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Fender Super Champ mod to make it sound more like a early Marshall

TM1

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Jun 27, 2003
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I have an `83 Super Champ. Nice amp, but I'd like it to sound more like a mid Sixties Marshall. I put in an Alnico Celestion and changed the output valves to EL-37's, Replace the 500pf with a 250pf and both caps I switched to .022's. Still sounds more Fender like than what I want. Anyone have any suggestions on how to change it to a Marshall from a Fender without changing a ton of Fender stuff out..?
Thanks/Cheers!
 

poor man's burst

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Oct 3, 2010
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The Fender Super Champ is a modified Princeton reverb. Arguably the best amp in the Paul Rivera line designed for Fender , the last line built point-to-point. One of the rare "modern" (80s and after) thought after by collectors and musicians, that many people would be happy to have as is. Instead of trying to change its fundamental character into something that it isn't, I would rather consider that kind of amp
which would likely be much closer to what you are looking after.
The only mods I would consider (and do) on a Super Champ are: install a trimmer to adjust the bias, change the 47ohms bias feed resistor with a 47ohms 1 watt, add screen gris resistors, add a speaker output jack and a standby switch.
 

TM1

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Yeah, I changed the coupling & tone caps to .022’s & the 500pf to a 250 of as well as the bias section cause I’m running EL37’s(the Mullard version of a KT66. And a few other changes.. It just still has that weird Treble aspect like a BF Fender..
 

poor man's burst

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EL37 pulls 1,4 amps each on heater instead of 0,45 for the 6V6 that were intended for the Super Champ, which ask for a total of 3,85 amps on the heater supply instead of 1,95. Unlesss you have added an auxilliary transformer for the heaters, it is a good way to fry a power transformer.
Also, a pair of EL37 could theorically produce 45 to 50 watts, which would have to be provided by the power transformer and would go through the output transformer. Neither of them were designed for this kind of power.
 

Wally

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You could change the slope resistor to 56K or even 47k to move the mids up a bit.
Roll the treble down as well as the bass…bass at 3-4….treble to taste. Pull the mid boost.
Pull the Lead function….with that preamp gain set in the lower half of the range. Lead MV at 10.
MV at 10….or to taste. I run Eminence ALK 1028s in my Super Champs. The stock speakers do not do the amp justice.
You could increase the value of the midrange resistor. 4.7k is a bit light.
I would return to 6V6s. Ime, tubes are not going to be as important to the sonics as is the design.
The SC circuit is a bit far away from a big tweed/Marshall , but one can approximate a wide variety of sonics with an SC with proper manipulation controls.
 
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Old dude 70

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Dec 20, 2021
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If it’s your only amp or you really need this amp to sound different, go for it, do what works

if it’s not critical I’d go amp in a box, way easier and usable in other amps etc
 

TM1

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Jun 27, 2003
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I’ve got a few Revival Drives! I have a lot of amps as well: brown Princeton, brown Deluxe, the Super Champ, Marshall Style #1 Bluesbreaker I built in 2006, Marshall Astoria combo & Astoria head, Lead 12(#5005),, late 70’s MusicMan RD100, Sound City Plus 50, Kalamazoo Model 2, little Harmony H303, etc..
 

Wally

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I’ve got a few Revival Drives! I have a lot of amps as well: brown Princeton, brown Deluxe, the Super Champ, Marshall Style #1 Bluesbreaker I built in 2006, Marshall Astoria combo & Astoria head, Lead 12(#5005),, late 70’s MusicMan RD100, Sound City Plus 50, Kalamazoo Model 2, little Harmony H303, etc..

With these amps, I would leave the SC alone.
 

Gitfiddler

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Apr 25, 2003
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1,194
I've owned 4 Super Champs and 3 Champ II's. Great little beasts for what they are...Fenders, not Marshalls.

The best mod for them is to add an 8ohm speaker out, then connect the little beast to an extension cab loaded with your favorite variety of 1, 2 or 4, 12" speakers. YMMV.
 

TM1

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Jun 27, 2003
Messages
8,349
You could change the slope resistor to 56K or even 47k to move the mids up a bit.
Roll the treble down as well as the bass…bass at 3-4….treble to taste. Pull the mid boost.
Pull the Lead function….with that preamp gain set in the lower half of the range. Lead MV at 10.
MV at 10….or to taste. I run Eminence ALK 1028s in my Super Champs. The stock speakers do not do the amp justice.
You could increase the value of the midrange resistor. 4.7k is a bit light.
I would return to 6V6s. Ime, tubes are not going to be as important to the sonics as is the design.
The SC circuit is a bit far away from a big tweed/Marshall , but one can approximate a wide variety of sonics with an SC with proper manipulation controls.
The slope resistor in most Fenders is 100K. That's what this one was. I changed it to 56K. Put a 1 meg pot for the mids.
 

Wally

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Feb 27, 2003
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3,535
The slope resistor in most Fenders is 100K. That's what this one was. I changed it to 56K. Put a 1 meg pot for the mids.
A 1 meg on the mids would extend the mids…greatly. Doesn’t it minimize the precision, though. Ime, a 50-100K pot would be good for me. Ommv.
An….Fender used 100K slope resistors in the 6G and later amps, but they used lower resistances in the big tweeds in the late ‘50s.
 
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