1974 Fender Vibro Champ
moster78
Posts: 1,591
Found a listing for a guy selling one locally on Craigslist. Looks all original, except for a speaker swap. The guy is asking $350 for it. Worth it?
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moster78
Posts: 1,591
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If I bought it, I'd probably change the speaker. It will ultimately diminish the value if you don't have the original, but I don't buy them for thier inherent value.
What sucks is maybe 2 years ago these could be had for $225 or less in places.
I'd love to find one of those, buy a slightly bigger cabinet and match it up with an alnico 10. (yeah I love the princeton)
I've played a number of them and I like the 70's vibrochamps just fine. My good friends mom got one thrown in when she bought her Les Paul Custom in 1970. The circuits a little different than the blackface, perhaps a touch cleaner, but I've played plenty of great sounding 70's VC's too. (and there ain't 500 dollars difference in tone IMHO)
certainly you can. They are rare but you can find them. Mojo tone makes pretty good stuff though, it probably sounds a little better than the original.
Damnit, I'm still stuck to that name
But to the point: yep I've got a silverface from 74 or 75, all original. I paid 400 euro's and that's almost a year ago, I believe. Don't know about the speaker - that's Paco's domain - but in general you can't go wrong with one. They're great sounding tube babies (beautiful clean tone) and their 6 watts is still pretty loud when crancked - which also gives you the wonderful natural overdrive! They brake up at around 7-8 volume.
The tremelo circuit is a pretty cool gem, though I personally don't use it all that much. When you put it on 1 to 3, it adds a sort of fullness to your tone, which is nice.
$350 is not a steal-steal, but it is a good deal (depending on the speaker, which I know nothing about). They are getting more expensive with the years, that's for sure.
Cool, so then I guess $350 isn't a bad deal.
dosen't sound bad to me if you want it.
I've been thinking about a smaller, tube amp to use when I'm away from home. I have a MicroCube, but getting a little tired with it. I could always sell that to my friend for cheap. I'll have to get in touch with the guy to try it out beforehand.
On a side note, I think it might be wise to bring it to a tech to get checked out. When I plugged it in, plugged the input cable in and went to plug it into my guitar, I think I got a little shock! That can't be a good thing. The plug is missing the ground prong, which I think might be the issue. Good thing I just found the sweetest guitar shop not too far from me.
nice, yeah a 3 prong chord will negate that shock.
Nice deal and a really cool amp. Congrats!
Thats what I thought. How much do you think it would run to get the plug replaced? I was even getting a little jolt just touching the strings on my SG!
$45 an hour is an average bench fee for an amp tech, it might not be that much though you might want the tech to go through it and check it out.
A power cord swap shouldn't take more than maybe 15 minutes tops. You could have one made for you if you want.
I think Lava Cable does that sort of thing.
Cool. I called up what I'm hoping will become my new favorite shop and I'm going to bring the amp into them to have the power cord done and just generally have it checked out.
Hey, great that's not too bad.
That should be a lot of fun now.
Yeah, I'm amazed at how loud it gets for only, what, 6 watts? I was playing it with the volume at 3 or 4 and my brother was yelling at me to turn it down. Still trying to find the sweet spot for treble and bass though. But it is a fun little amp.
I told you so
yeah, efficient speakers get really loud.
Between you and Stefan and Dave we're going to have a freaking Vibro Champ orchestra.
I guess Jason counts too because he's got that little vicky.