Mercury Mags Valve JR Modders... seen this?

Pacomc79

http://www.mercurymagnetics.com/pages/mainframe.htm

Champ "600" Mercury Mods. Looks sexy too and it's a 6V6.

I am tempted.

exhausted

the 600, as is, was really disappointing so it certainly needs something.

i am contemplating buying one and messing with it.

Pacomc79

exhausted wrote:

the 600, as is, was really disappointing so it certainly needs something.

i am contemplating buying one and messing with it.

I'm betting the 6inch speaker throws people off,

I'd like to hear a solid pine cab version. I've not had a chance to play either yet though. The stock version of either amp.

All Those Yesterdays

Yeah Champ 600, should of came in a head form and stuck around the $100 price. I'd rather just build a clone of a princeton.

exhausted

coincidentally, that's what i was thinking of stuffing into the 600s chassis. a tweed princeton.

i do sort of want to buy a pair of the 600s to put away for my kids though.

All Those Yesterdays

exhausted wrote:

coincidentally, that's what i was thinking of stuffing into the 600s chassis. a tweed princeton.

i do sort of want to buy a pair of the 600s to put away for my kids though.

I'm on the fence abou the 600's. The price bugged me a bit, and I know they are cheap, dont' get me wrong.

Just with the area of great sounding low cost clones kits, it's tuff to look in this direction anymore. Don't get me wrong, I still dig the Valve Junior of mine.

Just still searching for the Clean tone I like. And the 5E3 has it for sure. Just need to see if something better is out there.

exhausted

well, i'm trying a 600 for a couple days just for the hell of it. like the valve jr. a big part of the tone is the cabinet it's going through.

it's a charming little amp though.

came with an EHX 6V6 and i like those tubes. needs a better preamp tube though.

All Those Yesterdays

exhausted wrote:

well, i'm trying a 600 for a couple days just for the hell of it. like the valve jr. a big part of the tone is the cabinet it's going through.

it's a charming little amp though.

came with an EHX 6V6 and i like those tubes. needs a better preamp tube though.

Very cool. I'm still convinced the 6v6 is where it's at in the world of clean tones.

There are definately mod's out there for the champ. If I had one I'd never use that speaker that came with it, I'd be treating it as a head. And get a avatar cabinet to play it thru. But right there is seems I'm already better off just buiding a princeton clone in head form.

I just recieved a email from my buddy who finished his phase invert mod on his 5E3. Said it has a lot more clean head room, and a smoother drive, more in the black face relm of things. So I'm going to have to get over there next week and check it out.

exhausted

yeah, i forgot to mention, if you go the 5E3 route, do some mods. mine has zero headroom with anything but my 52 tele which is my lowest output guitar.

but it's ok since it's supposed to be the dirty complement to the blackface deluxe.


still pretty underwhelmed on the 600 on it's own but through the reverb into the tweed deluxe cab it's quite nice.

All Those Yesterdays

exhausted wrote:

yeah, i forgot to mention, if you go the 5E3 route, do some mods. mine has zero headroom with anything but my 52 tele which is my lowest output guitar.

but it's ok since it's supposed to be the dirty complement to the blackface deluxe.


still pretty underwhelmed on the 600 on it's own but through the reverb into the tweed deluxe cab it's quite nice.

That reverb unit would probably make the Peavey Bandit sound good!

Yeah the 5E3 of my buddies, is the ceriatone version. but the ceriatone schematic is noisy, and he ended up going to webers schematic to get it quieted down. His head room with a american deluxe tele is about 8 oclock. With my Danelectro its about 9 oclock. But that clean is just over the top amazing. I don't hear that good of a clean tone out of any other fender that I've played thru....'59 bassman, 70's era twin, blackface bassman. The just aren't there.

I know I'm picky as can be for sure!

exhausted

it's weird. my 5E3 headroom ends at about 4 (out of 12) with the tele.

anyway, i decided to keep the champ 600 but for the kids in the future. so it's boxed back up unmodified. i actually really like the sort of edgy clean it gives.

All Those Yesterdays

exhausted wrote:

it's weird. my 5E3 headroom ends at about 4 (out of 12) with the tele.

anyway, i decided to keep the champ 600 but for the kids in the future. so it's boxed back up unmodified. i actually really like the sort of edgy clean it gives.

the numbers I was given are the numbers on the dial, it's roughy where the dial is pointing if the it was the hour hand of the clock.

Pacomc79

yeah, The old 50's supro's with actual wood cabinets sound pretty cool.

But in the end, man a 5E3 circuit is where it's at.

I still have profound love for the blonde Vibro King with that awesome reverb

the bassman and virtually all 5E3 clones.

I think honestly the only way to get exactly what you want is to build it.

I want an alnico 2x10 5E3 with a full fender reverb circuit complete with dwell mix and tone.

All Those Yesterdays

Pacomc79 wrote:

yeah, The old 50's supro's with actual wood cabinets sound pretty cool.

But in the end, man a 5E3 circuit is where it's at.

I still have profound love for the blonde Vibro King with that awesome reverb

the bassman and virtually all 5E3 clones.

I think honestly the only way to get exactly what you want is to build it.

I want an alnico 2x10 5E3 with a full fender reverb circuit complete with dwell mix and tone.

I'd have to do a two amp set up. I'm still a fan of true amp distortion, over pedals, so some type of clone of a 1974x is necessary for that, Then on the clean side possible a 5E3, or something close to that clean tone.

All Those Yesterdays

exhausted wrote:

it's weird. my 5E3 headroom ends at about 4 (out of 12) with the tele.

anyway, i decided to keep the champ 600 but for the kids in the future. so it's boxed back up unmodified. i actually really like the sort of edgy clean it gives.

It just dawned on my while our volume numbers are probably opposite of each other. The version I'm talking about is a clone in head form, so the knobs are rotated 180 degrees. My 9 oclock is your 3 oclock.

Pacomc79

All Those Yesterdays wrote:

I'd have to do a two amp set up. I'm still a fan of true amp distortion, over pedals, so some type of clone of a 1974x is necessary for that, Then on the clean side possible a 5E3, or something close to that clean tone.

A 5F Bassman circuit has a ton of potential (swap the 6L6's for EL34's....)

I think the AA163 Bassman (Blackface) circuit is a little underrated. You can get a ton of great OD tones with it.

Or on the cheap... Sovtek MIG 50.

exhausted

All Those Yesterdays wrote:

It just dawned on my while our volume numbers are probably opposite of each other. The version I'm talking about is a clone in head form, so the knobs are rotated 180 degrees. My 9 oclock is your 3 oclock.

yeah, i'm still sort of confused but... on the normal channel, my tele is clean up to about 5/12. on the bright channel it's about the same. more room with the low inputs.

Pacomc79

http://www.musictoyz.com/guitar/amps/drzmini.php

worth adding. IMHO.... nice improvement over the original Mini Z.

Much better Idea to build a head.

All Those Yesterdays

Pacomc79 wrote:

http://www.musictoyz.com/guitar/amps/drzmini.php

worth adding. IMHO.... nice improvement over the original Mini Z.

Much better Idea to build a head.

Mini Z's are cool, but then I see the price for what is is, that's when I have a little problem swallowing it. Especially with fantastic true clones of fantastic great classic amps. Sure there's some work you know. But it's worth it.

Again not slamming Dr. Z at all.