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Help! Vox AC vs. Fender Deville!


Geetar_Axl

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I just played these amps and are stumped. I hear both are very good, the Vox AC had pretty bad Distortion, VERY nice cleans. The Fender had very good cleans and pretty deadly Distortion..

 

But yet something turns me off the Fender...maybe because Ive heard bad things about them.

 

Help me decide!

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Heard "bad" things about the Hot Rod Deluxe???

That's interesting. I've never had a problem, with mine,

or it's "little brother," the Blues Junior. Fender's for me, anyway...

have been the most reliable amps. I've ever owned. And I've owned

many (Marshall, Fender, Vox amps) over the last 40 years. The "Blackface"

(original version) Fenders are still my favorites, but my "Hot Rod's" have been

great...truly. So, I guess I can't really add, to that "bad things about Fender amps," idea.

 

CB

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Is the Deville apart of the Hot Rod Series? Is it a Tube (some ditsy girl that works there said both were valve (tube)

 

No offense, but how hard would it have been for you to go to the Fender web site and look up the amp?

 

http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?section=amplifiers&cat=guitaramplifiersenclosures&subcat=hotrod

 

As for which one is better (assuming you mean durability when you say "better") they're both PCB amps like most modern mass produced offerings that won't break your bank account. For which sounds better, you don't need anyone else to tell you which one you like best, use your ears and judge for yourself.

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1) you pulled a LS-14 on this one.

 

2) you heard Fenders were bad?! oh no, Fenders are B-E-T-T-E-R. They tend to be better made than some of their British design cousins. Fenders come with a kickass warranty and I have never heard anyone complain about their HRD or Deville (or any other amp) crapping out the way I hear people whining about (modern) Marshalls.

 

3) if you like the way the Fender sounds, buy it. Besides, Fenders have the best cleans of any amp IMO. So they can handle any pedal you throw in front of them.

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The fender had "deadly" distortion? Oh my God! Never heard this before... The distortion on the VOX (if we are talking AC30) is very good, it just isnt a "metal distortion" thats all... if you want to play queen beatles or REM (even radiohead) it will fit just good.

 

If you want to play metal, then buy a metal muff or a jekyl and hyde pedal. I use either one of those or a modded metal zone (twilight zone mode) with my AC30 and it is my favorite sound and my favorite amp of all the amps I own/have owned.

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Fenders have the best cleans of any amp IMO.

 

Hmmm... depends on what you like for clean. Fenders certainly have a nice clean sound ( I own two vintage ones myself) but it is real tight and spanky due the fact that they usually use 6L6 or 6V6 tubes. However, EL84 based amps like the Vox have a more compressed and to my ears smoother clean sound. (My own favorite is an old Epiphone tube combo with two EL84s in it). Gotta go with the Vox for cleans IMO. Really you need to try both with your LP to decide.

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I can't comment on the Vox as I've never tried one, but I do own a couple of Fenders - a slightly modded Blues Junior (part of the Hotrod series) and an old 1966 Champ.

 

The Blues Junior can get crunchy but, as Thundergod noted, it's not really a heavy metal tone and can get kind of muddy if you take the bass control much past "4" on the dial. That's at bedroom levels though; the amp definitely sounds better when you start cranking it up. I've tried several different dirt pedals (Analogman King of Tone, old MXR Distortion + from the late 70's, mid 80's ProCo Rat, Blackstone Overdrive and even a few clean boosts) with it and none really sounded that great with the amp and I think it sounds best using the gain control on it's own. The Blues Junior has a nice clean tone as well and the gain control is very handy for taking it up just to the point where the preamp tubes are starting to compress a little so you can get a decent feel at lower volumes.

 

The old Fenders as surfpup noted have nice bright clean tones. My Champ sounds great clean but, when you start cranking it up to get it to overdrive, it starts to sound looser, particularly in the lower frequencies, which I attribute to it having a tube rectifier. This amp takes dirt pedals very well and sounds great with the Analogman overdrive - okay, that's not preamp tube overdrive when playing at moderate levels, but it still sounds really good.

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I love my DeVille so much, it's the perfect amp for me. "Deadly distortion" um hell no, BUT it's got a perfect blues distortion for me. If I want a "metal" sound, I can put it on the clean channel and use my Boss Heavy metal pedal. I actually went to buy a Twin Reverb, but I played this DeVille and was just blown away.

SL380485.jpg

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