Man, really impressive not only in terms of your knowledge on display, but in the end result coming out sounding like such a fuller meatier sound. Subscribed 👍🏽
Guitar Center had a used Champion 600 that I got for $120 because it had a sound that was WAY better than the one I owed a few years prior. When I got home, I realized it was gutted, replace with a hand-wired circuit and had a slightly bigger Jenson. The Guitar Center assumed it was the stock version. I eventually sold it to a guy begging me for it at about 3x the price I paid for it 😂.
Great vid, and the best explanation on how to calculate cathode bias that I've seen - and I've watched hundreds of amp building videos in the last year. Thank you!
My girlfriend gave me a champion to fix i put a ross speaker in it but its not getting power tube out. Good video need parts cant wait to play it .Didnt realize amp that old.Thanks Amanda 💘 Michael 🎸 Guitar Wizard.
I just did this and man, it nails the Layla tone. Thank you for making this video. I did do one deviation from your mod. The negative feedback resistor r7 I hooked up to a 5k resistor and a 50k pot hidden under my amp. So I can dial that on the fly. Uncle Doug demos what that does in one of his videos. I can change the gain.
My man, I have to leave a comment and thank you for making such a solid video. Very easy to follow and execute, and I now have an amp that’s been collecting dust for years transformed into my go-to. This mod is a must! Highly recommend pairing with an Eminence 620h (worth the money, I promise).
New subscriber and I will be binging away the rest of my afternoon! Excellent, easy to understand narration and ass-kicking guitar-playing.... right on!
Cool video. Sound isn't bad. I would change the low pass filter just a bit. The bass is flabby no doubt part of that is effected by the speaker. The other mod would have been putting a Potentiometer in the negative feed back circuit to adjust and finetune the gain and distortion. It would give just a little more control to your clipping then just attenuation of guitar signal. Very cool
G'day. About to build a mojotone champ clone (5f1) and checking out all sorts of vids. Was watching this one and wondering what a fender champion 600 was when you explained it, then got the 'thanks for clearing that up mate' message haha. Earned you a sub.
THANKS A LOT FOR THIS VIDEO. I have a gretsch G5222 wich is the exact same circuit. I made everything but touching the power section. Man, this amp really rocks now.
Excellent video! I just bought a Champion 600 with the tone stack removed. I have two questions if you have a moment. First, do the modifications beyond removal of the tone stack make much more difference, and secondly, the amp is great with single coil pickups but pretty poor with humbuckers. Do you have any suggestions for fixing that? Thanks!
Well, humbuckers in combination with a dark sounding amp can always be a little muddy. If you dedicate to this amp, you can lower the tone cap's value to .01 but I'd just go with it. By overdriving it a little it, it also opens up of course. Gr,
I hope you still check comments! I happen to have 3 Mallory .022uF caps sitting around... all the text is the same except yours says "DR" mine say "FM"... do you if they are the same?
Let's check this comment! If you make sure these are audio caps (and not electrolytic ones!) and capable of handling the voltage it should be ok. Cheers
Nice one Aldo. Very instructive video and some great and very tasteful playing there too. How much do you think that the solid state rectifier and pcb (as opposed to hand wired) layout affects the sound?
Well, the SS rectifier makes for a little more headroom and less early breakup but you can correct that with the optional bias resistor modification. Handwired is always cooler ;) But involves stripping the lot and building a new amp. It might sound better, but only if you get it absolutely right. Regards,
PCB board unit is probably quite a bit less hum and noise, so the tone self should be the same just less noise in the PCB board compared to hand wired.
First off: friggin great video. To the point, clear visuals, I love it! You caused me a problem though: this little champ is the only practise amp I got at the moment that won't piss off people close to me (both literally, as in neighbours, and... well, my girlfriend). And I like the blackface tonestack. But I also adore the Champ crunch though. The Layla album, a whole boatload of Stones songs, they all were clearly recorded on champs that have this kinda ugly, in your face, crunch. Now, my current champ 600 doesn't overdrive at all. Maybe at 11 it will rattle a bit, and for at home practise I love the cleans. I just wish I had a dirty champ as well. So long question short: will these mods make my Champ overdrive earlier?
You should have bent the leads of R12 to match the replacement. The resistor needs to dissipate heat and needs air circulation around it to prevent overheating. Your work seems good, not sure why you missed that
Hi Nick, thanks mate! I can pass you an overview of the steps in the process, further there's no real schematic of this mod except the original 5F1 schematic, and that of the C600 online. Regards,
Greetings from South Bend, In. just got one off e bay last night {175.00} cant wait to play with it! First thing is getting the sound dampening material and speaker replaced. The rest I,ll leave stock , I,m 67 and have one good ear. Question, why do they say these amps are not humbucker friendly?
Well, I suppose they are as hum bucker friendly as any amp depending on how you like your sound. Dirty amps with less tight low end are considered less hum bucker friendly and do tend to mud up in the low mids. To another one's ear, this can be charming.
Ciao Aldo. Che bello! Ho un amico tecnico che mi farà le modifiche. Do you speak Italian too? Translation: Hi Aldo. Wonderful! A friend of mine are at work for this mods.Thank you.
Hi Aldo. Great video. Does it matter whether 60hz ( North America) vs Europe 50hz regarding the capacitors and this Mod? Also, draining the voltage and Pin 1? What is the reference number on the circuit board? Is it C3?
Ciao Sheldon! Capacitorwise you should be fine! US and EU makes a difference in power transformers. Inside the amp, the voltages are the same. Draining the filter capacitors as a safety measure is done basically by shorting the positive of the caps to ground, with a big (1kish) resistor to eliminate sparks. The pin1 method makes it go slow to protect the components. It hasn't got a number on the board but it's the 1st left of the open space on the socket. Regards,
I'm thinking of buying one with the tone stack already removed. I have no electronics skills. How close will it get to your final product with just the tone stack removed?
Great vid and thank you for all these informations! I have done the mod following your vid step by step but i ended up with the amp sounding a lot brighter, i expected the opposite. Could i have done something wrong? The overdrive sounds the same as in your vid instead. I didn t have a 1.5k resistor so i used a 1k which i had. I also used a 27k instead of a 22k for the same reason in the negative feedback, i will replace those as soon as i get the proper value resistors.
Hi Mik, it should end up slightly darker and warmer. Maybe first the exact component values and see what it does. That 1,5k is critical cause it biases the V1 tube. Less value is colder bias, so more headroom on V1, but perhaps a brighter sound, more evened out harmonics etc.
Great video. I just finished the mod you posted on your blog, with the 0.1uf cap between C1 & R21, and the 1k, 2w resistor in R10. I like what it did, but now this looks even more interesting. What difference might I expect between the two? I have two Champion 600s, one is stock, but in a 1X12 cab with a 1950s Jensen P12. Thinking this might be the way to go with the one with the 1x12 cab.
Hi Jeffrey! Thanks for the message. Well, with R10 upped to 1K, the bias is lowered. I did this before indeed, as stated on my earlier blog. It does cool down the amp a bit and makes it breakup even earlier, perhaps smooths the drive a bit and also increases the fuzz to be found. After some experimenting I did find the standard value to work out a bit better to give the amp a little more punch and 'clean' to work with though. The mod in this video basically brings it as much to 5F1 as it can, but with SS rectification and the otherwise stock elements. Personally I'd wish to do a project on actually stripping it down and rebuild a true PtP amp in the future! Regards,
@@AldoSpadaroOfficial Thank you for the response. I just completed this mod today, and I like it very much. Thank you for creating this helpful video - it was easy to follow and very informative. I kept the chassis in the original cabinet, and am running through a Weber Signature 6 ceramic speaker. I replaced the grille cloth with something that breathes more, and re-tubed with an RCA 12AX7, and a Raytheon 6v6GT. The amp sounds rich with a Telecaster. Regards, Jeff
Great Video, and super informative, however I've done this exactly per instructions and double checked and triple checked yet now the amp is SUPPPEERR quiet, Any pointers as to what I could check?
do you think i can adjust somewhere on the negative feedback resistor ? i heard that could play a role on the tone ? i saw a man called uncle doug introducing people on knowledges about valve amp with an example on a 5F1 ? 🤔 thanks th-cam.com/video/PtoPma2-N1I/w-d-xo.htmlsi=azRoDDbCoWOV_kwM
Hi Aldo , thank you for taking the time to do this video . what voltage is the capacitor ? I’m in the uk & it’s difficult getting a Mallory cap as you suggested .. could I use like an orange cap or a paper in oil cap?
Aldo Spadaro thanks for your response , I have now performed the surgery on my amp & im very happy with the results , thanks again for your explanation... it really does come alive now doesn’t it
Hi John, maybe next time when there's another example pre-mod I could make something like that. But yeah, it's such a different amp by sound design after that you compare a tweed era amp to a silverface one.
Gran bel video; purtroppo ho una domanda da farti: in molti forum dicono che rischio di friggere l’amplificatore se metto un jumper wire a r3 e r26(come invece fai tu nel video). È un rischio fondato? Anche perchè mentre iniziavo rimuovere r3/r14/r22/r21/r20 etc l’ampli si è ammutolito (niente ronzii/hum/hiss etc. Quindi mi sento un po’ in alto mare😓
Ciao Alessandro, don't worry about the risk as long as you follow the instructions. The 0,022uf condenser jumper bypasses the tonestack. The other jumpers just mute the components and replaces them by 'wire'. You can also just start with the tone-stack bypass (the 0,022uf condenser jumper) and already enjoy the beneficial impact on the sound. More easy to reverse as well. Mi raccomando e buona fortuna!
Hi, man. 6 Inch can sound fat in general, if you can manage to tame the speaker drive a bit. Proper mic setup, amp dialed in at sweet spot. The speaker itself isn't really up to spec, an upgrade sounds even better.
Hi Aldo! I’m excited to try this out, thank you for sharing! Regarding the Mallory 150S 0.022 μF cap, does the voltage matter? I just ordered a 630V, but I’ve also seen 250V. Does this make a difference, or can I use either? Thank you.
Thnx for the great video! When searching for the 0,022uF Mallory 150's tonecap i came upon different voltages types. @ 630 V and @ 250 V. Which one is best suited for this mod? Thanx!
Could you post a schematic for the mods you did? I could probably draw one out myself if I spent hours going step-by step through the vid but if you happen to have one ready to go it would be great.
Thanks so much for the informative and in depth instructions for this mod. I just picked up one of these on eBay and am considering doing the same to mine, but before I do I wanted to ask... after the mod can you still get nice clear clean tones with the volume down around 4 on the amp (even using the neck pickup)? Cheers!
Hey Aldo! before i start with the modification, i have a audible hum. Shall i take care of this before or ? Do you have a idea to get rid of the hum? Andreas
Andreas , I also had a bit of a hum especially on high volume before I performed this modification , but after doing this mod it significantly reduced the hum.
i have my amp open right now. could someone explain what's going on after R25, 8:32 please. the time lapse didn't help and neither did the hands in the way. is that another jumper at R26?
Re: Cathode bypass caps (C3 and C10). Which configuration will give the most clean at higher volume position? I want it as clean as possible. (for others maybe they want gain or overdrive sooner maybe they will try opposite configuration).
I did these mods plus used a NOS tubes & changed cloth,sounds a lo tmore useable now! Thanks. Tell me,would it be possible to have the tone stack so that you could switch it in & out?
@@sharonlee4773 Yes. This mod is probably the most noticable. That way you'll have a blackface/silverface champ response without the tone-stack. Already a cool style amp. Cheers
Yep, agree...the modded amp has more volume but less headroom in the sense of clean. The stock speaker doesn't allow any loud cleans anyway. An eminence 620 does. Cheers!
@@AldoSpadaroOfficial Hello, thanks for the info. As I can see, the eminence has a sensitivity of 94.6 dB. Do you know if ther is any other brand that builds a 6''' speaker with more or equal sensitivity? I don't really like eminence... :(
@@AldoSpadaroOfficial Ok. Great. I noticed you had an earlier mod for this amp that only consisted of two parts. A new C10 value and the cap. What is the difference in tone between the two mods?
@@timguest3474 The fist mod was basically only bypassing the tone stock. This is effective and will get you that fat dark sound. But the full mod makes it respond better and more dynamic. Anyway, in the nearby feature I'm going to go full PtP on it. Will make a video for that as well. Cheers!
Mate, why wouldn't you just remove the screws holding the PCB down and desolder/solder everything from the bottom like normal? Seems like a shortcut to top solder, yet i guarantee most people would find it faster to do everything underneath the board. Also, top soldering is so dangerous for amateurs that may try this.
Ciao Henry, it is. The difference between UK and EU would just be the plug. In US you'd have 110v but only a different transformer, or maybe even only a different tap from it. Not such a thing as an ignorant question. Best of luck! Gr,
Haha, no man. :) That would be great though. The tube is rated at 14w max so it's biassed to give what it can. The tiny output trafo and single tube class A situation won't let this amp put out more then 5.
Yep, will do that on another one. Just rebuild a proper 5F1 amp in the little chassis. However, with this 5 euro/dollar mod it's pretty good for what it is. I use this amp very often and it really sounds great with a eminence 620H.
Ciao RBC, good question! Actually eq-ing of the circuitry isn't really possible anymore. The treble definitely comes back with volume but with low volume settings it's just a bit dark. You could try opening it up with overdrives with tone control or treble boosters perhaps. Best of both worlds is make the tone stack removal switchable so you could bring it back depending on the guitar choice etc. Gr,
@@AldoSpadaroOfficial How about switching the C3 cap? I love your Telecaster tone with the stock 22uf cap, OTOH the LP tone is not that great. Maybe adding a 1uf or 0.68uf cap with an on-off-on switch?
@@Juan-ve7vy Ciao Juan, I agree, man. The amp didn't handle the switch to LP with equal volume settings very well. Very cloudy and not a defined lower range overdriven. I might try a switchable value there, thanks! Do think the weakness was the speaker though. This was a client's amp, but I have a similar one with a eminence 620H. That translates it all so much better. Can recommend it.
You can check the full track, watermarked. If you decide to buy the item, you can actually use it yourself. I'm glad if this music pleases you, so thanks for being interested, gr
Hi. A C600 with tube rectification simply isn't worth the effort. In order to have tube rectification, you would need a different power transformer (to have 5v fillaments), and cutting out a new socket, and building a circuit to hook it up to the crappy pcb. Not possible with the given materials in the amp. For that step it would be best to strip all of the whole amp, and build a new point to point amp with both good quality transformers, sockets, tubes, components, jack inputs, light and speaker. Just everything, but that'll also cost as much as far as you want to go. This mod video was just about hacking the existing cheap pcb circuit to make it sound good for a few cents. A bias correction can help to cool it down closer to 5y3 specs. (Although you could also run a tube rectified champ with a solid state rectifier to actually reduce sag, if someone likes that type of feel). gr,
Happy soldering time...
Man, really impressive not only in terms of your knowledge on display, but in the end result coming out sounding like such a fuller meatier sound. Subscribed 👍🏽
Guitar Center had a used Champion 600 that I got for $120 because it had a sound that was WAY better than the one I owed a few years prior. When I got home, I realized it was gutted, replace with a hand-wired circuit and had a slightly bigger Jenson. The Guitar Center assumed it was the stock version. I eventually sold it to a guy begging me for it at about 3x the price I paid for it 😂.
That sounds amazing! Great playing too
I made this mod. Very happy with the result. Thank you 😊
Now here's someone who knows his craft.. Great job here Aldo!
Great vid, and the best explanation on how to calculate cathode bias that I've seen - and I've watched hundreds of amp building videos in the last year. Thank you!
My girlfriend gave me a champion to fix i put a ross speaker in it but its not getting power tube out. Good video need parts cant wait to play it .Didnt realize amp that old.Thanks Amanda 💘 Michael 🎸 Guitar Wizard.
I bought a Champ 600 about 10 years ago, and put the Mercury Magnetics 5F1 kit in it. I plug it into a Weber 12” cabinet & turn it up- sounds great!
I just did this and man, it nails the Layla tone. Thank you for making this video. I did do one deviation from your mod. The negative feedback resistor r7 I hooked up to a 5k resistor and a 50k pot hidden under my amp. So I can dial that on the fly. Uncle Doug demos what that does in one of his videos. I can change the gain.
Ààn9
Excellent job with the video editing. The before and after shots really put the changes in perspective.
Thanks a lot!
Wow. So cool. Time to warm up the soldering iron!
My man, I have to leave a comment and thank you for making such a solid video. Very easy to follow and execute, and I now have an amp that’s been collecting dust for years transformed into my go-to. This mod is a must! Highly recommend pairing with an Eminence 620h (worth the money, I promise).
Thanks! My own has the 620h, very thankful speaker for this amp. Bit dark but the drive isn't scratchy, while it's a 6". Cheers!
@DexterMorgan71 12at7 has more clean headroom, and 12av7 or 12ay7 even more. So could be those. Gr,
Congrats - this is an excellent mod demo of this little jem - the sound - especially the first minute of the demo - is just eye wateringly good 🎶❤️
New subscriber and I will be binging away the rest of my afternoon! Excellent, easy to understand narration and ass-kicking guitar-playing.... right on!
Excellent! Very helpful and very clear to understand.Thanks Aldo.
I vote for an A/B as it will be valuable to the community. So many champ mods. So little time
Hi! Will keep that in mind, maybe I'd even try to build a PtP 5F1 amp in the future and see how that A/B's.
Cool video. Sound isn't bad. I would change the low pass filter just a bit. The bass is flabby no doubt part of that is effected by the speaker. The other mod would have been putting a Potentiometer in the negative feed back circuit to adjust and finetune the gain and distortion. It would give just a little more control to your clipping then just attenuation of guitar signal. Very cool
This video is really good! It would be nice if you showed the before and after of the changes...but thanks anyway!
great video, took me about an hour and the mod definitely was worth the time and few $ in parts. highly recommend
14:10 lovely playing and a great video.
Well, looks like I found my next project... Sounds amazing!
That was a true pleasure!
G'day. About to build a mojotone champ clone (5f1) and checking out all sorts of vids. Was watching this one and wondering what a fender champion 600 was when you explained it, then got the 'thanks for clearing that up mate' message haha. Earned you a sub.
Hey Aldo! Excellent work! A great documentation - and great playing and sounds! Thank you very much!
Video of THE YEAR !!!
sounds great!
nice job and thanks for the tutorial!
Killer tone my friend
Very cool and great playing by the way
Excellent. I may try this. Thanks!
THANKS A LOT FOR THIS VIDEO. I have a gretsch G5222 wich is the exact same circuit. I made everything but touching the power section. Man, this amp really rocks now.
Holy shiiiit...great video n demo. Sounds incredible
Wow!Thank you!
Wow! Great video! Many thanks. I will buy one and try
Nice and instructive video, thnx a lot!
Thanks!! I might go out and get one now!
Excellent video! I just bought a Champion 600 with the tone stack removed. I have two questions if you have a moment. First, do the modifications beyond removal of the tone stack make much more difference, and secondly, the amp is great with single coil pickups but pretty poor with humbuckers. Do you have any suggestions for fixing that?
Thanks!
Well, humbuckers in combination with a dark sounding amp can always be a little muddy. If you dedicate to this amp, you can lower the tone cap's value to .01 but I'd just go with it. By overdriving it a little it, it also opens up of course. Gr,
@@AldoSpadaroOfficial Thanks. I've no reliable soldering skill or experience. Some have suggested an EQ pedal.
Sounds great!
Excellent. Thank you for this information.
Could you please make a video of removing/replacing the volume pot on this amp? Thanks!
I hope you still check comments! I happen to have 3 Mallory .022uF caps sitting around... all the text is the same except yours says "DR" mine say "FM"... do you if they are the same?
Let's check this comment! If you make sure these are audio caps (and not electrolytic ones!) and capable of handling the voltage it should be ok. Cheers
I put an 8 in Weber and birch baffle along with Tung Sol tubes. Improved. Needs reverb.
nice! thanksss
Nice one Aldo. Very instructive video and some great and very tasteful playing there too. How much do you think that the solid state rectifier and pcb (as opposed to hand wired) layout affects the sound?
Well, the SS rectifier makes for a little more headroom and less early breakup but you can correct that with the optional bias resistor modification. Handwired is always cooler ;) But involves stripping the lot and building a new amp. It might sound better, but only if you get it absolutely right. Regards,
PCB board unit is probably quite a bit less hum and noise, so the tone self should be the same just less noise in the PCB board compared to hand wired.
First off: friggin great video. To the point, clear visuals, I love it!
You caused me a problem though: this little champ is the only practise amp I got at the moment that won't piss off people close to me (both literally, as in neighbours, and... well, my girlfriend).
And I like the blackface tonestack. But I also adore the Champ crunch though. The Layla album, a whole boatload of Stones songs, they all were clearly recorded on champs that have this kinda ugly, in your face, crunch. Now, my current champ 600 doesn't overdrive at all. Maybe at 11 it will rattle a bit, and for at home practise I love the cleans. I just wish I had a dirty champ as well.
So long question short: will these mods make my Champ overdrive earlier?
Great mod!!
Very informative video! If you don't mind me asking. Are you from the Netherlands?
Yes ;)
top tech. top player
Very kind. Thanks so much, Javy
You should have bent the leads of R12 to match the replacement. The resistor needs to dissipate heat and needs air circulation around it to prevent overheating. Your work seems good, not sure why you missed that
Very nice
I hand made a champ out of old parts boy it’s loud for 3 tubes
I’m currently making a 6l6 version and a el-84 and a 807 tube
Cool!
i like it,you de man ive just seen one for £200 i hope they still got it,
Great video. Thanks for putting it together. Do you have any sketches/ schematics f this you’d be willing to share. Cheers
Hi Nick, thanks mate! I can pass you an overview of the steps in the process, further there's no real schematic of this mod except the original 5F1 schematic, and that of the C600 online. Regards,
Greetings from South Bend, In. just got one off e bay last night {175.00} cant wait to play with it! First thing is getting the sound dampening material and speaker replaced. The rest I,ll leave stock , I,m 67 and have one good ear. Question, why do they say these amps are not humbucker friendly?
Well, I suppose they are as hum bucker friendly as any amp depending on how you like your sound. Dirty amps with less tight low end are considered less hum bucker friendly and do tend to mud up in the low mids. To another one's ear, this can be charming.
makes sense. My wifes grandmother came from Netherlands, her name was Anna yerge. thanks again.
Ciao Aldo. Che bello! Ho un amico tecnico che mi farà le modifiche. Do you speak Italian too? Translation: Hi Aldo. Wonderful! A friend of mine are at work for this mods.Thank you.
Hi Aldo. Great video. Does it matter whether 60hz ( North America) vs Europe 50hz regarding the capacitors and this Mod? Also, draining the voltage and Pin 1? What is the reference number on the circuit board? Is it C3?
Ciao Sheldon! Capacitorwise you should be fine! US and EU makes a difference in power transformers. Inside the amp, the voltages are the same. Draining the filter capacitors as a safety measure is done basically by shorting the positive of the caps to ground, with a big (1kish) resistor to eliminate sparks. The pin1 method makes it go slow to protect the components. It hasn't got a number on the board but it's the 1st left of the open space on the socket. Regards,
I'm thinking of buying one with the tone stack already removed. I have no electronics skills. How close will it get to your final product with just the tone stack removed?
Close! The tonestack bypass is the most dramatic of the process. Gr,
Incredible top
Wow amazing
Great vid and thank you for all these informations!
I have done the mod following your vid step by step but i ended up with the amp sounding a lot brighter, i expected the opposite. Could i have done something wrong? The overdrive sounds the same as in your vid instead. I didn t have a 1.5k resistor so i used a 1k which i had. I also used a 27k instead of a 22k for the same reason in the negative feedback, i will replace those as soon as i get the proper value resistors.
Hi Mik, it should end up slightly darker and warmer. Maybe first the exact component values and see what it does. That 1,5k is critical cause it biases the V1 tube. Less value is colder bias, so more headroom on V1, but perhaps a brighter sound, more evened out harmonics etc.
Great video. I just finished the mod you posted on your blog, with the 0.1uf cap between C1 & R21, and the 1k, 2w resistor in R10. I like what it did, but now this looks even more interesting. What difference might I expect between the two? I have two Champion 600s, one is stock, but in a 1X12 cab with a 1950s Jensen P12. Thinking this might be the way to go with the one with the 1x12 cab.
Hi Jeffrey! Thanks for the message. Well, with R10 upped to 1K, the bias is lowered. I did this before indeed, as stated on my earlier blog. It does cool down the amp a bit and makes it breakup even earlier, perhaps smooths the drive a bit and also increases the fuzz to be found. After some experimenting I did find the standard value to work out a bit better to give the amp a little more punch and 'clean' to work with though. The mod in this video basically brings it as much to 5F1 as it can, but with SS rectification and the otherwise stock elements. Personally I'd wish to do a project on actually stripping it down and rebuild a true PtP amp in the future! Regards,
@@AldoSpadaroOfficial Thank you for the response. I just completed this mod today, and I like it very much. Thank you for creating this helpful video - it was easy to follow and very informative.
I kept the chassis in the original cabinet, and am running through a Weber Signature 6 ceramic speaker. I replaced the grille cloth with something that breathes more, and re-tubed with an RCA 12AX7, and a Raytheon 6v6GT. The amp sounds rich with a Telecaster. Regards, Jeff
@@jeffreywinter2450 Thanks, good stuff, man!
Great Video, and super informative, however I've done this exactly per instructions and double checked and triple checked yet now the amp is SUPPPEERR quiet, Any pointers as to what I could check?
Hi Peter, first check if tubes tight up, if voltages are in check etc. Maybe a connection didn't make it. If there's no headroom, bias could be off.
i think it sounds bassier than stock after these mods 😮, any idea on that ? thanks
It may sound a bit darker but if you feel it's too bassy for the speaker you could reduce the value of the coupling cap. 0.02 to 0.01 perhaps. Gr,
@@AldoSpadaroOfficialok i will try this 😊 thank you i'll let you know
do you think i can adjust somewhere on the negative feedback resistor ? i heard that could play a role on the tone ? i saw a man called uncle doug introducing people on knowledges about valve amp with an example on a 5F1 ? 🤔 thanks
th-cam.com/video/PtoPma2-N1I/w-d-xo.htmlsi=azRoDDbCoWOV_kwM
Hi Aldo , thank you for taking the time to do this video . what voltage is the capacitor ? I’m in the uk & it’s difficult getting a Mallory cap as you suggested .. could I use like an orange cap or a paper in oil cap?
The cap is a 600v rating but it never sees anything close to that voltage. Standard orange cap will do just fine. Cheers!
Aldo Spadaro thanks for your response , I have now performed the surgery on my amp & im very happy with the results , thanks again for your explanation... it really does come alive now doesn’t it
hi, do you have a before and after comparison? thanks
Hi John, maybe next time when there's another example pre-mod I could make something like that. But yeah, it's such a different amp by sound design after that you compare a tweed era amp to a silverface one.
hI i just bought one , and surely , im going to mode it like you :-),
Gran bel video; purtroppo ho una domanda da farti: in molti forum dicono che rischio di friggere l’amplificatore se metto un jumper wire a r3 e r26(come invece fai tu nel video). È un rischio fondato?
Anche perchè mentre iniziavo rimuovere r3/r14/r22/r21/r20 etc l’ampli si è ammutolito (niente ronzii/hum/hiss etc. Quindi mi sento un po’ in alto mare😓
Ciao Alessandro, don't worry about the risk as long as you follow the instructions. The 0,022uf condenser jumper bypasses the tonestack. The other jumpers just mute the components and replaces them by 'wire'. You can also just start with the tone-stack bypass (the 0,022uf condenser jumper) and already enjoy the beneficial impact on the sound. More easy to reverse as well. Mi raccomando e buona fortuna!
how in the hell do you get that 6 inch speaker to sound so warm? is that all just from the modding in this video?
Hi, man. 6 Inch can sound fat in general, if you can manage to tame the speaker drive a bit. Proper mic setup, amp dialed in at sweet spot. The speaker itself isn't really up to spec, an upgrade sounds even better.
Genious !
Hi Aldo! I’m excited to try this out, thank you for sharing! Regarding the Mallory 150S 0.022 μF cap, does the voltage matter? I just ordered a 630V, but I’ve also seen 250V. Does this make a difference, or can I use either? Thank you.
Sorry, I should have read the other comments first. I see now that 630V is fine. Thank you again!
Thnx for the great video! When searching for the 0,022uF Mallory 150's tonecap i came upon different voltages types. @ 630 V and @ 250 V. Which one is best suited for this mod? Thanx!
The 630v is the standard one. Though it doesn't see super high voltage, the bigger the physical cap, the better usually.
Aldo Spadaro Thnx!
Could you post a schematic for the mods you did? I could probably draw one out myself if I spent hours going step-by step through the vid but if you happen to have one ready to go it would be great.
If I mess it up, do you think Fender would cover it under warranty?😮
Haha, no. But that would be great! Buy a car, change out the engine and transmission and if that breaks, let them cover the costs. Cool businessmodel!
@@AldoSpadaroOfficial I've done that so they made me the used car manager. Boy, we're they ever sorry. God Bless you brother.
Thanks so much for the informative and in depth instructions for this mod. I just picked up one of these on eBay and am considering doing the same to mine, but before I do I wanted to ask... after the mod can you still get nice clear clean tones with the volume down around 4 on the amp (even using the neck pickup)? Cheers!
Well, honestly the amp is going to sound darker, but it'll still be possible.
Hi Aldo please could you tell me if doing this mods will add some humming to the sound? Thank you.
Ciao, it won't create noise issues. It might even improve noise floor. Make sure to do the work tidy though. Good luck, gr,
@@AldoSpadaroOfficial Thank you.
Hey Aldo! before i start with the modification, i have a audible hum.
Shall i take care of this before or ?
Do you have a idea to get rid of the hum?
Andreas
Andreas , I also had a bit of a hum especially on high volume before I performed this modification , but after doing this mod it significantly reduced the hum.
i have my amp open right now. could someone explain what's going on after R25, 8:32 please.
the time lapse didn't help and neither did the hands in the way. is that another jumper at R26?
R26 is jumpered. Sorry to let you have the amp open for 4 months, hopefully you're alive and well. ;) Regards,
The break up sounds way more controlled and less harsh
Cool,
...thanx
Re: Cathode bypass caps (C3 and C10). Which configuration will give the most clean at higher volume position? I want it as clean as possible. (for others maybe they want gain or overdrive sooner maybe they will try opposite configuration).
Hi dude, well hard question. The amp is going to be way less clean already by tonestack removal. Leaving c3 in is a bit cleaner then both out though.
@@AldoSpadaroOfficial Thanks for the reply! I got a tone stack switch so i may leave in and keep that option and do some of the other mods! Cheers
I did these mods plus used a NOS tubes & changed cloth,sounds a lo tmore useable now! Thanks. Tell me,would it be possible to have the tone stack so that you could switch it in & out?
Yeah, I recon you could leave the tonestack components in place and make bridging the tonestack with the cap switchable.
@@AldoSpadaroOfficial Thats great Aldo thanks! So just have one leg of the 0.022 cap on a switch & leave the rest?
@@sharonlee4773 Yes. This mod is probably the most noticable. That way you'll have a blackface/silverface champ response without the tone-stack. Already a cool style amp. Cheers
@@AldoSpadaroOfficial Thanks v much Aldo Sx
Does the modded amp has more overall volume, or headroom? It's a pitty you didn't do a before/after comparison!
Yep, agree...the modded amp has more volume but less headroom in the sense of clean. The stock speaker doesn't allow any loud cleans anyway. An eminence 620 does. Cheers!
@@AldoSpadaroOfficial Hello, thanks for the info. As I can see, the eminence has a sensitivity of 94.6 dB. Do you know if ther is any other brand that builds a 6''' speaker with more or equal sensitivity? I don't really like eminence... :(
Is there a name for this mod or others doing same thing?
Can you use any wire as jumper wire? Like the same wire used to wire a guitar?
Yes, but since the jumping distance is as short as possible, cutting bare wire is easier then vintage cloth style such as in guitar etc.
@@AldoSpadaroOfficial Ok. Great. I noticed you had an earlier mod for this amp that only consisted of two parts. A new C10 value and the cap. What is the difference in tone between the two mods?
@@timguest3474 The fist mod was basically only bypassing the tone stock. This is effective and will get you that fat dark sound. But the full mod makes it respond better and more dynamic. Anyway, in the nearby feature I'm going to go full PtP on it. Will make a video for that as well. Cheers!
Mate, why wouldn't you just remove the screws holding the PCB down and desolder/solder everything from the bottom like normal? Seems like a shortcut to top solder, yet i guarantee most people would find it faster to do everything underneath the board. Also, top soldering is so dangerous for amateurs that may try this.
DUDE!
Hello
Hi Aldo, sorry for the ignorant question! Would this mod be the same for the Uk ones? Don’t know what the difference would be!
Ciao Henry, it is. The difference between UK and EU would just be the plug. In US you'd have 110v but only a different transformer, or maybe even only a different tap from it. Not such a thing as an ignorant question. Best of luck! Gr,
@@AldoSpadaroOfficial Hey Aldo, thank you for the quick and helpful reply! this is an amazingly in depth video and really insightful! subscribed :D
I could never do this myself. I would pay or give gear or just play awesome intermediate guitar
12-14 watts after mod ??? :o
Haha, no man. :) That would be great though. The tube is rated at 14w max so it's biassed to give what it can. The tiny output trafo and single tube class A situation won't let this amp put out more then 5.
@@AldoSpadaroOfficial got ya !!! Lol
Why not just convert it to point to point, like Uncle Doug does? Get the socket off the pwb etc
Yep, will do that on another one. Just rebuild a proper 5F1 amp in the little chassis. However, with this 5 euro/dollar mod it's pretty good for what it is. I use this amp very often and it really sounds great with a eminence 620H.
How can I get a touch more treble?
Ciao RBC, good question! Actually eq-ing of the circuitry isn't really possible anymore. The treble definitely comes back with volume but with low volume settings it's just a bit dark. You could try opening it up with overdrives with tone control or treble boosters perhaps. Best of both worlds is make the tone stack removal switchable so you could bring it back depending on the guitar choice etc. Gr,
@@AldoSpadaroOfficial How about switching the C3 cap? I love your Telecaster tone with the stock 22uf cap, OTOH the LP tone is not that great. Maybe adding a 1uf or 0.68uf cap with an on-off-on switch?
@@Juan-ve7vy Ciao Juan, I agree, man. The amp didn't handle the switch to LP with equal volume settings very well. Very cloudy and not a defined lower range overdriven. I might try a switchable value there, thanks! Do think the weakness was the speaker though. This was a client's amp, but I have a similar one with a eminence 620H. That translates it all so much better. Can recommend it.
Song at minute 8:00 - 8:45 pls?
Hi Alex, thanks for asking. It's my own created background music tracks. I license these if you're interested!
Thank you! It's a good song. I just wanted to add it to my chill playlist on spotify, personal use. Congrats!
If you are interested I can buy the mp3, but if you find it to risky, I understand. Too many scamming ppl on the web.
@@alexkos5186 Ciao Alex, if you head to www.pond5.com/item/93588220,
You can check the full track, watermarked. If you decide to buy the item, you can actually use it yourself. I'm glad if this music pleases you, so thanks for being interested, gr
No mod just use a Weber speaker cab . Unreal tone for days
Where's the tube rectification ? That's the biggest difference imo and you haven't done it.
Hi. A C600 with tube rectification simply isn't worth the effort. In order to have tube rectification, you would need a different power transformer (to have 5v fillaments), and cutting out a new socket, and building a circuit to hook it up to the crappy pcb. Not possible with the given materials in the amp. For that step it would be best to strip all of the whole amp, and build a new point to point amp with both good quality transformers, sockets, tubes, components, jack inputs, light and speaker. Just everything, but that'll also cost as much as far as you want to go. This mod video was just about hacking the existing cheap pcb circuit to make it sound good for a few cents. A bias correction can help to cool it down closer to 5y3 specs. (Although you could also run a tube rectified champ with a solid state rectifier to actually reduce sag, if someone likes that type of feel). gr,
I modded my champion 600 today. Now it is dead quiet. It won’t make a sound...
Me too; did you find out what it was the cause?
Like sharpening a wonderfull axe , it became more good
better*
Who can do this mod for me ? Anyone in la ?
0.036mA? Amp must not be working ;-)
Haha, somehow it did...or somehow I was asleep writing milliamps for amps...thanks, cheers!
@@AldoSpadaroOfficial I know. Just kidding. Good video!
exelent got a mate whoes got one , he wants to sell it