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Post subject: Re: Champion 600 users' club
Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2015 8:17 am
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twirlyboggs wrote:
how i play mine at home ~
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What, really? I'm surprised you even have a mains outlet in your bath room.

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Post subject: Re: Champion 600 users' club
Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 3:59 am
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Recent mods to mine completed yesterday. 5E1 tone stack and triode switch were very successful. The latter much needed considering the jump in gain from ditching the original tone stack.

I also fitted a switch to the feedback loop but the result is so subtle as to be almost inperceptible.

I may ditch the feedback loop switch and use it as a 5E1/5F1 switch once I get hold of a suitable replacement cap. At least that can be done with the board in place.

Next project may well be kit based as melting the old solder was so much of a chore that I ended up redrilling a number of the tags after snipping the original component.

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Post subject: Re: Champion 600 users' club
Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 6:29 pm
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cool how proper placement of your amp on the room can make :) or not
that lil champ loves it under the sink in the bathroom
full sound with some reverb

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Post subject: Re: Champion 600 users' club
Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 2:30 am
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I agree. Despite digital technology (theoreticaly) giving every conceivable type of reverb available it's not the same as standing in the real space around which the sound is reverberating.

However, I would be very careful putting a valve amp under a sink as the internal voltages are high enough to kill and remain present, stored in the capacitors, even after the amp has been turned off.

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Post subject: Re: Champion 600 users' club
Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 9:28 am
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You know u will be careful tryin it, sounds good


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Post subject: Re: Champion 600 users' club
Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 9:16 pm
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John Sims wrote:
...I would be very careful putting a valve amp under a sink as the internal voltages are high enough to kill and remain present, stored in the capacitors, even after the amp has been turned off.


Zero chance of touching anything that can hurt you, even if the back panel were off. :wink:

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Post subject: Re: Champion 600 users' club
Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 1:14 am
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shimmilou wrote:
John Sims wrote:
...I would be very careful putting a valve amp under a sink as the internal voltages are high enough to kill and remain present, stored in the capacitors, even after the amp has been turned off.


Zero chance of touching anything that can hurt you, even if the back panel were off. :wink:


But then water can be funny like that. It can get in every nook and cranny.

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Post subject: Re: Champion 600 users' club
Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 2:28 am
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Oh, kill the amp? Sure.

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Post subject: Re: Champion 600 users' club
Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 6:25 am
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shimmilou wrote:
Oh, kill the amp? Sure.


Well potentially, if it gets wet. And, should you be in the water as well, it could kill you. That is sort of why they don't generally put mains outlets in a bathroom - at least in the UK where we have proper mains rather than your half measures.

Seriously though; nobody deliberately spills water over an amplifier but sinks overflow, water gets splashed, taps leak, pipes fracture, children play boats in the sink etc, etc.

The residual voltage in a 600 can exceed 300 Volts DC (thats the one the hangs on to you). The working voltage is closer to 400 Volts (that is irrespective of if you have 110V or 240V mains) and the fuse/circuit breaker wont save you because the capacitors are down stream of the flow.

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Post subject: Re: Champion 600 users' club
Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 3:12 pm
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Maybe that's why they don't let you have outlets in your bathrooms over there. Here in the US, we have GFI outlets and enough sense not to use an amp in a room full of water. :wink:

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Post subject: Re: Champion 600 users' club
Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 5:40 pm
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Picked up a second, as yet, unmodified 600 this evening. Initially I want it to compare my modified 600 against.

Once I have established the benchmark I will, most likely, modify the new one to match my 1st one.

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Post subject: Re: Champion 600 users' club
Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 3:09 am
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Got hold of an 8" 4 ohm Bugera speaker off eBay for £15.00. I'm not expecting anything marvelous from it but am going to use it as a mule to see how it shoehorns into the original cabinet. If all goes well I may then swap it out for something more exotic.

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Post subject: Re: Champion 600 users' club
Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2015 2:31 am
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8" speaker fitted and a C3 bypass switch installed.

I have removed the feedback loop switching previously installed as it didn't seem to achieve anything.

Damn this thing is loud now, particularly with the omission of C3.

For lounge use it is constantly in triode mode as pentode mode is too loud.

The 8" speaker certainly makes the amp sound bigger but, as I suspected, the speaker isn't up to much. Its a bit dark and muddy particularly with C3 in the mix. Also rated 30 -120 Watts max it is a bit lethargic. About to be expected for £15 off ebay, so something a little more appropriate to follow. It is a sod trying to get 8" 4 ohm speakers in the UK though.

I covered the new speaker baffle with some cream speaker cloth, almost the same colour as the vinyl, and (though I say so myself) it looks the dogs sphericals.

Not sure what to do with my clean reference 600 now. It may go back to the land of ebay but I found some photos of a 50's original 600 Champ in tweed. The internals were spectacularly sparse and all soldered directly onto a copper board. I am pondering going for a proper reproduction of the original internals just for the fun of it. Much care will be needed as, with everything floating above the grounding plate the opportunity for shorts could be quite high. Perhaps, I'll chicken out and use a turret board. :roll:

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Post subject: Re: Champion 600 users' club
Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2015 7:43 am
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8 into 6 will go. It's snug though.

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Post subject: Re: Champion 600 users' club
Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2015 4:32 pm
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Bugera speaker now replaced with a Jensen C8R.

Bit of a sod to squeeze in as the speaker basket is bigger than the Bugera. After getting an angle grinder to the rear edge of the amp chassis it all went in. Only a small scallop to the back edge necessary just to clear the lower edge of the basket.

Great result though as even the valve guard still fits.

It sounds superb. The circuit mods together with the Jensen give this tiny amp a spectacularly large sound. It seems ridiculous that so much can be delivered by such a small package.

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