How To Bias a Deville Amplifier 

Been using tube amps for 25 yrs and never truly understood how they work just loved the sound. Your series on tubes is second to none! Thank you so much for posting this and sharing your knowledge, it is appreciated. Looking forward to more.

Rob, was looking for a simple video for biasing a Vibrolux and came upon this one. Since I purchase tubes like I'm sure many below from you all, I was happy to find this video. Very well presented, clear to understand and a great help for dummies like myself. Thank you.

Excellent instruction. Just got a HRDV 410 and walked through the steps. Fantastic result. Beautiful cleans for days and very silent even with single coils. Thanks very much.

Best explanation ever... Happened to be the first video I clicked on, what luck. You have just saved me hours of my life! Thanks for that!

This video was so helpful. Replaced the tubes in my Fender Blues Deluxe reissue. Worked great! Thank you!

Thanks for this awesome video! I just bought a deville and this video is a big help!

Great info and sick blues at the end. Love it

Excellent video production and clear instruction, thank you!

wonderful presentation!!! breath of fresh air!!!!!!

I have a mk2 deville ( made in mexico) I fitted a fromel supreme kit ,and changed all the valve sockets to gold ceramic .I usually set the bias a 68 mv ,I also recently changed the first ax12 to a at12 ,this has made the volume much more controllable

Great video! Kudos for mentioning the connections.

Nice video man! Very informational and easy-to-follow 👍

G'day Rob, I hope you've been well in this time of crisis. I'm 11 years or more late on this, but I guess it's better late than never. Amongst most of the Biasing for the Hot Rod Deluxe I've seen, I decided to follow yours because it is the most clear (visually plus the audio & explanations) I've just done my Hot Rod today .. with 101% confidence thanks to you. Just one thing which I thought is super important, for those non-techo's like me. .... that's the detailed settings of the multimeter. I had to go over your video a few times to be sure. Where you set the multimeter to "Volts" to take the reading of the plate behind the Bias adjust knob, but mentioned very little about changing the multimeter to mV when setting the actual Bias while at the same time looking at the mV readings. I was lucky I saw the different settings showing on the video for your multimeter and so followed. In my case every detail of the procedure is important. Hope this will help you help us (non-techos) for future video releases. Stay well and all the best. ru

Thanks so much for making this video. Great explanation and instructions.

Great video! Very helpful and informative. I've had my Deville for probably 10 years and I was never 100% happy with the gain/overdrive channel. It sounded.......raspy.....not smooth at all. I installed a Fromel kit, which made things better....but still....something wasn't quite right. I had the amp serviced/biased/etc. Again.....better, but not quite 'there'. So I found your video and did as you suggested. The bias was set at 58-59, and the blue trimmer was epoxied in place. I powered-off and carefully trimmed the epoxy. I set the bias to 68 (the alleged 'sweet spot'), let it warm-up and took it for a spin. Much better! I was more satisfied with the gain....definitely an improvement. I also thought the clean channel had improved as well.....I could hear a difference. I kicked the bias up to 70 and I'm happy with it. Looking forward to next band rehearsal.

Most excellent straight forward biasing video ever.

Thanks dude, great video, very well spoken and nicely put together! I'm just about to change the tubes on my Blues Deville and I hope I goes as smoothly as your video!

That's some purty good playin at the end Rob!

Excellent. Thank you for your time and incredibly helpful reply. I really appreciate it.

thanks rob, and thanks for posting! great vid!

Oh ok! Thank you for the quick reply! Your video was very informative and helpful!

Awesome. One of the best vids on youtube.

Great vid, clear and to the point. thanks for that

excellent video and kudos for providing safety review . . . very important!

Hi. OK understood now, I'd got milliamps on my mind. Got the right measurement now. Thank you for all your help. Brilliant.

Thanks!!!! Right on spec , just did mine....sounds great!!!!!

this was very informative, cleared up a few things for me. cheers mate much appreciated p.s guitar playing at the end was killer, should upload a video with just you jammin

Great Video Rob!

Great video, well done! I own a HotRodDeluxe and this thing is always frying tubes. I took it to a tech who claimed to have biased it correctly but two days later at a gig I only had one 6L6 working, glowing extremely bright amber, distorted badly on the clean channel (I only use the clean channel) until it died all together. This was back in '05. I have a tech friend install new tubes 'bout a year ago and bias it, and it distorted again. I bought new tubes and I'll use your vid to DIY. Thx

thanks for the great videos!

Really good. Keep on rockin.....

This is amazing! Thanks

extremely helpful video. thank you so much.

Great vid, thanks.

Good. Point taken. I just bought a fender hotrod deville that had a very loud microphonic howl, seemed to be the first valve in line of the 3 small ones, was going to buy a complete new set, but then I just swapped the first to around absolutely perfect now. A good hint to try first.

great video

Fantastic presentation!

Sweet playing!

Great video man.

nicely done video

@TubeDepotTV i knew it was a legacy because of the bridge and the tremolo arm.... they´re just the best guitars for me, i have the legacy special model, and also have a deville amp... awesome combination... excelent tutorial i am about to do this to my amp, greets!

Very Good Explanation! Glad you mentioned safety. Too bad for the Test Point - the PCB should have a Tip Probe socket for holding the DMM's probe. To minimize the chance of getting an electrical shock (although not UL approved/tested) I wear the Black thicker Mechanics "Nitrile Gloves". Love 6L6 amps like the Deville (I have a Peavey ValveKing 2x 6L6). A dab of Nail Polish or RTV/Silicone keeps the pot from moving after being set.

@TubeDepotTV thanks a lot! I ended up settling at 70mV, messed with it back and for for a while and 70 just seemed to be a good middle ground where i got the best tone without killing my tubes

Thanks for the info on the math!

Great video thank you!

thanks for sharing. Very well explained! :)

Thanks for the reply and help David or guys at tube depot!!

Your videos are so cool

Thank you so much, i will take care of those issues!

excellent video thanks a lot!!!

awesome post!!!!

Thanks for sharing

Thank you for your answer,i'll contact Soldano soon! Great video!!

hey, yes, all the solder connections are fine. I just thought it was strange that i couldn't get it under 73mV but i made a call to the store and they said it's perfectly normal. They offered me to return them in if i wanted, so they could give me another pairbut as you said 73mV is a nice value. Great vid by the way! nicely explained for electronica noobs (like me)

thanks for the help I lowered my bias as low as it can go 30. now its playable beyond 1

Thanks for the reply TubeDepotTV.

very informative video. i enjoy it, and u play great too. keep posting some good stuff. :)

Very informative and to the point. Thanks for sharing.. Mighty fine guitar playing as well. That's how my amp used to sound. I repaired a cracked solder joint at the "foot switch" connector, but now I find there's something not right with the far right, small(pre-amp) tube. A friend tested my tubes by removing them, then stuck new tubes in thew sockets(1 by 1). That's when I noticed he wasn't quite somber enough to be doing this test. He either bent the pins and/or caused damage at the connection. I realized this when it popped and cut in and out as I barely wiggled the the tube. Are the tube pins worth messing with till they fit again(If that's the only damage) or should I just replace them with new tubes?

Great vid just subscribed glad to find someone who can explain step by step for a D.I.Y. saved me money. I have the blues deluxe reissue is this similar process as well?

Great, thanks 🎉

Thank you I found the problem it needs new tubes 1 overloaded due to the lack of electricity. I'll retube it & be careful of what is tied into the outlet before I plug it in. Thank you for your videos on tube amps & a walk though of my & many other peoples post.

thanks, I also tapped the reverb tank and could hear the springs through the speakers so thats working ok, it was bad timing too cause my Wampler tweed 57 pedal had just came in the mail and I was itching to try er out. Still in Awe over how many tools and tube accessories you have on the tubedepot store, wouldnt mind getting one of the 18 Watt british amp Kit sometime in the future.

Holy shit thank God for this video!!! So well explained!!🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻

Thank you so much !!!!!

got the new JJs in the mail today and checked em out by swapping one position at a time, swapped V3 nothing put the original in. tried V2 still nothing, tried V1 which I suspected and got a low volume fuzzy tone even on 12, so I put another one of the JJs in the V2 position and she jumped back to life with even more tone, put the last new one in just to complete the set and i figure ill hang on to the one good one for emergencies till i get a few spares, Thanks again for your help

Hi Rob, Tube Depot, Just a little FYI, the ribbon connectors on the Deville can come loose and this will cause issues with the amp and performance of. El Paso Tube amps on RU-vid did a video about this problem, worth a view. Discharge filter caps first when working on amps, use only one hand when hooking up meter. Also see Uncle Doug on YT, very knowledgeable. Take care, C.

+1 for checking the tube sockets! I can't tell you how many times I've had to re-tube peoples amps with nearly brand new tubes because of problems from bad tube socket solders. I always clean ALL the solder off and use proper leaded solder, not that lead-free crap.

Hi! great tutorial! I have a question, I have a old hot rod deluxe made in USA and I would like to know what are the valves you recomend me. I would like to change all of them. Thanks from Spain!

I don't know much about amps,I'd rather watch your playing.I like it,U teach?

Thank you sir

Excellent instruction. Can this similar bias adjustment be done on the Fender 410 blues Deville reissue, 2005 model?

thanks for this

thank you for the great videos as always.Sir i have question,I have hammond 291AEX 240 euro power transformer,but the primary has two black wires not like us version ,in this case when i connect to champ 5F1push pull pot.do i have make sure which is hot and return or i can connect any of these two leads switch and fuse?any help really do appreciate.

Very nice video and it's just not right that your top technician can play the guitar like that. Very impressive.

it's Bob from Brookwood Leather : ) Otaypanky is my alter ego ~ Have a great 2013

i got a hold of some tad 6l6gc-str, they sound fantastic! biased at 75mv excellent tone.

Hi, fantastic video! I have this same amp and at now I know do the bias adjustment in my HRD 2x12". But I would like to know which is the plate voltage of this HRD for calculate the 100% of bias value and 70% also. I thing this value varies from each same amp and I would like to know how measure this value. Please, if it's possible to you, make a video explaining how to measure the HRD 2x12" plate voltage value!!! Thanks

I just got onw for my son 👍, can you clean the tone pots when you remove the backing plate?

Awesome video, just what I was looking for. Recently picked up one of these babies used. It played fine for a day or so then started doing some heavy volume fluctuating. The jewel light also fluctuated but not always in synch with the volume trouble. I popped the back off and checked the connections as Rob did in the video and they looked solid. It's my first tube amp and don't want to assume anything. Would a good first step be to pick up some new power tubes and pop them in?

when you said "there's a newer model", i suppose you were talking about the hotrod deville 3 ? as far as gettin new tubes, i'm gonna check out your catalogue see if there's any special custom sets for the 212 deville.. Thx once again for you answers and kindness.

Hey Rob, thanks for the great video! I followed it very closely, and my volume is still very low when I tried to do a sound test. power tubes flicker blueish purple as I send a guitar signal to it. these amps are very loud as you know, but I have to turn up a lot to hear anything. I checked the voltages at the large grey caps and they appeared to be stable. I also replaced the 2 12ax7s closest to the inputs 1& 2 I was hoping you might have some thoughts on what might be going on here. thank you

thanks so much

Brilliant vid and pickin ! The lad just picked up a HR Deluxe ii ....fantastic sound except the power tubes are noisy on some low notes. Gonna try some damper rings but if that doesn't work then may be putting your instructions to use soon with a pair of new tubes.

Yeah, that makes some sense. After I watched your vid, I perused other utube biasing vids, and all the techs were touching the tubes and viewers were commenting the same thing I said to you (I guess I'm not as alone as I thought in my old thinking). It would be so cool if you could demystify this old wives tale by doing an unbiased test (no pun intended) using two sets of matched power tubes, one totally filthy, and one spotless.

Nice demo! I have the same amp and it has been great aside from one issue. Is the volume knob on your amp extremely sensitive? There seems to just be a fraction of a degree between inaudible and glass-shattering loud with mine. Is there an easy way to either adjust this or perhaps replace some hardware to distribute and voltages a bit more evenly? Thanks!

Great video. Should the bias level be set differently for different brands of tubes or is 60 generally a safe bet?

Hey, excellent video! Very informative. Would the Hot Rod Deluxe be the same way, but set at 40v instead of 60v? or would it also be 60v?

Great video, thanks! Is the procedure similar for swapping out the 12ax7s? My deville has a noisy buzz in the gain channel. Ive tried multiple guitars and it nets the same result. Also when turning up both the presence and reverb past 50%, it makes this high pitched scream. I'm hoping one or both of these issues would be fixed after checking the solder points and swapping tubes.

Hi Rob, firstly many thanks for this lesson, it was really helpful. I live in the UK so I have bought some GT-6L6-GE tubes from a local supplier. I have followed your instructions however even at the lowest setting I cannot get the Bias under 76. Could you suggest something I am doing wrong, it all looked pretty straight forward. Thanks Lee.

Thank you so much for your video mate! Can you please tell me why did you need to read negative voltage before you read positive also do you only bias when changing power amp tubes or also when changing preamp tubes! Many thanx

Hi Rob! Thanks for the great manual for replacing the power tubes on the DeVille. I've the same amp (only difference: I've got the 4x10" version) and recently I replaced my 6L6 tubes. Now I've got a question: My other amp is a Fender Twin Reverb Reissue from 1992 and would ask you for a replacement manual for the power tubes there. Same as on the Deville? As far as I know the Twin has also a BIAS knob. What are the measure data for the BIAS there?

Hi Rob, Like the video. Good solid and easy to follow. I have just changed to TAD 6L6 tubes and during biasing could not get less than 61mV at the bias test point (highest voltage pot would go was -60V, which gave me 61mV at the bias test point). I therefore backed off the pot voltage until I got 70mV as the bias voltage. Is there large tolerances between amps, or should they all be able to get 60mV without having the pot at max counterclockwise Regards, Allan

Nice pickin' Rob : )

Hey Rob I really appreciated the video as I just bought a Blues Deluxe and it looks like the tubes are in same configuration. I have a lot of noise coming from the middle 12AX7, do I need to bias them as well as the 5U's if so is there are similar reference point and and adjustable potentiometer for the other side? Really appreciate the video, going to save me some money. Oh yah the noise goes away when I put pressure on the tube so maybe a quick solder is all that's needed.

@TubeDepotTV Thanks man. I just got JJ 6l6gc's and a tung sol 12ax7 for the V1 spot and two electro harmonix for the V2 and V3 preamps. Sounds great even without biasing it yet. Which leads me to my next question: I have an analog multimeter, any idea what setting it should be on? AC or DC? 500, 250, 50V?

I have a acquired a fender De Ville 410 and we used it while having a practice it sounded a bit distorted, and after an hour we had a rest and whilst we were sat down it did a few pops. Have you any idea what could cause this please.

Thaaaanks!

Question? Is it normal to hear a buzzing sound coming from the upper PCB board on the Fender 410 Deville? It sounds as though it might be coming from one of the large grey capacitors. Thank You, Matt

first off thx for this tutorial, im planing to get a used 212 deville and that's exactly what i need to check it out in a basic way.. Just a question though since im no tech or whatsoever, you first checked the "general" voltage by putting the red pin close to the bias pot, is there any solder point there since we can't see from that cam angle ? thx in advance for your reply. Cheers from france

@TubeDepotTV Looks like one of the preamp tubes was a little loose! Thanks for all the help, do you guys ship to Canada and if so, can you ship via USPS?