GEAR REVIEW
[ FENDER HOT ROD DELUXE IV AMPLIFIER | Doug Doppler ]
the Normal (clean) Channel
KEY FEATURES
has the perfect amount of
natural
3 Channels
tube
compression
that makes you want to play
40 Watts
with a clean tone. One of
the other tweaks they made
3x 12AX7 Preamp Tubes
was to the reverb, which
2x 6L6 Power Tubes
sounds way better than its
1x12 Celestion A-Type Speaker
predecessor.
FX Loop
The Drive and More Drive
Spring Reverb
Channels feature a Drive
control that is not active on
WATCH DEMO VIDEO
the Normal Channel. As I
The Hot Rod Series IV is the latest incarnation of started toggling between the
this incredibly popular line of Fender amps. The channels I discovered once I
combination of classic Fender styling, modern got a great tone on the Normal
features, and excellent value has resonated the new line of (awesome) pedals he designed Channel, the Bright switch (pushbutton) and
with players so much that the Hot Rods are for Fender. As we chatted I mentioned how Presence control allowed me to switch guitars
Fender’s best-selling tube amps. Over the past impressed I was with the gear Fender was at will without having to touch the Treble, Middle,
few weeks I’ve played the daylights out of this turning out, especially the Hot Rod Deluxe IV. and Bass controls. I’ve never played another
Hot Rod Deluxe IV Fender sent for review, and Stan got a big smile on his face and shared amp at this price point that began to deliver this
for the money you’d be hard pressed to find the following, “I was involved with the Hot Rod, kind of versatility. As I hope you can see in the
another amp that delivers the range of tonal Blues Jr. and Pro Jr. updates. With the Hot Rod demos, I loved the tones I was getting on all
goodness that this one does. in particular, the team wanted to take another three channels.
swing at the overdrive channel and give it a
I also have to tip my hat to the team at Fender bigger, more modern voicing. I developed the For the demos I used various combinations of
because over the past year they’ve really prototypes that were then turned into the new an MXR Dyna Comp Mini into the amp, with
demonstrated that they care about the House production versions.” an MXR Carbon Copy and M300 Reverb in
of Worship, and that speaks volumes to me.
the Effects Loop, also using some of the built
Fender recently invited me to an event where I Although it responded beautifully to my MXR in reverb on the amp. Altogether I was able to
got a chance to speak with Stan Coley about Dyna Comp Mini pedal you’ll hear in the demos, create a sound that to my ear was a glorious
wash of clean, overdriven, and
distorted tones, without having
to use a drive pedal. The three-
channel design on the Hot Rod
Deluxe has always appealed to me,
but in all honestly this is the first
time I really felt they got it all dialed
in. My only regret is not having been
able to run two of them in stereo in
a “master > slave” configuration via
the FX Loop!
FENDER.COM
$799.99 MAP
50
March 2018
WorshipMusician.com