Champ 12 Owners Club

Hay great add me pleazzze! I am also in search of picking up a second one as a beater so I may be able to mess around on modding one sometime soon.

 

Yeah well me personally I like the hum it always did hum even with NOS glass in her. All my amps tube related accept my carvin all hum runs with the bread u know?

 

PS I used to live in West Side Santa Cruz never was into surf was more into hotrods and yachts when young if that matters at all? What ya think on Laney amps???

 

Ad me...This was my first taste of tube amps...I always kinda dug the RCA inputs for jamming/leaning songs...Doesn't see a lot of use these days as I'm thoughly diggin my Lil Dawg D-lux,but still fire it up now and then...

 

Obessed Yeah the Rod show was Hot August Nights and its in Wastsunville I think now ya I owned two AOR 50's a 6 knob MV and also an 8 knob Series 1.... The VC range is sweet sorta a poor mans hot rodded JMI VOX! Knew a few folks had em the AORs are like a cross between an old Hi Watt and a Marshall JCM 800 Metaltronixed to death.... basically even though I compared it to Marshall the 800 JCM has a higher bass curve and cannot match a Laney Laney Pro series amps have lots of low end thunder great for C# not so hot for putting infront a dirt box in Hi input due to the gain stock. My amp only needed a comp in clean to cover Tweed Bassman/ Hi Watt sounds but also they hate most fx unless they are 8dv ohm I think. These are supper muddy and have a 100 hv hum to them which I dig. BUt man they kill the new JVM 4 channel Marshall's due to actually having a 4 way cascading all tube gain. One of the other draw backs are they are half hand wired and part pcb board amps which tend to freak folks out. PS here's my all one owner Champ 12 I special ordered three months after they hit the Guitar Player adds love this think too!

 

Another long time Champ 12 owner here. Bought mine from a friend for less than $100 in the early 90s. Needed some work.
No way will these take a 6v6 without extensive mods. I put a 6l6gb in mine before I checked the tube specs and when I took it out it had melted the base a little. Way too high a voltage!
Got a JJ 6l6gc in there now and a Weber Sig12s.

Since I hated the 80s style pull mid boost I replaced the 750pfd cap with a .047mfd cap. Thick and loud, pretty much bypasses the tone stack but with the bright cap on the volume turning it down brightens and tames it a bit.

Had some pots get damaged, replaced the gain with a 250k that tames the OD channel a bit. A 1 meg on the Bass is pointless, no change on my amp turning past 4. Add a Mid/Raw knob like an Allen amp and put the bright cap on a switch and I'll be done and happy.

Thanks for starting a club!

 

Nice mods dlaroe! I was actually thinking on getting a second Champ 12 that was battle scared so I might be able to mod it and a/b between them at gigs. So getting into mod ideas for these and like the low wattage weber 12s I heard great things about those speakers and all.

 

My Champ 12, which I owned for almost 20 yrs, had a wicked hum in a quiet room, and wasn't loud enough for any regular gig I tried it on. But, it did have a good thick "old time" gritty sound when cranked up enough to compete with drums & bass & keys on a gig.

 

The 250k Gain pot just makes it a little easier to dial in lower levels of dirt.

There are a couple of mods mentioned here. Mostly changing the character, not reducing the gain.

 

Which 6l6?

Make sure its a 6l6GC, I had a 6l6GA that worked for a while but had started to melt with the high plate voltage in the Champ 12.

If the power tube goes it can take the output transformer with it, which in these amps is a tiny little thing. Fender uses it as a reverb transformer in the VibroKing.

 

I have a gray snake black knob, the guy I bought it from did the Torres mod for the dirt channel and it doesn't sound bad at all once you dial in the right guitar volume. He also had a weber Alnico 12s in it but I took it out and replaced it with the original speaker he had. I had an amp tech replace the electrical cord with a grounded one which helps with the hum.

I really think this amp has some if the best clean sounds I have heard from a low wattage amp. These things are great but the volume control and other controls have a very small rang Le I have noticed. Still a crazy awesome sounding amp and it sounds awesome with my tele. Though mine sits in the closet most the time and only bring it out twice a month or so... I don't think I will sell this bad boy anytime soon. Any time a friend comes over I let home use my main rig and jam on the champ 12.

 

May I join the club... but its not a fender, not a champ and predates the champ12; however it is a Class A se6L6, sounds great and is a daily player.