Archive for September 4th, 2012

Silverface Fender Champ

September 4, 2012

A Silverface Fender Champ amp, serial # A34003, date of manufacture August 29th 1972, was purchased on Ebay by Jessica, a young lady just starting out in the music industry here on the NSW Central Coast, and is the subject of this blog. This was a smart purchase on Jessica’s part, but required a major overhaul to bring the amp up to performance standard, which of course we were happy to do.

This amp was purchased off Ebay from the USA, so first and foremost we needed to replace the 110V power transformer with a 240V primary replica Champ transformer, plus install a 240V 3-core power cable and a 3-pin plug, including the installation of a dedicated chassis earth connection. The fuse also needed to be changed to a suitable value for 240V operation.

Next item on the agenda was the speaker – the original 8-inch alnico magnet speaker was doing this amp no favours at all. There are replacement/upgrade speakers for the Champ available from Jensen, Weber & WGS. We chose the WGS model, which is a significant upgrade compared to the originals. Seriously folks, WGS are making some great replacement and/or upgrade speakers at very competitive prices. We did have to enlarge the speaker mounting holes somewhat, to mount the new speaker on the existing bolts.

The Champ was now much louder and more toneful than the day it left the factory. There were just some relatively minor issues remaining to be corrected, ie noisy electronics. The pots and jacks were cleaned, as always, with Caig FaderLube and DeOxit. The power supply capcitors were actually 4 x 20uF/475V DC in a single chassis-mounting metal can. Fortunately, these capacitors are being manufactured again by CE Distribution (USA), so we were able to replace this unit, and maintain the original power supply design and appearance.

The photo on the left shows a capacitor that should be automatically removed before running these amps on the 240V mains. All that remained now to complete the overhaul, was to install spring clips to the octal valve sockets (to prevent upside-down valves from falling out), and to carry out power output and electrical safety tests. The amp delivered 4 watts into 4 ohms, at the onset of clipping.

The photo on the right shows you how we could date this amp so precisely – a Fender factory worker named J. Castillo date stamped the amp AUG 29 1972 ! regards, IR.

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Victor takes delivery of his Blue Mood 12W head

September 4, 2012

Here is a new model in the Blue Mood series of amps from the Richards Amplifier Company – Australia. Utilising our smaller chassis size, and powered by a pair of 6V6 output valves, the Blue Mood amp is now available as a 12W head. In spite of the seemingly rather modest power rating, this amp is quite capable of holding its own with a bass player and drummer.

This example is presented in a stunning combination of colours – vintage style (British) purple tolex, and a front panel made from a selected piece of exotic hardwood – purpleheart. Black hardware, control panels and control knobs complete the picture. Those of you who are familiar with our amplifiers will know that we are particularly proud of the presentation of our amps in such beautiful timbers as Tassie Blackwood, Bird’s Eye Maple, Bubinga, and others – now including Purpleheart.

The basic Blue Mood format offers a stripped down circuit for purest signal path. A single high impedance input jack, volume control, passive treble/middle/bass controls, active prescence control, and master volume control with bypass. The bass control has a pull-shift function to shift the focus of the bass and midrange controls upwards by approx 1 octave, for an alternate vintage voicing. Rear panel offers 4/8/16 ohms impedance selection, a pair of parallel-wired speaker jacks, line/DI jack, a pair of fuses, detachable mains connection, plus a bold/vintage switch – in this amp the vintage setting reconfigures the 6V6 output valves for class-A/cathode-bias operation.

The basic tonality of the Blue Mood amp is inspired by everybody’s favourite early 1960’s amp from California, as exemplified by the Mark Knopfler’s, Stevie Ray’s and the Brian Setzer’s of the guitar world. We just go out of our way to make it a little fatter, a little warmer, and a little sweeter.

Each and every amplifier is individually hand-assembled, hand-wired, one at a time, by one person from beginning to end, to a specific customer order.

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