Members orzklegbok Posted July 31, 2007 Members Share Posted July 31, 2007 Okay, so I have this old, silver-face Fender Vibro Champ amp chassis that I got off Ebay ... I dunno two, maybe three years ago? I've been meaning to work on it, re-cap it, modify it... but have been putting it off for, well, years. Now, I actually DID do some stuff during those years: I bought some tubes and a Weber "Copper Top" (replacement for the rectifier tube), I TRIED to find 1 amp Slo Blow fuses locally (and only yesterday found some at Fry's), dug up LOTS of info on the amp, schematic, layout, places to get parts and all that. But Today I finally made some REAL progress. I bought some wood and screws and a handle and measured stuff and built a little "head" cabinet for it. Quick and dirty... with lots of colorful language (didn't measure quite as well as I thought I did!) I brute-forced it in, installed tubes, fuse, hooked up my Lupoline 1x12 cabinet and fired it up. ...pause for 30 seconds before the pilot comes on... It WORKS! .. a little disappointing, though: it sounds kinda "farty." Bass & Treble at mid, volume at maybe 2 or 3 (about 8 or 9 o'clock - my knobs don't got no numbers). Using my Strat straight in. NOT nice, creamy distortion - that ugly, farty, cheap dime-store Gorilla amp distorty. I tried turning down the guitar's volume - got less volume, but same distortion. I cranked it up to as high as maybe 6 or 7 (2 o'clock or 3:30) and could MAYbe begin to hear a little of the nice break up deep in the back - but still that ugly farting in the front. BUT! I have NOT re-capped it, so the caps that are IN it may well be so old that they're causing lots of ugly, bad, no-goodness. Also, perhaps the tubes are A) not good or B) semi-functional - maybe I mishandled them or they were firmpted before I bought them. (the two 12AX7's are Mesa Boogies, and the 6V6 is an Electro-Harmonix - probably not the best choices) To the best of my knowledge, this one if from the 70's - which makes it around 30 years old. So, I guess I've still got a bit of a ways to go with it until I can blame it for bein' old and farty. Here's some pics: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sylvesterlowery Posted July 31, 2007 Members Share Posted July 31, 2007 Good luck!Good to see an old amp resurrected, have fun, and be careful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members drasp Posted July 31, 2007 Members Share Posted July 31, 2007 I vote re-tube with better glass 1st. Can't really tell from the pic - has the power cord been changed to a 3-prong yet? Removed the 'death cap?' Turret board looks warped in your pic - is that the case? Maybe a new board is in order if you're going to really dig in on this project. . . edit - Also, is the 12" you're playing through a 4 ohm load? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DenverDave Posted July 31, 2007 Members Share Posted July 31, 2007 Looks like it is going to be a nice project when you get done.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members orzklegbok Posted July 31, 2007 Author Members Share Posted July 31, 2007 Looks like it is going to be a nice project when you get done.... ...although, I wonder how much of the original will be left? ...still - I'm hoping it'll be a nicer brother to my Valve Jr. (new tranny is on the way for that) when its all done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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