Older Fender Champs...yes or no?

[bigD77]

Looking to add another amp to the living room in the near future and I'm leaning Fender.

Budget is relatively small, say less than $600...so I was originally thinking about a blues Jr, as its a little cleaner than the Bassbreaker i played through.

Then a couple older silver-faced Champs popped up locally and got me thinking about those.

For me, this is going to be a clean only amp, as I'll stick with pedals for the rest of the sounds.

Anyone own a Champ or play through one that would recommend it over the blues jr? or am I just getting sucked into the old Fender thing?

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by bigD77

...For me, this is going to be a clean only amp...

Blues Junior, upgrade the tubes when you get a few extra bucks...

[mr. beaumont]

Champs are cool, but they're actually pretty loud, and really don't sound like much until you crank them up a little...but by that time, you can wake the neighbors. For recording a slightly overdriven tone, Champs are the bees knees.

The Blues Junior is a decent amp. Not as "Fendery" as some Fenders...it's an EL84 amp. I like them, and you can get good low volume sounds.

If you're more of a fan of clean tones, I recommend looking for a silverface non-reverb princeton. They can still be had quite cheap, and they've got nothing but beautiful Fender cleans almost all the way up the dial. With single coils, they're still pretty clean dimed!

[rockabilly69]

I love my '69 VibroChamp. It's a GREAT recording amp. Here it is for the lapsteel and rhythm electric guitar parts in one of my newer songs...

[muscmp]

i have a 75 silverface vibrochamp and a 76 silverface champ. they are both monumental but depending upon your usage, you may want to put a pedal in front. you can turn it up to about 7 or 8 and get a clean sound. anything further will add grit. usually go for about $350-450 depending upon condition.

play music!

[Bob Womack]

I love my '71 Champy and keep it at the studio for last-minute sessions.



Bob

[MiG50]

I have a 66 blackface Vibro Champ, and it's the bee's knees for my bedroom playing. I have a Weber speaker in it now, but I also had the original (blown) speaker re-coned. It's just a beautiful, wonderful little blackface Fender amp. It takes pedals really well, and if you want to crank it a little (it does get loud-ish), it can give you some decent grit. I usually play at home with the volume around 3 or 4, and it's good, full, rich tube tone at reasonable volumes.

Be sure to look at the tube Bronco amps, a little harder to find but usually a bit more affordable. I also used to own a Musicmaster Bass amp, which was 12 watts thru a 12" speaker, supposed to be a bass practice amp, but was killer with guitar! Those small Fender amps (up to about 1978 or 79) are tone monsters.

[Mbroady]

Was/am also thinking about a champ, but ran across this amp.
https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=611815

Has great reviews and would love to try one on for size

Some of the old champs are collectibles, especially if the are in good shape. They also come with the a hefty price tag.

[Jimbojo]

Love my '78 Vibrochamp. Great little amp.

[clintj]

Budget a couple of hundred dollars into the price of an older (>20 year old) amp. Any amp past that is due for servicing, which involves installing fresh electrolytic capacitors and general tuning and inspections. For a vintage amp w/ a 2 prong cord a new power cord with a proper grounding connection is very strongly recommended for your safety as well.

Some may say if it sounds fine it is, but a cap can fail with little to no warning, and can take a power transformer with it. That's a fairly expensive repair.

[bigD77]

Thanks for all of the responses!

Glad to see these are loved like i hoped they would be.
There's something really appealing about only 3 knobs, no frills, and vintage to me (it'll be older than I am).

Again, I plan to have a basic pedal board in front of it...3-4 tops.

Should get a chance to play a couple this weekend that are local to me. There's a 79 thats been converted to a 3-prong plug and another VibroChamp for a bit more cash.

Interested to see if I prefer one over the other.

[harpspitfire]

i think your 90% being sucked into an old fender thing- with that being the case, only thing you can do buy one- you know old vintage amps are grossly overpriced with their own special vintage sound- course there's nothing wrong with that- getting the sound your after matched to your guitar, but with that being said- i got a nice super champ X2 for $140, i can dial in the fender twang that i like and forget about it, but if your going to be hooking up pedals for different sounds, then your back to mixing vintage with modern- something to think about

[bigD77]

Originally Posted by harpspitfire

i think your 90% being sucked into an old fender thing- with that being the case, only thing you can do buy one- you know old vintage amps are grossly overpriced with their own special vintage sound- course there's nothing wrong with that- getting the sound your after matched to your guitar, but with that being said- i got a nice super champ X2 for $140, i can dial in the fender twang that i like and forget about it, but if your going to be hooking up pedals for different sounds, then your back to mixing vintage with modern- something to think about

Completely fair points. But I dont really have anything 'vintage' at this point, so I'm OK with spending a little bit more to give that experiment a try. Also, The Champ seems like a great way to dip my toes into the vintage thing without spending the cash for a Deluxe Reverb type setup.

Interesting points on mixing vintage and modern too. Then again, a 60's E-type Jaguar with aftermarket air conditioning and modern tires seems like the best of both worlds...

[Jimbojo]

I picked up my Vibrochamp for under $350. It is nearly impossible to find a hand wired amp at that price point. But, I do not disagree that there is plenty of twang in some if the newer stuff.

[redir]

I've always wanted a cheesy little amp with a sign on the front that says Fender Champ.