• Big things come in small packages

  
  As reviewed by RockyM on 5/5/2010

  I bought this little baby last Sunday. I needed a smaller amp to bring to a from my apt to play with family and friends. I have the Tweed Hot Rod Deluxe which I love, but is too heavy to be banging around going to places just to jam unless I'm playing at a gig. I was looking for something smaller but needed to have great tone. Well this small package has a big heart! All tube sound, the cleans are crystal clear and for 5 watts, it's pretty loud. My nephews were both blown away. First they laughed at me when I walked in and they saw this lunch box sized amp. One has the Fender 25R Frontman and the other has the Marshall MG4 Series MG15, and this lil baby was still heard, not as loud, but held up. I play an Epiphone Standard Plus Top (Honeyburst) which has a bassier sound than a Tele or Strat, but being a Neil Young fan and love that "jet plane in a thunderstorm" sound, this combo works for me so I purchased a distortion pedal and this amp Rocks! Not like the HRD's More drive sound but still, for fooling around and practice I am NOT disappointed at all! If you want a great practice amp and something to travel with to jam or just to fool around with, I highly recommend this small but effective amp. It has that retro look that's pretty cool too. Kudos to Fender!!!

  11 of 11 people found this review helpful.
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• You may need new tubes

  
  As reviewed by Steve on 5/3/2010

  When I first got the champ 600 I kept experiencing a very annoying crackle. Fender customer support was great and sent me a new one. But same problem. I decided to swap out the chinese tubes and voila! This thing is clear as a bell now, and has the sweetest tone imaginable. I would like to put some fx in front of it, but it just sounds too good by itself. Also, you can use the second input to jam with your iPod. This is a PERFECT practice amp. I would give it 5 stars if not for the bad tubes mine came with. But maybe Fender has fixed that by now. I've jammed with it next to a Blues Jr. and it holds it's own. Sweet amp.

  3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
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• Sounds great, but has a little hum.

  
  As reviewed by Me on 7/17/2009

  I'm not sure why the person giving this a 3 was looking at this amp if they wanted something so loud. It's plenty loud for it's intended use. If you are a bedroom player as I am, this is a great solution. I wanted an amp that wouldn't keep me on a first name bases with the police. This little guy is warm and chimes nicely. To my ears, it has really good dynamic range for such a small form factor. This little 6" speaker offers just the right amount of base for me, but won't rattle the walls. Mids are clear and ringing, highs are bright. This little amp has a very pleasing "jingly" quality as best as I can describe it. If your really hellbent on destroying your relationship with neighbors, you can crank it up loud enough to get yourself into hot water with the local authorities. However, it breaks up at around 6 or 7 and starts to get buzzy. When your not playing there is a constant hum. My Fender Vibro Champ XD also hums, I assume it comes with the territory for tubes, at least at this price level. It isn't unbearable and doesn't effect the sound quality when your playing, unless you crank it. If you play around with the volume on your guitar and the amp volume, you can keep unwanted buzz at bay, again, unless you want to play really loud. If you have the extra money you might want to go look at the Vox AC4TV as well. It has the tone attenuator and also sounds great, maybe better than the Champ 600, although a teeny bit boxy. They have different voicing after all, so that comes into play as far as which is "better" according to the sound you may prefer. As for myself, I vacillated back and forth between the Champ 600 and the Vox and eventually went with the Champ, although it has a much smaller speaker, it seemed to handle the low end a bit better at lower volume. I could be wrong about that in 'real world' use, as I only compared them at the Local GC. I wish they would pay a little more attention to the fact that people are actually trying to hear what they are there to demo. It's hard to evaluate for sound when they have the music cranked over the store PA, and they let the 12 year old grab the most expensive guitars he can find and play Iggy Pop's "The Passenger" over and over for the hour and half I was there. Props to Junior's dad for introducing him to Iggy; at least the kid wasn't fixated on a Jonas Brothers song, or I probably would have left the joint with a sonically induced lobotomy and blood dripping from my ear drums. I finally just grabbed the champ and took it home to listen to it in earnest. I'm gonna keep it. I'm considering getting the Vox to bring home and compare, but I'm afraid my self control will take a hike and I'll just end up buying them both. To make a long story short, this is a great little amp for practice or bedroom play with full on tube tone at a great price?minus a star for the slight hum and buzziness over 6 or 7 on the volume knob. I might swap out the tubes later, but it sounds find to me, stock as-is.

  3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
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