It is currently Tue Mar 17, 2020 2:34 am

All times are UTC - 7 hours



Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 22 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next
Go to page 1, 2  Next
Author Message
Post subject: Super Sonic 22 - The New Swiss Army Knife of Amps?
Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 9:25 am
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 4:25 pm
Posts: 51
Location: Missouri
Hey guys, I've got a question for all of you. Is the new Super Sonic 22 amp the new Swiss Army Knife of Amps? I've had several silver face Fender amps in the past and have one Black Face Champ still in my arsenal. I could never get my SF amps to sound like a BF of course and now I am really aching for a BF RI Deluxe or Princeton amp. I love the sound, even thought they are PCB amps. I can never find a clean sound quite like them. That being said, I have briefly played the SS22 but not with my guitars. I was wondering if you guys think that this amp would be a good fit with my Les Paul as well as my Strats. I know how good it sounds with a start but my LP has Burstbucker pickups that coil tap. My goal is to have a go to amp that sounds great with whatever guitar I want to use...isn't that always our goal for the gigging musician? Anyway, any experience with the burn channel? Does this channel have a really good semi-clean Marshall sound that one could build on with good pedals, i.e. Barber LTD and Direct Drive, etc? That way I could get a decent clean, hair and dirt out of any guitar I decide to use. Just wondering out loud. I look forward to and appreciate all feedback on this, the never-ending quest. I might add, that I'm mainly a rhythm player, but that seems to be a much harder order to fill than lead guys as chording is such the heart of the band. You single note lead guys seem to get away with much more(LOL!). I might add that I've been playing Tweaker (15) the past year or so. Great sounding little amp but not realistically a switchable amp live. Their Tweaker 40 seemed to be the answer but you can't "assign" an amp setting to each channel, it's global so the switching feature is worthless trying to go from a USA(fender) setting to Brit(Marshall).

_________________
"I'd rather live in Bedford Falls than live Pottersville" ~ me


Top
Profile
Fender Play Winter Sale 2020
Post subject: Re: Super Sonic 22 - The New Swiss Army Knife of Amps?
Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 6:40 pm
Offline
Rock Icon
Rock Icon
User avatar

Joined: Wed Mar 31, 2010 12:48 am
Posts: 26417
Location: Tombstone Territory
voxampguy wrote:
I could never get my SF amps to sound like a BF of course and now I am really aching for a BF RI Deluxe or Princeton amp.


You don't really think a blackface re-issue will sound more authentic than an original (or even an early silverface), do you?

:lol:

Arjay

_________________
"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


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Super Sonic 22 - The New Swiss Army Knife of Amps?
Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 8:16 pm
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 4:25 pm
Posts: 51
Location: Missouri
Well, I've owned several and I can tell you that while I'm not naive about the fact the the RI's are PCBs and the Jensen's are not exactly the jensens of old, there is a harshness inherent it SF amps that is generally not there in BF amps, not even the RI's. SF amps in my opinion need to be completely BF'd to get rid of that. I just can't find anyone reliable enough to do it. I had a SF deluxe and I could never tame it, even with several speaker changes and a new Tranny. I think that the RI's sound pretty damn good actually. I was considering it because I always that that when the PCB went the way of a bic lighter I could always put in a new Turret board w/ BF spec'd parts!

_________________
"I'd rather live in Bedford Falls than live Pottersville" ~ me


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Super Sonic 22 - The New Swiss Army Knife of Amps?
Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 8:41 pm
Offline
Rock Icon
Rock Icon
User avatar

Joined: Wed Mar 31, 2010 12:48 am
Posts: 26417
Location: Tombstone Territory
voxampguy wrote:
SF amps in my opinion need to be completely BF'd to get rid of that.


That's the most RIDICULOUS statement I've seen posted on this forum all week.

Just how much more "blackface" can an AB763 circuit revision get......?

Image

Fifth week of January, 1968.

ALL BLACKFACE, just as St. Leo designed it.

You've "owned several" silverfaces? I've owned dozens over a forty-five year period. And I know the month and year that every model was "upgraded" beyond the original FEIC design. There are plenty of silverface models that still qualify as blackface amps despite the cosmetic differences. Generally speaking, most '68 drip-edge editions made before the start of summer were still wired using the original schematics. The Deluxe Reverb escaped molestation until August, when the AB868 revision appeared.

Arjay

_________________
"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


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Super Sonic 22 - The New Swiss Army Knife of Amps?
Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 6:14 am
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 4:25 pm
Posts: 51
Location: Missouri
Yes my friend, but the drip edge Deluxes are going for stupid money right now too. Don't want to take out a loan.

_________________
"I'd rather live in Bedford Falls than live Pottersville" ~ me


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Super Sonic 22 - The New Swiss Army Knife of Amps?
Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 6:17 am
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 4:25 pm
Posts: 51
Location: Missouri
Retroverbial wrote:
voxampguy wrote:
SF amps in my opinion need to be completely BF'd to get rid of that.


That's the most RIDICULOUS statement I've seen posted on this forum all week.

Just how much more "blackface" can an AB763 circuit revision get......?

Image

Fifth week of January, 1968.

ALL BLACKFACE, just as St. Leo designed it.

You've "owned several" silverfaces? I've owned dozens over a forty-five year period. And I know the month and year that every model was "upgraded" beyond the original FEIC design. There are plenty of silverface models that still qualify as blackface amps despite the cosmetic differences. Generally speaking, most '68 drip-edge editions made before the start of summer were still wired using the original schematics. The Deluxe Reverb escaped molestation until August, when the AB868 revision appeared.

Arjay


While I appreciate your "input", my question was about the Super Sonic 22. That's what I'm asking about, not really a question about your illustrious knowledge of every Fender circuit ever made ;)

Thanks

_________________
"I'd rather live in Bedford Falls than live Pottersville" ~ me


Last edited by voxampguy on Tue Jun 26, 2012 3:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Super Sonic 22 - The New Swiss Army Knife of Amps?
Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 6:18 am
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 4:25 pm
Posts: 51
Location: Missouri
Maybe you would sell me your drip edge Deluxe for $900? LOL!!

_________________
"I'd rather live in Bedford Falls than live Pottersville" ~ me


Last edited by voxampguy on Tue Jun 26, 2012 3:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Super Sonic 22 - The New Swiss Army Knife of Amps?
Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 9:38 am
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Tue Aug 07, 2007 2:19 pm
Posts: 8827
I agree with Arjay. I never had any problems with harshness in any Silverface amp I've owned. Many of the SF amps can be Blackfaced pretty easily. There are many factors that can make any amp sound brittle. Tubes, guitar, amp..... I had a 76 Twin that gave me nothing short of stellar performance for over 30 years. The only way to make it sound brittle was to pull the MV Boost on it. Then it could give you brittle for days. :lol: My 74 Bandmaster was no slouch either. Great sounding amp. Most of my other Fender amps were Blackface.

As far as the SS22 goes, I've tried a couple of them and found they didn't perform well above 4 or so on the volume dial. The ones I tried fell flat at decent gigging levels. Everything just gets meh sounding. If you look at Fender's sample videos, the main volume control stays at 4. It sounds great at lower volumes. If you want a Swiss Army Knife of amps, try some of the Egnater Tweaker series. :wink:
As far as the SS 22 I personally don't even find it to be the Walmart Can Opener let alone a Swiss Army Knife. It seems like the more bells and whistles Fender employs, the worse the amp sounds. YMMV Just my opinion.

_________________
Life...... It's sexually transmitted and always fatal


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Super Sonic 22 - The New Swiss Army Knife of Amps?
Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 9:47 am
Offline
Professional Musician
Professional Musician
User avatar

Joined: Fri Nov 09, 2007 7:46 am
Posts: 1019
Location: State of Confusion
Swiss Army Knife of Amps?...I don't know about that, nor if such an animal exists. IMO to qualify as such, you'd be able to get all your sounds w/o any effects pedals.

Having said that, I find my SS22 to be quite versatile. Even though it is billed as having the Deluxe Reverb platform, I don't think it's quite as clean and chimey (on its clean channel). The 'fat' clean chnl feature gives a nice bluesy tone and the 'drive' channel can dial in anything from the 'fat' clean channel sound to loads of OD and distortion. I play guitars w/ Seymour Duncan humbuckers...not coil tapping styles. The only 'effect' I use is a Boss EQ pedal in the loop that sits on top of the amp and is always on. It's volume slider is set to give a boost for soloing. Using it this way, I only need to have the 4 button footswitch in front of me. Activating the loop button gives me the volume boost for either channel.

I think that the speaker may be one of the reasons its clean doesn't quite sound like the DRRI. I've only had mine a week and so the speaker isn't broken-in as yet, but I've tried it with an extension cab (WGS) speakers in one and a Celestion 70/80 in another. Both are a bit brighter.

Overall, I like it a lot so far. Swiss Army Knife...I don't think so.

Here's two links to a SS22 variation (special edition w/ different cosmetics and a V30). Second link uses pedals.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDWZe4213kw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2le24dC ... ure=relmfu
HTH a little.

_________________
The quintessential sound of 60/70's R&R:
Fender Tube Amps
Gibson Guitars


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Super Sonic 22 - The New Swiss Army Knife of Amps?
Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 3:12 pm
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 4:25 pm
Posts: 51
Location: Missouri
Thanks for the comments guys. I suppose that the term Swiss Army Knife of amps might not be the appropriate one. What I'm trying to find is that amp that can get me a great clean Fender sound, a great clean-slight hair Marshall sound and then add pedals on either one. I currently have a Tweaker (15 watt original) and it's pretty good but not very manageable on stage. I looked at the Tweaker 40 but of all of the bone-headed things, Mr. Egnater did not put an amp profile switch on both channels independently! So channel 1 is set on USA, channel 2 will be on USA as well unless you of a flip the toggle to BRIT or AC. Kind of worthless really in that case unless that is what you want. I really detest the modeling amps and just wondered if the Super Sonic 22 would get me close to where I wanna go.

Thanks,
G

_________________
"I'd rather live in Bedford Falls than live Pottersville" ~ me


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Super Sonic 22 - The New Swiss Army Knife of Amps?
Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 4:11 pm
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Tue Aug 07, 2007 2:19 pm
Posts: 8827
What's wrong with just creating your own tone? There's no amp that can satisfy everyone's needs.
I have a Rebel 20. I get everything I want out of it. No pedals required. El84 and 6V6 and everything in between. I work my grit with my guitars volume control. And I think I in the minority by actually using all the controls and pickup settings on my guitar. I know Arjay knows what I'm talking about. No amp modeling, phony digital distortion just old school use of what I own. I bought my Rebel because I didn't want a Marshall or Fender sound. If I did I'd get two heads and a A/B box. I've even thought about getting a second Rebel 20 using on pretty much clean and the second for grit. My Rebel 20 has been rock solid reliable. It's a simple amp that is extremely versatile.

_________________
Life...... It's sexually transmitted and always fatal


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Super Sonic 22 - The New Swiss Army Knife of Amps?
Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 6:53 pm
Offline
Rock Icon
Rock Icon
User avatar

Joined: Wed Mar 31, 2010 12:48 am
Posts: 26417
Location: Tombstone Territory
63supro wrote:
I work my grit with my guitars volume control. And I think I in the minority by actually using all the controls and pickup settings on my guitar. I know Arjay knows what I'm talking about. No amp modeling, phony digital distortion just old school use of what I own.


+1

If you hot-box the front end with a decent OD pedal (OCD, TS9, Rat, etc) and wind the amp up good and tight, you can get a near-endless array of different tones using only the volume and tone controls on your guitar. And that goes for Strat, Tele, LP, or just about any instrument made.

As for the "Swiss Army Knife" question, I think that accolade rightly belongs to the Deluxe Reverb, whether vintage or re-issue.

Arjay

_________________
"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


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Super Sonic 22 - The New Swiss Army Knife of Amps?
Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 8:27 pm
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 4:25 pm
Posts: 51
Location: Missouri
Yep, I think you are probably right. The only reason I haven't bitten on the SS22 is that I keep going back to the sound of the DRRI! Just ain't the same. I've been using Barber pedals and they seem to be real good w about anything so far. Sure like the Brit setting on my Tweaker w my Les Paul though!

_________________
"I'd rather live in Bedford Falls than live Pottersville" ~ me


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Super Sonic 22 - The New Swiss Army Knife of Amps?
Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 5:11 am
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Tue Aug 07, 2007 2:19 pm
Posts: 8827
I'd really steer clear of the SS22. Just me though. The funny thing is after I figured out the amp pretty much tanks over 4 on the volume dial, GP magazine came up with the same result!
Could be the speaker, tubes, bias etc, rearing its ugly head. The DRRI is a much wiser choice.
When Fender was creating great amps, they had no bells and whistles, just great tone and build quality. We always got distortion from either just the amp or a pedal. What's nice about pedals, you're not locked into some factory preset or model that some suit came up with that wasn't even born when the original amps and effects were new. The original amps got better sounding with age.
Stomp boxes come in a ton of different flavors. You can even run a couple at the same time and create something unique. Way back I used to run two EH LPB-1 power boosters together. The first one controlled the gain and the second controlled the volume of my twisted setup. Combine that with my guitars controls and a Sunn Scepter with a 4x12 cab and you were a tinnitus factory. :lol: The important thing is to find something that suits you regardless of who manufactures it and find your own sound. With my current rig, I have the tone that I've had in my head for 30 years. I always came close, but never got it exactly right. Now I have it without pedals!

_________________
Life...... It's sexually transmitted and always fatal


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Super Sonic 22 - The New Swiss Army Knife of Amps?
Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 10:13 am
Offline
Professional Musician
Professional Musician
User avatar

Joined: Fri Nov 09, 2007 7:46 am
Posts: 1019
Location: State of Confusion
63supro wrote:
......The funny thing is after I figured out the amp pretty much tanks over 4 on the volume dial, GP magazine came up with the same result!
Could be the speaker, tubes, bias etc, rearing its ugly head......

Based on your post, I searched for the GP article to read it in it's entirety. I can't disagree with your comment and supporting comments from GP regarding volume, although for me, when it's above 4 it's LOUD! Anyway, did you listen to the Youtube links I posted on the "custom" SS22 which had the V30? Think the speaker may be the cause ? The last paragraph of the article seems to suggest such:
The Super Sonic has a lot going for it in terms of the extra features it has compared to a Deluxe Reverb. The effects loop is a plus, as is the included footswitch, which not only selects channels, but also the Fat switch, reverb, and the loop. The Vintage channel’s clean sounds are perfect for jazz or country, and the Burn channel dishes out way more sustain than you could get from a Deluxe without using a distortion or fuzz pedal. However, since its tones are at their best when kept south of full volume, the Super Sonic would seem to be a more suitable choice for studio work or smaller gigs where even the volume produced by a cranked-up Deluxe Reverb might be excessive. Fender’s Shane Nicholas adds, “The new Eminence speaker, literally a special design for us, was specifically chosen for its moderate-volume characteristics. We designed the Super Sonic 22 based on feedback from a good number of consumers who thought the original Super-Sonic (60 watts, Celestion Vintage 30) was way too loud. For players who do need that amount of power, the Super Sonic 60 could be just the ticket.”
I had really thought and thought about which to buy, the DRRI or SS22, and had chosen the SS22 because of added features, especially channel switching to a 'higher gain' channel.

Curious on your opinion of the SS22 w/ the V30 based on the video.

_________________
The quintessential sound of 60/70's R&R:
Fender Tube Amps
Gibson Guitars


Top
Profile
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 22 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next
Go to page 1, 2  Next

All times are UTC - 7 hours

Fender Play Winter Sale 2020

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to: