Hot Rod DeVille 212 impedance question

[Rockabill_Freak]

Hey all, I have a Hot Rod Deville 212 that I purchased around 2004 love the amp but lately my band mates have been complaining about bleeding ears - tinnitus - that sort of thing since it is loud. So I thought that I'd give the Bulgera PS1 (power soaker) a try. Now to hook it up. It's the type that goes between the amp head and speakers. Not an effects loop type thing. The amp has not been modded whatsoever.

I never was good with trying to understand impedance and such - but between reading manuals and forums here and other places, i'm now more confused as i ever was . . .

Reading the manual of the PS1 states to match impedance of the amplifier and has a dedicated input jack for 4, 8 and 16 ohms each. Easy enough. (or so I thought)

Reading the manual of the Hot Rod Deville shows an illustration of two speakers with 4 ohms on each speaker. Reading further in the manual I'm presented with a table listing the specifications of the amplifier. IT states "2 12inch 8ohm speakers. . . " "Power Output 60w at 4ohm or 2ohm. . . " So I'm left with the question which of the 3 input (4,8, or 16ohm) jacks am I connecting the amp to?

Thanks
Joe

[Michael Smith]

It's a little confusing looking at the schematic for the Hot Rod Deville, because they came in different speaker configurations. Since yours is a 2 x 12, it appears that the main speaker jack is looking for a 4 ohm load. Look at your speakers, they should each be 8 ohm and wired in parallel (positive to positive, negative to negative). If that is the case then the two 8 ohm speakers are giving a 4 ohm load.

[phantomman]

Total system load for the HRD212 using the existing speakers and factory wiring is four ohms.

I'm told that another method for effectively taming the HRD amps is to insert a volume petal between the pre-amp out jack and the power-amp in jack.

[Rockabill_Freak]

It's a little confusing looking at the schematic for the Hot Rod Deville, because they came in different speaker configurations. Since yours is a 2 x 12, it appears that the main speaker jack is looking for a 4 ohm load. Look at your speakers, they should each be 8 ohm and wired in parallel (positive to positive, negative to negative). If that is the case then the two 8 ohm speakers are giving a 4 ohm load.

Thank you! As i've chewed on this for the past couple of days I was leaning towards the 4 ohm, but then I got a tad confused and the rest is . . . I'll have a look at the speakers and make sure they are wired in parallel and not serial.

[Rockabill_Freak]

Total system load for the HRD212 using the existing speakers and factory wiring is four ohms.

I'm told that another method for effectively taming the HRD amps is to insert a volume petal between the pre-amp out jack and the power-amp in jack.

That is, by far, the most inexpensive and hassle-free way to go. However, it didn't work on the clean channel (which was why i bought the amp in the first place) AND it throws a huge monkey wrench into my 4 cable setup with my Multi-FX unit . . .

[Bill Moore]

The "main" is 4 ohm as well as the "aux", anymore I use the same switching setup when I use a multi impedance OT. When a plug is inserted the "aux" jack switches to the 2 ohm tap on the OT.

[Offshore Angler]

I have never seen or heard a HRD that was tamed. Best way to tame one is to trade it in on a DR, PR or even a C30.These are proven, great sounding amps that will pretty much do it all.

Additionally, looking at your handle it appears you're into rockabilly. I can't imagine not playing rockabilly without that genuine, authentic Fender reverb sound that is missing from a HRD. That's like, the heart of it. Plug a Gretsch into a Deluxe Reverb and you're done!

My biggest gripe with them is the solid-state reverb section seems to clip the highs and give them an obnoxiously cutting timbre. The 410s where the worst. They (HRDs) also had almost no volume control. They were either too low or too loud.

That, and the renowned unreliability of them. I've heard that the later ones may have corrected some of the reliability issues, but by that time I was not around anyone playing one.

Before throwing money at the amp you may want to look for an alternative. It's always a lot better and usually a cheaper bet to replace it with something that works as-is rather than throwing time and money at an amp in hopes that you can make it what it is not. Plus, you can dump it now while it's still working.

Best to relegate them to the same heap as the Cyber Twin.

Might not be the most popular opinion, but it's from experience.


Chuck