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Post subject: Mercury Magnetics Champ 600 KIT
Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 1:21 pm
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Joined: Thu Jun 19, 2008 3:58 pm
Posts: 63
Location: New Haven, CT
Hello Everyone!
Happy New Years!

so i bought a Champ 600 amp about a year ago...and while its a great little amp...i soon began to outgrow it!
its not like i am amazing at playing yet or anything like that but i started to notice its limitations after a while playing it...

the sound was a bit "thin"...and a bit "tinny"
ive been doing some research on upgrade components for this amp when i came across the Mercury Magnetics Champ 600 upgrade kit...

i thought hard about it because it was more than the amp was itself!
plus with labor youre looking at around $500 total in cost to improve the amp.

i was a bit apprehensive because i could have just gotten a princeton reverb ri for the money but i liked the idea of keeping my champ (i like its small size as i live in a condo and dont want to piss off everyone!)

i demo'd the princeton and to be honest...it was waaaay to loud for my place...it would be a waste until i am able to move out and really crank it...
long story short...i talked to Pat over at Mercury and it turned out that my local luthier and Pat were close friends and he recommended that they do the work!
it seemed like a sign to me so i agreed to have them do the install...

i just got it back today after a loooong wait (its apparently alot harder than the directions make it seem...so unless your comfortable with a soldering iron...leave it to the pros)

the first thing i noticed right away was the volume...this guy is much much louder than my original champ!
even though its still only 5w its loud!
once you turn the dial above 6 you start to get great tube break-up
anything under 4 gives you very clean tones...and there is plenty of volume even at the lower levels...

i noticed a small rattling noise when i strum the low e string but that goes away when you elevate the amp...weird huh?
i am going to mess around with it over the weekend...to see if there is a loose clip somewhere...if that doesnt work ill bring it back to my amp tech and have him tweak it...

the replacement speaker seriously rocks!
overall i must say that if you want a small wattage recording amp with BALLZ...do the mod...

i like the idea of having an entry level amp that only looks entry level...sound wise...it is officially a boutique amp now!

granted total cost= $200/amp $500/equip/labor
$700 is alot of money for a little 5w amp...but like i said that same money i could have gotten a blackheart...or orange...or even a princeton reverb...but i couldnt even play it loud if it wanted to!
to me $700 for a UNIQUE boutique amp with an excellent heritage is perfect!
when i move to bigger digs ill get a larger amp...and i think i would give Mercury Magnetics another call and change out transformers again on the bigger amp...

if you were on the fence about one of these kits...dont be! its awesome!

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Post subject:
Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 3:50 pm
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Joined: Tue Aug 07, 2007 2:19 pm
Posts: 8827
For that kind of money you could build a 5e3 clone or a Tweed Champ. Hand built ptp wiring and a simple build. You can gig with a Deluxe 5e3 and it's only around 13 watts or so. I'm glad you like your amp, that's what really counts. I just couldn't sink that much money into a 5 watt, mass produced pcb amp.
This is my next amp. http://www.missionamps.com/5E3kit.shtml

Good luck with the Champ, it sounds like it's pretty cool.


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Post subject:
Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 4:49 pm
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Professional Musician
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Joined: Sun Sep 09, 2007 1:22 am
Posts: 1132
Location: The Netherlands
Í've been playing my Champ for 5 weeks now and i'm very impressed.
For what it is, a practice amp for home or studio use it's great.
To me it's not at all tiny sounding and loud enough.
The only upgrade i made was to replace the crap Chinese 12AX7
pre-amp tube with a JJ/Tesla ECC83S.
No need for mods imho, maybe only a Weber Alnico speaker.

Peter


Last edited by lostindesert on Sat Jan 03, 2009 4:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject:
Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 4:54 pm
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Joined: Tue Aug 07, 2007 2:19 pm
Posts: 8827
You can't go wrong with JJ's. The Webers are great too.


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