Champ 600 Owners Club

[czech-one-2]

Could somebody please eleborate on what exactly is done with the noise reduction mod?Alone, my Champion 600 is really very quiet,really not an issue at all. I put a line out in my champ 600 and it sounds almost exactly like daisy chaining it,really a nice,bigger champ 600!But in both cases the noise level is also the same,just too much for anything above apartment volume. I really wanted to line it out to my JC-120 or SCXD live as it sounds really nice warming up a transistor amp,but the noise level is just too present.
I would really love to do everything I can to lessen the noise,but I would prefer not to buy an entire kit if at all possible.You guys daisy chaining,are you also experiencing noise issues?

[Peter C]

Hi Czech-one-2

If you google champ600 and noise (or hum) reduction you will find a lot of posts about champ 600 owners who find that their amps hum loudly. Everyone has an opinion about the cause of the loud hum/ noise and the fixes are sometimes simple - I.e. bad cheap tubes and sometimes more difficult - I.e. doing some surgery on the pcb and changing a few things. The noise reduction mods are a meant to quiet down all that humming from the amp that most of us have experienced (and it seems to vary between each amp how good or bad it is it seems). if your amp isn't noisy on its own than you may be lucky. I am no expert and there certainly more people here would know more than I, but maybe there is an impedance mismatch? My best guess.

I don't want to ruin Nigel's Internet business (he is the guy behind the Alnicomagnet's kits on EBay) so in good conscience I can't give away his secrets. But as I posted before the change in the filament from AC to DC and moving the transformer reduced the humming and noise by 85% (IMO only). I think you can just buy his directions from him on EBay which is cheaper then the full kits he offers and then source out your own parts.

But if your amp is quiet to start with then the noise reduction mods aren't probably the answer you are looking for. Sorry, this is the best answer I could give and it probably wasn't much help.

[czech-one-2]

Originally Posted by Peter C

Hi Czech-one-2

If you google champ600 and noise (or hum) reduction you will find a lot of posts about champ 600 owners who find that their amps hum loudly. Everyone has an opinion about the cause of the loud hum/ noise and the fixes are sometimes simple - I.e. bad cheap tubes and sometimes more difficult - I.e. doing some surgery on the pcb and changing a few things. The noise reduction mods are a meant to quiet down all that humming from the amp that most of us have experienced (and it seems to vary between each amp how good or bad it is it seems). if your amp isn't noisy on its own than you may be lucky. I am no expert and there certainly more people here would know more than I, but maybe there is an impedance mismatch? My best guess.

I don't want to ruin Nigel's Internet business (he is the guy behind the Alnicomagnet's kits on EBay) so in good conscience I can't give away his secrets. But as I posted before the change in the filament from AC to DC and moving the transformer reduced the humming and noise by 85% (IMO only). I think you can just buy his directions from him on EBay which is cheaper then the full kits he offers and then source out your own parts.

But if your amp is quiet to start with then the noise reduction mods aren't probably the answer you are looking for. Sorry, this is the best answer I could give and it probably wasn't much help.

Thanks Peter C,I'll try and get his directions from him.
I'd really like to hear from anybody who has tried daisy chaining,and if they have experienced the same increase in noise? Hearing the champion 600 driving a slave amp is a truly great sounding rig.........except for the increase in noise. By the way,its not very noisy at all at apartment volume,but seems to increase exponentially as the volume increases. Same problem with the speaker tapped line-out. [The line out did work well for a recent studio recording,as at lower volume the noise isn't an issue]

[Davo17]

Originally Posted by czech-one-2

Thanks Peter C,I'll try and get his directions from him.
I'd really like to hear from anybody who has tried daisy chaining,and if they have experienced the same increase in noise? Hearing the champion 600 driving a slave amp is a truly great sounding rig.........except for the increase in noise. By the way,its not very noisy at all at apartment volume,but seems to increase exponentially as the volume increases. Same problem with the speaker tapped line-out. [The line out did work well for a recent studio recording,as at lower volume the noise isn't an issue]

I will give it a shot again this weekend and see if there is noise, I dont remember there being MORE though.

[SuperB]

My lil' wonder has allowed me to stop lugging either a heavy head or DRRI combo to my 2 night per week practices with a new band. For small room rehearsals and the lower volumes needed, my other amps were barely on "2" and hardly worth burning through a nice tube set. With my 600, a C-Gold 1x12 cab, Barber LTD overdrive and WET reverb pedals, amp vol just shy of 8, I'm able to get clean/light breakup, LTD stomp for crunch/sweet overdrive/overall volume adjust (whatta pedal), and guitar vol knob for lead boost/sustain. Light reverb stays on and is attached inside the amp via the velcro loop already in place. Three great tube sounds at true low to mid volumes (not easy to find), and hard to believe such a 3-D tone (the WET) with such a broad volume sweep (LTD) is originating from something I carry in like a lunch pail that cost me less than most pedals!!

[Del Pickup]

I'm with you SuperB!

I hook my Champ up to a 2x10 cab and it's amazing how loud it can be - the drummer and bass player in my band are always loud (they just don't seem to get the words 'quiet practice'!!) but my amp can keep up with them and the other guitarist using a Pro Junior.

And the tones out of this amp and cab combo are pretty good to my ears. As you say you can get some natural tube compression and break up at lower volumes and I tend to only use an OD pedal when I want some extra OD. It's also good to have a clean boost pedal in front of this amp as it can increase the overall volume quite a bit.

And it saves some wear and tear on my 57 Twin! I'd rather replace 1 6v6 in the Champ than replace the 6L6's in the Twin as often as I used to do.

[Prairie Dawg]

I finished up the Mark II version of the 5C1/Champion 600 retrobuild today and it is everything I thought it could be. Grounding the input jack and adding a pair of 100 ohm resistors to either side of the filament string gets the noise reduction job done just fine. I tried out the Weber oval speaker and it really did not do the job I expected it would. However, I came home from an expedition to Minnesota last week with a 1957 vintage Rola 6" speaker that is just the ticket for trashy 5C1 tone. So the jury's in-you can have tube rectification and reuse the original Chinese made iron.

I've got some pictures and other information posted over on my blog.

http://judyboxamp.blogspot.com/2011/...x-mark-ii.html

I also have two spare sets of circuit boards in good working order that I would pass along on the cheap to one of you fine folks.

[Elias Graves]

My solution for muffler grill cloth. What a difference.
If anyone wants to do a worthwhile mod that takes little skill, try the grill cloth mod. Jeez, what was Fender thinking?




$6 worth of cane from woodcraft and a couple shots of shellac.

EG

[Prairie Dawg]

Originally Posted by Elias Graves

My solution for muffler grill cloth. What a difference.
If anyone wants to do a worthwhile mod that takes little skill, try the grill cloth mod. Jeez, what was Fender thinking?


$6 worth of cane from woodcraft and a couple shots of shellac.

EG

Did it make that huge a difference?

[czech-one-2]

Originally Posted by Davo17

I will give it a shot again this weekend and see if there is noise, I dont remember there being MORE though.

Hey Davo17, I thought I should give an update. It turns out the old RCA 6v6 that I had in there was the culprit.A new tube pretty much took care of it.
I will be ordering the Alnicomagnet kit though.

[Davo17]

Originally Posted by czech-one-2

Hey Davo17, I thought I should give an update. It turns out the old RCA 6v6 that I had in there was the culprit.A new tube pretty much took care of it.
I will be ordering the Alnicomagnet kit though.

Very cool, what tube did you use as a replacement? Ive been digging those soviet saratov tubes.

[czech-one-2]

Originally Posted by Davo17

Very cool, what tube did you use as a replacement? Ive been digging those soviet saratov tubes.

I went through about 6 that I had, looking for the quietest one.Its amazing how some tubes really bring out the hum in this amp,and its real apparent when slaveing it to a bigger combo. I settled on a brown base Hytron that I had, sounds nice and is very quiet.

[SuperB]

Here's what I ended up doing with mine. Replaced the grill cloth with a striped chocolate brown thin t-shirt material. Made a new thinner baffle with offset to move the speaker over, then installed a smooth-cone Weber Sig alnico. Currently running a JJ 6V6 and GT 12ax7. I liked the amp before, now at $140 total invested it's one of the best dollar-for-dollar gear purchases I've made in a while. The mods were easy and made a huge improvement in sound, which is surprisingly good for such a small speaker. Even better when plugged into extension cabs, which you can also use to adjust volume output depending on speaker ohms. A 16 ohm cab gives me perfect home volume.

[Davo17]

That looks great, I dig the grill.

Originally Posted by SuperB

Here's what I ended up doing with mine. Replaced the grill cloth with a striped chocolate brown worn-thin t shirt material. Made a new thinner baffle and moved the speaker over, then installed a smooth cone-Weber alnico speaker. Currently using a JJ 6V6 and GT 12ax7. I liked the amp before, now it's one of the best dollar-for-dollar gear purchases I've made. The mods were easy, fun and made a huge improvement in sound. Surprisingly good for such a small speaker, and only gets better when plugged into extension cabs.

[fezz parka]

Originally Posted by SuperB

Even better when plugged into extension cabs, which you can also use to adjust volume output depending on speaker ohms. A 16 ohm cab gives me perfect home volume.

It'll also kill the amp. Do not run a 16 ohm load when the amp wants to see 4.

[Tinbender]

Running my Gretsch G5222 (same as a Fender Champ 600) into an 8 ohm Eminence Maverick in an external cab. Only mods are TAD tubes and changing the grill cloth.
If it blows up so what, cheap amp that sounds terrific through an external cab and I will gladly take my chances.

[fezz parka]

8 Ohms is much more within tolerances than 16.

[Peter C]

Just to back up a few posts - Czech-one-2 - glad to hear that you found the culprit to your noise while slaving the amp. I was wondering about how it worked out.

SuperB love that grill cloth on your Champ - I tired all kinds of t-shirts and nothing looked right (I guess I need to buy better looking t-shirt).

[SuperB]

bump

[StraightNeck]

You guys that put in 8" speakers in the 600,it would be great if there was a angle extension socket for the power tube?I recall when i had a Fender VM Deluxe and tried a
Jensen Neo 12" and i have to grind off some material off the speaker and still it was
very close to the tube.2 mm.Btw,Davo,how about try the 600 through the V5 speaker?