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Super Champ XD. Worthwhile Mods?

tomteriffic

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tomteriffic Veteran HFCer

tomteriffic

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I got in (much to my surprise) on the Super Champ XD deal and it just came through the door. I haven't even plugged it in yet, but was wondering...

Has anybody come up with recommended or worthwhile mods (not soldering iron and cuss-words stuff, necessarily), to help get the most out of these things? I have an Eminence 10-incher or two sitting around, as well as some vintage 6V6 glass, probably a 12AX or two as well.

19 answers to this question

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hamerhead Veteran HFCer

hamerhead

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The Ragin' Cajun is supposed to be the speaker upgrade, and one just showed up at my door today (imagine that!). It'll go in tonight. It's supposed to tame the high end a bit and fill out the sound overall. Lookin' forward to that. Haven't tried any tubes yet.

BubbaVO Veteran HFCer

BubbaVO

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The Ragin' Cajun is supposed to be the speaker upgrade, and one just showed up at my door today (imagine that!).

+1 If you're planning on playing out:

- folks seem to like the RC (more headroom at louder volume than the stock speaker).

- an amp stand is supposed to help this amp as well.

- some folks will hook it up to a 1x12 or a 2 x 12 for "more"

- tube swaps are popular

- the amp is biased cold from the factory and you can tweak that too

But if you are just playing in the bedroom, I wouldn't change a thing. Ch 1 is perfect to my ears. Ch 2 has some good tones - # 8 caught my attention out of the gate. But others are good too if you fiddle with the gain and tone knobs.

tomteriffic Veteran HFCer

tomteriffic

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Imagine that! I just swapped in a Ragin' Cajun and it performed as advertised. At higher gains the 12AX got fizzy and buzzy. I'll need to swap that. Thanks for the bias tip. I'll have that looked at before I swap power tubes.

I gotta say, this is a helluva little amp! I had it sitting atop another amp (a 1 x 12 combo that is built like a brick) and it barked right out there.

morningstar

morningstar

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Thanks for the bias tip!

I tried Reissue Tung Sol 6V6 and they are an improvement over stock.

NOS Sylvanias (1957) are light years beyond the Tung Sols.

Anybody tried a Cryo Treated 6V6 in a DX?

Anybody tried a 12 inch or 15 inch speaker?

Thankee

morningstar

tomteriffic Veteran HFCer

tomteriffic

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I've got a couple of RCA gray plate 6V6's that I may try.

A 12" tryout is on the list, but I've got to find an 8 ohm. Most of my cabs that are handy are 16.

Suggestions for a 12AX7 (preferably modern production) ? Quiet and maybe a bit on the mellow side would be good. I've got a Mullard reissue around here someplace that might be the ticket?

hamerhead Veteran HFCer

hamerhead

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Well - after about an hour and a half stress test, I'd say the Ragin' Cajun makes this little amp sound like a much larger creature. I'm struggling to find a description. 'Big' fits best, I guess. It took some of the shrillness out, and everything is bigger, thicker. I'm still trying to wrap my head around all that comes out of this little bitty amp. I'm pretty easily amused, and this is cool as shit.

Tubes will be next, but I'll beat on it like it is for now. I liked it before, but it's crazy good now (wait 'til that speaker breaks in. .... :o ).

tomteriffic Veteran HFCer

tomteriffic

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My Ragin' Cajun was broken in before I put it in and I used the amp at a fairly low-volume practice last night. At no time did I get a sense of this being a "small" amp. The possible exception would be of it lacking some very low end bowel-loosening "chug". Since the repertoire doesn't really call for that, I didn't miss it.

I really get the sense that somebody put a lot of time and thought into the effects section. They're useful, sound good and are appropriate to general-use guitaring, leaving the over the top whackadoo effects to the outboard stuff.

The 12AX in there definitely gets noisy at even moderate crunch/grit settings, however. Something else is going in there.

Brooks Veteran HFCer

Brooks

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enjoying mine, its the 2nd one i've owned. put the 1st one in a 12" cab w/ a greenback, greatly improved the rawk tone (#8) in channel 2 (channel 1 sounds great stock). i use just the delay set faintly for ambience, but the trem and vibratone also sound great for jazzy chords (i'm not a chorus or reverb guy).

got this one from monacosis, it has a cajun in it; we were jamming at his place when i got it, it sounded so great i asked "why are you you selling this?" and he answered "hell, i dunno...", ha

i believe the 12ax7 is a rectifier tube not preamp tube

hamerhead Veteran HFCer

hamerhead

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I took mine to practice the other night and totally blew the band away. They could not believe that little amp was doing all that. First gig will be the 28th, and I'm running the GT-3 in front of it just to have more control of effects. I'm really looking forward to leaving that big, heavy-ass Anvil case full of stuff at home!

tomteriffic Veteran HFCer

tomteriffic

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I'm planning on using mine on the 21st. I've decided not to mess with the tubes for now, although it's still on the hissy side with some of the rawk-ier settings. If my 12" cab from elduave shows up in time for me to swap that speaker, I may take it too.

Monacosis Inner Circle

Monacosis

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... i asked "why are you you selling this?" and he answered "hell, i dunno...", ha ...

lol. i like to keep everyone guessing ... including myself. (btw, the replacement arrived - Nolatone Rotten Johnny. damn nice.)

on topic, the RC sounds fantastic. I would often run the SCXD thru a 1-12 extension for added humph.

mike

carfish7 Veteran HFCer

carfish7

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Anyone want to go throught the biasing drill? Would something this cheap be easily adjustable without a tech's assistance? I can't imagine it has a pot for this but WTF do I know?

I got mine from Santa this year, and have been blown-away at the tones from this little beast. A bit on the hissy side, yes, and I caught the shrill wave a time or 2 (Ted told me to turn the treble down - like he can hear anything from my side over HIS din!), so the RC is on the top of the list. Got a different preamp tube (some old Phillips deal from a time long ago) in there and it seems a little smoother.

The black-cased GT 6V6's look kinda cool in a Ninja sorts way.....

Craig S Veteran HFCer

Craig S

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Mine sounds horrendous..... got to look at the bias I guess.. Not sure if I want to spend the money on a amp(speaker) that is in the iffy catagory for me... I still can send mine back...

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