Fender Hot Rod Deluxe III users

[SonicMayhem42]

I have this amp and it is great. I am a full time student, have a full time job, and have a wife and kids. I am not in a band but I got this amp to play with some drummer friends. It sounds great but the loudest I have ever turned it up to is 2.5 to keep up with a drummer. I use pedals for dirt and am very happy with the sounds I can get. My question is what is the volume level you guys play your Hot Rods?

[goodhonk]

I dont have one but I've read that the volume tapers off very quickly, or ramps up very quickly. What I'm saying is that 2 is like whisper quiet but 2.5 is like concert volume. From what I understand there is little difference between 2.5 and 5 on the dial.

[TomCTC]

You're gonna want the Mark III Hot Rod stuff if anything. Volume taper problems been long fixed.

[SonicMayhem42]

Mine is a III and it still is that loud.

[TomCTC]

Ohhhhh yeah? Weird. It's one of the defining things they've fixed, among others. I play the Deville 4x10 and get a really nice range to play through. Of course, you have to be realistic and know it's not an attenuator or anything, it's just a volume knob. I keep mine on maybe 1 1/2 at home and around 5 for gigs. No issues with that, adjust the volume once and leave it be.

[SonicMayhem42]

Now I haven't gigged with it. But playing with other guitarist a a couple of drummers I just haven't needed that much volume. Still sounds great.

[V]

Blues Jr time?

[SonicMayhem42]

My concern with a smaller amp is the Hot Rod handles all the fuzz and my wampler triple wreck so well. I was just curious how loud people play.

[SonicMayhem42]

I am not unhappy with the sound of my amp I think t sounds great at a volume I can play at night and it doesn't disturb the kids. I would rather have the power than go to jam with friends and be like "Can you guys turn it down?" I am considering a Vox AC 15 as second amp.

[SonicMayhem42]

The main reason I was wondering about this was a PGS demo with Andy and a hot rod turned up to 5.

[arcadesonfire]

 

If the Hot Rod III is like the 1996 model I have, then the reason why the volume flies up so quickly is because the volume knob is a linear taper potentiometer (or pot for short). Volume knobs should be audio taper pots in order to get an even volume rise. (Turning a pot up reduces the resistance to the signal. Getting into the physics and math, we see that reducing resistance linearly results in an exponential increase in volume. Reducing the resistance logarhithmically (which is what an audio taper pot does) results in a linear increase in volume output.) 

 

So, everyone thinks Fender put those linear taper pots in these amps so that when people try them at stores and see how freaking loud it is at 3, they'll think "Woah!!! This must be ultra loud at 7!!" I replaced the pot in mine. You could take it to a guitar shop and get the pot replaced for an hourly fee. It's a super cheap part, and wouldn't take much labor time.

Changing the volume pot will let you find a sweeter spot between super quiet and super loud, but you're still not gonna get warm power tube distortion out of it at a bedroom volume. It's too big. EDIT: All that stuff I wrote in blue there is wrong. Don't worry about the volume pot. See my other suggestions and the next two posts.

If you're playing in a garage or basement though, one thing you can do is replace the speaker. The speaker Fender uses is real loud. I replaced mine with a Celestion V30. It gives better sound, and it's quieter. So you can turn the amp up to more power without hurting your ears as much.

One final tip is that you can replace the middle preamp tube. They come with 12AX7 tubes (which is standard in most amps). If you replace the middle tube with a 12AT7 ($12.95), the overdrive channel will sound mucho better.

[TomCTC]

Re: your first sentence; they're definitely not like the old ones. The III series has updated volume pots.

[arcadesonfire]

Thanks Tom for pointing that out. I was wrong about the volume pot on the HRD III models.

Sonic, check out the 3rd and 7th posts here: http://forums.fender.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=89288

Swapping out a couple of the 12AX7 tubes in the preamp might help you get a better volume range. And it's a cheap thing you can easily do on your own without needing to make any other changes to the amp.

With my Celestion v30 (which does lower the volume a bit) I usually practice with my band and gig with the volume around 9-10 a.m. I might record with the volume up to noon. Anything higher than that doesn't increase the volume; it just adds more powertube distortion, and that's what a good tube amp should do in the opinion of myself and many others.

One other thing you could try if you want to get sweet powertube distortion and lower volume is THD Yellowjackets. They'll let you get some British tube amp distortion at lower volumes. It'll cut the wattage down. It won't sound like a Fender amp anymore though. (I used to use them all the time in my bedroom before getting a British-style tube amp and a THD Hot Plate.)

Ultimately though, a 40-watt tube amp is gonna be loud!