The Super Champ XD club

[Mr Perch]

Originally Posted by Kyluckyman

I find I get a lot of extra buzzing on Voice 3 of my XD, even with the gain all the way down. Both guitars do it. When on Channel 1 the 60 cycle hum is not bad, and I am convinced Channel 3 has an issue.

As I recall, we did not hear this on the floor model at the music store. The other voice channels sound okay.

Could it be a bad tube? What are your suggestions to quiet this down?

My guess would be a defect in the the DSP board, which seems to be the Achille heel on this amp. A tube problem would be across the board, not just one voice.

[Kid Klash]

Originally Posted by Mr Perch

My guess would be a defect in the the DSP board, which seems to be the Achille heel on this amp. A tube problem would be across the board, not just one voice.

Disconnect and reconnect the connector going to the DSP board a few times and hit it with a bit of Caig cleaner. More times than not, that'll cure the DSP board problem. ;)

[Kid Klash]

Originally Posted by Hiker

Finally was able to see the Super Champ™ X2 HD in a store. I'm still very satisfied with my Gen1 combo.

Me too. The only rattles I experience are caused by paintings hanging on the walls and other non-amp things in the room when I crank up my SCXD.

[bbmyers]

With all this DSP talk you guys are making me nervous about my now discontinued SCXD crapping out on me. I really like the amp and already have a mustang so not much point in getting an X2.

Sell them both I guess and consolidate but that requires effort..

[Gnobuddy]

Originally Posted by bbmyers

With all this DSP talk you guys are making me nervous about my now discontinued SCXD crapping out on me.

Remember that Fender has a 5-year warranty on the SCXD. If you bought it new you're certainly covered for 5 years. If you're the second owner you may still be covered - I don't know FMIC's policy on this. (Anyone know?)

I'm curious about this whole business of the DSP board being unreliable. It's hard to say how much is myth (fear of new technology?) and how much is real (actual statistics on failure of these boards). We do know for sure that a few people on this thread have experienced failure of the DSP boards, most recently Mr. Perch.

The thing is, Texas Instruments (who makes the DSP chip in the SCXD) makes good quality products that are used in tons of audio equipment - chances are there's one in your home theatre receiver, maybe one in your car stereo, and so on. They're not known for failing.

So if the DSP boards in the Fender amps are failing a lot, the problem is not in the DSP chips themselves, but rather something about the circuitry of this particular amp.

If the DSP boards in the SCXD are failing at abnormal rates, my first guess would be that it has something to do with the power supply used in the SCXD. Perhaps spikes of high voltage from the tube power supplies are making their way into the low-voltage supply for the DSP board or something. Overvoltage - even very briefly - is one way to kill any integrated circuit instantly.

This sort of thing would be fixable with some circuit changes. Someone would have to diagnose the exact problem, then work out a fix in the power supply circuitry. It's the sort of thing one would hope Fender Corp would do as part of their R&D.

Whether or not FMIC improved the power supply for the X2, we do not know. Let's hope they did.

My SCXD is now over two years old, and still going strong. It's probably one of my two favourite pieces of music gear (the other one being my Agile AS-820, my favourite guitar). If it died I would be out there looking for some sort of replacement amp very quickly. Fender has a 5-year warranty on the SCXD, so I should be covered for another three years - but if I had the choice, I probably would get an all-tube guitar amp, not because of reliability concerns, but because I've become convinced that it's the tubes that make the SCXD sound as good as it does, and not the modelling.

-Gnobuddy

[swellsmd]

I have told people for years this is the best $279 I have spent musically. Probably have sold 5 or 6 of them for Fender. Had it now for 4 years, just replaced a pre amp tube. It rides in my music van as a spare amp next to the blues jr. If it was a little louder I would gig with it.

[Mr Perch]

Originally Posted by Kid Klash

Disconnect and reconnect the connector going to the DSP board a few times and hit it with a bit of Caig cleaner. More times than not, that'll cure the DSP board problem. ;)

Gnobuddy, have you tried this on my former XD that is sitting in your laboratory?

[Gnobuddy]

Originally Posted by Mr Perch

Gnobuddy, have you tried this on my former XD that is sitting in your laboratory?

Mr. Perch, I will confess that I have not. Knowing that the SCXD had died on you, that you'd tried wiggling the controls, and that the Guitar Center personnel had checked the amp, concluded it was dead, and honoured your warranty, I dived in head-first rather than re-confirming that the digital board was dead.

Perhaps I was a bit hasty, but the way the power supply caps are soldered to the SCXD board, I couldn't at first sight see a safe way to discharge them for working on the amp. So rather than plug the amp back in and recharge all those dangerous caps, and have to wait until they were all safely discharged again, I just used a digital voltmeter to verify they were already discharged, and then dived head-first into the amp reanimation project.

There has been plenty of progress, and I've taken photos along the way. But I'm not yet at the point where I can declare the project was successful. I need a few more hours of time free and clear to concentrate on the project, and it's been hard to find them in the middle of the usual busy-ness of our daily lives. Instead I grab 20 minutes here and 30 minutes there when possible, and so progress is slow.

-Gnobuddy

[Mr Perch]

Originally Posted by Gnobuddy

Knowing that the SCXD had died on you, that you'd tried wiggling the controls, and that the Guitar Center personnel had checked the amp, concluded it was dead, and honoured your warranty, I dived in head-first rather than re-confirming that the digital board was dead.

For the record, GC personnel didn't check it. They gave me an 800 number. I called it; the lady on the other end of the line asked for the model of the amp, looked it up in her database, and said "donate it to charity." I guess that's consistent with Fender's "replace, don't try to fix" warranty for the SCXD.

[Gnobuddy]

Originally Posted by Mr Perch

For the record, GC personnel didn't check it.

They gave you a new amp without checking that the first one was dead? Wow, there's a level of trust in humanity you don't often see from a corporation these days. Particularly a corporation that has a guy inside the front door whose job is to check your receipt and purchases before you can even leave the building!

Originally Posted by Mr Perch

They gave me an 800 number. I called it; the lady on the other end of the line asked for the model of the amp, looked it up in her database, and said "donate it to charity." I guess that's consistent with Fender's "replace, don't try to fix" warranty for the SCXD.

I think I understand her sentiment, but honestly, is it really a good idea to donate a broken and supposedly irreparable amp to charity? I thought the idea when donating to a charity was to give things that might actually benefit other people!

It's been a long, tiring, and busy day, so I'm off to bed...ill prepared for tomorrow's guitar lesson.

-Gnobuddy

[davidchagrin]

I'm sure it's somewhere in this thread, but is it possible to run the line out to a soundboard and play with the speaker unplugged?

[Mr Perch]

Originally Posted by davidchagrin

I'm sure it's somewhere in this thread, but is it possible to run the line out to a soundboard and play with the speaker unplugged?

Not without putting some kind of load on the amp's speaker output. You will fry the amp otherwise.

[Gnobuddy]

Originally Posted by davidchagrin

I'm sure it's somewhere in this thread, but is it possible to run the line out to a soundboard and play with the speaker unplugged?

As Mr. Perch says, if you unplug the speaker, you have to put some other 8 ohm load in its place, otherwise you risk frying your SCXD.

One of these 8 ohm, 50 watt resistors will do the job nicely:
http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/...2bQnuz76n7w%3d

-Gnobuddy

[Hiker]

Okay, I'm not seeing much comparison in this thread between the generation 1, and the output w/ cab on the x2 version. Specifically, is the volume very close (stock), or a does breakup tube sound on the x2 project at a louder volume for the same amount of tubey goodness?

Any side by side comparison reports (shootout), or other reference volume settings after comparing some of this?

[davidchagrin]

Originally Posted by Mr Perch

Not without putting some kind of load on the amp's speaker output. You will fry the amp otherwise.

Originally Posted by Gnobuddy

As Mr. Perch says, if you unplug the speaker, you have to put some other 8 ohm load in its place, otherwise you risk frying your SCXD.

One of these 8 ohm, 50 watt resistors will do the job nicely:
http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/...2bQnuz76n7w%3d

-Gnobuddy

Thanks, guys.

[Mr Perch]

Originally Posted by Hiker

Okay, I'm not seeing much comparison in this thread between the generation 1, and the output w/ cab on the x2 version. Specifically, is the volume very close (stock), or a does breakup tube sound on the x2 project at a louder volume for the same amount of tubey goodness?

Any side by side comparison reports (shootout), or other reference volume settings after comparing some of this?

You would probably want to visit the X2 thread, where you will find players who have owned both that and the XD:

Originally Posted by Mr Perch

There is an interesting discussion at the new Super Champ X2 Club, comparing X2 with XD.

[savofenno]

Originally Posted by Gnobuddy

That's aggravating! Maybe it will be easier if you take the metal chassis out of the wooden cabinet. It's easy, just remove the wooden strip across the back of the cabinet (four shiny screws), then remove the four black screws on the top of the cabinet (hold the chassis in place with your other hand when you remove the last two screws, so that the chassis doesn't fall down!) and slide the chassis gently out of the back of the cabinet.

With the chassis removed, you will at least have good access to the speaker to work on that stubborn screw. And you don't have to worry about an accidental tap with the screwdriver shattering a 6V6 tube.


They are tight, but if they were loose they would not be reliable. The contact could vibrate loose when the amp was being used. So it's good that Fender used tight contacts here.

Use a pair of pliers (gently!) to remove them. Position the pliers so that they don't actually squeeze the connector even tighter onto the speaker, and also make sure you're pulling on the end of the metal connector and not the actual wire.

I couldn't remove my speaker connectors with my fingers, but using pliers they pulled off without trouble.

I assume you tried a large Phillips screwdriver? That's the proper tool. If it did not work, then you have to resort to other tricks. If the Phillips head has already been damaged by your attempts to remove the screw, then use a fine metal saw blade or a cutoff wheel in a Dremel or similar rotary tool to cut a slot in the screw head so it looks like a regular (non-Phillips) screw. Then use the biggest (non-Phillips) screwdriver that will fit the head.

As far as I know that screw goes either directly into the particle-board speaker baffle, or into a flimsy, thin metal Tee-nut. So once you have good access to the screw head it should not be too difficult to remove.

Congratulations!

-Gnobuddy

I tried previously to screw those bolts off in wrong way: one at time. I got much better screwdriver than my skinny one from friendly neighbor, and loosened those bolts little by little. That previously tough one came out as nothing!

SCXD`s OEM Eminence had become much better sounding after i had played it 40-60 hours since December, but i am very happy i upgraded to Jensen P10R!!!
It will get better too after played in, but it`s cleans are fabulous, and lows have not a hint of any farting in them. I have never before heard this quality cleans from my amps, maybe not even in many concerts of world famous rock groups i have visited since Beach Boys in Helsinki 1967.

Even high gain tones are already fuller and nicer than before.
I am after surf cleans mainly. Looks i have achieved my goal now!

Gnobuddy, big thanks for your helpful attitude!

[Shardik]

Did some one man jammin' with the John Mayer "Where the Light Is" concert video yesterday and suddenly (re)discovered voice 16. Using that with either the P90 or the bridge pickup on my telepartscaster (I added a P90 mid pickup) produced a nice acoustic like sound (like an acoustic recorded with a good microphone, I'll say).

Throughout that concert vid I mostly changed between ch1, ch2+v2 and ch2+v16. Single single coil pickups all the way (didn't combine pickups much).

It was great to discover how well the tele and SCXD worked for this kind of music. It proved to me once more the versatility of both the telecaster and the SCXD.

[Gnobuddy]

Originally Posted by savofenno

<snip>
I have never before heard this quality cleans from my amps, maybe not even in many concerts of world famous rock groups i have visited since Beach Boys in Helsinki 1967.

Amazing, isn't it? This is the main reason why so many of us love this amp. The clean tones are really gorgeous. Everything else is a free bonus, but it's the clean tones that make this amp such a joy to hear.

Originally Posted by savofenno

Gnobuddy, big thanks for your helpful attitude!

You're welcome, I'm glad I could help!

-Gnobuddy

[Gnobuddy]

Originally Posted by Shardik

...suddenly (re)discovered voice 16. Using that with either the P90 or the bridge pickup on my telepartscaster (I added a P90
<snip>

I agree. While I'm not as much of a fan of voice 16 as you are, my own experiments with voice 16 also worked best with P90 pickups.

Everything old is new again. I posted about this on this thread way back in June 2011: http://www.tdpri.com/forum/3377541-post1042.html

-Gnobuddy