DV Mark 12 vs Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

[Caillou]

When I bought my DV Mark Jazz 12, I was disapointed. The sound was boxy, flat and all the adjectives you used to describe it. But after 10 days of playing, I was in love
Why ?! I guess the speaker needed a certain time to break in and delivers its true sound
I have a Princeton Reverb 65 clone and the DV Mark (12 and LJ). I can't say that one is better than the other. Just different beasts

[Tal_175]

When I bought my DV Mark Jazz 12, I was disapointed. The sound was boxy, flat and all the adjectives you used to describe it. But after 10 days of playing, I was in love
Why ?! I guess the speaker needed a certain time to break in and delivers its true sound
I have a Princeton Reverb 65 clone and the DV Mark (12 and LJ). I can't say that one is better than the other. Just different beasts

I think it's mostly that you ears get used to the sound of the amp and maybe subconsciously your start playing a bit differently with that amp to make it sound they way you like it.

[bluejaybill]

One of the biggest problems with the entire series of Blues and Hot Rod amps is that the clean volume pots have a very steep taper, so volume is very hard to control. On our Blues Deluxe, the clean volume is whisper quiet between 7 and 9 o'clock but blazingly loud at 9:01. I swapped 12AY7s for the OEM 12AX7s in V1 and V2, which tamed this a fair amount. But the ideal solution is to replace the pot with a more linear tapered substitute.

This is not as much of a problem with the "lead" channel(s), because the cascaded gain pots give finer control over output volume. Unfortunately, the tone through the lead channel(s) is not really suited for most jazz. Some may like it for fusion and funkier styles, but it's far too rough and grainy for my taste.

The vintage ones have the same problem, in my music room, 2 on a '66 Deluxe Reverb is too soft, and 2.25 is too loud!