SF Champ into Bigger Cab or Head?

[Hoodster]

Considering this conversion to make my prized SF Champ more versatile. As it stands, the little monster sounds fantastic but is a bit too loud for bedroom use and not quite meaty enough for jams.

So, a couple questions for those who are familiar with the conversion:

1. In a 1x12 cab (my first choice) with an efficient speaker, will it increase the volume enough to hang with a light drummer, 2nd guitar, and bass?

2. What's the best 12" speaker option? I like the Emi Patriots and Weber Signature series, but neither is available in 4 ohm. I don't want to drop the $$ on a Weber vintage, so was looking at the Jensen C12K (DRRI speaker) and Neo, both available in 4 ohm.

3. Who's the best source of a prefab 1X12 cab? I know I've seen mention around here of a couple online sources.

Thanks for any input.

[eugenedunn]

You'd better check out Allen Amplification..... they make very interesting head and combo cabs for many Fender models.

Allowing you to dream up many cool combinations of speaker and amp that were never factory produced......

They have a head cab for a Champ that is 200 bucks and a 1x10 or 1x12 option for 275. Nice looking cabs.

I would love to put my SF Champ in a head cab and convert my existing cabinet into a matching extension cab.

Some of the other guys around here have built Champ head cabinets and stacked them on top of matching 2x8 or 2x10 cabs. One of the ones I've seen is awesome red Tolex. I've also seen a beautiful blonde one too.

[eugenedunn]

Hey check these out.....these are a couple of great examples I've seen around here:

[Hoodster]

Just saw another new thread on this topic, so it looks like now two people are looking for the 1X12 Champ cabs.........

The only sources I have found are Allen and Mojo, but I know someone posted a much cheaper alternative not long ago.

[eugenedunn]

Here ya go..... one man's interesting idea of putting an Musicmaster Bass chassis into a Champ cabinet.

The Musicmaster Bass, Champ and VibroChamp amps are all interchangeable in their respective cabinets, so I am surprised we haven't seen more of these bizarre conversions.

Notice the funky way the 12-inch speaker sticks out BELOW the cabinet. That's why the legs are there...... And the apparent fuse that's in the front panel is a dummy. It's just there to cover the hole that was put in the front panel when the modder tried a 2-knob Bass-Treble tone stack at one time.

Anybody else with funky conversions in the house?

[Tim Armstrong]

I've probably posted this about a hundred times (how the heck do you think I got to such a high post count?), but one of the best gig rigs I've ever used was an SF Champ into a closed-back 4 ohm 2x12 Carvin cab. Amazingly loud, great roar. I dimed the amp and controlled everything from the guitar (a sweet '73 Gretsch Country Gentleman). It kept up with the whole band, and I had to actually turn it down just a little (it was a wedding gig for a couple hundred folks).

Of course, being an absolute fool, I no longer own ANY PART of that rig. Except maybe one of the patch cords...

Sigh...

Tim

[eugenedunn]

Hey Tim,

I've seen your posts about the Champ into the 2x12 cabinet. That's so cool.

I routinely use my SF Champ with an 8-ohm 15-inch Electrovoice extension cabinet. I run it in parallel with the Champ's hefty 30-watt Weber 8F125. The combo of that 8-inch and 15-inch gives me a great punchy tone with good low end girth.

I use it regularly in rehearsals with a full band. Sounds tough. But I haven't dared to use it for any gig, so my hat's off to you! (^_^) Likewise, controlling it all with the guitar knob is so fun.

I have a Weber Z-matcher on order which will allow me to use the 8-ohm 15-inch cabinet alone with the SF Champ..... can't wait to hear that.