NAD: Fender Champ 600 Content

[TimmyPage]

So as some of you may have seen recently, I've been looking for an amp for gigging and whatnot as a graduation present..

..this is not it. I'm still looking for something for that, but no worries there will be a separate NAD when that time comes.

I was playing around in a store recently, testing out a few new guitars that I saw, plugging into some random amps. I saw this one and thought it looked kind of cool so I went to try it and was genuinely impressed by how good it sounded, then I saw they had it going for 180, which is in the perfect range for an impulse buy, and its going to make a great practice amp for plug and play while I'm at my computer. Maybe even some small gigs considering how good this sounds.



It has a really rich warm clean tone when set around 5 (of 12), which still retains a lot of note clarity with complex chords. It also has a bit of 'bounce' to it, harder to describe but it reacts very pleasantly when you dig into the notes without going into full overdrive. It does that rather pleasantly too, I've tried it up around 8 and 9 and it has a good growl to it for that early electric blues (and jazz, mind you) sound.

Going to be completely honest, when I first took it home and played my tele through it I was a little disappointed, it sounded relatively good but a bit anemic and thin. The high input helped, and volume helped but as much as I love my tele it all sounded a little 'eh'. Then I tried my strat with the cool rails in the neck and WOW, complete difference. Kind of like my ZT Lunchbox, the minimal (or non existent) tone controls mean that you can't really adjust for separate guitars, it either works or it doesn't. It sounds warm and rich and dynamic and wonderful with both my Godin 5th Avenue and Cool Rails Strat, but doesn't like my tele, I can live with that.

..then again I've never tried an amp that my cool rails strat didn't sound good with so that might just be a testament to the pickup.

Anyway, I'm running out of cheesy guitar player words for tone, and in the time it's taken me to write all this I've missed out on about 10 minutes of playing through that beauty so... ima get back to it. Its REALLY rare that I'm this excited about pieces of gear, usually I can overlook GAS or thinking about gear when I'm not playing.

(Addendum: If I end up turning this into a gigging amp, a lot of the overdrive I hear seems to be speaker overdrive, so I might invest in a higher headroom speaker to keep it cleaner at a higher volume. If I could get it to about 8 and still sound relatively clean it'd be absolutely PERFECT for some of the smaller dinner or reception gigs I do)

[the guy who invented fire]

Cool deal!

Those little things are a lot of fun.

Not sure there is a speaker that will do what you want but just let it be what it is...a 3 watt rock box!

[TimmyPage]

Not sure there is a speaker that will do what you want but just let it be what it is...a 3 watt rock box!

I sort of agree, I really like the sound of it as is but.. It's kind of like buying a beater guitar haha, you get something so cheap and you just want to play with it and mod it.

[Mr 9finger]

Believe it or not, I've wanted to try one of those for a long time, but have not been able to find one locally. I'm thinking about just ordering one. Like you said, it's the perfect price for an impulse purchase. If I don't like it, I'm sure someone here will take it!

There's a ton of mods out there for them, but you'll end up spending as much as you paid for the amp. The only mod I would do is change the speaker jack so you can run it through different cabs.

[jtougas]

I'm willing to bet your Tele would sound killer through it if you modded it for series...

[SirJackdeFuzz]

HAPPY NEW AMP DAY TO YOU . . .



. . . i wonder how that amp will sound cranked, with a Loar LH309 / and, or, Danelectro Pro/'59 . . . mmmmmmm !

[TimmyPage]

I ended up bringing it up to a practice session with a couple of other musicians I know. Now I absolutely love a clean tone, and usually dislike overdrive in a jazz setting but I found once it got loud enough to sit in with the horns in volume it actually sounded amazing. Still had a ton of clarity, it just gave chords a bit more 'chunk' than the solid state amps I'm used to, and the single note lines were really cool sounding; still kept quite clear and defined but actually cut through the mix a bit better than the regular jazz guitar lead tone.

Yeah its definitely a keeper, price or 'practice amp' label aside.

[SirJackdeFuzz]

I ended up bringing it up to a practice session with a couple of other musicians I know. Now I absolutely love a clean tone, and usually dislike overdrive in a jazz setting but I found once it got loud enough to sit in with the horns in volume it actually sounded amazing. Still had a ton of clarity, it just gave chords a bit more 'chunk' than the solid state amps I'm used to, and the single note lines were really cool sounding; still kept quite clear and defined but actually cut through the mix a bit better than the regular jazz guitar lead tone.

Yeah its definitely a keeper, price or 'practice amp' label aside.

MMmmmm . . . thanx for the new GAS mate !

[BRHGM]

It's a great lap steel amp and a decent harp amp. It sounds more like but not exactly a Champion 600 than the later Champs. I like it for what it does.

[Powdered Toast Man]

Congrats!

I admit I have demoed these things a few times at the store and I could not understand the hype. With some of the stuff I've read online you'd think these were some sort of holy grail amp, but my thoughts were, "meh."

[ImmortalSix]

Never heard any hype for them, I heard pretty much universal reviews of



I played one once. My impression was




But you are a jazz player and are likely looking for something completely different than what I (and most) are looking for!


It's like saying a sports car is bad at towing

[ratherdashing]

Never heard any hype for them, I heard pretty much universal reviews of



I played one once. My impression was




But you are a jazz player and are likely looking for something completely different than what I (and most) are looking for!


It's like saying a sports car is bad at towing

Agree with entire post. I would have never guessed it to be someone's dream amp, especially a jazz cat, but whatever. Enjoy it.

[BRHGM]

Definitely not the Holy Grail. I like the Rivera era Champs much better as guitar practice amps. No I'm not paying those prices or the high prices for silver and black face Champs.

[Powdered Toast Man]

Definitely not the Holy Grail. I like the Rivera era Champs much better as guitar practice amps. No I'm not paying those prices or the high prices for silver and black face Champs.

Yeah, $300 for a hand wired all tube amp is highway robbery.

[FuseG4]

Yeah, $300 for a hand wired all tube amp is highway robbery.

yup, late 60's/early 70s vibro champs are the world's biggest rip off

[ItsaBass]

Congrats on the N.A.D. Please post if you do any modifications. I'm curious what new tubes and a different speaker would do for it.

I did a thread on the Champ 600 a while back: http://www.seymourduncan.com/forum/s...t=champion+600. They were going for $120 at the time, but I ended up getting my old practice amp fixed instead.

[TimmyPage]

Never heard any hype for them, I heard pretty much universal reviews of

But lets be fair, most of the people who have been reviewing this amp complain that the tone circuit that's put in it is very flat sounding and doesn't allow it to overdrive like a real champ would have, and most of them who are looking into the amp are actually looking for an early blues kind of thing, or a Clapton kind of thing.

Meanwhile what I like in an amp is that it sounds flat and neutral sounding, and that it doesn't overdrive too quickly. I wouldn't call it my dream amp by any means but for home practice and taking out to practice with people it's amazing.

Also jazz players tend to roll the tone knob way down anyway so all that really matters anyway is that the amp has clear highs and not too much bass (otherwise with the tone knob down it becomes overpowering).