Fender Super-Sonic 22 1x12" 22-watt Tube Combo Amp - Black Reviews

I love this amp! I grew up with a '66 Vibrolux Reverb that I still have and use some. It has beautiful clean tones but I could never seem to get a nice crunch tone at lower volumes no matter what pedal I used. I got a Marshall DSL20CR and that gave me good crunch and hard distortion but I couldn't get a clean tone to save my butt. I know they say to roll the guitar volume down while cranking up the amp volume. This is not only a pain, but I still couldn't get the clean tone I was looking for. The Super-Sonic does it all. Sparkling cleans to grunge. You do have to play with the 2 gain knobs on the burn channel to get the various tones you may be looking for, but it isn't bad. Not sure if I like the Fat option on the Vintage channel but you don't have to use it. I am sure some would like it. The tank reverb sounds good. So far, I have no complaints.

Love it, the only amp I need.

Incredible tone and versatility!

This is the sweetest amp I have ever owned. The warm tube tone this amp produces is second to none. You can achieve the cleanest of clean tones to the beautiful burner channel that makes the amp the perfect choice for me. It is exactly what I was looking for in an amp.

I was looking for a "kicking around amp" that I could take to rehearsal and sit in gigs. I have never been a fan of combo amps, but in this case I was looking for something that would be easy to transport and not break my back. When the Sonic 22 showed up, I was very pleased with the size and weight, as well as how well it was made. I plugged in my custom shop Strat, with noiseless pickups, and took it for a test drive. Sitting everything flat, with modest volume I was blown away with the clean channel. Loud, clean, warm, and nicely compressed. This was more of a Plexi sound than a typical Twin sound, and it did not hurt. I am still mixed between the Normal and Fat option, they both sound great, I just not have settled on a favorite. The burn channel sounds fantastic and is extremely versatile. There are lots of options with the two gain knobs. The gain is not over the top, but there is enough there to satisfy most everyone. The note definition is there, no matter the gain. I tend to run a higher gain and roll the volume back on my guitar to clean it up a bit until I need that extra crunch. Speaking of crunch, the compression on this amp is so sweet, I have found myself wanting to use less distortion. I have a great sound and the notes and strings are not getting lost in the distortion. I am digging it! The reverb is reverb. Warm and springy. I am not a huge fan of spring reverb but for those that are will not be disappointed. I just find the length of decay to be too long, but that is just me. After playing on this amp for a while, I forgot I was playing a combo amp, much less a 22 watt, single 12, open back amp. More than enough volume for almost any gig. I bought this for a practice amp, but now I think it will become my main amp. In fact I am thinking about getting a second one so I can run in stereo. I am sold! Well done Fender!

I've owned so many different amps throughout the years that I would be typing all day if I listed them. And I can honestly say that my Fender Supersonic 22 is my favorite. It's got the 3 dimensional, warm, room filling clean sound of an old Deluxe. Then you switch over to the dirty channel and you get lost in all the amazing sounds you can get from this thing. From light breakup to seriously heavy gain. No matter how much gain you use it retains note clarity and definition. I usually play with light to medium gain, and this amp absolutely SINGS at that level. I just played another show with it tonight, with a loud, aggressive drummer and it has absolutely no problem at all keeping up in terms of volume. I had PLENTY of room left that I could have cranked it on up. This thing is louder than you ever, realistically need and the clean channel stays clean when you get it up to ridiculously loud volume. The reverb is what you expect from an old classic Fender, it sounds the way a real spring reverb is supposed to sound. The amp sounds so good and is so versatile I don't even use pedals anymore. Just my G&L Comanche straight into my Supersonic 22. And I could not be happier with my tone... I love this amp and recommend it very highly. And if you're wondering about it shipping safely, do not worry. Sweetwater has packing amps down to a science. I am very impressed with Sweetwater and plan to be a repeat customer.

What a versatile amp. I use it with a Gibson SG. On the clean channel, I get a nice jazz tone. On the overdrive channel, with everything turned up, I get a great metal tone. This amp isn't like a Marshall; it doesn't color the tone of your guitar. But it has plenty of gain, plus tube driven spring reverb. And its made better than a Marshall. It's a pcb amp but the tubes are mounted to the chassis not the pcb board. That makes a big difference if you want to experiment with different tubes. I like JJ's over the sovteks the amp came with. I also like a celestion g12h over the stock speaker. But the amp sounds great right out of the box.

I've been a Texas Blues Guitarist since 1968 and I have played and owned literally hundreds of amps...Mostly Fender and Marshall. I have owned two different Blonde 60 watt Fender Super Sonic amps, and both of them were just WAY TOO LOUD! Even a dear old friend who I went to Denton to Jam with wound up hating me for playing it with the volume on 4 because he said it "Hurt his ears REAL BAD"
So it looks like Fender heard enough of us to hurt their ears too..and they came up with this TONE MONSTER that at just 22 Silky watts RMS, it's just as Smooth, Soft, Loud, or Nasty as any $2K or $3K boutique amp.
I Love the double volume and gain channels in the pre-amp. The first one will Cascade over into the second one and give a Gut Wrenching Dirty Gring that is great with a Les Paul or and Stratocaster. The clean channel sounds just like an old 65 Deluxe Reverb Amp, and the tube reverb is excellent...Fat and Lush like you want it. At $1049.00 it's a big bite of cash...But it's also a Big Bite of GOD TONE!

I got my Super Sonic 22 two days ago and it sounds great. I have played every current production Fender tube amp except the Vibro King, Vibroverb and the new Super Sonic 60 and would say if you’re comparing amps without any modifications just taking it out of the box and turning it on this is the best amp fender makes.

This is a killer amp with a lot of personality. Advertising says it’s sort of a combination of the older super sonic and a deluxe reverb, sort of ironic that I would buy it as these are two fender amps that I always felt were some of the biggest disappointments from Fender. What surprised me is that it sounds way better than a DDRI reissue. Compared to the DRRI the Super Sonic 22 sounds bigger and richer sounding, has more chime, more punch and is louder (sounds about as loud as my 40 watt 68 Vibrolux). The fat switch replaces the Vibrolux/Bassman switch of the older supersonics. The strange thing is toggling the fat switch on and off actually gives you a really good vintage Vibrolux or Bassman sound, way better than the old supersonics were supposed to do. I stick mostly with the clean channel as you can get a good edgy growl by turning it up or hitting the fat switch if you want. I didn’t spend as much time with the burn channel as I never liked the sound of multiple stages of gain as much, but I could tell you get some really good sounds off of that as well if that is more your style.

Works equally well on my Telecaster as well as my Les Paul Junior. Compared to most other Fender amps the EQ controls are much more sensitive so little adjustments make a big difference. Because of this you will probably spend more time initially to find just the right settings.

I’ve never really been a big fan of Eminence speakers they always seemed a little too airy for me but this one even without any break in sounds exceptionally full and rich. Gives you a really nice warm 3-D sound. I decided to run it through some other speaker cabinets to compare it to some other 12 inch speakers. The Eminence sounded nicer than the Weber 12A150-W which really surprised me, it was also much better than the Jensen special design speaker in my tweed blues Junior. The only speaker that beat the Eminence was a 40-year-old Jensen P12N and even then not bu much.

First of all, I got this one because I tried the Deluxe Reverb and I loved it but I also wanted mid to high gain distortion and dedicated EQ on each channel. So I looked at this one since it's built on Deluxe Reverb platform.

Regardless of which channel you use, this amp has a monster presence and a unmistakable vintage Fender tone. If you're more into nice amp sound rather then effect pedals, this is The Beast. No need for distortion or compression with this amp. However the clean channel would glorify any and all of your favorite effect pedals.

I can't wait to show off with this amp with ZERO pedal.

The clean is nice and sweet. Not exactly as shimmering as the reverb channel of the Deluxe Reverb, but still close enough for me. Would probably barely see the difference at high volume.

The burn channel is absolutely unique. It seems from all the reviews, the meaning of Gain1 vs Gain2 is not that clear, so I will do my best here.

First of all, the level of detail you get from this tube driven dirty channel cannot be matched by any solid state or digital pedal on the market. Only tube can give this level of dynamic, openness and detail from a drive/distortion.

I have not tried a BassBreaker 45 or a Bassman but I don't think the double gain of he Supersonic works as the those two amps.

The real gain is Gain1. It gives a real nice lean gain mostly stripped out from fatness and bottom. Think as a surf distortion. Very nice and useful.

It's not unfair to call Gain2 a gain knob, since it seriously influence the gain structure before the signal hits the tube, but Gain2 is more a gradual fat knob. It adds both fatness and bottom to the signal prior to hit the preamp tube.

Gain2 does nothing by itself. You don't get any sound from Gain2 if Gain1 is set to minimum. However, you need very little from Gain1 to be able to dial a lot from Gain2. So if you set Gain1 to 2 and you crank Gain2 between 6 and 10, you will get a texture similar to the Fender Deville IV drive channel. Thick and dark drive.

Gain1 by itself provides crunch already between 2 and 5 and gets quite high above this point, but cranking the Gain2 above 5 while Gain1 is at 3, gives a nice fat drive usable for blues.

So basically to add flesh and fatness to your signal, you need to play with Gain2.

Gain1 and Gain2 at 6 and above gives this nice Fender high gain distortion you would hear from Black Keys for sample. I heard them live in Chappell Hill, NC and I get this exact same sound with the Supersonic 22.

This is a nice feature to be able to set the fatness of the drive the way you want. This gain structure I heard it only from other Fender amps I saw on stage.

Also there is enough sustain so I don't feel the need to use compression with this amp. I was using compression with Peavey classic 30 on dirty channel, with the supersonic, compression adds only noise, sustain is already great by itself.

Want to do Pink Floyd, both clean and burn channel will give you this satisfying Gilmour tone. I first tried Shine on your crazy diamond. Playing along with my high end sound system, and could barely see any difference. Trying to pluck the strings like Gilmour and I had all these nuances without having to mess with guitar volume.

Oh did I mention how nice it to hear all the detail of your playing, on both clean and dirty.

Also tried Offenbach "Dimanche Blues" and Caline de Blues" and got this exact crunchy tone as well, switching between low volume shimmering neck pickup and full volume muffled mid and bridge pickup. With Gain1 at 4 and Gain 2 at 6, got this nice moderately high crunchy blues sound from either pickup combination.

To be honest, this is not the amp I was originally looking for, but since all other (non-US) amps I received home were defectives and I ended up trying the US made Deluxe Reverb which really impressed me, when I tried this one, I was happy to see I COULD keep it. It's also made in US of course. Cudo to this Corona team. They seem to know about Quality Insurance.

What it will not do: Blues Junior or Blues Deluxe scooped sound where you have a nice clean turning into dirty while providing both round bottom and shimmering highs. The dirty channel on the supersonic is too focused on high gain mid to give you this sought after SRV sound. When you have a nice bottom from Gain2, you don't have this shimmering that a Presence knob would provide by cranking Gain1. You would have to use a Tube Screamer or EH English Muffin with the clean channel to get SRV tone. But that's it, it does everything else I need and it does it superbly.

It is way more versatile then a Blues Deluxe, but it doesn't overlap on it a bit. I'm still thinking of buying a Blues Deluxe on the side.

The dirty channel does nice chunky blues tone as well as classic Americans such as ZZ Top as well as sweet Pink Floyd sound if you want. It also does really nice lean surf distortion.

You can really precisely dial these tones I mentioned above.

Last, price is fair for a US made amp.

For $, this amp is not worth it. A very good amp with a great distortion sound. Not a good reverb, way too artificial.

I play in a 70s-80"s rock band. That being said I only need about 3-4 tones through the nite. This amp covers all of them perfectly without a pedalboard or a dirt pedal.

Using a humbucker guitar I keep the guitar tone knob at 70% and dial in my tone depending on the room dimensions that gig. The vintage channel breaks up nicely at 11:00 -12:00 for say The Cars or Creedence and is very loud, clear and cuts through the mix like all Fenders do. It then cleans up a bit with a twist of the guitar volume perfectly for a " bitey " edge of breakup tone. If I switch to the neck pick up then it is very clean and clear. Engaging the fat switch gives it a British beefy tone with a bit more drive for Zep, Cheap Trick, Bad co, Foreigner and Journey. Pulling back the guitar volume on the fat just gives me yet another very usable tone.

I use the burn channel for 80"s hair and louder leads with the guitar pulled back for rythym and wide open for solo. I use the Fat channel with the guitar tone knob dimed for lower volume leads. Having reserve tone left on the guitar adds more cut for solos and this amp reacts perfectly to that method.

I keep a TC Nova system in the loop on top of the amp. I keep the delay on and engage the amps footswitch when delay is needed. If I need chorus flange or phaser I walk back to the amp and turn that on.

Obviously if you choose you can keep the loop pedals on the floor and use a OD to boost even more variety into this amp, but I tend to like the " all I need is the amp and footswitch " lifestyle these days.

Bottom line is this amp when cranked at 40-50 % cleans up very well, does not flub out on the low E at band volumes and keeps up with my drummer at small to medium clubs. This is a cranked tube amp tone gigging machine. Don"t let the price scare you. Buy it, try it and you can always send it back if you don"t agree this is the best sounding combo out there for under 1k.

This was the first tube amp I bought, sounded great, great punch when I went into distortion , reverb was awsome . 6 month after purchasing it in a show , the amp just died due to a internal blowned out fuse. 6 month later from that the reverb would work at times and became unreliable to the point I had to buy a TC hall of fame to counter it untill I was able to get it fixed. Over the years in began to develop a on going hiss/white noise which after a while it becomes annoying. So again great amp to begin with but just faded away over time.

I've owned this amp for about three years and really enjoy playing through it. Mainly because of that classic Fender clean sound but l like it's updated flexibility (the burn channel) which gives you more options it is fine for small clubs and other situations where you dont require a great deal of output power, although l have played outside on several occassions and had no problem it's pretty loud for an amp with only 22 watts. The reverb is good and of course adds to your ability to cut through. The burn channel is acceptable because it cuts down on the need for pedels. It doesn't get as dirty as a good overdrive or distortion pedel but it cuts through when understand how it works. Overall it is a good little workhorse amp. One problem l have had is voltage power when your pluged in with other musicians (bass amps keyboards, etc) it sometimes seems to cause an odd interuption of the output power to the amp, and this changes the sound of the amp its weird never had this problem with my other amps. My tech buddy said its probably not getting enough power or votage from the source. Other than that l really like this amp and dont regret buying it

Clean channel is dull and lifeless. Overdrive channel is OK but there ism nomwaymto balance it with the clean channel. Reverb just pain stinks.
Fender needs to go back to a,tube reverb instead of this crappy digital version.