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Post subject: I Need Some Help With a Champion 30 !
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 4:42 am
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Hi everyone, I'm back on here after taking some time off. Just yesterday, I was given a Fender Champion 30 by a friend of mine who decided to call it quits from playing. Now I know that fender amps are supposed to pack a punch but this one for some reason, seems to be weak as far as the volume is concerned. I did notice that the power cord is not the original, seeing that it's only 2 feet long so I'm wondering if maybe that might have something to do with it. Plus I also took the chassis out and sprayed the Pots with contact cleaner and turned them while the power was off, but still no difference, so maybe the speaker needs to be replaced, or is there a chance that the power transformer needs to be replaced ? The amp still reatins the tone and sound but just doesn't have the punch that a 30 watt Fender combo IMO, should have, so if anyone could help me with this, I would appreciate it, thanks.


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Post subject: Re: I Need Some Help With a Champion 30 !
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 4:51 am
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Maybe try an external cab. One you are familiar with, in terms of output and tone.


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Post subject: Re: I Need Some Help With a Champion 30 !
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 5:41 am
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BMW2002Ti wrote:
Maybe try an external cab. One you are familiar with, in terms of output and tone.


No, I don't want a external cabinet. That doesn't solve my problem at all. I want to restore this amp to it's former glory. I've played through one of these before and I know how loud they're supposed to be. I did call Fender yesterday and was told that it could be the pots or the speaker but I figured that I would ask you guys out here and see if there's anybody who has had any experience with this type of problem. If it is the speaker, just how do I check it to see if that is the culprit ?


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Post subject: Re: I Need Some Help With a Champion 30 !
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 6:44 am
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The Champion 30 is a cheap, solid state amp. I seriously doubt changing the power cord is the problem unless the amp was somehow damaged. I seriously doubt there is a problem with the power transformer. There could be a problem with any one of the IC chips used in the amp, but unless you have the tools to troubleshoot the amp, finding the cause would be extremely difficult. I would dump it and find a real amp.

http://support.fender.com/schematics/gu ... ematic.pdf

http://support.fender.com/manuals/guita ... manual.pdf

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Post subject: Re: I Need Some Help With a Champion 30 !
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 6:55 am
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jeffo46 wrote:
BMW2002Ti wrote:
Maybe try an external cab. One you are familiar with, in terms of output and tone.


No, I don't want a external cabinet. That doesn't solve my problem at all. I want to restore this amp to it's former glory. I've played through one of these before and I know how loud they're supposed to be. I did call Fender yesterday and was told that it could be the pots or the speaker but I figured that I would ask you guys out here and see if there's anybody who has had any experience with this type of problem. If it is the speaker, just how do I check it to see if that is the culprit ?


Possibly, BMW2002Ti was referring to using an external cabs speaker to nail down if the issue is with the speaker or the electronics. As long as the external speaker is 8 ohms you should be good to go for trying.

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Post subject: Re: I Need Some Help With a Champion 30 !
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 7:24 am
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tyronne wrote:
jeffo46 wrote:
BMW2002Ti wrote:
Maybe try an external cab. One you are familiar with, in terms of output and tone.


No, I don't want a external cabinet. That doesn't solve my problem at all. I want to restore this amp to it's former glory. I've played through one of these before and I know how loud they're supposed to be. I did call Fender yesterday and was told that it could be the pots or the speaker but I figured that I would ask you guys out here and see if there's anybody who has had any experience with this type of problem. If it is the speaker, just how do I check it to see if that is the culprit ?


Possibly, BMW2002Ti was referring to using an external cabs speaker to nail down if the issue is with the speaker or the electronics. As long as the external speaker is 8 ohms you should be good to go for trying.


If a speaker is bad, it will be pretty obvious. It will either be very distorted due to physical damage (which should be obvious by looking at the speaker), or not work at all due to an electrical problem (shorted or open voice coil). In either case, I have never seen a speaker, particulalry the single speaker in a guitar amp, just quit playing loud as the OP describes.

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Post subject: Re: I Need Some Help With a Champion 30 !
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 7:41 am
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Used they go for around 100 bucks so I wouldn,t put to much into it.


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Post subject: Re: I Need Some Help With a Champion 30 !
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 8:03 am
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tbazzone wrote:
Used they go for around 100 bucks so I wouldn,t put to much into it.


Unless it is blatently obvious (like a big black hole where an IC used to be :lol: ), trying to troubleshoot an IC based amp (as opposed to a discrete transistor based amp) is a real PITA as each IC can contain multiple citcuits performing different functions. Unless you are familiar with the characterisitics of each IC and have the right tools, troubleshooting is a waste of time. Fender doesn't even do warranty repair on many of their modern, small solid state amps as the time required is not worth it with those amps. They usually just replace the amp and trash the broken one.

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Post subject: Re: I Need Some Help With a Champion 30 !
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 8:26 am
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My troubleshooting would be as follows
1. Plug it in. If it doesn,t work go to next step
2 Throw in trash :lol:


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Post subject: Re: I Need Some Help With a Champion 30 !
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 9:54 am
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[/quote]

If a speaker is bad, it will be pretty obvious. It will either be very distorted due to physical damage (which should be obvious by looking at the speaker), or not work at all due to an electrical problem (shorted or open voice coil). In either case, I have never seen a speaker, particulalry the single speaker in a guitar amp, just quit playing loud as the OP describes.[/quote]

I'd disagree BS.

I had a speaker whose voice coil somehow managed to get stuck. Friends amp that was in a garage for a few years...

I pushed in on the speaker cone and it started working!

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Post subject: Re: I Need Some Help With a Champion 30 !
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:45 am
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It turns out that it was the 2 foot power cord which was messing up the amount of power going through to the amp ( don't ask me how ! ). I went out a little while ago to Radio Shack and bought a 6 foot power cord and once I installed it in the back of the amp, it sounded as good as new. Everything's fine now, so thanks to everyone for all of the help.


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Post subject: Re: I Need Some Help With a Champion 30 !
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 12:09 pm
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jeffo46 wrote:
It turns out that it was the 2 foot power cord which was messing up the amount of power going through to the amp ( don't ask me how ! ). I went out a little while ago to Radio Shack and bought a 6 foot power cord and once I installed it in the back of the amp, it sounded as good as new. Everything's fine now, so thanks to everyone for all of the help.


Ha!
As my Boss used to tell me...Whenever the experts tell you it's impossible, check it anyway.

Glad to hear you're all set!

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Post subject: Re: I Need Some Help With a Champion 30 !
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 1:25 pm
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jeffo46 wrote:
It turns out that it was the 2 foot power cord which was messing up the amount of power going through to the amp ( don't ask me how ! ). I went out a little while ago to Radio Shack and bought a 6 foot power cord and once I installed it in the back of the amp, it sounded as good as new. Everything's fine now, so thanks to everyone for all of the help.


Well, clearly the shorter cord was allowing the AC electrons to get to the amp faster than the power supply could convert them to DC electrons, thereby causing an electron traffic jam. :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Post subject: Re: I Need Some Help With a Champion 30 !
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 1:28 pm
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tyronne wrote:
I pushed in on the speaker cone and it started working!


You're lucky. Voicecoil tolerances are very tight. Speaker manufacturers warn against doing what you did. If the voicecoil was really stuck, you would have ended up destroying the speaker. :wink:

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Post subject: Re: I Need Some Help With a Champion 30 !
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 4:02 pm
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bluesky636 wrote:
tyronne wrote:
I pushed in on the speaker cone and it started working!


You're lucky. Voicecoil tolerances are very tight. Speaker manufacturers warn against doing what you did. If the voicecoil was really stuck, you would have ended up destroying the speaker. :wink:



Guy I worked for who owned a Radio/TV/Audio repair shop showed me that trick.
I'm not saying to use a hammer on it! Just a light push around the dust cap area to see if it gives.

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