Minty mint original 63 Champ w amp porn

[Phil_S]

A really nice one on eBait. I normally wouldn't bother to post, but the seller obviously knows how to show them. Keeps scrolling down for the good stuff. Gets good about half way down. He pulled the chassis, too.
Preamp tube is an obvious replacement, a Mullard AT7.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 7391898337

[martin manning]

Cool. Interesting shock-mounted sockets with grounding braid. I can't believe it sounds as good as it might with new electrolytics. Seller clams it's all-original, including 12AX7 tube???

[Cliff Schecht]

Seller is showing a 12AT7 which is obviously not the factory tube. Not sure about the other two but all of the tubes look like they've seen better days. I would put all RCA in that amp anyways if I was going to turn it on (which I wouldn't with those old e-caps in there).

[loctal]

Wow, that little champ sold for US $1,425.01! Crazy.

[Gibsonman63]

Holy crap! I thought $400 to $500 was to much for a Champ. I should have bought more of them when they were readily available in the pawn shops.

[Structo]

Thanks for that.
Some great reference photos.

[boots]

Lots of great pics.

It does my heart good to see that even the fine folks at Fender couldn't cut a perfectly smooth, round hole to mount the speaker in the baffle! Looks like it may have been done with a jigsaw?

I have been using a home-made router jig similar to a compass that makes a 99% perfect round hole. Still practicing and striving for the 100% perfect speaker cutout!

[Phil_S]

I use a homemade router jig for speaker cut outs. It is very easy to make one and they are nearly fool proof. The "problem" with getting a good cut out is more about technique than the jig. A router will only cut so much material at a pass. If there is any slop at all in the jig, each pass will vary a bit, so a tight fit for the jig is important, and the pilot hole needs to be plumb. One thing you can do, if you have a good jig, is to stop before you get all the way thorough, flip the work over and finish it from the other side. This prevents tear out and any imperfections are below the surface layer. You can then deal with the imperfections with a flush cut bit in the router and you'll have a darn good result.

[ChrisM]

I use a homemade router jig for speaker cut outs. It is very easy to make one and they are nearly fool proof. The "problem" with getting a good cut out is more about technique than the jig. A router will only cut so much material at a pass. If there is any slop at all in the jig, each pass will vary a bit, so a tight fit for the jig is important, and the pilot hole needs to be plumb. One thing you can do, if you have a good jig, is to stop before you get all the way thorough, flip the work over and finish it from the other side. This prevents tear out and any imperfections are below the surface layer. You can then deal with the imperfections with a flush cut bit in the router and you'll have a darn good result.

I do the same thing.

Have a jig
And only plunge the router bit about 1/10" at a time. Takes a few passes to cut a baffle on 1/2" wood but the results speak for themselves.