As some of you are aware, we recently joined forces with Mercury Magnetics, which makes the best amp transformers in the business. Mercury offers an upgrade kit for the Fender Champ 600, which purports to turn this modest little 6 watt amp into an ultra-mega tone monster. Phil decided to put it to the test – so we bought two of these amps, and had Phil complete the mods to one of them. After about 3-4 hours of applying old-school Navy know-how, this little amp was putting out face-melting tone – and quite frankly, putting the original to shame. Here’s a shot with all the components loaded up (click for a close up):
We’ve also recorded some clips for your enjoyment and edification. Although we are not equipped to do proper recordings in our modest shop, we think it’s still pretty badass. These were recorded with a Maret guitar in the bridge humbucker position, with a Shure SM57 positioned 6″ away from the speaker. We left the gain on the mic the same for each clip, and absolutely NO EFFECTS were used.
- Stock model, volume at 3: stock3.mp3
- Mercury Magnetics mod, volume at 3: mm3.mp3
- Stock model, volume at 6: stock6.mp3
- Mercury Magnetics mod, volume at 6: mm6.mp3
- Stock model, volume at 12: stock12.mp3
- Mercury Magnetics mod, volume at 12: mm12.mp3
These clips really don’t do it justice – you really should play it yourself. Want to hear more? Come on down to the shop for a play test!
