Super Champ XD Head Cab conversion ??

[tomteriffic]

I'm considering putting my trusty Super Champ XD into a head cab. My chops are almost nil with regard to the woodworking and tolex, but my BIL is adept at this kind of stuff.

My question concerns the internal speaker leads. They run from the amp to a soldered-on connection to the internal speaker. The amp has an extension speaker jack that cuts off the internal speaker and using that would be the simplest way to run this thing.

So what do I do with the internal speaker leads? I'd like to leave them intact so I can revert to stock if need be, but can I just tape them off? What happens if I fire the amp up and there's no speaker (at all) connected?

I think I know the answer, but I wanted to check with wiser heads.

[murkat]

I did a simular mod to my lil vox valetronix.

easy to do.

use a switching marshall type black plastic input thingy jack.

something like this I used~ http://www.mojotone.com/amp-parts/amp-jacks/J1-Jack-4-Lug-w-Chrome-Nut#.UIK_54bmi8A

When you insert an extension cab, it cancels out the internal speaker.

[Uncle Thor's Hamer]

My SCXD has a speaker jack which the speaker is plugged into. No hard wiring to the speaker and no extension cab jack like you described. I am guessing that the jack in your amp has a switch on it which directs the output to either the hard wire or to the jack. As long as you have a speaker plugged into the jack you don't need any of the wires going off to the hard wire direction. But if you don't have a speaker plugged in you are messing with the circuitry. As long as you have the volume down to zero and no signal going through, I believe you are ok. But if you cranked it up and put a signal into it, you would be causing problems in the output stage.

I think I would do one of two things. I would probably solder an 8 ohm 5W resistor across the hard wire in place of the existing speaker. And then use the external cab jack to plug in your cab speaker. So if you accidentally don't have a speaker plugged in, you will have some protection on the output circuitry. The other option is to just remove the hard wiring and just use the output jack, taking care to always have something plugged in.

Don't just tape off the hard wire. You can have some high voltages there if nothing is plugged into the jack, and you could get some sparks. Dangerous for fire, electrocution, and damaging to the output circuit.

[hamerhead]

I swapped my XD chassis into an X2 head cab and don't recall it having internal speaker wires, just a 1/4" plug in the back. I suppose that could have changed over the course of the production run (or it had the internal wiring and I just don't remember how the hell I did it, which is probably the case).

They also changed the spacing in-between the mounting bolts on the X2 head and the XD combo, so if you go that route be prepared to re-drill the 4 holes thru the top of the cabinet.

There are these as well:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fender-Super-Champ-XD-Head-Cab-/380315260290?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item588c8e5582

They look to be pretty well built.