Fender Champion 600 for studio recording

[vasek.g3]

I´m looking for more fender sound for some of my work.
Does anyone have any experience with FENDER Champion 600 (5w)
for studio recording purpose? It has 6 inch speaker, there will be probably
lack of bass freq. but the sound still might be interesting....
Thanks.

[charlie2]

I'm not familar with the champion, but fender makes some really nice sounding stuff. I'm thinking of getting the hot rod deluxe 111 in the future

[Mark Kaufman]

Small watt amps are great for recording. I've heard generally glowing reviews of the Champion 600, but no personal experience. I wouldn't worry about a loss of bass frequency..."Layla" was recorded through an old Champ amp, and it sure sounds gutsy to me.

[dotted8]

I have a little 600 and it sounds great. Nice tube sound for smaller spaces (ie: recording.) And if you want it sounding bigger than the small speaker, you can use it as a tube amp head by reaching in the back, disconnecting the speaker, plugging in an instrument cable and running it to a larger amp cabinet. When I was in the shop to buy mine, they disconnected the internal speaker and ran a line to a large "Orange" cabinet and it really barked.

[billg1]

Small watt amps are great for recording. I've heard generally glowing reviews of the Champion 600, but no personal experience. I wouldn't worry about a loss of bass frequency..."Layla" was recorded through an old Champ amp, and it sure sounds gutsy to me.

Mark beat me to it! Layla was recorded through a champ with the internal speaker from what I've read. I've been thinking about pulling the trigger on one of those myself.

[vasek.g3]

Thanks billg1, dotted8, Mark, charlie2
On next possible occasion I will try this small one.
It reminds me of 1 more choice - Fender Princeton. But I´m aware of my neighbourhood,
because the 10" Jensen seem to bark much more There is also the risk of addiction
to this amp, which will lead into problems with on-time arrivals at work...

[Mark Kaufman]

Princetons sound GREAT, in my experience. But they are also like Little Engines That Could, because despite their smaller size, they are plenty loud...loud enough to gig in a band.

[vasek.g3]

I spent some time seeking some info about F600 and found among others this...
Why the Fender Champ 600 is a GREAT recording amp!
http://guitargear.org/2010/04/13/why-th ... rding-amp/

[mojobone]

I vastly prefer the two-knob Pro Junior (and most emphatically NOT the larger and pricier Blues Junior) for studio use, because it has a range of sounds from clean to overdriven, and it responds very well to being 'pushed' with a clean or treble boost, or any sort of stompbox.

I have three problems with the linked blog post. Firstly, the author twice refers to a "hi-pass" filter when he's actually describing a low-pass filter; second, I didn't find his sounds to be particularly compelling, and thirdly, at one point, he advises guitarists to mic the dustcap rather than the speaker cone. (and small wonder it sounds tinny) In fact, the Champion 600 appears to have very limited miking flexibility due to the TV front and very small speaker; that should make the 'sweet spot' that much harder to hit. In fact, I'd probably choose a Bugera V5 or even the Peavey Vypyr 15 over the Champion 600, if I had to spend under $150 or so.

[vasek.g3]

More versions of F600 are available on the market. I think the one with the "weaknesses" is the today´s stock (2006)version.
After reading more forums and blogs and still haven´t opportunity to try this stock version:
- speaker
- tubes
- ...
one of the problems for the recording seem to be the buzzing sound at no level of signal from input (guitar)
Some upgrades (mods) are used to improve this:
speakers - Jensen, Weber,...
tubes - NOS ... (of course both - preamp and end)
...

I have to agree with you Mojo - the miking (to get the right sound) would be tricky

On the other hand for the price about 200$ it is still interesting at least for experimenting with it (also travelling:-)
And after doing some upgrades, the sound comes back somewhere in the 1950´s...

I like the Pro Junior alot btw. (simplicity and wonderful sound)