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Post subject: Need advice! Used hot rod deluxe blonde.
Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 11:46 pm
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Hi guys.

Im in the market for a new amp..

I went to my guitar shop yesterday and played an egnator rebel.. Its not for me.. I then spotted a used hot rod deluxe blonde (pre improvents 2009)

It has a jenson speaker & im not kidding when i say it blew me away.. Even the drive channel, & i used to have a standard hrd and no how fizzy the overdrive used to be.

I realised that i just love the hot rod line of amps and that sweet spring reverb. I used to have tweed bj with the vintage 30 and sold it when i became a student.

So my issue is the reliability concern with these amps. I am still a student and have one shot at getting this right.

Im paying £519 for it with 1 month warranty, im wondering if i should pay £693 and get a brand new blues deluxe reissue (with full warranty)? These do not have a jenson speaker and im not sure if they went through the hotrod upgrades of 2009... I know i need to go and play one first, but wanted to get some advice from you guys.

Im not looking for hrd haters or advice on other amps at this stage. For me its the used hrd or a new bd.. Im looking for blues deluxe owners to say what they think? I am a pedal head so essentially i would be getting my overdrive from stompboxes..

But are the blues deluxe overdrive channels as bad as the old hrd models overdrive??

This hr deluxe blonde sounds so good with the jenson... I was shocked at how good it was so instantly put £50 down on it... Obviously im not commited to it though i could easily buy a shiny new blues deluxe instead...

I just dont know!!!! :-/

Advice would be REALLY apprieciated.

Kind regards

Louis


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Post subject: Re: Need advice! Used hot rod deluxe blonde.
Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2013 8:12 am
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I'm out of touch with the HRD series the past few years (by choice) but from what I've heard and read I think you'd prolly be better off with an older one. It seems every new generation of those amps is built cheaper and cheaper than the previous generation. The older ones already had more than their share of reliability issues and complaints about the ill sounding more drive and the cheap farting speakers. The newer ones are even cheaper and come with free headaches. If you're determined to buy one I'd say it's prolly best to get the oldest one you can find that's in reasonable shape and then swap in some better tubes and a quality speaker.

That said, it might pay you in the long run to try not to dismiss the nay sayers so readily. There are reasons people say nay. This isn't Monty Python here. We aren't the knights who say Nay just for the sake of saying Nay.

Or is that Nih?

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Post subject: Re: Need advice! Used hot rod deluxe blonde.
Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2013 8:28 am
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Brilliant answer! Knights who say nih for no reason! Might just buy a little shrubery.


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Post subject: Re: Need advice! Used hot rod deluxe blonde.
Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2013 2:14 pm
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BMW-KTM has a good point, and typically the newer amps aren't as good as the earlier models, ie DRRI. However, in the case of the HRDlx in particular, the newest version III might actually be a bit better as far as build quality. The v III has thicker circuit boards, as verified by forum members that own them, which should help with the heat related issues around part of the power supply. One really weak point in many newer amps is the use of crap,... err,... I mean RoHS compliant solder, which the first version of the HRDlx did not use, they used real solder. The new solder is more like very hard plastic, is brittle and tends to crack worse than the old stuff. Having said all of that, the v II HRDlx is probably the version that is most troublesome, as it uses the crap solder and does not have the thicker circuit boards of the v III. I believe that the v II started in 2010 or so, and if the one that you are looking at is the v II, you might want to go with the new BDlx. If the HRDlx is the v III, I would get it. This coming from a huge HRDlx fan, and owner for over 14 years and counting (v I). Mine has been great, lugged around, used as a test bed, taken apart multiple times, modified, and as it is now is my favorite amp out of the dozen or more that I own. I have never been a pro player, but my HRDlx has as many miles as most any pro could put on an amp. The fact that I haven't been paid to use it has zero impact on it's durability.

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Post subject: Re: Need advice! Used hot rod deluxe blonde.
Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2013 2:07 pm
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BMW-KTM wrote:
I'm out of touch with the HRD series the past few years (by choice) but from what I've heard and read I think you'd prolly be better off with an older one. It seems every new generation of those amps is built cheaper and cheaper than the previous generation. The older ones already had more than their share of reliability issues and complaints about the ill sounding more drive and the cheap farting speakers. The newer ones are even cheaper and come with free headaches. If you're determined to buy one I'd say it's prolly best to get the oldest one you can find that's in reasonable shape and then swap in some better tubes and a quality speaker.

That said, it might pay you in the long run to try not to dismiss the nay sayers so readily. There are reasons people say nay. This isn't Monty Python here. We aren't the knights who say Nay just for the sake of saying Nay.

Or is that Nih?



:lol: I agree Beemer. Mine was opened and taken apart too, many, many times by my amp tech doing all the various warranty work on it. Mine only lasted three months and keeled over three times on stage. It was something different every time. Bad solder joints, blown caps, a screen resistor, random channel switching, just to name a few things. It's the luck of the draw. I'd go for a used DRRI instead. The covering on an amp, is only cosmetic. Most people who comment on my rig only talk about how it sounds, not what it looks like. My Hrdlx only got a couple of decent comments, my Egnater Rebel 20 and my 5e3 clone get great comments on how good my tone is by many other musicians and session musicians.

My clone has no name-tag on it same as my pedals. I build everything myself now. If my Egnater was as big a piece of junk as my Hrdlx I'd put out the word on that too. I get the most positive comments from my clone.

If you like the Hrdlx, get it. It may have some warranty on it. If it gives you a problem, I would dump it. :wink:

The Blues Deluxe amps I've used in the past seemed better than the Hrdlx to me, but a little darker sounding. Kind of like covering the amp with a blanket there seems to be less reliability issues with the Blues Deluxe. As you can tell, I don't have a lot of love for the HRD series in general because I depend on my gear to make a part of my living.

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