https://guitarnoise.forum/from-here-to-there/tone-part-ii-its-the-amp/ Guitar Noise Discussion Board en-US Thu, 04 Jun 2026 14:31:59 +0000 wpForo 60 https://guitarnoise.forum/from-here-to-there/tone-part-ii-its-the-amp/#post-346945 Thu, 28 Jan 2010 23:21:30 +0000
Here's a quick fix for a hundred bucks. See the home page, shop by Amp, then try Fender Hot Rod Series and Blues Deluxe. Same thing - amazing! This new tube set should quiet down your amp's jitters. :lol:

I can do all the links:
http://thetubestore.com/sba-hrdx2.html and for the Tweed
http://thetubestore.com/sba-fender-bluesdeluxe2.html and while we're here, this set would be good, respectable, and up to NOS quality but with a different tone I would expect
http://thetubestore.com/sba-hrdx.html that's $73.80 or a little more here at $85.80 or $12 extra for Tung Sol, actually I think you're saving $12 on the JJ's which are cool, or maybe 'hotter'?
http://thetubestore.com/sba-fender-bluesdeluxe.html

The main thing for you to do on your own, is click on the tube's own blue link and research its properties or tone. See this description on decreasing excessive gain and also the "tone tweak" page, all done without bias kit or adjustment. http://thetubestore.com/sylvania5751.html

I did not try to change tubes on my new Hot Rod Deluxe - I sold it pristine & clean, all the way she came to guy who wanted it in factory condition, and originally configured. I have 2 Blues Deluxes and made one hotter instead with GT preamp tubes.

I won't try to explain biasing, which IMO has latitudes for you to change the sound, even though that it's not principally what bias is for. So fixed bias amps are normally fine, and somehow you should try to match sets of tubes - how we gonna do that, I mean precisely? The Tube Store should have a tutorial or a very good explanation of that too.

Tubes can crap out pretty quickly, but I've usually seen them falter, not fail. Never seen one die, but amps have come to me with a tube or tubes already dead. When I hear a wounded one, I change it before it dies. Or it might need to be reseated as you ask. We might hear a hissing, crackling or popping sound. I break the rules and don't always change sets. But I always use a clean rag with no polish or oil on it, or gloves, whatever's 'handy' - a puposeful pun there. :D]]> From Here to There Blue Jay https://guitarnoise.forum/from-here-to-there/tone-part-ii-its-the-amp/#post-346945 https://guitarnoise.forum/from-here-to-there/tone-part-ii-its-the-amp/#post-38348 Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:55:41 +0000
So to complete my unscientific experiment I then had him plug his guitar into my amp and I listened and there was a major loss of tone and that same low end muddy sound that Blue Jay mentioned in my other post.

And I qouteThe Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amps are too dirty or "off" in their clean or natural sound, adding distortion from their factory-onboard Hot Rod Groove Tubes to do justice to any Strat, or the Les Paul type guitars IMO. Those amps really add the mud without an attenuator or power brake , and are often too loud and distorted, when you are trying to keep it pure and "clean".

IMO, the Groove tubes should go, or be removed, and we can try to substitute more normal tubes. The Blues Deluxe 40W which shares the same chassis and workings, doesn't have Groove Tubes, but I put them in to the preamp section of one of mine as an experiment, and that added a type of attack, bite and snarl that could be characterized as dirty.

If a Hot Rod Deluxe (or 60W DeVille) user is not satisfied with their tone on more than one guitar, I recommend getting the Torres bias kit, which is simply installed, and going with milder more manageable tubes, for either the true sparkle of single coils, or a bit more creamy smoothness or note bloom, and all that jazz on humbuckers, while blow-your-mind tones are still available at the turn of a few knobs. So before I go and start changing tubes is there anything I can do that might help? Can they not be seated right in their sockets? I assume that could happen but would that effect tone or would that manifest in some other symptom.

I am vaguely familiar with biasing of tubes what does that entail and how much are we looking at for a new set of tubes?
How do tubes that are failing act? Do the slowly fade out or just go poof and done?

Has anyone here changed the tubes on their Fender Deluxe to something other than what it came with and what was your experience with them.

One more thing besides the potential to get zapped I'm pretty sure I can't touch those tubes with bare hands, do I need any special cotton gloves or can I just use a towel or something around them to pull out.]]> From Here to There cnev https://guitarnoise.forum/from-here-to-there/tone-part-ii-its-the-amp/#post-38348