Fender Super Champ XD or Champ 25SE- Which To Sell?

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stevieb

Just another guy, really.
I find I am in gear DE-aquisition mode, lately, and am selling amps, among other things. In my collection is a recent Super Champ XD, with a Ragin Cajun 10" upgrade speaker, and a Champ SE, with it's original Fender 12". They just seem to be too close to one another, and I think I should sell one. Help me out- what's YOUR opinion?

The SCXD has 2 6V6 power tubes and a SS pre-amp. 15 watts. 10" Eminence Ragin Cajun replacement speaker (no room in cab for a 12, I have checked). On-board DSP effects with level control, 16 amp voices (Vintage black face, hi-gain, jazz clean, acoustic, etc.) No effects loop, but on-board effects makes up for that, some. Smaller, lighter, easier to carry than the 25SE- for that reason, I find I bring it to rehearsal more.

The Champ 25SE has 2 6L6 power tubes and a SS pre-amp. 25 watts. 12" Fender "special design" speaker. Effects loop, line out, headphone out, speaker is hard-wired so I'd have to jump thru a few hoops to use an attenuator. Clean and dist. channels, altho the dist. channel is just way too much distortion, so rarely use it. Power and standby switches, standby has a cool blinking LED that tells me when amp is on standby or full on- actually a pretty useful feature, no guessing.

Either amp COULD go to the recording side of our studio in New Orleans, but I wonder if it would get any use.

50-watt attenuator is too much attenuation for the SCXD, even at lower settings, so I guess I'd need to get a smaller attenuator if I want tube OD at lower volumes. I suppose I should rig up cables on the 25SE to hear how it reacts to that attenuator...

So, what do YOU think? Which one to sell?
 
Personally, I would KEEP the Super Champ XD. It has so many variables and goes with about any genre. You never know who's gonna pop in the door next and with that amp, it will offer way more than the other.
That being said, guitarists are usually tone freaks and will bring their own amp and then raise a fuss when the recording does not capture all the nuances (that nobody else can hear anyway)

I bought a relatively cheap attenuator on Ebay. Think it was $65.00. It had a bright switch for hi losses and works great.
 
Hmmm...Are these the only amps available? I would personally get rid of both and get one with tube preamp and power amp sections. I admit that I'm primarily a guitar player, but to me the differences between all tube vs. solid state in my guitar amps are both sonic and tactile. When you dig into a tube amp by playing harder you get more grit, while laying back on the attack cleans it up a bit. Just my own humble opinion. Even when not recording through my amp, I use a Mesa Boogie V Twin pedal on my desk to get the tubes in line to the computer inputs. Sounds "warmer" with the tubes, and does the same for my wife's violin. YMMV, and good luck on the tone hunt!
 
stevek said:
i would personally get rid of both and get one with tube preamp and power amp sections. I admit that i'm primarily a guitar player, but to me the differences between all tube vs. Solid state in my guitar amps are both sonic and tactile.
Click to expand...

+10000000000000....
 
I have several other amps, including a vintage Twin Reverb, a vintage Deluxe Reverb, a vintage 5-watt amp (with tremolo,) a vintage Ampeg VT-40, and a re-issue Ampeg Reverberocket. I have had, and sold, about twice that number of all-tube amps. I am will set for all-tube amps. Whether I keep any, all or none of those is besides the point. You can't out tube-snob me- I am way past that, so don't waste your time trying.:rolleyes: :)

In other words, just answer the question as posed, please. Which of the two in the OP- Super Champ XD, or Champ 25SE, do you think is the best one to keep? Thank you.

And as for YOU, Matttheaxe... yours is EXACTLY the kind of response I am looking for.:D Thanks.

EDIT: See my next post...
 
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Not tryin' to bust your chops, just trying to direct you to what I really would like to hear. Thanks for your interest, really.
 
stevieb said:
I have several other amps, including a vintage Twin Reverb, a vintage Deluxe Reverb, a vintage 5-watt amp (with tremolo,) a vintage Ampeg VT-40, and a re-issue Ampeg Reverberocket. I have had, and sold, about twice that number of all-tube amps. I am will set for all-tube amps. Whether I keep any, all or none of those is besides the point. You can't out tube-snob me- I am way past that, so don't waste your time trying.:rolleyes: :)

In other words, just answer the question as posed, please. Which of the two in the OP- Super Champ XD, or Champ 25SE, do you think is the best one to keep? Thank you.

And as for YOU, Matttheaxe... yours is EXACTLY the kind of response I am looking for.:D Thanks.

EDIT: See my next post...
Click to expand...

It really has nothing to do with being a "tube snob". Let's say that you invited 100 guitarists over, showed them all of your amps, and let them chose which amp they wanted to play though. How many of them would be fighting over the Super Champ XD, and Champ 25SE? My guess is probably zero. How many of them wouldn't play through one those amps unless a gun was held to their head? I'm guessing that a very high percentage of them wouldn't. It may not be the answer that you were looking for but it is the truth.
 
This is NOT about what someone else wants to play through- it's about what amp I should keep, primarily for playing through myself. If I invite someone over to play music, and they don't bring their own amp but complain about the amp I have to lend them, I might ask them to leave, and almost certainly wouldn't invite them, again. That's much like accepting a dinner invitation, not bringing a bottle of wine, and complaining about the menu or wine choice of your host- very bad manners. The example you pose has everything to do with being a tube snob, and is, in fact,exactly that.

Do you borrow a friend's Chevy Chevette, and then complain that it wouldn't go over 100 mph when you were trying to keep up with that Shelby Mustang you (thought you) were racing? Or say, "Next time I ask to borrow your car, how about letting me drive the Corvette?" Hell, NO- and if you did, you can bet he won't be loanin' YOU his car, again!

So, let me reiterate...

I want to keep one of these amps, primarily for my use. Either work well for me, for the uses I put them to, but I want opinions of which one of JUST THESE TWO AMPS might be the better one to keep. they are just too much alike, to my eye/ear, to keep them both.

And elaborate...

I like that they BOTH are 1) fairly portable and light-weight, 2) have tubes on the power amp side, 3) allow me, either via DSP or a effects loop, to have LOTS of sounds, 4) sound quite good, and 5) won't leave me crying in my beer if they get stolen or broken.

So, PLEASE, stay on-subject, here. Thanks, again.

I love you guys, really, I do, but sometimes you can be so irritating...:)
 
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stevieb said:
I want to keep one of these amps, primarily for my use. Either work well for me, for the uses I put them to, but I want opinions of which one of JUST THESE TWO AMPS might be the better one to keep. they are just too much alike, to my eye/ear, to keep them both.
Click to expand...

OK...so what you want is for us to tell you which amp that you like better.
 
Fender Super-Champ XD 120V Guitar Combo Features:

15W tube power amp with two 6V6 tubes
12AX7 preamp tube

10" Special Design Speaker
Voicing knob with 16 different preamp voices — great for any style of music
Two channels w/channel-switching format (optional footswitch available)
16 effects with effects level control
External speaker capability
Line output
Fender Super-Champ XD 120V Guitar Combo Specifications:
Power requirements: 90W
Power output: 15W RMS into 8 ohms
Input impedance: >1 Mohm
Tubes: One 12AX7 and two 6V6
Speaker: One 10", 8 ohm Fender® Special Design
Dimensions: 15" x 17.5" x 9" (38 cm x 45 cm x 22.9 cm)
Weight: 24 lb. (10.9 kg)

.....send them both to me and i'll play them for a year or so and then tell you which one you should keep. One way postage is all you need to pay for.

seriously the SCXD reads pretty versatile and cool...
 
Thanks, everyone, for your input- even those who were somewhat off-track. I appreciate everyone's comments. I am closing this thread, as I feel this discussion is best continued in a new thread, about a very interesting experience I just had. I am reporting it in my new thread titled "Tube Amp Comparison: Unbiased Ears Tell A Very Interesting Story."

See you there.
 
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