Fender Super Champ XD

**Stevebol** · 10-27-2011, 01:04 PM

Has anyone gone to the trouble of replacing the cabinet to accomodate a 12" speaker on one of these? I'm looking for a small amp and I'm trying to narrow down my choices. I'd love a Princeton but they're way out of my price range. The XD seems to be a good value.
I like the sound of an open-backed 12" speaker.

On second thought, if I get a Super Champ I'll leave it alone. Many people prefer the stock speaker. If it ain't broke..........

**dmorash** · 10-27-2011, 01:55 PM

It's a good question. I have one with the stock speaker and the sound is very focused not balanced and broad like my deluxe reverb. The champ is so portable as it is though.

**Doctor Jeff** · 10-27-2011, 02:25 PM

I just got one last week--so far very pleased. I'm comfortable with the sound and wouldn't plan on changing the speaker. You could hook it up to an external cabinet if you need a "bigger" sound for gigging.

Of course the clean channel is excellent for jazz, with a little bit of reverb. I am starting to like the Jazzmaster voice as well--very different, darker tone.

**Stevebol** · 10-27-2011, 04:24 PM

I'm used to having a mid pot but from what I've read you can dial in what you want on the XD. It should be interesting to hear my Patrician, which I finally got the pickup for today, through a nice amp.

**Gitarguy** · 10-28-2011, 01:20 AM

I have one. The stock speaker, to me, was too loose in the bass registers. I prefer 1.) better bass response, and 2.) better controlled bas tones. I put in a better speaker, and it's a much more useable and versatile unit now.

**Flyin' Brian** · 10-28-2011, 07:28 AM

I have a SCXD with a J.D. Newell pine cabinet and a 12" speaker. It does an amazing job, stays clean at any volume I play at, including with a fairly loud drummer, keys, bass and sax. The effects and modeling are quite useful as well, but the clean side alone is great for jazz.

**mambosun** · 10-28-2011, 07:37 AM

Originally Posted by Flyin' Brian

I have a SCXD with a J.D. Newell pine cabinet and a 12" speaker. It does an amazing job, stays clean at any volume I play at, including with a fairly loud drummer, keys, bass and sax. The effects and modeling are quite useful as well, but the clean side alone is great for jazz.

Thanks for the inputs, quite interesting.
Is the transformation easy to do?
Which 12 " speaker did you select?

**Flyin' Brian** · 10-28-2011, 07:43 AM

Originally Posted by mambosun

Thanks for the inputs, quite interesting.
Is the transformation easy to do?
Which 12 " speaker did you select?

It's very easy. I didn't select the speaker, I got the whole package used. It has a WGS ET-65 in it.

**monkmiles** · 10-28-2011, 11:48 AM

Originally Posted by Flyin' Brian

I have a SCXD with a J.D. Newell pine cabinet and a 12" speaker. It does an amazing job, stays clean at any volume I play at, including with a fairly loud drummer, keys, bass and sax. The effects and modeling are quite useful as well, but the clean side alone is great for jazz.

I was going to say JD Newell has a 12" combo cabinet for the SCXD available.

For speaker choice, I think a good one would be an Eminence Lil Texas because it's very light and sensitive/efficient/loud (good for clean headroom). I have one of these in my PRRI.

**Stevebol** · 10-28-2011, 01:27 PM

I'm looking forward to trying one of these amps if I ever get my ax together.
This is tempting, but I shouldn't-

http://www.ebay.com/itm/220882084247...84.m1438.l2649

**mambosun** · 10-28-2011, 04:27 PM

Originally Posted by martinopass

I think a good one would be an Eminence Lil Texas because it's very light and sensitive/efficient/loud (good for clean headroom). I have one of these in my PRRI.

Looking at the spec (measurement curve), it seems rather bright and more suited to rock/blues than jazz.

http://www.eminence.com/pdf/Lil_Texas.pdf

But maybe, this curve has nothing to do with the real sound of this loudspeaker?

**Flyin' Brian** · 10-28-2011, 06:22 PM

Originally Posted by mambosun

Looking at the spec (measurement curve), it seems rather bright and more suited to rock/blues than jazz.

http://www.eminence.com/pdf/Lil_Texas.pdf

But maybe, this curve has nothing to do with the real sound of this loudspeaker?

I used to have an old Fender Vibrolux Reverb with 2 JBL 10 inch speakers in it. I played an Epiphone Howard Roberts through it and it was as mellow as I ever wanted it to be. JBLs are usually considered pretty bright.

**monkmiles** · 10-28-2011, 10:12 PM

Originally Posted by mambosun

Looking at the spec (measurement curve), it seems rather bright and more suited to rock/blues than jazz.

http://www.eminence.com/pdf/Lil_Texas.pdf

But maybe, this curve has nothing to do with the real sound of this loudspeaker?

To be honest, I never looked at its measurement curve, but using it for many gigs amd reheasrsals I've never noticed mine to be bright. I've found it to be fairly neutral to my ears, but maybe the way I EQ the amp and the tone knob on my guitar is playing a bigger role. I do use my Lil Texas in both jazz and rock situations.

**Stevebol** · 11-01-2011, 07:58 PM

I tried a Super Champ today at GC while a guy was working on my pickup install. Love it! What a nice little amp. Also tried a Blues Jr. but didn't care for it. I'll try a couple more amps but I'm pretty much sold on the SCXD.

**Gitarguy** · 11-01-2011, 08:22 PM

Originally Posted by Stevebol

I tried a Super Champ today at GC while a guy was working on my pickup install. Love it! What a nice little amp. Also tried a Blues Jr. but didn't care for it. I'll try a couple more amps but I'm pretty much sold on the SCXD.

It's not the best sounding amp out there, but it's perfectly acceptable for a wide variety of uses. It's light, portable, and versatile. I get alot of use out of mine.

**Stevebol** · 11-03-2011, 10:15 PM

I went with the Super Champ. Also picked up my Harmony guitar with the KA neck pickup installed. Sounds very nice and unique. I tried a bunch of other amps- Vox's, Egnator(quite good) and a Blues Jr. Hot Rod Delux NOS that was superb, but out of my price range.

edit

Well, I spent some time with the Super Champ at home. My guitars will have some feedback issues having floating pickups so an amp with more watts might make a difference. The salesman at GC said for jazz, you don't want the Line 6, etc... I'm not sure about that so I'll have to try a couple more amps, including solid-state.

**cosmic gumbo** · 11-19-2013, 02:55 AM

I've been looking for a low budget grab 'n' go amp for a while and had gotten a used Roland Cube 40XL a few months back that didn't cut it...too noisy and not enough volume...returned it after using it for a couple weeks.

About two weeks ago I ran into a used Fender Super Champ XD vintage modified tube amp w/footswitch for only $150 and snagged it right up at that price. I've been loving the tone and versatility from this thing and tonight after using it for a big band rehearsal for the first time, I'm ready to call it a keeper. I didn't really expect it to have the clean headroom to do the job, but it passed with flying colors. I'm impressed.

I know it has it's limits as a gigging amp, but I'm ready to use it whenever it'll do the job. Sweet sounding hybrid amp. 15W, 1x10, two 6V6 power tubes.

**Jabberwocky** · 11-19-2013, 04:41 AM

Hi Cosmic, would really like to hear more after you put more miles on it. Have you gone into FUSE to twiddle a bit? Have you tried rolling tubes? What about hooking it up to an extension cabinet with a 12" or two in it?

I have the jones for this little box.

**AlsoRan** · 11-19-2013, 09:44 AM

Congratulations, Cosmic!
I assume you are not talking about the Superchamp XD X2, which has the tweakable software interface (which is what I have).

I have the original one and find out that I like it more and more as time goes on. I was in a room at home and cranked it up all the way and it hurt my ears. For some reason, it seemed louder with the stock amp than it did when I plugged it into a 12 inch Celestion G12 30. (I wish I would have known that when I was jamming with this loud drummer).

When I A/B it with my Fender Deluxe Reverb, using the Jazz King voice 15, I noticed that it did not have the cutting treble that the Deluxe Reverb can display, but it was a nice alternate warm "Jazz" sound, and the bass did not seem to fart out at bad as other small amps I have played (the Fender Vibro Champ Xd, for example).

I also like the special effects and the way they can "smooth out" the amp's tone.

I am on the fence about it when it comes to its distortion. Some times I can dial in a nice sound, other times it appears fizzy - but I realize this is a topic more for The Gear Page, given the lack of compative lack of distortion use in Jazz.

Enjoy, Cozzy!

**rpguitar** · 11-19-2013, 09:53 AM

I'm also really interested in this amp, but the one thing that puts me off is the need to select a "voice." I have experience with modeling amps - I still own a Yamaha DG80 that I bought new. I would think that with a small Fender having 2 6V6 tubes and a 12AX7 that one would be able to just run the amp straight, so to speak. Doesn't it have its OWN voice? What are the voice settings, then, EQ plus digitally defined envelope parameters?

**AlsoRan** · 11-19-2013, 11:21 AM

Originally Posted by rpguitar

I'm also really interested in this amp, but the one thing that puts me off is the need to select a "voice." I have experience with modeling amps - I still own a Yamaha DG80 that I bought new. I would think that with a small Fender having 2 6V6 tubes and a 12AX7 that one would be able to just run the amp straight, so to speak. Doesn't it have its OWN voice? What are the voice settings, then, EQ plus digitally defined envelope parameters?

From all that I have read (unless my memory has failed me), the Fender Super Champ XD has a digital processor in the pre-amp section so no matter what, you will have to deal with processing before you get to the power section.

I kind of gather that this is the reason the latest generation of the Super Champ XD has that FUSE software that will allow you to have more control over the processing portion of the amp.

So in short, rp, it appears the amp does not have its own basic voice. All are processed, although voice 16 is modeled after the Fender Acoustasonic and does not interact with the GAIN knob. I like this voice as well for a brighter Jazz sound.

Here is the owner's manual, which describes the voices, also, there are many good YouTube clips where they take the time to go through each voice:

http://support.fender.com/manuals/gu..._XD_manual.pdf

**Chazmo** · 11-19-2013, 01:04 PM

According to the manual from the link above, the amp has two channels. Channel 1 is voiced for blackface. Channel 2 has the variable voicing.

B. VOLUME 1—Adjusts the loudness of Channel-1, which is voiced for Blackface™ clean tone.

G. VOICE—Select one of 16 amplifier voicings for Channel-2 (see next page).

**AlsoRan** · 11-19-2013, 01:10 PM

Originally Posted by Chazmo

According to the manual from the link above, the amp has two channels. Channel 1 is voiced for blackface. Channel 2 has the variable voicing.

B. VOLUME 1—Adjusts the loudness of Channel-1, which is voiced for Blackface™ clean tone.

G. VOICE—Select one of 16 amplifier voicings for Channel-2 (see next page).

Great catch!

I got the Super Champ confused with its little brother, the Vibro Champ, which has only one channel. I own both of them and get them confused. I have started to use the Super Champ only recently and now am going to have to go back and see how that channel 1 sounds and compare it with Channel 2, voice 16, Jazz King..

Like I said, great catch Chazmo.

**rpguitar** · 11-19-2013, 01:44 PM

Cool, thank you... Well, I just bought one on Ebay. The 10" speaker plus decent wattage and 6V6 tubes is a really attractive package. If I don't like it, I'll list it FS here and share the love.