Last edited by Fret Wire; 05-05-2004 at 04:33 PM. Reason: no pic
:rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl
I knew I wasn't the only crazy one around! I love it. I see you're more partial to the Champs and only have 2 Vibro Champs.
You have another room for your Princeton's?
LOL! Can't help it...love small amps. The other 4 VC's aren't in the pic. 15 Champs: 9-reg & 6-VC's. Slacking behind in the PR dept.: only two (both SF). MusicMaster Bass: 5 (2-6V6 & 3-6AQ5). If I see one for a good price...game over. Lucky I don't do this with Strats or Plexi's, I'd go broke. I could see a shrink, but this is good madness.
I'm impressed and will use you as an example if anyone tells me I have too many amps. I guess you'll need a wide angle lens to get all your amps into the shot eh?
So do you upgrade the speakers in your Champs? What one do you like the best? I really like the Weber 8A125 but would like to find a less expensive replacement. I found the Jensen C8R a bit bright. Any suggestions?
Well, I've just jumped into the fray! I won an auction on e-bay last night for a '76 Champ. I just couldn't sit back, and not sample some of this tone you guys are raving about. Item #3720916888 if you want to check it out. Let me know if you have any recommendations. Thanks!
Some of them are real mint and I left them alone. The others are nice, but I recapped and re-tubed as necessary. For those , I always liked the CR8-4. After break-in, they sound good, to me anyways. Never thought they were that bright. I also tried the PR8-4 too. Nice. Webers are great, but I got what I liked, tone wise out of the Jensens. One Champ came with a Jensen Mod-8, and while it wasn't the greatest, it's still better than the stock speaker if you're on a budget. Also like Jensen's for the PR (CQ10-8). One of my VC's was a basket case, cabinet wise, so I put a C10Q in it. That made a huge difference in volume and low-end.
Antique Electronics has great prices on Jensens.
http://www.tubesandmore.com/
No link?Originally Posted by Motojunkie
Motojunkie- Nice score! Looks very clean and sounds like they have some nice tubes in it. Probably need to replace that stock speaker right away though.
Fret wire- Thanks for the AES link. They do have some nice prices and will probably pick up one of those JensenP8R's. I had planned on leaving the '67 VC alone but when I found I couldn't even play through it I figured I may as well get it recaped and enjoy it.
Got the link. Looks clean....good score Motojunkie. The ceramic socket shows the guy at least cared for the amp. You'll love it. Even more after a cap job and new speaker. Is your 3 prong plug still intact?
Gtrply: Your welcome. Yeah, if you're gonna play it, you might as well recap and try a speaker. Not really modding anyways. One is maintainance, and one is an upgrade that you can take out in 5 minutes. Every SF & BF champ needs a cap job if they're original. Some are just readily apparent and some still sound ok for awhile. AE has a killer price on the CQ10. I wouldnt put one in a champ unless it was a wreck cabinet wise.
Funny thing about plugs. I've got enough older amps to say that many seventies and eighties amps had the ground prong hacked off. Sad tesiment to homes even in the 80's being way behind on wiring codes.
Welcome to the club, MotoJunkie!!!
I really need another Champ, or a VibroChamp!
Time wounds all heels.
Thanks for the welcome!
Gtrplyr thanks for posting the link. Sorry for not doing that. I won't make that same mistake next time.... :)
I was thinking the same thing about the ceramic socket. It looked clean, and I really don't care about it being stock, so I went for it. The shipping is a bit high ($40), but I figured that maybe it'll be packed well.
I haven't recieved it yet, I'm guessing next week (I paid today)....I'll give a report as soon as I can.
I was intending to use an external speaker, but am open to suggestions for what would be the best choice for a replacement. I saw the previous thread, but am not sure what is best for me. It looks like the cabinet (I don't know, so forgive my ignorance) may be big enough to wedge in a 12" speaker. Will a 12" fit? It certainly looks like a 10" is a sure thing, or am I stuck with an 8"? I play mostly rock to hard rock, but am looking for this to be a clean to slightly overdriven blues machine. Please make your speaker recommendations.....
Also, the seller indicated that the 12AX7 was a generic tube. Any suggestions for tubes that seem to work well with these amps?
Thanks for all of the help!!
10" is the most you'll get in there. Your's is real clean, so I dont know if I'd cut the baffle up. For 8's, try the AE link I posted. Either the P8R or the C8R will be nice for your Champ. $21-$53.
For Champ tubes, I go JAN-military for all tubes. They sound great in the champ. No need for more expensive NOS in that amp. Go to ebay and type in jan12ax7. Be sure to read the auction carefully. Some of the listed JAN12ax7's are really JAN5751's. JAN 5751 are lower gain versions of the 12ax7. You don't want these. You can usually get the JAN 12ax7's and 5y3's cheaper than new tubes. The Jan 6V6GT's can usually be got for about $15.
I live pretty close to AES, and have been there many times - thanks anyway for the link..... :)
I have a Weber 4 ohm C8RS, do you think that it would sound OK? Obviously I'll try it, but I was wondering.....
Thanks for the tip on the JAN tubes, I'll pick up a few next time I'm near AES.
The Weber will sound good, way better than the factory speaker. Here's some tubes:
http://search.ebay.com/JAN-12ax7_W0Q...sortpropertyZ1
http://search.ebay.com/JAN-5y3WGTA_W...sortpropertyZ1
Hey Fret Wire-
Have you played the amps in stereo or maybe more than 2 at a time?
It sounds different, but a champ through a stereo delay, with the Vibro as the strereo amp, tremelo turned up half way on both speed and intensity.
Argh, I have to wait until wednesday! I'm dying already.....
Any recommendations for an overdrive that would compliment a Champ?
I know it's not a Champ, but i picked up an SS Bronco Amp that really is alot of fun, especially into external cabinets. The little amp can wail, and nobody has to call the cops or the glass company.
SS Bronco is okay with me, Sven!
Time wounds all heels.
Got my Champ today. It's in real good condition. The stock speaker is crap. With the Weber in it, it sounds great! The speaker change helped make it a bit louder too.
While I had the back off, I installed a Mullard 12AX7 that I had laying around, and it is a tone machine! You should hear this amp through my 4x12, it's huge!
Why haven't I gotten one of these sooner?
I'm going to be looking for a beater to convert to Tweed specs, anyone have one?
I'm also looking for a new speaker "cable" - anyone know of a high quality speaker connection cable that has the correct terminations for this amp?
Thank you for this thread, it was influential in my decision to get this Champ.
I have spent today cranking my Champ with each of my guitars: Hamer 25th Anniversary Artist, G&L ASAT Special, G&L ASAT Classic, and G&L Legacy. The ASAT Classic was my favorite tone. And: although my G&Ls don't have humbuckers and up the wazoo shielding that the Hamer has, I don't mind humming and a little pickguard static popping to get the tone of a single coil in a vintage type instrument. A Tele bridge pickup cranked throudh a Champ is my favorite rhythm guitar tone, bar none.
I'm still mulling over the idea of a 2nd Champ. I want one, but the Reverend Kingsnake & Victoria 518 are stuck in my mind.
Time wounds all heels.
Update:
I just DIMED the Champ with the Hamer....
OH.MY.GOD.
I dunno why the 33 year old Fender Speaker wasn't farting out, but this was the absolute best overdriven tone I have ever heard.
Time wounds all heels.
When you boys put in Muallrd 12ax7's like Motojunkie, then you will be men!
I had a my Firiend in Ontario California build me a Tweed Champ 5f1 circuit. It really is versital, great breakup and to my surprise great clean when back down.
I found a Magnovox hifi ,(early 60's) speaker box, All wood about knee high with a 12 inch alnico speaker. I removed the speaker and made a baffle for 2x8 and put in two special design,old, Jensens, real Nirvana! My head has 4/8/16 ohm output so I wired the cabinet for 16 ohm. I plug the Champ or my Peavey Classic 20 in and it is just awesome.
I am not big on pedals. If I want clean I use my 72 sf Princeton with a 12 inch speaker. Sweet Fender bliss tone.
Hey Motojunkie, I sold a home in Surprise a couple of months ago! Let me know if you jam! I am in Phoenix.
Teleman.....I would certainly be interested in getting together. Maybe we could get another PHX TFF Jam going.....
Give me a ring - 623-546-8850
Hey Moto,
I have left a couple of messages. Have you received them???
Yeah, been really busy. I'll give you a call tomorrow if that's ok.
This is probably heresy, but I think I prefer many Champ knock-offs to non-tweed Champs.
I've had a Supro Trojan, a Gibson GA-5 Skylark, a Lectrolab, a tiny Magnatone, a Kalamazoo Model One, a Harmony H-191, a weird little DeArmond with a field coil speaker and I still have a Silvertone made by Danelectro which looks identical to the Harmony H-191...I would still take any of them over any post-tweed Fender Champ.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote