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mooseherman « Weak imitation of a classic amp »
Published on 07/26/11 at 09:42This is a recreation of a classic Fender Champ amp, but with solid-state technology replacing tubes. In fact, the manual states that it is purposely designed to recreate the classic tube clipping of a Fender tube amp. It has one 10" speaker and delivers 25 watts of power. It has one 1/4" input, as well as a footswitch jack, external speaker output, and headphone output, all three of which are also 1/4". There are two channels, normal and drive, there is a three band EQ and a reverb knob.
UTILIZATION
This amp is easy enough to use as it's pretty simple, however, getting a good sound out of it is tricky considering it's a solid state amp. Neither the clean nor the drive really did a whole lot for me. The manual explains pretty much everything you need to know about the amp, but in all honesty, anybody who isn't using an amp for the first time will have no problems with the actual usage.
SOUNDS
This amp, to put it really bluntly, does not sound that great. I can imagine anybody who owned the original Fender Champ would be a little disappointed, if not genuinely upset, at the attribution of that name to the Fender. Everything that comes through has a really bland, dull tone to it that I can't stand. I play my Strat, which is really bright and somewhat thin in a tube amp, and it sounds really lifeless. A hollow bodied guitar can sound ok for jazz but that's really about it. My Les Paul is just as bad as the strat through this. The drive channel is pretty bad, in fact, I use a slight amount of drive (barely any) and end up using that as my clean channel. In that way it sort of resembles a tube amp, but even then, a bad one.
OVERALL OPINION
This thing is obviously a cheap starter amp, based on the price. I guess it'll work in that context, though most likely a beginner will get frustrated because the amp will sound bad. If you start with a bad amp, you probably won't want to keep playing. It'd be better for you to get something a little nicer. Even if it's another solid state, there must be something better than this.
UTILIZATION
This amp is easy enough to use as it's pretty simple, however, getting a good sound out of it is tricky considering it's a solid state amp. Neither the clean nor the drive really did a whole lot for me. The manual explains pretty much everything you need to know about the amp, but in all honesty, anybody who isn't using an amp for the first time will have no problems with the actual usage.
SOUNDS
This amp, to put it really bluntly, does not sound that great. I can imagine anybody who owned the original Fender Champ would be a little disappointed, if not genuinely upset, at the attribution of that name to the Fender. Everything that comes through has a really bland, dull tone to it that I can't stand. I play my Strat, which is really bright and somewhat thin in a tube amp, and it sounds really lifeless. A hollow bodied guitar can sound ok for jazz but that's really about it. My Les Paul is just as bad as the strat through this. The drive channel is pretty bad, in fact, I use a slight amount of drive (barely any) and end up using that as my clean channel. In that way it sort of resembles a tube amp, but even then, a bad one.
OVERALL OPINION
This thing is obviously a cheap starter amp, based on the price. I guess it'll work in that context, though most likely a beginner will get frustrated because the amp will sound bad. If you start with a bad amp, you probably won't want to keep playing. It'd be better for you to get something a little nicer. Even if it's another solid state, there must be something better than this.