Champ 600 Owners Club

[czech-one-2]

Originally Posted by Topbanana

Blog entry as promised, an attempt to explain what and how I did to the poor thing:

http://theoldweirdamerica.blogspot.c...-champion.html

EDIT: Elias, lifting the R19 grounds out the Princeton type tone circuit and basically returns the whole amp circuit to a Tweed type as originally designed as I understand it.

It certainly sounds A LOT like my '59 Bassman when I ground that bitch out. It gets extremely fuzzy at volume like my Bassman.

I guess I wont be lifting R19 then, I love the clean tone of my stock champion 600! Only did the grill cloth swap and put RCA tubes in all around and I wouldn't change anything.
Now, where can I get a 15-30 watt amp that has this exact tone on the cheap?

[asnarski]

I plan on doing the grill cloth change but would like to keep the original.
Does anyone have a template or measurments so I can make a new baffle board first?

[mysticwhiskey]

Here's a template I drew up from my original Champ 600 baffle.

You should be able to print it out at 100% scaling to get an exact fit 1:1.

[OG_Stike]

This picture I found in another thread. The place is Lark Street Music in Teaneck NJ. The amp on the mantle is the Champ I played that made me fall in love with the 5C1 version of the amp. Unfortunately, the amp is not for sale. I had a very hard time getting the owner to let me play through it. I received one of the worst evil eye stares, when I tried to turn the volume up on the amp.

[Del Pickup]

Lovely combination of guitar and amp!

[Del Pickup]

Been playing with my new baby quite a bit in the last couple of days.

It seems to sound best with my old MIJ tele/esquire which makes it really bark! A close second is my MIM strat and/or LP.

I changed the wiring on my 2x10 cab last night so that it now presents the amp with a 4 ohm load and it does seem to be a bit louder than it was when the speakers were in series and giving a 16 ohm load. More headroom.

The larger cab also gives the tone a more airy reverby tone to it.

But recording the amp sounds great using the internal speaker.

I love the fact that I can plug the guitar in and not need to worry about overdrive pedals. Turn the amp right up and hit the strings hard gives as much overdrive as I want to hear. A Hotcake or Barber Tone Press set to give a clean boost just adds to the overall grit but in a good way - and makes the amp sound a good bit louder.

So far this has to be one of the best amp purchases I've made - and one of the cheapest!

[asnarski]

Thanks for the template!! I t will really help!

[JDRNoPro]

Originally Posted by OG_Stike

This picture I found in another thread. The place is Lark Street Music in Teaneck NJ. The amp on the mantle is the Champ I played that made me fall in love with the 5C1 version of the amp. Unfortunately, the amp is not for sale. I had a very hard time getting the owner to let me play through it. I received one of the worst evil eye stares, when I tried to turn the volume up on the amp.

Beautiful combination! Off topic, but I assume that's also a vintage Esquire - notice that it appears to be a one piece body.

Have not played my RI Champion 600 much lately due to other more recent acquisitions, but after reading this thread, I'm going to.

[Jbnaxx]

Just finished a new combo cabinet for mine. It has a 10 in. eminence alnico speaker in it. I know it kinda goes against the grain of what this little amp was made for, but wow!! It really sounds good.

[Elias Graves]

Nice! I like it.

I think I'll do that to mine, also. I finally yanked the grill cloth last night.


In love with this little amp all over again! I can't believe Fender used an old parka for crillcloth. :o

EG

[Del Pickup]

I used my new Champ 600 with 2x10 extension cab for the first time at our band practice last night and was absolutely amazed that it kept up with the rest of the band and wasn't overpowered and lost in the mix!

It was competing with a fairly loud drummer and bass player and the other guitarist's Pro Junior.

To be fair, the Champ was turned all the way up while the Pro Jr was only on about 3 - 4 but I only needed to use my Tone Press and Les Lius to boost the signal when I was doing a solo. The rest of the time it sat in the mix at a good level for rhythm playing.

I really expected that it might not be loud enough to stay up with the rest but it surprised me - yet again.

What a great little amp this is!

[KennyWTelejazz]

I've had a Champ 600 for about 3 years + ....love it for what it is
as far as I'm concerned it's a keeper

i have kept mine pretty much stock so far except for power tube changes

I generally use mine for when i want to do some finger style electric playing
with a nice clean gritty slippery old school type of sound

here's a couple of tunes where I used my Champ 600 on most of the guitar tracks
btw ...i wound up playing all the instruments on both tunes except for the drums

main guitar on this recording is a Strat played finger style through my Champ

The Twangler

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=7293774

some 7 string played finger style through my Champ

Seven String Guitar Strut

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=6849752

Kenny

[JDRNoPro]

Originally Posted by mysticwhiskey

Here's a template I drew up from my original Champ 600 baffle.

You should be able to print it out at 100% scaling to get an exact fit 1:1.

Just came across this - thanks, mysticwhiskey . I want to make an xtra baffle to try new oxblood grille cloth and to try other speakers. I've had the cloth and T nuts to do so for awhile but haven't gotten around to pulling the stock baffle out to measure it.

With your pattern I can just build from that - and also keep my stock baffle intact with the orig. cloth (which I want to do). Again, thanks for sharing it!

[dbstarr7]

I want to thank mysticwhiskey, too: The day may come when I get off my lazy butt and put something more attractive and less thick in there.
I've had mine for just over three years, and I've loved it right along.
I have friends who have been (blessed?) born with "ultra discerning ears", however: I clearly do not have them.
This amp has sounded great to me. W/ Pedals, or straight in, I know that I can take it on the back porch and have great tube tone.
(Ignorance is bliss??)
DS

[samhill]

I'm usually on TAG but I stumbled across this club and wondered if oddballs can join?

Hammond 300 series PT Edcor 5K 10W OT. ST 5Y3 & 6V6G, 5693. I later changed the input cap to a fancier Kimber that I had in the parts box. Dead quite, everyone who tries it loves it. Fun build.

I'm prolly going to add a 8ohm 25W chassis mount R to the line out so I can use it as a Flash Gordon overdrive.

[Prairie Dawg]

That's a pretty slick rig. The Champion 600 is more like a Model T Ford. It's a platform to work from and they're cheap to acquire. Come to think of it I have a 20w SE Stancor output that could be fun to mount in my next one after I get the second one finished. The second one was to see how cheap I could build a 5C1 with tube rectification. Got the speaker Friday but I haven't had time to work on it. There's a local musician swap meet here next weekend and I plan to take both of them to it to show off a little.

[Lester Z]

Has anyone tried a lap steel through a Champ 600? I'm wondering if it would come closer to the vintage tones than I've been able to get with my Blues Jr.

[KennyWTelejazz]

me , my Tele and my Champ 600 playing some finger style

( my tone got taken out by a crappy camera mic, but the playing is good ..lol )



Kenny

[Prairie Dawg]

Very nice. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" happens to be the best song in the world.

[Del Pickup]

I haven't tried my lap steel through the Champ 600 yet but it should sound fine so long as you're getting a tone you like from the instrument.

I'll go and experiment later today if I get a chance and let you know.