Super Champ XD owners...still like it?

[richey888]

Yup, still use mine in tandem with something (Epi VJH, new Crate V18). I still think it's a good buy and great sounding amp.

[GAS Man]

 

I think I'm buying the 5 watter tomorrow to replace my G-Dec.

 

 

 

I should too. I enjoyed the G-Dec for a while, but lately I've been thinking it's time to find it a new home. It's odd that the tone of the G-Dec is so limited and sounds so small for its size, but it's a good practice tool. And I'm also leaning towards the 5 watt version as well. The Class A should make it a bit warmer in its OD tones than the large Class A/B version, but that's just the theory, the larger amp size might outweigh the design aspect.

[dixie789456]

its a great little amp. i put the ragin cajun in mine..... damn what a difference! waiting on new tungsol tubes. it nails the sound of my super reverb...... with much less volume. i love it and the effects.... while limited.... are preset to a very useable range. best practice amp i have ever owned. could easily be used in smal clubs. it gets very loud.

[hecticone]

Yep thats what I used in mine.

[strat les sg]

still like mine ,I put a Ragin Cajun in for a lil more top end,theres a 1000 plus post over on the fenderforum

[AndersonTech]

I have the Vibro Champ XD 5 watt.

 

 

Best small amp I've ever played.

 

Sounds really good through my Marshall 1960A 4x12!

[Snakebite4767]

I put a Ragin cajun in mine, and some NOS tubes. The difference was like night and day. I mainly use the Clean chan, but if I want to get nasty, it does that too. The speaker change was the real bonus with this amp.

 

Snakebite

[ESchmidt]

I had one but it broke 3 days after i got it. It would power up but no sound. So I returned it and got a second. That one lasted a week and then broke. Im done with them. They sounded great when they were working though.

[C-4]

 

Haven't noticed a thread on these in a while. Just wondering if the honeymoon was over, all is still tonal heaven, or what? They still have me intrigued even though I finally bought an all tube combo.

 

 

It had great tone, but it was too quiet for my needs. I unloaded it as I have a Duesentrieb Aliz

[Meowy]

 

I put a Ragin cajun in mine, and some NOS tubes. The difference was like night and day. I mainly use the Clean chan, but if I want to get nasty, it does that too. The speaker change was the real bonus with this amp. Snakebite

 

 

I put in a Weber signature and a JJ EC83S. The speaker smooths out the bass and can take alot more punch. The magnet is double the size and weight of the stock speaker. Other frequencies are about the same - which is a good thing. IMO only the lower frequencies needed any help with a speaker swap

 

The JJ preamp tube just flat out sings when driven. Think Cream

[blind radish]

love mine .... the clean channel is killer

 

great tube tone, plus reverb ... the rest is just gravy

[richey888]

I was cleaning up and ran acros the stock speaker , had to pick it up to move it. You know how when you think something is going to be heavy, then it's not. Almost went flying across the room (I changed the spkr in the amp to a "Mega-Tone" from an older Guitar Research POS. Sounds decent in there, but the SCXD really shines through a big cab). Doing some recording Friday with it. Will post mixes as soon as I can. (my home 'puter sound card took a dump, getting something else soon). Clean channel, Green Screamer or other dirt (not wild about the models, like a few, would never record or gig 'em), a touch of onboard delay and that's rock and roll daddy-o it's the most!

[hecticone]

Threw a rajin cajin in my mine. Definitely a lot nicer sounding but doesn't break up as early. Great little amp for the money.

[Gone_Acoustic]

Hm, I missed this thread. Not only do I still love my SCXD, I like and appreciate it better each time I play.

 

Recently got to play a "gig" with SCXD driving a friend's 2x12 cabinet. The other guitarist was playing Fender Hot Rod Deluxe (single 12", 40 watts tube). The 2x12 I was using has no-name stock speakers, but you do get a lot more punch and "presence" (or room filling). They hung together well. This was a lodge-like venue with about 80 in the audience. Drums, bass, 2 guitars, keyboard, vocals. Granted, the HRDX stayed at around 2, while SCXD clean channel was on 8-10, depending on the song, but HRDX was staying on 2 not for the sake of SCXD, but for the sake of overall mix and to prevent the building from collapsing (lol). It's really too much amp for anything I can imagine.

 

We didn't even mic the amps this time - they were just in the "backline" and we had more guitar volume than we needed.

 

I'd love to hear SCXD through brand-name, nice 12" speakers. Someday I will.

 

I always use the "spring" reverb and I'm trying to use other effects, but I like a touch of nice reverb WITH them, so I end up compromising towards the reverb. I might get a tremolo pedal.

 

The "fizz" some people are getting is not normal - it's either a defect (and needs fixed via warranty) or maybe the wiring in your building. Another common issue I've read about is the mechanical vibration of the speaker baffle, which is, indeed, a quality issue, but very easily fixed. That has to do more with the cab construction than electronics and tone.

 

At this price, I would recommend not to be deterred by an occasional lemon and take care of the problem early (via store exchange or warranty service) - once you get a good one, this amp will serve you well. many years.

 

Another thing I've read is that SCXD is biased rather cold (to make sure anyone can throw in any pair of tubes and not hurt anything), so re-biasing it makes for a MUCH better tone, even with stock tubes. I am waiting to find the time to do mine. You can find instructions via Google: "biasing SCXD".

[belief bone]

No, I hate it

 

when I played it in the store before buying it, and enjoyed the sound, I was unaware that I was just being lied to. I got the thing home and after people stopped posting their new amp days and the buzz died down, I realized it was an HCEG lie all along, a fad. Now I can't stand the thing

[Gone_Acoustic]

I really don't know what you mean by "HCEG lie", but there's plenty of people at other forums - people with decades of experience, owning vintage tube amps and they still like the amp, they've said it sounds every bit as tubey as blackface fenders, etc. I bought mine based on reviews at another forum, still fully expecting to hate it (because of the digital preamp) and I still like it now.

 

I don't mind hearing your opinion, but so far I see only a statement. WHY don't you like it? Even after I got my amp I continued searching everywhere for everything people had to say (including negative comments) and I gotta say - there's very FEW negative things I've seen. So I'm interested in the negative things you got to say. Thanks.

 

 

No, I hate it when I played it in the store before buying it, and enjoyed the sound, I was unaware that I was just being lied to. I got the thing home and after people stopped posting their new amp days and the buzz died down, I realized it was an HCEG lie all along, a fad. Now I can't stand the thing

 

[metallica_00]

I don't own one but I was jamming with some family friends recently and they had a Super Champ XD. It was okay. It sounded kind of thin and not particularly rich. I had my DRRI along and it blew the SCXD out of the water (as it should being much more expensive). But anybody who thinks these things sound like a blackface Fender doesn't have a clue. It's priced about right for what it is.

[Gone_Acoustic]

how is it fair to compare a 10" stock speaker with whatever's in your DRRI? The blackface comparison was made by a guy who owned blackface amps and AFTER he installed a Jensen C10Q speaker.

 

How loud did you have the amps going?

[valentsgrif]

 

I had my DRRI along and it blew the SCXD out of the water (as it should being much more expensive). But anybody who thinks these things sound like a blackface Fender doesn't have a clue. It's priced about right for what it is.

 

Apples and Oranges.

 

Hows about someone comparing it to a Blackface Champ or a later SuperChamp?

[zigzaguarsnarl]

Apples and Oranges. Hows about someone comparing it to a Blackface Champ or a later SuperChamp?

 

I used to have a Champ and like the SCXD better for cleans anyway.

[catsandstrats]

Here are the Fenders I have owned...

 

1967 Super Reverb

1974 Twin Reverb

1968 Deluxe Reverb

1965 Deluxe Reverb Reissue X 2

Recent Blues Junior

Fender Vibrolux Custom Reverb

Hot Rod Deluxe

Hot Rod Deluxe Tweed

70's Bassman (cant remember the wattage)

Super Champ XD

 

I really like this Super Champ. I dont feel like it sounds like any of the amplifiers above because it has a 10 inch speaker in a tiny cab...the closest is the Blues Junior because of the size of the cab. I havent played the Super Champ mic'd up, but my guess is this is where this amp will shine.

 

This amp is perfect, however, if you want a sub 30lb amp that you can carry to gigs easily, and want to play at low volumes with tube response and good sound.

 

I am a huge fan.

 

By the way, my favorite Fender Amp is still the Deluxe Reverb Reissue.

[katintokyo]

I have ahd mine for about 6 months I think... and finally a couple months ago got the footswitch (my biggest beef with the amp - doesnt come with one, and took 6 months AFTER release for them to release the footswitch but that is all over now that I have it) and I really like it. Only use about 3 settings. but they are good.

 

I do have the mechanical vibration issue, but I only discovered that this last weekend when I was finally able to take it into a studio to really turn it up... How do I fix that, btw?

 

I would love to be able to just tighten the appropriate screws without electrocuting myself or something in the preocess...

[metallica_00]

 

how is it fair to compare a 10" stock speaker with whatever's in your DRRI? The blackface comparison was made by a guy who owned blackface amps and AFTER he installed a Jensen C10Q speaker. How loud did you have the amps going?

 

 

I didn't make the initial comparison, nor did I say it was "fair" as I did acknowledge the DRRI is a much more expensive amp. It's a 15W 1x10" vs. a 22W 1x12". Apples and oranges because one is an all tube amp vs a hybrid amp perhaps. So maybe the SCXD only has a stock speaker in it, but from jamming with the two amps at a variety of volume levels from bedroom level to full blast and some different settings it seemed very clear to me that A) it's a reasonably nice little amp for $300 and B) all the claims I hear about this amp "nailing" blackface sounds are not true. I should have plugged it into the DRRI cab, that would have been interesting.

[Lock]

I've had mine since April. Overall, I think I like it more now than I did then. I bought this because I love the sound of super reverbs, but I don't need something that powerful/heavy/expensive. As others have said, the clean channel is great and so are models 1-6 (the tweeds and the clean blackface models). I also like channel 8, but I stay clear of the rest of them - the sound of a tiny amp trying to emulate a stack doesn't really work for me.

 

My only criticism is that the clean channel breaks up very quickly, especially with humbuckers. Eventually I'll probably upgrade the speaker, throw in new tubes, and rebias it, as that seems to give it more headroom. Oh, I'm also still waiting on a footswitch...

[Gone_Acoustic]

I didn't make the initial comparison, nor did I say it was "fair" as I did acknowledge the DRRI is a much more expensive amp. It's a 15W 1x10" vs. a 22W 1x12". Apples and oranges because one is an all tube amp vs a hybrid amp perhaps.

 

well, it's not about being "more expensive" :poke: it's really more about being 1x10 vs. 1x12, as well as how the amps are tubed/biased and the quality of speakers. SCXD comes biased rather cold (for certain reasons known to Fender, such as being able to throw in any set of 6V6's and not being electrocuted, etc.). Different people have gotten different stock tubes, some chinese, some russian - that'll affect tone. Fender used a rather "decent" speaker in that it's "neutral" so that it can do all voicings relatively well. People who wanted "the" blackface sound put in "the" blackface speakers (Jensens) - and then made their claims (based on having owned blackface amps). BTW, I am not one of those people, I just wanted an alnico speaker. For me it doesn't matter how old or how expensive, if I smile at my tone, it's good enough for me. Actually, I smile more when I've spent less.

 

Again, I am not trying to somehow disprove that there are better amps, but SCXD for what it costs is more than just a decent amp.

 

...I should have plugged it into the DRRI cab, that would have been interesting.

 

yes, SCXD shines when it can drive other speaker cabs, especially nice ones.