NAD: Fender Hot Rod Deluxe (but which one is it?)
Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2024 1:16 am
Well, I mean I was browsing for a Fender, just a guitar not an amp as I was inspired to get a Tele of some description when I played the amazing 2011 MIM Tele that the bassist in my originals band has. I suppose you could argue that this is one of those times where online search filters being essentially busted across all the big brand sites (this isn't like the early 2000s where searches could actually consistently find what you want without paid for results being weighted towards the top) actually worked in my favour - thanks, crappy devs over at FB Marketplace, I guess?
A picture is worth a thousand words
That's what I heard
So the old adage goes
Let's have several of those :-
These are really hi-res/high quality so might take a while to load.
The only real problem I'm having so far is trying to work out which year and mark this is. It's made in Mexico so we know it's not a Mk. I (those are USA only I believe), there's no handwritten squiggle on the tube guide inside the chassis, I have no idea where else to look for the two letter date code. This is typical Fender bullshit when it comes to serial numbers, and I hate it. Guys, you used to stamp the butt of the damn necks in the 60s with actual date codes, that worked fine, why can't that just be the case forever rather than it being so inconsistent. They make some of the best musical equipment in the world yet they suck at this.
Anyway, rant over, this is the back plate. Anyone can throw me a bone I'd appreciate it.
---
Now I get to gush about the actual amp for a little bit, if you can stand to hear it.
I haven't owned a valve Fender since about 2003 when I had a Twin Reverb RI, which I loved but didn't keep long as I needed the money (changing jobs), it was too heavy and too loud to cart across the London Underground for gigs etc, but back then I was nuts enough to take Marshall 4x12" cabs on the Tube and stuff so I think I'd had my fill. Lots of good stories from my time in London like that.
Anyway technically I bought this yesterday, but as you can imagine the desire to play through it was overwhelming, so that's where the majority of my evening went after I got back from Seaford buying this for the more than reasonable sum of £200. This is somewhat below the going rate, and the ones more expensive than this weren't in quite as excellent condition - yeah there's a small stain and a bit of a tolex bump but they're well hidden at the back, so it's not mint enough that I'll be sad when it starts to get roadworn, but it's nice enough I won't throw it into the back of the car.
The tone, well, I mean I haven't really messed about with the drive channel but that's not why I bought it. It's those lovely glassy Fender cleans - you've probably all played one at this point and know the HRD does a sterling rendition of that. But I'd forgotten how amazing the spring reverb is on Fender amps - they seem to be the only company that gets this right, when I use the spring reverb on something British like Orange, Laney (I own two) and Marshall amps they're always underwhelming and sometimes sound like delays rather than verbs. But on this, I can crank the verb level and enjoy the drip, which is beyond great for surf and gaze stuff. It seems like it takes pedals well - most Fender amps with a good clean do, in my experience - but I didn't have a vast amount of time to test because I noticed it was half past midnight and I figured even though I was playing quietly (I think - it's hard to tell because the voicing of the amp is so good) it was time to stop before it got annoying. There's a certain amount of tit-for-tat with my neighbours because they're sometimes noisy bastards too so as long as it's not excessive we don't complain, I like that arrangement and respect it because plenty of places I've lived it's not been that way.
Long (loooong) story short, both the Meteora and the Jag sound incredible through it - it has so much spare brightness that it can completely fix the "hot pickups don't have enough treble" problem I sometimes get with other amps in conjunction with my clean boost, so fair play to Fender for making such a versatile circuit, I can see why they've made so many of these and that they deserve to have been in production this long.
Love it to bits, the only downside is now I really have moved to a three amp rig and two of them are valve, plus I need to study this again to see how I can tame the mammoth amounts of volume this "only 40W" amp can produce using clever tricks.
A picture is worth a thousand words
That's what I heard
So the old adage goes
Let's have several of those :-
These are really hi-res/high quality so might take a while to load.
The only real problem I'm having so far is trying to work out which year and mark this is. It's made in Mexico so we know it's not a Mk. I (those are USA only I believe), there's no handwritten squiggle on the tube guide inside the chassis, I have no idea where else to look for the two letter date code. This is typical Fender bullshit when it comes to serial numbers, and I hate it. Guys, you used to stamp the butt of the damn necks in the 60s with actual date codes, that worked fine, why can't that just be the case forever rather than it being so inconsistent. They make some of the best musical equipment in the world yet they suck at this.
Anyway, rant over, this is the back plate. Anyone can throw me a bone I'd appreciate it.
---
Now I get to gush about the actual amp for a little bit, if you can stand to hear it.
I haven't owned a valve Fender since about 2003 when I had a Twin Reverb RI, which I loved but didn't keep long as I needed the money (changing jobs), it was too heavy and too loud to cart across the London Underground for gigs etc, but back then I was nuts enough to take Marshall 4x12" cabs on the Tube and stuff so I think I'd had my fill. Lots of good stories from my time in London like that.
Anyway technically I bought this yesterday, but as you can imagine the desire to play through it was overwhelming, so that's where the majority of my evening went after I got back from Seaford buying this for the more than reasonable sum of £200. This is somewhat below the going rate, and the ones more expensive than this weren't in quite as excellent condition - yeah there's a small stain and a bit of a tolex bump but they're well hidden at the back, so it's not mint enough that I'll be sad when it starts to get roadworn, but it's nice enough I won't throw it into the back of the car.
The tone, well, I mean I haven't really messed about with the drive channel but that's not why I bought it. It's those lovely glassy Fender cleans - you've probably all played one at this point and know the HRD does a sterling rendition of that. But I'd forgotten how amazing the spring reverb is on Fender amps - they seem to be the only company that gets this right, when I use the spring reverb on something British like Orange, Laney (I own two) and Marshall amps they're always underwhelming and sometimes sound like delays rather than verbs. But on this, I can crank the verb level and enjoy the drip, which is beyond great for surf and gaze stuff. It seems like it takes pedals well - most Fender amps with a good clean do, in my experience - but I didn't have a vast amount of time to test because I noticed it was half past midnight and I figured even though I was playing quietly (I think - it's hard to tell because the voicing of the amp is so good) it was time to stop before it got annoying. There's a certain amount of tit-for-tat with my neighbours because they're sometimes noisy bastards too so as long as it's not excessive we don't complain, I like that arrangement and respect it because plenty of places I've lived it's not been that way.
Long (loooong) story short, both the Meteora and the Jag sound incredible through it - it has so much spare brightness that it can completely fix the "hot pickups don't have enough treble" problem I sometimes get with other amps in conjunction with my clean boost, so fair play to Fender for making such a versatile circuit, I can see why they've made so many of these and that they deserve to have been in production this long.
Love it to bits, the only downside is now I really have moved to a three amp rig and two of them are valve, plus I need to study this again to see how I can tame the mammoth amounts of volume this "only 40W" amp can produce using clever tricks.