Fender Super Champ XD Vintage Modified Guitar Combo Amplifier (15 Watts, 1x10 In.)

No longer available at zZounds
The Fender Super Champ XD is an excellent compact amp. Boasting a pair of 6V6 power tubes and a 10-inch special design speaker, the Super Champ XD rocks.

The Super Champ of the early 1980s was an up-to-the-minute take on the venerable Fender Champ amp. It contained a powerful 10-Inch speaker, large for a Champ; its new overdrive capabilities were further enhanced by the inclusion of genuine Fender Reverb. Bottom line, the Super Champ had incredible gain and volume in a compact package -- a real surprise for guitarists who were accustomed to hauling much larger amps to the studio or rehearsal hall.

The Fender Super Champ XD amplifier takes the vintage formula into a new era by combining a real tube amp with up-to-date "extras" like versatile amp voicing and quality DSP effects. The Super Champ XD's inclusion of solid-state overdrive and distortion eliminates many of the preamp tube problems that plague tube lovers, while providing tones for rock, blues, country, jazz, metal, and more. And the Line Output and Speaker Output capabilities mean that recording and practice sessions are rockin' with the Fender Super Champ XD.

The Vintage Modified part of the Fender Super Champ XD comes in with a 15-Watt Tube guitar amplifier with two 6V6 power tubes, one 12AX7 preamp tube, a 10inch Special Design speaker, 16-position "Voicing" knob with a myriad of clean and distorted preamp voices, Channel switching, 16 DSP effects, and genuine Fender Blackface cosmetics.

Features

- 15 Watt tube power amp
- Two 6V6 tubes
- One 12AX7 preamp tube
- 10 inch Special Design speaker
- Voicing knob with 16 different amp types for any style of read more music
- Two channels (Normal and Amp Voice) with channel-switching format (optional footswitch available, pn 0071359000)
- 16 effects with effects level control
- External speaker capability
- Line output
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Series: Vintage Modified

Type: Tube amp with DSP

Output: 15 Watts into 8 Ohms

Ohms: 8 Ohms

Speakers: One 10 inch, 8 Ohm Special Design driver (pn 007-3858-000)

Channels: Two (switchable)

Controls: Volume 1; Channel Select; Gain; Volume 2; Voice; Treble; Bass; FX Level; FX Select

Covering: Black textured vinyl covering

Weight: 24 lbs (10.9 kg)

Dimensions: Height: 15 in. (38 cm) Width: 17.5 in. (45 cm) Depth: 9 in. (22.9 cm)

Power Handling Tubes: Two 6V6 tubes and One 12AX7 preamp tube

Weight: 29 lbs (13.1 kg) including packaging

For support or warranty questions, please contact the manufacturer:
Phone: 800-488-1818

Reviewers gave this product an overall rating of 4 out of 5 stars. (50 ratings)
Submitted December 15, 2007 by a customer from sympatico.ca

"The Little Amp That Could"

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
It was the fact that Fender had issued another $300 tube amp (I have a PJ) that inclined me to check this one out. At this price and with this much flexibility I'll probably hold onto it for a good while.

Sound
I was skeptical as to whether a $300 tube amp could be any good. I've owned lots of great tube amps, '69 plexi Super Lead, '62 Fender Bassman, '73 Super Reverb, JCM800 2203, Suhr Badger and many others. My other fave cheapie Fender is an early '90s tweed Pro Junior, which was also around $300 when I bought it. I went to the local music store to try out the Super Champ XD, plugged in a Telecaster, and I was floored at what a great sounding amp it was - especially at that price point. I immediately bought that amp and ordered a second for my brother. It's an ideal practice amp if you're into more of an old-school Fender sound. The preamp digitally models Fender tweed and blackface tone very convincingly. I guess Fender should know better than anyone how their amps are supposed to sound. As far as the other Voicings (channel 2) go, well, they're good but not excellent. Buy it for the Fender sounds. The effects are relatively few, but they all sound good. I really like the "slap" (short) delay and the tremolo effects. Another reviewer said that the amp's clean channel reminds him of a blackface Princeton. Couldn't agree more; I owned a '64 Princeton. This amp definitely gets you in the general ballpark of the Princeton clean tone. read more The stock speaker sounds quite good; but I'd probably upgrade before recording with this amp. It would be fine as is for gigs. And it sounds really impressive through a decent extension speaker cabinet. I was amazed at how much more punch and detail I got with the amp plugged in to a closed cabinet with a Celestion Vintage 30 12" speaker.

Features
At $300, with a tube amp you're not expecting any fancy features. Surprisingly, the Super Champ XD has a decent list of features. Though limited in scope, the effects sound quite good. The amp also has a line out jack.

Ease of Use
Getting a good tone with this amp is a no-brainer due to the simplicty of the amp's design concept. It's best to avoid extreme settings, though. The manual itself reminds users that particular settings work best with particular types of guitars, and that volume levels are vastly different from one voicing to the next in some cases. The manual is easy to read, but you could figure this amp out in a few minutes even without it.

Quality
Very cleanly assembled. Buy hey; it's cheap amp, so I'm not comparing the fit and finish to something costing 8 or 10 times as much. I think that such an amp is too inexpensively constructed to be expected to survive the rigors of the road. It's a practice/home recording amp.

Value
Pretty tough to beat at the price.

The Wow Factor
Anything this cool for this price is definitely worth checking out.

Musical Background:
Writer, indie musician

Musical Style:
Very broad, from rock to classical to ethnic
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