Legacy Hammerhead 50 vs Fender Hot Rod Deluxe ($AU prices)

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keir

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http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Legacy-Hamme...ItemQQimsxZ20090410?IMSfp=TL090410123001r2101

"Legacy Hammerhead 50 watt valve guitar amp, 25/50 watt switch, 5 x 12 AX7 and 2x EL34 valves. 4x12 eminence speaker cabinet. Includes footswitch. This amp series is identical to the Epiphone So Cal 50."

It's starting at $600, buy it now at $700. That seems very reasonable for an all valve 50W head + cab, has anyone had any experiences with this or the Epiphone?

On the other hand, there is a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe (40W 1x12) listed in the Quokka here in Perth for $850. I spoke to the guy and he said he bought it last year new and is firm on the price. Does that seem reasonable? Rock Inn and Concept both have them for about $1400.

Just after general advice on both amps, and price advice from some Australians (or anyone else for that matter).

Thanks.

P.S. I play an '82 SS48 Silver Star.
 
Very different amps you're looking at. I've never played tha Hammerhead, but we have a similar line called 'Grainger' in the UK and they are OK-ish for the money, but definetely not pro quality.

The Fender HR Deluxe, on the other hand is a great little amp IMO, but depending on the style of stuff you're playing may or may not be suitable.
 
The Legacy,Ashton and the Epi .50cal are all the same/similar amps.
All come out of the same Chinese factory.
I have the Ashton and it's proven to be adequate if nothing spectacular.
Volume wise....it's extremely loud.
The Crunch channel is pretty good...a nice 70's slightly overdriven tone.
The High gain(Filth) channel however is barely usable due to the volume settings between the two channels .
I use a Zoom G2 for my modeled tones so all I use on the amp is the Clean tone and run a Peavey 5150 model through that.
Bear in mind that these are very cheap Valve amps and as such are a no frills tube solution...BUT they represent **** good value for money depending on what you want to use it for...
as a clean warm tube platform for my modeling effects it works brilliantly.
 
I've seen used Marshall valve amps around the $1000 aus mark and also some smaller Mesa's around the $1000 aus mark and some new Crates and Laneys are below $1000 and some used Chinese made valve Vox amps are below $1000.

I have a Legacy 5 watt Epi valve junior clone and it's ok but doesn't sound as good as my Epi 5 watt valve junior version 2 for some reason, maybe the tubes or slight circuit differences.
 
JohnA said:
Very different amps you're looking at. I've never played tha Hammerhead, but we have a similar line called 'Grainger' in the UK and they are OK-ish for the money, but definetely not pro quality.

The Fender HR Deluxe, on the other hand is a great little amp IMO, but depending on the style of stuff you're playing may or may not be suitable.
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agreed, except i'm not too fond of the HRD (that's my bias for overdrive over cleans coming out, though). But i'd agree that the HRD is probably a better amp than the legacy (assuming the legacy is the same as the grainger, which i've also tried).
 
After thinking about it both are probably too powerful for my needs. I spotted an Orange Tiny Terror head which is currently at $600 on eBay, I'm going to keep my eye on that (although I don't have a speaker cab).

Decisions, decisions.
 
I went and played the Legacy and it seemed very decent. The drive channel sounded surprisingly good but the clean, although it sounded nice and um, "clean" was fairly flat and boring.
The spring reverb however was to my ears the best I'd heard (another surprise). It sounds extremely nice.

Dave_Mc said:
agreed, except i'm not too fond of the HRD (that's my bias for overdrive over cleans coming out, though).
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Well, my bias is towards cleans which is why I went for the Deluxe in the end. The best price in Perth is about $1400 and this guy wouldn't go lower than $800 which I think is reasonable given that it's only 18 months old. I don't have to tell you that the clean tones are **** excellent. The drive isn't completely terrible but it certainly isn't good.

A nice surprise is that the speaker is unpluggable which means I can use it as a speaker cab for my little Epiphone Valve Junior. It's amazing how much louder it is through the bigger speaker. The only problem is the HRD's internal speaker cable is a bit too short, some kind of adapter might be in order.
 
oh yeah, if your main concern is cleans, it's hard to beat those mid-priced fenders. i just get a bit annoyed when all the fender fanboys (not on this forum, on other ones) recommend them even when people say they need overdrive or distortion more than cleans. :lol:

i tried the HRD special edition (it was orange) a while back, I think it had a celestion vintage 30 speaker upgrade- that helped the overdrive channels quite a bit. it didn't make them good or anything, but certainly upgraded them from "terrible" (in my opinion) to "mediocre"... problem was it made the cleans a lot worse. But if you could get a speaker which is good at both cleans and overdrive, it might be worth considering, as that stock OEM Jensen seems to be the weak link, at least as far as dirt is concerned.
 
I used a hotrod deluxe for gigging for nearly a year. I found the clean channel great and only used the overdrive while using my LP. Most ppl make the mistake when saying that the "distortion" on these are crap. Its not a distortion amp but an "overdriven" amp which is very usefull. A good friend bugged me for ages to buy it from me so I eventually gave in and sold it then I upgraded to a Marshall JVM410C. I still miss the HRD now and again. Trick was to get your great clean sound then use a pedal to get your distortion it you want it.

Colin
 
colinhotrod said:
I used a hotrod deluxe for gigging for nearly a year. I found the clean channel great and only used the overdrive while using my LP. Most ppl make the mistake when saying that the "distortion" on these are crap. Its not a distortion amp but an "overdriven" amp which is very usefull. A good friend bugged me for ages to buy it from me so I eventually gave in and sold it then I upgraded to a Marshall JVM410C. I still miss the HRD now and again. Trick was to get your great clean sound then use a pedal to get your distortion it you want it.

Colin
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Or get a Blues Deluxe in the first place! Same basic amp, but without that less-than-wonderful overdrive sound.

Mike
 
agreed, mike. i'm aware that a lot of people maybe don't like the hrd because they can't get a metal distortion out of it, but that's not why i don't like it. It's got quite a bit of gain, but a very loose feeling (at least with the stock speaker), which for me doesn't really work for anything...
 
I have a brand new 808 tubescreamer on the way from the good old U.S. so that and the Epiphone should take care of all my overdrive needs.

On that note, tubescreamers seem to have just become outrageously expensive, in Perth anyway. I got one for less than half the retail price on eBay.
 
tubescreamers have always been really dear here, since i started playing anyway... :lol: load of people make them, or very similar, for less money...
 
Dave_Mc said:
tubescreamers have always been really dear here, since i started playing anyway... :lol: load of people make them, or very similar, for less money...
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Anyone wanting a tube-screamer without spending heaps should try a Daphon Overdrive, they are about 20 pounds and sound so close to a TS808 it's remarkable!
 
interesting, do you have a link?

i'm not sure i need a TS, i was half thinking of a tonerider american overdrive (as their chorus is so nice), but to be honest i'll probably chicken out until i have more spare money... :lol:
 
Dave_Mc said:
interesting, do you have a link?

:
Click to expand...

Here's one on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-ELECTRIC-GUITAR-STRING-PRO-OVERDRIVE-EFFECT-PEDAL_W0QQitemZ160283352940QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Guitar_Accessories?hash=item160283352940&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2|65%3A15|39%3A1|240%3A1318

You can pick them up a bit cheaper usually, I just can't find one at the moment.

I have one, as well as a Boss OD-1 and a BBE Green Screamer and the Daphon IMO sounds the best!
 
Dave_Mc said:
Thanks! :) How's the bypass on it?
Click to expand...

Not bad at all! It's not true bypass, but when it's off it doesn't seem to affect tone, or add noise.

One of my current 'projects' is gutting one and putting it in a true bypass box.
 
Thanks :) Any idea why they're so cheap? I found the daphon website, but a lot of it's not in English... :) and are they actually analogue? (talking more about the things like phasers/chorus etc.) Which of them have you tried- just the od?

will stop hijacking the thread after this, sorry! :oops:
 
Thread hijacking is what we're about :D

I think the question should be why are other pedals so expensive?? I suppose mainly becase they are made in China. I haven't tried any of the others, but I know some of the big USA pedal makers use the daphon delay, add a few tweaks and sell it for $$$
 

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