Do I want a HRD? If so, which version?

Legionreturns

I've tried and owned a few of the cheaper valve combos in the past, and concluded that the weight and volume issues were too big a deal to worry about the better sound quality and performance. 

I stick with a Katana 100 for most things as it's light, easy to use and packed full of every effect I could want...but I'm getting the itch again and a pristine HRD iii has come up locally for a good price. 

I'm aware that the V4 is much lighter because it has a pine cabinet, but other than that what's the difference between the various versions? 

What's a good price for the respective versions? 

stratman3142

I had an HRD 3 in the past but changed the speaker, which I didn't like. First I tried a Celestion Vintage 30. Then changed it to a Celestion V Type because that's what Mike Landau has in the Deville which is (sort of) from the same family of amp. That worked better for me.

I've now got an HRD 4 which comes with an A Type Celestion as stock. I prefer the sound  HRD 4 and it's great as is. Plus it's a bit lighter.

Legionreturns

Thanks for that. So a v4 might be a better option on two counts. 

Is there anything else I should consider in the same price bracket? 

stratman3142

I've also got a Blues Cube Artist and use them both live. That's just for the spread because the HRD has ample volume on its own. The Blues Cube is lighter but if I had to choose I'd go with the HRD 4, because I prefer the HRD 4 clean sound.

 I actually prefer the Blues Cube drive channel to the HRD drive channel, but that's not the way I use either amp, which are set clean and I used pedals for the dirt.

stratman3142

Legionreturns said:

Thanks for that. So a v4 might be a better option on two counts. 

Is there anything else I should consider in the same price bracket? 

Maybe you should try both a V3 and a V4. These things are very much down to personal taste.

ICBM

Legionreturns said:

Thanks for that. So a v4 might be a better option on two counts. 

Is there anything else I should consider in the same price bracket? 

A Blues Deluxe, or a V2 .

In my opinion the V3 is the worst - I don't know what they did to the voicing, but in the attempt to make an amp that was less touchy on the volume controls, they somehow made one that needed to be turned up *further* before it started to sound good, and even then I don't think it does.

The speaker might be part of it - the V3 has the dreadful Celestion G12P-80 (AKA Seventy/80), and the V30 is a really bad choice for it too. The A-Type is much more appropriate, and in fact the original brown-label Fender-Eminence in the V1 and 2 isn't actually that bad...!