Hot Rod Deluxe and Hot Rod Deluxe III

robgilmo

Is there much of a muchness between the two?

ICBM

I prefer the II to the III, but I may be in a minority...

robgilmo

I didn't even know there was a ii.

ICBM

robgilmo said:

I didn't even know there was a ii.

It's not officially labelled as such, but what did you think came before the III?

robgilmo

To be fair It didn't even cross my mind! Like Windows 9, why didn't that happen? So are they worth a punt? One came up for sale close to me, cant tell much from You Tube vids, its got a Chrome dial thingy so its a MK1? I dont really need an amp but I have always had a hankering for trying out a Fender tube amp. I hear a lot about vintage Fender tube tones etc. I know the Hot Rods arnt vintage amps but its as close to one as I could ever afford.

stratman3142

I've previously owned a HRD III (some time ago) and now own a HRD IV.

I had to try different speakers in the HRD III, but the HRD IV sounds great to me out of the box with the stock speaker.

Maybe it's down to the speaker, but I much prefer the HRD IV. However, I've not had the opportunity to compare the amps side by side. I only use the clean channel.

ICBM

robgilmo said:

So are they worth a punt? One came up for sale close to me, cant tell much from You Tube vids, its got a Chrome dial thingy so its a MK1?

Yes, they're worth a punt. The I and II just say Hotrod Deluxe on the back. The I has five identical jacks, the II has three with larger metal nuts for the inputs and the footswitch, and two with thinner nuts for the preamp out and power amp in.

The I and II do have the notoriously steep taper of the volume controls that is a common complain with these amps. That was fixed to some extent on the III, but I've never felt the III sounds as good as the II until it's turned up *louder*, which defeats that advantage, and I just don't think it quite sounds as good at any volume, although that may be largely to do with the speaker.

stratman3142 said:

I've previously owned a HRD III (some time ago) and now own a HRD IV.

I had to try different speakers in the HRD III, but the HRD IV sounds great to me out of the box with the stock speaker.

Maybe it's down to the speaker, but I much prefer the HRD IV. However, I've not had the opportunity to compare the amps side by side. I only use the clean channel.

I prefer the IV to the III as well - the III is the one I like least.

All of them benefit from setting the input voltage to 240V not the supplied 230V, which is an easy mod even for non-techs, but is not critical if you don't feel like trying it yourself.

robgilmo

Are they loud guys, can they be used at home? I know amps will sound better at volume but its no good if it sounds pants at low volumes.

ICBM

robgilmo said:

Are they loud guys, can they be used at home? I know amps will sound better at volume but its no good if it sounds pants at low volumes.

Yes, they can be used very well at home - if you're having too much trouble dialling the volume control in precisely enough between silence and too loud, you need one of these:

http://thesuperheroesonline.co.uk/Fender-Hot-Rod-Volume-Pot-Module.html

Made by our own Danny1969!

It not only solves the problem completely, it also allows you to adjust the volume of the whole amp without having to re-balance the two channels, if you use the drive channel at all.

p90fool

ICBM said:

robgilmo said:

Are they loud guys, can they be used at home? I know amps will sound better at volume but its no good if it sounds pants at low volumes.

Yes, they can be used very well at home - if you're having too much trouble dialling the volume control in precisely enough between silence and too loud, you need one of these:

http://thesuperheroesonline.co.uk/Fender-Hot-Rod-Volume-Pot-Module.html

Made by our own Danny1969!

It not only solves the problem completely, it also allows you to adjust the volume of the whole amp without having to re-balance the two channels, if you use the drive channel at all.

The other thing it does is allow you to drive the clean channel to the point it just starts to compress and break up a touch. 

It's not an attenuator, so you don't get a lot of dirt out of it, but it sounds very close to a vintage Fender amp turned up loud, except at any volume you like. 

I had no idea it would do that until I bought it, so @Danny1969 needs to promote that more! 

Danny1969

@ICBM and @p90fool thanks for the recommendations .... nearly 2000 of these sold now people really seem to like them. I use mine to drive the clean channel a little harder ... although bags of clean headroom is good is shows up the unevenness of my playing so a tiny bit of push on the the pre amp evens that up for me. 

Quite a few Peavey Classic 30 owners are buying them too .... the Liontamer slots straight into that amp as well and some guy said it stops one channel bleeding into the other at low volume but I have never had a Classic 30 in the workshop to try it out. 

I had a Peavey Bandit it for repair this week and the problem was the pre amp out \ pwr amp in sockets on the back not allowing the signal through due to corrosion on the contacts. That amp also features the sockets 20mm apart so shoving a Liontamer in cured that for less money than changing the sockets on the PCB would have cost. A £4 patch cable would have achieved the same thing but the Customer was quite taken with the Tamer 

relic245

I have a '2', it was a special edition one with a v30 speaker.

I love it, I get what people mean about the taper thing but I use it at home without a problem. It's down to the way you treat it. 

If you're the kind of person who gets frustrated because you want it to work differently then it can really p*** you off. If you can accept that's that way that it is and you just gotta be extremely gentle with it then it's not an issue. 

Of course you can always buy one of the £20 things that goes in the effects loop and makes the problem null and void anyway

ICBM

Danny1969 said:

@ICBM and @p90fool thanks for the recommendations .... nearly 2000 of these sold now people really seem to like them. I use mine to drive the clean channel a little harder ... although bags of clean headroom is good is shows up the unevenness of my playing so a tiny bit of push on the the pre amp evens that up for me. 

Quite a few Peavey Classic 30 owners are buying them too .... the Liontamer slots straight into that amp as well and some guy said it stops one channel bleeding into the other at low volume but I have never had a Classic 30 in the workshop to try it out. 

I had a Peavey Bandit it for repair this week and the problem was the pre amp out \ pwr amp in sockets on the back not allowing the signal through due to corrosion on the contacts. That amp also features the sockets 20mm apart so shoving a Liontamer in cured that for less money than changing the sockets on the PCB would have cost. A £4 patch cable would have achieved the same thing but the Customer was quite taken with the Tamer 

Having read that I had to go and measure the FX loop jacks on my Transtube series Studio Pro 112 as well... guess what, 20mm centres!

This is another amp without an overall master volume, so I think I may have to help you get to the magic 2000 .

I haven't noticed the bleed problem on a Classic 30 but it's quite possible.

thermionic

ICBM said:

robgilmo said:

I didn't even know there was a ii.

It's not officially labelled as such, but what did you think came before the III?

The 110?

robgilmo

Crappy pants,missed the auction, it sold for pretty low money too.