Best Champ kit for beginner?

[The Craptain]

Hey folks,

I want to try my hand at building an amp from a kit. I'm wondering if you guys have experience with and/or can recommend a specific kit. The two companies I read the most about for kits are Weber and Mission, but it looks like only Weber has a 5F1 kit. Basically, I want to know who's going to give me the easiest directions to follow (I don't have much electronics experience, just wiring up guitars). I've also found several other sources just from Googling...any suggestions?

Thanks,
Mark

 

[missionamps]

Re: Best Champ kit for beginner?

Weber has no instructions and very cheap parts to boot.
MOJ0, which, in my opinion has the best 5F1 Champ kit out there has no instructions either.
They are very simple to build though and with a decent layout, any novice builder with a few questions here and there should be able to get through it...
if they can solder.

 

[Gr8Scott]

Re: Best Champ kit for beginner?

I agree with Bruce. I have a Mojo Champ kit and it has excellent parts. The steel chassis is so thick that it weighs a ton and feels like a boat anchor and looks gorgeous. All the parts are top notch. Weber tends to cheap out on some parts here and there, but their kits work well enough. I'm pleased with my choice 100%. Mojo included a layout and that's all I need.

 

[jmv]

Re: Best Champ kit for beginner?

Hey folks,

I want to try my hand at building an amp from a kit. I'm wondering if you guys have experience with and/or can recommend a specific kit. The two companies I read the most about for kits are Weber and Mission, but it looks like only Weber has a 5F1 kit. Basically, I want to know who's going to give me the easiest directions to follow (I don't have much electronics experience, just wiring up guitars). I've also found several other sources just from Googling...any suggestions?

Thanks,
Mark

FWIW, i know that bruce from mission amps, who posted above, is very highly regarded. His 5E3 kit looks not too terribly difficult, and appears to use VERY nice components, such as a mercury magnetics transformer (very important for your sound!). I don't know much about the instructions he provides, but considering he is on the forum to answer questions such as yours, i have no doubt he would readily offer assistance if you ran into any problems.

I've heard not-so-great things about the weber kits.

Personally, i'm really eager to built a kit as well, but i think i'm going to be going the marshall route... :banana:

 

[Fresh_Start]

Re: Best Champ kit for beginner?

For some odd reason, you can buy Mojo kits cheaper from other outfits like Marsh Amplification and get some support. I had really good service from Mike, the parts are solid quality, and Mojo's cabs and chassis can't be beat IMHO. You might consider Marsh's 5F2-A kit. Very similar to a 5E1 but with a Tone control and a 10" speaker.

FWIW my 5F2-A has a Weber 10A100 10" in it and I couldn't be happier with the tone. The "kit" did not come from Marsh and the support wasn't great. (I'm not going to slag a vendor here though.)

HTH

Chip

 

[The Craptain]

Re: Best Champ kit for beginner?

Thanks for the help, guys...Chip: I looked at the Marsh website but I don't see anything about Mojo kits. Are all the kits they sell from Mojo?

I'm tempted by the Champ kit from Marsh, with the 10" baffle/alnico speaker upgrade...

 

[Fresh_Start]

Re: Best Champ kit for beginner?

Thanks for the help, guys...Chip: I looked at the Marsh website but I don't see anything about Mojo kits. Are all the kits they sell from Mojo?

I'm tempted by the Champ kit from Marsh, with the 10" baffle/alnico speaker upgrade...

AFAIK Marsh puts together his own kits, but the chassis, cabs and (maybe) transformers come from Mojo. He seems to like Weber speakers (so do I). When I bought 2 cabs and 2 chassis from Mike, they were drop shipped from Mojo.

The 10" baffle w/ alnico speaker sounds like a great idea. Look at cabinet sizes too though (from Mojo site). The Tone control may not be a big deal, but you will hear a difference with a bigger cab.
5E1 - 13 x 14.5 x 8.875
5F2-A 16.75 x 18 x 8.75

One tip for you - new 5Y3GT rectifier tubes (usually Sovtek) don't match specs in terms of construction or the voltage drop. Just changing to an NOS 5Y3GT dropped my B+ by about 20-25 volts, and that's probably a good thing in terms of hitting vintage voltages and that real Tweed tone.

Good luck!

Chip

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Best Champ kit for beginner?

My advice would be to order a tweed Princeton kit from Bruce and ask him to make it just like my real tweed Princeton that Bruce tweaked for me. I'd also put it in a cab that will allow a 10" speaker. The Princeton is identical to the tweed Champ but includes a tone control. It's one of my favorite recording amps, and I've known mine for over 45 years and owned it for 30 years. Mine is the tweed Princeton I used to take guitar lessons through at Hewitt's Music in Detroit when I was in High School in the 60's and I went back to Detroit about 1980 and bought it! Lew

 

[B Bent]

Re: Best Champ kit for beginner?

Lew you always have the coolest gear stories!

 

[Rich_S]

Re: Best Champ kit for beginner?

How do the tweed Champ/Princeton compare to the later Champ? I had a '68 for a while that sounded great (as long as I didn't need much volume). I'd like to build a Champ for a "Fender Clean" alternative to my baby Marshall.

Will the tweed Champs do the sound we think of as "Fender Clean", or is that more a blackface vibe? Keep in mind my volume needs are VERY modest, so the Champ's output is sufficient, clean or dirty.

 

[Fresh_Start]

Re: Best Champ kit for beginner?

How do the tweed Champ/Princeton compare to the later Champ? I had a '68 for a while that sounded great (as long as I didn't need much volume). I'd like to build a Champ for a "Fender Clean" alternative to my baby Marshall.

Will the tweed Champs do the sound we think of as "Fender Clean", or is that more a blackface vibe? Keep in mind my volume needs are VERY modest, so the Champ's output is sufficient, clean or dirty.

Tweed = Tweed
Blackface = "Fender Clean"

Tweed is different due to lower voltages, more negative feedback (at least in Champs & Princetons), less loss in the tone stack (if any), less power supply filtering. The touch sensitivity and wide transition to distortion make playing a Tweed LOTS of fun IMHO. There's virtually no clean headroom though - we don' need no stinking headroom!

Lew - I did not realize that Bruce even offered a 5F2-A kit. It doesn't show up on his website...

Chip