another amp post!

  • Thread starter Thread starter guitar junkie
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guitar junkie

guitar junkie

Guitar User.
So my father in law picked up a Fender Super Champ XD for his lap steel guitar, and really loves it! (of course I helped him pick it out) And the word around here is that I could be getting one for Christmas from "The gear fairy" I guess I am wondering though if there would be something more useful out there for someplace between that and say $450 that could be more interesting.

I was looking at the Weber kits and really like the idea of building my own amp, mostly because I would have something really cool that I put together myself!

I am good with a soldering iron, and wired many houses with my dad, but I have never done anything like this short of swapping tubes from mics and preamps... Anybody built a Weber kit? How do you think it favors next to some of the Fender amps out there?

I will have to wait a while to do this but it could be something to spend a bit of time researching.
 
wow, those kits look exciting, but personally i don't feel up to the challenge just yet.

i wish somebody offered cheap empty cabinets with tolex/cloth selections so that i could "build" myself a pseudo-vintage tweedy or blondy (or something).

i've even seen a replacement cab for the SCXD, so you can have a 1x12 combo, on ebay. but i think i'd rather have a closed-back separate cab.
 
Gear_Junky said:
wow, those kits look exciting, but personally i don't feel up to the challenge just yet.

i wish somebody offered cheap empty cabinets with tolex/cloth selections so that i could "build" myself a pseudo-vintage tweedy or blondy (or something).

i've even seen a replacement cab for the SCXD, so you can have a 1x12 combo, on ebay. but i think i'd rather have a closed-back separate cab.
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Those kits do look awesome. I wish I felt up to it.

Someday, definitely.
 
It's really not too difficult! They don't come with step-by-step directions or anything, but they do come with a layout, which is very easy to follow.

I'm building one right now, and it's taking me a while. But the reason it's taking me a long time is because I'm one of those people that wants to understand why things work.

If I just followed the layout and wired everything up without wanting to understand it really, it wouldn't take long at all.

There will probably be a few questions that come up if you decide to build one, but there's an excellent online Weber forum for getting any and every question answered. Of course you need to use caution, because they're dangerous. It's not a toy, and it needs to be respected as such. But neither is a car, and we operate those every day now without even thinking twice about it. If you educate yourself about the right way to do things, you'll be fine.
 
guitar junkie said:
I guess I am wondering though if there would be something more useful out there for someplace between that and say $450 that could be more interesting.
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I think you are going to get sooooo much action out of that Champ...... there's a lot to love in that package! To me, those amps are the sweetest thing Fender has put out in a long time... finally a hybrid done correctly!

Just my .02

Peace!

~Shawn
 
eyema_believer said:
I think you are going to get sooooo much action out of that Champ...... there's a lot to love in that package! To me, those amps are the sweetest thing Fender has put out in a long time... finally a hybrid done correctly!

Just my .02

Peace!

~Shawn
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you are referring to the SCXD, aren't you? Just making sure. People usually don't call them just "champ" - to avoid confusion with the original champs.

i love mine.
 
Gear_Junky said:
you are referring to the SCXD, aren't you? Just making sure. People usually don't call them just "champ" - to avoid confusion with the original champs.

i love mine.
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Yessir.... the SCXD is a hybrid, the original is not!
SCXD=very versatile, original, not so much.

Peace!

~Shawn
 
Gear_Junky said:
you are referring to the SCXD, aren't you? Just making sure. People usually don't call them just "champ" - to avoid confusion with the original champs.

i love mine.
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eyema_believer said:
Yessir.... the SCXD is a hybrid, the original is not!
SCXD=very versatile, original, not so much.

Peace!

~Shawn
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Agreed. I Love my scxd. Can't get enough of it. Seriously.
 
The kits look interesting for sure!

I dunno, maybe just modding a Epi Valve Jr would be enough fun for me, I dunno...

It's gonna be a few months before I can even take the time to think about researching enough to know what I'm doing.
 
guitar junkie said:
I dunno, maybe just modding a Epi Valve Jr would be enough fun for me, I dunno...
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I did every mod there is for the Valve Jr. Dont bother. I would count that experience as one of the 5 most wasted efforts of my last 10 years.

browse around here for a bit before you decide.
http://www.ceriatone.com/

Also, check out Frenzel Tube Amps.
http://www.frenzeltubeamps.com/


Or get your confidence level up by building your own pedal clone first.
http://www.buildyourownclone.com/index1.html


Or mod a store bought pedal first.
http://www.monteallums.com/pedal_mods.html


Might even be a few useful things here you can build. I have the 4 band parametric and the tube mic preamp. The headphone amp is their best kept secret.
http://www.paia.com/
 
Too cool!

I might build a couple pedals for now and then see what happens.
 
guitar junkie said:
The kits look interesting for sure!

I dunno, maybe just modding a Epi Valve Jr would be enough fun for me, I dunno...

It's gonna be a few months before I can even take the time to think about researching enough to know what I'm doing.
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I also played around with modding an epi and ended up selling it and buying a stock one and just running pedals in front for flavor. I like the amp but I also feel the mods are useless when using good pedals in front can give a similar result.
 
Looks like I might be getting a job building two way radios, so I think I will be getting some pretty cool training doing some of this stuff....
 
guitar junkie said:
Looks like I might be getting a job building two way radios, so I think I will be getting some pretty cool training doing some of this stuff....
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Yeah that would be very cool and very applicable training.
 
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