Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Modifications

Hot Rod Supreme + Overdrive mod

Upgrade your Hot Rod for unbelievable boutique amp tones! Creamy overdrive and luscious cleans that are easy to dial in at any volume all with reliability for years to come. If you have previously modified your Hot Rod we offer an upgrade kit. 

Already installed a previous Supreme kit? No problem, you want the "Upgrade previous kit" option. You'll get all the parts and instructions you need to go from Supreme to Supreme OD+!

The Hot Rod series are THE biggest selling amp of all time and for good reason! They’re portable,  sound pretty good, work great with pedals, and are pretty reliable. BUT, it could be better! The drive channel is almost totally unusable. Nasty and fizzy are some of the words I’d use to describe it, somehow both thin and bloated at the same time. Turn the more drive switch on and it gets even worse! Most folks ignore it entirely and just use the clean side with pedals for dirt. Hot Rods can be boxy sounding and kind of boring overall. The reverb adds a ton of noise and can get washed out quick. There are some stock components that get used that just aren’t the right spec or quality, OR they’re installed in a way that guarantees they’ll fail if you use your amp too much! 90% of the amps we see for repairs are these components failing!

The mods:

Change your tone stack for one that will sound good with both cleans and drive. It becomes sort of a cross between tweed/ JTM45 and black panel. The bass knob will be more usable through its  entire range and won’t go from zero to too much before you barely turn it up. The mid knob will give you a wide range of tones that will sweep from vintage black panel to gainier tweed sounds.

With a couple component changes your volume and master volume control go from bedroom level to stage volume smoothly and intuitively all the way through the range of the knob! No more zero to too much!

With the overdrive mod your drive knob takes you from beautiful creamy low to mid gain sounds to heavier sounds as you turn it up. Kick on the more drive switch for more gain and more presence in the mix, all while being unbelievably touch sensitive and without ever getting fizzy or bloated. You’ll be amazed at how expressive you can be by controlling the amount of gain with how hard you dig in and your guitar’s volume control. Your drive channel will love your favorite boosts and overdrives if you want to kick things up a notch too!

Your clean sounds will be more full range with sparkling, but smooth, highs and balanced full bodied lows and will sound even better with your favorite pedals. It’s like taking a blanket off your amp.

Your reverb will go from a noisy washy mess to controllable, full, and more natural sounding with a much lower noise floor.

All of the most common failure points of your amp will be fixed for years of trouble free playing. Included are the power resistors for the 15v+/- rail and Metal Film 1% plate load resistors. 

New Input Jacks - Your input jacks are soldered directly to the circuit board, apply some tension when the amp is plugged in and you could cause major damage to the circuit board in the amp. This mod gets rid of the wimpy plastic input jacks and replaces them with high quality jacks that are mounted to their own board and NOT directly soldered to the circuit board. The module has upgraded input and impedance resistors on the board for lower noise. 

Proper Lead Dress - Take a look inside a boutique tube amp and you will see all the wires carefully twisted and placed for greatest reduction in oscillation and noise. The Hot Rod Deluxe has all the internal wires zip tied together. I give clear instructions on dressing the leads inside the amp for optimal performance, this results in lower noise and less chance for oscillation.

The Recap Kit includes

Replacements for all of the power filter and cathode bypass caps with high quality F&T and Nichicon caps. Older Hot Rods that are made in the USA are all getting due to have their filter caps replaced and many of the current Hot Rods made in Mexico are known to have leaky filter caps. The recap kit rectifies these issues.

WARNING: Performing these modifications WILL void the warranty on your amplifier. Working on amps can be deadly if you do not take proper precautions. Follow these instructions very carefully. If you are at all unsure of your ability to perform these modifications STOP and take your amp to a professional to be modified. You can also send your amp to me for modification.

No Warranty: This kit and the instructions included do not include any warranty of any kind. The modifications to your amplifier are at your own risk and you agree to completely hold harmless the seller of this kit against any and all claims. Tube amplifiers contain parts that operate at very high temperatures and deadly voltages. If you are not sure of your abilities to perform these modifications then do not perform them.

Available for international shipping, International shipments, especially to EU can take up to 4 weeks because of customs.

"Have us Install" price includes parts and labor. We will bill you return shipping upon installation completion and which will be comparable to the cost of shipping it in. You can view USPS Parcel Select shipping rates HERE . Since we're located in the Pacific Northwest you can calculate shipping cost by how many zones it crosses to reach us from where you ship it from.

Click here for info about sending your amp in for modification.

Reviews:

*Just wanted to let you know that today I installed the Hot Rod Dlx "ultimate mod" kit I purchased from you for my Hot Rod Dlx. The result has been, in a word, SENSATIONAL. The difference is like night and day. Installing these mods has taken a pretty decent mid price combo and raised it to the level of boutique quality tone. 

*Your instructions were clear and concise, and the results spectacular. Bravo on a wonderful product"

Reviews: 

"Hey guys, After having a chance to play around with the post mod amp, all I can say is awesome! A good amp is now a great amp and a lot more useable. Best
bucks I ever spent!" - Tom