Fender

Fender Super Champ SN. F313218 (1983)

 With its basic circuit appearing in many variants since 1948, the Fender Champ, as it was officially named in 1955 has become a mainstay in Fender folklore.  Originally intended to be a student amplifier, the Champ was the lowest powered, and contained the simplest circuit of all the Fender designs.  In the initial years it featured anywhere between 3-6 watts of power and employed either a 6” or 8” speaker.  It was a lightweight, dependable, good looking and great sounding practice amp, and functioned in that capacity for 15 years.  Around the end of the 60’s guitarists discovered that a Tweed 50s Champ possessed a blistering overdriven lead tone when turned all the way up, and soon after,  those early models became highly coveted studio amps. The amplifier was to undergo many incarnations with the Tweed, Black Panel and Silver Panel models, but still featured pretty much the same simple circuit.  While the Champ had been available with Vibrato (tremolo) as early as 1964 the Vibro Champ, as it was called, still only featured 6 watts of power.

Fast forward to 1983.  With legendary amp guru Paul Rivera onboard as the Director of Marketing, Fender attempted to re-establish themselves as the tube amplifier standard.  Perhaps in a response to Marshall’s 50 and 100 watt models, they had begun upping the wattage on some of their most popular designs.  The Super Champ was a US made, hand wired powerhouse featuring 18 tube driven watts into a 10” speaker. The model also had reverb, a master volume and pull switches for both lead tone (volume) and mid boost (treble). The lead tone and reverb were foot switchable.  The Black Panel was also reintroduced on Fender tube amps at this time so the Super Champ featured that classic element.  The dramatic power increase along with the many modern (for the time) additions were exciting to Champ fans everywhere.  Amazingly, the reverb, larger speaker and extra tonal switching only resulted in a slightly larger cabinet, allowing the amp to remain portable, and practical.  Now, however due to its increased output, the venerable practice amp could be taken on small to medium gigs, depending on how hard of a hitter your drummer was!!

All in all, the '83 Super Champ is a worthy descendant of the model that was, and still is, Eric Clapton’s favorite tone machine!  It possesses that classic (loud) Fender tone in spades and can still fit easily in the front seat of your VW Bus!! 

This ’83 was clearly used and gigged over the years, such that it shows the expected signs of wear for an amp of this time period, with some small tears in the Tolex at the bottom corners, slight rusting of the metal parts and mild discoloration of the grille cloth. Used though it was, it was clearly not abused!  Since arriving at our shop, it has taken the customary trip to our preferred outside shop, where it was re-biased at 23ma/tube, received a new photocell, and got a new .01mF capacitor. Additionally, the tech gave it a general tune-up where he: checked all solder joints and re-flowed them as needed; c leaned all the pots and sockets; and otherwise conducted a full diagnostic and burn-in.  VERY GOOD+ to EXCELLENT Condition.

• 1x10 Combo
• 18 Watts
• 2 x 7025 Pre-amp Tubes
• 2 x 6V6GTA Power Tubes
• Solid State Rectifier
• Butt-Jointed Cabinet
• Black Tolex Covering
• Silver Grill Cloth
• Blackface Control Panel
• Two Channel (Normal and Lead)
• Volume, Treble, Bass, Reverb, Lead Level, and Master Controls
• Push/Pull Lead Channel on Volume Control
• Push/Pull Mid Boost on Treble Control
• Power Transformer = A019118, EIA 606-339, UI 1411
• Output Trans = 022913, EIA 606-339
• Choke = 022921, EIA606--343)
• Eminence Patriot Rajun Cajun Speaker
• Vinyl Cover