|
Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Vibro champ xd
Vibro champ xd
Page:
1
SuperBee
1419 posts
Sep 11, 2013
6:35 AM
|
Sometimes I wonder about my Vibro champ XD. I hadn't used it for a while, and I'd begun to think maybe it isn't really as good as I'd been rating it.
I took it to open mic last night, to refresh my memory.
One thing, it's very convenient. The DSP delay is usable, as is the reverb.
I set it with bass up all the way, treble right down. Clean blackface channel 4, gain around 3, volume around 7 or 8.
You want more breakup, adjust the gain-to-volume. Feedback is not a problem with that voice.
I've heard people have problems with feedback on these amps. Use voice 4. There are other voices which are useable for harp, but I wouldn't use them in a gig situation. It's voice 4 or nothing. It's the cleanest voice, but that's good, it allows you to colour it with mic technique, harp technique, and dial in the amount of gain you want.
I love these low volume gigs. The organisers asked me up to jam with them and the amp was very easy to adjust to fit in with a different ensemble. Just a small kit with brushes, sax, guitar through an LC15, and vocals.
i dunno anyone else who uses one, and I've never seen any good things said about them other than by me. I bought it secondhand; the guy told me basically it just isn't cool, and I get that. I feel like I should apologise for it sometimes, but then I play through it, and i think "nothing wrong with that". I dont have a great collection of vintage amps to compare it to, but i have a silverface PR, modded 410 deville, stock and modded epi vj, mouse, and a couple other tube amps, and i play through every likely amp i can grt my hands on. My guitar buddy played through it and found he was no longer satisfied with his big computer-modelled amp
Yeah maybe it's not cool, but it's a very useful and versatile small amp. For mine, it's a keeper.
----------
JellyShakersFacebookPage
JellyShakersTipJar
Last Edited by SuperBee on Sep 11, 2013 6:36 AM
|
Goldbrick
266 posts
Sep 11, 2013
8:03 AM
|
As long as you like the sound -who cares. They are not paying for it.
I have a solid state Princeton that has gigged everywhere. Easiest amp ever to get a great sound at a gig with awesome accutronics reverb.
I also have a nice tube Princeton that sounds better in the house but is more finicky to set up per instrument so it rarely goes to a gig and I will probably sell it.
Amp people think its cool but the SS gets the job done. Non -tech heads never know the difference live
Play what your ears like
|
MP
2915 posts
Sep 11, 2013
3:18 PM
|
When i worked in a buy and sell music store i was able to take almost any amp out gigging.
sometimes ( HERESY!!!) i'd take a solid state amp if it sounded good.
i did it to prove to myself that you can dial in almost any amp to sound reasonably good. Sure a solid state DOD twin 8 is no Premier twin 8 but it wasn't awful.
----------
MP
affordable reed replacement and repairs.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
click user name [MP] for info-
repair videos on YouTube.
you can reach me via Facebook. Mark Prados
|
timeistight
1365 posts
Sep 11, 2013
3:33 PM
|
"i dunno anyone else who uses one, and I've never seen any good things said about them other than by me."
Well, David Barrett recommends the Super Champ XD, which is your amp's bigger, louder brother, as a good, budget harp amp.
And I have to point out that the Vibro Champ XD and the Super Champ XD aren't really solid-state amps: they're hybrids. They have solid-state preamps but tube power sections.
|
SuperBee
1420 posts
Sep 11, 2013
9:14 PM
|
Oh yeah, absolutely its a hybrid. I think the super champ XD (now X2) was often considered the better option, due to more power, 10" speaker, 'clean channel' option, and DB recommendation. I believe the Vibrochamp xd is often thought of as just a smaller version of the Superchamp XD, and there are good reasons to think of it that way. But its not exactly a mini-me. They share the same preamp chip and DSP circuitry. And the concept of ss preamp with valve power amp is the same...kind of.
The Superchamp is push-pull, with 2 6V6 and a 12AX7 phase inverter. The Vibrochamp is single ended with the 12AX7 functioning simply as a driver. I think this does result in some different characteristics not simply die to the bigger speaker.
I have experimented some with using different speakers in the VB. I haven't bothered recording it for comparison because I think there are so many variables involved in getting from the live sound to a persons ears, that it would be a meaningless exercise. I've tried it with weber 8A100, and weber sig8 ceramic. I couldn't say either was necessarily 'better' than the stock speaker.
----------
JellyShakersFacebookPage
JellyShakersTipJar
|
Post a Message
|
