My Fender Hot Rod Deluxe is having a problem. It has very low volume and a very distorted sound. I've brought it to two amp techs that both said it was the tubes (it's not). At this point I've paid the techs more than I've paid for the amp. Just as with Fender guitars, you’ll find serial numbers that should fall in a certain year but don’t. Example: Vibrolux Reverb with serial number A756254 should be a ’77, but the latest date-coded parts date it to 1978. Some serial numbers have a letter prefix plus 4-digits instead of the usual 5- or 6-digits. Fender now uses the serial number on the back panel to date their amps. Unfortunately the serial # has 'no meaning,' and access to the database that deciphers the numbers 'isn't available to the public.' Also, the earliest Hot Rod Deluxes were made in 1996, and had a '50th Anniversary' logo on the back. Just as with Fender guitars, you’ll find serial numbers that should fall in a certain year but don’t. Example: Vibrolux Reverb with serial number A756254 should be a ’77, but the latest date-coded parts date it to 1978. Some serial numbers have a letter prefix plus 4-digits instead of the usual 5- or 6-digits. Fender Tube amp codes: 1953-1970 - (look for a 2 letter code stamped on the tube chart inside the back of the amp)- the first letter is the year, and the second letter is the month.An amp stamped NA would have been made in Jan. Here is a list of the first letter showing the year of manufacture.
The Hot Rod Deluxe is the best selling tube amp of all time, it sounds good and is pretty reliable, other than a couple common problems. After these mods your amp will sound fantastic and be more reliable. The classic Fender tone is released through these changes. The flabby bottom darkness is gone, what you get is full warm classic tone with nice top end sparkle.
Additionally, the recap kit upgrades every tone-critical electrolytic cap in the circuit with high quality F&T and Nichicon electrolytic caps. All the capacitors in this kit were specially chosen for great tone, reliability, and accurate fit in your Hot Rod Deluxe.
Included in these kits are all the components necessary to to get your amp in top shape and the detailed instructions to make the changes easy. If you have a basic understanding of electronics and soldering skills you can do these mods in a couple of hours. The kits available are the Complete, Recap, and Supreme kits. The Supreme Kit includes both the Complete kit and the Recap kit.
'Have us Install' price includes parts and labor. We will bill you return shipping upon installation completion and which will be comparable to the cost of shipping it in. You can view USPS Parcel Select shipping rates HERE . Since we're located in the Pacific Northwest you can calculate shipping cost by how many zones it crosses to reach us from where you ship it from.
These Mod kits work on all Hot Rod Deluxe, Hot Rod Deluxe III & Hot Rod Deluxe George Benson Models
We also offer Mercury Magnetics transformers to unlock even more of the potential tone of these amps. Click here to see transformer options.
The Complete Kit includes:
Tone Stack - Get rid of that farty bottom, honky mids, and lack of clarity. High Quality WIMA Box Caps with corrected values for the Bass and Mid Cap and corrected value for the slope resistor. What about the Treble cap? replace the cheap ceramic cap with a high quality Silver Mica cap. The result is an amp that sounds huge and warm with nice top end sparkle, not dark and buried in the mix.
Twin Mod - Fix the mids on the amp and get rid of that flabby bottom. This mod enables you to take all the mids out of the tone allowing more flexibility and versatility. This is accomplished with just a short jumper wire but the result is far better control of your tone.
Brightness - Like to play at low volumes but find the amp too dark? The brightness mod adds sparkle to your tone at low volumes. As you turn your amp up the brightness mod loses its effect so the amp never sounds brittle at high volumes.
Power Stiffening - Doubles the capacitance in the first filter stage, this reduces hum and increases reserve power for solid bass and better transience for incisive picking, This mod gives the amp the extra torque it needs to push through strong when you are playing hard. This also takes some stress off the output transformer increasing its life span.
Lead Master Volume - Ever wonder why this amp gets extremely loud after you turn it up past 2. Fender uses a linear taper pot for the Master Volume when it should be an audio taper. This mod gives you usable control of the drive channel so you can get good tone without playing at stadium volume.
Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Usa Serial Number
Power Resistors- Many problems with the Hot Rod Deluxe, especially the older ones are from the power resistors that control switching. Two new power resistors installed properly will avoid many problems down the road.
Plate Load Resistors - Replace all the plate load resistors with 1% 1/2 Metal Film resistors. This amp can develop a loud crackle/static that is caused by the plate load resistors. This mod fixes or prevents this problem and also upgrades the resistors for reliability and reduced hiss.
Reverb Mod - Why does the reverb in this amp become a complete wash after turning it up past 3 especially at low volumes? This mod makes the reverb more controllable, fuller, and more natural. This is an easy mod that is nothing more than clipping one wire but the result is amazing.
Global Master Volume Mod - Now included in both the Complete and Supreme mod kits is our Global Master Volume Mod. This mod allows the master volume to work on both the clean channel and the drive channel. You can now dial in your tone on the clean channel and dial down the master volume for more versatility at home, in the studio or on stage.
Switchcraft Input Jack - Your input jacks are soldered directly to the circuit board, apply some tension when the amp is plugged in and you could cause major damage to the circuit board in the amp. This mod gets rid of the wimpy plastic input jacks and replaces them with high quality metal switchcraft jacks that are panel mounted and NOT directly soldered to the circuit board. Included is a shoulder washer and isolation washer so the input jacks do not ground directly to the chassis and prevents ground loops. The jacks come with high quality, Teflon Coated, Silver Plated Solid Copper Core wire. The solder I use is Silver bearing. This is the same quality you will find in high end boutique amplifiers costing thousands of dollars. Newer Hot Rod Deluxe amps have a better quality Neutrik input jack which are better than the older amps but they are still attached directly to the PCB.
Proper Lead Dress - Take a look inside a boutique tube amp and you will see all the wires carefully twisted and placed for greatest reduction in oscillation and noise. The Hot Rod Deluxe has all the internal wires zip tied together. I give clear instructions on dressing the leads inside the amp for optimal performance, this results in lower noise and less chance for oscillation.
Fender Serial Number Decoder
The Recap Kit includes
Replacements for all of the power filter and cathode bypass caps with high quality F&T and Nichicon caps.Older Hot Rods that are made in the USA are all getting due to have their filter caps replaced and many of the current Hot Rods made in Mexico are known to have leaky filter caps. The recap kit rectifies these issues.
The Supreme Kit includes both the 'Recap Kit' & 'Complete Kit'
Reviews:
*Just wanted to let you know that today I installed the Hot Rod Dlx 'ultimate mod' kit I purchased from you on 19th Feb in my Hot Rod Dlx. The result has been, in a word, SENSATIONAL. The difference is like night and day. Installing these mods has taken a pretty decent mid price combo and raised it to the level of boutique quality tone.
*Your instructions were clear and concise, and the results spectacular. Bravo on a wonderful product'
The Global Master Volume Kit includes
Full color instructions and components to change the 'Drive' channel to a clean channel with a selectable boost and allow the master volume to work on both clean and drive channels. The included 100k audio pot will allow for better control over the master volume knob that will now work on both channels. With this mod you can now dial in your tone on the clean channel and dial down the master volume for more versatility at home, in the studio or on stage.
The Global Master Volume mod kit can be purchased alone or is also now included in both our Complete and Supreme mod kits
Reviews:
'Hey guys, After having a chance to play around with the post mod amp, all I can say is awesome! A good amp is now a great amp and a lot more useable. Best thirty
bucks I ever spent!' - Tom
The one thing that Fender are best known for doing exceptionally well, after their guitars, is making amps.
They have released quite the number over the years, and were one of the earliest manufacturers – they needed to make them for people to play their new Fender guitars through. It was a sensible business decision when a lot of people were probably still claiming the whole thing was just a fad!
The Hot Rod Deluxe first appeared in 1995, and since 2010 is on its third iteration. It has one of the best reputations around, so let’s see what it can do.
Core Specs
Looking at the list of specs, and it’s all very unassuming. It’s a high-end amp, and that’s something that’s difficult to reflect in listing the components that go into it.
I guess with this in mind, it’s the American construction and the Fender brand that you’re paying for as much as anything else.
| Output | 40 watts |
| Amp type | Valve |
| Speaker configuration | One twelve inch speaker |
| Effects | Just reverb |
| Channels | Three |
Output
So far so good. At this stage, it doesn’t look too exciting, but we’ll get into things a bit later in the review when we start looking at the specifics of how these specs come together.This will work well for…
Hmm… it’s easy to say “people playing Fender guitars” here, but there are plenty of examples of pleasant humbuckery through one of these amps.
I would say that it would work well for anybody looking for literally the most classic of classic blues rock tones, whether they favor single-coiled Fender guitars or something with humbuckers, like a Gibson Les Paul or SG.
Obviously, you can do what you want with it, but when we start looking and listening, this amp was made for cranking gently: a bit more than clean, but the warmth of the tone would be wasted on anything too distorted.
Parts
Let’s take a more detailed look at some of the core specs from above.
The big sell apart from the brand is the tone. Those tones are determined by the valves involved. In this case, that’s three 12AX7s in the preamp section, holding hands with two 6L6s in the power section. That’s a standard looking setup for amps of this size.
It’s also a considerable part of the weightiness of this amp!
Taking a look at the box that houses these valves, and it’s made of 7-ply maple and birchwood. In terms of durability and that, there’s nothing too exceptional about that. Sais ply comes with a traditional black Tolex covering.
The speaker is contained behind silver sparkle grille cloth. I know it’s kind of a traditional Fender design point, but I’m not a big fan of it. I feel like something glittery would fit better if they were going for a full outrageous design. Behind that grille cloth is a Celestion G12P-80 speaker – that’s been on Hot Rod Deluxes since 2010.
Not too many surprises on the top panel: two inputs – I’ll talk about those in a bit; two volume controls – one each for the channel and for the master volume; your EQ and reverb knobs, and one for presence; channel selection switches; and an effects loop for you, which for some reason is called ‘preamp out’ and ‘power amp in.’
Construction
Hey, remember that time Fender put out a product with their name on it that was so poorly constructed it fell apart when you looked at it? Yeah, me neither. That’s not a thing.
If you’re spending this amount of money on an amp, it’s likely that you’re a gigging musician, so you need something that’s going to be able to survive the wear and tear of lugging an amp in and out of venues.
It’s hard to imagine or demonstrate or test for that in a review. The best I can do is give it a gentle shake, and firm prods, and see if anything moves or rattles that shouldn’t. That’s what I did, and it all seemed completely solid.
Shaking and prodding aside, I took a closer look at the amp, and everything was cleanly put together. Everything that was supposed to be flush was. There was nothing that implied anything but the greatest care in the craftsmanship of this amp.
I feel that with amps, even more so than guitars, good quality electrics are super-important. I’ve certainly had more problems with such things in amps! I took a look, and it all looked fine, but honestly, I wouldn’t call myself an expert on electrics.
Tones
I tried a single coil and a humbucking guitar to try and give the fullest idea of what’s going on. My default EQ settings are bass at four, and middle and treble each at six. My preference is for gain to be set at six – I like it driven, but not too dirty.
Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Serial Number Dating
When I was going through the parts, I mentioned the Hot Rod Deluxe comes with two inputs. Let’s take a look at them. Input 1 is a regular input, while Input 2 is slightly lower ohmage, which gives it a softer tone.
Fender Blues Deluxe Serial Number
Plugging in a single coil guitar to start with. There’s no doubt it was rocking in Input 1, but I felt the brightness of the single coils made it a bit harsh for my liking, no matter what the channel. I’ sure others would like it, but it wasn’t for me.
Switching it to Input 2 though, that’s where it was at. The warmest of cleans, and treading the line of dirt on the first overdrive channel would keep any lick-orientated blues rocker satisfied.
Pickup up a humbucker-equipped guitar, it was a different experience. Input 1 worked far better for it, and I may have nudged the gain a little beyond my standard setting for a one-way ticket
to riffsville.
Playability
I normally consider playability in terms of how much enjoyment a guitarist gets from playing a piece of kit, as that will determine how much they want to play it.
With the likes of a straight up, all quality, no frills, classic valve amp, there’s less to say than with the likes of a modeling amp that does 784 different things!
Here’s the thing. With something as straightforward as this, the most thing you have to enjoy is the tone. That’s what it’s for.
With the various channels and the two inputs, you might be surprised by how much versatility you can actually get out of it. If you switch between single coil and humbucking guitars during your set, the dual input will cover you, and the three channels should cover off most classic electric guitar sounds.
If you’re looking for a solid gigging amp that will do all of the valve tones you’ll ever need, you won’t need to look any further than the Hot Rod Deluxe. If that’s the sound you love, it’s got all of the playability.
Pros and Cons
- Classic Fender amp sounds
- Lush warm tube tones
- Surprisingly versatile
- Solidly built
- An amp like this will never be cheap — Check out the latest discounts and prices here!
- Would be wasted on players who favor a heavily distorted sound
- It’s far from the prettiest amp on the market
- Personally, I’m not sure of the value of the second driven channel
Alternatives to Try
There are plenty of alternative amps if the Hot Rod Deluxe IIIhas peaked your interest, but isn’t quite hitting home.
Marshall DSL40C
I think it’s actually illegal to talk about guitar amps without mentioning Marshall, so let’s get that out of the way!
I mentioned that the second dirty channel on the Hot Rod was a bit pointless, as getting to that level of dirt detracted from its valviness. If you need to play harder, but retain the warmth of a valve amp, Marshall’s DSL40C should be a more than satisfactory alternative.
It retains all-valve goodness, looks as traditional as traditional can be, and is fudging loud! This one is very much for the rockers. I like it best with a set of humbuckers and some fat riffs.
Are you also looking for combo amps? In case you are, here are the top 3 best of the best, so you can narrow the options down once in for all.
Fender Blues Jr Serial Numbers
Vox AC15
If you like some British flavor for your sound, but the Marshall is a bit heavy, the Vox AC15 will do the job. A lower output than the Fender or the Marshall, at 15 watts, it’s a very refined sound. There’s a debate of whether 15 watts is powerful enough to gig with, but if you’re spending this much on an amp, your amp will be miced up and going through monitors, so it’s no problem.
Blackstar HT Club 40
Blackstar amps are amongst the most highly regarded of the newer amp brands. Their HT Club 40 is one that this reviewer was very close to buying once.
It’s a unique amp, and I’ve never seen a valve amp like it. It essentially comes with a knob that allows you to adjust the voicing to more American or more British tones. As it’s a knob, you can dial in as much of a balance of either as you want. Very cool!
Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Serial Number
My Final Thoughts
I would suggest the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe III is an ideal amp for a mature musician, who‘s looking for quality tones, rather than just being the loudest person in the room. It’s an ideal gigging amp for such a musician: it’s highly likely they’re beyond the days of trying to impress people with the size of their stack.
If you’re looking for high-end, tube-driven blues or blues rock, I’d definitely recommend getting down to your local guitar store and cranking out a few licks. I’ll be very surprised if you didn’t like it!
Danny grew up playing anything that looked like a guitar. Since some kids just don’t know how to grow up, he continues to write about guitars because you can do that these days.
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