Fender Super Champ XD

[Duff]

Just got a SCXD and like it a lot.

It is light and puts out some quality sound. The clean channel is awesome with my Epi LPs with SD JB bridge pickups and Jazz neck on one and the best is the JB and
'59 on the other one.

I have two guitars with flat wound strings and Hot Rodded SDs on them that really sound good with this amp. The flat wound strings give that extra smooth tonality to what you play.

I have a lot to learn with this amp. It looks simple but it has depth to it that defies the generic descriptions and the apparent simplicity. There are tones to be had by tweaking the controls that are not like presets or anything. I have to work with the amp and explore to uncover superior tones lurking undiscovered.

It is a high quality build and looks vintage with the silver grill cloth and it could be easily overlooked as a FM series by someone leisurely passing. Or someone might wonder what that FM "x" sounds so good.

I now want to get an 8 ohm 4 by 12 cab. I can only imagine what it would sound like. My cabs are 16 ohms and the fender technicians told me to match it with an 8 ohm cabinet, don't mess around with a mismatch.

I also have a Tweed HRDx with Jensen P12N that rocks the neighborhood, not to mention the house. That'll get over a incessantly overloud drummer with no problem. What a weapon to have in your arsenal of amps. I also have an inexpensive two twelve one hundred and twenty watt ss amp that will P*** off the same drummer. As in, "I can't hear myself". Tools you can bring into play when necessary. Usually the guys a jam with play way too loud to begin with. You can't hear each other. This is why I'm liking little amps now. They are more practical and useful for home use. They curb your tendency to crank it up but even my five watt amps get really loud.

That Blackheart at three watts might be tamed down a little I'm hoping.

Duffy
Winfield, Pa.

[Guitar Gal]

This SCXD has sure been getting a lot of great reviews everywhere. Anyone who has one, seems to have only great things to say about it. I've seen and heard some nice clips on You Tube as well.

I've been looking at these myself as well. Very tempting. We'll see....... :poke:

GG

[piebaldpython]

Yeah, a marvelous sounding amp. For one thing, it has it's own HUGE forum page: http://www.fenderforum.com/forum.html?db=&topic_number=648268;
where players discuss this ONE amp ad nauseum and if God forbit something goes wrong with it, there are lots of people to help you find your way out of a mess.
If only it had a headphone jack......oh, well...keep us posted Duff on how you like your new GIRL!! ahahhaha BTW, thanks for the advice on the Vox 15R Pathfinder.

[Gil Janus]

I have a lot of GAS for this amp myself. And there is a 2nd thread over there - Inside the Super Champ XD (http://www.fenderforum.com/forum.html?db=&topic_number=654379) where Billm and others have been experimenting with it. One mod that makes it sound louder is to replace the stock speaker with an Eminence Ragin Cajun.

Gil :cool:

[Duff]

Piebaldpython,

How did you know I have a new girl? Did I slip up. I'm still married but separated. You should see my new Girl. She is so beautiful and graceful and smart too. We are actually just really good friends but our relationship has "progressed", I have practiced a few new chords and I'm working heavily on the form.

Oh yeah. The SCXD is changing its tone. Must be the speaker breaking in and me getting used to it.

It used to sound rough at high volume, high gain but the guitars I was playing into it, and still am, have really high gain SD JB pickups in the bridge and SD jazz and 59's in the necks. I think the guitars were overdriving the preamp like guys say about using an overdrive pedal. You can turn up the distortion but keep the level on the pedal down. So the JB is like 16K. I turned down the volume on the amp and turned down the gain because some of the amp models are very high gain already. That coupled with the high gain pickups was probably causing the harsh sound. It is sounding WAY better, no harshness plus plenty of volume, you just have to learn the amp and coax the volume out of it. Clean is more simple than channel 2.

Another thing I noticed is that when I play either of two of my guitars that I just put flat wound strings on, it sounds better, smoother, and round sounding and really great sounding on all of the settings. I think the flat wounds remove some of the harshness from the soundwave, kind of like palm muting or using pinstripes on a drum head. I buying some more flat wounds. These guitars have the high gain JB, jazz and 59 SD pickups on them.

I played my Epi '66 Gibson SG copy w full pickguard and standard Epi pickups on it tonight and it sounded great. My little bit of experience with the amp and the speaker possibly breaking in might be responsible.

I have played on it for about seven or eight hours and about four of them have been at what I would call loud volumes. How long does it take to break in a standard Fender speaker?

I must say though, even though I haven't been playing it since the SCXD, my new Epi VJr through the So. Cal. 4 by 12 cabinet sounds really full and overdriven, even clean when I use my multipedal. I like that combination.

I have the one twelve inch matching VJr cab but can't believe that that 5 watt head can push that 4 by 12 epi cab and get so much volume and great tone. Hope the Little Giant sounds good thru it too when it comes.

I'm setting up a studio in my living room for my 17 year old son and his band. Already have my drums down there. But I don't want them wrecking my equipment. They like to hit hard. No one can hear anyone else. I'm trying to get them to turn down the volume so they can hear each other. So I'll probably just bring some of my low vol amps down there. Not the SCXD though. I have a Crate V8, also loud as heck, a Crate Flexwave 15R, louder'n heck, and a Pathfinder 15R that I don't think I'll let them use, it's too classic and really nice. I don't want them overdriving the heck out of it. I also have a Behringer GM110 30 watt that I keep right by my bed, analog modeling, great amp. Who would think Behringer would make a great amp? You can still get them for 98 dollars from audioallies.com.

They have a keyboard and some mikes and their own PA. Hopefully they will have some fun. I told them they can bring girls over but that if the girls parents call me I'm telling them that their discipline is their business. I'm not telling them they can't come over. They are really good kids and you should hear them play! Except when they thrash. I don't have an appreciation for most thrashing.

They are starting to get good guitars and amps of their own. I bought my son an Epi LP bass and a Epi glossy black LP studio, along with a Crate RFX65 ss amp with some effects built in. I was going to get him the Crate Palamino V16 for about the same price but decided he would like the versatility of the RFX65 better. That RFX has three channels with three separate eq sections, one for each channel. Included the three button footswitch. And he is a bass player. But very talented on keyboard, lessons since 5. He is best a bass and does almost all of his own bass lines. Gets along with people including the egoheads in his band. It's funny to watch him remain calm and cool while they are emphazing x, y, and z ways of playing specific things. That is a good quality many of us lack.

Anyway, how long should it take to break in that SCXD speaker?

Duffy

[tot_Ou_tard]

I know that this is a different beast than the Champion 600:Class AB vs Class A, 15w vs 5, DSP vs nothing.

Does anyone have experience with both?

[piebaldpython]

[QUOTE=Duff]Piebaldpython,

How did you know I have a new girl? Did I slip up. I'm still married but separated. You should see my new Girl. She is so beautiful and graceful and smart too. We are actually just really good friends but our relationship has "progressed

Hey Duff, my reference to your NEW girl was your OLD girl being the Pathfinder 15R and your NEW girl being the SCXD. lolol Glad the other NEW girl is working out for you too!!

[Duff]

Thanks. Now to play the Fender and watch the superbowl.

Duffy

[piebaldpython]

DUFF,
Please compare the clean channel 1 sounds you get out of your SCXD with that out of your Palomino V8. Compare too the "dirtier" sounds out of channel 1 and the Palomino. Since the SCXD is a tube hybrid, how close is it to the Palomino in tubey goodness??? Which one takes pedals/GP's better? Thanks.

[tunghaichuan]

DUFF,
Please compare the clean channel 1 sounds you get out of your SCXD with that out of your Palomino V8. Compare too the "dirtier" sounds out of channel 1 and the Palomino. Since the SCXD is a tube hybrid, how close is it to the Palomino in tubey goodness??? Which one takes pedals/GP's better? Thanks.

I'd be interested in this too. However, the Palomino has an TL-072 opamp driving the 12AX7. So it has a preamp tube, but has solid state gain stage in front of it.

The Super Champ sounds like a cool amp, I hope to check one out someday.

tung

[Jimi75]

Thanks for posting about the Super Champ XD. I heard some dicsuccions going on because it has modeled effects on board. Anyway, I have just checked some couple youtube videos and from what I hear this amp is a very good deal for the price! I have recently bought the Super Champ 600 and I am absolutely happy with it. As soon as I have the chance to chekc the XD in a shop, I will do so.

Congrats and have a lot of fun with that amp!

[tunghaichuan]

I have played on it for about seven or eight hours and about four of them have been at what I would call loud volumes. How long does it take to break in a standard Fender speaker?


It really depends on the speaker. I made a speaker break in device out of a multi tapped AC transformer. It has 7VAC, 12VAC and 19VAC outputs. The speakers make an annoying 60hz hum, though. I've also heard of some people hooking up their new speakers to a stereo and playing music through it for a few days.



I must say though, even though I haven't been playing it since the SCXD, my new Epi VJr through the So. Cal. 4 by 12 cabinet sounds really full and overdriven, even clean when I use my multipedal. I like that combination.

I have the one twelve inch matching VJr cab but can't believe that that 5 watt head can push that 4 by 12 epi cab and get so much volume and great tone. Hope the Little Giant sounds good thru it too when it comes.


The determining factor for loudness of speakers is the sensitivity expressed as dB/watt/meter. A speaker with a sensitivity of 100 will produce 100db when what watt of power is put through it and measured at one meter. When you have multiple speakers wired together the sensitivity increases. Low wattage amps like the VJ sound killer through 4x12" cabs.



Anyway, how long should it take to break in that SCXD speaker?


It takes a while. The parts have to loosen up. As I mentioned earlier you can make a speaker break in device out of an AC filament transformer. You have to be careful not to use too much AC voltage or you'll exceed the speakers wattage rating. Here's how you set it up: square the output voltage, so 6.3x6.3 = 39.69. Divide this by the impedence of the speaker, which I assume is 8 ohms and you get 4.96 watts. Just hook this up and put it somewhere where it can make a lot of racket. Leave it on for a day or so and the speaker is broken in. One amp builder I know of did this to a particularly crappy sounding speaker for three days. He said it made the speaker sound much better.

Or if you're not in a hurry, just play and enjoy the amp :D

HTH,

tung

[tunghaichuan]

Yeah, a marvelous sounding amp. For one thing, it has it's own HUGE forum page: http://www.fenderforum.com/forum.html?db=&topic_number=648268;
where players discuss this ONE amp ad nauseum and if God forbit something goes wrong with it, there are lots of people to help you find your way out of a mess.

Interesting, I found this description in that thread:


Another interesting feature of the circuit is that the phase inverter is the old one-triode concertina-style PI found in the Princeton Reverb and the tweed Deluxe. The concertina PI can't drive the tubes as hard as a long-tailed PI that uses both halves of a 12AX7.

So what did they do with the other half of the 12AX7 in the SCXD? It's a classic Fender gain stage with the usual 100K plate resistor, 1.5K cathode resistor, and 22uF bypass cap. The signal from the digital preamp dumps right into it, so everything gets "warmed" by that traditional gain stage before it goes to the PI.


I was wondering about that. The concertina phase inverter is also called the cathodyne PI as the one 6V6 tube is driven from the anode and the other 6V6 is driven from the cathode. Since a tube stage inverts the signal, the signals from the anode and cathode are out of phase.

This doesn't surpise me as the SCXD, the BF Princeton and Tweed Deluxe are all in the 12-15w range; the concertina/cathodyne PI can't drive the 6V6 tubes hard. The Deluxe Reverb uses the LTPI which drives the 6V6s to 20 watts. Well, that and the excessive plate voltages :D

tung

[Duff]

Piebaldpython,

Just read your post today. I will check this, however from experience the V8 has a gain knob and an unusual tone knob the cuts the mids, raises the highs and lows, or is flat in the twelve oclock position. It works great with pedals though. Unbelievable.

The SCXD on ch one works really great with my multipedal with the level kept low. I turn up the gain on the pedal but keep the level low and it sounds amazing. That's with a simple Korg AX5G. Haven't tried my RP350 yet.

I will do a comparison of the two within the same time frame and see what I think and let you know. I might even use a couple different guitars. I'm about to play my Fender Hwy one hss '07 right now thru the VJr with 4 by 12 So. Cal. Epi cab.

Later,

Duffy
Winfield, Pa, USA

[piebaldpython]

Thanks Duff......looking forward to your analysis.

[Duff]

Piebaldpython,

The Crate sounds great but you have to use the gain to get the volume up. On the Ch one of the SCXD there is no gain to turn up. Just a volume dial and it gets loud. Sounds great. I would say it sounds better because you have to turn up the gain on the V8 to get volume. So the Fender is cleaner.

Preliminary checking here only. Ch 2 on voice1 sounds really good and similar to the way the V8 works. Gain and volume interact to get your tone and it gets loud and sounds nice clean and with lots of gain. With the gain up it sounds really "punchy", I can now see why some people use that word and it sounds vague, but that is a good way to describe it, punchy with lots of gain. I was using a good LP copy for the comparisons, one that has great tone. With the tone knob turned to treble or bass it sounded super great on the Fender on both channels.

It was a fun comparison.

I will check out the dirty sound on the V8 tomorrow with the same guitar if I can get to it. But judging by past experience it is not going to have the versitility of the Fender, nor the volume or richness of tone. I have the ragin cajun speaker in the Fender. With the Crate you need a multipedal to get the variety of tone and it does that very well. Both are good amps.

The Fender without a pedal has a lot of versitality and richness of tones and is loud but great sounding. Some have said it sounds almost three dimensional and I had that effect tonight playing the distorted ch 2 with lots of gain on voice one.

More later,

Duffy

[Duff]

After playing a really nice LP copy with Seymour Duncan hot rodded pickups on it, the JB and Jazz, it is apparent to me the the Super Champ rules.

Even on the high gain settings it is cleaner, quieter and has a more musical tone, to my ears, than the V8. On the clean channel the Fender is super nice and loud too but can still be quiet and sound really good.

The Crate didn't have the smoothness with the high gain that the Fender did on channel 2 voice 1 with the gain at five or six and the volume at about five with the lowest delay setting. On voice 3 with the gain at 5 or 6 it was even better sounding, or should I say different sounding, with the lowest delay setting. Lots of great ringing resonance and super power chords, leads were better too, controlled and heavy, no hint of thinness.

The Crate is a nice amp but the Super Champ is a totally different amp. Just comparing only a fraction of the tonal options of the Fender to the Crate reveals to me that the Fender produces superior sounds. I used no pedals but the Crate sounds good with a multipedal and the Fender does too but I did not compare these yet with the pedals.

To each their own, but the Fender seems to be a super champ. It's easy to use and you can get a huge variety of high quality sounds out of it without using a pedal, simple and clean. It's my favorite amp to play straight into.

Hope this helps.

Duffy

[tot_Ou_tard]

Thanks Tung!!!

So one triode of the 12AX7 is used to do the phase inversion for the push/pull operation and one triode sits between the digital modelling & the power tubes?

Ingenious!

[Rabies]

Just got my own SCXD and it really is nice! Having lots of fun. :bravo: :rotflmao:

[mrmudcat]

Great stuff as always tung!!!!!:master: