Im going to make a purchase soon on the fender champion 600 amplifier online and I wanted to know if its a good quality amp and also if it is worth the price. Please leave your thoughts.
Thanks.

It is what it is. A cheap, small tube amp with a tiny speaker. It sounds decent through bigger speaker cabinet. You can do a lot better. VHT special 6. http://vhtamp.com/avsp16.html or maybe a Marshall Class 5 or one of my least favorite of the bunch, a Vibro Champ. Look around. The 600 ain't all that and a bag of picks. The tiny speaker gets real raspy and papery thin at higher volumes.

_________________
Life...... It's sexually transmitted and always fatal

With a tone sounding much akin to someone torturing a smoke detector with an ice pick.



Arjay

_________________
"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

My old Pignose kicks arse. Fun little practice amp. My 74 Champ is still one of my favorite practice amps. Highly recommended. Old Bronco's too.

_________________
Life...... It's sexually transmitted and always fatal

Thanks for the help with this im just looking for something that i can dial down so the neighbors wont throw a fit so ill probably just buy it, ill try it out tomorrow at a GC.

I'm looking for a low-wattage, all-tube amp and the 600 was on the list. I'm leaning toward the Marshall Class5 because I have to keep the sound down at times. Also, it comes with a headphone jack. Wish it had a reverb, though.

Take a look at the VHT Special 6. It's hand wired too. A buddy of mine bought one and brought it to a rehersal. Very nice sounding amp as is the Class 5. A huge step up from the 600.

_________________
Life...... It's sexually transmitted and always fatal

These must be quite new to the market. There are no user reviews at MF or HC. I'm checking out the specs on the VHT Special 6 Ultra 6W combo. It has no headphone jack, but it has a high/low power switch. Cheaper than the Class 5, too. The base Special 6 with the 10" speaker is much cheaper than the Class 5.

Thanks for the 'heads up'.

Arjay is right again.

_________________
By the River

LMFAO!!!



Arjay

_________________
"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

Well, here is where I tend to disagree with my esteemed buddies Arjay and Supro. I have a 600 and have had fantastic tones and satisfaction from it. I use it in the studio when I am laying down nice clean tracks with great results. It is not a tweed Champ but for the money I paid for it I have no complaints.
ABS

Howdy!

Although I don't own one I do get to use the works Champ 600 on evenings and weekends.



For home use its great! Its well made, reasonably priced and does the Fender clean tone very nicely.

I was very tempted to buy my own but I fancied something with more tonal options.

Andy

_________________
Pending Greatness

Andy, when ya gonna mod it for em? The thing is prime for it!

Gotta say StratmanSteve, this is one area where the Class5 loses out. It's just too loud. That in itself is not a problem. The thing has a switch on the back that attenuates the amp down to headphone (which is also available on the new ones) volume through the speaker.
The problem lies in that Celestion have made a phenomenal job of that speaker. It sounds massive with a huge bass end on it. When you switch the amps volume down it loses a little of the treble end that it needs.
Also the gain on the amp is solely from the volume control.
So what I find is that I'm constantly searching for the in between place. Where the amp is driving enough but not too much. And it's not too loud. Late night low volume filth, yep it's great. Mid afternoon amp on the cusp of driving, yep brilliant. Bit difficult to get that sound at 10pm without upsetting people though.
A small price to pay for how good the thing sounds but it's something you have to work round.
I've a Vibrochamp XD, that I find to be a great home amp. It sounds right enough for home use. I'm never going to use it to play Wembley or record the lead parts for the next Vai album. But in my kitchen, of a evening, it's good enough and lots of fun.
My experience of the Champ600 was too little, too long ago. I remember it being a bit nice with a tele and a clean sound though.

_________________
No no and no

HA! Not me mate! Guitars yes, amps no. I'd have absolutely no idea how to mod an amp.

I've just bought a new 5W amp which I shall reveal a bit later (if I get some time). Such a cool piece of kit!

Andy

_________________
Pending Greatness

Hmmm. Loud is a problem as the neighbors are very close. I can use headphones for a while and I usually record guitar and bass without mikes, but I really like to hear the amp pushing air when I play and headphones are uncomfortable in this climate. And you need that tonal sweet spot especially for Blues.

Coincidently, I already have a VCXD and I love it. It handles my modulation pedals well enough, but it seems to go berzerk when I use my nastier fuzzes like one of the Devi Evers or even the Guyatone TZ2. I'm afraid it's going to blow . . . and this one is my second VCXD. It's a warranty replacement. Not sure Fender will give me another one even if I didn't blow up the first one with pedals.