70's Fender Champ, can someone help me with value ?

[PapillonIrl]

6 Watts, no reverb, 2 inputs.

Not sure which is the serial...there is a sticker with 47374 on the back, and A43793 engraved in the metal @ back.

3.2 ohms.

Also CBS Musical Instruments written on back.

Sounds GREAT, but it's noisy.

US voltage, but looks like someones cut the earth pin.

Wondering about value ?

Thanks guys.

[swafford]

Local markets dictate value. You can check Ebays previous sales. In US dollars, the last good one around here did not sell at $300. $250 for a good sounding one in decent cosmetic shape, $200 for a noisy one, $350 for a near mint one in excellent mechanical condition. These are prices I would pay.

Stamp on the tube chart? Speaker code?
Silver faces amps with the aluminum trim around the edge of the grill date from '68/69. No trim, tail on grill logo - 1970-75; missing it's tail - 1976-1981.

[Jim Williams]

I paid $300 for my mint 1972 Vibro Champ. I removed the filter cap, installed very large 100 uf cans and then installed a choke on the power supply to remove that residual hum. Dead quiet now. Next I put in a EL34 power tube for it's extended top end and now it's around 12 watts. It will drive my Basson Sound 4x12 to a good level, enough for a live gig.

I put in a master volume and a nice 4 ohm Eminence speaker.
It's really great on blues harp in the studio.

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades

[sekim]

Originally Posted by Jim Williams

...I removed the filter cap, installed very large 100 uf cans and then installed a choke on the power supply to remove that residual hum. Dead quiet now.

You can make them quiet by doing balanced wiring on the heaters like in a Twin as well.

Originally Posted by Jim Williams

...Next I put in a EL34 power tube for it's extended top end and now it's around 12 watts.

Hehe, I did this on one too and it sounded awesome. I had to put in an additional heater supply transformer in mine though - the stock supply wouldn't keep up with the EL34 heater requirement (V-heater dropped to 5.8V iirc and the transformer got quite toasty). I also did Hammond's 15 watt (iirc) air gap output transformer and it sounded quite abit better than the stocker, especially when uping the wattage, the stocker saturates too easily on the lows for my tastes. Plus leads for 4, 8, 16 ohm loads was very nice to have.

[FossilTooth]

Originally Posted by swafford

Local markets dictate value. You can check Ebays previous sales. In US dollars, the last good one around here did not sell at $300. $250 for a good sounding one in decent cosmetic shape, $200 for a noisy one, $350 for a near mint one in excellent mechanical condition. These are prices I would pay.

Stamp on the tube chart? Speaker code?
Silver faces amps with the aluminum trim around the edge of the grill date from '68/69. No trim, tail on grill logo - 1970-75; missing it's tail - 1976-1981.

Sounds right to me.

But, you never know. Someone offered me $375 for my early silverface (68) vibrochamp. I turned it down. I wouldn't call it excellent condition, either.

I wouldn't sell that thing if someone offered me a grand for it. Or maybe I would.... but I would just end up using a third of the money to buy another one!

[kafka]

Originally Posted by sekim

Hehe, I did this on one too and it sounded awesome. I had to put in an additional heater supply transformer in mine though - the stock supply wouldn't keep up with the EL34 heater requirement (V-heater dropped to 5.8V iirc and the transformer got quite toasty). I also did Hammond's 15 watt (iirc) air gap output transformer and it sounded quite abit better than the stocker, especially when uping the wattage, the stocker saturates too easily on the lows for my tastes. Plus leads for 4, 8, 16 ohm loads was very nice to have.

I've stuck a 6L6 in a Champ before. No modifications, and no problems either.

[sekim]

Originally Posted by kafka

I've stuck a 6L6 in a Champ before. No modifications, and no problems either.

A 6L6 only draws about 2/3 heater current as an EL34 so in most cases 6L6 wont't be a problem in a Champ. They usually sound better after tweaking the cathode resistor to get a better bias point in my experience though.

Fun little amps for sure and given the values of them (which are increasing), probably best left close to stock and just build a little project amp if you want a hot rod imo.