Fender Champ

This review is for a '68 Silverface Champ (same schematic model as later Blackface Champs) Dials-Volume, Treble, Bass (you really don't need much else with this amp). Power switch (I wish it had a standby switch, tho) Featured Aspect: Vacuum Tube Technology!-1 6v6, 1 12AX7, 1 5y3GT rectifier Speaker of unknown origin-label torn off. I assume a Jensen. Previous owner said it was original. Sounds great regardless. Power rating-unsure (there's no output rating on the back sticker). I would assume, based on volume, that it is somewhere between 6-10 watts.

I plug into this little monster with a '91 mexi-strat & love what it does to my front & middle pickup sounds. It's a bit noisy, but that's because of the ancient wiring in the building that I play it in. I can't say enough about how splendiferous this amp sounds. Since I play Blues and Blues-Rock, I love the Midrangy sound this amp gives when it's overdriven. I love to play this thing with the volume at about 7, Treble on 7 and Bass on 5. When you turn the volume up beyond 7, The amp doesn't get any louder, but the bass expands to flappiness, I have found that a simple remedy is to turn the bass down to 1. At lower volume levels, this amp just rings out like nobody's business-clean and distinct separation between notes in chords. Hell, I've even put all of my little pedals away because they don't allow me to hear my amp in all of its glory. In Sum-DAMN, THIS AMP SOUNDS GOOD!

Owned it for about 6 months and has never given me a problem. About the only thing wrong with it thusfar has been a broken solder contact on the speaker, and I got that fixed for $1 the day I got it. Tubes are common and plentiful-the 5Y3 rectifier should cause the most headaches trying to locate, but even that can be found easily if you know where to look. I'd gig with no backup in a heartbeat.

It's a '68! There Ain't no warranty no more! Other than that: C'mon, It's a Fender. It's Fender's Simplest design, The Champ. Any Tech who can't work on that in his sleep ought to try another occupation.

I've been playing for about 2 years now, and this is the Third of four Fender products that I have in my collection, and, along with my Strat, It's the thing that I use the most in my collection. I hope it never gets lost or stolen, but others like it are cheap and plentiful, so I don't worry too much about that. I love its midrange, there's no control for it, but it doesn't matter. It's just right. As for other things, I wish I had the money to treat it right and get it all the way up to spec, but as it is, the amp doesn't complain and works beautifully besides. If I ever get into a studio, You can bet that this will be on my short list of amp to take and record, because it just sounds that good.

High/low sensitivity input with volume, treble, bass controls. No real "feautres" per se, but it's a practice amp. I have no use for effects loops, high gain stages, or master volumes anyway, since I plug in direct with my other amp most of the time. 6 watts RMS, plenty powerful for drummerless jamming (really half as loud as a 100 watt amp!) All tube, one 5Y3 rectifier, 6V6 power, and 12AX7 preamp. When I got it, it was already modified with an external speaker out jack, usable also as a line out. I use this to plug the Champ into my Twin if I need more stage power without a PA.

I'm using it with two different Strats, one stock, the other highly modified. Plugging in and playing it for the first time, I wasn't too thrilled - cranked, it sounded loose and farty, without alot of smooth breakup. Then I opened it up and modified the innards to semi-Tweed specs - HUGE difference! The tone controls are now useless, but they were useless to begin with (bass control didn't do much, treble cut a high midrange to my ears.) Now the amp breaks up smoothly at around "3" on the volume control; on "5" with the neck pickup, I can get in the Clapton "Derek and the Dominos" tonal ballpark. Terrific. Another note is the selection of tubes is critical, IMHO. The amp came with a 6V6, metal cased power tube, putting out less than the 6 watts available with a higher power 6V6GT, but the overdrive and breakup qualities come in quicker, and sound a little loose, IMHO. Putting in a 6V6GT upped the output considerably and sweetened up the amp a great deal. The higher output drives the speaker better (the original Fender 3.2 ohm) and nails the classic D&TD tone. Breakup comes at around "5", and I can actually get clean sounds out of the amp now. Position 2 (neck + middle) is mindblowing in the middle of the neck - pure blues tone.

Difficult to say here - this is a 1975-ish Champ (it came with the original Fender catalogue) and it has already eaten a used JAN Raytheon 6V6GT (fried in about an hour), a new Sovtek 6V6GT (well, this was to be expected, but after two minutes?!) and a Groove Tubes 12AX7 in the preamp. Kind of odd, since the black metal cased 6V6 is still running fine. It's not at all heavy, so it's easy to carry around. Gigged with it sans backup a couple of weeks ago (miked it) and worked fine. Always bring extra tubes, though. That's a given.

No experience with the Fender company, and I don't think they'd service a 20+ year old amp anyway. :) All in all, it's such a simple amp that I can fix it myself.

Would I buy one again if it was stolen - definitely, for sure. It's critical to have it "tweedified" if you're not really satisfied with the basic silverface sound... it balances out the sound and adds lots of gain. I was looking for a small, low powered all tube combo for practice and to truck around to jams, and the Champ fit the bill perfectly - I was almost going to buy a Pro Jr., but at $350 (w/tax) it was pretty damned pricey, and didn't sound half as good (EL84s don't sound their best unless they're in an AC15 type circuit...) Great amp for very low dollars - if you can find one (and there are lots of them out there) scoop it up.

This is a 1956 tweed Champ (early 5F1 model), the original rock & roll screamer. It's as simple as they come: three tubes, two inputs, one knob. The knob functions as both an on/off switch and a volume control. The speaker is the original 8" job, with a sticker on the frame indicating that the amp has been "approved for electrical safety" by the Los Angeles Department of Building & Electical Safety. That's good to know. :-) It has three features that have endeared it to me: it's small & lightweight, easily portable; it's a breeze to maintain due to the logic and simplicity of its design; and it sounds fantastic at neighbor- and hearing-friendly volume levels. I bought this amp primary to record with in my little home studio, and it has delivered great-sounding tracks from day one. The Champ has a distinctive sound and imparts its tonal signature to every guitar run through it. But that sound?the tweed Fender sound?is one of the all-time classics so I consider this a feature rather than a limitation.

I think the Champ works best with lower-powered single-coil pickups. It doesn't have enough headroom to get a good clean sound at decent volume levels with most humbuckers. This makes sense since single-coil units, notably those designed by Leo Fender, dominated the scene when this Champ was made. Nearly all my guitars (primarily Fenders and Rickenbackers) are outfitted with single-coils so I'm in good shape here. The amp has enough gain that I can get sweet & juicy distortion when desired with any guitar. I play many different kinds of music, from folk to rockabilly to punk to avant noise. My Champ can hang with me all the way from sparkly clean tones to end-of-the-world distortorama. The distortion is of the classic Fender tweed power tube variety: rich & raunchy & glorious. You can't get modern preamp-based sustain or buzz from this amp without a pedal. Like all well-designed tube amps the Champ is very sensitive to playing dynamics. With the volume between 7 and 9, depending on the guitar, I can play with a light touch or with the guitar's volume pot rolled back and get a great clean tone, then dig in or roll up the volume for varying degrees of breakup. Above 9 the amp gets more saturated and less dynamic but not really any louder...this is where it gets fun playing with feedback from my hollowbody Rics. I've been asked a few times how the tweed Champ compares tonally to the blackface & silverface Champs of the mid-'60s through the '70s. Since I also own a '65 Vibro Champ I can answer this with some degree of authority. My tweed Champ has a fuller midrange, a sweeter high-end and a tad more volume than my Vibro Champ. The Vibro Champ works better IMO with humbucking pickups, and it's a bit more versatile due to the bass and treble controls. These are subtle differences, though...both amps sound like Fender Champs. I often record in stereo or just play for fun using both amps and either a chorus or delay pedal.

Old Fender amps are the epitome of reliability. This one has been running for over 40 years without a breakdown. I had the electrolytic capacitors replaced (they dry up over time) after I bought the amp, and I recently retubed using NOS RCA preamp & power tubes and a Sylvania rectifier. The previous (and original) owner took great care of it too...though he used it regularly it's in immaculate condition. The Champ wasn't intended to be a gigging amp, but I wouldn't hesitate to mic this one up through a PA in a small club without a backup. I love it too much, however, to risk taking it out of the house. :-)

Being 43 years old this amp is long out of warranty! But any amp tech worth the title knows how to repair old Fenders, and many techs specialize in them. Such a tech lives not far from me so I have no worries whatsoever about getting the amp serviced should the need arise. I'm choosing a "No Opinion" rating here, but a more accurate one would be "Not Applicable."

The tweed Champ is truly sublime. Like all the classic Fender amps its capabilities go well beyond what Leo Fender & Co. intended. Leo designed a small amp for quiet home practicing by young guitar students and ended up with all the glory of rock & roll as well. I've been playing guitar for 22 years, and some of best playing fun I've ever had has involved the singing, swirling tones of this amp. If it were lost or stolen I'd be heartbroken. Then, of course, I'd go out and get me another one!

Features what features? Volume , treble and bass

For all of you who have a bland sounding Champ, I highly recommend the Torres "Champ champ kit" (he's on the web) It took about 20 minutes to put in, costs under $10, and makes the amp sing with that Matchless Clean "snap". Bright, tubey, ringing. As for distortion, if your going for crunch it still isn't there, but a more sustaining overdrive

My Champ is pre-CBS (actual year unknown,) with a few mods by its previous owner...He replaced the original speaker (blown out) with a Pyle speaker, and rewired the second input jack to become a headphone jack, next to which he added a switch that cuts signal to the speaker and sends pure tube tone to the 'phones (NICE feature to have for late-night practice or DI recording)
It's not too versatile or feature-loaded, but the sounds this little monster produces outweigh that.

My music style is rock/blues, some alternative/indie. This is obviously not my gigging amp (it's currently a Mesa Studio .22) but I use it for practicing and recording when I want real Fender tone. I'm becoming an amp snob and a tube freak. All I ever wanted was to play guitar :)
My guitar of the moment is a '68 reissue Tele (the one with the pink paisley finish.) The axe & amp complement each other very nicely. I feel like Jimmy Page, except I don't wear crushed velvet pants.

I just bought it about a month ago, but come on, it's a Fender, and it's more than 30 years old. If it still fires up when I switch it on, it's a beautiful thing. I wouldn't use this to gig unless it was a verrry small room and/or I was forced to play softly and mic the amp.

30 years old. No support. However, as much of a Fender devotee as I may be, I really hate their website. It might get updated once a year, if they're lucky.

I'd buy it again in a heartbeat! And any other vintage tube amp I could pick up that cheap :)

2 inputs, treb/mid/bass/vol controls, all valve, 1 x 8" speaker, 10watt. no reverb,chan sw,output jack.

Very basic sound.Basic practice amp.Overdrives at around 8 but it is not a good O/D.Sounds like a cheesy amp peaking out.The only reason I have submitted this is because I had read how "good" they were as most of the other submissions for this amp.Really can only be classed as a good solid little practice amp.Doesn't really sound "tubey" and it don't have reverb which in my book means it is impossible to get the "fender" sound.I have had three by the way as I really thought not every body could be wrong.Maybe ok for recording but are you really going to use it for this purpose?

Very solid and well made ala all seventies S/F amps. Beware though, the speakers are some weird impedance, 4 ohms if I remember correctly and very difficult to find.

Fender Australia great but parts etc hopeless.

Definately wouldn't buy one again.Very bland sound and these little fellers aren't really that cheap any more! You could get much more amp for your money with many more features.Volume is good for it's size but forget about gigging with it.Please try this amp before you buy one.May sound loud in a room or music store but it won't cut through without a mike, even then, it's just not worth miking up.Get a real amp that you can use to practice or gig.If you've got plenty of money and you want a good little practice amp go for it !

This is a Tweed Champ from 1964. There is only on knob that conrols volume and power on / off. I mainly use this for practice but I do use it with a GT Speaker Emulator II on gigs. I play country and I set my amps clean and use tube screamers for distortion.

This little baby sounds great! Using the stock speaker I can only set the volume at about 2. Using the speaker emulator I can go a little higher and still be clean with a little edge. It does distorts nicely but I use the tube screamer for that. I play tele's, one is a Warmoth with Glaser bender and the other is a Fender Relic.

Never had a problem with any of my Fender amps. I also have a 1964 Deluxe and a Matchless DC-30 which has been trouble free also.

Over 30 years old

If I could find one, I would buy it!

As the other inputs state, the features are, well, non existent. That's not the point of this amp. What makes this amp versatile it it's sound. My amp is either a late 60's or early 70's amp. For an amp that old, with the original tubes, it sounds great. I'll reiterate the features:
1 Channel, 2 Inputs, 1 Volume Knob, 1 Bass Knob, 1 Treble Knob, No Standby Switch, No Effects Loop, No Headphone hack, No Channel Switching, All Tube, 10 Watts (but it sounds like 20) with 1 8" Speaker. It's all original, and still looks great!!
I bought this amp about two years ago as my first amp. Today, this is still my only amp so I use it for everything. It's perfect for playing at low to medium levels, so it makes it an ideal practice amp.
Versatility is not this amps strong point, but IMHO, it does what a great amp is supposed to do, it's makes some sweet sounding music (it even makes me sound good, which no small miracle!!).

I play primarily blues and some rock. This is the type of music this amp was made for.
It's very clean up to moderate levels and distorts a little as you approach 8 on the volume knob. The distortion is very subtle. At times, it's too subtle. I'm thinking of buying an Ibanez TS-9 Tube screamer to put before the amp to give me some better control over the distortion. Besides, I don't like having to turn it up loud to get the distortion I like (My fiancee isn't too keen on the idea either).
I play a Strat Reissue with single coil pickups and the combination of this guitar and amp is perfect.
The only slight criticism I have with the amp is as you turn up the volume, the cabinet starts to buzz a bit. I haven't yet determined the source of the buzzing yet, but I hardly play real loud, so it's not a real concern right now. I have noticed that all small amps I've tried have a similar problem, so I'm sure my amp is not unique.

In the two years I've owned this amp I haven't had a single problem. Then again, it had survived for 25 years before I bought it so I wouldn't expect there to be any problems.

Never dealt with Fender, but this amp is way past it's warranty period.

If I saw another Champ, in as good a condition as mine, I would snap it up in an instant. This is a wonderful piece of vintage equipment. I highly recommend it.
When I bought this amp, I knew next to nothing about amps. The guy I bought my guitar from, threw it in as a package deal. Now that I know a bit more I can't believe I got this amp so cheap.

This amp is bare bones(Silverface Champ). One channel (2 inputs like on most Fenders). Three knobs: Volume, treble, Bass. That's it; nothing else. I really don't think it needs much more. All tube: It's got one 12ax7a preamp tube, a 6L6 in the power section, and a 5Y3 tube rectifier.

Given it's limited features, it's sounds really nice. The volume is perfect for home practice and if you miked it you might even be able to play a small club with it (maybe). Pretty good headroom, it doesn't really break up until over "8" and if you roll back your guitar volume, it's clean again. Mine could probably use a new set of tubes; I might experiment with some NOS stuff. Controls (treble and bass) are pretty subtle. My amp is very quiet and the only hum I get out of it is when my TS-9 is on.
Not a huge amount of bass, but it's got an 8" speaker, and puts out less than 10 watts. Give it a break! 8-)

I can't say that it's never broken down (it's used) but everything is original and pretty sturdy. Mine's got a few tears in the tolex but it's also over 20 years old so that's to be expected.

It's WAY beyond the warranty period.

I'd buy it again in a minute. It's perfect for practice and you could probably record with it. I stick a TS-9 in front of it and it distorts nicely. My other pedals (chorus, fuzz, flanger) also sound really nice through it. I've been looking for a small, very portable practice amp for a while. This one fits my exact requirements and manages to sound really nice in the process. It blows the SS stuff I tried out of the water and sounds nicer than some of theh more expensive tube amps I've owned in the past. IF you find one of these give it a try.

The small Champ (I don't believe the same as the other one mentioned), As far as what it has: one volume knob, one bass knob, one treble knob. I don't know how much power it puts out, but I would expect it is around 10 or 15 watts. The value of this small amp comes not from its features but from its great tube sound in a small package.

Things I find it effective for: clean playing. Makes a great "Jimmy Nolen" sound. Also pretty good for some blues, and (using the neck pick-up and tone on full bass) a pretty decent "Gilmore" sound. Not too hot for large amounts of distortion. If you want serious gain you can't get it from this amp.

Only had it for about a year and a half--no problems so far. Tubes could probably be replaced.

Bought it used.

Try to find an amp that sounds as good as this little guy for $150. I am not a professional musician and so I don't require a lot of volume. Thus, a small amp suits me fine, and the great tones suit me perfectly.