Make my Champ sing!

[amosrides]

So I got a Champ 600 reissue for bedroom use; once the tubes get cranking on my traynor so does my wife. I got it because its a nice tone and used for 70 bucks, here's the problem though it only has a volume knob. I have a boss eq, so that's taken care of, but I want an od, boost, etc. to get me some tube drive (even cranked, which is impressively loud, my little champ runs pretty much straight clean). Here is the thing though, just about all the OD pedals i've tried just sound like distortion pedals, I don't need any more OD than a say blues jr would have.

Any recommendations for something under $100 (used). The fulltone ocd and full drive 2 are at the top of the list at the moment.

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: Make my Champ sing!

The bad monkey is good for the money.

The boss sd-1.

The best overdrive I have ever played is a lovepedal eternity. I've seen them used down to $130 so if you can make it happen, do it.

 

[Jeff_H]

Re: Make my Champ sing!

I think for the money, the Boss SD-1 is a great option. There are many cheap, easy mods that make them sound even more open and give them a greater range of OD. They never get too heavy, which is nice. If you look around you can most likely find a used one with one of the available mods well within your price range.

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: Make my Champ sing!

I think for the money, the Boss SD-1 is a great option. There are many cheap, easy mods that make them sound even more open and give them a greater range of OD. They never get too heavy, which is nice. If you look around you can most likely find a used one with one of the available mods well within your price range.

Yeah, they go used for $30 all the time and the mods are only like $20-$30 for the parts and work or you can pay someone to do it for you. Still have around $20 left over. Take your wife out to dinner.

 

[oilpit]

Re: Make my Champ sing!

Find a tubescreamer, nothing sounds quite like a fender with a TS slapping it in the face...

 

[amosrides]

Re: Make my Champ sing!

Anyone use the Pickup Booster, not really the same pedal but i'd be interested in hearing what it would do through a tele and the champ.

 

[TheProphet]

Re: Make my Champ sing!

What tubes are in it right now?

I loved to use my Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive on mine before the Champ had a meltdown

 

[Low_fidelity2100]

Re: Make my Champ sing!

Here is the thing though, just about all the OD pedals i've tried just sound like distortion pedals, I don't need any more OD than a say blues jr would have.

Have you tried NOT cranking the gain on the pedals?

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Make my Champ sing!

the fulldrive is the smoothest and most natural sounding fizz-less pedal out there. But for cheap the MXR classic overdrive is a really nice mean sounding pedal - and it has a tremendous amout of output if you really want to kick your amp in the pants.
ps. I have 9 different overdrives (including the 808 etc)

 

[woemoejack]

Re: Make my Champ sing!

I really dig the Barber LTD on my silvertone 1481, which is basically a champ clone. roll back the level and gain until desired results are achieved.

 

[Kam]

Re: Make my Champ sing!

Have you tried NOT cranking the gain on the pedals?

:haha:

 

[Rich_S]

Re: Make my Champ sing!

If you want to spend a little more, look at the Xotic BB preamp. TS-ish overdrive but with an active Baxendall tone stack on the back end, which lets you boost or cut highs and lows. This phrase gets icked around a lot, but there really isn't a bad tone in it.

For lower bucks, I recommend the SD-1. Heck, buy two or three. They're good stock, and there are so many mods to try.

 

[SirJackdeFuzz]

Re: Make my Champ sing!

If you want to spend a little more, look at the Xotic BB preamp. TS-ish overdrive but with an active Baxendall tone stack on the back end, which lets you boost or cut highs and lows. This phrase gets icked around a lot, but there really isn't a bad tone in it.

Hey, i never knew that !

Gotta check em out.

 

[AniML]

Re: Make my Champ sing!

Try a clean boost or full boost?

you could try a EHX LPB for cheap

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Make my Champ sing!

Here is a link to the official Fender spec page. http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=2330100000

1 x 12AX7, 1 x 6V6. Solid state rectifier. Not much scope for modification without making holes. <gulp>

How about a pre-owned Boss Blues Driver, a Marshall Bluesbreaker II or one of their Guv'nor pedals?

 

[amosrides]

Re: Make my Champ sing!

What tubes are in it right now?

I loved to use my Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive on mine before the Champ had a meltdown

Thanks for the input, the thing sounds about what I'm after. Too bad about your amp.

For those suggesting I just not crank the gain, I find most pedals just have very little 'clean' gain space. It goes from nothing to a distorted fuzz in just a few degrees.

Again, anyone tried the pickup booster? The champ 600 is a bit thin, I don't want to make my tele sound like lp but I wouldn't mind fattening it up a bit.

And the amp is stock so the above info is correct.

 

[TheProphet]

Re: Make my Champ sing!

The current Tung Sol 6V6 is a big improvement in tone and I recomment their 12AX7 or JJ's the as well.

 

[richard parker]

Re: Make my Champ sing!

Boss OD3 is a great pedal for goosing a small amp. You can roll the gain right off and crank the volume for a clean boost (it has a LOT of volume) and then add in as little or as much gain as you need. It keeps your low end intact and has no mid hump unlike a TS type and is very tube-like.

 

[drpietrzak]

Re: Make my Champ sing!

The OD3 is nice to me as is the SD1. I am wondering if you are using these the a lot of folks are though. Many folks leave the driver very low and use it more as a boost to push the front of the amp harder. In this way using the tone/eq as an adjustment as well.