Members AtomHeartMother Posted August 12, 2005 Members Share Posted August 12, 2005 Are there any differences in quality according to the year it was made? So is a '73 as good as a '76 or should I be aiming for a certain year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members angus_old Posted August 12, 2005 Members Share Posted August 12, 2005 i used to have a 70s champ that i didn't much care for. but i don't know what year it was made Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AtomHeartMother Posted August 12, 2005 Author Members Share Posted August 12, 2005 Originally posted by onbongos i used to have a 70s champ that i didn't much care for. but i don't know what year it was made Why didn't you like it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mongrel876 Posted August 12, 2005 Members Share Posted August 12, 2005 Originally posted by AtomHeartMother Are there any differences in quality according to the year it was made? So is a '73 as good as a '76 or should I be aiming for a certain year? I bought a silverface champ brand new in 1974 or '75 for a quiet practice amp. Years later I blew out all the tubes by running my Les Paul through a Mutron envelope filter to drive the tubes. Then it sat and I finally had it retubed and re-capped. The stock speakers suck and I was recently going to upgrade the little thing but read on the Amp Forum about using the 6 watts to drive big speakers so I hooked up the Champ output to my dying-tube Twin Reverb and the little Champ drives those 2 12's like, well, a champ. Plenty of volume from my music cave in the basement to cause the dog to howl and the old lady to bang the walls with the volume on 4 played clean. They are way expensive now but you might consider a ratty one with a blown or farty speaker if you can get it cheap. Drives 4 ohm imp. 2 x 12's nicely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted August 12, 2005 Members Share Posted August 12, 2005 Lead dress (how well the amp was wired and soldered) got generally worse as the CBS used moved on, but that's not that big a deal on Champs. The biggest difference is that plate votlage incrased throughout the years, so a late '70's Champ often has a louder, ballsier tone than a late '60's Champ, despite both having the "same" circuit. The Champ is the one exception where a lot of people prefer the SF versions over the BF, solely because of this extra "uummpphh!" -Y. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members angus_old Posted August 12, 2005 Members Share Posted August 12, 2005 Originally posted by AtomHeartMother Why didn't you like it? it would NOT overdrive no matter what i did. maybe it was the guitar i was playing through it, but what's the point of a tube amp that won't od? also it had really bad bass response, just flapping and farting all over the place Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarcapo Posted August 12, 2005 Members Share Posted August 12, 2005 Champs are such a simple circuit that I would think modern boutique amps are a better alternative. After you pay for the speaker upgrade, cap job, new tubes, new pots, screen resistor..etc you are probably at the same price as one of the many small handmade Champ clones being made out there. At the end of the day buying "vintage" only makes sense in situations where they "don't make em like they used to..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted August 12, 2005 Members Share Posted August 12, 2005 Originally posted by guitarcapo Champs are such a simple circuit that I would think modern boutique amps are a better alternative. After you pay for the speaker upgrade, cap job, new tubes, new pots, screen resistor..etc you are probably at the same price as one of the many small handmade Champ clones being made out there.At the end of the day buying "vintage" only makes sense in situations where they "don't make em like they used to..." I don't se many BF/SF Champ clones out there. Besides, it's all matter of what is available and what needs to be done. I got my '76 Champ for $125 because the speaker had been replaced and a line-out jack was added. Hasn't needed a lick of work since I bought it because it was well cared for before. My '68 needed a cap job (about $60), and A dropped a new speaker in it out of curiourity ($60). All total, I still have only about $300 in the amp. A caveat to my argument: tubes are no problem, I have a NOS stash that will last me my lifetime. 30 pairs of RCA Black Plate 6V6GT's alone (I have a '60 tweed Deluxe, need to keep stock for it). But then , there are only 3 tubes in a Champ, using comptemporary tubes, it can be retubed for $30. The fact is, Champs are simple circuits, and have required minimal maintenance for anyone I know. -Y. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AtomHeartMother Posted August 12, 2005 Author Members Share Posted August 12, 2005 Originally posted by Wyatt I don't se many BF/SF Champ clones out there.Besides, it's all matter of what is available and what needs to be done.I got my '76 Champ for $125 because the speaker had been replaced and a line-out jack was added. Hasn't needed a lick of work since I bought it because it was well cared for before.-Y. That's a darn good price. The cheapest I've run across is $200 + shipping. Right now I have my eye on one for $225 + shipping. Is that a bad deal? From the pics, it looks really clean and is supposedly all original. Also, is there anyway that you could hook up a speaker out without doing any non-reversible mods to the cab? Like duck tape or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted August 12, 2005 Members Share Posted August 12, 2005 Originally posted by AtomHeartMother That's a darn good price. The cheapest I've run across is $200 + shipping. Right now I have my eye on one for $225 + shipping. Is that a bad deal? From the pics, it looks really clean and is supposedly all original.Also, is there anyway that you could hook up a speaker out without doing any non-reversible mods to the cab? Like duck tape or something? $225 seems common these days. Best solution for the speaker out is to rig a convertion plug with a male RCA at one end and a female 1/4" speaker jack at the other. -Y. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AtomHeartMother Posted August 12, 2005 Author Members Share Posted August 12, 2005 Originally posted by Wyatt $225 seems common these days.Best solution for the speaker out is to rig a convertion plug with a male RCA at one end and a female 1/4" speaker jack at the other.-Y. Is that so you can just disconnect the internal speaker and connect a cab at will? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members syrinx Posted August 12, 2005 Members Share Posted August 12, 2005 no its to give you time to go to the store and use the payphone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted August 12, 2005 Members Share Posted August 12, 2005 Originally posted by AtomHeartMother Is that so you can just disconnect the internal speaker and connect a cab at will? Yep. -Y. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AtomHeartMother Posted August 12, 2005 Author Members Share Posted August 12, 2005 Last question: What is the impedance of the output transformer? Is it 8 ohms? I'm looking to buy a new speaker for a cab that will be driven by the Champ and I'm going to get a Weber Ceramic Sig 12 8 ohms. Will that work? Also, since the amp is only 5 watts, would it sound better if I used a high wattage speaker in the cab (50 watts) or something with a lower wattage rating (25 watts)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted August 12, 2005 Members Share Posted August 12, 2005 Originally posted by AtomHeartMother Last question:What is the impedance of the output transformer? Is it 8 ohms?I'm looking to buy a new speaker for a cab that will be driven by the Champ and I'm going to get a Weber Ceramic Sig 12 8 ohms. Will that work?Also, since the amp is only 5 watts, would it sound better if I used a high wattage speaker in the cab (50 watts) or something with a lower wattage rating (25 watts)? Officially? 3.2 ohm. But most replace speakers are 4 ohm. You would want a 4-ohm cabinet. Lower wattage speakers will allow for a little more compression when cranked and a little more responsiveness. You want an efficent speaker, and may want ceramics for tight bass and maximum efficency. -Y. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AtomHeartMother Posted August 13, 2005 Author Members Share Posted August 13, 2005 Do you have any recommendations for 4 ohm speakers? Preferrebly something in the 15-20 watt range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vintage clubber Posted August 13, 2005 Members Share Posted August 13, 2005 I just bought a fixer upper silver face Vibro Champ for $105.00 with taxe at a local pawn shop. I ordered a replacement alnico speaker from Weber and he only charged me $30.00 for it! It also needs a replacement power cord so I got that from Weber too! Anyone got a good tube amp repair book to recommend for this amp?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted August 13, 2005 Members Share Posted August 13, 2005 Originally posted by vintage clubber I just bought a fixer upper silver face Vibro Champ for $105.00 with taxe at a local pawn shop. I ordered a replacement alnico speaker from Weber and he only charged me $30.00 for it! It also needs a replacement power cord so I got that from Weber too!Anyone got a good tube amp repair book to recommend for this amp?? If you are looking to play with the circuit, I believe Gerald Weber's Desktop Reference to Hip Vitnage Guitar Amps reprints a article he wrote on "Tweedifying" a BF/SF Champ. The article used to be online, but seems to have disappeared over time. I know it is in one of his books, but can't remember which one. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0964106000/qid=1123896678/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-7019041-9487147?v=glance&s=books&n=507846 -Y. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vintage clubber Posted August 13, 2005 Members Share Posted August 13, 2005 Originally posted by Wyatt If you are looking to play with the circuit, Gerald Weber's Hip Guide reprints a article he wrote on "Tweedifying" a BF/SF Champ. The article used to be online, but seems to have disappeared over time.-Y. I'm mainly looking to give it a good cleaning and get the scratchiness out of the pots, aside from replacing the speaker and power cord. Otherwise, all the controls function. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MikeyE Posted August 13, 2005 Members Share Posted August 13, 2005 My dad, who used to work at Sears, was working at an old lady's home. She had a Fender Vibro Champ, and gave it to him for free, not knowing anything about it. As far as I can tell, it has a great clean sound. You can overdrive it slightly. It's not too versatile, and it's only 6 watts. But it is a good practice amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nateguitar Posted August 13, 2005 Members Share Posted August 13, 2005 I got my Vibro Champ today for 200, and I love it! BTW how do I find the exact year of my champ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 23miles Posted August 13, 2005 Members Share Posted August 13, 2005 I have a 70s SF Vibro Champ. It presently. has a Weber 8A125 speaker (3.2 ohm). Tubes are Telefunken ECC 83 pre-amp, and Sovtek 12ax7 in the tremelo, JAN Phillips 6V6 power tube. I understand that because the Champ and Vibro Chmp were considerd low end, that Fender never really changed the circuit design and that the SF are essentially identical to the BF models.As described above, mine has that Fender chime and it breaks up nicely above 5. With a Bad Monkey as a clean boost the thing absolutely sings with a rich and really sweet overdrive. The tremelo adds some extra dimensionality. It may only do one or two things but, by gosh, it does them in a stellar fashion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.