Gig wiith a Silverface Champ

MIchael Bean · Post by **MIchael Bean** » 6 May 2019 8:35 am

This past Friday night I did a gig where I played PSG through a 1972 silverface Fender Champ, and it killed! I wasn't even mic'd and it surprisingly was quite loud and clean. Because there were two bands on the bill alternating sets, we were short on channels, so I was unable to go to the house system. A guitar player buddy of mine who is sitting at the bar asked me if I had a Princeton up there. When I told him what I had he was floored.

the speaker that I have in there is an Eminence 8-cs-4-50 from 1994. The current equivalent is the 820H. These Eminence champ speakers really are so much more efficient than the Oxfords that came in there, and make the amp so much more usable. Another thing is that this is a non-Vibro Champ, so it doesn't have the second gain stage for tremolo, so will have much more clean headroom.

I played our two sets and then ended up playing the last set with the other band. Neither band had a drummer, fortunately, as they were both old style country and western swing.

Chris Boyd · Post by **Chris Boyd** » 7 May 2019 3:53 am

Excellent...love hearing this Michael.. I have a '67 Champ that's never been used for steel...time to give it a whirl !

Tommy Mc · Post by **Tommy Mc** » 7 May 2019 10:29 am

I've got a 1975 silverface Champ with a Weber Signature Series 8" speaker which I sometimes use for practice. I can't imagine trying to gig with it. That Eminence speaker must be working magic for you. Of course, my band has been known to have volume issues. I once tried using my silverface Deluxe Reverb and that just got lost in the mix.

MIchael Bean · Post by **MIchael Bean** » 7 May 2019 10:45 am

These bands were almost like bluegrass bands, no drummer. There are some bands that I play with that I could never possibly consider using this amp.

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 7 May 2019 11:24 am

Yes, I've done this with pedal steel. Strictly low-volume acoustic ensembles, generally no drummer, but a real laid back snare with brushes can work. Both silverface Champ/Vibro Champ or sometimes a single-ended 6V6 tweed Champ/Princeton circuit. The Princeton (actually a Valve Train 205) has the Eminence 820H speaker in it, the best I've found; Lord knows I've tried a pile of 8" speakers trying to get more headroom out of these little amps. Still, I'd say, overall, for low volume gigs like this, I still prefer my Princeton Reverb unless it's super low-volume.

My "normal" pedal steel amp these days for a trad country/proto-rockabilly band with a drummer is a silverface Deluxe Reverb with a JBL D120F. Singer correctly complains if it gets too loud, and the fact that we can play with energy but not ridiculously loud means we're getting gigs in places loud bands just can't go. That amp could overwhelm this band if I wanted to. That is a lot different than I'm used to.