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Fender Vibro champ

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  • #1

    Fender Vibro champ

    I picked up a fender vibro champ locally yesterday and so far realy like it.

    i guess it is a 1977, but one of the transformers dates to 1972..It is definitely newer than 1974 due to the type of grill cloth and logo.

    Anyway, all tubes are present, the 5y3 is a sylvania and one 12ax7 and 6v6 are original fender. the second 12ax7 has a pink "H" on it.

    i knew this amp would be quieter than a 50W marshall, but it is as quiet as my marshall lead 12.

    i basicaly got no breakup until I swapped in different 12Ax7 tubes, but it seems to break up only at 8 or 10 withut a pedal pushing it.


    i really think this is the ultimate home amp for clean to blues.

    BTW, the tremelo function does nothing, even though it looks 100% stock down to the speaker, speaker wire, and wall cord.

    I guess i will take the chassis out and look for some mods, or does it need the "vibro peda" for that to function?

    I don't think this amp could be heard over a drummer unless you mic it or play something light. Should it be that quiet? Its got the OLD horseshoe magnet 8" speaker and suonds surprisingly good, but I am kinda afraid to push that old guy.
    When you take a shower in space, you have to press the water onto your body to clean yourself, and then you gotta vacuum it off. - Ace Frehley
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  • #2
    sweet dude. Classic Fender amp. Nice score. good luck with it and go get it retubed. New life and crystal clear tone is in your future.

    Good luck with her

    Dan

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    • #3
      I have a 1969 Vibro Champ...The tremelo works without any pedals or clickies

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      • #4
        Why get it retubed if the old tubes are still good!?, just because they're old?, -all my '50's Mullards and Amperex's are in trouble! I'd way rather play good old USA's than new Sovtek or Chinese.
        I've got a regular '70s champ, I routinely run it into a 2x12 Marshall cab with V-30s, it sounds great!, and huge!
        I've heard that you must run a 4 ohm load or you'll smoke the tranny, but other guys have run those into 8ohm cabs with no damage. If it's similar to mine, it's got an phono/rca speaker jack? It's pretty easy to make up a wire for an extension cab, give that a try.

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        • #5
          It has RCA out for the speaker and I sold my 4X12 and turned around and bought this so i don't have a 4ohm cab to try.

          The only concerns I have is that I thought it would break up around "6" on the dial, the volume seems real low, and the tremelo doesn't seem to function, other than that, this baby is more than I expected.
          When you take a shower in space, you have to press the water onto your body to clean yourself, and then you gotta vacuum it off. - Ace Frehley

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          • #6
            Well, it is 6watts, it's hard to say how loud that should be.

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            • #7
              a silverface fender will not break up as easily as a blackface. the amp was designed to be clean. the break up that will occur is NOTHING like what we think of.....it gives very little distortion and minimal sustain.

              the vibrato will not work without the footswitch. some old fenders (50'- mid 60's) will work without the footswitch, but most won't. i have a 63 tremolux now and the vibrato didn't work until i got a footswitch. i had a 66 showman - same thing, then a 68 bandmaster - same thing.

              those amps were fender's "student" amps - like a solidstate frontman 15 these days. it will not get very loud.
              GEAR:

              some guitars...WITH STRINGS!!!! most of them have those sticks like on guitar hero....AWESOME!!!!

              some amps...they have some glowing bottle like things in them...i think my amps do that modelling thing....COOL, huh?!?!?!

              and finally....

              i have those little plastic "chips" used to hit the strings...WHOA!!!!

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              • #8
                I had a couple sf champs. They did break up around 5 or 6. They get pretty loud as well. I too have a lead 12, I *think* the champ was louder but never did a side by side.
                "Yes,..that's when they used to shove a red hot spike in your peehole until you screamed "yes, yes, godammit ..you fuggin' dicks..I'm a witch..I am witch..you cocksuckers"" horns666

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by jimbilly View Post
                  Why get it retubed if the old tubes are still good!?, just because they're old?, -all my '50's Mullards and Amperex's are in trouble! I'd way rather play good old USA's than new Sovtek or Chinese.
                  I've got a regular '70s champ, I routinely run it into a 2x12 Marshall cab with V-30s, it sounds great!, and huge!
                  I've heard that you must run a 4 ohm load or you'll smoke the tranny, but other guys have run those into 8ohm cabs with no damage. If it's similar to mine, it's got an phono/rca speaker jack? It's pretty easy to make up a wire for an extension cab, give that a try.

                  Because once the tubes go bad, not meaning not working, they lose tone. Try fresh tunes in any older tube amp running tubes and rediscover the sweet clarity and warmth the amp was designed for. All my life I owned tube amps(Except this one Peavey Banditt) and I always retubed my amps at least once a year or more. You can hear when the tubes start losing there abilities. Your tone gets mussy. Try it

                  Dan

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                  • #10
                    Your amp is broken. It cannot be repaired. I offer you $5.00 for it.

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by El_Kabong View Post
                      Your amp is broken. It cannot be repaired. I offer you $5.00 for it.
                      Dude, i know better, it's worth at least $11.50
                      When you take a shower in space, you have to press the water onto your body to clean yourself, and then you gotta vacuum it off. - Ace Frehley

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                      • #12
                        You should hear one with a Witchdoctor Preamp from Voodoo Amps....fun, fun, fun.

                        Mike
                        Sleep. The sound doesn't collapse to riffs of early eyes either.

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                        • #13
                          You should hear one with a Witchdoctor Preamp from Voodoo Amps....fun, fun, fun.

                          Glad to hear that you enjoyed it! We just released the 10 watt single ended (6V6) Witchdoctor combos (1x12" Vintage 30) so we are no longer installing the Witchdoctor circuit into the Vibro Champs but we can convert one to a JCM800 circuit or a hot-rodded JCM800 as well as several other things.



                          Have a great day
                          Trace

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                          • #14
                            Hey Trace! Loved the Witchdoctor modded Vibrochamp I got from you a few years ago - only bad thing was the stock speaker, which you've fixed by putting a real speaker in the combos. Great to see you here.

                            Pete

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                            • #15
                              Cool to see the VooDoo guy here

                              I already have a 4210 and a 4010 to go with the vibro champ. I'll definietely check out a voodoo amp next.
                              When you take a shower in space, you have to press the water onto your body to clean yourself, and then you gotta vacuum it off. - Ace Frehley

                              Comment

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