Fender Supersonic 22 are they really unreliable? YES. Is the answer...but they sound awesome

Teetonetal

So I have liked this amp for a while, my local shop has one on offer - I used one before and it only lasted a few hours before "blowing up", since then I have heard a few horror stories about this amp, being one of the worst that fender have made, but I do really like the sound.

Shop will take a couple of bits in PX, which means I am going to end up paying about 300 for the amp.

So, are the reliability stories true? Or was there just a bad run of these at one point?

After my recent Fargen debacle I don't want to buy another duffer, but at least this time I know the amp and know I love the sound....

Wazmeister

Mate,

I owned one and never had a single blip from it, and gigged it regularly...

Decent cleans on it, but I did really like the OD channel option.

Teetonetal

Wazmeister said:

Mate,

I owned one and never had a single blip from it, and gigged it regularly...

Decent cleans on it, but I did really like the OD channel option.

cheers, @Wazmeister good to know... When I used it I really liked both sides, it was the first low watt combo I used and was a revelation, until smoke poured out of it.. (must have been 4 years ago). Now the amp I used was a supplied backline, so I don't know if it had been ill treated (a beer rinse springs to mind) and I never knew what the issue was, but on the net I have seen lots of reports of Supersonics failing.

My plan for this amp is for it to replace the Townhouse and become my home noodling amp. IIRC it sounded decent at low volume... It fits my needs exactly in terms of features...

Gassage

Teetonetal said:

My plan for this amp is for it to replace the Townhouse and become my home

Are you quite short then? I'd pictured you as being at leadt 5'10"

the_jaffa

I've had mine a couple of years and have had none of the reported issues at all.  Was played live most weeks.  Been faultless for me.  None of the popping on channel switching either.

Mine is now for sale though as I've recently bought a Vibrolux 68 Custom

Teetonetal

Gassage said:

Teetonetal said:

My plan for this amp is for it to replace the Townhouse and become my home

Are you quite short then? I'd pictured you as being at leadt 5'10"

haha!  

Teetonetal

the_jaffa said:

I've had mine a couple of years and have had none of the reported issues at all.  Was played live most weeks.  Been faultless for me.  None of the popping on channel switching either.

Mine is now for sale though as I've recently bought a Vibrolux 68 Custom

Oh, I forgot about the channel POP - thanks will keep an ear out for that later!

ICBM

As far as I understand it there are two versions - the problems are on the version which has a DIN footswitch connector. The version with a standard 1/4" connector is fine.

The only ones I've seen for repair so far have had DIN footswitches.

Teetonetal

@ICBM once again a mine of useful info... that's super easy to check too. 

the_jaffa

Mine has a DIN footswitch connection and has been totally fine

tone1

Everyone I have tried just hissed like a bag of snakes

57Deluxe

you wanna go straight for the 100w Twin - that is a heck of an amp.... will be deals on them now.

Teetonetal

So just went and tried it.

first off. this one was dead quiet.. to me, these amps sound great, the clean is nice, quite neutral but does has that fender vibe, wasn't so keen on the fat switch. the drive though, that's exactly the sound I want my amp to make. Just a really nice, responsive, touch sensitive drive. Interacted with the volume pot really nicely, and I reckon with a booster pedal it would be something else

So after 45 ins noodling, I reach for my wallet.

Now, I never play with reverb. But something said, ohh I should just see how it is - been a long time since I used a genuine spring.

Step on the effect button. nothing. idiot, that's the loop.

Step on the reverb button. zzzzz, chchchchchc, zzzzz. and other hum/buzz related noises. no reverb but lots of noise.

Shop are going to see if it can be repaired (it's a 2nd hand item but made last year) - if so they will sell it to me slightly lower... if not they will practically give it to me..

so disappointed though, I thought it was the one...

ICBM

Don't worry, if they will sort it - that's a broken reverb tank, very common with modern Accutronics units. If you can, suggest they replace it with the equivalent TAD or Ruby model, these are much more reliable - so much so that Fender have now changed to them, about a year ago according to MattFGBI, so it sounds like this is from before the change.

If it's not the tank itself it will just be a bad contact in the phono plug on the tank output end.

Or even if they will just knock of the equivalent of about £30 and you can get the tank yourself, it's easy to change.

Teetonetal

sweet... they will sort it

monquixote

Yes they do have a number of problems. 

They pop on channel change which is a design fault though some do it more than others. 

The DIN cable fails easily and when it does it can blow up a resistor in the amp. The DIN cable is also a bitch to replace.

I'm assuming the newer version ICBM mentions is better. 

NIce sounding amp though, I had one for a while.

ICBM

To be honest I would probably try to avoid any amp that uses a DIN cable for the footswitch on principle. Or for that matter pretty much anything that isn't a standard 1/4" - as Fender themselves have demonstrated, it's perfectly possible to design a proper switching system where multiple functions and full LED indication can be controlled by voltage-sensing circuitry and operated via a plain mono 1/4" cable.

They introduced the system as long ago as the late 1980s (the red-knob The Twin was the first, I think) and why they would ever have gone back to any inferior system is a mystery.

Teetonetal

You do have to wonder sometimes, why companies drop perfectly valid constructions / systems for an inferior design that then leads to lots of issues... I mean a switch is hardly the most exciting, but a dodgy one ruins the amp... really who sits there and firstly comes up with this stuff and then who approves it? I mean I can't imagine there is any great cost benefit?

what's the weak point with the din? is it repeated pluging / unplugging? or something else?

Babones

Gassage said:

Teetonetal said:

My plan for this amp is for it to replace the Townhouse and become my home

Are you quite short then? I'd pictured you as being at leadt 5'10"

Teetonetal

Babones said:

Gassage said:

Teetonetal said:

My plan for this amp is for it to replace the Townhouse and become my home

Are you quite short then? I'd pictured you as being at leadt 5'10"

Heat and lighting from 1 source... very energy efficient. Neighbours might have something to say about the speaker though...

digitalscream

ICBM said:

To be honest I would probably try to avoid any amp that uses a DIN cable for the footswitch on principle.

My Decatone has a DIN-based footswitch. Quite annoying, because I wanted to build a spare footswitch (and smaller than the current one) - there's also a logic chip in the footswitch itself, which makes it a fair bit harder to know what they were doing with it.