What do you guys think of the Super Champ XD?

[karpathion]

So, I'm trying to expand my musical horizons. I picked up an Ibanez Hollow body yesterday, looking to get into Rock-A-Billy and Jazz. "Think Brian Setzer."

While I love my Pittbull dearly, it just ain't right for this type of jam. Well, that puts me in the hunt for a new amp, and I don't want to spend a lot since I'm just testing these particular waters, and I've found a Super Champ XD on CL for a very nice price.

Will it be a good starter amp for the styles I'm going for? With 16 amp voices built in, surely I can find something close to what I'm looking for, right?

 

[FuseG4]

Re: What do you guys think of the Super Champ XD?

I'm not really into the styles you mentioned but I did own a SCXD.
The Fender voices sound great and so I'm sure there will be rockabilly and jazz sounds in there but the cab can be boxy sounding and mine rattled a bit at full tilt which was not that loud compared to some other 15W amps esp. those with a 12".

16 amp voices sounds nice on paper but I'm sure you'll find 3 or 4 you really like and the rest become pretty meaningless. The FX are decent but there's not a lot of control unless you get the SCX2 and hook it up with Fender Fuse.

Mine eventually got JJ tubes before I sold it and they were high headroom, and the amp could stay pretty clean and warm through most of the volume knob with the gain settings low.

It was cool but I was looking for clean and dirty filty tones and I was hoping it'd play nice with pedals but overdrives sounded like crap through it. I really should have kept it for the blackface settings and just had a nice clean practice amp. If that's how you plan to use it, for cleaner stuff and not boosting it for blues and blues rock, it should be good.

Now I use a Fender Champion 20. It was $99 brand new with a warranty and yes it sounds a little smaller and thinner than the SCXD but it's got all my clean practice needs met. I don't miss the SXCD as the mustangs and champions seem to keep up tone-wise without me having to worry about replacing microphonic tubes and such.

edit: yeah just looked up some Brian Setzer stuff. SCXD should be able to get in that ballpark. It can do light gain and slapback echo enough to cop the feel and then you can worry about a stage-worthy amp once you've decided if you wanna keep going. But the SCXD is a good fender practice amp.

 

[jon the art guy]

Re: What do you guys think of the Super Champ XD?

Channel 1 seemed like it would be good with a pedal maybe. Channel 2/the first and very last settings I dug on too. The very last ones are compressed clean sounds.
Wiring it up to run into a cab with a 12in speaker would be paramount IMO.
I would suggest a Champion over an XD and an X2 over a Champion. If you have a cab, just buy a Mustang 5 head; they're killing it with clean sounds apparently. You won't be running out of volume with 75w a side either.

 

[mojosman]

Re: What do you guys think of the Super Champ XD?

I bought one that had been transplanted into a larger cabinet with a 12" speaker. I really like it. It offers you a wide variety of tones for not much cash. I think it's a lot of amp for the money.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: What do you guys think of the Super Champ XD?

blues junior or pro junior would be way better for that stuff. you dont need 16 amp sims - especially as the only sound on the XD that is close to nice is the bypass sound.
Since you are only testing the waters of rockabilly and it turns out you dont like the blues or pro...just flip it for what you paid.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: What do you guys think of the Super Champ XD?

there's no bypass sound on the Super Champ XD or X2. The schematic shows everything is routed through the DSP.
There aren't even traditional pots on the PCB. they are some kind of digital thing. BillM and the rest of TDPRI set this straight a long time ago but a lot of Fender's marketing and persistent rumors always suggest there's a pure tube aspect to the SCXD. There's not.
http://www.tdpri.com/forum/amp-cent...bro-champ-xd-really-all-tube.html#post1385237

 

[Drunken Bowling]

Re: What do you guys think of the Super Champ XD?

I didn't care for it. I bought a Ragin Cajun for it but ended up selling the amp before I installed it. Now it's in storage and I'm trying to find something to install it in.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: What do you guys think of the Super Champ XD?

May I ask what the OP's budget is?

Blues Jrs are great. They do stomp on the SCXD unless you NEED lots of voices and onboard FX like delay. But in my neck of the woods BJrs are 300 to 400 depending on speaker, year, and condition. and chances are the CL deal OP speaks of is a good bit less. Just depends on what the OP really wants.

Do you want a practice amp on a deal? I'm not gonna knock that.
But BJrs are better. I've got no experience with the ProJr

 

[karpathion]

Re: What do you guys think of the Super Champ XD?

May I ask what the OP's budget is?

Blues Jrs are great. They do stomp on the SCXD unless you NEED lots of voices and onboard FX like delay. But in my neck of the woods BJrs are 300 to 400 depending on speaker, year, and condition. and chances are the CL deal OP speaks of is a good bit less. Just depends on what the OP really wants.

Do you want a practice amp on a deal? I'm not gonna knock that.
But BJrs are better. I've got no experience with the ProJr

The SCDX I found is $100. I've already talked to the guy and set up the buy. I'm picking it up at lunchtime today.

There is also an older HRD on CL for $280 that has a bad speaker in it. I really want that one, but I don't know if I really trust the guy. He sounded like a speed freak over the phone.

I figure if I don't like the little Super Champ, I can get my $100 back out of it.

 

[Securb]

Re: What do you guys think of the Super Champ XD?

I just used on at a jam will a full band. I had plenty of headroom and the thing sounded great. Cool cleans and awesome gain tones.

 

[jon the art guy]

Re: What do you guys think of the Super Champ XD?

The SCDX I found is $100. I've already talked to the guy and set up the buy. I'm picking it up at lunchtime today.

There is also an older HRD on CL for $280 that has a bad speaker in it. I really want that one, but I don't know if I really trust the guy. He sounded like a speed freak over the phone.

I figure if I don't like the little Super Champ, I can get my $100 back out of it.

or more. I don't see them for much less than $200. May be a good flip.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: What do you guys think of the Super Champ XD?

Nice score!

 

[karpathion]

Re: What do you guys think of the Super Champ XD?

Well, that didn't work out. Dude calls me at 1:00 and says he just can't do $100 on it. If I still wanted it he'd take $200 for it.

That's not what he listed it for, and not the deal we made last night. Screw him. I'm gonna go buy a Blues JR.

 

[jon the art guy]

Re: What do you guys think of the Super Champ XD?

Daggum right. F that guy

 

[Big Flannel]

Re: What do you guys think of the Super Champ XD?

I'd remind him that man is only as good as his word and that you guys had settled on a price before cracking open a beer and waiting for his response.

 

[Aceman]

Re: What do you guys think of the Super Champ XD?

First - LOVE the Champ XD. Cool little amp.

I also agree that for just Jazz and Rockabilly, I'd go Blues Jr. too. Not Pro Jr. - not enough headroom.

But I could use either. Jazz will be totally fine on XD. And I love my Roland Cube Twin model - go for whatever you want.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: What do you guys think of the Super Champ XD?

Aww. Too bad it didn't pan out.
Get that blues Jr. You'll be in good shape. Rock on.

 

[kjrocks]

What do you guys think of the Super Champ XD?

Love my scxd for practicing around home and I personally think it takes pedals quite well. Not quite enough volume for playing with a loud band. Coffee houses and church bands would be great though.

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: What do you guys think of the Super Champ XD?

Well, that didn't work out. Dude calls me at 1:00 and says he just can't do $100 on it. If I still wanted it he'd take $200 for it.

Maybe he reads the forum. Or did some Google searching on used prices. Either way, a total standup guy.