New amp day -- Super Champ XD

Joe-Bob · October 9th, 2009, 01:31 AM

I really need a portable amp that will cover some different musical ground. As we all know, "smaller more portable amp" morphs into "useless toy junk amp" pretty easily. So, I went to the store and was able to try a Vibrochamp XD, and while it was interesting, the small speaker and low output were instantly obvious. Turns out they had just got in some of the bigger Super Champs, but they weren't on the floor. They got one out for me, and I was impressed. It has a wide variety of different sounds, and while they may not be studio quality, they are certainly good enough for practice and rehearsal.

Tonight, I was able to put the new little amp through its paces at my weekly jazz big band rehearsal. I used their "jazz" voicing some and the regular amp voicing, both with some reverb and my Ibanez Artstar AF220 jazbox. The jazz voicing was a little dark, while the straight amp sound was a little bright, both worked out well, though. Articulation was crisp, and the chords came out clean. Both worked out well, though.

The place where smaller amps inevitably fail is in the low frequencies that require lots of power to reproduce, and this was very evident. Not that there's no bass response, but that there's not enough power for it. That's what we sacrifice for lighter weight, and more portable amplifiers.

The Super Champ has 16 different amp voices that give it a wide range of possiblilities, clean, to crunch, to metal, etc. I didn't have time to really get into those, although there are at least a few that show good potential. The effects seemed to work well, I used the reverb and tried the delay some. I didn't get to try them all.

BTW -- Nobody gave me an amp, or paid me to try one and tell you about it.....and even if they did, you guys are certainly smart enough to go try them out yourselves first.

Hiker · October 9th, 2009, 02:14 AM

Congrats-enjoy your SCXD!

tjk3052 · October 9th, 2009, 03:45 AM

Channel 1 is amaing with a little reverb playing on the neck pickup. I use a Barber LTD SR in front of it for a nice OD soumd. I like that combo better than most of the ch.2 voices, although voice 2, 8, and 10 are good IMO.

October 9th, 2009, 01:31 AM	#1 (permalink)
Joe-Bob Poster Extraordinaire Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Dallas, Texas Age: 47 Posts: 5,533	New amp day -- Super Champ XD I really need a portable amp that will cover some different musical ground. As we all know, "smaller more portable amp" morphs into "useless toy junk amp" pretty easily. So, I went to the store and was able to try a Vibrochamp XD, and while it was interesting, the small speaker and low output were instantly obvious. Turns out they had just got in some of the bigger Super Champs, but they weren't on the floor. They got one out for me, and I was impressed. It has a wide variety of different sounds, and while they may not be studio quality, they are certainly good enough for practice and rehearsal. Tonight, I was able to put the new little amp through its paces at my weekly jazz big band rehearsal. I used their "jazz" voicing some and the regular amp voicing, both with some reverb and my Ibanez Artstar AF220 jazbox. The jazz voicing was a little dark, while the straight amp sound was a little bright, both worked out well, though. Articulation was crisp, and the chords came out clean. Both worked out well, though. The place where smaller amps inevitably fail is in the low frequencies that require lots of power to reproduce, and this was very evident. Not that there's no bass response, but that there's not enough power for it. That's what we sacrifice for lighter weight, and more portable amplifiers. The Super Champ has 16 different amp voices that give it a wide range of possiblilities, clean, to crunch, to metal, etc. I didn't have time to really get into those, although there are at least a few that show good potential. The effects seemed to work well, I used the reverb and tried the delay some. I didn't get to try them all. BTW -- Nobody gave me an amp, or paid me to try one and tell you about it.....and even if they did, you guys are certainly smart enough to go try them out yourselves first. __________________ Why didn't the Psychic Network already know I was gonna call? Last edited by Joe-Bob; October 9th, 2009 at 02:18 PM. Reason: I can't spell

October 9th, 2009, 02:14 AM	#2 (permalink)
Hiker Tele-Holic Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Indiana Posts: 775 4 Photos	Congrats-enjoy your SCXD! __________________ Hammer On!

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October 9th, 2009, 03:45 AM	#3 (permalink)
tjk3052 Tele-Meister Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: MN Posts: 104	Channel 1 is amaing with a little reverb playing on the neck pickup. I use a Barber LTD SR in front of it for a nice OD soumd. I like that combo better than most of the ch.2 voices, although voice 2, 8, and 10 are good IMO.

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