Riffster Posted December 29, 2008 Share Posted December 29, 2008 A while back I posted a few pics before on my brand new Fender Champ 600 that I am making into a head. I made cabinet for it and replaced the output transformer with one I had taken out of my epi valve junior head version 2. At 7.5Kohms primary impedance the OT was very close to the stock OT in the Champ at 7Kohms. Now the head has 4, 8 and 16 ohms taps. I covered the head in real tweed and shellacqued it in amber, the speaker cab is a groove tubes from the 80's that I bought, it has a 12" weber blue dog rated at 15W. I refinished it too so I could match colors. This was a bit challenging since this cab had some finish on it already. The empty champ cab, speaker and OT where sold on ebay so there is no going back. I have ordered a leather handle, rubber feet and impedance selector switch, they are on the way. The stock jewel light was huge so I took it out and replaced it with a vintage NOS smaller jewel I found on my grandfathers electronic stuff, I used a smaller LED I had and placed the light over the "600" since this is not technically a 600 anymore...it refers to the original 6" speaker. I am planning to make only a few changes to the electronics, I added a switch where the original jewel light was, (the washer around it is not permanent) this will act as a switch between 2 diferent wirings. The tubes were replaced to a tungsol on the preamp and a electro-harmonix on the power section. This is an excellent bedroom amp and it also can get pretty loud. Here is the pics, what do you think? I am going to shoot an e-mail to Fender and see what they think... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BreeeZe_ Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 That looks really nice ! Just add the smaller washer and it looks like you bought it that way :D I would also add some screws to the sides, the empty holes just don't look right to me. Wish my woodworking skills were as good as that, I always make little measuring errors which makes stuff kinda crooked :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichCI Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 Wow! That is REALLY sharp, StiffHand! I wish I were that handy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killyridols Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 Very nice. Wanna make me one?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted December 30, 2008 Author Share Posted December 30, 2008 Mmmhh I posted this by duplicate, not sure how. Must have pressed post twice or something. Thanks for the cumpliments... Yea BreeeZe the washer needs to be smaller, actually I will have to use a spacer washer which is smaller. I was surprised as to how big the hole for the jewel light is. I have not put the screws on the sides since I am still working on this this and it will require removing the amp a few times, once I am done those screws go in and 2 more on the side panles and into the chassis to secure it tightly. I love doing this stuff but my playing time suffer and as a result I suck, no more projects for a while. If you only saw the paver patio I built this past summer you would think I am a mad scientist... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarooster52 Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 Nice job! This Champ looks absolutely killer. Now you've got me thinking what can be done with a SuperChamp XD project! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VA_siCkBoy Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 You need to post a video on YouTube.....I'd love to hear how that thing sounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted December 31, 2008 Author Share Posted December 31, 2008 I figure a way to record as I do not have recording equipment. I have friends that do. I tried with my laptop but the built-in mic seems to get overwhelmed and and the recording sounds nothing like the amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djroge1 Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 This does look nice and I wish I had the wood working skills for this. I'm in the planning stages of building an amp, but the electrical stuff is a lot easier than the wood working; I'll be buying my cabinet. Great Job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted December 31, 2008 Author Share Posted December 31, 2008 This does look nice and I wish I had the wood working skills for this. I'm in the planning stages of building an amp' date=' but the electrical stuff is a lot easier than the wood working; I'll be buying my cabinet. Great Job![/quote'] This is the very first time I do something like this actually. My original intention was to buy a new Epiphone Valve Junior Hot Rod head (the one that never came out) and covere it in tweed but then I thought why would I have two epis so I went with the Champ knowing I would have to make my own cab given the odd dimensions of the chassis. I used pine which is a soft wood, easy to work with. As you can see I did not do dovetail joints or finger joints neither do I need to since that is more important on the speaker cab. I reinforced the corners really good and then once I applied the tweed the cabinet just became solid as heck. The shellacquing was fun too. The tolex tutorial 101 I found on wikipedia helped quite a bit with the application of the tweed, although I had to figure out some things myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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