The Fender Hot Rod Deluxe III - Review

The Fender Hot Rod Deluxe III

It was with a mixture of trepidation and anticipation that I recently found myself in my local music store laying down $800 for a new Fender guitar amplifier.

How did I get to this point? Well, like countless weekend warriors before me, I began my musical journey as a be-mulleted teen metal fan. In those days my criteria for an amplifier were as follows:

1. It had to be loud.
2. It had to cheap.
3. It had to look really cool.

Two decades later I'm happy to report that both my musical tastes and my haircut have evolved. So too have my amplifier requirements. When I set out to upgrade my amp my criteria were as follows:

1. It has to have amazing tone.
2. It has be well made.
3. It has to be affordable.
4. It has to look cool (some things never change).

I'm not an impulsive buyer. Believe me. I did my research. I read countless Amazon reviews, Wiki postings, and spent more time than I care to admit in guitar player forums poring over strange, obsessive postings of fellow musicians. Without exception all roads led to the new and improved Hot Rod Deluxe III.

Under the hood

I'm not an engineer so I won't get into a technical discussion here. The following specs are taken from the Fender website.

Effects Loop: Effects Loop (Preamp Out, Power Amp In)

Inputs: Two

Extension Speaker Jack: Extension Speaker Jack

Channels: Three Selectable Channels (Normal, Drive and More Drive)

Rectifier: Solid State Rectifier

Controls: Presence, Reverb, Master Volume, Middle, Bass, Treble, Drive Select Switch, Drive Volume, Bright Switch

My Impressions

In January 2010, Fender released the new and improved Hot Rod Deluxe III. The updates in this iteration include an easier-to-read black control panel with front-reading text, streamlined footswitch, graduated volume and treble pot tapers, improved overdrive and a Celestion G12P-80 speaker.

I've had time to put it through its paces. In my opinion, the most significant improvements are the volume pot tapers. For years the biggest knock on Fender amps was that, due to non-linear volume pots, they only had essentially two volume settings - loud and really loud. I'm happy to report that the improved volume control means that its possible to get decent tone at a volume that won't wake the neighbors.

This is a beautiful sounding amplifier. The clean channel delivers that elusive vintage Fender tone in spades. The drive channel is completely serviceable and will allow the player to dial in a wide range of sounds from slightly dirty to really greasy. If you are looking for a Metallica-like crunch then this isn't the amp for you. However if your goal is shimmering Dap King type clean tones and a bit of dirty Stevie Ray Vaughn-like gain then you won't be disappointed.

Oh yeah.... it also looks very cool too.