Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

Hot Rod Deluxe 1x12
Purchased the amp 3 years ago have played many gigs with it using a Gibson Les Paul Standard with Semours (Jeff Beck and '59 at neck) and an old strat copy as a back-up!
I have also been known to use my Ibanez Electro through the amp as well!

The amp is the most versatile of all I have owned (Peavey's/Marshalls)
because of its clean channel being clean!!
I hardly use the more gain button (not a channel as it is just a gain boost!)

The amp crunches very nicley on the clean channel with the seymour humbuckers when cranked up around 5-6. I use a Boss OD-1 to give me the hard overdriven sounds because the gain channel is a bit gritty for my tastes. I read a review by James Vandenberg in this section about 5 months ago and was interested in his report on the amp and the modifactions he carried out (his review is further down the page!!!)
Just breifley : the amp's drive channel uses a linear taper pot which means that number 1 on the dail is the same as 5 on the clean channel!
This was a cleaver sales ploy by Fender (god bless 'em) to make the potential buyer think " If this amp on number one is this loud then it must have loads of headroom!" - WRONG - After number 3 the amp gets no louder until number 10 !!!!
I replaced the MASTER volume pot with a normal audio taper pot and the amp is much more controllable now working the same as the clean channel volume.
I have just replaced the Eminace speaker with a Celestion G12-50. Partly due to the cone being joined (imagine a cut down the surface of the cone - then glue it together! - not impressed.)
This made a big difference to the sound giving a warmer sound to the clean channel .The gain channel (which previously I said was too gritty!) also changed completely, the overdrive became much smoother and the Les Paul on the neck pick-up became much clearer and not so muddy in tone.(I am now torn between the OD-1 and the amp's own overdrive!!)
I would recommend both these mods to anyone who owns a HR Deluxe as these have made it one hell of an amp!

I have given this amp a 10 for sound - ONLY after the Celestion speaker had been fitted. It would have been a 6 before.

This amp has never let me down.
Never had to deal with Fender (I am told it is a nightmare)
I always carry a spare set of tubes and fuses etc but have never needed them.
The mods carried out to the amp have not caused any faults either.
I never take a second amp to any gigs ( yes I think its THAT reliable)
But I always carry an amp simulator to plug in to the PA if needed.

Contacted Fender referance the fold back stands for the amp (as on Twins) but found them not helpful.

As before - Pre-mods I was about to change the amp for something else (not sure what).
But now I am totaly happy with the amp so not in any rush to swap it!
I am considering building an extension cab to fit another Celestion into for a wider spread of sound.
I dont see the point in it having a MORE GAIN button - I do not see this has any use but to cause sheer noise.
This amp definatly needs an output power switch to knock it down to a 20Watt amp.
Not much more to say really but do read James's review and the mod section .

Well documented above.

I use a Strat early 60's reissue, which I had routed for a Duncan '59 in the bridge position, and a '97 TV Yellow Les Paul Special with P-100's
Almost everyone that has submitted a review raves about the clean sound...that's the thing I like the least. Too clean for my usage (Rock, Modern Rock). Yes, it is a beautiful, classic Fender clean tone...just not what I want.

Bought in '98. Doesn't go through tubes quick. I replaced the original 12AX7 preamp tubes with Yugo EI's, but that was for sound reasons. Footswitch has survived the 100 gigs I've done in that time. Had a couple of wacko things in the heat of the show that could've been cable problems,( output suddenly gets WAY louder, has cut out a couple times), but it's never failed me.

I deal with Long & McQuade here in Canada, and they have always been great.

I replaced the original 12AX7 preamp tubes with Yugo EI's
I've been toying with the idea of a Boss OD-1 or a Blues Driver (just a touch) on the clean channel to get a little bit of grit. I currently run a Boss DS-1 that I use only with the clean channel as a 3rd distorted option. I recently used a 100 watt Marshall DSL head and 4x12 on a "backline supplied" gig and LOVED the clean with the preamp on about 3.5. I'd like something more like that. The drive channel on the HRD is a great not-too-saturated distortion, that retains my guitars' characteristics without getting all fuzzy and buzzy. I run the preamp on about 8.5 (of 12) and am happy with that end of it. It's such a LOUD amp! My band is loud and I set up right next to our lead player who is VERY LOUD, (Marshall/Soldano) and I never have a problem cutting through with the master set at about 2.8! I think I might try these THD Yellowjackets that replace the 6L6 power tubes with socket adapters and EL84's, and cut the output in half, so I can drive the power tubes harder, and get some output tube "soak". I've also thought about a closed 2-12" just for a thunkier, tighter bottom end, but maybe I'll check out swapping the internal 12" with some others first. I guess it sounds like I'm unhappy with the amp, but I'm not...I just like to tinker with my sound. I thought about getting a Marshall DSL 20w combo and tried it next to the HRD at the store....distortion sounds more "classic" on the Marshall but so many other guys have that tone...I'll stick with the Fender. I also just spent 2 weeks with the Line 6 Flextone II, even used it at a gig this weekend, but it just didn't happen for me...too flat sounding and too much programming to do even just to match levels between sounds.

40 watts. 12 inch fender speaker.FX loop.2 channel's with boost.

I use this amp for club gigs. for the type of music I play [Blues and rock] this amp is a good performer. I play a G and L s-500 [11-49 strings] my pickups are Dimarzio VV. The only effect I use is a voodoo lab microvibe. The best way to get a FFFAT! tone without losing low end clarity is to turn the bass almost off , mids at 3'o clock, treble & pres' at 12' o clock. I dont care for the reverb. it's not real fender reverb. I set the drive about half way, You wont need a tubescreamer, the drive [yellow] channel is outstanding. For a beginer, or a pro on a budget this amp is a great value. I strongly recomend low-med output pickups. hot pickups will cause loss of headroom. I cover a lot of SRV.play ''Coldshot''or ''littlewing''on the clean channel [volume at least half way]. I play Statsboro blues [slide] on the red channel [more drive].

I have had some minor trouble , but the warranty covered the repairs

5 year warranty. Definatley worth buying a Fender. all the good repair shops do Fender warranty work .that way you dont have to deal with the company.

Two channel amp. Clean channel has volume control and bright switch (especially usefull with humbucker pickups).
Drive channel has gain control (= preamp level), master volume (= poweramp level), and boost switch.
Both channels share 3-band EQ, reverb and presence control.
There are two inputs to match passive or active pickups when used separately.
By using the poweramp in jack, you can bypass the preamp or build an FX-loop in combination with preamp out.

I bought this amp because I was looking for an affordable combination of a (very) good clean sound and a "decent" overdrive. I usually play my Fender 90's custom Telecaster through a Vox Wah and a Boss OD2-R.
The clean sound is Fender all the way, there doesn't seem to be a lot of disagreement about this.
The overdrive is another story. When I first got the amp, I used to turn the gain all the way up, which sounded fine as long as I didn't turn the boost on.
Later on, I turned the gain back a little and had the boost on all the time, because without the boost, to me, it didn't sound saturated enough. A few months later, I discovered that I could nearly get the same overdrive sounds with my BOSS OD2-R overdrive pedal through the clean channel.
The reason it took me so long to find out about this, is that I really hated this pedal when used with my previous amp (Dean Markley solid state).
Currently I mainly use the Boss pedal and use my drive channel for a completely different kind of overdrive.
I have the gain at 3 and turn the master volume up to get a more bluesy, gentle poweramp overdrive.
Also, I use the drive channel to boost my volume when playing a solo with the boss pedal to really jump out of the wall of sound.
This works out great for me, cause I now have all the different drive modes I could possibly want.
The reverb is kinda weird. When turned down (around 2) it sounds fine, and when turned totally up you get the typical surf sound (not comparable to a twin reverb though). However, everything in between sounds really weird, like you're out of space or something.

When I first got this amp, a really weird thing happened. After ten minutes of fine performance, the amp would start squeeling and making this terrible high pitched whistle.
It turned out to be a broken poweramp tube and I had it replaced, since then everything has worked just fine.
I've used this amp on a couple of gigs without my Dean Markley to back it up, but with tube amps this is not a very smart thing to do.
Overall, this amp is quite reliable, but tubes are tubes, hence the 8.

I have never dealt with fender in personal, but the guy at the guitar shop has always been very helpfull. Feels good to know there's a five year warranty.

I've had this amp for over half a year now and I haven't regretted buying it for a second. This is exactly what I've been looking for.
Sure, there are better things out there (Fender Twin Reverb, to name just one), but if you're not a professional and you're looking for affordable authentic (tube-)Fender-tone, this will definately do the trick. If this amp were stolen, I might try out a Vox AC30, Twin Reverb or Bassman reissue, but I might as well end up with the Hot Rod Deluxe again. For the money, it's the best thing out there.

Made in 1996 or 1997 I guess. I am not a pro, my style is mostly rhythm. This amp is great for lead or rhythm. It has two channels, normal, and overdrive. Also has "more" switch for overdrive, EFX loop,
spring reverb, duel footswitch, 12" Eminence speaker, 40 watts. I use
this amp at home. I never use the overdrive channel or the "more" button.

I play an Amercian Standard Fat strat with the Seymore Duncan Pealy gates pickup. This amp is great for blues, rock, jazz, any clean-type sound you want. The noise is low, especially with the SD humbucker. Extremely quite, till you kick in the overdrive, then it is very noisy. The "more" switch is rediculous, sounds like crap. I use a Zoom
505-II for effects to get the OD that I need. This amp can produce a wide variety of sounds with basic base, treble, mid, and presence controls. The power is rediculous. I have never had it past three. At three (on a scale of 1-12) it rattles the windows. One of the loudest amps I have ever heard. (I don't get out much). The sound is very warm and clean at low to mid volumes. I don't know what it sounds like past 4. I can't give it a rating of 10 because the overdrive is unusable at low volumes, but I don't need it anyway. I bought it for the clean, warm, bluesy sound it gets.

Never had to deal with them, but I heard it is a nightmare.

I got this amp before I realized exactly what I had. I wanted to trade it or sell it and buy a Line 6 Spider so I could sound cool with all the special effects. Big Mistake. A tube amp is the only way to get the true sound of a tube amp. Even a Line 6 pod won't do it. This amp is very powerful and sounds great with an effects box. I have a cheap one (Zoom 505-II) and get a gazillion types of OD with it. If it were lost or stolen I might upgrade to a Deville. I compared this amp to a Marshall Valvestate (after I bought the Hot Rod) and like both of them. I realize the Marshall has the better OD.
For the money, I think I got an incredible deal ($225). It still had all the original tags on it and is (Still) in mint condition. There really are no tube-emulators that can produce the true characteristics of a tube amp. Solid state emulators have a tinny, cheap sound to them, so don't be fooled. Buy a tube amp then buy an effects box for $80 and you will have that Eddie Van Halen sound. This map produces a thick enough sound to make even the cheapest SFX box good.

I have a 1996 HR Deluxe. The features are mentioned in many previous reviews. The main importance being TUBES. Two 6L6's and 3 12AX7s. Got mine with a footswitch that attach's in the back of the amp, also came with a cover. Peavey charges extra for those? Two channel amp, many people say 3 channels due to the dual stages of overdrive. Although, you can't adjust the "more drive" channel with the footswitch. It's simply offers more grit to the drive channel. The amp came with a very useful effects loop. There is no headphone jack and you probally would not want one considering the volume this little monster puts out (it would melt your headphones). I use every feature on this amp and I find that every feature useful. However, an overall master volume would be nice. I mainly jam with the guys on weekends and jam with the neighbours at home. This amp has lots of power and when hooked up to an extension cabinet, its as loud as anything you'll ever need. Drummer's have asked me to turn this thing down! It's lightweight (for a tube amp), portable and very versatile.

I mostly play a Fender Deluxe Strat Plus with Lace Sensors and a Hot Rail in the bridge. I also have a Godin LG with humbuckers. As it turns out, this is a fortunate choice for this amp. I play mostly rock, blues, jazz, and some metal. In other words, whatever I feel like. The key to getting this amp to sound great is to get those POWER Tubes cooking. Im sure everyone has been telling you but I'll tell you anayways. POWER Tube distortion is where is at. Turn this little beast as loud as the other band members can take it. When the power tubes are maxed out, then the character comes into play. This is where the different styles of music come alive through this amp. Any good overdrive/ distortion box works well this amp. I use a Ibanez Tube King and get tonnes of great sounds, but the pedal works much better when the amp is cooking. I also use a Boss DS-1, a Boss Dual Overdive and a Boss Blues Driver. All these pedals work well with this amp. The amp uses 6l6's in their power amp which give alot of headroom. I recently purchased a set of THD Yellowjackets which converts the 6L6's to EL84's. This allows the amp to distort at much lower volumes. It also smooth's out the distortion. Now the amp runs at 20 watts with this conversion. Also, it converts the Power amp fram Class AB down to a Class A. It can easily be changed back by replacing the Yellowjackets to the original tubes. I run a extension cabinet through this amp. It opens up the sound, remember that the extension jack must work in conjunction with the amps speaker or run the cabinet from the jack where the amps speaker was orginally pluged in. Why, the jack has a parallel connection to the extension jack which must match the amps 8 ohm amperage. If by mistake you run a 16 ohm cabinet. 75% of the sound will come out of the amp and 25% out of the cabinet.

I also run a BOSS GX-700 through this amp from time to time. Again, it works extremely well. This rack unit, similar to the BOSS GT-3 and GT-5 can operate in 3 different ways with this amp.
1.) Guitar into GX700 into the amp
2.) Guitar into GX700 into the Power Amp In. (by-pass' the pre-amp)
3.) Guitar into amp, Pwr amp out into the input of the GX700, the output of the GX700 into the Pwr amp in. This works amazing with chorus, flanging, delay. Trust me, there is a difference going through the effects loop.
It's very versatile.

Never had a problem. No scratchy pots, reverb works well, no popping sound when using the footswitch. So far, so good.

I called Fender once and was on hold for 10 minutes. They need to re-orginize their customer service line. First they need a 1-800 #. Second, their customer service department should be broken down into departments (instead of 1 guy trying to answer every question).

I've been playing for 20 years. I own a Fender Pro 185 which is ok, and a Peavey Classic 30 which doesn't age very well (scratchy pots, unreliable). I have a total of 11 guitars, but I mostly play the Strat listed above.

I've tried many amps including digital modelling amps like Line 6. I hate to sound cliche, but its the TUBES (when saturated) give that great sound. Of course the Line 6 sounds good in the store, but when their cranked they sound like a transistor radio. Do young people really know what a Marshall Plexi and a Mesa Boogie sound like? If you think the Fender simulation sounds like a Twin then they really fooled you. If you crank the volume on any "modelling amp", you'll want your money back. Low volumes, thats where digital amps sound their best. If you can't crank the amp your interested in at the music store, then walk away. Good music stores have seperate rooms or booths for this purpose. Trust me, stick with a tube amp!

Clean & Drive channels + a "More Drive" switch. 3 bands EQ + Presence knob. Fender spring reverb. 1x12, 40 watts. Not many features, but perfect for what it is. What could I want? Maybe an effects loop?

This is my favorite amp. I also own a Roland Jazz Chorus and a Marshall JCM2000. In the past I owned a Fender Twin. I mainly like a clean-to-moderate gain tone for surf/spy music. I currently favor a Washburn Sammy Hagar with stock humbuckers. It goes directly into a Boss VF-1 and then into the Hot Rod.

I love the sound of this amp so much, I am going to buy the Hot Rod Deville in both 2x12 AND 4x10!

I hate Fender Reverb, though. Don't even turn it on.

Seems very substantial. No problems.

5-YEAR WARRANTY!!!

In 10 years, I have not yet owned an amp that makes me as happy. The only thing it won't do is the full-on destruction of the Marshall JCM2000 with all dials up to "11." When I'm in the mood for that, nothing else sounds as good. But that's not very useful for the music I play. So if you don't need to knock birds out of the sky with your sonic death ray, buy one of these amps for rehearsal and add an extension cab or pick up the big brother, the DeVille, for stage.

Built June 1997. Bought used at Daddy's Junky Music. Apparently part of a lot of 65 HRD's used in practice rooms at Berklee School.
Standard features covered in the prior 140 reviews of this amp, however cover and footswitch did not come with this used amp. I will be ordering footswitch in the future (unless someone wants to part with theirs). More than enough power for me...I play in a 6foot by 12 foot room. (no i'm not in jail, just married)

Used with mim Strat. I'm a new player (2 months) and am leaning toward blues. This is the second HRD that I got. The first one had the fatal relay problems that were discussed earlier. Daddy's Rochester took it back for exchange with no problem. Great tube sound on this one. Have not really cranked it up yet.

Check it out well in the store prior to buying switching channels a lot. I don't gig so it is hard to say if I would use w/o backup, probably not the best idea with any piece of electronic equipment if you want to look professional.

Comes new with limited 5 year warranty. Never called service but Daddy's was good to me when the first one broke.

Playing for only 2 months, bought a used 93 Bronco first but heard the tube sounds of this amp and had to have it. If lost or stolen I would replace with same. I hope to be a good enough player some day to make this amp sound as good as it can.

Pretty straight forward and easy to use. It's kind of a set 'n forget it affair with the shared tone controls. The channels are voiced pretty well so a good happy compromise is pretty easy to find.
With the three channels (actually 2 + boost) you can cover a lot of ground without a lot of fuss.

I own a Strat, Tele, LP, and a '73 Guild Bluesbird. The Strat being my main axe, day in - day out. This amp sounds good with all of them.
I'd have to say that this amp sound good, even very good - but not spectacular by any means - right across the board. The clean sound is full and warm but a bit boomy in the low end, reverb is ok, and at higher volume levels the distortion tones are great if you go easy on the gain.

Seems pretty rugged. I worry about the pc board mounted jack though.

Forget it

I've been playing for 35+ years. My main rig is an old road-worn Twin Reverb - Altec Loaded - with a Mesa Boogie V-Twin pedal up front ...fabulous! The HR Deluxe doesn't compare to that setup, of course, but you can pick these up for $350 used, and hey, sometimes you just want to bring something you can throw in the trunk & go!
Bottom line .... It's a great backup/second amp for the guy with high end gear, but it's also a real good overall performer and super value for the guy on a budget.

I bought this about almost three years ago. 1997. These remarks are intended to update my previous review.
I use it for Blues and Rock, mostly. I think these are it's primary genres, hence: 'Hot Rod', but it has excellent clean headroom and would work for jazz or country. Esp. Country.
You know the drill.. two channels, reverb, efx loop, comes with footswitch and cover.
I have no complaints except I rarely use the more drive.
but I do like the more drive.
I'm giving it a ten, because if you can knock out rock and blues, considering the varitey of tones those demand, and still do good country and not bad at all jazz.. then you're a very versatile amp.

I've changed pre amp tubes and that's all, in the last three years.
The amp is fine. Tone!
It's quiet, you have to crank it to start getting hiss, and it's no worse than what you expect from a tube amp.
I wouldn't punk or metal with this amp.. I think that stuff needs solid state, anyway. *G*
Any old timer.. looking for an amp with fender sound, will love this. It's great for anything fifties or sixties... blues and rock and country.. it works well with single coils and humbucks.
I used to not like the reverb.. but I've changed completely.. I love it. Reverb is big, really, and has a bit of tinniness on the top at some settings, but really.. it's sweet, especially when you start using the amp for what it's intended. Hot Rodding!
You might like a Deluxe Reverb better.. but this Hot Rod would bury it for volume, and outdo it on overdrive stuff as well--for less money.

Three years.. not a single problem.
Almost all home use.. but you can believe me when I say amps I carry are carried carefully anyway, so gigging with it would prove nothing.

Never had to find out. giving the benefit of the doubt.

I use an epiphone sheraton II loaded with gibson humbucks, a taylor 310 acoustic, a digitech RP7, a Zoom 123, an ESP LTD B-50, some mysterious strat copy, a tascam 424 MK III studio. Been playing since '64, I think.
what I like about it is this, I want two. Not only would I have another, I'd like to add another for stereo effects.
There is nothing I don't like about it. I've lived with it and I'm keeping it. It makes me happy.
I've looked at a lot of amps.. and I bought this without having seen one or heard one before.. it was returnable. I kept it. *G*
If I could call Fender and say.. here's how I'd like my hot rod deluxe.. these would be the changes: dont' bother with the 'more drive'... skip the amp top switches for drive/more drive... add controls similar to your reverb unit for the reverb, which should act like the old reverb acted when hooked up to a fender amp... offer it with two tens.. and offer it with a matched one twelve cabinet which would sit underneath... and consider talking to Weber about thier speakers as options on this amp.
Hey...if you buy one.. borrow someones 4 X 12 or 4 X 10 cabinet (8ohms) and run your HRDeluxe into it.
heh.
I'm giving it a ten here... all the way around. three years of good use is enough proof for me.

final note. bought at Musicians Friend.. they sell for 519.00 now. Still have the box and packing.. arrived in fine shape.

I usually use my Boss-Metal Zone pedal, but the drive/more drive settings are perfect for blues that need alittle drive in it. The 1st time I played this on this amp, I couldn't believe it was 40 watts, it seems like a hell of alot more. This amp has enough power for a pretty big gig. In my point of view this is the best tube amp out there. This has every feature i need.

My guitar is a Yamaha-Pacifica(which is an ok guitar), and this amp makes it sound like i'm playing the best guitar. The sound of this amp is PERFECT.

I beleive this amp will NEVER break, it looks and is as durable as an amp can get. Well, of course the tubes are going to break, but they haven't yet, because the Fender-Hot Rods have AMMMMMMAAAAAAZING tubes.

The warranty on this amp is 5 years!!!!!!!What else can you ask for. I've had this for alittle while now and it is exactly how it was when I bought it. I bought it at Guitar Center and they only had 1 left, but it was opened like 10 minutes before i came in, and was never played on, so they took off $40. I've called Fender before, and they are very helpful, patient, and nice, and Guitar Center has great prices and have the nicest salesmen(Ed).

I've been playing for about 3 years. I think this amp and the rest of the Fender Hot Rods are the best tube amps out there. It sounds incredible with every pedal I own. I love this amp!!!!!! I compared it with a Johnson amp, but Johnsons are to expensive and I think this amp sounds better. 1 more thing, I was reading the ratings this amp got, and I think it's crazy that the average was so low, I don't understand how anyone can not love this amp

Well, I really like what this amp has to offer. It's a 40 Watt all tube amp which is pretty loud for 40 Watts. It has 3 channels: clean, drive, and more drive. I really like the "more drive" channel because it gives you a little more sustain without getting that completely 'heavy metal' distortion sound. It's got spring reverb which is awesome, a footswitch for all 3 channels, and an effects loop.

I use an Ibanez JS-100 with this amp, the sound is unbeleivable! The clean sound never distorts at high volumes, and the drive channels are perfect for getting that blues overdrive which I love (I play the Blues, by the way).

I've only had this amp for 2 months, so far so good!

What can I say, for playing the blues, this is 'the amp' for me.

All valve , 1*12 combo. Many good features, although the FX loop is in series (I prefer parallel wiring). It lacks some options I've got in my current Marshall but it was more than adequate.

I played it with my Fernandes Strat (TXS specials PUs), a Gibson Les Paul and a Danelectro U2 and sounded great all along. The best thing about it was the massive headroom and the volume. Never come across before such a loud 40 watter. Clean sounds sounded beautiful and uncluttered. Never had to push it past 4.

Distorted and overdriven sounds were great too. Smooth, accurate and very Fender sounding. I missed the growl of the Marshall (that was one of the reasons to trade it in!) but great tones on the whole.

Woudn't do metal or straight Jazz but anything else...

I looked sturdy although the little red lightbulb failed working after just a month. Also I don't like seeing the valves hanging so unprotected. Don't know...

Excellent combo.
VERY LOUD for a 40 watter.
Great clean sounds, maybe not as sparkling as the ones you can get from other Fender products though.
Good Fender distorted tones. Not a Marshall or a Soldano but better than those '80s Princetons (Oh, I think I'm starting to feel sick...).
Excellent choice for the blues Rock musician who plays a lot of gigs and can't compromise the tone.

Its 40 watts, and quite loud for a 40 watt amp (even other tube-amps).
its got 3 channels, one clean, one distorted and one more distorted.
And then its got spring reverb (real good) and effects loops. offcaurse you have the ability to connect external speakers.
its got a foot switch with two buttons to switch between channels.
i really only need a good clean sound and maby reverb, caurse i use stomp box'es for other sounds. So this Amp was great for me.

Im using A Fender Fat Stratocaster (SSH pickup-setup).
I play all kinds of music. This Amplifyer is real warm and have got a really good tone. the distortion is ok but not that great
but as i said before i didnt buy it becaurse of its distortion.

I guess i could rely on it, but wouldnt gig without extra tubes
(just in case)

Never dealt with em

I have been playing for 3 years intensive now. And own a ibanez western guitar, an acoustic guitar and Bigg Muff Pi, Boss Mt-2, Boss Me-30.
I dont think anybody would steal this amplifyer caurse it weighs a ton =D. i thought this amp had a much better tone than the other amplifyers i checked out, an old marshall, mesa boogie, laney (cant remember specific type, sorry)

I use a Guild S-100 and a Fender American Deluxe Telecaster through this amp. The amp is a bit noisy and hissy, but its not very noticable unless you stop playing, otherwise, the sound of the guitar drowns out any noise. As I stated earlier, I purchased this amp as a backup. In no way is the Hot Rod as good as my Marshall. The distortion on the Marshall blows away the Fender, and I know purists my take offense, but my Marshall's clean is better than the Fender's. The Marshall is darker and softer in tone, and just sounds nicer. However, this Hot Rod was not meant to be my number one amplifier. That in mind, it serves its purpsoe extraordinarilyy well. The clean channel is nice, although watch your eardrums if the treble goes too high! It really cuts and pierces. I rarely use the bright switch which puts even more treble on the sound. Through the Guild, the amplifier sounds nice. Clean sounds are mellow, and each note rings out well. I lovee the way the Guild drives the crunch channels. Channel 1 gets me a nice, fat overdrive, think, Roadhouse Blues, and channel two gives me more sustain and added crunch. Not exactly great for thrash metal, but lets face it, if you're into that, this probably isn't what you are looking for anyway. Many people complain about the distortion, but I found I can get good sounds. The Telecaster took some more work than the Guild, but I found that by backing off on the treble and bass, I got a nice round spank out of the single 12 inch speaker. Apparently, the controls are wired so that the more bass and treble you add, the more you dirty up your sound;interesting. Overall, the amp is able to produce a wide array of sounds. And when you consider that this is an all tube, American made Fender for under 500 bucks, that in itself is a bargain. One final note. I also have a Jackson DX-1, which is a nice guitar. The neck single coil gets horrible microphonic feedback when I switch to it. The pickup does not do this on my other amps, so it might be something you want to keep your ear on if you are testing this amp out.

I bought this amp so I won't have to go without a backup. The noise could be a problem live, with the lights and all, but I wouldn't really worry too much. The amp is built well, its solid and I trust it. I treat my gear well, so my guess is all the Hot Rod will need is tubes once in a while. The best I can say is that this amplifier will in no way replace my Marshall, but I can say that if my Marshall breaks down on me, I will have no reservations about turning to the Hot Rod to get me through the gig. The amp is light weight, sounds great, and with some tweaking, I found I can get pretty much whatever sounds I want and or need out of it.

I have not dealt with Fender. I assume I can fix most things myself on it, although, I am a good customer at the Music Store I bought it at, so I know "Schpaybo" will hook me up!

I have been playing about 7 years, and feel I have learned how to tweak equipment to get what I need out of it. I gig regularly and have confidence in this amp. It was either this or a Johnson digital as a backup, and I went Fender because it's all tube and its Fender! I love the fact it came with a cover, and another note; Fender included in the manual some sample settings to get you started. From spankin' Tele tones, to womanly Guild, to "strat at monterey, its all there. Great job on that Fender! Overall, a fine amp for the price!

same as above. this amp offers more than most fender amps, which is very nice.

i love this amp. i've tried many new fender amps, this is the only one that thrills me. the clean on this amps is very nice. the yellow overdrive i like also. the red overdrive i'm not to crazy for, its way to growly. the reverb on this amp is amazing. there's more reverb on this dam amp than any other known to man. I've tried many amps, and frankly, most have shitty reverb. Leave it to fender for reverb. Mesa Boogie needs to take a lesson in reverb. if they did, they would have a nice amp. anyway, back to fender. I spent many hours playen the 2-12, 4-10 and the 1-12. the 2-12 sounded the best, but the 1-12 was a tighter sound. Plus, easier to take to gigs. Loudness ? this dam amp is so dam lound. i play on 2, and my house shakes.

no problems yet
fender makes good stuff

N/A

i've been playen for about 7 yrs. I've owned a lot of shit, to say the least !!!. if the amp was stolen i would go get another, but i pitty the dude if i find him. i love everything about the amp except the red overdrive. I've compared to all fender new amps. none thrill me like the hot rod. I mean, i'm willing to fork out the big $ for a good amp, but why. the hot rod sounds just as good or better than any expensive fender, boogie, marshall. of coarse, fender doesn't make a overdrive channel as good as boogie, but pretty close if dialed in correctly.

The amp is listed as having 3 channels (clean, drive, more drive) but I am only using the clean channel and playing through my Boss and Danelectro foot pedals (I'll explain why later). The amp has a lot of power, as I have the clean channel on "1 1/2" and the Dual Overdrive pedal about half way cranked and the volume would be sufficient for playing most clubs. I had trouble with swithching from the clean to the drive and more drive channels on the first Hot Rod that I had.

I'm playing a Strat and using Boss Dual Overdrive and Chorus, plus a Danelectro delay pedal. I'm playing primarily blues, with a little bit of rock at times. The hum is minimal when using the pedals. I have only had my present amp for a few days and I am enjoying the discoveries of the many sounds it can produce for me.

As I mentioned before, this is my second Hot Rod Deluxe. My first lasted 3 days. The very first day I played on it it made a loud scratching and crackling sound when I switched from the clean to the drive channel. The amp also gave off a smell of what I would describe as "hot metal" and on the third day I began to play, I was just beginning to jam to "The Sky is Crying" when the amp made a loud snapping sound and the red amp light went off and the foot pedal lights went off. I suspected a blown fuse was the problem. I was right. After replacing the fuse in the amp, I turned on the power. To my delight, the red amp light came on. To my horror, the fuse blew again. I repeated the procedure and got the same results. Because I had my son purchase this amp down in Edina, Minnesota (Guitar Center), I contacted him with the bad news. Three days (less than three hours) of playing on what I had hoped would be THE AMP and all I had show for it was a bill of sale and a 50 lb. cabinet. The Guitar Center people were great about it and my trip to Edina last week to make the exchange gave me what I feel is THE AMP I thought I had before. I just don't think I'll use the foot pedal for the amp, or the drive channels. I had read all of the write ups in this area for the Hot Rod, and according to my calculations, there were only 4 or 5 "bad reports" and they all seemed to deal with the switching mechanisms for the channels. I was unlucky on the first amp, but so far I feel this is the amp that will meet my needs. It's still pretty early to make a statement on the long term reliability, but I feel the way I am now using the Hot Rod, it should meet my needs.

Guitar Center in Edina was great about providing an exchange for me.

I've been playing a long time, I guess (since 1966). I also own a Kustom 100 red metallic flecked amp, and a Crate (40 W). I really like this Hot Rod's sound and look forward to the exploration into the sounds it can give me. I wanted an amp for playing the blues like it should sound. I think this is the amp that can do this for me. Getting back into the performing scene is exciting and I look forward to the many experiences that are ahead for me and my Hot Rod.

Bought brand new, April 2000. I have rented one of these amps in the past, and have played through a friend's HR Deluxe. I play mostly blues, but also do some rock 'n roll, country, and jazz. This amp works for most types of music, but I really wanted it for the blues thing.
I host a blues jam and its a bit of a struggle to keep the volume down, so I don't have the footswitch hooked up - the More Drive setting is too much of a temptation for some of the more excitable types - heaps of gain. I do use the footswitch when I'm gigging in other situations.
I would like the reverb to be footswitchable and a tremolo would be cool but, all in all, it's an all-around decent amp. Plenty of power and sweet sounding.

I play a variety of Ibanez guitars, hollow and solid body, all with Seymour Duncan humbuckers, and the amp is a good match. It's definitely strong in the bass end, especially with the hummers, but the tone and presence controls are engineered with a wide enough range to get a good sound out of almost any guitar.
The distortion is a little tricky to dial in just the way I like, but I use an old Tube Driver that goes with me everywhere. It's my overdrive insurance policy.
The clean sounds on this amp are what really sold me. I have an older Deluxe which sounds great but doesn't have enough clean headroom to cut it in a full-out band situation. I also have an old Music Man 112 65 that is loud enough but tends to be a little bright and piercing for blues. The HR Deluxe turned out to be a decent solution to my amplification dilemma.

I haven't had it long enough to experience any problems, but I never gig without a backup, even though I trust Fender amps. (I've had my share of them over the years and they have been very reliable. But I have also seen them break down pretty dramatically from time to time.
Any complex piece of equipment is prone to failure.)

I'll keep my fingers crossed.

I've been playing for a few decades. I own enough guitars, amps, and other bits of equipment (more than enough, already, according to my sweetheart. But she has a prodigious gardening equipment jones that kind of balances things out.)
I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one of these if this one went missing. I looked at a lot of different amps: new, used, cheap and expensive. The Hot Rod Deluxe was the best choice for my needs. That is: a versatile, good sounding, reliable, relatively light, reasonably priced, reasonably powerful amp that does the blues thing really well.

Bought it new, this year. 40 W all tube combo 1x12 speaker three channels. spring solid state reverb, channel foot switch and cover included (with a fender logo on it ;-)) Not too versatile IMHO.
I use it for giging in clubs, band rehealsals as well as for home practicing (althought it's a bit too loud for that - hello neigbours!).

I play custom strat clone guitar made by local luthier, alder body, seymour duncan vintage style single coil pickups. My style is very blues inspired altgought I play pop-rock, jazz, fusion.
This amp has great soundin clean channel with lots of bottom end and glassy highs but the bassy tendency it has really gets on my nerves because it cannot be controlled (I have bass eq pot set to zero and the sound is still too bassy) trying to compensate it by adding presence also suck because IMHO adding presence is adding unwanted overtones and sound becomes brittle. If I put it poiting a bit upwards then its a bit better. Anyway I think that my amp is only 70% guilty of that boomy bass. The type of body wood, pickups with little midrange, hard tail and relatively heavy strings I use (10 to 50)they all seem to reinforce that tendency. I think that fender made a very smart amp that impresses you at first with the deepness of sound (eg. in the music shop)and for those who dont believe that 40 watts is enough salesman rolls volume on 2 and says: see how loud it is on 2. Imagine whats going on on 12 (hey Fender guys! dont treat us as a babies!)And its true it sounds great on its own but its not that good along with the band. OK it will be good for SRV type trio stuff but with keys and/or 2nd guitar its hard to find your place in band's sound. The bass player eats your beautiful low end, the midrange is weak and you and up with high end which sounds too weak for itself i think that amps with better pronounced midrange sounds better in bands.
Noisewise its fairly quiet. with a properly grounded and shielded guitar should be ok.
the only setting of overdrive that sonds nice is drive for 3-4. you can achive that Carltonish sound with nice response on articulation nuances and excellent dynamics. Here again the bassy tendency suck it a bit, especiaslly when you play low strings on higher frets - it all gets muddy! I use this sound only for single string solos, it sucks for chords, again because of the bass. For deeper distortion i prefer using boss distortion into clean channel. Giving it more highs with the tone knob of that box and switching to bridge pickup eliminates the muddiness of distortion but the overall sound is still a miles away from what I've expected.
Clean channel breaks up on 4, theres no master vol knob on clean channel. up to 4 theres a lot of headroom unless you play on big arenas.

I dont know yet. its too fresh i think. Seems solid, reqires backup tube as any tube amp. In Poland where I live the guaranty is limited to 1 year (original is 5 years)I dont see the reason why and I dont like it

the local shop sellin fender gear is ok. OK for Poland is that they dont want you out of the shop after hour of tryin something and they dont keep asking : are you gona really buy it when you want to try something.

I've been playing for 10 years, My previous amp was a strange guyatone all tube 100 w combo which was, i would said, old but not vintage. So relatively fender deluxe is a big jump ahead in tone quality. It's very affordable and it offer almost professional quality for decent price. Its good for blues, jazz ect. so if you really want to sound like SRV go for it, but if you want versatility try somewhere else and be prepared to spend more money. In general its difficult to achieve good distorted sound even using external stomp boxes. I think it lies in the way this amp is voiced. I also suggest trying the amp with the band before you buy it. If it were stolen i would go for something more versatile (rivera 30 - 12 maybe).
So I love the clean channel, especially on its own playin lenny or little wing - its really made for it. The bass - I both love it and hate it - see above. I've compared it to marshall jcm 900 combo - the clean channel was too weak and rivera mentioned above (after buin fender unfortunately). I wish it had diffferent voiced drive channel and separate eq for that. Also audio pots instead of idiot pots. In general I think its a bargaing - best sound quality for that price. In this review i tried to concentrate on problems with it because that is a good way for helping other to pick a proper amp

I feel a bit fooled by that "vintage stuff philosophy". I've realized that its a myth. Just try to think on simple question: what kind of gear would hendrix use today? I think he'd forgot about plexi marshall and fuzz and explore new eqipment posibilities. It would be great if somebody want to disscuss something on have sme questions. Please email me! I like emails!

This is covered again and again below, so I'll spare you the run down. I would appreciate a headphone jack, a tremolo, and separate eq for both channels (no, the "more drive" is not a third channel). 40 watts are probably more than I need, but the Blues Junior's 15 watts are too few. Maybe a 25 watt option would be welcome...you know...a bit of clean headroom in a very portable package. Why is there such a dearth of new amps in that range? 50 lbs is a bit heavy to lug around for me. Oh well.

I play a Les Paul Studio (one of the good ones--97--not one of the super budget ones). It is a great guitar that couldn't reach its potential with the Roland JC 77 I had (a good amp, but a bit harsh and limited). I play jazz primarily and need a warm, loud clean tone. I can't believe I bought a Fender (I loathe how commonplace and generic they are) to satisfy that requirement. I can, unlike some jazz players, cope with a tiny bit of break-up, however, so this amp was a surprise option: it is indeed warm (for a Fender). The bass is a bit boomy and unfocused, but can handle moderate-volume comping fairly well. The distortion is reasonably good, but I don't care about that as much as the clean. Overall, it sounds more alive than my JC 77 did. It doesn't offer a perfect replication of my instrument's tone, but, on the other hand, the Deluxe is more of an instrument itself, colouring the tone in a unique way.

I don't think any tube amp is completely reliable. Gigging is always a crapshoot. They are far more unpredictable to gig with than solid states. Unless you're a garden variety baby boomer trying to relive your hideous hippified youth, the tube tone thing is a non-issue. So, think hard before you bother with tubes. They don't like to be moved around. Weight and expense and changing the fuckers is annoying. As for my Deluxe, it has had frustrating buzzes and rattles ever since I bought it. Others seem to experience this as well. What is the problem? What is the cure? I am not a tech-head and would welcome whatever assistance anyone can give me. I'm sure Fender couldn't give a shit less.

Thanks to everyone else's horror stories, and the fact I don't want to pay to ship (and then wait months for) my amp, I am left with two options re: amp failure. 1) I could find someone locally who is not a dickhead which seems unlikely in the guitar world, or 2) I could throw it out.

I have no business rating Fender because I have never tried to cross that great divide between them and their customers, but I will give them a one anyway, just because I FEEL unsupported. So there.

I am 34 and have been playing for 23 years and finally know what I like and don't like (rather than what someone else tells me I like and don't like). I am cautiosly optimistic about this far-too-common amp. Don't write me and tell me it is popular because it is good. It is popular because it is reasonably acceptable tone-wise AND cheaper than some of its rivals and because it has the "F" word on the front. I resent the buzzing and rattling mentioned before, but am not wealthy enough to seek out a better amp.

The amplifier has 3 channels, clean, drive and more drive, and comes with a 2-button footswitch. Is 40 watts RMS, has tube preamp and tube power amp section. The power tubes both have to be installed.Uses 6L6 matched-bias Groove Tubes.In this form the amp is class A/B(may be possible to substitute power tubes and have a 15W class A) Speaker is a single 12". There is a preamp out jack and an amplifier in jack, allowing for the inclusion of a variety of gain and/or tone altering devices in the "loop" between these two jacks, which is very important for this amplifier because THIS AMPLIFIER IS LOUD, so much so that I had to put a device in the above-mentioned "loop" in order to make it work better(i.e., get some "juice" out of the preamp tubes) and not be so loud for playing in civilization. There is also the ability to run an external speaker, and the internal one can be disconnected. The preamp out can be used to go into another amp or a board for recording. There is a nice reverb, no vibrato or tremolo. I will be using it mostly in Church/Contemporary Christian venues,sometimes miked,sometimes raw. Since we have pro sound with a good engineer,and will make those decisions on a Meta-basis,I can't imagime there being a place that this amplifier would not work in for us. There is no headphone jack.The style palate runs the gambit from R&B ballads to Cranked Rock and Roll to Blues to alternative, and this amplifier does them all pretty well and has a great deal of versatility. The more drive channel is pretty extreme. I cannot imagine using it for anything but maybe exterminating bugs by vaporization.

I play a Fender strat w/gold,silver and blue Lace sensors, An Epiphone Sheraton, stock pickups now, soon to be replaced w/Joe Barden two-tone neck and Tom Holmes bridge humbuckers, and a Taylor 410-CE w/fishmann piezo bridge-saddle transducer and built-in front-end. The amp sounds good with all of them. One interesting thing is that the amp has virtually no noise from electrical interference in the room. (unlike some others I have used). I listened to a lot of amps, solid-state and tube, old and new, before I bought this one. The reason I bought it was that it was the best-sounding one I heard, and I was tired of looking. After much time and energy expended,when I heard this one,in maybe 30 seconds,I decided to buy it.I have had it for about a month, and am amazed and pleased with it every time I turn it on. Because of the previously-mentioned loudness of the amp,I immediately set out on a quest to find a way to make it more usable. Through internet research, I found out how to use the "loop" spoken of above to patch in a gain-altering device. One could either use a limiter,a compressor,or an equalizer. I had an old Barcus-Berry acoustic preamp/equalizer that I have now incorporated into my rig with excellent results. The preap/equalizer has sensitivity and volume controls,and 6 bands of EQ. Using it,I can turn up the volume(s) on the respective clean and drive channels,thusly pushing the tubes enough to get a nice,sweet overall tone. Using the outboard device also allows me to turn up the guitar volume controls enough to make some interesting things happen that appear to be pickup-mediated, without the overall volume being too loud. Actually,if I hadn't done the "loop" thing, I do not know what I would have done with this amplifier.I am learning more about it every time I use it. Up until a year ago,I was strictly an acoustic player. This is the third amplifier I have bought in this short year, and I probably will not buy any more. I now have what I need. Tone is very subjective, but to my tragically hip 51-year old ears,this amp is the real deal.Saving one point for the sake of conservatism, I give it a:

O.K.so far, one month, 100% uptime

I have another,less desirable amp that I would take along on a ministry date, and also will get a brace of the appropriate vacuum tubes just in case. It is not that I do not trust the amplifier, just want to be careful.

We have been blessed with these two amps plus several more, so amp reliability for our band is not an issue, if we bring them along!

no opinion

I have been playing high-end acoustics for 35 years,electric for 1 year.I have a Roland BC-60 amp, and a Boss phaser. I thought about maybe getting an Ibanez tube screamer in some form, but now am experimenting with the equalizer and may pass on that. If necessary to replace,I would probably get the same thing. What I love about it is the tone, don't hate anything. I bought this one at Mars Music in Birmingham, Alabama. Considering what you get for the money, the Hot Rod Deluxe model in the Fender American Tube(F.A.T.)series is probably one of the best values out there.

Musically, my interests are primarily songwriting,recording,and live rhythm playing,in that order. My collaborators are pretty high caliber. The keyboard player has a doctorate in composition from North Texas State,and is the head of the Jazz dept.at a State University here. The lead player has worked with Leon Russell, Joni Mitchell, the Stones, Bob Marley, etc. These chaps have very,very high standards, and I felt a bit under the gun to produce a rig for playing out and for recording that would not disappoint them. Having done so, I can now breathe a sigh of relief!!! I prefer mine to anything they have, which is saying a lot!!!

I love this amp already.I've only had it a week or so and the clean tone is sweet and clear. I'm using the recommended Funky clean presets.Plenty of power.I'm using a Mesa V-twin as my "drive" so I haven't much use for the hot rod's.I haven't played around much with the amp's drive but it sounds greatso far.(would be nice if it had separate controls)

I'm putting an Ibanez Artist 200 through it,an early model and a bloody brilliant guitar.Two loud humbuckers and this combo sings.I put the amp on the "recommended" levels and my guitar on 2-4.It's incredibly loud and, for me,most importantly,the sound is clear and punchy.
I play in a standard band set up.One rhythm guitar,bass and drums.I play lead and sing.We do all originals,some ballads and jazzy blues up to surf-punk.I'm sure this amp's gonna "howl"

Can't comment.I'll soon tell you if it goes bung

Dunno yet

I've been playing for 20 years.I still have my Roland Jazz Chorus.It sounded pretty good (along with my V-twin pedal)No comparison in tone however.The Hot rod deluxe is great.Personally it would be good if it had separate "drive" controls.The jump from clean to drive is huge.Maybe,but, I can control this when I play around a bit more.By the way the tone of this Fender shits all over a Mesa or a Marshall stack.

I think this amp is a 1998, but i bought it brand new in '99. This amp is very versatile, even though it only has a bass, treble, middle, and presence knobs. (it has volume, reverb, drive knobs too)
I play metal, but dont let the word "tube" fool you. I was playing through solid state amps before i got the hot rod, then, friend of mine turned me on to the tubes. This amp sounds great on clean, and as the volume gets louder, a little bit of dist. will accur. the drive channel is weak at most. good for blues i guess. but even for that the tone on the drive is a bit muddy. there are 2 channels, a clean, and a drive, but it also has more drive button, (im not sure if that is a third channel, even though fender says it is). the only feature i WISH it had was a reverb button on the foot switch. this amp is definatly enough power, 1x12 40 watt demon. i use it at home, because i havnt gigged lately. Now, dont let the 40 watts fool you into getting a stack, or a 2x 65 watt solid state or something, because im shure the guy playing the stack, or the big wattage amp is gonna hear your guitar screaming too. the volume on it goes from 1-12, and i cant stand playing it past the 1.5 without ear plugs. woah!!

Im currently using my fender american standard telecaster, with stock pickups, (hope to get some fender vintage noiseless soon.) And once in a while ill pick up my Ibanez rg, but It sounds like mud because I havnt had the chace to upgrade the pickups in that either. BUT the rg blows you away through this amp IF you use a dist. pedal. this amp can be a little noisy once you kick in super high gain, but who cares? if you play metal, you will cover up that small hum with distortion, if you play clean stuff, (which i do too) then there is 90 percent less hum.

This thing is made of wood, built like a tank.

??

Ive been playing about 5 years and this is one of the nicest amps of all. It suits everybodys musical needs because hey, I play metal through it and it sounds a lot better that a solid state. I listen to rage against the machine, RAdiOhEAD, Rammstein, korn, ozzy, limp bizkit, kitty, pearl jam, creedence clearwater revival, lynard skynard (dont know exsactly how to spell that one hehe) 311, creed, silverchair, edward van halen, and a whole lot more. I would by another one of these in a heartbeat. Just need to find a nice 4x12 cab for it, could somebody reccommend one?

this amp, ( is a 1997 tweed model) though often called a three channel, is really just a 2 channel combo with volume bost. has 40 watts, 12 inch speaker, reverb, etc. it's a nice package...

My main guitar is a g+l asat classic, but i also use an american standard w/ custom shop pickups when i want to be billy corgan.
i play avant garde rock ( think radiohead meets mozart) and usally play big chords and classicly ( the era) inspired solos. i really am not a fan of pre amp distortion, but for an amp that cost as little as this did, i have no complaints, except that it thins out at extreme ditorion settings. the clean sound is amazing. if this amp only had the clean channel it would be worth it. oh, the reverb is terrific. an investment in new tubes and a new speaker really turns this amp into a complete gem.

hmm.. i needed a re-tube after about 645 hours of playing...

they're great. took an afternoon for new tubes and bias..

i've been playing for 2 1/2 years ( piano for 8) and also own a music man hd-130. though the mm has a beatiful tone, the hrd wins at a good toon/ volume ratio.

New Fender Hot Rod Deluxe 40 Watt, 1-12, tube-driven combo amplifier. Pre-amp out, power-amp in, two button footswitch (with nice LEDs), & reverb. Marketing hype claims three channels (clean, drive, and more drive). I don't know about anyone else, but channel to me means that you have different active components in the signal path for each channel. My reading of the schematic shows that you get an extra pre-amp tube when switching from clean to drive, whereas the more drive option switches in some different passive components giving you more volume (an extra 12dB). The result of that gearhead analysis is that I would call it a two channel amp, with volume boost.
Tirades against marketing hype aside, its a great amp for blues, blues rock, classic rock, and even some country (mostly what I play). Metalhead shredders will want to look somewhere else. Came with a 12" Eminence "vintage-style" speaker (more hype), which was OK, but had harsh highs. Replaced it immediately with a JBL which does just about everything better. Down-side? Added 50% to the weight of the amp. Now instead of being carry-able it lug-able.

I drive this baby with either a Carvin Bolt (that I built from a kit) using Carvin pickups or an American Standard Strat with EMGs. Pedal-wise I use an Ibanez Tone-Tank chorus (only OK, but cheap) and a re-issue Tubescreamer. This rig suits my current band's musical selections well.
The clean channel is really clean, similar to the re-issue Fender Deluxe reverbs, but with more headroom and not as bright. The drive channel can be configured for a hotter sound with a little dirt. I rarely use the more drive setting. One of the complaints about the drive channel is that when the drive is cranked (to get more saturation), the sound thins out. I have to agree, but I keep the drive control pretty low and use the master to control overall volume. I use the drive channel in this mode for that slightly overdriven sound used in blues and blues/rock. For more saturation I add the tubescreamer.
Another thing about this amp is that you have to adjust the tone controls when playing loudly. This amp (like many tube amps) respond with more bass when really cranked. Unless you want this you'll want to roll back the bass to keep the tone. The amp is no noisier than most tube amps. I have not found it to be distracting.

Our band is just starting to play out more, so I don't have a lot to say about reliability in a live setting. Except, the first time I played out with it, I suddenly wasn't getting any sound! I looked at the amp and the pilot light was out. Great! Now I was really regetting not bringing a backup. I changed the fuse, still no light. Now I'm starting to sweat (as were my bandmates.) But wait, the tubes are lit up! OK, so I'm getting power, but why no sound? After checking my signal path I realize that I had shut-down the volume on my tubescreamer by accident, and the pilot light on the amp had just burned out. ARGH!

The amp has a 5-year transferrable warrantee. I never had to deal with Fender regarding the amp. However, when I went to the dealer to get a new pilot light bulb, they didn't have one. So they canniblized a vintage Fender Amp that they were selling, and gave me the bulb from it. Does that mean the Fender Marketing can claim that in addition to "three" channels, the Rod Hod Deluxe has "vintage" parts?

I've been playing on and off for the last 20 Years. I also own a Fender Blues Jr. as a practice amp (and backup if necessary). If stolen, I would probably buy another HRD unless I found a better value or someone gave me some boutique amp (not likely).

This amp probably has too many features, but you'll most likely have the ones you want to take advantage of. For me, the extension speaker jack is particularly useful. I used to use the effects loop, but found I lost too much tone through a dig reverb, so I stick with the spring reverb it comes with.

I no longer use the fender speaker included with the combo. I discovered that EV's sound much better with this amp, so I now use
two 1-12" cabinets (each 8 ohm) with EV's and the tone is significantly better.

4 years and never a problem

haven't had any reason to contact customer support at fender or the dealer.

For the money, a good value. I've had this amp for 4 years now and am still basically happy with it. If/when I purchase another amp, it will be a high-end product that will have to have a substantially better tone than this fender. I don't believe I'l find a better amp at this price range.

Just bought this amp 2 months ago...have not modified anything - 40 watts, 1-12" Eminence speaker, three channels (normal, drive, more drive). I won't spend a lot of time describing it given the volume of information already available. I use it primarily around the house, but have had it out several time with no problems (this is a loud 40 watts!) I rarely use "more drive" since I play classic rock/blues, but have played through the "drive" channel which isn't as bad as others have indicated (although I only have the dive on 3 or 4 - at this level, it sounds very much like my TS7 tubescreamer).
In my opinion, there are too many features on this amp...Fender should have bagged the "more drive" and presence and gone for tremolo and tube reverb instead. Overall, this amp has more features than I will ever need.

I use an SRV Strat direct through the clean channel in combination with a TS7 tubescreamer when required. I've been playing for 20 years (although primarily acoustic bluegrass/blues for the past 8 years) and am just getting back into electric. This amp is great for my style (blues/Scotty Moore picking) and has an exceptionally clean, glassy tube tone, BUT, it is not the same sound as the older Fender tube amps...not better or worse, just not the same (although I don't know how you could build in 30 years of "experience" into a new amp anyway!) Crank the volume to 7-8 of 12 on the clean channel and let it rip - you will love the sound this HR delivers. Just be aware that the natural distortion is a bit crispier than the older Fenders (although I've heard it mellows out as you break it in - and I have considered ditching the groove tubes). It tends to be a bit noisy at times, but nothing too obnoxious. Bottom line, if you need a versatile, great sounding tube amp for under $1,000, nothing compares to this package!

Too new to tell. However, the jewel light went out within hours of getting it home - called Musician's Friend and within a week I had a new one (the local Sam Ash dealer said there was no way they could get their hands on one for me??)

Too new

Overall, I am very very pleased with my purchase. This amp delivers everything I could want at a reasonable price. Sure, I could go for the nth degree in tone and buy a used Vibrolux or Pro Reverb, but at $700-$800 for ones that have generally been screwed around with internally, why take the risk. As someone once told me, you can buy vintage equipment and yet have a "money pit" keeping that vintage tone, or you can buy a new high quality tube amp and create your own vintage piece as it gets broken in over the years. Take it from me (I've been down the vintage road one too many times), go with the HR Deluxe! If stolen, I would definitely grab a new one, and I only compared it to other Fenders (I guess I did look at a few Marshalls). As far as I'm concerned, Fender has no peers if you play blues/classic rock.

This amp is a relatively cheap tube amp, so don't expect it to be loaded with every feature under the sun. I give a high rating because you can't compare it to a $1500 amp. There are things that would be nice, like separate equalization between each channel, maybe some tremelo effects etc.
This amp has been extensively reviewed, the features on mine aren't any different so I won't waste space those. See the Overall Rating block for a detailed description.

The paperwork included a schematic and a component layout diagram. This thing is simple and would be fairly easy to repair if you have any tech abilities. My wife won't let me touch it because it is still under warranty. It has Groove Tubes in it.

I play a Gibson LP Studio. The amp handles blues, some vintage rock nothing with extreme crunch.
The amp is fairly versatile, you can scoop out midranges, emphasize treble. It has controls for presence, brightness and reverb. It is not a Marshall - so don't expect Marshall crunch. Clean is awesome. See Overall Rating block for more.

Blew up after owning it two weeks. Nothing I did, just playing along an moderate volume and then a loud pop as the channel switching circuitry blew out. I wouldn't gig any equipment with a backup plan of some sort. I rate it fairly low because others have complained about the channel switching frying in theirs too. It is an area that fender obviously needs to work on. See Customer support for more on this.

Warranty is 5 years - transferrable .....

I had a Fender Guitar, briefly, it was a total piece of shit. So buying another fender product was low on my list of priorities. After tons of research, I was considering either this or a tube Marshall. The dealer mentioned that Marshall's were not near as reliable and I have already read about the pains of getting a Marshall fixed. My fender blew up 2 weeks after I bought it. In the middle of playing the channel switching circuitry went tits up with a loud pop and started humming loud (not even in tune). I still had the clean channel.

If you live in the Oklahoma City area, then beware - all local dealers are dickheads. Their prices suck - they think you should kiss their ass for giving you 10% off list price. Their service sucks even worse - Fender authorized repair centers won't touch your stuff unless you bought it from them. The shop in Norman wouldn't even look at my amp for 2 weeks. I ended up driving 90 miles to Enid to a dealer. His equipment prices suck bad too, but I had my amp repaired in 4 days.

Here is the scoop with Fender amp service. Fender pays the local authorized service shop like an insurance company. The shop writes up the problem and fender pays what they consider a "reasonable and customary" amount for the repair. The shop and Fender don't always agree what that amount should be - then the shop dicks around the customer and blames Fender. This is a SIMPLE amplifier circuit (that includes the channel switching stuff). Others have complained about bad service. If I were them, I would take my amp to a different service center. Their shop is either screwing with them or their techs are TOTAL IDIOTS who shouldn't be allowed to touch a soldering iron anyway. Either way the customer loses. Some problems, like the hum in mine, are difficult to prove (is it normal in this amp?) you have a problem so don't bother with a service tech unless you know him well and can demonstrate the problem at his shop.

I replaced my practice amp with this one. Originally wanted a solid state amp because I didn't want to pay the price for a tube amp and have a heavy nut buster to lug around. Turns out that and equivelant 100W power solid state amp (ya needs more power for solid state because you don't want the output stage to clip) costs and weighs just as much. Comparing them side by side in the store, the HR blew away a Princeton. I play a Gibson LP Studio and wanted an amp to take advantage of the great axe tone.

Here's the pro's and cons:

Pros:
1. This amp has got an awesome glassy clean tone, with a classic fender swirling sound added in. Once you push the volume up too high, it starts to lose that glassy tone, but this is not a quiet amp and you have lots of headroom. The feel of a tube amp will never be matched with any simple solid state design. The preamp tubes are in a non-feedback circuit configuration, so all the tube style distortions show up added together.
2. Others like to rag on the drive channels. I can't really agree. Once your playing ability progresses to the point of realizing that sometimes less is better than more, you'll turn down the drive to 3 or 4 (of 12) and realize that the distortion is unique to this amp, just like Marshall distortion is unique to Marshalls. The swirling effect becomes more pronounced. I don't like the drive knobs set to full on this amp. If you gotta have Marshall crunch, I would suggest you either get a Marshall amp or get a stomp box. You can always muddy up a clean tone, you can't make a clean tone out of crap (Crate).
3. The reverb is awesome too, used in moderation. This is the only part of the signal path that is solid state, it still sounds good.
4. Other stuff like the presence knob and brightness button don't seem to matter that much. I never bother with the button and the presence should have been a button instead of a knob.
5. Other's have complained about the amp being too bassy. I play in a larger room and have the amp pulled a few feet from a wall. Sitting on the floor, without a stand, I can adjust the equalization to overcome the bassy tendancy. Its not a problem for me. If it gives you trouble and you are in a small room, try putting it in the center of the room on a stand pointing slightly upward.

Cons:
1. The volume and master volume controls just plain piss me off. Fender has such a fine sounding amp here, I just don't know why they had to resort to cheap trickery like using linear pots instead of audio pots. Invest in a 20 foot cord so you don't rupture an eardrum if you breath on the volume knob too hard. This is plenty loud for a home at 1.25 on the dial. At 1.26, the cops will knock on your door. At 2 (of 12), the volume is pretty much maxed out.
2. The clean channel has a hummmmmmmm that is obvious at low volume levels (that would be 1.24). It isn't objectionable at higher levels (1.26). The hum doesn't show up until the amp has warmed up for 10 minutes and is there without anything plugged into it. I'll probably try to find the problem myself.
3. If you live in an apartment or small house and can't crank it up, DON'T BUY THIS AMP. It likes/needs to have some power across them tubes, at ultra low volume settings it gets sterile - you would be better off with a practice amp. This thing is LOUD for 40W - that's why the shitty volume controls really suck. Don't get me wrong - I'm not complaining - I can turn it up where I live.

EXELENT BLUES AND CLASIC ROCK AMP
2 CHANNELS CLEAN AND DRIVE
FEATURES ARE GOOD. I USE THIS AMP FOR ROCK BLUES
PLENTY OF POWER

SOUND IS GREAT CLEAN CHANNEL IS AWSOME
DISTORTION IS GREAT FOR BLUES AND CREAMY DISTORTION

NO PROBLEMS TO DATE ABOUT 1 YEAR

BEEN PLAYING FOR 24 YEARS
I PLAY A FENDER DELUX. THIS IS A AMP FOR THIS GUITAR
I BOUGHT THIS AMP FOR BLUES SOUND, AND CHRISTAL CLEAR SOUND
BEST VALUE FOR UNDER $600

1998 model-see above for features. I only wish it had a tremelo channel.

I play a 1961 tv yellow Gibson SG, That was customized by Virgil Lay of Akron, Oh. in 1972. (that Virgil, that owns S.I.T. strings) I use S.I.T. power wounds. Virgil installed a Double wrapped humbucker and tune-o-matic bridge with plastic saddles. The combination of this guitar and hot rod amp is amazing. It's especially sweet on the clean
channel playing blues or jazz, but I have no problem cranking up the treble, presence and drive and hammering out anything from Hendrix to Metallica. This amp and guitar combo has made me 19 again. (My wife will attest) This amp performs best when turned on ahead of time to let the tubes heat up.

Yes, but I allways make sure to have replacement tubes on hand in case. No breakdowns to report

I"ts a Fender. Nuff said!

35 years. I own an acoustic electric (abilene) and classical.
I would replace it. I love the Fender sound. I compared it to Marshall,Peavey,Randall,Gibson and Haney. This was definitely the best bang for the buck.

1998 model-see above for features. I only wish it had a tremelo channel.

I play a 1961 tv yellow Gibson SG, That was customized by Virgil Lay of Akron, Oh. in 1972. (that Virgil, that owns S.I.T. strings) I use S.I.T. power wounds. Virgil installed a Double wrapped humbucker and tune-o-matic bridge with plastic saddles. The combination of this guitar and hot rod amp is amazing. It's especially sweet on the clean
channel playing blues or jazz, but I have no problem cranking up the treble, presence and drive and hammering out anything from Hendrix to Metallica. This amp and guitar combo has made me 19 again. (My wife will attest) This amp performs best when turned on ahead of time to let the tubes heat up.

Yes, but I allways make sure to have replacement tubes on hand in case. No breakdowns to report

I"ts a Fender. Nuff said!

35 years. I own an acoustic electric (abilene) and classical.
I would replace it. I love the Fender sound. I compared it to Marshall,Peavey,Randall,Gibson and Haney. This was definitely the best bang for the buck.

Amp made in '99. More than enough power, I have to turnit down to 1 or 2 most of the time, especially when I play at church. The three channels provide plenty of room to manuever.

I use a hamer sunburst. Very warm tones with nice overdrive, definitely not a shredders amp.

Never broken down

Never dealt with the company.

Great look, nice weight to power ratio, good portability.I would definitely buy it again if it got stolen. My choice for the best tub amp in this price range.

There is 3 channels, its very useful, for lead guitar
Its 40 Watts but Its can blow yours ears drums. I play with a very loud drummer and I never pass the volume over 5

I use it with Fender Roadhose strat and sound great for blues, with a little work on it, I can sound like Stevie Ray Vaughan

I use it for a long time and never had problem with it

I never had to deal with

I own a vox wah.wah and a Roadhouse strat,very nice for blues

Forty watts RMS. Two input jacks. A clean channel and an overdrive
channel. It has two input jacks, one for normal and one for high-level
inputs. Reverb, with spring container lying along bottom of the
cabinet as in older Fender combos. A brightness switch, a channel
select switch, an overdrive "more" boost switch. A footswitch with
channel select button and "more" overdrive button - has LED indicator
lights and plugs into 1/4" input jack in c/p. Preamp output jack and
power amp input (i.e.,effects loop). A clean channel volume control, presence control, gain control and master volume control (both for
overdrive channel), bass, mid and treble tone controls. Controls are
'chicken head' style, which I prefer. Control panel is located on top
rear of cabinet and is made of chromed metal - this is a 'vintage amp'
affectation which is slightly inconvenient. The controls ARE better
protected from transportation damage though then if they were front panel mounted. There is a red jewel pilot-light on the control panel.
The cabinet is open-backed. There is one 12" Eminence speaker. The speaker is connected to the chassis by a short 1/4" jack so that it
can be disconnected. There is a second speaker output lead jack for
connecting an external speaker cabinet.
The chassis has the tubes mounted so that they hang down. The tubes
are 3X12ax7s and 2X6L6. My amp has Sovtek tubes which have "Fender"
labels, although the newer HRDs come with Groove Tubes. The amp is
finished in black tolex. It came with a fabric protective cover which
slips over the top of the amp.
Given my straight-forward requirements, and recalling the amps I used
back in the early '70s,(Traynors and Marshalls) I consider this to
be a richly featured amp. It is also a very convenient size for such
a powerful amp. I would have preferred it to have corner protectors.
My only quibble is that the volume control is designed so that there
is a really big increase in volume between 0 and 3, and then less
relatively from there on up. This is a piece of sneaky marketing (in
my opinion) to fool prospective buyers into thinking that the amp is
hugely powerful in the store. It penalizes the purchaser who has to
make very delicate adjustments to the volume, since small movements
of the knob create big changes. This ruse is disrepectful to the
intelligence of Fender's customers and I resent it. The amp was made
in 1997.

After listening to many amps over the course of a 3-month selection
process, I was staggered by the richness and fullness of the clean
channel on this amp. I'm a pro cellist and have a highly trained
ear, so this opinion is not lightly given. The reverb is a great
asset, although I can't imagine turning the effect up past '2', after
which it gets too wet. My guitars are a Fender Stratocaster which
was made in 1958, and a Les Paul Studio (early 1998). My son uses
this amp with his '98 Fender Strat (made in Mexico - the tone is very
very close to my old '58 though). I find the overdrive channel to
possess very rough and course distortion. My son loves it, but I find
it to be aurally fatiguing if the overdrive gain is turned up much
past 2 or 3. It is a very similar distortion to that which Clapton
gets on his "Bluesbreakers" solos. For this reason I use a BOSS OD-3
(which doesn't filter out low end tone) for milder smoother overdrive
and sustain through the clean channel. For a Collin James-style swing
sound I use the overdrive channel at about '2'. On NewYears eve
I listened to a set by a local yuppie band and the guitarist played
a modern strat through an HRD. He used the overdrive channel up high continously for the whole set and it was really grating - gave me a
headache. I finally stuck in some earplugs. No one else seemed to
mind, so maybe I'm just a wuss - or hadn't had enough beer. The amp
is capable of very bassy sounds and needs to be radically redialed
when I switch between my Fender and Gibson. Incidentally, I dug out
my 30 year old Vox wah and the tone is so rich through this amp that
it sounds like it's on steroids!
The tone controls allow an enormous amount of range in tonal
configuration and I expect it will take me years of experimentation
to master the tonal palette of this amp. This is a professional
instrument, not a toy. I'm not subtracting points for the overdrive
because I suspect it's only a matter of taste.

I bought this amp used. The 1st owner took excellent care of it and
it is in immaculate condition. It has the original tubes. It is very
robustly contructed, although it lacks corner protectors. I would
carry spare tubes for gigging, of course. The compact size of the
amp makes it easier to move around and less likely to be dropped and
banged. The tubes are mounted close to the opening at the back, which
makes them easier to replace (good) but vulnerable to possible damage
(bad). This is a trade-off of conveniences. All the control dials turn
smooth and clean with no dirt.
Finally, the amp has no buzzes or rattles at all, even after 3.5 years
of use, and thats a great indication of sturdy construction.

Haven't dealt with the company.

I've been playing electric guitar since 1968, with a long period of
inactivity from the late 70s to a few years ago (I really feel like
Rip Van Winkel, there've been SO many advancements in guitar). I've
been a professional and semi-professional cellist since the early 70s.
I've owned a few guitars, but have long loved my '58 strat, which I
picked up in a bit of horse-trading in '71. Recently fell in love with
the rich and versatile sound of the Les Paul (the 'cello' of electric
guitars). The Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amp makes my guitars sound so
much better than the Peavey solid-state I was recently using that it
was like going from black&white to colour movies. Back when I played
in bands I used a Traynor 80watt bass head and then a Marshall 100w
lead through a 2x12 Celestion green-backs in a home made cab. Back
then I didn't really understand how to use the amps - and was told
by 'experts' that playing loud enough to distort would damage the speakers and amps. Ha. I did anyway, of course - but I can't recall
ever getting the kind of richly pleasing tones that this Hot Rod
Deluxe exudes. This amp is also very powerful - a true 40watts. For
club size gigs more than enough without strain, unless you enjoy permanently damaging your audience's hearing. Anything past '2' on the
volume and I have to wear earplugs. I can't really imagine a better amplifier for my taste and requirements. Its proof that progress continues to be made in electric-guitar technology. Oh yes - value? $400 Cdn is currently about $260 US. Need I say more?

'99 model - 40 Watt single 12" all tube combo.....you know the rest.

Pristine clean to gritty overdrive, with tons of noise & feedback to spare - regardless of channel or volume.

Disappointing ! I brought it home new, still in the box from Fender. It sounded great for about an hour or so, and all but died after that ! It was promptly returned.

The guys at ProSound Music Center in Denver are great & got right on repairing it. The only problem was that it couldn't be fixed, so it was sent back to Fender. Unfortunately, I bought the last one so I had to wait for Fender to send a new one. 5 weeks later it arrived.....I guess Fender ran out of them ???

I got tired of waiting for Fender to send a replacement & traded-up for a new Marshall JCM602. Much happier with this amp as it worked perfectly from day one & I haven't had a single problem with it !

For an inexpensive combo the features on this amp are quite fine. I play blues and classic rock. Power is not an issue in small to mid sized venues. Our other guitarist has a twin reverb and I can keep up with him, drums, keys and bass with the volume on 5-6. I use the 2nd channel for a roland GR30 synth (I know the PA would be better but our PA is very limited) the deluxe does a pretty good job handling the horn sounds though the mids can talk your head off if your not careful

Strat, Heritage Les Paul, Gretsch Setzer, G&L ASAT. Depending on my mood that day or week they all sound great through the amp. Right know I'm in my anti-twang and no-nasel mode and am using the Heritage and Gretsch the most. Again for the $ this is an excellent sounding amp. The clean channel with the bass and mid up, treble and presence neutral to down just a dash of reverb is very warm. The dirt channel I crank the master to 9+ with the drive at 1-3. This lets me sweat the power tubes not the preamp. I get a very compressed sound then add a pedel for some preamp dirt. I also changed the tubes to NOS stuff that brings the power output down a bit. I'm trying to push the power tubes harder and not use the preamp tubes for dirt.

I live up north. It's in and out of pretty intense temp extremes all the time. I slipped on the Ice and the thing hit the ground really really hard... no problem. It gets used an average of 20 hours per week and its about 2-3 years old never had any problems

This amp is pretty light and compact. Completely dependable. A great sounding amp. While not in the Bruno, TopHat, Boutique class of amps its 1/4 the price. I would buy it again tomorrow.

The only reason I'm submitting this review is that it seems that few, if any reviewers use the HRD for jazz. I do, and thought that prospective owners might like my take on the amp. I should say that historically I've played through and liked solid state amps for jazz so I'm no tube purist. In fact when I play blues or funk, I play through a Line6 - which to my ears sounds much better than the HRD when using any distortion.

I play both a Guild X-175 and an Ibanez Johnny Smith through the HRD. I compared the HRD to a bunch of Twins (the HRD sounded warmer to me), a Peavey Classic 30 (which sounded amazingly good), a Fender Deluxe (not enough clean headroom), a Polytone Mini-Brute II and IV (OK but nasally in comparison to the HRD), a Roland JC-120 (precise but bright), amd a bunch of "blues" amps that didn't have enough clean headroom. Frankly, I was concerned that the HRD wouldn't have enough clean headroom and considered a Hot Rod Deville (20 extra watts and one more speaker), but so far it hasn't been a problem. I didn't play through an Evans combo, or a Walter Wood or Evans head with a RE cabinet, so I can't compare. The Evans and WW amps are fairly expensive so they would have to sound a lot better in order to justify themselves. The HRD sounds SO good and is SO cheap...

The only complaint I have with the amp is that the stock speaker is a bit boomy. I plugged the amp into another 12" speaker and I thought the articulation was better and the bottom end was tighter. I'll probably install a better 12" speaker or see if I can squeeze in a nice 15" at some point in the near future.

I've owned it for 6 months and so far it's been fine. Any prediction would be speculation.

No clue.

I've used this amp in 5 piece combo situations, playing in a "guitar trio", and in duets with another guiatrist and with a singer. The HRD is a neat amp for jazz. It sounds great and is cheap enough to justify throwing another speaker at it. This amp is a great value - jazzers should take a listen.

If you've made it this far, you need nothing futher

Folks, please hear me. This is not a metal amp. I'm so sick of all you whiners out there expecting massive distortion (noise to me) from a little combo. Come on. Get real. Anyway, back to the topic. I've played every kind of music for over 30 years, and so I know what I'm talking about. This amp is great. Yeah, I know about subjectivity okay. But for the average picker playing top forty anything at average gigs, this amp will do it. It is extremely underrated watt wise, and is very loud. No, it won't do for football stadiums okay. But come on, what do you expect in this price range.

It's a Fender. 'Nuff said.

Instead of reading the multitudes of ratings, go try one. Yes, I would replace it in a second.

Bought new in 1999. Amp can get all the classic tones one desires, with or without an overdrive pedal. It just depends on how picky you are about your tone. I play classic rock and blues and have been very satisfied with what this amp can do in this genre. The reviews below explain all of the features this amp has to offer. If you need more info, visit the Fender website.

Use a SRV Strat and PRS Custon 22 w/dragon 2 p/u's. This amp works quite well with either guitar to get a classic rock or a great clean tone. The amp is quiet except for a little noise on the more gain channel (which I didn't buy the amp for anyway and never use). The "Drive" channel is quite good even though others have reviewed this amp have said otherwise, it can sound real close to a TubeScreamer. I am a firm beliver that one should buy an amp for it's clean tone and then build upon that with quility overdrive pedals. Most amps in this price range do not have that great of distortion channels so one should not buy this amp thinking they can rock the world without a little help from the right box. I run a Vox Wah, Fulldrive 2, and a TS9(808 mod)in front of this amp and feel I have myself a rig that will satisfy my needs for a very long time. The tone this amp produces is phenominal if you know how to harness it. There is more than enough power and the size of the amp is a major asset.

I have 3 Fender amps. '76 Twin, '68 Bandmaster Head and now a 1999 Hot Rod. The others have held up for 30 years or so, I hope this one does the same

Never had any contact with Fender. Hell, who ever does?
The amp comes with a 5 year warranty.

Have played guitar for 25 years, last 10 has included gigging and a lot of pratice. I can now honestly say I know what sounds good and how to get that sound. I love blues and classic rock, if you are looking to get that beloved tone, buy this amp! If not, keep looking or go and spend a lot more and probably get less. Let's face it, the clean channel on this amp is one of the sweetest around. So if you wanna try (try is the operative word here) and sound like Stevie Ray or get a big fat sound out of your Les Paul it's all here. Remember good things come in small packages. Don't let the 1-12" speaker fool you, this amp is loud and has plenty of bottom end. A great value others are still trying to emulate.

I bought it used around a year and a half ago for about $400. You know the features, rather versatile, although I wish there was a separate EQ for the drive channels and a switch for the reverb on the foot control. I have replaced the fender speaker with a Celestion/Mesa Boogie one and use groove tubes. The amp has plenty of power (40 watts) great to crank on stage if Mr. Sound man lets me.

I run it in a dual amp set up with my Dual Professional playing a G&L Legacy with the standard pickups. It has a nice clean sound though next to the dual Prof. sounds muffled and indistinct. I know everyone says it sucks, but I use only the distortion channels. Though perhaps overly saturated and noisy, when used for slide and calmed down a little with a TS-9 Tubescreamer or an Bixonic Expandora the sustain and feedback achievable suits my slide sound perfectly. The 90 watt Celestion lets me crank it and gives it a nice treble roll off.

Unbelievably reliable. It has certainly paid its dues with many hours of bouncing around in trailer and I would certainly use the amp without a backup and have. On smaller gigs it is the only amp I use.

I don't know I have never dealt with the Fender people and since i bought it used I don't think the waranty even applies to me.

If it was stolen i would probably buy another one. Although not really known for it's distortion tones, it has become such an integral part of my sound that if faced with the same price range, I would purchase another one. I didn't really compare it to other products because it just kind of popped up in the guitar shop I was working in at the time. However it did sideline the Peavey Classic 50 head and 15" cab I have demoting it to sale for capital to be spent on tires. Hated the original speaker, it did not track well when cranked on the more drive channel. Also it is a little noisy when trying to record and a noise floor must be utilized. Overall an excellent amp and I recommend it.

Two channels, "Fender Clean" and "dirty." Two options on the dirty channel -- nice warm bluesy distortion and over-the-top distortion ("More Drive"). The features have been beaten to death by other reviewers, so I'll stop the madness here.

"Clean" channel is exactly what you buy a Fender amp for. Clear, crystalline, glass-like, ringing ... the adjectives go on and on. The "dirty" channels have a good sound, but are a little harder to control, thanks to Fender putting Master Volume and Drive controls with HAIR TRIGGERS on this puppy. I would rather have seen audio taper pots ... as would most of the players out there besides Dimebag Darrel (Fender, are you LISTENING?!).

I play a hot-rodded Les Paul Studio (SD 59 in the neck, JB in bridge) and this amp gives me loads of tone and variation. Still, the distortion is hard to tame and I'm thinking seriously of picking up a TS9 to give me more control here. I've played a Strat through one of these as well, and even though I shy away from Strats because of their nasally tone, this amp actually makes them sound delicious. In fact, I may pick up a used Strat for the leads where I need a more trebley tone.

All around, if you can't get the sound you want out of this amp and some simple effects, then you're a heavy metal wanker and should get yourself a Marshall.

This is the second of these amps I've owned (first one was bought used), and if something happened to this one, I'd pick up the phone and call my buddy Russ at the Music Exchange in Colorado Springs and order another one STAT. They're absolutely the most solid, reliable, roadworthy amps built. Period. OK, so the little "power" lightbulb burns out once in a while ... that has NOTHING to do with the actual operation of the device.

I play in a Christian worship team band. That means I rehearse once a week for several hours and "gig" once a week for several hours. That also means the amp gets trundled to and from the rehearsal hall TWICE A WEEK. And when I'm "on stage," I'm in front of people I know and love and who have been over to my house, not a bunch of drunk losers who I'll never see again. So I need equipment that performs consistently and sounds great. I've also been playing electric for 35 years, so I've been through a few amps. This one SHINES.

Haven't needed it, so can't comment. One great thing about Fender products, though ... I live in Boise, Idaho, and the local music store carries parts and has a fellow who can work on them. It's not like some highfalutin' botique amp or some weird bird made in England. Which would you rather be playing if it broke down in, say ... Boise?

I've been playing longer than most of you have been on the planet. I've played rock, blues, jazz, country, and everything in between. I've encountered all sorts of amps, and have ultimately decided that if it don't say "Fender" on it and it don't have tubes, it's CRAP. Or overpriced. Or both. This little gem delivers enough power to make the neighbors dial 911, sound great even if your bassman has a BIG 200-watt rig, cuts through the noise of a full drum kit, and won't break your back to move around. It's solid, reliable, sounds great, and under $500 brand spankin' new. I bought my first one used, and it didn't hiccup.

The Fender Hot Rod Deluxe is a great all-around amp, unless you've got a jones for the Marshall sound (can you say "amp simulator"?). It sounds great everywhere from Memphis to Nashville to Bakersfield to Detroit to New York. And it's affordable. What ELSE do you want out of an amp?!

However, if Fender would put Tremolo (are you listening, Fender?) on this puppy and put the knobs on the FRONT of the cabinet where they belong, it would be PERFECT.

Features already covered by others. Has two step overdrive channel with separate drive and volume controls, reverb, bright switch. Treble, Mid and Bass controls.

Have had this amp for a year and am dumping it. It is just too loud to play in the house. Would be a better gig amp, but as a practice amp this is just too much power. Bought it for the classic Fender clean sound, which this amp does well, even a low volumes. Add some reverb, and it sounds great on certain songs. Can be a bit bright; read that if you run a patch cord from the pre-out to the pre-in it will tone down a bit, and agree that it has that effect. Disappointed in the drive; to my ear, a TS9 straight in to the clean channel produces better tone.

Dead solid reiable. No problems. Period. Just plug it in and play.

No opinion - haven't tried to contact Fender.

Playing for ten years; currently use with Fender Custom Shop 54RI, which sounds pretty great on most any amp. Will replace the HRD with a 65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue (22 watts, half the power of the HRD.

Can't complain about the features: footswitch, fx loop, presence, standby... no surprises here. In a perfect world this'd have tremolo, separate eq for each channel and possibly even a switch to knock the power down to 15 watts or so for practice. On the other hand, this is a vintage style amp for a great price. If you want graphic equalisers buy a boogie. Hell, I could just sit and ogle this amp all day. Guaranteed to make your band go "oooooh!" the first time you whisk off the thoughtfully supplied nylon cover, which makes up for the lack of corner protectors on the cabinet. Aside from that it's built like a tank.

The clean channel is GODLIKE and the reverb is phenomenal - add a nice strat and a tasteful amount of echo and hey presto! "Wicked Game" just falls out of the guitar! Anything involving clean guitar -humbucker or single coil- sounds awesome through this amp. Turn it up and play hard if you want to hear some gorgeous bluesy breakup, though there's plenty of clean headroom if you want to keep things under control.
And the drive channel? Well, this is a vintage style amp. If you're after some lovely classic rock tones (single coil AND humbucker) from days of yore then look no further - this is the one for you. Tight, punchy rhythms (e.g. Springsteen, Tom Petty) and warm smooth leads (e.g. Dire Straits, even Paul Kossoff) are all here... just make sure you get the power amp working properly (nice and LOUD), maybe back off the preamp drive and compensate with more volume and attack. Just a little perseverance and judicious use of the guitar's own control knobs and you'll really reap the benefits as once you get used to it this amp responds well to dynamics and moderation. The "more drive" boost switch is OK for solos but is set at a fixed level, so instead I prefer the time-honoured approach of turning the guitar volume up and digging in a little harder as you've got more control this way and it sounds far better - helps prevent things getting gain-saturated and mulchy. Still, even without the boost feature this amp would be great value; the boost's there if you want it, though I really don't consider it to be a fully-fledged extra drive channel.
This amp is perfect for the sounds I want: from glassy reverbed clean to tasteful moderate overdrive. Unwanted noise is never a problem.
I think I'll knock a point off, however, because of this so-called "3rd channel" boost thingy; it sounds OK I guess, but it can't compare with the other two (especially the breathtaking clean channel).

Had it six months without even a hiccup.
I never really have to punish this amp when gigging - there's so much headroom you'll deafen yourself, and your band, long before the amp starts to struggle. As for the 4x10 deville, well I dread to think...

Never had to get it repaired.

I've been playing about 4 years. I use a Gibson Les Paul and a Fender American Deluxe Strat, plus some basic recording gear (analogue rules, burn all amp simulators!!!). This amp is everything I need for recording, for playing live (it is a wee bit loud for practice at 3am, though). I love the amp's style and its simplicity - the amp settings hardly need changing in between songs because it responds so well to changes in guitar tone & volume, picking strength etc. Admittedly it takes a little more getting used to than some of its rival amps but once you do it's fantastic, especially when used with the deluxe strat - I reckon that's an unbeatable guitar/amp combination - great tone, great feel, great looks, no noise even when overdriven. And I'd really love to get my hands on a Rickenbacker 370 12-string to play through this!
I'd definitely get another one of these amps if disaster struck.
I tried all the valve amps I could find in this price range, and for the sounds I want it won hands down. I'm going to knock one point off the overall score because all this high-gain "boost channel" stuff smacks of Fender trying to cover more bases than they need to; I don't imagine they'll be getting Slash to change over from his Marshalls anytime soon!

Bought this one new a couple of months ago. It come with Groove Tubes, so I assume it was manufactured very recently. I play mostly retro-rock and what most would call blues and have always been a Marshall freak. I bought this to get the traditional Fender clean without having to be a sucker and shell-out too much money for an over-priced reissue or used "vintage" Fender. On that basis I'm very satisfied, but I do think it's somewhat overpriced. (One thing that really stinks: Where are the corner protectors?? Come on Fender!) I won't reiterate all the features. The only thing I'd like to see that it lacks is a master volume. So far I've only used it at home. It has ample power/loudness for that. I do plan to gig with it in small clubs, otherwise I would have bought the very beautiful sounding (and also overpriced) Blues Junior. Suggestion: Be very honest with yourself about your power requirements, no matter what amp you buy. Seems like we're all getting smarter because there are lots of quality low/medium power valve amps around now a days. Bigger ain't better. One more quirk.... I hate chicken-head knobs. Can all the marketing geeks with all their retro crap as far as I'm concerned.

I have SG's and Strats and it works OK with either, but I think God created 6L6's with single coils in mind. It really shines with my ('89 American Standard) Strat on the clean channel. "Silky Glass" is what I call it. I don't find it at all too bottom-heavy like many, but remember, I'm an old Marshall guy. The clean starts to swell/break-up at around 4 on the dial, but stays sweet all the way up. Normally I stay away from distortion pedals, but the sound is so awesome with a Blues Driver or Tube Screamer that I haven't even touched the "Drive/More Drive" buttons yet. Since I didn't buy it for good distortion, I won't be disappointed if I don't like those sounds. Based on other reviews here, I'm not expecting much. The passive tone controls are very interactive, so be prepared to experiment a lot to get your sound. One thing that never stops surprising me is how "big" the sound is for a 1 - 12" combo. Really awesome spread for a little box. The reverb is OK when used very sparingly, but mushes things up too much above around "3" on the dial. My "9" rating in this category is for the clean channel only, which I think is very close to as good as it gets for a little combo.

It's definitely a well-constructed/durable cabinet, but the lack of corner protectors blows my mind. Inexcusable, I think. Electrically, it's got boards inside to cut costs, but there's no reason to think it's not fairly rugged. I personally don't gig without backups, but that's not any reflection on this amp. I'm a professional getting paid for something so I don't like having to think of excuses. If I hired a photographer and heard "sorry... no more pictures because my camera jammed..", I wouldn't be hiring him again nor recommending him to others.

Haven't dealt w/Fender in over 20 years so I can't comment.

Been playing for over 30 years. My other amps at the moment are a 1959 SLP stack and JCM602 Marshalls, a Mackie 808S, and a couple of crappy solid state Peaveys. If something happened to it, I'd definitely replace it. The only thing I've heard in it's size/power bracket that satisfies me is a Rivera Chubster. I'd give the Rivera the edge, but not at twice the price. For you purists with deep pockets, you owe it to yourself to check the Chubster before you buy. I'd be even more satisfied if the Deluxe had a master volume (and corner protectors!), but I'm really pleased with it anyway. I think Fender is smart to throw-in the cover. It costs them virtually nothing and makes us think we're getting something for nothing! The included footswitch, BTW, is very durable. In the final analysis, once one accepts that from a cost-to-manufacture point of view this thing is way overpriced (name/reputation = premium), it's still a great value. Beautiful, classic Fender tone, great loudness for 40 watts, apparent durability, and portability. No regrets at all!

(Read earlier reviews for the features)

Guitar: American Deluxe Fat Strat w/ noiseless pickups

This amp has such a beautiful clean sound. Really pristine Fender sound. I've been playing out of a Marshall TSL-122 combo and I could never really get that crystaline sound that my Fender should be making.

I've been playing around all afternoon with this thing (@6hrs) adn I really love the clean channel. The drive channel is really good in my opinion. Note: This is NOT a Heavy Metal amp. It's a good solid classic rock / bluesy amp. I play in a little club band and I've been trying like hell to get a nice bluesy sound out of my strat. Last night, we opened with Van Morisson's "Moondance" and as soon as I went into a lead on the clean channel, everyone else in the band broke into huge grins. It was great!

The drive channel (s) is/are fine. There is plenty of sustain. I found myself with a pretty boomy sound after the Groove Tubes were nice & hot, so I trimmed the bass back a bit and it was fine. I found myself playing a lot of Hendrix & SRV-type stuff all day. I hate comparing my playing to the great legends, but hey, the tone was there!! It's nice to dream...

This is a very loud amp, but it doesn't need to be in order to get good tones. My Marshall sounds great when it's cranked, but I'm tired of blasting out the rest of the guys on stage.

Fender: I had the amp home about two hours and the red power light died. It came back once later briefly, but then died again. Have you got a fix for all these amps that keep blowing the bulbs? Let us know (there's a lot of us!)

Other than this, it seems fine. Nice and lightweight, compared to my Marshall combo. Very nice when you are gigging three-four nights a week!

Nothing yet. My dealer has been very cool and has been a great help with other Fender issues (Strat, Bullet Reverb, etc.)

(Paragon Music, Omaha, NE)

I've been playing about 20 years. I'm coming off a five-year break from playing. I bought the Marshall comboa as I've always played Marshalls. After playing with a classic rock / blues group every weekend, I decided that my tastes have changed and that ti was time to try out a Fender amp. I will probably hang on to the Marshall for heavier gigs and bands, but for now I'm going to make the Fender my primary. Would I buy another? Yeah. In fact, if I sell the Marshall, I may end up buying another as a spare or use them in a stereo setup.

Everyone please read this, i will set u straight about this amp.
this amp should be a 1 channel amp, IMHO the drive channel is useless, it's just all pre amp fuzz. if you want overdrive, do it the natural way, crank it and get those power tubes working, then, if you want more drive and sustain, do as SRV did and countless others do, put a pedal that gives you more of a clean boost than overdrive through it.
i'm giving the amp an 8 because i believe it should just be a single channel amp, and it would be perfect if it had vibrato.

IMO this amp has a great clean sound. sure you could prob get better with a vintage fender or say a new twin or something, but how much would you pay? I play originals in my band, and i play blues. i love the sound i get with this amp, great clean sound - crank it up to about 4, get a nice breakup tone, crank it to 5, you get a nice slightly overdriven tone, put a ts9 tubescreamer in front of it at this stage (drive on pedal set to 0) and you get excellant crunch, a smooth lead tone, excellant sustain, controlled feedback.
this setup is also very responsive.
i love the tone i get with this amp. (i don't use the drive channel)

i can depend on it now... i bought it second hand, and started playing around with it to get the tone i wanted, and was using the foot switch at high volume. apparantly there is a design fault with these amps that when you use the foot switch at high volume, you burn something out and it causes the amp to cut out... i had it fixed, but i don't use the drive channel now so it doesn't matter
i don't worry about a backup (i'm selling my backup)

n/a i bought it used

IMHO the bottom line is, if fender had just made this amp a single channel with vibrato, then they may have had themselves a highly regarded classic amp. instead, they tried to tried to jump on the band wagon '3 channel, high gain etc' and aimed it at the wrong market who would buy the amp expecting it to have great distortion and not ever realise how great this amp can actually sound.

I just got a brand new Groove Tubes model. Y'all know the features; it's pretty flexible. The clean channel is the reason to own this amp; the other two channels are quite good, but I may just use two amps onstage--this one for clean, and my Boogie for all the dirty work, so to speak. When it comes to the overdrive, there's just no competition whatsoever--the Boogie wins hands down! But again, I bought this amp for its clean tones. This thing has more than enough power for your average club gig. Overall, Fender has done a nice job on this amp.

I use primarily a Fender Lone Star Strat and Amer Std Telecaster. I play rock, blues, funk, and jazz...this is a great blues amp! For the heavier stuff, as I said above, my Boogie DC-5 combo is much better for leads. The Hot Rod Deluxe is generally a very quiet amp even with the drive above 5 or 6 on channel 2. I tried tossing an Ibanez Tube Screamer in front of it, and it really helped the situation, but I'm just very Boogie-spoiled right now. This Fender amp sells for less than half the price of a Boogie DC5, and the clean sound just puts the overly-midrangey Boogie to shame.

I've only had it a few days, but I've already played one gig with it without a backup. It performed quite well and I grew accustomed to it quickly. I'll have to revisit this category after I've put this amp through some more rigorous situations.

Never had to deal with Fender...and hopefully never will! This amp does come with a 5-year transferable warranty--which is really nice! However, you plunk down some bucks for a relatively simple and well-built piece of equipment, it should do its job reliably for much more than 5 years, with regular care and maintenance, of course.

I've been playing guitar for 22 years. I've owned a lot of crummy amps and a few good ones, and this is my first Fender, believe it or not! I would probably replace this amp--it really gets that great vintage clean Fender Bassman tone. It may not be the best amp for the lead voice I've developed in my rock playing, but it's probably my first choice for any blues jamming, either at home or onstage. This has got to be one of the best-sounding amps out there for the money. It's very lightweight for a loud combo (only about 45 lbs, compared to other serious tube combo amps weighing in closer to 55 or 60 lbs). I also tried out the Fender Blues Junior--nice for a practice amp--but the Hot Rod Deluxe has more power and is more flexible. Definitely worth the bucks. The 212 Hot Rod Deville is also kickin', but if I had some more dough to play with, I might've picked up the 410 Hot Rod Deville. The Hot Rod Deluxe is a best bet--biggest bang for the buck, indeed!

40 watts ALL TUBE, 1X12 Special Design Eminence loaded speaker, Effects send and return, foot switch with drive and more drive, black tolex covering, groove tubes, 2 inputs, and FENDER TONE, a different fender tone in some respects though......

OK, for the record, if you want to buy a Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier (a.k.a. Triple Rectum Frier), then go buy one. If you want an unreliable Marshall, but want that tone, then go buy one. If you want a fender amp, with fantastic clean sound (SRV would have used this), a good overdrive/distortion channel, and an ANGRY more drive channel, GET THIS AMP. I use my deluxe super strat with this, which has the super fat, super strat pickups, which are very balanced, the neck pickup is the best I've ever played. I play in a country rock band, but I personally like blues of all generations, hard rock, heavy metal (metallica, not korn), funk, and everything else under the sun. It can do all that, though extreme metal will require you crank up louder, and this is a LOUD 40 watter! I play blues mostly (but love that new Kirk Hammett Metallica sound), and it works better than anything out there. It's only noisy with the single coils. The sounds range from Buddy Holly clean to James Hetfield palm muted crunch. I haven't had a chance to turn up the clean channel to see if it distorts at high volume, and if I did I may not be able to have children! It's got some freakin power. The distortion is, as I said, ANGRY. ANGRY and ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. Carlos Santana and Eric Clapton woman tone to the metal zone.

I've had it for only over a month, after using a Peavy Classic 30 for a year. I gig with no backup proudly. It hasn't had a chance to break down, but it's a fender and is hard as a rock. But since I've only had it for a month, I can only give it a rating thus far, and so far it's great.

I haven't tried to mail in the warranty. But the bassist in the band, also my guitar teacher (and damn, there's nobody better), is an authorized fender repairman. He's helped me with regular guitar maintenance and things, and I don't think anything bad is gonna happen with this amp, but if it did, I'd have the help I need.

I'm going on 6 years playing guitar. I own 8 guitars (my strat, my '72 reissue thinline, peavy wolfgang special, samick artists series, etc.), and live I use an ibanez tube screamer, danelectro cool cat, and dunlop wah pedal. I get the sound I want. I would buy this amp again definately. The weight isn't too heavy, but the sound is. I love the sound, but again, if you want the brutal chunk of slayer, you might wanna look elsewhere. I chose this amp, because of course, good sound. For the price, it's the best. If you can afford an AC30, or a Heartbreaker or something, go ahead. But if you want the best sound for under $1000, make that WAY under $1000, this is your amp. I wish it had tremlo, but I can live without it. This amp just is too good a deal to pass up.

Hot Rod Deluxe: Post '98--Groove Tubes. 40watts of all tube power. Basically a two channel amp (clean channel has a bright boost and drive has a "more drive" switch) with reverb, and presence control to compliment its three knob EQ. Standby switch is a big plus for warming up the tubes and changing instruments-relevant to its two insert capability. Every one would love a seperate EQ for each channel, but you can live with out it...

I hate to repeat what every one already knows, but I have no choice. This Fender Amp has one of the best clean sounds I have ever heard. For years I have played every major amp brand and pushed them all to the edge. Never have I heard such a phenomenal channel. The Drive channel, set properly is a great asset for harder blues and Hendrix like sounds from a non-Marshall amp. I use a '65 Strat and a Vox wah to my own taste, covering everything from SRV to Led Zeppelin to Pink Floyd and all point in between.

The tubes sound great, though I am interested in trying the Sovtek's, and so far this amp has held its own on some tough nights. My only issue was a blown indicator light after a couple of days, but hey, big deal. I play at home, on the road and in the studio and never once have a needed a bigger, sturdier or better sounding amp. It responds fantastically at every level and has never lost its sound quality at high volumes or after long nights.

Fender is Fender. Find yourself a reliable technichian in your area who is a Fender dealer or servicer and stick to him. If you really need to talk to Fender put aside a few hours and take some relaxants...

Look for less than $500 you will never find a better sounding amp. When you make a million bucks (probably using this amp) you can go and buy whatever you want, but you will probably try to get the Hot Rod Deville 4x10 just because you loved this one so much. I love this amp. If you have a problem with the drive channel (some of the reviews harkened back to this) go spend a lot of money on another amp. However, remember that you will never find a better clean channel than a nice Fender tube amp and some experimentation with the EQ (which is pre-drive so it will affect the sound) will yield the sounds you desire. You will get your MOJO WORKIN' with this baby.

Bought new in 1998. Great amp for blues and rock; I play lots of blues. 3 channels, effects loop, but you all know that. Wish it had separate tone controls for clean channel. I gig all the time and this amp has plenty of power.

My primary guitar is a 1987 American Standard Strat. I've replaced all the pickup with Demarzios. HS-3 at bridge, HS-2 middle, Fast Track 1 at neck. The clean channel turned up is fabulous in large venues, but too loud in smaller ones. The overdriven channels are fine.

Never broken down. 5-year warranty is transferable.

Have dealt with the company when I bought my Strat and they refinished the frets for me at no charge. I was without this axe (I have others) for only a week. Got to say I'm satisfied, though others aren't as pleased.

I've been playing for 37 years and have lots of other equipment. My Fender Twin sits in the garage; too big and heavy for my current use. I've got a Roland Cube 100 that I like very much. I've got a 1964 Princeton Reverb that is absolutely the best practice amp. I used it miked on my last gig as an experiment and it was fine. Many of the reviewers have been critical of the reverb in the Deluxe. However, it behaves identically to the reverb in my old Princeton. I'd get this amp again if it were lost or stolen. The size, tone and weight are just right for my needs.

See below for all the features. 1 x 12, 40w. Wish it had footswitchable reverb, better reverb, and tremolo, but it would be more expensive.

Best clean sound out there for under $1500, I guarantee. Excellent note definition.

Had this amp for almost two years, play it almost daily, gig and practice with it weekly, never had a problem or even had to change tubes. Wow.

This is now my third review of this amp. I just like to talk about it. What inspired me was that today I went and played a Line 6 AxSys amp, tempted by all the effects and stuff. I would have to trade my Fender to get the other amp.

What I came away with, once again, is that 1) These modeling amps CANNOT do Fender clean. Maybe they can do all the Marshall/Boogie distortion stuff, but they can't get the beautiful sag/warmth/string definition of a Fender. Cannot. The digital effects are awesome on those Line 6 amps, just lovely, but I'm not giving up my Fender for that. Maybe Fender will come out with a digital amp that has lots of effect options, but is still all-tube and has the luscious clean sound. Are you listening, Fender? I would think that would be something that'd sell, since everyone is always comparing Fender clean to something else....it's the benchmark against which all other amps are judged in that category.

When I stand in front of my HR Deluxe, with Les Paul or Danelectro in hand, the tone just explodes from the speaker. Once again I'm not moving.

If you're thinking about this amp, and can't afford any more than $450 or $500, look no further. Unless you want to play Korn. But why would you want to do that?

Mine is a 1996, Pre-Groove Tubes.
All the normal features.
I play original rock / blues / jazz.
Wish it had seperate pre-amp settings for drive channel.

I have two uses for this amp. One is my normal live setup. American Deluxe Fat Strat, or LP Standard, or other guitar; into Fulltone FullDrive 2, into the amp.

Like most, I got this for easy size / weight / price ratio. I also love the Fender clean sound.

A lot of posts complain about the Drive channel. I find it very useful if I set the Drive down to about 6 or 5. I get a bluesy overdrive that is just a notch dirtier than the clean channel. Then when I select the More Drive, I get a full overdrive. I also use my Fulltone overdrive to drive each of the three channels with its two gain and overdrive stages. This gives me a total of 6 unique sounds... plenty of flexibility for my needs there.

My second setup is guitar into POD into PowerAmp In. This works great if you use the POD software to turn the AIR off completely and /or the amp cab emulation off. By using the POD as a pre-amp, and adding the warmth of the Fender's poweramp you get a sound that IMHO is far superior to the Flextone amps with solid state poweramps.The overdrives in the POD like the Marshall, Soldono, and Mesa models just sing with this setup.

Everything is working fine so far. I probably will try the Groove Tubes when it's time to change them.

Never dealt with them.

I've been playing for over 20 years and have had a variety of Marshall, Fender, Peavey and other amps. My ears tend to like the tube sound and this amp delivers this very nicely.

I really like this amp. I intend to keep this no matter what additional amps I buy. The clean sound is unmistakably Fender!

The POD has given me the desire to check out other higher priced amps like the Budda Twinmaster, Dumble's, Soldono's, Vox's, and other amps sure to put pressure on my bank account. But the HR Deluxe will always be a fun tool.

Perfect for Blues
Supposed to be three channels Clean, Overdrive, More Overdrive. Foot switchable.
Features include 1X12 speaker, Extra speaker jack for 8ohm enclosure. reverb, effects loop, bright switch, two volumes.
It is the only amp I own right now, I use it for recording and live.

I use only Strats, usually with Texas specials. My main guitar is a '79 (weighs more than a Les Paul).
I have been playing for 16 years. Used to be a shredder, now I lean heavily on blues, and this amp is perfect for that.
Amp Can be noisy, but that is attributed to the single coils.
Distortion is Angry, Very Angry. But that is why it is so beautiful.

Very dependable, I would replace Grove tubes with Sovteks because it warms the tone up a bit. This is just my opinion. I have only heard that people have had minor problems. But I have owned it for a year everything works fine.

Fender is usually good about waranties and repairs. I have not had to deal with them yet though

First of all, I have read every one of the reviews for this amp. I am sick and tired of people whining that they are disappointed with the distortion in this amp. This amp has mean, gritty, angry distortion. I would even go so far as to say that if it existed when SRV was alive, he would have tossed the TS808. Make no mistake, you will not get that sloopy "Chunkity Chunk Chunk" distortion like you get from a Marshall or a Boogie. But this is a "players amp" it will not hide a lack of talent. It has alot of presence yet is warm at the same time. If you like Road House or Texas Blues, you wont find a better amp for the price. I don't really use any effects at all. I just plug-in and play. The drive does smooth out real nice at high volumes. But if you are not able to "crank" it, use a Dyna-Comp or something like it with the compression set low, and the level high. One thing that would be an improvement is a JBL or EV speaker. But then it would be more expensive.
I did compare this amp to the new line of Peavey Combo amps, Marshall Combos, Line 6 amp model combos, and Boogie Combos. Nothing cut throug like this.

3 footswitchable channels,clean,drive,more drive. effects loop, ex. speaker jack. 1 12" speaker, 40 watts, vintage chicken head knobs. open back cab. Tubes.

Iv been playing for 25 yrs and i think this amp sounds great. I play rock,blues and jazz. The clean channel sounds fat and tubelike , the amp has alot of clean channel headroom and is pretty loud.A presence knob adds a little eq variety. The reverb sounds very nice. the amp sounds almost as good as some of the vintage vibroluxes and supers. not quite as transparent and the reverb i dont think is tube driven and sounds slightly less lush. The dist. channel: forget it, both the drive and more drive channels sound lousy. Raspy, uneven, and preamp sounding. Not good, but just pick up your fav. stomp box for dist. and youll be alot better off.

Iv always had good luck w/ fender products

forget it , very hard to contact. they do give people a schematic w/ the amp for easier servicing

I think its a nice amp for smaller clubs ect. I would check out the one w/ 60 W and 2 12s for larger hall needs. I wish fender would make a tweed hot rod amp that was just simple. just 1 clean channel and lush reverb.

Full features here; but the much-boasted dual overdrive feature is over-rated The pre-amp out feature is WONDERFUL. I've used it to run an old Fender 75 (1 x15") to boost general sound and low end and have been very happy with the results

My "10" score applies to the amazing clean abilities of this amp. The two overdive voicings are decent for solos, but way too indistinguished and muddy for good, tight and distorted rhythm work. I fact, I never ever use the overdrive --preferring pedals instead. That having been said, this amp sounds GREAT for distorted leads and rhythm (single-coil & humbucker) if you use pedals (I use Daddy-0, old DeArmond, and Fulltone). My highest ranks for this amp go for the versatile tone and presence controls, and the great reverb. But, be aware that this amp is shockingly LOUD....so you may never know how the clean channel distorts if you're into home/apt recording. I've used the pre-amp out feature to run other amps (with tremolo and/or 15" speakers) and found that using this great amp as a pre-amp really improves the sound of the other amps----whose features I may desire (i.e. 15" speakers).

2 years of steady (home, not road) playing....no probs or complaints

No probs.....so no opinions

It's great!!! I have no intention of buying another amp. I do mostly home recording, but this thing'll fill any club you've ever visited. I've used the preamp-out

2 Channels. All Tube. Pre standard groove tubes. Deep, clean tube reverb-very nice. Effects loop. Master volume for the distortion channel. Presence control. It has a bright switch - nice feature. Footswitch and cover. I use this amp as a practice amp and it is overkill for this task. I could see using in small clubs, but you'd probably be better of with DeVille (2x12, 60 watt) model.

I use a Strat with 3 single coils. The clean is the best you can get - excellent Fender quality. Doesn't break up at all. The distortion channel is great. It has two modes normal and MORE DRIVE. It will get good and distorted in normal. And it will send you over the top in the MORE DRIVE mode. Very nice. If you like Fender (6L6) distortion, the Hot Rod model is a great choice. If you prefer the Marshall EL34 distortion, get a Marshall. The Fender distortion won't get as nasty as a Marshall.

No problems yet except the indicator Lamp burnt went out the first time I turned it on. Bought it used from original owner. It looks to be 2 years old.

I haven't had to call them. They have all the manuals online at their web site. They didn't have the lamp and sent me to their parts distributor. THe lamp was cheap but their shipping and handling prices were quite high.

I've been playing 20 years. Own a Mesa Mark IV with a 2-12 celestion cabinet. I would buy it again. I comapred to other amps of it's size (1x12) and nothing even came close. Including the Marshalls, Valvestates, etc. The Mesa's were more than I was willing to pay. If you like Fender clean and you like Fender distortion (ala Stevie Ray)- Buy it. You won't be disappointed.

Mine is post 98, with Groove Tubes. I have read that the old Sovtek's sound better. Would love to hear email on this topic. By now everyone knows the features. So far, I've found the drive channel subpar (anyone care to recommend a distortion pedal?) but i'm thinking it may be workable. Obviously the lack of seperate eq's for each channel limits tinkering with the drive channel's tone. The "more drive" feature was a great thought, but I wish it wasn't so noisy (but this shouldn't matter much if engaging it while the band is cranking). I'm a little concerned that my HR has less headroom than many other reviewers have described. Mine begins to break up around 4 on the clean channel. Any comments? I'm thinking about taking it into a store and comparing it to another one to see if mine is normal. For the cost, this unit has ample features, but there are definitely a wealth of amps on the market that offer more features. I didn't really consider features when buying this amp though, it was all about the...

The clean channel is amazing. The best I've heard of any amp, period. For 500 bucks I had to buy it. I'm waiting to see how it works with various distortion pedals (guess what I'm in the market for next). As I stated earlier, I'm a little concerned about how quickly I begin to get distortion on the clean channel, but this doesn't really sound terrible anyway and it may just be "my" amp and not all HRs. My guitar is equipped with a fender strat pickup and DiMarzio PAF's. This amp sounds beautiful with everything I put through it in the store, and also at home. I subtract one point because I think the distortion really could have been better....

I've been playing for around 12 years, various styles, but mainly attempting to develop my own style. If I lost this amp I might get another one, but I might upgrade to something bigger (although it would have to sound sweet). I've heard great things about some Carvin tube amps, and the Boogie Heartbreaker is a great amp too (great distortion) but it would depend more on my wallet and if I was gigging alot. I compared this amp to a Fender Deville, Twin, and ProSonic. It was the cheapest and in my opinion the best sounding by far (on clean channel, none had distortions I was really happy with). I give this amp an 8, but for the pricetag you might want to adjust my scale and give it a 10. I'm giving it the 8 in comparison to other amps regardless of the price.

Two and a half channel 40W all tube combo (Two channels plus a 12db boost on the drive channel). Normal 3-band eqalizing, clean volume, drive and master volume (drive) brightness and serial FX loop.
NO dry/wet poti on the (serial) FX-loop EQ works on both channels 2 inputs for active/passive guitars (different volume but no different sound characteristics)

This is THE BLUES AMP. Owning a Marshall JCM for some time now, I wanted something with a clean and warm crunchy sound. This is it. Once you accept the limited number of potis (Marshall gives you more buttons to play with..) you will be astonished by their effectiveness. The sound really changes, when you add one more point of mids or bass. I found my sound the first day I used it and never changed anything eversince. The clean channel is very powerfull and has enormous bass and mids. The treble and hights are sparkling all over it (brightness swich!), if you play a Startocaster (r have a Les Paul and want to sound like "under the bridge") you want to try this amp. I never put the drive channel to the limit. It's frozen at 3 and that's it. A brilliant and very lively clean sound, a warm and powerful blues drive and for the solo a booster. They don't come any better.
BUT: This amp doesn't adept to your sound. No Metal, no HI-Gain, no distorsion worth talking about. This is definately not an amp for the Eddy van Halen fanatic. There is a good overdrive available, but it is heavyly on the bass side, so it sounds very special and not very nice. Maybe if you use a disto stomp box, but then, hey, why not buy a Marshall Valvestate for half the price. The FX-loop has no bypass or wt/dry knob, so you have to put all the signal through some (cheap? digital?) FX device and if this device changes the sound (adds signal power, cuts hights, you name it) there is no way to work around. No parallel channel. This would be a cheap gimmick to add, so I don't know why Fender didn't put it in. Again, every Valvstate has it. And a Marshall JCM as well.

I played my last gig with it 3 days ago. It never let me down, but I always play two amps on stage, so I may not be too concerned about failure. Still no nay never a problem rates a

No repairs yet.

There are pros and there are a lot of cons to this amp. As a matter of fact I would rate it a 10 in every category, because I bought exactly what I wanted. An amp for powerpowerpowerful clean and warmwarmwarm silky smooth blues sounds. If this is what you are after, stop searching, you got it. If you are looking for an amp to play different styles of music (say, you are a playing in a TOP-40 outfit) you won't like it for it has only one (very "bassy") sound. I think noone will buy it as a first or second amp in his life, it takes years to come down to this.If you aren't shure yet, compare it to a Marshall JCM2000-401. It is the same idea with more distorsion and less clean power. My decision was made between those two (and I am happy as hell with the Fender)

Nsense in rehashing - see other posts here for the features listing. Two points subtracted for the lack of drive channel EQ. Big bonus is the light weight for such a powerfully loud amp. It's just right for my live band situation but may be a bit much for you bedroom pickers.

In a word - incredible! I use a custom Buscarino tele-style with DiMarzio pickups, an Ibanez strat-style with Bill Lawrence OBL HB and SC p/ups and a SD Hot Rails in the middle, and an Epiphone Les Paul. I have been able to get a pretty wide variety of tones (short of Death Metal shred) by the selective use of a few Danelectro and Boss pedals between the gtrs and the amp, and I only use the fx loop for delay and chorus (cool cat, DD5). I sometimes run my POD through it and it sounds pretty good that way too. The clean channel is the main attraction and I use it almost exclusively, but the drive channel gives a homegenous yet ballsy ZZ Top tone (even with the non-les paul guitars!). I have yet to find a good use for the more drive feature (too loud and too gritty for my taste). For Texas blues (a la SRV) and most Classic Rock sounds, this amp is fine. Even country-ish sounds can be gotten fairly easily, but if you want that big VH brown sound or any of the Vai/Satriani/Hair-band tones you'll be disappointed due mainly to the single 12" - I think a 4x12 is required for that. The Clean channel dirties up when I crank it over 6 - I wish it had a little more headroom - but I have no problem being heard and I play in a LOUD band. Even the other guitarist (with his 100W Marshall) hears me fine on his side of the stage. And he wants one of these amps BAD! Some people have complained of it's bassiness, and I think it is a little boomy on the low end, but I just hoist it up on a chair and it solves that problem right away.

2+ years gigging every weekend and NO problems. I take reasonable care of it, and it has never even hiccupped on me. I never take backups along. Typical Fender roadworthiness. It has the original tubes (NOT Groove Tubes - the earlier models used Sovteks I think), and it still sounds wonderful. Hope I didn't just jinx myself...

Never had to deal with them, but I too have heard the horror stories. Bottom line - deal with a reputable DEALER who will support you with loaners etc. and DON'T depend on the manufacturer. Do you send your broken down car back to GM or Ford?

Been playing pro since '77, owned LOTS of amps (and guitars, keys, PA's etc.). Worked at Thoroughbred Music and a few other retailers for the past 10 years so I know a few things about gear - this is the BEST modern-era (post '65) sub-$1,000 amp I have ever owned. If it was lost or stolen I would buy another one immediately. And I would kill those responsible for losing/stealing it. Like everyone else, I wish it had a tube reverb and eq for the drive channel, and I would ditch the more drive in favor of tremolo. It's not for everyone, but then what amp is?

40W, tri-mode, all-tube 1-12 combo amp w/ reverb and effects loop

Strat, Tele and Paul style custom built instruments. It sounds great with any decent guitar, and is loud enough to use in most reasonable situations. Not the most versatile beast around, but good straightforward classic sounds.

Yes, I would use it without a backup amp, but only after reinforcing the bodies of the input jacks to the circuit board with silicone or hot-glue; the solder joints on these style jacks are notoriously unreliable, and they need strain-relief. Very easy design to service, and I have worked on most of them.

I do my own repairs and modifications.

My overall rating is very favorable, but my main purpose for submitting this review is to address a few common misconceptions that I see in some other reviews: "This amp is REALLY LOUD, even at 1 or 2!" I presume these individuals are referring to the lead volume. This amp use a LINEAR taper pot for the lead master, and an AUDIO taper pot for the clean master. Both are 100k ohms. All vintage amps that I know of use an audio taper pot. A linear taper pot set at "1" will produce a volume equivalent to an audio taper pot set at "5", or half-rotation. When both are set at 10, they are identical. Fender did this purely as a showroom gimmic to get you to THINK the amp's lead channel is ridiculously loud, and it seems to have worked. The first thing I did with mine was to replace the lead master control with an audio taper pot so that I could play at practice-amp levels easily. It still gets just as loud when I turn it up, but now I can actually turn it DOWN. "This amp has lots of bass; I think it may be based on the old Bassman circuit." Yes, this amp has lots of bass, but for two different reasons. Primarily, the speaker and cabinet combination is remarkably bass-heavy. If you unplug the speaker and attach the amplifier to different speaker cabinets, you will immediately see what I mean. The other reason is that the wiring of the midrange control is unusual and prevents the bass control from being able to bleed off very much bass. This allows the tone stack to pass more overall bass than any vintage Fender circuit, including the Bassman. Personally, I wanted to be able to dial out more bass, particularly in live settings. I've since made the very simple modification necessary to tame this, and I will be glad to share the details with any interested parties. I have one other simple modification which allows me to control the high end of the lead mode POST-DISTORTION. This DRAMATICALLY improves the smoothness of the lead modes, creating instant Carlos-tone. With these mods, this amp's versatility is vastly improved.

This amp gets a 9 simply for a lack of seperate EQ for the drive channel(s). Everything else is there as far as your workhorse amp is concerned. Normal/Bright for the clean channel, Drive/More Drive for the dirty channel. Plenty of reverb, Plenty of volume, great tone.
Yeah, tube reverb, built in-tremolo, footswitchable reverb would be nice. But I've only got $500

I've got a strat and I wanted overdrive for blues leads and a clean channel for funk/blues/church music. This amp gives it to you and then some. Pretty much an ideal blues amp for $500.
I took at look at the one-channel Fender amps (Vibrolux, Twin Reverb, Deluxe Reverb) and they all sounded too bright to me. This amp is a lot bassier (I think it's based off the old Bassman's), offers a lot of warmth and moves a lot of air. It's got plenty of hi's, but I find I have to back off on the bass because the overdrive adds bass because it's an all tube amp.
The 2 drive voicings (they're not channels) fit a bluesman well. Drive is good for inbetween, SRV-ish (Note to self: I'm not Mr. Vaughan, I won't sound like him) sounds, while the More Drive will settle your Hendrix/Page needs. I don't think this amp will do metal.
Switching Drive/More drive adds volume, which is another strike agains this amp. I recommend a Marshall Valvestate to anyone who wants their clean/dirty channels to have identical volumes and EQ all at a quiet level in their bedroom. This amp is VERY loud, I have yet to take it above 2 for fear of blowing up my apartment building. (So I don't know where the clean channel breaks up) Can't wait to play this with a drummer and bass.

Built like a tank, which is good because I have yet to hear anything good about Fender's customer support. I'd gig without a backup, but then again I work a day job and don't place my fate in the hands of my equipment.

Heard horror stories.

If you want an all-tube, multiple channel amp for $500 that gives you great blues tone, this sucker's yours. Its sound makes me want to keep playing, which ultimately is what you want out of an amp. I just wish I woudn't be fiddling with the EQ so much. . . .

Brand new 1999 model - you know the features. Okay gang - I bought this amp because I liked both channels and I needed a 1x12 for recording. You won't hear me gripe about the OD or compare it to other brands. I play originals and covers in the rock and alternative world, and I have spent several years in pursuit of a slightly distorted yet authoritative tone a la Petty, Dada and Matchbox 20. I record at low to medium volume, but the HRD has gone head to head with a 100W half stack in a band rehearsal and was heard loud and clear by all (and complemented the sound of the brit stack nicely). The only lacking features are dedicated tone controls for the drive channel and a 3 button footswitch for clean/drive/more drive/reverb.

I play an Ernie Ball Music Man Silhouette with H-S-H pickups, and the HRD gives me the clean, semi-OD and OD sounds I was searching for. For a scooped, high gain sound I use a Tech 21 XXL pedal that tonally fits hand in glove with the amp. This amp replaces an all-tube '94 Concert 1x12 and before that, a '90 Princeton Chorus. The Princeton Chorus was all I could afford at the time. The Concert never quite worked for me - too loud, microphonic reverb and tubes, gritty overdrive and rattles in the chassis. I read about the HRD here and in the forum at Fender's website (went there to share my Concert woes). I sold the Concert for $450 and plunked down $50 more to buy this amp, and I am very pleased. It's super quiet for a tube combo and has a "live" quality when you open it up past 3 that is just remarkable. It fills the room. The clean channel will distort if you want that sound, but at pretty high volume. The drive channel suites me best with the drive set around 4-5 and the volume at 5. I control the rest from the guitar. With the single coil or the combination pickup settings I get a really sweet, pleasing level of "simmer." Switch to the bridge humbucker and open the volume, and the thing just hits you like a sledgehammer - thick and meaty.

I haven't had it that long, so I can't comment. It's built really solid, and the Groove Tubes are a major improvement over the Fender-label tubes in the Concert. I take good care of my gear, so I'd gig with it without a backup, no problem.

It comes with a 5 year transferable warranty and there are 2 good service centers here. I haven't dealt directly with the company, but I highly recommend a visit to Fender.com's Forums section. There is a thread specifically for current Fender tube amps, and many questions and/or concerns are covered there - most are answered by Fender techs as well, including the team that designed this amp.

I've been playing for 13 years now. I own bass and recording gear as well. If this amp were stolen, I'd get another for sure. It's well made, sounds great and looks great, and you can't beat the price.

Check other reviews for this, my main concern in submitting this review is to warn Fender amp users of the terrible customer service.

Great sound, I love this amps clean tone.

My experience with my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe has been absolutely aweful. In my ten years of playing experience I have never had so much trouble with a product. Let me say first of all, i do not mistreat my equipment. I used it for live performance two to three times a week over a 1 year period and also for studio stuff, and I always treated it like it would break if I breathed on it wrong. A little over 3 months ago, the amp would act up, sporatically swithcing channels, reverb cuts in and out, so 2 months ago I took it to the place I bought it and they sent it to a "Fender Authorized" repair place to have it fixed. It has been 2 months and I have spent way too much time on the phone with Fenders "Customer Service" department. Basically, the repair facility is telling me they are waiting on parts to make the repair, and Fender is telling me they have sent the parts. Its a endless hell this Fender Customer Service thing. My experience with them has been absolutely terrible, and I would not recommend buying fender products unless you can put up with a ton of complete bullshit without going on a killing spree (which i have done). My recomendation if your fender amp breaks is to take it to a proffessional facility to have it repaired, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT use your warranty unless you can do without your amp for a few months.

Absolutely pitiful, I would not treat a fishing lure like I have been treated by Fender "Customer Support". Read the "Reliablitly" portion of this review for further details.

Wish there was someone on this planet that could figure out Fender's customer support policies and explain them to me.

Brand spankin' new '99 Deluxe out of the box. Top panel you've got two input jacks (a friend of mine and I have found that this works very well both to mic a band at a gig and also have two guitars plugged in, just so long as they're at the same volume level), volume knob, gain knob, EQ, master volume (gain channel), presence and reverb, along with jacks for an F/X loop and the footswitch. All in good working order.

I've listened to a lot of people complain about the distortion settings on this. This is really stupid because if you expect to get your perfect distortion from the amp itself you're going to be in for a shitload of dissapointment (a lesson I learned the hard way). I chose this amp because it was the one and only amp I could find that would give me a good clean channel for my guitar. Marshalls, Mesa Boogies, Crates, and even other Fenders all sounded muddy and there was no definition to open major chords. This thing was bright, clean and clear. The overdrive channel can be good for blues or soloing, but other than that is pretty useless. The "More Gain" channel will give you more sustain but little else. You really have to monkey around with it to get the distorted tone you want. I run a Charvel Soloist (the best guitar for the money I've ever found) into a Dan-O Fab Tone (fuzz out the bloody window) and a couple others into this amp. I was initially worried that I couldn't get the Marshall crunch with my pedal through this thing. Damn was I ever wrong! If I sit the Dan-O in the F/X loop, engage the overdrive channel (gain at 3 1/2, volume at 3), and open the volume on the guitar up all the way I can get a crunch that kicks a Marshall's ass! I didn't think it was possible to get that great a fuzz out of a Fender. It gets a 9 because I'm still having problems finding a good setting for punk distortion. The volume this thing will do is just killer.

I haven't had it long, but it's taken quite a bit of punishment already. The jury's still out on this one.

Haven't had to deal with them yet.

I looked long and hard for an amp that would compliment my rig. I had just about given up when I found this thing and just bought it on the spot. I use it for classic rock, a little blues, metal, grunge, punk, and softer stuff and it works for everything. I am damn glad I found it :)

See other reviews for features. Separate EQ for overdrive would be nice. Better-quality reverb would be nice. Footswitchable would be nice, too. On-board tremolo would be really, really nice.

I reviewed this amp more than a year ago. I play in a surf-rock band, and this amp still suits this style perfectly.
I have since bought and sold a Hot Rod Deville, 4 x 10 model. That's a great amp, too. But I must now say that this amp is nearly perfect for me. I have also considered the 65 Deluxe Reverb re-issue (22 watts) because if it's better reverb and tremolo. This is still very appealing, plus it weighs less! But that's a bright amp, which is fine. My Hot Rod Deluxe is still very cool, though. Still not fond of the overdrive channel, but when I stick my Boss Turbo Overdrive or Marshall Drivemaster (both highly recommended) pedals in front of it, and use my Les Paul, it does an acceptable Marshall drive just fine.
For live situations, I hook up a 1 x 12 Fender cabinet to the external speaker jack, and this gives me great added volume and versatility. It's fun to stretch the extension cab across my basement and hear Fender tone in stereo. Wow.
Currently use G & L ASAT (with the two P-90 looking pickups) with tremolo bar! Also use Danelectro, Les Paul, Epiphone Les Paul Special (double cutaway), Strat. All guitars sound great.
I still struggle with the drive channels. "Drive" is muddy, bluesy, I guess, not very crisp. More drive, I find, adds a little too much volume and a little too much gain. It's a crisper, more focused, gain, though. For a while now I have been using a Tube Screamer. All the hype about this pedal is true, by the way. No wonder everyone uses it. It's a perfectly balanced overdrive across the dynamic range, and a good match for this amp. Sounds good with all guitars. I would dearly love it if this amp sounded like a Tubescreamer on the drive channels. Add footswitchable reverb and tremolo, and it's the perfect amp.
Clean channel is darker than Deluxe Reverb, and yet still sparkly clean.

Haven't had problem one in a year and a half of daily solo practicing, bi-weekly band practicing and monthly playing live.

If Fender ever comes out with a tube amp that has more focused overdrive (lose the 2nd overdrive channel, please) and includes footswitchable tremolo and reverb (basically a 65 Deluxe with overdrive), I will be there. Otherwise, this amp will be my mainstay forever. Lower wattage amps rule, too...don't have to push so hard to get the tubes moving....

3 channels (clean, drive and more drive), 40 tube watts, 1 12 inch speaker, effects loop and reverb. it uses the same eq for all channels which is kind of annoying but it has the standard features you need..

The distortion is weak overall, even on the more drive channel but that's where the pedals come in. I use a DOD Death Metal distortion through the clean channel and it sounds great. The clean channel is a really great warm tube sound, probably because of the factory equipped groove tubes.

I've had it for almost a year without a problem.

never dealt with 'em.

This is the best tube amp that can crank loud enough to play a club and costs under $500. The tone is great but you'll need a distortion pedal if you play metal. If this were stolen I would severely beat whoever took it.

Forty watts. Two channels. Effects loop (who uses those things?). All-tube (except for the rectifier). Reverb. Versatile. I play Latin Jazz/ oldies/ r&b, and it seems pretty well-rounded.

I use a Les Paul Studio with EMG 89's and a Mexican Fender Telecaster. Like I said above, I play usually mellow stuff. This amp has plenty of clean headroom, at least for my situation. I play mostly small clubs and the amp is TOTALLY quiet. I also use the drive channel, but just to get that pick-attack growl. The quietest amp I have owned that doesn't hum even when the reverb is on all the way. Reverb is not very usable past 3 (but gets a pretty decent surf sound fully cranked.) Very reponsive to picking(on the drive channelthe harder you pick, the dirtier the sound). Very accepting of pedals. I solo with a cheesy boss heavy metal pedal and it just soaks up whatever is in front of it(ie. sounds like a cheesy distortion pedal). Good, bright, Fender tone. Don't expect this to hit Blackface Reverb Deluxe country (the greatest tone I have ever experienced), but then again your spending considerably less than the $1100 '66 I borrow from a friend for recording ; )

I have giged this amp heavily for 8 months and mistreat it pretty regularly. It has not left me in a lark yet!! I am utterly impressed that this cheap amp sounds so good and takes soooo much abuse. But I don't depend on anything. I gig with a back-up cheesy Princton Chorus. It's the price of having a tube amp. Mine blew the indicator lamp and it started to flicker at odd intervals, but it still played. Still, I don't think these are the Fenders of yore. I would have the wiggeley input jacks replaced ASAP.

Service depends on the Fender tech your closest to. Fender never responds to you at all, you might as well ask for info from a brick wall. IMPORTANT NOTE . . . I am an amp snob so just to let you know. Some techs won't work on this amp because of the circuit board and the fact that many parts, including the tube sockets are GLUED in!! But hey, like I said, you get your moneys worth.

I have been playing for fifteen years and play in two different bands. I also own an amazing Seymor Duncan 84/40 that never leaves the house because it weighs too damn much! If this amp were stolen, I might consider the Hot Rod Deville 4X10, because it's about the same size and costs just $200 more. Definately something from the Hot Rod family. I love the versatility (use pedals you mosh crazy kids!). Like I said above, for under $500 hundred bucks, you get what you pay for. This was the best sounding amp that I could find on my budget. I also tried some a Crate Classic Valve amp and the Trace-Elliot Vellocette. The Vellocette only had one channel and not enough headroom, and the Crate had a better dirty sound, but the clean was way too squeky clean. The clean sound one the Deluxe was just superb: transparent, dark, and responsive--all depending on the equipment you use. Does this make sense? I wish Fender would use better parts in their amps, have some pride in your USA shit.

Mine's a '99, hot off the assembly line. Standard cabinet, single 'Special Gold Re-issue" 12" speaker, forty watts of power. Three 12AX7A's, two 6L6's. Three channels (clean, drive and more drive), separate master volume control for clean and driven channels (NICE touch!), drive, three-band EQ that's subtler than others, presence knob (essentially a mid-high harmonic boost, I think), classic Fender reverb. Preamp/postamp loop, included footswitch (two stomp buttons, clean/drive and drive/more drive). Nylon cover, bumpersticker. Nice chickenhead knobs and a 'red jewel' style power lamp.
Class and functionality all the way. I would have liked a tremolo just 'cause, but I don't really feel it needs one.
As for output, it's a wallshaker. Those forty watts hit hard. I keep mine perpetually a whisker's-breadth above 0 for living-room playing. Cranked it once, felt the air moving. Never pushed it up to twelve (Nigel, eat your heart out!).

Oh, how sweet it is.
I bought this amp because I was sick and tired of the limitations of solid state amps -- I wanted that ultrasensitivity to my picking, that subtle drive capability, and to watch the back of my amp glow. Haven't seen the last one yet, but I have the first two in abundance.
The clean channel is pristine, rounded and crystalline and tinted just a touch dark like a Fender should be. The bass is formidable but not overbearing, the mids smooth and full, the highs chiming and pleasant. Fender's sound is like your grandmother's slightly leaded glassware -- surreally clear but heavier and darker nonetheless, and the Hot Rod Deluxe captures it beautifully.
The Drive channel is equally beautiful, and scales very nicely from subtle to snarly. I typically keep my drive at about 4 for a very picking-responsive range of just-starting-to-overdrive to clean growling bite. Again, don't expect Soldano sound here -- this is a Fender amp, and its overdrive is expressive, not overpowering. However, *for* a Fender, it's pretty powerful stuff. Its a bit noisy, though, but I may be picking up interference from my nearby computer rig.
The More Drive boost (it's really just a boost, not truly another channel, to my knowledge) is designed for those moments when you miss your Marshall -- the highs get sharper and cut with a vengeance, the basses stay about the same, and the overdrive sizzles hotter. I can push hard rock tones this way, though not really the massive scoop sound of metal. It also kicks up the noise even more. It's not as nice as a true Marshall, but considering that you're getting a true Fender that can fake it when need be, it's a pretty sweet package.
I've tried a range of guitars through it, from a Strat with a blue lace sensor in the bridge to my '67 SG Standard and my modern LP Standard, to a Rickenbacker 330/12 and an Ovation Celebrity Deluxe. I can't seem to find a guitar this amp doesn't like. Humbuckers sound full but not overbearingly thick (I consider this good, others might not), single-coils sound a little fuller but still plucky and bright, lace sensors take on a new spatial depth.
One problem I've noticed -- switching channels via footpedal pops noisily. Maybe it's just mine, I'm not sure. But it's annoying.
I'd actually give it a ten, if it were just a little quieter.

I haven't had my own for very long, but I've played Hot Rod Deluxes before, and haven't known them to go out unless neglected or abused. C'mon, it's a Fender, for crying out loud. *laugh*

Never dealt with 'em. Hear they're terrible, hear they're great. I just buy a shop warranty on my gear and don't worry about it.

My goal was to buy a nice-sounding all-around workhorse amp that would be bright and snarly when I needed it to be (I like a chiming, rich overdrive that shimmers), but also let me fall back to a watery deep "lead-glass" sound for darker clean-channel work. Additionally, it had to scale down for household playing. I thought this would probably be impossible, but set my price range to $600-1200 and started looking.
The Marshall Valvestates just weren't where I wanted to go -- they had a bit of nice tube warmth, but my ear could tell the difference, and my style relies heavily enough on pick sensitivity that I really needed an all-tube path. The Line6 amps were impressive for their modelling systems, but still lacked the sensitivity I needed. The Fender solid-states were nice, but again, just didn't sound natural enough for me.
The choice came down to one between an AX2 and the Hot Rod Deluxe. I felt that the versatility of the AX2 was very desirable, but felt it couldn't produce anything that sounded as good as the old-fashioned Fender tube drive. So -- well, I cheated, and bought the Hot Rod Deluxe and a POD. ;)
If you want classic tube sound and are leaning toward the rock end of the spectrum, this amp's for you. It does steamy delta blues nicely too, but rock is where it shines.

Bought it new in 4/99.It has 2 channels plus more drive.I love the clean channel and reverb. It could use a master volume but Fenders don't usually have them. It could use a mix control for fx loop. It's real loud maybe too much but Fenders get loud at low settings so i am used to it. I use it for practice and band use.

I just got a fender deluxe strat with stacked humbuckers. I use the clean channel with reverb on 3. Any higher get's surf sounding.I am not wild about fender distortion and this is amp is a little better than what i am used to.I like the drive channel for blues but i use a Boogie V twin to get the real nice distortion.I found it quiet especially compared to the evil twin I had. That amp was so noisy when I had the reverb on and besides the amp rattled when past 2. It drove me nuts. The disortion was horrible on the twin so I traded it in for the deluxe and i am happy I did.The clean on the Hot Rod stays clean at high volumes. I don't play higher than when it breaks up so i am content.I give it an 8 since I am not in love with the drive channel.

This amp seems solid but then again it's a new amp. I have owned Fenders for years but never had any problems with them I found that all my other Fenders were real noisy when using the reverb,although, this amp seems rather quiet.I use 2 amps in stereo so I always have a back up but I don't bring 2 for safety reasons just stereo reasons.

I have called Fender many times asking product questions. I had to wait to get through but i always speak to someone and they're always friendly.I have heard horror stories about Fender but I have never experienced any problems.

I have been playing for 18 years and I own the Deluxe Strat I mentioned before, a G&L S500, An a Les Paul Standard.They all sound great through the amp. Even the Les Paul sounds good.I have a Carvin MTS 3212, and a Marhall rack rig as well.I'd buy it again if it was stolen. I love the clean channel and reverb. I like it cuz it's portable and relatively light. I like that there are "3" channels kinda sorta,but again I don't rely on the drive channel since I am using my V Twin pedal.I have compared this to other Fenders like my twin, 65 twin, Deluxe reverb.I owned Boogies, Marshalls,Ampeg, but I like this amp better than all of them . I thought this amp was better than the other Fenders mentioned . It sounds more like a Bassman than a Twin.I do favor my Carvin MTS 3212 though. The Carvin has an awesome clean plus has the best drive channel I have heard.But I have to have that Fender "tube and reverb" sound and I think this one is it. I don't believe you have to spend over a grand for a "vintage Fender" or any other to sound good. You can spend $500 for this amp and still be happy.Sorry Boogie lovers but i spent $1000s on Boogie amps and I sold all my stuff cuz that sound is not all it's cracked up to be. I also like the layout of the amp. It's easy to work since your looking face down at the controls so there easy to tweak.I wish it had an awesome drive channel and tremolo.But I buy Fenders for nothing else but for the clean sound so I am never disappointed. That's why I am giving this a 9.

im a 15 year old blues / rock influenced guitarist. ive been playing for a little over a year, and i just got this amp about 2 months ago. i love it!!!! the groovetubes on this thing just make it sound so sweeeeet! the distortion isnt brutal, of course i dont play heavymetal or anything, so i have no problem with it. plus i use a boss distortion pedal when i want to play those modern rock tunes.i plan to have this for many years to come.

ive had it for a month, no problems at all. still sounds perfect and ive never had to deal with fender.

overall, this is a great amp. if it was stolen, i obviously couldnt afford another one, but i would definately try!!!

I bought it last year here in Finland from a local music store. This amp has 3 channels, clean, drive and more drive. The price included also a cover and a footswitch and a cable for the footswitch. On the top the chickenhead-knobs are volume(only for clean channel), Drive, Treble, Bass, Middle, master volume(for drive and more drive channels),Reverb and Presence. Then there are some buttons; Bright/Normal (for the clean channel only), Drive/Clean button and a Drive/More Drive button, but I use the footswitch instead. The Bright button I don't use very often, since it don't sound very well with my Danelectro Fab Tone distortion pedal.

I'm using a cheap Mexico Strat -> Boss TU-2 tuner -> Danelectro Cool Cat Chorus (a great effect) -> Danelectro Fab Tone (not very good) -> George Dennis Tremolo-Volume pedal ->Hot Rod Deluxe Amp. The drive channel is good, but it's overdrive with a lot of middle its not good for heavy metal but for regular rock music it's great. The More Drive gives an extra edge to the sound and it sounds REALLY GREAT in solos. For a softer sound I turn the tone knob to about 3-5 on my strat and use the neck pickup and turn the drive to about 10. This sound is GREAT!!! But for a more "nasty" sound try the bridge pickup and use the same settings. The only thing I can complain on is that the More Drive Channel is rather noisy. The amp is suited for everything exept Heavy metal or "worse". I you want a heavier sound: use a distpedal.

Really I don't have any backup, so I have to trust on it... I've owned this amp about a year and nothing has happened. Actually, I don't think anything serious will happen.

Never dealt with them...

If it was stolen i would buy it again. I will never sell this, I think.
The original price was 5900FIM, but I got it for 4800FIM since I know the retailer quite well (80% of the original price). 5 FIM is about 1 US Dollar.

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This is just an addendum to a previously posted review, an update of sorts. After much fiddling around, I've figured out how to get some great distortion from the HR. You have to (literally) crank the "Drive" to the max, and be careful not to turn the volume up past about 3, or it starts to howl. Adjust with the guitar's volume control, and fiddle with tone controls as your taste demands, and rock out. This revelation came after playing with a series of distortion pedals, and finding that they all homogenized the sound of different guitars. The HR can give every bit of the distorted sound available from something like a Boss DS-1, or The Rat. I'm having a great time, especially with a humbucker guitar.

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This is a one-year evaluation of what I'd call a workhorse amp.
I'd suggest that Fender drop the Presence knob and the Fx loop as they seem unnecessary. I'd trade them for an AC outlet on the back of the amp so that - if I wanted to - I could plug in the power source for my wah, chorus and delay. Mention of the AC plug might date me: I'm 50 and have been playing since the 60's.
I also don't use the More Drive. There's plenty of texture and sustain within the Clean and Drive sections and the More Drive's sound seems blowsy.
I write tunes inspired by R & B riffs and by Mssrs. Vaughn and Hendrix and Pink Floyd.
The 45 pound box seemed a hassle last year. Too much shoulder strain. In the meantime I've come to appreciate the total package and somehow the weight and cabinet size have become manageable. It stands up neatly in the trunk of my Accord and leaves enough space in front of it for guitar cases. The nylon cover is effective.
I rehearse / jam once a week at high volume for 90 minutes with a gang of young players. We play concert-style shows in gyms or auditoriums every couple of months. The drummer is loud, the lead guitarist plays a Strat w humbuckers through a dual-amp Valvestate VS265R (rich chorus sound!) and the rhythm plays an SRV Strat through a Fender Ultimate Chorus. Both are loud-as-hell amps with twin twelves (the surprise to me is that the Ultimate Chorus sounds so full and ballsy for a fraction of the cost of the VS265R). The bassist can barely be heard through his 60 watt Peavey. Happily, the HR Deluxe is loud enough to hang with it all.

My butterscotch sunburst Peavey Odyssey is essentially a Les Paul. It has "distortion class" alnico humbuckers. The HR is a quiet amp, even with the gain racked. Not that it won't feed back and squeal if you're careless.
Countless times I've seen players say that the clean sound on this amp is marvelous. Yes, it is, but I don't find much clear headroom. These young cats play loud, so basically I turn everything up (I watch it with the bass control; have heard some unexpected speaker blatting when I turned the bass up too high). I've got just enough clean to get by.
The distortion pleases me and it sings and sustains forever. It can be controlled from the guitar's volume pots. Also, the Drive footswitch works really well for me. Solo time? Step on it and I get the additional creamy sustain and volume that give me comfort and confidence.
I like it that I have a darker, somewhat softer sound than the other amps. For a person whose consciousness was formed by the sound of tube amps, nothing else will do. Regrettably, I can't always control it well. There are some evenings when it's in the pocket, others when it's too distorted or loud or maybe even honky.
But the sound is rich enough so that I play without fx boxes most of the time. There's enough clean and abundant driven sound so I can save time and simply plug in and let the amp and my fingers define the textures. For a while I sporadically experienced a sustained, high-pitched howl at high volumes. It sounded like maybe the reverb was maxed and feeding back. Or was it a microphonic tube? Took it in to my dealership who couldn't find what I described and said "Show us what you're talking about." Well, I couldn't reproduce practice conditions in a damned store. Nonetheless I've somehow adjusted and haven't experienced the howl in a long time.

No serious problems in its first year. I do treat it properly.

See above. I bought locally rather than through a catalog so that I'd have backup in case of tube-related problems. Were they straight with me on the high-volume howl problem? Dunno. All's well that ends well.

The benchmark amp in my life was a 1960's Super Reverb. It was a brick house (it would even support a bass) and played clean way past any other amp around. For me it remains the Ark of the Covenant. Will I be able to afford to return to one some day? We shall see.
Immediately prior to the HR Deluxe I played through a Princeton Chorus for a couple of years. I liked its clarity and body at reasonable volumes. It wouldn't sing, though. I am planning to add a Pro Junior. Its combination of size, weight and scream are righteous.
The HR Deluxe I bought partly because of reviews from you, the H-C respondents. As someone pointed out, it sounds a-mazing in the store. Will you love it when your group cranks it up is the real question.
Am happy to say that I like it now better than I did a year ago. For its price - and size - I think it is definitely cool.

The features have been commented on extensively already, so I'll spare you all that bother. The rather rudimentary effects loop is better off bypassed, by running straight into the amp. The "more drive" channel is, to my ears, useless. "Drive" is more than sufficient for any normal human usage, in my estimation. I use it in my home, and never intend (as of this time, at any rate) to use it anywhere else. I just wanted a great sounding amplifier, that worked well for all types of music, since I play everything from jazz, to blues, to rock, to noisy arty psychedelia.

I'm using it with a Les Paul Studio, a Fender Mexi-Strat, and an Epiphone Riviera w/Bigsby. I don't particularly like what little distortion can be gleaned from the amp, but with a distortion pedal, the crunchy sounds are almost perfect. So far, so good in terms of pesky tube microphonics, and the like. Best of all, with a good ground, the Hod Rod is quiet as a church mouse, clean, and smooth as glass. It sounds best with the Les Paul and the Strat, dependent on whether I'm in a bluesy mode (clean channel, high gain) or crunchy mode (DOD distortion pedal, high volume). I didn't expect it to be as versatile as it is, either. It makes differences between guitars readily apparent. We forget how much guitar amps homogenize guitar sounds, so that on their clean channels, Les Pauls sound like Strats sound like SGs.

So far, so good. It's built like a tank, even given my demandingly high build standards, spawned by a love of high end home audio gear. The warranty also inspires confidence, and this is, and will be the only amp I will ever use. I haven't really had it long enough yet for problems to develop, even though they say that if something lasts for the first 90 days, it will probably last forever.

I've never had to deal with Fender.

I've been playing for almost a year, and as I said earlier, I run a Les Paul Studio, Epi Riviera and a Mexi-Strat into a DOD Distortion pedal, or a Bad Horsie wah as the mood strikes me. There is absolutely no question I would buy this amplifier again tomorrow. I don't like it's lack of naturally achievable distortion, but I don't play punk boy, or AC/DC often, so this isn't a biggie. I got out of a Valvestate VS65 for this amp, and there's no comparison, even though the prices are similar. The Valvestate was almost unlistenable at high volume, despite a number of things I tried to ameliorate the filthy high frequencies. Interestingly, it has all of the bass output that I was constantly attempting to dial into the Marshall. Plus, I love the chicken-head knobs.

Features seem to be fully discussed in other entries. For anything else, see Fender's website or pick up a Frontline magazine at a Fender dealer.

I played a Fender stratocaster squier series (made in Mexico, evolved into the "traditional" series, now discontinued, I think), a Danelectro '56 U-2, and a Ric 360. Sounded wonderful with the Strat once you dialed in the right eq, which I found to be the one in the owner's manual for "Skank 'n' Crank". You use the guitar volume pot to go from clean rhythm to grittier lead. Sounds great, but LOUD and I mean LOUD!! A review in "Guitar" magazine (don't remember the month, had Peter Buck on the cover) talked about how incredibly loud these amps are, and they were sure right about that. I generally had to keep the volume at about 1 or between 1 and 2, and this is when playing with my band.
Sounded good with the Dano, but I could never get a good sound with the Ric. Ric's may just need a Vox to sound good, I don't know. I didn't use the drive channel very much, but it when I did, it was a little hard to coordinate between the gain and the master volume knobs to get something that sounded good without being too loud. As for the "more drive", boy, you really had to be careful or you'd get a deafening squeal. I'll give it a 9, based on the clean sound with a strat, minus 1 point for being too loud.

Very well constructed, very sold. Only had it 6 months, but I expected it to be reliable. No problems while I had it, at any rate.

Five year warranty, two years on speaker. Never dealt with the company.

I ended up selling it for a good price to someone who needed an amp loud enough to be heard above a large band playing jazz. Well, I'm sure he got his money's worth with this thing! I liked the (clean) tone of the amp very much (with strat), but decided to sell and look for something else because (1) amp was too loud except with volume at 1, and I think a tube amp needs to be wound up in order to really cook, and (2) at 45 pounds, too heavy (and with wide body, too cumbersome) to carry up and down the stairs at the drummer's house.

This is an update to my submission below. What I thought was a microphonic tube may not be so. It appears that, with the drive control at full throttle, the amp howls, sounding similar to a microphonic tube. Has anyone else noticed this? Is this a genuine defect, or simply inherent, in the same way that you usually can't turn a fender reverb on full?
This may change things. I've found that using a Tube Screamer or Blues Driver in front really gets this thing going, but if I have to lower the drive level, then I may have to use more of the stompbox, thereby pushing the clean channel into unecessary distortion, unless I turn on the stompbox every time i switch to the drive channel, which could get tricky. Can someone help?

The features of this product have been described in previous reviews (see below).
I play mostly in a rootsy vein, so this amp is a perfect match.
Although I, like the others here, would like to see more features on this amp, the inclusion of those features would probably have priced it out of my immediate reach, and I would have been forced to settle for an amp of lower sonic quality. The only feature I really miss is an effects loop in/out switch on the foot pedal. As well, I miss those wonderful old Fender tilt-back legs, and will have to install them myself. More importantly, I would prefer the taper of the volume pots to be more gradual - it is quite difficult to dial in a low volume setting.
I really don't mind the eq sharing between the two channels. For one thing, the amp sounds so good that you really don't have to do a lot of tweaking. At first, I found the mid-range fatness of the in between "drive" channel a disappointment, but now see it as quite useful. The volume jump when you switch from "drive" to "more drive" also works in sync with my playing style as well.
At 40 watts, this amp is almost too powerful for the smaller clubs and low-volume rehearsals that are my environment, but that extra headroom could come in handy, for example at an outdoor show, a "dead" stage, or (sure, kid!) an arena gig.

I use a Strat Plus and a Tele Deluxe, both with Gold Lace Sensors, and a Zoom 508 Delay (highly recommended!). I sold my Tech 21 (SansAmp) Trademark 60 (also highly recommended) to buy this amp, after trying out a Flextone Line 6 (see my review under that listing) and the Rivera 30/12. The Rivera has Fender beat for saturation, among other things, but is almost twice the price.
I bought the Hot Rod Deluxe mainly for that classic Fender clean sound, but now find that I am equally impressed with the overdrive stages. The reason? Sweet, singing sustain, with very little buzzy, fuzzy distortion - I had always wondered how to go about getting that sound. Plus, the transparent quality of the overdrive exposes playing mistakes that used to be masked by distortion, forcing me to work harder.
I would, however, like to somehow squeeze a little more "juice" out of this amp. I would like to "push" the amp a little, maybe with a pre-input stompbox. A friend of mine suggested an MXR Dynacomp (Dunlop reissue), and that may be the answer. I'm not sure what I'm looking for, but I don't want to change the sound I'm getting, just "kick it up a notch" (apologies to "Emeril" fans).
Of course, the clean sound is unmistakable. As many will testify, no one can touch Fender in that area.
I don't have a problem with the reverb, provided I set it at "2" or less. Then again, the higher reverb settings can be quite exquisitely trashy, especially if someone requests "Pipeline".
On the other hand, some of these reviews have me intrigued about the merits of tube reverb.
It has been suggested that one replace the speaker with a Celestion Vintage 30, and I'm planning to do just that, provided I can assure myself that I won't lose any of the existing tonal characteristics. For example, the bottom end falls apart when you push it, but in such a "musical" way that I'm not sure I want to fix it.
As mentioned above, the middle or "drive" channel is voiced a little differently, set to a more bluesy mid-range. At first I was disappointed, but now appreciate this added variety in the tonal palette. I also appreciate that both overdrive channels react wonderfully to reduced pick attack and guitar volume, so that the only time I switch to the clean channel is when I need that absolutely pristine voice.
I have only used this amp for a couple of weeks, and am convinced that there is much to discover here. What I most enjoy is the "I can't wait to plug into this thing" feeling, which I haven't experienced for a very long time.

I've only used this amp for one show, so far, and discovered that at least one tube is microphonic. The dealer (12th Fret in Toronto, Canada) has assured me that they will replace the tube(s) under warranty. Obviously, I will carry spare tubes and a fuse but, this being a Fender product, I really don't anticipate any unwelcome "surpises".
While I can't in all honestly give a rating in this category after owning the amp for only a couple of weeks, I wouldn't hesitate to speculate that, ultimately, it would be a ten. Consequently, I use it without a backup.

Unlike Rivera, where Paul Rivera himself reponds to your questions, Fender is one of those dreaded monster corporations, and probably expect you to address ALL of your concerns to your local retailer. The warranty, however, is for a full FIVE YEARS!!! As well, almost any self-respecting tech knows his way around a Fender amp.

I've been playing almost 40 years, and this amp is like coming home.
I had forgotten how gorgeous that Fender sound is. I recall going to see local instrumental bands in my hometown when I was in my early teens, and being awestruck by the look and sound of those 60s silver face Fenders.
I can't remember ever owning a Fender amp, although I may have used a Bassman head through a pair of Traynor PA columns back in the very early 70s. I haven't played through a tube amp in at least a couple of decades!
If it were lost or stolen, I would probably buy this amp again, although I would also try a single channel '65 Deluxe Reissue, using a stompbox for the overdrive. I am also extremely impressed with Rivera, so I'm eager to check out their line again, especially the Chubster, introduced at NAMM last week.
Fender has been doing this for a long time. They got it right almost from the start, and the the number of very expensive amplifiers dedicated to replicating that classic Fender sound is ample testimony.
This also inspires a sense of personal pride when plugging a Fender guitar into a Fender amp, an intangible quality.
I certainly can't imagine ever willingly parting with my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe.

40 watt, tube preamp and power section, clean, drive, more drive channels, 12" speaker, effect loop, ft.switch and cover included. Two 6L6 groove tubes in power section. I use this amp most every wkend for club dates, has power to spare even at loud band volumes, however I do use an ext. speaker loaded with a 15" electro voice Force. Still 40 watts is 40 watts. This amp replaces my previous rig which included a peavey special and a Lab Series L9, a total of 220 watts stereo and I have just as much useable stage volume as this setup provided, possibly more.

I'm using a Fender Telecaster equipped with S.D. alnico pro 11 pickups, a DOD pedal type compressor and a Zoom 507 for minor effects. With this setup the amp delivers a nice, fatish clean tone, typical Fender. The control pots are lineur taper so its easy to dial in EQ as needed. I can't offer much of an opinion on the OD channels since I normally have little use for that type sound, same for the reverb. However, what little I have demoed these features sounded typical. I think the true value of this amp is its clean tube tone and the afore mention standard features. The almost unlimited gain is also a big plus.

Has been reliable so far, approx. 6 months heavy work

The amp comes with a 5yr. warranty. Haven't had to deal with Fender yet.

I've been musically active for 35 yrs, the last 20 in country. I would happily buy this amp again or the Deville model. I compared this amp in store to a Ultimate Chorus, hands down no comparisome. If this amp won't deliver for about any guitarist in just about any style of play, my advice is look to the hands 'cause it's not the equipment.

Lots of reviews here so I won't go too deeply into the feature set except to commment on weird, or absent, features.
1) Lack of separate eq between channels: I wouldn't have considered this amp because of the single set of tone controls except that it has a bright switch on the normal channel. I was looking for a bright Fender tone on the normal channel and a smooth overdrive on the "dirty" channel. The HR Deluxe actually works really well this way thanks to the bright switch.
2) No Master Volume: this is just plain weird. Without a Master Volume you have to set the normal and drive master each time you change volume. It's a little thing but an annoying thing.
Also, on the Master Volume issue: the power amp in part of the effects loop passes directly to the power amp with no attenuation control. This makes it a challenge to match effects in or use the HR Deluxe as an extension amp.
I will have to wire up a master volume box and insert it into the effects loop. I wonder if I'll have buffer it?
3) Drive/More Drive: this is promoted as a kind of three channel amp. I'd say the Drive/More Drive switch is more just a change in voicing on the Drive channel: as others have noted the bump in volume when you switch in the More Drive setting makes it difficult to use live. If you think of the amp as a 2 channel amp with footswitchable lead voicing it makes more sense.
I give the amp a 7 on features. It would be a 9 with master volume, direct recording out, and separate eq for each channel. A 10 would have to include the kitchen sink (MIDI switching, multiple power tube configurations, etc.)

I use several Ibanez guitars. My favourite is an Ibanez super strat that is a maple kneck-through-body, SSH, Floyd Rose trem beauty. I can't remember the model number. This is a very clear sounding (thin?) instrument that is greatly enhanced by the Deluxe's warm low end. I also play an AS-100 335 style Ibanez for more straightahead jazz. I was using flat wounds on the AS-100 but have switched back to light gauge round wounds as the HR Deluxe's warmth turned the flatwounds into mud. This isn't a complaint - I don't like flatwounds anyway, I was just using them with my Boogie as it is a very bright, tight sounding amp.
I'm very impressed by the reverb on this amp. Typically I don't use much reverb as it sounds pretty clangy on my Boogie. With the HR Deluxe I can use more. The reverb tank is twice the size on the HR Deluxe compared to my Boogie 50 Caliber so it makes sense.
My favourite guitarists are fusion guys: Allan Holdsworth, Mike Stern, Pat Metheny, Wayne Krantz, John Scofield. I'm not trying to sound like them but I like their sounds. I have Quicktime samples at http://www.islandnet.com/~cpmanuel/music/music.html that illustrate the sound I'm going for. Note that these are all recorded with the Boogie. I bought the HR Deluxe for a lower gain overdrive sound which it does much better than the Boogie. Eventually I'll get some Deluxe samples up at the same site (maybe even some MPEGs).
The normal channel sounds great cranked - no matter how loud I play my Boogie in the clean channel it never breaks up like the Fender. The sound of the clean channel overdriven a little is another reason to go for a Master Volume mod. I'm pretty sure it's preamp tube distortion first.
The tone controls don't have as much range as my Boogie; the HR Deluxe doesn't do that glassy skank sound that almost sounds DI. But that's out of fashion now anyway ( I kept the Boogie to cover it though).
The Drive channel at low gain is just about perfect. It might be perfect with better guitars driving it. I'll have to steer clear of that thought ...
The More Drive channel still doesn't offer the gain of the Boogie but it does offer its own interesting texture: it's more akin to an older Marshall sound. This isn't a sound I was looking for so if you're going to look to the HR Deluxe to cover the raunchier end of the spectrum then you may be looking at the wrong amp.
Overall, this is an amp that blues, classic rock, jazz and fusion players will feel inspired by.

I rarely gig, just play at home in the home studio/cocoon. I don't expect to have any problems with the HR Deluxe. Although tube amps are higher maintenance than SS the HR's 2 6L6 output tubes are rated at 40 watts so it should be easy on tubes. Most 6L6 powered amps are rated between 50 and 60 watts.

I've been playing 22 years with waxing and waning enthusiasm. Right now I'm in a "play alot" head space. I used to be more of a solid state kind of guy (Roland JC 60, Super Cube, Traynor Bloc 100) as I was into guitar synth. Since I bought an ADAT and a Mac running Cubase I've pretty much dropped the synth as MIDI tracks stink compared to guitar (IMHO). I even bought a couple of bass guitars to replace synth bass. So far I've resisted buying a drum kit and I'm stuck using samples. Maybe some day ...
Tube amps, and the HR Deluxe lately, inspire me to play. The touch and sound just seem so much more musical. For clean tones and medium gain overdrive I think you'd have to pay alot more to find a better amp. I was going to get a Boogie Maverick until I tried the HR Deluxe. Granted it's not a Boogie but it's half the price.

For my purposes, a very versatile amp. 3 channels with footswitch, effects loop, no headphone jack. This amp has more power than I will ever need. I deducted points for the lack of indpendent equalization for each channel and no switching for the reverb.

I play a deluxe Super Strat and play mostly blues and rock & roll. This amp suits my taste perfectly! The tone is absolutely beutiful! The clean channel on this amp has to be heard to be fully appreciated. It is classic fender warm tube tone galore! The drive channels are decent and as stated by others your never gonna thrash with them, but this is nothing that a decent pedal won't solve.

Have no idea yet. Just bought it this week!

same as above. Came with a 5 year warranty.

I've been playing off and on for about 15 years mainly as a hobby and this is by far the best amp I've ever owned. I would definitely buy it again. The only other amp I was seriously considering was the Marshall VS65. It is also a nice amp, but the hot rods tube tone won me over. If your looking for kick ass distortion the Marshall is your ticket, but if you want an all around great tube combo go with the HR Deluxe.

Clean and gain channels. Same equalizer. 40 watts. Reverb. Good features, but separate eq would be better.

I use a epiphone les paul (which is a great guitar), and the amp sounds good. It does seem to be a little thin, but not twangy. A quiet amp with a good sound. I at first thought that this was the best sounding amp out there for the price. Good clean tone, can do jazz and blues. Rock and alternative is no problem either. I almost ended up buying this amp. But after looking around some more, I found another amp that I thought was better. The Carvin BelAir 212 is a great amp. It sounds like the deluxe, but a bit more bassy, with a sweeter reverb. I am lucky because I have a Carvin store right near my house. I would never buy anything from mail catalogs.

Don't know. Just tried it out a few times.

Don't know.

I just bought this amp in September so its a 1998. I play blues rock and it is the sound I have been looking for at a low volume. I can get the same tone a high volume playing in a band or low volume playing in a studio. This amp sounds great distance miked. I wish that there had been seperate eq for the clean and drive channels but I can live with it. I handels pedals well I used an old MXR distortion plus. I also would have liked a switchable reverb but this reverb sounds great I dont mind leaving it in. I use the amp on stage and in the studio and live radio. This amp has more than enough head room. -1 for the eq section.

I use a strat and a gibson explorer and it works great for both. If you want to hear it go to http://www.mp3.com/johnturnerband and listen to roundhouse boogie. Thats the amp on both guitar parts.

The tolex started to peel off of the top but the dealer took care of it

The dealer I bought it from, Carpenter's World of Music has been great. Nothig major yet but if there is a problem I feel that it will be taken care of

I love this amp. I am more pleased with this purchase than any other amp I have ever bought. I played with another guitarist who had a half marshall stack. After the set he told me that he was going to replace his rig with one. This amp cuts through the mix. It kills

By now everyone knows the skinny on this amp. The one thing I don't like is having one EQ for the clean and drive channels. I have to compromise the clean ch becasue I have the EQ dialed in for the drive ch. I'm just starting out and I'm not in a band but I do jam with who ever, when ever. The one thing I hate is the weight, but it is actually light for a tube amp. It's still a pain.

I have a Jimmie Vaughn strat (my first strat but not my last!) that is totally stock. I play mostly blues, blues/rock and this amp is fantastic for that style. The clean channel is just that CLEAN, Fender clean. I haven't been able to turn it up far enough to break up, it is very, very loud. When I first got the amp and I switched to the drive ch I was dissapointed. It sounded like I was using a Wah-wah stuck in the down positon, it was awful. I messed with the EQ and the tone pot on my guitar and found the sound I was looking for. The more drive ch sounds perfect for my style. It is not a saturated Soldano distortion but is very tight and focused. I put the treb mid and bass on 10, the pres on 3, the dirve on12 and the reverb on 2.5. The tone pot on my guitar is on 1. This setup might seem strange but it works great! When I switch from more drive to drive the tone is a creamy blues overdrive HEAVEN. Clapton's woman tone is there. Headbangers look else where for your amp. The amp is not noisy at all. The reverb is not very good in my opinion. It sounds cold and layered. Maybe if it were tube generated I would like it.

I've had it for about 4 months with no problems. I use it everyday to practice or jam with.

Haven't had to call on them yet

I have been playing for about 2yrs now. I own several effects but since I got this amp I don't use any of them. The tone of my Strat directly into the HR is all I need and it makes the setup easy, just plug in and wail. I think that says a lot about the pure tone of the amp. If it were lost or stolen I would buy one just like it. I have to deduct a point for the shared EQ, and two points for the reverb. This is supposed to the famed Fender reverb, I know its not tube but still it could sound better, a lot better. Over all my rating is a solid 7, a thumbs up in my book. You can compromise on the EQ without too much fuss and find a good outboard reverb unit. The amp I had before this was a horrible Fender R.A.D (remember those) solid state. When I got the HR Deluxe I sounded like a BLUES GOD! Okay maybe not that good but there was a HUGE improvement in my tone and my motivation

40 watts all tube. point deduction for only one eq shared by both channels

i got an SG. Ive had this amp for about 6 months and it sounds great. its really bassy and fat. fender claims it sounds like a bassman on the clean channel and they are right. the drive is a great boost and more drive is excellent and chunkier but i just dont really like it for solo's, it just doesnt have enough sustain. i still love the fat chunky distortion. btw im into radiohead, foo fighters, smashing pumpkins (older stuff) and all that other "grunge music"

i dont think there will be any problems here. always ahve extra tubes on a gig though.

not know and im not going to find out

this is an amazing amp for the money. i compared it to a vibrolux which i was initally going to purchase and this this sounded just as good. there was definately not $300 dollars of difference between them. great amp for the money.

This is a very versatile little amp. I play mostly blues and boogie woogie. (SRV type stuff) It does good for that, but obviously not as good as some "blackface" stuff, but pretty close for the price. It has 3 channels Normal, Drive, and more drive. Drive sounds nice, but more drive comes in too loud. The best part is the clean channel. I have only used this amp for a few weeks, so don't take my advice totally. It is a fully tubed amp, (two power tubes, 3 preamp tubes) Comes factory equipped with Groove Tubes, which was a plus for me. the reverb sucks, and I usually keep it on 1 or 2. Any higher and it sounds milky. I use this amp for practice and home use, plenty of power.

I use single coil pickups, I play a Strat. It suits my style very well. It is not noisy at all, even at high gain setting. It is noisier than lower ones, but no reall hissing or anthing of that nature. It breaks uo around 5 or so, anything below that is very clean. The distortion is really driving on the more drive channel. Only one EQ, so you have to even things out.

Never dealt with Fender. but the company I bought it from is musicians friend. They are great, I'd reccomend businness with them anytime.

I have been playing for a couple of years. I own a strat, wah, distortion pedal, all the basic stuff.
If it was stolen I would probably get a Vibrolux instead.

Reverb, channel switching, gain boost all very handy to have but this amp executes them with varying success.

I A/B compared it to a Classic 30 that I have modified, my Soldano SLO100, my 58 tweed Deluxe and a Crate GT-60. The clean sound is O.K. but not as good as the Crates, thinner than the Soldano's (which both have tons more headroom)and similar to the Classic. When you start turning up the gain you really see the shortcoming of this amp. It in general, lacks the complexity of tone all the other amps (except the Crate) had. The sound is thin and one dimensional compared to the Classic at all volumes and I had to "max" out the controls to get anything near the "thickness" of distortion that the Classic and Soldano achieve. The reverb sucks and the amp has a "peak" in the 200-400 Hz frequency range that I first percieved as good bottom end but compared it to the other amps I found it "colored" the sound and is truly annoying. In use with a band the sound gets lost and lacks definition. I am unimpressed and think if you want a clean sound go with the Crate (it's cheaper and has no tubes to replace) and for more distorted tones you would be better off with a Classic, Crate VC or Boutique amp (Soldano, Matchless, Naylor-especially the Naylor) if you can afford one.

Amp is only a couple of weeks old - don't know yet.

40 Watts all tube Combo, 12" Speaker, 3 channels (clean, drive and boost drive), shared EQ, Reverb, Prescence, Efects Loop, Footswitch for channel switching (no reverb switching) preamp out, power amp in, NO Headphone jack. It's very simple,,,,Cool for ME!!!!!!!!!

I own a Gibson SG with Seymor Duncan 59 pickups and a Fender USA 62 Reissue with EMG's and both of them sounds perfect through this AMP, Sweet and FAT tones with both guitars. I've 8 years of experince and I play a lot of styles (Classic Rock, Alternative, Pop Music, Jazz, Reggae,,etc..!!!!!!) and this Amp suits all my styles, I'm very happy with it.
I use this amp for practice and sometimes I "JAM" with a another guitar player&singer, a bass player and a drummer (40 Watts are enough, this thing is very loud) . For pracice I used the clean channel at a very moderate volume with no effects (guitar directly to AMP), the sound is Awesome even at high volumes. The drive channel also sounds cool but sounds great at high volumes.
When I jammed I used it at high volumes through a couple Boss pedals (Compressor, EQ, a little bit of chorus or flanger, sometimes Delay) ,,The clean channel is great at high volumes and the distortion is great for classic rock. The other guitar player has a Marshall VS-65 and he admits that the Deluxe sound better!!!!! I give it a 9 because I have played other amps that sounds better. But for the value, I think is great. Never use it on Stage but I think it could do a good job.

I have this AMP only 2 years,,,Very Reliable,,Looks and feel very Solid,,,,Of course I would use it on a gig withot backup!!!!

Never contact Fender

Like I said before,,been playing 8 years, this is my only Amp, If it were stolen or lost, I will buy it again or the Deville if I wish more power. I wish another EQ and a footswitchable reverb!!IMHO this Amp sounds better than CRATE tube Combos or Marshall Valvstate combos,,BUY THIS AMP, I Recommend it to everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You can e-mail me if you have any specific questions.

Your basic tube-based combo. 40 watts, one 12" speaker, three channels (clean, drive, and more drive), a main volume and a master for the drive/more drive, three EQ levels (treb, bass, and mid), plus reverb. It came with a footswitch. Apparently Fender doesn't include the cover anymore, 'cause I didn't get one with mine and I bought it brand new.
The power is operated by means of a main and standby switch. Standby is useful...it keeps it warm while you go off to take a leak durin a practice, and it can also save on your tubes and electric bill a bit.
There are two inputs, a footswitch jack, and an FX loop/preamp in/out (plus an output jack down underneath everything in the back). The two inputs come in handy if you haven't got an A/B box and don't feel like switching cables in mid gig. They're also great for doing "weird" stuff, like feeding your amp back on itself (you don't have to unplug your guitar, just run a short cable from an open input to the preamp out and twiddle the knobs). As usual, the effects loop is so-so...I recommend it for recording but little else. The out jack on the back is something I haven't messed with as I don't have a cab.

I run a Strat into the thing and between the two, classic rock and blues are a snap. The overdrive is warm and quite nice for a built-in, and fits blues/classic rock well. More drive is good for soloing...I found that it can help get a mildly Hendrix-like tone if you hook up a wah. The only downside is that tube overdrive isn't really distortion. This was my first amp, and so I thought it did distortion good, until I realized it's too warm for alternative, metal, and anything else that requires a heavy crunch. So go get a stomp box (I decided to get a Fab Tone, which I'm waiting on right now) and patch that in, and you'll have a nice pallette of tones to work with.
The clean channel is pretty sweet if you're working off single coils. Very good for clean rhythm, all right for jazz and ska. I don't know about humbuckers on the clean...if you have push/pull pots it'd probably work well 'cause you could "coil tap" to single-sound.
Reverb is okay. Could be better, could be worse. I like cranking it up all the way because it adds space around a solo and sounds really odd, though there's little practical application. I always have reverb set around 4, just to give my guitar some "room" but not too much.
Complaints? Well, like I said, the drive/more drive is just overdrive, so forget getting heavy without a dedicated fuzz/distortion box. The footswitch pops audibly when kicking back to clean from drive or more drive, but that has to do with the difference between the volume and master (tweak it and you can cancel it out). I wish the footswitch had a reverb on/off, but you can't always win.

It's a Fender. Durable, reliable...just let me get my thesaurus and I'll tell you how quality this thing is. Be careful of the tubes, but that goes without saying. All in all, a real workhorse.

Never dealt with Fender. The warranty is five years, so I should be all right. Hope I'll never have to utilize it. Seems like I won't have to.

Good amp. Not the greatest I've heard, now that I've tried some nicer things like a Boogie and some half-stacks from Sunn and Marshall, but unless you're pro it's great. Perfect combo for playing in the garage/basement/barn, in your room, or at a small club or in a park or in a church (whacked as that would feel) or any other small venue. Reliable, nice tone, 'nuff said.

Three channel, 40 watt amp. One set of tone controls. All-tube. Reverb.

I play in a modern surf-rock band, using Fender Strats and Teles, and also use the amp in our church band, which runs a gamut of styles from country to alternative. I also occasionally use my Gibson Les Paul Custom and Epiphone Sheraton through it. The clean channel stays clean for my purposes, I never turn it past three or three and a half. At that volume it is absolutely beautiful. The Fender tone is amazing, and makes you thankful and blessed that you learned to play. There's a Bright switch that makes it a littler brighter, I usually have this on. It only affects the clean channel.
The second channel adds overdrive. For surf stuff, I have usually set the drive at 4 o'clock or so. It's not heavy, that's for sure. Then for leads I would kick in the third channel for "more" drive and a bit more volume. Let share some thoughts on this amp's overdrive: I've had it for about 11 months now, and I really struggled for awhile to enjoy the drive on it. It's not a pleasant overdrive, rather harsh in fact. Seems like it lacks bass or something. Just raw. Let me comment on the tone controls, too: they change the tone in VERY subtle ways. That's not necessarily negative or positive, just a fact. The other guitar player in my band uses a Strat with a Hot Rod DeVille 4x10. What I also came to grips with is that when everybody's rocking, you hear less and less of that individual tone. You can drive yourself crazy, which I did, sitting in my basement experimenting with "tone" all you want, but to a certain degree, some of those lovely subtleties that you'd get with a Matchless or Vox amp are lost when the whole band is going. I noticed that some of the harshness of my overdrive ended up sounding, when the whole band was going, just like an overdriven guitar, which is what I wanted! I'm not suggesting that it wouldn't be totally awesome to have a higher-end boutique, Class A tube amp, I'm just saying that I'm trying to be happy with my $500 Fender amp. In fact, I played a $1000 Fender Prosonic at lunch today, and thought it sounded worse, clean and dirty, than my Deluxe. How's that?
All that said, I tried a new setup recently to improve the sound. I have a Boss Turbo Overdrive pedal, where you can hook up an external footswitch to it and move into Turbo OD mode. I highly recommend this pedal. It's versatile (can literally go from simply a volume boost to pretty molten tones), sounds great, and kind of serves as a two-channel amp. What I've been missing in my setup is a clean boost for clean solos. (I've never been a volume pot manipulator guy...turning down the pot always seems to muddy up the tone for me). So recently I've been using my Turbo OD in place of the Deluxe for Overdrive purposes, and using the second channel on the amp (drive) for a clean boost (have the drive set at like 2, it's pretty clean). This works great.

No problems so far. Reading other reviews makes me concerned, but after using it weekly for gigs and practices for almost a year, I feel pretty secure with my amp. No backups. Cover is nice touch.

Never dealt with them.

This amp is by no means what I think I'd like to have the rest of my life, but it's definitely useful for my purposes now. It's not too heavy (although I would like to know why it's waaaaay heavier than it's older brother, the black and silver-faced Deluxes). It's loud enough for a club surf band, yet sounds good at lower volumes for church purposes.

40 watts, single 12" speaker, 2.5 channels with shared EQ, reverb, preamp out, power amp in, ext speaker jack (8 ohm only), two function footswitch. Would like to see separate EQ at least for the clean channel. I view the More Drive "channel" as simply a boost switch for the Drive channel, that's why I call it 2.5 channel. Would also like to see impedance selector for ext speaker jack.
However, if taken just in terms of other tube amps in it's price range, I'd give it a 9. Can't expect high end features in a bargain amp.

First things first. Compared to other reviews, I don't consider this to be a one trick pony, or blues only amp. Still, I wouldn't get one of these and expect to duplicate Dream Theater or thrash either. Anywhere from country to jazz to blues to classic rock to any other mid-gain sounds, this thing is great! I run an EBMM Axis and a Mexi-std Strat through it, and usually also use a Mesa V-Twin pedal and Boss CH-1 Super Chorus.
The clean sound is very nice! Even with the Axis, I have not had any trouble maintaining a crystal clear clean tone when playing in a band situation, although we don't usually get very loud. If you push the clean channel, it breaks up very nicely in a bluesy way. I beleive that this channel is sort of based on the bassman circuit and sound.
As was noted, the EQ is shared between channels. Although it would always be nice to have independant EQ (and I would prefer it), I can't really complain about it. I'm pretty happy with the sounds I get sharing the EQ. I find the tone to be a tad bass heavy for my taste, but it's easy to tame it and most other people now would probably like it better this way. The reverb is also shared by channels, and there is one level control and it's not footswitchable. Although it certainly would be nice to set separate level per channel, or footswitch it off, I can't really complain with it. The charicter of the reverb is very smooth. I tend to use just a bit of this though, just enough to give the sound some depth.
The Drive channel can pretty much cover any distored blues or classic rock stuff. The distortion is a very tight and smooth type, not fuzzy. This is the way I like it. I've played numerous high end amps by pretty much every manufacturer, and for classic rock type sounds, this is my favorite regardless of price! Just wish it had more high end features.
The More Drive channel basically just adds a preset amount of gain to the Drive channel. To me, the character of the distortion on More Drive is very much like a Boogie, but doesn't get anywhere near that saturated. It just has that type of tone. This channel to me is really more of a "solo" channel. For any of the rock stuff, if you go to More Drive from the Drive channel it just gives a bit of a volume boost and a bit different tone.

I've had this for about 9 months now and not had a single problem. Although I don't gig with it, I do lug it around for jams. I do make it a point to be careful, and always use the included cover. I don't see anything that would make me question how well it's made.
Personally, I'd never gig without some type of backup, no matter what gear I use. Let's just say that I don't think this amp would demand that you bring a backup. I also have the V-Twin that I could run through the PA in a pinch.

5 year warrentee. I haven't needed to have anything done, so I can't comment. Given the size of Fender, I wouldn't think it would be hard to find a certified repairman.

This is actually my first tube amp, and I'm exceptionally happy with it. There are certainly other amps that have a better list of features, and some even sound better. But not in this price range! If I were to buy again, I'd probably go for the DeVille 410 for a bigger sound, but it's essentially the same amp.
If you want heavy metal, this isn't the amp for you unless you're prepared to use a distortion pedal. If you've got a pedal that gives you the sound you want, then this is a fantastic amp to provide the base for it!
For any other type of music, unless you have a specific desire to exactly replicate a sound or want maybe a VOX tone, you should be happy with this.
Although I've given it an 8 overall, that's based on everything else available. If you're not into thrash/HM, then for the price I'd give it a 10!

This is a clasical fender amp with two chanels (clean, drive) with reverbe and ,presence. This amp is not to versatile, but it s yust perfect for me. I play rock. I was suprised how can 40 watts amp scream .The only thing that i miss is foot switch for reverb.

This is the best amp i ever trayed. I play fender stratocaster Roadhouse with tex-mex pickups, fender telecaster custom with fender humbucker on bridge, les poul black beauty(76) . All three guitars sounds yust perfect on clean chanel, problem is just drive chanel with les poul (noise)

No problem

I play guitar for about 5 years. If a lost this amp i ll buy it agin, but i wont, maybe try VOX ac 30. Great value for money.

Yoy know them. Too many for my small mind.

I play an Epiphone Les Paul special double cut away/ 2 P90's. Also a '62 Melody Maker. This is my first tube amp in 20 years. Well not really (more latter). The Clean channel does sound great as others have said. The drive and more drive channels though could be better. I prefer them to my Arion over drive though. The reverb is fine to my ears but I would much like to have a foot switch for it. The master volume should also be available to both channels,which brings me to my other tube amp, the Pignose G40V. I bought that first and it sounded great. And I mean GREAT!.One channel with a master and drive control, bass, middle, treble, all I need! The UPS guy dropped it and it had to go back.They were out of stock and offered to subsitute the Fender at a much reduced price. I could not refuse. I was dissapointed with the Fender at first but could not see returning it as it is of much higher quality. After playing it more I have settled on the following settings, Clean- brite off, tone all they way save for bass-3, presence-6. Drive-3 master to needs. Even at 3 it is still bassy. Plenty loud for clubs.

no problem to date

no need yet

If it were stolen I would go for another Pignose, or maybe try a Sovtek. But I( won't sell this any time soon.

This is a very simple amp, but there are just enough features to make it versatile. 40 watts of all-tube (6L6) power; three channels with shared EQ, presence, and reverb; series effects loop; footswitch jack; Eminence 12 inch speaker.
Don't be fooled by the 40 watts -- this amp is seriously loud! It has plenty of power for gigs, but unlike most tube amps it sounds great with the volume way down too. Some would prefer a different EQ for the gain channels, but from what I can tell such a feature would be unneccesary and would also detract from the brilliant simplicity of this amp. Fender also throws in a really solid footswitch (with the option of using a longer cable should you so choose) and a vinyl cover which is perfect for rainy days. The amp itself has a cool '50's retro look with the silver speaker covering, the chrome panel, and the "chicken head" knobs. Very nice indeed. I can't think of a feature I'd want to add to this amp.

Played with a Fender Strat with Texas Specials and a stock Epiphone Les Paul.
The theory behind the tone of the Deluxe is this: start with a great clean sound and build your overdrive on that. This is what players have been doing for years by running distortion pedals into their Bassmans and Twin Reverbs. As a result, the clean channel on the Deluxe is outstanding. The sound is rich and lively and very dynamic. Add some of that reverb and you're in vintage Fender heaven. The Strat sounds perfectly plucky and the big 'buckers on the LP compress sweetly and naturally. This channel alone is worth the price of the amp.
So that's it, right? Wrong. The two overdrive sounds are equally impressive. Drive gives the Strat a bluesy crunch perfect for ... well, blues, and a nice mild rock sound. The gain is very warm, smooth, and full of low end. You may have to turn the bass down at high volumes. More Drive is thick, rich, fat rock gain with loads of compression and harmonics. Try this setting with a Les Paul and a chorus pedal -- it is the biggest, fattest sound in the universe! Despite this huge overdrive, each note is still distinctive and solos are lively and can be dynamically controlled very handily.
The sound of this amp is beautiful. No matter where I set the tone controls I still get a sweet tone. This isn't to say the EQ is useless, but you'll struggle to find a harsh, nasal tone or a scooped-mid metal sound. For the majority of us who don't want to sound like that, the Deluxe is killer.

The Deluxe looks and feels very solid. All the parts are first rate; even the Tolex covering is tough. I never do a gig without some sort of backup (usually a friend's amp), but I have supreme confidence in the Deluxe. It has never broken down, and I don't expect it ever will. The only reason I don't give it a 10 is because it's not indestructible. I wouldn't want to rough it up at all.

I have never dealt with Fender, but they get high marks just for the five year transferrable warranty. They included a wiring schematic with the manual, but there's no way I'd crack this baby open myself. I can't speak for everyone, but my local Fender dealer / service center is excellent.

I have been playing for at least six years and tried countless amps, and this is by far the best I have ever played on, let alone owned. If it were lost or stolen I would go out and buy a new one as soon as I stopped crying. It's perfect for blues, rock, funk, reggae, and all the other stuff I play. There isn't a single amp out there that can compete with the Deluxe, with the possible exception of Boogies that cost three to four times as much. If you need more power, go with the DeVille (60 watt equivalent) but I don't know anyone who would want an amp louder than this. A big venue will happily (sometimes they will force you to) mike it up and use the PA for volume.
In any case, if you are looking for a versatile, medium-sized amp, you should definitely give the Hot Rod Deluxe a test drive. (God damn that's cornball, but I just had to put it in!)

You know the features I paid 540 for this down at the store every time I plug it in it seems to sound different sometimes good sometimes bad so I put a Weber 12 in it and it brought out the ear piercing highs of it . there have been about 50 50 pro and con on this amp. for the money I think it is worth it with all its faults.the drive channel does seem to smell a bit but with the third channel kicked in it screams okay with enough volume used.

two strats and a tele usually through a boogie 2 12 cabinet. through this Deluxe it seems to really work well with the volume on just under 3 , a daddy o pedal set at low distortion and med. volume, treble on low. the amp setings on the first channel without the daddy o sounds okay but a bit thin, with this set up I get amazing loud and clean tones . this amp is very very loud.I set the eqs on about 3 treble a little higher and use the clean channel usually I could imagine this amp at a gig without some kind of effect. the reverb I set sometimes on 5 and it gets a real loud country kind of sound very deep and tolerable if you dont have any others around. Its not very noisy with this setup either because I can set the voulme knob on the guitar about 5-8 and can really have avariety of sounds to work with.

dont know probably needs looked at a lot seems sturdy but with fender you never know one music store sales guy commented after I told him fender was kinda slow getting out their products to the midwest said yeah they are the only fender on the block though and that is true

5 year warranty is fair for this amount of money

I should have taken my time before I bought this it was an impulse because I would hhave gotten something different for a little more money so now I have to settle for a 25 watt mesa boogie, 16 watt Soldano, and this fender hot rod, its not so bad I am waiting on a hand built fender deluxe copy and then I hope I am through with this madness. anyway there are so many different styles of amps out there new and used this is a very valuable forum and I wish I had discovered it sooner.

40 watt combo. All tube except reverb. Nice controls. Perfect! No headphones but who cares! Nice vintage setup!

Best Combo today. Blues to Rock. Use a MT-2, Zoom 5 and it does wonders. Clean is the best feature. Overdrive is good too. No problems. Sounds even better with a good dist. pedal. Play a strat and it's a perfect match.

Perfect so far!

Never had problems. 5 year warranty. Awesome! There are lists and lists of shops that service fenders. WOW!

playing 14 years. Strat diehard. Buy it again in a split second. Love everything. A classic reissue. GO BUY ONE FOLKS

Bought new July 1998 for $519 plus 6% sales tax. Has factory issued Groove tubes. It's an EXTREMELY LOUD 40 watt 2 channel amp. Much has already been said on it's features. It has one 12" eminence speaker. It would be nice if Fender sold a matching extension speaker cabinet to disperse the sound. The more drive kicks in to loud, a level control for this feature would also make it more useful in a live situation.

I use it with a Fender American Standard strat and a Fender Tele with texas special pickups. As has been said it's a great blues, Stevie Ray Vaughan type amp. The clean channel is very bell like and chimey. the gain channel sounds best with the drive not more than 4 or 5. just adding a little distortion. For the money its a great sounding amp. and plenty powerful. The reverb is fine set low as with most amps.

to new, still working with no problem

5 year warranty seems good to me.

Been playing drums 20 years, guitar 4 years. I have a Peavey classic 30 and for the extra $100+ the Fender sounds far superior. The Peavey rattles to much. the Fender is very quiet when not playing. Again for the money, the Hot Rod is great. If any one knows of a better tube amp for under $600 I'd like to hear what it is? Again I wish fender sold a matching cabinet with maybe 2- 12" Celestions.

40 watt tube amp with drive, more drive, reverb, 1 12" speaker.

Makes great rock, blues or jazzy tones with single coils or humbucks. Clean sound will get you grinnin from ear to ear, increadable, must be heard to be appreciated. Very easy to get a SRV Lenny sound, but not a super squeeky solid state clean. IHMO the reverb is the best I've ever heard in an amp that I can afford. I set it between 2 and 4, higher settings can be too much, but low sounds beautiful, much better than my RP-1's reverb. Some have said that the drive channels are blurred or muddy, they can be if not EQ'd right. To get good overdrive sounds I set the drive 2 to 5, higher is too noisy for me, treble way up 9 to 12, bass must be 4 to 7, mids to suit, presence must be very high 8 to 12. The EQ is strange on this amp, while impossable to not get killer clean sounds, very easy to get a muddy overdrive sound if you use too much bass and too little treble and presence. On the negative side since there's only one set of tone controls you must compromise your clean or drive sound if you want to switch between them. My Tube Screamer sounds pretty good through it and is a good compromise to get both sounds. This amp will not produce any and all amp sounds, but if you want a clasic Fender tube sound this amp has it.

Two weeks old and works fine!

Too new to know.

Been playing 9 years, have 9 guitars and finally bought my first tube amp. Have played through many amps and none have sounded as wonderful. Almost bought a Peavy clasic 50 untill I heard this one. The reverb is the reason it sounds great to me, turn it off and it sounds average. Turn it on and you've great Fender tube tone.

channel switching with shared eq , bright boost , series effects loop, reverb. This is not a feature laden amp. The clean channel is what this amp is all about

Clean ch. typical fender, reverb not too good compared to tube type verb's. The shared eq. is not so great when switching between the gain and clean ch. A fairly good slightly dist. sound ala Mellencamp can be had by not using too much gain . A nice blues sound can be had in the more gain setting when set 8 to 10 in the more gain. Long legato type solos can't be had with this amp. I use a floor pedal for that. I play a 62 Vintage Re-issue with Fralin pickups. In small club settings this amp sounds quite good. In larger rooms I use my twin. Also, I replaced the speaker with the Vintage 30. This improved the sound noticably, particulaly the gain settings. For the price this is a good amp. Best for blues,R & B, country. As others have said, this is not a loud metal type amp. I set the eq at about 8 for treb & bass and 7 for mid. The preamp seems to sound best when the eq controls are between 5 to 8. This works for me but I'm not a hard agressive player. The band I play in is not overly loud on stage,but I suspect that loud playing bands might test the power of this amp.

I've had this amp for a year and use it live about once a month,but every day at home. I've never had any problems with any of the fender amps I've owned

This is Fenders down fall. Anytime I've needed/wanted something from Fender in regard to my guitars, they have been very slow to respond

I've been playing for 25yrs and usually use a Twin. For small clubs this amp works just fine for the style of musuc I play (R & B, Funk,R & R,) Its no Bogner,VHT or Matchless, but does the job with no fuss ,no muss,and well within most peoples budgets. Overall very good clean ch. and ok gain when used sparingly. An overdrive pedal is a must with this amp.

2 channels the second with 2 gain settings yellow and red, reverb, presence, bass, treble & mid. Foot switch to go between channel 1 & 2 and for channel 2 stage 1 & 2. Also drive can be added to channel 2. But the you cannot Separate the eq between channel. However its really light for a tube amp and quiet portable.

The amp is a tube amp that sounds like a solid state it seems to miss the warmth of say a twin or a Marshall blues breaker. I must say it is very clean but with a strat sounds really thin no crunch at all just really thin sounding however a Les Paul does do it favors and does not sound to bad perhaps a bit to much bass. But still no crunch a thin bass sound go figure? Very sterile sound to sum it up. Channel 2 can be clean and if set precisely you can find some crunch but nothing to write home about and forget it for a balls to the wall sound. Also it is really loud between 1 and 4 but then it does not seem to change in volume after that much. I think fender designed this amp to sound great in the shop but thats all its good for + it looks heaps cool. As an indication i just purchased a dc-5 boogie its a little warmer As an initial observation but still not Marshall blues breaker territory but it is the sweetest amp I have ever played so far I will post once I have played it longer, however I am know selling the fender and very happy to see the back of it.

no problem

Designed the service manuals that come with it are ok and they some good advise but they don't seem as helpful as boogies manuals and as inviting?

alright begineers amp its kinda Comparable to a squire vs a American standard where the hot rod is the squire!!!

40 watts 1 12" speaker. Tee only problem with the amps features is that the eq is shared by all 3 channels which i think i can live with.

I play an epiphone SG (read the review) and this amp has the great ton i've been looking for. I play mostly alt-rock and the amp suits me very well. Although i do think the distortions are a little weak. They seem kind of muddy and blurry for my tastes. But i have a solution for this problem its called STOMPBOXES and yes all of my distortion boxes sound awesome through this amp. By the way this amp is rated at 40 watts but i dont believe that i play with it at home on 1 1/2 and 2 when i really want to rock. IT can get loud as hell.

Its built by fender nuff said.

I have no idea and I dont want to know.

I think this is the best amp for the money around. When I went to the music store i was set out to buy a new Vibrolux ($800) i tested it against the hot rod deluxe and there was not $300 worth of difference between them.