Fender Superchamp XD reviews?

go check out the gear page. there's a number of threads about the SCXD over there.

in the interest of full disclosure--i returned the VCXD that i posted about. i loved the couple sounds that i raved about, but when i put a mic in front of it, it exhibited a boxy quality that i just didn't hear while playing it.

i turned the cash into a mint '66 blackface Champ on ebay. it blows the VCXD out of the water.

still, you'd have a hard time beating these amps for the bang for buck. if i were gigging, i'd probably rely on one of these instead of a vintage amp.


cheers,
wade
 
i got mine as a "blem", so it only cost me like $225 shipped with 5-year warranty (fender). so i doubt i'd find anything tube for that price, even used.

as it is, it should arrive on monday, so i'm still anticipating.
 
i dunno about "gear page" (haven't found it).

i got my SCXD a few days ago and loving it so far - very "tubey" :)

(btw, the "blem" was new, i couldn't find even a cosmetic flaw, except maybe a stain on the manual :D )

after reading others' comments i ordered a Jensen p10r replacement speaker for it. will report back with more impressions.
 
I dont know what it is..but i dont like a lot of amps that dont have a 12" speaker...id get one of these or a vibro as a nice practice amp..why not.
 
i always imagined that i wouldn't settle for anything less than a 2x12 or maybe 2x10 (after hearing multiple speaker amps). But honestly, even with the stock speaker the amp sounds almost "3D" on some settings and I only had a chance to play it 2 times for a few minutes. And it's stock speaker and not yet broken in.

i suspected this would happen (the lust to make mods), but there's not THAT much that can be modded here - I already have a repl. speaker on order and now, having read that people get good improvement by just replacing the 12AX7, i might also try that (it's cheap enough). I figure I'll stop there.

anyway, even though i'm not a tube amp addict, i don't feel limited by the 10" speaker. really. it's truly loud and "big".

btw, from what i read somewhere the 6V6's are not driven way hard by the circuitry, so does that mean that they'll likely last a long time? I am really not a tech (more of a mod monkey), so my understanding of most terms is basic.
 
The only 10" i heard that i liked was on my friend's orange crush...sounded alright...decent enough. I was thinking about one of those for a practice amp. If you have a chance though, record that thing and post some samples.
 
well, I guess i'll have to do my own reviews :rolleyes:

my guitar is a budget asian les-paul-like thing: set neck, mahogany everything, maple carved top, customized with GFS Dream 180 pickups and a Bigsby vibrato.

got a chance to play with my SCXD a bit more. i gotta admit, it has some amazing tones. never having a tube amp before i am probably under the "tube euphoria" for now, but at least i can say that it beats the Tech 21 Trademark 60 at the tone/price.

The effects, although few and not versatile, are quite useable, especially reverb/echo. They make it sound really "big". and the bass is floor-shaking on some settings, both cleans and crunch tones. I'll just say that having all those FX with no controls (except level) is a heck of a lot more versatile than not having any FX, like in the smaller single-channel tube amps.

I also noticed that the fully "clean" voices stay clean even with drive at 10 (like the "acoustic" and also the one, which is the same as the clean channel) - you can't really overdrive them via the Drive knob. Maybe with hotter pickups or with a different speaker?

I did try the little danelectro fab distortion pedal in front of the amp and found that even though it could be used, i won't be needing it - there's plenty of better sounds within the amp. all i need is a footswitch (which was among my goals getting the amp - I hate pedals/cables/power supplies.

I am really digging the saturated fender clean tone (it sounds like clean compression, only fatter and more natural). Can't wait for my upgrade speaker and also to do some mods to the guitar - splitting it into single-coil mode and also better POT's and tone caps.

another thing: for the first time in my life i find myself really using the volume knobs on the guitar. i've known for a long time that it "cleans up" an overdriven sound, but the numerous times I tried that with Tech 21, it just didn't make much sense. With this amp I am actually finding interesting settings with lowered volume knob on guitar - where clean notes get a bit "gritty" with more attack - I could never get that from amps before.

with my pickups, even on dirty tones string definition is maintained pretty well.

I expect to be one happy camper and quite motivated to keep learning.
 
and another update:

after MUCH reading on mods, I ended up selecting the reissue Jensen p10r (alnico) speaker as replacement.

although the stock speaker was apparently VERY good (for the amp), the p10r is starting to grow on me too.

1st of all, it was a bit louder, so that i use 1-less notch on the volume knobs for the same level of loudness.

it has nice, deep, warm lows and highs are not harsh at all (like some have described). Also, the reverb seems "wetter" to me, but I don't know why. Is it speaker sensitivity to hi-freq? maybe.

i haven't spent nearly enough time on the p10r yet, so will post additional impressions/finds.

Also, I was "digging" some old Brian Setzer videos lately and wanted to know where to start to approximate the tone from Stray Cat Strut.

a little surfing revealed that the Setzer sound is based on "blonde bassman" (whatever that is, I am really not knowledgeable on amp history). SCXD has a "tweed bassman" voicing, which is where I started (with tone knobs cut). Then I started adding trebles for bite and bass for body and adjusted the drive knob (somewhere in the middle) to the point that the guitar sounds clean unless you dig in for some bite. Couldn't've been easier.

This may not be the sound if you A/B with the real thing, but I knew that wasn't possible. This is the sound I was looking for and sounds close enough for me based on what I saw/heard. And I don't even have a hollow-body guitar.

I think this may be my first attempt to get a specific sound as opposed to just getting a pleasant sound on the SCXD. Interesting experience.
 
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