NAD Champ content...

ruralfrance

I love tweed amps but have been struggling to find the right one for me.  Started with a 5E3 ‘57 Deluxe reissue before ‘upgrading’ to a Lazy J.  Found it to be a very different beast, fantastic of course but a bit more refined and much too loud for me.  Flogged that and tried an EC Vibro Champ.  Cool home use amp but a bit boxy, didn’t see the point of the attenuator and didn’t use the trem.  I did love the simplicity and the tone though.  

Which brings me onto my new amp day.  It’s an amateur build off of eBay of a 5F1 tweed champ in a deluxe size mojotone cab and an Eminence Legend 1258 speaker.

Only had an hour with it tonight but it’s ticking lots of boxes.  Nothing to tweak and no need to either.  I can get plenty of different tones from the guitar and the circuit doesn’t feel dry at all so not missing the reverb.  Beautiful bell-like cleans and a perfect low gain overdrive.

Volume wise it’s perfect for home and recording and would just about keep up with a drummer when cranked.

The 12” speaker is definitely an improvement on the 8” in the Vibro Champ making the amp much more satisfying to play.

Lovely cabinet, my only gripe is that there is a gap between the back panel and the chasis.  Would welcome any comments about the wiring too.  

Pics here...
https://imgur.com/gallery/rgR1T

If I still feel the same way after the honeymoon period is over I may have to track down a Victoria 5112 to compare.

rexter

Looks really nice, good score!

Ive been ogling tweed champs lately, in a moment of madness thought of selling my silverface fenders for a swart tweed.

May build my own clone sometime this year if I have time. Bet this sounds really good with that 12”. My vibro champ sounds lovely when I run it through my Princeton Reverb cab which has a 12” WGS ET65 in it. Just wish it broke up a bit earlier, hence my tweed curiosity!

ICBM

A 5F1 with a 12" speaker is truly a great thing, far fuller-sounding and more versatile than the 8" speaker.

To fix the gap you just need to loosen the bolts holding the chassis to the cabinet and slide the chassis back a bit - the holes in the chassis have some play in them to allow for adjustment. You'll need to do it with the back off so make sure the amp is unplugged . It's usually best to undo the nuts rather than the bolts or you tend to chew the bolt heads up.

Sassafras

My kind of amp!

Lebarque

Love it, mate. A good snag off the bay. Paging @RiftAmps..

Modulus_Amps

That looks strangely familiar......

nice package in the oversized cab for sure

ruralfrance

Thanks @ICBM will give that a go tomorrow.

@Modulus_Amps Yep, the seller mentioned that it was one of your kits.  Quality stuff!

onlyatom

Looks fantastic, love the simplicity of it!

mistercharlie

I love my 8-inch Champ. I have a HOF sat permanently inside it for spring reverb. The best dirty sound for me is to crank it, but not too much, and then use a clean boost (I use a Deluxe Memory Man for the boost). This is way nicer than just letting the amp go wild, which is a bit too ragged for me. 

I have an attenuator in mine. 

murraypops

Any idea who builds cabinets for a 12" champ?

mistercharlie

rexter said:

Looks really nice, good score!

Ive been ogling tweed champs lately, in a moment of madness thought of selling my silverface fenders for a swart tweed.

May build my own clone sometime this year if I have time. Bet this sounds really good with that 12”. My vibro champ sounds lovely when I run it through my Princeton Reverb cab which has a 12” WGS ET65 in it. Just wish it broke up a bit earlier, hence my tweed curiosity!

Do you have trouble matching speaker impedance? I once tried to hook my Champ up to a Princeton with a 12-inch speaker and gave up because of the mismatch. 

munckee

mistercharlie said:

I love my 8-inch Champ. I have a HOF sat permanently inside it for spring reverb. The best dirty sound for me is to crank it, but not too much, and then use a clean boost (I use a Deluxe Memory Man for the boost). This is way nicer than just letting the amp go wild, which is a bit too ragged for me. 

I have an attenuator in mine. 

I have a modified champion 600 with a 5f1 switch, sounds brilliant with a boss fender 63 spring reverb pedal.  I don't notice the 6 inch speaker being an issue either, I want to change it for an alnico but I can only find 8ohm rather than 4ohm.

https://i.imgur.com/va1tvHU.jpg

Modulus_Amps

@murraypops said:

Any idea who builds cabinets for a 12" champ?

Contact me, or Chris Uff will do one too I am sure

rexter

mistercharlie said:

rexter said:

Looks really nice, good score!

Ive been ogling tweed champs lately, in a moment of madness thought of selling my silverface fenders for a swart tweed.

May build my own clone sometime this year if I have time. Bet this sounds really good with that 12”. My vibro champ sounds lovely when I run it through my Princeton Reverb cab which has a 12” WGS ET65 in it. Just wish it broke up a bit earlier, hence my tweed curiosity!

Do you have trouble matching speaker impedance? I once tried to hook my Champ up to a Princeton with a 12-inch speaker and gave up because of the mismatch. 

Seems Problem free as 4ohms going into an 8 ohm speaker. I don’t do it that often I guess. When I really deserve a treat I run the champ into my bandmaster/vibrolux 2x10 cab which is matched at 4ohms! Both sound so loud and full you can hardly believe it’s coming from a champ!

ICBM

rexter said:

Seems Problem free as 4ohms going into an 8 ohm speaker. I don’t do it that often I guess. When I really deserve a treat I run the champ into my bandmaster/vibrolux 2x10 cab which is matched at 4ohms! Both sound so loud and full you can hardly believe it’s coming from a champ!

No, it's not a good idea to run it at 8 ohms. Stock Champ transformers can blow when used into an 8-ohm speaker.

You need a transformer with a proper 8-ohm tap.

rexter

ICBM said:

rexter said:

Seems Problem free as 4ohms going into an 8 ohm speaker. I don’t do it that often I guess. When I really deserve a treat I run the champ into my bandmaster/vibrolux 2x10 cab which is matched at 4ohms! Both sound so loud and full you can hardly believe it’s coming from a champ!

No, it's not a good idea to run it at 8 ohms. Stock Champ transformers can blow when used into an 8-ohm speaker.

You need a transformer with a proper 8-ohm tap.

Yikes! Damn... sorry for spreading false advise, good job you’re here to correct idiots like me. I will stick to running it through the 4 ohm cab now. Cheers!

TBH what I’d really like for the champ is a super inefficient alnico speaker that breaks up early and still sounds good.

ruralfrance

ICBM said:

To fix the gap you just need to loosen the bolts holding the chassis to the cabinet and slide the chassis back a bit - the holes in the chassis have some play in them to allow for adjustment. You'll need to do it with the back off so make sure the amp is unplugged . It's usually best to undo the nuts rather than the bolts or you tend to chew the bolt heads up.

It worked!  Thanks @ICBM  I’m officially 100% happy with this amp now. 

Going to save up for a @Modulus_Amps Princeton next!