Hello all - I'm new to the site and generally having a great time going through the easy songs for beginners and reading the forums these past couple of months. Great community, and David Hodge's lessons are the best I've seen on the net - none even close.
Anyone familiar with this amp? I was just messing around on it at Guitar Center and really liked it. They have a demo unit for 500 bucks, which seems like a great deal. Any other comparable amps I should check our before I buy? I'm a beginner, playing a Takamine acoustic/electric and in the future plan to buy a Fender strat.
that's a pretty cool amp. it has a nice 12 inch speaker and 40 watts of tube power. cool.
it also has some effects built in. I never had an amp with fx built in. I imagine they are pretty good these days.
with an amp like this you will have everything you need to get going.
500 is a good price. I see them for sale at 7 to 8 hundred.
Very cool amp. It is the big brother to the Super Champ XD, which I bought recently (15 watts into a 10" speaker.)
Don't let this deter you from enjoying the amp, but notice the wording "real tube-amp performance" in Fender's marketing. These are NOT "all tube" amps. Compare it to the Deluxe Reverb, a bit more expensive, but 100% tube.
In the SCXD and the Deluxe VM, the power section is indeed tube driven. But the preamp stage is hybrid tube/ss, with most of it being ss. According to detailed threads on another forum (from someone who has taken these apart,) the preamp tube comes in at the tail end of the preamp stage for added warmth, and also serves as the phase inverter for the power amp. In the SCXD, a single 12ax7 does both functions (half for the preamp, half for the PI); in the Deluxe VM, there are two 12ax7s, a separate one for each role.
Does any of this matter? Not at all, if it sounds good. I really love the SCXD! I went shopping for a totally different all-tube amp, but this one blew me away. And, it takes dirt pedals surprisingly well. The built-in effects are usable, but not great. Supposedly they improved them for the Deluxe ... not sure.
I suggest you look at the SCXD (maybe with a speaker upgade,) and save some money. It can be suprisingly LOUD for 15 watts, and I'd think the 40 watt Deluxe would be too much for home use. If you're gigging with it, that's another story. But you said you're a beginner, so I'd go with the lower wattage version.
The SCXD also has other built-in amp "models," which can be fun to play around with. But I find I'm keeping it pretty clean and using pedals for overdriven/distorted sounds. The clean tone really nails the classic Fender sound. I'm sure it's similar to how the Deluxe VM's clean channel sounds.
Then again, for $500 ... hmm, maybe get the Deluxe and an attenuator to tame the volume. 8)
"Everybody got to elevate from the norm."
that's a pretty cool amp. it has a nice 12 inch speaker and 40 watts of tube power. cool.
it also has some effects built in. I never had an amp with fx built in. I imagine they are pretty good these days.
with an amp like this you will have everything you need to get going.
500 is a good price. I see them for sale at 7 to 8 hundred.
Thanks for the response. Glad to get some confirmation that's a good deal.
Very cool amp. It is the big brother to the Super Champ XD, which I bought recently (15 watts into a 10" speaker.)
Don't let this deter you from enjoying the amp, but notice the wording "real tube-amp performance" in Fender's marketing. These are NOT "all tube" amps.
...
I suggest you look at the SCXD (maybe with a speaker upgade,) and save some money. It can be suprisingly LOUD for 15 watts, and I'd think the 40 watt Deluxe would be too much for home use. If you're gigging with it, that's another story. But you said you're a beginner, so I'd go with the lower wattage version.
lol I did not notice the tub-amp performance. Is that anything like McDonald's Chocolatey chip cookies (always wondered what was in those - does that mean not actually chocolate?). The SCXD looks well worth checking out. Looks like it will rock for home use and is half the money. Not that I haven't been known to overspend on gadgets I don't need.
Mmmm, chocolatey chips ... :wink:
I forgot, check out this thread on the SCXD: http://forums.guitarnoise.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=47651
That's the reason I suggest the lower wattage amp; tubes really do sound different when you crank up the volume, and the 40-watt Deluxe could blow out windows, knock down doors, blow off your roof, etc. :lol:
"Everybody got to elevate from the norm."
I'd love to have my SCXD in a 12-inch version. If I knew then........
Say, Slej. Maybe we covered this. Have you tried any sort of m-efx on yours?
Oh, looks like this one's got mic controls too. Mine doesn't. :evil:
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
Hi Roy,
I don't have multi-fx, but I am using my wah, dirt pedals and delay with the amp. The dirt pedals work very well with the clean or the slightly overdriven blackface models. But the delay is tricky on some channels. The one I most want to use it with is #7, the Vox-sounding "British combo" model, but that's one where it sounds the worst. (I use this delay for the tap tempo, which the amp doesn't have.) There is a big compression effect built in to the #7 model, so it raises the sound of the repeats to the same level as the initial notes. Not very usable. But with the delay after the dirt pedals and using a clean channel on the amp, I can get reasonably close to what I need.
Actually the amp's built-in overdrive channels are really good and I could easily do without the pedals, but I have my board set up so I can just grab it and go to church, plug in, and have everything the same as my home practice rig.
By the way, I'm rehousing it in a 12" combo cab! I hooked it up to a PA cab and was really impressed, so I moved the Fender 10" speaker to the Vox Pathfinder (another big improvement) and will move the Fender amp to a bigger custom cab with a 12" Jensen speaker. Killer! :twisted: Yeah yeah, shoulda just bought the Deluxe VM ... :lol:
"Everybody got to elevate from the norm."
They didn't have the bigger one when I got mine. Part of the reason I got it was portability. It still hasn't gotten past the back deck. :roll: Still, I want an easy grab & go, so no pedals. I try to dial in what I want. I never write down anything. That should probably start happening.
New cap & speaker, eh? Sweet! Something home-made? Wes Inman suggested a make of cabs, but the budget didn't allow. I doubt I'd do anything anyhow, as I am quite satisfied with the product after I put that moderately priced speaker in it.
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
Guys - great advice on the Super Champ XD. I wandered over to Guitar Center while I was getting my car washed today and played on it a bit. It sounds fantastic. Thanks.
8)
Seems like a really cool amp. I haven't had the chance to try one yet but then again I have too much gear now. :roll:
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
Guys - great advice on the Super Champ XD. I wandered over to Guitar Center while I was getting my car washed today and played on it a bit. It sounds fantastic. Thanks.
8)
Aren't Sundays great for car washes? And GC was open nearby, how cool is that?
Welcome. Looks like a super amp and a keeper! All the best with getting a Strat soon. :D
Like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
lol I did not notice the tub-amp performance. Is that anything like McDonald's Chocolatey chip cookies (always wondered what was in those - does that mean not actually chocolate?).
OT, but I recall an ad campaign in the last couple of years for McD's Chicken Nuggets where the banner line was "Now with REAL chicken!" :shock:
