Speaker question - Fender Champ 600 / Gretsch G5222

[snoglobe]

Speaker question - Fender Champ 600 / Gretsch G5222

So here’s the deal. A buddy and I are going to do some minor modding to his Champ 600 and my (yet to be purchased) Gretsch G5222 amps. We are not gigging or recording, just want something small to tool around on.

The mods will not involve any electronics work. We’ll be swapping the tubes (suggestions welcomed, but keep them reasonable as we don’t want to pay a fortune for NOS tubes from some Russian space station or whatnot).

We picked up some oxblood with gold strip speaker cloth (that matches my tweed Blues Junior) so that will be going on. We also picked up some tweed and will be tweeding the Champ. Both amps will be getting a coat of lightly tinted shellac.

As for speakers, what can you tell me about the stock speaker, other than everyone says it’s bad. Is it? What sort of breakup does it have? Early? Mid? Late?

We’re looking at the Weber site at the 6” signature series alnico speaker and have the choice of early, mid or late breakup. I have yet to play through this amp (either stock or with a weber) and am wondering how early is early? How much headroom is there with late breakup? Would the mid breakup be a better all around speaker – being cleaner on the low input and crunchy enough on the high input?

Your input is greatly appreciated.

[tunghaichuan]

Speaker question - Fender Champ 600 / Gretsch G5222

So here’s the deal. A buddy and I are going to do some minor modding to his Champ 600 and my (yet to be purchased) Gretsch G5222 amps. We are not gigging or recording, just want something small to tool around on.

The mods will not involve any electronics work. We’ll be swapping the tubes (suggestions welcomed, but keep them reasonable as we don’t want to pay a fortune for NOS tubes from some Russian space station or whatnot).

We picked up some oxblood with gold strip speaker cloth (that matches my tweed Blues Junior) so that will be going on. We also picked up some tweed and will be tweeding the Champ. Both amps will be getting a coat of lightly tinted shellac.

As for speakers, what can you tell me about the stock speaker, other than everyone says it’s bad. Is it? What sort of breakup does it have? Early? Mid? Late?

We’re looking at the Weber site at the 6” signature series alnico speaker and have the choice of early, mid or late breakup. I have yet to play through this amp (either stock or with a weber) and am wondering how early is early? How much headroom is there with late breakup? Would the mid breakup be a better all around speaker – being cleaner on the low input and crunchy enough on the high input?

Your input is greatly appreciated.

I had one of these for a while. I was going to mod it, but I lost interest so I sold it off a while back.

The stock speaker is bass shy, and kind of tinny sounding. IIRC, the speaker had fairly late breakup. The amp doesn't distort much until it is turned all the way up and is pushing the speaker too hard. So it gets kind of a transistor radio distortion type of sound.

For tubes, the JJ6V6S is more like a mini 6L6 in terms of tone and specs. It doesn't really sound like a 6V6. As for other current production 6V6 tubes, EH makes one and there is a reissue Tung-sol. There is one maketed by TAD and a Genelex reissue CV511/6V6GT. The last two are kind of spendy, so you would be better off putting a few dollars more and getting NOS.

If you can find them, there was a Soviet-Russian made 6V6 made back in the 80s. They are labeled 6П6C (6P6S). They don't take high plate voltages like a Western NOS 6V6 tube, but they'll work fine in your amp.