Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

I bought one few years ago , great clean channel but IMO overdrive channel was totally un-inspiring
get a good OD pedal and this amp could be very usable . but there are definately better amps out there
when I sold mine it was to fund the Ceriatone HRM and this was I good choice for me .

"Everybody's entitled to my opinion.

I have  it is great amp clean sound i have no complain..It serves me well.Also try Vox ac15 OR VOXac30 they are better amp..

Buy one used. If you get one, you're going to want to swap out the speaker and the tubes anyway. I have one and was recently going to sell it. But no matter what amp I tried, none of them sounded markedly better than my HRD. My HRD has sentimental value anyway, so I'm reluctant to sell it. I play it through an HRD extension cab too, which helps - gives it a nice fuller sound. I don't have the money to drop on a boutique amp and a kit would do me no good - I can't build anything.

Like others have said, the clean channel is phenomenal. The drive channel isn't great, but I find it useful. I'll crank the master volume up to around 6-7 and put the gain at 2 and it gives a nice chunky OD type sound. It's a really great amp for the money, but I would definitely find one used. Don't sweat buying version III either - I've heard they're no different where it counts: Sound.

Good Day,

I demo'd the HRD 3- 2X12 at the L.A. Amp show..with my Gibson 339 with

Phat Cat P90 pickups. It sounded Outstanding.

I bought one last week and it arrives today and  I'll be posting my comments.

I currently have a Marshall JMP 800 50 Watt MV and a Crate

V32 modified, so I have bench marks to compare with. I bought the HRD because I wanted

the Clean Fender sound and Reverb...to blend with my other amps.

We'll see.

IMHO you can't beat this amp for the price. I got it for around $760 new.

Cheers

As I said earlier, I recommend a couple of mods. I put a Vintage 30 in my HRD and got a retube kit from Eurotubes. Made a big difference. I was going to sell the HRD but I'm glad I didn't. I bought a Princeton Reverb reissue and, while it sounded good, I felt guilty just looking at it knowing the amp was $900 and I knew I was going to have to put at LEAST another $500 into it (speaker, tube, road case, 2x12 cab to play through) to get the sound I wanted. I just could not justify that with a family. So I returned the PRRI today and felt relieved.

Of course, when I got home, my newest amp was waiting on the front porch. I bought a used Blues Jr. off of eBay. Actually, it wasn't technically off eBay. I saw the amp on eBay and forgot to make a bid because I was too caught up in the Jets game on Sunday. Thankfully, it didn't sell so I contacted the seller and we made a deal direct. It's a fairly standard black Blues Jr., but with a Celestion Greenback in it as well as some JJ power tubes. I got all that, plus a road case for it, for $425 including shipping. Not a bad deal. I think this Saturday I'm going to gig with that and my HRD together and see how that sounds.

First thing to do with the Hot Rod series, is to get a new set of tubes.  They actually sell entire kits for those amps aimed at improving the sound (https://ssl.eurotubes.com/cart/index.ph … gory_id=32).  Upgrading the speaker will also make what used to be a nice clean amp, into an all around work horse.