Frenzel FM-5E1 Champ Plus

Made in 2007. All tube signal path, handwired, single channel class A guitar amp with controlled post output transformer line-out which works well for recording, or to use the amp to drive another amp, or as a headphone jack. Nice TMB tone-stack, that has a very useful range of tones, gain control and master volume. Heavy duty Hammond power transformer and output transformer with 4 - 8 - 16ohm output selectable. Standby switch to warm up tubes. Push-pull switch on gain knob to change between F style pre-amp and M style. FRENZEL Multi-Valve design which allows you to also use octal based 6L6, 5881, KT66, KT77, KT88, or 6550 tubes in the output stage without adjusting anything. Came with a single 12AX7 preamp tube, a single EL34 power tube and a 5Y3 rectifier tube. Purchased with oak side panels (open chassis). Using amp for practice, recording, jamming and as a reference quality amp when guitar modding. Very versatile amp that is loud enough for my purposes.

Sound quality is great, very quiet and toneful. It's not a high-gain amp. The range of preamp gain is from very clean to vintage overdrive. If you need brutal distortion, this amp likes pedals. I use a Blackstar Distx that drives this amp to screaming razor-edge distortion. With my strat it goes from "Lenny" tones with the pedal off to "Clapton" on steroids with the pedal on. With my Gibsons and the pedal off the tones are very "Doobie Brothers" clean and with the pedal on it can go from 80's Brown sound to more modern "Dethclok" levels of distrortion. Both preamps are useful to get different tones. Also sometimes I'll use the gain control to set the amount of gain I want then use the master to adjust the volume. This gets me a very 80's preamp overdrive metal sound. Other times I'll turn the master all the way up and then use the gain control to adjust volume. This gets a huge more modern poweramp overdrive tone. Either way the amp reproduces and amplifies the harmonic qualities of the instrument. Sounds great with stock tubes but with NOS tubes it is incredible. I've settled on an Amperex Bugle Boy 12AX7, an Amperex EL34 and a Mullard 5Y3G. The overdrive is harmonically smooth and rich. And the clean sounds are 3D with a huge soundstage. The output transformer has a nice swirl to it and the amp sings like it's just on the verge of feeding back, even at low volumes.

I've been using the amp almost daily for two years and haven't had any issues. Solidly built with quality parts. I would never gig without a backup, but that being said, I have more confidence in my Frenzel than i've ever had with previous tube amps.

I've made two purchases from Frenzel tube amps and both times Jim frenzel responded to my inquiries very quickly. He answered multiple email questions from me so quickly that it was like we were Instant Messaging rather than emailing. He is also very nice, and showed me considerable respect at all times (very rare nowadays). The amps are warranted unconditionally for one year (tubes for 90 days).

I've been playing guitar for 37 years. I am using my Champ Plus through a Basson 112 closed back cab with an Eminence Legend. The amp responds well to both single coil and humbucker guitars. I plan on buying another Frenzel whether this one is stolen or not. I was going to buy an Orange Tiny Terror, but the Frenzel was a much better buy. For less money I got a handwired heirloom quality amp. Love it.

I bought an old "white face" 5E1 Champ Plus back in Dec.'07 -- it's several years old but I'm not sure exactly when it was made. The only significant difference between it and the current version is it has an 8ohm Deluxe Reverb transformer rather than the newer Hammond 4/8/16ohm transformer, and white plastic faceplates rather than black. One 12A_7, a 5Y3 rectifier, and your choice of one 6V6, 6L6, or EL34.

T/M/B tone stack, but it's not a typical blackface Fender T/M/B -- you can turn all 3 tone knobs down to zero and it gets quieter but not silent. The tone controls seem to be less interactive and more "hi-fi". I like that -- you can turn up the mid for more growl without making the bass flubby. With the mid and treble turned up it has tweed character, with the mids down it's more blackface sounding.

The master volume works ok considering the low gain nature of the circuit. Heavy distortion at really low volume is buzzy, thin preamp distortion. But it works great for getting that clean to break up edge of distortion at moderate volume. The preamp has spectacular touch sensitivity (as does the output stage, but that only shows up at higher volumes).

With the master turned up, there's a decent amount of clean headroom. Quieter than a Princeton Reverb, louder than a Champ, and the same when cranked all the way. Lush, deep, crisp and clear cleans. With the zero NFB design, it's like a cross between a Champ and a Custom Vibrolux Reverb when you crank up the volume.

Push/pull volume knob for F/M voicings. For my ears, the M voicing only comes alive when the power tube is breaking up a little. It's great up loud, but with just one preamp tube it's more of an aggressive tweed than a Marshall tone. Dimed, the M is pretty throaty where F is sort of flute-like.

The line-out has a variable level control and switches in a dummy load when no speaker is connected, so you can use it to record silently or to drive another amp. I haven't tried it to see how it sounds though.

Build quality is excellent. Terminal strip "point to point" (Hi-Watt/Reeves style). Smooth, damped, sturdy feeling pots. Metal film resistors (some people prefer carbon comp, but ultimate tone is debatable -- metal film are the low noise choice and to some people that's a tonal advantage).

The chassis is a folded aluminum box welded at the edges. The front and back sides are stiff and strong but the top is a little light for the oversize transformers. Not excessively so but it flexes a bit.

I wish the rectifier was a little farther from the power transformer. A "coke bottle" tube would almost touch it, and the PT absorbs a lot of radiated heat. The PT never gets excessively hot but it would run cooler if the tube was an inch farther away.

It's a pretty basic amp -- it's a Champ derivative. But for a Champ, it's got a ton of well executed features. It could have vibrato, a pentode/triode switch, a switchable tweed one-knob tone stack or a bypassable tone stack, and an effects loop, so I guess I can't give it a 10. But I think you can order some of those things, and part of the Champ's magic is its simple purity. The extra features it strike the right balance and enhance the design without overwhelming it.

If it was a Fender, it would be one of the best single-ended class A single preamp tube amps Fender ever made. With that configuration, "brutal distortion" doesn't come naturally, but it seems to take pedals well. I'm not a pedal freak and usually when I want gain I plug into my Tiny Terror. But I've tried the Frenzel with my Dano French Toast octave fuzz, a Digitech RP50, a Teese Picture Wah, and my trusty old LPB-1 and got very satisfying tones with them.

I primarily run it into an open back Line6 1x12 cab with an Eminence Texas Heat. That gives a spacious, swirly sound -- almost like it has a touch of reverb. But I've tried the TX Heat in a small Lopo cab, and that gives a honky, mid-heavy, boxier quality. The tone controls can compensate for that somewhat, as can tube substitutions, but you hear every nuance with this amp. Which makes this an ideal test bed for trying different tubes. You can tailor the volume, midrange, and distortion characteristics with tube swaps.

For an apartment, the upper volume ranges are too loud but there's perfect cleans and plenty of moderate break up tones available. It's very low noise and close to dead silent with the gain dimed when the master is turned down to apartment levels. There's a tiny little bit of hiss with the gain and master all the way up but I've never heard an absolutely silent tube amp. For stage use, you'd have to mike it or line-out for all but the quietest gigs, and even then it might be too quiet unless it was reinforced with a stage monitor with a really loud band (especially if you want its magnificent clean tones). But in a house, it's just about the perfect volume.

Guitars: '80 Tokai Love Rock with DiMarzio PAFs, Hamer Flattop Sunburst with Duncan JB and Jazz, Fender MIM Classic'50s Strat with Stelly (bridge), Quarter Pound (middle), and Red Velvet (neck). It loves them all. Preamp "just breaking up" starts at 10:00 o'clock on the gain knob with the hotter pickups and around 12:00 with the lower output pups with a 12AX7 (but all of my pickups are at least moderately high output). Power tube break up starts around 103 dBA with the Eminence.

I'm mostly classic rock, southern rock, Brit blues, mild grunge. A little country or pseudo jazz sometimes. Perfect for the Fender-ish side of those styles. Skwisgaar Skwigelf would call it a "Grandpa's amp" and it's not "brutal" at all -- it's not for the Krank or Triple X crowd without pedals.

If you put it in a case and kick it down a flight of stairs, I'm pretty sure the transformers would rip right off the aluminum chassis, or at least bend it severely.

Any electrical component can spontaneously fail.

But the components are all top-notch and the assembly is Mil-spec or close to it. If repairs are ever needed they'd be simple to perform, as will cap jobs every 10 to 15 years. Short of physical abuse, it's a lifetime amp.

I e-mailed Jim after I got it. The output impedance isn't marked on it, and there are no specs for the old versions on his site. He replied the same day, even though I bought it used.

It's such a simply and cleanly laid out circuit that any tech could fix it if it's ever necessary. As could a semi-competent do-it-yourselfer.

I've been playing about 35 years. Garage bands and unpaid gigs back in the '70s, alone in my living room mostly since then. I've had a variety of Fenders, a Music Man HD-130, a Park tube Master Lead, and a few others I've forgotten. Currently, I've got an Orange Tiny Terror, a Kustom '36 Coupe, a Vox AD30 modeler, and a Yamaha RA50 powered rotating speaker. Overall, this is the best amp I've ever had for what it does.

I lucked into it. I was vaguely aware of Frenzel and one day while surfing eBay I saw this one with a home made cabinet with a $300 buy-it-now and took a chance. Now that I know how good it is, I'd pay full price for a new one if it was lost/stolen and consider it a bargain.

Jim made this one for me in late '07. I got it with 3 output tube option (can use 6v6,6l6 or any of there derivatives). I can use any of the tubes or all 3 at once.
Look for the description on his website, it is dead on. This is an open chassis head, so you can add a steel cage, mount it in a combo, build a head cab or leave it on a shelf as is.
This is a "vintage inspired" amp - I think that says it all. If you want to rate it on features, it gets a 12 compared to the Champ it's based on. I like 2 knobs on my amp, but the extra knobs here are very useful.
This amp does everything but heavy distortion, which is fine with me. Perfect for rock, country, blues and jazz.
I've tried 12ax7, 5751's, 12au7 and 12at7's in the preamp and 6v6s, 6l6s and EL34s in the power section. There's lots of sounds in there. Old tubes definitely sound better than the new ones.
According to Jim, it puts out about 10 watts with 3 6v6's, about 20watts with 6L6's. Thats what it sounds like, though sometimes I forget that 20 watts is not twice as loud as 10.

I use it with my Heritage 535, G&L ASAT and Hamer Newort. I'm looking forward to using it with the strat, once I put it back together. I play alot of stuff, but blues is my thing and this amp gets great blues tones. I'm not good at tone buzzwords, but this amp has the pure tube tone that I wanted.
I've been playing around with different speakers, and they make a huge difference in the sound. My favorite so far is the Eminence Cannibis Rex, which is a very loud and clean speaker. Plenty loud for the places that we play (local bars).

This thing is true point to point wired. No board, just a few terminal strips with all of the components wired directly together. A look inside reveals superb craftsmanship. I don't forsee any problems and they're all off the shelf components so if it breaks, any amp guy can fix it.

Jim Frenzel is a great guy. There was a problem when I received this amp (they put EL84 sockets instead of octal). Emailed Jim, he said "we screwed up", shipped it back (at his expense) and had it back in a few days. Not sure if you're going to get that kind of service from anyone else. This seems like a real company, not some kit builder in his basement.

I would buy another one of these in a minute. I might try something different, but this amp is highly recommended.
Havent gigged with it yet, but will be shortly. I ordered a cage from an antique electronics retailer which was about 50 bucks cheaper than the optional one from Frenzel.
I did alot of shopping before I bought this, and I'm confident that this was the best deal out there based on what I wanted, quality, price, etc. I paid $525 for this amp. Buying the components and building it myself would have cost me almost that much. This is an absolute keeper, I couldnt be any happier with it.

This review is for a new FRENZEL FM - 5E1SS Champ Super Sportster custom handmade, point-to-point wired, Class A tube guitar amplifier.

The amp came with 5 tubes: 2x EH 12AX7, EH 6V6, EH EL84 and Sovtek 5Y3.

This amp has a lot of cool features. There are two preamp channels (F and M) with separate input jacks and Gain controls, and the two channels can be switched or blended using an AB-Y. Also on the front are Bass, Mid, Treble controls, Master control, Presence control with a pull Edge function, and a Off-Standby-On knob w/LED.

The amp has a line Send/Return with Level control. The Return can be used as a power amp input. The amp uses a hi-fi Hammond output transformer, and there is a 4-8-16 Ohm Impedance switch on the back.

My amp is customized to have both 8 and 9 pin tube sockets, which allows me to switch between a EL84 and 6V6 or similar tube (or blend both tubes). The amp is cathode biased, which means you can put in other octal tube types like 6K6, EL34 or 6L6 and they work without any adjustment. The amp is about 3 watts with a 6K6, 5 watts with an EL84 or 6V6, and 10 watts with a 6L6 or EL34.

I play an ESP ash bolt-on guitar through an alnico Weber Blue Dog in a solid oak open back 1x12. It seems to be a good match for the cab. The tone is decidedly vintage. The amp is in its element with the Master dimed- you get cranked tones at reasonable volume.

You can get a lot of different sounds from the amp from glassy clean to vintage dirt. I really like the fat, edgy clean sounds that I get from the F input and the Gain about midway up. The amp does a great vintage Marshall cranked sound with the M input and Gain and Master cranked through an EL84.

This amp is very transparent. I can really hear my guitar and everything else in the signal path. The amp is also very touch sensitive, and every nuance of my playing comes through (good or bad). Listening to this amp has really opened up my ear and changed my perception of what is good tone. I have to re-evaluate all my gear now.

I will also mention that the amp sounds great with my external preamp when I want more gain or different voices.

All the parts are high quality, and I expect the amp to last decades. However, all the tubes are exposed, which means it won't be leaving my home studio. There is an optional cage if you need to move it around.

Jim has been responsive to my emails. The great thing about Jim is that he lets you customize the amp design, and his price is very reasonable.

This Frenzel fills my need for a versatile low power home studio amp. The open design and cathode biasing make it easy to swap tubes and experiment with different sounds. It's a fun amp to own.

I would purchase a Frenzel amp again without hesitation.

This is a single channel amp head with gain, bass, mid, treble and master controls. You can pull the gain knob for a second voicing. It also has a standby switch and a variable line out. This is a simple amp beautifully executed.

I ordered this amp with a 12AU7 and a 6L6, but I found that it is voiced wonderfully for a 12AX7. My guitar is a Warmoth chambered body strat with Lil' 59er pickups, and the closed back cabinet I've plugged this little wonder into holds a 10" Reverend All-Tone Speaker.

This amp produces rich, beautiful, room filling clean tones at low to modest volumes. My pickups have only moderate output and the amp produces a nice smooth overdrive when pushed to it's limits. It is virtually noise free until cranked and then it's just a whisper.
The tone stack is a pleasure as the individual controls provide smooth and gradual though broad tone shaping. When you pull the gain knob and go from the F to the M channel the output remains the same but the voicing changes, you lose bass and gain upper mid range. This amp is very responsive, musical and satisfying to play.

I've tried a couple of my pedals with it and it responded fine, but it sounds so good on it's own I prefer to just go straight into the amp. The sound I'm getting now is rich and spacious but I am tempted to add a reverb/delay pedal, not surprisingly.

I tried a variety of preamp tubes and settled on a 12AT7 as it gave be the best combination of volume, tone and definition. Of course, that's just my personal preference and I'm sure most people would prefer this amp with a 12AX7.

It is a solidly built little unit, but as I've had it less than a month I can't comment on it's long term reliability.

I had questions and my emails were responded to very promptly. I was notified as all transactions were made and was given all the shipping information when the amp was sent. The amp arrived at my door a little over a month after I had made my order, as promised, and it was packaged with great care.

I purchased this because I wanted a small tube amp I could leave in my living room and also easily transport when playing with friends. I love my Fender combo but I don't like lugging it's 45 pounds and it's footprint is too big for my small living room. I have played for almost 20 years and have owned perhaps 35 guitars and more than a dozen amps; tube, solid state and modeling. I play folk-rock, country, blues and jazz so not surprisingly I favor great clean tones and this amp really delivers. This is not a great amp for the price, it's just a great amp.