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Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:40 am
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I agree,for the most part Fender amps are very reliable.Also nothing i have heard sounds like a 59 Bassman like a Fender 59 Bassman .I have played a few boutique amps and for the Fendery sound, Fender is still top in my book.Mesa and others arent there to give you a better made Fender option,but a different option all together.


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Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 6:30 am
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Hello there everyone,

I have a prob with my DeLuxe. I love the tone and everything, but I hear a ringing sound in the background as soon as I put it a little louder. It is much like a lose screw but I have no idea where it may come from. Before I open the amp it I would like to know if any of you ever had this before and how you recommend to fix it.

Thanks in Advance
Dario


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Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 12:02 pm
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I have to admit that my first response was poorly written and really didn't get my point across
MY experience with old Fenders (I've been playing for 35 years) has not been good, for the most part. I've had some very good ones, and some very bad ones. I loved the tone of the ones I had the most trouble with, so I fought it out with them. For country and most blues based guitar work the old Fenders sound awesome. For modern sounds they just don't work well. That's where Mesa/Bogner et al. come in and improve on Leo's designs, though those amps tend to be fussy and prone to failure.
I just don't like seeing the constant complaints about ANYTHING new. My HRDlx works great for my sound, much better than my old Twin Reverb or Super Reverb. With proper maintenance I should be passing it on to my son in 30 years, just like the old ones. I also beleive that Fender is currently building some of it's best guitars EVER. I'm sure that statement will raise howls of protest as well. Oh well.

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Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 12:31 pm
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Mesa and Bogner are in no way improvements on Fender designs. They are completely new designs and do not resemble past Fender designs. The Hot Rod Deluxe in not a Hot Roded Deluxe amp. The Deluxe was/is the 5e3 Tweed circuit which the HRDlx is not even close to.

With all due respect, I have a HRDlx so I can speak from my own experience. In 30 years probably way less, the only thing you'll be passing it on to is a land fill. The electronic components are pretty poor quality and won't last over the long haul. I'm glad I don't make a living at playing music anymore and have to rely on some of the newer stuff. I'd be pulling what's left of my hair out.

There is nothing wrong with new stuff as long as it's well made with quality components. Everything from the cabinet materials to the tubes and electronic components are questionable in a lot of the newer amps. Not just Fender either.

Mesa Boogie is a great example of a well designed great sounding PCB amp built for the long haul.


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Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 11:30 am
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Sorry to keep this up, but Randall Smith made his bones modding old Princeton amps. The original Mesa/Boogie amps were just that, Princetons modded for cascading gain stages. Most of his 6L6 designs are based, perhaps loosely, on the old Fender designs. Granted most of them hardly resemble their ancestors, but the basis is there, as Smith himself has admitted.
You sound like the stereotypical "Old Good, New Bad" person that tends to get some of us old tone-hounds scoffed at, which I'm sure is not the case. Have you read the books on Fender amps, or Marshall amps? They didn't seek out 'high quality' components, they used whatever they could get their hands on at a reasonable price, and components could vary widely between amps of the same model. Thus you had problems with consistency, one amp could be the gold standard, the next complete garbage. The worst years were when CBS owned Fender and instituted huge cost cutting measures, the 60's and 70's. Many old Fender employees have stated that quality control on amps and guitars was horrendous during these Dark Ages, and that as much as 50% of the products released would not pass todays quality standards!
I guess my main point is that old is not neccesarily good, and new is not always bad. I cannot afford a boutique, hand wired, point to point amp. Nor would I neccesarily want one, if it didn't meet my needs. My Hot Rod Deluxe meets my needs just fine, for gigging and recording. Who are we to criticize anyone for their choices?
BTW - thanks for the info. I've enjoyed it. My dream amp? Egnater, hand built by myself at his class!

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Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 12:14 pm
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I have the Blues Deluxe Reissue, and it's a great amp. I can get a large variety of tones from it, including country. It's a pretty loud amp though for being 40 watts, and I almost wish I would have just gotten a Blues Jr, seeing as I'm not playing really big venues. But it gets the job done and I'm quite happy with mine.


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Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 12:40 pm
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It's not a point of old versus new, it's quality versus not so great quality.
There were a couple of CBS era amps that were not really changed from BF specs. Not all the CBS Fender stuff was horrible. I have a 72 Strat that's awesome. I had to try a bunch back then to find one with a tight neck pocket but you still see that today. Gibson had serious QC problems too. Lately, Fender has been missing the boat in the QC department too. Even my little G-Dec had to go back. Two guys on this forum bought the new VM amps that the grills fell off of in shipping. It's the small stuff that makes you worry about the big stuff, especially with all the new price increases.

The first Mesa's were really, really modified Princeton's. When he got done with them, there really wasn't much Princeton left. They sort of made me think of kind of a high gain Bassman. I remember playing one way back. Very cool amps.

I'm really interested in the Egnater Rebel 20. I tried one out the other week and was seriously impressed. I'm thinking about selling my HRDlx and picking one up. So I'm not the "Old- Good", "New-Bad" guy you think I am. :D


Last edited by 63supro on Mon Feb 23, 2009 1:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 1:12 pm
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63supro wrote:
I'm really interested in the Egnater Rebel 20. I tried one out the other week and was seriously impressed.


Very cool amp. I'll have to check it out too.

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Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 1:49 pm
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Seems to be rock solid too. :D


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Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 2:01 pm
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Unfortunately that is the state of many things we buy these days. All our manufacturing was outsourced thru the last 20 to 30 years and it is now gone too far. It is true you can get some good foreign commodities. I think this country has to do something about getting our manufacturing base built back up. It was the strength of our country thru World Wars I & II.

Brand name items no longer mean a thing. They are Chinese made or Japanese. Now Mexican. My HR Dlx is MIM. When I bought it I thought it was US made. From the outside it looks good but that can be deceiving. It sounds great to me. I hope it gives me good service. I am dealing now with getting a Peavey VK fixed that has had a problem from the start. I should have taken it back 6 months ago. It's Chinese.

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Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 2:28 pm
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I hear you Cap47. Even The Martin Guitar Company ismaking all their "lower end" HPL (High Pressure Laminate) guitars in Mexico. They took the work right from the American workers who made them what they are. I refuse to buy one. Especially with unemployment through the roof. Martin is a pretty large employer in Nazareth, Pa. People need those jobs. I live about an hour from there. I don't believe it's American wages that are the problem, I believe it's corporate greed. You don't have the EPA to deal with or OSHA to deal with in Mexico either. I don't consider $700 cheap for anything.

I worked both sides of the fence. A union member and shop steward with the Machinist Union and later in management and now a small business owner. I was also a member of the Musicians Union too. So before anybody says I don't know what I'm talking about, I've been there and am still there.
I better shut up before I really get on one of my usual rants. :evil:


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Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 3:56 pm
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63supro wrote:
I hear you Cap47. Even The Martin Guitar Company ismaking all their "lower end" HPL (High Pressure Laminate) guitars in Mexico. They took the work right from the American workers who made them what they are. I refuse to buy one. Especially with unemployment through the roof. Martin is a pretty large employer in Nazareth, Pa. People need those jobs. I live about an hour from there. I don't believe it's American wages that are the problem, I believe it's corporate greed. You don't have the EPA to deal with or OSHA to deal with in Mexico either. I don't consider $700 cheap for anything.

I worked both sides of the fence. A union member and shop steward with the Machinist Union and later in management and now a small business owner. I was also a member of the Musicians Union too. So before anybody says I don't know what I'm talking about, I've been there and am still there.
I better shut up before I really get on one of my usual rants. :evil:
I hear ya brother


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Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 4:45 pm
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It's hard to find anything made in the USA anymore. The new Egnaters are manufactured in China, then QC inspected by Egnater. The new VM's from Fender are Chinese made too. So is the Peavey ValveKing, which I have a very nice example of. I mean that it works beautifully with no problems, so far! I've had very good luck with Fender guitars since I first started playing, a '73 Strat that was wonderful, albeit extremely heavy as I recall. And my American Standard Strat is damned near a work of art! It seems like Gibson is having alot of issues these days, especially with what seems to be inproperly cured wood. Alot of people are spending big money for LP's that soon develop some very sharp fret ends as the fretboards continue to dry. I had the same issue with an otherwise very nice SG. They are also p#@%ing off alot of their dealers....again.
You can't even get English speaking customer service these days! God help us all. :(

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Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 4:48 pm
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63supro wrote:
I hear you Cap47. Even The Martin Guitar Company ismaking all their "lower end" HPL (High Pressure Laminate) guitars in Mexico. They took the work right from the American workers who made them what they are. I refuse to buy one. Especially with unemployment through the roof. Martin is a pretty large employer in Nazareth, Pa. People need those jobs. I live about an hour from there. I don't believe it's American wages that are the problem, I believe it's corporate greed. You don't have the EPA to deal with or OSHA to deal with in Mexico either. I don't consider $700 cheap for anything.

I worked both sides of the fence. A union member and shop steward with the Machinist Union and later in management and now a small business owner. I was also a member of the Musicians Union too. So before anybody says I don't know what I'm talking about, I've been there and am still there.
I better shut up before I really get on one of my usual rants. :evil:


You rant away brother! I'm with ya!

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Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 4:58 pm
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Here's another one. Remember when used meant cheaper not vintage?
A couple years ago, I had a Mutron III and a Mutron Octave Divider that I bought in the 70's. I didn't need them so I put them on Ebay thinking I'd get a couple hundred bucks for them. Well I got $400 for the Mutron, and $720 for the octave divider. Were they worth it? Somebody thought so. But hey, at least they were made here.


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