The Answer Is Hot Rod Deluxe... Isn't It?

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  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    ESBlonde said:
    They are Fenders best selling combo ever!  They must have something going for them.

    This is true but it is also a little reductive.

    It is at the right price point for a lot of people and it sounds acceptable to good most of the time.
    Clean channel volume taper is weird (2 is louder than most people can use) and a lot of people don't like the drive.
    I think the FX loop sucks as well.

    40w is too loud for most gigs these days too.

    I like using a Zendrive or SOV2 with it myself.
    I find the more 'transparent' drives don't do it any favours.
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  • 545454545454 Frets: 184
    I gigged a Blues Deluxe for a few years, pretty solid and dependable - they're great value amps, especially second hand. But if you're happy to spend up to £1000 for Fendery cleans, I reckon it's worth checking out a Deluxe Reverb for comparison
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  • HattigolHattigol Frets: 8176
    edited January 2019
    Danny1969 said:
    Most people do find the volume taper annoying, leading me to sell over 1000 Lion tamers in the last year 

    https://reverb.com/item/9884039-fender-hot-rod-volume-module

    The HRD is now my main giiging amp across 4 bands. It cost less than £400 2nd hand, sounds great, is plenty loud enough and a doddle to repair due to the vast knowledge contributed by people like ICBM and others across the web. The design does have some weak points but all in all it's a solid, reliable and well spec'ed 1 x 12"combo that gets the job done. 

    I tried a few dirt pedals but settled on a Soul Food for my basic tone. the EHX Soulfood is a pretty organic overdrive into an HRD and preferable to the amps own dirt IMO BUT you can get some cool tines out the drive channel, just stay away from the more drive button
    I wouldn't even call it a taper. It's like nothing, nothing, nothing, then standing a yard from the Hiroshima bomb.

    The clean channel is lovely but I found the drive channels utterly unusable. 

    Is a Vox AC not on your radar?
    "Anybody can play. The note is only 20%. The attitude of the motherf*cker who plays it is  80%" - Miles Davis
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  • TheMarlinTheMarlin Frets: 7744
    Hattigol said:
    Danny1969 said:
    Most people do find the volume taper annoying, leading me to sell over 1000 Lion tamers in the last year 

    https://reverb.com/item/9884039-fender-hot-rod-volume-module

    The HRD is now my main giiging amp across 4 bands. It cost less than £400 2nd hand, sounds great, is plenty loud enough and a doddle to repair due to the vast knowledge contributed by people like ICBM and others across the web. The design does have some weak points but all in all it's a solid, reliable and well spec'ed 1 x 12"combo that gets the job done. 

    I tried a few dirt pedals but settled on a Soul Food for my basic tone. the EHX Soulfood is a pretty organic overdrive into an HRD and preferable to the amps own dirt IMO BUT you can get some cool tines out the drive channel, just stay away from the more drive button
    I wouldn't even call it a taper. It's like nothing, nothing, nothing, then standing a yard from the Hiroshima bomb.

    The clean channel is lovely but I found the drive channels utterly unusable. 

    Is a Vox AC not on your radar?
    You can buy upgrade pots to sort that. They only cost about £8-£10 each, and you don’t even need a soldering iron. Push in.....allegedly...
    That’ll sort it for you. 
    I had the same thing with a HR Deville 4x10. Nothing, nothing, full volume with a hollow Gretsch screaming....
    Permanently damaged the hearing in my right ear.  Sold it sharpish... 
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  • robertyroberty Frets: 10893
    octatonic said:
    Never really been a fan.
    I'd always take a Fender Deluxe Reverb over the HR.
    I prefer the DRRI too, but word of warning you'll never have your cleans squeaky clean at loud drummer levels. A bonus imo. The built in trem is lusheroo
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  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    roberty said:
    octatonic said:
    Never really been a fan.
    I'd always take a Fender Deluxe Reverb over the HR.
    I prefer the DRRI too, but word of warning you'll never have your cleans squeaky clean at loud drummer levels. A bonus imo. The built in trem is lusheroo
    True, which is why you buy two of them. :)
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  • thomasw88thomasw88 Frets: 2316
    someone was selling a wienbrock gringo a while ago on here.  They're great fender clean amps and take pedals superbly.

    fender wise I prefer the deluxe reverb to the hot rod.
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71956
    edited January 2019
    Philtre said:
    HRD is certainly a cheap and good option. You can pick up a s/h one for £300 - £400. The dirty channel is....OK, but a dirt pedal into the clean channel sounds better.
    I would say the opposite... if you want a little dirt, ignore the 90% of people who can't get a good sound out of the drive channel because they expect it to sound like a Marshall, and it will do the job very nicely. It's much better than a pedal if you want the same basic sound as the clean channel but with a bit more grit.

    Hattigol said:

    I wouldn't even call it a taper. It's like nothing, nothing, nothing, then standing a yard from the Hiroshima bomb.

    The clean channel is lovely but I found the drive channels utterly unusable.
    You just have to be careful how you dial it in. I don't find the taper that bad, you just have to move it by a small fraction of a turn - which is actually quite easy, because the knobs are chickenheads. I can get a good low volume sound out of them...

    That said Danny1969's Lion Tamer is a superb piece of kit which makes it a total piece of cake.

    I can also get perfectly usable sounds on both the Drive and More Drive channels, although More is a bit too compressed really. Keep the drive control below halfway (preferably below about 4), dial the EQ in for the Drive not the clean (which can take care of itself), bright switch on the clean channel, presence quite low, and there's nothing wrong with it at all... as long as you don't expect it to sound like a Marshall or a Mesa.

    TheMarlin said:

    You can buy upgrade pots to sort that. They only cost about £8-£10 each, and you don’t even need a soldering iron. Push in.....allegedly...
    Er... no. Or not unless you mean pushing a Lion Tamer into the FX loop jacks .

    Changing the pots requires soldering, and taking the main board out which can be tricky if you haven't done one before - and it doesn't achieve that much anyway. If you really can't get it to dial in at the volume you need, the Lion Tamer is the answer.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • p90foolp90fool Frets: 31368
    ICBM said:
    people who can't get a good sound out of the drive channel because they expect it to sound like a Marshall, and it will do the job very nicely. It's much better than a pedal if you want the same basic sound as the clean channel but with a bit more grit.

    I wish it did, I'd be delighted. The drive channel is much more middy and boxy than the clean channel, I can't wait for the warranty to be up so I can research making it match the clean channel. 

    Any tips in the meantime are most welcome though.
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71956
    p90fool said:

    I wish it did, I'd be delighted. The drive channel is much more middy and boxy than the clean channel, I can't wait for the warranty to be up so I can research making it match the clean channel. 

    Any tips in the meantime are most welcome though.
    Dial the amp in for the drive channel and let the clean take care of itself. The clean channel is much less fussy and will still sound good even if the settings are quite a lot different from the 'best'.

    I actually find them quite similar though - maybe it's the type of guitars we use...

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • robertyroberty Frets: 10893
    octatonic said:
    roberty said:
    octatonic said:
    Never really been a fan.
    I'd always take a Fender Deluxe Reverb over the HR.
    I prefer the DRRI too, but word of warning you'll never have your cleans squeaky clean at loud drummer levels. A bonus imo. The built in trem is lusheroo
    True, which is why you buy two of them. :)
    Yes mate! That's the spirit
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  • p90foolp90fool Frets: 31368
    ICBM said:
    p90fool said:

    I wish it did, I'd be delighted. The drive channel is much more middy and boxy than the clean channel, I can't wait for the warranty to be up so I can research making it match the clean channel. 

    Any tips in the meantime are most welcome though.
    Dial the amp in for the drive channel and let the clean take care of itself. The clean channel is much less fussy and will still sound good even if the settings are quite a lot different from the 'best'.

    I actually find them quite similar though - maybe it's the type of guitars we use...
    Yeah maybe that's it. I'm prepared to dial it in, if I could get it where I want it I wouldn't be channel switching anyway.

    I do actually quite like the dirt channel for the same reasons you do, but for general use I'd prefer it to be exactly like the clean except with a little hair.

    I'll study the schematic and see if it's feasible and exactly why they're EQ-ed differently. 
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  • exocetexocet Frets: 1948
    ICBM said:
    p90fool said:

    I wish it did, I'd be delighted. The drive channel is much more middy and boxy than the clean channel, I can't wait for the warranty to be up so I can research making it match the clean channel. 

    Any tips in the meantime are most welcome though.
    Dial the amp in for the drive channel and let the clean take care of itself. The clean channel is much less fussy and will still sound good even if the settings are quite a lot different from the 'best'.

    I actually find them quite similar though - maybe it's the type of guitars we use...
    I can only speak for the George Benson model which as far as I know is the same as the standard HRD v3 (albeit with 12AT7 in V1 position for lower gain).

    The "Dirt Chanel" is fed from the same input stage as Clean via a separate volume control which is fed via a very small Capacitor (0.0015 uF) (1.5nF). This trims the bass response significantly which in my experience means that you can't match the basic tone of both channels. As I said in another thread, I have modified mine to increase the value of this capacitor to 0.0033 uF (3.3nF), this is still a little bass light compared to clean channel but helps with the tonal balance between Clean and Dirty. I'd say that "parity" between both channels would involve something like 6.8nF.....roughly.

    There is also a low pass filter on the Drive Level Control, this cuts high end "post distortion" - I have removed mine completely (just clipped the ceramic capacitor leads). This also helps to equalise the tonal response between Clean and Dirty but would no doubt start to sound very rough if you drive that channel hard. With lower gain "grit" it's fine. 

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  • For me Blues Deluxe >>> Hot Rod. Although the Hot Rod is OK.

    A better option is to look for a second hand Custom Vibrolux Reverb - either the current 'reissue' (yeah I know it's not really a Vibrolux') or the older made in USA Blackface styled ones. Plenty loud enough at 35W, but a bit more refined and 'classic Fender' than the others.

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  • p90foolp90fool Frets: 31368
    Thanks @exocet , I need to save that info for when my warranty runs out, though my patience doesn't usually last that long haha
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  • exocetexocet Frets: 1948
    p90fool said:
    Thanks @exocet , I need to save that info for when my warranty runs out, though my patience doesn't usually last that long haha
    Just drop me a line when you need to, I'll give you the info - might even be able to take photos of the internals of mine to help you locate the parts etc.
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  • p90foolp90fool Frets: 31368
    exocet said:
    p90fool said:
    Thanks @exocet , I need to save that info for when my warranty runs out, though my patience doesn't usually last that long haha
    Just drop me a line when you need to, I'll give you the info - might even be able to take photos of the internals of mine to help you locate the parts etc.
    Fantastic, many thanks!
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  • OnparOnpar Frets: 415
    I gig a hrd all the time. It's great for what I do live and is always loud enough no matter how big the hall/club is when we arrive (we run back line only). It is heavy though and not always fun carrying for long distances. Only ever use the clean channel and use pedals for gain. Use a volume control in the effects loop to get it singing - I think I bought the volume control on this forum. My hrd is a III and is covered in tweed lacquer. 

    But it's not a home amp. I have a Carr Mercury for home use and keep it on 1/2 watt setting, which sounds amazing. 
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  • MrBumpMrBump Frets: 1244
    OK, so my somewhat unexpected resolution was...

    This!



    I got to thinking about what I really wanted, which was great, Fendery cleans, a little grunt if needed, basically my Renegade, only in a back-friendly format.

    It's a Tweaker 40 - so far, it sounds really good.  I think that the "Tweaker" title is a misnomer; it's not a complicated amp at all, more like a Fender-type loud combo with several switchable EQ stages.  For my tastes, it's going to be about setting it how I think it'll sound good and pretty much leaving it there.  And it's pretty dang loud!

    Still playing with it - it's a little boxy on some settings when compared with my Renegade, but it's a 1x12 so I'd kinda expect that. But there's definitely a shared heritage with that amp, it does sound remarkably similar in some respects, which is great because my Renegade is awesome.

    Thanks for the help and advice, guys.
    Mark de Manbey

    Trading feedback:  http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/72424/
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  • PhiltrePhiltre Frets: 4164
    Is one side shorter than the other?
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