Fender Champ 12 Class A Tube Amp

Joined: 29 Nov 2003 Posts: 111 Location: Texas Gulf Coast

Has anyone tried one of these. I now have two of them. They only made them between 1987 - 1992. It's really a cool little class A amp. It's got a single 6l6GC power tube and two 12AX7A's in the preamp. It's got a 12" speaker and puts out about 15 watts. I bought both of mine off eBay for about $200 each. They really kick a-- for a small amp. There is a Torres Mod kit that has two resistors and two pieces of wire and a single screw. The mod kit is soldered in between the two volume controls on the amp. It brings up the clean channel and lowers the gain a bit on the lead channel. If you can get your hands on one you ought to try them out. Real blusey sound. Made in the US. The little amp really kicks butt with my hot rodded Tele and my G&L Legacy. It shreds with my Gibson SG. If anyone is interested I'll send pics.

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I tried a Fender highway 1 Tele today, and man, the clean tone. it was so thick, i think i creamed myself. i played it through a randall amp, and it sounded great. maybe my next guitar?

Joined: 29 Nov 2003 Posts: 5324

i used to have a 1972 SF Vibro Champ.. it was a great amp..

alot of people use them to record with.. they are sweet..

now, i have a 1959 Silvertone combo that i like.. i have to recap it, and recone the speaker, but it's sweet..

Joined: 29 Nov 2003 Posts: 111 Location: Texas Gulf Coast

I retubed my first Champ 12 and replaced the 12" Fender Speaker with a Carvin "British Series" 100 watt speaker. It has so much low end and mid range punch that it rattles my hardwood floors. Any suggestions for a good replacement speaker? I originally got the Carvin Speaker to build an extension cab for my Fender Stage 100 DSP. I'm thinking a Celestion Greenback or something along that line. Suggestions would be appreciated. The second Champ 12 that I bought is completely stock. Still had original tubes and really clean condition. These little amps scream.

Joined: 30 Nov 2003 Posts: 4406 Location: Hostile Territory

Celestion Vintage 30's are hard speakers to beat - woke my Crate DX112J right up now it sings with the best of them.

Joined: 29 Nov 2003 Posts: 5799

I've had a couple of smaller Fender amps and stupidly let both of them go, now I'm searching for another. I'm watching one on ebay now that I may be able to get my hands on. Bill gave me a really nice little Marshall 15 watter that does pretty good, but I want to go from clean to dirty at the push of a button, not have to adjust 3 dials on the amp. Me? Lazy? Confused

I had a Fender Champion 110 and a Fender Automatic SE and both were really nice amps. I just like the Fender sound in smaller amps.

Joined: 29 Nov 2003 Posts: 393 Location: Lake Mary, Florida

I went to the Guitar Den yesterday and played some low watt amps. The Champ was the best (along with the Vibro Champ), better than the Gibson Skylark. Went into a great overdriven sound with volume at 7. That's the sound I'm looking for, at living room volume. I could never get the new Fender Blues Junior to higher gain. I've got my eye on a Vibro champ on ebay now. The Torres mod is supposed to bring up the mids, so if you like a scooped mid sound, don't do it. I've read a Weber replacement speaker is very good. Some of these mods will affect when the amp goes into higher gain. If I get the amp, I'm first going to experiment with different tubes, then get brave with other mods.

Joined: 29 Nov 2003 Posts: 162 Location: Northwest Missouri

I have three Champs, '67 Vibro Champ, '77 Vibro Champ, and '78 Champ. The 77 Vibro Champ is modded. It has a Weber speaker, and has a push/pull switch on the volume knob. When the knob is pushed in, it bypasses the treble pot and gives it a tweed tone.

Sprinter

Joined: 29 Nov 2003 Posts: 111 Location: Texas Gulf Coast

The Champ 12 has a push/pull pot on the volume on the clean channel and that brings up the mid range. Now I have one Champ 12 with the Torres Mod and one without. The one without is a cleaner sound, but lacks in volume on the clean channel. The one that is modded has a real mid tone blusey sound. I'm thinking of a Celestion or a Weber as a replacement on both of them. The Fender (Eminence?) speakers are pretty crappy. I found out one thing that is interesting. The Champ 12 has a "hot" output on it so that you can chain two of these things together. Before I do that I would like to get my hands on an owners manual. The Fender site doesn't have them and I haven't found one anywhere. I've found schematics but no owners manuals.

Joined: 29 Nov 2003 Posts: 393 Location: Lake Mary, Florida

I just won this Vibro Champ on ebay. I paid about $30 over what I needed to, but this looks like a particularly clean example. Looking forward to messing with it. My first tube amp.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2367349078&category=38074

Joined: 29 Nov 2003 Posts: 5799

Go here http://www.mrgearhead.net/faq/manuals.html for the Champ 12 schematic and owners manual.