Jim Musson's Web Site

Two Little Champs

Here are some pictures of 2 Fender Champ amplifiers I have recently acquired and have been working on. They both had all the capacitors replaced by me. I also installed a 3 prong power cord on the 1966 Champ.

Click on any of the pictures for a high resolution image.

1972 Bronco (Vibro Champ)

This amp has seen some dampness. There was a little mildew on the inside of the amp front. The baffle board (cheap particle board) is warped like the
grill cloth has pulled it. The bottom edge is also warped up in the middle. It has a Sovtek 5Y3 in it and you can see some black ooze coming out of the top of the power transformer.

This amp has shielded cable from the input jacks and the volume control. I don't know if it is original.

The eyelet board is wavy, bulging up at the left of this picture and near the right side where the output transformer screws push it up in the air.

Notice the 2 1k resistors instead of the 470Ω.

Also one of the wires to the can cap is connected to 2 terminals.

Someone added a grounded cord. This chassis has a flat somewhat oxidized finish, the black face Champ below has a shiny chassis, looks almost chrome plated.

The .047uf cap from the fuse to ground has been removed. What does this cap do?

This marking is on the back of the face plate. Do you know what company's logo it is?

More evidence of water damage.

Chassis markings.

Transformers

All of the chassis hardware is rusty, the feet are completely rusted.

1966 Champ

This little guy came from a pawn shop on eBay. It had a Chinese speaker that probably cost $4.99. It has the original RCA 5Y3 and 6V6.
It's incredibly clean. The wiring is cloth covered except for the power transformer which has plastic covering. The newer amp above has the opposite,
plastic wiring except for the power transformer.

Brass plate and pots with metal shafts, amp above doesn't have this plate and the pots have plastic shafts.

The eyelet board lays flat on the chassis.

I added a black wire for the filaments that were soldered to ground.

I installed the 3 wire cord. Couldn't find a clamp thing for this size cord so I used a grommet and tied a loop in the cord.

Chassis markings.

This has the green OA stamp, it's really January 1966, not 65.

Ok the front says "Fender Musical Instruments" and the back says "Fender Electric Instrument Co." I haven't removed the face plate but it's correct for a 66 champ and the sticker on the back looks original to me. Comments?