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Post subject: Hot Rod Deluxe... is now mine.
Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 11:26 am
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Just got it yesterday. I love it's clarity, power, and versitility.


Now I just need a strat and an Esp Fx with a Floyd... and more pedals... my collection of gear will just keep growing. :D

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Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 12:30 pm
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Good for you Mac,
Wait a tick... I think I hear you :D Pretty load isn't it.

I bought a attenuator for mine, now I get real nice tone, at volumes that wont break the windows

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Post subject:
Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 9:05 pm
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I love mine. They've been good for me. A lot of peaple run them down but they dont understand that every one is looking for they'er own sound.


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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 11:49 am
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watchgrow wrote:
I love mine. They've been good for me. A lot of peaple run them down but they dont understand that every one is looking for they'er own sound.


Mine sounds good after dumping the stock tubes, but mine spends too much time in the shop. More than any amp I currently own. I wish I was one of the people who have no problems with it. They get run down for their lack of quality, not the way they sound.

People have been having decent luck with them lately. Have fun with it and enjoy it. When it works for you, it's all cool.

Congrats!


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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 4:47 pm
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I look in on alot of other forums of defferant brands and I see a lot of the same probems that the HRDX seem to have. I own a lot of other brands . I have had good luck with most of my amps. If you play any amp full out all the time ,something is going blow at some point. I even see some really high end Fender's have problems sometime's.


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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 5:21 pm
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Who's playing it full out? But on that note I've played plenty of amps full out with extension cabinets and never had a problem. You'll wear out some tubes a bit sooner, but that's all routine stuff anyway.

Matter of fact this is only the second Fender amp I've had that gave me any problems. The other one is a GDec that Fender replaced. I have a 76 Twin that I've had since 1976 and a 74 Champ Amp same deal, that I run mostly flat out all the time for recording. Most of the HRDlx's problems come from poor design and many are heat related.
By the way, I've been using Fender amps since 1964. Yeah I'm a Geezer.

The HRDlx is running close to flat out by the time it hits 4 or 5, after that, It really won't get much louder. I'm not going to rehash the same old stuff or get into an argument over an amp. If it works for you and you like it, that's great. I'm dumping mine.


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Post subject:
Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 8:22 pm
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I do agree ,heat is a problem on that amp. Thats why I put a fan on all my tube amps. I really think it helps. But Hot Rod anything ,Cars, amps, you name it and you gonna run hot. Maybe thats why they call it a( Hot Rod). Any way youve been running down the HRDX for a long time and I see you have not dumped it yet . Why?


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Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 6:48 am
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I have had 3 of the HR series.An older blues jr, a HRDX,a MIM blues jr and now a blues deluxe .To be honest , i dont gig alot , and when i do i transport my amp myself.The older blues jr had some weak solder joints and the HRs reverb channel sounded terrible.Got rid of them both.The newer blues jr , i havent had any problem with and my Blues Deluxe has been good to me so far.I also have a BMRI and a 75 SR.My go to amp is the Bassman.If i play in smaller clubs then the Blues jr.I always bring my pod for a backup , but so far i havent had to use it.After seeing the guts of my BMRI , i can see why they are alot more reliable than the HR series.It has to do with mounting the tubes directly on the pcb.If they mounted it the same way as the BM, alot of the issues would go away.


Last edited by budglo on Sun Jul 05, 2009 10:16 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:47 am
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Congrats on the amp 8)

The HR Deluxe is a great amplifier.

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Post subject:
Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:40 pm
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Location: uɐʇsıʞɔnuɐɔ 'puɐlʇɐlɟ
Alaska? I was sure I could hear you over here in Ontario :D
Congrats and have fun!

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Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 2:20 pm
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watchgrow wrote:
I do agree ,heat is a problem on that amp. Thats why I put a fan on all my tube amps. I really think it helps. But Hot Rod anything ,Cars, amps, you name it and you gonna run hot. Maybe thats why they call it a( Hot Rod). Any way youve been running down the HRDX for a long time and I see you have not dumped it yet . Why?


Mostly because I don't want to stick someone else with it, but it's still under warranty and I guess I could just sign the warranty over.

They're not worth squat on a trade in. I'm an honest person and I can't just throw it away, I paid good money for it.

Even If I sold it, it wouldn't make a difference, I'd still dog it for what it is. The worst amp I've owned in 40 years. I still have a 30 year old Pignose that still works and never died on me.

You shouldn't have to run a fan in it unless you were playing outside in some high heat. A fan can cause dust and dirt issues unless you blow it out once in a while.


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Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 6:38 pm
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I can respect that. Thats why I don not like to buy used gear. Most peaple are not as strait up as you are. And Ive stuck my self with bad stuff for that same reason. Ive got a vox ac100. what a peace of crap. sounds good whin its working . maybe not so good for all the trouble Ive had with it. Vox has made some real junk over the years. I dont dair sell it to any one. I would feel bad. And whin I compair my HRDX to it,Well I cant compair the two. HRDX every time.


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Post subject:
Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:41 pm
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peterp wrote:
Alaska? I was sure I could hear you over here in Ontario :D
Congrats and have fun!



Ontario? How loud was it? If it wasn't more than a mumble, I'm a little dissapointed. I thought for sure I could have made the sound carry AT LEAST to Greenland.

Haha, thanks for the well wishes, all of you.

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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 6:01 am
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budglo wrote:
I have had 3 of the HR series.An older blues jr, a HRDX,a MIM blues jr and now a blues deluxe .To be honest , i dont gig alot , and when i do i transport my amp myself.The older blues jr had some weak solder joints and the HRs reverb channel sounded terrible.Got rid of them both.The newer blues jr , i havent had any problem with and my Blues Deluxe has been good to me so far.I also have a BMRI and a 75 SR.My go to amp is the Bassman.If i play in smaller clubs then the Blues jr.I always bring my pod for a backup , but so far i havent had to use it.After seeing the guts of my BMRI , i can see why they are alot more reliable than the HR series.It has to do with mounting the tubes directly on the pcb.If they mounted it the same way as the BM, alot of the issues would go away.

There is an easy mod to help the reverb on these. On the board under the reverb pot is a resistor R103. Clip and pull it out. Your reverb will be more usable. This will not harm anything. If you don't like the stock 2 spring reverb you can change it for a 3 spring tank also. 9EB2C1B Accutronics.

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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 2:54 pm
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Cap47 wrote:
budglo wrote:
I have had 3 of the HR series.An older blues jr, a HRDX,a MIM blues jr and now a blues deluxe .To be honest , i dont gig alot , and when i do i transport my amp myself.The older blues jr had some weak solder joints and the HRs reverb channel sounded terrible.Got rid of them both.The newer blues jr , i havent had any problem with and my Blues Deluxe has been good to me so far.I also have a BMRI and a 75 SR.My go to amp is the Bassman.If i play in smaller clubs then the Blues jr.I always bring my pod for a backup , but so far i havent had to use it.After seeing the guts of my BMRI , i can see why they are alot more reliable than the HR series.It has to do with mounting the tubes directly on the pcb.If they mounted it the same way as the BM, alot of the issues would go away.

There is an easy mod to help the reverb on these. On the board under the reverb pot is a resistor R103. Clip and pull it out. Your reverb will be more usable. This will not harm anything. If you don't like the stock 2 spring reverb you can change it for a 3 spring tank also. 9EB2C1B Accutronics.


That's kind of what bothers me about the Hot Rod series. All the modding you need to do to tame it.
It's so close to being a really good amp. If Fender would just listen to the folks who use them. The reverb is horrible. It's unlike any Fender amp reverb I've heard since 1964, It's just way too wet. You shouldn't have to mod it to tame it. They need to beef up the PCB so it isn't so fragile, the traces are seriously thin and lift easily, also change the way the tubes mount to the PCB. That would save a ton of failures.

Change the pots from linear taper pots to audio taper pots. The amp goes from 0 to 40 watts by the time you get it half way up just to make you think it's super loud. Almost all audio amplifiers use audio taper pots. Ears like audio taper pots better. You shouldn't have to change them out to tame it.

Put decent tubes in it like JJ's or Tung-Sol to make the drive channels more usable. The classic "Fender Sound" or classic "Fender Clean Sound" everyone thinks it has is only available in the the reissues, not the Hot Rod or VM Series.

You should not have to spend more money modding any amp to that extent, if you do, you should have one custom built or get a boutique amp.


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