The Fender Hotrod Deluxe is one hell of an amplifier. It can be extremely useful and pay for itself a thousand times over, but it can also bring you a world of trouble. Over the years, I’ve tried dozens of Hotrod Deluxes, and to be perfectly honest, it’s a fifty-fifty situation. Half of them were good and reliable, while the other half were riddled with problems.
When it comes to the actual sound of the amplifier, I have to be honest—I never liked it. Some of them sounded slightly better than others, but let’s be realistic: you’re buying a 3-channel amplifier with reverb and an effects loop. Yet, 2 out of the 3 channels are pretty much useless (you can guess which ones). On top of that, the reverb doesn’t sound great, and the effects loop in many models has issues like signal dropouts.
This amplifier obviously comes with a relatively low price tag for a full tube amp, and all I can say is that it was a brilliant business move on Fender’s part. Judging by their popularity, I imagine they’ve sold ridiculous amounts of these amps. And I thank them for it because they’ve created a lot of work for us amp techs.
In this paper, I’ll explore ways to improve this amp—because it can be improved! And the best part? It doesn’t cost much. In fact, it can be improved so significantly that I actually really like it when it’s modded. So fasten your seatbelts; we’re in for a wild ride.
First of all, I have to acknowledge that Fender has made some nice improvements in the newer versions. Specifically, they’ve switched to a thicker PCB and adjusted the layout of the components a bit. This really helps with reliability, but like all overseas, affordable amplifiers, even the newer Hotrod Deluxes still suffer from PCB issues.
What I want to do here is create a list of objective improvements that can be made to this amplifier. I’ll start with the mods that bring the biggest changes and are easy to implement, then move on to more complicated and sophisticated upgrades. I strongly recommend doing all of these mods—they’re absolutely worth it.
If you’re an average Hot Rod Deluxe user and you’re generally happy with the amp but want to make a few small improvements, changing the speaker is by far the biggest upgrade you can treat yourself to. Early Hot Rods came with a very cheap speaker that left many users unsatisfied. While a well-broken-in stock speaker isn’t completely terrible, it’s far from delivering the kind of “recognizable” tone we often seek. For this reason, I strongly recommend replacing it with something that better matches the sound you want.
So, the big question is: What speaker should you choose?
The answer isn’t straightforward because it depends entirely on the tone you’re after. That said, I’ll share my opinion, which might help steer you in the right direction.
When choosing a speaker, I always start with the “classics.” You could opt for a Vintage 30 (V30), some type of Alnico speaker, or something in the Creamback family. Of course, you could also explore Eminence, Jensen, or other speaker brands, but I don’t have much personal experience with those. However, there are some interesting brands producing Fender-style speakers if you’re chasing that type of tone.
For newer Hot Rod Deluxe models, Fender switched to a version of the Celestion Cream, which noticeably improved the amp’s sound. In its stock form, the amp tends to be very midrange-heavy and lacks openness in the high-presence area. These characteristics are worth keeping in mind when choosing a speaker.
Alnico speakers and V30s emphasize the high mids, whereas Creamback-style speakers tend to be more open in that range and shift the midrange focus to a different spot. If you’re looking for a safe bet, I’d recommend going with some version of the Celestion Creamback. It’s a versatile choice that pairs well with this amp, especially if it’s not heavily modded.
This is something that should be done to every single one of these amplifiers as soon as you get them. All Hot Rod Deluxes share a common issue in the power section—a poorly designed area where large resistors are used to drop some voltages. This approach is a cost-effective way to achieve the desired voltages in the amp, but it has serious downsides.
What Fender essentially did was place components that generate significant heat very close to a low-quality PCB. Over time, the heat cooks the PCB, damaging the copper traces and leading to various problems, such as abrupt channel switching and unwanted noise.
To their credit, Fender addressed this issue somewhat in the newer versions produced in the last ~10 years. They used a higher-quality PCB and created a bit more distance between the resistors and the board. However, this solution feels more like duct tape than a proper fix.
Here’s what I normally do, especially with amps that already have damaged PCBs: I mount larger wire-wound resistors directly onto the amp chassis and then connect them to their appropriate points on the PCB. This ensures that the PCB won’t get burned and keeps the resistors running cool.
If you look at the schematic, the resistors in question are R78 and R79 (Figure 3). These are the ones that need to be replaced and relocated. There’s also a third resistor, R97 (Figure 2), which is smaller but still gets hot enough to burn the board. For R97, it’s not necessary to mount it on the chassis, but you should create some space between the PCB and the resistor to prevent heat damage.
I strongly encourage you to perform this resistor mod. It’s a relatively simple fix that can save you from major headaches and ensure you never run into these issues during a gig.
Now it’s time to dive into serious modding. First, let me explain the logic behind the mods and what I was trying to achieve. There are a variety of mods that can be done, and it’s possible to perform only certain parts of the modifications outlined in the schematic.
The approach I took with these mods was inspired by the "Dumble" school of sound. This was a specific request from the client at the time, so I tailored the modifications accordingly. I mention this because I wasn’t aiming for a Marshall-style drive channel. I will mention whether a particular change is crucial or optional, but I strongly encourage you to complete the full modification. Each individual change has a ripple effect on the circuit, and other mods depend on these adjustments to work harmoniously.
Let’s talk about the amplifier’s objective issues. The gain channels are essentially useless—they’re honky, overly compressed, and honestly, there’s nothing nice I can say about them. The clean channel is functional but far from the “super-amazing” sound that some people claim. Overall, the amplifier leans too heavily on the bass frequencies, to the point where it muddies the tones you actually want to hear.
Unfortunately, in an amp like this, it’s very difficult to make a modification that only affects a single channel without impacting the rest of the circuit, at least to some extent. That said, the mods I’m presenting here will affect all channels, but I guarantee they will improve the amp’s overall performance for the better.
Let’s take a look at the schematic:
Here’s a quick guide to the mods, starting from the power amp:
To complement the power amp mods, the preamp needs adjustments:
Note: Most of the preamp mods focus on lowering gain in various stages. Don’t worry—there will still be plenty of gain available, but it will sound and feel much better.
And there you have it—a comprehensive guide to turning this amp from “good” to “great.” These mods can also be applied to the Blues Deluxe, a similar amp that can benefit greatly from similar changes. While it’s not identical to the Hot Rod Deluxe, the differences aren’t significant enough to prevent you from using these techniques. I’ll likely post a tech page on Blues Deluxe mods in the near future.
For more on this topic, check out my YouTube video—it’s one of my earlier efforts while I was still experimenting with making videos. In it, I provide unprocessed sound samples so you can get an honest idea of the tonal changes.
