BYOC Champ 6 watt amp kit released

http://www.buildyourownclone.com/ampkitindex
Based on the 5F1 Fender Champ
$349.99 for the complete chassis amplifier with tubes and transformers (does not include speaker or cabinet)

Very cool! And not a bad price either. I'm not a big fan of the Champ but for that price I'd consider building one.

I'd be tempted if I could get 240V and BYOC shipped outside USA. I've had iron for a JTM45 project on order through Marstran for months with no update from them. Starting to think I've blown my cash... A champ would be the next kind of amp I'd like to try.

Ch0jin said:

I'd be tempted if I could get 240V and BYOC shipped outside USA.

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Weber offers 240V on most of their kits.
http://taweber.powweb.com/store/kits_50a.htm#5F1A

Two other nice small kit build amps are the Allen Classic 10 and the Chihuahua.
Priced as combos at $599 and $699 with a speaker and a really nice cabinet, also available as a chassis or head
The Classic 10 has volume and tone and can run 6L6 or EL34
The Chihuahua has Treble, Mid/Raw, Bass and Reverb, and also runs 6L6 or EL34.
Considering you'd likely be over $600 with the BYOC after adding a speaker and cab, the Allen kits are a lot of amp for the money

Ch0jin said:

I'd be tempted if I could get 240V and BYOC shipped outside USA. I've had iron for a JTM45 project on order through Marstran for months with no update from them. Starting to think I've blown my cash... A champ would be the next kind of amp I'd like to try.

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Keith is working on an "international version" which should hopefully be available before too long.

For anyone looking for a nice tweed cab to install the BYOC chassis into: http://store.marshamps.com/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=99

Looks like a lot of money to me. Figure it is the same basic amp as an Epi VJ, Kustom Defender, or a VHT Special 6 except a 6V6 instead of a EL84. All those amps do not use a rectifier tube but an SE amp draws almost constant current so sag across the rectifier does not happen anyway. The VHT is hand built on a turret board same as this kit so you could modify it easily. Also you can get turret boards for a VJ with instructions to convert the amp over to various different models at turretboards dot com. On thing you may want to change would be the output transformer which you can find the same one at Triode Electronics for 24 bucks. I would look over at the Sewatt web site and post about it there for an opinion on the kit myself.

Triode also has the same kit and chassis for 280 bucks http://www.triodeelectronics.com/5f1kit.html

Triode also has the same kit and chassis for 280 bucks http://www.triodeelectronics.com/5f1kit.html

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That seems like a good price for the kit compared to kits I've seen in the past. On further exploration of Triodes website though they are severely overpriced on everything else. Most of their parts are 4 to 5 times more than what I pay now.

Thanks for the mention of Marsh Amps DVM. I didn't realize they offer so many amp kits

Made a mistake the VHT Special 6 is a 6V6 with a turret board so similar to the kit but already built. http://www.vhtamp.com/avsp16h.html You can’t beat a manufactures ability to buy parts in volume for an overall lower cost. Plus the Chinese pricing things to there advantage just like Standard Oil in the good old days.

I wish that they would have released a 5F2-A tweed Princeton circuit instead. The Princeton had a larger output transformer and a 10" speaker in the cab. It also has a simple tone control that does not suck down the gain. Really, the only differences in the two circuits are a pot, two caps and an extra hole in the chassis.

I agree on the tube recto, really unnecessary in a Class A circuit like the tweed Champ. The only reason amp companies used them in the past was that at the time, tube rectifiers were cheaper than silicon rectifiers. Leo Fender would have used SS diodes in a heartbeat had they been cheaper than their tube counterparts.

Got one of these kits last week and finished it up on Saturday. No problems--everything fired up just fine, no smoke or blown fuses! The instructions are really good. If you can build a pedal, you can build this amp, just following the step-by-step. Just give it the respect and caution that 400+VDC deserves!

I've never owned or played through a tweed-era Champ before, but it's got a sweet, round tone to it. Made for single coils, IMO. It's a tad darker than I'm used to, but not at all dull sounding. I really like how you can really dig in with the bridge pickup of a Strat or Tele without getting the ice pick through your eardrums. I haven't had much chance to crank it up yet, but will get to that soon enough. Seems to take pedals very nicely. And it's amazingly quiet, almost no discernible hum until it's dimed (or maybe I should say "dozened", 'cuz the volume control goes to 12).

Here are a couple of photos. This kit came with the soon-to-be-available 120V/240V dual service PT, so heads up to you guys outside of the US! I still need to push a few wires around to make it a bit neater in there. Ordered a Tweed Champ cabinet with a 10" baffle upgrade from Marsh Amplification, along with a Weber Sig 10AS speaker. Too bad I have ZERO carpentry skills, or I'd build my own....

Looks awesome DVM !!!! Clips?

I want to get it into the cabinet with its own speaker before I record anything. Right now, I'm running it out through my 2x12 cab, which makes it sound just ridiculously good, but not really representative of how the amp is designed to be used. The cab and speaker are supposed to be delivered this Friday....

Received my cabinet and speaker today from Marsh Amplification and finished assembly of the amp this evening. This is the Marsh Tweed Champ cabinet with the 10" speaker baffle upgrade, and has a lacquer finish ($30 upcharge). Went with that because the plain one was going to be out of stock for a month, and I was too impatient to wait that long to finish the amp! Gotta admit it sure is purty, though! The speaker is a Weber Sig 10AS (alnico, 8 ohm). Had to pop the dust cap off the clear the 6V6 tube, but that was easily done. Just starting to break in the speaker, obviously, but it already sounds great. This is just a beautifully round, sweet sounding little amp. The 10" speaker definitely gives it a much better bottom end than an 8", even if it's not true to vintage specs. In my world, when it's tone vs. authenticity, tone wins every time.

Bunch of photos:

Sweet!

Nice !!!! very Nice !!!!

Great call on the lacquered tweed. Looks amazing! I would not mind at all having something like that sitting about at home.