Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Speaker Mod

Thank you Phil Porter. This is extremely helpful.

I've performed this little operation on my 2 Hot Rod Deluxes. The Celestion Vintage 30 used here will suck the Fender tone right out of the HRD. I really loved the Reverend Alltone 1250 and the Celestion G12M-25 Greenback. If you like Fender cleans, these are very nice sounding amps for the money.

I did that and the V30 speaker made a difference to the great

Great video, very informative! I was wondering what an alnico speaker sounds like in these amps? Do alnico speakers tend to break up sooner? Thanks

@UKToneKing The older HRDx stock speakers are Eminence Legends which don`t have such a good reputation. I needed to replace the valves in my amp so I thought I would also give a new speaker a try. Whether the new valves made the difference or the speaker, I can`t say. It has definitely made a difference. I think the G12P-80 is perhaps a better speaker than the Eminence. Clean sounds are it`s strong point but perhaps lacks a bit off bass. It depends what you want, and what volumes you play at.

PHIL - thanks for posting this...it was very helpful. I have the George Benson HRD and don't like the Jensen speaker...I think a Weber Michigan will fit. (Hoping).   JIM

My comment was trying to help RodriguezSounds, who was thinking his Celestion Vintage 30 might have died. Assuming his HRD is working fine, the degradation of tone he describes sounds like tube wear or maybe even needing to re-bias.

I PUT A EV 12L IN BOTH MY HRDX'S. IT NOW FIXES ALL THE COMPLAINTS I HAD ON THE AMPS TONE AND THATS ONLY ME BEING A TONEJUNKIE. IVE DONE SOME TONE STACK CAP UPGRADES AND IT DIDNT DO AS MUCH AS GETTIN THAT CHEAP EMINENCE OUT OF EM. IM KINDA AGAINST THE VINTAGE 30. THEY JUST SEEM TO BE IN EVERYTHING . THEY THEY DO SOUND GOOD . BUT I LIKE THE EV12L FOR THE FACT ITS KINDA LIKE THE OLD JBL D120 WITHOUT THE ALUMINUM DOME. I CAN GET IT TO TWANG TO METAL WITH IT . ANYONE ELSE MODS THESE AND WHAT.

can backplate be left on the chassis ?

could you just unscrew chassis , backplate just to disconnect from cabinet? and leave in tubes, and risk of shock?

I have the new hot rod deluxe and when I have it on 3 it seems like when I hit certain notes it makes a vibrating rattle noise ? did U get any think like this

Looks like our experienced technician forgot to disconnect the reverb can first, which makes it possible to set the amp safely aside some distance, so that you have elbow room to work on the cab only. We also install the new speaker using 8 screws with flats and locks to insure that after years of gigging, your speaker stays put. I can't tell you how many rattling speakers we remount in one year! Also we've found that putting a couple drops of super glue into the threaded wooden holes [let dry] stiffens and hardens the surrounding wood, making for a much better platform in which to anchor a heavy speaker. Some speaker frames will have to be drilled to accept the additional 4 screws. We find that with the 8 screw system, torque on any one screw to very reasonable thereby preventing wood stripping from the older 4 screw mounting method. The 8 screw method also serves to keep the sheetmetal rim flatter, especially over time. Just be careful to cleanup all metal filings around the cone edge and certainly from the magnet area. [We tape off the magnet to make cleanup easier, and to insure that our customers receive a pristine speaker decal when they get their amp back] BTW 1> There's no particular reason to drain internal capacitors for this modification. Just keep your ungloved hands OUT of the electronic area. If you're worried you'll slip or something then a good pair of dry welders gloves will certainly do the trick. However if you must drain the caps, get a 5K-10K ohm wire-wound resistor[about 5-10 watts], and connect it to each end of each power filter cap, one by one. Leave it in place for a minute or two on each. Then if you're being extra careful check across those caps with a digital voltmeter to insure that no significant DC voltage remains. BTW 2> The Celestion Vintage 30 is a good choice for any Fender stock amp that normally runs at 40W or below, when  dimed. It lends a nice speaker grit, lacking in the stock unit. A bit cleaner might be the Celestion Greenback, or the Celestion Hot 100 for sure. All of the above suggestions are subjective of course, but response curves can be corrected to your preference simply by EQing how you'd like. Of course there are other ways to make this amp sound better. Just get a hold of us. We're happy to answer your questions. Free of charge. There you go.    Hope this provides something to think about. Hey....just unbiased suggestions and observations. No disrespect meant or intended to the producer. In fact, we appluad your choice of aftermarket speaker replacement. Hope this insight helps someone. Cheers!

I have changed my speaker in my hot rod deluxe and now the panel over the tubes is hot. I put in a 8 ohm speaker do I need to rebias?

just pull off backplate and chassis still screwed together?

@TheTangentUK Sounds like something is loose within the Amp that`s sensitive to certain frequencies and is vibrating at those frequencies. It could be anything, a loose screw or wire... Unless you know what you are doing, don`t try to fix it yourself, you may even lose the warranty. If it`s a new amp I would take it back and change it, I imagine the garauntee will still be valid as they haven`t been out so long. If you can`t take it back, get an expert to have a look. Thanks for posting.

How do you drain the capacitors??

Sorry I meant to add that the Vintage 30 is actually rated at 60 watts.

@UKToneKing I haven`t heard the new HRDx live, only on YouTube so I really can`t make a comparison sorry. My HRDx is 15 years old and is perfect for the music I play in the band I`m in. It is extremely well built, solid and reliable which is very important when you are gigging. The clean sound is the reason I bought it. The inbuilt overdrive sound is of no use in my opinion.

I see. I think RodriguezSounds would be grateful to hear from you. Press the reply button underneath his post and you`ll be sure he will receive your advice.

Thank you. Domo arigato!