Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

The Fender Hot Rod Deluxe is a very solid dependable amp that has never (touch wood!) broken or let me down at a gig. Phenomenally loud for its size and weight and reasonably portable. I have used it for about 3 or 4 years at venues ranging from 50 people to outdoor festivals. It has a great clean sound but the 2 overdrive channels are not to everyones taste. As supplied I found it too bassy and too hot but it was straightforward to rebias the amp and modify the tone controls to give better control of the bass (see the unofficial fender deluxe website for how to do these mods)

The Fender Hot Rod Deluxe is very good but seems to need a few mods. Mainly the volume needs to be modded. It's Fenders gimmic and many people are sucker'd by the power of high volume on 1 not realizing that it is at max volume. The overdrive seems like dead weight. Beyond these annoyances, when you get rocking on this amp all will be forgiven...till the next time you want a little quiet time with your guitar and amp. Great for band practice setting not practical for quiet home use.