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I now have a customized monoprice.com "Stage Right" 5 watt tube amp with a 8" speaker.
It's basically a Laney Club8, like a Fender Champ 5F1 amp circuit. It cost $104.23 delivered to my door. I replaced the stock Celestion 8" speaker with a Weber alnico Signature 8" ribbed speaker for $55; the Weber is the same model in the current Fender Champ '57 Custom. I also replaced the Chinese tubes with Genalex Gold Lion tubes. The amp now has excellent clarity, warmth, and dynamics. It reacts to my picking accents much more dramatically than a typical solid state amp. For example, when I play my solid state Vox amp it makes my accents sound almost completely neutralized. Cosmetically, I removed the Celestion name tag from the grill cloth and replaced the white chicken head knobs with black ones.
Last edited by rintincop; 10-21-2018 at 10:38 PM.
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10-21-2018 04:43 PM
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Way to go! It's hard to beat the old 5f1 Champ for dynamics, tone, and sheer soul. It's one of my half-dozen favorite amps of all time.
Hmm? That must be why I own three of them...down from five in recent years. (You can carry even a good thing too far, after all.)
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Congrats can't beat that price for sure.
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The touch sensitivity is really good now that I have upgraded this little 5 watt monoprice amp. It is tone heaven, really clear and warm. I am using a mini delay pedal in front of it.
This is my old rig just to let you know I am not a rookie:
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the monoprice site doesn't say how much it weighs? Do you know?
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13.5 lbs
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Few things are more fun than a 5 watt tube amp. Congratulations, and play it in good health!
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The Blueridge flattops I have played over the past six or eight years have been pretty good guitars for the price.
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Got any 5e3's? If so, how would you compare the two? I've wanted a 5E3 for a very long time...
Originally Posted by Greentone
I had a Champ 600 (the reissue one, that I modded for no tone stack like the 5F1), put a weber in it..... it wasn't bad, but it wasn't good enough to be a keeper, for me....
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Next order is my Chibson LP Standard with P90s from China
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Well, I own three 5e3 amps, too. They are just tops. When I play at home or gig, I use either a 5e3 or a Polytone MiniBrute, depending on if I want a Kenny Burrell tone (5e3) or a 70s Jim Hall/Herb Ellis tone (Polytone).
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Originally Posted by Greentone
SOLD!!!
Are your 5E3's vintage? I ask because the vintage ones have a 12AY7 in the preamp, whereas the reissues and most clones seem to have a 12AX7.
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These are 5e3 amps I built. One is in a tweed cabinet and is my grab and go amp. One is a head/cabinet amp. One looks like fine furniture and stays home. All three have 12ay7 NOS v1 tubes. I have a pretty good stash of them...been collecting tubes for 40 years.
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I always wanted to build a simple amp... at first it was the 5F2A (tweed Princeton), but I think I would like to build a 5E3.
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My first amp build was a 5e3. I built 5f2 and 5f1 amps aplenty after that. The 5f1 is simple, but building it in the "Champ" chassis calls for nimble fingers, let me tell you...tight quarters.
The 5e3 is a great way to start out--if you are deeply respectful of the fact that the energy levels involved in working with tube electronics can kill you, if you don't really understand what you are doing.
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I just ordered a kit to build a 5f1 clone two days ago, and I can pick it up today from the post office.
It'll be my first valve amp build, I'm looking very much forward to it
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Neat post. Originally Posted by rintincop
There was an article I read somewhere where a reviewer got a Chibson and did a side-by-side with a real Gibson, and pointed out that with a little fettling the Chibson was not a bad guitar.
Do you have a link for that kit? Thanks! Originally Posted by orri
I just ordered a kit to build a 5f1 clone two days ago, and I can pick it up today from the post office.
It'll be my first valve amp build, I'm looking very much forward to it
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