Added: 2 years ago
From: johnhguitar
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  • love your videos!!!!

  • Hi John. I'm on the hunt for a nice low-volume tube amp (head or combo) to partner my new Gibson ES339 - With blues and single note melodies/accompaniment in mind.,

    In your experience, what's been the best low watt amp you've played?

    Cheers for all the great reviews.

  • I have a 70's Fender Deluxe at 22 watts and a newer Blues Junior at 15 watts. How low or small do you want it to be? My favorite big amp is the Fender Vibrolux with 2x10s at 40 watts.

    The best low wattage amp I ever had was a black or silver faced Fender Princeton at 15 watts.Thanks for your interest.

  • Is it enough loud to play with band? (don't say to me 5w is not nought enough, because watts are not dBs). I played in my band with Marshall Class 5, but it is much louder than 5w silverface Champ.

  • it was one of the best reviews i have ever seen on youtube.you get a little bit about the sound and a little bit about the amp and technical stuff.nice

  • Nice Playing. A lovely guitar also.

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  • The tone at the beginning is great!

  • from what i've heard you stop complaining about the price after you've played this thing so i really need to check it out

  • @NintendoSinceBirth1 I've played two of them, with five different guitars. I still don't think this amp is worth more than two or three hundred dollars. It's 99% hype. There is absolutely no difference in tone or feel between PtP and PCB construction, tube rectification has no benefits in a class A amp...there's a whole list of things that Fender brags about that aren't actually benefits. And then they have the boxy little 8" speaker? Sorry, no. I'll build my own.

  • I tried a 12ay7 in the preamp of a 57 reissue Champ the other day and thought it sounded great with a Tele and "original vintage" pickups. Knob at about 7. This amps doe not like very hot or dark pickups in my opinion, but is killer with a vintage like spec'd guitar.

  • John's trippin' on something for sure ;) but the amp sound great.

  • hi, nice playing.. i have a 335 also and am looking for small low powered amp to play blues gigs.. i must say it looks really nice.. I would like even more if it had reverb although then it wouldnt be original.. do you think it is loud enough for small gigs un-miked ?

  • Don't know if you still have this amp John. But could you do it again with a strat if you do thanks man

  • This is one funny review..

    Nothing like a skyhigh person trying to be profesionell.. Hilarious!! :)

  • Muddy sound. Because it's not cranked. Champs only sound good cranked to 12. It really isn't the best class A design amp. Leo didn't get everything right. The amp really needs a few mods to get the best sound out. Like a treble bypass cap across the volume knob to let the highs through. Get rid of the neg feedback loop. Other tricks.

  • I like the informal tone of the review, listening to a seasoned musician and guitar player. In that sense this is more than a simple amp review.

  • Thanx 4 mentioning the ptp vs pc, about the feel and tone loss 2 the youtubers. I felt this when I plugged into a friends' fender reissue super reverb, I was thinking; even the silverface bassmans were better for playing through, compared to this, this sucks lol. But the owner is delighted with it.

    I quess its something that most guys wouldn't miss, since they wouldn't know any better or experience of the real thing.

    *ps.I Liked that freestyle blues/jazz crossover stuff u guys did, brilliant ;)

  • @EuphorbusBTB Thanks a million!

  • @EuphorbusBTB I don't think it's the PTP vs PCB that causes the sound difference, some of these "reissues" are made a lot different than the originals. The PCB doesn't make much of a difference for the sound. BTW, those silverface Bassmans are good amps if you want clean, and with some mods they can get a great blues or rock sound. The only reason I'm not going to get one is they are 50 watts. But I've heard them and they do sound good. And the early silverfaces are the same as the blackfaces.

  • 1000 bucks?? I'll keep my '72 silverface I got for $20 at a garage sale.

  • @zkenzo geez can you say greatest find ever?

  • @NintendoSinceBirth1 I think so. At the time I got , I thought I was dreaming. Also, looks and plays like new.

  • i heard a rumor that in some very small quite towns in america u can still find original strats from the 50's and 60's for like 250$-350$. i heard that there are alot of small guitar shops where the the ppl selling it have no idea what they have. if anyone else have heard about this rumor or can confirm it to being fact please let me be the first to know

  • can a normal twin reverb get that sound?

  • But seriously, that amp really does sound good. I want oneeeee.

  • I love the amp. However, as to the "there still trying to make amplifiers sound like the originals because they sound so classic" comment... Its because of the PLAYERS. You think that if Clapton (or any "classic" guitar player from the 50-60s) grabbed a modern amp to record you wouldn't have liked the music?? Hell no!! you would have liked it all the same. Practice alot and plug in mother fuckers!!!!!

  • John

    I wish you'd set up a mic so we can hear your comments. I love your demos, but they're hell to listen to because your voice is like -20db from the instrument/amp you're reviewing. It sounds like you're at the back of the gym. C'mon man, spring for a little lav mic and a $59 mixer or somethin' Peace out - Moo

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  • Forgot to mention that this very amp (57 Champ reissue) isn't even P2P. It's got an eyelet circuit board inside on which the primary components are mounted.

  • The "bleeding" he is talking about is real, but that was the original fender black fiberboard that allowed some voltage creep. This makes for a more lively amp, unless you don't like tweed tones. Modern fiberboard has fixed that. What worries me more is that Fender can not replicate the real Fender (pre '65) instruments with any accuracy. Anything post '65 is a reproduction/new design and has never outdone the original. There are other small companies doing much more justice to Leo's legacy

  • There is absolutely no difference in tone between point to point and circuit board construction. Sit a P2P Champ next to a circuit board constructed clone and A/B them. Provided they have the same transformers, there will be zero difference.

    The most important aspects of tone are circuit topology and transformers. Construction method is irrelevant.

  • Not sure about the tone, but the P2P is far more reliable. That is why they are sought after, higher quality build, and WHEN they do break a tech can repair FAST. Not the case with the circuit board design.

  • I must respectfully disagree. Making repairs to a turret board or eyelet board build is no more difficult than making repairs to a P2P build. PCB can be difficult, yes. But P2P is not the end-all. I only know this because I build amps.

  • I modify them and would rather deal with P2P any day. Of course if you build them you prefer the board! Life is much easier that way. P2P is the end-all for the highest quality build.

  • @lunardelight Not to beat a dead horse, but I've heard P2P builds with some of the worst parasitic oscillation problems you could imagine. Component layout is an engineering function unto itself and P2P is not immune to problems.

    The "highest quality build" is not simply determined by P2P construction. It's determined by optimal component layout combined with highest quality components for a given circuit. That could just as easily be a turret board build.

  • Cwildenradt, Any recommended 4 to 12 watt amps that are well designed, proper layout/configuration to keep noise to a minimum, quality components/transformer, and preferably only 1 power tube to keep things simple? Thanks for your advice.

  • @itsonlyrcknroll What kind of sound are you looking for? What genre/style do you play?

  • Drive channel sounds great!! So 50's!!

  • o_O

    $1000 ? no thanks :P

  • From the thumbnail I seriously thought that this review was to be undertaken by Doctor Evil...

  • considering "there isn't an awful lot to talk about" ...!

    P2P makes no difference to the tone!

  • Nice review.

    With point to point wiring it is easy to repair ala my 1979 champ. It will be in action indefinatley.

    A circuit board, once cracked cannot be repaired easily or at all IMO, (as was the case with my HH made in the UK)

  • It helps a lot to have a great player with a superb guitar.

    Single-ended amps are all you need nowadays in the studio and live with sound reinforcement, but I think you have to play to them. Because they are single-ended, they will never sound like push-pull amps. They don't sag at all and you only get nice clipping on one side of the waveform. The other side, if it hits cutoff, gets squared off like Frankenstein's head. So remember to work WITH your single-ended amp.

  • 3:47 that chord sound sooooooooo good. delicious holy crap.

  • this guy reminds me of Ian Mackaye

  • thousand bucks for a 5 watt.....Someone is lookin for collage money for their kids..LOL!

    Nice chops Johnhguitar......check out my channel SydbarF......and the song Cry Rock ....I made the best use out of a Laney 300tf......but I am so about to get a Vox AC30cc2......I keep lookin at Fenders though....thats why I came cross yo video...Thanks for the demo....and Im still lookin for that always escapable TONE!!!!!!!

  • I'm not exactly sure but I heard that todays ac30's are pretty sub-par. Make sure to try the one you buy. Also I heard the ac15's they're making are good.

  • Nice playing - rubbish review. A bit of tweaking of the single dial might have shown us the amp breaking up. A few different styles might have shown the amps capabilities. Tester mentions that the idea is that as you crank it up the sound breaks up but only plays one chord with the sound overdriven. Very poor video. Sorry to rain on your parade...

  • No! No! My feelings are not gonna be hurt. My intention is to get people to join in and add to the review giving it a more universal complete result. Yeah, the review is shit but it's getting better with input. Thanks for sharing.......

  • 5w right? How do you compare it to fender champion 600 ?

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  • You want to hear it using a PRS

  • atta boy. good call

  • The sound is excellent, and thousands of guitarists have used the exactly same setup from the 50s until today...

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  • (a) Leo Fender made it in order to amplify anything that needs to be amplified in a musical context, whether it was a guitar of any kind or even a voice.

    (b) I don't think it makes any sense at all to limit your testing choices in such a way. Gibson guitars and Fender amps have been used in some of the most famous recordings of music history, and it would be a shame to... avoid using them together.

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  • I agree with John, point-to-point wiring has a warmer and lush tone compared to an amp with a circut board. I don't know why or if there is bleeding as I've heard, all I know is that the tone is better. All personal taste I guess...

  • I can't believe after the huge myth-busting that this has gone through, that people still believe this. In order to draw a conclusion, you would have to hear exactly the same amp between PTP and PCB versions, with exactly the same components, same circuit, same loudspeaker, same guitar, same listener, same ear fatigue, same pick, same way of hitting the strings in the same place etc. Have you done that?

  • I still believe that the fact it is hand wired doesn't make the difference. The 59 bassman TDL isn't hand wired and sounds great, also the blues junior tweed (with a celestion speaker; it's better to change it to get a great sound) is great...anyway, it's a great amp...

  • Probably not that much difference in sound, but it sure makes servicing easier!

  • still lovin the chops.. kudos. .

  • All those guitars behind you and you try it with just the 335?

  • He must really like the ES-335. He uses it a lot. I think this amp is matched very nice to Telecasters and Stratocasters, more than a Gibson.

  • fender needs to release the Vibro- Champ in the vintage reissue series.

  • Nice amp but seems like a Champ600 on steroids to me.

    I think its cheaper and more fun to buy a champ600 and wire the thing point to point, change the speaker (if it fits in the c600 housing offcourse) from 6" to 8" and you got this amp.

  • Gibson also made a similar amp about three years ago. It was the Goldtone GA5. It has identical specs as the new Fender 57 champ reissue, 5 watts, 8 inch speaker, one volume knob, point to point hand wirings, and uses the same tubes el84 and 12x7a. It is also made in USA, not sure if this new Fender 57 champ is made in USA. The going price for the Gibson GA5 was about $1000 also, but later was dropped to $299 from Musician's Friend. I purchased two, kept one still in the box and in storage.

  • a 5F1 champ has a 6V6 power tube, not an EL84. So does a real Gibson GA5. The RI might have had an EL, not sure why though.

  • the 57 champ is hand wired made in america amp.

  • are those guitars comfortable to play? It is about the only style I forgot to play before I got my strat.

  • That's a great question! Every guitar I play seems to make me play differently. Comfort? Not if you've been playing for too long. Every bone in the body hurts if you're not in shape......

  • I've got a little Gretch amp that is the same thing, only a little less expensive and I love it. It is also great for a harp.

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  • Please... make the guitar and your voice sound on the same level, more or less. Now the guitar shouts and I have to go up and down with volume to hear your talk (late night, don't wanna use phones).

  • We have trouble controlling the voice to guitar audio. We need to get a clip-on mic that isn't $1000 that works. Anyone with an idea? ......Thanks John

  • You can get what you need at RadioShack starting at $50 bucks.  I bought the 8-channel receiver and clip-on about five years ago and it works great. I'm not sure what they have now, but they usually have good stuff.

  • I Love It!!! Simpli vintage

  • $1000.00 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Who has money like that nowadays ?

    I can barely afford new guitar strings.

  • Yeah, this is a little too pricey for me. I have a hybrid vox amp that I love, but if I go tube(which I will), I may get the champ 600.

  • Dear EC, if by some slim chance you are reading this... what amp did you use for the Layla sessions?

  • Clapton used a tweed Champ for Layla from everything I've read.

  • Have you ever tried that with a distortion pedal?

  • If you crank this you wont need one...

    It will sound better than any pedal because the output tubes will be distorting as well as the preamp tubes.

    Listen to 'Layla'. That's the tone man!

  • Also, redbird963, pedals are the devil.

  • what happened to your hat? bring it back! lol

  • lol, at first I heard you say....."This is Fender's 57 channel.....!!!"

  • thanks for the review

  • I think EC used the 600 champ.

  • nice review, sounds sweet :)

  • Cool review, it is great that someone has reviewed this amp.

    I think it would be great to use a guitar with Humbuckers and a guitar with single coils in the review = )

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