20 Most Recent Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Guitar Combo Amplifier - Page 2 Questions & Answers

Plug the guitar on the "power amp in" jack near the "presence" knob. If you get sound, you have a problem on the preamp. If not, it´s probably on the power amp section. Its a good start...

Fender hot rod´s have an common problem on the plate resistors of the preamp and phase inverter tubes. Check if the 100K and 82K resistors on the tube socket board are not brown. Those resistors usually need to be changed to bigger ones 1/2W. this guy made a good document about this fix: http://home.comcast.net/~fredholz/Justin-Holton/Fixing%20Loud%20and%20Intermittent%20Crackle%20or%20Static.pdf

Your guitar was made in 1960

What does 'it does not work correctly' mean? The reverb? Low sound? Hums?

Most likely one of the diodes CR6 through CR9 is shorted... Test them with an ohmmeter with the standby switch OFF and no power plugged in either. Slight chance one of the power tubes is shorted but that is rare. A shorted tube socket is another possibility but it too is rare. If one of the diodes is shorted, replace them all as the others are likely degraded. Put a 150 watt lamp in series with the power cord to test to avoid blowing fuses. If the lamp lights and stays on, there i still a short. the filter capacitors may also be degraded if a diode has shorted.

Not knowing which of the tubes in the unit you are talking about we can't give you help. Usually a "pair" is used for the power output tubes like the 6L6's, but this has 12AX7's as well.

If you are talking about the 12AX7's, they have TWO sections in each tube, and depending where you swapped them, one section could be out and the unit APPEAR to work, although there would likely be some feature that did not work properly.

IF the ones you swapped are the big 6L6's and one way works and another doesn't, you have BIG problems possibly involving blown output transformer and one blown tube.

If it is in great condition IMO 275 to 300 usd.

Check your tubes. They may be broken and have to be replaced.

I have had this problem at least two times and the fault was a bad hi voltage filter capacitor. With the back of the amplifier removed, it's the grey cap near the top right side. Warning: very dangerous voltage there!!

2000

Most likely clipping. This happens when the source DBs are too high for the amp....feeding in too hot.

You could probably get around $400 for it.

The Fender Hot Rod Deluxe shows a 2-button footswitch as standard but I'm confused. This link shows it as connected to the amp via a mono cable ... FENDER Hot Rod Deluxe DeVille Footswitch which is impossible using two switches. Normally it's a stereo (tip, ring, sleeve) with tip to sleeve being one connection, and ring to sleeve the other. Good luck with this one.

If not a valve issue check by preamp valve substitution 12AX7A's.Check solder joints +/- 16v circuits and send/return and input jacks.

F1 Fuse should be F1.6A 250V

Have you tried another guitar?
Switch the cable?
There might be some RF interference

This is because your clean channel only runs through the pre-amp section, requiring an increased volume level to match that of the volume of the drive section which is overdriven by the pre-amp circuit. my suggestion is to use lower volume level on the clean channel of the amp. To get any volume boost you may need to match the two channels you could use a signal/volume booster or overdrive pedal between your guitar and amp input, switching it off and back on when you switch back and forth between channels.

Bad tube? maybe
Try removing each tube 1 at a time starting at the first preamp (12ax7) If the noise stops after a particular tube is pulled replace that tube with a known good tube. Shut down the amp between tube pulls, Power tubes don't usually cause this problem but I'd pull them anyway,just remember they get very hot.
Make sure all tube shields are on and replaced after tube pull test
The most common cause of oscillation is a open or leaky filter cap,this would require a cap job and unless you have a good knowledge of tube electronics and the voltage dangers present,I wouldn't suggest doing it yourself.
Also if the output transformer was replaced or rewired or the negative feedback circuit was touched oscillation could occur also.
Make sure your guitar cables are in good shape, a cable with a bad shield can cause problems too.
Excessive noise can occur when one of the 1/4" input jacks shorting bars doesn't make contact to ground. A duumy plug would confirm this but you could also plug two guitars with good cables, into each input and see if the oscillation disappears.
Hope this helps

First thing would be try another guitar with the amp. This will eliminate if it's a problem with the guitar or the amp itself. If the guitar is working properly then check all the tubes to be sure they are all seated into there slots completely. Depending on how much use they have been played it may be a good suggestion to then replace your tube's. Occationally the tubes will start loosing power, making sound fluctuate up and down or distortion sounding static in background noise. You will notice a big difference with newer tube. But remember the bias must be set correctly to match the new tubes so they won't over heat. You can check out youtube for setting the bias. Anyway this is my suggestion and I wish you good luck.