champ 600 overdrive good?

cur · Post by **cur** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 8:14 pm

MF has Fender champ 600 for $150. I am looking for a small tube practice amp (hate my cube 20). Does this amp sound nice overdriven with pedal boost?

Reece · Post by **Reece** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 8:20 pm

If you're running it through a cab.

I get speaker distortion before I get amp distortion with the little 6" speaker.

Will · Post by **Will** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 8:26 pm

I didn't like it at all. There's no way to shape the tone, and it's naturally kinda farty. Might be a different story through a cab, though.

It's also really, really loud once you get it to distortion range.

timhulio · Post by **timhulio** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 8:36 pm

I dunnope, I put mine through a 2x12 and it still sounds like a stupid little amp in a little box.

I think it'll record well though- some useful boxy lo-fi tonez in there.

Sloan · Post by **Sloan** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 8:42 pm

In my opinion, having a tube practice amp is retarded. Get something that's actually going to be useful at low volume. I'm actually looking at the really small modeling amps/processors so I can plug in headphones and shit so I can actually be QUIET. I feel like there's really no reason to practice 'tone' until your practicing with a full band where it actually matters.

Will · Post by **Will** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 8:54 pm

Sloan wrote:In my opinion, having a tube practice amp is retarded. Get something that's actually going to be useful at low volume. I'm actually looking at the really small modeling amps/processors so I can plug in headphones and shit so I can actually be QUIET. I feel like there's really no reason to practice 'tone' until your practicing with a full band where it actually matters.

This.

Digital modeling amps are super cheap, sound awesome, and they usually have a line-out that's good for recording. Even small analog SS amps have gotten really good. The only reason I'd get a small tube amp is to have something light-weight to mic at gigs, and then I'd want something with at least an EQ control.

Plus 6V6s sound kinda crummy when driven, IMO.

Post by **Mike** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 8:59 pm

I have a tube amp at home because that's what people will play the pedals I build through. Hence I need to make sure they sound super fucking awesome through a tube amp.

Will · Post by **Will** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 9:25 pm

Mike wrote:I have a tube amp at home because that's what people will play the pedals I build through. Hence I need to make sure they sound super fucking awesome through a tube amp.

But your amps all have some kind of EQ - that should be the take away point.

Nothing flagrantly wrong about wanting a small tube amp, but at least get one that has an EQ of some sort. It's 2009, for christ's sake.

I swear, the next step in this "back to basics" amp movement is gonna be some reissue of the first Gibson amp that didn't even have a volume knob CAUSE OMG THE VOLUME CONTROL SUCKS THE MAGIC TUBE TONEZ SRV ALNICO NOS.

cur · Post by **cur** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 12:02 am

Well then any suggestions? I have been looking at some very low watt tube amps. Like 1/4 watt stuff. I would like something that has some rock tones. I have an old pig nose that is cool but kind of one dimensional. LIke I said, I have a roland cube 20 that sounds good with the clean channel, but everything else sounds like turd. I also have a pandoras box I use with headphones; it is kind dysfunctional but ok when everyone else sleeping. I just want something that sounds good a reasonable volume. I like overdrive and distortion for sounds. Some one told me once that the line 6 pod 2.0 is good to tun through an amp and is not too digital sounding.

Gavin · Post by **Gavin** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 12:11 am

Get that Bugera V5. Mickie's got one and he likes it. In the future I'm hoping they release a head version so I can build my own 1x12 and get one of them for it. It can get distorted at bedroom volumes and has headphone out and eq and reverb stuff.

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 12:51 am

The Champ is a great amp with a shit speaker. It sounds very good through a cab. I've played a fairly large gig with it going into a 4 ohm 410, and sounded immense, really open and crisp overdrive.

One thing to think about though: There's only one, four ohm output on it, so unless you have a four ohm cab...

Will · Post by **Will** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 1:30 am

I was impressed with the Vox AC4TV. Head and combo both are nice. The 1/4W setting is reasonably quiet and the distortion is pretty smooth. EL84s are better tubes for the class A thing, IMO.

GEARWIRE!:
http://www.gearwire.com/vox-ac4tv-demo.html

Haven't tried the Bugera myself, but what I've heard sounds good.

riotshield · Post by **riotshield** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 10:41 am

was thinking of getting an ac4tv for home but i am afraid it would be hard to get a kinda clean sound. i will go check it out and see how loud it can get without proper overdrive

bent · Post by **bent** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 10:55 am

BacchusPaul wrote:The Champ is a great amp with a shit speaker. It sounds very good through a cab. I've played a fairly large gig with it going into a 4 ohm 410, and sounded immense, really open and crisp overdrive.

One thing to think about though: There's only one, four ohm output on it, so unless you have a four ohm cab...

So your cabinet needs to be at least 4 Ohms. This means you can use a 4, 8 or 16 Ohm cabinet.

Reece · Post by **Reece** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 10:57 am

Plugging it into a 16 ohm cab would mean you're losing quite a bit of power.

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 11:01 am

bent wrote:
BacchusPaul wrote:The Champ is a great amp with a shit speaker. It sounds very good through a cab. I've played a fairly large gig with it going into a 4 ohm 410, and sounded immense, really open and crisp overdrive.

One thing to think about though: There's only one, four ohm output on it, so unless you have a four ohm cab...
So your cabinet needs to be at least 4 Ohms. This means you can use a 4, 8 or 16 Ohm cabinet.

That's the standard wisdom, and it's what it advises in the manual. I blew mine up using a saltbooster and an 8 ohm cab, though, so my advice would be to use a 4 ohm cab. It's very annoying that there isn't an 8 and 16 ohm output too. It can't make it that much more expensive.

bent · Post by **bent** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 12:52 pm

That doesn't make sense to me, i don't understand why it would blow...

It should only blow if you were going into a lower Ohm cabinet, say 2 Ohm all you're doing is under powering the speakers, there is no resistance made to blow the amp, say like you would get from an 8 Ohm amp to a 4 Ohm cab....

Had you modified your Fender Champion 600?

Post by **Mike** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 12:56 pm

It is never wise to mismatch the load impedance on a tube amp, with a larger output impedance, the tubes run at a higher voltage and could cause shorting in the OT.

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 1:14 pm

bent wrote:That doesn't make sense to me, i don't understand why it would blow...

It should only blow if you were going into a lower Ohm cabinet, say 2 Ohm all you're doing is under powering the speakers, there is no resistance made to blow the amp, say like you would get from an 8 Ohm amp to a 4 Ohm cab....

Had you modified your Fender Champion 600?

Nope.

Saltbooster, plus heavy strings on Jag-stang, plus two bottles of drunken aggression equals broken Fender.

bent · Post by **bent** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 1:59 pm

BacchusPaul wrote:
bent wrote:That doesn't make sense to me, i don't understand why it would blow...

It should only blow if you were going into a lower Ohm cabinet, say 2 Ohm all you're doing is under powering the speakers, there is no resistance made to blow the amp, say like you would get from an 8 Ohm amp to a 4 Ohm cab....

Had you modified your Fender Champion 600?
Nope.

Saltbooster, plus heavy strings on Jag-stang, plus two bottles of drunken aggression equals broken Fender.

What cab where you using? What cab ar eyou using now? Did you get a warranty repair?