Fender Hot Rod DeVille 212 III

This amp was first introduced with an American made stamp on the back. The distortion channel still was garbage but at least you knew that is was made right here. You still have a garbage speaker in it and I generally like Eminence speakers but this one needed a Celestion Vintage 30 or a a Jensen speaker with a Alnico magnet.

The American made amp didn't give me any problems other than the light going out which all of them suffered from. The Mexican made one is a whole other story.

The American was just as sloppy of a distortion tone as a $99 solid state amp from Line 6. The tone of this amp was brilliant on the clean channel and accepted pedals quite well. However, the second and I guess third channels were just atrocious. It was virtually pointless to play this amp on anything other than the clean channel.



UTILIZATION

Fender Hot Rod DeVille 212 III 60-watt, 2 x 12" Tube Guitar Amplifier Combo Features:

Amplifier type: Tube
Output power: 60 watts
Speaker: 2 x 12" Fender Eminence.
Output impedance: 4 or 2 ohms
Preamp tubes: 3 x 12AX7
Power tubes: 2 x 6L6
Rectifier: Solid-state rectifier
Inputs: 2
Channels: 3 selectable channels (Normal, Drive, and More Drive)
Controls: Presence, Reverb, Master Volume, Middle, Bass, Treble, Drive Select Switch, Drive Volume, Bright Switch
Effects: Spring reverb
Effects loop: Effects loop (preamp output, power amp input)
Speaker jack: Extension-speaker jack
Amp covering/grille cloth: Textured black-vinyl covering with "Blackface"-style black/silver grille cloth
Footswitch: 2-button, 3-function footswitch included
Cover: amplifier cover included

SOUNDS

This amp is just outright sloppy. The bad thing is that these amps are made in Mexico. So they are going to be cheaper made and will break down on you a lot quicker. I'm not sure if they fixed the jewel light from going out on this model. Everyone who owned this amp knows that the light always goes out on these things.

This amp has been in the repair shop fr me at least two different times. They are not constructed with and care, quality, or pride. This amp is a huge disappointment.

Anyway, use this amp with any nice guitar. I like this amp with a solid Gibson Les Paul. I used it with a Line 6 Dl4 and a Ibanez Ts9 and I had some great tones that cut through the band quite well.

OVERALL OPINION

If you are on the market for a good tube amp that has two moderate low gain and usable clean then this might be the amp for you. You can still find the American made ones on the used market for around $500 or so. I bought mine for about $350 or so and sold it for $500. I got a great deal on the amp at the time.

I would recommend getting this amp is you need a decent clean amp that has a good tone for pedals. I gigged a lot with my amp but always ran pedals in front of it. The other two channels were pointless. If you need distortion then don't get this amp.

There are a couple new features in the Hot Rod 2x12 lll that are very important to me. The first one being that speaker that is standard is actually usable. They used to have some cheap speaker in there that wasn't very musical and a lot of guys would switch out the speaker for something much more sweeter in tone. The next feature is a usable gain channel two and three. Before they gain channels were so bad that I never even used them. They sounded terrible and nothing like a tube amp distortion.


Fender Hot Rod DeVille 212 III 60-watt, 2 x 12" Tube Guitar Amplifier Combo Features:

Amplifier type: Tube
Output power: 60 watts
Speaker: 2 x 12" Celestion G12P-80, 8-ohm speakers
Output impedance: 4 or 2 ohms
Preamp tubes: 3 x 12AX7
Power tubes: 2 x 6L6
Rectifier: Solid-state rectifier
Inputs: 2
Channels: 3 selectable channels (Normal, Drive, and More Drive)
Controls: Presence, Reverb, Master Volume, Middle, Bass, Treble, Drive Select Switch, Drive Volume, Bright Switch
Effects: Spring reverb
Effects loop: Effects loop (preamp output, power amp input)
Speaker jack: Extension-speaker jack
Amp covering/grille cloth: Textured black-vinyl covering with "Blackface"-style black/silver grille cloth
Footswitch: 2-button, 3-function footswitch included
Cover: amplifier cover included

UTILIZATION

Details
Type Tube
Number of Channels Three
Power 60W
Speakers 2 x Celestion G12P-80
No Effects
Reverb Yes
EQ Treble, Bass, Middle
No Modeling
Preamp Tubes 3 x 12AX7
Power Tubes 2 x 6L6
Inputs 2 x Instrument
Outputs 1 x Speaker
Footswitch I/O Yes
Effects Loop Yes
Height 21"
Width 24.25"
Depth 10.75"
Weight 53.5 lbs.

SOUNDS

Now that they have a usable gain channel then this amp has much more flexibility that before. The old amps were just outright sloppy. The bad thing is that these amps are made in Mexico. So they are going to be cheaper made and will break down on you a lot quicker. I'm not sure if they fixed the jewel light from going out on this model. Everyone who owned this amp knows that the light always goes out on these things.

Anyway, use this amp with any nice guitar. I like this amp with a solid Gibson Les Paul. I used it with a Line 6 Dl4 and a Ibanez Ts9 and I had some great tones that cut through the band quite well.

OVERALL OPINION

If you are on the market for a good tube amp that has two moderate low gain but usable gain then this might be the amp for you. However I would never buy this amp since its made in Mexico. For the price of this amp I would buy a used Marshall JCM2000. At new these amps come in at around $900. You can even pick up a Peavey 5150 for the price of this thing.