I've had this 1979 Fender Champ guitar amp for a few years, (picked it up used at Starving Musician on Meridian in San Jose). It's a nice amp, with a real potent sound, but for the past couple of years it lie unused, waiting to be repaired.
In November I had the main filter cap replaced and only had it back home for a couple of hours when it failed again, this time with a bad tube socket. Sure sounded nice for the hour or so I got to hear it.
After consulting with my amp repair guy I decided to build on my recent car repair success story and see if I could replace the tube socket myself. I ordered a new socket and on New Year's Day I replaced the old socket (and took a few photos along the way).
To make a long story short, the repair was a success and I've been playing the amp since yesterday afternoon!
Here's the scene of the crime, my "lab" as I call it.
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That's the bad socket, with all the wires removed. I printed a photo of the layout of the wires before even heating my soldering iron!
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Waiting for the new socket.
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And we're off. About half-way done in this photo.
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Yeah! She works and sounds great, even without a cabinet.
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Ooh, pretty tubes, glowing in the dark.
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The Fender Champ guitar amp really is a champ! A one trick pony, but a very nicely done trick. This amp is one of my favorites.
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As usual, you can click on any of the above images to see a larger version. Also, there are few more photos of the amp at my Flickr Fender Champ photoset.