Perhaps it's time to instruct Brother Maynard to bring forth the Holy Hand grenade so that thou might lobest it in the direction of thine enemies at Fender, who, being naughty in thy sight shall snuff it.
And the count shall be to 3 ….. 2 shall NOT be enough … and to 4 is RIGHT OUT…… Three is the number , & the number of the count shall be to 3….😆😂👍😉. Lot of people will have NO IDEA WTF we are referring to here….😎
When can we hear it? I shall take this opportunity to let you know that after months of looking and listenening to your channel I finally managed to get my Blues Deluxe to sound much more Fender-like by simply lowering the bias control just below the red mark (about 3o'clock) and replacing the stock speaker with an Alnico Jensen12" . Had a 70s twin for years and had to downsize but the tone it had became my bench-mark for judging all the other amps. The bias and speaker are(to me) the most effective way to getting a new Fender to sound like a classic again..it worked for me.
I have a mid 2000s Blues Deluxe (with upgrades UK Celestion speakers and 1x12 extension cab). I have been using this amp in conjunction with a Fender Custom Shop Tone Master and a Marshall JCM2000. I sort of panicked when I watched this video. Knock on wood, mine performs perfectly, but I drive mine very hard, with Master volume on 10 of 12, but with an attenuator. Biased normal, but I am afraid my PCB will look like cigarette ashes if I open up the amp! Thanks for the informative video. I guess I'll have a couple shots of courage and see what mine looks like.
Don't worry too much, I use one if these combos everyday and with an attenuator for low vol and mercifully have'nt had a problem so far. They do have good transformers so as long as you make shure you have decent speaker cables and sockets you can run that extra 8ohm cab and get a great sound. N.B. changed the speaker as soon as I got it(2012) to a Jensen p12q like they used in the 50s/60s and sounds a lot warmer and cleaner now.
Lyle, what an ingenious repair. With the constant problem Fender has created with the 15 volt supply, it may be well worth the effort to mod all of those amps, that have these issues, instead of repairing them with the possibility of them coming back in the future. Just saying 😌
Unbelievable that Fender has done absolutely NOTHING to correct such common and predictable failure points even after multiple revisions of their product! But they HAVE lowered the warranty period from the 5 years it used to be back in the 1990’s to 2 years today. To me, this speaks VOLUMES about how much Fender really cares about their customers or the quality of their tube amp products. By comparison, look at all the resources they’ve been pouring into their modeling amps lately-it makes me wonder if they see the writing on the wall for tube amps going forward.
Another problem the Blues/Hot Rod amps always had was the volume pot taper/design. They go from off, to say too loud for practice almost instantly on the knob, as such folks for years have been slapping pedals in the loop to act as a “master volume” to tame the taper. In fact there are devices sold that sit on the loop with 2 plugs and a volume knob acting as a master. You would think that after almost 30 years, and countless revs, they wouldn’t address everyone’s biggest complaint about the amps.
I bought my Hot Rod deluxe in 2003 I think… at the time, everyone was swapping 12AY7s in V1 to help out with the volume taper. I did the same thing and it certainly helped. I actually liked the amp better with the AY. It’s a shame they never fixed these issues in the later versions.
Finally fed up with it. Took my ‘94 BD to a local shop and they replaced the volume and master volume pots with what I thought were linear taper. Small cost, big difference.
Formulajoe2> The 12ay7 would also change other parts of the gain structure, including the overdrive channel. Also finding a good 12ay7 that isn’t noisy or microphonic is a lot harder than a 12ax7. They are audio taper pots, but there are multiple tapers that fall into that category, as well as custom tapers. Just a bad design coupled with the cheapest pots they could find. Not a big deal for gig vol, more for “at home”…in fact the big trend early on was to throw one of those $15 Rocktek eq pedals in the loop for practice. Point is, after multiple revs, they could have easily added a master volume (or got a better taper pot/design). Isn’t like this is something new.
@@PsionicAudio Sorry - out of my wheel house. I must have misunderstood, but thought that’s what they told me they did to fix it. I play comfortably in my bedroom on 4 now.
On my Hotrod iv deluxe limited edition ( tweed ) the ceramic resistors are raised on the board from the factory . Still the diodes and other heat parts are still board mounted. So maybe they are starting to learn a bit . Wish they would do better caps and jacks .
When can I expect mine to fail? I bought it new in 2010. I’ve probably done 500 gigs with it. Still original tubes. I get nervous that something will go wrong with it but it keeps on going and hasn’t really declined tonally. 🤷
I had one of these, I believe first run Blues Deluxe models that pretty much burned up. I was told it was not repairable, after many repairs prior to. My luthier who is also an amp tech built me a Deluxe Reverb into chasis, from an amp kit. I would never buy anything from this series of amps again. Considering what one of these or any of the new reissue amps cost to me is not a wise choice. I would prefer to pay a bit more and get something with point to point wiring and more easily serviceable. One of my present amps is a Dr Z Maz 18 Jr, which I love .
I swear a fella could make his living just working on fender hot rod and blues deluxe 🙄 Good for techs... Bad for any owners of these amps that aren't able to work on their own gear. I'm glad I made the choose to build all of my own gear last year. If something goes wrong or isn't right in the first place, I've got nobody to blame but myself!!
I have never seen a 5 watt resistor siliconed to a PCB. That makes no sense at all. Another option might be the aluminum housed, chassis mounted power resistors that you could screw directly to the chassis such as the ARCOL HS10 2R2 F in whatever the proper resistance is. Mouser and most of the other suppliers sell them. Those will really dissipate the heat directly to the metal chassis and provide mounting points for the diodes.
But those cost money, they are trying to cheap out. Maybe you could make a small regulated 15v bipolar supply from a 5v winding with a couple of regulators and voltage tripler.
@@infectionsman I'm not suggesting that Fender should build them the way I suggested. I was only suggesting a variation of the field mod based that Lyle did. Fender really should redesign these amps with these very common problems.
Just a small correction: 7ender indeed did a change to the circuit, thex reduced the resistor size from 470 Ohms to 330 Ohms so less heat is generated...but this only delays the PCB burning out by a few years, so not fix, just a mitigation...
The sad thing is that Fender is only one of many manufacturers who use this simply lo cost rout to obtain the lower voltages. I one talked with a designer of amps with SLME(St. Louis Music Electronics) about this bad idea and was told everyone does it that way.
I just kinda got into it with another person on UA-cam. Over his recommending people buy these. I had two they work until they don't then they're nothing but problems. It's all just throwing good money after bad as far as I'm concerned.
LOL, ever feel like you're repeating yourself? I guess you're lucky it was just silicone holding the resistors on and not heat transfer paste... which wouldn't surprise anyone at this point. I have no idea what I'm doing and I'd be willing to buy a broken one of these and have a go I've watched you fix so many now.
my band mate bought a blues deluxe IV. the gain channel squealed like a bad preamp tube. he returned it for service twice. tubes replaced, same problem. third time he swapped for a new amp. so far so good. what steps can he take to prevent another failure?
That squeal was probably a bad brand new IC filter cap. The amps needs all new filter caps and a rebuilt low voltage supply to last and be reliable. If that seems like a lot to spend on a new amp, I agree. I don't recommend buying these amps. Conversely, enough of them come in all with the same problems that Hot Rods and Blues amps are paying for my car.
@@PsionicAudio thanks. i play a '95 hot rod deluxe. spent $300 on caps and stuff and replaced the plastic input jacks that crumbled. it's been ok the last 3 or 4 years.
Is the heat thing still a Problem with the new ones? I adviced a buddy of mine to buy the amp (because he loves it) and direcly take to a tec and have that done. So the board wouldn't burn in the first palce. He didn't really beleve me and called 3 amp tecs and they all sayd it was a Problem but not anymore and that he should get it and stop worrying. "If it breaks some time in the future you can bring it here."
@@PsionicAudioI’ve been going insane looking for a better version of this amp. I’m weird and love the sound, but want to buy something reliable even if more expensive. Can you point me in the direction of similar sounding amps that are better made?
They make eyelet repair kits for that problem, same thing happens in extraordinarily high end expensive aviation electronics and medical devices and the eyelet via’s are used for those repairs, literally less than a buck and takes seconds, much stronger than the FR4 1/2oz substrate… I’d say the fender amps are pretty welll designed actually for ancient technology, I’ve seen much worse in equipment that’s 1000s of times as expensive… this is not a 90s design, I’d say that goes back to when your were just a glimmer in your daddy’s eye, it’s early 70s carried over from the 50s and 60s… I doubt fender is willing to touch much since their entire business model is based on a subjective tone and any modifications would result in mass outcry that it changed the tone of the beloved topology…
my BD had that happen to one of the ribbon cables. Local tech, Scooter Granville, fixed it a few years back now. Love that amp even if it's too loud for my needs lol.
@@infectionsman Think he did 'stake' it down with silicone after it was repaired, also needed a PT/tubes/caps. This was the first batch of BD as I'd pre-ordered it way in advance. I was never very gentle with it so it's actually held up very well considering. I put tilt back legs on it and that helped a lot too along with an Eminence Wheelhouse neo 12 and I use the padded input #2
designed obsolescence . Psionic Audio is the enemy . You're awesome by the way .
Indeed. They could make amps that last for decades (they used to, right?), but then how are they going to sell us a new amp in 4 years?
Really enjoying the great production on top of the content.
Lyle, your knowledge and thoroughness is always impressive!
Perhaps it's time to instruct Brother Maynard to bring forth the Holy Hand grenade so that thou might lobest it in the direction of thine enemies at Fender, who, being naughty in thy sight shall snuff it.
And the count shall be to 3 ….. 2 shall NOT be enough … and to 4 is RIGHT OUT…… Three is the number , & the number of the count shall be to 3….😆😂👍😉. Lot of people will have NO IDEA WTF we are referring to here….😎
@@stephenmiller5023 Speak for the other rubes. I've seen Happy Gilmore.
I do love Toad the wet sprocket though.
When can we hear it? I shall take this opportunity to let you know that after months of looking and listenening to your channel I finally managed to get my Blues Deluxe to sound much more Fender-like by simply lowering the bias control just below the red mark (about 3o'clock) and replacing the stock speaker with an Alnico Jensen12" . Had a 70s twin for years and had to downsize but the tone it had became my bench-mark for judging all the other amps. The bias and speaker are(to me) the most effective way to getting a new Fender to sound like a classic again..it worked for me.
LOL made my day: The gas tank is in the bumper!
Nice circuit mod and jumpers.
It's like the Fender Field Hospital. Another amp down in battle sir.
Fender owes you a consulting fee.
I have a mid 2000s Blues Deluxe (with upgrades UK Celestion speakers and 1x12 extension cab). I have been using this amp in conjunction with a Fender Custom Shop Tone Master and a Marshall JCM2000. I sort of panicked when I watched this video. Knock on wood, mine performs perfectly, but I drive mine very hard, with Master volume on 10 of 12, but with an attenuator. Biased normal, but I am afraid my PCB will look like cigarette ashes if I open up the amp! Thanks for the informative video. I guess I'll have a couple shots of courage and see what mine looks like.
Don't worry too much, I use one if these combos everyday and with an attenuator for low vol and mercifully have'nt had a problem so far. They do have good transformers so as long as you make shure you have decent speaker cables and sockets you can run that extra 8ohm cab and get a great sound. N.B. changed the speaker as soon as I got it(2012) to a Jensen p12q like they used in the 50s/60s and sounds a lot warmer and cleaner now.
Lyle, what an ingenious repair. With the constant problem Fender has created with the 15 volt supply, it may be well worth the effort to mod all of those amps, that have these issues, instead of repairing them with the possibility of them coming back in the future. Just saying 😌
Beauty.
Hot "Board" Deluxe!
Unbelievable that Fender has done absolutely NOTHING to correct such common and predictable failure points even after multiple revisions of their product! But they HAVE lowered the warranty period from the 5 years it used to be back in the 1990’s to 2 years today. To me, this speaks VOLUMES about how much Fender really cares about their customers or the quality of their tube amp products. By comparison, look at all the resources they’ve been pouring into their modeling amps lately-it makes me wonder if they see the writing on the wall for tube amps going forward.
Tose white coffin caps have been frying since the first blues deluxes from the late 80s.. They could never handle the heat.
It will probably perform and sound better than new.
You get a like just for the Python reference alone! 👍
Subtle references detected: Ford Pinto, Monte Python
🤣😂🤣
The next video will be the Full Monty 😳!
"One, Two, Five." "Three Sir" "THREE !"
Another problem the Blues/Hot Rod amps always had was the volume pot taper/design. They go from off, to say too loud for practice almost instantly on the knob, as such folks for years have been slapping pedals in the loop to act as a “master volume” to tame the taper. In fact there are devices sold that sit on the loop with 2 plugs and a volume knob acting as a master. You would think that after almost 30 years, and countless revs, they wouldn’t address everyone’s biggest complaint about the amps.
I bought my Hot Rod deluxe in 2003 I think… at the time, everyone was swapping 12AY7s in V1 to help out with the volume taper. I did the same thing and it certainly helped. I actually liked the amp better with the AY. It’s a shame they never fixed these issues in the later versions.
Finally fed up with it. Took my ‘94 BD to a local shop and they replaced the volume and master volume pots with what I thought were linear taper. Small cost, big difference.
Linear taper would make the issue worse.
Formulajoe2> The 12ay7 would also change other parts of the gain structure, including the overdrive channel. Also finding a good 12ay7 that isn’t noisy or microphonic is a lot harder than a 12ax7.
They are audio taper pots, but there are multiple tapers that fall into that category, as well as custom tapers. Just a bad design coupled with the cheapest pots they could find. Not a big deal for gig vol, more for “at home”…in fact the big trend early on was to throw one of those $15 Rocktek eq pedals in the loop for practice. Point is, after multiple revs, they could have easily added a master volume (or got a better taper pot/design). Isn’t like this is something new.
@@PsionicAudio Sorry - out of my wheel house. I must have misunderstood, but thought that’s what they told me they did to fix it. I play comfortably in my bedroom on 4 now.
On my Hotrod iv deluxe limited edition ( tweed ) the ceramic resistors are raised on the board from the factory . Still the diodes and other heat parts are still board mounted. So maybe they are starting to learn a bit . Wish they would do better caps and jacks .
When can I expect mine to fail? I bought it new in 2010. I’ve probably done 500 gigs with it. Still original tubes. I get nervous that something will go wrong with it but it keeps on going and hasn’t really declined tonally. 🤷
Cheap rubbish circus boards!!! Wouldn't buy on of these if you paid me!! Well done Lyle!
Just this week, a 1988 twin and a 1994 twin the same repair.
I had one of these, I believe first run Blues Deluxe models that pretty much burned up. I was told it was not repairable, after many repairs prior to. My luthier who is also an amp tech built me a Deluxe Reverb into chasis, from an amp kit. I would never buy anything from this series of amps again. Considering what one of these or any of the new reissue amps cost to me is not a wise choice. I would prefer to pay a bit more and get something with point to point wiring and more easily serviceable. One of my present amps is a Dr Z Maz 18 Jr, which I love .
I swear a fella could make his living just working on fender hot rod and blues deluxe 🙄
Good for techs... Bad for any owners of these amps that aren't able to work on their own gear.
I'm glad I made the choose to build all of my own gear last year. If something goes wrong or isn't right in the first place, I've got nobody to blame but myself!!
Man, every damn time. Same burnt spot.
Nice Python reference sir!
The holy hand grenade of Antioch!
I have never seen a 5 watt resistor siliconed to a PCB. That makes no sense at all. Another option might be the aluminum housed, chassis mounted power resistors that you could screw directly to the chassis such as the ARCOL HS10 2R2 F in whatever the proper resistance is. Mouser and most of the other suppliers sell them. Those will really dissipate the heat directly to the metal chassis and provide mounting points for the diodes.
But those cost money, they are trying to cheap out. Maybe you could make a small regulated 15v bipolar supply from a 5v winding with a couple of regulators and voltage tripler.
@@infectionsman I'm not suggesting that Fender should build them the way I suggested. I was only suggesting a variation of the field mod based that Lyle did. Fender really should redesign these amps with these very common problems.
@@snaredude56 I see. I would personally think 10w resistors would be excessive for this application IMO.
"Five is right out" LMAO
Hey, love your vids. Have you ever worked on a supersonic 22? I'm guessing it has the same issues if not more. Mine hisses like a steam train.
Yeah, the SS series has the same kinda of issues and some PCB layout errors.
Just a small correction: 7ender indeed did a change to the circuit, thex reduced the resistor size from 470 Ohms to 330 Ohms so less heat is generated...but this only delays the PCB burning out by a few years, so not fix, just a mitigation...
Not quite. DeVilles use 330. Deluxes 470.
Put 330s in a Deluxe and things will burn even faster.
The sad thing is that Fender is only one of many manufacturers who use this simply lo cost rout to obtain the lower voltages. I one talked with a designer of amps with SLME(St. Louis Music Electronics) about this bad idea and was told everyone does it that way.
Yes, every fender amp that comes onto my bench is the same! Sick of doing the same repair over and over!
I can not see what you see with the broken solder joints. In your vid or my blues deluxe amp. Do you feel it by touch?
Does this problem affect the Blues Jr. too?
I just kinda got into it with another person on UA-cam. Over his recommending people buy these. I had two they work until they don't then they're nothing but problems. It's all just throwing good money after bad as far as I'm concerned.
LOL, ever feel like you're repeating yourself? I guess you're lucky it was just silicone holding the resistors on and not heat transfer paste... which wouldn't surprise anyone at this point.
I have no idea what I'm doing and I'd be willing to buy a broken one of these and have a go I've watched you fix so many now.
my band mate bought a blues deluxe IV. the gain channel squealed like a bad preamp tube. he returned it for service twice. tubes replaced, same problem. third time he swapped for a new amp. so far so good. what steps can he take to prevent another failure?
That squeal was probably a bad brand new IC filter cap.
The amps needs all new filter caps and a rebuilt low voltage supply to last and be reliable.
If that seems like a lot to spend on a new amp, I agree. I don't recommend buying these amps.
Conversely, enough of them come in all with the same problems that Hot Rods and Blues amps are paying for my car.
@@PsionicAudio thanks. i play a '95 hot rod deluxe. spent $300 on caps and stuff and replaced the plastic input jacks that crumbled. it's been ok the last 3 or 4 years.
Yeah. change the caps and jacks and elevate the hot components off the board and it becomes the amp you thought you were buying to begin with.
I've spoken to fender about this and they really don't care at all.
I saw this already
Reupped with better audio.
@@PsionicAudio Ha ok I thought I was losing my mind for a sec.
Is the heat thing still a Problem with the new ones?
I adviced a buddy of mine to buy the amp (because he loves it) and direcly take to a tec and have that done. So the board wouldn't burn in the first palce. He didn't really beleve me and called 3 amp tecs and they all sayd it was a Problem but not anymore and that he should get it and stop worrying. "If it breaks some time in the future you can bring it here."
It’s still a problem.
@@PsionicAudioI’ve been going insane looking for a better version of this amp. I’m weird and love the sound, but want to buy something reliable even if more expensive.
Can you point me in the direction of similar sounding amps that are better made?
What program do you use to edit your videos?
Premiere Pro.
Just my experience. I usually have more luck not lifting pads using a solder sucker over wick.
These pads were lifted before I touched them.
And here I thought I had a good amp.
They make eyelet repair kits for that problem, same thing happens in extraordinarily high end expensive aviation electronics and medical devices and the eyelet via’s are used for those repairs, literally less than a buck and takes seconds, much stronger than the FR4 1/2oz substrate… I’d say the fender amps are pretty welll designed actually for ancient technology, I’ve seen much worse in equipment that’s 1000s of times as expensive… this is not a 90s design, I’d say that goes back to when your were just a glimmer in your daddy’s eye, it’s early 70s carried over from the 50s and 60s… I doubt fender is willing to touch much since their entire business model is based on a subjective tone and any modifications would result in mass outcry that it changed the tone of the beloved topology…
Cant those damned ribbon cables be protected against breaking using big globs of hot-glue or RTV silicone? A couple tweaks and they will snap off...
my BD had that happen to one of the ribbon cables. Local tech, Scooter Granville, fixed it a few years back now. Love that amp even if it's too loud for my needs lol.
@@FuriousMess Did he put something for strain relief after soldering?
@@infectionsman Think he did 'stake' it down with silicone after it was repaired, also needed a PT/tubes/caps. This was the first batch of BD as I'd pre-ordered it way in advance. I was never very gentle with it so it's actually held up very well considering. I put tilt back legs on it and that helped a lot too along with an Eminence Wheelhouse neo 12 and I use the padded input #2
Fender isn't listening. Shame on Fender. Man, it's like you gotta rebuild the thing, with all of the problems!
Another POS amp amp produced by an "equity group" ... I refuse to work on these anymore ...
Just convinced me not to buy a Blues Deluxe.
Awful