Vibro-Champ Conversion(s)

[heisthl]

Next Project is these 2 Vibro-Champ amps I have laying around, neither one is original enough to feel bad about modifying.

[heisthl]

Yes, that is a 10" Celestion in there - that one is a 50 Watt with Bogen transformers. Here are the chassis views:

[heisthl]

Here's the new probable schematic and rough layout:

EDIT: deleted layout

EDIT: changed Schematic

[Bob-I]

I did a Princeton chassis conversion awhile ago. It's ton tons of guts and grit and is about my favorite amp today. The issue you have is the number of tube sockets, only 2 novel and 2 octal. My chassis has 3 novel and 3 octal. I used one of the octal for a can cap which you could mount another way but you'll need at least one more novel socket unless you want to build a clean only Dumble.

Here's my layout.

[heisthl]

The Chanp can be configured for 4 preamp tubes by punching out the speaker and vibrato pedal jack holes to 3/4. For output tubes there are already 2 sockets (if you don't use a rectifier tube). See the first chassis pic or the layout for how these are located. I'm actually working from an improved layout I will post later.

[heisthl]

Well I took the worst chassis of the bunch and built a prototype - non-HRM with a 1 tube reverb. I'll post some piotures tomorrow but here's the tiny layout. The amp sounds great

[BobW]

That's a tight layout, but looks great!

Have you selected the reverb tank yet?

[BobW]

heisthl,
I noticed the presence circuit is different than your snowflake layout. Any particular reason for the change? Do you like the Champ circuit better?

[heisthl]

That's a tight layout, but looks great!

Have you selected the reverb tank yet?

It's the 3 spring medium delay Mesa tank

noticed the presence circuit is different than your snowflake layout. Any particular reason for the change? Do you like the Champ circuit better?

This one just has an on off for presence - On switches in a 1uF to ground in series with a 8.2k from the 4 ohm tap to the 24K/680ohm tail connection point. Off is full range (680 ohm from 24k tail resistor to ground is connected in both positions).

I haven't found the ideal 10" speaker yet - So far Ive tried a JBL K-110. an Eminence Legend and a Celestion 60 Watt Vintage 30. The legend sounds the best. The big problem with this amp is it's too loud and there is no master. I may have to put something in the preout/pwrin loop to attenuate a little.

[heisthl]

Pictures:

[heisthl]

I dropped this amp off at a friends tonight - he doing some clips for me.
I should have them up by the end of the week.

[Bob-I]

Nice job of cramming 10 lbs of shit into a 5 lb chassis. Looks great. Can't wait to hear what it sounds like.

[heisthl]

My buddy is still not done with the clips and he's still getting a little SM57 fizz but he gave me some "teaser" clips of the Champ conversion, all clips are direct mic to mp3 w/ no processing, the first clip listed illustrates the low noise floor, the fizz in the last clip is a recording problem.

http://media.putfile.com/Champ-Clean-335-neck

http://media.putfile.com/Champ-Strat-Neck-PuP

http://media.putfile.com/Champ-Power-Chord

http://media.putfile.com/Champ-OD-Strat