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Does anyone have one of these Devilles? Of course you do. I just can't seem to win with these Fender amps. The last one, a Concert 1x12 from the early 90's, had the perfect sound; she and I were made for bedroom wailing. But her tube with the spring buzzes. She sounds gassy. So anything in or around the key of B must be avoided. I took her to many therapists and specialists. Some gave me hope. None cured her ailments. All took my money.

So this last year, I married a newer, younger, bustier HotRod Deville 4x10 to spread the sound out among speakers and divorce myself from the background noise. As for bedroom wailing, she likes it rough and loud. That's nice, but sometimes I need her to finesse it a bit more. I'm an old man.

The problem it seems to me is that there is a HUGE jump between the Drive and More Drive channels. That is, if I have the first one where it just breaks up a bit on the lower end and boosts the volume a bit, then the second one will peel the paint off the walls. If I turn it down so the More Drive is just right, the first one is too anemic and any overdrive is unnoticable. [A glaring oversight of Fender's regarding these amps are that the controls--volume, gain, master volume, tone--work for all three channels. Not unlike my dear Concert.]

Does anyone know what I can do so my clean, drive 1, and drive 2 channels work in a logical, 'smoother' fashion when I transition from one channel to the other? I recently raised the action on the bass strings on my guitar, but that doesn't seem to have effected it.

I too have one of the 4x10 fender amps and I empathise with your situation. My complaint is somewhat different though, I find that it doesn't produce enough low end at high volumes for me to maintain a solid tone (clean or otherwise). I never use the distortion channels because I find they sound overly produced, like spending a lot of time priming a wall and then using really shitty paint that requires too many coats to look right. Oddly enough though, I never have this problem with the 2x12 devilles... I've a-b'd them on several occassions and noticed a huge difference in tone with the 2x12 being a hands down winner.

Not that this helps you with the question you asked... but I feel your pain man.

I suspect that it might have something to do with the presence being dedicated to all channels, then? I played with that tonight, and it seems that at best I can get 2/3rds to sound right, and the other third is just shameful.

When the gain is engaged, the high end dominates the low. It 'cuts through,' but at the price of losing its warmth. But plenty of people I've seen use these with minimal, if any, effects, so I know that they can work.

Are these 2x12s the Deluxes? I thought the Devilles were the 4x10s.

The Deluxe is the 1x12, the Deville's come in either 2x12 or 4x10. The Deville's are both 60 watt so apart from the speaker set-up shouldn't be that different.
I have a Deluxe, and I am relatively happy with the the clean and drive channels, however I find little use for the more drive channel, as it doesn't seem to sound that much different to the drive channel, only feeds back like holy fuck. As far as I was aware the More Drive channel is supposed to be a set decibel boost. However I know that apparently there is quite a lot more to it than that - but I don't have the knowledge to explain this....... however, this is the place to go for more info:

http://studentweb.eku.edu/justin_holton/

This is with regards to Hot Rod Deluxe's but I don't think you will a web resource that is more specifically geared to Hot Rod amps in general. It is definitely worth a look.

The Hot Rod DeVille is not so great an amp, I think. I just about never use mine. I've only recorded with it once, in fact.

The Traynor YCV-40 is a similar setup, sorta. But it has separate tone controls for each channel. And the clean and dirty can both be made to sound good.

I'm gonna make a bold statement here, but any amp that has multiple, switchable channels, but doesn't have separate EQ sections for each channel, that's a pretty stupid amp design.

In general, it just doesn't make any sense to think that your clean and drive tones would require the same EQ.

And obviously, based you what you're saying here, you've found that they *don't* require the same tone settings.

I don't find the sound quality of my Hot Rod DeVille 4x10 to be that exciting. For just the clean channel, it's fine, though I would take a Twin over it. For distortion, it's mediocre at best. And for switching between clean and dirty channels, forget about it.

I would suggest using the amp for the clean, and having two distortion pedals for your two dirty tones. That way you'll have more control.

Or, check out the Yorkville/Traynor YCV40, or YCV50, or the YCV80 which is a 4x10" combo. They have separate EQ for the clean and dirty channels.

scott wrote:The Hot Rod DeVille is not so great an amp, I think. I just about never use mine. I've only recorded with it once, in fact.

I'm gonna make a bold statement here, but any amp that has multiple, switchable channels, but doesn't have separate EQ sections for each channel, that's a pretty stupid amp design.

In general, it just doesn't make any sense to think that your clean and drive tones would require the same EQ.

Agreed.

scott wrote:And obviously, based you what you're saying here, you've found that they *don't* require the same tone settings.

I do find they need separate tone controls. But that's not nearly important to my difficulty as having separate drive and/or volume controls.

scott wrote:I would suggest using the amp for the clean, and having two distortion pedals for your two dirty tones. That way you'll have more control.

The best end-around I've found is to use my old Boss Hyper Fuzz as a gain booster and use that for my fifth gear. What distortion pedals can produce a Fender-ish sound though?

i had a friend who had the 4x10 Hot Rod Deville a few years ago and when he used the clean tone (i dont think he ever used the distortion) i thought it was a fantastic amp.

when i went shopping for amps, i considered buying one and tried it out - however, as i play a more "distorted" style, when i used those drive channels i was appalled. the guy at the store told me that my reaction is normal, and that the way to fix that problem (if you have one already or are going to purchase one) is to only use the clean channel and use a nice stomp box for your distortion (i think he specifically recommended my personal box, the ibanez tube screamer)

i then tried out the 59 Bassman reissue, same general design (4x10) but man, what a difference. unbelievable bass tone and great crunch - i went with the bassman.

andyk

Lemuel Gulliver wrote:What distortion pedals can produce a Fender-ish sound though?

I don't think I've ever heard someone say they were interested in using a pedal to copy the sound of the Hot Rod DeVille's distortion channel!

If I was trying to do something like that, I think what I'd end up doing is building my own box, something that would patch in using the preamp out/power amp in jacks on the amp... it would have a 12ax7 or two, and a bass, mid, and treble control. And a button. It would be true-bypass. So when the button wasn't pushed, the box wouldn't have any effect at all. And when it was pressed, it would introduce those tone controls and a drive/gain stage or two, to hit the power amp a little harder.

That's maybe what I would do. But actually, I would just use a different amp. Which is what I do.

I've heard andy's bassman reissue. It sounded really great, I thought. Quite nice, for a combo amp!

The "more drive" channels on the HR series do indeed suck. I custom wired my footswitch so that it only chooses between clean and drive. Use it like an old Boogie and it's a fine amp.

Anyone in the market for a 4x10 50 watt combo with a great overdrive is crazy not to try out a used Peavey Classic 50; they're frequently close to $300 used and they stomp a Hot Rod Deville.

Unscrew the Peavey badge off the grill and people will think you own a Bassman.