Let me introduce you to the first amp in Tablebeast's "Silverface Sleeper Series" or "SSS". The SSS is a collection of fully restored and modified amps made out of the last great 70s Fender Tube Amps (affectionately known as the "Silverface" era). The amps in this series are transformed from factory "nerfed" into optimally modified, fire breathing Beasts! Transformed on the INSIDE, that is... on the OUTSIDE? Well, besides the speaker swap, you can't even tell that anything is amiss. This aspect is what makes it a "Sleeper".

This is the first finished tube amp that I have made available for sale to the general public in over a decade... and yeah, I am very firm on the price. Why? Because its worth it. I spent weeks researching and going over various modification ideas, reworking many versions in my head and on paper. I obsessed over this thing and you're paying for that time. It was a LOT of R&D for just one amp. And, if you need to feel better about such a large investment, then you can rest easy because YES, its the only one. A true ONE of ONE. I'm not making any more of them available like this. You get the only Fender-made, Silverface Vibro Champ built for sale by Tablebeast. Ever. Twenty years from now, the price will seem like the best bargain you ever got! How do I know? Because I'm a time traveller. But I'm getting ahead of myself... I think. Or am I behind myself? Even I get confused.

Fender made a great amp in the Vibro Champ, as it was nerfed much less than their other designs of the era. But it was still made to fit a certain production cost and price point. So, some corners were unavoidably cut, EVEN in the earlier and most prized circuit variations. You see, simply turning the clock back to the 60's original wasn't enough for my tastes. I had to dig deeper! My goal was to look at the design with fresh eyes and eliminate all of the cost cutting I could WITHOUT sacrificing the TONE.

Thats the real key here. Just about any tech worth a dang can rewire one of these things and simply parts bomb it with fresh caps. I went several steps further than that. I selectively replaced parts with modern versions where they were a worthwhile upgrade and left them alone where they weren't. I made the amp safer and reduced hum, hiss, and noise. I also added circuit changes where it benefits the overall amp health and performance. For example, Fender ran the power tubes at a REALLY high plate voltage in these later Silverface models, well outside the factory spec, potentially shortening the tube's lifespan. There is little to no benefit to doing this, aside from making the amp the tiniest bit louder. They also used a lower than optimal value on the cathode resistor, biasing the tube even further into dangerous territory. The original RCA tubes could handle the abuse up to a point, but modern glass? Not so much. New manufacture 6V6 tubes can't handle a potential 450+ volts on the plate, not for long anyway! So I fixed that problem in a number of ways, none of which hamper the tone of the original circuit.

So what all has Tablebeast done to your new amp? I'm no gatekeeper so I don't mind sharing my secret sauce. Yes, I will have the modified schematic and layout publicly available if you wanted to modify your own Champ. DIY is gonna be the only way this circuit is ever replicated like this.

Here are the specifics of the full restomod:

• 1. The heaters were converted from unbalanced (with one side grounded) to a balanced type with an artificial center tap added, using a pair of tightly matched 100 ohm resistors. This center tap is then referenced above ground at the cathode of the 6V6. The result is a serious reduction in hum over the course of the entire circuit.

• 2. I removed the original AC cord and replaced it with a properly grounded, 3 prong type. The fuse was moved from the neutral AC leg of the power transformer's primary to instead be in series with the power switch on the hot leg. I also removed the notorious "death cap", which was never safe and is simply no longer needed. The result is a proper chassis ground, more effective fuse placement and vastly improved overall safety. (Wanna guess why its called the death cap?)

• 3. The power supply filter caps were replaced with fresh electrolytics and had two additional filter stages added. An additional Capacitor/Resistor @ 20uf, 475v / 250ohm, 5W was added in between the tube rectifier and the B+ source for the 6V6 power tube. This lowers the voltage a bit and the added filtering makes the DC voltage even cleaner by further reducing ripple. Another Resistor / Capacitor @ 27k, 2W / 16uf, 475v was added at the other end of the power supply, this one feeding both stages of the first preamp tube. It was also physically placed as close to the tube as possible. This lowers the voltage to V1 a bit more. The extra filtering and local grounding makes everything rock solid. The result is an amp with way less ripple and a superior supply of clean, high voltage DC.

• 4. ALL of the resistors in the B+ supply have been replaced with higher rated, metal film types. The series resistors in between the filter stages were increased to 2W and 3W. The plate resistors were all replaced with 1W and the first stage was changed to a 220K. The result is less thermal noise and hiss coming from the power supply.

• 5. All cathode bypass caps were replaced. And, though it may seem counter intuitive to some amp guys, I LOWERED most of their values. Larger value caps here can pass more bass frequencies, in theory. But in the Champ, you can hardly hear the difference and its not for the better. The output transformer can't pass most of those frequencies and even if it could, you're not pushing any of it out of that tiny 8" speaker. That "extra" low end is then mostly wasted. Even worse than just being superfluous, it also blurs the rest of the signal. By shrinking these values, the tone becomes more focused and better matches the flow of the circuit. The result is a tighter sound overall.

• 6. The much-hated RCA jacks for the speaker output and vibrato footswitch have been replaced with switched-type, 1/4" jacks. This allows you to easily plug in any 4 ohm speaker load to a normal jack, if you were wanting to augment the internal speaker. The switch on the jack shorts the output to ground with nothing plugged in, protecting the power tube and output transformer from the damage caused by no load. With the vibrato jack, now you can use any ordinary 1/4" type footswitch. The jack switch here again shorts the jack to ground with nothing plugged in. When it is shorted, the vibrato does not work, something the original amp could only do with the footswitch engaged. A 1/4" dummy plug is included to lift that switch when plugged in, thus engaging the vibrato. The result here is safety for your circuits and way more convenience.

• 7. Some ceramic caps were swapped out for better types (I personally don't like how ceramic caps sound). The 250pf cap on the treble side of the tone stack was swapped for a silver mica type. The second .01uf cap in series with the vibrato oscillator was swapped for a film type in the same value. The third .01uf cap was swapped with a .02uf in order to increase the speed time of the vibrato for increased length. Who doesn't like more length? The result here is better tone in the EQ section and a broader range of vibrato speed, making it more useful.

• 8. The 6V6 power tube circuit has been modified for reliability and performance in a number of ways. The cathode resistor is changed to a 1K, 3w metal film type. This biases the power tube in a way that significantly reduces power tube current and plate dissipation, cooling the amp and extending tube life. A 470 ohm, 3W resistor is added in series with the B+ feed for the screen. This protects the screen from excessive current draw and helps stabilize the screen voltage. A 2.2K resistor is added in series with the grid, acting as a grid stopper. This prevents parasitic oscillations and blocking distortion (the bad kind). The 330pf ceramic cap from grid to cathode is removed, but instead a 500pf, 1600v film cap is added across the output transformer primary. This "snubber cap" is in a much better position and serves to prevent high-frequency oscillation / RF interference. The cumulative result here is that the power tube is both maximized for sonic efficiency AND for maintaining a long service life. Effectively, you're only losing unwanted noise while maintaining the much desired Fender TONE. The best of both worlds!

• 9. A Weber Signature Series 8", 4 ohm speaker was swapped in for the original AlNiCo. This is just a personal preference as the original speaker worked fine, though the paper cone was sagging a bit. This Weber speaker is just louder and more robust with a lot more guts. I will include the Fender original with the sale if you want to swap it back. That way you can audition both yourself to see which you prefer.

• 10. All fresh wiring was installed and the ground scheme was improved drastically. The result of this is, again, less noise! It also future proofs this amp as even the best old wiring corrodes over time. Rewiring it hits the reset button on all that, just like the recap job does.

So, you might be asking, "Dang, Tablebeast, isn't that is a lot of changes? It sounds like its a whole different amp, now! Will this even sound like a Fender any more?"

Of course it will still sound like a Fender! In fact, it will be MORE Fender than it ever was before... because I am not bound by the same penny pinching limitations that they were when selling these things new. So you can relax if you were worried about this amp losing it's mojo to mods. For example, I left all the carbon comp resistors in the audio path, where they matter. I left all the original blue coupling caps in place, where they matter. This amp even has what look like its ORIGINAL set of RCA, Made in USA tubes! They all test within spec and sound amazing, so I just reinstalled them. How about that, the tubes outlasted the caps! Think about that the next time some tech tells you that you need a new set of glass.

I've attached my rather messy notes from this restoration / modification and I can provide a better schematic to anyone that wants one. Just ask. I will also include with the sale an original, hand drawn schematic, made in the style of an old pirate map!

Like I said at the top, this is only the first in a series of amps. There will be a total of six of them posted over the course of this summer, each a few weeks apart, as I finish them. The next one is a mid-70s Bassman 50 with some Trainwreck-style, cold-clipper circuitry added. These SSS amps are ALL one of a kinds. They are only being sold for a limited time and only in order to raise funds for my new studio/gallery endeavor. Once my new space is open, I'll be going right back into retirement and nothing else like this will ever be sold to the general public. So you have this small window to acquire these one-of-a-kind, undercover Tablebeast mods for yourself. But when its gone, thats it!

Feel free to hit me up with any and all questions you may have, even if you're not a buyer. I love talking about amps and I’m a big advocate of DIY. If this Vibro Champ isn't up your alley, maybe you'd prefer one of the other Silverfaces coming up in my SSS series? Hit me up and find out.

The amp comes ready to rock, right out of the box, with a 1 year warranty on my mods and lifetime support beyond that. SSS buyers will also be invited to an exclusive group reserved exclusively for new Tablebeast patrons. However, there are no returns or refunds. I operate on the tightest of margins and simply can't afford to do that, especially with me covering shipping to you. Yes, I do pay for shipping. Alternatively, you can pick it up in person in Forest City, NC ZIP 28043. If you do that, we can hang out and I'll even make you dinner!

It does come with both the original speaker and the new Weber. It does come with the dummy plug for the vibrato's 1/4" jack, but no footswitch is included. There are some scratches on the faceplate and a single non-original hole in the grill cloth. The speaker cover has the slightest of warps to one corner. I'm nitpicking now, but I'm trying to be as thorough as possible. I think that's everything. Let me know if this novel I've written here has missed anything...