Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Serial Number Dating
Rn rn Hi everyone,rnrnI've just finished some mods to my HRDlx that I want to share.rnrnI bought my amp used almost a year ago.rn- The first thing I had to change has been the speaker: the original speaker was broken (it produced a kind of distortion when playing bass notes), so I decided to go for a Celestion Vintage 30, as it is my favourite speaker and it is also stock on the limited edition version of this amp. Very helpful to smooth out the sound (I really hate shrill sounds), very useful for distorted tones.rn- Next I changed the tubes, as they still were the stock ones (the amp is from 1998) and I had read about how much the sound of this amp could improve. I didn't want to spend a lot of money, I had just bought the new speaker, so I chose Electro-Harmonix for all the tubes, because I read a lot and they seemed to have the best quality/price ratio. I got a 12AT7 for V3 (the phase inverter), to tame the volume a bit.
Compared to the stock tubes, the sound did improve, but it was almost a year ago, so I don't remember. Not a radical change at all, though.rnrnNow the most recent mods.rnNOTE: I didn't want to mess with taking the board out of the chassis, so I worked on the components side of the PCB.
Whenever possible I soldered new components in parallel to the existing ones (for example to increase a cap value or decrease a resistor value). When not, I cut the component pretty near its body, in order to leave a long bit of the component leg to solder the new component to. This way my mods are all easily reversible.rnrn- I did the reverb mod.
This is a must, IMO. Now the reverb is much more usable.rn- Changed C11 (390p) to 1n. Now more highs are shunt to ground at the end of the drive channel.rn- Changed C1 (47u) to 22u.
A bit less bass and gain are fed to the following stages.rn- Added a 10n cap in parallel to C23 (1.5n). More bass to the drive channel.rn- Added a 180k resistor in parallel to R9 (220k) in order to get 100k here. This way less highs are blocked at the beginning of the clean channel (note that as a collateral effect you also get more gain, as we're reducing a resistor between gain stages).rn- Added a 470k resistor in parallel to R12 (130k) in order to get 100k, the standard value in Fender tone stacks. However, after checking again with the Tone Stack Calculator, I realized this mod increases bass and bass-mids (I had inverted the curves in my mind) rather than decreases them. So I might go back to 130k.rn- I tried cutting R105 out, because it looks like an added component to the standard Fender tone stack, but I ended up soldering it again into place, because its role is to tame the bass a bit. I also read in another thread of this forum that it is better to keep it.rn- Unfortunately, I couldn't do the middle pot mod (soldering the wiper to the bass-pot-side leg) because the big C6 cap in front of it isn't letting my soldering-pen tip go there.
This is a pity, as that mod allows a better control over the overwelming bass of this amp. Edit: my recent thoughts about this mod in the following thread:rn- I added a 22u cap in parallel to C8 (1u). I did this because I noticed the More Drive setting was harsher than the normal Drive. As the More Drive differs from the normal Drive setting by two added cathode bypass caps (C8 and C9) in the last two gain stages, I thought this was the culprit, because I know that a cathode bypass cap smaller than 22u alters the frequency response of the gain stage (the smaller the cap, the more you have an increase in gain only for treble frequencies). C9 was already 22u, so no problems there.rnI'm happy with this mod, now the More Drive is really an extension of the Drive setting.
You also get even more maximum gain in More Drive: I like this, because it allows me to keep the drive knob lower, so I have a bigger highs-blocking effect from that pot.rnrnMost of this mods are inspired from the Blues Deluxe schematic, but also from other Fender amp schematics. I played a Blues Deville 4x10' once at a gig and I think its clean sound was superior to the HRDlx, although it also had different speakers.rnAs you can see, the aim of these mods is to reduce the bass/increase the highs in the clean channel and to increase the bass/reduce the highs in the drive channel. This is to cure the harsh sounding drive channel (most of all) and the rather dark sounding clean channel. As most of the circuit is shared between the two channels, I decided to give priority to the clean channel, which is the one I use more because I mostly have pedals for my distorted tones.
At the same time, I tried to give the clean channel more sparkle in order to be able to keep the treble and presence knobs lower, as this improves the drive channel tone.rnrnI'm very happy with my mods!! The clean channel improved and, most of all, the drive channel is now more than usable. I'm looking forward to trying my amp loud at a gig to confirm the improvement.rnrnThanks for reading this, I hope it will be helpful to someone!rnrnGiuliornrnEdit: I played the amp extensively today and I'm really stunned with the improvement in sound!! Now my strat really plays like a strat, both clean and 'drived' (the stock amp didn't do its justice)!! I was about to change its neck single coil but now I'm happy again!rn rn rnrn rn rn rn rn. Rn rn Hi shredgd, hi forumrnrnI made nearly the same changes with slightly other values because I have JJ tubes and a Jensen C12N.rnrnI only have one other mod at the R45.
At the side that comes from the Master-Pot I soldered a 50k trimmer and at the other side a 100K trimmer. The ohter ends I soldered together and from that join a 22nF to Mass.rnrnthe 50k trimmer is set to 32k this means 225 Hz low-pass and with the 100k you can tame the horrible highs. If then the normal drive (not the mor drive) is not sparkling enough add a capacitor in parallel to R24 I used 5.6nF.rnrnSo I could revers the C11 mod.rnrnNow the drive channel has nearly the same sound as the clean channel when I turn the Guitar down. A little bit mor britisch sounding.
And the more drive is fat and creamy.rn rn rnrn rn rn rn rn. Rn rn Hi,rnrnI'm glad we came up with similar solutions.rnYour R45 mod is a bit unclear to me, though. Why two trimpots?
You should get a high cut as well by adding only one, with the cap to ground. Am I wrong?rnrnI like the R24 mod a lot!rnIt solves the problem of the normal drive channel being too dark because of the high cut necessary for the more drive.rnI think I will try it (as soon as I'll play the amp loud again with my mods and I'll see what is left to improve!).rnrnBy the way, the more drive sound of this amp is not defined on the bass; it is somewhat similar to a fuzz, I mean you can't do metal palm muting (even though it's got all the necessary gain!). I realize it would change the character of the clean channel as well (because of the shared circuitry), but do you know how one could (teorically) mod an amp to sound more defined on the bass?rnrnGiuliorn rn rnrn rn rn rn rn. Rn rn Hi Giulio,rnrnI take trimmpotis for canging the values on the fly. And yes it is more a High-Cut at the R45. Its a Y with the pots in the arms and the Cap in the leg.
Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Serial Number Dating
And between the 'arms' is the R45. If You want to take normal resistors start with following values: for the front end 33k an for the end going to the relay/switch 68k.rnIn that place i soldered a 'contur'-securit but it worked not so good because it was originaly from the solid state Deluxe 112. So I reduces the securit at first to two capacitors and two pots. And 3h later I had only one Capacitor and two pots. The R45 is one Resistor of a Voltage-Divider and the Highcut is more efficient behind the R45 than before. It makes a different sound than two Pots and two caps.
I tried a ton of valuesrnNow the amp ist in te practice room from the band (yes the one on the photo) and is awaiting to be played. A lot of things in the Sound are better now, but I am sure it will be opened by me.rnrnI forgotten to say I prefer a JJ ECC81 (12AT7) µ=60 for V1. Keeps away a lot of mud in the Drive section.rnV2: JJ ECC83 S (12AX7)rnV3: ECC81 (12AT7)rnV4+5: JJ 6 V6 biased at 90%, ca. 58mVrnrnMy C11 mod was 1,5nF in Series to a 250kPot(set to 120k-150k) in parallel to C11.
Very like yours.rn rn rnrn rn rn rn rn. Rn rn Hi ²Thom,rnrnI didn't mean 'why trimpots' but 'why two of them' instead of only one trimpot + the cap to ground (either before or after R45). It probably gives you different results in terms of tone: could you explain me why/how/which?rnrnAbout C11: yes, we made something very similar. I decided to go directly with a new 1n cap instead of a cap + trimpot combo because I like simple things and I also didn't want trimpots flying around inside my amp: I gig with this amp, so I need things to be tight inside it.!rnrnFor Alcaraz:rnrnI decided to go for my own mods because the ones at the unofficial HRDlx webpage are somewhat more tricky, because they involve major disassembly, added components/pots, etc.
I thought one could improve things by simply altering the values of the original components. And it works!rnOf course I cannot say mine are better mods, because I didn't try those other mods. Mine do not involve adding pots, so you can't have a 'continuous' control over your mod, you have to go by trial and error and see what is the best value for any given component. At the same time, my mods are very easy and quick to do, they do not need you to take the PCB out of the chassis, you won't have to find a place to secur the trimpots inside the amp or to drill new holes for pots.rnI came up to my mods by looking at this and other schematics, and by reflecting over the meaning of each component inside the HRDlx.rnI made a quick description of each mod in my first post. If you need some more explanations about their meaning you're free to ask!
Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Used
Rn rn rnrn rn rn rn rn. Thank you very much! ²Thom and shredgd.rnrnI think it's going to be harder that I thought!rnI didn't like to add pots either, so I think I'll follow your mods and see what I get. To take the PCB off you have to uscreew the controls and 6 screws, isn't it?rnSo I think I'll try the middle pot mod and the bright mod (add 2 silver mica caps)rn.rnThen I read these changes:rnrnC5 - 0,022ufrnC7 - 500pfrnR12 - 56Krnrnwhat do you think about that?rnrn²Thom, you advice me to change C11 instead of C23 in order to get a better distorted sound?rnrnwhat about C8 should I change it or not?rnrnrnthank you again! Rn rn rnrn rn rn rn rn. Rn rn It won't be hard at all!!rnrnI think you can start modding your amp without taking the PCB out, as I did.rnFirst of all, the mid pot mod has the disadvantage of making the mid and bass pot interactive, that is when you increase the mids you'll increase the bass, too.
So, before doing that mod, to reduce the excessive bass of this amp, I suggest you to set the mid knob higher, in order to have a relative decrease in bass. Yesterday I discovered how sweet this amp can sound by placing the mid knob at 12!!rnrnChanging C5 to 22n will decrease bass and increase mids a bit. I didn't modify C5 because 0.1u (100n) is the original value of Fender's tone stacks, so why bothering? However, theorically this mod goes in the right direction.rnrnReducing R12 to 56k will increase bass, mid-bass and mids.
Again, you'll get farer from the original Fender's tone stacks values. This time, however, the change goes in the wrong direction, because of the increase in bass and mid-bass. I wouldn't do this.rnrnIncreasing C7 to 500p will brighten things up. This means you'll also get more treble with the drive/more drive channel!
I wouldn't do this.rnrnI absolutely suggest you to replace C11 with a bigger cap, to have your first real and evident improvement in your distorted tone. This is the first mod I suggest you to do.
Then you will see if that is enough or you have to go further (I suggest you, in sequence, to reduce R9 to 100k to brighten the clean channel only, and to increase C23 to maybe not 10n but 4.7n - this value is also suggested in the unofficial HRDlx guide, and I will probably change my 10n to that value too, now that ²Thom scared me about intermodulation distortion. to increase bass in the drive/more drive channel only).rn rn rnrn rn rn rn rn. Hi Giulio,nnI find very interesting your mods. I've got a HRDlx with a Celestion V30 too and was planning to do the unnoficial HRD web mods one by one to improve the amp sound, but i've seen yours are not the same mods. Are yours better?
I see both try to brigth the clean chanel and improve the drive ones, where's the difference?nnthank you!rn rn rnrnHi Alcaraz,nnsome of the unnoficial HRD web mods are superb. At first the Reverb mod.nSome other mods are not so good I think the C23 mod to fatten up the drive cannel but it makes the distortion sounding bad. To much distortion in the interferences of minor chords. For that make a high cut at C11 or the other mod shown above in the postings.nnInstead of a C1 mod (half the value of the cap) you can plug in a lower Gain Tube (12AT7 or ECC81) in V1.nnPersonaly I like to short R102 results in a high boost in normal and drive but not in more drive.nn You have to try them all if You like. Tastes are different.nnI never tried the C8 mod. I can read the plans and now I understand what will happen if I change a value. C8 makes a high boost above 106 Hz to bring down distortion in the interferences.
For example if You bent some tone to the same on the next string. This wawawawa wa wa wa wa wa wa in tune in the Background of the tones from the two strings. To beware these wa-wa-s from distortion there was a C8.rn rn rnrn rn rn rn rn.
I never tried the C8 mod. I can read the plans and now I understand what will happen if I change a value. C8 makes a high boost above 106 Hz to bring down distortion in the interferences.
For example if You bent some tone to the same on the next string. This wawawawa wa wa wa wa wa wa in tune in the Background of the tones from the two strings. To beware these wa-wa-s from distortion there was a C8.rn rn rnrn??? I think I understood, anyway.
Again an increase in intermodulation distortion (for the more drive only, however) with my mod, but it avoids the really unnecessary high boost in the more drive mode.rnrnReading again the Jame Vanden Berg mods, I'm curious to try the part of his 'lead mode sparkle boost' mod which regards C3. I already thought about working on C3 to reduce high content in the drive channel (that cap forms a low-pass RC filter with R8, reducing high frequencies above 6.4k only with the drive/more drive channel). His clever mod lets you have that high-cut only with the more drive, keeping highs in the normal drive channel. However it is a bit too complicated and involved to be a 'quick and easy mod' (following my phylosophy), so I'll think a lot before I'll do it.
I must be sure I need more highs with the normal drive channel.rnrnUnfortunately we only have one set of tone controls in this amp, so we must find the magic setting for the clean channel, and only then do our mods to have a balanced sound in the drive/more drive channel (this is true only for mods regarding the components exclusively used in the drive/more drive channel, of course).rn rn rnrn rn rn rn rn. Rn rn A quick update about my mods.rnrnToday I took off the 10n cap I had paralleled to C23: ²Thom was right, it is better to keep the original value for that cap. Probably when you fix the treble harshness of the drive/more drive channel, then you don't need a bass increase anymore (it makes your bass notes mushy, kind of a fuzz face. You lose definition). Alternatively, a small increase (for example 2n) might be the perfect balance.
I will come up to a stable conclusion when I will try my amp loud, so I'll see if it is ok with the original cap or not.rnrnToday I also added another 360p cap in parallel to C11, reaching a total of 1,36n for that cap position. Now the drive/more drive channel is smooth, but again I will have to check my mod at high volumes.rnrnGiuliorn rn rnrn rn rn rn rn. Rn rn Anohter wide Field for mods is R69 - th coupling resistor between secondary wire from the tone-transformer to the input of the power amp or better the Presence-cicurit.nnTry a cap parallel or in series to it (gives more bass). In series is not difficult. Its the grey thin cable from the Ext. Speaker - Jack.nnIf the Value of R69 gets to high or much to low, the Presence control wouldn't work propper anymore.nnThe higher the value the more the sound is getting 'british'. (as a fender can do so?!?)rn rn rnrn rn rn rn rn.
This is how these amps get busted, and a bad rap. Cook up that pc board with these 'mods', then bitch about it crapping out in a few weeks. Leave it alone, make sure to not judge it until the speaker is good and broken in, open her up and let it wail.rnrnOr do what I did - sell it and biy a Vox AD50VT.
Fender introduced the Hot Rod series of amps around 1996, with the Deluxe and DeVille as prominent positions. The DeVille is a 60-watt amp, mostly tube but with solid state components used for the recitifier and reverb send and recovery; as well a PCB board is used rather than point-to-point construction, which significantly lowers production costs.The Fender Hot Rod DeVille features three switchable channels – normal, drive, and more drive. The channels share the EQ stacks. The 212 version comes with a pair of 12-inch Eminence speakers.As with the Hot Rod Deluxe, the amp includes a presence control and preamp out-power amp in jacks on the control panel for connecting extra gear. And the panel lettering is oriented so it’s right side up when you look at the amp from the front.This 1997 Fender Hot Rod Deville amp is in excellent condition and comes with footswitch and cover.Serial Number: B 128952, built in Corona California, USA. The date code points to March of 1997.Pricing: $675.00 CAD with footswitch and cover.