In 2002, production switched to mexico, and the current iteration the hot rod deluxe iii began production in 2010. Weird buzzing on my fender hot rod amps harmony central. Tube noise such as sputtering, hissing, popping can be tougher to find in a guitar amplifier. The gt6l6 chp tubes produce a tone and response that is warm in the mids with good harmonics, has a decent top and bottom end, and has some natural compression. Fender hot rod deluxe fixing a common problem with early. You might love the sound of a stock hot rod deluxe and think my mods make it sound. The flabby bottom darkness is gone, what you get is ful. The classic fender tone is released through these changes.
I have a 90s era fender deluxe thats been a reliable workhorse for years. In a guitar amp with many preamp tubes it can be difficult to. Fender hot rod deluxe problem crackling power issues stairwaytoodevin. Fender hot rod deluxe is an alltube amplifier that was released the first time in 1993, as an attempt to recreate the classic sound from the bassman and deluxe amplifiers from the 50s. The bass knob on the hot rod line up amps seems to be of very low quality. The jj 6v6s can be biased as high as 45mv at the test points in hotrod deluxe s but most of these amps will only hit about 30mv but even at this setting they sound great. Great sounding clean, but both the drive and more drive channel crack. The hot rod deluxe is a modified version of the fender blues deluxe from the earlier blues line of amplifiers, and has a higher level of gain in. It only does this for about the first 510 minutes after i turn the amp on, and then it stops. How to fix a crackling tube amp top tube amplifier. Always be prepared to shut the amp off in case you have a failing tube and the tap causes it to.
The stock speaker tended to be a bit flabby in the bass to my ears. The crackle happens on either pickup so i dont think it is pickup related. Preamp tubes, on the other hand, will generally either become microphonic and make high pitched ringing or squealing noises, or will emit noises such as crackling and popping during idling. In a vintage fender amp tweed disease can cause this unwanted noise to spoil your tone. There are some tubes that have their filaments well hidden making it. If i have a crackling sound in a tele and im not sure what to replace. Vintage sound amps vintage 1520 jazz guitar online. While these deluxe models are functionally tube amps, there is some degree of solidstate in the signal path. Fender forums view topic hot rod deluxe popping and. The caveat is that the hot rod deluxe iii requires that you interact with it as an instrument, rather than simply treating it as a noise box. The fender hot rod deluxe is a guitar amplifier manufactured and sold by the fender musical instruments corporation.
Follow along as i walk you through the what and how of the mods i made to my fender hot rod deluxe, how to take it from sounding not so great to amazing, or at least what i think is amazing. The buzzing is not amplified, but it sounds like something inside the amp itself is buzzing, a little like a spring vibratingshattered glass. Fender 68 custom deluxe reverb common problems and fixes. Fender hot rod deluxe problem crackling power issues youtube. After these mods your amp will sound fantastic and be more reliable. Just a quick update on my fender hot rod deluxe journey. Test of a fender hot rod deluxe with different driver tubes. Its not hard to pull out the stock tubes and swap in some different 6l6s to see what the result might be you wont hurt the amp in doing so. Fender forums view topic hot rod deluxe makes crackling.
I bought it used about a month ago and everything was awesome with it until the other day when i recorded with it. Fmic has put the classic accutronics 2 spring with the long delay in the hot rod deluxedevillethis is the same type of reverb tank that fender. Its not like a regular breakupoverdive noise, it sounds more like a short or something. I swapped the wgs reaper hd into my american hot rod deluxe and am crazy happy with this. This makes it easy to write a step by step book that translates well over many models. Retubing a fender hot rod deluxe gretschtalk forum. If your tube amp has suddenly began to crackle, youre likely to find. I am considering a catalinbread dirty little secret. Unplugging my cable or swapping it out for another. The jj 6v6s can be biased as high as 45mv at the test points in hotrod deluxes but most of these amps will only hit about 30mv but even at this setting they sound great. The american elite series new cutaway neck heel blends into the compound profile necks redesigned asymmetrical volute for a comfortably enhanced playing feel. When i play loud volume above 2 on my hot rod deluxe, i get this weird buzzing sound. If you want to prevent the pop from happening, the standby switch. Ive thought about it and of course there is no rush to get this thing built right away.
It was introduced in 1996 as part of the hot rod line of guitar amplifiers and has been in continuous production since. See the markings have brown on one of the output valve. The power tubes were removed and packed separately when i opened the box. How to diagnose and fix tube rattle on a guitar amplifier. Originally released in 1995 it was an americanmade valve amp. The hot rod goes for almost a grand, new, and my blues jr. I received my used fender hot rod deluxe today after purchasing it off of ebay. The new truss rod adjustment wheel location makes it a snap to adjust the instruments neck relief. Sounded great after replacing them, but just a few minutes later i had noticed that there was a more than noticeable crackling noise behind my guitar sound. Rest assured that fender did not cut corners on the reverb tank. Note the amateurish rebranding by fender of sovtek 5881 valves as 6l6gcs. You should always have a good set of tubes in your amp. Unfollow fender hot rod deluxe to stop getting updates on your ebay feed.
Weird buzzing on my fender hot rod sign in to follow this. Hot rod deluxe hissing noise so i just bought a used hdr and it has a hissing noise on the clean channel, but nothing when switched to either of the drive channels. Bought a fender hot rod deluxe 212 limited ed, type pr246 from a guy on craigslist. The twin sounded great as the bass knob is extremely responsive. It has a preamp line out jack, as well as a power amp. With neither independent eq for each channel, nor dual gain pots in the overdrive modes, the true extent of this amps versatility lies in your guitars controls, and your fingers of course. The hot rod deluxe amp is a nice sounding amp but in my opinion fender were trying to make a full featured amp at an aggressive price and so the design and mechanical construction suffered in the cost cutting. Yeah, i retubed my hot rod deluxe about a year ago with new matching gts and i sort of wish now that i had tried some different tubes in it i guess im not quite as unhappy with my hrdx tone as you are i like the cleans in this amp but i do think that it could possibly be better with some different tubes. The original eminence just kicked me in the nuts too much with the mid range poke and highend pierce that i found myself backing off the amp way too much yet i loved the clean tone of the amp. Apr 04, 20 as standard, fender fit the hot rod deluxe iii with a pair of groove tubes gt6l6 chp valves for the power stage and three groove tubes gt12ax7r valves for the preamp stage. It was still in the box when i bought it and had never really been played. A pair of 6v6s in a regular fender deluxe, for example, puts out around 22 watts. If you want to really push them then you need to drop the value of the final bias resister down by about 20%. I have a hot rod deville 212, and recently it started making a crackling sound whenever i play lower frequency notes.
Playing it cool with a hot rod deluxe 20711 premier. This hot rod deluxe is in very good condition and is of the first series made in mexico. I use a fender hot rod deluxe ampli but it makes a. For the 6l6 amps ive tried, there were three that really sounding boomy in terms of the low end, the fender hot rod deluxe, deville, and blues deluxe.
Since then fender had coloured versions of the amp out, and they did a new release around 2000 that has a threechannel system. Aside from thatthis amp sounds amazing, it was used as my bedroom amp and never played loud. On the down side this book will have little to offer a 30 year veteran tech but its likely he already knows most of it. Probably 6 months after posting this video and creating this homemadequickfix for the amp. Cracklingsputtering noise from fender hot rod deville. I have a hot rod deluxe that i bought used from a guitar center in orlando.
There was this crackle and very loud pops and extra crackle during certain notes. If you want to make sure your amp makes no sound, just turn the volume down. Congratulations on your purchase of a fender hot rod deluxe, the next step in the evolution of fender american tube amplifiers. If your amp is a blackface or silverface fender style, looking at the amp from the. I bought my first fender valve amp yesterday, a hot rod deluxe. Jan 16, 2012 fender hot rod deluxe problem crackling power issues stairwaytoodevin. The jensen gives clearer highs and a much tighter and more focussed bass response. The only thing that holds a candle to a fenderbranded guitar, is a fenderbranded amp, and the hot rod deluxe is right up there with the best of those. I use a fender hot rod deluxe ampli but it makes a little noise like a metronome noise with 60 bpm. Fender 68 custom deluxe reverb common problems and fixesupgrades this post is what i wish i could have found prior to my purchase. The standby switch on my fender deluxe reverb is popping. A poor tube connection may be the source of the crackling noise youre hearing. Most tube amp problems relate to the tubes themselves.
Jul 16, 20 the two resistors, designated r85 and r86 in the blues series and r78 and r79 in the hot rod series, are part of the lowvoltage power supply in these fender amps. At least one spare of each type of preamptype tube in your amp. The hot rod deluxe 40 w with 1 12 inch eminence speaker and 3 x 12ax7 2 x gt6l6 tubes is valued at. Cracklingsputtering noise from fender hot rod deville discussion in amp central station started by heshan, aug 9, 2014. Fender hot rod deluxe problem crackling power issues. Im having problems with my hrd crackling and popping when i hit certain notes, it does it when the volume is up a little, it had groove tubes in. My fender twin reverb amp makes loud crackling noise. Just a sound comparison between a good and a bad preamp tube when the crackle effect appears. If i wiggle the jack or switch i dont hear the noise but when i put a pick to a string i can hear it. This is one of the most popular and versatile tube amplifiers ever. Usually that is a sign of tubes needing to be changed, yes.
It happened for the first time yesterday, i was playing and out of no where a loud crackling would happen for a few seconds. So my hot rod is dead, and the fellow frank that fixes my amps. Longer cord for the fender vibrosonic, custom vibrolux, ultimate chorus, rumble bass, hot rod deluxe, hot rod deville, blues deluxe, blues deville, blues junior, acoustasonic sfx, 65 twin reverb reissue, 65 deluxe reverb reissue, bxr200, 57 twin amp reissue standard nema 515 plug for north american use at 110120 volts ac. Some users have even found special 6v6 power tubes that will work in the hot rod deluxe, though rebiasing is absolutely required. I did one gig with the amp and a week after that gig it started to make loud and uncontrollable cracklingpopping noises whenever it was taken off standby. The hot rod deluxe is a modified version of the fender blues deluxe from the earlier blues line of. I have a 1995 hrd and i want to get a marshall crunch out of it. It goes on and off frequently, like one second its off, then the next few seconds it is crackling, and so on. Crackle even after new tubes fender hot rod deluxe youtube. It is here now to help others who are considering this amp or may have already purchased it and have questions. Fender hot rod deluxe fixing a common problem with early models.
Classic fender cleans and reverb, with a second channel for high gain. The two main problems in the fender hot rod deluxe. My tonequest, modding a fender hot rod deluxe ryan t. The hot rod deluxe is a 1x12, 40 watt combo amplifier, powered by two 6l6gcs and voiced by three 12ax7a preamp valves. Sep 29, 2010 the caveat is that the hot rod deluxe iii requires that you interact with it as an instrument, rather than simply treating it as a noise box. The hot rod deluxe comes stock with a pair of 6l6 power amp tubes.
I put the link in order to describe the noise what could be. My new amp makes a pop noise when i use the standby. I replaced all the tubes, both preamp and power amp with jjs. You can also go to the unofficial hot rod deluxe owners page and get heaps of info for maintenance and modifications. I dont have it plugged in or near a power strip and it still hisses whether it is plugged into a guitar or not. The last time i played it today it made like a noise kinda like how when a taser is shot and makes that crackling sound. If you are hearing noise andor crackling, you can rule out or in a. Between then and now, my wife got pregnant and we are expecting our first baby in january. I have a really nice set of studio headphones that id like to be able to use when playing my guitar while letting the baby sleep in the next room. Some users have wired up volume controls that can be inserted into the hot rod deluxes preampoutpowerampin. Fender hot rod deluxe problem crackling power issues duration. The problem is that about one out of every three times i go to play it, it makes this very loud buzzing sound when i turn the standby off. I have a fender hot rod deluxe amp that i bought a few years ago.
I did one gig with the amp and a week after that gig it started to make loud and uncontrollable crackling popping noises whenever it was taken off standby. I got it second hand and so far its exactly the amp tone i was looking for. I also noticed that there was a decrease in volume, now i would have to turn it up to 6 to get the volume that would normal be at 4. The two resistors, designated r85 and r86 in the blues series and r78 and r79 in the hot rod series, are part of the lowvoltage power supply in these fender amps. I changed my speaker to the jensen and prefer the tone. Super clear tube tone, you will be happy the brown tolex color is very hard to find. My fender deluxe makes a crackling sound whenever i play through it now and sometimes even when the amp is just on. I just put some jj 6l6gc power tubes in my hot rod after noticing one of the two groovetubes had burned out. Unfollow hot rod deluxe fender to stop getting updates on your ebay feed. This mod does not work with other amps like the blues. Fender hot rod deluxe modifications fromel electronics. This reduces the chance for noise and crackling as well as provides the best sound and reliability. The hot rod deluxe was introduced in 1995 as part of the hot rod series, which also included the hot rod deville 4x10. As standard, fender fit the hot rod deluxe iii with a pair of groove tubes gt6l6 chp valves for the power stage and three groove tubes gt12ax7r valves for the preamp stage.