Hi all,

I own a G5122DC. Mainly play rock and blues and looking to get a better match for my Gretsch. I was looking at the Fender Hot rod deluxe and was very impressed but I also heard that it pairs well with the AC30. Has anyone heard the Vox Night train perform with this guitar?? I cant make up my mind on which amp to get.

I like both chicken and steak.

AC30

I like both chicken and steak.

Indeed. These amps are apples and oranges.

I think that the Night Train is a better made amp, overall. It's not my cup of tea, the Vox thing really isn't my thing, and it's lacking reverb. What it's not lacking is a super-jumpy volume control (fixed in the last run of Hot Rods, but still jumpy) and the ability to get some good tones at quieter volumes.

You'll need to buy a cab with the night train as well, no?

You might try the Blues Deluxe instead of the Hot Rod Deluxe (great amp). Works well for rock and blues (good amount of headroom). Might be hard to lug around, but an AC30 would be even harder.

Another great amp for getting started on the Vox sound is either a Pathfinder or a used AC4TV. You wont have to put out alot of funds to get the Vox sound.

Theyre very different beasts, as mentioned. I've gone back and forth between Vox and Fender territory, and I'm leaning more toward Vox these days.

I prefer the clean thumpy lows of a Fender but just about everything else that Vox brings. I'm finally thinking that with the right speaker/cab/ tube configuration I can get better low end /headroom from a Vox, but the mid/ high sparkle and chime unique to Vox is harder to coax out of a Fender platform. Fenders have their own upper register goodness, but its different -- up to your taste.

Tone aside, consider how loud you need to be and how much clean headroom you need. Voxes can get loud for their wattage, but stock, they can also break up quick, particularly an AC15 -- but again, different speaker and tubes can improve that.

Happy with my Hot Rod Deluxe.

I have a fender hot rod head. It is a great sounding amp through a 212 closed back. The one Vox I played was too tinty for me. But I honestly don't remember what the model was. Chicke, steak, apples and oranges. One cent discount!....plug in and play them both. That may work best in the decision making.

My Hot Rod Deluxe works well for an everyday amp. It's got the nice chime and reverb you expect out of a Fender. The sound lacking the most is if you want any overdriven tones, it's pretty useless in my opinion, but the amp work well with pedals. I also find it has plenty of headroom.

I've got a Hot Rod Deluxe that I have come to terms with. My only complaint was the volume level jump. If Fender has fixed that issue with this incarnation of the amplifier, I see no reason why it wouldn't make a great amp for you. Once I got to know the amp, I really like the sound I can achieve with the amp. I love the clean channel. I really like the dirty channel as well. It does play well with pedals of many varietries as well. What else did Fender do to the Hot ROd DeluxeIII to make it different from the original?

Link...

Check out this vid! I love the drive tone and how he goes over to the more drive channel

I play a VOX VT120+ and I really wish I'd waited and got the AC30. It's a way better amp and I'm going to have to mod mine up quite a bit to get it where I want it. I've played through several Fender amps and always end up going with something else, so that may just be personal preference talking, but I feel there's better value in the AC30.

AC30 in my world Best to compare if you can. Only you know the tone that's gonna work for you

AC30 - on another note, you may want to check out a Peavey Classic 30. With a speaker (I like Celestions) and tube change, they really pack a punch in a small size - just a thought. The overdrive in the Peavey is much better than the Hot Rod Deluxe, IMO.

Fender Mustang III. Any sound you want is there. Try one before you dismiss solid state. They've come a long, long way.

You might try the Blues Deluxe instead of the Hot Rod Deluxe (great amp). Works well for rock and blues (good amount of headroom). Might be hard to lug around, but an AC30 would be even harder.

Another great amp for getting started on the Vox sound is either a Pathfinder or a used AC4TV. You wont have to put out alot of funds to get the Vox sound.

I'm a believer in the Vox Pathfinder. Been using one with a Jensen speaker for small room gigs since 2001. The tremolo is pretty good too. Six months ago, I bought a Blues Jr III. I like it much better than the previous BJ versions, especially with a TungSol preamp tube in one of the slots. Finally, I had a Vox AC4TV for a short period of time. Bought it used for $99, sold it a couple of months later without losing anything. Just too boxy sounding for my taste.

fender hot rod , 40 watts . nice vox ac15 also nice great tone loud enough to gig . just got an ac30c2 realy nice , for that amount of money you can also get a fender 65 deluxe reverb . i have the fender 65 deluxe and the ac30c2 love them both . both are different sounding amps . i found the ac15 new version to be a good deal for about 600.00 , cant go wrong ! you have to try them all , then you can decide for you self !

For specific reasons, because they really are quite different, I extensively tried the AC15, AC30, and the Hot Rod Deluxe. Both of those were beaten by a Mesa Boogie Lonestar. After 3 months of deliberating I got the 60W Tech 21. Great reverb on it, gets the SRV chime I want with my Strats(just falls short of the Mesa), wonderful warmth of of my Tokai LP copy, everything I want from my Gretsch Phoenix and is spot on reproducing the certain Skynyrd and early Johnny Winters sounds with my Firebird.

I usually 2nd guess myself but I love iteven more now than when I got it back in December.......oh, and 1 more thing. Absolutely no tone is lost with either very little volume or turned up......The Tech 21 is consistently great all around.

I will tell you this, i recently sold my Hot Rod Deluxe. The volume was jumpy, as i mentioned, but i liked the cleans i got at lower volumes. When i sold it, the buyer cranked the volume up to see what it sounded like distorted. He loved it. I thought it was about the worst sound I'd ever heard. YMMV. Definitely didn't sound like overdriven tubes to me, it sounded like a 200 pound chunk of meat hitting a giant rotting pumpkin. I'm glad that I got rid of it before i needed to turn it up that loud.

Night Train thru a Celestion Gold. Tonal Nirvana. RockaBilly Blues Surf 70's 80' 90's does it all Loves Pedals too

with a ric

With my sons band playing surf

Pride and Joy with my band

12 string

Pinball Wizard

All the same Vox Night Train Amp set to basically the same EQ. It really transmits teh sound of different guitars nicely