[GUITAR MUSIC]
Hey, there.
This is Rick, and I'm here with Eugene.
Let's talk about the Hot Rod IV Deluxe,
the newest iteration in the Hot Rod line.
Now, Hot Rods have been around for over 20 years
at this point.
Anyone that's played guitar through a tube amp
probably knows this amplifier from back lines
and recording studios.
And there's a reason for that.
These are tone monsters.
The clean tone is amazing.
They take pedals extremely well.
Very versatile amplifier.
And from studios to stages around the world,
chances are you're going to see one of these amplifiers there.
But some new bells and whistles on the Hot Rod IV.
And we thought it would be a good time
to get together and talk about the Hot Rod
IVs, what they sound like, the differences,
and get some tones.
So Eugene, you mentioned that you would actually played
the Hot Rod Deluxe before?
Yes, I had the original iteration.
It was a back line amp for the better part
of 10 years for a gig I had.
And so I need to catch up with this,
I guess, this is the Hot Rod IV, the Deluxe.
And so I'm excited to find out what's
different, because I've got really,
really used to the old ones.
But even from here, I can see some changes
that I already appreciate.
So yeah, I'm excited to see what's going on under the hood,
as they say.
Nice.
Well, you know, really, honestly with these amplifiers,
it's one of those things where it's refinements over time.
Right.
As you said, fourth iteration.
So over time we've done things to players' benefit.
We listen to our players, we listen
to the customers who say, we love this,
but maybe if you did this or tweaked this.
And so really, that's how we've gotten to this point.
So with the Hot Rod IVs, one of the things that we noticed
is players' tastes change over time.
Sometimes what was acceptable as being overly bright or cutting
is popular in a time, and then people,
you know, they veer towards warmth or different sounds.
Right.
So internally, we did a few modifications
to the amplifier tonally to add warmth
to the overdrive channel.
Oh, great.
Everyone loves the cleans.
Cleans are kind of, that Fender clean sound that you want.
You know, a little bit of reverb sounds awesome.
The overdrive side, we decided to adjust
that so you've got a little bit more warmth in mid-range.
So when you engage the overdrive,
it tends to be a bit smoother sounding, I would say,
which is a great thing.
Solid pine cabinets on the amplifiers now, too.
That should make this a little lighter, then, right?
Yes.
So the Deluxe, along with the DeVilles,
have solid pine, reduces the weight considerably, which
helps when you're gigging.
Makes it easier to get to the gig.
Also theoretically, it resonates a little differently,
too.
It should breathe a little more?
Yeah.
So some people feel that with the amplifier.
Solid pine-- you know, the traditional Fender amps had
it--
it tends to resonate more, because you
don't have anything kind of holding back
the sound vibration.
Sure.
So it's a tonal enhancement.
And over time, actually, the wood
starts to resonate along with the amplifier
and ends up sounding better over time, which
is a really interesting thing.
I love that.
Yeah.
The other thing is, new speakers, too--
Celestion A-type speakers.
So Celestion does a great job with their speaker line.
Generally, they're voiced more towards a British sound,
I feel.
This amp is more of an American or California classic sound.
So we thought having one of their speakers--
the A-type has a lot of warmth and character
that reminds me of my favorite sort of classic Fender sound.
The Fender era, yeah.
So it really matches nicely with the amplifier.
To your point, on the top of the amplifier when you're
looking at it control-wise, yeah,
you mentioned the originals had chrome.
It was chrome, which was great.
But there would be live situations,
because the lights are above, so it would reflect,
and you really couldn't read the numbers.
I feel goofy just saying that.
But sometimes it would-- so this is like a black matte,
and the words and the numbers are white.
And so I can imagine this is much easier to see and manage
in the throes of a live performance.
You can kind of get the stuff identified a lot quicker
considering, again, lighting situations, what they are.
Yeah.
When the lights are dark, it was initially
supposed to kind of emulate our traditional Tweed amps.
The old Bassmans, yeah.
Yeah.
Which, I mean, it looks great.
But to your point, if you're recording,
or you're in a studio or a stage,
where there's not a lot of lighting,
you want to know where all your controls are at.
So having much more of a contrast
with all the controls--
the knobs are white--
just helps you kind of dial in the sound
quickly so you get to playing and not to--
If these get moved, these get knocked around or so,
and so you're able to just like, oh, no, and get it
right back there.
So yeah, It happens.
It happens.
Handle, as well.
So actually, we went from a dog bone
to some more rugged, more like our traditional Fender
vintage reissue lines.
So steel reinforced, so it's great for hauling around.
You don't have to worry about your handle giving out on you.
And so new players coming into the world,
maybe they have a digital amp, or maybe they're
dipping their toe into tube amps,
and they're like, what are these Hot Rods?
So I think it's important that they kind of hear
the way that they sound.
And I think we should go through some of the different tones
that we can get to illustrate all the different sounds you
get.
Now, this is an extremely versatile amplifier,
so we'll delve into that and see how it sounds.
Lots of fun.
So let's get into the clean tones.
For the intro, both Eugene and I were plugged into the Hot Rod
Deluxes-- his is a little off camera--
to illustrate some of those clean tones.
But let's do it so you can really hear what's going on.
With these amplifiers, a great thing about them, two channel--
actually, two and a half channels.
You've got a clean channel, you've got an overdrive,
and you can actually add gain to the secondary channel, which
we will get into at a certain point.
But as we said, the foundation of any great tone
is the clean tone.
Right.
And may I ask, what is the tube combination in the Hot Rod IV?
It's a good question.
So Hot Rods, we go with 6L6s for the power tubes,
for you tube junkies out there.
Those tubes have a really nice, robust sound.
Of course.
Really great low end.
Right.
It's 40 watts.
So this is, you know, an amplifier
that sounds great at home but great for gigging, too.
It'll keep up with the drummer.
Yeah, pushing through that one 12-inch speaker that you were
talking about.
Yeah.
Yeah, and then three 12AX7 preamp tubes.
Great.
So with the clean tone, I'm setting it
up pretty straight up.
The trebles are down a little bit, bass down a little bit.
I like to scoop my mids a little bit and add a bit of presence.
And let's see it sounds on a Strat.
I'll go through a couple of different pickup positions
so you can hear it.
[GUITAR MUSIC]
There you have it.
Yeah, nice.
Being this close to the amplitude,
I can hear that warmth you're talking about.
It's very-- and it really shows off
the face of the guitar really, really well.
I always think of, like, tone as being
like the face of a player.
And this was really, I guess maybe
"transparent" is the best word?
I could really feel--
I could definitely tell it was a Strat.
And it had a beautiful kind of round curve to the high end.
Sounds beautiful.
Well, that's the goal with these amplifiers,
especially with the clean tones, is
that you want the guitar to sound like the guitar,
and like the player.
You don't want to mask anything.
So I think it does a really good job with that.
But let's listen to the Tele and see how that sounds.
Let's see how that goes.
[GUITAR MUSIC]
Sounds good.
Well, why don't we increase the reverb
to get that real drippy sound?
EUGENE: OK, let's get drippy.
RICK: And see how that sounds.
Let's get drippy.
EUGENE: All right.
Here we go.
[GUITAR MUSIC]
Love it.
And it just keeps on going.
Yeah, that's true.
I want to do something right now that not a lot of people
will get a chance to do.
Because, you know, they talk about the clean side
of this amplifier, using it for pedals.
We're going to crank the thing up.
We're going to take it up to about 10.
It does go to 12 if you want to go all the way up.
But I think 10 for me is the sweet spot.
And you're just going to hit a couple of chords.
You'll hear, actually, this is the sound
of power tube distortion through those 6L6s.
A good thing to note is, if you are going to run the amp this
way-- which, if you can, I highly suggest--
it does have an effects loop, which
is great for any time-based effects.
Because we know, when you put pedals
in front of an amplifier that is distorting,
it can tend to mush out your delays and reverbs.
So if you are doing that, you just
do it through the effects loop, and you're good.
So let's crank it up to 10, see how that sounds.
[GUITAR MUSIC]
I have no words for that.
So that's the clean side.
Let's switch over to the drive side.
I'm going to engage the two-button foot switch.
And I'm going to add the drive at about 9.
I'm going to bring down the treble just a little bit--
I'm playing a Strat, so it's a little bit of a brighter
guitar--
and bring down the reverb just a hair or two.
Master is at about 4.
The great thing about the amplifier
is, with the master volume, I can get gain at just
about any volume that I want.
That's right.
RICK: So even playing in your bedroom
or playing smaller venues, you can bring it down.
That's the advantage with having this as a back line amp.
Obviously, different-sized venues, different situations,
and you can bring that tone and modulate it accordingly.
Absolutely.
We can't all crank up just the volume and, you know, do that.
As much as we'd love to, I think the soundmen would kill us.
Absolutely.
But having the master volume along with this sounds great.
And it'll get you the tone that you want at any volume.
EUGENE: Cool.
RICK: So let's do it.
I'm going to play a bit.
And then I'm going to roll down the volume
to show how it cleans up.
[GUITAR MUSIC]
OK.
So now I'm going to engage the more drive
section of the amplifier by hitting the button.
It's going to give me more saturation.
Great for leads, great for a more aggressive tone.
Right.
And you could always start with the drive
and jump on this for like a solo,
just for like a moment sort of thing,
just kind of like push yourself over the edge.
Absolutely.
A little push over the cliff.
So let's try that out.
[GUITAR MUSIC]
All right.
Well, it's my turn.
I'm plugged into the drive channel,
and you hear me engage the more drive partway through this.
Here we go.
[GUITAR MUSIC]
So the big question is for a lot of guitar players,
how does it take pedals?
And how does it take pedals?
Well, I'm happy to say very well.
OK, good.
Very well.
So I've got three pedals here.
I've got the Pugilist Distortion.
I have the Pinwheel, which is a great Leslie sound, and then
the mirror image delay.
So I'm going to start with a bass tone,
and then I'm going to add the delay and the Pugilist
Distortion so you can hear how that sounds.
[GUITAR MUSIC]
All right.
Now it's my turn.
I'm going to start off with a clean sound,
and then I'll engage the Pinwheel
pedal that Rick mentioned.
[GUITAR MUSIC]
So there you have it-- the Hot Rod Deluxe IV.
Sounds great.
40 Watts of all-tube tones, single 12-inch Celestion A-type
speaker, few tonal mods just to make
it sound a little warmer, a little more present.
All pine.
All-pine cabinets.
What do you think?
I love it.
You know, I was really familiar with the very first version
over the years.
This Hot Rod IV, congratulations.
You did a great job of making those small adjustments.
It looks great, sounds great.
You should be proud.
Awesome, thank you.
Well, s you have any more questions about these Fender
amps, or other Fender amps, go to fender.com.
Stay tuned here for more videos.
[GUITAR MUSIC]