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Post subject: Thoughts on MY new Supersonic 22
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 12:51 am
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Got the call today from Guitar Center today.....the SS22 I "special" ordered Monday arrived. Picked her up, finally got her home and carefully upacked. Took a number of pics for old time's sake. Noted that one of the 2 velcro footswitch hold-downs hadn't been stapled to the right side inner cab......bad sign right off the bat. The footswitch was leaning up against the output transformer...which had a dent in it...and was cocked slightly from the impact. Must be a tough job stapling velcro to the inside of the cab. QC Fender???? The velcro was not torn, the staple missed the velcro.

Finally got her plugged-in, warmed up, fearing the noise I was going to hear when switching off of standby......Hey guess what???? they should re-label the reverb control knob "buzz" control. Reverb off...not so bad....reverb on...forgetaboutit.
Virtually no actual reverb at all.....what little there is...is drowned...and I mean DROWNED out by buzzing. To be very clear...the more you turn up the reverb, the louder the buzzing gets.

a) replaced each tube = no change
b) disconnected reverb tank = slightly different frequency...but buzzing remained.

This is all WITHOUT a guitar plugged in...also, this is not AC wiring problem at the homestead. I have "zero" problems with other amps.

So the reports of noise are confirmed..this amp is unusable....back to GC for a refund.

When I placed the order and left my deposit at GC Monday, I mentioned the buzz issue to the salesman. I was hoping it had been addressed by Fender as a number of others had posted about on various boards previously. No blondes were available through GC warehousing ...so it had to be order direct from Fender. He was kind enough to call Fender customer support/service and put the question to them. Their reply......there is no hiss/buzz problem with the SS22. Corporate line I'm guessing.

Back to GC tomorrow ......Fender, your credibility with the Supersonic 22 is floundering.....at the very least, your quality contol is abysmal. Numerous individuals have posted problems with this model .... can you address the issue??????


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Post subject: Re: Thoughts on MY new Supersonic 22
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 1:30 am
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mikiedreb wrote:
So the reports of noise are confirmed..this amp is unusable....back to GC for a refund.


Sad......

:(

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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Post subject: Re: Thoughts on MY new Supersonic 22
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 5:26 am
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Just posted this over at the gearpage-forum:
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cD1H5ujrQk

MY experience with this amp:

- Sounds great and the features are really nice

- Really hisses a bedroom levels (very similar to the CVR I sold because of the idle hiss ), My PRRI is very quiet in comparison, the noise/signal ratio is ok for concerts or when you turn up the clean above 2.5-3
But it definitely is annoying at low levels.

- As mentioned earlier the reverb is basically a hum control (Although the Princeton reverb also induces hum, but not nearly as much.)

- I exchanges all the tubes with quality stuff, rebiased, further improved the sound but had no real impact on the hum/noise issues.

- I came up with to solutions for bedroom levels: a) Volume pedal in the FX loop so you can crank the volume an make the pedal your mastervolume thus increasing the signal compared to the hiss, or b) put a 12AU7 in the PI position instead of the 12AT7, too reduce the overall gain.

I contacted Fender Germany about this, without any response.
So I sent the amp back to the seller because of the hiss, because I don't see why a brandnew Fender amp for 1050 Euros (!!!) should be unusable (without compromises) for studio/home use.
I am waiting on the stores/Fenders reaction, if they send me another amp that hisses less, because some people seem to have less noisy amps.
But I fear this is not going to happen, also hearing about reactions that they treat this as a "non-issue".
I probably have to look for a different amp. (NON FENDER) "


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Post subject: Re: Thoughts on MY new Supersonic 22
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 11:05 am
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I'm way bummed......there are some great tones in this amp. A nice full bottom end.....some decent distortion. Great concept, but sub-par execution. I'm thinking I'll give GC and Fender one more chance to make this right. With the reverb issues resolved.....the noise floor may be tolerable....or even ok..

Fortunately, GC is 15 minutes away, and there's a money back guarantee. I wouldn't have gone down this road given the reported issues, had it not been so convenient.


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Post subject: Re: Thoughts on MY new Supersonic 22
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 11:53 am
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mikiedreb wrote:
Fortunately, GC is 15 minutes away, and there's a money back guarantee.


+1

If nothing else, at least GC minimizes the odds of a crap-shoot.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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Post subject: Re: Thoughts on MY new Supersonic 22
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 11:58 am
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I agree, I is really frustrating to see such a great concept executed so poorly...


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Post subject: Re: Thoughts on MY new Supersonic 22
Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 5:22 am
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I suggest that all unsatisfied new (or former) Supersonic 22 users should write Fender customer support a mail an tell them what they think!!

Maybe if they get enough feedback, they will not longer deny these issues and start do do something.

You can PM me for the mail-adress if interested...


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Post subject: Re: Thoughts on MY new Supersonic 22
Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 7:37 am
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mine broke down, im done with fender for awhile, miss the clean channel but my 6505+ 60 watts rocks big time and 400 dollars less.


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Post subject: Re: Thoughts on MY new Supersonic 22
Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 9:03 pm
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Going into this purchase, I had doubts given recent reports...but, hey, Guitar Center money-back-guarantee.....and $200 off...

My replacement blonde SS22, shipped from Musician's Friend stock, was just as disappointing. Reverb knob = buzz control.

With reverb off, it actually sounded wonderful.
The "FAT" switch did exactly that...fattened up the tone...big, bold. Didn't twiddle with the gain channel much though. No reverb...just buzz.

Once again the upper velcro holding the footswitch to the inside on the amp was torn away. At least the output transformer wasn't dented and tweeked. Fender might consider another method of fixing the velcro to the inner wall, especially considering the weight and mass of the 4-button footswitch......a handful of staples ain't cutting it. The serial number was higher that the previous amp.....I'm guessing that means it's newer....no improvements, same QC...beware!!!!!

Got my $$$ back, and on to something else....that Lonestar is looking pretty good right now.

Bummer.....


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Post subject: Re: Thoughts on MY new Supersonic 22
Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 9:17 pm
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It's disheartening to hear of yet another failed amp.

Tragic, really. Like the worst of the CBS era, but with a tenfold decrease in quality.

:(

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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Post subject: Re: Thoughts on MY new Supersonic 22
Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 9:30 pm
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Retroverbial wrote:
It's disheartening to hear of yet another failed amp.

Tragic, really. Like the worst of the CBS era, but with a tenfold decrease in quality.

:(

Arjay


Ya think the guys at Fender monitor these boards? Sure would like some buy-in....


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Post subject: Re: Thoughts on MY new Supersonic 22
Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 11:14 pm
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mikiedreb wrote:
that Lonestar is looking pretty good right now.


The Mesa Lone Star is an exceptional amp. Some great tones available with that amp.

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Post subject: Re: Thoughts on MY new Supersonic 22
Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 11:38 pm
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Tim, I agree that the Lone Star is a great amp. I came very, very close to buying a Lone Star last month...that is until I plugged into Mesa's new Mark Five. To me, the Mark Five is a tone monster.


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Post subject: Re: Thoughts on MY new Supersonic 22
Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 12:05 am
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I am really glad that I gave back my SS22. It's really unbelievable that a brand new amp-design leaves the factory with all these issues.... :shock:

I am now looking for a replacement. 2 channel amp, fender clean, nice overdrive, no high gain needed, reverb, not too heavy and about 20 W. (FX loop or Tremolo would be nice, but are not a dealbreaker.)
Budget is about 1500-2000$.
I already thought about a Toneking Imperial, but I have heard that it's not really easy to adjust levels between the 2 channels because there's no master volume on channel 2....


Any ideas would be greatly appreciated....
The reverend


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Post subject: Re: Thoughts on MY new Supersonic 22
Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 12:18 am
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My recommendation, Reverend......an older DRRI from the mid '90s. Look for the model that has the dummy "ground" switch on the rear panel. This feature was removed from the later models, when serious QA/QC issues began to appear. About six or seven bills ought to cover the damages. Install your speaker of choice, re-tube it with some decent glass and re-bias, and you should be good to go. Use a pedal when you need some serious "nasty" and put an A/B/Y footswitch in your signal chain to give the amp full channel-select capability. Plenty loud, true Fender clean, and quiet-as-a-churchmouse at idle.

HTH

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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