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Post subject: Supersonic
Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 3:12 pm
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Hi folks. I'm new to the forum. Been playing nearly 35 years, still doing weekend gigs. Hope to get back to playing full time when the last of my kids goes off to college. Play everything, but gigs are mostly blues and roots-type stuff. I've been using a HRD (currently the tweed with the Jenson speaker) for the past 7-8 years. I love the HRD - wish Fender made the same design in a smaller wattage (and lighter) amp. Maybe someday. I've been thinking about getting an amp that offered a broader range of tones than the HRD. I'm intrigued with the Supersonic, but have heard some mixed comments about reliability. Anybody have any experience with this amp? Tone assessment? Any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks, Rick


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Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2007 10:15 am
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Hi Rick,

I bought my 1x12 Super-sonic combo last fall, an upgrade from my 15w Fender Blues Jr, but I kept my BJ as it is an original tweed from the early 90's, and still love it, just needed more versatility, classic Fender clean tone, pure tube overdrive tone (no pedals) and the supersonic was the answer.


I never had any problems with my SS. I had been on an amp hunt for about 6 months and over that period, I tried 4 different supersonic at 4 diffferent stores, and all sounded good to my ears, only one of the four I tried had a noisy reverb, but we unplugged and replugged the reverb tank cables at the store and quickly fixed that. Your best bet is to buy it brand new and benefit from the full 5 year warranty from Fender (90 days on the tubes I think). They are made in USA.


Tone assessment? Man, where do I start on that ? I play a wide range of styles, from early Presley rockabily type of songs, to blues, to classic rock, to modern punk, and the amp covers it all. I still have chills each time I plug in to, the supersonic's tone is absolutelly faboulous, a BIG WOW in my book. I don't use any overdrive or distortion effect pedal anymore, just the overdrive from the amp, that's the way most players before the 80's were getting their tone, with the natural OD from the amp. Only a few Strat players like Hendrix or Gilmour were using fuzz pedal as a Strat was not driving their classic tube amp hard enough to give them enough overdrive, but anything you hear before 77 or 78 is pure tube overdrive. The dual-cascading gain from the SS gives you a wide palette of color in tone and will give you that classic overdrive tone you hear on record on live at a volume level that will not blow your neighboor's ears.

Perhaps this review will give you more insights on tone:
http://www.musicplayers.com/reviews/gui ... rSonic.php


Compared with your HRD, there are a few feature bonuses you will find in the SS:

- Each of the clean and overdrive channel have their own EQ, unlike the HRD where EQ is shared between clean and Drive/More Drive.
- Level control on the effect loop - nice to use it as a booster for solos or attenuator for bedroom/appartment level playing.
- As stated already, two gain controls - very nice and versatile. You can get very nice early Mashall or Mesa Boogie type tone from the SS, unlike the HRD that is nowehere near these types of tones.
- Reverb is way better, as it is tube driven in the SS.


I will offer a few more comments on some negative comments you might have read about the SS. I think most of that comes out of misunderstanding of the Fender amp tradition and the lack of knowledge of how pro players are using or tweaking Fender tube amps to get their famous tone.

- "Vibrolux is too bright to my ears" - I think the Vibrolux channel from the SS was modelled after the "bright" channel from the real Vibrolux. With that in mind, as well as any blackface amp I have ever played, I bring the Treble down to 3-4, and increase the Bass to 7-8....problem gone, and you will be in pure classic clean tone heaven....The other thing is to use the Tone control on your guitar....


- "There is a volume drop when I switch from the Bassman to the Vibrolox channel" - True, but I don't think the amp was designed to switch between channels in a live situation without any EQ adjustment. In the bassman channel, I would actually increase my Treble to 7-8 and bring the Bass down to 3-4, just like I would playing with a real Bassman amp (50 reissue or 66 blonde head).


- "There is no mid-control in the Vintage (clean channel)" - The SS is based on the 65 Vibrolux and 66 Bassman - and they didn't have a Mid control either. I think again this is a misunderstanding of what the Mid control is used for. In reality, there is a mid in the EQ of the SS, it's just fixed, not adjustable with a control. A Mid control in only really necessary in a live situation when you feel you are not cutting throught the mix, and this usually happens with overdrive, not clean playing. Using clean tone from a powerfull amp such as the SS, cutting through the mix is not an issue. I have played mine with 3 other electric guitar at an open mike 3 months ago, and when came my time to solo, I had no problem hearing myself and cutting through the mix on the clean (Vibrolux). However, with overdrive, the Mid often need to be increased in order to cut throught the mix, which is why you'll find a mid on the Burn channel, but not on the Vintage.

- "I don't understand why Fender put a Vintage 30 speaker in this amp!!!" - Actually, the Celestion Vintage 30 is the perfect speaker for that amp. The SS is so versatile that it needed an speaker that could cover clean as good as it would cover overdrive/distortion tone, and the V30 is one of only speaker that does it that well. There might be other options out there, but I don't think Fender is working with start-up speaker companies, so the V30 was potentially the only choice (the V30 is also one rare speaker that can handle the 60W load in onw speaker....) . In my opinion, cllassic speakers such as Jensens better cover clean to mild overdrive sound, while other classic speakers from Celestion better cover overdrive to distortion....but I find that the Celestion V30 is the best of both worlds . Have you ever listen to Brian Setzer live? He uses Vintage 30's in the speaker cabinet with his 66 Bassman head...his tone is among the top 10 in my book. Breaking in the speaker also greatly improves the V30 - there is a tip on how to do that on the celestion.com web site, look under Ask Mr Decibel. I tried that and it worked for me.

- "Stock power and pre-amp tubes sucks, I changed them all" - That is personal opinion and taste, and I respect it. My only advice on this is that since the SS is a 60 watts & powerfull monster, the "blue" coded Groove Tube stock power tube do sound better to my ear than the white or red, simply because the blue ones are hotter/break up sooner. I am still using the stock tubes, but one day I will change V1 & V2 12aX7 for better tubes, and maybe the power tubes for TADs, just curious to see how dramatic of a change this will be.

Bottom line is, try and buy what works best for you. There really isn't any bad tube amps from Fender, which makes it even more difficult to select one. In my case, a lot of it had to do with the fact that I loved the blackface tone as much as the tick bassman clean tone, and wanted overdrive from the amp as opposed to spend the remainder of my life tryign to find THE overdrive pedal that sounds and respond the closest to tube amp overdrive. As I didn't have the money to buy a 65 Deluxe or Twin Reverb reissue, a 59 bassman LTD reissuem, plus a Mesa/Boogie for pure tube overdrive, the SS fit the bill perfectly in my situation. Sure, it's not a classic reissue, but I'm convinced that the SS is a "new born" classic ! I love it, I just love it.
Tweed Dog Steve


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Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2007 3:32 pm
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Tweed Dog Steve, thanks so much for your reply - what an incredible amount of detail and insight. I really appreciate it. I don't use any pedals either. I prefer to hear the guitar's tone from the amp, with as little processing as possible. That being said, I can't always play with the volume needed to drive a straight single-channel amp to the perfect break-up level, so I look for a decent gain channel, and a master volume to control output. Sounds like the SS has a lot to offer. I was originally thinking about a smaller, lighter amp than the HRD. (I recently tried out a Mesa 5:25 Express. Lots of background static, and, although it's got tons of settings, there were only a few tones I could really use, and none compared to Fender tone.) However, now that I've started looking around, I'm thinking it's time to work with a different amp for a while, not necessarily a smaller amp. I'm going to try to find someplace nearby where I can try out the SS, maybe the new Princeton Recording Amp, too. There's a GC about an hour and a half's drive - hopefully they'll have a few things on the floor. Thanks again for the information and useful link - you should be working for Fender. Later - Rick.


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Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 12:07 pm
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just to add my two bits! You want a pure stack sound with the SS? Add a couple of 2X10" Celestions and this amp just roars! I've had to order the extention cabinet (thanks to Lopo Cabinets) with the Vanilla covering, the only thing they did'nt match was the Oxblood grill cloth, which I have had to order from Fender (and still waiting ...like 4 months!!)
You won't go wrong with this amp(and I've had several other Fender amps).
It looks cool and sounds even cooler. I have EC strats and have modded them upto Pete Townshends current custom shop strats (Fishman powerbridges, locking tuners, etc...) I'm abit of a nut for his live sound and have nailed with this amp. I would love to have a Vibroking but...don't need it with this set-up, it nails his sound. :D


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Post subject:
Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 9:09 am
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Tweed Dog Steve,
Excellent report. You really "get" what we wanted to do with the Super-Sonic.

Thanks,
Shane


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Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 4:04 pm
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Tweed Dog: Excellent comment/review on this amp (I also read your review on harmonycentral.com); however, is the reverb in this amp really tube-driven? If it's not, it doesn't matter, because it sounds excellent (I just bought mine and I'm lovin' it!!!!), but it would be interesting to know. Anyway, I just posted a topic on this, let's see if any of the Fender staff guys can give an answer...
Like I said, excellent review, and I agree with the points you made.
:)


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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 9:05 am
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Her reflexbc - you're welcome, and glad you like your new amp.

I have posted a response re: tube-driven reverb here:

http://www.fender.com/community/forums/ ... 1174#21174


Tweed Dog Steve


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