Cheesy Little Amp

Dswankey

Dswankey

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This past week, and this is a true story, I was walking the dog around 7:30AM and it was trash day. We weren't out more then 10 minutes when I noticed this little gem on the curb next to a printer. I looked around for a Dodge but alas nothing.

A buddy of mine who is into guitars plugged in last night and it exhibited a progressively louder and louder hum. We turned if off quickly and I dropped it off at the shop this morning.

Cosmetically it's in great shape for an amp from 1973.

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Don't know about cheesy, but I have a near perfect one that was my brothers. Never powered it up, but I figure that little 6V6 powered Fender would sound pretty sweet. Nice find.
 
Sweet!

I have a '69 Champ (Fender tail-logo / and "Champ-Amp" script)... but same circuit for 18-some years... 1964 through 1982.

Same circuit as the Bronco, too, which was sold as a Fender guitar + amp package deal.

Awesome little 6-watt SE amps.

Some guys report that these little Single-Ended Fenders are 6V6 eaters and many swap out the 470 ohm bias resistor for something more conservative. I keep mine stock and my vintage glass seems happy in there.

You're missing the upper panel in the back, but I'm pretty sure new production ones can be purchased.

Also, those little speakers get absolutely thrashed. If yours is still in good shape, I recommend removing it and keeping it in a box for originality's sake. Weber and Jensen both make the exact 3.5 ohm replacement for Champs and they both sound excellent and can handle the oodles of delicious overdrive these things put out.

I love these amps. Hard to believe they were billed as "beginner" amps but made their way into professional studios everywhere.
 
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Many a rock studio recording used those Champ/Bronco amps! The hum is probably from the rectifier tube and can cap. There are a few other caps that will need tending to as well. But a few bucks spent will yield you a great amp! For fun, replace the RCA output jack with a 1/4" jack and plug it up to a 4x10 or 4x12 cabinet!
 
Celt said:
Many a rock studio recording used those Champ/Bronco amps! The hum is probably from the rectifier tube and can cap. There are a few other caps that will need tending to as well. But a few bucks spent will yield you a great amp! For fun, replace the RCA output jack with a 1/4" jack and plug it up to a 4x10 or 4x12 cabinet!
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Cool, my tech is old school so I'm pretty sure he'll get her back in tip top working shape.

When you say "Plug it up to a 4x10 or 4x12 cabinet" for what purpose did you have in mind?
 
UnGrounded said:
Yeah, mostly references to "tweed" Champs there. Like father and son, they are very close relatives but just different generations.

The tweed Champs had only volume knobs. They were very quick to distort but offered lots of great harmonic overtones. "Layla" is the quintessential tweed Champ track.
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What does "tweed" mean? is that referring to the grill fabric?
 
Dswankey said:
What does "tweed" mean? is that referring to the grill fabric?
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Yeah, the grill and lacquered cabinet. And "tweed" is also a blanket reference to the first generations (late 1940's through 1950's) of Fender amps. Many experimental and short-lived ideas for Fender. Most amps are noted as the "brown sound" of Fender; a time where his amps were often under-filtered and under-powered which made for some very raw, fuzzy, or "brown" tones when cranked up... unlike the stout "blackface" era (post-1962) which saw Leo Fender's pinnacle of achievement with high powered, crystal clear amplification, which was what he always had set out to create.
 
"And a cheezy little amp with a sign on the front said fender champ" - Frank Zappa / Joe's garage.

Not to forget the fade out to Joe’s last imaginary guitar solo from the song Watermelon in Easter Hay.
 
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