Fender Hot Rod DeVille 212 III 60W 2x12 Tube Guitar Combo Amp  

There is only one way or reason that this amp would get a bad review from anyone.  Simple lacking of experience.

  This amp is one of the finest amps ever made which is also why it is one of the most sold amps every year.  No it`s not the name brand, it`s the quality, tone, and complete overall sound of perfection.

   I have noticed a common mistake with reviews on this amp.  The statement that it`s only good for or not good for any musical genre.  This amp is a tone machine.  To think for instance, that you can`t use it for heavy metal or rock is a joke.  Who amoung this genre of music`s players doesn`t incorporate the use of pedals??  What guitar player doesn`t use some kind of pedal anyway??  I don`t know of any and I know hundreds of players. The most important aspect of any guitar amplifier is it`s clean tonal qualities that you can both use and build upon.  This is a fact.

  The only thing that I can state is to learn the amp.  Educate yourself by experimenting.  If you want to have a different sounding distortion than the amp already has, which is a fine distortion I might add, then there are a few things that you can do.  One is the obvious,...do what the pros do and buy a pedal,..the other thing is changing to a softer output tube or getting your local tech to do so.

   Bottom line is this.  There is no reason for this amp to get less than five stars across the board.  It is the same quality both in tone and performance as the Twin with only a few watts in power being the difference.  Fender tube amps are the absolute standard of the industry.  They are used across the world and millions of songs have been performed and recorded by legends while using them.  I will be the first to state the obvious fact that these people got it right.

I have used Fender amps for 20 years and out of all the different amps I have and currently owned I have never had a problem other than normal wear and tear over years of dragging them around.  Not once has this amp failed me.

I personally think that all music equipment is over priced but in comparison with other amps in this price range you can`t score it high enough.  Other companies such as Blackstar throw in their version of Mesa`s distortion channel and without it their amps would be junk because the clean channels on their amps are glassy and thin.  In a few words,..the amps are for kids.

Overall this amp is a workhorse.  I would have bought another Twin but I decided on another Deville instead because of love the tone of the overdrive.  Actually if you play funk, blues, country, or variations of classic rock, alternative, or R&B and soul you may not need a thing other than your prefered effects pedals such as chorus, delay, rotary, etc.  If you want to shred, but your favorite overdrive pedal and shred away.  I play all music.  From country to metal.  I play them all with this amplifier and people are always complimenting me on the tone.

Ok, I've own one of these amps (Deville 2)  for about 8 years now and its still trucking along. Last two brand new Fender amps I bought gave me trouble only a few months after purchase because of soldering issues from the factory. And no, the red power light won't stay on the whole gig!! Whats up with that Fender?  You charge high dollar for your products so I ought to have a decent working red light !!! But I do have to say, get you some Boss pedals and this amp will become your best friend. A Boss Blues Driver sounds soooooooo good through this amp...along with a compressor,delay, and chorus. I really wish they made it possible to cut the reverb on and off via a footswitch.  Fender, if your going to keep the Deville in production, get rid of that lame overdrive channel and put a master volume on it along with a on-off reverb switch and it will rival any tube amp out there.  

When purchasing a tube amp, you must take in consideration the type of music you will be performing and what kind of stomp boxes you are using.......the Fender hot rod amp is a solid work horse, works great for someone who wants great power and versatile tone in a small box, yes the distortion is not the greatest ...but this is a great amp just gotta know how to use it, if you do your homework you will find this amp is very comprimising to anything you plug into it.............also the order in which you have you stomps lined up is a big factor.....love this amp!! owned it for 3 years now, the longest i ever held on to any amp and never even thought of giving it up......

No complaints

Descently priced....it's pro grade, you see them on alot of big stages

I must admit 15 years ago I may not have selected this amp but the more amps i've been through the more i learned and there is nothing better than the vintage basics....(.tubes and stomp boxes) it's the way to go..... find your sound , set it and forget, and just keep playing

I own this thing, sadly. It was one of my first amps, and I think it is horrible. Its feature is screechy distrotion. Please only consider getting this if all you play is clean and even then you should probably look else where. Everytime I plug it into the wall a speaker somewhere else in my room gives feedback.

I own this thing, sadly. It was one of my first amps, and I think it is horrible. Its feature is screechy distrotion. Please only consider getting this if all you play is clean and even then you should probably look else where. Everytime I plug it into the wall a speaker somewhere else in my room gives feedback. If you are looking to get beautiful heavy distortion like Yngwie, Petrucci, and Batio. Go get a Rocktron Voodu Valve and run it into a Fryette 2/90/2 tube power amp. Best guitar tones I have used. Every note of arpeggios and speed picking stands out if you have the technique.

Four stars, lost a star ONLY because for most people just breaking into the world of Tube amps, the overdrive and distortion channels are useless.  They lack that certain... UMPH that most guitarists search for.  The good news is that if you have, or are planning to build a pedal board, or love huge tube tone, the clean channel is perfect! I run mine in clean with the mid's scooped and it's tone rivals that of my Reissue 65 Deluxe Reverb.  I use a Fulltone FD2 for the overdrive, and GT-500 for distortion, they really sing through the clean channel of this amp. The thing that makes this amp is that it is tough. It's built like a tank! On two occations it has performed flawlessly after being rolled around in our trailer, and when I say rolled around, I mean loaded in the front and found in the back upside down with a floor wedge on top of it!  Excellent sounding reverb, easy to use controls, and tough as nails.