My home surf amp, what I got, what I did and what it sounds like.

I’m posting this so that maybe it might help someone a little with the
often asked question, “what amp should I buy”. Great thing about this
forum is that there’s tons of practical info but you have to search
for it. Everything I did I learned from this forum. Thanks.

First you need to read the context to see if it applies to you. There’s
a link to a recording at the end of all this, you could listen to it
first and if you don’t like the sound you can skip the following description.

Context:
I play at home for my own entertainment. I play in a finished basement
about 18’ x 25’. I found that my 10 watt single-ended 6V6 amp with 8” speaker
breaks up (especially the low end) if played loud enough to be heard over the
stereo played at moderate levels. For surf guitar I wanted an amp that would
stay clean. I only had $700 in my amp budget.

What I got:
I considered a DRRI but even a used one with shipping and handling was over
my budget. I did see used Hod Rod Deluxes available locally for $500 and less.
I knew there were issues but even if I bought a new speaker and tubes I would
be within my budget. So I got a used Hod Rod Deluxe (HRDx).

HRDx issues and what I did (in the order I did it)

1 - Speaker flabby and ice-picky:
My problem with the original speaker is balance not necessarily tone. You can
adjust the amp for a tight bass but the treble is ice-picky. If you smooth out
the treble the bass gets muddy. Going by the excellent reviews on this forum I
got myself a Weber 12F150T, 50 watts, light dope. The improvement in balance is
exactly what I was hoping for, tight bass and clear smooth treble at the same time.

2 - Amp brutally loud:
Even with the clean channel volume at “one” the HRDX is loud. I replaced
both pre-amp tubes with Electro-Harmonix 12AY7EH/6072A. I also put a JJ ECC81 (12AT7)
in the phase inverter. Now “five or six” on the clean channel is about as loud
as before at only “one”. “Four” is a nice comfortable level for my room. The
amp has way less background “hissing”. I was expecting the tone to get darker
with the low-gain 12AY7’s but I didn’t notice a difference. I did try
Electro-Harmonix 12AX7’s before I switched to the 12AY7’s.

3 - Amp seems hot in temperature when run for a while:
The amp came with Fender 6L6GT tubes, which are relabelled Sovtek 5881WXT. I
checked the bias and it was set at almost 40ma per tube. I understand the HDRx
power supply is kind of wimpy, the Fender schematic says a reference bias of 30ma
per tube. I put in a pair of JJ 6L6GC tubes. I read a review of 6L6 tubes and it
said the JJ’s sounded good at 35ma. , so that’s what I set the bias at. I wasn’t
expecting much change in tone but the amp seemed a little quieter (less hiss) and
the tone seemed smoother.

4 - Middle Tone control doesn’t cut the mids as much I would like:
I shorted out the wiper on the mid tone pot to the high end so now the when the
tone controls are all off there is no volume. Now with the Middle turned down
to about “two” the overall tone seems more open, you don’t need to crank up the
treble control to over-power the persistent mids. With the tone controls turned
down the amp is even clean on the drive channel.

I can’t really tell you if my HRDx sounds “good” or even ”like a good” surf amp
because I’ve never played a Showman or a Bassman. So I recorded a little tune. It
will only waste 1 minute a 15 seconds of your life. Please ignore my simple song
and amateur playing.

http://home.cogeco.ca/~recroomsurfer/recroomsurfer.mp3

Setup: SGV-300, RI Tank, Hot Rod Deluxe as described above, mic’ed with an SM57.

Sounds good to me, buddy. I think the main problem with that line of amps like the HRDLx and the Blues Deluxe is crappy switchgear.

All the controls are very uneven, especially the volume. It seems to peak at about 5 which gives you a very small avenue for adjustment, especially when you're practicing with a band and gigging. It's like you need a tweezers to adjust the volume.

It certainly sounds like you've really made your HRDx into something special. It's such a pity they can't come out of the factory like that.

The Pacifics - The Big Beat from Dublin

Evil Sons - Wild Two-Piece Trash

ive got a hot rod deluxe and i love it. yalls some haters.

This post has been removed by the author.

Last edited: Sep 23, 2009 20:55:10

zak
"75% of its total volume when the knob is at 3" is pretty much exactly the case for tweed era Fenders (along with most of the 50s/early 60s amps). Replace 3 with 5 and that's your brownface-era amps. Bump it up to 6 or 7 and that's blackface/silverface era.

Yay for the blackface era! They're my personal favorites, anyway, but the clip of this modified hot rod sounds pretty good.

RecRoomSurfer, that sounded great. Thanks for taking the time to share your findings and post a clip.

I also have an HRD and like it very much. Although it's stock, it is a Limited Edition in Lacquered Tweed and it came with a Jensen P12N alnico speaker. Very surfy tone indeed. I have a buddy who likes it more than my DRRI, which has a Weber 12F150 and JJs tubes.

Gratuitous porn:
image

Cats 'n' Strats, 'cause that's how I roll - I eat reverb for breakfast!

Fenderus Collecticus
Strat Blender Pot Modification HERE