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FDP Forum / Fender Product Reviews / well here it comes.. the super sonic 22 review

Previous 20 Messages

Buffalo Bob Contributing Member st.charles,mo Buffalo Bob	Jul 12th, 2010 01:51 AM   Edit   Profile   i find myself now playing through the clean channel more but instead of cranking it wide open(and i have been doing just that..) ..i take it up to just where it starts to break up ..around 1 o'clock..(just hit a note and crank it up to where it starts to break up, all depends on the individual pots... some differ..from there i use a boost pedal if i need it, if the band gets loud...just where the break up point is ,is where i like it ...not over the top...then with whatever pedal you use to take it further ,volume wise ,break up wise..,do so.( i have a love pedal pro valve 2)...depends on what you want . I do want to mess with the preamp tubes to see what i can get in tone but right now everything sounds good enough.....the gain channel i have yet to dig deep into ...might not ever...lol i wish Bill M would disect one of these soon ...would like to know more... (This message was last edited by Buffalo Bob at 07:24 PM, Jul 17th, 2010)
RainboGuy USA/Wisconsin Ike Turner is my guitar hero!	Jul 20th, 2010 10:29 AM   Edit   Profile   The SuperSonic 22 demos all sound good to me...... BUT......I'll keep my SuperSonic 60 Blonde/Oxblood Combo with the 2x12 external cabinet....a TREMENDOUSLY versatile amp, with TREMENDOUS value for the dollar! I have said this before, and I will say it again....In my opinion, it's the Number 2 Fender Amp of all time.......with Number 1 being a Blackface Super Reverb.
Buffalo Bob Contributing Member st.charles,mo Buffalo Bob	Sep 6th, 2010 08:30 PM   Edit   Profile   update on the supersonic 22 ...ive switched speakers because i was getting not so good sounding overdrive on the low strings (although the high strings sounded great ) when i played the amp at high volume..and thats in the clean channel with the bass rolled off and the fat switch disengaged..so my fix was to use an eminence swamp thang speaker..now the lows have definition without breakup and the highs are fat & fine..a dramatic change with the speaker swap...
framster USA	Oct 2nd, 2010 02:58 PM   Edit   Profile   I bought on yesterday. Fantastic amp, I really enthusiastic. Great sounds though either channel using my Yamaha AES920 w/Seth Lover pups. The speaker needs breaking-in but that's normal. The clean channel is king for now, but I have no trouble dialing-in the burn channel either. It's just that I use outboard ODs/Distorions. It's also a very loud 22 watts if I want it. Having a nice, included 4-button footswitch for Channel, Fat, Reverb and Effects Loop in/out is great too. This works fantastic with my L6 M13. With the Effects out, my M13s Comps and ODs are still active if I want. With Effects in, any Modulation/Delay Effects I have setup are active too. Last but not least, it's is much easier on my back to carry around. I hope this sweet amp doesn't get lost among all the new product Fender has right now.
tarheelblue USA	Oct 23rd, 2010 10:00 PM   Edit   Profile   Hi Bob - I just recently received my SS 22. So far - I'm in love! Love the clean and the dirt -a very versatile amp; delivers great tone at manageable levels. The cleans are pure Fender, and the dirty channel can deliver complex and rich gain. Very touch responsive (both channels). One thing I have noticed though - it just seems to have a little more idle noise than my old HRDx. Has this been typical of your experience? Doesn't seem to impact anything else... this is only my 2nd tube amp so I'm just trying to ensure there's nothing wrong with it. I did order it online - is it possible something could have been knocked loose during shipping? Any opinions would be appreciated. If it's typical of your experience - then I can stop worrying and just play on!!! :-) Thank you Doug
framster USA	Oct 26th, 2010 06:53 AM   Edit   Profile   Mine also is a bit noisy, with hiss at idle. It's fine at gigs though. I found that using a 5751 tube in V1 quiets it down some.
Buffalo Bob Contributing Member st.charles,mo Buffalo Bob	Oct 27th, 2010 11:53 PM   Edit   Profile   i use the clean channel so i really dont hear any noise at higher volumes...perhaps it's a tube thats causing the noise you hear....that is always a factor to consider ...i still havent seen these amps in guitar center..dont know why ...it's a good little amp and at the present is my back up amp as im useing an Allen head with a speaker 1x12...played out enough to be able to dial in the sound i like from the sonic and the speaker is now broken in...but as i said earlier i switched speakers (eminence swamp thang) to clean up the bottom end...
framster USA	Nov 2nd, 2010 11:57 AM   Edit   Profile   I installed a JAN Philips 5751 in V1. Knocked the noise down by half being a lower-gain tube. Sounds even better too. One disturbing incident happened last Friday evening. I turned the Power switch on and, no workie! Fuse F1 in back was fine. I removed the chassis and checked F2 (filament supply) and it was fine. I was frantic at this point, so I poked around the wiring and connectors and lo and behold a wire at the power switch was not crimped properly, completely loose. I used a different crimp terminal connector and all is well. Thank God the problem happened before Saturday's gig or I would have been hosed for sure.
Buffalo Bob Contributing Member st.charles,mo Buffalo Bob	Nov 2nd, 2010 01:47 PM   Edit   Profile   always have some sort of backup...even if you have to play through the PA..."the show must go on"...lol
framster USA	Nov 12th, 2010 03:12 PM   Edit   Profile   I just set the bias on the power tubes. Tone is much better than before, and I liked it as it was. It seems like Fender runs the tubes kind of cold, 50% of max.
Jeepguy USA	Dec 19th, 2010 08:20 AM   Edit   Profile   Has anyone read the Guitar Player review on it? They say the amp doesn't sound good if pushed to gig levels. At around 4 on clean it breaks up in a bad, way, loose and bad frequencies and they said they tried to minimize by turning the bass off. Same with the drive ch., that it sounds best at low volumes. This is a bummer, I was pretty psyched about these. But what good's a tube amp that can't be cranked? That's why I wanted a low watt amp, to crank it up and drive the tubes. I also watched an amazing sounding YT video but the guy said the same, that it breaks up in a nasty way when cranked up. I'm just hoping it could be speaker break up or something. Has anyone tried a higher power speaker. Can you get a nice bluesy break up like on a DRRI? edit: I just read where Bob did change the speaker with favorable results. That's good news. (This message was last edited by Jeepguy at 08:25 AM, Dec 19th, 2010)
StratQuebec Contributing Member ** Canada Patient people get what they want.	Jan 8th, 2011 10:14 AM   Edit   Profile   Well any tube amp has a sweet spot as we know. It takes probably more time to find the sweet spots on a two channel amp of that kind. The goal with that one is to get a good BF clean or overdriven tone and some dirty good ones at a relatively low volume. So stock, it could be exactly THE recording tube amp to use at home for practice/recordings. As said Shane, “The new Eminence speaker, literally a special design for us, was specifically chosen for its moderate-volume characteristics". It says all. Here's the GP review
ruger9 USA/NJ	Jun 5th, 2011 05:47 PM   Edit   Profile   bumping this up with a couple questions... the 22W is solid state rectified, as was the 60W. However, and please correct me if I'm wrong, it looks like the 22W has solid state reverb drive & recovery stages??? The 60W has THREE MORE 12AX7s, which I'm guessing means tube reverb drive & recovery, as well as tube fx loop? Where all this is solid-state in the 22W? If so, VERY disappointing. I might be able to live with the ss rec (the DRRI has a tube rec), but to make the reverb section ss too,,, my gas pains have just subsided substantially. (and I am a former owner of an awesome 60W Super-Sonic combo).
framster USA	Jun 26th, 2011 09:45 PM   Edit   Profile   The SS22 has an all-tube signal path, except for the effects loop send/return buffers. Don't worry about high volume performance. Even if diming the amp yields less than great tone, not many amps sound great dimed. In fact my SS22 sounds better at high Volume settings than my '65 Deluxe reissue did. Speaker break-in and tone settings for high levels are needed of course, but mine can sound good up to 8 (but that is way louder than I play at venues.
rfrakes331K Contributing Member USA RonHalen Jokingly He Says	Oct 15th, 2011 12:34 PM   Edit   Profile   BB, yOU NEED SOME CUTE GROUPIES TO CARRY YOUR GIG GOODIES.
framster USA	Sep 10th, 2012 06:59 AM   Edit   Profile   Wow, replaced the stock speaker with a Celestion Vintage 30. That, coupled with tube substirutions (non-GT new production)make the amp better than ever. Played a 2 nite Casino gig and I'm very satisfied, all ready for the end-of-the-year gigs now.
murray sanders australia	Sep 16th, 2013 06:20 AM   Edit   Profile   I just purchased one 3 weeks ago played 3 gigs with it , It is the best sounding amp I have ever played through in my 53 years of playing , it is loud , it is noisy on the 2 channel , and noisy when switching channels from vintage to burn , but not noisy switching from burn to vintage , so I put a love pedal in front of it for my drive , and a magicstomp for everything else perfect , I'm willing to put up with the cons because it is such a good sounding amp from the Shadows to yes ZZ top with the love pedal , fender say I can swop it for a new one when one is available , but it will have to sound as good as this one .
murray sanders australia	Sep 30th, 2013 07:27 AM   Edit   Profile   Just swopped the SS22 for a new one and it sounds great no more HISS no more POPS couldn't be happier , fender Australia did a complete change over with no problems , the date code on the 2 amps was only a couple of months apart , I don't know how my first amp got through quality control , I thought this problem was only in the earlier amps , So I learnt my lesson check out your amp thoroughly in the store before you take it home , I didn't plug the foot pedal into the amp in the shop , so alls good at the moment.
murray sanders australia	Oct 17th, 2013 02:30 AM   Edit   Profile   WELL the second amp lasted 2 days , I switched the amp on the 2nd day and the clean channel sounded like the dirty channel and when I stepped on the effects loop it started squealing so I took it back and got a refund . I said to myself no more fenders for me , BUT I saw a deluxe reverb reissue in mahogany with the blue alnico speaker for a good price , so back to melbourne , I played it in the shop , perfect , got it home and played it and the vibrato channel started to sound dirty , so I ordered some 6V6 matched tubes and a 5AR4 rectifier tube and thought I would pull the amp out of its cabinet to see if I could see anything wrong , when I was just pulling the guts out the transformer moved , It was not bolted in properly , I mean really loose , so I bolted it down , then on closer inspection with a magnifying glass I noticed a strand of wire shorting across between 2 valve pins so I moved that out of the way , put the amp back together and played it for 2 hours , NO PROBLEMS , then for another 4 hours the next day at rehearsal , NO PROBLEMS , and I still have the new tubes that I bought for spares , I never installed them , SO COME ON FENDER WHERE IS YOUR FINAL INSPECTIONS , 3 NEW AMPS IN A COUPLE OF WEEKS AND EVERYONE HAD PROBLEMS , This new one sounds great now.
CTBand USA -by His grace	Jan 10th, 2014 12:19 AM   Edit   Profile   DO NOT buy this amp if you do not play the actual amp you plan on buying!! Just bought this amp today and am so impressed with the tones and character of both channels on the Super Sonic 22. However, it took me driving to 3 different stores to try 4 different amps. The first one had the overly observed loud POP when switching from the burn to clean channel. The sound seems like it will eventually damage the speaker. Second, the channel had a very loud HISS that occurred on both channels and always seemed to be about half as loud as the actual amp. The third amp I tried, is the one I actually went home with, it was a display model, had obviously been played on a bit, but certainly not mistreated. The tones are gorgeous on both channels and the reverb really gives the amp a lot of depth if needed. I did try a fourth because the large chain store I was at had another in box. I tried it and the reverb only seemed to dial up feedback and was completely unusable. In conclusion. I'm very happy with the amp I brought home. It has none of the problems the others did and the tones are just phenomenal. For just over $1000 for a new amp, this is definitely an amp to consider checking out. But I would repeat, make sure you play the amp you buy, there are plenty of lemons running around out there with the same name! Sound: 5/5 Reliability: TBD Price: 4.5/5 Versatility: 4.5/5

Previous 20 Messages

FDP Forum / Fender Product Reviews / well here it comes.. the super sonic 22 review

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