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Post subject: SC x2 - sound cold and harsh! - its the speaker - thoughts?
Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2014 4:40 pm
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Hi, newbie to the forum here but long time strat user / player . Currently have a 2004 MIM 60s reissue with the vintage pickups and rosewood neck, so I normally get a great tone.
And have been using my Line 6 Flextone III plus for several years but its on its way out or needing repaired. So thought I'd take a punt at the x2 after watching some great youtube reviews and forum write ups it looked and sounded awesome. - Everyone seems to love them, what is wrong with me or my one!

Mine sounds so cold and harsh, plus has buzzing when you play anything over 5 volume or with gain / drive up- especially EAD strings around the 8-11 frets. I'm having to turn the guitar tone way down to 3 or 4 on neck pickup and amp treble tone pot down to get anything slightly warm sounding and still sounds more flat than warm.
Everything sounds very precise and transistor to me. Now I can get the clean channel sounding quite good but nowhere near as warm / tube like and glassy as i thought it would be. It sounds very straight, no overtones or nice colour.

Now compared to the Flextone III... the Flextone wins hands down on warmth , tubelike ness etc. I'm really surprised. The flex tone sounds more analogue than the fender.

I suspected that the Fender speaker may be partly to blame (plus its not fully broken in yet) So connected the x2 speaker output to the Flextone celestion speaker. (which apparently has a very flat response)

This makes such a difference, much much more fuller natural sound plus not buzzing at all even with tones that should shake cabinets , mid and basses excellent a lot warmer and highs sit nicely. Could simply be 12" speaker but it seems a much softer natural response to my ears, if fact whoever paired the x2 combo speaker needs shot!

Has anyone else tried other cabs or speakers with it and noticed really nice results? .. I'm thinking of swapping it for the head version now - is the Head and 12" cab such a better choice?

One further thing is I called the shop where I ordered it online from and got a very unhelpful reply.. ' well its a small combo what do u expect, its going to sound hard and boxy and buzz'!!! and 'if you want a more tubelike overdrive use a stomp box fender are rubbish for their overdrives!! '

Hope someone can help me out here! :)


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Post subject: Re: SC x2 - sound cold and harsh! - its the speaker - though
Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2014 7:49 pm
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I own a SCX2. The stock speaker is very limited. I changed mine out very soon after purchase and it made a big difference. So did changing my 12ax7 tube brand.

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Post subject: Re: SC x2 - sound cold and harsh! - its the speaker - though
Posted: Thu Feb 06, 2014 10:49 am
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I got the X2 head and paired it with a single 12" Celestion Vintage 30. Made a hook up cable with Neutrik plugs and 1.5mm cable. Sounds better imho than the stock Fender hook up cable.
It's loud and responsive.
I get buzzing with my Strats if I sit near the amp, 10 feet away it's quiet.

A popular upgrade for the combo is the 10" Eminence Ragin Cajun. With 15W you need a sensitive speaker.


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Post subject: Re: SC x2 - sound cold and harsh! - its the speaker - though
Posted: Thu Feb 06, 2014 10:57 am
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I put in an Eminence Lil Buddy Hemp Cone speaker in mine. Still I have the trebles turned way down to 3, and the bass only on 2. I use only the clean channel with slight reverb and the 13 patch on the channel 2 for overdrives with slight reverb. I also tweaked it in Fender Fuze software, I turned the Mids down to 5 on the clean channel, and I use the Twin Reverb speaker cab on the second channel patch 13 (the Super Sonic Model), plus I tweaked some of the settings on the tone controls on patch 13.

The X2 amp is usable for house practice and a nice grab and go amp for on the road visits away from the house.

But if I was going to a serious gig (which I don't do anymore) I would pack my Hot Rod Deluxe. It is not quite as a lightweight grab and go amp like the X2, but it sure sounds a bunch richer in tone (for my taste which is always a subjective opinion on tone).

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Post subject: Re: SC x2 - sound cold and harsh! - its the speaker - though
Posted: Thu Feb 06, 2014 3:30 pm
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thanks for advice guys. I spoke to a local music shop that had the head and cab in the window and they said that the cab makes a big difference. Didn't have time to try it but will do next week.

Also with a bit of forum digging it appears that the hidden mid is set very high 8 ? and can only be changed with fuse, now that would make a bit of sense as it does sound so mid heavy.

I've tried Fuse but could not get it to install (on osx mavericks) so a bit stuck there as I'm sure i'd be able to set up some much more warmer or harmonically nicer tones.

I think my combo will be getting returned with the view to getting the head unit poss the cab but working on a mod to my flextone speaker so I can pug that into the head into it.. without the flextone being on of course.

But overall I'm bit miffed at how good reviews the combo is getting overall compared to my sense of tone, but as desert bluesman said tone is subjective...

I guess I should add I've been producing music for many years, some for commercial uses too and do spend many hours getting analogue / VA synths , drums and samples sounding just right so am pretty anal about making sounds and sculpting the colour in them 8)


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Post subject: Re: SC x2 - sound cold and harsh! - its the speaker - though
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 5:57 am
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Location: Australia
I picked up a 2nd hand X2 Head last week (as new) and went out (after some research) and purchased the SC112 cab to match it. So far I'm suitably impressed !

The closed back cab in partnership with the celestion G12P-80 (more commonly refered to as the "Seventy 80") works exceptionally well, as celestions take on the "70/80" is that it's their recomendation for "modelling" amps .... which is in essence what the X2 is. The closed back 12" Fender SC112 cabinet really mates up to the X2 head well.

For the big Ch1 cleans an 80w speaker behind a 15w amp holds up firm and offers little if any speaker breakup (I've already done around 10hrs of break-in on the cab with plenty of "cone excursion" style music) so it's great cleans ....

Ch2 in conjunction with FUSE for finer adjustment does very admirably for a modelling amp ... the high, high gain thing is not this amps forte' .... it's clean/low/med' gain stuff that it excels at.

I don't see how a 10" open back cab would do the X2 justice ... ????

YMMV
Kev..


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Post subject: Re: SC x2 - sound cold and harsh! - its the speaker - though
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 6:07 am
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..... and forgot to mention ... the 70/80 has a Sensitivity of 98dB .... it's a very efficient speaker ....

again ... FWIW
Kev..


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Post subject: Re: SC x2 - sound cold and harsh! - its the speaker - though
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 2:23 pm
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The Lil Buddy has a db rating of 98.8 and has really great bottom end. The open back allows it to breathe and adds a nice airiness and depth to the sound. A Celestion is a good speaker for an enclosed back, IMO.

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I have some Fender gear.
(Telecaster, Jaguar, Villager 12 String. Mustang l, Bronco, SCX2, Rumble 350, HRDIII, Rumble 2x8 Neo Cab)
http://www.reverbnation.com/modwiz


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Post subject: Re: SC x2 - sound cold and harsh! - its the speaker - though
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 8:45 pm
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In a band setting the little 10" does ok for me, but when I am trying to shape a specific tone I have found that the 2x12 semi open back cabinet I built with a pair of hemp cone speakers really opens up the voice of the X2.

Each person perceives tone differently and then the tone with and without a band behind you really changes a lot. All in all I am quite happy with the tones I am getting from this amp.

I just added a 63 reissue reverb unit in front of it and I am working now to get the tone I want out of it.

-H


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Post subject: Re: SC x2 - sound cold and harsh! - its the speaker - though
Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 1:29 am
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Having the head, I use it with a Ragin' Cajun in a pine DIY cabinet. Great sound! And the RC really sounds full enough for my needs...


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