Studebaker Champion Amp Project

[Tclar4]

Hey there. I've been drinking in this forum for quite some time but have yet to post. So here goes!

For my first post, I thought that I would share my latest project.

My friend and I were musing about how cool it would be to build two amps together. Of course, we had never built any before so we thought we would start small. A Champ was a logical choice (for us anyway). We also wanted to do the whole thing, soup-to-nuts, with the exception of ordering a kit for the electronic parts. And we also wanted to build it per vintage specs but with a twist.

First the cabinet. We wanted to see if there were any plans online for a champ cab. I found a few but they weren't very detailed. I did find a 5E3 set of plans that were incredibly detailed (kudos to Scott Cole) and decided to retrofit these to 5F1 specs.

Here are the plans for both the original 5E3 and the Champ that I retrofitted. More to come...

[Tclar4]

So, in my last post I mentioned a cab with vintage specs but with a "twist". Well we were brainstorming a bit and thought it would be cool to badge the amp with a script automotive badge. You know "Le Mans", "Special", "Roadmaster", "Brougham", "Pinto"...well, not Pinto, but you get the idea.

Our first search was "Champ" and, lo and behold, there was a Studebaker Champion with a nice script emblem. And it suprisingly fit the area we had for the badging!

We'll build the amp around it...

[Tclar4]

Okay, fast forward a few months, and here is how the amp cab came together. Pretty straight forward, solid 3/4" pine, finger lap joints, and lots of measuring, checking, double-checking and cuttin'.

Ready to apply the tweed...

[Owl-man]

That's really nice, and hey I remember the Studebaker Champion.

[Tclar4]

Update on the amp project:

We applied the tweed to the cab. I thought I would post photos of the tricks (tricks we learned from others of course!) we found useful. Hopefully they will help someone else.

We stumbled upon a glue that was as easy to use as white glue but had the properties of contact cement. Weldbond is the name. It can be found at most crafty-type stores.

It's probably old news to most of you, but cutting the corners was the most frightening and, suprisingly, the most simple part of the process. I've photographed the folding the material into a fin and then cutting with scissors (as close as possible). There are some very detailed descriptions out there of this process, but no pictures that I could find. So here are some.

Here are some of the photos. I hope they help someone else.

[Tclar4]

Okay I'm piling up the updates

We also aged the tweed recently. Another thanks to all the great info out there regarding what to use and howto do it!

I won't go into all the details here (but if you ask I will gladly share ). I will highlight what changes I made to the usual info that I came across.

The biggest thing I found was to seal the tweed with two coats of clear shellac before adding color. Most recommendations were for only one coat, but I found one coat (100% with no dillution) to not fully seal the surface.

The other thing that I tried to do was just give it enough age to give it some character. I acheived this (to my liking at least ) by doing three coats of amber that were at least 50% dilluted with denatured alcohol, if not a little more diluted, not sure. To make the aging complete and to smooth out the blotches, I hit the wear and key areas -- corners, seams, and edges -- with 400 grit sand paper. Just enough to show some loss of coloration of the aging, but not over the top. Just enough to reveal the original tweed color. A "Closet Classic" relic job, if you will!

I hit it then with many coats of clear laquer and lovingly steel wool-ing between each coat.

[Tclar4]

Here are a few more phots of the aging process. I've included a before and after too.

[Paul in Colorado]

Nice work! Have you built the chassis yet? I like the idea of using old car badges. Where did you find the Champion badge?

[madmark]

Looks great.. Looks like mine.. Your cabinet has a wider front panel then mine..

[Tclar4]

Originally Posted by Paul in Colorado

Nice work! Have you built the chassis yet? I like the idea of using old car badges. Where did you find the Champion badge?

I have all the parts for the chassis and I hope to start on it in next few days. It is an sft champ clone kit btw. I'm a little scared to start soldering since this is my first dab into electronics. I just have to jump in though!

I found the badge on ebay. It's pretty easy to find badges for just about any car. Just takes a little trolling to find 'em on the cheap.

[Paul in Colorado]

Originally Posted by Tclar4

I found the badge on ebay. It's pretty easy to find badges for just about any car. Just takes a little trolling to find 'em on the cheap.

What did you use for a search phrase? I've looked a little on ebay and didn't find much. Did you stick to ebay motors?

[Tclar4]

Originally Posted by madmark

Looks great.. Looks like mine.. Your cabinet has a wider front panel then mine..

Yeah, I kind of cross-bread a narrow-front and a wide-panel.

Yours looks nice too. What did you do for the insides?

[Tclar4]

Originally Posted by Paul in Colorado

What did you use for a search phrase? I've looked a little on ebay and didn't find much. Did you stick to ebay motors?

Try: (car model) side badge emblem.

I think that's what got me the most hits.

I also started the search with google and sometimes found other avenues beside ebay. Although ebay was where I eventually found it.

[e-merlin]

Nice! But as a Studebaker fan, I must, as a rule, be upset due to all of the Champion emblems that will be taken out of circulation because of your idea.

[madmark]

I bought the amp from someone on CL. I changed out the Jensen speaker which I still have to a Weber Sig 8.. I also have a bunch of old tubes and they make a big difference in sound. I love it and it is very easy to carry around. It is perfect for my apartment..The guy a bought it from had a plug in the back so he could run it thru a PA.. I wanna take out the rca plug and use 1/4 one. Here is the inside..

[MMJeronimo]

looking good.

[twangcaster1]

Looks sweet, man.

[Billm]

Nice work! An original twist to a classic.

[Tclar4]

Well, it's been a long time since my last post on this project. This is my first foray into the world of soldering and wiring schematics. It has taken me a long time to both figure out what I am doing and finish the soldering. So I have to celebrate the last solder joint with a picture!

It's been an interesting process. The kit I bought follows the original fender schematic with some mods...only the mods are in print. So it was a bit puzzling for me to reconcile the two. Anyone who has followed the original fender 5f1 schematic knows that it assumes you can read a schematic and can leap to some conclusions. That would not be me.

Thankfully my neighbor Bob (who is a retired electrical engineer and an audiophile to boot!) has been willing to coach me through all the ins-and-outs of figuring out the circuits. He even went so far as to redraw the schematic to account for the mods and the missing info. That's the one in the photo. If I get his permission, I might post the schematic in case it would be of use to anyone else.

Anyways, next step is to slowly fire this baby up...

[Poppatwang]

Bravo!