Torres "Red Knob Champ" mods

[Mini-Strat_Maine]

Some of them have black knobs, but anyway, it's the Fender "Champ 12." Just wondering if anyone here had used (or heard, live and in person) a Champ with one or more of these mods in it. www.torresengineering.com/newkitforfen.html

I have a line on one with what I think is the "RKP" mod in it. (The kit was already in there when the present owner got the amp.)

Opinions from first-hand user/listeners would be appreciated.

--
Doug C.

[UnklMickey]

Doug,

make sure the responses you get are about the CHAMP 12.


any others would be like comparing notes on apples and oranges.


there are some variants on the champ.

single 6V6 output tube.

push-pull output (6V6)

single 6L6 (champ 12)


so they are going to sound quite different.

[Mini-Strat_Maine]

unklmickey said:

make sure the responses you get are about the CHAMP 12. there are some variants on the champ.

Whew, I didn't realize they had all those combinations of tubes. That might explain some of the wildly differing reviews of Torres mods on Harmony Central, too. I've wondered if some of those people were reviewing the same kit as the others wrote about.

[UnklMickey]

there are at least 4 champ versions that i know of,

there are 2 versions of the push-pull 6V6.



as far as i know, the "champ 12" is exclusively a single 6L6 version. so as long as you're comparing champ 12 to champ 12, that's probably okay.

BTW: i went to torres' site. a coupla things caught my attention.

the have a link "Famous Torres Handwound humbucker and single coil Pickups available now!" and it takes you to there amp overhaul page?

they also are selling bl usa pickups. not bill and becky's. i wonder why they went that way?



oh well, i guess i should get outa the way now and hope we might have a member or two that has played through a champ 12.

unk

[vegetablejoe]

I've got a stock Champ 12, and would love to do the Torres mods, if it wasn't such a pain to order from overseas...

FWIW, there are a few reviews on modded units on the HC site. But, as always, those reviews are to be taken with a grain of salt.

My stock Champ 12 works fine if used only as a practice amp. The model is widely criticized for 3 things: lack of clean headroom, an unusable gain channel, and a real dinky reverb spring housed in a carton box.

My workaround is to use a Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster to boost my clean, rhythm needs, and an OD pedal for soloing. The gain channel with its hard-wired button/switch is better left unused.

Right now I'm comparing the HC reviews on this amp vs. the reviews on the Pro Junior, as I'm interested in acquiring the latter. I find it interesting that: ratings on Sound and Overall Quality for the Champ 12 are not far off from the PJ; the latter is considered a louder amp despite the smaller speaker.

Lastly, just imho, I would prefer a Champ 25SE over the Champ 12. While they both suffer from unusable gain channels, the 25SE has wonderful, sparkling cleans. I wish I hadn't let go of mine...