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Post subject: Champ X2 Design Limitation
Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 2:14 pm
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This thread was posted in the Modern Amp forum:

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=72026

Any particular reason that Fender chose to implement what I consider a very poor design that severely limits the flexability of this amp in a studio environment? Any plans for an upgrade that would allow this capability to exist?

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Post subject: Re: Champ X2 Design Limitation
Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:14 am
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No comments?

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Post subject: Re: Champ X2 Design Limitation
Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 7:23 am
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Guess no one knows the answer. Too bad. :(

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Post subject: Re: Champ X2 Design Limitation
Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2012 8:52 am
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What you want is more for a solid state amp like the G-DEC 3s or Mustangs. However, it would have been nice if they could have created a standby mode for the speaker, but allowed a line out for recording or going to a board. There are tricks that may be able to accomplish that with a true tube amp, but I'm not sure how you accomplish it.


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Post subject: Re: Champ X2 Design Limitation
Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2012 10:12 am
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Simple: Use the processor to control a board that shuts down the high voltage to the tubes.

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Post subject: Re: Champ X2 Design Limitation
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 11:23 am
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I don't know man. A $300 Fender amp with tube power and the best digital voicings and effects that I have found anywhere, AND you can deep edit and customize the tones on your computer. I'm not sure if you can ask for much more for our money from Fender on this one.


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Post subject: Re: Champ X2 Design Limitation
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 3:31 pm
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paztormike wrote:
I don't know man. A $300 Fender amp with tube power and the best digital voicings and effects that I have found anywhere, AND you can deep edit and customize the tones on your computer. I'm not sure if you can ask for much more for our money from Fender on this one.


The most expensive part in that amp is probably the speaker. Whatever processor they are using probably costs pennies in quantity. Even a manual high voltage shutoff switch would be cheap. Just seems like Fender missed a good opportunity here. Oh, well. I'll stick with my 5F6A clone that I built.

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Post subject: Re: Champ X2 Design Limitation
Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2012 5:50 am
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im so disappointed i feel like returning it!


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Post subject: Re: Champ X2 Design Limitation
Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 8:27 am
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I was initially a little disapointed with the lack of an ability to use the line out with out a speaker attached for quiet direct recording but i think if you were running on just the preamp tones it would not sound as good. part of what makes this thing sound good is to have those power tubes and speaker pushing air. take away the power amp section and you may as well be recording with a mustang floor unit or something. not that there is anything wrong with that but its just a different product. in the tradition of champ amps its made to have a microphone in front of it. The line out is the bonus.(plus the USB) For recording having a mic signal and a direct signal together on different tracks should give you all the tone options you need. I admit having the option to run the preamp by itself would be handy but hey they sell that in other amps. Im not to crazy on all the techy stuff anyways. I bought this amp cuz i plugged into it and was amazed a digital amp could sound so good. Its the tube power that makes it scream better than the mustangs at higher volumes IMHO. I also dont fret about not having a huge footpedal setup to control all the channels and effects. its still a champ. its a dial the tone in and let it rip on whatever your doing. if its the ability to switch between several sounds and effects in the middle of a song youre lookin for, they make that product. its just not this one. For what it does and what it was designed to do i think its great. I was initially disappointed that it doesnt dispense beer but i got over that as well!


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Post subject: Re: Champ X2 Design Limitation
Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2012 3:31 am
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Could you just pull the power tubes and run the line out to your recording gear?

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Post subject: Re: Champ X2 Design Limitation
Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2012 7:27 am
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I don't enough about electronics to have a fact based opinion on pulling power tubes. I do know that alot if circuits and things don't function right if the flow path gets changed but like I said I'm no expert. I'd be too worried about damaging the amp somehow by messing with it but that's just me. I know alot of dudes do great things with mods and tweaks and stuff. It would tak me some time to buy another is all :D


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Post subject: Re: Champ X2 Design Limitation
Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2012 8:50 pm
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Is there a reason that you don't want to hear your amp while you record?

Your best recorded sound is going to be with a good mic in front of it.

Actually, from the results of my iPhone video experiment, you may not even have to have all that good of a mic.

There is a reason that they use champs and princetons in studios. In a small room, they sound better than their big brothers.

I've had a '64 Bandmaster and a 600 watt Peavey PA both going at the same time in my bedroom. Never again! Little amps for little rooms is the way to go.

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Post subject: Re: Champ X2 Design Limitation
Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 7:08 am
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I agree with mic'd amps sounding best but I sometimes find myself wanting to record something early in the morning while the kids are still sleeping. It's not really a big issue to me i just wanted to know all the things I could get away with. Pound for pound it's a damn good amp.


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Post subject: Re: Champ X2 Design Limitation
Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 5:40 pm
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As far as design limitations, what kept me from seriously considering the amp sooner was the lack of multiple input jacks so that you could jump the channels.

However, just the straight channel 1 has that rounded off sound that I get from jumping the channels on my ’64 Bandmaster without shocking me or taking up half the living room. Also, there isn’t enough room on the face of the SC to put enough jacks to do any good.

Speaking of design, it would be really cool to have the kick back legs so that you could lean the amp back and have it pointed at your face and not your feet.

A $40 amp stand solves the problem just fine.

The speaker board isn't securely connected to the rest of the cabinet but 4 wood screws fixes it just fine. See the video posted in the SCX2 video thread.

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