Fender Hotrod Deluxe owners...quick question

pikingrin

pikingrin

what is this?
I've had one for quite a few months now but haven't really messed with it over my other amps. Played it when I brought it home for a few days and then it has just sat.

My question is in regards to the volume of this thing. I guess I didn't remember it being so loud, which is fine for me, but there's not really any tapering at lower volumes. It's kind of just quiet then straight to loud at 2 and then a little louder around 6-7. This is the channel volume, not the master volume. Is this just an inherent feature of this particular amp? :confused:

I have been trying to run through all my amps for the other thread (the small amp for clean tones thread) and came across this little "issue" with the HRD. It's a great sounding amp for clean to bluesy breakup but f*ck does it get loud quick...
 
Many amps do that. Tube amp volume is rarely linear or predictable.

There's two spots on my 2204 like that. It's like flicking a switch. The first spot goes from not-very-good-sounding-but-tolerable bedroom volume to louder than comfortable. The second spot goes from gig loud to holy shit.
 
I've got one. I played and recorded with it a lot back in the early 2000s, then when I got the Deluxe Reverb, it went in the closet and hasn't gotten much use. I haven't really noticed the hair trigger volume knob. The clean channel on that amp needs to be driven a little to sound its best. I start at 5 or 6 and then make the fine adjustments on the volume knob of the guitar.

It's just a loud amp--fine if that's what you need, but for me that makes it less than ideal for home use. One thing I did was replace the 6L6 tubes with 6V6. You can read about this mod on the Eurotubes site. Nothing to it, really, you just need to re-bias. It is said to bring the wattage down from 40 to 30. For me, it also improved the basic tone of the amp. Still pretty loud though. Here's a link:

https://www.eurotubes.com/store/pc/fender%20amp%20page.htm#x::352.:32Hotrod:32Deluxe

It's interesting to see a thread on this amp just now. Yesterday I did some recording on mine, for the first time in ages. It recorded pretty well. While I prefer the Deluxe for most things, the Hotrod does have a niche. The mid and presence controls give you the ability to fine tune the midrange that you don't get on the two knob Deluxe. It doesn't have quite the same glorious tone, but it's useful. I'll probably be using it more going forward.

I recorded a tone clip of the clean channel on the Hotrod Deluxe which I put on the New Tone Thread. Here's the link:

https://homerecording.com/bbs/equipment-forums/guitars-and-basses/new-tone-thread-340185/947/
 
Greg: Yeah, the "hair trigger" volume makes sense... The thing is that on this amp it happens so early on. It goes from barely bedroom volume between 0-1 and then goes straight into blowing the windows out at 2. I'm comparing this to 10 other combo amps from Orange and Marshall to other Fenders to vintage and handmades... This is the only one that does it. Not an issue for me, personally, but it would be nice if there was an in-between volume somewhere on the dial.

Robus: Yeah, this is one of those amps that I got for a GREAT price middle of last year and it took a seat in my music room until that small amp for clean sound thread came up. The more I play through it, the more curious I am as to why it just sat unused for so long. I like the way it sounds, I just wish there was a little more control over the volume. Going to play around a little more and see if I can figure it out; either way, it will be seeing a mic sometime in the very near future.

Going to try and put samples up for that guy in the other thread here in the next day or so. Got to playing around and spent way too much time playing than recording...
 
pikingrin said:
I've had one for quite a few months now but haven't really messed with it over my other amps. Played it when I brought it home for a few days and then it has just sat.

My question is in regards to the volume of this thing. I guess I didn't remember it being so loud, which is fine for me, but there's not really any tapering at lower volumes. It's kind of just quiet then straight to loud at 2 and then a little louder around 6-7. This is the channel volume, not the master volume. Is this just an inherent feature of this particular amp? :confused:

I have been trying to run through all my amps for the other thread (the small amp for clean tones thread) and came across this little "issue" with the HRD. It's a great sounding amp for clean to bluesy breakup but f*ck does it get loud quick...
Click to expand...

I've read fender did this on a lot of amps through the 90s. Linear pots were used where log would have been better suited.
The story is that the guy in the shop sets it to 2 and thinks "holy shit...if that's 2 what's 10 like" whereas, in reality, you're pretty much hearing it full tilt.
I actually replaced all the volume pots on my fender amps not that long ago 'cos it's just annoying.

Might not be what you're experiencing, but it's a thing.
 
Yeah I was gonna suggest what Steen just said. You can swap in a different taper on the volume pot and control it better.
 
Steenamaroo said:
I've read fender did this on a lot of amps through the 90s. Linear pots were used where log would have been better suited.
The story is that the guy in the shop sets it to 2 and thinks "holy shit...if that's 2 what's 10 like" whereas, in reality, you're pretty much hearing it full tilt.
I actually replaced all the volume pots on my fender amps not that long ago 'cos it's just annoying.

Might not be what you're experiencing, but it's a thing.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I think this is a thing on Fender amps generally, at least the ones I've spent time playing. Both my HRD and my Deluxe are like this. Most of the volume increase happens in the first half of the dial's range. Above that, you get compression and drive. I'm used to it. It would be an issue for bedroom playing, but I've got quieter amps for that. I don't have a lot of use for the quieter settings on these Fenders. They just want to be a little loud.

Robus: Yeah, this is one of those amps that I got for a GREAT price middle of last year and it took a seat in my music room until that small amp for clean sound thread came up.
Click to expand...

They go used for cheap. I'd pay $350 max for one of the older ones in good condition. You could probably score a deal for less.

Which thread is that? Nola's? I didn't realize people were posting small amp tones there. That's a great idea for a thread.
 
Wow, really didn't think it would spiral out of control like this... :confused:

Thanks for the pointer to change the pots; all of the stuff I've read have been in regards to changing a resistor in the circuit to a higher value but it didn't really seem legit.

And, for what it's worth, I was only going to post those clean tones in Nola's thread because I have quite a few of the amps that were brought up, outside of the H&K amps. Still have to set up my dropbox though; should have them up later tonight or in the morning so the dude (and anyone else) can see how they sound recorded on their own. Try to do a guy a favor and it starts a riot... :D
 
I think we were talking about an amp that doesn't have a very linear volume control... :thumbs up:

I just got my dropbox set up; links to amp samples will be posted to the "small amp for clean tones" thread shortly.
 
It has a liner volume pot in it. If you switch that to a audio pot it will fix the problem. I had one of these amps and I did this mod and fixed that issue.
That being said I can give you a piece of fantastic money saving advise:
If the amp is working great...
SELL THAT SON OF A BITCH!!!
 
My Orange Rockerverb has linear volume. I can set it a various levels and it still sounds good. The changes are subtle.

My Mesa Boogie DC-5, not so much. Right around 2.5 you go from conversational level to loud enough to play with a drummer level. You can tweak using the channel gains but that assumes you are sacrificing the natural distortion controls for volume - which totally sucks. Don't get me wrong, I've never had a problem dialing in a good sound on that amp, I just think it's ridiculous that they can't get a linear master volume on these amps.

I've seen the same thing on a hot rod deluxe. I was running sound a few weeks back at a show and the guy's guitar was either loud as fuck or almost muted. He actually controlled volume using an EQ pedal.
 
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