Fender Super Champ XD

N

nocarsgo

New member
So today I went to my local music vendor, planning on purchasing a blues jr, but they were out of stock. So the salesmen directed me to a fender tweed deluxe... It may just be me, but I didn't care for it all that much. It seemed to dirty (I may have just not learned how to coax all the sounds out of it), as I like to play in the vein of explosions in the sky, to the mars volta. When I use distortion I want it to still be clear (ie l'via l'via l'viaquez). So basically the softer side of explosions to their more intense side.

While the salesmen left I tried the small super champ, and was surprised to actually like the sound more. Not particularly the distortion (I'll use my effects for that), but the clean tone. The deville was really nice, but I obviously can't pay the 1000+... I was wondering if there was a nicer amp that wasn't too much expensive that still had those sounds. I still haven't played the blues jr, so does it have that sound? Last question is about the actual tubes... I've heard many people say they changed the tubes, and that it greatly improved the quality. Any suggestions of which I should go with? Thank you all so much for your time!
-nocarsgo
 
Thanks for your suggestion Ocnor. Just a quick question: do you know what kind of sound it has? One of the issues I ran into was the break up in the deluxe. I couldn't play hard and still keep it clean no matter how low the drive was. I'd like to be able to have a really warm sound if possible, do you know if the X212B 100W delivers that? Thanks!
-nocarsgo
 
Thanks!

Thanks man, I'll be sure to check it out tomorrow. I was wondering if there were any reviews or something, I can't find it anywhere. The only X models I see are the
# Carvin X100
# Carvin X100B
# Carvin X100B 2X12 Reissue Combo
# Carvin X100B Reissue
# Carvin X50B
# Carvin X60
# Carvin X60A
# Carvin X60B 115 Combo
# Carvin X60B Head
# Carvin X60Cy
Anyway, thanks so much You've been a huge help :D
-nocarsgo
 
I have a Blues Junior and it's a POS. I gig with it but I don't like it much.
I did change the stock speaker out and that improved it but the 'verb's pretty cheesy sounding and it has none of that Fender 'sparkle'.
The only reason I use mine at all is that it's small.
 
Lt. Bob,
Thank you so much for your advice. I'm going to a music store to check out a bunch of amps, so I'll definitely keep that in mind. The problem I had with the deluxe (I don't know if its similar to the blues jr. or not) was that there was always breakup if I strummed hard, no matter the volume. Now this could be error on my part with twisting the knobs, but I wanted something more versatile. Anyway, thanks so much. I'll report back once I've decided or have narrowed down my options :D
-nocarsgo
 
The SCXD is nice...I replaced the speaker in mine with a Weber Sig series alnico 10s. Huge improvement for very low bucks.
 
So guitar center had its fourth of July sale, and for some reason in the store the XD just seemed more boxy then I had remembered. So left in a quandary I tried the blues jr again, but was still unimpressed. Then I saw that they had a Fender Blues Deluxe brand new cheaper than anywhere used online, NIB. So I scrounged every cent I had (I literally had $86.76 in coins!) to get it, and needless to say I am quite happy. The one I tried at Ken Stanton was apparently in pretty bad shape (or at least the tubes), because this sounds so much better. Anyway, thank you all so much for your help!
-nocarsgo
 
nocarsgo said:
So guitar center had its fourth of July sale, and for some reason in the store the XD just seemed more boxy then I had remembered. So left in a quandary I tried the blues jr again, but was still unimpressed. Then I saw that they had a Fender Blues Deluxe brand new cheaper than anywhere used online, NIB. So I scrounged every cent I had (I literally had $86.76 in coins!) to get it, and needless to say I am quite happy. The one I tried at Ken Stanton was apparently in pretty bad shape (or at least the tubes), because this sounds so much better. Anyway, thank you all so much for your help!
-nocarsgo
Click to expand...

I have an older blues deluxe and it is a solid amp. I posted something about it not long ago, but here is a summary:
1. Speaker is ok, but definately can benefit from upgrading, i have it through a 1 X 12 avatar with a hellatone (vintage 30) and it sounds really nice.

2. Try using the second input, that is a bit lower in gain, i found that the breakup was early like you described the first fender you tested and this helped a lot.

3. Preamp tube swap give some good options. I put some 12AT7 in there and it continued that same theme, same tone, less gain in the pre stages, keeping the clean tone though a wider part of the gain spectrum. I like it better this way myself.


Daav
 
stevieb: Yeah! Good call on location, I didn't know Ken Stanton was so small.

daav: Thanks so much for the advice, I've been looking at what mods I should invest in so that helped immensely. Once again, thanks to everyone, this forum has been wonderful!
-nocarsgo
 
No, the Blues Junior will never sound as good as the SCXD.......Never!

Changing tubes is recommended, but it's not something you need to do the minute you buy it. In my experience, the things that have the most effect on the tone (other than the amp itself, of course) are the very first thing and the very last thing - the pickups and the speaker. You will get the most obvious difference in tone by changing the speaker or the pickups, and the speaker is much easier to swap out. The SCXD benefits hugely from a different speaker, especially if you can plug it into a cab that has 12 or 15 inch speakers in it. I think for many big amp makers, including Fender, the speaker is most often the part where they cut corners. There is such a huge after market on speakers that they probably expect us to change the speakers out as a matter of routine.
 
soundchaser59 said:
I think for many big amp makers, including Fender, the speaker is most often the part where they cut corners. There is such a huge after market on speakers that they probably expect us to change the speakers out as a matter of routine.
Click to expand...

Aftermarket speakers are not that big of business as far as I can tell. I have yet to see a Guitar Center or local shop that stocks speakers.
I wouldn't call it "cutting corners". There is no reason for a factory to put speakers with a roughly $100 street value into their non-flagship amplifiers and jack up the cost to the consumer when 19/20 people will never care, let alone consider the thought of changing speakers, as long as the amp still sounds good.
 
With many good amp manufacturers, the speaker will always be the weakest link in the manufacture of the amp. I love my Mesa, I think it's an awesome amp, but the speaker they spec'd out to Eminence as a E50 Black Shadow is in all honesty a piece of crap. A lot of them are supposedly "custom spec" or are just relabeled budget speakers from the big speaker makers. How many speakers out there are actually relabeled Seventy/80's or Tube 10's? Nothing high class about either of those.

Might be a lot of amp buyers who will never know or care, just like there are a lot of people who think Brach's is good chocolate.........because they have never had anything else. The after market on speakers is, I think, bigger than you realize. You ever seen how big the new Eminence factory is? There's a reason why Weber and Tone Tubby and Celestion prices have gone up 20% in the last 6 months......and we are still falling all over ourselves to buy them.
 
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