2007 Fender Hot Rod Deluxe (Texas Red)

The ubiquitous Hot Rod/Blues series is one of the most popular type of tube amp currently manufactured. They sound decent but come with a very common set of issues after about 15 years. Failing filter caps, burned power resistors and diodes, heat damage to the PCB caused by machine mounted parts placed flush to the board, open phase inverter plate resistors, and broken 1/4” jacks. These are all due to Fender cutting corners for price reduction. This amp had all of these problems as well as needing a new set of tubes.

Amp was given a standard restoration. All filter caps were replaced with upgraded voltage and temperature rated MOD/CE/Rubycon brand electrolytic’s. New 2 Watt Metal Oxide/3 Watt Metal Film power dropping resistors were installed for better reliability and lower noise floor. The under-sized 1/2 Watt Carbon Film plate resistors for V3 (Phase Inverter) were replaced with 2 Watt Metal Film type units due to the tendency of these resistors to fail in this circuit. All plate resistors were replaced with 2 Watt Metal Oxide type units for preventative maintenance and reliability. New 470 Ohm 5 Watt Wire-Wound resistors and 1N5353B 16v 5W Zener diodes were installed far off the PCB to alleviate heat stress (by convection cooling) for the 16v power rails due to the presence of burn damage to the PCB. Amp had two new 1/4" jacks installed for the inputs as the originals were broken. Amp was cleaned, pots treated with De-Oxit, and hardware tightened.

The original tubes did not test good and were all replaced: V1/V2 = JJ 12AX7S, V3 = EHX 12AX7, V4/V5 = JJ 6L6GC Matched Pair. These tubes were picked for best tone, and reliability, specifically for this circuit. The 6L6GC's Fixed Bias was set to Factory Spec of 60mVDC at the bias test point. Amp now functions well.