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Post subject: Fender Champ600, gather round.....
Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 1:11 am
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I am going to be modding my Champ600 soon and I thought I would start a thread for information on modding these amps. So if you have changed anything from tubes, speakers to grill covers please make a mention here of what you have changed, how did it alter the sound and where there mods needed to the structure of the amp. I am possibly going to be ordering a set of Tung-Sol tubes soon and a Jensen speaker so I will be posting here soon.

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Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 11:38 am
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Changed out the stock speaker for a Weber Signature Series (AWESOME)
and the stock tubes for Tung Sol's.

What a flipping difference! It's now what Fender SHOULD have made it.

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Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 5:46 pm
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I changed out my tubes as soon as I walked in the door. JJ 6V6 S and JJ 12AX7. I can't honestly tell you if there was a huge difference, I just changed them and then started using the amp, which I LOVE! But I do want to change the speaker, I hear from lots of folks it makes a huge improvement. But I need recommendations on Jensen or Webber, Ceramic or Ainico ?

Any recommended places to purchase these. Like to support those that are worth supporting!


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Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 6:15 am
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I went with the Weber Ceramic Signature 6 (it fits the amp without having to shim the chasis with the Alnico speaker you have to shim it so the tubes fit). The Jensen MOD speaker is more readily available but I thought the Weber sounded a better.

I'm about ready to swap out the tone capacitors for some Jupiters, then lastly I'm going to swap the grill cloth for some nice Fender Oxblood.

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Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 4:22 pm
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Where did you get your Weber? I've seen many places, but recommendations are always best :D


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Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 5:08 pm
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I actually went direct through Weber for the speaker

http://www.tedweber.com/

They build them when you order them so it takes a couple of weeks, but it's well worth it.

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Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 8:41 pm
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Little update: Finding hard to get a full time job right now (I only have part time) so mods are may take a little longer than expected.....but soon! :D

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Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 5:59 am
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I couldn't stand the stock speaker farting. I installed a Jensen MOD speaker AND.... unbelievable difference. All for about $25.00. Next I will change the tubes but for now I can't believe it's the same amp. The upgrade took all of 10 min.


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Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 7:53 am
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pancona wrote:
I couldn't stand the stock speaker farting. I installed a Jensen MOD speaker AND.... unbelievable difference. All for about $25.00. Next I will change the tubes but for now I can't believe it's the same amp. The upgrade took all of 10 min.


Great stuff, did you have do any mods to make the speaker fit? :wink:

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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 7:52 am
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Well first up I changed the speaker cloth, it was a little to late in the evening to really blast away but I did turn it all the way up. I could notice a difference straight away that was hard to describe. It definately has more sustain without that blanket over the top of it and it sounds a lot less muffled full bore. As I have a HSS I did not get to test out the humbucker cause it is allot louder than the single coils although I strummed a few chords and found that the was a little more clarity in them. I changed the cloth with some standard shade cloth from Bunnings the cost me next to nothing, I just had to fork out for some staples and a staple gun.

BE WARNED! All I did was take my amp apart and put it back together again, first time I turned it on the was some horrible crackling sounds followed by the smell of fire or something burning. I thought I fried my amp for sure so I turned it off and pulled the chassis out again, put it back in and the first time again a real horrible CRACK but after that the amp was OK, I played for about 20 minutes and it made some cracking sounds twice in that time. Funnily enough all the previous hissing and humming was gone but I will play again tommorrow and hopefully all is good.

Next up will be a Jensen Mod and then some Tsung Sol tubes.

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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 8:07 am
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you may have torn the cheap metal tape that surrounds the chassis when you slid it back in. That could cause some crackling and popping

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Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 3:20 am
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Strat0Blues wrote:
Well first up I changed the speaker cloth, it was a little to late in the evening to really blast away but I did turn it all the way up. I could notice a difference straight away that was hard to describe. It definately has more sustain without that blanket over the top of it and it sounds a lot less muffled full bore. As I have a HSS I did not get to test out the humbucker cause it is allot louder than the single coils although I strummed a few chords and found that the was a little more clarity in them. I changed the cloth with some standard shade cloth from Bunnings the cost me next to nothing, I just had to fork out for some staples and a staple gun.

BE WARNED! All I did was take my amp apart and put it back together again, first time I turned it on the was some horrible crackling sounds followed by the smell of fire or something burning. I thought I fried my amp for sure so I turned it off and pulled the chassis out again, put it back in and the first time again a real horrible CRACK but after that the amp was OK, I played for about 20 minutes and it made some cracking sounds twice in that time. Funnily enough all the previous hissing and humming was gone but I will play again tommorrow and hopefully all is good.

Next up will be a Jensen Mod and then some Tsung Sol tubes.


Does the speaker cloth really make that much of a difference?

CC

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Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 7:52 am
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The difference was not HUGE but it was there, as soon as I began playing the usual riffs I could hear a sound difference straight away. The first thing I could tell was the sustain, the note just seems to ring out that little more. I could notice this because I use allot of bend vibrato and the note usually fades away, but it just rings out that little bit more. The amp is less muffled now but it stills needs some tweeking (speaker, tubes), I just thought I would do the grill cloth first because it was easy and inexpensive. When I held the original "blanket" (grill cloth) in the amp I could barely breathe through the cloth and the speaker sits right in front of the amp, that has to be restricting the sound, in fact the amp may even be a little louder but that is hard to tell just by ear.

If I were to buy another I would change out the cloth for the sound because I want to squeeze every penny out of this amp. I am actually going to order some Fender Ox Blood to get some authentic Fender cloth in there, the cheap alternative was just to see how the sound changes. I would imagine that speakers and tubes would have a greater difference, I previously bought and returned a Vox cabinet 1x12 because it did push air in a larger room, BUT in the room I play the amp there was just no difference at all. So If I were to gamble on a speaker it would be to try bring out some clarity running the amp full bore, the Vox night train cabinet made a difference in the sound and with my humbucker it handled the over drive much better, BUT it was not the sound I was after.

So I will not lie, changes were minimal but they were 100% there, it depends if you are willing to spend the money on some grill cloth and willing to take the time to pull each and every staple that was holding the blanket on the wood. I like the Champ600 and I am willing to spend half the cost of this amp on modifications, so as soon as I reach that budget I will stop there and keep saving for my next amp or possibly guitar :)

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Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 1:59 pm
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Thank you Strat0. Explained perfectly. I appreciate it and may follow suit.

CC

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Post subject:
Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2009 6:38 am
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Just ordered some Fender Oxblood grill cloth, so I will post some pictures to show you guys what the Champ looks like with some Oxblood cloth :) I have also order a Jensen Mod 6 and some Tung-Sol valves, I am going to change to vavles to hear how it alters the sound first, and then I will change the speaker to see how the sound changes. The Jensen Mod 6 is meant to have a nice British sound.

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