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As others have stated, some level of hiss or hum is fairly typical in Champ/5F1 amps. I'm surprised that Fender's new 'reissue' Champs have hiss. I say this because I own a '70's Vibro Champ that is dead quiet at all volume levels. Best of all, it sounds fantastic. Fender knows how to make 5F1 amps that are quiet.
I also have a Gibson GA5 Reissue that has a low level hum, but it is not noticeable since I usually enjoy cranking that bad boy's volume. (Yes, my neighbors hate me!). There's nothing quite like a 5F1 or 5E1 circuit at full song.
If your new Champ hums at normal levels, hisses at higher levels AND it interferes with your enjoyment of the amp, then you have to make a decision...keep or sell.
Those new Fender amps have a good reputation, but maybe you got a lemon. Or maybe you got what Fender considers 'vintage tone' (aka '60 cycle hum').
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09-20-2018 04:43 PM
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So here is the question, is it realistic for me to expect no 60 cycle hum from a Fender made tweed Champ (reissue)?
Originally Posted by Gitfiddler
I can return this unit and order another one from some place else but I don't want to do that if I'm likely gonna have 60 cycle hum in the next unit as well. Or is Fender just full of it, they just don't want to admit this is a faulty unit?
I have a Princeton 65 reverb reissue it has absolutely no noise. I now Champ has a different circuit, but some seem to think they should still have no noise. Is that true?
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Fender 57 Custom Tweed Champ Review by Music Radar:
"...The amp powers on with minimal background hum and hiss. Valve-rectified circuits take a little time for all the voltages to stabilise and after a few minutes the hum reduces to more than satisfactory levels..."
Fender '57 Custom Tweed Champ review | MusicRadar
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Yeah, I guess that says one should expect the hum from Fender reissue Champs. It's also a subjective issue. It probably appeared minimal in the environment the amp was tested in. I played the amp in the store for like 2 hours and I didn't notice any hum. If I'd paid attention to it, I would've probably found it to be minimal as well.
But of course what's minimal in one environment becomes very noticeable when I'm practicing at TV volumes in my apartment at night when it's completely quiet .
According to what I read in forums, apparently people find Victoria 5112's quite noisy too.
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Hi Tal,
As I mentioned above, I bought a Mojotone 5f1 kit already assembled by someone else. Quality parts, including a nice Weber speaker, but catastrophic assemblage. It was unplayable. My tech took it apart and reassembled it (for a very modest sum, still keeping my buy in the “bargain” area). In doing so, he did (with my assent) deviate from the original design in order to make it quieter. I am not such an expert as to understand exactly what he did, but the steps described above by stevo58 sound very familiar: I recall, in particular, that he changed the respective position of the transformers and placed a larger electrolytic cap. I am sure more was involved.
The result is a great-sounding and very quiet amp. But let’s qualify “very quiet”: when I turn it on, it DOES produce some hum independently from the guitar (and my single-coil guitars add some). It’s 1950s technology – both the amp and my pickups – with a few minor tweaks. When I practice alone, I can notice it (although it does not really bother me). When I play with others, even on very quiet occasions when everyone else is playing acoustically, I/we don’t.
But yeah… a bone stock tweed champ played alone in the dead of the night will hum some, and probably even one that has been tweaked will hum a little bit. Only you can say whether that’s something you can live with.
PS: actually, even my 60s Tremolux has some hum when turned on, and I noticed that it depends quite a bit on the power outlet I am using…
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Thanks, that makes me feel good about keeping it. I just didn't want to think I'm using a faulty amp after paying a large sum of money given that it's just a 5w's.
It's seems like my amp is not unreasonably noisy based on your description. I'll give it a 6 months or so. I'll probably adjust and stop noticing the noise. If it's still bothering me, I'll sell it and look for quieter Champ clone options as I'm hooked on Champ.Last edited by Tal_175; 09-21-2018 at 11:30 AM.
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My suggestion would be: if in 6 months it bothers you for the hum, but you otherwise love it, rather than selling it take it to a good tech and ask what he’d do to reduce the hum. The solution might be very straightforward, effective, and entirely reversible.
I doubt you’ll get anything quieter in stock form because kit-makers and clone-makers both want to stick to the original (and slightly noisy) design for originality’s sake.
Play music ;D
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You might try plugging it different places around your home to see if the noise level changes. My old house has noisy wiring. Flourescent lights, the microwave, my wife's computer monitor are all sources of noise through guitar amps around here.
Also, I still suggest that a new V1 preamp tube might be helpful. I have a Fender Pro Junior that sounded fine in the store, but when I got it home it was hissy. A nice NOS 5751 cleaned that up very nicely.
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This !
I built a 5F1 clone and I'm quite happy with it. Not dead quiet (it is my first built) but quite quiet. (if this is right to say so)
But last week, we had rehearsal in a new building (music school) and when I plugged my amp in, we heard a big hum !
First I thought something went wrong in my amp, but back home when I tried it again, no significant noise, as usual.
This week at music school, same room but different wall socket : same awful noise !
What is funny is that the ugly SS Marshall beside is noiseless !
So, before you make any decision, I'd suggest you try your amp in another place.
These amps are so funny to work with !
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That's the first thing I tried when I first got the amp. I plugged it in different rooms. Then I took it to my girlfriend's house an tried it there. Same hum. Moreover, I'm sure the guitar tech has a well grounded working environment. He also confirmed the hum.
The tech replaced the power tube and he said that helped. It's true that the hum is quite improved.
The hum was lower when I first purchased the amp a couple of weeks ago. Then it got worse over the course of the first week which led me to take it to the tech. Turns out a tube going bad made the noise worse. Now the hum is still there, but I enjoyed using it this morning and the hum didn't bother me much. So there is hope
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Just seen this joke and don't know where to put it
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I just discovered that putting a pillow in front of the speaker of my Champ completely eliminates it's noise
It seems like some people put pillows in front of the amps to be able to crank them up a bit more or to smooth out the high end. So I tried doing that to see if that would help with the noise and bingo!
I guess that gives an idea as to how loud the noise is. It's only the night time when the noise bothers me. Pillow trick is useful in those times.
I got greedy and put another pillow behind the amp. Don't do it. I checked the temp 5 min's later, as I suspected it got smoking hot.Last edited by Tal_175; 09-25-2018 at 02:02 PM.
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Tube amps are rather efficient at converting electricity into heat. I installed a fan on my Vibrolux Reverb. It's designed for computers, but it works for tube amps, too. Keeps the internal temp at a reasonable level, and helps warm the room in the wintertime, so I don't need to run the heating system while the amp is in use. But I really don't fire it up often.
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Yep. Tube devices are just as truthfully called room heaters. Thermal efficiency with a tube amplifier is 50%. That is, 50% of the energy applied to the tubes gets converted into heat dissipated directly into the room. Only 50% gets converted into music. Thus an amp is equally an amplifier/room heater.
The original Fender Champ of the 5X1 series didn't really hum all that much. This was because Fender elected to use a live chassis and put the heater circuit (heck, the whole amp) inside the feedback loop--which was connected to the live chassis. This solved a noise issue, but it came at the expense of making the amp an electrocution time bomb--death cap failure and you have serious current on the chassis...er, you.
People generally do not build Champs using the original wiring diagram anymore. I sure would not sell an amp like that--it does not meet current codes. I must confess, however, that my favorite Champ build was one I did for myself that used the original recipe--minus asbestos, of course. I have retired that amp. I would not want anyone else getting it into their hands and accidentally hurting themselves--too much risk for me.
Now, if I build a 5f1, I use all of the contemporary tricks to ground the heaters, without completely floating the heater circuit. You can build a good, safe single-ended three-tube guitar amp.
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Update on the Champ noise. I decided that I didn't want to have to strangle my amp with a pillow most of the times I use it just to cut the noise and I took the amp to a very reputable amp tech in my city.
Last weekend I got the amp back, I'm happy to report that the noise of the amp has gone down considerably. There is still a little hum but you really have to listen for it to hear it. it's practically noise-free. What little hum still there is very low pitch. Not louder than my cats purr and kind of sounds like it. So the noise is borderline pleasant But it's hard to hear it even in a very quiet room.
The tech said he did two things. One, something to do with the heater wires (I don't remember what it was) but he said that didn't cut the noise much. The second thing he did was to add another filter capacitor. He said that did most of the hum reduction. Because the mod is just smoothing out the incoming power, it shouldn't have any impact on the tone. He said it might reduce the power a bit. So my Champ is now 4.87 watts give or take.
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Poor man's 5E3:
Joyo Beale Street (it's just a head tho)
Joyo JCA-12 BEALE STREET All Tube 12 Watt Head Fast US Ship | Reverb
Also, for a more traditional-looking one, Chickenhead Amps makes a 5E3, handwired, with speaker, for a little less than Lil' Dawg:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Chickenhe...-Amp/890030534
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