Champ 600 Owners Club

Thanks Oz... I am a relative newbie to guitar, and am really enjoying the Tele. My Vox Pathfinder is a nice amp, but the lure of tubes was proving pretty strong. The Champion was $100 - although I did have to drive a while to pick it up - so its a cheap entry point.

I was looking at a VOX AcTV4 or a VHT Ultra 6 - but that's around $300 all in - my missus would kill me if I bought an amp that expensive. Plus I already have the Pathfinder and was hoping to get a different sound from the Vox.

I think the Champion will eventually evolve into a head for a Weber 10" alnco in a home-made cabinet....but that might take a while. I have no table saw or equipment to build such a beast.

Barry

 

No worries Barry. The C600 is a very modifiable little amp. For 5 watts they can crank it out with the right mods.
When I got my 1st tube amp (Laney LC30~great amp but "too darn loud" to crank at home) there was no going back to solid state. All the best tones and play response come from tube amps.
My C600 cost me about $300 here DownUnder and I've spent more than that to get it to the stage it's at. I love it, it will never leave me this side of eternity.

Cheers,
Andrew.

 

I finally got around to troubleshooting my Champ 600. The OT's primary winding's are shorted out (DCR should read 240-250Ω, but reads OΩ) an there's no signal voltage going out to the speaker (should read 3.35VAC). I am getting the required 366/175VAC (372/179VC actual) on J3/J4(R11) respectively.

Champion™ 600 Schematic

Looks like a bad OT to me, how about those of you with electronics troubleshooting experience?

I'm looking at the Weber Magnetics Part# W022905M and wire it for both 4Ω & 8Ω, with a second jack.

I didn't get a rear panel, so I've drawn one up and need to get some 3/8" birch plywood to make one. Sad part is I have enough 1/4" and 1/2", but no 3/8" and my Lowe's doesn't carry any 3/8" birch. We don't have any exotic wood shops, but I'm going to try the local cabinet shops.

I'll get it working soon enough.

 

The OT came in today and now it works. Have a bit of scratchiness from the volume pot, So I'll probably get a full size pot to replace it.

The generic speaker is alright. It does sound pretty big for an 8" combo. Not as big as my Greta with it's cab, but surprisingly big for suach a small amp. I hooked up my Greta's cab and liked the tone from it, so I'll get the Weber AlNiCo Signature 8S to go in my Champ.

I tried four different preamp tubes, a TungSol 12AX7, a JJ 5751, an Electro-Harmonix 12AY7 and an EH 12AU7. The TungSol sounded the best of the four. The 5751 and the 12AY7 both sounded too gritty when pushed. The 12AU7 was too soft and quiet.

I made a temporary back panel from 1/4" plywood I had. It did help a touch to control the speaker response.

(For now) I plan on doing the R19 lift and R7 lift mods on toggle switches.

Sounds great when played in stereo with my Greta and cab. Thick rich tones that surround you.

And the pic, because without out it, it didn't happen!


Yes, the grill is burlap.

 

Champ Upgrades

I scored a Chanp for $100 a few weeks back.

Changes so far:

Switched out stock tubes. Put in an Electroharmonix 6V6 and have experimented with preamp tubes - Tungsol 12ax7 - liked it. EHX - seemed a bit bland. Found an old NOS GE 12ax7 - nice warm sound. Thats the tube thats in there now.

I played it for a while with the back off. I put it back on. Sounds a bit different. I diid replace the speaker cloth with an old brown t-shirt, too.

Replaced the speaker yesterday with a Weber 6" partial-ribbed cone. Definite improvement over stock - the fartiness when overdriven is pretty much gone, and its louder now.

I bought the parts to do the 300 guitars mods - replacement caps and resistors, but just have not gotten around to it yet.

I am really liking the 600.

 

How ar you running this stereo?

 

Clipped R7 today, and Im digging the results.
The amp seems less congested now.
With the vintage jensen its still bright, but it stops short of harsh.
And the cleans are better-more present and lively which is good for low volume cleans. I can tell its going to record well.
It will be fun to sit down and try out some tubes with the new configuration.

 

I use the output of my DigiTech DigiVerb to run stereo. One to my Greta (w/ cab), one to my Champ about eight feet over.


The DigiVerb is on the lower left corner of the board.

 

I see thanks

 

Replaced the grill cloth with what will be the 5F1 mod C600. I also ordered a full ribbed Weber speaker for it as well (since the last one I ordered went into the stock one ). Just got to look into a nice set of tubes next...

 

That looks pretty good Lunchie

 

Thank you, I am not sure how much an improvement it will be over the stock cloth, the new stuff is rather thick as well. But it looks cool .

 

What about removing cloth altogether? Dust will get up in there

 

Got mine today and the first time I turned
it on, I had it hooked to an 8 ohm 1X12
and a 8 ohm 1X15.



Don't have any mods planned yet,

Tabdog

 

I was given a 12", 4ohm speaker cabinet, has anyone ever added a 4ohm resister to the speaker to make it an 8ohm? does this work? id like to try my Champ with it.

 

I thought the Champ 600 was 4 ohm output already? Won't it work fine as is?

 

Airbag is right, Champ 600 is a 4ohm out. The product manual says "use at least 4 ohm..." so you can plug right up to that 4ohm cab and let us know how it sounds!

 

The cloth prevents "most" things from tearing or damaging the speaker.

 

I figured. A type of grill or chicken fence will keep the chickens out wont it

 

I have a champions 600 to
I' m happy with it
Sound very good, channel 2 for Jazz clean, super!
Regard
Tux