Members Tweedledee Posted May 19, 2009 Members Share Posted May 19, 2009 Might want to consider one of these VC's . My local amp guru made my Red Piggy. He will make one custom for anyone looking for one. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=170326940570 I absolutely love those. I've been toying with the idea of picking up another old Champ and turning it into a head with a 2x10 cab. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bert-O-325 Posted May 19, 2009 Members Share Posted May 19, 2009 Good info in this thread! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan Trevisol Posted May 19, 2009 Members Share Posted May 19, 2009 does it increase the volume dramatically? Hells Yeah! Put it this way. I could play my VC on 3-4 (maybe 5) in Silverface mode through a 12" without pissing off my neighbor. I anything at or above 2 on the Tweed mode through the 8" speaker had my neighbor banging on the wall. Not to mention giving me a headache and making the old speaker sound like arse. The great thing about the SF Vibro Champ is that it literally IS only a couple component changes away from the 5f1 circuit, if you bypass the tone stack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Help!I'maRock! Posted May 19, 2009 Members Share Posted May 19, 2009 Hells Yeah!Put it this way. I could play my VC on 3-4 (maybe 5) in Silverface mode through a 12" without pissing off my neighbor. I anything at or above 2 on the Tweed mode through the 8" speaker had my neighbor banging on the wall. Not to mention giving me a headache and making the old speaker sound like arse.The great thing about the SF Vibro Champ is that it literally IS only a couple component changes away from the 5f1 circuit, if you bypass the tone stack. that's exactly the kinda mod i don't need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarcapo Posted May 19, 2009 Members Share Posted May 19, 2009 A Vibro Champ uses a single 6V6 tube putting out about 5 watts max. It's not going to have the headroom of a Blues Junior that uses two EL84 tubes in push pull. The Blues Junior has a 12" speaker to the Vibro Champ's 8" speaker (maybe 10" if you mod it) The Blues Junior has more tone controls and a master volume. The reverb on both is about equal. The Vibro Champ DOES have a vibrato circuit that the BJ doesn't. Put a Jensen C12N speaker in a Blues Junior and a few Billm mods and there's no question in my mind that you've got a way more usable amp than a Vibro champ. A Vibro Champ is a practice amp for around the house. A Blues Junior you could probably gig with (although you might want to mic it to the PA) Persoanlly when it comes to a single 6V6 tube amp...I like the tweed 5E1 version better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarcapo Posted May 19, 2009 Members Share Posted May 19, 2009 I did some upgrades to my bj, Jensen C12N, and different tubes...the amp still does not compare to my old tr or my prri when it comes to Fender cleans.For some reason my overdrive pedals sound better through my bj...especially my Maxon OD808...wtf:confused: If you want cleans to sound better, try the Billm mods. Especially the tone stack, bias and presence control mods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan Trevisol Posted May 19, 2009 Members Share Posted May 19, 2009 A Vibro Champ uses a single 6V6 tube putting out about 5 watts max. It's not going to have the headroom of a Blues Junior that uses two EL84 tubes in push pull. The Blues Junior has a 12" speaker to the Vibro Champ's 8" speaker (maybe 10" if you mod it) The Blues Junior has more tone controls and a master volume. The reverb on both is about equal. The Vibro Champ DOES have a vibrato circuit that the BJ doesn't.Put a Jensen C12N speaker in a Blues Junior and a few Billm mods and there's no question in my mind that you've got a way more usable amp than a Vibro champ. A Vibro Champ is a practice amp for around the house. A Blues Junior you could probably gig with (although you might want to mic it to the PA)Persoanlly when it comes to a single 6V6 tube amp...I like the tweed 5E1 version better. The later BF's and SF's have an upgraded Output Transformer that up's the wattage to about 7. And if you run it through one or two 12" speakers, you can absolutely gig with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stormin1155 Posted May 19, 2009 Members Share Posted May 19, 2009 Sorry to hijack this thread, but I have a similar question as the OP. I have a stock Blues Jr. A friend of mine is selling his Super 112 for $200. I think I could get $300-350 for the BJ, and could use the extra cash. How does the Super 112 stack up to a BJ? I played on it some, but not enough to really compare to the BJ. This is one of the snakeskin models. 12 watts, 12 inch speaker, all tube, two switchable channels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Karma1 Posted May 19, 2009 Members Share Posted May 19, 2009 I've owned a Blues Jr. and a silverface Vibro Champ, although didn't really bond with either of them. I really wanted to like the Vibro Champ, but the problem was total lack of clean headroom. I realize that it's a very low watt amp, but it started breaking up around 4, which is very low volume and I couldn't get a clean tone beyond that. I changed the tubes and the speaker to a Weber Alnico Sig 8, which made a slight difference, but not much.I know that every amp is different and I read that some other owners didn't have the headroom problem, or that they liked the early breakup. I was sorry to let it go, but I sold it and bought a Super Champ XD, which I like much better than either the Vibro Champ or Blues Jr. By the way, those Vibro Champ head and cabs look awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan Trevisol Posted May 19, 2009 Members Share Posted May 19, 2009 @stormin:It's a red knob! Run! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stratocaster202 Posted May 19, 2009 Members Share Posted May 19, 2009 Ryan, you gotta stop posting that mod, every time you do I start looking for champs online Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan Trevisol Posted May 19, 2009 Members Share Posted May 19, 2009 Ryan, you gotta stop posting that mod, every time you do I start looking for champs online LOL, look out, once I get my playing polished enough, I'm going to put up some videos, details about the mod, and sexy pictures. I just finished playing through it. Now I'm convinced that I MUST sell my Vibro Champ and build a footswitchable version of the AA764/5F1 into my Marshall Mosfet Chassis! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fatstrat32541 Posted May 19, 2009 Members Share Posted May 19, 2009 I have the Blues Jr. NOS with the Jensen and when combined with an Ibanez Tube Screamer or a VOX Satchurator distortion pedal, I am very happy with it. Without an effect, it sounds pretty empty though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stratocaster202 Posted May 20, 2009 Members Share Posted May 20, 2009 LOL, look out, once I get my playing polished enough, I'm going to put up some videos, details about the mod, and sexy pictures. I just finished playing through it. Now I'm convinced that I MUST sell my Vibro Champ and build a footswitchable version of the AA764/5F1 into my Marshall Mosfet Chassis! Why can't you make the vibro champ foot switchable? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jerry_picker Posted May 20, 2009 Members Share Posted May 20, 2009 that's exactly the kinda mod i don't need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan Trevisol Posted May 20, 2009 Members Share Posted May 20, 2009 Why can't you make the vibro champ foot switchable? *thinks* Well, I guess I could but it would require much more extensive mods to a vintage amp that I wouldn't really be too hot on doing, and there isn't a lot of space in the chassis for that. Besides, I've been dying to do an amp build, and have about 33% of the parts already. Basically, the footswitch would require a DPDT relay to do the switching inside the amp, connected to a footswitch with a 9v power supply to power the relay. That would introduce yet another source of noise and hum if implemented inside the current Vibro Champ. Plus I have this: Which is basically just housing the 12" speaker for the VC at the moment, with the VC sitting on top of it, with a Weber Micro Mass sitting on top of that . . . . By building my own VC, I get to do it with proper lead dress, new capacitors, a smaller (~4w tweed champ) OT, and I will have the room to build the relay in there properly. With my own chassis, I can do a seperate volume control for the two "channels" . . . . Also since the chassis is much bigger, I will build in the guts of the Micromass and attach it to the front panel. Finally, I'm going to build a very quiet, clean 9v power supply into the back of the chassis, and this will be used to power the relay (with shielded cable), and all my pedals. . . . and I could redo the face to be a nice fender grille. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Baddass Posted May 20, 2009 Members Share Posted May 20, 2009 Sound's like you need an old Ampeg jet from the mid 60's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wader2k Posted May 20, 2009 Members Share Posted May 20, 2009 Yes, yes, VC>Blues Junior. And I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record here, but 2 .02 caps, 2 22k resistors, and a DPDT switch gives you a two channel amp: a clean BF/SF channel, and a FRICKEN LOUD dirty tweed channel, which gives you BOTH the tones people think of when they say "Fender." hmmmm.....haven't ran into this mod before.....linky??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stratocaster202 Posted May 20, 2009 Members Share Posted May 20, 2009 *thinks* Well, I guess I could but it would require much more extensive mods to a vintage amp that I wouldn't really be too hot on doing, and there isn't a lot of space in the chassis for that. Besides, I've been dying to do an amp build, and have about 33% of the parts already. Basically, the footswitch would require a DPDT relay to do the switching inside the amp, connected to a footswitch with a 9v power supply to power the relay. That would introduce yet another source of noise and hum if implemented inside the current Vibro Champ. Plus I have this: Which is basically just housing the 12" speaker for the VC at the moment, with the VC sitting on top of it, with a Weber Micro Mass sitting on top of that . . . . By building my own VC, I get to do it with proper lead dress, new capacitors, a smaller (~4w tweed champ) OT, and I will have the room to build the relay in there properly. With my own chassis, I can do a seperate volume control for the two "channels" . . . . Also since the chassis is much bigger, I will build in the guts of the Micromass and attach it to the front panel. Finally, I'm going to build a very quiet, clean 9v power supply into the back of the chassis, and this will be used to power the relay (with shielded cable), and all my pedals. . . . and I could redo the face to be a nice fender grille. Oooh wow, cool. Do you think this would work as a foot switch (sorry for the thread hi-jack) https://taweber.powweb.com/store/modkits.htm#csk ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wader2k Posted May 20, 2009 Members Share Posted May 20, 2009 i love my old bronco(early 70's).....but it needs a bigger speaker before it could be my main home amp.....right now I use a DRRI mainly Some day I'll get around to making an extension cab for it..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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