Fender Champ

[colinandrew12]

UH OH!! A THREAD ABOUT THE CHAMP!!!
This one is screaming your name stuntbutt!

.....seriously, i think the champ has touched every single recording that guy has ever made.

[kayagum]

Kalamazoo model II amps from 1966 (gibson made) are real close to vibro-champs

here on on ebay :

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... eName=WDVW

these thing are so freaking good i want to cry (minus the shitty box they are in though)

I have one, and it sounds great when you patch the speaker out to a real cabinet (e.g. my Bassman 2x12).

Here's some more info: http://www.rru.com/~meo/Guitar/Amps/Kalamazoo/

[Dan Yack]

THe Champ, especially the Vibro Champ , is one of the best recording amps I own. I think Aja was recorded with this amp.

It doesn't get Marshall tones, ever.

Jimmy Page may have used one for later work, but none of his early work used a Champ.

Get a silverface, there are cheaper and about the same as blackface.

I put a Weber 8" Alnico in mine, it barely fits, but sounds great.

[stereopathetic_banjo]

i'm curious how the victoria champ clone sounds. all of the victoria stuff i've heard sounds amazing, so i imagine this would too. anyone know?
thanks!
-travis

[Don Shumai]

while we're discussing champs, we've got a blackface vibro champ that Wasabi Shumai's ex-boyfriend played bass through and rendered the speaker fart-o-riffic. Any suggestions for a good replacement (I see the Weber above)? I was leaning towards a Celestion vintage or something. I really want this amp to be usable for something other than fart solos.

[KennyLusk]

Eminence speakers (Blue) are sterling in those amps.

[psytechguy]

I've got a '66 VibroChamp that I've re-capped and installed all NOS tubes in. I also added a Weber replacement speaker and a new output transformer that allows me to use an 8ohm extension cab I have that has a 12" Celestion.

It's a really rockin' and versatile studio rig!

[0xeneye]

I've got a Vibro-CHamp where I slowed down the tremelo to like one cycle per second. It's really fun. And I also run mine through a 2 x 12 sometimes on stage.... Also I do this at practice when I don't feel like lugging around a heavy amp.

People are amazed that I do stuff like this...

[trianglelines]

I [heart] recording the Vibro Champ.

I always tracks so goooooooddd!.....

-TimT

[bantam]

for a vintage tweed champ with a bigger speaker and a kick ass sound. buy a fender musicmaster bass amp and do the torres mod. it kicks ass. I love this amp

[lonesome_tone]

I had a red knob champ 12 - it wasn't bad but since it was sold/taken, (can't remember) haven't thought about it or looked for another. It's not anything even remotely close to a tweed, black or silver version (for ex. - EQ, distortion channel, reverb, fx loop maybe (?) and TERRIBLE direct out). I thought it was a hybrid rather than an all tube amp. Hecho en Mexico.

Its more like a really good practice amp than any kind of recording secret weapon. In my personal use, the amp that more or less took its place, a Peavey Classic 30, is an INFINITELY better sounding amp- has better clean, awesome distortion, nice reverb- and it's all tube.

Another Champ anecdote- I believe it was KISS who used mic'd champs behind a wall of unloaded Marshall cabs...

[vvv]

Jeez, I started this thred in, like, April, and it has returned to haunt me!

Y'see, I never got back to the store in time to buy that Champ.

But, a couple of weeks ago I bought a Harmony 4080 amp. It is a 5 watt or so SS with a pressboard cabinet and a 6" speaker. But, it has a tremelo circuit, and I paid US$25.00.

Sounds kind of, I don't know, cheap, but OK for a Smithsy rhythm thing.

[Submersible]

A Champ-esque amp, but with a 12 inch speaker, is the Fender Musicmaster Bass Amp. Mine uses the 6AQ5 output tubes to crank out the loudest 12 watts I've ever heard. They're usually dirt cheap because they're relatively unknown. I would venture to say that the Musicmaster Bass Amp is the cheapest of the hand-wired Fenders, and it really does sound unmistakeable Fender-y.

Princetons are cool, but sound nothing like Champs IMO. The non-reverb Princetons are clean, "pretty" sounding amps. I have a brown tolex Princeton that has the best tremolo I've ever heard, but stays clean until the volume is maxed.

[gandhabba]

I too love champs !

- Recorded my silver face vibro-champ last night with a DOD "grunge" pedal of all things and it sounded unbelievable. The combination of the champ with a pedal that has controls named "loud", "butt", "face", and "grunge"... wow.

A second gtr track was recorded with an old department store combo from the 70's made by Garnet and the two together made my night. I'm firing up the champ again right now...

[ampguy]

almost, the Riveras started just after the Champ 12 (a great amp).

If you have a stock, red knob Fender with tubes then you actually have a Rivera. Rivera designed all the tube, red knob Fender amps for a short time in the late 80's, early 90's. They sound awesome and you can usually get them for a good price.

-Doc