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Post subject: 1982 Super Champ....pull to lead leads to silence!
Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2011 12:52 pm
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I'm new here, please go easy on me. I bought an '82 Super Champ from its original owner in '92 or so, and I've always loved it. I'll admit that it's been tucked away carefully in the closet for far too long, but since the little ones came along it's been much easier to simply take down an acoustic than haul out the old Tele and invoke the electrical gods.

But I dug out both this week and found that I've really missed 'em. But on Day 3 of the resurrection, the pull-to-lead on the Volume knob stopped working. I've been surfing on it frantically, poring over circuit diagrams (which I can't pretend to actually understand), and I don't have a clue what's wrong. Valve? Maybe the pot itself?

Here are the clues I have....

Everything works except the LEAD mode, including REVERB. From what I've read, I'd have expected LEAD and REVERB to die together, but REVERB is definitely still working fine.

The levels don't seem to matter. When I pull the knob for LEAD, everything goes quiet.

If I pull the Volume knob (for LEAD) and at the same time pull the TREBLE knob (which works fine), I can get a little noise out of the amp. But not much.

All tubes and valves are warm to the touch. The two bigger tubes aren't glowing, but the smaller one is.

I don't have a foot switch, so I can't use that to test whether it's the mode itself or just the Volume / Lead pot.

Whatcha think? Anybody got a miracle cure? Many thanks for your time...


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Post subject: Re: 1982 Super Champ....pull to lead leads to silence!
Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2011 1:08 pm
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I suspect that your V3 has ascended to the "hereafter". This tube is a 6C10 triple-triode and one third of it is used as an extra gain stage in the "pull for lead" circuit. It's a relatively rare tube -- only two Fender amps (to my knowledge) ever used it; yours, and the mid-70's Super Twin Reverb. Likely, all of your bottles are ready for replacement......thus, prepare to "invest" in the amp's future. It will be a worthwhile endeavor -- those Rivera-era Super Champs are pretty nice porch weasels.

Here's the schematic for your amp......

http://classic-web.archive.org/web/2006 ... _super.pdf

HTH

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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Post subject: Re: 1982 Super Champ....pull to lead leads to silence!
Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 11:18 pm
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Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2007 6:46 pm
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Retroverbial wrote:
This tube is a 6C10 triple-triode and one third of it is used as an extra gain stage in the "pull for lead" circuit. It's a relatively rare tube --

HTH

Arjay


NOS available at tubedepot. Better stock up.

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The design of each element should be thought out in order to be easy to make and easy to repair.
Leo Fender


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Post subject: Re: 1982 Super Champ....pull to lead leads to silence!
Posted: Sun May 01, 2011 12:42 am
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They're still around, and priced within the realm of sanity......much cheaper than say, an NOS GZ34 or some of the popular JAN twin-triodes.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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Post subject: Re: 1982 Super Champ....pull to lead leads to silence!
Posted: Sun May 01, 2011 1:35 am
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Retroverbial wrote:
They're still around, and priced within the realm of sanity......much cheaper than say, an NOS GZ34 or some of the popular JAN twin-triodes.

Arjay


That 5AR4 is up there isn't it? Even the "K-Mart of US tubes" Philips go up and up in price. I had my eye on some 6V6GT's a while back for under 50, but didn't own a 6V6 amp. Now they're 80 bucks, and I have use for them. (Super-Sonic 22)
I did stock up on the 12AT7WC.

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The design of each element should be thought out in order to be easy to make and easy to repair.
Leo Fender


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Post subject: Re: 1982 Super Champ....pull to lead leads to silence!
Posted: Sun May 01, 2011 1:43 am
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rjake wrote:
That 5AR4 is up there isn't it?


You could buy a kidney for what original Amperex GZ34's are fetching these days!

:lol:

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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