joelorigo
Well-known member
I have my father-in-law's 1966 Fender Champ amp. At some point the original 2 prong was replaced with another 2 prong. I have been wanting to use my pedal building experiences into building an amp someday and I was thinking about removing the "death cap" and replacing the current 2 prong cord with a 3 prong cord, and maybe some other things might be a good way to start. I was going to start with a tweed Champ or Deluxe kit but I don't have the money right now.
I have seen Psionic Audio and Uncle Doug videos about old Champs and they are also talking about replacing the "bias resistor" with a higher value to compensate for modern wall voltages. Changing the "mids resistor" to combat the inherent boxy-ness. Replacing the "filter cap" and "cathode caps." (BTW I know what these things are only because of the videos mentioning them and pointing them out were the are on the turret board, lol) Replacing the SPST switch with a DPDT. I was also thinking of replacing the RCA speaker jack with a 1/4" to make it easier to use external speaker cabinets. Really I just want to replace the power cord first so all these other things could come later. I also have a 1975 Fender Bronco so I would think all of this would apply to it as well (although it has a 3 prong cord already).
Do any of you with amp building experience recommend / agree with these mods, and have good resources you can share?
I have seen Psionic Audio and Uncle Doug videos about old Champs and they are also talking about replacing the "bias resistor" with a higher value to compensate for modern wall voltages. Changing the "mids resistor" to combat the inherent boxy-ness. Replacing the "filter cap" and "cathode caps." (BTW I know what these things are only because of the videos mentioning them and pointing them out were the are on the turret board, lol) Replacing the SPST switch with a DPDT. I was also thinking of replacing the RCA speaker jack with a 1/4" to make it easier to use external speaker cabinets. Really I just want to replace the power cord first so all these other things could come later. I also have a 1975 Fender Bronco so I would think all of this would apply to it as well (although it has a 3 prong cord already).
Do any of you with amp building experience recommend / agree with these mods, and have good resources you can share?
