I forgot how much fun this little 5 watter is to play! I just put in new tubes to make it have more headroom, as this is an incredibly pedal-friendly amp. The tubes I got were as follows: NOS JAN-Philips 12AT7 and a JJ 6V6. The idea behind this is that the 12AT7 has about half the gain of a regular 12AX7, so it won’t push the power tube as hard as a 12AX7. The JJ 6V6 has tons of gain, and is much harder to break up; thus, I hoped to attain more clean headroom with this combination.
While I like the breakup of the Champ 600, it’s a little weak, but the clean tone is spectacular with this amp. And hooking it up to a 1 X 12 extension cab really expands the depth of the tone it produces. Combine that with a couple of pedals, and the result is like candy to the ears.
Some people might frown upon this diminutive amp, but I used it throughout my first album, and for good reason: It’s so damn versatile! I can play pretty much any style with this amp, and miked properly, can make it sound much bigger than it actually is. And at $200 bucks (that’s what I paid for it), it was a total steal!
Here’s a simple clip I recorded using one of GarageBand’s “Magic Garage Band” backing tracks. It’s a slow blues in E. The first part of the song is played with the neck pickup of my Prestige Heritage Elite, into my Tone Freak Effects Abunai 2, into my Hardwire RV-7 Reverb, then into the Champ and out my custom Aracom 1 X 12 extension cab with a Jensen P12N (damn! that totally sounds like name dropping! Yikes!). In second half of the song, I switch to my bridge pickup and stack my Tube Screamer on top of the Abunai 2. Oh my freakin’ gawd! This was fun. In any case, here’s the clip:
Sorry for the mistakes. I actually didn’t care because I was having so much fun! And by the way, I played the lead parts with my brand-spankin’-new V-Picks Psycho pick, a 1 3/4″ wide, 5.85 mm thick monster of a pick. I’m in tone heaven right now! You just gotta check this pick out!
And I almost forgot! I just can’t believe who incredibly awesome these Wyres strings sound and play. They’re so pliable, so resonant, and they sustain so well that they send my inspiration through the roof! Like the Psycho pick, I just can’t enough of these absolutely wonderful strings!
Guitar Gear 
That clip sounds sweet! I like how you can hear the click/chirp of the V-Pick on the initial attack of your notes, especially on the bridge pickup. Low wattage amps are great for those of us that would like to keep our hearing intact and don’t have the space for a half stack cranked to 11. While I have never played a Champ 600, I do own an Epiphone Valve Junior and Crate Palomino V8, and they are both excellent amps in their own way. I’m looking into modding them this summer to make them sound even better!
Thanks, Cody! That Psycho is just an incredible pick.
The other cool thing about a low-watter is that you can do the mods and if you screw something up, you’re only out at most couple of hundred bucks as opposed to potentially a couple of thousand if you do that on a bigger amp.
My Champ has totally served me well!
Great tone and great playing, Brenden.
Thank you so much!
I need to find out more about these strings.
Vinni
Amazing what the right combination of gear can get you! I even used the Psycho quite a bit tonight at my acoustic gig! That pointy tip is what does it for this pick.
About the strings, the Wyres are just fantastic! Even though they’re coated, they play like nickel strings. I have the nickel wound steels on my Elite, and as you can tell from the clip, they sound fantastic!
Nice clip, tone is really awesome especially when you kicked it up a gear or two with the TS.
I’ve been using V-Picks for the last few months and now when i switch to anything else i don’t like the sound as much!
I have a few different one’s; Large pointed, the Santana model, Snake and i just ordered the Psycho which i’m hoping is gonna be the best of all.
I find now when i play ordinary plastic picks or tortex they sound too plinky and weak!
Gary, I totally hear you with respect to having to play with regular picks. It just seems so foreign to me now. The thing about thick picks is that once you get used to them, they’re so, so accurate.
As for my V-Picks, the Snake is still my go-to for all-around playing, but I’ve really been getting to love the Bb. At first glance, it might be a bit too rounded, but the bevel makes all the difference in the world! It’s great for getting pick harmonics; something I’ve had trouble doing with the Snake.
Hi GD, yeah it seems to be once you try these picks they grow and grow on you. When i first tried them i said “no way! they’re too thick!” not so, i find the sound is massively better than standard picks, I used those herco thumb/flatpicks and loved them as well but after using these V’s there just seems no going back.
They might not be as suitable for intricate chordal stuff but for the bulk of the stuff i play, rock, blues, hard driving swing stuff, they’re unbeatable!