Fender Champ

i have a 1970's silver faced fender champ with the three controls, the amp is in it's complete original condition same fender speaker that is still in very good condition, this champ is not a tube amp it's a three valve amp lovely to play on:) it's only 6watts butt it feels like it's got more. i don't want anything added to this amp it's lovely to just plug into and play.

i play a strat plus with two fender lace sensor pickups and a seymour duncan hot rail pick up, if i ever hook anything else up to the amp it's just my cry baby, when i ever hook my distortion pedal into it i'm supprised at how clean the distortion is. the amp on it's own provides a very clean sound all the way upto top volume there is no distortion in sound though it does help, it been a valve amp

given this is a 30 year old amp it is very reliable, and still plays as well as the day i bought it, though i reckon the vavles will have to be replaced soon, there not broken or anything but hey they are old, the amp is all original so no it hasn't had any service needed

i've never had to give fender a ring

i have been playing for fifteen years, i also own a strat relic, thats lovely, a fender acoustic and a 60's strat, i also have a vox AC30HW amp

i love my champ and i'm keeping hold of it i recommend one for all

Not sure of the year but it`s still in good shape. Volume , Treble and Bass controls and some owner along the way put a three prong cord on it which was pretty cool.

Well It dosen`t really have much distortion but the cleans are really nice even with the old tubes and original speaker . I changed out the stock Fender speaker for a 8" Weber speaker and retubed it with JJ tubes with good results. For dirty tones I`m using a Tone Bone Hot British distortion again with really good results , the Tone Bone makes it sound like a huge combo amp. For an 8" it sounds pretty big and full and I guessing it`s because of the size of the cab.

I`ve onyl had it for a short while so I`m not sure how it will hold up . I`m mainly goona play this amp in the house so it shouldn`t see much abuse.

Never dealt with them , probably never will.

Of course it would be nice if this amp had a gain stage , effects loop,speaker out ect..ect..but hey it`s a Fender Champ it`s an amp to turn on and just play through and get the tone from your fingers and a pedal or two.

Late 70's Silverface Champ. Three knobs,Volume,Treble, Bass. Almost as simple as you can make it. It has a 8" speaker which I promptly swapped with a Mojotone. The original speaker looked as if it came out of an old TV set. Just about worthless. I also installed a Torres Champ mod. It came out great and with good results sound wise.

This thing sings with a new speaker and the mod. I use it in conjuction with a "Holy Grail" pedal and a Boss "Tremelo". It sound like a pint size Princeton Reverb. I play a tele with Frailin P-90's and this grinds with overdive. I play with a partner who uses a 15 watt Blues Junior and we are a great match. I can also get a great clean tone also. I also use a GT 6L6 as the power tube. I was informed that this tube gives more headroom and I haven't blown up the amp yet and I have hours of time playing it. I just crank it to "full blast" and use the volume control on the guitar. Works great. These are amazing little amps for the money, and I plan on picking up a couple more before the prices go sky high. I play mostly strats and teles which I build myself using quality componant parts. If you have the patience to do it, I recommend to try and build you own some day. The result are very rewarding and you learn a lot. Buy good pickups and have a pro set one up and level the frets. You will never have to buy another guitar.

Twenty five plus years and still kicking strong. Not to much to go wrong with these little babies. A tube maybe here or there and that's it.

Way too old for any warranty issues

I can't say enough about these amps. I might buy another Vibrochamp just to have one of those as well. It's one of those "Less is more" things. I have been playing for over thirty years. I used to see these amps for sale in music stores for like $60.00 or so new. Back then, I was like all young guitar players. We liked big and loud, and heavy.Marshalls, Twin Reverbs, Ampeg SVTs, you get the picture. We just could not apreciate these jewels for what they were. Now everybody is re-mortgaging to buy Deluxe's and Princeton Reverbs.

1972 Silverface w/ no mods. Volume,Bass and Treble. Speaker replaced with a Jensen Re-Issue c8r. Replaced original RCA 6v6 with a G.E. 6v6 all else is stock

I play a '87 Strat Plus w/ Gold sensors, a '88 Heritage 150cm, and a Gibson Es-350t through this amp. It represents these guitars VERY well and gives them that classic Fender signature sound. With a few pedals it will do whatever you want. It's amazing what 6 watts,all tube point-to-point wiring and the jensen re-issue can do. I'm from the old '70's school, a few pedals, a Strat or a Les Paul and the rest is just the feel of the wood and strings and sound and smell of old tube amps being pushed. You can keep all that digital cloning stuff that sounds like everyone else but you. I'll keep things simple and pure. Yeah, I've got all that other stuff so I know what I'm talking about. Most of the time I stick a sm-57 straight in to the speaker, set the amp on a wooden stool and just feel the music. This set up can hold its own with any stack or combo out there. Yeah, and I've had/got them too!

How much simpler can you get.

This came from the Fullerton factory so I don't think their around anymore. Any good amp tech can fix these.

What else can I say...it's a classic. If your a guitar player get one and you'll see what I mean

1970 silverface champ. No internal mods. Using a 5751 instead of a 12ax7, and a Weber 8F125 speaker.

feature-wise there is nothing fancy,
just a volume, treble and bass knob.
i don't use the eq, but do wish i could play with some mids.

'83 strat with lace sensors. Yes, the stock champ is crippled by a speaker that will fart holes into your sound at any gain past 4. No problem though, the Weber 8f125 is a BEAST! it made my champ sing again, and even added a lot of bass which the old speaker never had. I actually perform with the champ mic'd into the PA. With the 5751, i leave the champ on volume 9 and get beautiful shimmery clean tones when i play lightly, and a very chrunchy overdrive when i increase my picking attack. Lot of harmonics. IMO Sounds best with middle pickup.

I really don't like the sound with a LP or humbucker through the champ though.

If it were stolen i would buy another one, that's if i don't find the guy that stole mine and slap his teeth out.

There is no amp that even comes close to sounding this good for under 200 dollars.

Features? What are features? All it's got is volume. But hey, Spinal Tap eat your heart out, this thing goes to 12. It's ONE louder! This is a '57 tweed.

I invent and build my instruments and coil my own pickups, so that's not too relevant here. It has a beautiful warm tone, really sweet distortion. It's great for recording- sounds like a big fat amp. Good for gigs too, if you mic it.

Never had any problems. It has an old school plug so you have to be careful which way it's plugged in. If it's plugged in the wrong way and you touch something else that's plugged in you can get a shock.

Never had any problems.

I've been playing 18 years. Also have a Yorkville bassmaster 200 and a pignose. If it were stolen (there's no way I'd lose it) the only reason I wouln't get it again is I doubt I'd be able to afford it. I'll never sell it unless I'm starving. I still can't believe how lucky I am to have found this at a yard sale for 10 bucks. I think it had been sitting in a closet or attic for 20 or 30 years. Still has the original tubes. It must have been fate.

1954 Fender Champ Tweed. Bought it 5 years ago for 1000 US$. This little monster is extremely straight. Two input jacks, only one knob -the volume control. BUT THAT'S REALLY ENOUGH !!! No other features. The only sorrow is that this little amp is very good for practicing and studio. For live performance you've to mike it and play it over a p. a. system, which destroys the sound a little bit.

G R E A T !!! I use it with a 1961 Pre-CBS Strat connected and it sounds incredible! Pure Class A distortion. Begins to distort at level 7 and get it's full kick at level 10. I like this warm and cruncy sound which the CHAMP produce at level 10. Believe me, I'll have tested the last 30 years lot of amps, but no other amp will sound like this. To get a little more brilliance, I sometimes use a Ibanez Sonic Distortion - distortion level set to 0 (!!!). I only use the tone control from the effect.

Not ever broke down - very reliable (but I had used it only in the studio).

n/a

I'm 43 years old and play Beat and Rock music from the 60's/70's in several bands over the last 30 years. If the little Champ were stolen or lost, this will be a tragedy! I would hope to find a Champ again as good as mine.

1960 Only feature is volume. All tube class A amp 1x12AX7, 1x6V6GT and 1x5Y3. 4.5 watts. 1 8" speaker.

I use a 1969 SG Junior with a Seymour Duncan '59 neck and Seymour Duncan Antiquities bridge pickups. I play blues and rock it suits those styles very well. It's very quiet for a class A amp, starts to distort around 4, cleans up very well with the guitar volume control, distortion is mild and you can hear every note in the chord.

It's 42 years old with the original tubes still going strong.

Never used it.

I've been playing for 26 years, I own an old '59 Gibson GA-14 Titan and an Ampeg Gemini G-20. If it were lost or stolen I'd buy another one. I love the sound of it, wish it had a few more controls and a speaker that didn't fart out on the low end but what do you expect for an 8" speaker.

I have a 71' Champ. I play mainly avante guarde rock (radiohead, stereolab) One channel, 3 knobs, 3 tubes. Doesn't get any easier.

I wish it had a 3 band eq, but oh well.

I'm not sure what the amps power rating is, I have done extensive moding to it, but its LOUD on 3-4 volume setting.

I play mainly a Tele with Dan Torres handwound pickups, or a Strat with Torres PAF's.

The amp doesn't color the guitar tone, which I love, and sounds great with modulation and delay effects. (phaser, whammy, tube echo)

After I moded the amp, its not noisey at all. I put the "famous champ mod in it" which changes the preamp to 60s tweed, and I changed the power amp to 60's blackface.

The amp breaks up around 6-7 (because of a new speaker) and its a warm "fuzzy" sound, not harsh at all.

I've never had any problems in the 6 months I've owned mine, gigging about 3 times a week. As long as you don't throw it around, it'll be fine.

I put electro harmonix tubes in it, and so I've never had a problem with tubes.

Its old.

I have a vibrolux, and a 74 twin 'verb amp. I would definitely get one of these again, and I'm looking for a second one now.
I was looking for a smaller amp that I could turn up in small-medium sized rooms, and this gets the job done entirely. I wish it had a 10 or 12" speaker, but the 8 is quite punchy.

For the price, every gigging guitar player should have one, AND you should mod it with the "Torres Champ Kit"

I've got two Champs. One a 1973 and another is a 1968 Vibro Champ Amp.

The 68 has speed and depth knobs for the vibro effect.

This is tough. By themselves (without effects), the amps are nice and clean sounding for the most part. Crank em up to 10 and the distortion can go from early van Halen to Stevie Ray Vaughn. Speakers don't last long doing this though. The 68 rattles now and the 73 has been reconed. Reconing really made the 73 come alive again.

99% of the time I just use these amps in my living room with a bunch of old Boss pedals. I use a stereo chorus and find the Champs to sound excellent.

The vibro feature can be used to nail the Born On The Bijou by Creedence Clearwater sound.

I can't imagine many people would use these old Champs for their perfomances. I've been listening to the new solidstate Fenders lately and they sound superior to me.

Still, there is something very tube like about these old guys that is cool. If you're really looking for a funky old sound like some old Johnny Winter very black blues stuff......well....maybe you might want to use these.

These amps are old. 30 and 35 years old and have have been used almost daily for at least the last 25 years with only blown speakers and the 68 having the on off switch given me any trouble.

Damn! That's amazing actually! 35 years old and the original tubes and electronics still working like new......KNOCK ON WOOD!

The Fender company is 20 minutes from my home and I have never needed them.

Incredible reliable.

Great for recording as they are very quiet.

Still have that Fender clean channel sparkle.

Still, I'm thinking about throwing these guys in the closet and getting the older Fender Champion 30 without the DSP.

I think the DSP Champions sacrificed the tone a little over the non DSP model. Still, even with DSP, the Champion 30s are really awesome sounding amplifiers. Go hear one!

Considering I only paid $25 for the 1968 Vibro Champ and $75 for the 1973 and they have given me no problems with daily use for over 20 years I'm going to have to give these amps a 10!