The Hot Rod Club(the unofficial, unofficial)

[scoots]

i'm curios to know what hot rod owners are doing with these amps. mods, tubes(power and preamp), speaker changes...are ya tweakin' them or going as is? the only "mod" i've really done to this amp(deville2x12) is switch out the v1 12ax7 with an old 60's ge 5751. this has given me more clean headroom (and kept the punch), and it brought the mids alive. i would recommend this $15-$20 experiment to anyone. right now i'm looking into power tubes, something with a tight bass response---new...nos? also anyone try the bass control mod?---if so, did it alter the mids and highs? and since i'm repeating myself, how about speaker swaps? any anwers to these questions or any tips/tweaks that you've found greatly appreciated.

[martin82]

Hot Rod Deville - 2x12. Changed out the V1, V2 and V3 tubes. Got more headroom - warmer sound. Very happy with this.

ECC81 Gold Pin
ECC832 Gold Pin
ECC83S Gold Pin

[studio1087]

My Blues Junior is stock but I often play it through a bigger 8 ohm cabinet......



15 watts can move a lot of air. Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum!

John

[tomo511]

Here's my beauty!

It's currently stock but I've seen a lot of mods and may play around with some tubes soon. I'll try and get back with the results!

[martin82]

Originally Posted by martin82

Hot Rod Deville - 2x12. Changed out the V1, V2 and V3 tubes. Got more headroom - warmer sound. Very happy with this.

ECC81 Gold Pin
ECC832 Gold Pin
ECC83S Gold Pin

I wasn't very specific in my ealier post

In V1, I placed an ECC81
In V2, I placed an ECC832
In V3, I placed an ECC83S

This from the Eurotube site: an ECC81 for V1 to drop the gain in the front end, an ECC832 for V2 to drop the gain in the drive channel and a balanced ECC83S for the phase inverter in V3. This will get maximum power and headroom for you Jazz and Country players.

[jb12string]

I have a stock DeVille 212, I don't get to play it as much as I'd like, since I usually play in church and there I typically play through a Line6 PODxt Live, but I really like the Deville, now that I have noiseless PUP's in my tele, I think I can convince our lead audio engineer, a.k.a Dad to let me give it a shot

[Jeff B.]

Mine's a 2001 4x10 Deville. I've done almost all of the James Vanden Berg mods as well as change a lot of the caps to Orange Drops (some way too large), added a power bar to power my pedals power supply (1-Spot) off the amp so that the power switch turns on the amp and the pedals as well also added fans for the power tubes that I have not had time to make the brackets for, installed a line-out with level control. I'm making a plate for the back of the amp for the extra controls. Anything wobbely like caps or cheapy plastic jacks and cement resistors got a liberal dose of hot glue for stability. For tubes I put a Jan-Phillips 5751 in V1, Tung-Sol 12AX7's in V2 and V3 and use Tung-Sol KT-66's for the power tubes. It does it all now, from clean and sparkely to thick and crunchy. I've been reading Gar (Garnet) Gilles book a lot lately and it'll be going under the iron again in a few months for some more changes.

[IdahoPicker]

In reply to Martin82:
That's just what I did with my Hot Rod Deluxe. How do you like it? I found it to be a resounding improvement over stock, but I kind of miss the early crunch.

[martin82]

I like it a lot better. It gives me a lot of headroom; something that was missing from the stock tubes. I usually use my old Blues Deville 4x10 when playing out. I think I'll be using the HRDV the next time.

[scoots]

hey IdahoPicker, maybe try a 5751 in the v1? it's kind of in the middle of a 12ax7 and a 12at7. i did some more tube swappin' as well. i like the idea of trying a 12dw7 in the v2. from what i understand this is half 12ax7 and half 12au7 and in the v2 position it operates off the 12au7 side. since i don't have one of these tubes, i tried a 12au7 in the v2. i also put a better 12ax7 in the v3. this made me brighter and more---jangly. i've also noticed that the quality of the tube makes a difference as well. i was thinking of some of the mods for this amp for bass and cleaning up the muddy bottom end but these tubes have done wonders here. next i'll go after power tubes...any ideas?

[CircaAtomicAge]

Hello,

Don't know if this is the right forum for this question...I'm pretty new around here.

Recently got a Hot Rod Deluxe to go with my new MIM Tele, and it's a great amp. The only problem is I think the smaller tubes rattle. I took it to the music store I got it from, but they couldn't reproduce it. Back home I got the same rattle. It's like the "bzzz" sound when two glasses clink together, and it doesn't happen all the time...only at certain volumes and pitches (like the low F#). Any ideas? Thanks for any replies.

[jonkay1]

For all of you guys (or gals) that are blues players and want a little grit in your amp, you might want to pass on this and leave it alone. For clean players or country pickers that want to "Twinnify" their amp, replace the Russian Sovtek preamp tubes with JJ ECC83S, which are 12AX7s. Next, get a matched pair of Groove Tubes 6L6 GE tubes, rated medium. These are new tubes from GT that are made on the same machinery that General Electric used to make tubes in a factory in Kentucky. GT bought this equipment and is now making American made 6L6s in California. Imagine that. We actually can build something here. These are reproductions made based on GE specs, and they do deliver. Do these two things (preamp tubes and power tubes) and your amp will sing like you've never heard it before. More headroom (you'll gain one more notch of volume), and cleaner sounding too.

[jonkay1]

I'm kicking around the notion of pulling the Eminence spkrs out and replacing them with Jensen C12Ks. Has anyone out there done this, and if so, thoughts
and opinions, please. Thanks in advance.

[T Prior]

Wow nice club, HR Deville 2x12 here. Am I an unofficial official member now ?
Or is there an Official Unofficial membership form ?

t

I'm also a member of the Peavey club, is that allowed ?

[Jakester93]

Hi, I just joined this forum. I've been looking at it for a while, but the main reason I joined is because I'm having the exact same problems as CircaAtomicAge.
I got my hot rod deville last christmas, and it's my first tube amp. I don't know much about them, so I have no idea why the rattle happens either. Mine also happens at certain bassy tones, like F#.

I also think one of my power tubes is dead, but i conveniently noticed after the warranty had gone out on them. One of them doesn't light up or get warm.

[scoots]

i have a power tube problem. one of the slots is bad. i tried switching the tubes around to see if it was a tube, but it was the socket. the warranty i was told on these amps is 3 years, so hopefully i can get it down to where i bought it on monday. Jakester93 maybe try switching the tubes around to see if it is the tube or the socket.(know what you're doing though, if that thing zapped you, might not only be a dead power tube!!!) the rattling i don't know. i thought i blew my speakers at one point but it turned out that the cabinet screws were loose.

[Jakester93]

That's a good idea. I also think its busted(or maybe a bad socket, like you suggested) because my friend has the exact same amp, and his volume at 2 is equal to mine at about 4.
The warranty on tubes and other replaceable parts was only like 3 months.

[Tele-Champ]

Originally Posted by CircaAtomicAge

Hello,

Don't know if this is the right forum for this question...I'm pretty new around here.

Recently got a Hot Rod Deluxe to go with my new MIM Tele, and it's a great amp. The only problem is I think the smaller tubes rattle. I took it to the music store I got it from, but they couldn't reproduce it. Back home I got the same rattle. It's like the "bzzz" sound when two glasses clink together, and it doesn't happen all the time...only at certain volumes and pitches (like the low F#). Any ideas? Thanks for any replies.

Same problem here with my '06 HRDx.. I'm not sure what is rattling in mine, but it happens on the lower bass notes - especially on an open E. I tightened up all the screws on the amp, checked for tightness of the tube sockets, speaker, etc. Couldn't find anything loose.
So then I replaced every (Groove Tubes) tube with a new set of Groove Tubes ($100) about a month ago, but the rattle is still there...
Not the end of the world, but the rattle is annoying.. Other than the rattle on the low bass notes, I love the cleans on this amp.

[T Prior]

Most of us carry amps around in cars or vans for years, tube sockets can easily become loose and wobbly, especially if they were not really that good to begin with. If you are going to replace one, replace them all with quality parts.

My HRDville is now 6 years old and it I have been thinking about new sockets as well, every now and then strange things happen which I suspect is related to a bad tube socket. A few days on the bench is probably not a bad idea.

t

[backalleyblues]

Besides all the ideas everyone has had, check the bias on power tubes-should be set to 68ma. The factory setting (60ma) is considered "cold" and will lead to intermodulation distortion on the low notes, which would sound exactly like a buzz on the low notes-I know, I had this exact issue, too. Mine is a late '04, and other than that issue, mine has been a champ the whole time I've had it.

OK, now where's the application form?

Franc Robert