champ 600 overdrive good?

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 2:03 pm

I was using a Marshall AVT412. It's 200 watts at 8 ohms. I have gigged using some Hartke 410 that was 4 ohm and it was much louder than my Marshall cab.

The amp blew with the Marshall cab, and was replaced when I walked into the shop. They guy at the shop knew me, so he didn't even open the box I brought in or ask to see a receipt.

Now, I don't use a cab with it. I use it for practising with a pianist friend, but someday, I want to mod the Marshall so that I can switch between 4, 8 and 16 ohm.

bent · Post by **bent** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 3:06 pm

thanks for the info...

cur · Post by **cur** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 3:17 pm

So looking at options for a low watt tube combo amp that can OD, looks like Bugerav5, crate v5 and Kustom 12A (not a true tube amp0. The Bugera v5 looks the most appealing it has a 0.1, 1 and 5 watt power attenuation options and headphone jack and line out.

Aonther option is to get something else and use something like a microMASS 15W on it.

http://taweber.powweb.com/weber/micromass.htm

Anyone use the weber microMASS?

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 4:48 pm

cur wrote: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.

PROTIP:
i have this.
i use it every day in my room.
you can dial in pretty much any tone you want with it.
its cheap
its discontinued (i think)
it has gain volume
it has seperate master volume (make it sound as messy as you want at low volume)
head phone jack
stereo outs
midi I/O
up down pedal

you aren't going to be able to use it live at a show because the footswitch takes at least a full second to switch between your presets.
the thing is fucking amazing for practice though.

all the guys on the board have behringer clone effects boxes. this thing has a lot of them in one easy to use package

bent · Post by **bent** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 7:18 pm

I own a Fender Champion 600 and I have to say it's a great amp. I let the tubes warm up for 15 minutes. I play it in my living room. It dials up to 12 and I've had angry neighbours when playing on 9. I like it so much I want to use it live but after hearing of BacchusPaul's problems when using an 8 Ohm cabinet I think I'll be looking for 4 Ohm cabinet!

As far as adjusting tone goes I just play with the tone controls and pick-up selector on whatever guitar I am playing at that moment.

I like the Bugera V55HD, it had great clear and over driven tone, but I can't stand the fact that it has DSP reverb I wish they just left it off! However you could just ignore that it's there and use one of these... http://www.vanamps.com/solemate.htm for Â£259 you can't go wrong

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 7:01 am

bent wrote:I own a Fender Champion 600 and I have to say it's a great amp. I let the tubes warm up for 15 minutes. I play it in my living room. It dials up to 12 and I've had angry neighbours when playing on 9. I like it so much I want to use it live but after hearing of BacchusPaul's problems when using an 8 Ohm cabinet I think I'll be looking for 4 Ohm cabinet!

For playing live a 4 ohm cab is a lot more realistic in terms of volume. It'll be a lot louder than a similarly rated 8 ohm cab for starters, plus you'll have the confidence to open it fully and cook them tubes.

I usually gig with an Epiphone Valve Junior Head and the Marshall cab. The EVJ has 4, 8, and 16 ohm outputs, and sounds a bit darker and less splatty than the fender. It's but less crunchy, too.

Post by **Mike** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:12 am

Why anyone would hate an amp because it has DSP reverb is beyond me.

1. You can turn it off
2. It actually sounds really good and is less prone to failure than spring reverb
3. It makes the amp a darn sight lighter to hump around
4. You realise some of the best reverb sounds on all the records you hear today are DSP right?

the isaac eaton · Post by **the isaac eaton** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:18 am

My cyber twin has DSP reverb, and some effects, while I dont use the on-board effects, i do always incorporate a little bit of reverb into my clean channel just to give it some life. The reverb sounds amazing, I have an old gibson amp with an actual spring reverb tank, personally i prefer the cyber twin reverb more, DSP isn't all bad.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 7:17 pm

right, let me get this straight- if i take an amp with a 4 ohm output and run it through a 2x12 with say, two 8 ohm speakers, that would work, yes? as long as the speakers aren't lower than 4 ohms?

Will · Post by **Will** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 7:55 pm

stewart wrote:right, let me get this straight- if i take an amp with a 4 ohm output and run it through a 2x12 with say, two 8 ohm speakers, that would work, yes? as long as the speakers aren't lower than 4 ohms?

If the speakers are in parallel, then the total impedance of the cab is 4ohms. If they're in series, it's 16.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 9:52 pm

how do i find out if they're series or parallel?

and would either of those factors stop me running a 4 ohm amp through it? i take if the impedance was 16 ohms it'd sound really quiet?

Sloan · Post by **Sloan** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 10:05 pm

stewart wrote:

how do i find out if they're series or parallel?

and would either of those factors stop me running a 4 ohm amp through it? i take if the impedance was 16 ohms it'd sound really quiet?

stick a speaker cable in the cab and use a multimeter on the other end to check the ohms.

also, with a tube amp you can mismatch the rating by at least one, it will affect the response and volume of the amp. I like to run my 8ohm amp into 4ohms for more volume and better response. just don't mismatch the ohms on solidstate jank or you'll work it too hard and fuck it.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 10:09 pm

it's a solid state job, so i'd better make sure i know what i'm doing first. i'm still theoreticisisizing at this point, will investigate further...

Post by **Mike** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 7:17 am

stewart wrote:

how do i find out if they're series or parallel?

and would either of those factors stop me running a 4 ohm amp through it? i take if the impedance was 16 ohms it'd sound really quiet?

Simple.

Look at the wiring inside the cab.

If the wiring goes like this:

Jack to + connector on one speaker
That speaker - connector to + on next speaker
- on next speaker to Jack

Then it's series.

If it does this:

Jack to + connector on one speaker, and + connector on other speaker
Jack ground to - connector on one speaker and - connector on other speaker

then it's Parallel.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 7:50 am

sorry, i should really have provided more info, but it looks like i've opened up a can of worms now, so will explain better...

i have a solid state fender combo that i'd get on with better if i converted it to a head- it sounds really 'boxy' at volume cos it's in a shitty little enclosure and it rattles like buggery. that should be simple enough, it'll just be a case of chopping the enclosure and making an output jack.

i have an old trace elliot tramp 2x12 in the garage that sounds pretty guff and is fucked anyway. i'm thinking of pulling the amp out and making it into a 2x12 cab. i'm not sure of the speaker impedance of the trace offhand, it's out at my parents' house, so i'll need to check next time i'm there. the way the speakers connect to the amp is via two jack plugs that connect into the back of the amp, one for left, one for right. so i can see that being a problem if i stuck an output jack on the head- how would i connect both speakers? wire them together somehow?

i should maybe have started a thread for this, but seeing as i didn't have all the info available i was going to hold off on asking too many questions.

Post by **Mike** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 8:11 am

I have answered that question above. This will also help.

http://www.usspeaker.com/speaker%20wiring-1.htm

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 8:18 am

Mike wrote:http://www.usspeaker.com/speaker%20wiring-1.htm

aha, that's perfect, cheers.