Question:
Hey all,
I've got a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe tube amp that I got off ebay recently. The amp is 5 years old, and the tubes are original. It sounds good still (I think it was hardly played on before I got it), but the overdrive is a little sharp for my liking. I was wondering if changing the tubes would make my overdrive smoother. I don't know what kind of tubes it has now; nowdays, the Hot Rod Deluxe comes with 6L6 Groove Tubes, so I'm assuming that's what they are. The amp came with an extra set of preamp tubes... does the overdrive occur the preamp tubes or power tubes?
What kind of tubes would you reccomend for smoother drive? Please be detailed, thank you!
EDIT: If you need to know what kind of music I play, I'm into U2 type of stuff, and I usually play either clean or with a little / medium dirt. I never go all-out with my drive.
-Nick
Answer:
I'm not sure what you mean by the overdrive being "sharp".... One mod I recommend for the Hot Rod series is to put a 12AT7 or other lower gain tube in V2 (the middle preamp tube position). It will reduce saturation; still plenty of distortion on tap, but at lower gain settings its less compressed, and a bit cleaner. It might not be what you are looking for, but IMHO it makes that channel sound a lot better.
If you have the master volume at less than 4 or so , the overdrive/distortion is from the preamp tubes. Oh yeah, a common complaint with the HR's is that the master is pretty well pegged on 4 - the 12AT7 in V2 helps that a bunch, making the master less sensitive in the 1-4 range.
Answer:
I knew you'd come to the rescue, Tom!
Originally Posted by Major Tom I'm not sure what you mean by the overdrive being "sharp"....
It sounds a little harsh, and a bit too gritty. I'm looking for smoother.
Originally Posted by Major Tom One mod I recommend for the Hot Rod series is to put a 12AT7 or other lower gain tube in V2 (the middle preamp tube position). It will reduce saturation; still plenty of distortion on tap, but at lower gain settings its less compressed, and a bit cleaner. It might not be what you are looking for, but IMHO it makes that channel sound a lot better.
This sounds like a good idea. Lower gain is fine for what I play, and decreased sensitivity on the master volume would be nice.
-Nick
Answer:
More than a couple guys I recommended that to have done it and liked the results. I'm, not sure about the grittiness thing....hmmm, but less gain is less gain. For $12 or so, its worth a shot. I also recommend the same thing for Peavey Bravos for the same reason.
BTW, my HR Deville which is over 5 years old, still has the original tubes, except for the 12AT7 I subbed, and it still sounds great. I gigged with it steadily for 2 or 3 years, those tubes have really held up. Mine did not come with the GT's, I bought it new before they started doing that. It has Sovtek preamp tubes and 5881 power tubes. The GT power tubes they used in the later HR's I believe are s'posed to be color coded, like red, white, or blue? - if you change, get the same color and the bias will be not need to be adjusted.
Answer:
Oh yeah, one other thing - it only took me like a quarter of a century to "discover" this. The sweetest tube amp tones only occur when you get the power tubes involved. The best way to get power tubes involved is using an amp that is SMALL enough to where it can be cranked for the venue. In general, and as a rule, most electric guitarists are "over-amped". Buying any amp, production or boutique and then running it with the master volume on 3 is such a waste - they might sound ok there, but it ain't where they sound great.
Distortion, saturation, and compression from preamp tubes is ok I guess, but IMHO doesn't hold a candle to what you get from the power tubes. I think distortion from preamp tubes is "solid statish" - in other words lacking dynamics, at least in comparison to what you can get from power tubes OR a combination of of preamp and power tubes.
When you're able to crank an amp where the big bottles are pushed outside of their "high-fidelity" range, an amp really starts to sing - first comes that wonderful compression that's so natural and "organic"; notes sustain nicely, and yer guitar just sings without really being very distorted. Lay into the strings and there's some distortion, lightly pick and its pretty clean - "edge of distortion".
To get really great tones like U2's the Edge, etc, etc, (whoever you like) you need a cranked amp. To crank an amp, you need one that is SMALL enough to crank where you are playing. Attenuators can help, but they do have their limitations.
Answer:
http://studentweb.eku.edu/justin_holton/
for a single-amp site dedicated to the HRDx
I haven't checked it for answers to your question but there's a lot there
amen to Tom's point about being over-amped...
best wishes
SP
Answer:
what guitar do you use? a lot of your tone shaping also involves your pickup selection and your tone knob. (basing this off of your "sharp" description)
hm...how can i crank my amp without blowing out my ears? (maj tom )
i realized that i never thanked you for the attenuator i bought from you maj tom. oops, but thanks so much. it's like my amp ate some spinach and started pounding away - at manageable volumes.
Answer:
Sparticus (have you seen That Thing You Do?), I use a squier strat. I will experiment with my tone knobs (which I hardly ever touch) to see if I can't dial down the sharpness a bit.
Thanks for the website Stratopastor, and thanks for the weighty info Tom.
Tom, I don't know if my parents would go for it, but educate me on your attenuator. How much, how do I install it, etc.
-Nick
Answer:
Originally Posted by Major Tom BTW, my HR Deville which is over 5 years old, still has the original tubes, except for the 12AT7 I subbed, and it still sounds great. I gigged with it steadily for 2 or 3 years, those tubes have really held up.
Wow, that thing must CRANK. How loud did use it?
-Nick
Answer:
I love the way the 12AT7 substitution has helped my amp's tone.
Answer:
Originally Posted by Only Alive Tom, I don't know if my parents would go for it, but educate me on your attenuator. How much, how do I install it, etc.
-Nick
i can't cover the price (because tom sells it not me)...but on my hr dlx i have it mounted on inside of the left panel (looking from the back)...you run the cable from the amp into the attenuator, and the cable from the attenuator into the speaker in (where the amp cable had been plugged in). unless he's changed the design the device has a potentiometer on it that allows you to adjust the amount of attenuation done by the device.
Answer:
Originally Posted by Only Alive Wow, that thing must CRANK. How loud did use it?
-Nick
It is a very loud amp. I used to have the clean channel on like 4-5 and the drive channel's master on 3 or so, can't remember where I had the gain, I think on 4 maybe, and that's with the stock tube configuration. We played in various venues, some small, some pretty good sized, and some outdoor ones. Ironically, I didn't "discover" attenuators while I was playing in gigging bands...what prompted me to really look for a low volume/good tone solution was playing in the P & W music team.
Answer:
A picture is worth a thousand words. It mounts with 2 screws into the side of the cab. Connecting it is "plug and play".