Fender GB George Benson Hot Rod Deluxe 1x12" 40-watt Tube Combo Amp Reviews

This amp is great for jazz and old time rock and roll!!!

This amp is PERFECT for my needs. Warm tones on the clean side. and has a little CRUNCH on the "dirty" channel.
Perfect for a Jazzer and Pop stuff.

This is a great amp for that warm Jazz sound very happy with this choice . Philip Courtney was the greatest to work with very informative . The staff at sweetwater work well together you can count on top of the line service from this company. Thanks to you all Ken Andrews

Great amp...Killer fender cleans and a great dirt channel. Kurt Martin took really good care of me.

I have had most Fender amps over the years. I have never been disappointed with the Fender Brand.
I have owned many other brands of gear also. Every time I have dealt with Sweetwater, it has been a pleasant experience. Professional everything all the way.
This George Benson amp and the purchasing of it from Sweetwater has proven to be a 100% positive experience.
The amp is perfect for the small venue, home amp. The volume control is good, It is the right weight and size for my office/ music room. As soon as I figure out how to hook up my Trio+ pedal it will be perfect.
I should add the fact that Rob, my Sweetwater representative, has been over the years very helpful and positive. What a great amp from Fender. I could have bought it at many other places. I choose Sweetwater.

You guys are awesome, I love my amp and I want to thank you for all your help, this is the place to get your gear, thank you again.

I was looking for an amp that would be a perfect compliment for my Fender Limited Edition American Standard Telecaster w/Rosewood Neck. So Naturally I researched by talking to my musical colleagues, visited some stores, consulted Mason at Sweetwater Music and read some of the reviews on sweetwater.com. Most reviews raved and a few seemed disappointed with the tone.
After all that, I have only one question on my mind... WTH?
How can anybody give the George Benson Hot Rod Deluxe anything less than a 5 star rating?
Not only the best money I've spent in a long time, but also a great equipment investment.
This thing "has Tone for Days"...
Those finding this amp less than worthy need to go back to guitar gym and sweat a little, has paired this amp with the wrong guitar or simply wouldn't "Tone Quality" if it were to have fallen out of the sky, landed on their faces and wiggled...
As for me and my musical colleagues, Fender makes Great Amps for Great Guitars
Thank you Mason for your great advice. Your are credit to your company

This is a wonderful amp if you like clean tones! I am still testing it out - but I love everything I am hearing so far. It is my first tube amp and I researched it for several weeks before pulling the trigger. The tubes in this amp allow you lots of volume knob to play with before getting distortion. I am able to play in my townhouse without blowing the neighbors away (clean). I rely on pedals for any distortion, although I play mostly clean jazz/John Mayer style stuff. You can get the same sounds from a Hot Rod Deluxe by changing out tubes (see Youtube for how)....but this one has more to offer IMO (lighter cab, cooler looks, and more that I havent found yet).

I bought this amp as time was tight and I needed an good Fender with outstanding sound. This amp has it. I'm surprised there isn't more reviews. It's paired with an Jensen speaker. Between the circuitry and Jensen it has Outstanding sound. It's like having excellent Jensen sound that cuts sharper than an smooth razor. This is the best way, I can put it into words-so try to understand. For the money the sound is superb and Outstanding. The artist did an fine job with his input. My music background is variety, but started with classical then to rock then to music without any definition-jazz. This amp can fit in any of these venues.

Great Amp! I'm loving it. Thank you so much! This Amp is awesome I highly recommend it.
Thank you.

This is a very good amp for country, western swing, blues, rock, jazz, and folk. The clean channel is bass heavy on normal setting; the frequency spectrum is balanced on the bright setting. There is a lot of clean headroom. If you play with one or more other guitar players at the same time, the drive channel has a very tight focused tone across bass,mid, and treble frequencies. You will be heard without turning up the volume. The drive and more drive channels seem to boost the mid and treble frequencies. The tone is very satisfying for driving rhythm or solo work. The Fender Strat with a Shawbucker pickup in the bridge and this amp is a happy combination. The treble notes are from creamy to searing depending how you setup the amp. If you are a lead or harmony player you can't go wrong. I play small public venues about three times a week with some very experienced musicians. This amp has been a hit with audience and the other musicians.
A final word is buy all your gear from Sweetwater. While other large vendors (I won't name) inform you that your order has been sent to the shipper, Sweetwater will inform you that your order is already on route to you. From Ft. Wayne, IN to Oklahoma to my front door in two days. That is the free shipping option. If you need help with returns, credit companies, or technical advice there is no better organization than the Sweetwater staff. If you are a serious musician, and want to deal with professionals, this is the place for you.

I bought this amp last month along with the Fender Baja Tele. I wanted a versatile amp that would mainly play clean for jazz but also give me the versatility to do some shredding with my strats. This amp completely satisfies me and gets along great with pedals.

I have owned my Fender HR GB for about a month now. I play mainly clean/smooth jazz style. Dislike the overdrive channel of all Hot Rods so I stay in the clean and use pedals. Very pedal friendly. I do use the FX Loop for Reverb and delay...very nice sounding FX Loop. I actually wanted a '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue, but mostly wanted the FX Loop...I wasn't disappointed with this amp. I previously upgraded my Blues Jr to a Jensen C12K (my fav speaker) so I didn't even have to do that here. Great, great amp and beautiful Fender tone. I've since sold my Boogie Recto-verb.

Really brings out the natural sound of my Guild X-500(jazzbox). It's like a mellower Hot Rod deluxe. Lighter than a Fender Twin. Doesn't "break up". Takes to pedals very well.has "Gain" and "More Gain" channels for the occasional Power Ballad. Has a TON of clean headroom. I'm playing in an adult contemporary duo , small to medium venues. Perfectly Suits My Needs!

Great vintage tube sound

True Fender build for sure. However I'm still working on getting used to the sound.
While it is strong, it IS different from all my other Fender amps. I was looking for the "Fender Sound"
in a 40 watt amp. This is different.

I bought this brand new, it has an annoying vibration. At first I thought it was mechanical so tighten every possible screw, it is still there. It is possible there is a faulty valve. I expected a better amp for the money. I would not recommend this amp for the professional musician its disappointing,

If you play only Jazz this may be your amp. But it's a 1 trick pony. I will start off with its CV lean sounds good far to much badd for me. You will fight for bandwidth with your bassist.
The OD has potential but feels flat adjust the eq dont help just screws up the clean side when you go back.
Now pedals.. I'll caught this amp tooth and nails to use as a all around amp.. classic rock, blues,my gigging board I use with my Deville sounds so muddy in the GB . It's amazing in the Deville, Orange, even the Lonestar special.. it sadly went back..

The "Fender Tone/Sound" is NOT here!!
No warmth/sparkle.
Sounds more like a solid state amp. Very "cold".
This was an expensive lesson for me.
I hope this will save you some $$$"s.