That Pedal Show – Get More From Your Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Amp

Published on May 19, 2017

In this video we take a look at – and a listen to – the near-ubiquitous Fender Hot Rod Deluxe guitar amp. It’s among the most successful and widely used guitar amps of all time, not least as a great sounding ‘pedal platform’ in the opinions of many.
We begin by taking a look at its main features and sounds, before moving on to how it works with some classic overdrive and distortion types. We then take a brief sojourn into the world of feeding the effects loop return (power amp in) with external valve preamps, before heading back to a more conventional set up and listening to a couple of alternative speaker choices.
It’s a superbly capable amp that a ton of people own. So let’s get in to it…

Pedals in this episode…

• Fulltone Clyde Standard Wah
UK & Europe:
USA:

• Analogman Sun Face BC183 Fuzz


• Fulltone Octafuzz
UK & Europe:
USA:

• Keeley D&M Drive
UK & Europe:
USA:
Australia:

• Kingsley Maiden & add-on Passive Boost


• Kingsley Page DS


• Free The Tone Tri-Avatar Multi-Dimensional Chorus
UK & Europe:


• Bigfoot FX Magnavibe


• Strymon El Capistan dTape Echo
UK & Europe:
USA:
Australia:

• TC Electronic Hall Of Fame Reverb
UK & Europe:
USA:
Australia:

• Hamstead Signature Analogue Tremolo


• Boss TU-3S Tuner
UK & Europe:
USA:

• The GigRig G2:
* Why do we have preferred retailer links? Find out here:

* Why do we have preferred retailer links? Find out here:


Interesting bits and go-to sections…
- Intro & background: 00:00 - 2:25
- A probably not entirely acurate history of how it came to be: 2:25
- Quick demo of the basic amp sounds…
- Clean channel: 6:10
- With D&M Drive: 7:15
- And some lovely wet effects: 8:30
- Volume shenanigans with the dB meter 9:15
- A Joe Bonamassa aside: 13:20
- Overdrive channel with single coils… 14:10
- … and humbuckers: 17:12 (PRS) & 19:27 (Les Paul).
- Landau Love – what’s Mike got to do with this? 24:00
- Using preamps into the FX return: 25:15
- Guitar straight to the FX return: 25:56
- Kingsley Maiden to FX return: 27:35
- Maiden into Page DS into FX return: 29:55
- D&M Drive to the effects return: 32:30
- And what about an Analogman Sun Face BC183 fuzz? 36:45
- Standard speaker vs Celestion G12H-75 Creamback and Celestion Alnico Cream (playing at 40:35)


Amps in this episode
• Fender Hot Rod Deluxe III 1x12 combo (current version as at May 2017)


Guitars in this episode
• Fender American Vintage ’62 Stratocaster – watch Mick’s video at
• Fender Custom Shop ’63 Telecaster – watch Dan’s video at
• Gibson Custom 1958 Les Paul Standard – watch Dan’s video at
• PRS DGT – watch Mick’s video at
• Fender ’60s Reverse Headstock Strat – watch Mick’s video at

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UK & Europe: Andertons Music
USA: Riff City Guitar & Music Company
Australia: Pedal Empire