Any Fender Champ owners out there?

F

Fatty

New member
I'm going to be trading in some stuff at a local shop for an old Fender Champ on Saturday... I did some reading on them online after trying it out today, and stumbled upon a few "mods" for the Champ.

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=> Use a 6L6 in place of the 6V6 for a bit more clean headroom before distortion. The only caveat is the cathode resisor bypass cap MUST be replaced with a higher voltage rated cap; say about 22uf @ 63VDC or higher. The rating of the stock cap (25VDC) will be exceeded with a 6L6. You may then elect to...

=> Get rid of the 330pf cap on the socket of the 6V6 socket. It bleeds-off high frequencies, sucking some of the life from the amp.
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Can anyone tell me if there are any merits to these mods?

Also, has anyone replaced the speaker in their Champ, and if so, which one and with what results?

Any thoughts on the amp in general are also welcome.
 
Re: Any Fender Champ owners out there?

i bought a vibrochamp and it had a weber classic alnico speaker in it. i love that speaker! very nice.
 
Re: Any Fender Champ owners out there?

play one first before you start thinking about mods

6V6s are a little sweeter than a 6L6, so I don't care for that switch in a Champ, or a Deluxe - to me, if you're looking for clean headroom, then get a different amp! that's not what the Champ or Deluxe are about
 
Re: Any Fender Champ owners out there?

You'll get a little more clean headroom and small increase in volume with a 6L6. Like Curly, I prefer the 6V6.

I put a 10" speaker (4 ohm Weber P10RT) in my old blackface Champ. Required me making a new baffle board and doing a little metal work on the speaker itself to make it fit but the tonal improvement was well worth it.

I kept the old speaker and baffle. They're still in perfect condition. Original grill cloth.

Mine's a blackface in otherwise perfect condition.

Anybody want it? I'm going to sell it. I'm selling alot of my gear that I never play. PM me an if interested.

Lew
 
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Re: Any Fender Champ owners out there?

Curly said:
play one first before you start thinking about mods

6V6s are a little sweeter than a 6L6, so I don't care for that switch in a Champ, or a Deluxe - to me, if you're looking for clean headroom, then get a different amp! that's not what the Champ or Deluxe are about
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I had spent about an hour wiht it at the shop before talking to the salesman about the trade. I wasn't planning on modding it immediately, Just basically wondering if the technical aspects of the mods were correct (I know next to nothing about cap values and such in amps)

I think the only mod I'm going to do right away is change the 2 prong cord to a grounded 3 prong cord. (Better safe than sorry).
 
Re: Any Fender Champ owners out there?

Fatty said:
I think the only mod I'm going to do right away is change the 2 prong cord to a grounded 3 prong cord. (Better safe than sorry).
Click to expand...

I wouldn't do that. All of my old amps that I play at home have the original two prong cord. If they hum, I can reverse the ground by removing the plug from the wall and turning it around...just like the ground switch on bigger amps does.

For home playing, you'll be fine with the old plug and getting rid of that pesky hum or ground loops by reversing the plug in the wall is a real plus.

Alot of studio guys still do that...

Lew
 
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Re: Any Fender Champ owners out there?

Lewguitar said:
I wouldn't do that. All of my old amps that I play at home have the original two prong cord. If they hum, I can reverse the ground by removing the plug from the wall and turning it around...just like the ground switch on bigger amps does.

For home playing, you'll be fine with the two conductor cable and getting rid of that pesky hum or ground loops by reversing the plug in the wall is a real plus.

Alot of studio guys still do that...

Lew
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I'm going to tread very lightly here, because this is not an area where I have a lot of experience, (relative to guitar amps, that is). If you could hear my tone of voice, it would be a "questioning" tone, rather than as making a statement.

A 2-prong power cord has one side connected to ground, and one "hot" side. The ability to reverse the plug, to eliminate hum, is a side affect of the fact that you had the ability to plug it in "wrong" to begin with. A 3-prong plug eliminates that problem, thus eliminating the need to reverse the plug as a solution.

Like I said, thats a question, more than a statement. ;)

Artie
 
Re: Any Fender Champ owners out there?

As I think about this a bit more, I'm guessing that since early amps had the ability to insert the plug in either way, there was no standardization on which side of the secondary of the power transformer was used for chassis ground. It could've gone either way, so those amps need to be able to flip the plug in order to match amp chassis ground, to "house" ground.

More modern tube amps would have that standardized, and use 3-prong plugs. I guess. :)
 
Re: Any Fender Champ owners out there?

Alot of guys freak out when I mention this but I'm going to mention it anyway: some studio cats remove the third prong on the plug so they can reverse the ground in the recording studio and get all of thier gear hum free with no ground loops.

I'm not recommending it for the average player and I would not risk electrocution by wrapping my lips around a microphone in live performance without the third prong functional on the plug of my amp.

Just saying: alot of studio guys do remove the third prong so they can achieve hum-free performance in the studio and make the ground reversal switch ( on thier resissue tweed Bassman or the like ) functional ....especially when using more than one amp.
 
Re: Any Fender Champ owners out there?

I seem to remember reading something about that somewhere, (perhaps GuitarNuts), that said that a lot of small clubs had sloppy wiring, (as in wall jacks wired backwards), and that it wasn't uncommon for guitarists, and singers, to get electrocuted from touching their equipment. :smack:
 
Re: Any Fender Champ owners out there?

I'm with Lew on this one :)

So is my amp tech, who is pretty experienced.
 
Re: Any Fender Champ owners out there?

I also have a 65 Fender Blackface Champ that I modded with a 10" speaker, which IMHO, is the best upgrade you can do.
 
Re: Any Fender Champ owners out there?

Lewguitar said:
...I would not risk electrocution by wrapping my lips around a microphone in live performance without the third prong functional on the plug of my amp.
Click to expand...

Heh heh... just got the sh*t shocked out of me last week at a shared backline gig. Just went to adjust the mic and ZAP!!!
 
Re: Any Fender Champ owners out there?

Lewguitar said:
I wouldn't do that. All of my old amps that I play at home have the original two prong cord. If they hum, I can reverse the ground by removing the plug from the wall and turning it around...just like the ground switch on bigger amps does.

For home playing, you'll be fine with the two conductor cable and getting rid of that pesky hum or ground loops by reversing the plug in the wall is a real plus.

Alot of studio guys still do that...

Lew
Click to expand...

I wasn't going to be doing it to reduce the hum or anything like that.. I just don't want to get electrocuted. :dance:
 
Re: Any Fender Champ owners out there?

I should've been clearer ..
I'm in favor of leaving a 2 prong cord on an old amp ... I'm not sure I'd clip the ground lug off of a 3 prong cord, but I'd use an adapter to do the same thing, if I had a ground loop
 
Re: Any Fender Champ owners out there?

I've got a 64 BF vibro-champ, very very sweet amp. I've still got the 8 in it and it does fine but hey, anything to get more out your six watts its definitely a plus. I replaced the tubes in mine last year and put in a new JJ 6v6 and two new 12ax7's. I couldn't get anything other than a NOS 5Y3 (from Bob) so I just left it b/c it was still chugging. I don't really think a 6L6 could sound any sweeter, and like was stated earlier you don't get these amps for headroom. Mine doesn't break up very soon either. Lately I've ran mine with a Boss dual OD. Very nice. For six watts it's loud too.

As far as changing the plug goes that's up to you, but in the proper environment you should be fine. I've only been shocked once, and it was in a dorm and we know how well those are wired! :laugh2: I'd save the plug if I changed it, I'd also try to be as non-intrusive as possible where you could switch it back to stock easily if you wanted to sell it.

Luke
 
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