My Champ 600, just came in!

It's not too loud to crank during the day. Much quiter and less gain than an Epi VJ, from what I hear. I've never played a VJ.

I live in a townhouse & play in the basement.

So far, I really like the sound. On the low input when dimed it is just into grind territory, but it can be pushed into either a fuller or more saturated sound with my Twin Tube Classic or my Bad Monkey (or both!).

It is rich and bright, but not too bright.

My other amp is an AD30VT and I am used to controlling gain and tone via the amps knobs. With the 600 I crank the amp and use the guitars volume and tone to acheive what I want. Since it has a nice high end, you can easily get darker tones by rolling back the tone knob.

The sucker is teeny, tiny and is easy to cart around.

Mine buzzes a bit when plugged into the low input and quite a lot when plugged into the high input.

It was clear from the way it was packaged that it was previously returned by another customer.

I've bought some nice tubes to try, but I am waiting to decide whether I want to exchange it & see if I get one with less buzz.

Are there any safety precautions I should observe when I replace the 12AX7 or the 6V6?