Hot Rod Deluxe or ................

lethal dose

Should I get one or do you guys have any bad experiences of these?

Eoin Madsen

They seem reliable.

But any time I've ever had to engineer them, it's been a pain. There's some kind of nasal mid peak that I could only ever dial out by turning down the treble on the amp, which also kills all the clarity and bite from the tone. Ditto for the Devilles. But I'm 90% certain that the several I had to work with still had the stock valves, so it's quite possible that installing a nice new set would change that.

I'm not sure it's what I would recommend on the budget, either way. It doesn't really embody any particularly distinctive sound, nor is it incredibly versatile as far as I can hear.

But I hate everything, so don't mind me.

MattKid

I've got the Deville and the clean channel is fantastic, dirt channel isn't great.

lethal dose

Eoin Madsen wrote: »

They seem reliable.

it's quite possible that installing a nice new set would change that.


But I hate everything, so don't mind me.

From what I have read changing both the pre and power valves along with a celestion g12 seems to give a vast improvement. Has anyone tried either?

punchdrunk

try find a tweed bassman second hand,it's the amp these two want to sound like but they fall massively short!
the only tricky thing with the bassman is that there's no gain pot so you have to crank it up

Eoin Madsen

Bassman ftw.

lethal dose

[QUOTE=
the only tricky thing with the bassman is that there's no gain pot so you have to crank it up [/QUOTE]

This is the problem it will be mainly for home use:(

Alanstrainor

Blues deluxe is a great amp. HAve had it nearly two years and haven't had a bother, i have changed out the speaker and valves though! Massive improvement!

Paolo_M

lethal dose wrote: »

This is the problem it will be mainly for home use:(

*cough* HotPlate *cough* :pac:

spoonbadger

I wouldnt recomend a HRD. They're alright,but they're definitely not great. The clean is pretty OK but any kind of dirt on it sounds like poop on a stick

As for an alternative, i'd recomend you check out ceriatone stuff. They're an internet based company that do hand-wired, godly clones of old Amps.

They have great clones of marshalls, fenders and even some of the weird boutique stuff, all PTP wired with proper quality components. Their copies of the old fender/marshall amps are miles above the fender/marshall reissues!.

http://www.ceriatone.com/productSubPages/AC5E3/AC5E3Cabinet.htm

You should check out their versions of the bassman and tweed deluxe. Thats what the modern fender "tweed" amps are trying to emulate.

Alternatively, you could tell'us what kind of tone you're going for, what music ya play and bands ya like and i'll try and find an amp that suits ya

fish-head

I think the Blues Deluxe is a far more versatile amp. When I was looking to buy an amp I went for the BD over the HRD, it has more clean headroom and more clarity I find.

spoonbadger

yeah,blues deluxe and deville are a step above the HRD, deville has less clean potential though,from what i remember.

lethal dose

Think modern Clapton and your on the right track in terms of tone:D coupled with a bit of SRV and you're in the ballpark.

I had a TSL602 but didnt like the clean at all. The OD channels were sweet though so I suppose thats what I'm after.