All user reviews of 4/5 for the Fender Hot Rod DeVille 212

I purchased this amplifier at Long&McQuiad a
major canadean chain of stores. All around This combo has everything I needed to play what I play. The big hook was I got it for 699 canadian dollars.

The clean channel sounds great with lots of flexibility and power to stay clean at higher volumes. The Gain channel has mor than enough growl for me and at the touch of the footswitch you can up it just a little more for leads or what ever else.
With the addition of a closed back sealed 4ohm cabinet pluged into the external speaker out presto you have a nice tight bottom end and the open back of the combo gives you clarity and string definition. With four or six 12 inch speakers, 2 or 4 external and 2 internal running off this 60 watt combo you can move quite a bit of air. I've never needed to push it to hard. Yet.


The only problem with my unit and I'm not sure if this refers to all deville's but when switching from dirt to clean there is a poping noise and I have heard of other people complain of this problem. The pop only happens when there is a noise signal and not when you change channels with the stings silent and the volume of the pop is gauged according to the volume of the input.
I've learned to play so it's not noticable but for those kind of dollars I shudent have to. Lst price of around 1100 Cnd.

The construction of the deville is imaculate. I honestly think this amp coulds get hit by a truck And the crowd wouldn't miss hearing a note. Simple enough

All in all the Deville line is a great line of amps loud and proud and the only tube amps at this price that sound good.
Thanx


This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

-Tube amp (3 12AX7, 2 6L6)
-60W output to 4 ohms
-2 Hp 12 'parallel
-2 Channels: normal / bright and drive / moredrive (pedal provided communties) (in fact, there is one channel we boost)
-EQ: bass, middle, treble, presence
-Volume for the clean channel / gain for the channel + master drive
-Spring reverb
-2 Inputs (low and high impedance)
-Loop effect

This is the same amp as the deluxe hot rot, except that it provides a power of 60W and two hp.

UTILIZATION

Strengths:

-Son lamps (see below). Sounds very soon ...
-Ideal for playing live
-Reverb, presence control, effects loop, two entrances, one footswitch etc ...
Weaknesses:

One-EQ for both channels. Difficult to adjust optimally knobs for both channels.
The EQ-knobs do not always seem very sensitive ...?
-The volume knob is against hyper-sensitive because of the high power of the amp. It's fast earache ...
-Moderately heavy (+ /-25kg) (albeit for a combo with 2hp ...)
Sealing of shit! I had to rebuild after a year of use ...
No line-out, no impedance switch for hp, no master for the clean channel ... etc.

SOUNDS

-Suitable for the rock-blues. Very hot.
Very good-clear sound. Not really in the vein of Twin. The sound is deeper and dirtier than the Twin. This adds an undeniable charm. In any case, it sounds Fender. At low volume, but it sounds too serious. The trick is to put him aolrs a volume box in the effects loop. The equalization will be adjusted according to the context of play and the overall sound volume.
-The overdrive is of lesser quality. But quite usable. This is an OD that tends to fuzz. Made comprehensive enough FAT. I prefer a good pedal.
-The reverb should be used sparingly (but it sounds much more true that the digital).
The pedals make-good. However, their effect seems lessened by the amp ...?
Headroom-Sufis important to play totally clean in concert.
-The main problem is its too big power. Even in concert, the amp is too powerful to be used at its optimal volume. This is already the case for user deluxe hot, so imagine with 20w more ... As a result, the lights do not work sufficit and it shows on the sound. The amp powerbrake therefore requires a power attenuator. Otherwise, lack of depth ...

OVERALL OPINION

-The sound is overall very good. Makes a very good cash very clear and very good drive pedal.
-But the main drawback of this amp is its power. Surely it is better to take a deluxe 40w maximum. This will have a better sound by running more lights. In addition, it is cheaper and the amp is less heavy and bulky.

EDIT:

With a step back now, I would point out that, inevitably, we find the amp gradually over time (and not just by trying it in a store ..), and secondly, that our tastes, our ears, our expectations or our style of play may change over time, from their own side ...

and then the sound is the Holy Grail ...

So I asked a lot of questions later ... ... so never really satisfied, like many, I built my box volume, I changed the lights preamp, then I built a power attenuator thinking it would finally really ringing. But I'm still a little left on my end. I posted this comment in the forum at a time: https://forums.audiofanzine.com/index, page 2, idtopic, 268129, idsearch, 0, idcat, 16923.html ( https://forums.audiofanzine.com/index,page,2,idtopic,268129,idsearch,0,idcat,16923.html )

"(...) I could also put his finger on the weaknesses of the amp. Overall, the amp sounds great when I play a slow arpeggio. But it sounds a bit "small" as soon as I am "solo" in the clear. Furthermore, playing chords do not go very well because then it sounds very shrill and loud ... (...) Otherwise, I find the clean sound is not very accurate. As if the notes were lost in the fog (yes I know strange metaphor but it's hard to describe ...) anyone know what this is due? Perhaps it is the reverb? (...) I also find it a shame that the reverb is so little useable (beyond 2 .. it gets rough). (...) I also noticed that there were too many medium and especially the medium were very, very rough ...? (Typically the 12th fret of the string's) very dull, very dull, aching ears ...?? This is mitigated somewhat when I replaced the 12AT7 I put a 12AX7 in V3 (as originally). Then I dropped the pot to medium 0, and then it starts to become normal but not high quality level of rendering. Furthermore, I also find that the bass is still quite messy ...? (E string from the 9th cell) does not really distinguish them, they are too dull ... Finally, I find there is not enough bass at all ... I put my pot up ... I do have more cons by using the button bright (unless I put a box before the amp volume). (...) Finally, I find my sound is not large enough. This lack of compression. I wonder if this is not the power stage that is wrong. I still have my Groove Tube, maybe that. "

I have since changed the power tubes and it still sounds a little better. I have more bass and better midrange. I also rediscovered some channel playing drive home. It seems as if that bad if you do not exceed the 10-level gain knob. But we must see every time equalization ...

I do not intend to sell my Hot Rod because he's not a bad amp. And I do not know which I would buy ... so I'll try to improve a little by changing the condo, and made some changes at the reverb and channel drive. Following soon no doubt!

It's a tube combo with 60 Watts and 2x12 Eminence speakers.
You can switch between two channels (clean and distortion) and add an integrated Spring Reverb. There is also the possibility to add external effects after the Preamp and before the Poweramp.
This thing can be loud! And as with most tube amps it is quite heavy...and bulky. Why do they still have these handles to transport amps of this weight??

UTILIZATION

Really if you have used a tube amp before this one does not hold any surprises. The bright/normal switch can be configured to suit the input signal and the 'more gain' switch allows for a more aggressive gain stage. Basically you can switch to the second channel for distortion and Fender has made a great deal out of this. Really if you are serious about tone don't use it. I know this sounds opinionated...but that is what these User Reviews are for. I just think it sounds terribly weak compared to the clean channel and Fender should not try so hard to be cool. Just buy yourself a Tubescreamer, T-Rex Alberta...or whatever else excites you.
One thing I don't like is that the tubes stick out a bit on the back and are therefore a little unprotected at times. It happened to me twice that a tube pushed back a bit and eventually I had to have all of them replaced. I think they could have solved that a bit more elegant.

SOUNDS

The sound is quite sharp but for the what it costs very nice. Don't try to add too much reverb as anything above 3 just becomes a wash. Again - try the distortion if you will but don't take Fender's word for it. I think it sounds weak and uninspiring - so I never use it. But if you add the right pedal you will never have to worry about this second channel.
I have also been using it as an amp for my Godin Steel Duet acoustic guitar and it really shines there.

OVERALL OPINION

I own this amp for more than four years now and I don't think I will sell it anytime soon. I have a vintage Twin Reverb '71 and for electric guitar that is what I use now. But for my acoustic and as a second amp this one is a really good choice. Also for the price it can truly hold its own and you do get that Fender sound. The only other amp that I can think of that really compares in this category is maybe the Peavey Classic 30. I am talking about vintage style amps here - so heavy rockers don't hate me!

This amp is a very nice tube amp from Fender. It's got 2 twelve inch speakers in the cabinet, which is a combo and has the amp head in the same enclosure. The power on the amp is 60 watts. Let me be the first to say that this amp is extremely loud. I can't really even push it past 1 on the master volume dial before it's too loud to play in my apartment, so I really don't use it that much at home. It definitely is fantastic when used live though, and you can get it loud enough that you are pushing the power amps and getting a very nice crunchy tone. There are 2 inputs on this amp if you need to get something stereo going through this amp, or even just 2 players through the one amp. There are two channels on the amp, a clean and a crunch channel. The drive channel even has 2 drive settings - crunch and more crunch which is switchable on the pedal that is included. There are master volume knobs for both channels, and there is also control for bass, mid, and treble. In addition you get controls for presence, drive, and reverb. There is a very nice sounding Fender spring reverb in this amp, which sounds very retro and cool. There is also a standby switch so you can warm up the tubes without causing a lot of hum. This is a very nice amp overall, even Coldplay uses this live so it's also loud enough to handle big venues if you mic it up. Some would say it's too loud though.

UTILIZATION

It is very simple to set up. Just plug in your guitar, turn it on, and turn it up! The sounds are very easy to get, although nicer ones are only achieved at volumes that might be too much for apartment or dorm room dwellers.

SOUNDS

This amp would work very well for a lot of genres due to how much you can mess with the tone. I like to use a telecaster with it the most. Both the clean and drive channels on this amp sound very good, it's a quality amp.

OVERALL OPINION

I just got this about a week ago, and am very glad that I did. I'm sure I haven't even mastered getting the best sounds out of it yet, but I'm already very satisfied with my purchase. This is a really great tube amp at a good price, built solidly by a US company. I recommend it highly.