We are often asked to work on these amps. Generally the client doesn't have the budget for a full re-engineering, so here are a few things that have worked well in the past to at least keep them alive. All stock electrolytic filter caps must go. A bit of acrylic caulk between the replacement and the circuit board is a must. Next, reflow solder on all tube sockets (the amp runs very hot and those connections can fail). Ditto on the big power resistors. Be aware that the inflexible ribbon connectors are going to break. Replace them with stranded insulated wire. Get rid of that PC mounted input jack. I've Installed chassis mounted switched jacks and used a shielded cable to attach to Pin 2 of the first 12AX7. Don't forget the 68k grid stop resistor. Not my favorite Fender either, but in fairness we've all seen worse.
A lot of modern input jacks are plastic because the don't want to ground the jack to the chassis.. instead they use a common star ground point. Old amps were noisy because there were multiple ground points that cause current loops. The input jacks. the speaker jacks the send/recieve jacks all grounded to different spots and the ground path was a mess. Nothing wrong with pcb mounted input jacks.
Howard Rose, so whats your logic behind changing all the stock electrolytic filter caps ? Why not just diagnose the bad ones.. or do you not know how ? If most Caps have lasted 30 years.. they will probably last an other 30 years. Sounds like your shop is a parts changer(.. bill inflator.)
You're right, but non of these Hotrod-series amps are 30 years old. I believe he's saying that the caps are very likely to go wrong because they're poor quality, so replacing all of them is somewhat of a preventative measure.
This is the most popular PRO TUBE AMP EVER SOLD. Yes you read that right. Anyone who plays a lot of LIVE GIGS, knows what I'm talking about. This amp is in more back lines in more clubs, bars, theater's and halls, all over the world, then ANY OTHER AMPLIFIER. With a few mods, this can be one of the best, clean, high headroom, pedal platform amps, you could ever play through. Don't ever sell them short. You can pick one of these up used, for $300 or $400 hundred bucks, put another $200 in mods and , say a nice Cream Back, or a Vintage 30 speaker, and it sounds AMAZING, and is a dependable workhorse of an amp. I've gigged with one for over 10 years now, granted it's not my only amp, I play through two other Fenders and a couple of Dr Z's too, but I use it a lot and it really can be made into a very nice little amp.
Very good video. As a 40 year veteran of electronics instrument repair, I would have let the amp cook for awhile after re-soldering the R11 joint. The iC caps shouldn't have been replaced until the R11 joint was confirmed to be the cause of intermittent shutdown. It's best practice to confirm a repair is solid before doing preventative maintenance. Just a thought...
Another easy thing to check besides the fuse is the power switch and the power cord itself with a continuity check. Of course I'm adding this suggestion to viewers that are not electronically inclined and not to disrespect Brad's technical savvy. I'm a tech geek myself, so I enjoy watching troubleshooting videos. I like to stop the video, figure out what might be wrong and see if I'm correct. A great learning experience. Great vids Brad.🔧👍
I agree about the overdrive channel...I've replaced the first preamp tube with what I think is an AT7 and this cuts the output by around 40%, and actually improves the sound of the OD channel...simple mod...great videos, thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge
Nice thorough work on a tough piece. I recently repaired a Peavey Delta Blues combo... I had everything beautifully fixed up with minimal trouble - a near miracle in itself! All was back in the chassis and tested again - everything A-OK. Put the whole thing back in and button it back up - Power tubes wouldn't light... somehow broke one of the board jumpers JUST putting the chassis back into the cab! Worst part is, I didnt even move the board after reinstallation and testing. If that's what a miniscule amount of bumping can do? sheesh...
I have a delta blues that is about to get gutted. I’m designing a new circuit that is PtP wired to go in there. With a Vox power supply, blackface clean channel, fender deluxe reverb circuit, valco term circuit *thank you for featuring it uncle doug*, and high gain second channel more Marshall like with dual tone stacks. I’m going full mad professor after years of modifying that delta blues to make it sing.
First off I want to say how much I appreciate the time you put in to give us these interesting videos. There was one thing that had me yelling at the screen on this one though. Am I the only one who noticed the voltage fluctuating about 150V OR MORE on your DVM, while you were messing around with the lamp!!!??? I know if you rewatched this video you would have yelled out DOH!! Your chop stick method would have found this problem the first timeI think. I know I have had a bad day or two in my career as a tech, luckily no camera was there to pick it up 🤫 I’m planning on trying some UA-cam tech videos soon guitologist, so I’m sure I will be reading a comment like mine from the peanut gallery one day. Keep the videos coming!!
Same thing happened on my Blues Deville. While I was trying to figure out what would cause that part to go bad, I happened across your video. I put my finger behind the board and wiggled the thermistor.......... Sho' nuff, it was loose. Good stuff! You saved me a lot of worry. I bought this amp for $65. Guy had pulled the tweed off and spray painted flat black over the remnants of the contact cement. It was missing a few parts, handle, glides, etc. I put about $60 into tweed/parts/supplies, and recovered it myself. She's back in action now, and worth a lot more than the $125~ I've got in it. Sure thing Mister, I'll take your garbage.
There's a 1994 here in Ontario with fresh tubes and a $200 refurb selling on FB Marketplace for $900 CDN and if I didn't already have a Blues Deluxe, I'd grab it FAST - Deville is a great amp - these early re-issues are all made in USA
These amps can be a nightmare to repair most times.I've repaired what I'd think was the fault and played/tested to ensure this only to have them returned for further surgery.The "evil Twin" is another bad one.Change main jacks, re solder all ribbon cable conections and check for continuity as they tend to break inside the insulation and will cause countless hours of hair pulling and loss of income for a repairer.Check and tighten all other cable lugs and change electro caps. Good only if used as anchors.
Those hints on troubleshooting are great! I have to worked on a couple of these. The ones I repaired were minor things. I think a retube on one, scratchy pots. That kind of things. Thankz
I owned one of the 410 models not long ago. I liked the amp while it was working properly. One thing that is demonstrated in this video, and is most definitely of note should one of these strike your fancy, is the fact that Fender obviously cut corners every way they possibly could. What you end up with is an amp with the great Fender clean tones a lot of us love, but be aware you are probably going to be racking up some service bills, especially if you're gigging regularly. Oh, and that "More drive" option does indeed sound like shit.
Why doesn't the volume knob work on these amps mine goes from nothing to extraordinarily loud with minimal adjustment it is almost like you are barely on or full blast?
Its because they used a linear taper pot instead of an audio taper. It was a marketing gimmick to make people trying it out in the store think it has far more power than it really does.
I work in a guitar store in the UK and we have so many issues with these amps. The 3rd gen Hotrod amps seem to have been getting more and more unreliable as the years have gone by, and at the moment we literally send about two thirds of our Hotrod III stock back to Fender because so many of these amps don't work straight out the box.
I have the 60watt 2x12 version. But mine is in a head cab, its had a LOT of work done. That is the problem with these amps is for your average person it makes no sense to mod this thing and just buy a different amp imho. But i got mine years ago for next to nothing and i wanted to experiment and the amp sounds pretty good now. Luckily the one i bought had no damage yet and i was able to catch problems early enough. I only use the clean channel, but one of the mods really helped change how the drive channels work. Still not enough for me to like the tone of those channels. Thanks for the video :-)
Those two rectangular resistors in the middle of the board towards the tube sockets for the power tubes is one of the areas that can ruin these amps. They are touching the board. Replace these and make sure you keep them off the board and the problem is solved. But ive seen a lot of these amps from the Blues Jr, Deville, Blues Deville etc have really bad damage here. Also those quick plugs are notorious for burning up the board as well. Theres some real cracker jack stuff going on in this amp and i am shocked how much these are new now. Thats a lot of money for this amp imho.
I had issues with the bulb on mine and finally just put a new bulb assembly in it and i have not had an issue since. Not quite sure what was wrong with the old one, but ive seen a LOT of the 90s and early 00s have this issue. Amp still works but the bulb wont work or it will dim like the amp has a problem and the amps fine.
Good catch on the fuse holder. Can you explain how you found the primary and secondary wires on the power tran. All the IC caps need to go and the sockets need to be reflowed.
Just found your channel. My 1998 Hot Rod Deluxe was working fine. All of a sudden, the reverb works now and then. And I get ZERO sound when hooking up a pedal going into the “effects loops!” Any thoughts on what could be the issue??
Hey everyone, I'm repairing my own Fender Hot Rod which stopped working abruptly yesterday and won't power on at all. I checked the fuse with a MM and it's fine ! I proceeded to test for continuity between CP3 and CP4 just like The Guitlogist did and I cannot get any measurement (it just says OL when measuring ohms, and it doesn't beep when testing continuity). Should I assume that my amp's power transformer is dead ? If so, can the PT just fail on its own or does it have something to do with another part ? I had just replaced the tubes and swapped all three original 12AX7 for Electro Harmonix 12AT7 tubes (the power tubes are SOVTEK 6L6WXT), could that have hurt my PT ? I thought you could use any type of ECC83 in the V1, V2 & V3 without any trouble but maybe I was mistaken (the amp had stopped working during rehearsal but I believe it still had power because the light was on, which is why I decided to change the tubes in the first place thinking they were the reason why I was not getting any sound)) ! Thanks a lot for helping !
I usually gut them and handwire whatever circuit the owner wants. From a Tweed Deluxe/Pro to a JCM 800/JMP50. Fixing these things usually causes more issues just by touching the ultra cheap circuit boards and ribbon tube socket wires.
The Guitologist I have quoted repair costs for fried circuit boards and broken tracks/pads that are more than those amps are worth. I don't charge a whole lot for labor because I genuinely like to do this kind of work. I'll generally charge about $250-$300 for a full rework. I reuse all the parts I can and build custom turret boards for whatever circuit(or two) they want. Obviously adding tube Reverb adds a bit more because those digital tanks don't have the right impedance. BTW, I have yours and Uncle Doug's videos in repeat whenever I'm working on guitar related things. Thanks for all the great (and sometimes obscure) videos. Stop showing off all of those great Valco amps, it'll drive up the prices!
Hello there. My name is Abby and I was wondering if you can help me with a Fender FM212 DSP that I have tried to repair without luck. The problem that I have with the unit is as follow. Unit turns on but has no sound at all. I checked the amp section and all voltages are fine. I have realized that if I press the channel select button it won't change channel. I have been searching for the schematic diagram all over the internet without luck. Any assistence will be appreciated. Thank you
have you done any mods to these amps? ive been looking into doing a "fromel" mod (or the like) and was wondering if you had any insight on the effectiveness of those?
So for a while my Fender HR Deluxe 3 started buzzing, badly. I changed the tubes with far more expensive ones that there were already there, but the buzz still remained as it had been. The sound of the guitar does go through, but the buzzing is so loud that it distorts it in a horrible way, especially on drive. I need immediate help please. Thank you.
Hard to say without having it in front of me, and my time is limited, but try changing all the power caps and inspect the underside of the board for broken solders. That is common on these.
Brad, I've just converted my Fender Blues Jr. from a pcb to a handwired Hoffman turret board and tube board. Everything sounds good except I've noticed that if I have the preamp volume up and the master all the way down, I still hear signal. It's at a low volume but still very noticeable and the tone is thin. Like a cocked wah. I'm guessing it's something to do with the grounding on the master volume pot. Any ideas or suggestions in where to start investigating? Appreciate your insight.
It's not unusual to hear a little bit of signal with a Master all the way down. Most pots will still have some small R, even with the wiper all the way down. You can test that by putting your probes from wiper to ground leg and measuring the R with the Master all the way down. You will probably still see some R there. If it's real low, like under 100 ohms, I wouldn't worry too much. Then measure from the ground leg of the Master to the main ground point on the chassis (where all your power caps are grounded), and see if there's any R to speak of there. I doubt it's an issue and I doubt you've done anything wrong in assembly. Hoffman has a forum though if it's too annoying, you might find more help there.
Those power resistors on Fender amps are a common problem , being elevated plus vibration they have a tendency to crack the solder joint. Best to set flush and use a large area to solder leads on .
I use this amp as a clean amp and I think it's a great sounding , clean tube amp, after a few mods of course. It takes pedals very well and especially ran in stereo with a plexi or Marshall it's the best of both worlds. I've had one for years now and it still runs strong. Sure there is better amps out there, for me it's been a dependable workhorse. Maybe I just got a good one. I'd rather have a Super, but the Hot Rod works fine. The overdrive channels are what they are..I just don't use them. I'm no tech , but I like what hear.
you can fix that by changing out a power tube..yes they are loud , but manageable, for gigging they're great..I've had no problems with mine , Although I may mod some things the guitologist says to do.
I have a mid 90's made in USA Blues Deluxe and would love to see you compare all the variants of late model Deluxes and why some are great, some so so and some crap. Four years on for comments but hey - views is views
hi,Great vid,im having problems with my HRD ,its fine for about an hour then the volume drops then no volume whatsoever? lights on top are fine ? help!!!!
I used to be a Mesa dealer and liked the Mark V overall. Newer Mesas are hard to work on, lots of switching and stuff in those, but the 5-year transferable warranty is hard to argue with. I have not played the smaller Mark Vs. The reason I like the Mark V is because the tone is about the furthest away from the Dual Rec overdrive tone, which I'm not really a fan of.
i would also recommend swapping in a pair of 6v6 tubes, you'll need to adjust the bias, but it sounds sweeter and less deafening, also a 12atz/ecc81, in 1st preamp sorts out the sudden volume jump problem.
I had a Hot Rod DeVille come in with bad solder joints on the caddy for the power transformer fuse, which was intermittently preventing the amp from turning on. PCB constructions means suspending disbelief.
Nothing wrong with PCB construction at all if you do it right. Use nice thick PCB for one thing. Don't mount jacks and pots to the PCB board. That's the biggest part of it. I have an older (1995) Laney VC30 that's made just that way. I'm not nuts about the sound (too Vox-ish for me), but many people have said that if you're going to use PCB, that Laney is one of the few that did it right, at least back then. Unfortunately, they've gone to the PCB mounted jack and pots now too.
@@TheGuitologist i was about to ask this very question! the hot rods that i know of are USA and mexico. and i heard you say "china," but then i noticed that the sticker said mexico. i was wondering if you were talking about a particular component, as it's very possible all the same, great vid, as usual!
I see lots of techs here, so I hope you guys can give the answer to this question that's been bugging me. It all began when my rig got noisier and noisier as I added pedals. Acted as though my guitar wasn't grounded, but I'd take it to the music store and it was absolutely quiet. So, I went to Home Depot and got a circuit tester for all the outlets. What I discovered was that I had no grounds in any of the bedrooms or living rooms, only in the bathrooms and kitchens (hmmm.... where there's running water). Now, this apartment building was built in 1959 or 1960, so for sure it's been converted from 2-prong to 3-prong. That leads to my question. How come all of today's transistor/digital electronics don't use a 3rd ground prong, just the neutral side for ground? My Fender tube amps all have 3 prongs but my Roland and other amps only have 2 prong. What gives, please? Why doesn't my TV, for example, require a good ground? Thanks in advance!!
Hi My HRD had the issue with the cement resistors My amp tech at Fuchs, replaced them with a different type of resister It’s my understanding that These control channel switching Is this correct? Love your common sense approach to amp repair. Peace Out!! 🎸
Note: this video wouldn't play for me in the default 360p, it played the first few seconds and then got stuck in buffering switching to 720p it played fine.
Yes. All of them. :D I pretty much go over the usual suspects here, broken solder joints, flimsy ribbon cables, heating on the tube boards, heating on the power resistors, bad power caps, to name a few.
These amps have a reputation. Fender really needs to spend the few cents more for good caps those IC caps are trash. They fail and when they do they toast the board. Those resistors being right against the board can't cool and also toast the board. The lead free solder can be a pain also. These amps don't deserve the Fender badge at all
I just turned on my amp, its a little stage right 5 watt. then it went off while i was plugging in my effects. I'll tear it apart to see if theres a bad fuse but damn, im bummed. I just wanted to play today
25 YEARS PLAYING ONSTAGE. I OWN THE FENDER HOT ROD DELUXE 3 LIMITED EDITION AND I LOVE IT!!! one of the best tube distortion amps out there. i use the more gain switch all the time. the problem is not the distortion it's all the people using distortion pedals who have no idea what a tube distortion (or good distortion) is suppose to sound like. And these amps are not death metal amps. they are designed for good music, blues and rock.
No this tube od sucks so much. Compared to a nice Princeton on the edge of break up or a 65 ac10. Or a matchless spitfire. It blows asshole. Its unusable
@@DavidLarew You shouldn't have to. A small, two prong cable is the only thing connecting the speaker to the amp. It can be removed by hand or with some pliers if it's being stubborn. Other than that you just need a screwdriver to open the panel and dismount the speaker.
I had a cheap vox amp that had the same problem. It was cutting in and out and it turned out there were 2 caps that barely even had any solder in the through holes.
Yeah and I really should have checked that the first time around, but I literally played it and even knocked it around a bit for good measure the first time and it seemed fine. That's why I assumed it was just a poor terminal connection.
I have just purchased a fender hot deluxe deluxe amp Ion USA and I have a big problem of power and I saw your video I said to myself if you can help me, I am of Morocco and ya pere who knows in this thing ,
+ali king Y'a un problème dans ton commentaire, mec ^^ Bon courage en tout cas. Note qu'au bled, y'a sûrement des vieux gars qui savent, en France, va les trouver, ils sont à la retraite depuis longtemps :p Dans un autre commentaire, il a parlé de ampgarage.com/forum/ et el34world.com/ par contre faut bosser son anglais ;)
I know this is an old video but it's helped me out a great deal. Question if anyone can answer...how do I discharge a capacitor safely and verify that it is in fact discharged ? I'm a total newbie to electronic repairs. I did purchase a ESR meter. Thank you in advance.
There is another video that just happens to be about repairing a Hot Rod Deluxe that shows you how to discharge the capacitors in detail. There are also many other videos that show the procedure. Just do a search. Be safe!
One can see, Its missing Power filter caps! Woggling the connectors as You are trying to remove them, isn't so great ! How do You repair something without removing the circuit board, and looking for loose connections?
I bought a brand new hot rod deluxe and a blues jr. in 2012. The blues jr blew up in one week and in about a month one of the push button switches quit working. This is why I have been trying to learn how to build one. I'm tired of getting ripped off by amp, pedal. and guitar companies. I have built a few guitars. I know what it cost. I have a friend that has built pedals. They over charge for all of this stuff. People on you tube, doing reviews get mad when I say these things, but it is true.Pedals for sure. It does not cost hardly anything to build a pedal.I understand the prices of some amps. They over charge for guitars, big time. Shane on in the blues said someone was copying the mad professor . Blue delay and that it was the same pedal except the paint.He said that was a shame. The shame is-Someone built the exact same pedal for 50 dollars that the company that owns the pedal to begin with charges 2 or 3 hundred dollars for the pedal. This is what the shame is.If I see one more pedal review, I think I will puke.I know what I can get the parts for to build a guitar and these companies get their materials a whole lot cheaper than I can.The last body blank I bought at the local sawmill was 27 dollars (ash) (kiln-dried)and the hard rock maple for the neck was 20 dollars for a board that I got 3 necks out of. As long as people keep paying these crazy prices gibson and fender will just keep going up and pedal companies(the biggest rip off) will keep laughing at you, all the way to the bank. And oh, one more thing. They will get to the bank in their BMW that you paid for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So did this thing come from the factory with that bad joint? Assuming this was wave soldered, wonder how only that one came out flaky. Oh well, stranger things have happened.
The solder joints in these are prone to this problem, but it probably wasn't cracked from the factory. That probably came from being jostled and from inferior solder.
Bad solder joints like this are caused by corrosion on the leads of the component. The corrosion causes the solder to not bond properly. The main cause of that corrosion is poor storage of the component, such as, not storing in a temperature and humidity controlled environment. This is a common failure from low cost production facilities.
Better more permanent solution that has proven itself for the overheating resistors in the brute force + - zener 12Vdc supplies is to replace the 470 ohm supply resistors to the zeners from 470 ohms to 750 ohms. Stick with me on this: The only devices in the HD Deluxe that those supplies feed are the dual op amps that deal with as i recall channel switching and reverb. Those opamps draw at max less than 10 milliamps or so ea. The amount of current required to keep the two zeners from dropping out of the zener mode is a whole lot less than the amount of current driving those zeners with the 470 ohm resistors. Increasing the value of those resistors to 750 ohms including the miniscule amount of current 'stolen' by the two opamps is negligible compared to the current keeping the zeners saturated or as an instructor i had once put it: it's 'Flyshit in the Pacific Ocean'. So with the 750 ohm resistors supplying more than enough current tio keep the zeners saturated will not be affected by the small current taken by the circuit. You won't even need to stand them of the board. They barely get warm.
Instead of wasting time checking the primary winding, all you had to was to see if the tubes were lit. Then you know the power xformer is at least working then move to B+ and troubleshoot
Should have changed those caps and inspect the board the first time round, standard procedure on those... would have saved you from working twice and the customer some headaches
Something I wasn't aware of is that Fender amps are now made in China. Fender has turned into a "rip-off" Co. I'm thinking that way just due to Fender's pricing for their gear. JUST my opinion guys!!
Hope I'm not overstepping boundries here, I too find the amp loud right out of the starting gate. Just curious on your opinion of this solution. ua-cam.com/video/Q7jnrQwLPm0/v-deo.html
Well that circuit board certainly looks like an abortion. At least the engineers were looking out for company stock prices so you cant repair them, you have to buy a whole new amp or wire a real eyelet board in there and get rid of the garbage.
I think these Amps are junk I had a red knob twin and what what I saw Inside made me think do these people actually care?? What a peice of shit the tracks of the PCB were lifting and the power resistors all the potting compound was falling out, and the rubbish Jack's were breaking up, and of course it let me down at a gig by going really quiet luckily I took a Marshall with me as a spare. Did consider a blues jnr but heard so many bad things I won't bother
We are often asked to work on these amps. Generally the client doesn't have the budget for a full re-engineering, so here are a few things that have worked well in the past to at least keep them alive.
All stock electrolytic filter caps must go. A bit of acrylic caulk between the replacement and the circuit board is a must.
Next, reflow solder on all tube sockets (the amp runs very hot and those connections can fail).
Ditto on the big power resistors.
Be aware that the inflexible ribbon connectors are going to break. Replace them with stranded insulated wire.
Get rid of that PC mounted input jack. I've Installed chassis mounted switched jacks and used a shielded cable to attach to Pin 2 of the first 12AX7. Don't forget the 68k grid stop resistor.
Not my favorite Fender either, but in fairness we've all seen worse.
Thanks for the comment. All great suggestions. Pinned!
Also, add to this list a new nut on the fuse holder. I don't like that plastic garbage at all right there.
A lot of modern input jacks are plastic because the don't want to ground the jack to the chassis.. instead they use a common star ground point. Old amps were noisy because there were multiple ground points that cause current loops. The input jacks. the speaker jacks the send/recieve jacks all grounded to different spots and the ground path was a mess.
Nothing wrong with pcb mounted input jacks.
Howard Rose, so whats your logic behind changing all the stock electrolytic filter caps ? Why not just diagnose the bad ones.. or do you not know how ?
If most Caps have lasted 30 years.. they will probably last an other 30 years. Sounds like your shop is a parts changer(.. bill inflator.)
You're right, but non of these Hotrod-series amps are 30 years old. I believe he's saying that the caps are very likely to go wrong because they're poor quality, so replacing all of them is somewhat of a preventative measure.
The hot rod deluxe has one off the best clean channels I've ever heard. Mine stoped working after about 15 years but I do miss it.
This helped me out with my grandson's amp I only made it to the fuse and now it works great for him
Thank you
This is the most popular PRO TUBE AMP EVER SOLD. Yes you read that right. Anyone who plays a lot of LIVE GIGS, knows what I'm talking about. This amp is in more back lines in more clubs, bars, theater's and halls, all over the world, then ANY OTHER AMPLIFIER. With a few mods, this can be one of the best, clean, high headroom, pedal platform amps, you could ever play through. Don't ever sell them short. You can pick one of these up used, for $300 or $400 hundred bucks, put another $200 in mods and , say a nice Cream Back, or a Vintage 30 speaker, and it sounds AMAZING, and is a dependable workhorse of an amp. I've gigged with one for over 10 years now, granted it's not my only amp, I play through two other Fenders and a couple of Dr Z's too, but I use it a lot and it really can be made into a very nice little amp.
Very good video. As a 40 year veteran of electronics instrument repair, I would have let the amp cook for awhile after re-soldering the R11 joint. The iC caps shouldn't have been replaced until the R11 joint was confirmed to be the cause of intermittent shutdown. It's best practice to confirm a repair is solid before doing preventative maintenance. Just a thought...
Another easy thing to check besides the fuse is the power switch and the power cord itself with a continuity check. Of course I'm adding this suggestion to viewers that are not electronically inclined and not to disrespect Brad's technical savvy. I'm a tech geek myself, so I enjoy watching troubleshooting videos. I like to stop the video, figure out what might be wrong and see if I'm correct. A great learning experience. Great vids Brad.🔧👍
I agree about the overdrive channel...I've replaced the first preamp tube with what I think is an AT7 and this cuts the output by around 40%, and actually improves the sound of the OD channel...simple mod...great videos, thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge
Nice thorough work on a tough piece. I recently repaired a Peavey Delta Blues combo... I had everything beautifully fixed up with minimal trouble - a near miracle in itself! All was back in the chassis and tested again - everything A-OK. Put the whole thing back in and button it back up - Power tubes wouldn't light... somehow broke one of the board jumpers JUST putting the chassis back into the cab! Worst part is, I didnt even move the board after reinstallation and testing. If that's what a miniscule amount of bumping can do? sheesh...
I have a delta blues that is about to get gutted. I’m designing a new circuit that is PtP wired to go in there. With a Vox power supply, blackface clean channel, fender deluxe reverb circuit, valco term circuit *thank you for featuring it uncle doug*, and high gain second channel more Marshall like with dual tone stacks. I’m going full mad professor after years of modifying that delta blues to make it sing.
You had the circuit board lifted up but you then j hooked the filter caps in??
First off I want to say how much I appreciate the time you put in to give us these interesting videos. There was one thing that had me yelling at the screen on this one though. Am I the only one who noticed the voltage fluctuating about 150V OR MORE on your DVM, while you were messing around with the lamp!!!??? I know if you rewatched this video you would have yelled out DOH!! Your chop stick method would have found this problem the first timeI think. I know I have had a bad day or two in my career as a tech, luckily no camera was there to pick it up 🤫
I’m planning on trying some UA-cam tech videos soon guitologist, so I’m sure I will be reading a comment like mine from the peanut gallery one day. Keep the videos coming!!
+eetechTom time stamp?
The Guitologist 7:45 to 9:30 or so.
The Guitologist At 7:24 the Fluke reads 125V, at 9:15 it’s up to 368V.
I have been binge watching your vids! Very knowledgeable! Keep up the good work and ill keep watching!
Thanks, man! Welcome to the channel. If you have any questions, let me know.
I also love your channel...
Should I email w/ urgent questions?
BTW thanx
Hot Rod has been my workhorse amp for 8 years now. No problems yet.
9:30 sounded like the TARDIS making a landing.
Same thing happened on my Blues Deville. While I was trying to figure out what would cause that part to go bad, I happened across your video. I put my finger behind the board and wiggled the thermistor.......... Sho' nuff, it was loose. Good stuff! You saved me a lot of worry.
I bought this amp for $65. Guy had pulled the tweed off and spray painted flat black over the remnants of the contact cement. It was missing a few parts, handle, glides, etc. I put about $60 into tweed/parts/supplies, and recovered it myself. She's back in action now, and worth a lot more than the $125~ I've got in it.
Sure thing Mister, I'll take your garbage.
There's a 1994 here in Ontario with fresh tubes and a $200 refurb selling on FB Marketplace for $900 CDN and if I didn't already have a Blues Deluxe, I'd grab it FAST - Deville is a great amp - these early re-issues are all made in USA
The capacitors you mentioned @14:08...are they not resistors?
These amps can be a nightmare to repair most times.I've repaired what I'd think was the fault and played/tested to ensure this only to have them returned for further surgery.The "evil Twin" is another bad one.Change main jacks, re solder all ribbon cable conections and check for continuity as they tend to break inside the insulation and will cause countless hours of hair pulling and loss of income for a repairer.Check and tighten all other cable lugs and change electro caps. Good only if used as anchors.
Those hints on troubleshooting are great! I have to worked on a couple of these. The ones I repaired were minor things. I think a retube on one, scratchy pots. That kind of things. Thankz
I owned one of the 410 models not long ago. I liked the amp while it was working properly. One thing that is demonstrated in this video, and is most definitely of note should one of these strike your fancy, is the fact that Fender obviously cut corners every way they possibly could. What you end up with is an amp with the great Fender clean tones a lot of us love, but be aware you are probably going to be racking up some service bills, especially if you're gigging regularly. Oh, and that "More drive" option does indeed sound like shit.
Yep, in a nutshell.
I have one HRD made in Mexico I live in Brasil and it's been a headache..sound bad after a half of hour..only noise ..
QUESTION: When you crack open an amp, do you always discharge the caps before working on it?????
Why doesn't the volume knob work on these amps mine goes from nothing to extraordinarily loud with minimal adjustment it is almost like you are barely on or full blast?
Its because they used a linear taper pot instead of an audio taper. It was a marketing gimmick to make people trying it out in the store think it has far more power than it really does.
I work in a guitar store in the UK and we have so many issues with these amps. The 3rd gen Hotrod amps seem to have been getting more and more unreliable as the years have gone by, and at the moment we literally send about two thirds of our Hotrod III stock back to Fender because so many of these amps don't work straight out the box.
I have the 60watt 2x12 version. But mine is in a head cab, its had a LOT of work done. That is the problem with these amps is for your average person it makes no sense to mod this thing and just buy a different amp imho. But i got mine years ago for next to nothing and i wanted to experiment and the amp sounds pretty good now. Luckily the one i bought had no damage yet and i was able to catch problems early enough. I only use the clean channel, but one of the mods really helped change how the drive channels work. Still not enough for me to like the tone of those channels. Thanks for the video :-)
Those two rectangular resistors in the middle of the board towards the tube sockets for the power tubes is one of the areas that can ruin these amps. They are touching the board. Replace these and make sure you keep them off the board and the problem is solved. But ive seen a lot of these amps from the Blues Jr, Deville, Blues Deville etc have really bad damage here. Also those quick plugs are notorious for burning up the board as well. Theres some real cracker jack stuff going on in this amp and i am shocked how much these are new now. Thats a lot of money for this amp imho.
I had issues with the bulb on mine and finally just put a new bulb assembly in it and i have not had an issue since. Not quite sure what was wrong with the old one, but ive seen a LOT of the 90s and early 00s have this issue. Amp still works but the bulb wont work or it will dim like the amp has a problem and the amps fine.
Good catch on the fuse holder. Can you explain how you found the primary and secondary wires on the power tran. All the IC caps need to go and the sockets need to be reflowed.
Actually this is my main amp ......so this is a good video for me
Pretty amp, and you open it up and see those damn green circuit boards.
Bummer.
I used to use the more overdrive ....now I just plug into the amp clean with pedals
Just found your channel. My 1998 Hot Rod Deluxe was working fine. All of a sudden, the reverb works now and then. And I get ZERO sound when hooking up a pedal going into the “effects loops!” Any thoughts on what could be the issue??
Hey everyone, I'm repairing my own Fender Hot Rod which stopped working abruptly yesterday and won't power on at all. I checked the fuse with a MM and it's fine ! I proceeded to test for continuity between CP3 and CP4 just like The Guitlogist did and I cannot get any measurement (it just says OL when measuring ohms, and it doesn't beep when testing continuity). Should I assume that my amp's power transformer is dead ? If so, can the PT just fail on its own or does it have something to do with another part ? I had just replaced the tubes and swapped all three original 12AX7 for Electro Harmonix 12AT7 tubes (the power tubes are SOVTEK 6L6WXT), could that have hurt my PT ? I thought you could use any type of ECC83 in the V1, V2 & V3 without any trouble but maybe I was mistaken (the amp had stopped working during rehearsal but I believe it still had power because the light was on, which is why I decided to change the tubes in the first place thinking they were the reason why I was not getting any sound)) !
Thanks a lot for helping !
I usually gut them and handwire whatever circuit the owner wants. From a Tweed Deluxe/Pro to a JCM 800/JMP50. Fixing these things usually causes more issues just by touching the ultra cheap circuit boards and ribbon tube socket wires.
Yeah, you'll notice I did NOT de-solder the leads to the two caps I replaced. Instead I used the leads off the old ones to mount on top of the board.
...but yes, gutting and hand-wiring something else isn't a bad move.
The Guitologist I have quoted repair costs for fried circuit boards and broken tracks/pads that are more than those amps are worth.
I don't charge a whole lot for labor because I genuinely like to do this kind of work. I'll generally charge about $250-$300 for a full rework.
I reuse all the parts I can and build custom turret boards for whatever circuit(or two) they want. Obviously adding tube Reverb adds a bit more because those digital tanks don't have the right impedance.
BTW, I have yours and Uncle Doug's videos in repeat whenever I'm working on guitar related things. Thanks for all the great (and sometimes obscure) videos. Stop showing off all of those great Valco amps, it'll drive up the prices!
Hello there. My name is Abby and I was wondering if you can help me with a Fender FM212 DSP that I have tried to repair without luck. The problem that I have with the unit is as follow. Unit turns on but has no sound at all. I checked the amp section and all voltages are fine. I have realized that if I press the channel select button it won't change channel. I have been searching for the schematic diagram all over the internet without luck. Any assistence will be appreciated. Thank you
have you done any mods to these amps? ive been looking into doing a "fromel" mod (or the like) and was wondering if you had any insight on the effectiveness of those?
Is it price to get one repaired?
Great videos. How old was this amp.
So for a while my Fender HR Deluxe 3 started buzzing, badly. I changed the tubes with far more expensive ones that there were already there, but the buzz still remained as it had been. The sound of the guitar does go through, but the buzzing is so loud that it distorts it in a horrible way, especially on drive. I need immediate help please. Thank you.
Try ampgarage.com/ or el34world.com/Forum/index.php
Thank you, but have you got any idea about it? Buzzing hardly and still sound comin through it can't be from the tubes
Hard to say without having it in front of me, and my time is limited, but try changing all the power caps and inspect the underside of the board for broken solders. That is common on these.
The Guitologist thanks a lot. I m not even American so i dont think we could have met :))
Brad, I've just converted my Fender Blues Jr. from a pcb to a handwired Hoffman turret board and tube board. Everything sounds good except I've noticed that if I have the preamp volume up and the master all the way down, I still hear signal. It's at a low volume but still very noticeable and the tone is thin. Like a cocked wah. I'm guessing it's something to do with the grounding on the master volume pot. Any ideas or suggestions in where to start investigating? Appreciate your insight.
It's not unusual to hear a little bit of signal with a Master all the way down. Most pots will still have some small R, even with the wiper all the way down. You can test that by putting your probes from wiper to ground leg and measuring the R with the Master all the way down. You will probably still see some R there. If it's real low, like under 100 ohms, I wouldn't worry too much. Then measure from the ground leg of the Master to the main ground point on the chassis (where all your power caps are grounded), and see if there's any R to speak of there. I doubt it's an issue and I doubt you've done anything wrong in assembly. Hoffman has a forum though if it's too annoying, you might find more help there.
The Guitologist Thanks man. I'll give it a shot and tell you what comes of it. Appreciate the quick reply too. Thanks!
14:00. Resistors not capacitors, but you corrected it later in the video!
Those power resistors on Fender amps are a common problem , being elevated plus vibration they have a tendency to crack the solder joint. Best to set flush and use a large area to solder leads on .
I use this amp as a clean amp and I think it's a great sounding , clean tube amp, after a few mods of course. It takes pedals very well and especially ran in stereo with a plexi or Marshall it's the best of both worlds. I've had one for years now and it still runs strong. Sure there is better amps out there, for me it's been a dependable workhorse. Maybe I just got a good one. I'd rather have a Super, but the Hot Rod works fine. The overdrive channels are what they are..I just don't use them. I'm no tech , but I like what hear.
Its a great sounding blues amp.. just loud as hell
you can fix that by changing out a power tube..yes they are loud , but manageable, for gigging they're great..I've had no problems with mine , Although I may mod some things the guitologist says to do.
I have a mid 90's made in USA Blues Deluxe and would love to see you compare all the variants of late model Deluxes and why some are great, some so so and some crap. Four years on for comments but hey - views is views
hi,Great vid,im having problems with my HRD ,its fine for about an hour then the volume drops then no volume whatsoever? lights on top are fine ? help!!!!
You're supposed to get your guitfiddle out and play for a half hour, you sound good!
so, between a Hot Rod Deluxe 212 and a Reissue Ampeg Reverberocket, which is better?
As I have not worked on the Ampeg, I don't know, but I'd probably stake money on the Ampeg being better.
I used to be a Mesa dealer and liked the Mark V overall. Newer Mesas are hard to work on, lots of switching and stuff in those, but the 5-year transferable warranty is hard to argue with. I have not played the smaller Mark Vs. The reason I like the Mark V is because the tone is about the furthest away from the Dual Rec overdrive tone, which I'm not really a fan of.
Weren't they made in Mexico? I had the Tweed Model that was made in the USA! I never used the overdrive.
i would also recommend swapping in a pair of 6v6 tubes, you'll need to adjust the bias, but it sounds sweeter and less deafening, also a 12atz/ecc81, in 1st preamp sorts out the sudden volume jump problem.
Good suggestion on the V1 tube. That pot is really the wrong type.
The new JJ 6v6's are supposedly the only ones that can handle the voltage, etc.
I had a Hot Rod DeVille come in with bad solder joints on the caddy for the power transformer fuse, which was intermittently preventing the amp from turning on. PCB constructions means suspending disbelief.
Nothing wrong with PCB construction at all if you do it right. Use nice thick PCB for one thing. Don't mount jacks and pots to the PCB board. That's the biggest part of it. I have an older (1995) Laney VC30 that's made just that way. I'm not nuts about the sound (too Vox-ish for me), but many people have said that if you're going to use PCB, that Laney is one of the few that did it right, at least back then. Unfortunately, they've gone to the PCB mounted jack and pots now too.
Are they made in Baja Ca. with Chinese pcb's?
I misspoke in this vid. They are made in Mexico.
@@TheGuitologist i was about to ask this very question! the hot rods that i know of are USA and mexico. and i heard you say "china," but then i noticed that the sticker said mexico. i was wondering if you were talking about a particular component, as it's very possible
all the same, great vid, as usual!
I see lots of techs here, so I hope you guys can give the answer to this question that's been bugging me.
It all began when my rig got noisier and noisier as I added pedals. Acted as though my guitar wasn't grounded, but I'd take it to the music store and it was absolutely quiet. So, I went to Home Depot and got a circuit tester for all the outlets. What I discovered was that I had no grounds in any of the bedrooms or living rooms, only in the bathrooms and kitchens (hmmm.... where there's running water). Now, this apartment building was built in 1959 or 1960, so for sure it's been converted from 2-prong to 3-prong. That leads to my question.
How come all of today's transistor/digital electronics don't use a 3rd ground prong, just the neutral side for ground? My Fender tube amps all have 3 prongs but my Roland and other amps only have 2 prong. What gives, please? Why doesn't my TV, for example, require a good ground?
Thanks in advance!!
I bought a tidlwave crate 350 amp it wouldnt turn off why
Actually, the amp in this video was made in Mexico, not China. You can even see "Made in Mexico" on the plate in the video.
Hi
My HRD had the issue with the cement resistors
My amp tech at Fuchs, replaced them with a different type of resister
It’s my understanding that These control channel switching
Is this correct?
Love your common sense approach to amp repair.
Peace Out!! 🎸
Note: this video wouldn't play for me in the default 360p, it played the first few seconds and then got stuck in buffering switching to 720p it played fine.
I just got a Blues Jr, any problems I can expect?
Yes. All of them. :D
I pretty much go over the usual suspects here, broken solder joints, flimsy ribbon cables, heating on the tube boards, heating on the power resistors, bad power caps, to name a few.
These amps have a reputation. Fender really needs to spend the few cents more for good caps those IC caps are trash. They fail and when they do they toast the board. Those resistors being right against the board can't cool and also toast the board. The lead free solder can be a pain also.
These amps don't deserve the Fender badge at all
I just turned on my amp, its a little stage right 5 watt. then it went off while i was plugging in my effects. I'll tear it apart to see if theres a bad fuse but damn, im bummed. I just wanted to play today
25 YEARS PLAYING ONSTAGE. I OWN THE FENDER HOT ROD DELUXE 3 LIMITED EDITION AND I LOVE IT!!! one of the best tube distortion amps out there. i use the more gain switch all the time. the problem is not the distortion it's all the people using distortion pedals who have no idea what a tube distortion (or good distortion) is suppose to sound like. And these amps are not death metal amps. they are designed for good music, blues and rock.
Exactly.. as soon as you put a distortion pedal in front of a tube amp, you are hearing transistors and not the tubes.
i agree i really like this amp.i use a les paul and a cord,
No this tube od sucks so much. Compared to a nice Princeton on the edge of break up or a 65 ac10. Or a matchless spitfire. It blows asshole. Its unusable
Are amps made in Taiwan better that Chinese amps? Anyone know?I found a Fender skx-35R and want to know if it would be worth buying it.Thank you
non-communist everything is better. Support Taiwan and f%$k China.
Please, demo how to swap speakers in a HRD. Thanks!
It's a piece of cake,anyone can do it
@@Ragnar-Viking steps would help... disconnect chassis from power supply?
@@DavidLarew You shouldn't have to. A small, two prong cable is the only thing connecting the speaker to the amp. It can be removed by hand or with some pliers if it's being stubborn. Other than that you just need a screwdriver to open the panel and dismount the speaker.
@@homeslice1479 thanks, I heard it was a chassis removal and de charging effort.
We get to look inside some wonderful amps, unfortunately this is not one of them
I had a cheap vox amp that had the same problem. It was cutting in and out and it turned out there were 2 caps that barely even had any solder in the through holes.
Yeah and I really should have checked that the first time around, but I literally played it and even knocked it around a bit for good measure the first time and it seemed fine. That's why I assumed it was just a poor terminal connection.
There is a service bulletin replacing those overheating resistors with heavier ones..
I have just purchased a fender hot deluxe deluxe amp Ion USA and I have a big problem of power and I saw your video I said to myself if you can help me, I am of Morocco and ya pere who knows in this thing ,
+ali king Y'a un problème dans ton commentaire, mec ^^ Bon courage en tout cas. Note qu'au bled, y'a sûrement des vieux gars qui savent, en France, va les trouver, ils sont à la retraite depuis longtemps :p Dans un autre commentaire, il a parlé de ampgarage.com/forum/ et el34world.com/ par contre faut bosser son anglais ;)
Great stuff at least fir me. Very interesting and I learn quite a bit.
I know this is an old video but it's helped me out a great deal. Question if anyone can answer...how do I discharge a capacitor safely and verify that it is in fact discharged ? I'm a total newbie to electronic repairs. I did purchase a ESR meter. Thank you in advance.
There is another video that just happens to be about repairing a Hot Rod Deluxe that shows you how to discharge the capacitors in detail. There are also many other videos that show the procedure. Just do a search. Be safe!
@@bmfilmnut Thank you Bob for your reply.
One can see, Its missing Power filter caps! Woggling the connectors as You are trying to remove them, isn't so great ! How do You repair something without removing the circuit board, and looking for loose connections?
Please take off your rings when working around electronics. I've seen some nasty accidents.
Completely second that comment!
I bought a brand new hot rod deluxe and a blues jr. in 2012. The blues jr blew up in one week and in about a month one of the push button switches quit working. This is why I have been trying to learn how to build one. I'm tired of getting ripped off by amp, pedal. and guitar companies. I have built a few guitars. I know what it cost. I have a friend that has built pedals. They over charge for all of this stuff. People on you tube, doing reviews get mad when I say these things, but it is true.Pedals for sure. It does not cost hardly anything to build a pedal.I understand the prices of some amps. They over charge for guitars, big time. Shane on in the blues said someone was copying the mad professor . Blue delay and that it was the same pedal except the paint.He said that was a shame. The shame is-Someone built the exact same pedal for 50 dollars that the company that owns the pedal to begin with charges 2 or 3 hundred dollars for the pedal. This is what the shame is.If I see one more pedal review, I think I will puke.I know what I can get the parts for to build a guitar and these companies get their materials a whole lot cheaper than I can.The last body blank I bought at the local sawmill was 27 dollars (ash) (kiln-dried)and the hard rock maple for the neck was 20 dollars for a board that I got 3 necks out of. As long as people keep paying these crazy prices gibson and fender will just keep going up and pedal companies(the biggest rip off) will keep laughing at you, all the way to the bank. And oh, one more thing. They will get to the bank in their BMW that you paid for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So did this thing come from the factory with that bad joint? Assuming this was wave soldered, wonder how only that one came out flaky. Oh well, stranger things have happened.
The solder joints in these are prone to this problem, but it probably wasn't cracked from the factory. That probably came from being jostled and from inferior solder.
Thanks, appreciate the answer.
Bad solder joints like this are caused by corrosion on the leads of the component. The corrosion causes the solder to not bond properly. The main cause of that corrosion is poor storage of the component, such as, not storing in a temperature and humidity controlled environment. This is a common failure from low cost production facilities.
Better more permanent solution that has proven itself for the overheating resistors in the brute force + - zener 12Vdc supplies is to replace the 470 ohm supply resistors to the zeners from 470 ohms to 750 ohms. Stick with me on this:
The only devices in the HD Deluxe that those supplies feed are the dual op amps that deal with as i recall channel switching and reverb.
Those opamps draw at max less than 10 milliamps or so ea.
The amount of current required to keep the two zeners from dropping out of the zener mode is a whole lot less than the amount of current driving those zeners with the 470 ohm resistors.
Increasing the value of those resistors to 750 ohms including the miniscule amount of current 'stolen' by the two opamps is negligible compared to the current keeping the zeners saturated or as an instructor i had once put it: it's 'Flyshit in the Pacific Ocean'.
So with the 750 ohm resistors supplying more than enough current tio keep the zeners saturated will not be affected by the small current taken by the circuit.
You won't even need to stand them of the board. They barely get warm.
i really like how you play through the amp at the end of the video but you didn't do it here.
I'm not an expert but did you check the power cord or the fuse ? :-)
Did you watch this video?
George Krabs maybe they meant they’re not an expert at watching YT videos.
Good candidate for someone to gut out and handwire a bassman or plexi type thing. I've done a couple. Got the idea from Jloewenheim youtube channel
Chinese?? I thought fender amps are made in Mexico
the hot rod deluxe is a real problem amp!
Vuurius never had a problem with either of mine
I thought these were made in Mexico.
+WILLIAM LAND they were. I misspoke.
Actually, there are later models made in Asia. Easy mistake to make.
I have one thats made in the USA ... I like it ... only complaint is that to get it to break up to my desired level its then too loud for home use.
I imagine changin the q's in the tone stack then ill call it hot rod
Instead of wasting time checking the primary winding, all you had to was to see if the tubes were lit. Then you know the power xformer is at least working then move to B+ and troubleshoot
Should have changed those caps and inspect the board the first time round, standard procedure on those... would have saved you from working twice and the customer some headaches
tou·ché
Disappointed that you didn't stress the importance of unplugging the amp when you stick your fingers into it.
It's actually more important to plug it in and turn it ON before sticking your face in it. Darwinism at work.
Something I wasn't aware of is that Fender amps are now made in China. Fender has turned into a "rip-off" Co. I'm thinking that way just due to Fender's pricing for their gear. JUST my opinion guys!!
Wow at 1:21 min. you can see the made in mexico call out. No wonder why guitologist doesn't like the amp - he doesn't even know where it's made....
Do they really make these in china?
The switch would be a good place to start if it's not turning on...
Did Gary pay the electric bill?
@@randy4903 Hell no. Classic Gary aka Hot Rod Deluxe
Hope I'm not overstepping boundries here, I too find the amp loud right out of the starting gate. Just curious on your opinion of this solution. ua-cam.com/video/Q7jnrQwLPm0/v-deo.html
compared to a silver face these are junky ! made of plastic and they cost a small fortune.
They just dont got the sound ta me
I guess not only computer motherboards suffered from the capacitor plague... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague
Fantastic!
Hot Rod Deluxe is a terrible amp. I don't know person that hasn't had trouble out of them.
I thought they were made in Mexico?
They are. That was my bad.
Great Video,
Sometimes there are just things that make me go hmmmmm...??
14:05 its not capacitors xD its power resistors haha
tbf he does call them resistors later...
I would take off that ring, in case it shorts something out.
I swear UA-cam needs to bring back the dislike counter on comments
What do you mean? It's still there. It's the thumbs down symbol.
I really like the tone of this amp but it is the most unreliable amp I have ever had.
Well that circuit board certainly looks like an abortion. At least the engineers were looking out for company stock prices so you cant repair them, you have to buy a whole new amp or wire a real eyelet board in there and get rid of the garbage.
I think these Amps are junk I had a red knob twin and what what I saw Inside made me think do these people actually care?? What a peice of shit the tracks of the PCB were lifting and the power resistors all the potting compound was falling out, and the rubbish Jack's were breaking up, and of course it let me down at a gig by going really quiet luckily I took a Marshall with me as a spare.
Did consider a blues jnr but heard so many bad things I won't bother
Yeah, like it :-)
These amps are more problematic than they are valuable. I don’t think they sound very good and they are extremely loud!
Made in Mexico
You are correct. My bad.