Fender Champion 600 Amp

The Fender Champion 600 is a superb amp for the money.

I wanted a light weight valve amp that I could easily take with me to practice sessions. I use a Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue for gigs.

I tried it alongside the Vox AC4TV, another excellent amp, but I wanted that Fender tone and the Champ delivers.

I have not been disappointed. There is only one control - volume -I usually have it set at 12 and use the guitar's volume control to adjust the sound. It can be very loud for it's size. The tone is just pure Fender all the way. If you want a dirtier sound just put a pedal in the chain!

This is a cool looking amp in its retro 40s style livery.

An excellent buy..

The Fender Champion 600 is an awesome little valve amp, perfect for the house and for when you go for a cheeky jam round a friend's house, even the wife doesn't mind it being left in the living room every now and then as it has such nice retro looks about it.

The amp has no in built reverb and no eq, only has a volume control and two imputs, one input for low gain (like the original champion) and the other is a high gain input which is nice and has a sweet warm overdrive/valve compression when you turn it up all the way to 12. Yes the Champion 600 goes to twelve not like those Marshalls that only go up to 11, this one goes up one more!!!

The missing EQ on the amplifier isn't a problem since it is designed so you use the tone control on your guitar to roll off the high frequencies and the guitar volume knob to control the saturation of the amp gain. Really doesn't take long to get used to it and the sounds are always pure Fender tube.

The key to this amp is simplicity and all valve sounds, if you are after a brand new affordable home all valve amp with retro design and sounds you ought it to yourself to try one out, it is a lot more powerful than you expect for 5 watt tube amp with a 6 inch speaker, really nice leather handle too and cream tolex with a suede kinda cloth in front of the speaker.

I have used Line 6 spider combos for the last few years but now (in the house) I just use the Champion with a couple of pedals and I'm very very happy with it. Amp modelling is versatile but when you actually plug in the real thing wether its a Champion or a Deluxe reverb the way a good tube amp interacts with the attack and dynamics of a guitar player it's not the same thing as a modelling amp, try one out, I think you'll like it.

Overview: A very nice sounding small valve practice amplifier, this is a practice amp for those who favour tone above versatility (The opposite approach to modelling amps; it seems to follow the ethos: why fail in an attempt to be everything, if you can focus everything on one area). Due to this ethos, it lacks any form of tone shaping or onboard effects, thus: if you lack any other gear and cannot afford to buy some effects pedals this is probably not a good starting point, however if you only want a nice clean sound or already own/are willing to buy pedals I wholeheartedly recommend this amp.

[Note: If you want a gigging amp or you want to practice with a "enthusiastic" drummer you need more power and a bigger speaker.]

The Sound: Played with single coils on a 60s strat: It has a old school, chimey fender type tone, which begins to break up at around 7/8 (out of 12), but never gets particularly driven. This makes it ideal for blues and softer rock, however in conjunction with a good drive pedal (the Blackstar HT-Dist is VERY good for this) the amp becomes ideal for heavier classic rock (easily capable sounds heavy enough for stuff like AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and the Clash, however with such a small speaker you will obviously not get the massive sound of a 4x12 and the amp lacks the low end needed for heavy metal).

Reliability: I am yet to have owned it long enough to know if it is reliable, but there is a 2 year guarantee (and such a simple amp could be easily repaired).

Summary:

5/5: Perfect volume for quiet practice, Sounds great, Low cost, Looks the part

Quality, tone and style and simplicity. At last I can actual here my guitar sound! First impressions are the great retro 2 tone looks, metal Fender badge, nice touch reflect its roots, quality build and weight. On/off swithch has a satisfying 'clunk'. The amp warms up and yes, it has a low comforting hum. You stop noticing this as soon as you strike up. Business starts at 6 on the clean channel. At 12 it breaks up well, a nice crumbly sound but keeping a clean high end. On the high channel has a noticable increase in gain and gives growl you will be looking for, whilst keeping its tone in the mids.. Both channels at are loud enough to annoy next door and even at 8 the family will have noticed your rocking. Controlling volume by your pots works great. After tales of bottom end growl, and 'burps', I was apprehensive, that the size would not handle my PRS Tremoti SE (Duncan 59,Dimarzio Super distortion). Easy!!!!! Hot tip- Place the amp up on a solid surface so that the bottom end is reflected not absorbed by carpet. Big difference. I play rock, indie and blues..this amp is heaven sent. Buy this amp if you want to hear your guitar,with clear valve tone, before your sound has been electronically mangled. Beware, you will find out how much more practice you need!! I havn't tried pedals yet, but I will be jamming with mates tonite.. can't wait. This amp is being seriously sold at list £140+.Move now!!

Bought a few days ago and I am delighted. Apparently it is good for recording but it is an excellent practise amp. No bells and whistles just a good clean amp sound which can be dirtied up by pushing up the volume and adjusting from your guitar. Easy to plug in an aux speaker and there are tons of upgrade valves and speakers around if that's your thing. After a line6 spider the sound has class - I feel a better guitarist already. For only £99 this is a steal.