Fender Super-Sonic 22 Combo

This is the Super Sonic 22 blonde combo amp by Fender. The amp puts out 22 watts of tube power into 1 Fender Lightning Bolt 12' speaker made by Eminence.

The amp has 2 channels: vintage and burn. Across the face of the amp from left to right we have: Volume, Normal, Treble, Bass, Channel switch Vintage/Burn, Gain 1, Gain 2, Treble, Bass, Mid, Volume and Reverb.

The tubes in it are 2 6V6 (power) and 3x 12AX7 and 2x 12AT7 for your preamp.

Basically Fender wanted to build and amp that could give your a great fat vintage tone as well as a high gain modern crunch.

I bought this amp locally used for $650, brand new they are $1000. I picked it up because I was looking for a small combo to gig with. This has plenty of power and tone I can live with.

I love the vintage blonde look and the cool knobs. Looks like I'm playing through a vintage amp, but in fact it came off the factory line probably less than 2 years ago.

The tone is great. It is like having a clean amp and 2 dirty amps in one. Classic sounding Fender reverb, not that new digital crap.

Really no way to improve. Maybe a little more power so I can get some more headroom on the clean channel, but that is just me being picky.

I'm always impressed with Fender's build. I believe this is a USA built amp. The blonde finish was applied well and the knobs are easy to move and read.

It's like having a clean amp, a dirty amp, a vintage amp and a modern amp all in one without any kind of fake digital modeling. I love this amp!

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

This is the exact same amp as the oxblood over wheat tolex amp. You get the same great features and tone as that, but this is is classic Fender amplifier look. Even the speakers are the same. This one looks obviously more classic with the black tolex and original Fender silver grille cloth. Either way this is a fantastic amp.

This is one of the very best modern amplifiers that Fender has put out. This is more of a high gain amp for Fender but still keeping the vintage clean tones they are so famous for having. The amp have quite a bit of features compared to some of their more vintage styled amps. This one has a fat boost switch and also a reverb to add a bit of depth to the tone. I would call this a vintage modern amp for Fender.

UTILIZATION

Fender Super-Sonic 22 22W 1x12 Tube Guitar Combo Amp Features:

* Deluxe Reverb power platform,
* Vintage channel contains pre-gain tone controls and two switchable voices
* Burn channel contains dual gain controls and post-gain EQ
* Fender long-spring Reverb by Accutronics
* Ivory "radio" knobs
* 4-button footswitch for Channel, Fat, Reverb, Effects Loop.
* Amp Type: Tube
* Output: 22 Watts, 8 ohms
* Speaker: 12", 50 Watt Fender "Lightning Bolt" Speaker by Eminence®
* Channels: 2 (Vintage and Burn)
* Controls: Vintage Channel: Volume, Treble, Bass, Voicing Switch (Normal/Fat). Burn Channel: Gain 1, Gain 2, Treble, Bass, Middle, Volume, Master Reverb
* Effects Spring Reverb
* Covering: Black Textured Vinyl


SOUNDS

I like this amp with all kinds of guitars, but mostly I like it with a Fender Stratocaster or a Charvel San Dimas or Socal. I like the light to medium tone of the ash and alder body woods. This compliments the nature of the amp quite well. The clean is very Fender sparkly and jangly. Then you go to channel two and having two gains is almost heaven. This is something you see on several boutique amplifiers. Suhr amps like the PT100 has a similar thing but theirs acts like another channel. This one just gives you deeper and juicy gain distortion.

OVERALL OPINION


If you need a good clean tone and a hot rod gainy distortion channel then this is your amp. The clean is remarkable and the gain has so much variation with the dual gains that is makes this amp a lot of fun to play.

I have spotted this amp out and about for the new price of $1399. That is on the high side of Fender amps especially the deluxe amps.

Having two channels and both are exceptional is a big bonus. I would recommend anyone to go and try this amp if you get the chance. You may or may not like the voicing but it is a solid amplifier.

This is a gorgeous looking amp. The tone alone is enough to get excited about but the coolest looking tolex cover I have seen on any of these amps. The tolex is a sweet looking surf green color and the grille cloth is a wheat brown color. They match up quiet nicely. You get the same great tone and features as the black and silver standard but just a upgraded look.

This is one of the very best modern amplifiers that Fender has put out. This is more of a high gain amp for Fender but still keeping the vintage clean tones they are so famous for having. The amp have quite a bit of features compared to some of their more vintage styled amps. This one has a fat boost switch and also a reverb to add a bit of depth to the tone. I would call this a vintage modern amp for Fender.

Fender Super-Sonic 22 Combo Surf Green LTD Guitar Amplifier Features at a Glance:


22-watt output is perfect for recording, practice and a wide range of venues
Factory Special Run with Surf Green Tolex and Wheat grill cloth
Fat switch gives the Vintage channel two distinct voices
Accutronics long-spring Reverb delivers luscious, classic Fender ambiance
Effects loop send and return
4-button footswitch for Channel, Fat, Reverb, and Effects Loop

UTILIZATION

Details
Type Tube
Number of Channels 2
Power 22W
Speakers 1x 12" Fender "Lightning Bolt" Speaker by Eminence
Effects No Effects
Reverb Yes
EQ Ch 1: Treble, Bass; Ch 2: Treble, Bass, Middle
No Amp Modeling
Number of Tubes 7
Preamp Tubes 3 x 12AX7, 2 x 12AT7
Power Tubes 2 x 6V6
Inputs 1 x Instrument
Outputs 1 x Speaker
Footswitch I/O Yes
Effects Loop Yes
Height 17.3"
Width 24"
Depth 8.5"
Weight 40 lbs.

SOUNDS

I like this amp with all kinds of guitars, but mostly I like it with a Fender Stratocaster or a Charvel San Dimas or Socal. I like the light to medium tone of the ash and alder body woods. This compliments the nature of the amp quite well. The clean is very Fender sparkly and jangly. Then you go to channel two and having two gains is almost heaven. This is something you see on several boutique amplifiers. Suhr amps like the PT100 has a similar thing but theirs acts like another channel. This one just gives you deeper and juicy gain distortion.

OVERALL OPINION

If you need a good clean tone and a hot rod gainy distortion channel then this is your amp. The clean is remarkable and the gain has so much variation with the dual gains that is makes this amp a lot of fun to play.

At new these amps come in at around $999. Not a bad price for the quality and usability of this amp. Having two channels and both are exceptional is a big bonus. I would recommend anyone to go and try this amp if you get the chance. You may or may not like the voicing but it is a solid amplifier.

The Fender Super Sonic 22 is a recent addition to their line of Super Sonic amps. These amps are meant to take Fender cleans and pair them with a thick and viscous sounding overdrive channel. The Super Sonic 22 is a smaller combo (1x12 version) that comes in at a very gig friendly and easy to handle 22 watts of power (same as the ever popular Fender Deluxe Reverb reissue.

The amplifier is 22 true tube watts as stated, and is powered by dual 6V6 power tubes. It's got two channels (vintage and burn), separate EQ controls for each channel, an onboard reverb, effects loop, and a single Fender "Lightning Bolt" speaker built/designed by Eminence speakers. The vintage channel (IE: clean) has a switchable mode to go from "normal" mode to a "fat" mode, which takes the sound from the 60s blackface Fender chime (normal) to a much thicker tweed esque Fender growl with more gain and low end (fat). The gain channel is interesting in that it features two cascaded gain controls (gain 1 and gain 2) as opposed to a single master gain control. This allows you to set up more of an old school sort of tone much like the classic Marshall amps sometimes did when they were modified to accept a master volume control, so they'd have dual cascading gains and a master volume.

UTILIZATION

Getting a good tone out of this amplifier was very simple for sure. Most Fender amps are very intuitive and easy to set up and this is no exception. The clean channel is very basic, with just single volume and tone controls and the aforementioned normal/fat mode switch. The normal mode is definitely a much cleaner sound, and if you add in some reverb and use a single coil loaded guitar, it's very jangle-y and crisp, much like a nice Fender blackface or early silverface combo amplifier. The fat mode takes it up a few notches to that much thicker/grittier clean tone that was prominent in some of Fender's tweed amplifiers. This mode is great with a slightly overwound single coil, a P90 or a medium output humbucker for a compressed and gritty clean that is wonderful sounding for bluesier textures.

The drive channel is very thick and booming. It's not a modern sounding smoother gain channel, but rather a more classic sounding, almost fuzz like gain channel that works really well for sludgier sort of tones. The cascading gain controls are nice because you can get a blend of two different gain textures and mix them together for whichever sort of sound suits you. The best comparison I have for the drive channel is basically an older tweed Fender that has been turned up to obscenely hot levels and sounds like it may blow up... it is truly an on the edge sound.

SOUNDS

I've tried this amp with numerous Fender, Gibson and Charvel guitars and each had their own great characteristics that worked very well with the amp. Each mode on the clean channel was very useable and sounded great despite having only two controls to work with. The overdrive channel is definitely geared towards a classic sound. It doesn't have the tightness for modern rock/metal tones I find, but there are other amps out there for that. I suspect that the 6V6 power tubes contribute to this, as I noticed the same sort of thing with the 6V6 loaded Orange Rockerverb 50 that I owned. The EQ controls work very well on the overdrive channel and provide a good round mix of all frequencies. The reverb, though it can be drippy at higher settings is very useable on both channels as well.

OVERALL OPINION

All in all I feel this is a great sounding amp by Fender. It blends vintage and modern voicings together in one package that is topped off with a great Fender reverb, an effects loop, and a very gig/player friendly 22 watt 1x12 package. It reacts well with many different types of guitars with many different pickups, and all of those tones sound good in all the right places. Definitely an awesome buy.