I want to..."Twin"-ify my Hot Rod Deluxe. Ideas?

[elavd]

I have a Hot Rod Deluxe amp and I'd like to improve its tone.

I love the classic sound of Fender Twin Reverb amps, with the great headroom and the very sparkly tone (which never becomes harsh). So, I'd like to make my amp sound as close as possible to the Twin's sound.

I would like your advice about choosing better power tubes than the stock ones, as also about a better speaker than the stock Eminence one.

Any advice will be appreciated!

[Wally]

The preamp topography in those two amps is so different that your quest is doomed, imho. IF you want a TR sound, you will need a TR. Nothing else quite does it....unless of course you can find a Dual Showman REverb....same amp in head form. Teh otehr Fender reverb amps...DR, Pro REverb, Super REverb....all do a similar sound to the TR at some volume level. The power and the SS rectifier of the TR just put it into a class of its own, really, when it comes to big and clean.
IF you could reduce the gain in the preamp, you would move in the direction of the TR sonics, but the placement of the tone controls is radically different and yields different results.

[backalleyblues]

Change V1 to a 12ay7... there's also some mods you can do to the tone stack (just beware you void the warranty if you do so!). Check out Justin Holton's pages for the various mods http://studentweb.eku.edu/justin_holton/

If you can get them, some of the NOS 6L6's from yesteryear will make a huge difference (thinking specifically the Sylvania STR tubes for cleanliness, but others will work too). Try to locate a JBL D-120 or Weber California speaker, again for cleanliness.

One thing that I haven't seen discussed here, but is done in the BillM mods for the Blues Junior-there's room to add a couple more power supply caps (the deluxe and deville share the same board). Has anyone tried this? It appears to work real nice in the Blues Jr...

Franc Robert
Delta Aces

[Wally]

From my point of view, the HRD could be sold and a real SFTR bought for not much more.
Handwired reality on one hand and PCB mods that don't ever get all the way to the TR sound on the other.

[tazzboy]

I agree with Wally sell you HRD and get a Silver face Twin Reverb very cheaply.

[Wally]

OR.....a TRRI. THey are better built than the HRD's. Both amps are PCB's, but the TRRI hasa separate board for the pots and jacks and the tube sockets mount to the chassis.

[Chris Leger]

Add me to the list of those saying to just buy a Twin.

You're not going to get there with the HRD or any tweedy circuit, and you'll compromise the HRD in the process.

[tazzboy]

Yeah that is true and get one used.

[Big White Tele]

You could use an EQ pedal and scoop the mids, That'll get you very close.

[elavd]

Thanks guys...

I think that you almost convince me to sell my HRD...

[RomanS]

Originally Posted by tazzboy

I agree with Wally sell you HRD and get a Silver face Twin Reverb very cheaply.

Unfortunately, that plan won't work very well here in Europe (where the OP is located) - used SF Twins rarely go for less than 1000€ over here, and you won't get a lot more than 4-500€ for a used HRD...

[elavd]

Originally Posted by RomanS

Unfortunately, that plan won't work very well here in Europe (where the OP is located) - used SF Twins rarely go for less than 1000€ over here, and you won't get a lot more than 4-500€ for a used HRD...

Unfortunately, that's true...

[Chris Leger]

Originally Posted by RomanS

Unfortunately, that plan won't work very well here in Europe (where the OP is located) - used SF Twins rarely go for less than 1000€ over here, and you won't get a lot more than 4-500€ for a used HRD...

Well, the same is more or less true over here. A used SF Twin is worth about twice what an HRD is.

[randysmojo]

I would think you can make some changes and at least get closer to a TR that what the amp already sounds like. Like one member said, find a JBL D-120 or Weber California. Has anyone tried the Eminence Common Wealth? It's supposed to be close to the D-120 tone too, but I don't know. You can try finding some NOS tubes too, but I would personally go for the speaker first I think. My '71 twin is sporting some cheaper Svetlana tubes right now, but sounds amazing, but I have a Weber California in one side and a Weber 12F150 in the other. It's not quite traditional, but it's what I want.

[eugenedunn]

If you just want to sweeten up your tone and decrease some of the wooly overdrive when you play your amp louder, try putting in a 12AY7 in the V1 position. You'll find that the clean tone is much less in-your-face. You will realize a bit of a volume drop, but the overall tone will be warmer and less aggressive when driven.

If you also want to decrease the harshness of the reverb, you could also try a 12AU7 in the REVERB DRIVER tube spot.

These are two simple subs you can try and get you HRD more into the tonal zone you want. Try it..... it won't cost much and I bet you WILL like the tone change.

[Wardpike]

Changing the tubes to lower varieities is your only hope of getting closer to that tone. That is NOT what tis amp was designed for, IMHO... they are too far apart.

Best solution? Sell it. Buy a used Twin... or better yet,

Get a Blues Deville. And use lower gain preamp tubes like 12ay7's as suggested.

[strat a various]

elavd
Hey, just played with a guy using a HRD a couple days ago. I use a silverface Twin a lot, and if I wanted to get a similar sound out of that guy's HRD, I'd start out by plugging into the low gain input (input 2). Changing the preamp tube for a lower gain will help, too. More than that, look for NOS tubes with a less harsh edge, maybe Phillips or Sylvania, they work for me. If the tubes are biased too hot OR too cold, it can make the amp sound edgy. I'd go for a little on the cool side, but not too low.
Finally, a high power-handling alnico speaker will get you clean and warm without the crunchy break-up of a ceramic. That'll get you pretty close.

[strat a various]

Adding this to clarify: You'd think that since Twins often carried JBLs, that a JBL-like speaker would add Twin-ness. However, a Twin is crystal clean out of the gate, not so, a HRD. The hot rod is harsh and ballsy, so to tame some of that "blatty" sound, I advised a slightly warmer speaker that might be prone to gently break up before the crunchy sound of the HRD gets out of hand. The early JBL alnicos sounded much better than the later ceramics, but for a newer Fender of any stripe, I'd look at a Weber alnico. Get the highest wattage you can afford.
Super clean speakers- JBL, EV, Weber California, Commonwealth, etc., will accentuate too much of the HRD's bad qualities, in my opinion.
One last thing, be patient playing with the tone knobs. You want to pull a lot of that midrange, but don't over-accent the highs.