kbp810 Posted September 8, 2012 Posted September 8, 2012 Just thought this might be fun to share! At PSP Matt (Grubber) asked me if I would mind taking a look at his Super Champ that had stopped working - it was an odd gripe where as no sound would come through the speaker (sans some light buzzing), but everything worked as it should using the line out to another amp. A short while later we met up and I grabbed the amp to take a look... there was no obvious faulty components (nothing burnt or blown), and bad tubes were quickly ruled out. After some more testing, poking, proding, head scratching, and hair pulling out, it seemed a pair of OP amps were the most likely suspects. So, here is where the real fun of working on a PCB board amp starts to come into play! In order to replace those parts, I had to remove the board... to remove the board, you have to completely disasemble the entire amp (or at least a good 95% of it); not to mention having to do it without breaking a ribbon cable or copper trace in the board (especially since it still gave up a good fight coming out!). But alas it came out... ever so carefully de-soldered the existing OP's without tearing a trace or solder pad... put in sockets (like it really should have had in the first place!)... ever so carefully reinstalled the board and re-asembled... put the new OP's in the new sockets... powered back on... and, and, and... Nothing! Same issue still persisted! Arggghhhhhh! Looking into this a little more it seems this is a common issue with the Super Champ XD's - and when you take it in for warranty replacement they don't fix them, they toss the amp and give you a new one. (doesn't instill much confidence in the repairability of longevity of these amps -IMO). Despite the above... we still have a perfectly good combo cab, speaker, chassis, and set of transformers; no need to let all that go to waste... so we talked about and decided on a plan B! - Gut the Super Champ and give it a new purpose in life! Super Champ XD is about to become a Frankensteined-Tweed Deluxe Here is what I've started with
kbp810 Posted September 8, 2012 Author Posted September 8, 2012 ..and it begins! I took no care what-so-ever in removing the board this time... The first challenge now is to get rid of the standoffs - I plan on putting a pair of turret strips in there and they'll just be in the way. The problem though, is that they are directly riveted into the chassis; and after a little contemplation I decided the best method for removal was to break out the vice grips and pop them right on out: There... now that's better!
schundog Posted September 8, 2012 Posted September 8, 2012 Hey, this is going to be fun to watch! While I dig my Super Champ XD, it obviously wasn't built to last forever. Good to know they can be, um, RECYCLED! Have fun, Brian, and keep those pics coming.
kbp810 Posted September 8, 2012 Author Posted September 8, 2012 I'll just keep on trucking along to catch up The next two items involved some minor modifications to the chassis. For the first... since the Tweed Deluxe only has three controls, I'll be using every other hole from the existing controls (it's getting a new faceplate as well)... but I needed to drill them out a bit to fit 3/8" bushing pots. I'm going to use the existing on/off switch, but since there is still room up front, I'm drilling the last hole to 1/2" to fit a standby switch as well (up front) The crude circles were only reminders on which ones I needed to re-drill The second... the Super Champ has only one preamp tube, and therefore only one preamp tube sized hole - the Tweed Deluxe needs two, input and Phase Inverter. Not to mention the one hole they have is located just behind the power tube holes, not the ideal position if you ever feel like rolling some tubes - so two new holes are needed. Keep in mind now that I don't currently have a 7/8" punch, and this chassis is steel... I marked out the new positions, marked with a punch, drilled a pilot hole with a 1/8" bit... and shoot, all I have is in 7/8" is a spade bit (which works great in aluminum, but not steel!). I've had that bit for a while and it was already getting a tad dull, so figured what the hay and gave it a go... Needless to say, the score as it stands now is chassis 1 spade bit 0 - and that's were the project stands for now, more to come a little later down the road!
DetroitBlues Posted September 8, 2012 Posted September 8, 2012 This is a fun project. I'd loved my old SCXD, but those fears of a PCB amp led me to amps that were not made with micro components. I'm looking forward to the amps progress.
eljay Posted September 8, 2012 Posted September 8, 2012 Hey, this is going to be fun to watch! While I dig my Super Champ XD, it obviously wasn't built to last forever. Good to know they can be, um, RECYCLED! Have fun, Brian, and keep those pics coming. +1 i, too, have a super champ xd. first amp i bought when i got back into geetars in '09. too lowly even to be listed with my "inventory." if brian enjoys the rebuild project . . .
grubber Posted September 9, 2012 Posted September 9, 2012 Man, I am excited to see how this guy turns out. Brian, you are amazing. I really appreciate your Plan B for this amp. It'll for sure be my go to amp. Keep the photos coming! And let me know when I can come pick it up!! So, here's the story behind this little amp. I bought it and really liked it for practice. Then, in the continuing search for tone, decided to try Mesa Boogies. Big mistake, because I liked them. Alot. So I had to thin the herd. (Kinda like what I've done with Heritage guitars). Ebay was the future of this little Fender that wasn't played much at all--it was mint. The high bidder lived in Texas. So, absent the original packaging, I went to my local UPS store...paid a fortune for them to box it up to meet the insurance requirements--and lost quite a bit of my earnings on shipping this amp to Texas. When it arrived, the buyer sent me an email saying it was DOA. "No way, here's my cell number, call me and let's walk through it". I was just playing it before I sent it--so I knew that it worked. We spoke on the phone several times over several days and tried new tubes, different speaker arrangement, everything. The only sound that was available was from the line out. Best option, refund his money and turn in a UPS insurance claim--glad I bought it at that point. If you've never had to file a UPS insurance claim here's what I learned. Make sure it is packed to their specs, not one hundredth of an inch less (insulation and packing). Well, since I paid a fortune for my local UPS store to pack it, I was within specs when they sent their inspector out to pick it up. It took almost a week for them to say that they did not see any damage to the box that would indicate they damaged it during shipping. My local UPS store manager got involved and low and behold, they would consider looking at it again. I just needed to get the amp back and then take it in for an estimate from a licensed Fender repair shop and depending on what was found, they may pay a portion of it. Kinda fed up with the weeks of waiting and hassle of running around to get a "maybe", I decided to just eat it. Enter PSP and Brian the amazing amp guy. I mentioned it to him and thought we'd see where it went from there. He would try to fix it and let me know. Long story to get to where we are today, but I am excited that there is a different life for this amp. Actually, it's OK that he couldnt fix it because the more I thought about it, the more excited I've gotten about a Frankenstein Amp from a great guy. And it will have all of the tone that I was originally searching for............plus some.
bolero Posted September 9, 2012 Posted September 9, 2012 haha, this is great....too bad about the crappy XD, but it will come back to life as a real amp!! looking forward to the progress, thx KBP!!
kbp810 Posted September 9, 2012 Author Posted September 9, 2012 Have to give you one of my vari-bits! Yes, now go buy the correct bit. Ha! Yep, I do have a greenlee step bit set somewhere... or perhaps "had" as it were given the keyword "somewhere" in that sentence. We still have a fair amount of unpacked and rather un-organized boxes, so they may turn up yet (though weren't in any of the boxes that said "tools" on the side ) Else, a trip to the hardware store will be in my near future
Trouble Posted September 9, 2012 Posted September 9, 2012 I'm quite interested to see how this turns out. I've got a solid state 12" combo I've been thinking of gutting and putting some kind of a kit in.
Blunote Posted September 9, 2012 Posted September 9, 2012 I'm certain you'll like the amp when Brian is done with it. What really grinds me about your story is the usual UPS rip-off. They count on wearing you down when you try to file a claim for damages by putting the burden on the customer to prove it was their fault. Most reasonable people would expect if you paid extra for them to pack it to their spec then they should naturally honor the insurance. Looking for damage to the box is rather bogus. Fact is, the amp worked when you shipped it, and stopped working while in their custody. I'm not an attorney but did study business law during my college years. There's a term in law called "res ipsa loquitur". One dictionary defines it as; Latin for "the thing speaks for itself," a doctrine of law that one is presumed to be negligent if he/she/it had exclusive control of whatever caused the injury even though there is no specific evidence of an act of negligence, and without negligence the accident would not have happened. Examples: a) a load of bricks on the roof of a building being constructed by Highrise Construction Co. falls and injures Paul Pedestrian below, and Highrise is liable for Pedestrian's injury even though no one saw the load fall. b,) While under anesthetic, Isabel Patient's nerve in her arm is damaged although it was not part of the surgical procedure, and she is unaware of which of a dozen medical people in the room caused the damage. Under res ipsa loquitur all those connected with the operation are liable for negligence. Lawyers often shorten the doctrine to "res ips," and find it a handy shorthand for a complex doctrine. UPS' lawyers are well familiar with the doctrine, though UPS knows most consumers are not, can be fatigued into giving up. I would so love to hear of a class action lawsuit and significant punitive damages for breach of contract.
grubber Posted September 9, 2012 Posted September 9, 2012 I can only imagine how much premium is charged for UPS insurance with the global market of Ebay...Hell, dont get me satarted on ebay fees and paypal fee either. I'll try to focus on how cool Brent is going to make Frankenstein XD!
DetroitBlues Posted September 9, 2012 Posted September 9, 2012 There are a lot of possibilities on solid state amp converging ideas. I've read where a guy gutted a Deluxe Reverb and converted it to a hand wired version.
kbp810 Posted September 18, 2012 Author Posted September 18, 2012 Had to play catch up on another project, get the bluenote on it's way to tsp17, then spent the weekend up at our cabin building a new bridge before hunting season arrives (river runs through the middle of our property)- the old bridge was getting bad, really bad... then a small tree fell on it a short while back and pretty much took care of what was left of it (which was a good thing, we needed to knock it out anyways) Anywho... just getting back to it today (sorry Matt!) Preamp holes are drilled and a few new holes added for the turret strips - next up is to start mounting components In case you were wondering why one screw is missing from the preamp socket mounts, it was just a test fit - tube shields will be going over the sockets.
kbp810 Posted September 18, 2012 Author Posted September 18, 2012 Meh, having issues with photobucket at the moment... pics to come later.
Steiner Posted September 21, 2012 Posted September 21, 2012 Are you going to put tubes in that amp?! Aren't tubes outdated??? This is how most of the big names in amps got their start too. I don't think their mods were quite this invasive... Lookin' good!
kbp810 Posted September 22, 2012 Author Posted September 22, 2012 Just about finished Just need to wire the heaters - and still waiting on the faceplate before wiring up the front controls; was expecting to of had it by now.
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