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i got my little vibro champ head in the mail yesterday. it's a 6 watt, class A beast! pre amp tubes are Sovtek WC's, rectifier is a NOS RCA 5Y3 blackplate, and the power tube is a GE JAN 6v 6V6GT. Bias is running around 42ma with this tube and the bias resistor in the amp. most Champ and Vibro champs run hot like this. it really helps this sucker scream. here's a pic:
currently, i am running it with my rivera 2X10 cabinet loaded with 35 watt celestion 10's. i tested the amp with a variety of fender guitars with singe coils.
first off, it is not a very loud amp. plugged into input 1, i had it cranked to 10, and while i could tell it was loud it was not unbearable to listen to. probably too loud to be played on 10 all the time, but a very good volume for recording.
using a fender esquire with the volume cranked to 10, the treble on 6 and the bass on 4 i was greatly enjoying a natural break-up that bordered on distorted - think a ramped up rockabilly type sound - link wray or duane eddy type stuff. rolling the volume back on the guitar "cleaned" it up a bit, but not in the same way as changing the volume control on the amp.
switching to my vintage strat (all stock), and using the same settings as the esquire, i was able to get a bluesier sound/feel. the neck pick up tone was glorious!! very juicy and fluid. the middle pick up gave me a nice rythym sound while hitting some open chords. switching to a 12-bar blues progression in A, the sound was nicely overdriven with just a bit of grit on top of the chords. flipping to the bridge pick up gave me more OD and made the tone more piercing/cutting.
switching to input 2 allowed the gain to be reduced overall, and slightly darkened the tone. keeping the tone controls in the same place, i grabbed my fender duo sonic, flipped to the neck pick up, rolled the tone control back a little and played some jazzier lines. it sounded awesome. the duo sonic resonates a lot anyway - that resonance combined with a tiny bit of hair on the clean tone was sweet. switching to combined pick ups, and rolling the tone back up, i was rewarded with an almost-acoustic guitar tone. at this point, i engaged the amp vibrato for the first time....
YIKES!!!! i was NOT digging it at first. i am used to the smoother vibrato on my tremolux. the tremolux uses a photo-resistor, it seems that the vibro champ still has the bias-modulation circuit. it is a much more extreme effect. it took about 10 minutes to find a nice, usable vibrato. the range of the vibrato can go from slight pulses to sounding like you are playing underwater.
back to the acoustic-like quality of the duo sonic....after comping some maj7add9 chords, i flipped to the bridge pick up on the duo sonic and was rewarded with a GREAT alt rock sound. i wrote a new song around that tone, and then switched back to input 1 with the duo sonic. again, i was rewarded with a glorious tone!!!
at this point, i had my brother come over. he plays rock-a-billy and surf music. he brought his original '57 strat with 13 gauge strings. he proceeded to run the vibro champ through its paces, playing music that is contemporary to its original birth date....the ventures, dick dale, link wray....the amp delivered incredibly well. the tones were authentic and punishing....twangy with some compression and sag.....my brother has a heavy pick attack, where-as i play very light. the amp responded to his playing totally different than it did to my playing. the amp had less "sag" when i was playing....
after getting tired of having the amp on 10, i decided to see how it reacted with different volume and tone settings. switching to a mexi-strat with SD antiquity strat pick ups and turning the volume control to 4, the treble to 8 and the bass to 6 i found the amp gave me a very nice, glassy clean tone - especially in the 2 & 4 position. the "quack" was awesome, and the tone was the PERFECT example of fender clean. i switched on the vibrato, played some chords and was rewarded with the laid back sounds of '70s...
taking the volume of the amp up to around 7-8 brought a little hair back to the sound. this is where it was VERY reactive to pick attack. staying with the MIM strat, i jammed some blues and varied my attack. when i would dig in, the amp sagged and began to overdrive....when i would lighten up, the amp deliverd a glassy sound with a touch of hair. this is where i enjoyed it the most. the sucky part? it wasn't very loud. you definately could not gig this amp unless you were playing in a situation where the drummer used brushes and the bassist played stand-up bass.
finally, i tested it with a distortion pedal - a BBE AM64. at lower volumes (3-6) it worked well within the range that the pedal offers in regards to tone and levels of distortion. as the amp gets cranked, the pedal just ruins the sound. i am thinking that since the amp delivers a "vintage" sound, i may need to think vintage regarding a good pedal to throw in front when the amp is cranked. i am think a treble booster might do the job....but who knows!!
all-in-all, this is quite a pleasant amp to have. my main purpose was to have another in the studio - something that gave an authentic, cranked sound without brutalizing the ears - or hurting the diaphragm of an expensive condenser mic. in that regard this vibro champ gets the job done. if one was looking for a good all tube practice amp, this, too, would fit the bill.
currently, i am running it with my rivera 2X10 cabinet loaded with 35 watt celestion 10's. i tested the amp with a variety of fender guitars with singe coils.
first off, it is not a very loud amp. plugged into input 1, i had it cranked to 10, and while i could tell it was loud it was not unbearable to listen to. probably too loud to be played on 10 all the time, but a very good volume for recording.
using a fender esquire with the volume cranked to 10, the treble on 6 and the bass on 4 i was greatly enjoying a natural break-up that bordered on distorted - think a ramped up rockabilly type sound - link wray or duane eddy type stuff. rolling the volume back on the guitar "cleaned" it up a bit, but not in the same way as changing the volume control on the amp.
switching to my vintage strat (all stock), and using the same settings as the esquire, i was able to get a bluesier sound/feel. the neck pick up tone was glorious!! very juicy and fluid. the middle pick up gave me a nice rythym sound while hitting some open chords. switching to a 12-bar blues progression in A, the sound was nicely overdriven with just a bit of grit on top of the chords. flipping to the bridge pick up gave me more OD and made the tone more piercing/cutting.
switching to input 2 allowed the gain to be reduced overall, and slightly darkened the tone. keeping the tone controls in the same place, i grabbed my fender duo sonic, flipped to the neck pick up, rolled the tone control back a little and played some jazzier lines. it sounded awesome. the duo sonic resonates a lot anyway - that resonance combined with a tiny bit of hair on the clean tone was sweet. switching to combined pick ups, and rolling the tone back up, i was rewarded with an almost-acoustic guitar tone. at this point, i engaged the amp vibrato for the first time....
YIKES!!!! i was NOT digging it at first. i am used to the smoother vibrato on my tremolux. the tremolux uses a photo-resistor, it seems that the vibro champ still has the bias-modulation circuit. it is a much more extreme effect. it took about 10 minutes to find a nice, usable vibrato. the range of the vibrato can go from slight pulses to sounding like you are playing underwater.
back to the acoustic-like quality of the duo sonic....after comping some maj7add9 chords, i flipped to the bridge pick up on the duo sonic and was rewarded with a GREAT alt rock sound. i wrote a new song around that tone, and then switched back to input 1 with the duo sonic. again, i was rewarded with a glorious tone!!!
at this point, i had my brother come over. he plays rock-a-billy and surf music. he brought his original '57 strat with 13 gauge strings. he proceeded to run the vibro champ through its paces, playing music that is contemporary to its original birth date....the ventures, dick dale, link wray....the amp delivered incredibly well. the tones were authentic and punishing....twangy with some compression and sag.....my brother has a heavy pick attack, where-as i play very light. the amp responded to his playing totally different than it did to my playing. the amp had less "sag" when i was playing....
after getting tired of having the amp on 10, i decided to see how it reacted with different volume and tone settings. switching to a mexi-strat with SD antiquity strat pick ups and turning the volume control to 4, the treble to 8 and the bass to 6 i found the amp gave me a very nice, glassy clean tone - especially in the 2 & 4 position. the "quack" was awesome, and the tone was the PERFECT example of fender clean. i switched on the vibrato, played some chords and was rewarded with the laid back sounds of '70s...
taking the volume of the amp up to around 7-8 brought a little hair back to the sound. this is where it was VERY reactive to pick attack. staying with the MIM strat, i jammed some blues and varied my attack. when i would dig in, the amp sagged and began to overdrive....when i would lighten up, the amp deliverd a glassy sound with a touch of hair. this is where i enjoyed it the most. the sucky part? it wasn't very loud. you definately could not gig this amp unless you were playing in a situation where the drummer used brushes and the bassist played stand-up bass.
finally, i tested it with a distortion pedal - a BBE AM64. at lower volumes (3-6) it worked well within the range that the pedal offers in regards to tone and levels of distortion. as the amp gets cranked, the pedal just ruins the sound. i am thinking that since the amp delivers a "vintage" sound, i may need to think vintage regarding a good pedal to throw in front when the amp is cranked. i am think a treble booster might do the job....but who knows!!
all-in-all, this is quite a pleasant amp to have. my main purpose was to have another in the studio - something that gave an authentic, cranked sound without brutalizing the ears - or hurting the diaphragm of an expensive condenser mic. in that regard this vibro champ gets the job done. if one was looking for a good all tube practice amp, this, too, would fit the bill.
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