Hot Rod Deluxe or Deville

[Bruce Hamilton]

Last fall I had my trusty Peavey LTD 400 break down on me for the first time in over 30 years on a gig. Luckily there was a house Fender Hot Rod Deluxe sitting on the stage and I just plugged into it. Without adjusting any of the dials it had the sound I was getting out of my Peavey with lots of head room. As it wasn't my amp I didn't try pushing the C6 low notes too much but the amp was clear and clean as a bell. I recently bought a Roland 80x as a backup amp for both steel and guitar and am happy with it. But I was wondering if anyone else has had experience with Hot Rod Amps as they seemed to have a lot of head room and a really good sound for steel. The only thing I noticed was these amps are heavy.

[Larry Bressington]

The hotrod...They are only 40 watter's all tube...I found that they broke up too early for me with not enough headroom. Deville would have a bigger spread like a shotgun across the dance floor...But if you are miking and playing very low volume a Tube amp might get you by. I always found tube amps to be too brittle and bright for my taste's, i like the thicker tone of a solid state amp. I don't like a 12 inch or 4x10's either, it's all voiced for guitar.

[John Lacey]

Bruce, I rented one for a weekend from L&M and was quite pleased by it. Never bought it though, but a year later I bought a Roland 80XL and mainly use it as my practice amp at home, but it does a pretty good job down at the club even without micing it.

[Chris Boyd]

I used one on a gig a year ago.. 2x12 Deville..60 watts as I recall... not bad at all,but not as good as my 1x15" Dual Showman Reverb...I'll bet it would be great with the new Eminence EPS12C's...

[Dave Grafe]

The hot Rod amps have an IC chip in the signal chain that generates some harsh distortion, rether check out the blues deluxe reissue amps, all tube signal chain and with a decent JBL speaker - and maybe a lower gain front end tube - in there it's about as sweet a sound as one could hope for.

[Tony Prior]

Own them both...

I did purchase a HR Deluxe when they first came out in 95 or so...I used it in the band for guitar and Steel...for Steel it is weak on headroom if you need to push it...I tried many things to compensate..but the best change was getting a HR Deville ! The differences are dramatic, low end clarity..a bit more headroom, the 2 x12's for spread etc....Deluxe is @ 40 watts , Deville is at @60 watts.

IF you are on a small stage and volume is moderate to low the HR Deluxe may fit the bill, but if it is sitting behind you on a larger stage you may find it's lost....

I use the HR Deluxe for small gigs, trio gigs...Although I rarely use the Deville anymore, it came out on the bigger gigs...I use a Twin now for the larger gigs but will not part with the Deville. Side by side, the Deville shines over the HR Deluxe in overall clarity...but both amps are keepers...they can both be used to fit a need...I like them both...

I did use the Deville for over 10 years on all double duty gigs...it never let me down...eventually I sold my N400 and used the Deville for Steel only gigs as well...now the Twin gets that call...



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[Dave Grafe]

Replacing the stock Eminence 'Special Design" speaker with a JBL K120 more than doubles the acoustic output per watt, giving a 40 watt amp with a JBL the effective power of an 85 watt amp with OEM speakers. The added clarity and expanded frequency response is a bonus....

[David Clancy]

I've put in a JBL, change V1 to 12AT7, and change all the Valve's to at least JJ's, both the 6l6's and 12ATX7's and you'll have a great small amp for both guitar and steel. I reckon a 2x12 Deville with JBL's and good quality valves would make a great steel valve amp.

[Kerry Hutcherson]

Hi Bruce,
I use a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, and I'm generally very satisfied with it. I like a really warm, moderately-wet pedal steel sound (John Neff's tone is what I prefer), and I've been able to get that sound easily from the HRD. I should also mention that I play a '70s Sierra S-10 through it, and I use it when I play my G&L S-500 and my Gretsch Jet baritone, too. I have to adjust the settings on the amp for each of those three instruments, but I've found that the HRD works well for all three. If I only played pedal steel guitar, I would probably try using a Fender tube amp with a 15-inch speaker.

I'm surprised to read that so many people think the Fender HRD doesn't have enough headroom. Maybe those folks just play with louder bands than I do, or maybe their pickups or something in their effects chain drives the amp harder than what I have. It's also possible that some people prefer a cleaner tone than I do, so what I call "clean" at a loud volume might be "dirty" to someone else. For dirtier sounds I've found that the "regular" drive channel on the HRD is useful, particularly when using the pre-volume and master-volume knobs in conjunction (if you can get a usable dirty sound for PSG out of the "more drive" channel, I salute you; I find it unusable). Some folks have suggested swapping out the Deluxe's speaker and tubes for options that could provide more headroom, so that's something to explore. Eurotubes is a great site for getting sets of tubes that have been matched specifically for obtaining certain characteristics from specific amp models. Here's a link to the Hot Rod Deluxe tube options: https://www.eurotubes.com/cart/index.ph ... gory_id=32

Other Fender amps that I've tried include the Hot Rod Deville that you and others have mentioned and the '66 Twin Reverb Reissue. I liked the Deville fine, although I found it to be brighter than the Deluxe. I love the '66 Twin Reverb Reissue for 6-string guitar, but I don't like it as much for PSG as the Deluxe. Also, the Deville and the Twin are big amps, and given that I'm carrying my steel, two guitars, a mandolin, and a backpack of effects to a gig I try to minimize where I can.

[chris ivey]

the best solution to all of this is an LTD400.