Fender Hot Rod Deville 212 Tube Combo Amp Review

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(More customer reviews)The Fender Deville HotRod 212 is an excellent amplifier. With a few simple modifications it can be voiced to be superior to most amplifiers produced by Fender and other makers. The stock amp is very loud and a bit hard to control in smaller venues. Also the reverb is slightly thin. Finally, the voicing of the drive and more drive channels is a bit aggressive. After the following mods found on [...] the amp is stunning. Here are the mods I performed.
- Replace the stock master volume with an audio-taper is the best way to fix the oversensitive Master (A250KÙ). Your tech will need to bypass resistor R45 with a straight wire to raise the gain level of the master to match the volume channel.
- Replace the V1 and V2 12ax7 tubes with 12at7 tubes. This will improve the headroom and tame the drive and more drive channels. The sound becomes richer and competes head on with pricer Fender and expensive competitor amps. If you like a bit more punch that is still bluesy try keeping a 12AX7 in V2
-Replace V3 with a 12au7 or a 12at7. This slightly reduces gain, not power, in both channels and improves headroom making the amp more suited to blues and jazz. The amp will still rock and play just as loud. These tube changessweeten the sound of the clean and distortion channels.
- Cut out resistor R103. This is part of a treble boosting circuit in the reverb section possibly added by Fender to help sell the amps in noisy music stores. This simple mod makes the reverb very rich and superior to many amps on the market including many of Fender's best.
If you get a Deville Hot Rod, read Justin Holton's site carefully. These amps have VERY HIGH VOLTAGE and the volume pot and resistor removal require knowledge and safety steps. DO NOT try this in less you are technically trained. A tech can easily make these changes for you. If you proceed yourself you must be trained and take proper precautions as described on Justin's site. Such changes will VOID the warranty so this is best done on used gear.
The amp stock is excellent and very well made. These changes take to top tier performance.


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Fender Hot Rod Deville

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