Scxd
I put the Ragin Cajun Emminence speaker in my new SCXD and it is really a cool amp. I use it daily. Play myself to sleep.
The clean channel is way cleaner than my HRDx with lots of clean headroom. The Ragin Cajun is around 100dB where the stock spkr was about 95 or so, I believe; so it is a lot louder with the Ragin Cajun, which cost 64 USD from MF. Put it in myself. Apply a lot of force to speaker screws to compress the baffle and allow the machine threads to engage the built in mounting nuts, instead of getting longer machine screws; it works and you get a tight fit with no puncturing of the grill cloth by longer screws.
The clean is great. I use lots of the voiced settings on channel two. There are like 10 or 12 Fender amp voices to choose from and British and Higain, plus one acoustasonic setting on the voicing. On channel two you also have gain and volume controls to add gain to any voice that already has gain factored in. Such as one voice might be a softly driven tweed and the next voice a harder driven tweed, etc. with the blackface and silverface. Also has Hot Rod Deluxe voice, Jazzsomething voice, etc. You have another knob to adjust the effect selected's depth, and the effects have level settings on the effects knob. Some effects are combined and there is a separate reverb and delay that are not combined.
It is a deep well of tonal possibilities that won't be fathomed anytime soon by me and I play it a lot. Voices I never used I find highly interesting as time goes on. The amp is very, very dynamic and responds differently to every guitar I have and to picking dynamics extremely well.
I'd have to say it is easily my favorite amp. The Ragin Cajin is about three or four times as heavy as the stock speaker, seemingly. Cranked it rocks and will rattle the walls downstairs and definitely draw the disconcerted attention of the neighbors during the day at high volume and probably they can hear it at low volumes when I play in the middle of the night; and I live in the country. The sticks.
I got a Vox DA5 which is cool for what it is and I like it a lot for its portability and overall excellent sounds; but it doesn't stand head to head next to the SCXD; the SCXD is way sweet but the Vox sits on top of it or along side of it by my bed and gets played in the shadow of the SCXD without intimidation. The SCXD probably lulls it to sleep along with me. If they could be buddies they probably would be. They both hang tight right close to me.
I rarely use a pedal with either of these amps, except for my Sonic Stomp, sonic maximizer; which may or may not enhance the sound because both amps are already really good at what they do; but the sonic stomp gives you some bass and treble control to adjust. There is no blanket to pull off of either of these two amps mentioned above; so the sonic stomp doesn't work that way and probably isn't necessary but just something to use for the fun of experimentation.
The SCXD seems to be a superior product with a really outstanding Fender clean, if you have ever had an amp with a really clean Fender sound. Way cleaner than my HRDx. No comparison really. Of course the HRDx will really rip at high volume and in that case the clean would cut thru really well, drownding out even the most aggressive acoustic drummer. Mine is a tweed with the Jensen P12n. How's, "Hey! Turn down that amp!", sound? Better than, "Hey, you need to get a louder amp."?
The SCXD would hang in there with a drummer that knows how to play soft, so to speak. A lot of drummers, however, don't know how to play soft and only play LOUD. Probably comes from lots of gigging. I am a drummer first and a guitar player of any seriousness only in recent years. I know how to play soft and do blues jams, etc. where everybody can hear everybody else and themselves. You know what I mean. It's a much appreciated talent.
So, the SCXD can hold its own in a moderated setting with a relaxed drummer that can play at less than full blast. Of course the other players would have to be at realistic levels too, rather than at Woodstock volume. But it is more than a practice amp and is considered twenty tube watts in Europe and fifteen in the US. Something about it being difficult to actually determine the specific number of watts a tube amp puts out. Different formulas or something. I guess it's a dynamic type thing.
Hope this helps someone out.
The SCXD is really a super champ when you look at its price and listen to it. You won't be able to evaluate it in an hour though. It's too deep. There is some speculation that it may eclipse the Blues Jr., which costs way more and, well, you know - not to offend anyone.
Bill M the old Blues Jr. guru is now heavily involved with the SCXD, experimenting, modifying, etc. His initial observations have been encouraging.
There is a long discourse on the SCXD on the fenderforum.com with over a thousand posts in a short time. All of the reports, with the exception of a small fraction, are outstanding; and the amp has been accepted by the super serious Fender dudes that hang out over there. Their endorsement I would take seriously because they are very critical and knowledgeable and discuss very expensive Fender amps and old Fender amps that they hold in great renown; like great champions both old and new. So the SCXD is lucky to be accepted among such company, at least initially. It's not always like that there when Fender comes out with a new amp.
Good luck with yours if you get one. Reliability has not seemed to be a problem. Supposed to be a good design.
Duffy
PS: Remember, different guitars will sound way different thru it. It's really sensitive to the different pickups and electronics.
