All user reviews of 2/5 for the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

40W all-tube amp Fender.
1 speaker of the same brand, three 12AX7 preamp tubes and two 6L6.
3 channels: Normal, Drive and More Drive plus a bright button to make the sound more brilliant and typed "lamp".
Level knobs and others were left to right:
- 2 input jacks
- Volume (clean), Drive (drive channel gain and more), Treble, Bass, Middle, Master (which is incredibly misnomer since it is the drive channel volume), Reverb and Presence (setting the brightness of the sound).
- Input and output effects loop and finally the footswitch! (Phew ...)

Finally, an output for external speaker well hidden inside the box.
Provided a sign that despite the unorthodox arrangement regarding adjusting the knobs crunch but we made it.

UTILIZATION

It's pretty easy to take in hand, one branch is heated lamps we disable standby and made his settings!
Not really need the manual if you have ever been faced with an amp, especially a tube amp.
The sound generated is quite large and brilliant, as one might expect from a Fender.
However, the knobs go to 12, including two volumes which is totally useless because it gets too dirty and loud even clean above 7-8. Despite this, there was a clear and quite usable without the need to replant with a sound below this threshold.
In short, easy operation and ample power as we do not play at the Parc des Princes.

SOUNDS

Here we talk about the subject that is debatable.
I thought it would correspond to my style and this was the case until I turn the drive channel ... we will return.
The clean channel is really good, it can modulate many ways, with the 3-band EQ, presence of the knob, the knob reverb and bright. However, be careful not to shine too if you use a guitar with single coil pickups (strat or tele) because the sound is too fast and slamming it is truly unbearable.
I had heard great things about the reverb and I was extremely disappointed even bottom, it is an accessory to make the sound a bit further (and I stress the hair!). Reverb frankly overrated and useless even if the sound quality is undeniable came out.
Drive channel is the BIG black point of this amp. Drive by activating it disillusioned. A cold and messy to drive possible, even if you want the sound slightly cruncher you lose quality. Unusable!
I prefer not to talk about the More Drive is at the "famous" Marshall MG.
You'll understand that this is the level amp transistors!
One might think that just put the pedal to compensate for this loss, but no. The distos too hard are literally screaming amp and you soon realize his mistake.

To close the chapter of his HRD, do not bother to change the channel or hope to play a style of music too Hard it will not work. However you can always put a Tube Screamer overdrive kind of effects loop channel always clear: the result should be excellent.

But ... OCCAZ € 600 for something that I did not approximate point would have more seriously and I hope they raised the quality of the new version because € 800 nine "it" ... in short ...

OVERALL OPINION

To conclude, a well designed amp but way overpriced for the alleged qualities it offers. Clear sound to fall but the effect pedals that will sooner or later be added to the Fender Hot Rod will increase the overall price and ultimately fall back on as another model.

A sacred disappointment given the reputation of the brand and when I exchanged against a Vox AC15 better!

Guitar Center, Seattle-WA USA $550.00

Really great tube one for not a lot of money.

first of all i want to say i loved this amp. However, I have been banging my head against a wall trying to solve a rattling problem for weeks. I checked the cab, I checked the speaker, I checked every tube. Finally, I took it to a authorized fender repair center and found out something in the chassis is rattling. I have now had the amp in the repair center for a week with no word as to whether or not it is covered by warranty and nothing has been done. I bought this amp less than nine months ago and fender has basically told me they can do nothing until they are told what failed by the tech. The problem is that there are two (yes that's right two) fender authorized service centers in Seattle, WA....not exactly the boonies right? and they are both booked and can't look at the amp for several weeks. The point I am making is that if this amp fails on you (p.s. I bought a telecaster a year ago and the neck warped within a year.) then good luck getting it fixed in a timely manner. Get a backup and make sure it works. I just spent several hundred dollars on a new amp to get me through the next couple of gigs because fender obviously didn't care about me as a person one bit. By the way, I called fender, sat on hold for twenty minutes and was told they can't do anything until the tech looks at it.

Also, there are only 3 (Yep count em 3) customer care reps for fender in the united states. This according to Ray in customer care at Fender who, might I ad, was very unhelpful. I don't mean to sound like a sourpuss...I just expected better...Really I did!!!!



see above

buyer beware

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

Fender's lamp, so you say "it's all good "....

UTILIZATION

Sound clear: fenderophile for a number of years, I do not recognize myself in that sound.
Clear, but hey, banal ....
The saturated: a horror !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SOUNDS

Overdrive.Reste unplayable in the clear ....

OVERALL OPINION

Tried several times, each time disappointed. In addition to poorly constructed. It seems it was designed on a Monday morning by an engineer still drunk that his wife had just left .....
Fender missed a large and yet is the tube amp's best-selling worldwide. Lord God!

All tube 40 watts. 2 channels + 1 boost on drive channel, level and EQ gain separate but common. Simple and very clear, 1 HP12, "a loop, reverb, a master section (and thankfully).

UTILIZATION

The config is very simple, it sounds right now by Fender clean as saturated. The reverb is pretty nice. Problem for me, the clean channel saturates as soon as we gain more than 2 ... it's really not cool because the level is not very strong and fortunately there is the master section to mount it all otherwise we could not do together in the bar with clean sound. I have not thoroughly tested the levers but I'm scared of this limitation ...
The popping sound is much better because it will then ask the question of connections between the two channels in terms of volume and the feeling of not pushing the lamps and to be restrained because of the clean channel can not exceed quine 2 ...

SOUNDS

The clean sound is very very nice and very clean below 2 after it begins to saturate and not so super nice (for me). It sounds like Fender and therefore rather cold, ie with the bass, very few low-medium, a lot of upper midrange and treble. The sound is rather broad and dynamic, but the saturation at 2 it hurts ... We do not feel able to push far enough lamps for more dynamic without saturating, it is unfortunate.
The popping sound is also very fender ... Ie relatively "thin" (not thick what) a bit noisy and dirty, especially if you activate the boost. It is somewhere between overdrive and saturation, as a distortion a bit noisy we could never put to the bottom, or as an on-boosted overdrive becomes dirtier and metallic. We like it or not, me too.

OVERALL OPINION

I tested in several stores in one day with all the other lamps (C50 AC30 JCM900 TSL122 F30) and it is not the one I prefer. It's a good amp, but I do not coresspond, I find the Peavey classic50 much better, but it's not quite the same kind of sound, the peavey is more English, more friendly. I think we should really be hooked on its fender to appreciate fully. But we really try and compare it to other to be safe because it is actually very limited with this clean, which saturates and thus forcing the channel to be deuxème fitting.
It makes a great praise in the forums and that's why I wanted to test it, well I was a little disappointed and I will frequent caveats to this choice often made without testing.