The Hot Rod Club(the unofficial, unofficial)

[anthrotony]

Shame. It seems that this thread has gone to sleep...

Anyway, in case anyone is interested now or in the future, I think I'm going to do the mids mod. Then I'll do some A/B-ing with a 12AX7 vs 12AY7 in v1 to explore the breakup question. Finally I'm about to build a nearly tone-loss-free attenuator to try driving the amp a lot harder to get a better feel for its true potential. If I get any conclusive results I'll post back for posterity.

 

[Ducerro]

Well, count me in. Just unboxed a new Fender Hot Rod Deluxe George Benson Edition and it's AWESOME!

 

[Real-JJCale]

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? ***

I own my HRD since 1996, it's the very first version ("50 years of Fender" - F.A.T. - Made in USA). Having a few amps, my old HRD was and is my main amp.

The only "mod" I did was to exchange the 6L6 against two TAD CLASS-A Converter (pentode-version) with EL84.

Great sound at 18W and if necessary the swap with 6L6 is done very quickly.

Best regards
RJJC

 

[trahx]

I've had my HRD for over 15 years and it still sounds great. Only mod was to install Groove Tubes.

 

[BFcaster]

JJ 12AT7s in V1 and V2 and a balanced ECC83S for V3. I do have a 5751 (12AY7) and an ECC832 (12DW7) but haven't tried them.

That was me in August of 2013. Remember if you can from Post #471 here, I have a Hot Rod DeVille 212 from 1998, purchased new. Ordered stock (black tolex was the only option) and it showed up in tweed .
Now here it is 1/11/2020 and I have finally tried out the JJ 5751 in V1 and and JJ ECC832 in V2.
Wow. I mean, WOW! I mean, no, really, WOW. What the heck was I waiting for?!
A little background is in order I think.
I've been more of a Gretsch player for the past few years, going with my Teles it seems natural. I also have a Les Paul, but haven't really gotten into it until I saw Get The Led Out last August. Needless to say I needed to explore that guitar further, but my one tube amp, my 1998 212 Hot Rod DeVille (modified) left me wanting more. So much so that I think that 212 is too much and that I should down-size and leave the Hot Rod Club...But, maybe it was it the pickups? Was it the 50's wiring? Was it the pots? Was it Input 1, or Input 2? etc etc.
Found out my neck LP pot was only at .411K and my neck tone was a .250K. Not cool and no way to tell if it was the amp or the guitar. So into the LP neck I installed a Mojotone vintage taper volume pot I measured at .523K, and put that .411K audio to the tone. That still didn't do much for me through my DeVille. So after a month or two of dwelling on it I made the 2 minute tube change I mentioned...one that I should have at least tried years ago!

Lab rat #1 was my 89 or 90 Squier Strat, Input 1. The pups on this thing!....and the neck profile!....those are the reasons why I still have this (my first real) guitar! So the amp..I spent a good hour just going over stuff I haven't played in years on that same guitar and amp and the differences were outstanding. I had no mud, with bass at maybe 5, mid at maybe 3 (sometimes 7), and treb at 7. Vol at 3 to 5 ( I had to experiment after all...)I was just so damn happy to not have the bass at 2 and the treb at 9 that I really don't remember it all.
Now the second channel. The first of the so-called Unusable Distortion Channels. Drive at 3-5. I had ABSOLUTELY no problems at all- no mud, no lack of clarity. The only thing that was an issue was when I changed channels it got quieter...this was because of the Master volume pot change I'd made....DUH! I was literally so used to the mud and fiddling with the EQ I had forgotten that pot change. Yeah, the tubes made me forget that. Amazing, at least to me!
So the 2nd channel for me now is really a winner, and after all these years I have what I feel is a natural Fender distortion.
This was how a Strat should sound through this amp. Nuff said, IMHO.
I had to try the 3rd channel. Nah, it was too loud, too much...not saying it won't have a place somewhere, but not that I can think of at the moment.
Lab rat #2, the Les Paul.
Same settings, but into Input 2 ( as it should be?? ). I did try it in Input 1, and it was okay, but 2 is where it's at I think. Warm.
Basically for channel 1 and 2 it is the same as I said above. I get headroom up to the ceiling (maybe at 5-6 on the volume) in channel 1 and it's got a great hint of crunch on channel 2 at around 4-5 on the Master Volume (Drive at 4). My main take-away was I finally got to hear what Seth Lovers in an LP through a tube amp sound like, clean or naturally crunchy. I'm lovin' it!!
It's hard to pin down because of the 50' wiring and taper pots on the LP, that's why I picked the Strat as lab rat #1.
Anyways, I was happy before with 12AT7's (shouldn't be in V1...), then it became "meh" and confusion, so a switch to a 5751 and an ECC832 gave me a whole new amp!

 

[Fret Wilkes]

I have a HRDlxe circa 2001. I always liked this amp with my 2000 AV52RI Telecaster. Over the years it experienced the typical HRDlxe issue of random channel switching, due to the overheating caused by the R78 and R79 5W resistors. Because this had to be repaired a couple of few times I got jaded and I shelved the amp. I used it as a speaker cabinet only for a Quilter MicroPro Mach II head. I haven't really used the amp in several years, though I've turned it on a few times here and there.

This past weekend I did a long rehearsal with my band at a music store that has practice space with gear supplied. I brought my AV52RI and a cord. The amp that was supplied was a newer black panel HRDlxe, but not the the very newest version IV as it still had the "bone" handle (which was broken ;0) ). Long story short, it sounded FANTASTIC! The Reverb was much more present, and controllable, than in my old version. I used only the Drive channel with very minimal Drive, but right on the edge of breakup. I was floored how good it sounded and what a pleasant experience it was. Tele-->Cord-->Amp. It brought back how much I like the combo of that Tele and a HRDlxe.

Now I've got to get mine set up and see if I can get in the same ballpark of TONE that I got with the newer one. It took me all of 30 seconds to dial in the new version. We shall see!

 

[BFcaster]

In the category of Keep The Wife Happy..
I treated myself (and her) to a JHS Little Black Amp Box. Yeah, I coulda made my own but the build quality is superb.
Didn't want to spend the money on an attenuator, and tired of waiting for her to leave the house for a few hours for me to play through my DeVille, this volume box and the door closed lets me do my thing without a disturbance in the force. It's like I got my amp back.

Funny, I was considering a speaker swap before going this route.

 

[j0Nasty5150]

"In the category of Keep The Wife Happy..
I treated myself (and her) to a JHS Little Black Amp Box. Yeah, I coulda made my own but the build quality is superb.
Didn't want to spend the money on an attenuator, and tired of waiting for her to leave the house for a few hours for me to play through my DeVille, this volume box and the door closed lets me do my thing without a disturbance in the force. It's like I got my amp back.

Funny, I was considering a speaker swap before going this route."


I have the new HR Deville (bought it open box) and the effects loop won't work with the LBAB. Is it because it's the new version of the amp or is it the amp? I hooked the guitar thru the LBAB into input 1 and it worked so it's not the JHS! What could be the problem? Thanks!

I should add that the rest of the amp seems fine, and I don't use the effects loop.

 

[BFcaster]

You may have the plugs switched on the LBAB. The thing isn't marked input or output, so try switching it around?

 

[j0Nasty5150]

You may have the plugs switched on the LBAB. The thing isn't marked input or output, so try switching it around?

Thanks for the reply! I tried the LBAB both ways though I know the correct way to hook it up. I have not tried the obvious choice of hooking a pedal thru the effects, as I said I go straight into the front. It seems the effects loop may be malfunctioning. I was just curious if they changed the newer Hot Rod effects loop wiring or something. I'm not very amp tech savvy but I'd like to learn!!!

 

[GeorgiaHonk]

Thanks for the reply! I tried the LBAB both ways though I know the correct way to hook it up. I have not tried the obvious choice of hooking a pedal thru the effects, as I said I go straight into the front. It seems the effects loop may be malfunctioning. I was just curious if they changed the newer Hot Rod effects loop wiring or something. I'm not very amp tech savvy but I'd like to learn!!!

I just received a LBAB that I ordered based on this thread and mine is not working either. I switched it between the pre and post inputs and the LBAB had no affect at all on my signal. Unless anyone has any suggestions I’ll be returning it Monday.

 

[j0Nasty5150]

I'd like to find a solution also as I still can't get mine to work (I also take either my Bandit 65 or Special 130 to gigs), I still have it though! Maybe they changed the circuitry somehow on the newer Hot Rods?!

 

[GeorgiaHonk]

I'd like to find a solution also as I still can't get mine to work (I also take either my Bandit 65 or Special 130 to gigs), I still have it though! Maybe they changed the circuitry somehow on the newer Hot Rods?!

Well I discovered my mistake this morning. I actually did have mine incorrectly connected. I was sitting on the floor next to my amp and the bad sight angle caused me to to have my output plugged into the footswitch jack. After correcting the operator error it does work after all. Apologies if anyone was misled.

 

[Telecastoff1]

I just bought a Made In USA (1997), "Like New" HRD from my local pawn shop a week ago. It was hidden away on a dark shelf way in the back of the store, behind all the other amps. The original hang tags were still on it. As well as the owners manual. Even the slip cover was still in a sealed plastic bag, attached to the handle. The foot switch was still wrapped up in tissue and plastic. The amp is in immaculate condition and sounds absolutely wonderful. I had a much newer one several years ago and it sure didn't sound this nice or I would have kept it.

 

[FrankC]

I sent mine to Jim Price at Omega amps for his mod and the amp absolutely sings. had the standard mod and treble boost done and it's the amp I gig with the most now. totally usable gain channels now as before they were pretty bad.

can't say enough about the mod. do yourself a favor and send it to him.

Is this one of the Omega Mods?

 

[SledgeHammer60]

In the category of Keep The Wife Happy..
I treated myself (and her) to a JHS Little Black Amp Box. Yeah, I coulda made my own but the build quality is superb.
Didn't want to spend the money on an attenuator, and tired of waiting for her to leave the house for a few hours for me to play through my DeVille, this volume box and the door closed lets me do my thing without a disturbance in the force. It's like I got my amp back.

Funny, I was considering a speaker swap before going this route.

Same. Love it. It's fun to noodle with higher values on your volume knobs and not cause the next door neighbors' ears to bleed.

 

[HaWE]

Hello everyone, this is a great forum with interesting information about hot rods
So here is a picture of my US Hotrod Deluxe.I bought it new in 1996 and it's still in use.
It was once repaired about ten years ago because it had a channel switching problem and the gain channel no longer worked.
I never was a great fan of the gain channel of this amp anyway and prefer to use some OD pedals.
These days , I dont't play in a band and I use the amp only at home, but sometimes, when I am alone at home, I enjoy plaing the amp at high volume ,wearing earplugs.
Over the last few years, I tried to make it more usuable for home use.
First I built a simple volume box for the fx-loop, which worked quite well.
I replaced the preamp tube in V1 with a 12AT7 to tame the volume knob
and to reduce the gain.I also use input 2.
Last week I replaced the 12AT7 in V1 with a 12AY7, the 12AT7 went into V3 - in V2 is still a 12AX7.
I am quite happy with the result - the sound of the clean channel is nice, clear and defined, with no harsh treble.
The volume know now is around "3" for a moderate volume.