Are these Fender Deluxe amps the same? and other questions

I'm on track for mine. :)

66.5 hours this week. 84 hours next week and another 65 hours the week following. :) I'm in the money! I'm also in the major sleep deprivation category. :D

Again, Corbind, I appreciate your long inquisitive posts. Saves me from asking the same ones. :)

Twisty, you've got to get some sleep man! But with that kind of overtime, you'll have lots of extra cash to use in your purchase.

Well, I'm all over the place. Ahhhhhh! I called Anthony a few times and lots of emails about his black/silver HRDx. His Ebay said it was made in 2002 but on the phone he said 2001. The buyer did not follow through and pay for his amp. He found me via my questions to him via Ebay and offered it to me for $300 plus shipping. He said it's mint, great shape, hardly used, on and on.

This past Friday night he said he'd get a shipping quote for me and let me know the next day Saturday. No call so I emailed him Sunday. Today he leaves a quote of $61+ shipping from NY via FedEx. I went online to see why it was so much and found out, with $300 insurance and delivery in two business days it would be $19.01. And I estimated the weight 54 lbs (9 lbs over the amp weight).

I called him and asked how he came up with that rate and he sounded quite surprised I knew what I was talking about. I just shipped both my amps last week so I know how to pack them and what they cost. So he mumbled and could not give me anything but “I had to buy a box” so I asked if the box was $40. Then at the end of the conversation he said he had not even packed the amp yet so that means to me he did not go to FexEx to get the quote.

Then he said he wanted a money order which is cool but I wanted him to send the amp the same time I was sending it. If he sends the amp he has no assurance that I'll send the m.o. On my side, if I send him a m.o. I have no guarantee that he'll send the amp. I took a personal check for one of my amps and even sent the amp out before the dude sent it because I had emailed him many times and seemed like a nice guy. Plus he was just in WI so I could go up there if there were problems.

So now I'm thinking of not buying from Anthony because I have no guarantees and feel he danced around a couple of issues. He doesn't have the manual so I'm guessing he doesn't have the receipt, either. But he said he settle for $50 shipping plus $3 insurance when it was $19.01 including $300 insurance. Uggg.

Then I lost my mind again. Sorry Wes for all the suspense/drama. I know you said it's killin' you. I called the dude in Naperville IL 20 miles from me today. He said he relisted. Originally it was $650 or BIN for $675. It did not get one bid the first time. This time it's listed for $560 or BIN $600 and he will not ship it. So it will be sold locally.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=3741010883&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT#ebayphotohosting

He bought it at a music shop I've been in about 9 months ago. He's a pretty wealthy dude and is going to buy a Bassman. I asked what he paid for the HRDx limited and it was $675. He said he'd take it off Ebay for $580 and mentioned he has only one “watcher” and I know that's me so it may not even sell.

So I may be able to pick that up tomorrow night for $560 with that Jensen speaker. Yea, that's $38 more than a brand new blonde one from MF but this is local and it looks even better and has the upgraded reverb and speaker. If this guy has the receipt (you said it's necessary to have the transferable warranty work?) than that may be the way I go.

Any comments?
:?:

Well if it was 9 months ago and he still has the receipt then that means you still have 4 years and 3 months left on the warrenty (I know I know, I CAN'T spell).

Anyway, IT'S KILLING ME JUST AS MUCH AS WES!!!!!!! BUT, I understand take your time and get your deal! And if it's "local" try it out BEFORE you buy it.

Again Good Luck!!!

Mike

Just my opinion would be to go with the one from Naperville, Illinois. You should consider getting a Paypal account for doing any on-line transactions. You'll be covered if something goes wrong. Sounds like a good deal and great investment into your guitar playing. I can see it now, you'll get the amp and be setting there plunking away with it at it's saturation point in pure Tone Heaven. Feeling every nu-ance of your playing going so thats what Wes and Joe have been talking about.

Have fun you'll see.

Joe

I'm laughing so hard. :lol: It just occurred to me I don't think I put this much effort into getting married in '95! Now that's pretty sad, but enough to make me laugh heartily right now. Rest assured, I WILL get a HRDx and get into that euphoria you fellas are talkin' about.

I also laugh that, when I shop at the grocery store, I don't use coupons. I don't shop like most people. I just run around and toss stuff in the car I need and get out. I never save pennies when I buy stuff because they are a hassle so I leave ‘em on the counter. But noooooo, when it comes to an amp I'm insane. Go figure.

:shock:

Dennis

I am with Joe on this one. Why not pick up that Special Edition? It's got the Jensen C12N everybody raves about. Plus, that is one beautiful amp. I'm sure it comes with the nice canvas cover. I've had my HRD two years now and it doesn't have any nicks or scratches. You could always buy one of those travel cases on e-bay. I wouldn't be afraid to gig with it at all.

One thing I would suggest is get a nice amp stand. I've got a nice Peavey amp stand, cost $50 but well worth it. It is very strong and stable. Gets the amp up where you can hear it live. Many times people play too loud with the amp on the floor. That's because they are not hearing what the audience hears. An amp stand remedies that. Plus, it keeps your nice amp off a dirty stage, and it gives it the appearance of a stack.

Amp Stand

About all that would be left is maybe later on re-tube withh JJ Tubes. I have read many, many articles on the HRD. They say with the Jensen C12N speaker and JJ Tubes your HRD will sound like an amp costing $3000.

You would have one red-hot amp then.

Well, the quest is over for now. I drove the 60 mile round trip down to Naperville and met with Scott. We talked for an hour and played a little. It's a nice amp. It has that special Jensen speaker plus this

http://studentweb.eku.edu/justin_holton/jvmods.html#bass

for better tone control. Likely that mod will throw many of the cool setting you use on the stock HRDx. But at least I bought it. He wanted $650 two weeks ago but I got it for $500. It's more than I would have wanted to pay but that's still cheap considering it's 10 months old and it's mint. The guy's house was immaculate and his office where the amps reside. He has a 4x10” bassman, too, with that tweed covering.

I have not even played through it today. I'll try playing through it Sunday (I'll be pretty busy until then). Thanks for all the help!

:D

FINALLY!!!!! Alright now that makes 4 or 5 of us that have the HRD?

I think for $500 you still got a KILLER deal. Plus it has the up-grade's. You'll have to fill us in on the sound.

Congradulations, good luck with it!

Now Twisty, you have to get yours! Tracker, where exactly is a dot on the map?

With $500 you can barely get a Blues Junior in Holland, so this sounds like a great deal to me. Have fun! 8) :D

Yeah!!

I am so glad for you Dennis. And wow, what a deal. That Jensen speaker is $180. Did he give you the original Eminence? No matter, that is still a great deal. And that bass mod is probably a great thing.

I ordered new pre-amp tubes from Eurotubes (JJ Tubes). Bob recommended the JJ ECC83S tubes. Everyone says this improves the Drive and More Drive channels. Anyway, they arrived today just before I had to go to work. I'll put them in tonight or tomorrow and let anyone know if it is an improvement. I didn't replace the power tubes. No money right now, and I'm not ready to bias the amp yet, though it looks very easy to do.

The next thing I want for my HRD is the Weber 50W Load Dump with Volume Control. Tube Saturation at bedroom volume levels! :twisted:

Weber 50W Load Dump

Yes, that has to be at least 4 or 5 on here with Hot Rods. You gotta admit, that's a cool name for an amp!

Congratulations Dennis. Let us know how you like the amp and how it sounds. It will take you awhile to get to know it, but it is a good amp.

Wes

Tracker, where exactly is a dot on the map?

I'll let you guess.

If you put the tip of your pinky on the state that I live in, your pinky will easily be twice the size of it.

Not only that, we aren't even what we say we are.

Figure it out yet?

Argen, I hope you're right on a good deal. Yea, if I sell it in a year or two I'll take a little bit of a hit but, hey, that's part of the deal. You know about “buyer's remorse?” Everyone gets it. Funny, I have not even played it yet. I've been waaaaay to busy and I don't get home until late so I play through headphones. But I hope it does what I've read.

Wes, you have to tell us all more about that attenuation device. Yea, I did not click on that yet because I have to go move some cabinets into my place in a few minutes. But I'll click on that when I get back. We'll be talking more about tweaking the sound in time. I'll have to play with it at practice Tuesday. I'll still be playing through my Roland VG-88 processor until after the block party Aug. 28th. I'm hoping to sell that shortly afterward and get a ToneLab SE. But I may just end up getting maybe 3-4 pedals and try to use the amp for the sound.

Tracker, I can only think of VT or NH as very small states. Okay, HI is very small but I'm guessing you don't live there.

As a side note, my guitar, amp and processor cost more than my car. Sometimes I wonder about my priorities….. I showed my dad my amp last night because I had to stop by (I was in the area) and he was like, “Hmmm, $500 for that. That's a lot.” But I guess if some car dude showed me his souped up engine I'd have the same reaction because I know zero about cars. Ah, now to do some labor….

Well, I just put a branch on this topic about tweaking the HRDx. Hopefully we'll be able to fill that sucker with some great knowledge!

https://www.guitarnoise.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8893

:D

I'm back again. Had to take a break.

About two hours ago I plugged into my new HRDx for the first time. Usually I don't even bother playing/practicing during the day except every once in awhile checking out something I read. Even then, I just grab my SG and don't plug in and set it down a minute or two later.

So I put the amp on standby, plugged the cords into the amp, processor and guitar. The first chord I hit sounded great. I could not believe how different it was than playing through headphones, my keyboard amps, or the 10W Crate amp I've been borrowing at band practice.

For some reason I played a song called Sin City that I had not played in a year or so. I hit the power chords and BAM! :shock: It was beautiful. I played a bit with patches I use in other songs and messed with some knobs on the amp. Put it on the second channel and the sound was even better.

Since that was so much fun I opened up the blinds and shade to let the sunlight come in. I have not done that in awhile (it's a window that faces south so it gets hot in here unless the blinds/shades are down) but I was so excited at what I was hearing.

I popped on the cd with half of the songs we do as a band and played along. Things were sounding better than I'd ever heard out of my playing. Notes sounded clearer and something intangible. I had to check to strike each string of my chords just to see if anything was deadening or adding extra notes. Nope, fingerings were the same.

After ten or so songs and doing some of those twice I was literally shouting, “YEA!” and pumping my fist. I played really loud so I figured I'd better get out and take a break. I walked out to my car with my hands overhead like I'd just won a boxing match. If anyone saw me they'd wonder what was so exciting but I knew. I even smoked a cigarette which I normally don't do during the day. Oh boy, I'm still floored.

Just to mellow out now I'm listening to some Paul Simon and thinking about what a great day it is today!

:D