it I would get another.If you want Fender tone(add reverb) play this amp.It takes pedals very well.I like it,Its a keeper!!!

Three channels (one clean, two gain), effects loop, reverb. 40 watts. I got this amp after looking for a middle price range amp; I had my eye on the Super Champ XD and the Blues Junior. The BJ's sound was warmer than the SCXD, but the Deluxe had much more features, and I got a great deal on it--turned out to be cheaper than the Blues Junior and had way more features. It has more power than I currently need, but if I need it it's there.

I loved the sound of the Princeton, but I couldn't afford it. Plus the Princeton only had one channel (two inputs though) and I didn't like the on board effects; I like adding my own. I wanted that higher-priced amp sparkle, and the Deluxe has it. Takes a little tweaking of the settings to get what you want, but it's there. Stunning clarity and warmth. Also, I was surprised by how balanced the sound is. I have tried many amps that handle the different strings poorly, but the Deluxe gives each string it's own voice, and balances them together very well. The tonal range is wide and very manageable. I give it a 9/10 because the gain channels are a little too throaty. It's got a vintage grumble, but that's about it. If you want a cleaner more modern distortion or overdrive, I'd put a pedal in front of the clean channel; it handles them well. A compressor might be nice, too, since this amp can throw out some biting overtones that aren't easily rolled off with knob settings (they can be, but it takes a little fiddling with).

It's a fairly recent purchase, but it feels fairly reliable--not rock solid, but reasonably tough.

I am very lucky I got the deal on this amp that I did. The sound quality and features stand out over the Blues Junior. If it were lost or stolen I would be mad...very mad, but I would probably save up for another. If you are considering getting into the world of tube amps (especially if you're torn between a Super Champ XD and a Blues Junior) give this one a try. Hopefully you can find a good deal on it. I thought the Super Champ XD sounded a little thin and toy-like, and the Blues Junior just couldn't compete with the features of the Deluxe.

I have a Mexican made model that's maybe 5 years old give or take. I've retubed it with JJ 6L6's recently and have been playing with input tubes a lot lately. If you're reading this, you probably already know about the other features...

I'll give it an 8 because it has an FX loop, but the speaker and the bass/mid/master pot kinda keep it from a 10 on features.

I have an original 1961 Strat, 1978 Strat, 2006 Strat, 1973 Les Paul, 1965 Gretsch, and a 2008 PRS DGT (awesome guitar). All guitars are original with no changes to pots/pickups/etc...

The amp sounds pretty darn good with every guitar. The amp has no mods yet other than the reverb mod from the studentweb.eku.edu site (highly recommended!). Put some JJ 6L6's in last year (haven't tried any others...yet). Have used original Tele 12AX7s and the new Mullard 12AX7s in the pre stage, but recently went to some NOS 12AT7s for a change and really like the sound. You can get a lot more range out of the amp it seems and the overall tone is nicer to me.

The bass is bit heavy (could be my smallish room I play in), but once I turn down the mid AND bass pot this amp sounds great to me. I've heard a Matchless 2 X 12 combo and a few other nicer amps, and although they are better, I can live with mine for now.

I've used it with pedals and a Boss GT 10 thru the FX loop and it works well. If you're not in to the drive channel, the clean works great with pedals (I don't think it's that bad on about 4 or so). With the GT 10 you can get pretty much any sound you could want.

Giving it a 9 cause there's ALWAYS something better out there. This amp is really great for the $$$...especially if you get one used and just do some tube rolling to get your desired sound.

No problems with mine.

Never used.

Been playing 20 years and also have an original '65 Twin that I fire up from time to time. Definitely spend more time playing thru the HRDx, especially since it's only 40 something pounds!

If it were stolen I'd prolly buy something else but only because that's how I am...always on the lookout for something new and different. Would like to hear the Laney Lionheart 15w sometime since I only play at home.

It has all the features I need and a great overall sound once you find a nice preamp tube match for your desired sound.

I'll give it an 8.5 overall.

All tube preamp and power amp supplied by 3 ECC83's and 2 6L6's =
Output 40 watts w/ a S/S rectifier/FX loop.
Combo = 12" Special Design Eminence?? 8 ohm, 50 watt Speaker
Three Selectable Channels (Normal, Drive and More Drive)
Features Independent Gain and Master Controls in Drive Channel, Bright Switch, Effects Loop, Reverb, External Speaker Jack,
Controls: Presence, Reverb, Master, Middle, Bass, Treble, Drive Select Switch, Drive, Volume, Bright Switch etc etc etc



I use this amp at home, but it has featured on my bands latest E.P... we're an extreme metal band; go figure.

I give it a 7, simply because it doesn't have a depth control... and also it would be nice to have it power more than just 1x8 ohm cab... FENDER... GET YOUR FINGERS OUT; THIS THING COULD BE A REAL WINNER

How brutal is the distortion... well I never:

So im in my guitar store; (Machinehead Music in Hitchin where I get all my guitars serviced) getting my guitar put back together after another ridiculous run of shows which culminates in me throwing one at our drummer for the giggles when they tell me they've fitted a kill switch to my guitar, how nice. Anyway, the amp rooms are full and all thats infront of me to try it out is this HOT ROD DELUXUE.

*perchink*

I plug in, thinking to myself; i'll try this out properly when we're at our rehursal space, just make sure it works.

I crank the little bastards gain knob, thinking there would be nothing on tap... BLAST it hits me, some really singing, tight honky distortion... it's on 'MORE DRIVE' at this point anyway, but... theres TO MUCH GAIN FOR ME, I knock it back to about halfway and start messing, with the E.Q. flat its a really fun little bastard and the clean is stellar. really stellar.
I complelely forgot I had a kill switch, so I ended up trying it, thinking 'ok now, back to this little bastard' and going right back to the amps front pannel.

I enquired about borrowing it for this recording and soon enough I was in the studio with it, messing with it through a 4x12 and my GOD does it sound the balls. It sounds like a big fat sack without the 4x12, so you can imagine what it sounds like through a cab!

TRY ONE OUT PEOPLE. This amp does it hardcore!

myspace.com/aghastuk gives you an idea about what it can do (all be it blended with my ENGL Powerball, H&K Triology, JCM800 and Vintage Modern... just incase)

its a really varied little amp. I can really annoy anyone I want to with it and my selection of 80's metal riffs.

Never taken it on tour... probably wouldn't... unless.

Meh... Fender... who knows with them.

I WISH they made a head version of this... simply because I use Marshall 4x12's which run at 16ohms and this can only power one 8ohm cab... DAMN IT.

I'll get one and mod it with a depth/resonance knob and a bit more choice from the power amp...


other than that.

THIS AMP IS FARKIN' UNDERATED!

Just 2 weeks since the rig arrived. LTD Lacquered Tweed Combo w/matched 1-12 Cab. First test run, I asked what did I do?

After playing on a 70's Princeton Reverb for 15 years, I thought it was time to step up. The Deluxe offered more power, FX Loop, and optional extension cab.

Figured can't go wrong. Thus far, I was right. The Combo control sensitivity and features take some patience, but after a few trials I get it! With the bass up, treble down, and reverb tweaked, the Amp comes alive.

Alternating between Norm (clean) and Drive channels controlled by footswitch (included) works great with FX Loop effects. Have not found use for More Drive yet.

I play a 70's Fender Tele, which sounds great with any Fender Amp.

The Deluxe Combo came stocked w/Celestion Speaker G12P-80 and GT6L6Cs Power Tubes, which are a little noisy when switching between "Standby" and "On". The Reverb is not quite the high fidelity sound I get from my Princeton, but with a little tweak it provides enough presence.

The 1-12 Enclosure also came w/Celestion Speaker. The stack looks great. I played through it a couple of times. The sound is enhanced ten fold.

1x12 combo. MIM. I play a lot of different types of blues and rock. a lil jazz too. the amp is good for blues and jazz, but its not too much of a rock amp. its 2 channels with a "more drive" boost on the OD channel. this amp has probably the worst overdrive i've ever heard in a tube amp. its extremely brittle and shares the same EQ as the clean. its very hard to shape and the more drive just makes it worse. i do wish it had better reverb also. the reverb, just like the od channel, is thin and destroys the tone of the amp when turned past 3. i leave the reverb on 2 and its workable. the amp is 40 watts all tube. it has more than enough power for clubs but the cheap eminence speaker in the amp makes it sound very thin turned up. i've heard the amp with a celestion vintage 30 speaker and it helps a lot. it really improves the amp 110%.

i give it a 4 because it doesnt have many workable features. i find myself using a lot of different pedals.

i play my completely customized 07 american standard strat. right now it has 2 seymour duncan classic stack plus's in the neck and middle and a full sized JB in the bridge. the pickup combo sounds ok but i made it that way for versatility. now im thinkin of putting the dimarzio Area pickups in my strat. but enough about my strat.

the deville gives me a very workable clean sound and allowes me to use pedals easily. the amp isnt grounded very well but what do u want for a $650 amp made in mexico. so yeah it can be a lil noisy but who cares. like i said though, the clean sound is good enough, very workable and it will break up. not in a good way but it will break up. the eminence speaker really kills that amp for me. the v30 though really does sound nice broken up.

one thing about the amp is that it doesnt take well to every guitar. you really have to find a good match for it to sound good. so for that and the speaker and terrible OD, but great clean sound, i give it a 7

I've heard plenty of stories about this amp breaking down.

In my personal experience, i've had it for 2 years and i needed it re-soldered at first because some of the soldering was half assed and i retubed it by choice, not because i had to.

i'd say for the money, its reliable

I've never really had to call in about anything. i've never had to deal with fender personally. i cant really say

I own a few other pedals like Jeckyll and Hyde V2, Vox Wah. im on my way to getting a fulltone OCD and a TS808.

if this amp was stolen, i'd probly never think of it again. I do love the fact that its nice and small. doesnt weigh much. it produces "fender like" clean tones. not exactly up to par with the Twin but u get the point.

the OD is completely useless and i wish they would put gain like the supersonic in it. the speaker is cheap but thats a quick fix.

it truely is the best amp for the money though. but a few hundred more and you could have something like an AC30 or even a twin. just a lil more than that, u could have a mesa boogie.

so really its not worth spending the money. just keep saving, be patient and you'll get much more for your money.

i'll probly trade mine in soon. im now looking at the JSX and JVM. which are in a completely different price range but after owning this amp, it has to be all or nothing.

dont get me wrong, its a great practice and rehearsal amp. i'd just rather not use it to gig.

This will be a short review as the amp does not deserve much of my time.
A 2004 reissue made in Mexico.
This is not my amp..I have a real valve amp...a Seymour Duncan Convertible.
I repaired this amp recently.

Way too much bass and a a linear Volume pot that fools the inexperienced into thinking that 'wow it's so loud on 2 ..imagine what it's like on 12 !'...well it's not that much louder on 12 than on 2.
The sound gets flabby at a reasonable volume due to the excessive bass.

Wouldn't trust it to work if I moved it from one room to another.
The soldering is below standard .
The power supply cap C36 failed and caused oscillation in the gain channel.
The Presence control did nothing until I soldered the grey lead at the ext speaker jack back on to where it had come loose from.

Luckily Fender provide schematics for this amp cause they sure are needed.

This amp can behave erratically....squealing etc from the gain channel...the cause is the power filter caps...C31 ,C33 ,C35 & C36 replace them.
Kill some of the extra bass by putting a jumper wire from the mid leg of the MID pot to the leg on the Mid pot that is closest to the channel select switch.

bought second hand, 2009, recent model made in mexico, cost 399.
2 channels plus all the stuff that people below have mentioned, no need to reiterate.

ok, so the clean is supurb. overall the amp is super loud!!
now, most people have slated the overdrive channell but i'm not! i'll put it this way. if you love WILCO, RYAN ADAMS, NEIL YOUNG and bands of this ilk then i can gaurentee that you will LOVE the overdrive channell. it's not a marshall but if thats what you want go and by a marshall. i own a 1972 marshall head and the hod rod deluxe, in my opinion, leaves it in the dust. i specifically wanted that fender overdrive, which is kinda fuzzy but breaks up lovely.

only had it a few days.

n/a

i love everything about this amp, the only thing so far that i don't love is the option of not having the reverb included in the foot switch. like i said i also own a marshall 1972 valve head and there is no comparison with the hot rod in terms of versitilty, marshall just gives you marshall, but fender gives you an array of options.
i recommend this this amp especially to people trying to "get that" alt.country sound, or even a grungy neil young vibe!

I have a 2008 fender hotrod deluxe, and though im only 13 and been playing for 2 yrs, i sound like im 40 and have ben playing 30 yrs., not 2 be ull of my self, just play 4 hrs a day, so basically im saying i know wat im talking about. I play rock, rock 'n' roll and hard rock(i idolize the beatles, love the who and i play some zeppelin too).it claims 2 have 3 channels, i would say it has 2, tho the distortion SUCKS!!! wat was fender thinking? with such a beautiful clean sound(by far the best ive ever heard) why wouldnt they put in great distortion?? well to solve this i reccommend a fulltone OCD distortion pedal, a "liverpool" distortion pedal, or a vox bulldog. NOT BOSS!! this amp does have enough power for me, i run it betwen 3- 4.6, then it starts 2 break up. dont worry though, this thing is LOUDD!!. wen its on 1.7, its louder than my friends vox ac15 on full...soon im gonna need a cab tho, but ive found so far, its good w/out a mic for up 2 600 people.

i use an epiphone es335, gibson SG, and a 12 string rickenbacker(370/12). this suits my style perfectly!! i find it perfect for rock, jazz, blue, and hard rock. This is very loud, i think it sounds best on 2.7. this amp is more versatile than anything ive ever heard. i only gave it an 9 in this cattegory because of the bad distortion.clean channel gets distorted at about 5 or 6. i find this this amp has the best sounds on theses settings:
VOLUME: 2.5-4
TREBLE:5.6-7
BASS:8-9
MID: 4.9-5.6
REVERB: 3.5
PRESENCE: 9.5.

I WILL NOW AND ALWAYS WILL COMFORTABLY USE THIS GIGGING W/OUT A BACK UP. super reliable, sounds great, heavy duty, and it doesnt break.i have never had it break down.

i have never needed fender becase this is such i good amp!:D

ive been playin 2 yrs, but like i said, im good trust me, better than anyone i know, and guitar is completely my life, so i no wat im sayin. I WOULD MOST DEFINITELY BUY IT RIGHT AWAY IF IT WERE STOLEN OR LOST. LOVE the clean sound,like magic, it makes me wanna cry its so perfect, best ive ever heard, hate the distortion. i compared it 2 a marshal JCM which everyone told me it was a super rare amp for way better value than this, but i found out that i can not stand the sound of marshalls. the only amp that i would possibly consider in place of this( which still isnt better) is a VOX AC 30 or AC 50.

40 watt 1x12 open back combo. Hi and low input. 2 or 3 channels depending on how you classify the "more drive" setting - footswitchable. Shared EQ. Clean Channel is non-master volume with a bright switch. Drive channel has a master volume type control. FX loop. Spring reverb.

40 watts is way too much amp for the rooms that I play, so I have to open by saying that I???m commenting on the amp running well below its intended sweet spot. I???m betting that there are more than a few people in the same boat, though, so here???s my take.

I play in a room that holds about 1000 people. Stage volume has to be kept in check with the overall venue volume controlled at FOH???so I???m running the amp mic???ed at 2 1/2 - 3 on the volume control of the clean channel ... just loud enough for me to hear myself over the drums.

Let me get the drive channels out of the way first. At the low volume levels to which I am restricted, I have not found the drive channels to be very tonefull. I???d say raunchy and rather flat. The clean channel is much better, however. Deeper, more 3 dimensional - that big, round, clean for which Fender is known. I have found using overdrive/distortion pedals through the clean channel a better sounding option than using the amps drive settings at low volume. In this configuration, this amp is usable, but still mediocre at best.

Having been sufficiently underwhelmed and frustrated with the tone out of this amp over the 2 years I have owned it, I have been out amp shopping for the past 6 months. I had been looking at amps that were, for the most part, more British leaning - a lot of el84 based amps. My favorite ended up being the Top Hat Super Deluxe 6V6. It has this great blend of British chime that I knew I wanted with roundness of the Fender that I found I really ended up missing in the el84 amps I tested. Unfortunately, the Top Hat is way beyond what my budget would allow. Before giving up on the HRDX, I decided to see what would happen if I replaced the stock Eminence speaker with the British voiced 50 watt Weber Blue Dog ceramic. The results were pretty astonishing. It didn???t magically transform my amp into that Top Hat ... but it???s a lot closer to that vibe than I expected, and more than enough to turn frustration into a satisfied grin when I play.

No issues with the amp's operation or reliabiity for nearly 2 years playing about twice per week.

No experience with customer service

So it seems to me that there is a decent amp hidden behind an iffy speaker. I went with more of a British voiced speaker, but I???m thinking that a better quality American voiced speaker could go a long way in improving the basic Fender tone that is already there. While I really do enjoy the amp now, if I could do it over again, I???d start with an amp more appropriate to my size and volume requirements and work from there. I definitely don???t recommend this amp for bedroom use, but it can be very usable at lower club level volumes. One of these days I'm going to find a place to crank it up for a fair evaluation.

Two channels, two inputs, reverb and presence controls. 40 watts into 2 6L6's. pre-amp has 3 12ax7's. Fender Special Design 12" Speaker.

I use a players deluxe strat w/ noiseless pickups. The clean channel is super glassy and works extremely well mid-volume with single coil pickups. I find the amp to be on the bassy side, could be the speaker or tonestack caps. Gets loud as hell really fast, I play bedroom volume at about 1.5.

The first overdrive channel has some utility, not much. Again very bass heavy and muddied, hard to get that touch sensitive, lots of attack definition. The more drive is completely useless. Just too much noise and mud, no note clarity whatsoever.

Reverb is a little thick, I play on 2, anything above that would have Dick Dale scratching his head in tonal frustration.

I'm thinking about switching out to some fresh power tubes. Maybe put fresh pre-amp's in with a 12at7 in the phase inverter portion. If I decide to keep it I will probably put in a brighter speaker as well, maybe a celestion or jensen. I will definitely change the tone capacitors (billm mods for deluxe!). Right now Im looking to trade this in for a NOS Blues Junior (anyone? :) ).

Overall the clean channel is what really shines for the HRD. I get my dirt on with a low gain rat and an HBE treble booster in the front, sounds miraculous. I foresee the drive channels getting very little, if any, use at all.

Also I use an extension cabinet with a 12" Eminence Patriot. If you can get one of these it really opens the sound up and throws it around the room. The speaker also has a much better treble response than the stock speaker and it kind of levels out the overall output.

Mine is an original 1996, made in the US. It even has that 50th anniversary sticker on the tag plate. Sounds good for being 12~13 years old, previous owner blew the original speaker, tubes have never been replaced (yikes!). Overall the insides look good, no blown caps or burnt resistors. The black amp covering always gets nicked and dinged, oh well. The metal face plate has little rust speckles, which is a cosmetic problem that could get much worse and eventually need to be replaced. Overall looks like it will see many more years of service rocking out hard.

N/A

A little loud, Wanted a Blues Junior but couldn't pass up the inexpensive price on my particular amp. Drive channels are useless, Clean channel is very usable and versatile. I would recommend new pre-amp tubes, maybe new speaker and new tone caps to level out the bass response. Put a couple of decent to higher quality pedals in front of the clean HRD and your set to wail some sweet sounding blues licks. I would say a treble booster --> compressor --> good overdrive.

I purchased my hot rod deville amp from guitar center in 2004. The amp really spoke to me in the store. After readin some the reviews of this amp I was compelled to give my 2 cents worth. I have played well over 1000 plus gigs with this amp since I have owned it. I play a PRS and Gold top LP which everybody that has reviewed this amp seems to be playing fender products. Now we all know that a fender guitar sounds the special thru a fender amp however I have found that this amp works well with other guitars also. I choose the 4-10 60 watt combo because I felt it had a warmer tone overall. This amp is plenty loud enough for any situation I have encountered including outside gigs with no mic for the P.A.

Now to the distortion issue. I have been playing guitar over 25 years thru a vareity of amps,peavey,mesa boogie,soldano.. The distortion is really not that bad really. The more drive section of the amp is useless but the normal drive sounds good to me. Now I play in an original band that is cross between soundgarden and zeppelin so you will definatley not get a slipknot tone out it. I have also played in cover bands with the amp and have found it to quite versatile. I have been using a tube screamer and that helps with the sustain. I have listened to the 12 inch speaker versions of this amp extensively and I really think it takes on a whole new voice in the 4-10 arrangment. The clean channel is classic fender with the killer fender reverb.

As i stated before I have played well 1000 gigs and countless practice sessions with the amp and it has performed flawlessly. I would not hestitate to drive across the country with this amp.

Never had an issue with it

Well heres the pros for the amp. Versatile for almost all types of playing IMHO, I have also played acoustics thru it that sound great,Plenty loud enough for any situation,cost in comparsion to other amps in its class,sturdy easy to use controls and yes I would replace if lost or stolen. Cons: well it does not have the most over the top distortion but you are buying a fender right? if you want over the top gain then look eleswhere. The 4-10 cab can be alittle heavy at times. As with any amp... it should speak to you creatively and make explore your guitar playing. And from the very first time i plugged into this amp I have not been able to put it out of the arsenel.

2005 Hotrod Mexican make. Needs a good OD channel, Reverb footswitch. I use this amp in pubs and clubs and some outdoors events with great affect. Love the clean sound with just a touch of the reverb added. I run mine on about 5 which is were it starts to breakup, but this is good, because at this volume it sits nicely with the overall volume produced by the drummer and the other guitar players. Playing the strings easy at this volume produces a nice clean sound and playing the strings with a bit more gusto produces a nice early distortion.

I use a 91 American Standard Strat, 2008 Gibson Les Paul Studio, 2007 Gretcsh 5250. I play in a pub rock covers band, so the range of music and sounds required is very varied. This amp does a good job of providing a nice baseline clean sound to build on, which is exactly what is required in a covers band. As stated by many before me, you won't find a better clean sound for this money. I have not heard as good a clean sound out of amps twice the price. The overdrive channel is rubbish and I would have thought by now (15 years on), that Fender would have rectified this weak point and released a Hotrod 2, but I guess they won't be forced into this until the sales drop off. There isn't one person that owns this amp that has anything good to say about the OD channel. This is s true 40watt valve amp and provides sufficient power for most venues without the need of a mic. I agree with one of the other reviewers, that it would have been useful to make the reverb switchable on the pedal.

This has been a great amp other than having the valve sockets re-soldered once because the valves kept cutting out as if they had blown. Apparently a common problem that I believe Fender have now rectified by hand soldering the joints. While you can depend on this amp at a gig, any serious guitarist would always carry a spare amp. Never put your total trust in any amp.

In Australia, Fender don't tend to respond well to email. Given that they are steeped in old fashion tradition when it comes to making amps and guitars, I don't think they have discovered computers yet. The amp comes with the standard 12 month warranty, which is a joke. If you have faith in your product and you really believe your own marketing hype, you should be able to offer at least a 5 year warranty. That said, these are pretty reliable. Even more reason for Fender to take the gamble and offer a better warranty.

I have been playing for 35 years and like most have a ton of gear lying around. If this amp were stolen or lost, I would buy another, although there are always new amps coming out and I would test drive plenty before jumping straight back into a Hotrod. I have a Hotrod extension cabinet with mine to add more bottom end and it sounds good. Surprisingly, the Les Paul sounds good through this as well although it definately suits the 91 Strat. Get a good effects unit and a good strat and this amp sounds awesome if you like playing blues, Floyd, Dire Straits etc.
Be aware that if you are considering doing what some suggest and modifying the amp by changing the valve arrangement so that the amp doesn't breakup until it gets to 7, this does not mean that you will get more volume. It simply means that you will get more control over the increments of volume in the lower region. Remember, this amp was designed to work in a specific way and if you feel the need to mod it, then you probably bought the wrong amp for your needs. If you are considering buying this amp, turn the bloody thing up and really test run it loud, don't be bullied in the store to keep the volume down.

This amp has all the standard features, two channels. It also has a builtin reverb. The channels and reverb can be controoled by means of a footswitch.

I played a Telecaster through it. The clean channel gets loud very quickly, and if you want that that's great. But there's not much room for subtlety. The sound of the 2nd distortion channel is a farce, I hardly used. Instead I used a Tube Screamer with the clean channel.

Never had a technical problem with the amp.

N/A

At first, it seems like a great deal, a real Fender tube amp for around $500 (second hand). But after playing it for a while, I found it impossible to find the right tone. The overdrive channel is useless, and the clean channel is way too loud - due to a wrong component used by Fender. It's also very heavy to carry around all the time. I am not surprised you see this amp pop up so often for sale - which I did. But for a beginner or someone with a limited budget who just wants to play loud, I think it's still agreat deal.

I have one of the last ones made in the US, Date's June of 2002, and I think I bought it new right about that time. I play a little bit of everything, Country, Blues with a heavy Jazz influence, to borderline Head Banger, and it fits them all. I hear every one calling this a two or three channel amp, (including Fender) where in my opinion it only has one channel that you can add some gain to, and then some more gain to with a foot switch. FX loop yes, Reverb yes, Headphone jack no. Fender should get rid of the drive end of this amp, pretty much useless anyway, and put a reverb switch in its place. I've played mine at a number of smaller bars to large outside venues and I've never had this above 5, this amp is LOUD. 40 watts tube with a solid state rectifier.

I play a US 62 reissue Strat from the mid 80's I think, a late 80's Guild Starfire, and a 77 Music Man StingRay 1, yes one of the real ones. My pedal board setup for right now is a DOD milkbox compressor >> Boss BD-2 >> Boss PW-2 >> CryBaby GCB-95 an old one >> Dunlop GCB-80 Volume Pedal >> Hot Rod Deluxe. And I have an ADA 2FX >> ADA 2.56i >> Sabine RT-1601 Rack Tuner, running threw the FX loop of the amp. And like I said above I play a little bit of everything, I do lean towards the Blues though, and this amp sounds great. It has that classic Fender clean tone that a lot of us love. The stock the amp is good, I will say that it does break up early though. But that is what the amp is supposed to do, it was designed that way, after all it's called a HOT ROD isn't it. So I did make some changes. Power tubes are now Sovtek 5881WXT and in the V3 side of the preamp (that is the Phase Inverter) I put a 12AT7 and wow what a difference I now have clean headroom to about 6 or 7 before it starts to break up. I also plan on adding a different speaker soon which should help even more. The drive side of this amp as most of the reviews state SUCKS. It is probably the worst sound I have ever heard. OK not the worst but close. Come on Fender what were you thinking.

Has never let me down yet. I did have some loose solder joints taken care of way back when, but that was it.

Never had to deal with them.

I've been playing a long time (44 years I think) I've played through to much gear to remember, and right now I probably have more stuff then I need. But don't we all. I do not ever see me not using this amp in some way. It's that good of an amp, if something ever happened to it I would get another one. What else I can say, this is an extremely good amp, notice I did not say great.
I played a gig about a year ago there were three bands with seven guitar players in all, and five Hot Rod Deluxe Amps. You do the math.

I bought my Hot Rod new in 2006, and have found it to be as versatile as I have ever needed it to be, with the help of effects pedals. Since it has such a rich, clean tubed tone, you can throw anything on top of it and it will sing! I have been playing worship music for four years and find everything but the bluesy distortion completely useable (this is easily fixed with my Keeley Compressor). I am glad that the amp doesn't have many effects, because I am more interested in quality tone than digital Line-6 type of effects.

I play an American Standard Strat, and recommend this amp to any fender player. You really need to find a way to damper the deep bass tendency of this amp though (a Keeley Compressor will do). I would not recommend the distortion to metal players, it is very bluesy.

You can depend on this amp as much as you can any tube amp, which requires you to keep track of the life of your tubes. Besides that, the amp is completely reliable.

I have never dealt with the company. I am sure Fender does a good job though!

This amp can crank some BEAUTIFUL clean sounds! Like a typical tube amp, the dynamics are pretty touch-sensitive, but with my Keeley Compressor it sounds flawless. I would have rated this amp a solid 10, but it is pretty difficult to tweak the amp to get its perfect tone (it took a LONG time to finally find my tone). But this is a perfect tube amp for all who are looking for a crisp Fender clean tone for a little less than the other options. I would recommend this amp to anybody from Jazz artists to rock artists (stopping short of Metal guitarists).

This is a Mexican made amp made in the last 2 years. Bought for $1300 Australian. Its a reasonable cheap valve amp. And it floored all the other amps in its price range that i tried. Didn't try a Vox AC15 though.
It is a very basic tube amp, ideal for a first valve amp. Not many features, this is a two channel amp with the more drive feature on the od channel. Only has one eq which basically means you are stuck with one sound but get to add more gain by switching to the od channel.
For the price the clean tones are really good, but don't waste your time with the od channel, its all muddy mash.

Lets get it strait out there. This is a blues amp, plain and simple. If you play metal or hard rock, look elsewhere.

This amp has a big volume for its size, but low clean headroom. Mine begins to break up round 4-5 on the volume, i have seen others as low as 3. This isn't bad, its a blues amp, its meant to do this.

I use a US Strat and an Epiphone (Korean) Les Paul standard. I play a range of styles. This amps is in my rig for its clean tones. It is not your usual Fender clean, is has a heap of bass. That said, the clean is very usuable especially considering the price.

Don't even bother with the od channel, or the more drive switch. If you want lots of muddy, useless fuzz go for it but for tone, leave the foot switch at home and use a pedal. To use this for anything other than blues you need a pedal. It has a huge volume for its size, so with a decent pedal you can really work with it.
Don't bother with a cheap pedal. I tried my Taiwan made DS1 (unmodded) with it, and it was that horrible 'angry swarm of hornets in a tin can' thing. What you need with this baby (As stated in other reviews) is a high end overdrive pedal. My choice is the Crowther Hot cake for the heavy and a TS808 reissue for the mellow breakup. (Both in front of the Hot Rod) Both turn this amp into the perfect rig for my needs, especially with the Strat. For the Les Paul, the Hot Cake can be a bit muddy, but with the Boss GE7 also in my rig, i can clean it up with a flick of my foot.

My volume currently sits on 2 but i have a decent PA set up when i use it, so i don't need to go any higher. Without the Pa you could comfortably gig this amp in small venues.

this amp does not have much variety. Its a one trick pony really. It has a beautiful clean tone for the price, not much else. The eq doesn't have much effect on the tone. It provided the perfect pallet for building on with pedals, but a seasoned pro would probably not go for this. It was the perfect beginners valve amp.

Never had any trouble with it in the 1 year i have relied upon it. Have heared bad things about the Mexican build quality, but have not had any issues yet.
Never gig without a back up, I always have a little Marshall 100w Vavle state combo on hand for emergencies. Never needed it.

Never had to use it. Generally have a low opinion about customer service from big companies though. Hope Fender are different, but not holding my breath.

This is a perfect beginners vavle amp. Provides a very usuable clean tone to build upon. For boutique clean tones, look elsewhere, this amp works best when you use it for a base clean tone, and run a pedal or two. For the price, this is a great way to get into vavle amps. Also if you just want a decent clean sound for your effects, this is a good buy. For the purests (guitar, amp and nothin else) you will hate this thing.
For an experienced player, this is no good, there is much better out there if you have the coin. This is a beginners vavle amp period.

I love this amp because it was my first valve amp, and my US Strat get a beautiful tone through the clean channel. That said, i've been playing for a while now and after 1 year of running this as my gigging amp i am already eyeing of a Vox AC30 to replace it. This is not very versatile.

My amplifier is one of the FAT series models from the first couple of years - I think it's from late '95 or 1996. It is a fairly simple 40 watt all-tube amplifier with a single 12" speaker. It has two channels and includes a boost channel on the second of them. It offers an effects loop and comes with a footswitch that allows you to choose between the channels and engage the "more drive" option on the distortion side. The two channels share their tone controls, which are your standard bass, middle and treble.

The clean channel has a "bright" switch which I never touch, the "drive" channel has a "more drive" option which I also never touch.

It also has reverb, but I find it fairly useless when turned up beyond a minimum, and I don't have much use for it at all.

I use this amp to practice in my punk band. Believe it or not, despite the fact that it's a small Fender combo, it provides all the gain and tone I need. It's perfect for the basement and would probably be plenty for the small bars where we play - except that the other guitarist in the band is playing a 100 watt Marshall half stack.

I occasionally wish that it had separate EQ controls for the two channels, but in the last 12 years or so, I've managed to work around it.

My main guitar is a Fender Jagstang. It has a Seymour Duncan Invader pickup in the bridge, and these two items (guitar and amp) match my needs almost perfectly.

As I mentioned earlier, I play in a punk band. While most people wouldn't think of this amp as a punk amp, I find that it works for our band quite well.

One problem this amp has (and which has been discussed in great detail in the other reviews) is that it's incredibly bass-heavy. In fact, I turn the bass all the way down on it, and can still manage to get some pretty heavy "jud" sounds when I palm mute.

At least the way I use it, this amplifier essentially has two sounds. Perfectly clean, and a vintage-style distorted one. "More Drive" essentially makes the distortion louder and a bit more fuzzy... I find that it actually takes some of the bite out of chords, but works well for a solo boost.

My biggest issue with the tones out of this amp center around the reverb. As stated earlier, it's effectively useless and harsh turned up past about two. Fortunately, I don't use reverb to get my sound, so it's not an issue, but if you do this could be a real deal breaker.

As far as "brutality" is concerned, I personally have no use for it... And if you do, you should probably buy a different amplifier.

I have been using this amplifier since I purchased it new in 1996.

It's been kicked around basements, dragged to shows in the back of moving vans, had beer spilled on it and yes, my cat even peed on it a couple of times. Nothing in it has ever failed or given me a moment of trouble. It has been in to my local tech twice in that time for a checkup and passed both of them with flying colors. Yes, it even has the original tubes in it.

While I would never suggest that a band play a gig without backup equipment, this amp has never let me down in a live situation - or any situation for that matter.

I have never dealt with Fender on warranty issues, so I can't speak to this category at all.

I've been playing since 1995. This was my second "serious" amplifier. Next week I will be purchasing its big brother, the Hot Rod Deville, and this baby will be relegated to practice in my home. If something ever happens to it, once I'm done crying I will not hesitate to purchase another one just like it.

Generally speaking, the clean channel sparkles, the drive channel has plenty of dirt, and it simply works perfectly for my needs. Plus, it doesn't weigh a million pounds but still gets plenty loud enough for my needs. I've played plenty of bands since I purchased this one, and I never found one that sounded or worked better.

I bought my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe in Jan. 2008. 2 inputs (hi-gain, lo-gain) 2 channels (clean, overdrive), more drive switch, bright switch, 40 watt's, fully tupe,effect loop, long spring reverb, ( what's a Fender amp without it reverb) external speaker output ( great for the new hot rod deluxe enclosure speakerbox).

The amp is versatile enough for any music style except metal or hard rock. Which isn't realy my thing anyway, I use it for jazz, blues and funk. The amp is definitely powerfull enough for at home player, gigs and recording. The only disadvantige is that is hasn't got a different EQ for the other channel. But hey, for the price you pay you will probably have some extra cash for an EQ pedal.

I use a Fender Strat and a ES-335 and it sounds perfect. Like I said before it's great for a lot of different style's. There is a lot of headroom in this amp which is great because it make's your guitar sound come out very nice. And what suprises me the most is that is very quiet especially for a tupe amp. The overdrive is only at 4 out of 12 being the max. plus a good splash of reverb. And my boss ds-1 for heavier sounds.

I haven't had a problem problem so far.

I have owned and still owne a lot of gear and tried out a hell of a lot and I really love my amp. I looks great ( someone actually thought it was a vintage amp from the 60's ) sounds great and just is great. I'am getting the enclosure speakerbox next week which will make it sound even more amazing. The only thing I can think of being NOT good is that is just one EQ and the reverb isn't footwitchable. Great value for money ratio. Is is one of Fender's most longest runnings product for a reason.

It's a 2003 Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. I have to play everything- in my spare time I like to thrash out metal, hard rock, rock, soft rock, glam rock, space rock, funk... yaddiyah. You get the idea. Handles everything I need it to and, if it doesn't, then I have 2 or 3 pedals that 'make it so'. I also run a function band (lots of cheesy funk/rockabilly) and use the amp for gigs/recording sessions most days.

Everyone knows the features... but still, Clean channel (+ bright switch) and a Gain channel (with a pointless 'More Gain' button).

The amp is stupidly powerful for its rating, I play mostly small venues and rarely need to use it above 3.

It has enough features to make it worthwhile. My pedal rig includes a delay pedal, a tuner, and an overdrive pedal. In that respect, I don't need anything more from the amp. It's got everything the average musician would need- footswitch, reverb, gain channel, volume switch.

I use two guitars with the amp. 1st- a Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster with a DiMarzio Chopper, Mel's Lo-Noise Humbucker and a Tonerider Generator (neck to bridge). 2nd- a PRS Singlecut Trem.

I have been told my style is very smooth and refined, and that the amp suits it very well. Whenever I use the Strat & DiMarzio on the clean channel I feel very warm and fuzzy inside- beautiful sound, it just shimmers and chimes in only the way a Fender can. I just love the clean sound from this amp- with my two guitars there's no sound I can't get.

The amp is used every Thursday at a local gig, and it's the amp that all the guitarists there will choose (proud owner!). It flatters every guitar's sound in a way that most amps wouldn't.

The amp itself isn't very linear in its control of the volume, but what I normally do is just pump up the volume on the amp and use the guitar to moderate as necessary. It's stupidly loud though- if you have earplugs (necessary!!!) then it breaks up beautifully once you take it up to around 6.

The distortion on the amp is the only thing I don't like. On its own, it stinks. It's very thin, very reedy and quite muddy. What is very strange is how well the amp's distortion channel slots in with a band- once there's a bass, it cuts very well through the mix. The more gain control is, in my opinion pointless. I just use the guitar's volume control for that. So- two minds for the distortion.

The reverb is excellent, just right. The presence control I find a little contrived- even on zero, the amp still cuts like a knife!

If this amp were a person, it would be your mother (in the stereotypical sense). It's never ever let me down, it's only ever blown one set of tubes in 5 years, it always sounds absolutely fantastic. The only thing wrong- and this is seriously nitpicking- is a slight loose connection in the amp's jewel bulb. I've always used the amp at gigs with no backup because I sincerely trust it.

Never head to deal with Fender, so no comment. I don't expect to.

I have been playing live for around 5 years, and the amp has always accompanied me since then. In my time gigging I have owned a 1965 Fender Twin, a Marshall MG100DFX (shudder), a Marshall AVT100, a Mesa Engineering F50 and this amp. The Hot Rod Deluxe has outlasted them all. It's the best blend of clean and distortion, and is definitely the most reliable. As I write this, my Fender Twin (kept only as an investment- it honestly doesn't sound as rich and warm as the Deluxe) has broken down. ??3,000-worth of amp can't hold a candle to the ??529 Deluxe. The Mesa Engineering had a very thin, reedy clean channel and the distortion was of a similar level. Not very good when you compare the prices. As for the Marshalls... no contest.

If this amp were stolen or (God knows how) lost, I would not hesitate in replacing it. Not any of the stupid limited editions or the Blues Deluxe- just a straight, black Tolex Hot Rod.

This amp has made me extremely proud. In every live situation, people have commented on it. It always gets an admiring look from me across the practise room when I go in. There's nothing I specifically hate about the amp- the distortion is lacking, but that's nothing a Marshall Guv'nor 2 can't fix.

If you want a mid-level gigging amp that's all valve, buy this amp. If you want one that's solid state, buy a second-hand one- same price as a new Marshall AVT100 and miles better. Just buy one!!

bought the amp new in late 2007.
i have used the amp in a variety of styles, the clean channel is amazing!!! but the distortion is very useable also. i play now grungy rock/pop, but i have used this amp for blues, nu metal and classic rock.
two seperate channels, normal/bright and more drive and a pedal to go with it.
this amp has worked for small venues as well as slightly larger, the 50W power seems to be more than enough for me right now.

i use a fender strat with lace sensor pickups mainly with this amp, and the versatility of one seems to reflect in the other. for more twangy stuff my tele also works incredibly, as well as a campbell with seymour duncans for the heavier styles.
it is very easy to use, and you can't get lost at a gig with this amp, which is essential. i can always find the right sound for what i want to play (and my JCM900 head seem to have the same ammount of class when doing so, i prefer to use this amp).
the clean channel is very clear at high volumes, but with the right guitar and settings, it has no problems getting dirty!

i had one problem with this amp, which according to the guy who fixed it happens often these days. due to the fact that mass-produced tube amps need to make the holes for the valve legs slightly larger than they need to be and soulder them tight(because the machines sometimes could not get the valves in properly and bend the spokes), occasionally the valves will come loose and make a rattling noise- - nasty. the amp repairman souldered them up and now i know what to do if the problem should arise again. other than that everything has been perfect.

please read above. this person wasn't a fender repairman, or someone from the shop i bought it from, but someone i looked up locally. the shop i bought this from were rediculous. i took it in because of this sound and they called me up, failing to see something was wrong with it. they didnt want to look at it again, claiming i had made a fuss over nothing, and as soon as it had been on for 15 minutes, the rattling was there again.

this is not a fault of fender, but from the shop i bought it from.

i have been playing for 10 years and i am in uni, so this is a VERY expensive piece of kit as far as i'm concerned, so if it were stolen or lost, i would have to wait a while to get another. perhaps in a different colour :-p.i would miss it every day untill i had another.

for gigs im doing, i dont need anything more loud, as everything has a mic, and is hooked up to a p.a. i have had a peavey, and a jcm900 marshal, but for quality of sound, they dont match up. this is big enough for gigs and small enough for recording, and the thing i love about it is that it can hold its own next to anything and still sound proffessional.

there was an orange amp i was looking at with similar specs, but this was over ??100 pounds cheaper and the shop urged me to buy it, which i don't regret.

it would have been nice to have had two speakers in this cab for a more stereo sound, but volume wise i wouldnt notice, as i haven't had the need to pt it full volume yet (i have done and it sounded fine, but not in a gig have i needed to).

I've had this amp for about 5 months and the more time I spend with it, the more I like it. I bought this amp to replace a Vox Valvetronix modelling amp, which was my first amp. Reliability issues aside, the Vox was pretty good but this amp is in a whole different class. This amp, with it's vintage-vibe looks but modern sound, is a match made in heaven for my 2006 USA Strat. I'd imagine this amp would also sound great with a Tele or any decent guitar for that matter.

I don't believe any other tube amp on the market offers such good value and flexibility at this price. The clean channel on this amp is the only one you need in my opinion. I keep reading negative comments about the drive channels on this amp. If you bought a Fender amp expecting anything other than a really good clean sound, I say you bought the wrong amp.

I use a BOSS ME-50 in front of this amp for all my effects and I really like the sounds I can coax out of it on the clean channel. I also run a BOSS GE-7 EQ pedal in the FX loop for additional tone-shaping. In fact with this amp I think external EQ is a must, as it does have a strong upper-midrange honk.

This amp is LOUD! And I mean REALLY LOUD! I fell in love with the clean channel but the volume control goes from nothing to very loud extremely quickly.

I knew when I bought this amp that I'd have to do something about the volume as I only play at home so I invested in a Z Air Brake, which helps tame the volume very well without changing the sound of the amp. I wanted this amp for it's clean sound and was not going to let the volume issue deter me. I had compared this amp to a Fender Blues Junior, which in itself is a great little amp.

But for not much extra cash, it seemed silly not to go for the Hot Rod Deluxe. To get that great, big Fender clean sound at this price is a no-brainer. But I'm going to knock a point off for the volume issue. I wish Fender would do something to resolve this, after all decent attenuators are not cheap!

It's a Fender. I've no doubt it will be reliable and go on for years. I've not been playing guitar long myself but many of my guitar-playing friends swear by the brand and I've no reason to doubt them.

I've not had to deal with them but I'd imagine it's pretty good. It's Fender after all.

I think you can't go wrong with this amp if you are looking for that clean Fender sound without spending a fortune. Sure, it's not a Bassman or a Deluxe Reverb but it's nowhere near the cost of those amps. Apparently it's Fender's biggest selling tube amp so they must be doing something right.

As a relative newcomer to guitar playing I think this amp represents excellent value for money and with pedals, or a good multi-FX unit like a BOSS ME-50, you could probably coax just about any sound out of it.

But, like I said, the clean channel is the reason you'd buy this amp. With my ME-50 I can get some really great sounds out of this amp from slightly overdriven blues sounds to roaring heavy rock and just about anything in between. In fact with the right pedals and EQ, you can take this amp into pretty much any territory. It sure beats the artifical and fatiguing sound of amp modelling.

I lucked out finding this amp when I did. Some kid bought it at Guitar Center and his mom made him return it, but he had to sell it back to them because he waited too long. I got a new amp on the cheap. The Deluxe has a great beautiful clean tone, but Fender skimped on the distortion section of the amp. It's weak and solid-state sounding. That's okay, that's what pedals are for! I play blues, funk, rock, and experimental stuff, and the clean channel is the rock I build my tone on. It's 40 watts, but this thing never needs to go above 3!

I play an American Strat into a big pedalboard. I run (here comes the gear list) my Dunlop Hendrix wah, EHX Q-Tron+, Voodoo Lab Proctavia, EHX Big Muff, Pro Co Rat, BBE Soul Vibe, EHX Stereo Electric Mistress, EHX Nano Small Stone, Ibanez AD9 Delay, and Boss tuner. My pedals and the Deluxe usually play nice, but fuzz really doesn't sound good through this amp. Maybe it's my Big Muff. I'm looking for a new fuzz (possibly the MXR Silicon Fuzz) to see where the problem is. The Rat should be packaged with the amp, as it gives the creamiest overdrive to the most glorious distortion. Surprisingly, that combination works well for Tool songs. The wah sounds lovely on the clean channel, like "Superfly." Like I said, I don't use the distortion, so I don't know how it works with pedals. The greatest thing about this amp is the bass response. Someone did a good job at Fender, because this thing is SO bassy! You really stand out in the sonic spectrum using this amp in a band context, as you cover more frequencies. A gripe is that there is no control for the reverb after about 2.5. After that, it's a surf machine. There's a mod to give it a better control out there, though.

It's Fender and they build everything solid. I would take this to hell and back to play a show and it would come out sounding like heaven. It's never broken down.

I've never had to use it.

I've been playing for seven years, using up gear that can't handle my playing and establishing a good tone. This amp definitely helps. The distortion is lacking, but that's why this amp is so cheap. Like all Fender products, this thing can take a mod or two, and that's my next step. The speaker in there sounds satisfactory, but a higher quality one would help a lot. The amp is light, solidly built, and gorgeous sounding. I wish it had a footswitch for reverb.

I will not repeat what 500 people have said in previous reviews, other than add mine is a 1999 US made version.

It has all the features that you expect for an amp of this size and price, for me I would not want any additional features.

I play a PRS McCarty, Levison Blade, and a jackson Performer (first ever guitar, but has had extensive work). My PRS has Bare Knuckle "Mule Pickups" in the neck and bridge, my Levison Blade has Bare knuckle pickups neck and bridge, and my very old Jackson has a Tone Zone in the bridge, and Evolutions in the middle and neck.

I also have a Mesa Boogie Single rec head and 2x12 cab,

I have owned this amp from new, and it has been with me for almost ten years, some of those years has seen some heavy gigging, studio work, and countless jams.

For me I have always been really impressed with the clean channel on this amp, and have found it cutting, really useable, and have found that this little amp has cut through band mixes really well, no matter how loud the drummer gets. I replaced my first preamp tube with a 12AT7 and have found that I have a higher cleaner headroom than using 12AX7's. At higher volumes the bottom end does get flabby and loses definition but that is of course going to happen with being opened backed an only a 40watt amp. However it is rare even at large gigs that it is that loud.

I use a range of fulltone pedals my favourites being a Fulldrive 2 mosfet, and an OCD. I find that the Clean channel responds really well to this.

The Drive channel I never use, as in my view it is too brittle, and is generally muddy.

I sound field of this amp is quite narrow, but again I would expect this from a 1 x 12 combo. All in all I love my little HRD and will never part with it, and for the money it is an excellent little amp, which has served me well for many years. I also have a Mesa Single Rec Head and 2 x 12 Cab; however I still use my Fender for gigs, and to be honest I prefer the clean on my HRD, in addition I find it cuts through better in band mixes as well.

It is an awesome sounding amp, I love it, and always will!

This has never let me down, it has blown about 5 sets of tubes in ten years of service, and I have completely thrashed this out at times. I still have the orginal speaker. Currently I am running it at 71 m'amps Bias, which I know is on tyhe hot side and I currently have so cheapy Sovtek 6L6 power tubes in it which lasted about 6 months of heavy gigging at high volumes. My only critisim is the plastic jacks which are awful, mine are all loose and have been for years, but they have never come out!

Never used them

I love my little Fender HRD, and as I have said would never sell it, It was an amazing first tube amp for me, and for 550 pounds a complete bargin. It sounds excellent, and even when I have played more expensive amps, and big Marshall JCM 800's 900'S and my Mesa Boogie, to me I can hear this better in a live band, Its won't do metal, thrash, but everything else with the right pedals and guitar, it sounds a million dollars!

There are loads of comments on this amp so I won't re-hash the features for you! Apart from to say if you're buying this amp to play hi gain music then don't be fooled by the more gain feature, it sounds like the after thought it is!

I bought this amp to play in an 18 piece band playing all the usual Soul Music stuff. A pupil of mine had one and I noticed straight away that his playing slotted into the big scheme of things so much more musically than me and my JCM 2000 TSL. And I love that amp! So I went and got a deluxe straight away because 1. I don't like being upstaged by my pupils, it's bad enough when they play better than you, but better gear?! 2. It would be better for the sound of the band. I've used custom Les pauls, JJ Jewels with the p90's, Strats and Teles with it, and all you need to do is select the bright switch for the right guitar. It always reflects the pick ups that you're using and the guitar's tonal qualities. The gain channel is great up to about half way, this is not a hi gain amp, the more drive is awful. It has never needed a mic on it even in such a large band, for big halls I just plug it into the Marshall 4 12, and I love doing that!

Has it about 4 years. Sometimes it buzzes a bit, so I repair it the old fashioned way, hitting it on the top. If that doesn't work I try the modern way, turning it off and on again. The Marshalls I have had, both vintage and new, have had much bigger problems.

Never needed it.

I've been lucky enough to play through many vintage and new valve amps, and I still love this. The players I'm emulating seemed to stick by Twins and I've had those and would stick with the deluxe. This is an amp for a band where the guitar is not the feature instrument, if you need to complement singers, fit between keys and horns etc this is a great, honest amp. I love it, please stop slating it folks, it's meant to be an old amp that can kick up a fuss when needed to, that's what it does.

Bought new 08/16/2008
Play rock/pop. Clean channel outstandingly good. Despite majority opinion on here I prefer amp overdrive channel to the o/d via my Boss ME50 but then my style is clean stuff mainly
2 channels + "more drive" effects loop which I use for Boss ME50
Like amps simple. Previously used Line 6 Flextone 3
modeller - not even in the same legue as this Fender
Small/medium gigs ample power
Dipped my toe in the tube amp waters with a Grainger (Epiphone) Blues twin. Could not go back to tranny ammp now

Parker P38 & Fly mojo
Suits style fine
No noise problems so far
Clean & mild o/d . Not much variety but the clean is good enough basis for stomp sounds especially chorus & delay
Never had to crank it that high. In fact the volue is too high too suddenly so I tame it through the volume pedal of the ME50
not the best distortion but if yu want metal grunge stuff you wouldn't buy this amp

Early days so fingers crossed. Spooked by some of the previous reviews though

not applicable

8 years in band
Would buy again
Clean sound is awesome > Not keen on limited range of the volume control - a bit all or nothing
Marshall & Peavey. Clean sound did it for me
Anti gravity device we lug our own stuff to gigs

3 years old,
2 channel switching
Not many features
Vintage rock R&B dance band 14 years, playiny 40 years
7 'cause channel 2 is useless except for maybe blues but can't hang with high end stomps in channel 1

PRS '87 bought new, '53 tele my Dad bought new (yep real deal), PRS HB 2 McCarty, strat, many others..but gig with PRS HB2 and '53 tele
Lets' just be brief. Side by side the CLEAN is almost as good as my Boogie rectoverb, the clean sounds great if you spend time. What tis amp does BEST is high end stomp boxes.
Boogie V-Twin is UNREAL close to Boogie I was shocked. Channel 2 blues maybe, mostly useless.
Keeley BD2, Fulltone OCD makes this very close to Marshall for small gigs. It KILLS with high end stomp boxes ONLY! Keeley SD-1, Barber, Keeley TS-9, I have 15 stomps high end..none stock. For the $ the clean is probably the best buy..not even close to the BUDDA 18 watter but that is a whole 'nother level of sound and & $ (1400) and worth twice that!
As this is a 550 amp the clean is worth that...best buy at this price range new. Of course the '53 tele sounds awesome through anything..isn't that ironic after all these years and gabuddles of guitars available. leo fender got it right in his first 5 years! Spot on "Stones" and a rocker to a point..vintage.

Yea Fenders are reliable..not a Boogie or Budda but very good..65' twin my dad bought new still going strong

Have never called them

40 years guitar..45 drums...10.5 years drumming and guitar in college.
no I'd get another Buddah 18 for stereo! PLEASE go play a BUDDAH
I hate channel 2

why have 3 to 10 guitars worth thousands and a $550 amp? so common though. So many scrimp on amps.

8 for clean channel & price point and "stompability factor" is awesome! truly! great 1st amp with a couple good stomps

brand new in box. not shure of year. basic eq, clean vol. dirty vol and drive knod, fx loop, ext speaker out. only 8 knobs and 5 tubes, perfect!!!! A+

singles and hums. perfect amp for my style. LP standard gibson and strat. classic rock to punk, garage punk,90's alternative. there must be differences between each amp b/c mine sounds great to me. the clean side is awsome imo, warm and bright and clean. crank it and it breaks up. i like it but its very loud that way. the drive channel fits the bill. think black sabbath, zepplin, the strokes, queens of the stone age, social distortion etc...single eq is fine guys, learn how to play guitar and buy a good axe for christ sake. this amp sounds like a Fender.

i bought this amp and gigged it that night and it was good stuff. easy to dial in. I used a les paul standard using only the supplied footswitch and the crowd and manager was happy with the sound of my band.

well, you never know with these. some say they suck some dont with the hot rod line. my new twin in 2005 was in the shop every month. i tried a new vibrolux and it snap crackle popped like the rice crispy guys and the deluxe reverb reissue had problems too. bad luck i guess. save the reciept for warrenty service. this hrdx runs quiet. i use a fan behind all tube amps and it helps trust me. tubes get hot and melt every thing. use a fan man!!! A+

fender makes good on warrenty

20 years playing. ive owned these before and always go back to them. ive owned other fenders and marshalls. try the amp you plan to buy. the hrdx's with the white or blue label 6l6's will sound better than the red ones on the drive channel. earlier break up helps. the clean will still be loud as hell and clean enough for most folks. i also own the hot rod deville 410 and love it! nothing is perfect, nothing. remember that. but i like this amp for size and power and tone.

Fender hot rod deluxe, 2006. 3 channels, clean, drive and more drive, equalization, reverb, bright and fx loop. You can switch channels with the fender footswitch. I wish it had a different eq for the clean channel and the drive channel, but if you loose some time you can make sound good every channel. Is very loud for a 40w amp, very good for gigging and for small clubs.

I play a PRS custom 24 20th anniversary, with HFS and Vintage pickups. I play mostly rock/blues and sometimes a bit of prog metal and instrumental music like Eric Johnson or Joe Satriani. The amp is very good for rock and blues, need some pedals if you wanna play prog. I discovered anyway that is not really necessary to use stompboxes to get a good sound. It really depends on the amount of gain you really need. I've used many pedals, mostly OD, and it makes every pedal sound good, but I was getting tired of all these pedals, so I've loose some time adjusting the knobs, and I've seen that if you play AT ALMOST 3-4 of volume in the drive channel, you can get a really good crunch sound! The clean is wonderful, I've got almost the same tone of John Mayer with the neck pickup splitted, and I use for it, try and you will be surprised! I've not noticed problems with the clean channel, also at 5-6 of volume it remains clean, but I use splitted pickups for clean.

An year ago I've had problems with the amp, I've got to take it to a technician to fix it, he said to me that the electronics was really ugly and he needed to fix everything. After the fixing the amp sounds REALLY better. Take care when you transport it in your car.

Never used.

I've been playing for ten years, and I've played many other amps and guitars, mostly Jackson and Gibson, I like humbuckers, but I will get a Fender Stratocaster Eric Johnson as soon as is possible. If the amp was stolen or lost probably I would get a new one, but maybe I would like to try a Mesa Boogie mark IV first. The amp is good but there are some things that I really would like to change. I love the clean sound, the headroom and the loudness, is very good for small clubs and for gigging, but it really lacks of separate equalization for the channels and the crunch channel could be way better. I've compared it A/B with other amps of the same category before the buying: the Peavey Classic 30 really sucks, it sound like is closed in a box; the laney vc 30 is a good amp, the crunch is very good but Fender cleans are better.

Mexican model - a couple of years old. Same features as every other HRD on the planet.........

Plenty of power. Just not a great sound. Using a 72 reisse tele with Rio Grande pickups. This guitar should sound better....Play country, jazz, ragtime, Clean sounds is ok..early breakup not good. This amp just lacks character. Sure it's loud. I wouldn't buy it for tone though...What is it with other people, are their ears turned off, or haven't they owned many amps?
I just use a true bypass OD pedal and a guitar. What else do you need? Don't use the OD channel, you'll just embarass yourself...Messy reverb sound. Better buying a Fender from the days of your and just look after it.

Not keeping it long enough to find out! They just dont seem to make amps the way they used to unless you're paying thousands and thousands of dollars.

Bought second hand, but did have a problem with a new strat several years ago, and I must say that Fender Australia bent over backwards to help and the problem was rectified. Sure they're a big company, but staffed by real people. I always treat people respectfully and courteously and usually get great service and results in return....

Save your bucks and get something older (sounds weird, but true) or new and a lot more expensive. If you're a bedroom basher and want to hear your pod-korg-boss-I have 19 pedals in my chain and I'm a god sound through a mediocre amp, then go for it your tone is lost anyway.

2005 green tolex/Celestion V30 model; apart from that it is exactly the same and has the same features as the standard HRD which have been listed previously. Has everything needed for an amp of this class, isn't particularly heavy and is a decent, robust gigging amp.

I use several US Strats, a P90 Tele and a Parker Mojo. Out of the box the sound was loud, curiously sterile and lacked that Fender "sparkle" but I figured a few months of breaking in the V30 and letting the amp settle in would clean it up.

Six months later it was still the same, so I pulled the standard Eminence speaker from my Blues Junior and swapped them over. That got the classic chimey sound back again, but it still wasn't great. (The V30 went in the BJ and it was a perfect match for the EL84s.) I have lots of tubes here so I spent a few days swapping the preamp and power amp tubes, checking out different brands and types and trying a wide range of bias settings. I ended up choosing a full set of JJs (pre and power), biased around 65mA and that came closest to that warm, bright edged, chimey Fender sound. (Higher bias settings gave a warmer sound but cut the tonal spread.)

Still left a couple of problems - the reverb has a dreadful metallic "ring" if used over 4 and the master volume was very touchy, giving large increases in volume for small movements. A reading of Justin Holton's HRD site showed how to remove the treble bypass resistors from the circuit; that removed the metallic ringing and it now sounds like my Deluxe Reverb RI. I also replaced the linear master volume pot with the R-VHD-250KA audio taper pot as described in Justin's mods, which made it a lot more controllable.

So, better but still not brilliant. At this point I tried a set of THD Yellow Jackets for a bit of fun. Nice sound and it is worth keeping a set in your kit, but they break o too early and it is an EL84 sound after all. I asked Bob at Eurotubes about putting in JJ 6V6s, bought a set, replaced the screen resistors with 1.5KOhm parts and rebiased it to about 35mA. (A 6V6 normally operates around 21mV per tube. Setting the HRD bias pot to near the maximum setting takes it to around 18mV per tube or around 35mA at the test point.)

The result is fantastic. It has the same chimey, warm clean as the DRRI and now the (formerly) useless drive and more drive channels have that classic warm OD that is blues heaven. It is also still loud enough for gigging though it would be running around the 20-25w mark with the 6V6s. I use a Boss OD1 and a ProCo Rat for an OD pedal and I also have a Boss ME50 for effects, but since the change I haven't bothered with the pedals for OD. I use the Drive knob set on between 4 and 7 depending on the situation and it just sings. The last change was to wire in a THD Hot Plate, hard mounted on the back of the amp so depending on the size of the venue you can just lean over and dial in enough attenuation to keep the volume to bearable levels while the tubes are nice and saturated. The HRD is a seriously loud amp for a small combo, and I've owned Peavey Maces, Twin Reverbs and other monsters.

So, if you have a standard HRD you already have the Eminence speaker and the remaining parts (2 screen resistors and an audio taper pot) cost about $5 and it takes about an hour all up to do the mods. If you are careful you can replace the screen resistors with the board in situ rather than taking the amp apart. The amp unit has to be removed from the cabinet of course.

I have quite a few speakers here as well and I must admit I end up putting the standard Fender Eminence back in each time. It seems to work the best with the HRD. I also use an external 4x10 Celestion cab at times.

The HRD circuits appear to be well made and with decent parts so it should be reliable enough, plus it is one of the most common amps on earth so most competent techies would be able to repair it. The manual contains a full circuit diagram too. I've had a lot of Fender gear over the years and it has been very reliable.

12 month warranty to the original owner in Australia. Have never had to use a Fender warranty so I don't know how it would work out.

Been playing blues, R&B, swing/jazz and 60's pop for around 40 years. I have owned lots of amps from garbage to boutique and with the mods this is up in the top few; it is like a good DRRI but with a bit more presence. There are lots of them for sale used and they go cheap; the same mods can be done on the DeVilles too if you want a different speaker combo.

Fender wouldn't have sold so many HRDs if they weren't a decent amp.

I've had 2 of these, both were bought used. The amp is fine for what I do, which is indie rock. It has 2 channels, clean and overdrive with the option of more drive. I haven't actually used the drive channel in a while because I prefer pedals. It also has built in reverb which sounds great. I prefer the built in reverb over my Line 6 Verbzilla. I use this for gigging and have never had to turn the volume past 4 and it goes to 12.

I have an American tele, a 72 reissue tele and a epiphone dot and i usually have them set to the neck position to get a good ful sound.

I bought both of mine used so that was probably my problem. The first one I had came with a different speaker, I don't remember what kind, but it needed to be replaced but it got stolen before I could do that.

The second I bought from Guitar Center used and paid for the extra warranty which was good because the amp suddenly after 5 months of use started to distort and drop in volume. I took it to guitar center, they thought it was a tube, we replace it and it wasn't. They gave me a number to get it repared and I called the place and a week later they sent me a check for the amp and I still have they amp. I plan on trying to get it repaired. It wasn't the tubes, it wasn't the speaker, so I don't know what the problem is yet.

I think I've just had bad luck with these.

The Guitar Center warranty was worth it this time and it lasts a year.

I've been playing for 6 years.

I just bought a 70s Fender Musicmaster Bass Amp for guitar and have a small Marshall solid state that got wet and doesn't work anymore.

I'm currently borrowing a friend's Deville and I'm kinda bored with the Hod Rod's. I might stick with Fender because I love the clean, but kinda want to try something new.

I love the clean, the reverb and the tube.

I wish it came with casters because it's freakin' heavy.

built in 1996 American made... added hemp coned speaker and jj power and pre amp tubes which helps tone very much.

Was able to work some good tones after months of using

used the amp for about four years and then went down hill from there.. During a gig lost power and began to smoke out the amp.. along with non stop fuse blowing. Purchased a deville and same issues only much sooner.. Beginning to get very annoyed.. so all in all nothing but problems.. I would never again rely on and new made fender amps period.......

I play a range of styles, from blues and jazz right up to heavier experimental rock. This amp can cover most of these bases and the ones in between. The controls are responsive and very useable. The amps effects loop does its job well and the addition of a second channel is, whilst not normally needed, very useful. I have owned this amp for 3 months its already come in handy when teaching. 2 channels, clean and drive, treble mid and bass controls. The 'more drive' button can be very useful! I mainly use it, when i'm not in the studio or teaching, live with a PA, so its normally got an SM58 in front of it. The only thing that lets it down is that , as with all fender amps, completely unuseable as soon as the volume goes over 3, unless your playing for glastonbury main stage where you can probably get away with leaving it on 8. Its got 12 as its max volume setting, this is insane!

Clean channel - YOU WILL NOT FIND A BETTER CLEAN SOUND THAN THIS ON ANY OTHER MAKE OF AMP. Fender are renound for an amazing clean sound and this amp does not disapoint. I play an American Fender strat, and when i'm feeling a bit more rocky a Gibson Les Paul BFG, and on the clean channel this amp has more tone than any other. I compared it with the deville, same sound but ??200 more! and the twin reverb. Again a very good clean sound but for the price i could not see a noticeble difference! Its better, but not by ??700! this amp has its own unique tone which just sings. The controls alter the sound to what you want, without destroying the tone either. 10 for this side of the amp.

Drive channel - A good sound. The more drive button kicks it up a gear and adds a but more, it is not a boost tho, i used to try and use it to big up my solo's but it just made the sound a but muddier! Is good for that blues sound, has a great tone, but in the end i get my distortion sound from a Fulltone, so i prefer that! Non the less, when i play at my church, i often just take my strat, a wah and this amp and i'm laughing. Can get all the variety i need out of it. It scores an 8 on the drive channel for not being the best, not being overly versatile and for the sound getting a little bit muddy when you push the drive up. But non the less a very good and useable sound.

I used to play an old marshall valve but played this and took it. So much more versatile. Tried it in comparison to a vox ac30, and a marshall vintage modern combo. I went for this.

overall, this amp rocks! my chain is american strat, morely pro volume, vox wah, fulltone GT500, boss OD-3, MXR phaser, small clone, TC Nova delay, fender hot rod. For my clean stuff i just use the amp. Not other pedals, just the amp. Says alot about it. Its enough on its own. Brilliant amp.

never had any problem with fender stuff. built like a brick, wheigh's it too!

never contacted, have heard good things though!

i no longer have any other amp, and i dont fel i need it. I have found my sound and it comes from this amp. Very versatile, easy to use, some crazy rocking tone, some bluesy stuff and the best clean sound that you'll ever hear. Its not the perfect amp, but for the price it might aswell be. I paid ??500 for it and would well have paid more. Highly recomended.

I bought this amp purely for clean sounds as I am A / B ing it with a Marshall DSL 100 for the crunch sounds. It has just enough power for backline before it starts to break up. All I needed feature wise were the Fender reverb which is awesome and basic tone control. Yeah it fits the bill.

Everyone knows that Fender overdrive is crap but as stated I didnt want it for that. The clean sound is gorgeous. Although we mic up the backline so it doesnt have to work too hard, it has just enoguh headroom without distorting. The clean sound rings like a bell, especially with my strat and Yamaha elctric 12 string. The perfect clean sparkle methinks !!

No problems at all.

Not needed !

For clean sounds only its perfect, for versatility it will not do it all so you would look elsewhere. For what I wanted its perfect. Only paid ??350 2nd hand and would get another if it got nicked !!

Let's see...features...well, it won't sneak up and kill you when you're sleeping-so that's about the only GOOD feature I can find with this terrible sounding POS.

Go ahead and look through these reviews. Guys who have experience with GOOD tube amps rate the HRD as mediocre. With good reason! This amp is a total poser. First off it's not a Fender sounding amp. The design is meant to replicate a "hot rodded" fender amp. I've owned a few hot rodded Fenders in my day and they were okay. This new HRD is a total piece of garbage compared to them-sound wise. In fact it's a loser compared to any of the new reissue "blues" amps of the same wattage-specifically the Blues Deluxe.
I actually bought the HRD amp for $500 on a "great deal" sale at Sam Ash. The price sort of blinded (or deafened) me a bit and I paid for her and took her home. For the next week I struggled and strained to get it to sound decent but no matter what I did, it would not seem to co operate with me or my guitars. Not only would it fail to deliver a Fender tone, it didn't deliver a useable tone and ran out of road at about 3 on the dial in the clean mode. Drive and more drive should be labeled "BAD" and "WORSE." My Barber pedals couldn't make the clean channel sound reasonably good. It's very VERY hard to get a Barber pedal to sound bad, mind you, but the HRD excelled at producing a terrible sound with my Barber collection. I was floored and kicked myself for being suckered by a low-ball price tag. You can't polish a turd and make it anything other than a shiny TURD. So I brought it back and did a little re-negotiating for a Blues Deluxe amp, which is a completely different amp than its Hot Rod cousin. In fact, it's very reminiscent of the old Fenders in appearance and tone. I paid another 140 for the Blues Deluxe and it's worth every cent. The entire HOT ROD line of Fender amps just leave me cold for the styles I play-country, rockabilly, rock and hard rock. I use Teles and Les Paul guitars.

Playing for over 40 years. Any time you read reviews that feature owners telling you how they modified their amp to get the tone they were looking for...BEWARE! If you can't buy a decent sounding amp for 400-600 bucks that rings your bell in the stock condition then save your money and pay the 800 to 1000 that's required. Don't ever buy an amp that you don't like and think you will MODIFY it into an amp that you will like. Been there, tried that, got the shitty amp and empty wallet to show for it. I took the HRD back, paid some more cash and bought an amp that I love. I'm way too old to get fooled but I ALMOST swallowed the hook to save some dough-a bad idea. Hot Rod Fenders just suck, period. That's my opinion. I wouldn't ever consider owning another Hot Rod.

LtdEd HRDLx, blonde tolex/wheat grille. Bought second-hand. Great versatility. Used to play quick, punchy, quirky, hurky-jerky indie-rock. Two channels, but I never use the built-in distortion channel (WEAK drive/distortion). The EFFECTS LOOP is this amp's saviour. If you use this amp and don't have a volume box - GET ONE immediately! This amp is insanely loud to push the tubes and get it to break up without making your ears bleed. Seriously, build a volume box - it costs $10. I rarely use stompboxes because the natural break-up is so nice. I nearly gave up on this amp before I tried running a volume box through the effects loop. Now I won't EVER get rid of it and I won't EVER play without a volume box. DIY - it's easy. Here's a link: http://www.fortunecity.com/marina/newland/2081/id3.htm

Played with a Jazzmaster/AVRI pickups. Awesome tone with volume box (again with the volume box). This amp alone is LOUD. VERY LOUD. "WHAT?!?!" Everything cranked and a volume box acting as a master volume really pushes this amp into a nice, natural distortion. I rarely use my stompboxes anymore... The second channel distortion is really thin and whimpy. It rarely gets used.

Mine has been pretty reliable. Sure, I would gig without a backup. I've heard that they can break down, but I've yet to experience that.

Blah, blah, blah. I'm a guy who's played guitar (bedroom and band) for about 15 years, but don't consider myself a "pro" by any stretch. I'm your typical guy on the street - except for the fact that I'm not pretending to be pro. Hahahaha... the main reason I'm writing this is because I wasn't overly satisfied with this amp and was planning to trade/sell it in order to get a Blues Junior. I found the link I provided above and decided to give building and using a volume box a shot. I'd never soldered anything in my life, but I thought I'd try. I ordered all the parts from SmallBear - it cost less than $10, made it up, tried it and fell IN LOVE with my amp. The breakup is so nice, I rarely use my OD pedals (honest). Trust me. Try it.

Bought mine in December 2007.

40w all-tube amp with overdrive channel (gain and "more gain") and reverb. Nice to have both of those on-board the amp. "More gain" setting, however, seemed so over the top as to be unusable.

As has been oft-said, the volume pot goes from nothing to hellaloud in no time, giving the impression in the shop that this amp could fill a stadium. But it can't: read below in the Sound Quality section.

Using it with a Fat Strat and Les Paul, playing a variety of rock cover songs, plus some driving blues.

Having started with a Fender Blues Jr, I felt that the HR Deluxe was its big brother and a logical step up in power for small gigs. This, to some extent, is true. At low volumes (<3) on the clean channel, the amp manages a deep and rich tone, though too bassy. Getting close to 3 on the volume, the natural break-up starts to happen, which is nice if you're playing alone in a big room, jamming some blues.

The problem with this amp - and the reason why ultimately I had to trade up -- is that for all it's loudness and power, it has very low headroom, so that even in practice situations it was impossible to stay clean. Yet it wasn't dirty enough for rock overdrive, yet adding an OD pedal in front at these volumes results in a flabby mess. Even for smallish gigs, therefore you'd probably want to mic it so that you could keep the volume knob as low as possible.

The gain channels I simply gave up on because they are just to flabby and "farty" sounding at anything above 2.

In my opinion, the Blue Jr remains a better amp and is more easily controllable.

So far, so good -- but has been relatively lightly used.

N/A

Been playing for about 4 years. When people say that acquiring guitar gear is a "journey" rather than a destination, they are describing my feelings about the Fender HRD. I don't regret getting it as my "next amp" after my Blues Jr for my first few gigs, but as your playing gets better you become more discriminating in your desire for a nice, controllable amp with good cleans (even if you play dirty). I think, to be fair, the price of the HRD is too low for anyone to expect the stars of it.

Incidentally, I am now trying my luck with a Fender Super-Sonic head and 2x12 cab. That should give me some headroom.

amp was bought new in 2007, so it was made in 06 or 07. you can get a decent clean sound from this amp on the lower volumes but the volume knob is very sensitive and any small adjustment can increase the volume quite a bit. When the amp is opened up it sounded good but a better speaker and tubes could do wonders. The drive settings I found too harsh. More then enough power with 40 watts powering a 12 inch speaker. Loaded with plenty of features and easy to use. A vibrato unit would be nice but would drive up the cost and i don't know if there is room in the amp for one.

It can cover a wide range of rock and blues sounds but i found that it didn't really do any of them all that well. the amp distorts early so anyone who wants a clean amp sould look elsewhere. If you want a dirty amp that you can tailor to your sounds, (ie. speaker replacement or mods and tube swaps) it is a good starter amp. As far as the pickups go, it likes single coil and humbuckers fine. Overall not a bad sound for the price range but lacks the kind of tone and build quality handmade amps have.

can't say as i only owned it for a year and just sold it because i bought another amp more to my liking.

why bother trying, if you need it fixed see your local tech.

I've been playing for 14 years and i've owned a 70's twin, peavey classic 30 and am now playing a early 70's all tube Garnet deputy I amp head into a 4x12 Marshall cab. I ended up selling this amp because it didn't give me the Fender kind of clean I was looking for. It did have some nice natural powertube saturation, from about 6 to about 9 i found it was at it's best but it is really loud.

I'll never buy this amp again seeing as i've already moved on to other amps. Again this is not a bad amp, it's just not that great either. Some changes or mods could bring it alive but for me it wasn't worth the expense.

Amp was purchased in 2006.

I play a fender stratocaster. I swapped out the single coil pickups and put in some humbuckers.

I purchased the amp for it's clean sound figuring I could get any distortion I needed from pedals. I gigged in a classic rock band for the last two years with this amp and although have been playing most of my life am fairly new to playing rock in clubs.

As far as power I am shocked at what it can do. I have played outdoors several times without miking the amps and this baby was more than loud enough. Played on volume setting 4-5. I am not sure why guys mess with stacks when a small amp like this is more than enough. Indoors / small clubs it will always have more than enough volume.

Although this amp was louder than #%$ for its size. The tubes would breakup up fairly soon on around volumes 3+. Some guys buy tube amps for just this sound. I personally dont like it. When the band is playing a slow mellow tune outside or at loud volume I want clean. The problem I found out was that the factory preamp tubes are very high output. This also explains the reason the overdrive channel is so over the top and dirty.

Heres what I did as recommended by the good folks at thetubestore.com:

"Changed the V3 12ax7 pre-amp tube to a 12avt7 to smooth out the od
channel clean this amp up I strongly suggest you try 12AT7 tubes in the V1 and V3 positions, and a 5751 in the V2 position. These tubes are 100% compatible with 12AX7's but have less output and therefore can not overdrive as easily as regular 12AX7 tubes do."


Worked like a charm. Clean at higher volumes with no tube breakup and the best part is that the overdrive channel is now much smoother. With the drive set on about 6 this baby sounds more like a Ibanez tube screamer. You get some nice texture instead of a nasty buzzing brutal overdrive that comes factory.

Another problem with this amp is the volume control. The volume control tapers way too fast and was done so that on the showroom floor the amp would appear to have loads of power even on settings 1 and 2. Hard to practice in the house with at low volumes. I replace the 100k volume pot woth a 250k and now it tapers very slowly. You have to get it up to around 4 before you get any real volume out of it and thats nice for guys that like more control over volume or in smaller settings.

The amp has been criticized for being a but muddy . I did the midrange control modification which is soldering a jumper between the left and middle terminals of the mid control. You can see it and many other mods here:

http://studentweb.eku.edu/justin_holton/jvmods.html

Sounds much better and less bassy.

I also did the reverb modication which is clipping Resistor R103 which rounds out the reverb somewhat.


The amp now has exactly the sound I was looking for. Believe it or not I now play rhythm using the overdrive channel set at lower levels. With the new tubes it sounds great.

Very reliable amp.

Input jacks of course went out but had them replace with some higher quality jacks. Safety regulations require Fender to use plastic jacks because of the way the jacks ground to the chassis. So plan on replacing these within the first 6 months with some higher quality jacks. Not a big deal.

I buy important pieces of equipment from the local dealer. They will replace anything that is defective. I am a huge fan of buying on the internet but want local service on electronics and music equipment. If you develop a relationship with them they will be more likely to give you a loaner when yours breaks down.

Been playing for around 30 years.

If this was ripped off I would replace or upgrade to the Hot Rod Deville. I think the four ten inch speakers in the Deville are a definite plus when it comes to delivering some great tone.

I chose this amp based on the reviews here. I usually dont mess with reviews but thought I might take the time to give back a little by submitting my own review.

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.

i'm the second owner of my hot rod deluxe. 40w tube power, 1x12 speaker, spring reverb , casters [wheels] installed, low-mid-bass EQ, effects loop, footswitch & cable, 2 input jacks, 3 channels: clean, overdrive, more overdrive. pretty much everything you need and no bullsh...t. i gave it a 9 because the toggles and jacks are at the back of the top of the amp...kind of awkard, but it is shorter than 99.9% of human beings so i guess it makes sense.

i use a mexican standard telecaster. clean channel sounds awesome: super warm, classic sound. it isn't the cleanest sound i've heard, and it is somewhat distorted at full volume. the overdrive channels sound nice, but don't deliver a hefty dose of distortion. good thing the amp handles pedals well. unfortunately, when it comes to punk rock, this amp doesn't cut it. i have to put the amp up to full blast just to compete with the other guys. by that point, i'm all out of room for distortion/volume boosting. other than punk, this amp is great for pretty much every other style of music. but i like the sound a lot so i'm looking to upgrade to a hot rod deville 212. my rod has a pretty big buzz to it, probably because i drive the tubes so hard.

amp has crapped out on me in practice a few times and at a show, most likely because i play it at full volume. what do you want me to do? NOT play loud? i really can't blame the amp though. i can't all-out sprint the chicago marathon. however, for how much i use the amp and how many gigs i've taken it too, i have to give it the benefit of the doubt.

i've been playing for 8 years, i have a bunch of crappy gear, then i have my fender standard tele and my fender hot rod deluxe. if i lost it or got it stolen, i'd definitely buy something bigger and louder that i can crank without having to worry about. i love the sound on it and only wish it were louder. compared to the crappy ass roland solid state combo i had from the 80's before, this amp put it to shame, especially when comparing the way it handled my distortion pedal. amp was a good value.

if you play punk, don't waste your time on this amp. if you play anything else, this is a viable option for you.

LOVE the sound on this amp almost more than my current Fender Twin Reverb amp. The amp is pretty basic, you have your clean and two different OD. I love all the sounds, very warm and distinct.

I can't even describe my affinity towards the Fender sound. There's no comparison..

I had this amp for three years before I upgraded. I still have this one somewhere, but I remember I had to replace the tubes once- unexpectedly. The amp tends to give quite a bit of feedback and crack up a bit- after they're used a lot, but it's really all a matter of how well you take care of your amp. These aren't toss-around amps, obviously.

Oh yes, HIGHLY recommend this amp.

Do you know what year the amp was made in?
I have a HRD made on June 10th, 1999 (coincidentally, my birthday, though that had no influence on the purchase). Being a 90's model, it is a F.A.T. (Fender American Tube) series. I have not played any of the pinto bean models to see if this makes it superior however.

* Is the amp versatile enough for you and the styles of music you play? What are those styles?

I play pretty much everything, jazz, funk, R&B, blues, rock... even country. This is my "goto" amp for rehearsals and small clubs. It can handle larger rooms when mic'd, but I have bigger amps for larger shows.
* How many channels? Does it have channel switching? Effects loops? Headphone jack?

I know this has been covered, but it is a 2 channel amp with a gain boost on the overdrive channel, channel switching and gain boost are footswitchable, shared passive EQ (B,M,T & Pres), spring reverb, effects loop, birght switch on clean channel, narrow panel tweed design with a single 12" speaker, though I have modded mine for 2x10" speakers (1xP10Q Jensen and 1xG10 Vintage Celestion). I was never able to make a single 12" speaker work for me. 40 watts via a duet of 6L6's running class A/B and 3X12AX7's in the preamp. Ext speaker jack (4 ohm min load)
* What features do you wish it had? Why? Are there features you never use?

I do not miss any features it is lacking. I like to conform to the gear I'm using. I think that expecting something to do everything well is a unrealistic. I also think that people ruin perfectly good gear with incessant modding. If you want a fatter sounding guitar that can do dive bombs, by an Ibanez and leave your Strat alone. When you drop in the humbucker and the Floyd, all the things that made it a cool Strat are gone.

* What kind of sounds can the amp make? How much variety?

I think this ammp iis vvery versatile. You can coax alot of colors out of this, though the sound is really in your hands. I have successfully used this amp for everything from jazz, funk, C&W, to hard rock and it worked pretty well. Makes my guitars sound as they do acoustically, only louder. I have read other people's reviews claiming it dooesn't sound like a Fender, which is nonsense. It certaiinly sounds more like a Fender than it does a Marshall or Vox. 1 review said that it didn't sound like a silver panel Fender. Well, that's GOOD. Silver panel Fender's are turds. I onle have one criticism, Fender chose to construct the cabinet from MDF. This is true of all the Hot Rods (save for the LTD Editions with hardwood cabs). This is a bad idea. The MDF cab really adds to the weight of this amp. It also attenuates the top end. I had a finger jointed pine cab with a birch ply baffle made for mine. This was a great mod, really imparts that older Fender tone... as well as shaving about 5+lbs. from the weight.

* Is the clean channel distorted at high volumes? In what settings?

All lower power tube amps will overdrive at higher settings. On my amp, it is around 5. To combat this, I either (1) use a louder amp or (2) use a 2x12" extension cab with this amp. The ext. cab pushes more air so you do not need to turn the volume up so much. I also like the response you get using this amp with a closed back cab. Increases the punch on single note stuff.
* How brutal is the distortion?

Hmmm, interesting. I'm not trying to brutalize anyone. The yellow (Drive) setting can do your 70''s rock thing... ZZ Top, Zep, etc... even AC/DC (with the closed back). With humbuckers... it also makes a fine lead channnel, I use iit with my 335 in a Steely Dan tribute and can nail the "Kid Charlemagne" tone. The Red (more drive) introduces a dramatic gain boost. The high gain is more Boogie than Marshall. When I say Boogie, I mean Mark I, II or SOB... not Dual Rectifier. The original Boogies were cut down Fender super's stuffed into Princeton cabs, so this is not surprisiing. Randy (Smith) basically invented cascading preamp gain based distortion.

* What guitar and pickup styles are you using it with?

I have a '56 Tele, '61 Strat, 2 newer Strat's (1 CS w/Fralin Vintage Hots and 1 custom built w/kinmans), a custom built Tele (Hahn Guitars body, Texas Special bridge and [don't laugh] GFS neck... it sounds great I swear!) and a Gibson ES 335 dot neck. I use a '54 ES-125 with a single dog eared P90 for Jazz. 11-49 on the solids, 13's on the 125.

My pedalboard has mainly older stuff, '68 Vox V-846, '76 MXR Phase 90, '81 DOD 280, '81 Vesta Chorus, Guyatone MD-2, Boss Tuner. I also have various choruses, overdrive/distortions, delays that I cycle on and off the board.

* How does it suit your music style (and what is that style)?

Covered this earlier.

* Is it noisy? On what settings, and in what environments?

Any noise I deal with is from the guitar, not the amp. Some high gain hiss, but this is to be expected.

* Can you depend on it? Would you use it on a gig without a backup?
It has never failed on me. I don't bring 2 amps to gigs, nor do I know anyone who does. Maybe if I had a roadie.

* Has the amp ever broken down? Because of neglect of regular servicing (as in tubes), or just plain neglect?
I have changed out the tubes a few times, not due to failure but because I noticed the power section of the amp seemed a little spongier than I prefer. Also, the preamp tubes in combos (any combos) with go microphonic more often due to proximity with the speaker.

* If you've dealt with the company, how helpful/friendly were they?

Fender Consuumer Relations is great. They dated the amp for me usiing the s/n.
* Ever try and get it repaired? Was the repair done under warranty?
No need for repair. For the DIY'er, go to https://www.musicpartsguru.com
* Were you able to findan authorized service center easily?
Fender repair centers are everywhere, should not be a big deal to find.
* How long is the warranty?
5 year, transferable.

* How long have you been playing? What other gear do you own?

I have been playing from ovver 21 years, profeesionally for about 17. I also have variious older Fenders, Marshalls, and a Peavey... my lowest wattage amp is 15 watts, the highest is 100. Currently I do not own any solid state amps.
* If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?

This is my 4th HRD. One was stolen, the 2nd sold when I was lean, the 3rd my ex-wife wrecked with a hammer during a temper tantrum and then after I fixed it, sold on me when I left the marriage. I must like them, I keep buying them.
* what do you love about it? What do you hate?

Really wish Fender chose a wood cab. i know it would raise the cost, but not the $350 I paid to have the new cab built.
* Did you compare it to other products? Which ones? Why did you choose this one?
There are lots of nice 40 wattters out there. Traynor has one. The Peavey Delta Blues with a single 15" is great.
* Anything you wish it had?

No.
* Anything else you'd like to share?

Of course, play before buying... but I think this is an excellent amp.

My HRD was made on 6/10/99... which is also my birthday... though that had no influence on the purchase. Being made in '99 does place it in the F.A.T (Fender American Tube)category. Not ever having played through the Pinto Bean model, I can't say if that makes a diff (more on this later). 2 Channels, shared EQ (T,M,B & Presence), Spring Reverb, Effects Loop, Ext. Spk Jack (4 ohm load min), Footswitchable Channel selection and Gain Boost, Bright Switch on Clean, 40Watts via a duet of 6L6's in Class A/B and 3x12AX7's in the preamp through a single 12" stock... though I modded mine with 2x10" (1xP10Q Jensen and 1xG10 Vintage Celestion)

I use this for about 40% of my gigs... it is loud but I do need to push some more air, so I got a 100watt head for bigger rooms. I also have a 20watt Marshall PA-20 that i use for recording and for blues gigs... just dime it and go. I also use this amp for most rehearsals. It is kind of a "go to" amp. I use it for all sorts of playing situations jazz, pop, rock, blues... it works for me, but really do believe that most of the sound comes from your hands. I have done heavier gigs with it, and, though it is not the ideal metal tone... I pulled it off... again it is in your hands. I don't miss any features it doesn't have.

* What kind of sounds can the amp make? How much variety?
See above, I use it for everything... though I usually go for the 100watter for Country for the clean head room)

* Is the clean channel distorted at high volumes? In what settings?
This amp, like any 40watt amp (Vibrolux, Pro, etc) will break up at higher settings. Mine starts to get a little, uh, Stone-sy at 6 or so. I have quieter guitars if I need that super springy clean tone. There are ways to get it more headroom... probably the easiest one is to simply hook up an extension cabinet. I have a Marshall 2x12" that I use with this and it really changes the character of the amp. (1) it is cleaner because you don't have to turn it up as much... you are already moving more air (2) the closed back cab makes the overdrive channel punchier.

One thing that is kind of a bummer... these amps (American and Mexican) with the exception of the LTD Edition ones with hardwood cabs have MDF cabinets. This is a cost cutting feature, but it really effects the tone, and weight. I had a duplicate cab made in box jointed pine with a birch ply baffle and upholstered in lacquered tweed. The tone got much airier, with alot more of that pleasant Fender top end and was just much livelier. It also lowered the weight by about 5.5lbs. It also cost about $350. BTW, that cab is identical in dimensions to the orig cab. You can fit 2x10"'s in this no prob, just get a new baffle.

* How brutal is the distortion?

Hmmm, interesting... I'm not after a brutal tone... but it has decent overdrive. The yellow channel is suitable for rock in a Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, early AC/DC kinda way, especially with the closed back cab in the mix. The "More Drive" kicks in quite a helping of gain... ideal for modern lead playing. I am able to pull off any modern shred techniques with no problem with this tone. It is not the ideal rhythm tone, but single note stuff works great. Here's the deal, this amp DOES NOT SOUND GOOD AT LOW VOLUMES. Few amps do. I have seen many complaints here about the overdrive channel... but mine sounds good... though I am never trying to not wake the baby. I got the Line 6 with headphones for that nonsense.

* What guitar and pickup styles are you using it with?

I play older Fenders ('56 Tele, '61 Strat) in the studio. Custom Fender Strat's and Tele live. '54 ES-125 for Jazz, also got a new ES-335 that is wonderful... The older Fenders and Gibson are stock, the new Strat's have Lindy Fralin Vintage Hots and one with Kinman's, the new Tele has a Texas Special in the bridge and (don't laugh) a GFS Fatbody in the neck... but I swear it rules... the bridge it startingly similar to my '56 and the neck is (dare I say) better! Vintage Telle neck pickups are a drag unless that is where you set your amp and then roll off treble when you switch to the bridge. For some reason, Fralin's just did not work in that guitar.

* How does it suit your music style (and what is that style)?

It isn't perfect for everything... but what is? I like making the equipment I'm using work for the situation... it makes you play imaginitively. I enjoy the differences in my gear... I don't want everything to sound the same or play the same or have the perfect, tailor made tone for the style... how boring would that be? Probably a bad choice for Death metal or Nu-Metal... but then again, get a Metal Zone and a closed back cab and it could work. I got a Metal Zone and it turns my silverpanel Twin into a fire breathing monster and I hate that amp normally.

* Is it noisy? On what settings, and in what environments?

Pretty low noise... the noise that is there is from the singles... that was why I got the Kinmans... they sound decent and work in those sports bars with 10 TV's and more neon lights than brands of beer.

Never broke down... had to replace the input jack. Replaced the tubes a couple times. I don't bring two amps to gigs... nor do I know anyone who does. I bring spare guitars... but 2 amps?!? I used to gig that way, with a Pro Reverb for clean and a Marshall Head for dirt with an ernie ball volume to pan between then... but too much on my back, my cars back seat... just too much. Great sound, but who am I. Maybe if I get a roadie...

5 Year transferrable. Fender Consumer Relation is pretty helpful... that is how I found out how old my amp is. Fender has service centers everywhere unless you live under a rock beneath a leaf. Never had to have it repaired.

I have been playing for 25 years, professionally for 20. This is my fourth, the first was stolen, the second I sold when I was lean, the third my ex-wife destroyed with a hammer and once I got it up and running, SHE SOLD IT! This is the fourth. I guess I like them, I keep buying them.

I wish Fender didn't mess with the MDF cabs. Using hardwood would raise the price, but certainly not as high as the extra $350 I put into the custom cab. They would save money in gas cause the amps would be lighter and the improvement in tone is astounding.

There are some good 40watters out there, Traynor makes is one. I like this little Fender though.

I have seen a bunch of people talk about mods to this and that and what have you. Now, granted I changed cabs and speakers but the circuit is unchanged. I have never been able to play through a single 12"... and I love Vibroluxes and Tweed Supers so I went with 2x10"s... other than the volume pot mod, so it isn't so touchy... I can't see a reason for any other mods. I didn't even do the volume mod cuz as I said, I never play at that low of volume.

In all, a good buy. I'll give it a nin because of (1) the MDF cab and (2) I never heard a mexi-HRD...

my amp is a 2000 USA model.
i play punk mostly,but we do some country and reggae jams too.
2 channels(kinda,more like one channel with a gain stage added)
it has everything i need,maybe a switchable reverb and tilt back legs like the older fender had would be cool.but its good the way it is.
we are a local band.play out a few times a month and practice 3 times a week.
its is more than powerful enough for anything i will ever need.this thing cuts right through the band if i turn it up past 5(and my other guitarist plays a dual rectifier roadster half stack!)
as you know its an all tube 1x12(2 6L6 power section and 3 12ax7's in the preamp section)

ok so i got the amp a few weeks ago, used it,and right off the bat i was very impressed with its sound versatility.the only issue is that the clean channel breaks up if you turn it up past about 5(some break up lower and some higher)it wasnt sooooo bad that it was unbearable its actually a really nice break up and for bluesy or lead situations it would do great things!but im the rithym guitar and i need sparkling cleans with wayyyyy more head room.so since i had done a huge amount of research on this amp before purchase, i knew that changing the preamp tubes makes can do alot for this situation.went to my local guitar center and picked up 3 mesa boogie 12AT7s(which produce about 40% less gain)plugged them in and *viola* head room for days! cranked her up and finally got a bit of breakup around 10 (way louder than i'll ever need)there was only one thing that i had to sacrifice for the headroom and that was a little bit of bottom end,but i turned the bass up a bit more and as i mentioned before my other guitarist plays a mesa half stack so the sound variance between the two adds really nice depth our sounds.
now then the distortion channel is very decent i have read some reviews and some have said its terrible but,its just not super high gain distortion its old school power tube break up distortion(perfect for the style of old school punk we play)but i still dont use it i use a HBE Power Screamer (check these babys out,www.homebrewelectronics.com ,hand built boutique pedals,the very best.)this pedal has the best distortion ive ever heard,wonderful crunch that makes ya want to keep playing forever!the whole point though is that the deluxe takes pedal wonderfully
the amp does everything i want it to and more.im gonna add a chorus pedal and i'm done!

im not gonna guess on this i will update in a few months,reliability has been an issue with this series and you should know this going in.

never had to deal with fender .i have heard bad things about customer support.but even if i had issues i wouldnt call them.find yourself a good amp tech.

ive been playing for many years and have been playing in a band setting for the last 5.
if it were stolen or lost i would buy another(maybe a deville 4x10)but you cant beat fender for cleans.
ok overall im saying for the money these are right up there with the classic 30 from peavey and better than the VC series from crate.

Great, 3 channels: clean, drive, more drive.

Jazz thru blues, rock and hard rock. Not for Metal - buy a pedal.

If you want more distortion buy a metal pedal; try an equalizer and play new color sounds.

This is a new made in 2007 HRD blonde with oxblood grillcloth. I like the retro color scheme.

This amp has a very nice clean channel and 2 very distinct overdriven channels.

I play an American Deluxe HSSLT strat, a Gibson Blueshawk, Gibson ES125, and a Gibson Les Paul Ltd Edition through this amp and it sounds great with all of them.

I bought this amp with the intention of having it modded heavily but i've been gigging with it for a while so before I change anything else I'll chime in on how it performs as stock.

It has enough power but not a lot of headroom. It starts to break up after 3 and gets worse from 5-10 when it's pretty crunchy for a clean channel.

Overdrive has to be played with the master at a minimum of 5 but even better at 7.

It should have a seperate EQ for the drive channel but it's not a huge problem.

I didn't like the stock speaker so I swapped it for a Emi Cannabis Rex.

the stock speaker sounded okay on clean stuff but broke up way too early on overdrive/ distortion stuff and got a little muddy when pushed. Not too bad but enough to annoy my ears.

The CREX speaker helped define the low mids and lows slightly more and gave it a little more low end overall. It doesn't breakup unless really pushed hard. Later on I plan on using both a Wizard and this speaker together to even out the sound.

The reverb is way overboard and I can't think of a situation where I would get it above 2.5 and I keep it around 1 most of the time.


The clean channel is okay to good and borders on great at 3 with low output single coils but with even hot single coils it tends to get a little too much front end breakup on chords. Hopefully I can get more headroom with some modifications.

The drive channel and 'more' drive need to be cranked on the master volume to sound decent. I had the master at 7 and the gain at 2 for the best tone I could find on this channel. With the master lower it sounds buzzy and muddy, like a cheap distortion pedal.

I've only used a 335 style guitar and a Les paul on the drive channels so far. During the two gigs I've played with this thing i've used pedals for overdrive (the amp takes pedals well 9 out of 10). Overall the quality of overdrive is consistent with the price of the amp.

Changing the speaker to something british will make the drive sound better IMO but you would lose some of the 'fendery' sound on the clean side.

i've only had this amp for 3 weeks.

For the $ its a 9 but overall I'll give it an 8. There are certainly worse amps out there for even more but this one is just okay.

Features are well documented. I like having an extra speaker jack, and and effects loop. I wish it had a separate EQ for the second channel.

I got mine used from and amp tech, and he had modded it a little bit -- JJ 6V6's for the 6L6's, an eminence speaker (a cannabis rex) in place of the stock.

The clean sound is one of the reasons I like Fender amps; this may not be a Twin, but it is Fendery clean. I don't use the drive channel a lot, but it works for some things. It takes pedals well, which is the main reason I wanted a tube amp. I have a Tubescreamer DX, which is OK, a Tech21 Double Drive, which I'm still figuring out, and a Sansamp Tri AC, which sounds pretty good when tweaked appropriately (not easy, but it can be done.)

The eminence speaker helps tighten up the bottom end, but I feel it is missing something in the midrange, now. The mid range is where tonal character comes from. I may try a different speaker. But I can deal with this issue with EQ settings and such for now.

I play MIM Fat Strat, with Tex-Mex pups H-S-S. The amp works well with the singles and the humbuckers and allows the tonal character of the pickups to come through.

I haven't had this very long, but I don't feel nervous about using at church and stuff. I don't beat my gear up or anything.

I like this amp; I haven't owned other tube amps, and I've only played other tube amps in stores. I didn't want to pay a lot of money, though, so finding a slightly modded tube amp at a decent price was what worked for me. This is a versatile amp at a good price range, and it is fairly easy to mod, so I feel good about the prospect of getting the sound I want. It's pretty darn close as it is.

I own a 2005 HRD made in Mexico. It is all tube and the good thing is, has 2 channels and booster integrated. The bad thing is, you have only one Equalizer for all of them.
You can play a lot of styls with it, Equalizer works good :). Progressive, Hard Rock, Rock, Punk, Jazz, Blues, everything is covered in this amp. When you want to play Metal, don't chose this Amp (if you don't want to youse distortion pedals, which is also a good choice for versatality)

THIS AMP SOUNDS AWSOME!
I play Singlecoil and Humbucker Sounds. Clean is very shiny and brilliant, the reverb really rocks! Singlecoils keep clean at high volumes. My Humbuckers start Overdrive early, this is the magic of the Hot Rod. It reacts dynamically how you play. It's perfect base for my music (and my effect pedals ;) ).
I even like the Overdrive Channel very much :) Sounds warm and natural it's the way overdrive should be. The Boost makes your leads present. I use the Marshall Guvnor Pedal to get more Gain and Bottom End for heavier distorion.

Just for those who think "40 Watts, that's not Loud enough", i just played a Show tonight, without a PA, in a public open air swimming pool. Cranked the Volume at 3/4, worked fine! Everyone could hear me :)

Seems very Sturdy! I do Gig without a Backup. I played with one Power Tube burned like half a year, works fine, but loses Headroom as it must be usual.

I'm glad, it's build that good, i have never dealt with them

I play for 5 years, have owned a lot of stuff (specially effects pedals), and I really love the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe!
If u get it cheap BUY IT! IT ROCKS!

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!

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.

To the person named JEF who did a review just a few down from here.....your a total dork mate and OBVIOUSLY HAVE NO IDEA about pots.
A linear taper pot gives you heaps between 0 and 3 a tad more from 3 to 5 and NOTHING much after that.
An audio taper pot gives you GRADUALLY INCREASING VOLUME FROM O TO 10..........
Fender did it with linear pots to give idiots like you the false impression of "WOW THIS THING IS POWERFUL JUST LIKE A 100 WATT AMP" TRAIN OF THOUGHT.
Id suggest you kept YOUR ignorant opinions out of places like this so that other not so savvy people can NOT learn the same ignorance from you.

AS FOR THE FEATURES? Theres enough info in other listings.....but its got enough for everyday use excpet for the shitty linear volume pots. AND..............the pathetic idea of making the control panel chrome which goes all rusty and is so hard to see on stage that you need glasses and a torch.....some other idiots bright idea no doubt. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO A BLACK FACE WITH WHITE NUMBERS???

Sound is pretty poor overall.........though not bad down low and clean. Distortion is a mess with a capitol M. Just unusable slush likt a blowfly in a jam jar.
A great clean sound can be found which improves after you change the pots as above and run it through the second chanell. If you need to distort......use a TS9 or similar.

Well its got a PCB.......modern technology so its going to give you a hard time......if its not abused then you get a reasonable serive from it. JJ's run better and last well but if you want more grunt get the hotted up GT's........BUT I cant see why youd want to make it sound like its on steroids.
Avoid fluro lights and mobile phones.
Im lucky as this one is USA made in the early 90's

FORGET IT.......... dont know why they are still in business really with all the cheap and nasty OVERPRICED crap they make these days in ASIAN countries.

Ive been playing for over 30 years, Blues and classic rock mainly. I own Fenders from the early days, Gibsons from as far back as 68 and a host of Martins and Gibson acoustics. I have owned so many amps over the years that I forget them......If you want tone, class and volume......go for something older. If you want NOISE.....and a brand name on the front to pose with.......then I guess this is a good start. Blows the pants off many out there today that are US made or Pretending to be British made......(like the indian made marshall or the tunesian made Orange)......... For average sized gigs this amp is not too bad for the $$......if it was lost or stolen Id buy something else. If you MUST have one of these DO NOT BUY THE NEWER MEXICAN MADE ONES........they are crap like the tacocasters. Hunt down a made in usa one at least.

Amp was made in 2000

I bought this amp on the sounds, ease of transport and overall volume for its size. A very good sounding amp.

This amp went faulty in July this year. It wouldn't change channels at all and was stuck on the "more drive" position. I took it to my local musical instrument repair shop who informed me 2 diodes and an op-amp ic were faulty. The diodes were replaced immediatly but the ic could not be found "off the shelf" by any supplier. Some even said the part was obsolete! My repair man approached Fender who were reluctant to supply him directly and gave him the address of an authorised supplier. These were contacted and have failed to be of any assistance whatsoever. It is now November and I am still without the amp. As a professional musician I have of course other amps to use and will stick to Marshall or Vox amps in future and hope Fender get their act together soon.

Please read above

hame that a good sounding amp has such rubbish reliabily and factory support.

This is a straightforward tube amp with a little bit of xtra overdrive and reverb, which is perfect! Nothing else too fancy, therefore a good rate of 8.

It's my 1st tube amp, but it just sounds so much better. The tubes really give off a smooth vibe. It sounds better than a line 6 spider 1 12" or a Vox AD50VT. I had both those amps before and was not happy with the sound at all. The HRD is real. There's no recorded sounds or presets with this sucker. Just a few knobs to get some different flavors while working with a smooth od/tube sound. Plus, it is loud! 40 watts is more than enough. Also, I have an SG Standard with stock pup's.

It's new to me, but I can tell that if handled properly, it is tough and will last for many years.

Never talked to Fender.

Well, it's great because it is simple. A 40 watt tube amp with a little bit of overdrive that sounds great and it has a real reverb spring/coil. I like it better than the vox or line 6 because the sound is true! It is not a simulated/modeled sound that you get! What you hear is what it is! This amp ain't no pretender. Try one at the store and if you like it and think it has potential for you, go for it!

I got this recently and was pleased to see Fender seems to be using more linear pots...meaning the volume is more evenly spread over the range. I use an LP into channel two for more headroom. I use a nice overdrive pedal in front for the distortion and touch of boost for solos. You can bias this amp easily if you're super careful not to put both hands in the PCB. PCB wiring/soldering appears pretty robust to me - looks like it could withstand some severe shocks. Oh yeah but folks still whine that the tube sockets are mounted on the PCB instead of the chassis...but take a look at how they did it: Reinforcement screws around all tube sockets mounted to the chassis - you'll NOT break the PCB by inserting a new tube. Believe me - they aren't all built this way. Other amps don't have this and when you insert a new tube, you're flexing the PCB alot - smart move on part of Fender. The input jacks are plastic and will break if you are rough on them - so you need to show reasonable care - not anal, but reasonable. The baffle board is ply (where it counts) with the cab being MDF. I had an old Fender silverface with an MDF baffle board - very frumpy sounding - this really makes a difference - more crisp tone. Very light to carry, Very loud, full and lively. I think the internal speaker is just fine for vintage ripping tones and clean. If you need more darkness, or pristine clean - yes swap out the speaker. But I wouldn't say the internal speaker by default needs to go - depends on what you need. Right - get pedals for your dirt - the onboard boosts off of the single channel are not very defined - too fuzzy for my tastes. I play cover band stuff and when I mic this amp, I set it, then forget it and really enjoy the tone. I haven't modded it and it works just dandy. For EQ, I noticed if you scoop the mids, the trebles become more strident. For me, the Mid at 12 o' clock, treble at 9:30-10:00, and Bass at 10:00-12:00 works great - nice broad and rich tone. I would say the only downside to sound quality is the onboard overdrive but this doesn't concern me.

If you like a versatile combo tube amp and have pedals already, this amp is worth it for its clean alone. I think this amp is a very good deal and stands up to most similar boutique amps for its clean alone, maybe not its overdrive. I like how Fender has done smart design to make it affordable, yet high quality at the same time. I've had a boutique 50 watt 1X12" combo that couldn't compare to the tones generated by this amp.

My deluxe was made in 2004, but I just bought it three months ago. I play blues/rock, usually using only the regular gain channel, and never passing 4 on gain. However, tonight I was invited to join a hardcore/metal band, which i despise, but i gave it a shot. I hooked my amp up to a peavey 4x12 tweed cab and it sounded outstanding. I guess this is where I move on to the sound quality section.

Outstanding. I can't even begin to describe how good my amp sounds. Until tonight I never used the high gain channel, or did i ever really get any gain out of the amp, being that i play clean/mildly overdrive blues. But when I hooked my deluxe up to the peavey cab, switched to the high gain channel and set the gain at 8, it sounded better than any marshall, mesa or vox i've ever played though. My solos were on fire, and it was such a perfect distortion. I don't even use any pedals (I was thinking about getting an Ibanez Tube Screamer, but I don't even need it). Anyone who tells you that you can't get high gain out of a hot rod deluxe is wrong.

Sometimes I get some strange sounds, but only at very low volumes. I think it might be time for some new tubes, but it sounds so good I'm not even gonna bother with that until I have to. In three months it hasn't failed me, and it's about two years old with the original tubes. I can't afford a backup amp so I have no choice but to use this without backup, but I'm also comfortable doing so.

Never dealt with fender for my guitars or amp.

I've been playing for four years, mostly blues. As lead guitarist in the hardcore band I joined tonight, my solos are almost all basic pentatonic, nothing too difficult. If my amp were stolen or lost I would replace it with a deville instead of a deluxe, just for the extra 20 watts and extra speaker. I wouldn't even consider a marshall or mesa after truly pushing my hot rod.

05,this amp broke down on me at a gig..twice

well this amp seems to have a mind of its own. ice pick sound oneday gone the next and comes back. jj tubes help the drive channel a little. pretty good amp if you keep it fixed. 5 yr warranty. youll need it. good clean tone if you like ice picks. i had enough of fender amps really and sold it with my blues jr and supersonic cab and got a Marshall dsl 401. I COULDNT BE HAPPIER. NO ICE PICK PERIOD. ALL TONE HEAVEN I SWEAR AND OVERDRIVE TO DIE FOR I PROMISE. i tried to defend the hot rod deluxe amp before for the price vs. features. now i know why the Marshall costs $1079.00 . i bought a 6$ fan at wal mart too..

UNRELIABLE PERIOD

IVE ALWAYS HAD GOOD FENDER SUPPORT THOUGH. THE WARRANTY DOES WORK.

HAVE YOUR TECH RESOLDER EVERYTHING AND CHECK EVERYTHING BEFORE YOU GIG WITH IT EVEN IF YOU PAY HIM. DONT WAIT FOR A BREAK DOWN FOR WARRANTY REPAIR. after all soldering is done, eventually a resistor will blow out too as well as the light bulb. some sooner than others but it will happen to you. you'll see. if you can make it through the first year than keep it. you'll be one of the few trust me. the tone of this amp isnt good enough to live with the problems and annoyances . it does look good but an all tube Marshall looks better and sounds much better.

features have already been stated
this amp has plenty of power easily be gigged with doesnt need to be mic'd
the only thing it needs is a master volume so that you can control overdrive at lower levels, otherwise it gets pretty damn loud

I purchased this amp primarily for its clean channel genuine fender tone, sounds crisp and warm, clear, bright and has plenty of low end everything you would expect from a fender. you can play funk, blues, classic rock, alternative, even metal with a pedal. their is plenty of headroom on the clean channel so you have to crank to get tube overdrive but that is to loud for in home use. the drive channel is lacking distortion, and despite what others have said about the drive and more drive be useless i find the more drive great. be putting the drive between 3-4 and selecting more drive while using my Boss Ds-1 i adjust the volume and tone controls and can get santana like tone and sustain and creamy distortion best described as eric claptons early solos with cream.

i actually purchased one which sounded great but as i played can across two problems first their was a rattling as if something was loose in the amp and then volume loss while playing. then later while i was practicing with my band the hotrod lost all volume and would not function. i returned it and had it replaced the new hotrod i recieved works fine and also sounds amazing. but that did piss me off, especially since this seems to be a common occurence with these line of fender amps.

Never dealt with

i have been playing for two years i own a fender mustang which is my current main guitar and had strat copys. i have played many guitars and know good tone and how to create it this amp is versatile and efficient, i compared it to the blues jr. the hotrod deville and blues deluxe this was the best for the price and sound, because the deville is similiar and only has more watts their was no point in it and the other two where limited in sound. this amp looks great plays great, and allows you to bias the power tubes which allows for you to shape the sound to what you would like.

No sunshine to blow here, here's the straight scoop. "2nd Channel" is a waste, throwaway, yuck. Tried all the tube swapping, etc., it's hopelessly nasty and nasally. Fender has known this for years, why not fix it? Oh...I know why, it's still selling in droves. I would rather they lose the overdrive channel on this and put more money into the reverb which is also lacking. Yes, it's BIG reverb, but lacks warmth and character. Fender could use those wasted tubes on channel 2 to warm up the reverb and give depth, mix controls. 99 percent of users of this amp use pedals because the OVERDRIVE CHANNEL BLOWS!!! ARE YOU LISTENING FENDER?!?!?!?!?!

Read above. Clean channel is...per usual for Fender....very good. O/D channel useless and amateur. I give it halfway rating here for the fact that the amp is only half useable. ANOTHER MAJOR GRIPE....just as countless others below have mentioned, volume from 0-1-2 jumps dramatically! I found this lessens with the use of a 12AT7 (versus 12AX7) in slot V1 (first preamp tube, furthest away from the large power tubes). But then you lose sparkle and shimmer due to weaker preamp tube. Fender could EASILY fix this PROBLEM by fixing that pot with a better quality one. COME ONE FENDER. At average street price of $600 on this item, it should work right without having to mod it right away. Ridiculous.

Don't know about this yet. Haven't heard of any major problems with these amps except those problems that are fresh with the amp right out the box from the factory. Again, ridiculous. "Here, buy this brand new Fender amp, and get it fixed immediately. We are Fender, so screw you." People, voice your concerns to Fender, this is criminal behavior in my opinion to knowingly put out a defective product.

Takes a few days. International corporate entity of this nature, what do you expect. When I have been in touch with Fender lately, cool people who know what they are talking about. Let's hope they listen to feedback on this amp (like they did with the new 2006 Highway One series instruments) and fix the Hot Rod Deluxe!

Wish I could give it higher marks. Concept is there, it sells more on looks than playability. People buy it because it says "Fender" on the tag, which should mean something. I love my old Fender amps, which were made with pride and quality. The company seems to have made some strides as of late with new innovations, and some customer support based response in their product lines. Wish they would take it to the next level and truly reclaim the throne they truly held. This is EXACTLY why all of these boutique amp makers are doing what they do. They are all simply mimicing the Fender of days gone by, and people are willing to pay for the quality. Come one Fender, get back in the game. People already love your stuff, don't kick them in the back simply because they are too ignorant to know the difference. Alot of us see it, and we are bowing out of a majority of your product line. Leo deserves a better heritage than what this amp represents in quality.

2 Channels: Clean, Drive (w/?More Drive? feature). Treble, Mid, Bass, Presence, Reverb, Bright Switch, Effects Loop, Footswitch (included) for switching between channels, 2 input jacks (input 1 is higher gain than input 2). Knobs all go to 12 for some silly reason. Three 12AX7 preamp tubes, two 6L6 power amp tubes.

As previous reviewers have commented, there is only one set of tone controls for both channels, which is the main reason I only give the amp a 7 in the features category. Some have called this a three channel amp, but it?s really only two channels, with the ?more drive? feature as part of the drive channel.

2006 model. 3 channels: clean, drive and more drive. One set on tone controls for all channels, but offers a bright switch for the clean channel. Has reverb, bu lacks a master volume... this would be very useful as the channel volumes go from silent (on "0") to very loud (on "1") and super loud (on "2"). They should really do a better job with the volume controls, but I'll give it an 8 for features because it is an all tube amp with 3 channels and reverb for $599!

I play a Fender American Deluxe HSS strat and a Fender Custom Shop Showmaster Elite with two Seymour Duncan humbuckers. This amp is made for the strat. While the Showmaster sounds good in the clean channel, the drive channels are too flabby/loose sounding. I guess the pick ups are just too hot in the Showmaster. However, the strat sounds great in all channels. I have heard people complain about the drive channels. I had the same problem, but give this a try... set the drive channel gain to 1.5, treble at 3 o'clock, presence at 3 o'clock, bass all the way, and mid between 12 - 3 o'clock. Using your strat's middle pick up (and make sure your guitar volume and tone controls are all the way up) you will get is a nice crunch tone. Not heavy distortion, but good crunch. Then when you hit the "more drive" button, switch to your bridge pick up and you'll have a pretty smooth overdrive that sounds great for a lot of rock songs. I have used this at two gigs now and it sounds great... full, cuts through the mix, and sounds great mic'ed (I use the Sennheiser guitar cabinet microphone).

Don't know how realiable it is. I've only had it for two weeks.

Fender is hard to get in touch with. They really want you to talk to their dealers. Plus, I can not find a toll-free customer support telephone number.

I have a Line 6 Flextone III XL 2x12 with the FBV Shortboard. I has all the modelling features, is loud, in stereo, every built-in effect I could need, plus great control of patches, effects, stage volume, etc. via the foot controller. All these features are great. However, the tone of the Line 6 is under-whelming. It is lifeless. I even let my wife listen as I compared the Line 6 to the Hot Rod. She immediately commented that the Hot Rod seems so much more alive. The Line 6 just doesn't cut it. It sounds good playing by yourself, but not compared to the Hot Rod, and it definitely doesn't cut through the mix when playing in a band. I really like the Hot Rod, however if I were a Fender marketing guy I would make the following product changes to increase my customer base:

1. Improve the volume controls... way too sensitive
2. Create a "smoother" drive channel. Not like a Marshall, just a little more smoother than what it currently is.
3. Add a volume boost button on the footswitch

I would have gladly paid an additional $150 more for the amp if it had these improvments!