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Post subject: found a hot rod deluxe
Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 11:24 am
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Joined: Mon Apr 12, 2010 3:35 pm
Posts: 197
Location: S W Florida
I found a fender hotrod deluxe locally for 325.00, dont know how old it is or anything. What should I look for for problems or is this a pretty sturdy amp? Price seems fair , right? It has the footswitch with it. Never really had a tube amp of my own so I dont have much experience with these. Just play it, sounds good is good, right?


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Post subject: Found HRDlx
Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 1:20 pm
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Joined: Tue Jun 29, 2010 1:20 pm
Posts: 9640
Location: Indiana
Hi Stringjunkie,

If the amp works, that's a great price, I'd buy it. I have owned a HRDlx for over ten years, with only minor problems, and really nice sound (still has the original output tubes). It does great classic Fender cleans, and takes most any pedals well too. And it is very loud!

Many will be quick to point out the weaknesses in this amp, sometimes with good reason. In particular the problems arise from mass production, mainly poor solder joints, thin circuit boards and traces, and a troublesome power supply section. Not the best power supply caps but mine were only recently changed. The circuit board mounted plastic input jacks aren't the best idea that Fender ever had. The +16V and -16V power supply for the relays and op-amps (used for drive channel and reverb), uses two 5-watt resistors to dump the excess voltage supplied from the transformer. This power is dissipated in heat, which heats the circuit board and exacerbates the solder joint and thin circuit trace problems. You can usually see evidence of this as brown discolored spots on the circuit board around these resistors.

If you can open the back to examine the circuit board, check the extent of the brown discoloring, some aren't too bad (bottom middle of circuit board). You may also want to remove the circuit board and check all of the solder joints and traces for evidence of problems like cracked/cold joints or cracked/broken traces. The usual repair of traces can be done with small pieces of a component lead, or solder-wick and will be better than new. Knowing some of these things before hand, I went through mine when I first got it and touched up the solder joints and checked all of the caps. Mine has worked trouble free for about ten years, and recently I've had to replace the power supply caps, and repair a broken trace in the power supply (see above) While I was at it, I replaced the input jacks with metal Switchcraft jacks that are not mounted to the circuit board.

All things considered, I would jump on the amp at that price. :)

Edit:
Forgot to mention that I put heat-sinks on my power supply components to help dissipate the heat. I think that I am now prepared for at least another ten years of service, maybe more since I'm not a pro and I use other amps too. I hope that you got the idea that I really like my HRDlx, 'cuz I do! :idea:

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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 7:54 pm
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I'd pass on it and look for a Peavey Classic 30. IMO it sounds better and is more reliable. My HRDlx spent as much time with my amp tech as it did with me! It was a total reliability nightmare and I bought it brand new. I'd never consider a used HRDlx. The build quality is way too hit and miss. It has quite a few design flaws and seriously cheap components in it.

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