Champion 600 arrived today. A review

[chet]

I plugged into one Saturday at a GC.

I was not impressed with what I heard.

Sorry, but I gotta be honest. Maybe it's because of the the big, wide open space of the showroom but it sounded weak and "boxy" to me.

[quackerz]

Originally Posted by chet

I plugged into one Saturday at a GC.

I was not impressed with what I heard.

Sorry, but I gotta be honest. Maybe it's because of the the big, wide open space of the showroom but it sounded weak and "boxy" to me.

Wow really? For the life of me I can't figure out how a 5W amp with a 6" speaker could possibly sound weak and boxy!

It is what it is... it's just not for me. Too weak and boxy. LOL!

[Gene Machine]

Originally Posted by RivercitySonic

I know this thread's a little old, but I have one of these amps & am going to be using it for the first time at a gig tomorrow night. For me, I love the amp, but it breaks up to quick, so I'm thinking of trying the Mercury Magnetics upgrade & possibly even gutting it & hand wiring a 5E3 circuit in there myself in conjunction with the mercury upgrade. My buddy Al & I pulled mine apart today & made a couple of mods that were real quick & easy to do, so I thought I'd share them with you cause they made a big difference to the sound of the amp for the better. (For me) I play a mixture of Blues/Jazz/Classic Rock so the amp is just about perfect for my style of playing, but I would just like it if it had a bit more headroom & a little more output volume. What we did today was a good start:

1. Replace the 6V6 with a 6L6. It fits right in & doesn't even need to be re-biased.

2. Replace the 12AX7 with a 12AT7. We tried an AU7, but it didn't drive the output section enough so we settled on the AT.

3. remove one cap from the amp.

I'm attaching a couple of pics of the mod, I'll try to get a full shot of it in action tomorrow night if the lighting's ok. (I hate the flash) I'll also post some audio clips in the next couple days.
Peace - J.

so i get the 12AT7, a little less gain for less breakup as you turn up.

but what about removing the cap? what is the purpose of this?

i am thinking of putting a Weber speaker in mine.

Hey, where are you located? I am in Trenton/Belleville area. You near Napanee way?

[Gene Machine]

you must be in Ottawa, at least you pleay there a lot...

[BarnesTO]

I've been kicking around the idea of buying one of those Hot Rod Deluxe enclusures and usingit with my Champ....does anyone here have one?

[Dennis68]

Thx for the review I've heard similar reports they're nice too. Good info on the tube swap..

[Dennis68]

Originally Posted by chet

I plugged into one Saturday at a GC.

I was not impressed with what I heard.

Sorry, but I gotta be honest. Maybe it's because of the the big, wide open space of the showroom but it sounded weak and "boxy" to me.

You have to expect the intent of the amp is what it is: A home or small garage type use amp for jam or practice for the most part...

[Jaybird]

Originally Posted by chet

I plugged into one Saturday at a GC.

I was not impressed with what I heard.

Sorry, but I gotta be honest. Maybe it's because of the the big, wide open space of the showroom but it sounded weak and "boxy" to me.

I had the same thoughts when first using a 600 for harp at GC. However, I picked up a used one and did the mods that are on another thread. (Bypass fixed tone stack, change coupling cap to .1, switch to better tubes than the poor quality stock ones, and replace the speaker with an upgrade.) In my case, I installed an 8" speaker. Now the 600 is one of my favorite little practice and take along amps. With a delay pedal it is even better. The mods I did are not that expensive. I used a speaker and tubes that I already had, did the work myself, and bought a used amp. In the end the amp I have now, cost less than a new one and sounds three times better.

[xjazzy]

My father built a little "home" for the stock speaker of my DRRI and now I plug the champ there for some rockin' tunes.
I've made the bypass tone stack mode and I have a switch to get it to stock too.
It sounds great with my LP.
Here it is:

[Gary in Boston]

I was at a local music store the other night and they had a bunch of Champs stacked up and plugged in to play.

I plugged into at least 5 and they all sounded bad. There is just no other way to say it. A big disapointment. They are cute as heck but trya I might I could not get any sound worth much from any of them and gave up.

Bad luck or an elaborate hoax?

Gary

[Iceman]

So, if the "farty" speaker sound at high volume results from the cheap pre-amp tube, and removing the epoxy to replace the tube voids the warranty, has anybody had the pre-amp tube replaced under the warranty?

[Brent Hutto]

There is no longer epoxy on the preamp tube, at least as of January '08. I replaced the stock (garbage) Chinese tube amost immediately with an inexpensive E-H one and it was just a matter of twisting the can off the tube, replacing it and putting the can back. Didn't even remove the back cover of the amp.

Gary,

When I tried out my Champ 600 it was the only one in the store. I thought it sounded absolutely horrific when turned up high enough to distort. With a better preamp tube it was much more tolerable but still boxy and compressed sounding. Once the speaker broke in that got better still but a 6" speaker in a tiny box running flat out is going to distort in a boxy way every time, innit?

But I really dig the clean sound of mine up to about 7-8 on the volume control with single coils. Since that's how I play I think it's a good-sounding amp but I don't know that anyone would really think it's great for running flat out unless you're going for a pretty nasty sound.

[strummin67]

If this is what $199 gets you then I might be inclined to spend more money on something that sounds good right out of the box.

[Flannel Pat]

So, an eight inch speaker won't work in this tiny cabinet, will it?

[Brent Hutto]

Well, I loved the clean tone right out of the box. I swapped preamp tubes so that I could on occasion turn it up without it sounding like poo. But I agree if you want to use it dirty some other options are probably better even in the $200-odd range.

The problem I had in my follow-on shopping for a better amp was there's a big price skip from a $200 Champ/VJ kind of thing to the next better grade of 5-watter, like triple the price or more to get good quality. In between there's mostly biger amps with Master Volume (or without for that matter) like Pro Junior, Blues Junior, etc. I just really didn't see myself buying an amp that would spend its whole life being played with the volume just barely cracked open.

But I ended up with a 5-watter in a big combo cabinet with a 12" Neo speaker so it still live with the volume on two or three (out of ten) so maybe I could have gotten by with a BJ-class amp. Mine sounds better than the BJ's I've heard though.

[xjazzy]

Originally Posted by Flannel Pat

So, an eight inch speaker won't work in this tiny cabinet, will it?

Someone made that around here.
Look for another thread about champ 600 here.

[Jaybird]

"So, an eight inch speaker won't work in this tiny cabinet, will it?" Flannel Pat

Originally Posted by xjazzy

Someone made that around here.
Look for another thread about champ 600 here.

8" speaker is doable if it is moved down and over a bit. Mine sounds great.

[Iceman]

I swapped pre-amp tubes and still cannot get the terrible noise out of the speaker. What is the point of owning an amp I cannot dime? I'm sending mine back.

[Dennis68]

Originally Posted by Iceman

I swapped pre-amp tubes and still cannot get the terrible noise out of the speaker. What is the point of owning an amp I cannot dime? I'm sending mine back.

There's a fellow from the UK who sells a kit to remedy this. There is a demo on You tube also, I'll see if I can find it for you.

[Dennis68]

Here it is, the noise reduction kit:

[91xlntS-3]

Originally Posted by Brent Hutto

Well, I loved the clean tone right out of the box. I swapped preamp tubes so that I could on occasion turn it up without it sounding like poo. But I agree if you want to use it dirty some other options are probably better even in the $200-odd range.

The problem I had in my follow-on shopping for a better amp was there's a big price skip from a $200 Champ/VJ kind of thing to the next better grade of 5-watter, like triple the price or more to get good quality. In between there's mostly biger amps with Master Volume (or without for that matter) like Pro Junior, Blues Junior, etc. I just really didn't see myself buying an amp that would spend its whole life being played with the volume just barely cracked open.

But I ended up with a 5-watter in a big combo cabinet with a 12" Neo speaker so it still live with the volume on two or three (out of ten) so maybe I could have gotten by with a BJ-class amp. Mine sounds better than the BJ's I've heard though.

What about the Black Heart 5 watter? For another $50, more of a good thing, or not? I haven't played either of these amps, but might be interesting if you could A/B them side by side.