I hear the Hot Rod Deluxe amps have a problem playing in the heat. I have seen some posts on other forums that lead me to believe that playing them loud over a few sets may cause them to cut out. The advice some folks give is to have them recapped.
Now I like the heck out of the tone I get from my HRD as is. Will the recapping with higher quality components add anything to the tonal characteristics? Will it become more reliable?
Hey DBM... long time no hear from...
The problems with the HRD's "cutting out" wasn't the result of poor caps in the circuits. Seems that in the initial releases of these amps, the factory that was soldering them did a darn poor job of it and had a few cold solder joints on the thing. Touch those up and it'll work just fine. I bought my HRD from around the 2nd or 3rd manufacturing batch and I had the problem - the thing would just switch channels for no good reason... re-working the solder joints on the back of the amp did the trick.
With regards to components, Fender did a darn good job, in those amps, of putting in high quality (relatively speaking) components in the signal paths. Most of thier caps are high quality AVX poly-film caps when/where they could place them. The other caps are high quality, as well. I modded my HRD, about 3 years back, and put in a complete set of high-end, 1% metal film resistors and left everything else the same. It took the amount of noise (hiss) the amp generated down by 12dB (signicant as that represents a 4x reduction in noise power). It really "cleaned up" the amp, tonally, and gave it some "sparkle" and "shine" it didn't initially have. That said, "sparkle" and "shine" are the direct result of the higher order harmonics on the guitar string that have relatively low power. They were, with the older caps, just masked by the noise the amp generated.
Finally, I "cleaned up" the power supply in the amp. I bypassed the diodes with high voltage, high quality film caps to reduce switching noise, I bypassed all the power supply caps with the same to help with high frequency ripple generated by the guitar signal. Those are "normal" mods to make which really make an overall difference in "clarity" and "noise production" which don't really affect the amp, tonally, at all.
Dar
I'm not Dar, but I'll throw in another opinion here if I may...
If you are considering re-capping anyway, word in the amp mod forums is...
Sprague Orange Drop caps for Fender
Mallory caps for Marshall
Sozo better still for either, and the magic dust many people are looking for, in MOST amps...
These choices are NOT based on scientific evidence of "what's best" but real (subjective) tests of what SOUNDS best.
that's what a little bird told me anyway...
Dar — Aug 14, 2008 Seems that in the initial releases of these amps, the factory that was soldering them did a darn poor job of it and had a few cold solder joints on the thing. Touch those up and it'll work just fine. I bought my HRD from around the 2nd or 3rd manufacturing batch and I had the problem - the thing would just switch channels for no good reason... re-working the solder joints on the back of the amp did the trick.
Thanks Dar, I will just keep the amp as it is then and wait and see if anything happens. I play it every day but I do use tube stomps instead of the channel switching and the on board Reverb, but if I went out with the amp I would use the on board stuff, it is just as good (except the reverb which is rather mediocre).
DreamTheaterRules — Aug 14, 2008I'm not Dar, but I'll throw in another opinion here if I may...
Thanks amigo, I guess recapping is a thing I do not need to do according to Dar so, if it ain't broke..........
Right DBM, not for that problem. But if you ever want to improve the tone, or need too...
I have heard the clips for the popular mods on the HRD but I am not impressed with any of the ones I have ever heard. I get outstanding tone with my Twin Tube into the clean channel and of course the most important addition to mine is the extension cab with the EVM12L. That really improves the tone significantly for my taste.