NAD- Speaker upgrade ?

wrinkleygit

After reading all the comments on here, last week I took the plunge and picked up a Super Champ XD, what a surprise, I purposely ignored the X2 versions due to lack of software support.
 So far I’ve gigged it twice, firstly with another guitarist and bassist playing mainly country rock covers, using just a volume pedal, lead breaks cut through superbly in a medium sized hall, with volume to spare.
 Second time was at a loud jam session, using the same settings but with the volume flat out, it was obviously on its limits. This is something I’m rarely going to do, but the question is, would an upgrade to a Rajin Cajun, or similar, give me that extra lift in output volume, doesn’t have to be a massive amount.
 As a light, portable amp solution, I don’t think I could say anything else negative about it, for the price I paid a speaker upgrade wouldn’t be out of the question. Thoughts please.

Yorkie

Hi,
It's great to know that you're finding the Super Champ XD useful. I hope you don't mind my asking a few questions about it – I am considering getting one at the moment due to its minuscule size (for a Fender). 

- Can you get grit from channel 1 using a boost pedal? 
- Did you get power valve grit when you ran it with the volume flat out?
- Is it light? 
- What's the cab made of? Ply? MDF? 
- How long does it take to respond from power on? In other words, does the digital part take a while to respond or are you normally waiting for the valves to warm up?
- Is the spring reverb emulation OK?

Thanks!
Jon

wrinkleygit

Hi Jon, these are how I’ve set up the amp so far, I always use a volume pedal to give a lift/boost, channel 2, gain 6-7, vol on the quieter gig around 6-7, selector pos 5, louder gig, same but vol 10.
Because of what was going on around me, I’m not sure whether there was any extra drive from the valves.
Its an easy one hand lift, I have a long garden path to the drive, with a gigbag over the shoulder, amp in one hand and guitar in hard case in the other, my arthritic limbs coped without any issues, same at the gig end.
 It powers up much quicker than my other 100% valve amps.
 Not sure if it’s ply or mdf, at the price point I would guess mdf.
 Not usually a fan of inbuilt digital effects, but I have to say the rev+delay, set at level 3, sounds pretty good to me.
 I have a TC Sparkboost out at a friends studio, where I keep a lot of my stuff, won’t be out there until next week sometime, but I will bring it home and try it out.
 Hope this all helps, for my purposes, it really is hard to fault, Mike.
 

57Deluxe

My XD is an all timber cabinet. I also often link it to a Celestion V30 external 1x12 cab and it opens up the sound quite a bit.

I use either a boost or a drive with the non FX channel and gives great rocking tones and I only use the FX models sparingly and my preferred order of Tones are : #6  #2  and #4 with Reverb #1 - often with external pedals to colour and shape.

I do however use the other great modulation patches for doubling up in stereo with other amps. Running the Chorus with my Roland Jazz Chorus 50 for added Chorus overload or the brilliant Vibratone with a driven amp for great sense of dynamic 'movement'. In effect, I use it like this as a large FX unit!

Stick it on an Amp stand if using it on its own.

Best demo I saw for these was from this guy... albeit with some undoubted post production...

Yorkie

Great stuff. How does it respond to picking dynamics? From clean, can you dig in and get a bit of grit? I suppose you would have to use at least the 'medium' setting for any voice (clean/grit/more grit)? Just trying to understand how this little guy works! 

Yorkie

I’ll answer my own question: yes, it does respond to picking dynamics. Happy NAD to me  

Yorkie

@wrinkleygit did you get anywhere on the speaker upgrade front? I was just browsing Lean and they have these Warehouse G10C (Cajun inspired) for like £10 cheaper than the actual Cajun. Might be worth a shot?

wrinkleygit

Yorkie said:

@wrinkleygit did you get anywhere on the speaker upgrade front? I was just browsing Lean and they have these Warehouse G10C (Cajun inspired) for like £10 cheaper than the actual Cajun. Might be worth a shot?

I was actually leaning towards a Cannabis Rex, but the lack of gigs in the forseable future, has put things on hold. Also I’ve decided to keep hold of my Wienbrock, so I now have more amps than I know what to do with!!!!

Yorkie

Would be interested to hear what people have to say about putting other speakers in the SCXD...

Been listening to all the shootouts on YouTube and, while there are some lovely sounds to be had with a number of Eminences and Jensens, the most Fender speaker of them all is, at least to me, the weak and pathetic looking stock speaker. 

Seems there’s a lot of YouTube guitarists looking to beef up the Marshall-esque tones on that amp? 

Dodge

wrinkleygit said:

Yorkie said:

@wrinkleygit did you get anywhere on the speaker upgrade front? I was just browsing Lean and they have these Warehouse G10C (Cajun inspired) for like £10 cheaper than the actual Cajun. Might be worth a shot?

I was actually leaning towards a Cannabis Rex, but the lack of gigs in the forseable future, has put things on hold. Also I’ve decided to keep hold of my Wienbrock, so I now have more amps than I know what to do with!!!!

I'm a fan of the CRex 12, but the 10 had probably a bit too much treble roll off when I tried it in my 80's Super Champ.  The Ragin Cajun was a nicer speaker all round.  I'd avoid the Lil Buddy which basically has no treble whatsoever!

wrinkleygit

Dodge said:

I'm a fan of the CRex 12, but the 10 had probably a bit too much treble roll off when I tried it in my 80's Super Champ.  The Ragin Cajun was a nicer speaker all round.  I'd avoid the Lil Buddy which basically has no treble whatsoever!

Thanks for the tip, well worth knowing, mind you, the old PRS still sounds fabulous no matter what I play it through !!!

RickLucas

I put an Eminence Ramrod in mine and it has made it louder.

Dodge

wrinkleygit said:

Dodge said:

I'm a fan of the CRex 12, but the 10 had probably a bit too much treble roll off when I tried it in my 80's Super Champ.  The Ragin Cajun was a nicer speaker all round.  I'd avoid the Lil Buddy which basically has no treble whatsoever!

Thanks for the tip, well worth knowing, mind you, the old PRS still sounds fabulous no matter what I play it through !!!

Glad you're still enjoying it!  The pickups in that thing are epic.

Yorkie

RickLucas said:

I put an Eminence Ramrod in mine and it has made it louder.

Did it change the tone in any way, or does it still sound Fender-y? Many of the speakers demoed on YouTube show a more pronounced bass – which I'm OK with – and less treble response – not so OK with.

I do not need more volume from the SCXD but a bit more bass wouldn't hurt. The tones I've liked the most came from Jensens rather than Eminences. 

RickLucas

Yorkie said:

RickLucas said:

I put an Eminence Ramrod in mine and it has made it louder.

Did it change the tone in any way, or does it still sound Fender-y? Many of the speakers demoed on YouTube show a more pronounced bass – which I'm OK with – and less treble response – not so OK with.

I do not need more volume from the SCXD but a bit more bass wouldn't hurt. The tones I've liked the most came from Jensens rather than Eminences. 

Still Fendery. I wouldn't say more bass, but more headroom, meaning that the bass has less tendency to get farty.

Yorkie

Good stuff. I’m not looking to swap the speaker at the moment, but as every little decision takes me months, I figured I could get started now and maybe order the speaker after the summer  

Has anyone tried a C10R or a C10Q? 

Dave_Mc

I haven't tried them with your amp, @Yorkie , but my experience with several of the American-voiced Eminences is that Jensens usually tend to have more treble and sparkle and sound a bit more "vintage". Don't get me wrong, the Eminences still sound pretty Fendery, especially if your amp is already pretty Fendery/sparkly, but if the amp only has just about enough, or not quite enough, sparkle, then the Jensens do it better, IMO. And from your description above, it sounds like you're more or less on the same page I am.

The Eminences are probably more versatile for more modern styles of music (more distortion), though.

Yorkie

Dave_Mc said:

I haven't tried them with your amp, @Yorkie , but my experience with several of the American-voiced Eminences is that Jensens usually tend to have more treble and sparkle and sound a bit more "vintage". Don't get me wrong, the Eminences still sound pretty Fendery, especially if your amp is already pretty Fendery/sparkly, but if the amp only has just about enough, or not quite enough, sparkle, then the Jensens do it better, IMO. And from your description above, it sounds like you're more or less on the same page I am.

The Eminences are probably more versatile for more modern styles of music (more distortion), though.

Thanks, Dave. As I was saying on the other thread, I am going to put the SCXD through the Creamback in the DSL40 and see what comes out of that. Let's see if that kills the essence of the amp's sound. If it doesn't, then I'll feel a bit more chilled about trying other speakers with more powerful bass

Dave_Mc

Yorkie said:

Dave_Mc said:

I haven't tried them with your amp, @Yorkie , but my experience with several of the American-voiced Eminences is that Jensens usually tend to have more treble and sparkle and sound a bit more "vintage". Don't get me wrong, the Eminences still sound pretty Fendery, especially if your amp is already pretty Fendery/sparkly, but if the amp only has just about enough, or not quite enough, sparkle, then the Jensens do it better, IMO. And from your description above, it sounds like you're more or less on the same page I am.

The Eminences are probably more versatile for more modern styles of music (more distortion), though.

Thanks, Dave. As I was saying on the other thread, I am going to put the SCXD through the Creamback in the DSL40 and see what comes out of that. Let's see if that kills the essence of the amp's sound. If it doesn't, then I'll feel a bit more chilled about trying other speakers with more powerful bass

Yep that's definitely the thing to do. I haven't ever tried the Creambacks, but I've tried the lower wattage speakers they're based on, and (presumably) the higher wattage Creambacks just sound a little smoother and more modern (which is what usually seems to happen when the wattage handling increases, at least in my limited experience!). From what I can remember, I thought a standard Greenback sounded pretty good with a Fendery circuit- better than I expected it to. So it's definitely worth a try to see if it's close enough for you, and as you said, if it is, that probably means you have a lot more leeway with what you eventually decide to put in the Fender.

Yorkie

Caved in and got a Ragin Cajun. Got a good deal for it (£50 delivered) so couldn’t really say no. The blackface sounds do not seem to benefit a lot from it, but the tweed ones… blimey. Bonus: cone is cream/white, so no need to use a flashlight to mic it. 

The speaker is second hand, but I don’t think it’s broken in yet. 

Dave_Mc

@Yorkie Nice score! I've never tried the Ragin Cajun... I think the only 10" Eminence I've tried is the Copperhead (which is pretty nice, but again I think the Jensens sound a little more vintage).