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The Fender Super Champ XD is a re-birthed model of the now discontinued Super Champ, which was a 10”, 18 watt combo amp. The new school Fender Super Champ XD is also a 10” combo but is slightly powered down to 15 watts. Like its predecessor, the Champ XD uses a combo of tubes and solid state technology to achieve the sparkling cleans and smooth distortion that many amps fail at. The big difference is that the Super Champ XD only uses 1 preamp tube and 2 power tubes and has amp modeling technology implemented to achieve many more possibilities of tones than the old model could.
Some Key Features
Amp and effects modeling is really what today’s amps are all about. The Fender Super Champ XD amplifier is capable of adding many different guitar effects and amp models into your everyday playing. You can play around with 16 different preset voicings that are of different vintage and modern day Fender and Marshall amps. The different effects include 16 combos of delay, reverb, vibratone, chorus and tremolo. The controls for the EQ (bass and treble) and effects are global, meaning they control the clean channel and the distortion/voicing channel together. The Super Champ XD also comes with two volume controls (one for each channel), a gain dial and a selector switch for channel 1 and 2. The amp gets its power from a combination of tubes and solid state technology. Two 6v6 power tubes make up the Super Champ XD power section while a single 12AX7 adds a little bit of preamp distortion. A single 10” speaker of overseas origin comes standard on the Super Champ XD. Fender designed this neutral sounding speaker to work with the many different amp/speaker models that are preloaded into the amp. You have 1 input jack for your guitar and effects chain, 1 external speaker jack and also 1 auxiliary input for a footswitch, should you desire to add one.
The Sound You Can Expect
Overall, I was very impressed with the tones that I could get out of the amp. The Fender champ was very well known for the sparkling clean tones that it output and the Super Champ XD is no exception. Two different guitars were used for the review: an S470 and a LP with aftermarket EMG pickups installed. The Ibanez sounded the best played through the clean channel, especially switched to the single coil pickup. The sound was bright and clear with no unnecessary hum or buzz. Other Fender Super Champ XD reviews I have read stated similar stats on single coil use. With the gain turned up on the clean and on the modeled settings, the LP absolutely screamed, beautifully. I was very impressed by how well it sounded and the powered pickups just added to the overall tone and experience. Digital distortion is not always ideal sounding but with the added preamp tube of the Super Champ XD, you can really hear the tube-like buzz cutting through. The Fender super champ xd voicings really shine with a little fine tuning of the EQ and gain settings.
A Few Words On Reliability
Ten different musicians were polled on the reliability of their Champ XD amps. The consensus was consistent that over the period of 3 years, the amp had no problems with electronics, speaker crackle and hardware. The amp was used by a few of the musicians as a full time use amp and the durability of the exterior as well as the internals seems to be of top quality. The model we borrowed for testing was kept for just over a month with absolutely no problems.
The Decision
The Fender Super Champ XD distortion was “Exceptional”, and at 15 watts, this is the perfect little combo amp for use at home, in the studio or for small venues. With the help of old school tube technology, digital amp and effects modeling have really gotten to a high level of usability. For a hobby guitarist or someone just starting out, this is really a great amp that works for many different styles of music and with all types of guitar instruments. For around the $300 mark, you can get yourself a top quality tube amp that is also able to achieve many different tones and effects without the added cost of purchasing guitar pedals.