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King Loudness « Decent practice amp »
Published on 12/07/11 at 06:41The Fender Champion 30 is a small solid state practice amplifier that is part of the expansive line of SS Fender amps made since the late 90s. This model has two channels, one for clean and one for overdrive. The clean channel has a single volume conrol where the drive channel has separate gain and volume controls. Each channel shares a single 3 band EQ containing bass, middle and treble controls. There is also auxiliary and headphone jacks, onboard reverb and a dual button footswitch is available as well. It has a single speaker and puts out 30 watts of power overall.
UTILIZATION
Getting a good sound out of this amp is surprisingly simple. It is small and not home to the greatest circuitry in the world but it still can sound fairly good given the right settings. I've used one for various applications and it has had enough power for small gigs and jams without question. I found that the best way to get good tones out of this amp is to crank the mids and turn the treble very low or off. Doing so clears up any harsh or fizzy sounds and rounds the amp out with a nice smooth tone that is very tubelike overall. The reverb on this amp is also excellent; not too apparent but with enough juice to add some nice sustain.
SOUNDS
This amp, despite being a practice type still sounds very good given the right settings. With a typical SSS Strat I was able to conjure up some great classic clean sounds and some cool smooth lead tones that had a decent Eric Johnson kinda vibe to them. It has that certain Fender sparkle to the tone that I find excellent overall. Switching to an HSS Washburn superstrat yielded some awesome thicker clean and high gain tones that had more girth and punch than with single coils. The channels each sound surprising given what the amp has to offer. It's pretty clear sounding overall. Not what I'd classify as too high gain but still with enough saturation for rock styles.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think this amp is a good little tool for someone who wants a portable yet decent sounding small combo on a budget. It combines that classy Fender look with a few great tones that work for a variety of styles and in a variety of contexts. They can be had used for about $150 which is a decent deal for a decent little amp. Definitely worth a look!
UTILIZATION
Getting a good sound out of this amp is surprisingly simple. It is small and not home to the greatest circuitry in the world but it still can sound fairly good given the right settings. I've used one for various applications and it has had enough power for small gigs and jams without question. I found that the best way to get good tones out of this amp is to crank the mids and turn the treble very low or off. Doing so clears up any harsh or fizzy sounds and rounds the amp out with a nice smooth tone that is very tubelike overall. The reverb on this amp is also excellent; not too apparent but with enough juice to add some nice sustain.
SOUNDS
This amp, despite being a practice type still sounds very good given the right settings. With a typical SSS Strat I was able to conjure up some great classic clean sounds and some cool smooth lead tones that had a decent Eric Johnson kinda vibe to them. It has that certain Fender sparkle to the tone that I find excellent overall. Switching to an HSS Washburn superstrat yielded some awesome thicker clean and high gain tones that had more girth and punch than with single coils. The channels each sound surprising given what the amp has to offer. It's pretty clear sounding overall. Not what I'd classify as too high gain but still with enough saturation for rock styles.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think this amp is a good little tool for someone who wants a portable yet decent sounding small combo on a budget. It combines that classy Fender look with a few great tones that work for a variety of styles and in a variety of contexts. They can be had used for about $150 which is a decent deal for a decent little amp. Definitely worth a look!