Thanks, great video! I used to gig with a hot rod deluxe, right up until the circuit board destroyed itself at those two cement block 5 watt resistors!! Complaining to fender got me nowhere! However I should thank fender! Right there is when I decided to learn how to build amplifiers! Threw the hot rod circuit board away! Made a hand wired board for it. Beautiful sound! A lot of amp builds ( not kits) later, I still gig with this amp to this day! I built it in 2001!
Just now finding this channel and watching all the older videos. What I like is that you go into modern amps and not just the point to point older amps. Most of us don't have a collection of 65 Fenders and Vintage marshall amps.
I like that you took the liberty of mounting the screen grid Rs on the foil side. Absolutely nothing wrong with that at all. Any service-unfriendly component mounting you can correct is a great forward-looking idea.
I think what he should be saying about sample size is this: “I only sample the broken ones because I am a repairman. So out of the thousands out there, I only see a select subset that have problems. But among my obviously biased subset, I find predictable problems due to design and manufacturing issues. So, although it is likely that the vast majority of these amps do function as designed, they all (in my professional opinion) suffer from these design and manufacturing issues. I admit I don’t have a random sample of all these amps (just a sample of broken ones) and obviously I can’t tell you when and if these issues will lead to a failure in any currently functioning amp. As a tech, nevertheless, I prefer to proactively address these issues to reduce the odds of future failure and minimize the damage such potential failures might cause.”
I've had mine since 2000. I've changed the tubes. Speaker, and installed a mod 3 spring reverb. Best little amp I've owned. No issues at all. Original caps never failed, never leaked. Lucky indeed.
I am so pleased someone has put this because if you take all this bloke is saying / doing what in hell is going on !!! According to this guy the amp is total trash and there are literally thousands of these bad boys being played . Everything fails at some point. If it bothers people just spent another £3000 on a point to point hand wired amp How much did all this work cost
@@johnsmith-sm6mh "According to this guy the amp is total trash" - Don't know how you got that from the video. All I heard was him identifying common points of failure and how to fix them. Seems like once they're addressed, you'll have a perfectly fine amp that should last much longer than if ignored. I opened the back of my amp just to check, and sure enough, I am seeing the beginning stages of browning around the very same terminals he pointed out. Thanks to this video, I now know what it'll take to resolve the issue before it becomes a major problem.
Well I have to agree with him, I own 2 deluxe and a deville and a blues 2×12 and every single one of them have failed at these points. They are all older ones made in the USA. (assemblied) if you playing 10 to 20 hours a week on them at half volume or gigging with them, you will need repairs, but if you play an 1 hour a week at bedroom volume you'll be OK probably. Yes they sound really decent with mods, but are a really cheap build.
@golgothaassassin5035 yes, imma basement player, couple hrs a week. I've since sold the hotrod in favor of an original 65 super reverb. Now that's an amp.
@@johnsmith-sm6mh he talks about bad design choices made by the manufacturer.. i also have an old hot rod deluxe and found nearly the same components starting to fail like in the video. these brown/burnt areas around those 5 watt resistors you find in nearly every repair video on YT. guess what?
I bought a brand new tweed Blues Deluxe in 1994. The transistor reverb was the selling point ... very clean and clear. Had initial problems with the chincey little pots, but once several of those were replaced, it has been fine. But son. I was one disappointed player when I first took off the back cover only to find a computer inside (I am a long-time Fender amp player, all the way back to 1961 or earlier).
There is substation equipment that is supposed to prevent that 130+ Volts, however we did have to periodically test those regulators as part of a preventative maintenance program. During the testing, it can cause some customer inconvenience and sometimes even damage some things for those customers closest to the substation on the branch line. You can manually select low or high in the test sequence. A reactor inductively couples the voltage to a sensor that activates a set of automatic transformer tap changers. If you set the test knob to "High" the taps will sequentially click up and up and up until you stop it and reverse the tap selector. That can be done manually or you can set the knob to "Low" and the actuator will automatically click down the taps, one by one, until it is manually stopped. If it clicks 3 times in either direction of the desired setting, it's good enough. Any further testing after that and we have to drag in a load bank, which is a huge carbon pile dummy load on a trailer. We cannot just arbitrarily send 320/160 volts into people's homes and businesses. Well, we can, but we really don't like it.
Thank you so much for the tips on making the HRD last. I just picked up a used one for $400 yesterday and opened it up. No burnt board yet. Yay! Reverb tank was toasted and luckily I had one laying around to verify. Snap, crackle, pop noises while on which I hope replacing those components will address. One cold power tube after warm up. Anyway it’s older with no tolex rips so I should be able to have a better than new after performing all the upgrades. Fingers crossed.😎👍
I picked up one for the same price a couple days ago, GC tag said it was broken and squealed... Yeah, V1 tube was bad. 470Ohm resistors should be in today to get that sorted, could look and see it would be an issue. Did not think of the zeners til this video.
Loving your videos! On this particular video I was watching everything closely as I have a fender HRD III that I am going to go to work on to replace the exact same components you did here. I had a quick question: Why the change from 470 ohm to 1K on the screen grid resistors? Is it to provide a little better measure of protection to the power tubes should they short?
Beneath Between & Behind. On my ship, the Rocinante, headlong into mystery. I’m sure there’s hundreds of lines you could scour. Some of the most prolific lyrics, many of which pop into your head depending what you’re doing.
You can increase R78, R79 up to 1K, and this cuts dissipation by half down to around 1 watt, which means you can use 3W resistors, which are much smaller (can be mounted up off the board, with a much better air gap). Better yet, you can scrap the two resistors and two diodes, and mount a 7815 and 7915 directly to the chassis with some short wire leads.
You should use an isolation washer if you’re bolting/heatsinking 78xx series regs to the chassis of things using the mounting hole on them. It can create ground loops and noise if you don’t sometimes.
I've had mine since 2000. I've changed the tubes. Speaker, and installed a mod 3 spring reverb. Best little amp I've owned. No issues at all. Original caps never failed, never leaked. Lucky indeed.
Yet another great vid - Thank you! Also, I was wondering whether anyone ever had an reverb op-amp go out in their HRD III. It's a BA4560, which I suspect may be the problem.
Dear Lyle... I've an early MIM HRD and though there's never been any signs of fail and or smoke, the power XFMR has always seemed to me to be rather hot... Not fried eggs hot but still (?) Does your experience address this? Thanx in advance and thanx for your channel. With Uncle Doug not posting as much you've definitely taken up the slack Thanx
Would it be safe or effective to add small heatsinks to the resistors of a stock amp? I realize mounting them off the board as you are is a better fix, but if it's safe it might save someone a trip to the tech. Maybe this is a crazy idea. Idk. You can find tiny heatsinks for raspberry pi's and such though. Just a wild idea.
When mounting the resistors off of the board for air flow, would you recommend using some type of standoff? Perhaps nylon or teflon. the green grid resistors look like Panasonic. I have some also, but I can't remember where I got them from.
I have two of these amps. One is a USA made and just makes noise. Caps are leaking and board burned. The other is still working good. Would like to get them both into you for your upgrades and repair, if your interested. Let me know how to get ahold of you.
I have a question for you sir. The two resistors that you replace that burn the board how hot do they get? Reason why am asking is I replaced my to resistors in my hot rod deluxe and I put standoffs lifting the new ones off the board I’m assuming made out of some sort of plastic it was in a kit I bought and the plastic ended up Melting around the Leeds on the Resistors. I seen you don’t install standoffs but is it normal that they get hot enough to melt the standoffs? Thanks..
Does anyone know if this has been corrected at any stage in later manufacturing year Hot Rod Deluxe IIIs and IVs? I have a 2023 made George Benson HRD which is based on the HRD III and hope that this won't be an issue.
I have a February of 2000 made in the U.S. HRD, that would be a 2nd generation? Or mark 2 or something? I haven't found any info on the exact time the model was changed.. Or is there identifying features? It's says made in Corona California on it 40w but the back says 180w, the 1 12" speaker says Fender on it.. It is making a little noise like a rattle or a sharp punch in of a crackle when I hit a lower note after playing a while, then it gets worse.. Start sounding crackly when I hit half the chords/notes.. Not a constant crackle but when hitting notes.. Starts out sorta like a rattle.. Sound then turns into that and seemed to start losing power.. Also the light bulb is intermittent at times.. I changed tubes and it seemed ok for a while but I suspect the usual problems.. I am not experienced at this but I am working my way up to being able to do this, I believe. A little practice first before I try to tackle the amp.. Sorry for the Essay here.. But yeah, I was wondering exactly what amp I have and any thoughts are appreciated, Thanks for the helpful videos!
I bought the MIM Hot Rod Deluxe IV Special Edition, all the screws were loose, the power cord is permanently attached TO THE INSIDE OF THE BACK. I sold it because it was a hastily made 24kt piece of cheap garbage. Never again, Mr. Fender.
A catchphrase can be great, but only if it feels authentic when you deliver it. Unless/until you find one that suits you, you'd probably do better to open with something simple and heartfelt like: "Welcome back, friends."
2 questions if I may; if I want to replace the 470k sandblock resistors and the screen grid resistors, can you recommend what to buy...and what is the result of the 'burnt' backside of this board?...I've seen them charred black, yet the amp still works and gets loud after the resistors are replaced...??? thank you sir, you do amazing work.
I should do a video on channels I watch. I don't watch other amp repair videos much except Brad's (because I like learning new ways of cussing). Too many other "amp repair" videos have me screaming in rage. It's not good for me. But I love Ted's guitar repair videos.
I have a Blues Jr from the late 90s, made in CA. Works well, but is the build quality the same as newer versions? I installed a Jensen alnico, ...sounds great for clean tones. Just curious.
@@PsionicAudio I have to laugh because my input jack has been stripped out for as long as I remember. Pretty typical. I don't gig with it but I'm careful when plugging in. Maybe I'll fix it in the future. Thanks for all you do!
What would you say, which is better from statistics point of view, small sample size or skewed sample population? Would you agree that you mostly work on amps which need maintenance or repair?
I get your point. But I converse with many other techs and we all see the same failures. If a tech gets in a Peavey Classic 50 from the '90s, we know it may need new filter caps. But not always. If a HRD comes in, the problem is almost always leaking filter caps and burning around the low voltage supply components. If a JCM900 comes in, we expect heat issues around the low voltage supply and failures of the output jack normaling, but we don't automatically assume the bias will drift. But get in a JCM 2000 DSL and we do a happy dance if the bias DOESN'T drift.
Is it possible to disable the channel switching in these amps and just use a single channel (the clean one hopefully)? I 've fought mine for years trying to get it to stop switching on it's own with no luck.
I just picked up a Hot Rod Deluxe V1. Well...... It has these problems! Its been worked on before and had the traces rerun with wire (Inspection mirror shows it) I didn't know about all this before I purchased the amp! I should have done my due diligence! Cosmetically it is very nice and I got it at a really attractive price so that's a little bit of consolation. ($250) It has some distortion on the clean channel that I could not hear when I picked up the amp. Ive got all the caps on order, same with the zener diodes and resistors. Think I will put new tubes in it too. Ive got a scope and a signal generator. My background is in electronics. Ive got some amps that I purchased new within the past 2 years I will be doing some research on them to see if I need to change anything as a preventive measure. Do you have any suggestions for a Marshall DSL40cr preventive measures?? Princeton Reverb preventive measures (tweed from Sweetwater with 12 inch speaker) ?? Mesa Mark V 90 prentive measures?? Thanks, Frankie
I don't have a lot of time right now, but know that if the bottom of the board where the 5W zeners and resistors are is too burned, there is space between the board and chassis to install terminal strips. You can mount new 5W components there and run wires to good sections of the board. See my recent Princeton RI video for preventative stuff on that. Not much to add on the DSL40C. Best preventative maintenance on a Mesa is to sell it. Moneypits.
@@PsionicAudio thanks! Too late on the Mesa, I spent a ton on the purchase already! I suppose I should have purchased a good point to point combo of some ilk instead of the Mesa, but I do love it! Thanks, Frankie.
I have a HRD that I’m thinking about trying to convert to an AB763 Vibroverb. I’d try to reuse the cabinet, the chassis (it fits the cabinet), the speaker and the tubes. Feasible?
What City and state do you work in ? I want to buy a good amp for my home and giving someday. Hope your near me. Marshall Combo 20 ? Or a Vox15 from your advice. What has the least problems?
What sort of usage leads to the notorious board burn? Any, and it's just a matter of time? I get that the caps may / will eventually leak, given age (even if not used at all?). But will that heat damage from the resistors and diodes happen if the amp is played rarely at home at low volume? Does the volume matter? I guess I'm wondering which audiences this lesson is for: the gigging musician or the bedroom hobbyist who plays alone a few minutes here and there when life / job / family permits ... or all of us? Yeah, uhh... asking for a friend, you know. I understand these amps are generally too much / too loud by design for a bedroom setting, but they have a vibe - and most importantly an affordable vibe that's attractive to non-gigging musicians who can't justify a two or three grand amp. And seriously, of all builders, why does Fender make something that can't hack normal use? Money, yes, I know, but ... it's Fender, for Pete's sake.
Just being on. Doesn't matter how loud, only being powered on. As to why, I'm friends with one of the designers of the Hot Rod series and I've asked him. They were tasked with making an amp with two channels, one high gain for Fender, with reverb and a loop. Had to hit the market in X months. Had to cost Fender $300 to make (this is in the 90s at a US factory). As much as possible it needed to use parts Fender already stocked for other amps. The +/-16V circuit came from The Twin Amp warts and all. Guess what I just replaced on a '90s Twin Amp?
@@PsionicAudio Could the heat problem cause a loud popping sound when switching channels? My Deville has done this from day 1 and Fender absolutely refused to honor the warranty.
"Would you like fries with that output transformer sir? No? Just the output transformer and a working amp? I'm sorry sir fries are compulsory with our output transformers.
Good morning to all I recently bought my fender deluxe and I regret buying this amp the controls are none responsive it’s like amp is directly connected and it’s just way to bright
I can’t understand why fender engineering don’t space the components off the board as you do, would make for a better product, I just had a hot rod deluxe IV new, it failed two days after I had it, the seller sent me a tube 12ax7 I changed it worked about a hour went south, while I had back off I inspected the build quality, Very cheap and poor quality ! sent it back.
Oh, Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, with your get-dirty-in-a-big-hurry Drive & More Drive channels, your "I use pedals for dirt" Normal channel, and your linear-taper Normal channel volume pot ;-).
@@PsionicAudio Absolutely. I put in a 12AT7 in V1 and a 12DW7 in V2. It worked wonders on the drive channels. I could turn the Drive knob up to 5, and get a nice bluesy breakup.
Additional stupidity from Feender...under those 5w resistors goes plate voltage line...when this area is heated enough short will happen between 15v and plate burning all chips etc...catching serious fire...
