Fender Super Champ XD / X2 - potential purchase questions

rze99 · March 2023

I've got loads of amps but the Superchamp XD is the one I can pickup and carry easily to small session/studio jam/songwriting session when you've just got two arms and public transport.... guitar + carry amp. Dead useful for London from my perspective.

The sounds are pretty good, it records well, knobs are simple and intuitive. + you can find them relatively inexpensively priced.

mojofilters · March 2023

rze99 said:

I've got loads of amps but the Superchamp XD is the one I can pickup and carry easily to small session/studio jam/songwriting session when you've just got two arms and public transport.... guitar + carry amp. Dead useful for London from my perspective.

The sounds are pretty good, it records well, knobs are simple and intuitive. + you can find them relatively inexpensively priced.

Thanks for the information. It's handy to know I could carry it on public transport, I do some work and volunteering with a few local organisations that have musical events in a variety of unusual spaces. I can’t always get lifts and that limits what I'm able to provide in terms of my own gear.

Winny_Pooh · March 2023

Dont buy a Katana or Blues jnr, stick to the plan

Whistler · March 2023

mojofilters said:
I can’t always get lifts and that limits what I'm able to provide in terms of my own gear.

Can I suggest that you consider the weight of the combos you have mentioned as some are likely to be too heavy for you to lug very far.

mojofilters · March 2023

Whistler said:

mojofilters said:
I can’t always get lifts and that limits what I'm able to provide in terms of my own gear.

Can I suggest that you consider the weight of the combos you have mentioned as some are likely to be too heavy for you to lug very far.

I do appreciate that, however I thought it interesting to hear from someone who specifically referenced carrying it around on public transport. I'd simply not considered that as an option before, hence it would be a nice-to-have, rather than a must have feature. I am generally familiar with how heavy most of these things are, having been in bands and worked on the tech and PA side for over 30 years now.

The usage I was referencing doesn't require me to bring anything, especially for the volunteering side. However sometimes it's nice to change things up a bit, eg after months of playing keyboards or piano for the weekly choir meeting of substance misusers in recovery, it's sometimes nice to bring a guitar instead as a way of keeping attendees engaged.

Yorkie · January 1

Hi all,
Apologies for fishing this thread out of the depths of the database.

How did the story end?

And a question: can you boost the SCXD’s channel 1 to add hair as you would with a regular valve amp or is it “DSP clean”?

Many thanks,
Jon

ICBM · January 1

mojofilters said:

I do appreciate that, however I thought it interesting to hear from someone who specifically referenced carrying it around on public transport. I'd simply not considered that as an option before, hence it would be a nice-to-have, rather than a must have feature. I am generally familiar with how heavy most of these things are, having been in bands and worked on the tech and PA side for over 30 years now.

Admittedly I was much younger, but I had an original Rivera-series Super Champ which I used to carry on public transport, and I'm sure that's quite a bit heavier than the XD. I made a 'light flightcase' for it from a cardboard box which fitted it perfectly, with all the seams and edges reinforced with gaffer tape and a slot big enough for the handle cut in the top.

Yorkie said:

And a question: can you boost the SCXD’s channel 1 to add hair as you would with a regular valve amp or is it “DSP clean”?

It's a while since I played one, but I'm almost certain it's 'DSP clean' and doesn't respond like a valve amp when pushed harder, although it sounds fine with a pedal being used as the whole overdrive generator, if that makes sense.

chickenbonejohn · January 1

I've used solid state amps for years (Sessionette 75 and Session Blues Baby), and got rid of my Fender 75 handwired combo as it was crazy heavy and I was just not using it, but recently got a Fender Deluxe Reverb 68 which revived my interest in valve amps. Shortly after that I bought a Fender Super Champ X2 and I'm really pleased with it - I gigged with it a couple of weeks ago in a pub gig with a harp player and it was great. Switchable channels, compact size and reasonably light weight are real plus points for me. It hasn't got that deep rich sound that you get off a 12 inch speaker, but at the price point its difficult to fault. Mine is a Limited Edition one with the Ragin' Cajun speaker (and a nice cream Tolex finish), and I've seen folks saying that the upgraded speaker really makes a difference. I did wonder whether I should have bought a Princeton in the first place instead of the Deluxe, but the Deluxe came up at a very good price, especially as it was the FSR edition with pine cabinet and Celestion Neo speaker. The Super Champ looked pretty close to a Princeton in terms of power and size, and I know it's no substitute for the classic Princeton, but at the price I reckon its a great deal. Anyhow, here's my take on this amp -

Yorkie · January 2

That looks great @chickenbonejohn ;
Do you know if you can boost channel 1 into overdrive? From the videos it looks like you need to switch to channel 2.

Cheers,
Jon

munckee · January 2

Yorkie said:

That looks great @chickenbonejohn ;
Do you know if you can boost channel 1 into overdrive? From the videos it looks like you need to switch to channel 2.
Cheers,
Jon

I will plug in my scx2 this evening and turn up to full (with an attenuator!) and see if I get overdrive. From memory I think it does but will check.

Yorkie · January 2

munckee said:

Yorkie said:

That looks great @chickenbonejohn ;
Do you know if you can boost channel 1 into overdrive? From the videos it looks like you need to switch to channel 2.
Cheers,
Jon

I will plug in my scx2 this evening and turn up to full (with an attenuator!) and see if I get overdrive. From memory I think it does but will check.

I bet it does as you’d be getting power valve saturation, but my question is more about the preamp: using a booster pedal, are you able to saturate the preamp without it sounding awful?

Dominic · January 2

best upgrade is the Ragin Cajun..................makes a huge difference

Petepassion · January 2

Yes, crank the clean channel and it breaks up like most valve amps. I had the combo and head in the past.

Yorkie · January 2

ICBM said:
It's a while since I played one, but I'm almost certain it's 'DSP clean' and doesn't respond like a valve amp when pushed harder, although it sounds fine with a pedal being used as the whole overdrive generator, if that makes sense.

That’s my suspicion too. Can anyone confirm or deny?

munckee · January 2

Yorkie said:

munckee said:

Yorkie said:

That looks great @chickenbonejohn ;
Do you know if you can boost channel 1 into overdrive? From the videos it looks like you need to switch to channel 2.
Cheers,
Jon

I will plug in my scx2 this evening and turn up to full (with an attenuator!) and see if I get overdrive. From memory I think it does but will check.

I bet it does as you’d be getting power valve saturation, but my question is more about the preamp: using a booster pedal, are you able to saturate the preamp without it sounding awful?

Oh I see, I plugged it in before reading this, at 8 or 9 on the volume with a strat single coil its Neil Young Down by the River territory of gain which is all I would ever need.

I don't have a boost set up at the moment but I'm sure of used various boost, overdrive and fuzz with it with no unpleasant results, other than the unpleasantness of my playing of course.