Can you upgrade the reverb in a Fender Champ 12?

[srvfender]

I have a champ 12. It has a spring reverb unit which is small and kind of cheesy. Its better than no reverb. Its soldered directly to the circuit board. I was wondering if I can just replace it with a bigger and better tank and just solder it in place of the old one? Any help appreciated.

[Kap'n]

No.


IIRC, the tank in the Champ 12 takes its input directly from the speaker output. There's not a lot you can do with that.

[srvfender]

Thanks. Thats what I thought. I guess it might be time for a delay pedal.

[hudpucker]

Other than trying to adjust the reverb trim pot on the PCB, there's really nothing you can do.

[srvfender]

How do I identify the trim pot for the reverb on the PCB?

[Kap'n]

How do I identify the trim pot for the reverb on the PCB?

http://www.ampwares.com/ffg/schem/champ_12_schem.gif

It ought to be identified as R41 on the circuit board.

It looks as though it fine tunes the maximum amout of reverb level. At one extreme, you will get no reverb, no matter where your reverb level is set, at the other you'll get the most reverb level. Essentially it allows you more useful graduations of reverb level.

On the other hand, it doesn't change the "dwell" or how sproingy the reverb is. Is it too sproingy or not enough at your favorite level (it will change depending on how loud the amp is). It might be possible to tame it, but not give it more dwell.

[srvfender]

Thanks for the info. The reverb is just not as strong as I would like it. I don't expect it to sound as good as my 72 deluxe reverb. I would just like to have a deeper reverb if possible from the amp.

[Kap'n]

There's nothing you can do for more 'splash' except crank the amp.

If you want more level, you could replace R40 with a smaller value than the current 270Kohm, right down to replacing it with a bare wire.

[srvfender]

This is great stuff. Do you think it would make much of a difference? IF the reverb increases with the lower value cap what effect will this have to the overall tone of the amp?

[Kap'n]

This is great stuff. Do you think it would make much of a difference? IF the reverb increases with the lower value cap what effect will this have to the overall tone of the amp?

R40's a resistor. It shouldn't make any difference in the tone of the uneffected signal. Theoretically it shouldn't make a difference in the tone of the reverb either. With the reverb recovery boosted, it might be a bit noisier when the reverb is turned up past where it was before.

R40 reduces the maximum reverb recovery by a bit over half.

Remember, past a certain point, the reverb tank itself may start feeding back.

[srvfender]

Thanks for all the good info. I'll try a little experimenting and see how it goes.

[srvfender]

I adjusted the reverb trim pot and found a setting that increased the reverb more before getting feedback. Its much better now. Thanks for all the great advice.

[Kap'n]

:yay Glad we could help!