I hear all of this criticism and I'm wondering,are both amps similiar in make and similiar in problem,or do they each have their own bad points? I went out and purchased a Goldtone since I've read nothing positive about my HRD 410,but I figured I'd question ya'll before the 410 goes on the sale block.It will also help to persuade my wife to give me time on the sales of certain items lol...The Goldtone purchase pissed her off since I already own 5 Amps
I know many people who have used a 4-10 HRD with NO issue for YEARS.......
In fact one guy had it in the back of his pickup on the awy to a gig - and got rear ended. it flew over his truck somehow, and hit the Caddy in front of him. After the plice preort, insurance swap etc. He got to the gig expecting to have to use the other guitar players back up amp, but it worked fine. He had to use a scre gun and some scrap wood to fix a broken cabinet side. It Died about 4 years later, after being gigged 4-6 times a month and use dfor practice for a long time. He still has it, but it hasn't been fixed yet.
I know others who have had some of the same horror stories that abound on the HRdx.
I don't believe they are the same exact circuit, but really close and similar.
others can comment better on that I think.
Kenny Belmont
>:^{I)>
I'm pretty certain that the circuit board is the same. Only different transformers and speaker complements.
I would expect the same issues, maybe more, because of greater heat.
You probably don't hear about as many issues, because Fender sells far fewer HRDv's than HRDx's.
Several guitars in different colors
Things to make them fuzzy
Things to make them louder
orange picks
I think they're virtually identical, but since I had no problems with my deluxe until I subjected it to the heat & volume of live situations (it was fine for years at low volumes) I wonder if the DeVilles would hold up better, as they're louder and wouldn't need to be pushed as hard.
They are the exact same PCB. The DeVille has a different power supply and there are more filter caps on board. That's about it other than transformers and speakers, as Kap'n mentioned.
"...pray do not imagine that those who make the noise are the only inhabitants of the field;
that, of course, they are many in number; or that, after all, they are other than the little,
shriveled, meagre, hopping, though loud and troublesome, insects of the hour."
-Edmund Burke
My expereinces:
1996 HRDV - cold solder joints, and more cold solder joints, inoperative on 3 occasions. Last go through seemed to have solved the problems, last I knew (5 years later) still working
2001 HRDx - meltdown of power resistors (puchased in that condition) - repaired and sold, current status unknown.
do I look like I know what I'm doing?
OK,I will keep an eye out for major problems with the DeVille and at first sign I will bail.It is truly to loud for a practice amp,but some of the sounds that roll out of it are really sweet,so I'm kinda stuck indecisive.
The Goldtone has its good and bad points also,so I'm just going to use the two amps plusses to their advantage and stray away from the negative aspects where I can
If you dig the DeVille, check out a Super Reverb.
Whether it's Silverface or Blackface Reissue, check them out.
"...pray do not imagine that those who make the noise are the only inhabitants of the field;
that, of course, they are many in number; or that, after all, they are other than the little,
shriveled, meagre, hopping, though loud and troublesome, insects of the hour."
-Edmund Burke
+1 on the SR. Maybe try a Bassman too. It's a great amp again in the 4x10" format albeit without all the bells and whistles of the Super.
Tommy.
I used to have a USA made 1996 Deville and had issues after issues with it. After 2 repairs (cold solder joints the first time, inputs and something else I can't remember the 2nd time), I sold it.
Now, I do talk to the person I sold it to on AIM, and she's never mentioned anything about it going bad. Perhaps she doesn't want an awkward conversation.
I later, shortly I might add, owned a deluxe after picking it up for a great price at a pawnshop. The output transformer died on me after a couple of weeks. I sold it for what I had in it and washed my hands of Hot Rod/Blues Reissue amps.
I have a DRRI now and love it. I don't even think I'm going to do the bright cap mod because I like the vibrato channel as is with my Les Paul.
I had a MIA HRDv 212 (1999 or thereabouts) - guy had it before me had no probs - I started thrashing it and it fell apart in about three months - heat exhaustion - made a 60W Bassman out of it (well 24.5W RMS to be precise) and don't miss any of it's whistles and bells - just enjoy pluggin 'er in and lettin' 'er get nice and warm - the problem with the HRDv's is they're not really built to be thrashed - the higher than spec plate and grid voltages produce an incredible amount of heat at higher vols and the mechanical coupling produced by a 212 or 410 combo configuration does not help either - I don't think Fender thought anyone would actually crank one up for any length of time...
Last edited by yankeerob; 03-25-2008 at 08:13 PM.
I'm envisioning a DeVille to 5E8A conversion. Maybe the dual-Copper Caps will help tame it.
"...pray do not imagine that those who make the noise are the only inhabitants of the field;
that, of course, they are many in number; or that, after all, they are other than the little,
shriveled, meagre, hopping, though loud and troublesome, insects of the hour."
-Edmund Burke
Why two CC's? Surely one with the corrrect voltage drop for the circuit is sufficient - and why would want all those inputs anyway?
Cutting the inputs down to two (1 bright, 1 normal) worked very well on the 5F6A - and fits in the existing chassis holes - the 5E8A also means you'd have to cut another hole for a 12AX7 (and heat it BTW) - which I can tell you works fine in between the existing V2 & V3 - but why all that ball ache...
If it were me and I preferred the 5E to 5F front end I'd go with a circuit I already knew - and just tag that 60W power section from the Dv on the back of it - unless there's something about the 5E8 you prefer to the 5E5 - but it's an extra tube and bunch of components for what in return? I'm not saying you should do one thing or the other - I'm just asking why a 5E8 instead of a 5E5...
For the DeVille? Voltages, speaker complement, size, wattage, etc. Also, the 5E8 is pretty close to the 5E5 (which is my personal favorite), but there are some significant differences and obviously built around a more higher power application. My thinking is, the 5E5A is the good choice for the 35-40 watt range, so to go up to 60W, I'd go 5E8 just for the sake of a voicing to wattage factor. Not sure if that's a valid argument, but the designer in me says go with what's more appropriate.Originally Posted by yankeerob
The Twin is a Twin because of the two rectifiers, so I'd want to stay true to it. Weber could have done the same thing with a single Copper Cap, but didn't. Yeah, I know his kits also work with regular tubes in place.
Extra tube socket holes? Well, I've gotten pretty good at making them already, what's a couple more?
Four inputs? No problem, my HRDlx/5E5A has four now. Although it wouldn't be too hard to get rid of one tube and two of the inputs of the Twin.
Also, and most importantly, for the hell of it.
Seriously, it's just an idea, and something I'd pursue if I can get hold of a 2-12 DeVille carcass. If I got hold of a 4-10, I'd go 5F6.
Last edited by NTBluesGuitar; 03-27-2008 at 07:27 AM.
"...pray do not imagine that those who make the noise are the only inhabitants of the field;
that, of course, they are many in number; or that, after all, they are other than the little,
shriveled, meagre, hopping, though loud and troublesome, insects of the hour."
-Edmund Burke
The reason for dual rectifiers was to get less sag. You would't need to do that if you just use SS diodes.
But that's not as cool.
"...pray do not imagine that those who make the noise are the only inhabitants of the field;
that, of course, they are many in number; or that, after all, they are other than the little,
shriveled, meagre, hopping, though loud and troublesome, insects of the hour."
-Edmund Burke
Whilst we're all grinnin' around here - I have thank you both for mine - grin that is - every time I warm 'er up there's no place I'd rather be...
And 4 1N4007's are doin' the job very well for me with that little 25W wirewound in series - it's just enough sag for what I play which for the most part is just good ol rock and roll and soul and blues... but it's still snappy enough for clean rhythm work and has plenty of dynamic range so... it's a good start...
Pete get's his boards tomorrow - speak soon
I owned and gigged an original Blues Deluxe, an original Blues DeVille, and an HRDx, and never had a single problem with any of them, except for on the DeVille when I had to replace one of the crappy plastic jacks. I got good performance and decent tone out of them - but once I got the Vox I never looked back...and judging by all the threads about this, they are ticking time bombs. It's not really about whether they'll break, but 'when.'
"I'm gonna find myself a girl
that can show me what laughter means
And we'll fill in the missing colors
In each other's paint-by-number dreams..."
Unless - of course - you get some 3mm turret boards and make 'em unbreakable... the crazy thing is the basic curcuit is pretty much the same apart from all that channel switching garbage - get rid of the Drive channel and reverb and you have a Bassman - essentially...
When you strip the damned thing back and make it what it is you wind up with a pretty solid performer - I've had the pleasure of doing a fair few gigs with it now and have stopped wondering whether it'll hold up - I just turn it full up and ride the volume knob - have also had other people play through it - with LP's, hollow bodies etc... they all say the same thing - how much would one cost...
Fender have a weird arrangement for European spares... you have to contact the UK distributor, they contact California who contacts Holland to get a price... the UK distributor then pays Holland and they ship from there - I haven't seen anyone listing export iron in the States so we're stuck with the Rotterdam connection... unless I just get someone else to wind 'em
RJ - the Vox of which you speak - is that a modern production one with all the whistles and bells or a vintage jobbie - had some guys tip up with a coupla Valvetronix combos and I don't know whether it's just that they had set them up to sound thin but I have to say we all kinda just looked at each other and shrugged...
Well Pete's got his boards and begins his journey into amp-making history this weekend...
It's a '90's version made by Korg in England before they offshored all their Voxes and started the CC line.
I think that my AC15 sounds a bit better than the CC's, although right now the reverb doesn't work - I've got to sort that out - but the AC30 that's made right now is a hella nice piece of kit for not a lot of bucks...
"I'm gonna find myself a girl
that can show me what laughter means
And we'll fill in the missing colors
In each other's paint-by-number dreams..."
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