Fender Supersonic

Eartrumpet

Hi everyone
Looking for opinions.

I fancy one of the Fender supersonic amps, but cannot find one locally to try. Default to Uface demos.
The 22W versions sounds cleaner, clearer than the 60W version. Both appear to be able to do the classic rock crunch thing i like and have the ability to be boosted via the effects loop levels.
Then i found a Fender Supersonic Twin, which appears to be more versatile.

My question is
Will the 22 be loud enough for a noisy 5 piece band or would the 60 / Twin be the better option. One the demos i have seen the 22 seems to be better for cutting through the mix. I will be using P90 loaded guitars and Humbuckers occasionally

Hoping someone has first hand experience of any of these amps before i plan a trek across country to try one out
Cheers

shaunm

Hi there,

I have the 60w head. Firstly it's massively loud. I shouldn't have thought you'd have an issue playing anywhere.

The cleans are great, I think so. I do find the vibrolux setting too bright for me though. I haven't used it for that reason.

I like the bassman setting. I'm not too sure its an exact repro of the real bassmans but I do like it. It works for me.

I think of this amp as fenders classic rock amp as the gain setting I don't think sounds good maxed out but it does do a good Santana level of gain. There is quite a lot of room to tweak the settings here though so you can get useable tones.

My issues, horror stories of reliability. I haven't had mine long but the stories aren't great. That being said there are quite a few people saying that theirs hasn't faulted.

I don't gig so the 60w is wasted on me, it's way too loud!

I've just bought a new footswitch as mine didn't come with one and it was £54!!

Hope this helps?

shaunm

Oh and I've been using a Sheraton with p90's in it and I think that's the best sound I've found.

I'm biased, of course P90's sound best, they always sound better!

Ché

Funny I bought a 22 yesterday to replace my Mesa Lonestar.

Went into PMT and tried it out against a Deluxe Reverb 65' RI with a Mesa Flux Drive (for lead tone comparison sake).

It's just as loud as the DRRI and you have the benefit of being able to lift it. I say this because, if you opt for a flightcase for it you can actually lift it to place it on top. The SS60 is much heavier. Elevating the speaker to your ear height when playing makes things a lot easier in the volume department. I've had 100w amps that I can't hear well over a drummer down to the speakers firing at my feet, this is where 4x12 combos acually make sense to own. Gig wise, the best sound I've had was playing a 5w Fender Champ mic'ed up and fed through monitors at my feet. No volumes issue. Band practice may be a different matter. Go figure.

I'm currently playing HB's with my SS22 (Fender Starcaster) but I played it with an American Standard Strat for a while as well and the amp really shone with single coils.

I had thought about the Supersonic Twin personally (I used to own a 73' Twin Reverb). The Arena (100w) and Club (25w) settings really appealed to me but if you think about it, you'll probably use it at 25w most of the time and for the HUGE weight of the thing it seems kinda pointless to have to haul it around when the 22w could be enough.

Hope this helps, if you have any other questions feel free to ask.

richardhomer

If you want properly 'clean' cleans at stage volume, I don't think you'll find 22 watts will work unmic'd.

I know @Che didn't get on with his Lone Star - but as a Lone Star owner, I really did not get on with a Supersonic I played through a couple of years ago.

Clearly we all have our own tonal and gain preferences. You may find its just what you want - but I'd compare it to a few other options before committing to purchase.

shaunm

@chè I'm glad you got sorted out.

I am tempted to keep hold of my SS60 head and use a hot plate or the like.

Tone wise I find it really easy to dial in and get good sounds.

Ché

Yeah, everyone has their own tastes which is a shame you can't try it out first. If you were local you'd be welcome to pop round and try it out.

I'm not sure why Fender don't add tilt back legs to all their amps, there's a good reason for them.

In relation to unmiced clean, I've placed the amp on a table and with the speaker being very directional, pointed at my ears it's too loud with the vintage channel on 3. If I move my head or stand to the side the treble mellows considerably and I imagine I would need to turn it up to experince a similar level of volume. It's similar to the Deluxe Reverb in the sense that anything past 5 gets more driven and saturated. If you want super clean cleans then maye the Supersonic Twin or 60 would suit you better.

You metnioend you like classic rock stuff and I assume the noisey band is a rock band. If that's the case than you may prefer to clipped clean sound of the 22 clean channel rather than the sparkly Twin cleans. If you can find a store that stocks the 65' reissue Fender amps you could try them out. They'd give you a decent enough idea of the capabilities of clean headroom for each model.

@richardhomer, was it the 22 you tried, I remember trying the earlier Supersonics years ago and couldn't gel with them. Just proves no one sound is better than antoher, it's all personel preference.

richardhomer

^ Yes it was the 22. It looked like a Blonde Deluxe Reverb Reissue.

Ché

Just a heads up, if you do opt for the SS Twin Coda Music has two going secondhand.
http://www.coda-music.com/fender-supersonic-twin-combo-blonde-secondhand-p-17746.html

Eartrumpet

Guys
Thamks for the really useful feedback, really appreciate the input

equalsql

Although Supersonics are great sounding amps they do have an awful reputation for reliability It's the one issue that's put me off buying one. The poor quality of Fender's PCBs is shocking.

Eartrumpet

equalsql said:

Although Supersonics are great sounding amps they do have an awful reputation for reliability It's the one issue that's put me off buying one. The poor quality of Fender's PCBs is shocking.

That is worth knowing, have a Wisdom and thank you

monquixote

I had a Supersonic 22 

It's a good sounding and looking amp. It is indeed similar to a DRRI, but it is in fact shallower and wider and has a rather different sounding speaker so they aren't identical sounding. 

I really enjoyed the clean sound on mine, but I had several niggles with it namely:

* The pop on channel change

* The Fat channel being much louder than the vintage so it was impossible to use both in a live context. 

* The stupid DIN foot pedal connector

* It does clean and compressed high gain, but the lower gain drive sounds are not that great

In terms of volume it always had plenty for the gigs I used to do though that was a one guitar band that weren't especially loud. I played with a very loud two guitar band and though it did hold it's own it ceased to have any pure cleans.

If you do decide to get one then you definately need a Liquid Sunshine to go with it.

paulmapp8306

Dont like the drive channel at all.  Clean channel is nice though, both clean and pushed..

57Deluxe

Get the 60w and you can play Glastonbury with it...

Ray Davies/Kinks Content:

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee301/snotmale/Webhosting/ssdoesfestival_zps43622d2f.jpg

Joe Walsh content

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee301/snotmale/Webhosting/supersonic60JoeWalsh2_zpsfe9c4e28.jpg

MikkiMcMurderer

Supersonics are actually awesome - just really strong usable sounds whatever the settings. I have a 100W head and matching 4x12s - its mega!

Teetonetal

I love the supersonic 22 in terms of sound and I think it's plenty loud enough but IMO the build quality is poor having used 2 that stopped working.

shaunm

Just to add comment to this again.

I used my SS60 head at practise tonight for the first time and genuinely I am amazed at how good it sounded.

I took my LP and my Epi Sheraton and it took to them both well and with minimal effort with the EQ settings.

I used my full pedal board and again it really took the pedals well. I will say the vibrolux setting didn't seem to work with my fuzzface but other than that it worked well.

I can see why some people don't like the drive channel. It's not really a high gain amp in the sense of modern high gain, it's a high gain by fender standards. I set both gains to 4/5 and knocked back the treble, it sounded good to my ears but the truth is I will be using the two clean settings and my pedals as my main sound.

I have the head booked in at a tech to give the once over and make sure it is in perfect health but I have no problem in saying it has cured any amp GAS I may have had.
In fact I was going to sell it because I thought it too loud to use (it is) but I would honestly miss it.

57Deluxe

/\  + @shaunm try using the Vibrolux chn with a Vibe pedal and some extra reverb dialed...! Is pants moistenningly loverly...

newi123

Mentioned this on a different post last week, but recently watched Innes Sibun in an unmiked pub gig playing a 22 (I believe!) - best sound I`ve heard in ages, and pub fillingly loud.............. :-) 

shaunm

@57Deluxe I tried it with the T. rex Tremster and that works well.

I don't own a vibe pedal of any sort, not even a chorus......