Recent 5F1 Tweed Champ slight tweaks

I recently made a few slight tweaks to my beloved 5F1 champ kit (Princeton cab with 10” speaker). It came with a Weber Alnico Sig 10s which I’ve always been pretty OK with. But…I was too curious about a British style speaker so I recently bought a Weber Alnico 10A125P. Basically a 10A125 with the cone from their Blue Pup. I also had a few issues with the amp and a tube change seemed to fix it (knock wood). At first I tried a new(old stock) 12AX7 but for kicks tried a 5751 tube I had lying around.

I really dig the 5751. The volume control isn’t as drastic on the front end anymore, and it does have more headroom. Humbuckers play much better with it. No more farting out, and it sounds very “greasy” in a good way. It’s a champ so it’s still plenty gainy, but I can turn the volume up more so the gain is much more controlled. I love it so much I ordered a few more NOS 5751’s to add to the stash.

The speaker is pretty cool. With a Telecaster the amp is very Yardbirds/LZ1/Police-y/Funk 49 now. It has a chime and “krang” that lends itself well to blues and rock stuff. It lost some of the twang of a Fender, so it would sound less cool for country and funk, though the difference is subtle and not a big deal. P90’s of course also sound killer with it. I ordered it with the break in procedure they do, it keeps opening up though as I play it. I can see a world where I may put a Jensen style speaker back in this and have another Vox-y amp (one of those new AC4HW1? AC15?) but since I mostly play on the rock/blue side of things I really dig the 10A125P.

Your results with a 5751 in the V1 socket are not uncommon with a tweed platform. I've got one in my 5E3 reproduction and the amp seems much smoother throughout the sonic spectrum. It also seems to have given the mids a brisk kick in the ass, quite noticeable with the vintage P12Q.