After much procrastinating - and with a flirtation with a Laney Linonheart head (lovely amp) - I finally bit the bullet and bought a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe... I had one about seven or eight years ago, and never gigged it - and in fact, I got rather fed up with it due to the hair trigger on the volume control, trying to use it at home. This one is a Mk3 version - supposedly tweaked for better drive sounds and rectifying this volume issue. I got a storming deal on this through eBay... its nine months old and was pristine condition (the cover was still in its original packaging), and it saved me £200+ on the new price).
The result - probably the best guitar sound I have had in a decade. I've gigged it twice since buying it and it has been commented on by all the band members as sounding "way better", along with some of our regulars telling me I sound better! I've found the drive channel to be great for rhythm stuff, but even with a boost pedal in the effects loop there isn't a good enough volume jump to be able to cut over the other guitarist for solos... so I'm using a pedal board into the clean channel (Okko Diablo, ZVex Distortron, Boss DSD2 and a home-made clean boost pedal) to give me the sounds I need.
I'm chuffed as - and I can see why these are one of the biggest selling amps for normal gigging folks... compact, reasonable weight, loud and GREAT tone.
Never Ever Bloody Anything Ever.
Comments
I really need to try an okko diablo...
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein