1980's Fender Champ 12

[DeanEVO_Dude]

Anyone have any experience with the Fender Champ 12?

It is made some time in the 1980's (late, I think)
2 7025 (12AX7) preamp tubes, 1 6L6 power tube
some kind of small, kinda cheap spring reverb
1 12" "Fender designed" speaker
2 channels, red knobs...

Any opinions? From what I have read, it has a good clean tone, but the overdrive channel leave much to be desired... There are two videos that I have found on YouTube, and from them, it sound nice.

My reason for asking, there is one for sale in my area for $200 (good price?), and I want a different type of tube (other than 6v6 or EL84) amp with low power, 12 watts kinda fits the bill on this Champ. I listened to a demo done by The Tone King, compairing the EL34 and the 6L6 tube and I liked the distortion and tone of the 6L6 tube, so....

Thanks everyone. :AOK

 

[markb]

They're good. I'd buy one given the chance. Forget the overdrive.

 

[DeanEVO_Dude]

They're good. I'd buy one given the chance. Forget the overdrive.

Yeah, that seems to be the common theme that I have seen in most "reviews" on the web (there are a few, only a few). I do like my distortion pedals anyhow, so...

Is $200 a good price?

Thanks.

 

[red]

I've never tried a Champ 12, but I do have experience with 5F1-style amps (like the Fender 57 Champ Reissue, Victoria 518 / 5112, etc.).

I really like the 6V6/6L6 as a power tube in Fender-like amps, to the point where I'm selling the only amp I have that's Marshall-like (a Peavey Classic 30) and replacing it with a 6V6 Fender-style amp. Those are just my 2 cents though, you might prefer something different.

The price doesn't seem high. Is it point-to-point or PCB? Something to consider with a 20+ years old amp is that unless the previous owner's done it fairly recently, you will need to replace the electrolytic capacitors, and that will add to the cost of ownership.

Post some pictures and samples if you buy it!

 

[red]

They're good. I'd buy one given the chance. Forget the overdrive.

If you mean that he won't be able to push the amp into power-tube overdrive in the house (which is true for a 12W tube amp, and to some extent even for a 5W), maybe he can still achieve a similar effect with a Weber MicroMASS attenuator or some similar device.

 

[otaypanky]

Here's some info for ya'

http://www.ampwares.com/amp.asp?id=47

http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar+Amp/product/Fender/Champ+12/10/1

 

[Gregzy]

Anyone have any experience with the Fender Champ 12?

It is made some time in the 1980's (late, I think)
2 7025 (12AX7) preamp tubes, 1 6L6 power tube
some kind of small, kinda cheap spring reverb
1 12" "Fender designed" speaker
2 channels, red knobs...

Any opinions? From what I have read, it has a good clean tone, but the overdrive channel leave much to be desired... There are two videos that I have found on YouTube, and from them, it sound nice.

My reason for asking, there is one for sale in my area for $200 (good price?), and I want a different type of tube (other than 6v6 or EL84) amp with low power, 12 watts kinda fits the bill on this Champ. I listened to a demo done by The Tone King, compairing the EL34 and the 6L6 tube and I liked the distortion and tone of the 6L6 tube, so....

Thanks everyone. :AOK

It's not a bad amp and especially not for $200 But yes, the overdrive channel leaves much to be desired and the reverb is essentially useless. The clean channel is usable and takes OD pedals (Tube Screamers, Blues Drivers et al) well. They first appeared in about 1987 and were made in the USA until about 1990 when they started being made in Mexico and were then discontinued about a year or two after that. The only ways to tell without popping it open is a sticker (easily removed) placed over the "Made In USA" silk screening on the back panel stating "Made In Mexico" and the absence of "Made In USA" on the front logo on the Mexican version. I highly doubt there's much actual difference in the quality, circuitry or construction between the two versions.

They were the first new product of the new Fender corporation after they were bought from CBS. The amp does benefit from good tubes and the stock speaker can be improved upon as well (I put a Mesa Boogie Vintage Black Shadow in mine). The amp is VERY loud (especially on the OD channel) and can keep up with a moderately loud drummer in a practice situation but perhaps not so much in a gig situation without being mic'ed.

There are various mods available from Torres Engineering and another almost necessary mod is changing the plastic input jacks to metal ones (there's a kit for that). It's not a matter of IF they will fail but rather, WHEN. Another mod available from Torres is a kit to smooth out the OD channel response a bit and make the EQ controls a bit more interactive. Very easy to do by anyone who can make a simple solder connection. I've never used an EL-34 in mine but there's again an adjustable bias kit available that would made changing out power tubes pretty easy. It's not what I'd call a tone monster by any stretch but it's a good, solid little amp and as I said, I've been quite pleased with mine for what it is....an inexpensive, low wattage PCB amp.

For $200 I don't think you can go wrong. Good luck. I've had a lot of fun with mine but just don't expect a Mesa Boogie Mark I....or an original PTP Champ...it ain't one of them

Greg

 

[markb]

If you mean that he won't be able to push the amp into power-tube overdrive in the house (which is true for a 12W tube amp, and to some extent even for a 5W), maybe he can still achieve a similar effect with a Weber MicroMASS attenuator or some similar device.

If you can turn it up enough the single ended power amp will drive nicely. I was referring to the switchable preamp drive which is decidedly underwhelming.

 

[Gregzy]

If you can turn it up enough the single ended power amp will drive nicely. I was referring to the switchable preamp drive which is decidedly underwhelming.

Actually I've found the mid boost usable but the OD channel as a whole is "decidedly underwhelming". and there's not a lot of room for playing around with the gain stage..it tends to be off or full-on with little variance in the middle....same with the reverb. I'm also not fond of the hard-wired foot switch for channel switching and I changed that out as well to a mini plug connection on the chassis.

Greg

 

[DeanEVO_Dude]

Thanks for all the replies... More are welcome, as well.

What I get from this:
1. It is a fairly loud (for a practice) amp.
2. Poorly voiced overdrive channel.
3. Bad reverb.
4. Prety good deal (if the amp is in serviceable condition) at $200.
and
5. It likes pedals. (good thing, since I have 7 of them! LOL)


Cheers all!

 

[tunghaichuan]

I've owned two of those over the years, and I agree with the previous posts: OD sucks, reverb sucks. Clean channel is so-so. Not bad, but not great either.

To add, the amp does sound a little boxy even though it has a 12" speaker. The construction is typical PCB, only okay. This amp was a definite step down from the Rivera-designed amps that came immediately before it.

On the plus side, there are two RCA jacks on the front so you can plug in (originally a tape deck) a media player to practice along.

The OT in that amp is very cool, I've bought a couple of them surplus and they work great for 6V6s and EL84s as well as a 6L6.

$200 isn't bad for one, there was one for $150 on Boulder Craigslist a few days ago. Didn't really have much interest.

 

[DeanEVO_Dude]

I've owned two of those over the years, and I agree with the previous posts: OD sucks, reverb sucks. Clean channel is so-so. Not bad, but not great either.

To add, the amp does sound a little boxy even though it has a 12" speaker. The construction is typical PCB, only okay. This amp was a definite step down from the Rivera-designed amps that came immediately before it.

On the plus side, there are two RCA jacks on the front so you can plug in (originally a tape deck) a media player to practice along.

The OT in that amp is very cool, I've bought a couple of them surplus and they work great for 6V6s and EL84s as well as a 6L6.

$200 isn't bad for one, there was one for $150 on Boulder Craigslist a few days ago. Didn't really have much interest.

Darn! :thwap That's the one I was looking at, he originally had it listed for $200, but I didn't have the money this weekend (dag-blasted car batteries)! Just went lookin for it, gone... So, he relisted it at $150... probably sold prety quickly.