Click Like and Subscribe for more vintage gear demos as well as tips and tricks! Visit our shop at sunflowerandfriends.com Today we are demonstrating a 1971 Fender Champ amp recently serviced and available at Sunflower and Friends!
George Harrison used that amp x 4 for the concert for Bangladesh. For the two weeks prior to concert, I set them up at the rehearsal warehouse in NYC. My sister ran publicity for Apple at the time. 4 silver face champ amps hooked together.
JJ Slyde Wow, thanks for sharing! Very cool to look this up and see those 4 champs there on stage! I had always assumed he was playing that ampeg rig. I really appreciate you sharing your experience! I’ve always loved champs but that really takes things up a notch for me. Great concert.
Super cool to hear from you. It was a great concert event. One of the greatest of that generation. It is too bad that overall the concert even money was financially mismanaged and a great deal of the money not going to correct place at the correct time. Cheers to everyone who put their heart and soul out to create this masterpiece.
I built a cab out of solid poplar from a 100 year old piano, and 80 y.o. Birch ply front and 3/4 back. 2 Celestion G10-n40 wired in parallel for 4ohm/80w. Wrings every last drop out of my '78 Champ. Try a 12at7 in the preamp for a lot of clean headroom.
I mean this as a compliment...I feel like I'm looking into the past. It's as if this was filmed in 1971, locked away in a cannister for nearly 50 years and then discovered in pristine condition. There's pretty much nothing visually in this video that would indicate that it's from 2018. I don't know if this was done by accident or on purpose but it's brilliant!
I got one back in '81 and still have it. The only problem I ever had was the tube socket in the middle shorted out and I had to replace it. With an 8" speaker it sounds "crunchy" compared to the Twin Reverb I used to have. Thanks for the memories.
Very Sweet Amp, some years back I had the black face version earlier like 65, wished I never had lost that one ' can't do much better for a small amp, may get more variety if Miked!
J.D. JD Think Tankers org.asa. Thanks! The amp is actually mic’d with a vintage EV Lav Mic but just out of frame to keep the view of the amp clear. Surprisingly a very good guitar mic from military surplus. We’ve got a black panel for sale currently on our site - 80’s era but handwired just like the 60’s ones. A great amp. And yes you’re right, the champ is aptly named for the small recording amp category!
I was always a tweed champ fan but your 71 is maybe the best champ I' ve ever heard. Volume was 3-4 I guess? And I always said that a champ is an amp for single coil guitars. Your great ES 330 proves it. My favorite guitar for my champ is a SG jr. with the P-90 at bridge. So now I will try to find a 70' s champ like yours, plug both champs into a ABY box and see what happens. Cheers from germany.
With these 2 input amps you don't need aby box, you just run guitar into input 1 and then Daisy chain instrument cable from input 2 out to input 1 on the next amp. For some reason I still don't know why the input on these things also kinda works as an effects loop to run signal out of the input into the next amp. Try it out with any 2 input Jack amp and see that it also sends signal not only does it work but it eliminates more gadgets 😉
Thank you! This amp got a lot of care to help it sound this way. Every champ can be a different animal and perhaps it’s behavior will show how it was cared for.
I understand that Clapton recorded the Layla album using Brownie (his ‘58 maple necked starburst Strat) and a Fender tweed Champ. That’s quite a sound out of a 5 watt amp even if mic’d up.
Tom Dowd, the engineer for the layla album, said they were brand new champs bought at Manny's for the sessions, so they would have been silverface champs, not tweed.
Thank you for the video, you awesome man! nice guitars and vibe from your room) I’ve been playing at Vox AC4C1at home couple years and I wanted something new “not British” created by the hands of the Chinese at the factory and it seems I found a new amplifier that’s wonderful for the apartment)
The power transformers on those amps give out more voltage that they should. Part of the Silverface Champ's unique sound. Don’t change the value of the power tube cathode resistor. Just buy old, used 6V6s from the 1950s or 60s. They still sound better than low spec modern tubes.
@@pweston65 the lesson is.... never feel dumb, for being dumb, because there's always someone dumber out there? both of you: *_Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame!_*
Nice. I currently have a '71 SF Champ-Amp. I retubed it and replaced the Radio Shack[?!] speaker with a celestion. It sounds wonderful, but I suspect it's time for an internal refurb. In Maine there aren't a lot of techs with experience with older PTP-wired amps. I'm good with soldering/replacing components; is there a 'kit' that would enjoy your recommendation?
Hi! A kit as in a refurb kit? I would suggest Antique Electronics Supply part # SET-CAP-FENDER-009-P That is a cap kit for the amplifier. While you have your bypass caps removed check the value of your cathode resistors for drift! As for the mods done on this exact amp there is not a kit I'm aware of but if you want to email us at Howdy@SunflowerAndFriends.com we can talk about sending a kit with some instructions and parts for all the refurb and mods suggested for a champ to make it sound and last to the best of it's abilities while keeping the classic Fender character. Thanks for watching!
I traded a leather jacket to a friend for one of these in mint condition. I was prolly only 15. At one point I blew a tube and thought I ruined the amp and threw it away..... I loved that little amp.... I was so stupid...... please forgive me.
Dale Hamon I believe this one had a vintage alnico “Oaktron” 8” 4 ohm speaker installed. It was picked from several vintage 8” speakers. It just kind of did a neat thing with this speaker. Very 50’s Jensen-like.
Tom Brantley I hit the strings pretty hard. Hmmm, hard to say. Does it have a 12AX7 installed in the preamp section? If the resistors have drifted or the bypass cap on the preamp stage that can also affect gain and make the amp weak. If you’re in Texas or willing to ship it we can make it exactly as it ought to be and even improve stability if you wish.
I had one of these back in '71 and I couldn't get it to distort then either (granted, I was a kid and didn't know what I was doing. I was so dumb I didn't even know about pedals).
Another thing to point out is that the cathode resistor has been adjusted on this one to have a more similar dissipation to an earlier champ, before the higher voltage transformer. Also a screen resistor has been added which helps tube life and gives a just slightly more compressed sound. Lastly the pickups are adjusted for max output without sounding bad. Since a SF champ doesn't have an enormous amount of gain available all these small factors play into the big picture in a major way. In this video demonstration no pedals have been used, straight into the amp with each guitar :)
We’re in the process of opening our brick and mortar store so our inventory is a little light on our online shop. Give a call if you need anything though!
The SickNeeds I don’t recall on this one. All fixed up at this exact moment between $450 and $600 can buy a silver face champ. There are many deals to be had on them that haven’t been serviced and they are not too expensive to send to us, or perhaps your favorite local tech 👍🏼🌻
Good question! The amplifier was recorded using a vintage Electro Voice Lavalier microphone which is just out of frame, the same which is clipped onto my collar in the speaking sections. Care was taken with the audio to try to represent the true sound of the amplifier in the room. Thanks for asking!
James Keeley that is very astute! This amp was dated based on the pot/transformer codes, serial and tube chart. Would you suggest that someone used a post 73 cabinet and transplanted the rest of these items into it?
Regardless, I'm glad you mentioned this as there are a lot of clues into the whole story of a Fender amplifier. This amp was called a '71 based on typical date code data. Sounds like a likely candidate for a cab swap at some point in this amp's life. Thanks for your input!
@@SunflowerandFriends Yes I would think a cab swap definitely. The orange in the grill cloth is another indicator. The original tranny codes are the best indicator as you said. The rounded corner cabs with blue grillcloth would be original to this chassis. I have an original 1970 baffle with Oxford speaker if you want it cheap. Th cab you have is probably glueboard and heavy. Anyway still a "71" but not exactly cuz of cab.
