My new Fender Hotrod

Hello,

I purchased myself a new hotrod deluxe from musicians friend and it will be here in a couple days. I was told I could get my country twang with it and it would be a much lighter amp for me. I wanted a new one of these because I did not want one that had been re-soldered, re-wired, re-tubed and re everything else by some crazed solder gun slinger.

Perhaps I should have read up on this amp before I bought it? I just don't understand this....I have never owned a tube amp and I was very excited about it. Now, I just don't know. I read these things that need done to this amp right out of the box. The amp needs biased? and all this other happy horse crap? How I need some volume controller so I can play the thing in my house without blowing the windows out? What the hell is this goofy crappage!

Just very courious as to why fender turns out this amplifier that needs all this work before it can be a good amp. Is not this amp fit to use out of the box? Or do I have to send it off to some solder sniffing shop junkie to correct things that fender can't get right?

Anyone own this amp? Anyone have anything to say good/bad about this amp that they would care to share with me? Thanks

Makes me glad I have a solid state! :)

Here's some light reading on biasing. http://www.aikenamps.com/Biasing.html

The volume controller would be an attenuator. Tube amps need to be cranked up to get the best results from them. There was some discussion here http://www.guitartricks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28216&page=2&pp=7 about attenuators, where this link was provided as an example http://www.humbuckermusic.com/drzairbrliby.html

You could probably build one much cheaper if you were electronically inclined. :)

"Makes me glad I have a solid state!"

I don't even have the thing yet and I'm already thinking of selling it. What a bummer.

I imagine once the techs see your post, you'll get some good input. I was in bands when I was young(er) ;-) and all we had were tube amps. I don't remember any of the guys going thru this biasing business. (...And cranking the amps up wasn't a problem.) I would wager all you are really looking at is some volume control.

I have my amp now and it's true that i may need a volume box of sorts. It is fine and gives me the sound I love and considerbly lighter than what I had. I really can't see why so many slam this amp. Maybe I just got a good one? I plugged in my Tele and tuned the amp to how the included instruction sheet said for country twang. I then hit a couple old Haggard licks and it did just what it was supposed to do, sent a shiver right up the ole spine.

It's about 20 pounds lighter than what I was packing. Not a lot but I'm kind of old and brittle.

i have bought a falcon guitar it is comeing on the 25th and i just whonted to know if they are any good

Originally Posted by: headsmashedinIt is fine and gives me the sound I love and considerbly lighter than what I had.

Awesome! I would think those finer details of biasing would be appealing to tinkerers and technophiles. Glad to hear it worked out well for ya!

[QUOTE=headsmashedin]I have my amp now and it's true that i may need a volume box of sorts. It is fine and gives me the sound I love and considerbly lighter than what I had. I really can't see why so many slam this amp. Maybe I just got a good one? I plugged in my Tele and tuned the amp to how the included instruction sheet said for country twang. I then hit a couple old Haggard licks and it did just what it was supposed to do, sent a shiver right up the ole spine.

I bought a Fender Hot Rod Deville about a year ago...The amp is absolutely amazing. Great sparkly clean tone. The overdrive channel is passable, but I prefer to use a pedal for better overdrive. But the thing is un-Godly loud. When you crank this thing, you can feel your guts vibrate....and I'm not exagerating on that...it literally makes you feel nauseous. I purchased an attenuator off of ebay that allows me to control the volume on it a little better and it works great. I'm not sure if your Deluxe has an effects loop or not, but if it does go to ebay and search for VoodooMan volume box. It is a tiny little box with a knob that hooks into your effects loop and allows you to crank the amp volume high and get the tubes really cookin for that awesome tube tone. Then you can control the volume from the box. This particular volume box only works with amps that have effects loops though. There are other brands you'll find on ebay, and I've tried a few of them...IMO, the VoodooMan is the better choice.

And I have to comment on the solid state amp thing...I'd sell all my guitars and never listen to music again and join a monastary and take a vow of celebacy before I'd ever play through a solid state amp. :) Gotta have the sag!!!! :)

Originally Posted by: StratoMattster
And I have to comment on the solid state amp thing...I'd sell all my guitars and never listen to music again and join a monastary and take a vow of celebacy before I'd ever play through a solid state amp. :) Gotta have the sag!!!! :)

Heh heh Attenuators aside, if I could get away with the decibles to properly use a tube amp, I'd be right in there. Almost bought a Fender Twin a few weeks ago, but the ss is great for my purpose. Nice and consistent at any volume. :)

I bought a Fender Hot Rod Deville about a year ago...The amp is absolutely amazing. Great sparkly clean tone. The overdrive channel is passable, but I prefer to use a pedal for better overdrive. But the thing is un-Godly loud. When you crank this thing, you can feel your guts vibrate....and I'm not exagerating on that...it literally makes you feel nauseous. I purchased an attenuator off of ebay that allows me to control the volume on it a little better and it works great.

I love my deville, haven't had it above 5.5 yet, and that was an outside gig. Most gigs I do I don't have it above 3, and the footswitch is very handy too. The amp, my pedal board, and great playing tele is all I use now. It gives me all I need for whatever we're playing, and it's 50 lbs lighter than my other rig.

I have my amp now and it's true that i may need a volume box of sorts. It is fine and gives me the sound I love and considerbly lighter than what I had. I really can't see why so many slam this amp. Maybe I just got a good one? I plugged in my Tele and tuned the amp to how the included instruction sheet said for country twang. I then hit a couple old Haggard licks and it did just what it was supposed to do, sent a shiver right up the ole spine.

From what I could find out about your amp, it's pretty much the same as the deville, but only has 1x12. I appreciate what you said about the Haggard licks, and believe me I can relate. I picked up a lot of tricks from Merle, and of course James Burton, and Roy Nichols. Try to get an Ernie Ball volume pedal, they are durable, and work really well too. This is what most steel guitar players use, and it goes from nothing to full volume very evenly. It will also stay where you put it, meaning if you press it down, and pick your foot up, your volume will stay the same.

Then all you need is a compressor, put a little reverb on your amp, and do some country shredding, lol. I'm glad you like your new amp, and I hope all of you have a great Memorial Day weekend.