Fender Vibro Champ

Early 1970's silver-face Fender Bronco, which is the same amp as the silverface Fender Vibro Champ from the same era. Only the front panel logo differs. Fender AB764 circuit. One 6V6 power tube, one 12AX7A (or 7025) preamp tube, one 12AX7A tube for the vibrato, and one 5Y3 rectifier tube. 6 watts. Eight inch Oxford speaker. Five controls on the front panel: Volume, Treble, Bass, Speed and Intensity (for the on-board vibrato). Although the amp has minimal controls, it does what it was intended to do very well. Tone for days. All this amp needs in order to be perfect is Fender Reverb. In order to get that, you had to go to the next step up in the Fender line - the Fender Princeton Reverb.

The classic Fender tube sound, at a volume level that is perfect for recording. Stick a Shure SM-57 in front of it and you're ready. At low volume settings the amp is nice and clean. Crank it up and you'll get some classic Fender tube distortion. Of course, this is not a high gain amp. However, it works well with distortion pedals. I use mine with a Danelectro Grilled Cheese, with the resonance control on the pedal set for a fairly dark tone. Another note: Fender never got around to changing the circuit on the silverface Champs, Vibro-Champs, and Broncos, so they sound like a blackface Fender amp.

Old Fender tube amps last forever. Even the tubes last a very long time. Simply a great amp design.

This amp has never been serviced. If needed, I can easily change the tubes myself.

You can hear this amp on the Mandolin Wind project recordings at http://wingspreadrecords.com

Also, see the Mandolin Wind "Recording Notes" page on the Wingspread Records website for comments on this amp.

77' SF Vibrochamp.
I got it stock, nearly "NOS". Even the tubes are original (GE and Sylvanias I think), and they work very well.
Features are just what I like : simple, effective, and a very nice trem to have some fun.

THESE AMPS ARE NOT BIASED CORRECTLY WHEN IN STOCK CONDITION !!!
When Fender switched the Champ to BF circuitry in 1964, they swapped the tiny power tranny of the Tweed Champ with bigger Princeton tranny.
Indeed, the voltage went up in the amp, but Fender "forgot" to rebias correctly the amp, to suit the higher B+ voltage.
This is why Champs (and VChamps) sound so crappy when pushed (very assymetrical distortion), have a limited clean headroom, and blow 6V6 quickly.

Rebiasing the amp is an easy mod, and makes the amp sounds very good. You get way more clean headroom (the crunch appears around 7/8), and the distortion is more musical.

I'd rate the amp 4.5/5 for clean tones (gorgeous clean sound) and 3.5/5 for crunchy tones. So I give a 8 for that category.

PS : I tried a few mods with that puppy. Removing the Negative Feedback Loop Resistor helps if you want a fatter, looser, crunchier tone.
A mod very common on Champs is to remove the tone circuit, and replace it with a 0.022uF 600V cap (ala Tweed 5F1 Champ). The change is terrible to my ears. The amps starts to distorts around 2/3, and compresses a lot. The sound is very dirty, crunchy, loose and farty. The trem too becomes very muddy (because the signal is always distorted, even at low volume)

Anyway I don't like those mods, because to my ears a Champ isn't a crunch machine, they are made for clean to slightly crunchy tones.
For ewample it is easy to nail the "Derek & The Dominos" tone, but you'll have to hit the strings really hard to make the amp distorts. And that's where the fun is !

The trem on VChamps is excellent. It beats hands down the crappy optic trem of bigger BF amps (it is the bias-vary trem, which can be found on some Brownies).

This amp is very pedal friendly AFTER THE REBIAS, just like any BF amp. The mids are slightly scooped, which makes the TS-style pedals more natural sounding.

The stock Oxford speaker is POO !!! It looks like a toy (anyway, it IS a toy). I plug my VChamp im my 1962 Super speakers.
I think I'll get a Jensen C8R. They are cheap and I'm sure it will be way better than the stock crap.

Because of the wrong biasing of stock Champs, the amp blows tubes quickly.
With a good rebias it become very reliable, just like any good old Fender.
Fresh electrolytics caps are nice too. Don't forget them.

hummmm...

I don't know why everybody raves about the Champs / VChamps crunch tone. If you want CRUNCH get a Brownie ! No other substitute !
Anyway, they are good clean amps. I add a Boss OD1 to have some drive.
The trem is very funny.
I'm sure they would be giggable with a good efficient 10" speaker (Weber C10NQ ?)

IF YOU WANT ANY INFO ABOUT THE BIAS MOD DROP ME A LINE. I'LL BE HAPPY TO HELP YOU.

Silverface, mid 1970s model Fender Vibro Champ. Simple, simple simple. One channel with volume, treble, bass, and vibrato controls. The two inputs are nice. A great low power recording amp, all tube, sparkly clean to roaring mid level gain. It won't do everything, but what it does is fantastic.

Amazing, fantastic, wow. It has a swirling sparkle to the clean sounds and a roar when its cranked. It's not super loud with only one 6V6 power tube, but it sounds better than some of the boutique amps I've played hands down. I play with a fuzz pedal and can get any sound I want from it, my only complaint is that the stock Oxford speaker is a bit weak, I'm looking at swaping in a Weber.

It's older than I am, but aside from the conversion to a three prong plug everything looks original and it's never had any problems, I've only had it for a little over a month so far but no problems yet, probably thanks to the great Champ circuit.

It should be easy to find someone who can repair it, but I doubt Fender has much interest in covering 30 year old amps.

I needed a low power tube amp that I could record and this amp is perfect for it. I also play a Fender Rhodes keyboard, so I chose this amp because of the vibrato and it sounds great. It's a simple amp with two sounds, good and great.

mid 70's silverface model vibro champ, not too much by way of features, has tremolo...I bought this to record with and just jam around the house with, it has a good amount of volume for such purposes.

My music style varies from blues to rockabilly to garage rock, etc. I've played a few different SF vibrochamps and I really think they're overrated. I'd like to try a blackface model for comparison. The tremolo is good and the clean sound at lower volumes is nicer than most solid state amps but when you crank these up the overdrive sounds just kind of shrill, more solid state like than other tube amps I've played. These don't have that nice thick grind you get with a good old tube amp. Plus I find the stock 8" speaker wanting in the tone department. I played one with a replacement speaker and it didn't sound much better though. these are ok amps, trem is nice but I've got some other small combos that just blow this away in terms of tone. I wonder if all the people who leave these glowing reviews for SF fenders really know what a good tube amp can sound like...like I say, this is better than solid state but not even in the same league as a 50's supro.

ah, fairly reliable, a few minor problems, no big deal. I sense that the 70's models aren't quite as well made as the older ones but still point to point wiring, easy fix. Speakers always seem to sound farty in these, I don't know...part of it is you can only do so much with 8 inches.

fender sucks.

I recorded some stuff but no keepers really. Its lacking in the "magic" department for sure, tone is very pedestrian. Doesn't have that natural tube amp tone that many older tube amps seem to have, sounds more solid state. I'm not comparing this to anything high end, just other small combos from the 50's and 60's and everything else I have sounds way better. Does have good tremolo though. The only thing I wish it had is tone. Good, warm, singing, grinding tube tone.

Same as all the rest, but mine ( '74 Silverface) has been recapped and the speaker has been replaced with a Weber P8Q and the tubes have been replaced with a NOS RCA and something else NOS (I forget and don't hane it with me.) No other mods. Pretty simple. I give it an 8 for no reverb.

Fantastic. Warm and clean below 4, breaking up to that warm blue tone with high mids above that.

Totally revamped by prebvious owner. No problems to date.

Don't know.

Great for what it is, a small home-volume amp. Would mike and gig, but I don;t gig. Great miked for recording on Boss BR-8.

Dig this: In 1976 I found this near perfect 1966 Vibro-Champ in the garbage. I assumed it was trash, but grabbed it for its "cool" appeal. But, Ludy Mama, not only did it work great, it's proven to be the amp I use more than any other I own - mainly because I play in my own studio more than at gigs.

For Blues, notwithstanding its mere six watts, this little guy sounds great. With my Strat and the volume cranked, it sounds rich and mellow, breaking up nicely at a relatively low volume. With an overdrive stomp box, you could mic this amp out and play right along with the big dogs, and have the best both worlds - great sound from a rig you can carry under your arm. With bare-bones simplicity (two inputs, Volume, Treble, Bass, speed and intensity), and very compact and light weight, this is a sweet little blackface amp. Who needs fancy features? It's not what you've got , but, what you do with it that counts!

At full volume this amp distorts just enough to start to sound sweet, but only gets loud enough to fill a small room. Excellent as a practice amp. The vibrato feature sounds very good and is easy to control. A Tube Screamer can make it sound quite impressive for a tiny amp.

This Vibro-Champ has never failed me. I've replaced only one tube in all these years

Fender is Fender: Not much interest with their past.

I use a Black Face Super Reverb to gig. (The wholly Grail of club amps, if you ask me), or an Ampeg Gemini IV. For more head room I use my sixty-five watt Music Man. I would be most dissapointed if this amp were to get ripped off. However, it cost me nothing, and I can use any amp for practice: They go for $300 to $400 -- I don't believe I would replace it. I would, however, keep my eye on the garbage - just in case.

1965 all original Vibro Champ, traded a blues jr. for it, and I think I got the better deal. These little gems were priced at the guitar show at $325 and above in original condition. I play blues, and also have a stock 64 super, 66 pro and 66 vibrolux reverb amps. Better grab the blackfaces now while they are still affordable! I just got the amp yesterday and it goes to my amp Guru tomorrow. The vibrato on this amp is the best of all my amps. I'm a little afraid of pushing it hard until the tech goes through it, tho, cuz I fried the transformer and busted a speaker in the pro and learned a hard lesson.

I have a 56 Custom Shop NOS strat, a Masterbuilt 68 Tele Thinline with single coils, a 58 335 RI w/57 Humbuckers, and a Mex Strat with Seymore Duncan Antiquities for jams. Great tone, like all my amps, plus super Vibrato only matched by the pro. Nice fender tube tone at all levels, but I really haven't cranked it yet, until it gets a complete physical.

A little scratchy at volume, and tends to pop when it comes on. Again, it's gwine into the shop tomorrow, and I'll hafta suffer with the super, pro or vibrolux reverbs! Poor, poor, pitiful me!

It's a vintage piece and contains no circuit boards. I have a great amp tech, not to mention a guy who can get parts, speakers, or amps of my choice, which is where I got this one. Took it over a 67. Better value than my 401K!

I have been playing seriously for 7 years. Steal it, and in the words of Sonny Boy Williamson II, it'll be "your funeral and my trial." Tone as good as the super, pro, vibrolux, etc.

i bought it 15 years ago with the agrrement never to sell it. a early '70s silver face tremolo maybe 10 watts for $100 with the original factory leather cover in mint/new condition it even smelled new! but alas it was stolen from me while serving in the navy

i used a cheap strat copy with an original paf in the bridge position. i was playing hard rock at the time and wanted more edge on the distortion, now that i'm older i wish i had it back

only had to replace one tube

never dealt with them

no other small amp would ever compare. it was stolen and am looking for a replacement for sittin at home. fender is thee amp maker also had a chance to by a dual showman in the'80s for $300 when they weren't popular i kick myself now

Blackface Fender Vibro-Champ. 1X6V6, 1X5Y3GT, 2X12AX7. I saw this amp in a Cash-America Pawn and knowing that it needed a fuse and also knowing that the jerks at the pawn shop didn't know it's value. I offered 15 bucks for it and off I went (I know. I may go to hell for it but it's ok). Whahahahaha! What can I say? Wickedest, trashiest, coolest little studio/small show amp around. In that sense, it's very versitile.

Imagine if we were all little knomes and this amp was the size of a halfstack to us. It's a knome-sized little Fenderish/Marshallish crunch box. I once heard that all of the artists who used a little Champ or Vibro-Champ on their recordings had hit reconds. Almost hypnotizing overdrive. Evil little thing.

I need to have a grounding problem fixed. I noticed tingling in my hands when I play thru it. When I first got it, all it needed was a fuse.

I never really needed them for this little quick -N- dirty machine. It's too simple to have anything go wrong (knock on wood).

This little thing is a must for recording and small venue use. I now have three champs (60's blckface vibrochamp, 70's silverface vibrochamp and an 80's sliverface champ). Great little amp. Did I say I paid 15 bucks for it?

basic controls: vol/treb/bass and speed/intensity for that hypnotic tremolo. i have a '69, a '73 bronco, and a '77. can you tell i like 'em?

mostly use mid 90's mim strat and tele thru these. with two amps daisy chained w/ a 10' cable and tremolos at slightly different speeds it makes me dizzy sometimes.

an ibanez super tube sl can get the growl without having to disturb the folks on the other side of the wall.

my favorite setting is to have the treb set .5 higher than the bass, w/ both dials near the middle of their range. gets a lot of that shimmer/swirl that another reviewer spoke of.

two of these came with busted speakers. one now has an original fender speaker, one has a ri jensen c10q, and one is in an old pv 1x12 combo cab with a weber chicago 12" 4 ohm. guess which one sounds best. ;o)>

don't 'gig' so don't worry about it.

don't know. so far have been able to fix it myself.

have a few silvertones, pv's and fenders.

love the sound, good looks, portability and easy maintenance of these little gems.

hope to always have one or two available when the urge to play hits me.