Trying Hard to Like the HDRX20

Goesto11

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Mar 21, 2023
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Actually, I do like the HDRX20, it has a couple sweet spots that absolutely nail some period specific tones that I love. My frustration with this amp is …

a.) Despite what most say, I feel this amp does NOT take pedals well, at least not in the way I’m used to using them. For starters, there is no effects loop, as PRS wanted to stay true to the original Plexi circuitry, so any reverb etc goes in through the front which gets totally decimated as you crank the volume. The power section just can’t handle it and it turns to mush. Additionally, drive pedals are very finicky with this amp. I find it difficult to get a setting on the amp that sounds good with and without the drive engaged - it requires some tweaking on the amp to get the tone right with the pedal on, and then with the pedal off, needs more tweaking.

b.) Switching between pickups requires more amp tweaking. What sounds perfectly dialed in on the neck pickup is way too bright on the bridge, and what is good on the bridge is far too muddy on the neck. The differences are too extreme for the guitar tone alone to mitigate so it requires a flick of the Bright switch or treble boost pedal. I find this with every guitar I’ve played through it.

c.) Good tone requires volume - this is not a bedroom amp. The Master Volume is helpful, but you need to get it up at least around 4 to avoid it sounding thin which is ear splitting at home. I bought a Bugera attenuator which does the trick, but there is tone compromise, so back to a) and b) with amp fiddling as you increase or decrease the attenuation.

To an extent I enjoy the tweaking to see what this amp can do. I’ve never had a Plexi and there was a learning curve with how these amps work - the EQ and Volume are extremely inter-dependent. Small adjustments make big differences. You need to know when to boost Treble Gain vs Treble EQ vs lowering Bass Gain and understand what the Master Volume is going to do to all three. This amp is not plug & play like my EVH 5150iii or my Marshall where I can set it and forget it and swap guitars and pedals with minimal tweaking - but that is part of the fun and I’ve found some particularly sweet tone pairings I’ll share here:
  1. For dirt, my Marshall Guv’nor seems to gel well with this amp. Again, not always a simple switch without tweaking the amp setting but overall it pairs nicely, as does the Nobels ODR 1 for a little more drive articulation.
  2. The Vertex SSS SRV is super helpful in the tone adjusting department - having that pedal dialed in is an easy tone enhancer/boost to accommodate pickup switching. I thought it may be redundant given it’s objective, but it is totally complimentary
  3. Surprisingly, the Catalinbread Dreamcoat (Ritchie Blackmore clone) just sounds phenomenal with this amp. I haven’t been able to make it work well so far with my other amps. I was hoping to be able to get a faux fuzz/ psychedellic distortion with the HDRX’s Plexi- like platform and that pedal was the magic ticket for doing so at a reasonable volume. Add to that an MXR 90 phase or vibe pedal and you have swirly whirly Voodoo Chile distortion ecstasy.
After awhile I finally reached a point where I like this amp - it took time and patience, but if the relationship continues it may actually grow into love.
 
I would say that the Guv'nor or SSS are not the right kind of pedal for this amp. It's an amp-in-a-box going into a similar-sounding amp. Bad combo. Try something like a Tube Screamer or a Klon to drive the amp a little harder and you will find nirvana.

I LOVE the sound of it so much, I may replace my Suhr Badger 18 with one.
 
I would say that the Guv'nor or SSS are not the right kind of pedal for this amp. It's an amp-in-a-box going into a similar-sounding amp. Bad combo. Try something like a Tube Screamer or a Klon to drive the amp a little harder and you will find nirvana.

I LOVE the sound of it so much, I may replace my Suhr Badger 18 with one.
I’ve always been interested in the Badger. Is the HDRX really better than that?
 
Actually, I do like the HDRX20, it has a couple sweet spots that absolutely nail some period specific tones that I love. My frustration with this amp is …

a.) Despite what most say, I feel this amp does NOT take pedals well, at least not in the way I’m used to using them. For starters, there is no effects loop, as PRS wanted to stay true to the original Plexi circuitry, so any reverb etc goes in through the front which gets totally decimated as you crank the volume. The power section just can’t handle it and it turns to mush. Additionally, drive pedals are very finicky with this amp. I find it difficult to get a setting on the amp that sounds good with and without the drive engaged - it requires some tweaking on the amp to get the tone right with the pedal on, and then with the pedal off, needs more tweaking.

b.) Switching between pickups requires more amp tweaking. What sounds perfectly dialed in on the neck pickup is way too bright on the bridge, and what is good on the bridge is far too muddy on the neck. The differences are too extreme for the guitar tone alone to mitigate so it requires a flick of the Bright switch or treble boost pedal. I find this with every guitar I’ve played through it.

c.) Good tone requires volume - this is not a bedroom amp. The Master Volume is helpful, but you need to get it up at least around 4 to avoid it sounding thin which is ear splitting at home. I bought a Bugera attenuator which does the trick, but there is tone compromise, so back to a) and b) with amp fiddling as you increase or decrease the attenuation.

To an extent I enjoy the tweaking to see what this amp can do. I’ve never had a Plexi and there was a learning curve with how these amps work - the EQ and Volume are extremely inter-dependent. Small adjustments make big differences. You need to know when to boost Treble Gain vs Treble EQ vs lowering Bass Gain and understand what the Master Volume is going to do to all three. This amp is not plug & play like my EVH 5150iii or my Marshall where I can set it and forget it and swap guitars and pedals with minimal tweaking - but that is part of the fun and I’ve found some particularly sweet tone pairings I’ll share here:
  1. For dirt, my Marshall Guv’nor seems to gel well with this amp. Again, not always a simple switch without tweaking the amp setting but overall it pairs nicely, as does the Nobels ODR 1 for a little more drive articulation.
  2. The Vertex SSS SRV is super helpful in the tone adjusting department - having that pedal dialed in is an easy tone enhancer/boost to accommodate pickup switching. I thought it may be redundant given it’s objective, but it is totally complimentary
  3. Surprisingly, the Catalinbread Dreamcoat (Ritchie Blackmore clone) just sounds phenomenal with this amp. I haven’t been able to make it work well so far with my other amps. I was hoping to be able to get a faux fuzz/ psychedellic distortion with the HDRX’s Plexi- like platform and that pedal was the magic ticket for doing so at a reasonable volume. Add to that an MXR 90 phase or vibe pedal and you have swirly whirly Voodoo Chile distortion ecstasy.
After awhile I finally reached a point where I like this amp - it took time and patience, but if the relationship continues it may actually grow into love.
The HDRX 20 has become my favorite amp. Of course i still love my old Fenders: my 60's Deluxe Reverb and Princeton Reverbs. But the HDRX is what I look forward to playing through when it's time to play.

There are a few absolute MUST HAVES to get the most out of this amp...especially at lower volume levels:

Celestion 12" speakers. That's a must. I've been using G12H30's.

A really good pedal board is another absolute must with the HDRX.

Some reverb and/or delay. Otherwise it sounds to dry. I use a Hall of fame reverb pedal and Timeline delay.

And it needs some great Overdrive pedals. I have a Hot Cake, Dover Drive and Klon KTR on my board, as well as a Wampler Ego compressor.

I never rely on the HDRX to provide my overdrive. I always use my pedals.

I keep the preamp volumes at about 1/2 up (it varies) and the master at somewhere between the 9 O'Clock and Noon. Rarely louder than that.

I don't use two HDRX amps. I have two, but only use them one at a time.

I'm still working with the arrangement and order of the pedals on my little pedalboard:

 
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I don't

The HDRX 20 has become my favorite amp. Of course i still love my old Fenders: my 60's Deluxe Reverb and Princeton Reverbs. But the HDRX is what I look forward to playing through when it's time to play.

There are a few absolute MUST HAVES to get the most out of this amp...especially at lower volume levels:

Celestion 12" speakers. That's a must. I've been using G12H30's.

A really good pedal board is another absolute must with the HDRX.

Some reverb and/or delay. Otherwise it sounds to dry. I use a Hall of fame reverb pedal and Timeline delay.

And it needs some great Overdrive pedals. I have a Hot Cake, Dover Drive and Klon KTR on my board, as well as a Wampler Ego compressor.

I never rely on the HDRX to provide my overdrive. I always use my pedals.

I keep the preamp volumes at about 1/2 up (it varies) and the master at somewhere between the 9 O'Clock and Noon. Rarely louder than that.

I don't use two HDRX amps. I have two, but only use them one at a time.

I'm still working with the arrangement and order of the pedals on my little pedalboard:

I’ll open the bidding for that unused, second amp… at $12.
 
I’ll open the bidding for that unused, second amp… at $12.
Ha! Thanks but no thanks.

I like to have a spare on hand of something that's become a favorite.

That second one for $400 was an unexpected windfall. I never expected to win that auction. I expected to be outbid!

When it arrived it was just like the guy said: like new!

His shipping charge was a rip off but otherwise it was a great deal.
 
Ha! Thanks but no thanks.

I like to have a spare on hand of something that's become a favorite.

That second one for $400 was an unexpected windfall. I never expected to win that auction. I expected to be outbid!

When it arrived it was just like the guy said: like new!

His shipping charge was a rip off but otherwise it was a great deal.
Yes, that is an old running joke, for me to “open the bidding at $12”.

I’m still interested in one of these but A) need to know it will also work well with humbuckers and B) need to believe it can sound great without depending on pedals for the gain. If I buy another amp, I will use pedals with it for flavor, but don’t want it to be “required” to get good rocking tones out of it.
 
I would say that the Guv'nor or SSS are not the right kind of pedal for this amp. It's an amp-in-a-box going into a similar-sounding amp. Bad combo. Try something like a Tube Screamer or a Klon to drive the amp a little harder and you will find nirvana.

I LOVE the sound of it so much, I may replace my Suhr Badger 18 with one.
That's amazing, the Badger 18 is a fantastic amp.
 
Yes, that is an old running joke, for me to “open the bidding at $12”.

I’m still interested in one of these but A) need to know it will also work well with humbuckers and B) need to believe it can sound great without depending on pedals for the gain. If I buy another amp, I will use pedals with it for flavor, but don’t want it to be “required” to get good rocking tones out of it.
My experience is that the HDRX DOES need reverb, delay and a good overdrive pedal.

All alone by itself it sounds dry and the overdrive from the amp alone doesn't blow me away.

It seems to have been designed to be pedal friendly and with the pedals in front. Old school.

And it needs the sound of Celestion speakers.

This speaker cab has two 12" Warehouse Sound Veteran 30's. They're supposedly an improved version of the Celestion Vintage 30.

Honestly, they don't sound as good! I bought them because Nashville studio ace Brent Mason bragged them up so much that I wanted to give them a try.

But my Matchless cab with one Celestion G12H30 has the thump and the growl and the bark to rock out.

These Veteran 30's don't. They're much more neutral and i don't like them as much as my Celestions.

The right speakers are a must for the HDRX amp to get the sound that PRS intended, and the right speakers are Celestions.

IMO, Celestions are at least 1/2 of the Marshall sound. Vox too.

Use some other brand and they don't sound like a Marshall or a Vox.

 
I would say that the Guv'nor or SSS are not the right kind of pedal for this amp. It's an amp-in-a-box going into a similar-sounding amp. Bad combo. Try something like a Tube Screamer or a Klon to drive the amp a little harder and you will find nirvana.

I LOVE the sound of it so much, I may replace my Suhr Badger 18 with one.
I agree with your logic here, and it does sound quite good with the Nobels ODR as well, but for whatever reason those two pedals work really well. o_O
 
I don't

The HDRX 20 has become my favorite amp. Of course i still love my old Fenders: my 60's Deluxe Reverb and Princeton Reverbs. But the HDRX is what I look forward to playing through when it's time to play.

There are a few absolute MUST HAVES to get the most out of this amp...especially at lower volume levels:

Celestion 12" speakers. That's a must. I've been using G12H30's.

A really good pedal board is another absolute must with the HDRX.

Some reverb and/or delay. Otherwise it sounds to dry. I use a Hall of fame reverb pedal and Timeline delay.

And it needs some great Overdrive pedals. I have a Hot Cake, Dover Drive and Klon KTR on my board, as well as a Wampler Ego compressor.

I never rely on the HDRX to provide my overdrive. I always use my pedals.

I keep the preamp volumes at about 1/2 up (it varies) and the master at somewhere between the 9 O'Clock and Noon. Rarely louder than that.

I don't use two HDRX amps. I have two, but only use them one at a time.

I'm still working with the arrangement and order of the pedals on my little pedalboard:

I've been running it through a Marshall 1965 4x10... I'll give the 4x12 a run and see what that does, but my guess is the tweaking will continue. It's just how this amp is designed. :cool:
 
I would say that the Guv'nor or SSS are not the right kind of pedal for this amp. It's an amp-in-a-box going into a similar-sounding amp. Bad combo. Try something like a Tube Screamer or a Klon to drive the amp a little harder and you will find nirvana.

I LOVE the sound of it so much, I may replace my Suhr Badger 18 with one.
I only know what works for me.

I play a Strat or Silver Sky and my 90's CE22's with Dragon 1 pickups through the HDRX 20 and Celestion speakers.

The Klon sounds great as does my TS 808 altho my TS 808 isn't on my pedalboard these days. The Dover Drive and Hot Cake are.

I also like to use just a little compression from a Wampler Ego but it's not a must.

Basically I set the amp for a cleanish/semi-clean tone when my overdrive and boost pedals are off, and use my pedals to get progressively more saturated lead tones with the hot humbuckers in the CE22's.

My Silver Sky sounds great through the Dover Drive. Gets those Eric Johnson sort of violin tones and can be set for fuzzier tones too.

I think of the Hot Cake as being great with the CE22 for mildly overdriven Rock and Southern Rock solos and rhythm. Think ZZ Top, Allman Brothers...
 
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For me the HDRX works really well at low volume pretty much run the master and both Vol at about 2 turning the bass down pretty low and the mid and Treble just below noon to taste , my issue ended up being the Mids became harsh really easily.
I currently use a Line 6 HXFX for all of my delay and reverb and most gain , I do also have a couple of drive pedals in the loop of the HXFX and an expression pedal for a Wah.
I use this set up for my 2 non effects loop amps works killer :)
 
Seems to me that a Woodstock-Era modified Marshall design should do certain things in certain ways. So just for fun, let's revisit what Jimi was using at Woodstock, which was typical of his effects during that 1969 era. The article linked below includes very clear photos of his pedals.

What you find is the 100 Watt Marshalls - and 4xEL34s without a Master Volume will have a thing going that's pretty specific - combined with:

Vox Wah (modded by Roger Mayer or Dave Weyer)

Dallas Arbiter Fuzz-Face modded by Roger Mayer

Shin-Ei Univibe

The amps were run through 4x12 Marshall Stacks running 4 Celestion Greenbacks.


And that's it. No reverb, no delay, no overdrives, etc.

That's exactly, 100%, the gear the amp that PRS cloned was intended to work with.

Now, that doesn't mean the amp can't work with plenty of other stuff - of course it can! Any amp can work with a variety of things. But in terms of how Hendrix envisioned it, this is what it was designed for.


It's my feeling that this type of gear is the baseline of what the amp was designed to use, and there are plenty of versions of all of these on the market.

What Hendrix did NOT use was reverb, delay, overdrives, or (obviously) digital effects. He was very specific.

It's my belief that because of the iron, the speaker arrays, and the venues Hendrix played (large venues), the specific nature of a 100W amp driven by 4 EL34s, into 4x12 cabs (in large venues) created plenty of "air" and reverb wasn't needed or desired.

Whether a 20W amp can do that is academic. No one here is playing Woodstock, the Grande Ballroom, the Fillmore, outdoor concert venues, or the other types of places Jimi played. Does it make sense to play a 20W version of the amp? Sure! But it's going to sound a bit different.

My HXDA has 'HX' settings. I like it with a tube tape echo, and no other pedals, through a 2x12 closed-back cab, with 2 Celestion V30s. Honestly, I'd probably like it through ANY 2x12 closed back cab (I used it to good effect with a Mesa recto 2x12 for example). But of course Duane Allman ran his Plexi Superbass through a 4x12 with the back off the cab, loaded with EVs. Go figure. We're all different!

Another point I'd like to make is that everyone's taste is different. It really doesn't matter what one person here likes with a given amp, what matters is what the player likes with that amp, and everything else is irrelevant.

This is why I think it makes no sense at all to ask someone else whether an amp takes pedals well, because the questions becomes, what kinds of pedals? Or whether it gets great overdriven sounds on its own, because the questions is, 'which overdriven sounds'?

You have to play through an amp to know what is going to work for you, or not, and to speculate, or even ask others, is folly. Just my two cents.
 
I didn't buy the HDRX to sound like Jimi. I bought it because I liked the way the amp sounded in the demos I heard.


Jimi did use reverb and echo in the studio a lot! Clearly he liked his Marshalls juiced with some reverb and echo.

Adds ambience to a dry sound, especially in a small room.

Of course the gigs Jimi played were either outside or in big concert halls. So he didn't need artificial ambience or echo or reverb.

But I think he'd be using it today if he was around. Everyone does!

Jimi was gigging half a century ago! 53 years ago?

If he was here, gigging today, he'd be taking advantage of today's technology, and not trying to sound like he did 50 years ago when today's pedals didn't even exist.

I'm pretty sure his live sound would be closer to his studio sound.
 
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