I played a magical amp today-1970 Fender Champ

[Leep Dog]

On the way back from the gym today I decided to stop by a GC and waste a little time. They were sold out of a lot of stuff. I was about to leave when I spotted a little Fender over by the used gear. I grabbed the nearest axe (a Fender American Special Tele-nice axe btw) and plugged in.

This thing looked like it has about a million miles on it and it had 3 knobs: volume, bass, treble. It looked very cool. Immediately after playing this innocent little amp it came to life and I couldn't help but smile. It had the nicest clean tone I've ever heard. I messed with all the knobs and switched between pickups on the guitar and it all sounded so good. Crank the amp up and it just got a hint of dirt and the amp wasn't too loud at all; a very nice volume. Keep the volume lower and it just sparkled. I could've played it all day long. I don't know what it was, but it was magical.

I continued to smile as I overheard a bunch of kids stumbling over some awful sounding metal riffs on some crappy "modern high gain" amps or whatever and compared it to this little black box I was playing through. It was funny because 20 years ago I was one of those kids. Ha.

I didn't buy the amp but perhaps one day i'll get this or another similar little magic black box. What an amazing little amp. I'm in love.

 

[flag72]

was it a 5 watt job and how loud did it get,Im looking at buying a fender champ possibly vintage 1970's but there's none here to try out.
thank you ...lol

 

[Leep Dog]

I don't know how many watts it was but I've been doing a little research and it looks like these are about 5-6 watts. It really wasn't very loud. I was thinking this would be a perfect home practice amp. It had very pleasant volume even while turned all the way up.

I had a Blackstar HT-5 5 watter and it was a lot louder than this thing.

 

[flag72]

thank you B-)

 

[Urban]

I compared my 5 watt Marshall Class 5 to 6w Silverface VibroChamp. When I cranked volume of Champ all the way to 10 it was still clean, so it is 6watts' headroom. Marshall was way more louder.
I played Champ with 1978 Fender Musicmaster guitar. Very, very clean sound.
I have a question: Tweed Champ is known for its overdriven tone. Silverface Champ doesn't even start to breakup. So...Is Tweed one louder or are the same volume?

 

[t-luxe]

I can sit right in front of my cranked 5f1 at ear level with no problems.
My Class 5? -no way!

 

[telex76]

If you turned a silverface champ all the way up and it stayed clean, it ain't right.

 

[muchxs]

It's not "magic" until it "magically" makes you reach for your wallet. It's "magic" when you reach for your wallet and the amp makes your money disappear.

You know you've tapped The Motherlode when your Magic Amp magically gets you gigs. Crank that sucker up, if your wallet is fatter than before you bought it you've hit paydirt.

 

[printer2]

I compared my 5 watt Marshall Class 5 to 6w Silverface VibroChamp. When I cranked volume of Champ all the way to 10 it was still clean, so it is 6watts' headroom. Marshall was way more louder.
I played Champ with 1978 Fender Musicmaster guitar. Very, very clean sound.
I have a question: Tweed Champ is known for its overdriven tone. Silverface Champ doesn't even start to breakup. So...Is Tweed one louder or are the same volume?

About the same power from the 6V6's, the Tweed Champ has more gain since it does not have a tone stack in between the two triodes. The Silverface looses signal voltage from the first triode due to the tone stack acting as a selective frequency voltage divider. The Silverface second triode does not get hit as hard as the Tweed second stage even when the controls are maxed.

The Tweed is easier to get dirty but the Silverface should be able to do the same if you put a bit of boost before it.

 

[Leep Dog]

If you turned a silverface champ all the way up and it stayed clean, it ain't right.

I wouldn't say it stayed completely clean. It broke up just a little bit.

 

[DOGMA Dunn]

SFCs IMO are some of the best deals for vintage champs, they sound great, and have been going for about $250-$300 for the past 10 years.

 

[Robster]

Maybe you had a weak preamp tube not giving enough drive on that champ. All the ones I have had start to breakup around 6 on the volume knob depending on guitar of course.
The old speakers in these were not very efficient, a new Jensen or Weber will be louder and handle bass better.

 

[spider bishop]

I have one in the living room and I've also gigged with one, just turn it up and slap a mic on it....you WILL get compliments on your tone!

 

[tele salivas]

Though not the same thing, I've just started a quest to build a Fender amp collection beginning with a Champion 600 and Princeton RI.I love guitars,but something about amps have such technical mystery and alchemy involved. People who know amps in and out amaze me. Leepdog, I used to be one of those kids, too. I had a Crate half stack during my blackmetal teen years,moved onto Ampeg and Earth-Mates for many of my adult years. Loud as hell rigs. Now I have small, little amps, and the Champs are something I've just recently discovered. I'd love to be able to build something like the 5f1 circuit up.

 

[alnicopu]

Great amp. No channel switching junk in the signal path, just pure singing, single ended tube tone. I was just reading on another thread and someone says they call them "chumps" cheap little squawk boxes. I have NEVER in my 32 years of playing heard anyone EVER say a bad thing about one. The best sounding amp I ever owned was a '76 champ with the silver frame, blue fender logo alnico speaker. Very easy to tweak. Lower the voltages by doubling the first resistor on the rail, bypass the tonestack with a .02uf cap and your almost to tweed territory. I had a kid play my 73 vibrochamp Y'ed off to another champ and he was constantly asking me, so this is just 2, 6 watt amps together, right?

 

[muddyh2o]

i have owned 4 champs, one blackface back when it was just an old amp and three silverface 70's model all bought new. liked them all for practice and recording but would get tired of them and sell them off. btw, the were cheap to purchase. i think the last one i bought around '76 was 89.00. to me, they sounded great for recording turned up all the way. not to dirty and not to clean and sounded huge on tape.

 

[alnicopu]

Muddyh2o, I'm on my 5th champ/vibro champ. Sold them for the same reasons as you but kept comming back to them. I put Dan Torres "tweed kit" in one of them and my bro-in-laws lap steel player wouldn't leave my house without it. He gave me $400.00 for it about 4 years ago. Says its the best sounding lap steel amp he ever heard. Guess I should convert some more.