I have wanted a twin reverb for a long time, but never had the scratch for one. Saw a Musicians friend ad this morning for This Fender Champion 100 that looks suspiciously like a solid state twin. Reviews seemed positive, and a quick Google search landed me on Musican's Friends site with a slightly damaged FC 100 for $191! Prices are around $299. And I dont care about cosmetics. I jumped on the deal and am now waiting for my amp to arrive.

Has anyone tried out one of these amps yet? If, so I would like to hear your opinions.

Fender solid state amps usually sound pretty good (at least the recent ones). I watched a few Youtube demos and I think the new Champion 100 is no exception. Apparently it has 2 channels, one called "Blackface clean" and the other devoted to digital voicings (Tweed, Blackface, British and Metal). I think it should surf fine.

Tube amps are not for everybody. If you're not prepared to take extra care of your amp, buy new tubes regularly and have it serviced every once in a while then you'll be better off with a solid state amp.

Congratulations on the new amp! Have fun when it arrives

Old punks never die... They just become surf rockers.

I've played quite a few and love them!
I hate the champion 20, haven't played the 40, but that 100 is superb for the cost.

Nearly got one, but held out for a bit...eventually will get one, though.

I played it alongside a deluxe reverb and you could barely tell the difference at lower volumes. Even at 6 it was nice.

I'd have no problem getting one.

If you guys are into solid state amps and don't want to spend big money, check out the Yamaha G100 (used, of course). Superb reverb, nice crunchy tube like tone, lots of power and headroom.

The Hicadoolas

Congrats on the inbound amp!

Would love to hear a surfy sound clip uploaded after you get it.
With so many amp models nowadays emphasizing early breakup in the pandering to a different crowd I can see where a reliably clean SS amp with a tank & couple of pedals already owned makes a case for itself.

Wes
SoCal ex-pat with a snow shovel

DISCLAIMER: The above is opinion/suggestion only & should not be used for mission planning/navigation, tweaking of instruments, beverage selection, or wardrobe choices.

horax wrote:

That's true about the FM212R.
Never played one, but if the verb is like the verb in the 25R, that's a great amp.

Yeah, I was quite pleasantly surprised when I took a 25R off a kid's hands 'cause he needed to buy a couple of next semester's books. A little baby spring unit in that puppy and not bad for a basic on-board room verb as those things go.

Wes
SoCal ex-pat with a snow shovel

DISCLAIMER: The above is opinion/suggestion only & should not be used for mission planning/navigation, tweaking of instruments, beverage selection, or wardrobe choices.

Badger wrote:

Congrats on the inbound amp!

Would love to hear a surfy sound clip uploaded after you get it.
With so many amp models nowadays emphasizing early breakup in the pandering to a different crowd I can see where a reliably clean SS amp with a tank & couple of pedals already owned makes a case for itself.

It is regrettable that it did not have an actual spring reverb unit. I had planned on putting together a tank using a 2 spring MOD unit I purchased a few months ago along with a driver unit from plans off the internet. The Champ does have an option for outboard effect loops.

I also just happend to see a used Fender Frontman 212R in GC today. For the Guy who mentioned it. Didn't know It had Spring Reverb already in it. Oh, well. The Champ has ALOT more options to play with I think.

Hope it all works out. I don't have proper recording equipment. so uploading footage may be a problem. UPS should show up some time today.

Last edited: May 07, 2014 04:03:20

The UN-trained ear

I am a novice guitar player who has recently decided to "get serious" and start actually practicing instead of tooling around. Take what I say with a grain of salt.

My champion 100 was carried to my porch this afternoon by a friendly UPS guy. After playing with it this after noon here are my thoughts.

THE GOOD
The Sound! I have only get to play tube amps when I visit Guitar shops, Don't own one personally, but I would say that the Champ emulates the warmth of a tube quite well. The Champ sounds crystal clear on the Clean channel. Clean and Sparkly. Turn on the one of the Reverb settings and BOOM, BIG SOUND. Keep in mind I have been using a VOX DA15 for about 10 years now, so going from 15 to 100 watts is a big step.
There are 3 Reverb settings one sounds like a medium sized empty room, its ok. One Feels Like I'm playing in a big Cavern of some sort, sound good for jangly country type stuff. And then there is the Spring Reverb, Love it. Even has a Reverb+Delay setting that's really fun. There are a few others like trem and what not.
The Different Voicings are pretty cool too. There are some for BlackFace type amps and Tweed, British type amps (I wouldn't know how close they got to emulating these amps, but they have they're uses). The only one I don't like is the Metal settings. Sounds like hot garbage to me. My VOX has some cool Metal and Crunch type sounds on it, blows the Champ out of the water.

THE BAD
The Strange problem I am having with a few of my home-bult pedals. The work terribly with the Champion. The Sound cuts in and out of them. I tried using them in the pre-out/power-in jacks made specifically for effects pedals and they acted all wacky. Then I used the standard Input jack chained to my guitar and had the same problem. I then connected my Factory made pedals (CRY Baby, Danelectro, Boss Pedals, ect.) and they all worked fine! I don't have this problem with my Da15, seems weird. Maybe I just build janky pedals.

THE UGLY
The Build quality. I didn't expect exceptional quality coming from a "budget" aimed product but, Fender could have done a little better than this. It feels like PLASTIC. The parts of the amp that are not plywood and glue are mostly made of plastic. The type of plastic that breaks if you accident band it into something or knock it over. That kind of plastic. Even that parts seemed like they should have been made of steel or aluminum. Looks like Fender took alot of shortcuts in the quality quality department. What is particularly offensive to me is the front bezel, a glued on plastic strip, not made of aluminium or steel. I can imagine it might start to come loose down the road. The knobs are OK I guess, but lack a certain, Heft to them. The Jacks have a are mostly make of hard plastic, I don't understand why all metal ones were not used. The plywood that this is made of is not particularly sturdy. I got this at a reduced price because it was damaged in several places. I think If I had been made of a better material it would have held up. I might end up building a better Hardwood amp case and transferring the guts into it after a while. Might be a fun project.

The most important thing to me would be sound quality, and I feel the Champion 100 does quite well in that department. If you can find this Amp for as cheaply as I did (under $200), and want it for the home or occasionally using it for gigs, I say go for it. If you want a quality amp for traveling around with and being an awsome professional, I would say save your cash for a more sturdy amplifier.

Well, that's my rant.

Last edited: May 08, 2014 02:13:19