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Post subject: Superchamp XD volume?
Posted: Wed May 05, 2010 11:55 am
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Firstly like to say hello all as this is my first post on this forum.
Im on the brink of buying a Superchamp XD as a home practice amp. After trying loads of different amps i found that the slightly crunchy blues/rock that i mainly attempt to play sounded superb through this amp, and its versatile enough that i wont need loads of pedals.
My concern is this. In the guitar shop where i tried it there was quite alot of ambient noise so i did have to have fairly loud, 6/7 on the volume dial. Would i loose the richess/fullness of the tone at maye 2/3 on the dial? Some of my practice time will be spent at very low volumes due to the kids being in bed. Are the tone qualities lost when its this quiet?
How do you other XD owners find it at lower volume levels and what do generally turn it down to so you dont wake the household? Thanks all.


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Posted: Wed May 05, 2010 1:09 pm
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If you are ONLY using this for home practice, give some thought to the VibroChamp XD. I have one, and it is plenty loud enough for home use.


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Posted: Wed May 05, 2010 2:33 pm
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I've found you can get decent sounds at low volumes as well. It's just a matter of tweaking the volume/gain/level controls.
If you're just looking for a practice amp, the Vibro-Champ should do, but if you want an amp that you could gig with as well, the SCXD would be better.


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Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 4:23 am
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I have tried the vibro but found it sounding a bit hollow compared to the super which i prefer. Also prefer the switchable clean channel.


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Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 5:35 am
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I have the same issue- kids :D The scxd is great at both low volumes, and when you crank it up. There are no issues with tone because all of the tones on channel 2 are replicated and are not relying on saturated tubes to produce the overdrive. I have had mine for quite a while now and love it!


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Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 11:50 am
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That's right. It's not the tubes that cause the overdiven tones, but the Digital Sound Processing, which makes the volume levels less relevant in obtaining all that nice crunch and distortion. The tubes are there basically as a means to warm up and give a natural tube tone to what would otherwise be relatively sterile digital tones. IMO, the SCXD doe this extremely well. I can get nice warm tones on it at any volume level, even on the clean channel/setting.


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Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 1:29 pm
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The SCXD is a great amp. A great way to get tone at low volume is to dime the gain & lower the volume on the guitar. It works for Santana.
I sometimes connect my MiniMass to get that crunch on the clean channel when the neighors are sleepin. Sounds pretty kewl.

Craig


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Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 5:42 pm
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Slightly off-topic, but can anyone tell me how a guitar with Humbuckers sounds thru an SCXD? I was thinking at some point I may get as a second guitar an Epi G-400.


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Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 6:10 pm
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Bathead wrote:
Slightly off-topic, but can anyone tell me how a guitar with Humbuckers sounds thru an SCXD? I was thinking at some point I may get as a second guitar an Epi G-400.


I play an Epiphone Dot, with two humbuckers, with a Vibro Champ XD and it sounds great. Yes, it sounded better through the Egnater Rebel 20 at GC, but the little amp does pretty well.


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Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 12:25 pm
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I went into my local guitar shop this evening and tried again both the super and the vibro, also tried a Vox vt30 again which i have also been considering. Sound and tone wise the Superchamp has them licked at any volume level imho. The fella in the shop let me use there studio to try them so it was away for the shops ambient noise. Enabling me to get them as quiet as possible. I found that a reasonable level for indoors with the kids in bed on the Super was around 2 on either channel.
As this is not really letting the amp `sing`. Does anyone know if this attenuator is availible in the UK?

http://www.drzamps.com/products/brake_lite.html

If so, is it compatible with a SCXD?


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Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 8:39 pm
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I don't think an attenuator is really necessary with a SCXD. Use one of Channel 2 voices and you can get a good variety of overdriven sounds. YMMV


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Posted: Sun May 09, 2010 4:13 am
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gtrman100 wrote:
I don't think an attenuator is really necessary with a SCXD. Use one of Channel 2 voices and you can get a good variety of overdriven sounds. YMMV

That is my experience, too, I haven't really played it all that loud yet, and I seem to be getting excellent tone from it. It's just a matter of tweaking the volume/gain controls as I said before. An attenuator seems like an unnecessary expense at this point. Play with it a while before you go spending extra cash you may not need to.


Last edited by Bathead on Thu May 13, 2010 10:26 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Posted: Thu May 13, 2010 8:26 am
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Great little amp for a range of sounds.

But come to think of it im using my champion 600 quite alot lately

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Post subject: Re: Superchamp XD volume?
Posted: Mon May 17, 2010 10:04 am
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dc01 wrote:
Firstly like to say hello all as this is my first post on this forum.
Im on the brink of buying a Superchamp XD as a home practice amp. After trying loads of different amps i found that the slightly crunchy blues/rock that i mainly attempt to play sounded superb through this amp, and its versatile enough that i wont need loads of pedals.
My concern is this. In the guitar shop where i tried it there was quite alot of ambient noise so i did have to have fairly loud, 6/7 on the volume dial. Would i loose the richess/fullness of the tone at maye 2/3 on the dial? Some of my practice time will be spent at very low volumes due to the kids being in bed. Are the tone qualities lost when its this quiet?
How do you other XD owners find it at lower volume levels and what do generally turn it down to so you dont wake the household? Thanks all.


Most of the time, my SCXD is set around volumes between 2 and 4. It doesn't kill the tone at all. The amp sound great with Gibson Les Pauls and Fender Strat Deluxe's. I can't complain about the amp at all. Even with it being completely stock. Great amp for the money, plus they've dropped in price over the past couple of years since I bought mine.

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