I will try to get a video up at some point, but I just wanted to say how awesome this amp is, especially for the money. You definitely want to swap out the 12AX7 for something else. I put in a Ken-Rad 12AY7, and holy crap does it sound good!!
This amp is 15 watts with 2 6v6 power tubes and one 12ax7 preamp, and a 10" speaker. But what really made me interested is all the built in effects. You have a clean channel which is nothing special on its own, but is nice for if I want to use my Digitech RP360 or whatever, and then a dirty channel.. Ohhhhh the Dirty channel.. It is soo so nice..
It has like 15 amp models on it, which include all of the harp favorites like Tweed Champ, tweed Bassman, '65 Princeton, etc., and the crazy thing is that you can plug this thing in via USB and download Fenders FUSE software (which is awesome and very user friendly) and now you can program all 16 channels on the voice knob to your own custom patches!! This includes adding effects such as pitch shifting, delay, chorus etc, as well as editing additional parameters on the amp models such is mid and presence.. You can also program each of the notches on the effects knob to whatever effects you want via FUSE, and there are tons of parameters on the delays that make for some really nice tonal possibilities.
And here is the best part. They are readily available for under $300!!!
It is pretty darn loud too once you do the tube swap, and there is a line-out on the back as well! I would not hesitate to gig with this thing, and you could literally just grab it and go without having to worry about any pedals or anything!
I am super happy with this purchase.. I think everyone should own one, lol
---------- -LeWin$key
Last Edited by Harmonica Lewinskey on Feb 27, 2016 12:42 PM
I made a quick video to give you an idea what I'm talking about. This is just recorded using my MacBooks built in mic, so it doesn't really do it justice, but you get the idea..
Dave B was pushing the predecessor XD. It was similar without the FUSE angle. I have the smaller VibroChamp XD (discontinued due to lack of popularity I guess). It's only 5 watt, 8", single ended, but similar concept with the ss preamp voices. It lacks the 'clean' channel but preamp voice 4 (clean blackface) is the same voice as used in the clean channel anyway. The difference is that in the other channel you can vary the gain with that voice whereas on the clean channel it is preset. Personally I only use voice 4 on my VibroChamp because it is the most 'real' sounding to me. All the others sound somewhat processed and while ok briefly, they get old fairly quickly, to me. There is something about the preset quality of the breakup which is like weird valley, like 'life like' animation. It's just not quite right and it jars after a while. But the clean blackface voice doesn't do that to me so that's where I stay. It's also the most feedback resistant. The dsp effects are pretty handy although limited. Chorus, reverb, even the delay has a useable setting. I'm a fan of the amp.
I have this amp and blowing hard through an ultimate 57 eventually sends the FX section into white noise. some kind of overload of the digital circuit. I hope that doesn't happen to you Lewinsky!
I do like it tho, you make me think about swapping the tube except I use if for guitar too..
---------- 4' 4+ 3' 2~~~ -Mike Ziemba Harmonica is Life!
slaphappy, I read about almost the exact same thing happening to someone on a guitar playing forum, and they said they pinpointed it to one of the reverb effects. I think it was the 65 princeton spring reverb maybe? They said they switched it through the FUSE program to a different reverb effect and all was well… Hopefully that does the trick. I am using a vintage CM element, so perhaps that is better since it is not sending as much information into the circuit as an SM57?.. I dunno, I also hope that doesn't happen to me, lol ---------- -LeWin$key
"I have now had 3 brand new Super Champ X2 amp heads go into a loud, white noise "melt down" that renders them useless as an amp. It occurs on both channels and whether the effects are switched on or off. The volume control on both channels will turn the noise louder if turned up. You can hear the guitar sound underneath the noise - as if these are two separately processed signals. If I unplug my guitar chord from the input, the noise ceases but if I plug back in the noise resumes. The only way to stop this is to turn the amp off, wait about a minute and turn it back on. The amp does not exhibit this problem each time it's used but after a few uses or an hour or two, the problem re-occurs. One of the amps started making the noise within 2 minutes of being turned on for the very first time."
And this was posted by the same guy a few days later..
"I discovered the cause of the problem (and a solution) and it IS the amp. Here's the rundown on the problem, cause and how to solve it.
I turns out that it is somehow related to the effects model of the 65 Spring Reverb (that is the default Spring Reverb setting) and only occurred with the amp was in either Channel 1 (the all tube channel) or Channel 2 in the Jazzmaster setting. Why - I can't explain - but I ran through every amp model and effect and completely narrowed it down to these 2 and only with the 65 Spring Reverb or the Delay-Reverb IF the 65 Spring is the reverb model on the setting (and that is the default). But to cause the problem, there is one more factor. You have to push the amp/preamp with a very strong boosted signal into the front of the amp AND have the effects turned on. So if I used my Fulltone OCD, Tube Screamer or Xotic EP (for example), and really hit the amp hard, the white noise would start up. I was able to duplicate and repeat this issue at will and it always occurred with those settings and the pumped up input. It's certainly very reasonable that you might be running a cranked OD into the clean amp - that's what Fender tube amps are all about - so it's clearly a serious flaw in the amp's circuitry.
Here's how to solve the problem: Hook up your amp to the FUSE program and change the reverb to something other than the 65 Spring Reverb. So, I switched the Reverb/Delay patch to a 63 Spring Reverb and I switched the 65 Spring setting to a Large Plate (you can make it anything you want...just NOT the 65 Spring). That worked perfectly. I have not been able to recreate the problem. I prefer the 65 over the 63 for a spring sound, but it's not the end of the world. Hopefully Fender will resolve this issue and I can get that patch back." ---------- -LeWin$key
Cool man, I am definitely curious if there are other effects that would trigger this with the Harp since like the guy said, it only happened when he put "a very strong boosted signal into the front of the amp", which is pretty much what we are doing with the Harp constantly. I can't help but think that the tube swap might also help with this but perhaps not.. I really hope switching that effect does the trick though because I would hate for this amp to have such a serious flaw, it is just too good otherwise.. Keep us posted on how that works out for you! ---------- -LeWin$key
