Sound:
plays great Indie rock, punk, rockabilly with and without fx pedals. smooth clean tones and deep reverb. the distortion sounds better with a extension cabinet (marshall 1960a sounds fat), sounds nice with gibson guitars.
Feature:
Footswith is made well and takes punishment well. more drive needs more drive. needs a seperate EQ for each channel. speaker output a major plus.added closed back cabinets really add different tones.
Quality:
solid cabinet, heavy, durable, looks cool and simple, no hoop la.
get a flight case if you cant handle the lifting.
Value:
could be a bit cheaper,$550.00-$600.00 tops, I paid over 700.00 plus tax in CA.
Manufacturer Support:
have'nt had to contact.
The Wow Factor:
It gets me groupies.enough said
Overall:
Aside from the single EQ for both clean and Dirty channel its up to par. I highly suggest adding a closed back extension cab to make it a half stack or go stereo. the extension cab with give you more low end punch. If more fat distortion is needed buy a good pedal. Visual sound pedals work well, loud but control your feed back,dial in your own sound. over all this combo is a keeper. Its a steal for its price
7 of 7 people
(100%) found this review helpful. Did you?
Sound:
Its a simple tube amp, and it sounds great because of it. Nothing fancy under the hood but great tone.
Feature:
Great Reverb and it distorts very nicely. But if you really want more overdrive buy a pedal.
Ease of Use:
One of the easiest amps ive ever used. Not complicated at all.
Quality:
This is a great amp.
Value:
Its a steal. No joke.
Manufacturer Support:
Never had to use it.
The Wow Factor:
Its a classic looking amp, and its got that classic tone to go along with the looks.
Overall:
Ill keep it as long as i can. I love this amp.
22 of 23 people
(95.65%) found this review helpful. Did you?
zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
Sound:
This is a great amp once the stock tubes have been upgraded. Tone for days and that great Fender reverb. But don't judge it's sound until you have heard it with a pair of Svetlana 6L6 power tubes installed and the bias readjusted. Then we are talking Tone!
Feature:
3 channels, a effects loop, Fender reverb, 3 band EQ plus pres., a foot switch and a amp cover.
Value:
If these amps shipped with Svetlana tubes from Fender I am sure that the difference the sound of the $30.00 upgrade could easily justify a $300.00 price increase. Or let me put it this way I would have easily paid over $1,000.00 had this amp sounded this good when I bought it.
Manufacturer Support:
Fender is a corp. don't expect to get to talk to Leo on the phone. That is why there is Fender authorized service everywhere.
Overall:
I plan on buying another Hot Rod Deville 2x12 and running them in stereo.
14 of 15 people
(93.33%) found this review helpful. Did you?
zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
Sound:
Tone... tone... and more tone...
If you want to sound like SRV doing Texas Flood at El Macombo, this is the amp for you.
Feature:
Not many features. This amp is for the guys who like tone instead of using 20 different effects in a song.
Ease of Use:
Pretty basic controls.
Quality:
Built like a freakin tank.
Value:
Just right.
Manufacturer Support:
Don't know, but I'm sure Fender cares.
The Wow Factor:
I would definately buy another one, if something happened to this amp.
Overall:
Great sound, & loud enough to cover jsut about any venue short of a stadium concert. Built like a tank for gigs, & has an incredible tone.
12 of 13 people
(92.31%) found this review helpful. Did you?
Sound:
This amp is simply amazing, it gets and amazing clean sound, and a great crunch for Blues and classic rock. I haven't recorded with it yet, but live it sounds good, and its incredible loud.
Feature:
It has 2 channels and it has a bright switch and a drive and more drive switch. The reverb is amazing, but besides that its pretty bare meat.
Ease of Use:
Its easy to use thats all I can say.
Quality:
Amazing, its fender what do you expect.
Value:
Its a great sounding amp for the price, you get the tremendous classic fender tube sounds for under $1000.
The Wow Factor:
While its not flashy in the least bit, I think thats what makes it cool.
It has the classic look, with the silver grill on it.
Overall:
I love this amp, it sounds great with my Telecaster. If you play Blues or Classic rock, you can't go wrong with the amp.
Sound:
Beautiful, warms me up inside. Musicians of all types would be lucky to have this amp.
Feature:
This amp isn't heavy on the features side of things...but ask yourself a question? Would you rather have 100 half assed effects? or one beautiful tone? The tolex is flawless, the chrome plating is flawless....plus they come factory stocked with 2 groove tubes.
Ease of Use:
extremely easy
Value:
An excellent buy, 60 watts of all tube power will usually run you anywhere in the vicinity of 1500 bucks or so, but not the deville...well priced.
The Wow Factor:
Classy, and classic
Overall:
I will keep this amp until the day I die
2 of 3 people
(66.67%) found this review helpful. Did you?
Sound:
this amp has probably got one of the nicest clean tones out there. The distortion is pretty good with the tubes but if you really wanna get your own overdrive sounds, go out and get a pedal. overall, the sound is warm, classic, and gives you that bite when you need it. reverb souds real nice too.
Feature:
the chrome control plae looks amazing. very easy to use and the foot switch comes in handy more often that you think. also, the 2x12 inchers provide you with awesome sound.
Quality:
built like a brick. VERY sturdy and no flaws in the design.
Value:
a little on the pricey side but, if you want a good amp, you get a good amp.
The Wow Factor:
:P
Overall:
all there is to say now is, this is one of the best out there. its an amazing amp.
1 of 2 people
(50%) found this review helpful. Did you?
Sound:
This is all about pure, clean tube tone. I am a vocalist primarily and play rythym guitar in a working cover band (4-6 shows per month) which makes me more of a performer than an artist, I guess :( but the wide variety of musical types I need to produce nightly allows for a lot of tonal experimentation. I will say this: Clean tone, Clean tone, Clean tone. I play an American Deluxe Tele and a Les Paul w/ Seymour Duncans (JB-bridge, Jazz-neck). I bought this amp because of its amazing clean tone. It is a not too distant second to the Twin-Reverb (the holy grail of tone IMHO). I played them side-by-side at local music store for about two weeks using my Tele Deluxe and decided that what the Deville lacked in tone (only compared to the Twin) it made up for in price...about $400.00 less. It gets a 9 in sound because the Twin is a 10. The Deville beat out all the amps I compared it with for tone (AC30, Bogner Alchemist, Marshall Combo, Fender Princeton, Fender HR Deluxe, Line 6 Spider valve) except the twin. The Twin is still better but there are other pluses to the Deville as I will outline in other categories. As for the dirty and more dirty channels...ehhh so/so, depends on what you want. I can get a decent Joe Perry tone using the more drive channel with drive on 3 (bright switch on)and using my Les Paul...Honestly though, That is the only song (Walk this way) that I use the Amps dirty channels for. I have several Keeley mod pedals (TS-9, BD-2) that I use for gains running straight into the input. This amp does respond well to overdriving pedals. The Ts-9 is pure SRV, and for me, I pretty much nail The Yellow Ledbetter solo tone with the BD-2 and a little Univibe (nad the Ledbetter intro with the clean channel and tele. So, the amp takes pedals well.
Feature:
This amp actually has a lot of features for a purely analog, all tube amp. Two inputs, Bright switch, Spring reverb, Clean channnel, Drive Channel, More drive channel, two button footswtich (it switches nicely between all three channels), it also has a serial effects loop. There are a few issues that pull it down from a 10. While the Deville actually has more features than the Twin here are the shortcomings: There is only one tone bank (treb, Mid, Bass) for all three channels...so you won't be able to dial in a different tone with the dirty channels just drive or more drive. Next issue is the effects loop. While it is a serial loop (Which I like better than parallel-when done right) this one isn't perfect.1-the input loop seems noisy no matter what pedals I run into it. Actually, I tried running a cable from the output straight into the input and it was still noisy. Also, It is not true serial. I get bleed through when I mute my tuner (in the loop) and play. BTW, Laird Williams-GSystem guru-suggests that using a line-level shifter will remedy the noisy input (or perhaps a hum eliminator).I just bought one but the amp is in for repairs at the moment...another story, coming up.
Features gets an 8 because of loopp noise, bleed through, and lack of seperate tone banks.
Ease of Use:
Okay...here is one reason why this amp beat out the Bogner Alchemist. It took me about 15 minutes of dialing around on the Alchemist to get the smooth clean tone I was looking for. WHile the Deville still had a bettter tone (IMHO) it took me 1 minute to get there. I sat down, plugged in, dialed Bass, Mid and treb to 12 o'clock and bam! done. Just easy, sweet tone. Everything else is pretty easy too. Just simple chicken head dials turn clockwise or counter-clockwise..then play! The loop issue makes it a little difficult to match with some pedals (post-gain effects) but the pre-gain effects just plug straight in line and work well. The only thing I don't like about this amps ability to integrate with other gear is the fact that the controls are on top of the amp and not on the face. I bought a G-system effects unit and wanted to put the amp in an ATA case with rack units on top, but the controls being on top makes it impossible to do so (that is if you ever want to use the controls again)...okay, maybe not impossible but highly cumbersome and difficult. That is a very specific problem though and will not apply to many users. Just be aware that permanent install within a road case may be problematic. I'mm still giving it a ten because, as I said. Plug and play pure sweet syrupy tone right out of the box! this is a ten.
Quality:
As I mentioned. After 7 months of ownership (with probably 30 gigs plus 30 practices, roughly) I had to put it in the shop. The clean headroom (the amount of volume I could push out of it before natural tube distortion begins to appear) diminished in the last three weeks or so. Initially I could play this amp at about 4-5 before I even got a hint of break-up. Now it is breaking up at 2 on the volume dial. Two days ago (at a gig no less) I started into the Sublime-What I got solo-first one, a relatively easy-clean solo- and notice the tubes distorting. I also definitely heard the muddiness in the More Drive channel on Walk this Way. A quick look at the tubes shows #1 6L6 tube glowing blue. Not sure yet if that is the problem but we will see. 7 months is REALLY early for tubes to wear out. But..the jury is still out on this one. There is definitely something out of sorts though. Other than that. Fit and finish is fantastic, classic Fender black and silver grill, chrome control panel (although it is on top and people won't really see it on stage). Knobs are tight and rotate evenly. Heavy and solid casing. Came with a Fender Cover...so that is nice. Every working musician should have a back-up amp (although I am currently in between) or at least a back-up set of "matched" tubes (just in case). I would have no problem-0and likely will-buying another of these for my back-up...or maybe I will get a Twin and use this for a back-up:)I am giving it an eight because of the outstanding issue.
Value:
Okay going back to other comparable amps: The twin is roughly $400 more, Alchemist $300 more, AC 30 $500 more...the Marshall was about the same but I couldn't get the clean tone. The Princeton is also about the same but only has 20 watts (25?) and breaks up way too early for my preference, HR deluxe also breaks up early (has 20 fewer watts than the deville, and the Line 6 Spider valve (even with Bogner tubes) doesn't belong in the same grouping. As I said from the beginning. For ultimate Fender clean tone I truly believe this is the best value.
Manufacturer Support:
Can't comment yet because I haven't gotten the diagnosis. But I will say this. I took it to an authorized repair center and they assurred me that Fender warranty work is a no-brainer. If it is covered under warranty Fender will cover it. Just be sure to have your receipt. 90 days on tubes and 5 years on everything else (Speakers might be two years..don't recall exactly).
The Wow Factor:
Honestly, The fender Black and Silver grille look has been around sooo long people won't jump and notice. It is not considered boutique and won't get the attention that the Bogner nameplate does. It isn't bright Orange like the Orange amps and Fender is seen everywhere. Soooo many of there amps have the same general look that it doesn't immediately scream "Sexy". Hell...even the Marshall nameplate will get more stares than this but, I absolutely don't care. Tone is what matters most. If I had $3000.00 laying around I would probably buy a Bogner Shiva because it has tone, but for this price...I really don't think it can be beat. For Sex appeal go with the AC 30 (especially with all the Beatles hype as of late) or maybe the Bogner Alchemist just be prepared to pay $500.00 more and spend twice as long getting your tone.
Overall:
This very likely will not be replaced until I get a Twin or a Shiva...although honestly I would have to do a shoot out between the Shiva and the Twin cause I am still not sure the Shiva can beat the Twin...I am very satisfied with this amp. Again (beating a dead horse) beautiful clean tone. Second only to the Twin and maybe the Shiva. Even if I replace this as my main amp It will sttay along as my back-up / practice amp. I couldn't imagine a better combination than a Twin for primary and a Deville as back-up :)
zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
Sound:
Listen up this amp sucks. Its not nearly as good sounding as the 4 x 10 version. The 2 x 12 version has no tone, its loud in a solid state way I havent heard an amp this bad since I got rid of my fender stage lead 100 watt solid state amp. Now with this 2 x 12 I have that crap sound back again, loud, too much bass, no sustain, and the reverb sucks too. Used a Schecter Hellraiser. Too punchy, too loud, no tone, no sustain, I am gonna use it for clean jazz. Good luck.
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