Noisy Fender Deluxe

I bought a new Fender Pro Junior about 6 months ago from Fender. I had a similar problem: one of the tubes was overheating. I sent it back and got it repaired. It came back 3 weeks later saying that there were dry joints, and various other things wrong with it. After reading about similar problems on the internet I concluded: Fender have (shitty/no) QA. Send it back and get it fixed, or next time buy second hand because it will likely be better condition than buying it new.

jim, do you have any spare preamp tubes - 12ax7's? try swapping them into any of the tube sockets. if you dont have spares, try swapping the ones you have in the amp around to different locations. If it's not the tube, it is still something that can be easily remedied, but only by a qualified electrician/tech. Is it warrantied from fender? I'd let the dealer know and see what they can do. that sucks.

man, those amps suck. i have hate for the HRD.

I have hate for the Hot Rod Deluxe too, but not for build quality. I just don't like 'em.

Aaron's right, send it to a qualified tech. There's voltages in them amps what can kill ya, serious-like. Swapping tubes is safe, but anything else can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. Actually, even if you do know... Sometime I'll tell you a story about the time I literally shocked the piss out of myself repairing an old Marshall.

Thanks for the responses guys. The vendor has offered to take it back but if I can get it fixed I'd rather keep it. It's only the setting(s) I mentioned that produce the problem. Under any other situation you wouldn't even know the thing is on except for the lights and tubes. So, I could love it If I could use it. The reviews I read from owners were all very positive. Maybe the vendors don't post the negative reviews and/or maybe I just got a problem amp. It is under Fender warranty as I just got it this week.
Thanks for the help and don't worry, I'll not go near this thing to try and fix it. I've heard the legends from people who have done so and had "trouble".

Cheers

I think the HRD sounds brittle compared to the Blues Junior. I've wondered what a HRD or a Deville would sound like with EL84 or EL34 in the power section instead of 6L6s.

Get some Yellow Jackets and try it out. ;)

yes, better saving $ and your ears and going with a blues junior, its a much better amp than the deluxe, deville, etc.

well i'm an ex-HRD owner who saw the light and part-exed it for a blues junior.

my main beef is that on the hotrods there's no independent gain control separate from the master volume so to get the tubes working you have to pump it up LOUD. very very very loud in fact. 40w of class A valve is so loud that even at an ICA gig the engineer had to set the master vol at 1.5. we couldn't get a vocal sound else. this is in a 450 capacity room.

it has an onboard overdrive but that sounds predictably sucky (classic rawk american sounding - dunno if that's your bag) unless the valves are being driven hard at the same time. it's over-powered, overweight and over here.

contrast that with the fucking mighty class A valve sound coming out of a miked blues junior at non bleed-all-over-every-mic-onstage volumes. it has one channel only but perversely i seem to be able to get about 3 times more usable tones out of it than the 3 channel hotrod - it has independent gain control, so probably no mystery really.

i've recorded it, gigged it (sound engineer's dream btw) and it's been worth every penny of the £350 odd i parted with for it. if it was stolen i'd buy one again in a shot.

your choice Jim, but i'd be looking to do a deal with your vendor right now while you can.

I actually like both amps, but this seems as good a time as any to put in my unrequested opinion that buying (new, readily available)things online does leave a lot of people in this position. I admit that I'm biased, but there just isn't any replacement for spending an hour banging away at the thing in person until you know it's the amp for you, or having the ability to just drive back to the dealer and getting them to do the work for you.

Thanks for the feedback. The Blues Junior was my first choice but I guess I let myself get hypnotized by the power of the HRD, esp since the deal I got was good enough to justify the extra expense. The HRD was going back as defective anyway. The vendor (zZounds btw) was very cooperative and helpful. I'm sending the HRD back and getting a new Blues Junior.
Also, just FYI, I have spoken with Fender twice now and both times got a real human who knew what he was talking about and was very helpful. I think this Blues Junior will suit me fine for now, plus couple hundred bucks for gear.

And regarding buying locally, yes, I agree, and if I have any problems with this amp I'll return it and deal with a local vendor.

john, i agree.

the received wisdom is: try in shop, buy online. if i transferred that logic to cars i'd be screwed.

my local shop is unreasonably friendly, know me by name and with any substantial (£500+) purchase will happily match any demonstrable online price for a new bit of kit.