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I've noticed on other forums that the Super Champ XD and Vibro Champ XD are popular, as you would expect, with first-time amp purchasers or first-time tube amp purchasers. They often think they can plug headphones into the line out jack and unplug the speaker so they can use it as a practice amp, or that they can plug headphones into the speaker jack.
Unplugging the speaker or running headphones instead of a speaker will damage the amp. Tube amps need a proper load, and "proper" in this case means between 4 and 16 ohms, even though Fender specifies 8 ohms minimum. Headphones are high impedance and have no power handling capability. The amp will burn them out. Then the amp will be unloaded, which is damaging. The other alternative, running with the speaker unplugged will cause the tubes and output transformer to overheat, shortening the life of both.
A proper load doesn't have to be anything fancy. An 8 ohm aluminum power resistor in a project box will do.
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