Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

Hmm... what a odd mix of reviews. I just played one at the local Guitar Center along with a Marshall el84 40 watt combo. I think this Fender blew it away. The Marshall combos always sound thin and boxy to me. The Fender sounded meaty with that crisp vintage vibe, but maxed out on the more drive setting. I planning to buy one for portability. The clean is incredible for an amp at this price range. I like this amp a lot, and I own some incredible equipment (mesa triaxxis, Mesa 20/20 amp, THD univalve, Weber speakers, etc.). I guess everyone's tastes are different.

2000 or 2001 model. Definately a versitile amp. It has two channels, the second channel having two modes, drive and more drive. All tube, blah blah blah, you know all the features, you want the review ...

I'm using a Standard American Strat, which was recently upgraded with the EMG DG-20 set. I had the amp before that, so I know what it sounds like with stock pups. Frankley, we think of blues/rock with Fender amps, and this one won't dissapoint you, BUT I think this amp can cut just about anything with the right tweaks and a pedal or two. The amp seems pretty quiet on the clean and drive channels, a little noisier on the more drive channe;, but not too bad with the active single coils I have now. It was a bear with the stock Strat pups on the more drive channel, but that was the guitar, not the amp.

OK, here is the real deal on this amp. For whatever reason, Fender decided to put crappy pre amp tubes in this amp. The power amp tubes aren't all that much much better. I guess maybe they thought that anyone worth thier salt would replace the tubes right up front. Yes, the tubes need to be replaced. I re-tubed this sucker for $60 total. Not bad. I used the 12ax7EH's for the pre's and Svetlana power tubes. Then, I rebiased the amp for 68ma. That's it. If you don't know how to bias a tube amp, take it to your tech and have him do it. It should be cheap. If you know electronics, you can find how to do it on the web. The only other mod I may do is to replace the 12ax7 with a 12at7 in the V1 position to get a little more clean headroom. I can get it to about 4-4 1/2 before it starts to push. The clean channel is fantastic. The drive channel delivers a nice crunch and the more drive sings. I've heard complains that people don't like the pre amp buzzy sound. It's very simple. TURN THE DRIVE DIAL DOWN! I find between 2-4 is fine. Then you crank the Master volume and this amp just sings. The speaker? Sounds fine to me. It handles the lows very well, and isn't buzzy at all. Now I have to tell you that before I retubed, the clean was still nice, but drive sounds were a little farty. New tubes and a re-bias(a must!) fixed that well. I love my amp.

I only gave it a 7 as this is mostly unknown. I hope that I don't have to change this. I've had this amp for about 5 months.

Playing 20 years.

If it were stolen someone would be in big trouble, but I would buy one again, and re-tube it before I turned it on.

The amp has great sound as far the clean channel goes, however the amp is loaded in the back of the car getting ready to be taken back for the 3rd time. When striking some of the bass notes there is a glassy (broken light bulb sound) that rings out and it shows up vividly on recording. The 2 devilles (bought at guitar center) prior to the deluxe did the same thing. The amp being brand new and making this sounds concerns me that it may get worse (especially after the 30 day take back at mars)So it's going back. It also pops and crakles alot when first turning it on. I play a mid 80's strat plus deluxe with lace pickup and considered my self a true Fender man and God I've tried to be loyal. I believe I'm going to suck it up and get the 65 deluxe reissue.

Haven't found one that works right yet!!!!!!!!!

Not going to bother with all the negative talk about there support.

I have been playing all my life. Over 30 years.
I'm looking at a differnet model to replace it.

The usual features listed below. Some of the features are a nice addition, some are what you'd expect, and some are totally unnecessary and not worth much at all.

Well, it's a tube amp. Using with a single coil strat the sounds on the clean channel are really nice. A little more dirt than your normal Fender clean, but still the telltale chime and clarity. Tweaking the EQ will give a wide variety of nice clean tones. It will start to break up around 5 or 6 on the volume, and past that it just seems to lack headroom. I use the "drive" channel to fatten up the sound and add a little boost for solos and heavier riffing with a moderate amount of gain. Any more than this and the sound becomes harsh and brittle, very muddy. The "more gain" channel is really quite obnoxious, as far as I'm concerned. No character at all. Way too much gain. I think Fender felt they needed to include this so that the amp could be marketed as "hot rodded". Great idea, poor execution. Who buys a Fender for high gain anyways (other than the late great Pro Sonic)? When I need to push the amp I'll just use an OD pedal in front of it on the clean or drive channel. I've had this amp for over a year, and the stock speaker now has a nice tone to it. You really have to give 'em a chance to break in before passing judgement here.

The reverb is pretty good up until about "3" at which point it becomes a little overwhelming.

All in all, a pretty decent blues amp as long as you stay clean. Use your pedals for anything more than that. Also, for you folks who say that there is a noticeable change in volume when switching between "clean" and "drive", try balancing the volume on the clean side with the "volume" knob and the volume on the "drive" side with the "master" knob.

I'll give this one an "8" just because the clean is pretty decent, but the drive is not that great.

I'm VERY dissappointed in the reliability of this amp! Granted it's all tube and it's mass produced, so you can maybe expect a few flaws. But so far, after only about one month of moderate use one of the preamp tubes started to go bad, giving me the "whistling tea kettle syndrome". OK, tubes aren't the most reliable. so maybe I can accept that. But that doesn't make up for the REALLY AWFUL way that the instrument input jacks are mounted (or should I say NOT mounted) on the panel. For some reason the threads aren't long enough to reach up through the panel, so there's nothing for the retaining nuts to thread on to! They're just loosely sitting inside the amp! Also, the inserts inside the jack just pop right out of their own accord. Very poor design and very poor quality! Oh, the cable for the footswitch is really flimsy. Mine gave out after about 3 months of moderate use. I would really hesitate before depending on this amp as my main amp.

Don't know. Never called Fender. They encourage folks to go through their dealer for support. Five year limited warranty on the amp itself. One year warranty on the speaker (which is voided if you swap speakers).

I think Fender designed and marketed this amp to be an "all things to all people" type of amp. And judging by it's popularity and the number of reviews here, I would say that they have succeeded. Now, having said that I would say that this amp IS NOT for everybody! You want a high gain amp? Look elsewhere. This amp is for people who want a moderately priced Fender tube amp that has some features that you won't find on other amps in this price range. It's big enough and heavy enough and loud enough for the ocassional weekend blues gig. It'll hold it's own in a small venue without miking. And it looks pretty cool in a retro/vintage sort of way with the top mounted chicken head knobs (it'd be even cooler if it came in tweed/oxblood!). It won't do the high gain thing without a lot of help from gizmos in front. It's not a real versatile amp, but for what it does I'd have to say that it's pretty decent. The poor man's alternative to the '59 Bassman RI (up to a point!). If it weren't for the poor design/construction issues I'd give it a higher rating because of it's good clean tones. But if I had to do it all over again I'd probably save my money and get the Reverend Hellhound instead.

I'm not sure what year my amp was made, I think '99, but I bought it used in perfect condition. I've read most of the reviews here and have to agree with those people who dislike the sound of the stock 12" speaker. Ever since they brought this amp out I've wondered what it would be like with 2 tens instead of the 12". Well after using it stock for about 2 years I decided to make the change, 2x10's . After about two weeks of researching on the web for suitable speakers, I finally decided on Jensen C10Q reissue's' 16 ohm versions so in parallel an 8 ohm load.I made a new baffle board out of 3/4" plywood used Fender original grill cloth so it would appear stock. What a difference, better definition,nicer lows,more punch, and smoother overdrive sound. The amp is not quite as loud as before,due to the less efficient speakers, but this little gem has lots of balls to start with. There are perhaps better 10's on the market, depending on your budget but the Jensens are a good deal for the money. They take several hours of playing to break in, they are a very stiff coned speaker. After using this set up on two gigs I am very pleased with the results, not for everyone, but if you've ever wondered about making this change it tuns your amp into a vintage sounding almost Vibolux Reverb type of amp. Not a heavy metal or even hard rock type, perhaps just for us old over 50 guys who don't have anything better to do than modify perfectly good amps that people like Fender spend years developing. THE TENS ARE GONNA STAY THOUGH!
I like this amp and it has all the features I need in an amp, I just use the clean channel. I use a TS9 for overdrive sounds.

The amp sounds great, I actually liked it even before making the mod, but it was a little hard sounding and when overdriven was a little harsh. With the tens I give it an 8. Sound is so objective, I've never bought an amp that I didn't like the sound of. Funny how things change once you've used it for a while. Guitar players are always looking for the perfect amp and manufacturers count on us to keep on lookin'. I think my ASAT Special sound great in this amp, but so does my Epiphone Dot Ltd Edition.

Not one single problem in 2 yrs.

I've been playing 38 yrs. and if the amp were stolen I'd probably pick up a Vibolux Reverb, a Vibroverb or a Traynor Custom Valve 40. The Hot Rod Deluxe is still a damn good amp though.

Brand new HRDx (2001). Tube preamp and power amp. IT IS NOT AN ALL TUBE AMP!!! The amp is versatile for the styles I play (Blues, R&B, Rock'n'roll, Funk). The amp has 2 channels (the drive channel has a more drive option), effects loop (I recommend constructing an inexpensive volume box to tame the volume while cranking the pre amp. (Put it in the effects loop). I think it should come with separate EQ control for each channel. I think that's why people complain about the drive being so harsh. Try reducing treble and presence a bit while in drive channel. It makes the sound more rounded. I use it mainly for gigging and home practise (too loud!! That's why it worth constructing a volume box (nothing more than a 100K pot in series in the effect loop)

I play a Fender American Stratocaster with stock pickups. It suits well for my Blues oriented style. The clean channel is very good. But don't compare it with the Vintage Fender amps (In fact you shouldn't cause they are much more exepensive). The Drive channel is not as good as the clean channel but I think you can find a fair sweet spot tweaking with the Knobs a bit. I prefer to use an Ibanez Tube Screamer in front of it. Much better to my taste. When the "more drive" is selected the amp gets a bit noisy. I have never had the opportunity to crank the clean channel ( without the volume box) to see where it breaks up. I'll give a 9 for the clean and an 8 for the drive channel

So far so good. I don't intend to gig with a backup amp (Maybe some fuses and tubes)

Never dealt with. Here in Brazil the warranty is just 3 months (against 5 years in US)

I have been playing for 15 years. I have a Marshall Valvestate 8080 and Washburn KC 20 also.
Considering the upgrade I've done, I couldn't be happier. Great bang for the buck. I have compared it to a Peavey Classic 30 ans chose this one for some reasons:
- 10 more watts
- Better reverb,
- Better clean channel
- Stand by switch
- Better tube protection
- Last but not the least: It's a Fender!!

Great simple tube amp

Amazing reverb

Mostly used for clean twanging it serves it's purpose well
Not as much headroom as i expected
Run a ped for fuzz tho the on board gain is mostly suck

100% reliable

Not needed to use it because of good reliability

great fender clean tones and the reverb has to be heard to be believed

mod it with an eminence and some good tubes and you've got a real winner

This amp is made in 2000. Two channels ,Clean and drive/more drive.Standard tone controls ,bright switch ect .It is supposed to be versatile but more about it latter.

I play Texas blues mostly and also some other blues stuff .I play in one of better blues trios in my country and only reason I bought this amp is cause you cant buy anything used in my country that I wanted(Super rev,Vibrolux rev.)The sound. When you try this amp at first at low volumes it's kind of good but only if you dont crank it. I used it at couple pf gigs and it sucked big time .The cleans are harsh,brittle ,brake up is horrible and the drive ch is not even worth of mentioning. This is SHIT SHIT !! All you poeple who are lucky to live in USA save some more money and buy real Fenders (black face or even silver face) Deluxe rev . or Super rev or such and you ll know what a good sound is. Please dont buy This crap unless you get it for 100$. I m an asskicking player,have hand built strat like guitar and can't get a decent sound out of this JUNK!!

In this section ill give it perfect ten.It never fails. Well built.

You must be kidding. Dont even bother.

I hate it and would never buy it again!!!

All the goodies that fender is know for, tubes, reverb, 3 channels, ect... Seperate tone controls would be nice, but this is a killer amp. I must agree with the other postings about the hare trigger volume, dont bump it, it will deafen you!!! Its all good!!!

Im using a telecaster with a jb jr single humbucker, and it sounds great. I played it with a single coil strat at the pawn shop I bought it at and it sounded killer. All good blues sounds and more. My tele can give a real deep distortion w/ my marshall jackhammer, all most a kid rock distortion. The single coil gives it a sorta SRV sound with a touch of hendrix deepth. I have read here that this amp is not for heavy metal, but it comes close with my tele, sounds like white zombie, or slayer. I bought it for the bluesy sound of it, plus the killer clean sound that you can crank loud without distorting.All in all I love it, I dont regreat selling my marshall jcm 900 half stack and buying it.

So far so good!

Hope I dont have to go there

I think I will own this amp for life as long as I can keep it working.

I believe it was made last year. Play mostly blues/rockabilly & sometimes heavy alt rock ex. built to spill, minutemen, fugazi ect..
3 clean, drive, more drive
Plenty o power.
all tubes.

Fender USA Strat-with stacked Seymor in Bridge
Gibson SG.- Dimarzio Screamin Demon also Bridge
Crank it up, noisy is good. Great variety, although all Korn/RapRock Drop L *l* tuners should shy away, go buy a Randall or a Chainsaw.
Distortion is not too bad, anyone complaining knows that you don't buy a fender for the distortion,c'mon. But is sounds pretty warm and sustainy.
Turn it up it's tube!!

Just had a lil problem with channel switching, sometimes it pops at low levels, other than that it seems to be pretty sturdy.

Dealt with them once. Took about a week on the email reply, i've seen worse. The authorized dealer was very easy to find and they helped out a lot. I'm impressed. 5 year Warranty on most things, not too bad.

Been playing for 10 years, owned marshalls, Traynor, Hughes & Kettner(now there is bad customer support!) Play my Fender USA strat mostly, and a Gibson SG Standard. Owned,traded and sold around 20fx pedals. You don't need a hell of a lot with this amp, just ability. The clean is wicked, the distortion you have to have a taste for, nice n warm, if you're looking for crunch this amp may not be for you. Tried out the new Traynor tube for around the same price, I believe the Fender is a better amp,warmer tone. Played through Marshalls for years, too bad they only make one channel on an amplifier, although we all know that. Buy this amp it kicks ass, loud enough for club playing warm tones, and not bad reverb i might add. You'll like it if you dig Fender products.

Has what most of the better Fender amps have.

I play a 1985, '62 re-issue Stratocaster, An Epi Dot w/ Gibson '57 Classics, and an Epi LP w/ Seymour Duncan ' 59's.

This Amp, though it seemed to have all the Features a Player like me would want, leaves alot to be desired. The tonal quality of this amp is nowhere close to the tried and true Fender models. Whats more, I was lookin for an amp that didn't cost an arm and a leg, cause it was a "Classic", and most of the original Fender tube amps have to be cranked way the hell up, to get the tone you need( like a Twin, for example). A 40 watt 1x12 Fender, I thought was a great Idea! And ALL TUBE!!

Well, it's CHEAP SOUNDIN, at best. It breaks apart at a 4 setting on the clean channel. The OD and Crunch setting,( or what ever you call them) are CRAP! It's not worth writing any more.

Who Cares!

Fender doesn't seem to care that it's a piece of crap, so I don't care either. It's a shame that a company that make such good amps, would let these Hot Rods Ggo out the door with their name on them. They should be called SQUIRE AMPS, or something.

I've been playing for 30 years.If this were stolen, I wouldn't care one bit, but I'd feel sorry for the person that ended up with it! Then I'd wonder why he didn't steel the Peavey Classic 30 I have sitting right next to it. I doesn't even belong in the same room with the Peavey. It's not even a good end table!

1999 Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. 2 channels, a good effects loop. volume control on clean and drive channels. No separate eq for the channels - this is somewhat of a pain as I'll explain in the next section. I use this amp for practice and gigging. works well for fender clean sound. no great features - this amp provides one sound, but it does that sound well.

I use an American Std Strat with ash body - hot rails in the bridge, cool rails in the neck, stock middle. I play classic rock and alternative - think neil young, floyd, pearl jam, radiohead. It's not a very noisy amp clea, but distorted it gets noisy.
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alright, now for the actual sound quality. Stock, the amp sounded ok, but something i didn't like was the note attack i was getting. it sounded as if there was a slight delay between my hitting the string and sound comming out of the amp - this made the guitar feel difficult to play. NOT COOL. Replacing the tubes - Sovtek 12AX7 LPS and Svetlana 6L6's worked wonders. (www.thetubestore.com has amazing tubes, good prices, reviews, and sound description that makes tube selecting easy.) Now the amp is MUCH more responsive and a pleasure to play.
The clean channel sounds great. very good bass response if you want it. surprising for a 1x12 combo. VERY LOUD AMP for 40 watts. A little tricky adjusting volume until you get to around 3 or 4 - its very sensitive. After that all you get is tube saturation and the tone thickens up and drives the tubes. Drive channel stinks for anything other than very mild bluesy gain. Too harsh. kind of ok for single note stuff, but chords sound too piercing.

lets see...what else. the effects loop is good. I put a tremelo in there and got a great vintage sounding fender amp. was pure bliss. reverb is decent. if you turn it all the way up its very extreme. presence control is very responsive and you have to use it carefully to dial in just the right amount of sparkle.
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overall, Im giving this amp an 7 for sound. The clean with replaced tubes gets a 10. but it wasnt great out of the box and the distortion sucks, in my opinion. So buy this amp with caution.

Very dependable so far. had it for a couple years, gigged, its great. wish i t came with metal corners since the tolex rips easily there. you'd think that for 500 bucks, Fender would have put on some $3 corners.

never dealt with fender. 5 year warranty.

Been playing 5 years. I know what sounds good for tone. If it were lost/stolen I might take the opportunity to look for something else. Or i might buy one used for 300.
I love the clean with new tubes. Hate the dirty.
I chose this because it was the best sounding tube amp i could afford. I'd definitely recommend it if you're looking for a reletively cheep tube amp that's reliable and loud enough to gig with. For distortion, just use a pedal. The Danelectro Daddy-O is great for this amp since its warm and has separate EQ.

I'm giving it a 6 here because I don't care for the Drive channel. It's a bit harsh for my ears. I have a feeling that they used diode clipping (solid state techniques) on the Drive channel. Reverb is very useable. Clean channel is very good, and great with a new speaker. Sounds good at lower volumes as well as loud.

Play a PRS, strat, and tele through it - all sound good. Play classic rock, blues, reggae, etc (no metal). Use anything from a very clean sound, slightly overdriven (tube screamer), to pretty distorted ala ZZ Top (ToneBone). Clean channel is very good, and excellent with a new speaker. Responds excellently to good pedals. I just swapped the stock speaker for a Celestion Vintage 30, and what a difference it makes! This amp sounds awesome now. I just ordered Svetlana power tubes, and have a feeling that these will put this amp in the 9+ category. Don't get me wrong - it sounded good before the new speaker. I've been using this amp for about 2 years in a cover band, and the clean channel provides an excellent based from which to add various pedals. Plenty of volume to play most stages, and it sounds good at low volumes too! We rehearse with tape rolling (mics on everything), and with the volume on about 1.75 it sounds pretty good, and better when you turn it up a bit.

No problems after 2 years of almost daily practice and weekly rehearsal or gigging.

Have had not contact with Fender - no need!

Been playing over 30 years. Also own a JCM 800 50W combo (don't use it), PRS, strat, tele, and various high-end pedals and outboard gear. Have had quite a few amps over the years. This is a solid amp with good tone, especially for the money. Very responsive to pedals (much more so than the Marshall in my opinion). Easy to lug around, looks good. It's pretty loud, but sounds very good at lower volumes. Great amp.

Brand new Fender Hot Rod Deluxe tueb amp. I play blues, classic rock, and a some new rock, and this amp was exactly what I was looking for. I think the distortion is fine if you play the right style with it. It has an effects loop but I don't use any pedals, but NO HEADPHONE JACK! But I have a practice amp so its not that big of a deal. The reverb is helpful but if you put it past 6 it becomes very annoying. It is a loud 40 watts.

I play my HRD with a Martin electric. Not sure what model it is, but it was made in the '70s. It was my dads, and I love it. Its got two humbukcers, the stock in the neck, and I put in a DiMarzio Super-Distortion Pickup in the bridge. I love the way it sounds with my guitar. Like I said in the features, I play blues, classic rock, and some new rock, and it fits my style very well. The amp gets noisy when you turn on the More-Drive channel and the drive past 9 or 10.
This amp puts out a great clean sound. It did not distort at high volumes but the drive channel got kinda noisy, but all the ones that I tried on did that too. But the distortion is not a really heavy distortion. DO NOT BUY THIS AMP IF YOU WANT TO PLAY METAL. THIS IS NO METAL AMP. But I think this amp can handle anything but metal. Might need some pedals for some things but hey you won't find an amp that has everything.

I have only had it for a week or so but it seems pretty sturdy. I will gig without a backup because I don't have a backup. :)

Haven't dealt with Fender yet...

I've been playing for about 4 years. If it were stolen/lost I would find the fool and make sure he gets it. I would highly recommend this amp to a blues/rock lover. But try it first..

Standard knobs and controls. Nothing fancy here and if you don't know what it has, just look at some of the other reviews

Gibson Les Paul Studio with the stock pickups. I wanted a versatile sounding amp, hence I wanted tubes. I lean more to playing clean that distorted. The sound is clear. I would have given it a nine but that was before I played the Peavey Delta Blues 210. I know what a lot of you are thinking...Peavey. Cheap. But the amp iss cheaper, comes with a built in Tremolo, and comes with two speakers instead of one. Only disadvantage would be it being 30 watts and the Deluxe being 40. Anyways, the Fender amp sounds ok. The distortion is kind of bad. It doesn't fit my tastes of having it real dirty or kind of cleanish dirty. The clean is slanted a little towards the higher end, but it can sure play clean. The amp almost drips with sound, having almost a wet sound. (sound isn't wet, but i think if it could be it would)
So I give distortion 7 (of course you can always buy a pedal)
I give clean 9
Average is 8

Well, it comes with a five year waranty. As to if the amp will keep me from using this i don't know.

Ok well let me tell you my friend's problem. Two months ago, he sent in his Fender Princeton Chorus because something was wrong with it after about two months since he bought it. He still hasn't gotten it. He called about three weeks ago and Fender said they still didn't recieve it... Problem? Yeah.... At least they answer the phone, right?

Well I've played a little above a year. Sad to say I'm an untrained guitarist. Meaning I know only some notes and the names of only some of the chords I play. I may not be the most reliable source, but most people seem to have the same ratings (Except they don't talk about the Peavey).

all tube 40W, with 2 groove tube 6l6s, and 3 groove tube 12ax7's. Just got it last night, this is the 2001 model. 3 channels, clean, drive, more drive. Reverb is great, incredibly loud, has an effects loop. I play Jazz and metal, this amp works just fine for both, especially beautiful clean sound for jazz. i give it a 10 cuz it has everything in need from it: loud, all tube, 3 channels, nice reverb, great clean sound.

My guitar is one of the new Kramer's from the musicyo site, it has 2 completely silent quad rail humbucker, (real high output by the way) 24 frets, neck through blah blah. As i said, for Jazz this thing is amazing, the clean is warm and full of overtones. For metal, this amp has problems, so i usually jost plug in my only 2 pedals, my jimi hendrix wah, and Boss Metal Zone distortion pedal. With the pedals, i can get a real thick and smooth overdrive sound, the built in stuff if okay. the plain drive channel is more like cruch, bluesy stuff, more drive kick in a little more volume, mids, and has a bit more sustain/punch. I find the drive channels to be a bit thin sounding at lower volumes, i like the more drive channel for loud/raunchy solos. like i said tho, for thicker and super-sustain sound, you need some sort of pedals is you're goin for a metallica type sound.

Dunno, just got i yesterday

Never dealt with them, but from reading the warranty card, sounds like most huge companies; strict terms, and the things that the five year warranty should cover, like the speaker and the tubes, are only good for 90 days. basically, the 5 year deal is really for if the amp just magically falls apart into pieces

overall, a great amp, i'm lovin it, can't get over how nice the clean sound is, and the smooth overdrive from my pedal. For the price, this thing is a steal. email me if you have found any tricks for getting the more drive channel to sound a bit fuller/richer.

My HRD was made in 1998 I think. It is probably one of the best amps I have played, especially considering it's price range. It is very versatile, depending on the EQ and effects pedals (I recommend a seperate distortion), you can get a very heavy sound out of it with a distortion pedal. The onboard distortion is kinda crappy in my opinion. The drive channel is nice, but more drive... eh more drive can't beat my 35 dollar DS1. So I'll knock off a couple points for that. The clean channel however is worth the money for sure. This is a very nice amp. The features I believe are pretty well covered by other reviewers, so I thought I'd throw my own opinion into this category a bit.

I use a 1995 fender MiM strat, I have tried an Ibanez GAX 70 through this amp as well, but I think it sounds better with single coils, of course I think everything sounds better with single coils. I play fairly heavy alternative rock, Hum, Smashing pumpkins. I am probably joining an indi-core band and I am confident it will get heavy enough for that. I use a seperate distortion though, as I mentioned, it seems to take pedals of all kinds very well. Its own sound blends nicely with my Vox Wah (with true bypass mod) DS1, PH2 phaser etc. The clean channel is excellent. It stays clean to about 5, which will blow away small PA systems. (300 watt) The clean is bright, and a touch bassier then the standard fender, which I like. With this amp, a strat, and a DS1 I can get basically any sound I want. I suppose this isn't the amp for death metal, but most death metal amps don't get a nice clean sound like this. on a side note , I don't really love the reverb, but if you keep it below 4-5 it sounds kinda nice. it's really a nitpick considering how little i payed for it.

Perfect so far. I bought his lovely machine on Ebay for $400 incl. shipping. The guy before me put probably 300 hours on it, and I have put on another 50 or so I guess since i bought it in july. turn it on, let it warm up, click off the standby, and it goes. what more could one want? It's even still got the original tubes.

Never used it, never will probably.

I have been playing about 2 years. I have owned a Peavey Studio Chorus 210 (utter crap!) and a Laney AOR50 pro tube lead or something, with a Yamaha 4x12 cab (I sold it for lack of reliability and clean channel). I love the versatility. I love the nice nice tone.It's reliable, relatively lightweight for it's decibal output, and it looks good. Great amp overall.

This is a recent made Fender tube combo that suits my styles fine. Since I had to leave my original '65 deluxe reverb in Norway I'm glad to have found this fairly priced replacement. Tubes are 2*5881s and 4 12ax7s. Two chns, bright and boost switches blah, blah.. I don't use that kind of stuff. It also has an effects loop which I don't plan on using either since I only use pedals to this amp. The amp has enough power for smaller and mid sized clubs.

This amp, like I mentioned, replaces my '65 deluxe reverb which I didn't want to drag on the airplane. I hear similarities in the sound. I only use the clean chn without the bright switch. I run a Budda wah, a Fulltone dejavibe, a tubescreamer and an Ibanez echomachine in front. This works fine for pop, soul and r&b type of stuff. When I play jazz, I remove the pedals, pick up my Ibanez jazzbox and turn on a little reverb. The reverb is OK but doesn't come close to my BFDR. With stock features, this amp is a little scooped in the mids because I tend to use the bridge humbucker a lot more than with my CAA OD100...
This HR deluxe is all stock now, but I plan on replacing the speaker with a Celestion g12k-85 and the powertubes with some str6L6GC. I don't know about the preamp tubes, but I'll most likely swap them as well.
I don't use the 2cnd chn and I'm not planning on doing so. I never even tried it. Anyhow, this amp is very versatile if you have a good set of pedals. Most pedals sound good through this amp.

Haven't had any problems yet. Had the amp for about 3 months

Never dealt with'em

I think this is a great value amp. Especially if you can find one used. Actually, prior to this amp I had the new Traynor ycv-40 for about a week which I sent back. I like the clean sound and headroom of the Hot Rod deluxe a lot better. If you want a good gigging club amp with a fair pricetag, you can't go wrong with thisone.

I don't know when this amp was made but it's a re- issue, maybe early 90's? I bought this amp with a 7- string on sale, both cost me 800 dollars (Together). I play heavy- metal, some soft touchy~feely stuff, too, not really any set catergory, whatever I feel like playing at the time. It is an all- tube (Except for the rectifier and drive circuits which use semiconductors) amp, 40w, 2 channel, a sweet effects loop, but no headphone jack, which strikes me as odd, but maybe there's a problem matching output impedance from the tube to a set of headphone- too much trouble, maybe? I wish the distortion was a little "Heavier", but it really is a blues amp. I don't really use the reverb, it's built into my POD Pro.

I have an MCI Intertek 3000, and an Ibanez RG 420 7- string guitar. On my MCI I have 1 seymor duncan buckshot, a dimarzio heavy metal, and a kent armstrong economy distortion. For heavy metal using the POD pro either as a processor or pre- amp, this amp just plain rocks. I can't remember exactly what amp simulation I used, but it essentially cuts out the highs and BOOSTS the lows, which shakes the roof off my house with the 7- string. I have had a myriad of other amps, and one I still have (Fender 85 studio) and this one by far kicks them all to heck. The clean channel is superb, but I find the highs don't get as ear- piercing as my 85 studio, but maybe it's just as well, they are definately more audible, in the sense that you can differentiate tones. I do not and probably will not ever use the built- in distortion, I just don't like it. I have never turned the thing up past 3, any higher and my neighbors would kill me. Besides, with the Pro as a pre- amp this thing got so loud I thought it was going to shake itself apart. The stock distortion isn't really too weak, it just doesn't suit my taste at all.

I have detail stripped this amp a few times to see how it works, how it's made, and it seems to be on the higher order of good quality. I have had it for a few months, and with the way the 7 string shakes it about, I'm sure it will last a heck of a long time.

Never contacted them.

I have been playing for 3 years or so, but I play every day for 8 or more hours, so I guess you could say I have a decent amount of experience. I have a POD pro, a POD, a Pandora, a Digitech XP 400, and some othert things I'm sure I'm forgetting. If it was stolen or lost, I would start saving up for another one as soon as I found out. I think this amp is unbeatable with a POD Pro as a processor, or even as a pre- amp. When I was at the sale, there was a 120 watt solid- state amp dual channel stereo for a little more, but I have wanted a decent tube- amp so I grabbed this one instead, boy am I glad I did. I wish it had maybe tube distortion, maybe just better distortion. I think if you have the money for this amp, you will definately not be dissapointed. The 6l6 output tubes as a pair have a maximum output of 50 or so watts (You can get more out of them, but the life of the tube will suffer) and this amp pumps out 40 watts, which means that the tubes will have a long life ahead of them, they are nowhere near being pushed into a red- line. there was another Fender tube- amp rated at 55 or so watts with the exact same tubes mine has, I almost opted for it, but the salesman explained to me that it would mean slightly less life for the tubes, plus it didn't seem to have the house- shaking bass the deluxe has. I found the factory bias setting to be under- biased, so I upped it a tad, but still under what Fender recomends. Oh, and the biasing couldn't be easier to do, you tube heads out there who are used to the oscilloscope and load method for biasing only need a dmm to bias this guy.

Bad: cheesy plastic 1/4 jacks all over the place. Bad: only one set of tone controls for three channels. Bad: Linear volume control
Bad: comes with lousy power tubes. Bad: tubes are overbiased at the factory. Good: looks.

Clean channel is very clean and 40W loud. However, not warm like an older blackface or the tweed bassman which fender say it's voiced after. Drive channel is just helpless. More drive is just a gimmick. both of these two are harsh and sputtery with tons of farts in between. Lack of separate tone controls for each channel makes this amp NOT versatile at all.

The heater filament supply gave out - while gigging after six months from purchase. The switching function failed to work correctly a month after and two months after that the input jacks came loose from the chassis and disconnected from the flimsy PC board. Definitely not a giggable amp without at least a couple of spares.

Customer Support? Ha ha ha ha .... the amp was repaired every time it broke, causing lots of wasted time and money.

been playing 20 yrs. Own olderFenders Marshalls. If the HR were stolen, the burglar would do me a favor. As I said. It looks pretty, that's all. It's more like a toy rather than a serious piece of equipment.

Brand new, was a store demo, paid $475. Features well covered in other reviews. Given its price, I give it high marks for features. Importantly, this is an easily carried amplifier.

Using it with unmodified 1976 les paul custom, and new unmodified American Strat. The amp suits the style of blues/classic rock, some jazz quite well. For a real compressed high gain sound, get something else (but I dislike that sound anyway--I want to hear the guitar's tone, not the amp's). I used to have a Fender Twin, and this amp is very very close to its clean tone, which is what I was looking for. (Ever try to carry a Fender Twin Reverb up a couple flights of stairs? I am too old to do that anymore) The amp is quiet, even on the "more drive" channel. The clean sound is the reason to get this amp. It is just fantastic. No one does clean like Fender (except maybe megadollar boutique amps). Remains clean up to really high volumes (plenty loud enough to keep up with loud drummers). The distortion channel (drive/more drive) is good, not great. Not a boogie-type tone, a bit harsh, but with the Les Paul and the amps controls set with mid, treble and presence at 5-6, bass all the way down, drive on about 4-5, the distortion tone is quite nice. Takes a little fiddling to find the nicest tone. I tried my line 6 pod in the effects loop, and using the drive channel with drive on about 2 then into the pod, you get a great distorted tone. This amp takes the effects well. But I have played out with no effects with this amp, I like the simplicity. Overall the drive channel works better and smoother with the Les Paul than with the Strat. Based mainly on the clean tube sound of this amp, I gotta give this thing a 9. The dynamic response to your hands through the clean channel is just wonderful. Lots of clean headroom. Oh, and the reverb is great--surf city. I would agree that the bass response is a bit boomy, that seems solved by keeping bass control all the way down.

Too new to judge. If my old Twin was any indication, you don't have to worry too much with Fender amps.

No need for support. Easy to find authorized repair centers. Warranty is very good: 5 years.

Playing 25 years. Love its clean tone, like the drive tone. Have used, owned, or borrowed Boogies, Marshall half stack, and own a vintage (1937) Gibson tube amp. I don't like to collect amps. Am happy with this one. I hate the linear master and volume pots--too hard to control. I don't feel like changing them to audio taper controls--but this should have been done at the factory. This is easily overcome by using the effects loop. I did test out some of the smaller Boogies, and the fender clean tone just wins me over. And fender does the best reverb. If you want a reasonably priced tube amp that can cover blues, classic rock, and jazz, and that is easy to carry, and that doesn't sound like everyone's marshall, then it is a good choice.

Amp is new 2001.
Amp is versatile enough for Blues & old Rock.
two channels with extra more drive option. Channel switching and FX loop. I wish it had seperate EQ for the two channels. I never use the drive channel. It has 40 very loud watts and is just right for my needs.

I use an American Standard Strat with Bill Lawrence noiseless pickups.
The amp gets a superb classic fender clean tone. It suits my style of Texas blues perfectly. I use a Boss SD-1 for overdrive through the clean channel. The overdrive is terrible on this amp. It sounds way too muddy and bassy and just plain ugly and harsh. I don't know what Fender was thinking on this one?? The clean channel distorts at high volumes but you can expect that on most amps anyway. I never have it loud enough to distort. The distortion is very bad on this amp. metal heads stay away. But the clean is one of the best I've heard.

It has been to a few gigs and worked great so far.

I've been playing for over 20 years. My last amp was an Evil Twin which was a great super amp, just too loud and powerful for what i need. The Deluxe had the same style clean tone and it was such a nice value. Comes with a cover and footswitch. It's perfect for me. 40 watts 1x12. fits in the car great, and it doesn't hurt my back like the twin.

Read the other reviews! Personally, I've never seen the need for separate EQ for the channels. Set, forget, and concentrate on your playing.Pity the reverb has no footswitch.

Lets get this straight. We're discussing an AMPLIFIER here, NOT effects! An amp is there to amplify your guitar. If you insist on playing an Ibanez and 300 different effects, what the hell are you using a tube amp for? Do you even know what your guitar sounds like? I use a Hamer special with Seymour Duncan P90s, A PRS CE22 with Dragon pickups and a Westone Prestige 250 with Kent Armstrongs. I want to hear these beautiful guitars and the amp really lets them sing. These get plugged into the amp, not processed first! I also have Multi-FX, and some things are better with these(not much, though) and I play them through SOLID STATE AMPS. Ok, I just bought a Compressor Sustainer, but that does not modify the tone.
I love this amp to bits and will NEVER trade it. The clean sound is awsome, with the Hamer (all mahogany) using both pickups, no presence and reverb either at 3 or 9-12 it breaks your damn heart. Bell-like. The others also sound great!
With the reverb off, the presence up 2/3 and and played on bridge pickup the drive/more drive channel DELIVERS! On the neck pickup it just sings, fantastic for soloing. I write a wide variety of material, from ballads to angry, hurt all-out rock. I DO NOT NEED A DISTORTION PEDAL WITH THIS AMP! The drive channel can be incredibly rich and can also scream. If you cannot get enough anger out of this amp, it's YOUR PLAYING! I never had a clue how good my guitars were until I bought this amp. I've played through Marshal, Peavey, Hughes and Kettner (H&K make great Amps!) and crate. None of them have the rich tone of this.
Everyone has a different opinion about the drive/more drive channel, here's mine: Not enough difference between the two. I find the more drive only slightly adds to the volume, just thickens the tone a little. Only really noticible when the drive is below 6. Thats why I bought the compressor sustainer. I tried several different, high quality effects pedals through the amp and found they altered the tone, I was basically losing the sound of the amp and my guitar except for comp/sustain. this allows me to stay in the More Drive mode for power chords and solos. I prefer the sound of the More Drive, but that's a taste thing.
The Dragon pickups in the PRS have proper single coils, not just coil taps, so I can sound like a tele or a strat if I want. I don't. Unless you cann play like Hendrix or Blackmore, single coils don't work for rock music(in my opinion.) I notice most reviewers are using teles or strats. Believe me the amp works great with humbuckers or soapbar-P90s.
I play ballads and heavy metal and everything in between. The basic tone is so good on this, the only dials I ever change are the reverb and the presence. As lead singer AND guitarist, I don't have time to muck about. Clean to Power chord to Solo in two stomps ot the foot. No Problems.

I bought mine in '97, must have played for about over 1000 hours. Absolutely nothing wrong with it. I've heard horror stories about it changing channels and shoddy construction. Maybe that's the newer models, 'cos mine is built like Fort bloody Knox! No hiss, so loose screws, no weird behaviour except this: I'm sure it sounds better now than it did four years ago. Actually, this amp encourages you to play and concentrate on the tone, so it's probably me, but who knows? I very, very careful with it (apart from warm up and warm down, I cannot be bothered!), so It's not subject to heavy use, though, so I'll have to give 8

N/A

Playing for 15 years. Also own H&K and Crate amps. I use these for belting the effects through if I'm covering Pink Floyd.
If stolen, I'd commit murder. I would buy another (and now they're 1800 DEM!)
My one improvement suggestion would be a foot-switch for the reverb. We singers can't use our fingers when performing!
This amp encouraged me to play better. Stop lying to yourself and blaming the fact that you can't get the sound you want because your equipment is not good enough. There might be better out there, but at this price?

Pretty basic features, clean, drive, more drive, effects loop, shared EQ, reverb, presence. I like the low end the two 6L6's give, way more than my Peavey's w/EL84's. The shared EQ sucks, but is typical of low-end amps.

Stock, this amp sounds okay, but the Eminence 12" is really harsh and brittle on the top end. I swapped it out for a Vintage 30, and now it sounds great, way warmer, and the distortion, which I never used before, is usable now, though it isn't the greatest, definately an overdrive, and lacks sustain. I've used it with an Epiphone Paul w/Alnico II Pro Bridge, Ibanez Artstar (335 copy), Yamaha AES 800, and a Charvel Strat w/EMG 85, various effects. It sounds big and fat clean, also good distorted with a pedal. I sometimes run my Yamaha DG Stomp into the power amp in, which bypasses the preamp completely, handy if you have a POD-type device. Before the speaker change, it was maybe a 6, now it sounds miles better at high volumes, maybe a 7.5 (with new speaker).

I don't gig much, but I've messed around with it a bit and banged it around playing out a few times, it's never died. Once, I was plugging another amp into the speaker, and later plugged it into the external speaker jack. The volume was about 1/10th of what it should of been, and was distorted. Make sure you plug the internal speaker into the right jack! I don't know, it should be pretty reliable, I've played in church lots of times with no backup (can't be bothered for only 20 minutes of playing).

never dealt with them, but noone seems impressed with the big companies' service.

It's a good amp if you change the speaker, lots of power, fairly cheap, and it looks cool. If I was shopping for a similar amp, I'd look for something used, you can get cooler stuff for less money. I've seen Ampeg Reverberockets for about the same, 50 watts, 2x12". I'm happy with it though, nice low end.

as said before. 2 channels, great reverb. drive/more drive switchable gain stages, effects loop, etc. 40 watts loud!

the clean channel and the reverb are fantastic. top notch. the drive side is a bit honkey but you can mod them to sound smooth and I'll discount the rating accordingly.

no problems.

very helpful on the phone and web....

a nice addition to anyones collection. great clean tones and a bitey drive section. a good amp in a time when Fender is producing a lot of crap.

This amp is very versatile to the styles of music that i play (ex. CCR, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, The Who, etc.). It has three channel (clean, distortion, more distortion), although I only keep it on the clean channel. It is a 40-watt tube amp, but it's quite loud for 40-watts.

I play through a self-customized 1982 Ibanez Iceman, a 1995 Fender Jagstang and a 1969 Gibson Les Paul Personal and I love the sound it produces. For effects, I use a Jim Dunlop Original Crybaby and a Ibanez tube-screamer (that being the reason for keeping it on the clean channel). The amp distortion is nice for my style (and beyond) but I found that the tube-screamer distortion was a bit nicer.

I've had it for about a month now and haven't had any problems yet. I found a site that had tips on running tube amps so I've been learning from that <a href="http://shell10.ba.best.com/~trentino/"> (Amp Tips) </a>.

Never dealt with them.

I've been playing for 4 years and I previously owned an Epiphone amp. Lets just say that I was quite happy to get a new amp. The sound difference was incredible. If it was stolen or lost, I would buy it again. I was going to buy a Fender Twin amp at a pawn shop but the warranty sold me on the Hot Rod Deluxe sold me.

Classic whithout vibrato and whith drive.

I play both a vintage strat and a tele (mostly strat). The style is blues, soul, rock and so on. The effects I use is boss delay, overdrive, chorus, compressor and a marshall BluesBreaker. The HRD has the perfect sound for me cause 40 watts makes a good clubamp and it's clean and leave the rest to the player. In my opinion; this is the best fenderamp since the 60's. All you really need is the HRD, a cable and a good guitar and you can play almost everything.

No problems so far. I've only used it for 1 year

Never used it.

I've been playing elec. guitar for about 18 years. This is my best amp so far. Previous amps are Mesa Boogie mk III, Fender Twinreverb, Marshall Valvestate and peavey bandit. I sometimes use the marshall 4X12 cabinet to make the sound "larger". This amp is all I need on my gigs. I don't want it to be any louder on stage and I really recommend everyone to try this amp if youre lookin for a good amp.
The only thing I whish it had is the classic fender vibrato.

I purchased this amp new from the local Philadelphia Sam Ash in June of 2000. This amp has been reviewed to death, but I thought I would add my $0.02 The clean sound is that perfect sparkling Fender tube sound, and with the reverb cranked and a hint of tremelo through the effects loop, you WILL be in surf heaven. It has taken me over a year to finally be able to use the distorted channels. I was about to purchase a Marshall JCM 900 4100 head, and I knew I would never get a great sound from that at apartment volume, so I purchased the Marshall Power Brake. On a whim, I disconnected the internal speaker in this combo, and ran both 8 ohm outputs into the Power Brake, and then each output into the left and right 8 ohm inputs of my Marshall 1960A cabinet. I turned the output level on the Power Brake WAY down, and maxed out the MASTER volume , and set the DRIVE to 8... pure bliss! I was SO close to selling this amp, and finally I have a GREAT distorted sound that works well with my '99 Les Paul Black Beauty, '91 Jackson Soloist and '72 Fender Telecaster Custom (This is a newly reissued model). Incidentally, this is the first time either the clean or drive channels have ever been east of the "2" setting... the amp is THAT loud! If you want that scooped-mid ultra-high gain favored by the 7-string rap-metal contingent these days, this amp is NOT for you, and I still strongly feel that tube amps in general are a bad idea for that kind of sound, not to mention a waste of money. My only complaints are that the lack of seperate tone controls, the footswitch doesn't have a reverb switch (Fender take note, I'm the 100th person on this page to mention this!), the corners really could use some metal to protect that Tolex and I REALLY wish that Fender had added some impedance options. To use my Marshall 1960A cabinet, I am forced to run two cables from the amp to the left and right inputs of my cabinet. A simple 16 ohm switch would alleviate that problem. Another plus is that the bottom of this amp is almost exactly the same size as a Marshall head, so it fits on top of my slanted cabinet perfectly.

See my extended ranting above.

When I got home and opened the box, I also fell victim to that "Hey this side ISN'T up!" problem. I noticed this before taking the amp out, so I just flipped the box over. Once I got everything out, I did a quick lookover, and noticed that one of the power tubes was resting in the bottom of the amp on the reverb tank. I popped it in, turned the amp on, let it warm up for five minutes, and wailed away. I have used this amp almost daily for 15 months and it has never given me a problem. Also, I'm not sure if this is my careful set to standby for 5 minutes BEFORE playing and set to standby for 5 minutes BEFORE turning it off routine or just the fantastic job the Fender engineers did, or both.. but my original tubes are still in this amp and have a bit of life left to them. Compare this to replacing twice a year on your average Marshall. I would (and HAVE) gig with this without a backup, but always carry spare tubes and fuses.

The fact that Fender has been making musicians happy for 50 years is no accident... I doubt I will EVER have to get this amp serviced.

I have been playing for 15 years. I also own a RedBear MK120 120 watt all-tube head, which sounds great but the pre-amp tubes are an annoying, hard to find type that uses half the current of 12AX7's. I have recently been made aware of a guy who will modify these to use 12AX7's for a low fee, so in the near future I will probably be using an A/B switch so that I can stop using my Power Brake on the Fender and only use this combo for the clean sounds. It has an incredible high-gain sound that is definitely all its own, completely different than Marshall or Boogie, but still in that league. If this amp were lost or stolen I would probably sell my RedBear head, work a lot of overtime and get the new Marshall TSL head, which actually has a clean sound comparable to a '59 Bassman.

3 channels,clean,drive,more drive.3 band EQ,separate volume/gain controls and a master volume.badly labelled effects loop,etc etc.
I found the HRD to be an excessively loud amp,I kept the master down at 1.5 out of 10 for every rehearsal we used it at,and we rehearse LOUD!

I play an Epiphone Sheraton (my main guitar) and a Gibson Les Paul.some might say it should be the other way around,but the Sheraton has a gorgeous depth to the sound,fulfills my every guitar requirement and looks absolutely fantastic into the bargain!
I found the HRD to have a gorgeous,bell-like clean sound,very much the classic Fender clean sound,up to a certain level,but in order for the drive/clean channels to be balanced,I had to push the clean channel's preamp and keep the master down,which meant the gorgeous clean started to break up undesirably at even moderate levels. I found the Drive channel pretty useless really,a thin and flimsy half-crunch type sound,although with the More Drive switched on it became a bit more workable. I play with the band CandleFire,we play a psychedelic kind of indie-rock,and this amp just wasn't right for me.My Les Paul sounded unbearably harsh through this amp,and my Sheraton was just about listenable.for a blueser or someone with cast-iron ears,this would be an alright amp,and the clean was nice,but for me it was no use at all.and with a Tele,god forbid.it'd chop arms off at 10 paces! (try one and you'll see what I mean!) I traded it for a lovely big ol' Marshall JCM900 stack.

never let me down,to quote Mr.Bowie!

Never dealt with such people!

if it had been stolen,I would've probably missed it because it was a pretty little amp,but I don't miss it now it's gone. I'd not buy another one,although Dan,who also plays guitar with CandleFire,owns a Fender Twin,through which he plays a 50's Telecaster and my Les Paul,which looks and sounds amazing,so maybe a Twin or a Twin Reverb and a Mesa V-Twin pedal.one day. but my JCM900 stack is a gain-monster,all smooth and creamy distortion and sparkly clean,British Marshall sexiness all round,so I'm happy with that,and if you play indie or any kinda chordy rhythm/solo guitar,please don't waste your time on the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe.looks nice though...

Recent Fender, maybe '99 or 2000. Superficially pretty versatile, but the More Drive channel doesn't have nearly enough gain and is far too noisy to be goosed by a distortion pedal. The clean channel is very good, but not versatile enough for what I needed. The shared controls for all channels really limits this amp enormously. It's powerful, loud, and has a fine clean channel. I'm not quite ready to simplify that much yet though. I really like my mulichannel amps.

I used this with Strats and Reverends mostly. The strats, particularly a '99 Powerhouse, sounded spectacular through the clean channel, and had a nice rasp through the distortion channels at bedroom levels. The Reverends drove the amp well too. This amp falls a bit at performance volumes. It mushed out and lacked character, and the distortion which was passable at low volumes became thin and reedy when cranked a bit. Using a Sparkle Drive, a Morley JD 10, and a mid-80s Rat made the channels hissy and almost unuseable. Distortion is hardly what I would call brutal, but it does please in a very SRV/Steely Dan "Two Against Nature" kind of way. The clean channel develops that lovely purring distortion that is more warmth than anything else. Again, a very worthy tone here. I give the amp a 7 on the basis of that clean sound.

I only used it a few times, but there are differences in workmanship between a $500.00 and a $1500.00 amp. I would imagine that reliability may be one of those.

Didn't need to contact Fender at all, but they'd be enormously hard pressed to follow in the footsteps of Budda, Rivera, or Mesa.

Playing for close to 30 years. It's taken me that long to acquire a true appreciation of the Fender clean sound. My current gear is a Mesa Mark III combo, a Rivera Jake, and a Budda SuperDrive 30. All three have good clean tones with different but very powerful and unique overdrive channels. I've already sold it and plan to sit tight, possibly check out the Reverend Hellhound, although, again, I do like my channel switching. Maybe a good Fender Deluxe II or something will do the trick. Anyway, I've tried this already and just wasn't impressed enough with the package.

Feature typical.

Guitars Used
Fender Strat Plus
Fender Tele
Distortion channel AND extra drive suck.
BUT clean channel is awsome,classic,Fender clean sound.
However, if ya wanna crank the volume past 3 1/2 on clean you cant set the bass or mid higher than 1 1/2 or the speaker is distorted. It is my belief that the head cranks out way more horsepower than the speaker can handle. I intend on trying a 2X12 cab as the EXT. speaker to see for sure. Im ratin 7 even though I wanted this amp for CLEAN SOUND ONLY I have to take in consideration OTHER buyers who might need/want an amp to perform well clean OR dirty and I dont think this baby cuts it at all in the dirty department AWSOME clean sound though....long as ya watch the bass and mid levels.

Never had a Fender amp go down on me.
My "gigs"are my church 3 nights per week.
Ive been playin an 18 year old Fender tube amp at church for years and never have a problem.

Never dealt with Fender.

been playin 38 years
If lost/stolen....Id probably get a bullet reverb for home/practice and keep playin my Fender concert at church.
If I wuz gonna invest big bucks in a Fender amp Id like to try the Cyber Twin.

New model. you know the dril, 2 channel, more drive blah blah blah. however the purpose of the review is not it's tone. it gives that good classic fender tone, everyonce in a while.

I play a Peavey wolfgang Special into a vox wah, morley vol, line 6 filter modeler, electrix filter queen, electrix mo-fx, al into a bigmuff. i play what i call classic rock industrial techno. This would be the perfect amp for what i do, as i don't need insane amounts of gain. i get plenty of extra noise due to pedal hum, but that's not the amp's fault. just have to hook a gate up.

Undependable. i would have taken this back to mars, but as i have owned it for 8 mos (ok i've actually had it in my studio for 3 weeks, otherwise it's been in the shop) so as soon as i can get rid of it, i will. i doubt i would buy another fender, although i like the tone.

Good warranty. although it took 7 mos for a power transformer replacement, and i am taking it back in this mourning, so hopefullly it won't be that long, as the transformer blew out again last night.

i have been playing for 15 years. This is actually the first amp i have ever owned. previously used solid state amps that were just given to me, then passed on once someone else gave me one. i wanted tubes. Would someone please steal this from me, an toss it into a river. cause that is how useful it has been so far.

Just boutght the amp to day. You all know the features as well covered in this list I will not repeat them. I do feel a seprat EQ for drive chanel would make the foot switch realisticly functional.
I opened it and I is marked 1998 on the circuit board.

I am just starting out in the area of guitar. I am 31 and picking it up quickly. I do not have the $$$$ guitars that some posts list. I have a Squire strat and a DE Armon M66. Cheapies. I only had a Squier 10W practice amp and was looking for a real amp. I read through many web pages comparing styles and makes of amps. I decided to go with an all tube amp. I could tell the diferenc at the store when the sales person demoed them for me. Well after reading all the post here and the praise that this amp has I had to have one. I havent realy played it to ist potential yeat because of volume isues at work where I practice at 6:00am before anybody comes in. Tomorrow morning I will crank it up. My point is that I was able to play it at a low level and it was perfictly controlable. I don,t understand the problem with the volume control that every body seems to talk about. I was able to control the volue fine with the guitar. even the drive canel.
I will give it a 8 on reputation and what I heard so far. Dont forget I know it will sound better turned up and with a real guitar when I can get one. But I now have the Important part, the AMP

dont know yeat

I bought it use so I dont expect to use them I am ok with electronics so any problem I will likly fix myself.

can,t say as of yeat I have not put it through it's paces.

This is a new amp. It has 2 channels and "More Drive", reverb, effects loop. A footswitch is included for channel switching and "More Drive" on/off.

If you would like to hear this amp in action then you can go to my band website at http://www.mp3.com/catch23 and check out "Flow".
My main guitar is a USA tele with Seymor Duncan pickups. There is a "hot rails" in the bridge position and a "hot stack" in the neck position. I play music that has a classic rock sound.
The HRD is a LOUD 40 watter. I replaced the speaker with a JBL and I replaced the tubes with Svetlana 6L6's and JJ 12ax7's. These upgrades put the amp in a slightly higher class but it sounded pretty freakin good as a new stock amp.
The clean channel is very good. I also have an old Fender Twin so I am very familiar with "That Fender Clean Sound". This amp is very clean at high levels.
The gain channel really kicks in at higher levels but it has a cheesy preamp sound when you overdrive it at lower levels. I use an LPad to attenuate the sound when I practice alone. The regular drive is good for blues-type licks and the "More Drive" sound, well, it is OK but kinda harsh. I don't normally use any added distortion with the HRD but it sounds pretty good with a TubeScreamer on the clean channel. The drive channel is a little noisy but it's nothing to get excited about.
I really like the way I that this thing responds to the volume control on the guitar. On the drive channel, you can turn down the volume and still get a little crunch without the muddy sound that you often get.

N/A too new

I've been playing on & off for 14 years. This is a very good amp at a great price. I would buy it again for sure. I like the portability, the power and the classic tone. It does not have the Marshall overdrive sound that many would prefer, but I like the natural bluesy tones that you get from the HRD.

Features???? The features are in your style NOT in the amp...I'm an old TUBER so for the money this amp is great!!! If your into disrtortion and modified sounds buy a solid state amp and 10 differrent pedals and then no one will notice your not hitting your notes. I want to hear the sound of my guitar not some modified crap coming from a bunch of solid state add ons. You can play any style you want with this amp...IT's YOU NOT the AMP...sheesh doesn't anyone like to hear their gitar anymore??? PRACTICE and you'll be suprised how nice clean notes sound!!!!!!!!!!

I have a 66 stang,79 power tele,76 strat,96 strat,Jimmy Vaughn strat and a nashville Power tele...I play everything from blues to FUNK and it does cover them ALL....and nicely I might add. Ya gotta take the time to find YOUR settings....DISTORTION???? why not practice so you don't need to distort your mistakes????

NEVER ket me down but ALLWAYS carry spare tubes for a gig !!! Ya bring extra strings so why not tubes???? common sense

Haven't needed them...I have a degree in Elctrical Engineering so why take it somewhere when you can fix it on your own...just read the schematics....everybody is modifying and adding pedals if ya need to do that than this AIN"T the amp for you...Either ya love it or ya buy something else..

I've been playing for 33 years...nothing BUT tube amps for me..If it dissapeared I would but the SAME amp again. I LOVE it because it lets the guitar and YOUR fingers control the sound and style. I checked out Marshall tube amps and they just don't cut it...It's like using a Honda part on your Harley. I chose this cause I started with a 65 Vibro -champ...then a Vibro-king...I'm A FREAKIN TUBER...I wish it had built in VIBRATO...and that is the ONLY pedal I use for effect..and only for certain sounds....like a CRAMPS style...PSYCHOBILLY

This is a follow up to an earlier review. Since posting the review I have sold the amp due to a few things I didn't like about it. The new fender amps are ok but in comparing to my Tone King I found the sound veiled in comparison. I also grew to hate the over the top reverb which to me is basically useless and the tone controls. The amp seemed to be real bassy, maybe it was my fault putting new old stock tubes in it- I don't know. I did replace the speaker, with a celestion and all the tubes and still feel the same way about the amp, it's just not that good. I recently purchased a used crate vintage club 1x12 and I personally think this amp is superior in every way. It uses one more pre amp tube and this helps to produce a much better over driven tone then the fender. The reverb is not a strong but to me is much more useable. In addition there are seperate controls for each channel- no more compromises. The fender isn't bad put you can do better.

Didn't have any problems with it.

Wouldn't buy it again.

Bought: Early 2001
The amp does just about everything I want it to. I used to use the clean and the drive channels but due to the fantastic tone of this amp I only use the drive channel now, the clean is useful and ocassionally gets some use though. The third channel, "more drive" is not my deal at all but it could be more useful if it had it's own drive and volume controls as the jump between the "drive" and "more drive" channels is a bit much for anything other than solos, and I don't like to play like that. The reverb is good but I would have like it a little less prominent as it sound like a cathedral when it's cranked.
It's mostly for playing inthe house and so I guess it's a little loud but that's my own fault. I think there are too many controls and options for a simplicit player but to few for a footswitch mad one.
For me, in terms of features, it's the best thing around except for the Blues Junior which has only one channel and so less options to go un-used.
The amp won't do everything for everyone but for me it does exactly what I need....... and more!

I use a strat with vintage reissue pups, and a crybaby wah. I always use a pic and play Hendrix style mixed with SRV, etc...
It's great for what I play. I played an "Evil Twin" a while ago and I like my Deluxe better. This amp has never seemed noisy to me and the overdrive is to die for......especially when cranked! I just love it.
I've been through Marshall, Vox, Orange, and other Fenders (all tube amps, even the new Fender Dynatouch range) and this is the best thing yet!

It's not been gigging at all but it never walks off when I'm not looking to go to the pub or anything, so yeh, it's reliable. I 've had no problems at all so far. Nothing mysterious, no trange noises, etc...Though maybe I'm not in the best position to ask about reliability since it's not been out of the house.

I've been playing seriously for around 7 years. I don't use alot of effects and I only really use the one guitar most of the time, though I ocasionally use a Jap squier strat. If it were stolen or lost I would either get another Deluxe or it's baby brother, the Blues Junior. This is because it would suite my playing situation better in terms of volume and features (I would not have lots of stuff I don't use). I love the tone and the looks, the pictures on the net don't do this amp justice. I compared it to the "Stage 100" from the Fender Dynatouch range that I had at the time, and with the Vox "AC15". I chose the deluxe because of the tone, it's hard to describe it, but it is the best thing I've played through....ever! It's not for everyone, but for me? Oh Yeh!

Bought this amp new in early 2001. I am a drummer and since I freely admit this was my first real guitar amp and my only qualifications in this area are that I've played in bands for 30+ years. I bought it 'cause I don't like the sound of SS, the price is right and on the basis of other user reviews here. Compared to other tube amps in the store in the same price range, this amp was much louder (which I like) and appeared to be the best value proposition.

I play it with a Fender '56 Custom Shop Time Machine Strat and a Gibson SG Supreme with classic Humbucker's. As expected, the clean channel was the classic Fender amp sound. The reverb sounded OK to me. The dirty channels seemed sound rather amatureish. I did the Celestion Vintage 30 speaker swap, and that was a nice improvement over the stock "special design" speaker.

Here is where this amp really falls down. When I brought this amp home, it was OK at first, but in about a week, it started buzzing and popping, even without plugging a guitar into it. I took it back and the store got me another one. This one lasted for about a week too. But it had a different problem; the channels started to switch by itself (in-out-in-out) every few seconds. I took that one back too. They got me a third one. This one had problems too. It sometimes would not switch out of the dirty channel. I took that back too. I now have a R.I. 65 Super Reverb.

Don't really know. I dealt with the music store. The store was pretty good. The warranty is 5 years, but who really needs an amp that is in the shop more than you can use it?

I've been playing guitar about 4 months so I'm no guitar hero. I've been drumming for 30+ years and I am usually the only one in the band who knows how to setup the P.A. So I know something about equipment. If stolen or lost I would get something else. I like the tube sound, I hate how the darn thing won't work right.

This amp is fantastic for what I play:- Blues , Funk , Rock , Pop Stuff. The only thing it don`t do is metal. Which doesn`t bother me.
I don`t know for sure what year the amp was made, but by the look of it it must be pretty recent. Just bought it yesturday. By the looks of things others have covered the amp very well but I`ll review anyway... From left to right we have:-- Input1 - Input2 - Bright switch - Volume - MoreDrive Switch - Drive - Treble - Bass - Middle - Channel Select - Master - Reverb - Presence - FX LOOP OUT - FX LOOP IN - F/S input - Power Light (Cool Jewel one) - Standby - ON/OFF.
The amps uses 3 Channels:- Clean , Drive and More Drive. All are pretty good. The footswitch provided has lights on it too. Its uses 2 buttons to control the 3 channels. Sounds Complicated but its easy once you know. The amp is very loud indeed for an ickle 40watt. Sounds like it peaks at around 60watt when pushed hard. Its big enough for any club/pub gigs you`ll ever do. Any larger gigs the soundman steps in anyway so you`ll be just fine. The amp has 3 12AX7 pre amp Valves and 2 6L6 or ( 5881 ) Power valves. Mine are made buy Sovtek which make pretty good valves (but not the best) For Reviews go to thetubestore.com. The amp also has an extra speaker output for a cab. The FX loop however mucks up your sound due to the circuitry so that brings my grade down slightly to 8. It covers all possiblities basically.

I use a Semi-Acoustic with Seymour Duncan Humbuckers which excel with this amp. The hi sensitivity of the pickup`s partnered with the valves together make a sweet crisp flavour. (hhmmmm yum yum!) The Clean channel is the best in the business bar none. It brings harmonious sounds suiting blues , soul and funk with ease. Its been compared to many famous fender amps by friends and collegues alike. I`d tend to agree with them now that I`ve bought one! The reverb helps the clean channel along well too. Thats Fender amps for ya. This amp will make any guitar sound good and any player. Clean sounds begin to break at 6 ish creating a good blended break up suiting bluesy musics. The bright select gives you a strat like sound adding to the already marvelous clean tone. Distortion is another matter. You either love it , or you hate it. I`m one of the lovers. It has this certian bite to it when set to high Mid EQ which I personnaly love. Loads of sustain too at about 8 secs or so. Crunch is very useful when playing rock music as you`ve always got that extra drive for solo`s. The only bad thing about it is that the distortion doesn`t have much definition. What ever you play you`ll get the same sound. It has plenty of variety to it however the lack of definition in the distortion brings things down to a 8.

Only had it a day or so. However Fenders are always well made and can often be trusted without bacl-up. From past experince I`ll give it a 8 ** on reputation only though.

haven`t dealt with them. Probably wont need to either.

This amp compliments delays and reverbs brilliantly. Wah-wah works pretty well with distortions. I`d buy another one if I had the money just so I had a back up. The amount its worth and the amount its normally priced at gives excellent value unrivalled by any other amp in its class. The 40 watt monster packs a punch twice its size! It easily keeps up with Stacks until volume get ridiculously loud. Tips I`ve been given are chancing the eminence speaker to a celestion vintage 30 which I may do but I`ll have to think about it. Changing valves can give completely different tones so try some out before your next replacement. If the distortion is too hard for you, change pre amp valves down from the 12ax7`s to something less powerful.

3 channel. Reverb, presence, footswitch.

This amp is loud. Too loud. Clean channel is great, dirty channel is good too but in order to get it sounding good it has to be loud. Unfortunately that means that it will be a lot louder than the rest of the bros in the band. Nice big sound though. Just cant get it at practice without killing the drums. One more thing, the reverb isn't that great. I keep that knob off. And the third channel is very distorted and a few db's hotter. I don't use it.

Seems reliable enough although I've only had it for 20 days.

Its an awesome amp. The sound is great, but why did they make it so hot? Who knows. I have heard of some tube mods that you can do to tame it down but I am considering returning it. Maybe I'll keep it. Who knows? My 30 days ain't up yet.

this amp has plenty of features i'm sure you've read over a million times in other reviews of it. it would be the perfect amp if it had a seperate eq for clean and overdrive channels but for the price i am not complaining!

if anyone says they think this amp does not sound good they obviously are tone deaf. sure it doesn't get the note destroying gain of a boogie or 5150 but even the hardcore gain freaks should agree this amp sounds awesome(if they have a good ear). the clean is beautiful and crystal and breaks up perfectly at about 6 of 7. if you are playing this amp at 6 or 7 you are going deaf because this thing is insanely loud. almost too much for my house. so i'm sure this amp would suffice for any gig. the overdrive channel is totally gritty and perfect for classic rock and blues. i have found by pairing this amp with a marshall blues breaker 2 pedal you can take the over drive a step up for slightly heavier edge. the sky is the limit with this amp and pedal combo. what a tone monster.

as said by so many others a 5 year warranty is enough to get this amp a 10.

don't know but i hear it is terrible although i hope never to find out

i simply love this amp. if you are looking for a heavy metal gain monster sound then keep shopping but if you are particular about your sound and love a tonally diverse amp this is it. only the tone deaf would not agree!!!

You've read the details before.

Fantastic clean sound. The distortion is as unusable as others have said. When I kick in the More Drive setting, it is so noisy that it's amusing. As one person suggested before, the best thing is to set the drive at about 1 1/2 to 2 and use the Drive channel as a clean boost.

I bought the amp knowing the pitfalls of the distortion, so it doesn't bother me. I wanted a clean, genuine tube sound for around $500, and I got that. The amp is LOUD. I can't imagine needing to go above 3. The reverb is very wet. Unless you want the proto-surf sound, keep it below 3. I wish the footswitch gave you the option to turn the reverb on and off, but it's not vital.

I'm playing a Jackson DR-7 seven string with Duncan Design humbuckers through a Digitech RP-5 signal processor. I haven't noticed any problems with putting the humbuckers through the HRD. I can get a mellow, round tone as well as a thick, cutting attack. I have a mid-80's Peavey Falcon (basically a Strat Copy with a Kahler) that I'm interested in trying out through this amp.

Just got it last week. I played a 1984 Peavey Encore 65 for 17 years, rarely using a back-up. I don't punish my equipment--the Encore has only been in the shop twice. I have every reason to expect that the HRD will hold up as well if not better.

Have never dealt with Fender.

So far, so good. I wanted to keep my purchase around the $500 range, and this was the only amp I seriously considered. After playing my Peavey for so long, I wanted to step up a level. I would want to replace this amp if it were lost or stolen. As an earlier review said, if you want the sound of a Twin Reverb without dropping a thou AND getting a hernia, this is the amp for you!

I know everyone and their mom has posted a review on the ol' hot rod deluxe, so i'll spare you the stats on it. The clean channel on this amp is pretty unbeatable, and the "drive" channel does its duty as well. I'm not sure about this "more drive" business, the red light comes on and the unwanted noise commences. I'll get something like a Big Muff to remedy that. All the attractive chicken head knobs do what they say, presence and seperate clean/drive channel volumes are nice. Footswitch performs nicely as well.

Heres the deal. I got this amp within the last week after drooling over it for a year or more. Sorta like in Wayne's World with that guitar Mike Meyers lusted after: "it will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine". I'm writing this review to those of us out there who bought into the Digital Modeling stuff. My fellow guitar players, i have gone down that path, and the deluxe has returned me to the righteous ways of the tube. I had a POD with the Floorboard, gig bag/mounter the whole works, and a Fender Deluxe 112+. Not a bad set up. But i woke up one morning, went to my local music store and traded all that stuff for a great tube amp. When i bought the POD i was all excited and thought i'd have a different patch set for every song my band played and what not......nope. I found myself using the same three patches constantly: clean, semi-clean/overdrive, and distorted. So i got smart, ditched all the cold, over processed digital solid state emulations, and got the real thing. Can't beat it. Seriously, a couple effects pedals occasionally are nice, but the simplicity and authenticity of the real thing puts all the new technolical conviences and bells and whistles to shame.

Fender is kinda shady sometimes, there webstie is pretty worthless in my opinion.

Been playing 3 years, in a christian band that gigs regularly, will paly at church. I have a strat and am selecting some effects right now, but i don't want to dig myself the same digital grave i got out of with the purchase of this amp. I'm here to tell ya fellas, that modeling stuff is cool for a while, but trends will come and go. I love this amp.

Look kids, I'm sick of you freakin' nu-metal wacko's who think that they haveta have that limp korn ibanez crap. If that's the kind of retarded jock-douche bag sound your going for to please your slutty girl friends than don't buy this amp. This is not the kind of amp that needs to be backed up by a dj. This amp is made for one simple purpose: rock and roll, and you better love it or get the hell off the stage. I give this amp a five because as far as features go on this power house, that's it, there ain't much there. And kiddies, let me tell you, that's all you need. If you need extra distortion for your freakin' limp korn songs go buy a tube screamer, posers need not apply

This is where the distinction is made between tube amps. I went to Mars Music and plugged my '98 American strat into a '59 reissue, a fender twin, Hot Rod deville, and this puppy and i played the same lick on each of them and they all sounded too close to the same under distortion so let me just dispell this myth right now. If the sound coming that you hear when you play isn't to your liking, think before you react, it's problaby your playing style not the tube amp. I'm sick of these freakin tone-nazis who think the only way they're gonna recreate Stevie Ray's fattness, or Jimi's wail is to blow a couple of grand on that '59 bassman they spot in the window of their local pawn shop. Sorry to burst your bubble folks but if you turn these kind of amps up past '4', everything begins to sound the same. Anybody who says different has had his head to the speakers for too long and probably can't hear much.

It took a trip in the bed of my ford pickup through a South Dakota blizzard in january for 6 hours and came out with a smile on it's face

I've read other reviews about fender not helping out it's customers, let me set the record straight, fender knows how to cater to the needs of it's customers, with a warranty that is lifetime and a help line, plus multiple web sites devoted to problem shooting. If you have problems with your amp, don't expect the clowns at Mars Music to help you out, go to the manufacturer

I play just about ever kind of rock, from Pearl Jam to Jimi, Wilco to Rage and i can find a setting on this amp that compliments each type I run across. Look, i live in an apartment where playing a 100 watt marshall just isn't feesable. This amp suits my needs and it would suit your needs perfectly. So if your in the market for an amp, don't listen to those tone-nazis, go find an amp that sounds good to YOU, don't buy one just because Munky or Head or freakin Wes Boreland use some Mesa/Bullshit Dual Rectum

A modern, 2 channel amp. There is a "drive, more drive" feature that Fender calls three channels, but let's be honest.....1 12" loudspeaker that projects quite loudly.

I use this amp with my Fender Telecaster and it has that real Fender sound...not the solid state, modeling amp, "let's pretend that this is a Fender Tweed" kind of stuff. The real deal. Back in my serious playing days, I used a 1964 Fender Bandmaster and it sounds as vibrant as that amp ever did on channel one. That amp is still upstairs in my bedroom, so I am not remembering, I can make the comparision directly. The Deluxe has nice chime, and although the point to point wiring certainly is not present, the amp carries off the signiture sound very well. The distortion channel is another matter altogether. The amp's second channel is very hard to connect with, it has that preamp distortion that I dispise, and although it may work with some players, it does not work for me...rather than tempting me to go into a more distorted sound, the distortion chases me back to the clean channel where the amp sounds good. The Bandmaster's overdrive sound is like jumping into a pile of coton candy....the Deluxe is not inviting at all. Because channel one is so good, I will keep the rating high, but please listen to channel two before you buy.

Let's be fair...every one knows someone who has had problems with every map made. But by and large, Fender makes a very robust amp. I would use it on gigs without even thinking about it.

5 year warranty. Because it's a Fender, service locations are no problem for most people. I haven't had to deal with Fender directly in my life, but something tells me that outside of directing you to a service center they re not going to be a huge help for the average Joe. Just too big a company for that. I hope I am wrong, however.

I have been playing for 40 years now.....*gulp*. If it were lost or stolen I doubt I could convince my wife to let me spring for another one....so I think I will keep this one chanied to my wrist. I play blues for the most part, and the amp sounds great for my style, but today's players are looking for a "Jack of all Trades" kind of amp, and this is not a modeling amp, that's for sure. Extended listening to even the most modest of full tube equipment reveals a sound that all the modeling amps in the world can't get to...they sound close, but they are always lacking. Which brings me to the main reason why I bought the amp - I grew up playing Fenders, and I thought that this was exactly that, a real Fender with most of the character at a modest price. The overdriven sound of a Twin or Super Reverb or Bassman? Sorry, but it just isn't there. But that clean tone is very much there, and that is all that is needed to make me happy.

I bought this amp about one year ago. It's basically a two channel amp. It has a overdrive and a "more" overdrive channel but so far I've had little use for the overdrive channel so for me it's a one channel amp. Since I use it at home in my music room it has plenty of power. I rarely turn it up past 2. It has power amp in and a power amp out jacks and an extra speaker jack.

I use two PRS Custom 22's, one hardtail and one trem, and a Solimar Fender Strat copy. The Solimar sounds like it "fits" the best. It seems to be a good single coil amp. I play a wide varity of rock and jazz fusion. It seems to cover these sound fairly well. No noise, but like I said I tend to keep the volume low. The clean is great. I noticed when I did use the distortion it seemed to be raunchy/rough type. Probably good for some types of rock but not much variety. Changing the overdrive tubes might help. I have an RP7 Digitech multi effect pedal and a Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive so I really didn't need the overdrive. The amp sounds great with both overdrive pedals but if your looking for a good overdrive amp this isn't it.

I've had it for a year and about two months ago the 6L6s started making noise. Otherwise no problem.

Never dealt with Fender. The warranty is Five year (I think.)

I've been playing elec. guitar for about 6 years. If my amp was stolen I don't think I would buy this amp. I'd buy something like a UniValve since I like good distortion at low volume. I like this amps clean channel sound and I can't say I hate anything about it. The chicken head nobs and the jewel light are extra cool. It's a cool looking amp.

I changed the speaker out with a Vintage 30 Celestion. This did help the distortion. It's smoother. I agree with a reviewer below, the Vintage 30 speaker gives it about a 10% improvement.

I also changed out the 6L6s for THD Yellowjackets with EL84s. This was a good move for me cause I like low volume.

Changed Channel with out touching the amp. Fender knows this and did repair it only after a long time at the repair shop, and then had to replace the amp.

I play a Fender Strat American, the amp distorts at about a 4 on the volume and have replaced all the tubes with tubes that are not supposed to distort at a low volume (I belive they are "white" tubes).
Still not a good clean sound I used a tube screamer for distortion because alone the amp does not give good distortion quaility sound.
I RECEIVED NO HELP FROM FENDER ON THIS AMP AND ITS PROBLEMS.THEY JUST SENT ME BACK TO THE DEALER.
I SOLD THE AMP FOR $375.00 AND BOUGHT A "MESA BOOGIE" WITH A CELESTRIAN 12" SPEAKER THAT IS A MUCH BETTER AMP WITH EVERY SOUND A GUITARIST COULD WANT.
!!!I WOULD NOT BUY ANOTHER FENDER HOT ROD DELUXE!!!!

NO NO NO AND NO..IT BREAKS UP AND CHANGES CHANNELS BY ITSELF. EVEN WITH NEW TUBES.
THIS AMP MAY BE GOOD FOR A GUITARIST THAT ONLY PLAYS WITH DISTORTION BUT FOR A GOOD CLEAN SOUND ...FORGET IT UNLESS YOU PLAY AT A LOW VOUME

FENDER REFERRED ME TO THE DEALER.
THEY FIXED THE AMP (CHANGING CHANNELS)
NEVER FIXED THE DISTORTED SOUND AT MEDIUM VOLUME,

I HAD THE AMP 2 YEARS..(4 TIMES IN THE REPAIR SHOP)
I WOULD NOT BUY IT AGAIN
IT COULD BE A GREAT AMP FOR SOMEONE IN THERE REC ROOM PLAYING ROCK
MESA OUT DOES THE FENDER HOT ROD DELUXE
I NOW OWN A "GREAT SOUNDING" MESA BOOGGIE

This is a great amp. It's simple, versatile, and can make some great sounds. I play many different styles (Led Zeppelin, Radiohead, Phish...) and this amp just seems to cover it all. The only feature I really don't use that much on this amp is the reverb, which I usually just set to 1.5 all the time. I use the amp in my room...and the rest of my family member can hear me loud and clear...even people living a few houses down (no joke). This amp is really loud. And if I were to add an extra cab (which is possible)...wow. I would howl.

I use a gibson les paul classic and it sounds so beautiful and warm. Lots of feedback, but if you are smart, you can use that to your advantage. Nice distortion...can be very heavy, but not a marshall. Now, I'm not saying that because it's not as good as a marshall, I'm just pointing out that the type of distortion this amp produces is clearly different. Suits my music style very well (led Zeppelin...)

I can depend on this it, but it is a tube amp afterall. So, I would probably bring a backup, or some extra tubes... just in case.

Never had to deal with fender.

I love it...it Sounds great. For $350, I don't thing anyone could find a better sounding amplifier.

The reverb is unusable above 2. Other than that it's OK.

I'm another of these 'I've been playing 30 years' guys and I'm currently in a wedding/pub band in the west of Ireland (a story in itself as I'm a Canadian). Unlike N. America there is no rehearsing...you just go for it and they expect you to get the hang of it by the second verse. Waltzes, country, ballads, pop, blues, metal...you could be called to do anything and it's ,'This is in B.One ,two, three...'and off you go. therefore you need a versatile setup. The Hot Rod Deluxe does the job but I had to mod it abit. Firstly a Celestion Vintage 30 went in. It made a big difference. (Thank you to all the reviewers who suggested this). Secondly I changed the preamp tubes. The Sovteks it came with were funtional but I found that the clean channel broke up too soon and the overdrive was cheesy. I picked the brains of the lads at Watford Valves in England and I now have a Phillips military spec tube in the first (right) position which gives me alot of clean headroom as the valve is one which doesn't distort easily. The next valve is a Tesla which gives a really nice and useable distortion on the overdrive channel. I don't know what the valve on the left does but I put another Phillips there. I left the original Sovtek power tubes in. So, with my new American Series Tele I find I can play any size or type of venue and I can be ready for anything just plugged straight in. I only use the guitar controls, the amp channels and my fingers.(Having said that I do sometimes use a Boss EQ pedal as a midrange solo boost, and sometimes a touch of Boss CE-1 chorus and I just got one of those little Danelectro slap-echoes. The point is...I don't NEED them.) I'll only give it a 9 because it's not a Bassman.

No trouble yet and I play alot.

No experience of such.

It suits me perfectly. If I had the money (i.e. if my wife would let me) I'd get a Bassman but this will do. I'd get another if it went astray.

There aren't many features worth mentioning. The 1/4" external cab connection is a big plus.

This is simply heaven. I play with an American Roadhouse Strat with Kinman pickups through a Digitech 2120 into the HRD. The 2120 tubes have been replaced with EI 12AX7 tubes to get a bit better attack. The HRD speaker has been replaced with a Celestion Vintage 30.

I am a tone fanatic!

That being said, I have repeatedly found (and been told) that the tone my rig produces is great. Rich, thick, warm distortion. Razor cutting leads, and of course the most incredible bell like clean tones money can buy (a Fender hallmark).

I review other bands in the area frequently and am continualy on the hunt for what works and what doesn't. The HRD works! I have heard rigs that sound better than the HRD for certian sounds, but while these AMPs provided better overall distortion, they all failed miserably in producing the clean tones that the HRD can create.

If you are only interested in one tone, and that one tone is distortion, there are other amplifiers (at a substantially higher cost) that will perform better than a HRD; however, I have yet to heare the equal of this amplifier in clean tone production.

As one person that tried 3 amplifiers in the store pointed out, the amp rattles out of the box. The fix is not that tough. Tighten the cab screws down. Fender for some stupid reason ships the unit with the screws not torqued down very tight. After tightening things up, I have a perfectly quite amp.

I use only the clean channel on this amp. Get a distortion pedal of some kind to do the distortion for you. With this setup you can have the best of all worlds. Great distortion AND the best clean money can buy.

The Celestion Vintage 30 speaker is a must. The speaker adds an entire new diminsion to the sound of this amp. To buy a HRD without one of these speakers would be like getting a Corvette with 85MPH rated tires. It is a truely inspiring tone improvement.

I gig it, drop it on occasion, bang it, turn it off and on incorrectly, plug in to it hot and pop at the speaker, and generally abuse it in ways no sane person would do unless he/she wanted to break the amplifier. It has stood the test of time. I have had it for almost 3 years and it is rock solid. Once tightened, the screws have held perfectly and it hasn't buzzed at me since I spent the 10 minutes to tighten them up about 2.5 years ago.

Although I feel no need for a backup amp (I do carry extra tubes just in case), I have considered getting a 2nd amp just to play in stereo.

Never had to talk to them.

Weather it is U2 with effects and delays out the ying yang, Black Crows with a classic distortion, or KORN with that "I am going to rip your head off" beefy kick distortion or any song that has that bell like compressed clean snap, the HRD performs perfectly.

I have been playing for almost 30 years. I have compared it to practically every amp in existance either directly or by the tone others got from their rigs. It is a truely great amplifier at a fantastic price.

When I first bought the amp, I really didn't realize what a great amp it was. It wasn't until I played it for years side by side with other musicians using tons of different equipment that it became clear that the tone I have achieved is superior to nearly everything else out there.

With a bit of investment in time and effort and a new speaker (tighten the screws and replace the speaker), it is destined to be an all time classic.

At the store, I hear lots of talk about Line 6 and modeling amplifiers, and how digital is going to take over. All I can say is that ON STAGE THIS AMP RULES those digital amps. I have guest played in several bands over the last few years and many a time I have seen the other guitar player's face in awe after hearing the tone of my rig after the first song. In every guest appearance, I have had lots of interest from other guitarists in how I have managed this tone. There is really no better testiment to how well this amp plays than those taken from other guitarist that DON'T use a HRD and hear mine.

I would like to point out that I am a strat player. I have exceptional pickups and a high end rack mount processor. Tone isn't all in the HRD in this setup, but the HRD isn't the weak link either! It may be that this amp isn't well suited to Les Pauls or humbuckers. I couldn't really say since I haven't owned a Les Paul since I have had this amp (I used to have one though).

It is reasonably weighted for a tube amp. I can easily handle it, my guitar and footswitch bag in one trip (rack takes another trip). I have only HAD to mic it once for a gig of over 200 people in a VERY large outside gig. It cuts just fine in most clubs all by itself. I have mic'ed it on a few stages where the stage was very large to get the sound distributed better across the stage.

The volume knob is a stupid marketing gimic. I can work around it though.

I have tried out the distortion and drive channels just to see how they sound ...... once. I don't bother any more.

Typical review on the features, 40 watts, stock groove tubes, etc. I have had this amp for about one year, I must confess that replacing the speaker with a celestion is a good idea, however I choose not to until I absolutely have to. I use the amp for clubs and small gigs, mostly blues and rock. I run this amp in conjunction with a supro thunderbolt model S6420 through a 2x10 cab with celestions, and the distortion is not comparable, the supro kicks it's butt.

If you play anything but a real guitar e.g. the Fender Strat through these you aren't going to get the results they are designed for. One of the Strats I use has Seymour Duncans and it screams with the tube screamer through the Deluxe. I use Strats exclusively, however have recorded using a Les Paul, and it's simply not the same tone. Due mostly to the humbuckers not the single coils. I agree that it does drop out past about 3, but if you are mixing it correctly with your guitar it has plenty of punch, and then mic it if you have to.

So far so good, no needed repairs and it keeps on cranking. I baby it though, and don't move it when it's hot, and keep it covered and away from small children and animals....

Great, my Fender dealer here is terrific, have been very helpful when I hooked it up to an external speaker for the added color and texture to my tone.

I have played for 35 years in most venues of country rock, rock and blues, no jazz yet, I don't think I'm mature enough for that yet. I own the basic effects, analog Ibanez, TS, Chorus, Delay, a Boss BE-5 for the digital delay, overdrive, and use the chorus as a flanger. I go direct from my wireless to my Ibanez Flubber Wah, (I know, laugh but it is a good product and does very well with my set up, I'vel played others but this one is a good unit). I also use a Morley Volume pedal for steel licks and it's all good. From the BE-5 I go A out to the Hot Rod, and B out to the Supro. What a combination. And for added punch and I feel like it I will throw in the Electro Harmonix Linear Power Booster, the LPB 2, what a good unit that is...Other times I just go direct into my Morley A/B splitter for the raw deal, no effects just plain sewage turned up....I've played professionally since I was 14 in some form and fashion and in that time I've also played with a lot of junk, I'm pretty happy with this set up for now, and can cover most any tone or sound. Plus, it's all portable, no big cabs to move. This is a great site, thanks for the opportunity to sound off...

Covered in earlier reviews.

Tex Mex strat -> Crybaby -> HRD. I mostly play blues/ blues-rock: Hendrix, SRV, Clapton, Duarte. I've been playing for over 30 years, I've owned blackfaces, silver faces, Music Man's, some solid state mistakes, an 80's Fender Rivera Concert. This amp is more satisfying to me than any I have owned, borrowed, used, heard, especially for the money. Clean sound is great, starts to break up at 5. I don't know what the complaint about the drive channels is, it sounds as good or better than the "vintage" amps I've had. It does compress just a little too much for me and I lose some pick attack, but the Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive I have ordered should fix that. The "More Drive" sounds terrible at home in the bedroom, but sounds fine in a band setting.

Bought it used on Ebay. Had to tighten all the screws to get rid of a rattle. Have had no problem with it.

Great value for the money. Had a Crate VC5212 before this. I prefer old Fender tones to old Vox tones so I got the HRD. I may be replacing it with a Reverend Hellhound or a Super Reverb re-issue in the future, though.

Brand new 2001, Same old Fender. One big complaint everyone seems to share is that the volume control is a marketing ploy. All the sweep is between 0 and 3. After that not much changes. That's my only complaint so far. I like the gain/more gain setup.

Plenty of big fat meaty tone. I play in yer basic variety band, LOTS of variety, and I'm able to get all the sounds I need with my tele, this amp, and a few stomp boxes. I don't find it to be noisy. I traded my beloved Music Man 212 HD for the HR, and I'm glad I did. Sweet clean channel, nice grindy distortion, and volume HOLY COW it's louder than my 130 Watt Music Man! Smokin' amp for the money. Not for you metal shredders, like you'd buy a Fender anyway... Perfect amp for old rockers like me. Never flabby in the bass (my usual complaint).... A word about the reverb: Bring a snorkel and some flippers. I bet Dick Dale loves this amp.

Just got it.

Just got it.

I've played for 17 years, owned a dozen amps or so and countless guitars. This is certainly the best amp I've owned. My last amp was a Music Man 212 HD, which I loved dearly. I traded it because it weighed 18.7 metric tons. I figured I'd compromise a little sound and get an amp that won't break my back. I got a better sounding amp too. No complaints except the shameless Fender fake headroom on the volume pot. SHAME ON YOU FENDER! Nice amp though.

It's all been said before so I wont waste your time. It is heavy, thank God they didn't use partical board.

Stock this amp only sounded good at bedroom volumes, at any rehersal or live situation the amp sounded harsh with terrible, brittle, thin distortion. The reverb is way too extreme, maybe the transistors they used are not working right, all I know is anywhere above 1.5 and the reverb boomed over everything; bad design as far as I'm concerned. You may ask well why did I buy it? I was looking for a practice amp that uses 6L6 tubes has a standby switch and would have a decent loud clean tone. This amp fit the bill and can be saved if you junk all the Sovtek/Groove tube/Fender tubes it comes with and the Eminence/ Fender speaker. Others have said it and it is true, replace these cheap components and the amp really starts to sound good. You will find that it will hold together better at higher volumes and the distortion will be much sweeter. I put new old stock phillips/sylvania 5881's power tubes with Electro Harmonix 12ax7-EH pre-amp tubes, as for a speaker I choose a celestion greenback. Although the greenback can only take 25 watts it should hold together in a practice situation, if you play for a long time at higher volumes get a vintage 30. The reverb still is overblown and to me basically useless, anybody know what to do? Stock I would rate this amp for sound a 7 at low volumes and a 4 at high, change the speaker and the tubes I'll give it a 8.5. Remember the tubes, transformers and speakers are what cost the bucks so it seems obvious that a mass market manfacturer would skimp in these areas.

I don't know, when I did have the amp apart to change the speaker( which is a pain in the A@@) I did note that the amp seemed to be made pretty neatly, so maybe It will hold together. They are not made like they used to be, lots of diodes, chips and transistors in the new ones. If it breaks it will probably be easier to buy another one. Also be careful the input jacks are supposed to be junk and will break very easily, wrap your guitar chord around the handle a couple of times to prevent this from happening.

Haven't dealt with them.

Overall with the changes it's a good amp which could be used for many different styles of music. The distotion cicuit is pretty nice, basically they cut the bass a bit and boost the mids, the typical tube screamer approach. Does it compare to the boutique stuff? Probably not, hey I have a Toneking Comet. I would say that if you need a cheap amp and are willing to make some changes I would suggest this amp.

I think others have detailed the feature quite adequately!

EVEN BEFORE YOU TURN THIS THING ON YOU MUST CHANGE THE SPEAKER TO A CELESTION VINTAGE 30!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!--------- YOU MUST MUST MUST MUST MUST MUST!!!!!! The change is incredibly dramatic and kicks arse. Using a Tele With seymour duncan Pick ups.

never ahd to deal with them

I am in love with this thing. I would never trade, sell, lend (or any other verb) thing.

2000 Model Good basic amp that does about what you'd think it would do. No master volume, relies on overdrive channels for dirt. Has that classic Fender attack in the sound and doesn't lose points for thaT. I believe Fender calls this a 3 channel amp which is crap because it's nearly impossible to use all 3 channels without re-EQing and re-setting levels. This is a cheap source of clean power.

I use this amp with Fender guitars. It works fine but it has a few idiosyncracies; It is very bottom heavy, the volume control is ridiculously difficult to attenuate, the reverb is way too sloppy, and the distortion channel(s) can really only be set up to make one useful at a time. I think that this could be a much better amp if it could be set up to operate similar to a Blues Junior, with a master volume. This is a decent amp for country, blues, jazz but I don't think it's edgy enough for R&R but that's okay. Turning this sucker up loud, however, say from 6 to WO renders it into a different animal, kinda like a 4X10 Bassman but really doesn't work too practically for me or my neighbors or people trying to converse in a bar etc.

Hasn't fallen apart yet but I never trust a piece of electrical equipment with my life. I'd probably never gig without a backup unless I was in my backyard.

No contact with Fender. My junk mail hasn't increased though so they must not be selling their lists.

35 years of playing and I've used a lot of stuff, wish I could have some of it back for what I sold it for. I would not buy this amp again unless I was strapped for cash. I think it's a good buy but I think I'd look hard at a 65 Reissue Deluxe instead.

I'm sure you know the features already - volume, treble, bass, mid, presence, gain/more gain, etc. This amp is basic, easy to use.

Now it gets interesting. I tried 3, count 'em, 3 Hot Rod Deluxes. I play an Ibanez guitar (like a 335). With the volume on 2, it has a great clean sound. I love it. My guitar has humbuckers; and this amp is NOT made for humbuckers. I turned up the clean channel to 4, and with all three of the amps I played, they ALL buzzed. I took it back to the store and had them check it out. They tried more of them at the store with different guitars. And every HR Deluxe buzzed with the volume at 4. They said humbuckers were not to be used with this amp. However, they tried strats as well, and they also buzzed, although not nearly as bad. The distortion channel isn't good either. If you're going to play this amp at around 2 or 3 on the clean channel and you're only going to use a strat, go ahead. Get this amp. Nice clean tone at low volume. However, if you plan on turning it up on the clean channel and use humbuckers, this amp will vibrate.
I play blues and light jazz. It's not a good amp for this if you plan on playing louder than 2 or 3.

It's not a good amp to gig with because you can't turn it up without vibration.

Let's see. The amp is easy to use. It sounds good at volumes under 3 (on the clean channel). Turned up on the clean channel it has an annoying vibration. The gain channel isn't good. Can't use it with humbuckers. Umm.... I say, pass on this amp.

New Hot Rod Deluxe. WOW. I'm shocked. this thing is awesome!! Fits my style perfectly. I play blues, hard rock, and classic rock. Amp has three channels: Clean(normal), Drive, More Drive. Has a channel selector for drive and normal channels. The drive channel has a more drive button to it. The clean channel has a bright switch that makes the top end very clear and sparkly(not that it isn't already...) Has an effects loop(preamp out, power amp in), but I usually just run my pedals through the line. This amp is awesome. I took it home and plugged it in and thought I had gotten a little too much. This thing is LOUD, plenty for a good sized club.

I'm playing a Strat through this thing. It's perfect. The drive channel is perfect for classic rock and blues. The more drive channel with the drive cranked is perfect for most hard rock. It doesn't really have a lot of distortion, but that isn't what I bought it for. A pedal will solve this problem if you feel the need. It's not rerally noisy. The presence switch lets you adjust the amount of high frequencies that are in the channels. This amp is perfect for just about anything except death metal(but hey, you wouldn't even consider Fender if you did, and why would you want to play death metal anyway?) The clean channel is perfect. It stays clean. This amp will work great for you if you want a versatile amp that can't do everything(heavy distortion), but can do very well what it does, buy this.

Seems to be solid. It's got a five year warranty. Never had an problems with Fender stuff.

Haven't dealt with them. I wouldn't anyways probably, my dealer can fix just about all the problems right there.

I've been playing for about 3 1/2 years. I love this amp. If it were stolen, I'd GET IT BACK. I'd search the ends of the earth. If it were lost, I'd just buy another. I love everything about ths thing. It's just got an awesome tone. I love blues and skynyrd type southern rock, and his thing has awesome clean/dirty tones for each. I compared it to some Marshall and Peavey combos, but I loved this one. I love Marshall's distortion, but the clean channels aren't all that great in my opinion. Give me a good clean channel to work with, and I'll build a good overdrive/distortion with my arsenal of pedals. But this thing has both, I don't have to do anything for the overdrive. The distortion may be weak for some, but it's fine for me. I gve this amp a perfect ten. It kicks.

You know all the features by now. Now the clean channel is excellent! This should be the reason why you would want to buy this amp. The distortion channel is good for dirty chords or for blues type sounds. The extra push mode I never use it's just way too hot. But don't let the distortion turn you off, that's why stomp boxes are made. I love my BOSS distortion/overdrive pedal & that's all I need. The reverb is ok. When turned up past 4 it gets a little metalic sounding. I just leave it on 2 all the time & that works great for me. I use this in rehersals & gigs for my band & for church. I did replace the speaker with a Celestion Vintage 30 & the change is dramatic. This is a must for this amp. The speaker it comes with is an Eminance & is not so warm or bright for that matter. So seriously consider making the change. Nothing tops the Fender clean sound & this amp is no exception. These are some loud 40 watts! I never need to go past 5 or 6. But I haven't played outdoors with it yet, so we'll see.

I use mostly my Fender American Deluxe strat with this & it was made for this amp. I also sometime use my Ibanez JS series & it also sounds really good with it. I play all kinds of styles but my band is Incubus, Simon Says, style. I'm the rythym guitarist. The lead uses a Mesa Boogie Rect-O-Verb, but after hearing my amp he started thinking about a Fender. I also play bluesy stuff, funk, reggae, alternative-ish, U2-ish, & straight ROCK! With the right pedals, this amp can pull of anything. I just wouldn't use it strictly for metal or trash. The beauty of this amp is in the clean & it MUST be used! The clean channel starts to get pushed at about 5 or 6 & sounds really cool. But I usually never have the need to play at such a high volume. It doesn't distort, but has that pushed sound that many like. Like I said earlier the distortion channel is good for dirty chords, blues, & classic rock type stuff. So if you want it to go beyong that, get pedals. For me, this guitar is never noisy. I have vintage noisless pickups on my strat & they do their job right.

Haven't had it for long enough to comment here.

Never delt with them. But I bought it through Sam Ash & the guys in the store are great there. I got a service warranty there, so I wont have to go through Fender in the near future.

I've been playing for about 7 years. This is my 1st tube amp & I love it! You can't beat the quality for the price. And if you put in a better speaker like a celestion vintage 30 it makes it a powerhouse. If it were lost or stolen I'd have a fit forever, but I'd get it again, no doubt. I just love the quality & warmth of it for the price. You can't beat it. If you look into this not expecting too much from the distortion channel, you'll be fully pleased. Peace!

Purchased new in February '98. Fender calls this a three (3) channel amp. They are allegedly 1> Normal , 2> Drive & 3> More Drive. . Sorry all you Fender marketing guys,it only has TWO (2) channels plus an extra 6db gain boost switch (footswitch). 6db of gain is NOT a "channel". Channel switching works well but the distortion is too raw for my taste and unusable. Have found however that the second channel (drive)can be set up with a clean sound w/ pre-gain at 3-4 & master volume around 7-8. This can give a volume boost with an additional "clean" sound. There is a difference in the sound of the two channels even when they are set to the same relative volume level. The "drive" channel is decidedly brighter. There are also "pre-amp out" and "power amp in" jacks on the control panel that can be used as an effects loop. This is a very basic amp form a control perspective with treble, mid, bass, & presence control for sound shaping, plus a single reverb control and of course the normal cahnnel volume and a pre-gain and a master volume for the drive channel. Oh yeah, the master only controls the "Drive" channel. This amp is used regularly sveral time a week for practice and gigging. Most gigs are medium sized clubs plus occasional country club/ hotel ballroom jobs playing late 60's R&R. ie: Stones, Beatles, Kinks, early Zeplin, Jethro Tull, etc., plus some R&B like Temptations, Eddie Floyd, Wilson Picket, Sam & Dave, Etc. It has more power than I have ever been able to use even though we play fsirly loud on stage. (Drummer wears an earplug on the side where my amp is located) Granted all instruments are miked, (Shure SM 57 & an Audix D3), but the soundman is always asking me to turn down. Feature wise this amp has all of te features I purchased it for, even though the distortion is unusable.

I carry two Strats (Fender)with me. Both are completely stock. One is late 90's plus with 3 gold lace sensors. The other is a late 90's Roadhouse with Texas Specials. The lace sensors are much quieter but have less presence. The amp is only noisy in rooms where ther are inherent commercial power problems. Hotels seem to be where I've experienced most of these kinds of problems. That's when the Strat Plus gets used. The primary instrument played through this amp is the Roadhouse. This fits the style of playing I use to do the old (classic) R&R thing. My set up is guitar > MXR Dynacomp (compressor) > Boss SD-1 (overdrive) > Danelectro Cool Cat (chorus)> Boss AD-2 (analog delay) > amp (HRD). With this set up I can get virtually any sound I want out of the amp. The clesn channel has mucho headroom and doesn't begin to breakup until past 9-10 (goes to 12). Actually, there is no increase in volume from about 9 to 12, only a differnce in the "overdrive". Again, the built in distortion is too hard & buzzy for my tastes but there are so many overdrive/distortion/fuzz pedals that work well, this is not a problem.

Been in service 3 years with absolutely NO PROBLEMS. Not even a tube. Still using the origanal factory supplied tubes. Have gigged without a back-up since the amp was 3 months old. How's that for faith.

Only contacted Fender support one time via e-mail. They were very prompt in answering my question. Also have two personal friend that are Fender Dealers. Have always had exemplary service.

Been playing 40 + years. I have owned many amps including original '59 Bassman, '65 BF Super Reverb, Vox AC 100 (Super Beatle w/tubes) Sunns, Music Man, etc. etc. Have a new Blues Pearl Diablo on order. This has been a very good amp. If lost or stolen I would probably replace it because of the "value" = pricepoint + quality.

2001 Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. Features described other posts. Ordered from Sam Ash

I just received the amp today and have been playing my 1987 Fender Strat Plus through it. The clean sounds out of the normal channel are great. However, I have not been able to find a sweet spot on either of the drive channels yet. I have noticed a rattling sound from the amp whenever I play with alot of bass. I will probably take it to my local Fender dealer to see what is causing it.

I cannot rate the reliability of this amp yet, too new. However, I was dissapointed in the condition of the amp when I removed it from the box. Going by the labels on the box, Fender packaged the amp upside down. This caused the reverb tank to separate from the amp during shipment. One of the screws that held the tank on is missing. I am afraid it may be inside the amp (causing the rattle described earlier).

Have not dealt with Fender directly.

I would buy this amp again. I'm sure since it is covered under the 5 year warranty the local Fender shop will take care of me. If I had to do it again, I probably would have bought it locally even though it would have cost me 60 - 70 dollars more than Sam Ash. With Sam Ash there was free shipping and no sales tax.

Made in 1999. This is a three channel, 40 watt, tube amp (actually two channels with a gain boost), three band eq and presence control, spring reverb, fx loop, extension speaker out for an 8 ohm cabinet. There is a volume control for the clean channel and seperate volume and gain control for the overdrive channel. The channels are footswitchable and so is the gain boost. If you are looking to plug and play this combo is not very versatile, but that is not to say this is not a good amplifier. I like it very much! The 40 watts is very loud and should be plenty for most people, sounds great miked if you need more.

I use Epiphone Les Paul Standards modded with Gibson tuners and Seymour Duncan's (a 59 in the neck, and a JB in the bridge). I play mainly rock music. This amp suits my style very well. It is not noisy at all. The clean channel does not distort. Fender likens the clean channel to that of a Fender 59 Bassman combo, and the Deluxe comes pretty close. It is a sparkling Fender clean that is great to build your sound on, which is what I do. I do not use the distortion channels. They are muddy at best. I prefer to use my Boss OD-3 for my overdrive/lead tones. I dial in my clean sound, run my Les Paul through a Dunlop Crybaby Wah, Boss TU-2 tuner, Boss OD-3 overdrive, and a Boss CH-1 Super Chorus. This setup is simple, but between the amp's clean sound, my effects, and the three pickup settings on my guitar I get a variety of rock tones without the hassle of having a million knobs to tweak. I'll give it an 8, because they should have just left the overdrive channels off this amp. If they're going to put them on the amp I should be able to use them. (I tried switching the stock speaker with a Celestion Vintage 30 as some others have suggested, and it didn't help the muddy overdrive. Maybe I just had a good speaker to begin with.) But what this amp does do, which is Fender clean, I love it!

I've had this amp for almost a year now, and it is very dependable. But I don't like to gig w/o a backup. Even though it has never let me down. I use this amp for practice and to gig with. I took the amp apart to replace the stock speaker with a Celestion Vintage 30, and it seems to be built very well. I do wish it came with metal corners.

Have not yet had to deal with Fender.

I've been playing for 7 years, but seriously for about 4. If it were lost or stolen I would buy it again. It is a great clean tube amp for the money. With pedals you can build any sound you want. Don't let the bad reviews about the distortion sway your decision, this is a great amp. I bought it because it has that great Fender clean, enough power for gigging, and it doesn't break the bank. I plan to buy the Hot Rod Deville 4x10 soon, for when I need power but the same sound. No amp will do everything you want, clean/distorted sounds. So decide what sound you want and build from there. I used to want a tube amp with Fender clean and Marshall drive and not have to use any outboard effects. I've given up on that. But I love this amp setup!

I bought this amp used from a guy who said he bought it new in 1997. It came with sovteks and the stock eminence speaker. You can read the other reviews for the features. I just use the clean channel, its all I need.

These days I'm an American standard tele player. I dig that fat punchy tele not the thin ice pick treble tele. I could tell the amp had that sound in it but I'd have to coax it a bit. First I replaced the preamp tubes with 12AX7EH's. EH stands for electro harmonix. The amp got louder and more transparent. Next I ordered some Svetlana 6l6CG's. Now the amp was warmer with a nice break up just begining around 5 with the tele full up. Now here's where I part company with some of the reviewers past. While I know Celestion 30's are a fine speaker(most reviewers seem to be blues players) I didn't feel that was the sound for me. I had previously installed a Weber P12Q in my silver face deluxe and the sound is gorgeous. So I ordered a Weber P12NQ and had them build it up to take 40 Watts of power. You can find Weber on the net. After installing it I messed with the eq till I found what I was looking for. Treble 8, mid 4, bass 8, presence 3, reverb 2. The most important thing is the scoop the mids. With this set up you can punch a Clarence White string bend and not poke a hole in somebodys ear. I judge the reverb just adequate. Maybe I'll spring for a dedicated Fender reverb someday. I think the distorted channels sound like poop. I either push the amp for tone or use an overdrive pedal. Dan Electro Daddy-O or a Sparkle Drive. Add a delay(line 6 modeler is great) and you're home.

Only had it six months or so but from all the reviews I read it seems to be reliable.

Fender? HA HA
My only problem is that there is only one amp tech in all of Reno. When he's backed up or on vacation you're out of luck. If there's a tech looking for a good place to settle down this is it. Nevada has no income tax by the way.

I'd probably buy another one is this one was stolen. There's a lot of bango for the bucko. Could use protective corners on the cabinet.
A thirty year player, I own a couple teles and a 64 335. Sold my 55 strat to some vintage fool, bought a beautiful Martin M36 and payed of my bills off. Amazing that a guitar made on a band saw by some kid brings so much money. I can see that kind of money for a authentic De Angelico or such like. Not a curvy 2/12 with paint. And 9 out of ten new guitars play and sound better than the old ones. I truly believe we are in a renaisance of guitar, amplifier, and beer making.
Adios-- Darius Javaher

clean channel,o.d. channel with boostatation! rev' with just enough sparklisation,blah! blah!

I am a big believer in less =more. I have seen many people spend a kings ransom on gear like matchless,custom shop, etc.Don't get me wrong those are fine makes,but this one guy I know depends on the advice of salespeople to tell him what to buy.A salesman will tell you that you "need" the latest 3k tone machine to improve your sound. where am I going with this? If you are an ordinary working schmoe!like me then listen up.ALL YOU NEED is a HRdeluxe, a TS-5, and a decent guitar. This amp's clean channel will provide you with "the base" the rest of your sound should come from your ability to express yourself!. I use this amp unmiked to play med' size clubs. people tell me all the time that they love my sound(brag!brag!).as for my friend with the PRS,Matchless,Bogner, his band cant buy gigs!while my band is busy. I am not saying we get bookings because of my amp,I am only one sixth of a group of seasoned players,what I am saying is, the club owner,and the audience dont know matchless from fender from a microwave, but our music gets a positive reaction and it moves people!. That my friends is what it is all about.If you have the money then go buy matchless it is a great amp.but if you make an average salary like me then buy a HR.For the dough it is an excellant value.The bass setting can be very boomy, I turn it way down. for "little wing" try: rev>4, bass>3MID and TREBLE>6 PRES>5clean volume>7.NO O.D. with this setting you will get a nice smooth break up. low -med output pu's work best .Try a used set of 54's or 57-62's(about 60-70 bucks)

so far so good (3 years of use)

ALL YOU NEED! the clean channel provides an excellant base.The rest is up to your ability to express yourself!

This baby is brand new. My only complaint about the features is the same one echoed by others: lack of separate controls for the two main channels. It makes it a little tougher - sometimes impossible - to dial in the settings you want to use when switching back and forth from lead tone to a rhythm tone. On the other hand, I play rhythm guitar 95% of the time, so this is not as big an issue for me as it might be for someone else. What I can definitely say is that I have no problem at all finding great settings on either the clean or "more drive" channels.

I nice feature is the Groove Tubes matched set for this amp. You can replace them without having to re-bias the amp so long as you stick to the color coded matching set - a very practical feature that makes the amp a little more musician friendly.

The speaker array is perfect. The 12" Eminence is wired at 8 0hms but uses a standard 1/4' jack to engage. Then there is an external speaker 1/4" jack - a second 1/4" jack. Lots of reviews have suggested swithcing to Celestion speakers - A GREAT IDEA! I have two of the Carvin Legacy 2 X 12 speakers cabs. They come with Celestions - the Vintage model. Each cabinet is wired at 8 ohms, so I run one directly into the main speaker jack and the second one into the external jack. The stock 12" Eminence is disengaged - literally unplugged. If you think one Celestion sounds good, let me assure you that four sound amazingly good. The ability to run this way - which is made possible by Fender's very practical use of standard 1/4" jacks - is a practical design feature which really allows you to get the best out of this amp's tone.

I run tons of guitars out of this amp - SGs, Rickenbackers (single coil, semi-hollow bodies), an American Standard Telecaster, hollow bodies, various other solid bodies...I've got about 15 guitars. This amp sounds beautiful clean - absolutely heavenly, full harmonic tones.

I do not care for the drive channel. It has an identity crisis. On the other hand, the "More Drive" channel is a tone monster. I love it. No more processors, boxes, etc. for me. I hate them anyway. I'm running straight from guitar to amp and letting the amp's overdrive give all the tone.

For a relatively inexpensive tube amp, the sound quality this amp delivers is phenomenally good.

I should add, however, that the sound I get also is due in part to those Celestion-equipped Carvin Legacy cabs I use. I can not stress enough to everyone how important it is to have good speakers. With the stock speaker the sound quality is decent, but definitely not as good as with my Celestions. Stock speaker: 8. With the external, Celestion equipped cabs: 10.

My amp is still relatively new. However, I checked this model and numerous others out thoroughly before deciding to go with this model. I would have prefered an amp with point to point wiring, but the cost of one of those is through the roof.

A tech long ago recommended to me to run a small fan at low speed behind tube amps - especially those using circuit boards instead of point to point wiring. You want to let the tubes heat up enough to start singing, but you do not want the heat to damage your components. The low speed fan moves just enough air so that heat does not just sit there and warp your circuit board. This allows you to provide some measure of protection against the heat damage which so all too often wreaks havoc on board bearing tube amps.

Fender gives a five year warranty on these. I was impressed enough with the sound that I bought this one for its tone. The Fender warranty coupled with my little low speed portable fan made me willing to take a chance on this amp. Besides, for the price of a good point to point, I can buy two or three of these. In other words, I can have that perfect identical back up.

Don't know and, hopefully, I will never find out.

I really love this amp. Despite the limitations, this amp gives me clean and overdriven tones that I absolutely love. And the ability to run the two external cabs lets me run through the speaker array that brings out the tones I am looking for.

Before buying this, I played Mesas, Crates, Peaveys, Marshalls, Rolands, etc. I was looking for a great clean tone in an amp that could also deliver good overdriven tones without effects or processors. This amp won on tone.

It is not a shredder's amp, but I don't think shredders ever look to Fender amps for their tones. The Hot Rod Deluxe will do oldies, classic rock, power pop, punk, country, jazz, etc. It is very diverse. It is also a tremendous value. And to show that I am putting my money where my mouth is...I just ordered Hot Rod Deluxe #2 - that back up I was talking about.

For the money, a great sounding amp. It is the amp that brought me back to Fender amps.

As explained 187 times prior...

I play a PRS McCarty. The amp's clean tone is wonderful, when the volume is moderate. If you crank it up any, it will break down, especially in neck/bridge+neck position on any humbucking pup guitar. It sounds descent with my friend's strat, but it lacks when it comes down to my PRS (which is hard to believe, because McCarty's usually MAKE amps sound good!). So anyhow, the clean channel is really nice until you crank it up and bear witness to its breakup. The overdrive channels are pretty groovy. You can get a nice rock/groove tone out of them (i play funk/jam band music). If you want real overdrive you'll get a stombox, though - especially if you're a tone freak (i'm not).

Haven't had it long enough! I'm into my second month with the amp.

Haven't dealt with Fender.

This is a great "bang-for-the-buck" amp. Don't expect to get anything too special. I'm an amateur guitar player, but even I can admit that this amp has some pretty big flaws. The breakup is the most annoying thing. Playing live or jamming with friends means cranking it up - cranking it up means hearing it distort. What's the point of having the volume knob go up to 12 when the tone starts to suck at 3?

Bear in mind this isn't a real tube amp. It has tube preamps, so don't be fooled. If you want a REAL amp around this price range, check out Peavey's amps...I'm heading to the guitar shop sometime this week to trade this thing in!!

This has pretty much been covered.
Would have liked a headphone jack and separate EQ's for clean and drive.

Mine's tweed =)

The Clean channel is unbelievable, and I suspect that with some mods and a Vintage 30, the drive/more drive channel will do well also.

I run an American Std. Tele into TS-9/808 into ProCo RAT into the HRD. Sometimes the occasional effect from an RP-7 or Vox wah. I can get a wide variety of tones with this setup, from SRV blues to Radiohead.

Never had anything go wrong, except one tube went out.

Haven't needed to call them.

Does anyone know all the mods that James Vanden Berg mentioned below???? I'm dying to make all those changes. I'm definitely going to swap the speaker for a Celestion Vintage 30, as well as replacing the drive channel's volume with an audio taper pot, but I'd really like to be able to do the other mods. Please, if you know how to do them or how to get in touch with James Vanden Berg, please email me!!

Really great tone, great cleans, PHAT, warm, good low end, and clear highs. With 3 channels to choose from (Clean, crunch, and more crunch) the lead channels are so-so, but you throw a pedal in front of that clean channel you can from EVH warm "Brown" sound, to ragging Zakk Wylde No More Tears! The volume nob is a little on the sensitive side, but find a setting and leave it there!!! It's got 40 watts of 6L6 tube power, which plenty for anyone!

Using and '92 Gibson Les Paul Studio Lite. The pick-ups vary, either a Seymour Duncan Distortion in the bridge or a Custom. And a Gibson Classic '57 in the neck. I play anything from really clean stuff (Days of the New, Jimi Hendrix, etc.) to really nasty distorted stuff (Death Metal, Metal, Metallica, G-N-R, Pantera, VH, etc.) and this amp can get in there and slug it out with the best of them. This amp is nice and quiet, no hiss or hum, but it gets LOUD, I can't turn it past 3, my old-fart neighbors call the cops! The distortion on the amp is weak, but with my Boss Metal Zone, watch out!

I bought this once before, and like a fool I sold it, and now I'm BACK!!! The time before the only problem I ever had were standard wear and tear problems. But anything will fall apart if you treat it like crap. I'm a Bedroom Super Star so I don't worry to much about it, but thus far it's been perfect.

Haven't had to worry yet, but when I checked Fender's website they didn't appear to be able to be called. You could try your luck at e-mailing them, but who knows about that. Hope I never have to worry about it.

If you are looking for a PHAT clean tone, look no further! I've been playing for 8 years, and I've owned tons of different equipment, but this is the first amp I have ever sold and bought again! If this was ever stolen.... Good Luck! If you don't get a hernia just hoisting this thing up, you'll jogging slow enough for me to catch you. But it someone did get away I can't think of a better combo amp. I wish it had better distortion on it, but you can't have it all. I tried the Peavey, tweed? I think, it just couldn't compare to that PHAT tone from the FHRD! And I couldn't justify a Mesa Boogie for my bedroom.

I is a workable solution as far as features go. The ability to plug into an external Cab is a definate bonus. The Drive/More Drive I never use, but would be handy for people not using a stomp box or multi fx unit.

Nothing here to write home about. It is just a workable solution.

The clean sounds are amazing. My band does large parties (100-200 people) 3-4 times a year. I have yet to play a gig where one of the musicians in the crowd that plays guitar has not commented on the quality of my clean patches with this amp.

I use a Fender Roadhouse Strat with stock coils (I am thinking of going to noiseless pickups) into a Digitech RP-21D. My RP-21D's tube has been replaced with a JAN-Phillips 12AX7. My amp speaker has been replaced with a Celestion Vintage 30.

The stock speaker is alright, but not nearly the quality of the Celestion. If it were not for the speaker replacement, I would have lowered the rating by at least 1 point here.

I can't comment on the distortion since I use the RP-21D for all distorted sounds. With the RP-21D I am able to produce distortion with this amp that rival any of my friends setups and many of their setups are used nightly in professional bands.

The clean channel does distort multiple base notes at very high volume levels. Changing the speaker does help this to some degree, but it is obveous that most of the distortion is comming from the amp not the speaker. This is only a problem with one patch that I use that has a huge amount of low in the eq. Patches with more predominant mid's and highs have no issue clear up to the red line.

The reverb is alright if used sparingly. I usually keep the knob at 0 and provide just a bit of presents (another name for a little reverb if you ask me) with that knob at 2-3. If I want reverb, my RP-21D provides it.

I have done a great amount of work on the equalization of my effects patches. I can not comment on the relative quality of this amplifier compared to others since this is the first amp I have owned since the early 80s when I played in a band in High School.

I can comment on the relative sound that I have compared with many professional musicians. I have substituted for several bands a night or two and can say that my rig provides professional quality tones in a real life gig environment. The 40W this amp provides is more than ample for most clubs and parites. I mic the amp in large gatherings just for a more ballanced mix from one side of the stage to the other.

It has worked great for me so far. I have not needed to replace any of the tubes nor has any of the knobs broken.

One bitch I do have is that the screws that hold it together vibrate loose and need to be tightened from time to time or the cab begins to get some squeaks. Bring a phillips screwdriver to the gig just in case.

It is a tube amp and therefore you must be carful when transporting the unit. This is especially true for winter climates where you could damage the tubes by taking a hot tube out into the sub zero weather. This has nothing to do with this amp in particular, but is true of all tube amps.

I have never needed to contact them. The amp just works.

I have been playing for 20 years. I own more gear than I care to put on this post, but some of the items are a complete PA system, a base, a gibson acoustic/electric a Martin acoustic, a Yamaha keyboard, more stands and gizmos than could be conviently expressed in this post.

If it were lost/stolen/or broken beyond repair, I would likely try another amplifier....not because I don't like this one, but because there are more amps I would like to have experience with.

For the cost of this amp and my replacement speaker and the price of my RP-21D, I have a very portable rig that sounds as good or better than most professional setups I have heard.

For my use (practice amp and occasional gigs), this amp is the ideal mix of quality/price/performance. I absolutely demanded a tube amp. I don't want to lug a 100lb monster around (wouldn't fit in my Trans-am anywy). For around $600.00 investment in the amp and $400.00 in the effects I have a very professional setup. Many of my REAL professional friends envy my setup and have much more money in their rigs than I do.

The sounds this amp produces are a bit base heavy. I have compensated with eq, but out of the box, the sound was too low and didn't cut through the base and drums live. This was especially true with the stock speaker.

The volume pot adjustment is STUPID. 80% of the volume sweep goes from 0 to 4. This is a stupid marketing gimic as is the extream base of the amplifier. If you play this amp in a store at less than stage volumes it produces a rich warm sound that is truely amazing and pleasing to the ear. This would be fine for practice amp purposes, but in a real band, the lows get eatten up and the mids can't be heard. Don't be fooled. You need powerful mids from the guitar in a band or you won't be heard.

When I went to Guitar Center to purchase an amp, the salesman kept trying to get me to buy the Line6. All his arguements were based on the features and effects that the amplifier provided. I wanted the best clean sounds I could get for around $500.00. I already had a great effects setup to provide all the other sounds. The Hot Rod Delux provided me with the great clean sound I needed and sounds great with an effects pedal.

Getting good sound involves more than just a good amplifier. Your guitar, pickups and effects all have an effect on your final output. The Hot Rod Delux is a low cost amp that when setup well can produce some of the best sound availible at any price.

Reverb is weak for sure. I use this amp at bar gigs and practice, with a Tex-Mex strat (I put two noiseless pickups and a humbucker in to cut down on the hum) and a '52 reissue tele. This is a great amp for blues lead. If you want a alternative or hard rock amp then buy something else or use the clean channel with a good set of stomp boxes. There is definitely enough power. I usually set it at mid volume and mic it. This is a great amp for the price and size.

Like I said, if you play the blues this is a great amp. Classic sound in a portable, affordable amp. The drive and more drive settings are definitley what I was looking for for my blues lead work. I wish it had a better re-verd, even if I would only use it sparingly.

I've been playing it regularily for over three years, and I haven't had any problems with it. I have used it without a backup (I don't suggest this to anyone though. It's like playing hockey without a jock strap, you don't want to risk it.) Like anything else, if you treat it well, and know it's limitations it will serve you well.

Never dealt with the company. My advice...find a good technician at a local music store and do whatever it takes to make him your friend. A good tech that will cut you deals is indispensable.

If you play the blues or blues based classic rock (Stones, Beatles, Doors, etc.) then I would suggest owning this amp. If you want to play metal, hard rock, grunge or something along those lines I suggest a good sized (not too small) Marshall amp with whatever stomp boxes you fall in love with.
I love my amp. I wouldn't have bought it if it didn't give me the good kind of goosebumps when I played it.

My friend bought this amp in 98.I aquired it last year.I admit when I first used it I hated it.It was really HARD sounding.Ok to record clean stuff but a really buzzy overdrive.I changed a few things and now I like it a lot.I like the weight of it.It's great for Jam night and a sit in gig.

I have a lot of guitars and I think the Gibsons sound great with this amp.Fenders can get a little bitey.I changed the speaker to an 80 .I'm gonna try another Celestion vintage 30.I blew the amp on New Years eve.The circuit board burnt and it still smells bad.My repair guy changed the tubes to Svetlana 's and now it sounds wonderful.Sovteks sound bad in this amp.I think you have to melt it to get it to sound better.Now it has that little compression that I like.The dirty sound got a lot smoother.Great reverb.Really quiet too.This is my get out of the club real fast when the job is over amp.

These amps melt down at Pro useage.We have melted two Devilles and now this one.Hey I play 5 nights a week and days in the studio.These amps where not made for full time guys.A good repair man can get it right but he has to be experienced.You HAVE to change the Bias cause the factory sets it too cold.I've killed Twins ,Traynors,Marshalls,you name it!!!

NONE the Fender reps are more arrogant than a partime player. .If you have a good store you are lucky..

I've owned every kind of amp on the planet and Yes I like this thing now.You have to make the changes i told you about.I would buy a Rivera 30 or a black face deluxe if this got stolen.

40 pretty loud watts,tube combo,12 inch speaker,effects loop,3
actually 2and a half channels,bright switch,master volume,drive
level,presence,etc,tremolo would be nice.
Used for home practice,band rehearsal,live shows,"couple of guitar players"jams
Plenty of power,classic sounds,easy to carry(that's important to us old guys,kids).

Currently I play aFender Tex-Mex Fat Tele(single coil bridge HBneck 5-way switch)I've also played a Jimmie Vaughan Strat quite a bit and a
Gibson Les Paul(1989 Standard).A bit of hum w/single coils nothing really bad.I play blues and country rockabilly and this amp is fine.
I love the clean channel,responds to attack breaks up at 5-ish.Drive is cool too,gets a nice Keith Richards type tone.More drive is pretty screechy as another reviewer called it"a bedroom metal channel"or words to that effect.I agree.

This is my second Hot Rod Deluxe I sold the first one for none of your business.I played it for about a year 1-5 hours a day,usually cranked,hauled it around in car trunks,on the bus,basically gave it hell and it never let me down.I would and have gigged without a backup out of necessity but I wasn't too worried and got all kinds of compliments on my tone,too.This one I just picked up used will go through the same thing.Let it warm up cool down take care of it and it'll take care of you.

Never had to deal with Fender.The amp came with a 5 year warranty.

20 years playing mostly for pleasure,some gigs,many jams,open stages.
Also own aMorley JD preamp(check it out)Danelectro slap echo(the little one).As I said before a fine sounding amp for my style at a decent price,too bad there's no tremolo,also metal corner protectors would be good.I would buy another if it were lost or stolen.

The Fender Hot Rod deluxe is a 1X12, all tube, guitar amp that was suppose to break the price gap between tube and solid state. Channel foot switch engages the two levels of available gain, chan. 1 is a mellow overdirve, channel two is suppose to kick the amp in the butt. It has an effects loop....blah blah blah....there are a million other submissions to tell you the details..there's nothing groud breaking about this amp.

I have owned this amp for 8 months, so my GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) attack has had time to settle. I have played this amp at stage and home volumes, I have used several different guitars with it, including a G&L ASAT Z-3, a Custom Tele, and Carvin AE-185--no hoped up Les Pauls, no 40 billion dollar PRS', and no obscure boutique guitars that use some rare transylvanian lumber. Ultimately this amp has one bright side...the CLEAN CHANNEL...it goes from chickin' pickin' light and snappy, to smokey jazz, and of course clean blues...throw some delay and chorus on there, add a touch of reveb and you have a nice spacey lead tone. The amp does have a decent ammount of headroom..not like a twin though. I also find the this is not a single coil friendly amp...VERY NOISEY with traditional single coils pup's...noiseless singles and humbuckers fair much mich better...The G&L I had, with the Z-coil pickups, was positively silent...my friend/bandmate owns the same amp and his 73' ES-175T is very quiet through the deluxe. However, the drive channels are absolutely horrifying. Not only are they unispiring, but the lack depth, articulation, character and sound are annoyingly solid state...this is not how a TUBE AMP should respond. I have tried very hard to like this amp in every way, but nothing is perfect so I will settle for it's nice clean channel. By the way the only effects I use are a Fulltone FD2, a Fulltone Fatboost, and sometimes I will dabble with my Boss CE-5...I don't want to even feed those effects into this amp, I am going to purchase another amp that can kick my butt and make me want to play harder...what this amp misses in one word....SOUL! Counterpoint: One of the most expresive settings I can find on the amp is turning the drive up to 6 or so, setting the master at 4 or 5, the pre-amp at about 4 and turn the guitars volume down...thick, soulful, I dig that. P.S. the reverb is not what I had expected from Fender...a dissapointment to say the least

BIG BIG problems here....firstly...that lose reverb tank that many complaints have been made about..I got one too...and IT SUCKS. There is this annoying buzz made by the amp, even at higher volumes making this amp impossible to record with. I can't believe that there has been such a consensus concerning this problem, yet Fender has not taken some action to prevent this from recurring. Very Dissapointing. ANd sometimes the amp just cuts out, or one of the channels stops working mysteriously, I mean I know this a machine, but it's a fairly new machine with limited miles, these are problems you expect 3 or 4 years down the road...if ever (but this is fender so it's enevitably going to happen, the question is when). Fender is the Ford of the music world...great reputation, though nobody really knows why, except that our guitar heroes played their amps and guitars back when there wasn't ANYTHING ELSE (rich=gibson, poor=fender). Ford sells hudreds of thousands of F series pickups, and despite a loyal few, there have been complaints about them for years...usually the same ones too. I know Fender has a very high demand lurking above their heads, but they better start paying the people in quality control bigger bucks or Fenders name is going to bite the dust in the forseeable future (just look at how many have trashed the new Cyber-Twin on Harmony Central). I wouldn't gig without a backup, too many problems just jammin' around.

I dunno...don't care either....it's a big company so they probably have tiers of tech support people....Tier one--make the customer feel dumb and tell them to take it to their authorized service center...Tier 2--make the customer send the product back for re-servicing, which is the old wipe the food stain off the plate trick used by waiters and waitresses world wide...Tier 3--give the customer an attitude, if he/she doesn't hang up after 15mins transfer them to tier 4, where they wait on hold for 2 hours only to get kicked back to tier 1 and told to bring it back to the store for service. Oh yeah it's a 5-year LIMITED warrantee...which is a virtually worthless warantee, so you'll probably have to pay for something along the way.

Why the low rating...because of the quality issues that's why. Yeah I know, it's only a $520 amp, but I have heard the same complaints from people who purchase 2-3K custom shop amps...the bottom line Fender just doesn't care about the players anymore, they just care about their bottom line. It SUCKS WHEN THE "COORPERATE AMERICAN" MINDSET INFECTS THE ARTS!!!!!!! If this amp was lost or stolen I would be mad cause' I paid money for it...I would rather lose money selling it on EBAY. I love the clean channels warmth, but I wish is was more articulate and present (gets lost in the mix, even with the presence up)...I HATE HATE HATE the overdrive...it's sounds like a nursery full of small children banging blocks together and screaming at the tops of their lungs...well not really but it does suck. What ever happened to the "American Quality" motto....I am only 21 years old, and I can see how we now charge more for inferior products..I am getting a new amp...what do you all think about a Dr. Z MAZ-18Jr, or a Budda Verbmaster...let me know..........

2 Channel tube amp. Channel 2 has a sub channel which adds a bit more gain and sustain to the distortion. Bright Switch for clean channel, Presence, which enhances high frequency control so you can go really bright, reverb, foot switch. Power amp in, pre-amp out.

The clean sound is INCREDIBLE. I can get any sound I want. I can make my les paul either sound like Gun's and Roses or I can make it sound like David Guilmore's Strat. I mostly play Brit Rock (eg. Oasis, The Stone Roses,The beatles,) and it suits me great. Distortion, some people don't seem to like the distortion on this one. I personally love it. It's got a classic Distortion sound (eg. Doors, Beatles, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd,Steppenwolf etc...) So I think it's great, with the presence you can really dial in the sound. But one important thing to remember is that the sound you hear comes mainly from your hands and brains. IF you don't believe me tape yourself with different guitars and amps and see. For the clean channel I give it a 10 and for distortion a 9

It's a great amp, classic sounds. Before this I owned a crate VC5310. It came with way too many problems so I traded it in. I knew I wanted a brighter sound for my les paul so I went with fender. This amp has great tone, volume and great cosmetic looks. I've been playing for 5 years and have tried many different amps and guitars. I love the combination of my les paul with this amp. The only thing I dislike is that the more drive channel has way, way too much feedback. If you don't own this amp get it.!!!!

The Hot Rod Deluxe is a very good if not great amp. The clean sounds rate a B+ and are sweet but are "stiff" compared to a tube rectifier type amp. The driven sounds are more like a B-, getting pretty muddy and really only suitable for "woofy" blues tones. The HRD is a good practice amp or backup, but it's deficiencies become apparent at high volumes and in band situations. The "bloom" the HRD gets at low volume turns into grittiness and brittle sound at volume. It seems to lose its personality and get lost in the mix with drums and bass. A great amp (er, Super Reverb, Marshall plexi, Mesa Recto?) have that intangible quality that makes them retain or even improve their tone when cranked or when playing in a band setting. The HRD is a better than average practice amp, but not my choice for a gigging amp.

I'm a professional musician/producer and have been through most all the guitars and amps on the market in the last 20 years. Of all the mass produced, mid-wattage 1x12 tube amps on the market, the HRD is probably in the top 5. It excels at mid volume, clean, unaccompanied playing, but falls short of being a classic by virtue of its average overdrive tones. The HRD is a good general purpose amp, and is light years ahead of its predecessor in the Fender line, the Blues Jr. Fender is close with the HRD but they can do better.

Not sure what year my particular amp was made in - I just bought it less than a week ago. Now, right off, let's be clear about one thing: this amp has TWO - yes, that's right, only TWO - channels. I've read so many reviews claiming it has 3 channels because of the "more drive" feature, and even Fender's manual says it has 3 channels, but my friends...it has only two: clean and drive. There is a bright switch for the clean channel only. The "more drive" switch applies only to the drive channel. The controls include volume, drive, treble, bass, midrange, master, presence, and reverb. Channel switching is achieved by depressing - you guessed it - a switch. LED indicators: green LED lights up if drive channel is engaged, red LED lights up if "more drive" switch has been depressed. Preamp out, power amp in, footswitch jacks supplied. Hi and lo gain inputs, standby and power on/off switches, jewel power light glows red when amp is on. One 12" speaker, 40 watts, tube amp, chicken head knobs (cool!) external speaker jack, I think mine has Groove Tube 6L6s but I haven't really checked yet, weighs about 45-50 lbs. Includes durable footswitch for channel switching and more drive, patch cord for footswitch, nylon cover. Size 18.75" high,
23.5" wide, 10.5" deep. No headphone jack. EFX loop.

This amp is incredibly loud. I've used solid state Peavey guitar amps for the past 20 years. My dad (he was cool) had a Fender Twin Reverb which he used during the 70s and 80s. He bought it when he was 40. Now I'm 40 and I've bought a Fender tube amp for myself! Guys, the older you get, the more it comes true: one day you'll turn into your dad. Brace yourself.

Anyway, this amp is like coming home again. It's got that distinct "Fender" sound - sort of like an old Buddy Fite record. (Guess I'm dating myself there.) I'll discuss tone later. Like others, I wish the volume knob was more graduated instead of blow-your-face-off at the number 2 position on the dial. It's got plenty of power for gigging, and sounds every bit as loud as my 80-watt solid state Peavey Bandit 112.

I use this amp at home for practice, and gigging with worship teams and praise bands, as well as solo work, in churches and various other venues. As to its versatility...I really don't know if there's any amp out there than can REALLY dial in every conceivable sound you'd want it to...in my opinion, every amp has a character all its own, and Fender certainly is no different. I play lots of chord melodies, Chet-Atkins style, Tony Mottola, etc. I play jazz, some classic rock, funk, R&B, etc. I'm not a "metal" guy, so I confess to complete ignorance of that genre and what sort of amp you'd need for it. I have never played a Marshall amp in my life. That said, however, I love the singing, melodic sustain of Eric Johnson, and I love SRV's sound, especially on "Pride and Joy". This old dog may learn a new trick or two yet.

I use a Les Paul copy (Penco) from 1980, Fender Tex-Mex Strat, Fender Mexi-Strat, BC Rich Acrylic, ESP LTD M-207, Cort CL-1000, Peavey Predator, Aria T-40 (archtop), Washburn BT-4Q, DeArmond LP copy, Brownsville Choirboy 12, BC Rich Bronze series, and a couple other no-name brands I picked up just for fun. All my axes have stock pickups. Had a brief "pre-midlife crisis" a few years ago and decided to help myself through it by buying lots of gear...but I'm MUCH better now. My wife has been VERY understanding...think I'll keep her! (All kidding aside, she's a great girl.)

This amp suits my style perfectly. I have tried just about every guitar I've got into it, and it sounds great with all of them. The only caveat to that is, my Aria T-40 archtop, the ESP, and the DeArmond, all of which put out a lot of bass already, sound a little boomy in the Fender. To compensate, I EQ my RP6 to cut down on some of the low end. I run in stereo, with my guitar into an RP6, into a Peavey Bandit 112 on one side and the Hot Rod on the other. Without question, I have found "my sound". I use the bright switch for the mellower guitars, and for the Fenders and their respective knock-offs I turn off the bright switch. I play a lot of chord melodies, so I look for a rich, full sound from an amp. The Fender is smooth, sublime, crystal clear, and just flat-out inspires me to play. I also enjoy playing singing, melodic leads ala Eric Johnson (sure wish I could play as fast as he does!) and have discovered that this amp all by itself can deliver quite a smooth sustaining distortion, with the drive knob cranked and the "more drive" switch engaged. The tone knobs really do seem to affect the sound in subtle but surprisingly pleasant ways. What's so cool about this amp is that it almost doesn't matter where you set the knobs, it's always intriguing and almost impossible to get a bad sound out of it. The only disappointment I have with it is that if you push the clean channel past 3 or 4, it breaks up. (Remember, I haven't owned a tube amp since 1980, when I sold my Fender Bassman 10, a silverface 50-watt bass amp that sounded great for guitar too.) SO, I guess I just ran down what is arguably the best feature of this classic rock, blues amp - namely, the clean channel break-up. But it's no problem - it stays clear in the clean channel even up to 4 if you don't hammer your strings, and if I want to play the blues, well it's great to know it's there if I want it. I will say, though, that the best distortion seems to come from running a signal processor like the RP6 or a stompbox like the Dan-electro's "Daddy-O" into the clean channel. The first time I heard it, I just knew I had found my dream amp. I tried some others at my favorite music store - Crate GFX 120(clean too sterile, distortion sounds awful), Peavey Classic 50 212 (not enough raw guts), Tube Works (yechhh!) Yamaha (hahaha), and even a small Marshall (OK, I'll admit to playing once through a Marshall. Where's the beef?) No question, this amp rocks.

Since I run in stereo, I have a backup by default, but if this amp is anything like my Bassman 10, it'll hold up like a tank. My Dad's Fender Twin ran for 30 years! Now, there IS one problem that I noticed with it, and I have already emailed Fender about it (go ahead and laugh, I've read the horror stories about their poor customer service). Whenever I play any chord with a G note in it, a metallic vibration occurs. Several guys have told me it's the springs vibrating in the reverb tank. Other than that, no problems.

5 year warranty. I'll get it serviced at Fred's Music in Reading, PA if there's any problem - they all know me well over there.

I've been playing for 35 years. I also play bass, and have Peavey PA systems, bass gear, etc. If it was lost or stolen, I'd probably save and get another one. I love the sound of this thing! It's not that heavy, but boy does it kick! Without a doubt, I'm so glad I spent the extra money (I was looking at the aforementioned Crate GFX 120 for $350). This tube amp is like being a kid again!

You already know everything...

I like it a LOT...Got SOVTEK tubes, I replaced the speaker- it's really better with a CELESTION VINTAGE 30!!! I use My IBANEZ JEM 777 LNG and BOSS GT- 5 thru it and it sounds amazing. Very good clean and drive channel, it`s just that I don`t like the MORE DRIVE channel getting that loud when switching it on and the fact that there is only one eq for both channels... Otherwise no bad comment..

So far, so good...

I don`t know...

Very good amplifier for that money, small and loud, with good sound, not to heavy, I would buy it again, if I lost this one.

Read the other posts, much more thorough than mine could ever be.
Wish it had tremelo

Sounds great on the clean channel. Sounds a little muddy, bassy on the drive channel and not all that clear. I play it through a gretsch Country Gent. Play a little rockabilly, Green Day , Tragically Hip etc... I use an overdrive pedal instead of the avaliable "more drive" switch that comes with the amp.

Standby switch was faulty on arrival
One of the drive tubes rattled and was replaced.
Bright button on clean channel added a weird buzz but I never use it anyway. Play about 8 hours a week at rehearsal.

Steve's music here in Toronto were great. Fixed the switch and tube problem n/c

Would have bought the Vibrolux if I could afford it.

Not too versatile, but suits most occassions b/c of the clean and drive channels. This is an ALL TUBE AMP, which believe me makes all the difference in the world.

REPLACE THE SPEAKER!!! The Eminence speaker in there is a piece of garbage. Several other guys who wrote reviews here agree with me on this. I replaced my speaker with a Celestion Vintage 30 and the sound transformed. Honestly, at first I regretted buying this amp b/c the distortion was muddy, unclear, bass heavy, and just plain crappy. But with the new speaker fitted in, the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe sounds so beautiful. The clean channel is unbelievable, just like recordings. The drive channels finally have single note definition, where you can hear every note ring even though it's heavily distorted. That's the most important part of any amp I believe, single note definition, whether in strumming rock chords or playing screaming leads. With the new speaker, I give this amp a 10!

Yeah, of course it's reliable. It's not meant to break at 500 dollars.

Never dealt with customer support so couldn't say.

509.00 amp + 109.00 Celestion Vintage 30 speaker = 620 bucks. For this amount, you can get an ALL TUBE AMP that sounds beautiful. Honestly, every guitarist looks for that amazing tone, and this amp fitted in with a new speaker can do that. Crisp, clear distortion with unbelievable sustain.

This amp is great, i've had it for six months now and it's cut through the mix at jma sessions with twin reverbs pushing 85-100 watts and with my tube screamer cookin' it's amazing. It's got two channels, one clean one over drive with a bright tone switch and two drive levels with control over the drive. this amp really get's it done. And with an included footswitch and plenty of power it's great. I play everything from Punk with my high school friends to blues jams with my Uncles blues band who have been playing for over 40 years and it does great with classic rock, southern rock, and blues all just by running a tube screamer and tweaking it properly.

i play with a gibson flat top with two lindey frieland humbuckers providing the sound. The pickeups are hot and i get a really creamy thick sound off the neck pickup and then when i switch to teh bridge pickup it really lets go. it does not get too noisy unless i'm running the full drive channel and then a distortion through that but that's to be expected anyway. I've played big jams and places with it set on no moer than 3 and a half. It can do anything i want it to with the right tweaking. At around six and up the clean channel starts to go but i never need it that loud anyway. The distortion is a bit flakey at first but with less treble and the mid at 6 or 7 it's nice.

I can always trun to it, it's never done anything out of the ordinary and the sound it consistent. The Groove tubes are working out great so far, i always let it sit about ten min.after playing for a while and i keep it's cover on when i'm not using it.

I take my amps to a local place that specializes in Fender tube amplifiers and they can get vintage parts to rewire if needed and i plan on getting a Twin Reverb rewired to sixties specs with a black face and new tubes running full bore all the time.

two years, i own a fender automatic practice amp as well and it's great for small areas or at night with the head phone jack.i would definetly get another one. I love the sound and size, it's not too big but not tiny, and the sound is gutwrenching. The open back design is great too, i'll keep buying fenders vintage and new tube only of course until they stop making open back amps.

I give it an 8 since it has all the needed features. For a non pro who doesnt tour it has all you will need. Face it why would you want an EQ for each channel. Very verastile EQ section. The slightest turn will result in tone. Also has an extra speaker output jack for driving a cab. At 40 watts its plenty loud but tone is far more important that volume.

The clean sound is sick! You ll cry when you hear the sweet twang even at hi volumes. The OD channles are pretty good but if you want excellent overdriven sounds Fender doesnt nail it down perfect. However it is it sweet bit a little bright evn with my les paul. The reverb is good but past 3 it sounds unnatural and out of place. First thing to go is the speaker. Stick a celestion in it and it will breathe and ooze tine. Speakers string gauge n feel are more than half the tone more so that pickups, cables, or special tone wood. Invest in a celestion since the stock is cold n sterile. The most annoying feature is the volume on the OD channel is linear rather than audio taper. the diffrence from 2 to 3 is so drastic.

N?a

Ver satisfied. Very good for the money. Ive ben playing for 7 years nd this has opened up the world of tube amps to me and im excited to see what else is out there. All future amps will come bck to this one. I was split between this and the marshall dsl 401 which was alittle more money. I settled on this since it has a more defined tone. The marshall was buzzy and inconsistent and it didnt wow me. I would have been just paying for the brand name. No regrets the fender is awesome.

Everything you need...

I usually play my Les Paul through this amp. I love this guitar due to its warm, sweet and singing tone, which is again a reason to love this amp. The clean sound is -typical Fender- overwhelming. Most of you know this sound, so this should be enough. But the distortion sound is -not typical Fender- great as well. I need this warm, fuzzy low distortion for my music. Dizzy, hazy lo-fi sound, no high prized scene names are recommended any more. If you like stoned music, it's perfect.

No Problems until now....

Never needed to deal with them...

YEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

well, here is the deal, i submitted a review a year or so ago and i just wanted to say once again that i love this amp. it is 1998 or 1999 i believe, and it covers my music really well. I play a lot of Rage Against the Machine, Radiohead, and Tool. Well, the hot rod deluxe works awesome for rage and radiohead, and not to shabby on tool. It has creamy distortion, although i prefer my proco vintage rat over the amp's dist. (it has 2 channels, and a "more gain" "channel." 12 inch speaker, 40 watt screamer. dont get discouraged, 40 watts tube is much louder than 40 watts solid state. in fact, i ahev found that 40 watts tube basically matches up with about 80 watts or so solid state, so it's all good.

i am using a customized american standard tele (schaller straplocks, black moto pickguard) with a seymour duncan little '59 bridge pickup for tool songs and leads. I also use an Ibanez RG 220 (piece of crap) that really needs a tune up and I want to trade it in or sell it or something. It suits my musical style well, and the amp is good for blues, rock, hard rock, and if you have a metal zone or a really brutal distortion, (ie ibanez smashbox, dod death metal etc etc) it plays metal not bad at all. WELL worth the price!!

really realiable fender stuff is one of the best. the only problem i have had with it is one of my power tubes broke (it was old) so it's all good. I just got some new tubes yo! I have carried this beast all over town.

I heard fender bites! but, it's got a 5 yr warranty

I have played about 6 years, and own a satellite sfx, proco rat, digitech whammy, dunlop crybaby, boss metal zone, boss dd5 delay, boss overdrive, boss flanger bf2 and boss phaser ph2. it all works good together! I love this amp, but I WISH I HAD A CAB, COULD SOMEONE PLEASE RECOMMEND A DECENT CAB OR A FEW DECENT CABS TO ME? thanx

I bought this amp new about a year ago. 40 watts, 1 12" emminence speaker, blah blah blah- no need to repeat the specs.

With the stock speaker,I give the sound about a 5. The emminence speaker is a piece of garbage,really. The dirty channel was muddy and confused, utterly lacking in definition. The clean channel I found unsatisfactory as well. I didn't realize this before brought the thing home. I bought a
celestion vintage 30 and a pair of THD Yellowjackets and popped them in, and my tone was TRANSFORMED!!!! I now love this amp, I just wish Fender hadn't put such a weak and worthless speaker in it to begin with. Modified, I give the sound a 10. With my Les Paul I get a Marshall sounding crunch, and I still get brilliant clean tone with my strat.

No problems yet.

No experience with customer support.

Like I said, I love the amp now, but it cost me about $160 in upgrades to get to this point. Still, it 's cheaper than a Mesa/Boogie, and I have outstanding tone. One last thing, the volume controls really are a pain in the ass. They are absurdly sensitive at the lowest settings. Damn it, Fender, get it together!

This amp has quite a bit of features for what it is, especially for the price. From left to right it has: vol., drive, treb., bass, mid., master, reverb, and pesence. It has 3 channels(which I, personaly, never use) and a bright swithch. It comes equiped with a Gold label 1x12 speaker(which I think I blew into shreds) and 40 watts of tube power!

I find the distortion channels to be very loud. Esecially with the hot single coil pickups I play with(Texas Specials). The amp picks up a lot of hum. Even on the clean channel there is quite a bit of hum. The distorion is also very bright and if you think you're going to be playing some Metallica with this amp, you're in for a treat.

The part of this that I love is the clean channel rolled all the way up! What a beuatiful sound. It sound starts to break up smoothly at about 5 and from then on, it just gets better! A sweet overdriven tube amp sounds like nothing else in the world. I said it once and I'll say it again, this is a very pwerful amp. It keeps up with my reissue 59 Bassman for crying out loud!

I've had this amp for 3 years and the only things I've had problems with is the input jack. It seems as if the input jack was poorly constructed. My tubes that drive my distortion and reverb went out but I'm not missing those very much at all. I take this amp everywhere I go. Its been thrown around in the back of pick up trucks, its been played in very cold weather, and its been covered with dew from a cold night, and it still works like a charm!

5 YEAR WARANTY!!!! My friend bought one a while back as his first tube amp. He never warmed up the tubes before he played (like you're supposed to do with every tube amp)and froze the tubes. He took it back and they gave him a brand spanken new one! That deserves a 10 in my book!

For the price, there is no way you can beat it! This amp is not no 59 Bassman or 66 Blackface Super Reverb but you tell me where I can get one of those for 500 bucks and I'll change my mind about this review....Thats what I thought.

update on previous review

Since using this amp a little more often, I have noticed the booming bass reported by some other reviewers. I've purchased a Peavy classic 50 4-10 so now I have something to compare it with besides another fender. The peavy is a nice amp and I like it pretty well. It's also a little more versatile overall but the clean sound doesn't really come up to the fender. By the way I have already shipped the Ibanez tube king mentioned in my previous review to a nice sounding guy named Neil (see his review) By the way Neil, I lost your E-mail address.

Not a glitch in over a year now.

Wish it had a pre and post gain similar to the Peavy.

the clean chanel sucks but the distortion is unbelievable so i barely ever play in clean which i like to play in.

i would buy it again it is a good amp for the money. I mean look at the mesa boogie.

The amp has the basics. It could use a different speaker.

The amp sounds great with my gibson 76 explorer and my gibson byrdland. BUT, the amp really needs a different speaker or a cabinet ran under it.

so far so good

so far so good

really good amp for the price

This modle is more than likely a 99-00 sense i just got it awhile ago. Lets see there 3 channels. Alot of people try and fool with sayin thats theres no need to use the channels becaue there not good. I seem to like em. Although playin through a tubescreamer on em is AWESOME theres so much fullness to it. This amp is pretty versitle, if your gona play EVH or hard hittin all out distortion, I don think this is for you. Its a tube amp. 2 6l6's and 4 12AX's i do believe. But thoughs things can PUT OUT POWER. for right now im a room jammer. but im in a band. Im startin a blues band so i think this will come in handy!

I play from a Fender deluxe super strat to a Crybaby wah to a tubescreamer. Thats all i seem to need at this moment. The Channels could be alil more thick though. Thats why I think I may buy another tubescreamer. Or and Danelectro. Most of my music style is suitable. I'm 15 so I play some rock. But Ive ALWAYS been into blues and thats why I wanted to get it becuz of the Blues in it. I play metal though in a band im in right now. And i think i will have to buy like a metal distortion for the amp. Its not even close to the crunch a mark 4 messa boogie could do. BUT its good enough for me.

Im sure I could depend on it in a gig. I havent really gig with it. But ive turned it up. And im confident it would work out.

Never dealt with

Ive been for a year. I'm pretty sure what kinda tone im lookin for (the smooth SRV, kenny wayne sheppard sound) I LOVE there vintage tones! If it were stolen I dont think i will kill the person. But i know i would do something to him. It couldnt be any better than what i need. Like i said before the channels could be alil more fuller in the sound. But all in all its a killer amp!

Made in '98 as far as I know. It's a two channel all tube amp, all foot-switchable (clean, drive, more drive). It's a great amp for rock, blues, and funk- and it is _very_ loud for 40w!! With two inputs (normal and low-impedance), plus a brightness switch, treble mid and bass, drive, volume, master volume, reverb, and presence, this amp has lots of stuff to fool with. The reverb is particularly good!

I am using a Clapton Strat with this amp, and I have to say that they sound disgustingly good together! The clean sounds are phenomenal. This amp has a clear and ringing tone which is beautiful. The overdrive on the amp is quite noisy, however (I took it in to the shop, and they just told me it was the amp and they couldn't do anything about it), but it is still great for bluesy solos. And people who say this amp has no heavy low end are quite wrong. I find, with a little extra bass and mids dialed in, and a big muff in the pedal chain, this amp rocks! It is also extremely loud for 40w (as I've said before)... The loudest I've ever managed to get this thing was up to "5" out of 12- most of the time I keep the volume at just under "1". As for the clean chanenel distorting- I've only managed to do that with the 25db mid boost on my guitar, so it is pretty tough.

I have found this amp to be very reliable. It just happens to buzz quite a bit (even with Lace Sensors, which lead me to believe it's the amp not the guitar).

I've been playing for a couple of years, and I don't feel like I'll ever need to own a different amp. It's a great piece of equipment at a very affordable price!

This amp has everything you need to get started in the whole tube amp field.

This thing sounds great with a Tubescreamer. I like the clean channel, way better than the distortion. The distortion blows on this amp, and the "More drive" option doesn't alleviate the problem. I think the speaker is fine, but it all depends on what style of music you play. First of all, you are a dumb ass if you are looking to buy this amp to play metal music on, but you are smart if you are looking for an amp to play blues and rock on. I play SRV style blues and Alber King and all the ol' Blues men. It sounds great as long as you have the tube screamer!!!!!

This amp, although sounds fairly good is constructed poorly. It's the shittiest construction for a tube amp as far as my experiences are concerned. My knobs on several of my controls now stop under the maximum levels, the pots are out of whack. I can turn the master knob all the way around, and my drive channel doesn't even work at all. The handle snapped off, it has no protective corners. For God's sake even my Squier 25 watt Champ has protective covers. You people want the bottom line? This is the bottom of the line tube amp Fender makes. This is their "Affordable model." For people who are serious you know to settle for the Fender Twins or vintage amps. I'm sure it's good for the money, but I would never buy it again.

Haven't tried....the only solution for this amp is a bomb.

I will negate the horrible reliability of the amp. I love some of the sounds I get from it, but I'm sure it could sound much better when the damn thing works

No headphone jack. Why?

Noisy with a Telecaster. Lots of hum and buzz.
It's not my cables. I'm thinking of getting some Noiseless pickups.

No problems

Lifetime guarantee. Can't argue really.

With my '69 Tele Thinline, it sounds good, but there is more hum than I would like, and I hope that I can fix it with some of the Fender Noiseless pickups.

This is a 1998. I've been using it regularly going on 3 years. The
features are well covered on the other reviews so I want go into that.
Most of the features i don't use because most of the time I run a
processor directly into the power amp in which bypasses everything
but the power amp.

I'm an old picker and have owned my share of fender amps over 38 years
of playing. The clean sound is very close to vintage Fender tone with
the exception of loads of clean head room. The clean channel will
play almost full volume(very loud for 40 watts) with clean tone adding
generoous amounts of tube compression on the peak end and moderate distortion. The distortion factor could be increased by adding a Celestion but I stayed with the original Fender/Eminence speaker. The
distortion channels are to noisy for me with not enough flexability.
The distortion channels would probably be adaquate for someone who don't require a lot of diversity in distortion sounds. I would rate this amp about 4 on distortion and 9 for clean tone, so overall I think it should rate about 7 or 8.

My amp has worked flawlessly going on 2 1/2 years now.

Never had to use them.

90% of the time as mentioned above I go directly into power amp in with my effects Processor. I love the flexability of having a different EQ/reverb/delay/distortion/modulation/ect-ect for each
user patch settings that cah be taylored for each song. Stomp boxes employ to much button pushing and with multipul effects can drive you crazy making the changes. To the tube purist, this setup would be un-acceptable because using the amp in this manner dosen't utilize the
natural tube sound this amp is capable of producing. I do use this amp from time to time just going direct into the amp when I'm playing more traditional music and it dose produce that fat or thin Fender tube tone. Using my Jap 50's Fender re-issue Strat, with the amp settings bass 10, middle 10, trebel 5(brite off) reverb 2, presents 8 and volume to your taste---This is the ultimate fat strat tone. This produces enough highs for cut through leads and thick enough to produce good rythem tone when you back off on the guitar volume. The stock jap strat pickups are very bright(almost Tele bright) so that is the reason for the heavy bass/mid settings. For endless clean fender tube tone I would rate this amp at 9. If you want Fender tone with early breakup in a small combo package I would recomend the re-issue or old used silver face deluxe. If you would like to contact me my email is ttocsbob@hotmail.com

2000 year
Actually fairly versatile, can go from sort-of Fender twin clean to sort of Marshal crunch (but certainly not with the stock speaker). In reality its a two channel amp.

Can do jimmy page and brian setzer. I replaced the stock speaker with a Celestion Vintage 30. Huge difference. Fender would have to charge hundreds extra for this option but I think it would be worth it.

No problems so far. Owned it for about six months (playing at least an hour a day)

Not yet had to find out

With the stock speaker I'd rate this thing a 5. With a $100 upgrade to the Celestion Vintage 30, I can get a creamy sustain that puts this amp tonally within spittin distance of a Mesa Boogie rectifier (though not the build quality and not as versatile)

Has all the features I need, play blues, rock

I play Fender Strat and it soounds great.

Haven't had it long, no prolems yet.

Never dealt with them.

It is great, can't imagine wanting more. Small amp can play a big room easily. It has a great sound at all volumes. love it.

Everything you need.

Only sounds good at low volumes.The speaker is awful.

It was givin to me.

don't know.

Still looking for a better speaker.The Eminence is junk.I tried an EV it was too clean.A JBL was too trebly.I'm dyin over here!Come on Fender do it right like only you can.You have enough money to be makin crap.

This area is the only one in which I've had any complaints. The input jacks are of very cheap construction. I've had to replace them twice in two years. They don't stand up to even light use. They come loose real easily and rattle around the circuit board and dislodge themselves. The plastic threads just don't cut it. This is a great amp, but I can't keep it around if I can't run a signal through it.

Haight-Ashbury Music Center in San Francisco has been abominable thus far. They wouldn't fix the problem under warranty. It's like pulling teeth trying to get fair service for this amp.

Made in '97 i think. Amazing for blues. 3 channels. Footswitchable channels. Effects loop. I wouldn't change a thing in this amp, except I would like seperate EQ for the different channels...oh well. I'll give it a 9. It's an all tube amp. A lot better than solid states or tube/solid states. I compared with a Fender Roc Pro 1000. This is a ton better.

This is THE blues amp with the best bang for your buck. Distortion is not noisy at all, a tubescreamer sounds GREAT with it. This is the first time I could get "Lenny" -SRV. Lots of different sounds, the reverb is great. The clean channel gives you plenty of headroom, but will give that bluesy breakup too. Distortion it good for rock and blues, not good for death metal. Considering that's not what it's made for, I have to give it a ten.

A tank.

I've been playing for three years. This is THE best amp I've had. I have a couple other amps. (crates unfortunately) Overall. Pure bluesy bliss. Great price too.

1999 Hot Rod Deluxe purchased from MMI music in Mobile, Al. Features are stated in numerous other review. I haven't used the effects loop and cannot comment on this feature. The seven rating is given due to the overly sensitive volume and gain knobs. Like several other reviewers, I believe fender should have done better and it seems to be a cheap marketing ploy for inexperienced buyers. Thanks to others using this site I was already aware of this and bought the amp mostly for the clean channel. The only feature I wish it had would be a headphone jack. I've only used it out twice but it seemed to have plenty of power for the small jams that I use it for.

I use mostly telecaster style guitars one with harmonic design and one with Duncan pickups. I played the amp in the music store for only a few minutes before deciding to purchase one. For the purchase price I find the clean channel to be extremely good. However, the amp that I brought home sounded much harsher than the one in the store and I was disapointed at first. Apparently there is something to the "breaking in speakers" theory as mine sounds much better six months down the road. The fender american tube series of amps do seem to have more of a noise floor than some of the other amps if there are any other devices in the circuit. I also own a fender blues junior with the same traits. Even plugging in a nine volt power supply for a pedal creates a substantial increase in noise. Of course the single coil pickups don't help much. It took me quite a bit of tinkering to get the sounds that I wanted. This amp seems to respond better to a hotter signal than my single coils give so I use a dynacomp in the signal path mostly as a clean boost with just a touch of compression added. It made all the difference. The amp now is much more touch sensative and I can run it where it will distort with a hard attack at a much lower volume. This amp seems to respond well to pedals also. I use an Ibanez delay and a jekyl and hyde pedal. The Ibanez tk999 tube king that I had sounded even better before it died. It could probably be fixed if anyone wants it they can have it, call 334-6799463 and I'll ship it to ya! I have little use for the distortion channel due to the afore mentioned sensitivity.

Never a problem in six months of two hours a day use.

How long have I been playing? If you call the noise I make playing then probably 20 years or so. Maybe three on electric. If it were stolen I would definitly buy another but it would be a used one. The going rate for used ones seems to be around $350.00. Daddy's junky music usually has one in their inventory. I can't say that I love anything about it because honestly if I had the money I would buy a matchless or someother boutique amp. There seem to be a lot of horror stories about the drive channel going out and the power light so hopefully fender reads this column and will make some changes. All my ratings are for the amp as out of the box. Maybe someday I'll try some NOS tubes to see if it gets better.

Good all round amp.Very loud for a 40 watter and is veratile enough to use in all situations

Am using it with a Peavey wolfgang and seem to be able to get all the sounds I need especially that creamy neck pickup lead sound. It's also great for funky rhythms when it's just slightly driven.

Takes a beating..loaded in and out of cabs constantly....never fails!

The local distributor offers sensational after sales service and will email me any relevant articles that they have found on the net or even send a mail now and then to ask if it is still meeting my expectation

I've owned boogies and also have a rack mounted Marshall system which tends to stay in the cupboard now....it's a good looking amp, it's got exactly the right sounds for me, easily portable and loud enough for all situations.