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Fender Super champ XD opinions


Thundergod

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For $300 it looks great. If you really want that Fender amp sound though' date=' I'd save up for a Princeton tube amp... only about $800 more and they rock![/quote']

 

I own a 70s princeton... =P~

 

I am asking about this amp because one of my students (guitar) wants it. The best fender amp right now (for my tastes) is the supersonic.

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While nothing beats trying out an amp in person, I like to at least get a taste from sound clips on the web. Since Fender is very inconsistent with what they put on their site when it comes to sound clips, YouTube can be your friend. Here's a good one that goes through all the voicings:

 

 

Going from that clip, I wish I bought the Super Champ instead of my Blues Jr. The Champ is a LOT more versatile and the preamp breaks up nicer to my ear. Nicer price, too.

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I went to a local music store a couple of weeks ago and somebody was playing Boston tunes, it sounded right on so I walked over there and as I turned the corner the guy starts playing the Rainbow's Man on the Silver Mountain intro riff...awesome... He had an X guitar I did not even recognize the brand and this amp. Very impressive.

 

I have been looking for tone at bedroom levels since I started playing 4 years ago and I wish that had been my first amp, it looks like a lot of fun without the steep learning curve of knowing about gear.

 

There is no better motivation that sounding good...

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I had one for a while and it was a great amp for what it is. The clean was great, the amp models are decent, so are the effects but I mostly just used the reverb. I got rid of mine because of the models and limited eq. I was getting bored with not having an amp that had its own sound and not being able to adjust the mid range. I picked up a Blues Jr which was really good but I couldn't get enough drive out of it, so I returned it for a Blackheart Handsome Devil combo. The only think the Blackheart is missing is reverb and maybe a footswitch.

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I tried one today... sounded very good. Seemed like a tasty little amp. The clean channel distoerde a little past 7 with humbuckers, with single coils, never. The other channel, which didnt say "dist" or anything, just "volume 2", had this knob that serverd to dial 16 different amp sounds... (I guess they are digitally emulated, if somebody has any info on it please post it). The different amp sounds were nice, some where great, specially the mid to high gain models.

 

The DSP FX module kind of sucks but that can be said and expected of any fender amp under 700: the sound of the fx is not bad, but the inability to tweak them is.

 

 

What bugs me is that 16 preset amp sounds thing... if the amp has a tube preamp and power amp, then how do you get all those sounds? (please enlighten me as I am out of answers for that one).

 

When I turned it off, I looked inside to see how much it took the tubes to turn off completely, it was instantaneous, unlike most tube amps I've owned/tried/seen. That was weird... I turned it on again just before leaving the store (10-15 minutes after turning it off) and it worked just fine (no 15-20 second wait...which was strange too).

 

Maybe those tubes are for show... maybe I am a sceptical asshole... maybe I dreamt it.

 

Opinions guys?

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I just got this from the online manual, but I shortened it. Channels 1-3, 9, 11 and 14 were my favorites:

1-3 are based on early Tweed Champ amps.

4-6 are based on a Blackface.

7-9 are British models

10-12 are from the Hot Rod amps

13-14 are from the Metalhead

15 is a Jazz King.

16 is an Acoustasonic.

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I own a 70s princeton... :-k

 

I am asking about this amp because one of my students (guitar) wants it. The best fender amp right now (for my tastes) is the supersonic.

 

Ugh, I know. I'm at the local M&P store almost every week playing on the supersonic they have. The problem is I'm purely an apartment player at the time and 60watts is way too much power for me, but I love the cascading EQ, the dual gain controls, and the clean channel options on it. Just wish I could find an amp with the same features in the 30 watt range.

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I think that DSP and all that crap cheeses the amp A LOT. But it sounds good and it's loud. It's a great amp for the money, looks cool, plays well and it's not noisy. I kinda like it, thoigh I only played it once. That second video that RichCI posted is very very good, too.

 

I would go with a vintage Champ, though. I'm serious.

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Which IMO defeats the point of it having a tube preamp and power amp... and the fact that it has to be treated carefuly (as oposed to completely solid state amps). The price could be lower (half of it) if it didnt have tubes for both pre and power amp but just for one (pre?).

 

All in all a nice little amp but I think they could have stripped some stuff from it and it would still have been nice.

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. The price could be lower (half of it) if it didnt have tubes for both pre and power amp but just for one (pre?).

 

Given it would still have the DSP - and following your point - they could have spared the preamp tube. So, if I was to choose between a tube at power or pre, I would go with power, I guess.

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Well,I just sold the Champ(76) for the price of the new one. The vintage can't keep up to the use anymore. I need the XD for at home messin, and practice with the electrics. I thought and I could be wrong, but the dsp goes inbetween the pre and power section. Either way the modeling 16 amp sound s is like adding a pedal. My giging amp is a Fender Twin. With fultone ocd/ xotic ac booster dl4 delay. I just wanna mes with stuff at home and carry only a guitar to practice. Bringing the pedal board home is too much hassle. The amps sound s decent. Power of the Blues junior, little toys for effects. And the Champ section sounds as good as my vintage one did .....with more volume. The Princeton is a killer. Like the Deluxe, if I get another amp I'll add one of those two to my alreadyt good set up.

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I absolutely love mine. I replaced the stock speaker with a Celestion Vintage and it has made the amp sound quite a bit bigger. I tried a matched pair of ruby power tubes and the amp got a bit more edgy.

 

Since I bought mine the amp price has increased by 10% - but with those regular GC coupons and free shipping it's still a great deal at $300.

 

It was a GC manager who turned me on to the amp. I was looking at a used CARR Mercury and he said - have you tried the Super Champ XD. I did and bought it.

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