'68 Custom Vibro Champ Reverb 1x10" 5-watt Tube Combo Amp Review

Great little amp

Great sounding amp. It doesn't sound boxy for its small size. Digital hall reverb sounds decent and tremolo is amazing. Good value and well worth the price.

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Awesome small tube amp for home use

I was looking for my first tube amp, and after much deliberation and consultation with my Sweetwater rep (thanks, Jerrod!!) I finally decided to go with this Fender '68 Custom Vibro Champ Reverb-Amp. I couldn't be happier! I was looking for something small, easy enough to carry/transport on my own if necessary, not too loud (but also not too quiet!), and with a focus on clean tones.… read more I also wanted something simple and easy to use; I honestly didn't want all of the extra options that a lot of amps now offer (for example, all of the modeling options out there) - it's just too much, and the simple, pared-down interface of the Vibro Champ is exactly what I was looking for. I was upgrading from a Fender Mustang modeling amp, and the difference in sound and tone is like night and day. This amp has made playing an absolute pleasure, and it was 100% worth the money to me. I had been debating between this or maybe a Princeton, not sure if this would be enough; for me, living in a small one-bedroom space, it's plenty of volume. I typically keep the volume between 4 and 6. Digital reverb sounds excellent to me. So far I've kept it all stock and don't see any reason to change it. If you're looking for a small, quality tube amp, I would recommend giving this one a try!

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So much fun!!!

This little amp can really get sparkly Fender tones all the way to great bluesy dirt. At 5 watts it's still pretty loud for home use but it's great for studio work too.

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The new VibroChamp Reverb is awesome

I have come full circle... Started with a silverface Champ in the 1970's. The new amps are great... Once you get rid of the speaker... I splurged on the power tube for mine and got a Bendix 5992. Found a great sounding R & A alnico speaker that made this amp worthy of having IR's made (wish I had, the speaker died and the hunt is on). Speaker or not, this is an inspiring amp to… read more play. It is an instrument itself... single ended, cathode biased amps do that. I play a Esquire style partscaster, and the tone are versatile. I usually turn the volume, treble and bass to 10 and control it with my pick... Not too loud unless you dig in. This amp is notloud enough to hang with a band, IMHO. But, a restaurant/coffee shop gig is doable. The reverb is pretty good, a Flint is probably better. The Trem is awesome, you can really use it. I wish Fender would have had an option for a nice JBL, it would be worth the upcharge... The stock speaker blows. I tried a G10 Gold and it was a big improvement over the stock spesker. The R&A is mind blowing. I also tried a Mojo OT with a 8 ohm tap in it so I could use the Gold safely, the stock OT sounded much better.

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You Kinda Have To Really Want It

This might be a lengthy review, but it's a 5 watt amp for $... so it pays to really take a close look at this new offering from Fender. I should preface this review by saying I love 6V6 based amps: I have a 70s SF Champ (SFC), a 70s SF Princeton Reverb (SFPR) with JBL K110 speaker (my desert island amp), a Music Master bass amp (the 6V6, not the EL84 one) and an old Valco/Ward's… read more amp with 6V6, volume, tone and tremolo speed control. I play clean, not much breakup, and like a sound with flatwound or half-round strings. So basically I like small amps and play them with a clean sound.When I saw this new Fender Vibro Champ Reverb (VCR) I wanted it. It had lots of features that appealed to me: 6V6 single-ended output, reverb, tremolo and an upgrade to a 10" speaker. To my mind though, $... for a 5 watt amp does seem a bit pricey. Yea, it's tube, but still… Yet I was undaunted and ordered it. My guy at Sweetwater, Sam, said they were on backorder, but I said 'Fine, I'll wait.'It finally came. I've been playing it. Here is the review.Pros: All tube. Single-ended 6V6 output. Baltic birch cabinet and Schumacher transformers (or that's what they say, if so, that's good). Tremolo. Reverb. 10" speaker. Groove Tubes. The output tube socket is ceramic and chassis mounted. Comes with amp cover. Construction and Tolex covering seem very good. Long cord.Cons: Printed circuit board construction. Actually multiple boards with the usual spade lug interconnects. Not my favorite interconnect method but it's all about driving down costs and ease of assembly. Yea, this won't be easy to repair like my old eyelet board SF amps. Looks like the two 12AX7 preamp tube sockets are PCB mounted. Ehhh…again not my favorite. Yea, I get it, that's the major construction protocol nowadays; if you want a hand wired amp you need to shop the boutique ones and be prepared to pay. Solid state, full wave bridge rectifier, not tube. Again, not surprised. Digital reverb, not spring. This was also not a surprise. Doing a spring reverb means a tank, transformer, recovery tube and associated components. Honestly, the diode rectifier and digital reverb don't bother me as much as the PCB thing. Rectifier tubes cost $$ to replace and digital reverb has actually gotten pretty good. No schematic. Really!?! NO schematic? I contacted Fender support and they said one was "not available at the consumer level at this point". I'd wanted to see if they'd made any circuit changes compared to the older Champs: preamp cathode resistors and caps, tone stack, B+ voltages and stuff, but Noooooo. And…NO foot switch. Really? For $... they couldn't throw in the foot switch?Performance: Note: sound is subjective, everyone chases a different sound. Words to describe the sound I want would not be: sheen, brilliant, bright, chimy, that sort of thing. I'm more into, clean, full, woody, dark. I did a test comparing the new VCR to my SFC and SFPR. A "real" test would probably involve using the same tubes and speaker for each amp. I didn't do that, I simply compared amp-to-amp, trying to equalize the settings. Even then, there are sooo many variables: pot tapers, component age/drift, circuit topology.For the test I used my Fender MiM Strat with Lindy Fralin Vintage Hot pickups and my 60s ES-175.So: SFC vs VCR. To my ears, my old SFC (with an 8" Jensen) was a bit louder with more top end than the new VCR. I cranked the volume on both and did hear a bit of noise up around 9 or 10 (Note: the new VCR does not go to 11, whereas my Fender Pro Jr does go to 12. Buyers take note). The new VCR is a quiet amp. Cranked full, where I don't go, both are loud and break up as expected. Tone controls work about the same on both amps, not the greatest tone controls I've heard, but functional. What I DO like about both amps is the single-ended output. Having that tube always on, in class "A", seems, to my ears, to make the amp a bit more responsive.I compared the VCR reverb and tremolo to those on my SFPR. I really like the tremolo on the Princeton, the way it modulates the output tube bias. I prefer that over the other Fender opto isolator type circuits.Reverb. The new VCR has more reverb and maybe a little brighter to my ears compared to the SFPR. Of course the VCR is modeled on a 'Hall" and not a 'Spring' reverb so… Bottom line: I can live with both reverbs, they both work for me. I cranked it up on the new VCR, played Apache and thought it sounded good.Tremolo. Okay, I'm an older guy, but I like this effect. I played around with the Speed and Intensity controls on both amps, VCR and SFPR, and was able to get the same trem sounds I was looking for.I plugged my ES-175 into the VCR, turned up the bass and backed off the treble, dialed in just a bit of reverb and set the trem for a slow throb and got the warm sound I was looking for.Final thoughts. It IS a lot of money for a 5 watt amp. Yes, it's a tube Fender with reverb and tremolo and a 10" speaker. I'm thinking you kinda really have to want this to buy it. Am I happy with the sounds I get out of it? Yea. Would I use it at a coffee house gig? Sure. It's a great small, grab and go tube amp. Do I think it's tour road worthy? Ehhh, no. I'd use an older, wired Champ.So, if you're into 6V6, single ended amps and you want one with reverb and tremolo this might be the amp for you. It was for me. I have NO problems with the sound/performance. But I'm giving it three and a half stars, taking off stars for the PCB (though I don't think it affects sound), the price, no foot switch and no schematic.

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