That’s about the only truth here The Tweed Champ would Not be 1962 well I wanna know is where Clapton‘s 1959 beano Les Paul Is Gibson try to make a copy of it and sell it for $15,000 in all there is is like two or three pictures of Clapton using it on anything to make a buck with the biggest joke is that $25,000 Eddie Van Halen Frankenstein guitar is the biggest joke I’ve ever seen
I edited a podcast of Marc Ford from this interview, he plays guitar and talks about his favorite gear. soundcloud.com/user-868907257/marc-ford-rollercoaster-podcast
“in order to get the amp I had to agree to meet him on the side of a dirt road.“ That doesn’t sound sketchy at all. 😂. Great story though man, doesn’t matter if it’s Clapton’s or not. Sounds amazing! I got to interview Marc about 10 years ago for my old website. Talked to him for over two hours, and he was the most gracious and humble rockstar I ever met. Super nice guy. I still use one of his quotes as my email signature to this day. He said “music is a bizarre thing in the first place. You can’t see it. You can’t touch it. I think it’s as close to spiritual as any of the art forms, really. It’s the universal language and it evokes emotion more instantaneously and more easily than any other medium.“ Beautiful stuff!
That's great! Yeah he is a cool guy! Yeah he played every amp I had in my house just because he wanted to check them out. He's been playing with my buddy Chris Lizotte for years. I just uploaded a ten minute audio podcast of Marc from that same day to my page if you're interested.
Well, we know it is documented that Clapton and Duane Allman used teed Champs to record "Layla". I think he used Music Man amps live in the 1970's though.
It was 110 degrees and the buzzards were circling. I caught a glance at the sun which made a raspy metallic sound. Then I looked down and the wind was blowing sand off a little mound on the desert floor revealing a Tweed Fender Champ. Fortunately I had just found two stratocasters. But really I just needed some water.
@@68macun my house uses 100% "fossil fuels." Wind turbines and solar panels are a scam. Might as well be using unicorn farts and happy thoughts to power your house
@@68macun not as expensive as you think compared to how much it costs to get enough windmills or solar panels installed on your property to equal the amount of power one decent sized diesel generator puts off. Plus, as long as I keep my generator fueled up it will operate continuously through rain or shine or snow or ice or any other bad weather that would render windmills and solar panels useless. Until a better solution than "fossil fuels" comes along I'm gonna stick with what's more economical and consistent to power my home. You can stick to unicorn farts and happy thoughts to power yours little buddy.
My 2015 Fender EC (Eric Clapton model) Vibro Champ has the two inputs, a high and a low. Once you plug into both of them, one a guitar line connected to your guitar and the other input can be used as a line out to a second amp. I know because I do it all the time. Also either jack can be used as a line out into a second amp, it doesn't matter which-the hi, or the low.. Mine also has tube vibrato, hence the name Vibro Champ. Just sayin! The line out is standard on the new one's
Can't that hurt your other amp of it's not the same ohms? The champ I believe is 4 ohms and most are 8 or 16 I think. Just curious. Also the line out mod on the champ in the video is for the purpose of going from the low watt amp to a bigger speaker. What you are talking about seems to be more like an ABY thing. You are still running through the other amp I believe.
+ Tim White. Cool video. How much did you sell this amp for? Did you ever try to get in touch with any of Clapton's people to see if there is any truth to this story?
Not so sure it was Claptons, I would want to see the strats too. The output with the transformer would be the pro guitar tech way to do that on the fly when out on the road during the 70's....... But it is indeed a hack none the less. Regardless it is a very clean Tweed. Did you re-cap it. Too bad you didnt have more gut shots of the board. Two Questions I must ask..... Did you trade the Marshall or not? What did you get it for and how much did ya sell it for? Pioneer Town is Great!
Hi... I didn't re-cap it. I contacted everyone including Sotheby's auction house and sent pics to their rock-n-roll expert. He didn't know and said Clapton auctioned off so many things it isn't that big of a deal and I couldn't get an answer. I couldn't see the Strats or the other Champ because the guys brother had them and was very protective of them. Yes I traded the Marshall JCM 100 watt head which cost me $500 and I sold it within 24 hours of listing it on Reverb to a man in Hong Kong. I kept it for about six months before selling it. It sounded great little class A amps sound awesome. I may have gut shots of it somewhere. It sold for more than similar amps from the same year 3X. I bought some other boutique tweed amps from Louis Electric and they never sounded even close. Are you into Tweed amps?
@@drwhiteguru That's such a far out story! Well was it Clapton's Amp? We can believe whatever we want to be believe. The fact of the matter is it was an exceptional Tweed! You enjoyed it and were able to also flip it for top dollar! Congrats! Am I into Tweeds? I am into to vintage guitar amplification and have kinda been working my way backwards through the historic gear. The stuff that was used to craft what I would call the soundtrack of my life. I am on the very end of the baby boomer generation or actually on the cusp of boomers and kinda the lost bastard generation that was a teen in the mid 70's. Album Oriented Rock Music or Classic Rock as it is called today. I am strongly influenced by all the guitar gods and of course the big holy trilogy that arose from the British Blues Explosion .... Clapton, Beck & Page! I have been into professional style gear for awhile now. Love to tinker and have gone thru numerous phases, since I had first started working on amps and chasing the tone. First it was the big stuff like 100 watt Plexi's . First the JMP 1959 Superlead stuff , then The 2203 JCM modified high gain and various ungodly modified monster gain circuits. Basically it was anything EL34! Later I started to appreciate maybe less was more and looked towards the 18watt circuits and the relatively cheap EL 84 circuitry. So intially it was The British stacked amps. After going for the High Gain heavy rock, I started to really appreciate the Fender amps and that american sound and shimmer. Got very much into the blackface amps and the 6L6 ..... I have had BF Twins and Deluxe Reverbs mostly. Soon did alot of SF to BF mods and got into the Vibrolux, next was Princeton and built many flavors of my own Champ circuits. Doing Champs really git me into the territory of the tweed amps. Tweed Champ, Tweed Princeton ,Tweed Deluxe and back into the big amps again with the Bandmaster and of course the Bassman. My current favorite Amp right now is my orig 1959 Bassman . I had winning bid of $400 dollars during an online estate sale auction. Unfortunately the shipper did a substandard job of shipping that amp along with another old amp and I recieved it damaged! I was so pissed off! The dumbass shipper offered to refund my shipping charges and pay my auction cost and let me keep the amp! So I scored a free but damaged but all orig '59 F5-6 chassis that needed a little tweeking to bend the chassis back into shape. I bought an manufacturer "2nd" R.I. cabinet from the Fender Charity Kids Rock Free parking lot sale when the Fender Museum was shut down here in Corona . The cab was used as a prop next to the stage in their private lounge and housed a plastic Passport PA speaker . Next thing I hooked up with a guy on Craigslist in Oceanside who was liquidating a large hoard of various speakers from Joe Bonomassa's inventory. (turned out to be a great contact too) I bought a quad of brand new reissue Jenson P10Q that were once owned by JB. The whole amp just really all came together and fell into my lap. It fully worked with minimal issues but the all original caps were like a ticking time bomb! I did spend alot of time on the variac, the recto tube jumpered with diodes to slowly ramp the voltage and reform the caps. I am sure this worked as the amp fired up first try! I just recently replaced all the electrolytics by removing the old caps guts and restuffing new modern caps inside. No more time bombs and the amp has its minty vintage good looks and appeal. Right now I am running all RCA Blackplates including an RCA recto tube. It sounds very good. It even sounds better with the backup set of tubes which are a AT7 mullard and ecc83 telefunkens a pair of tungsol 5881's and a mullard gz34. I might sell this or maybe entertain trades for a Burst if this epidemic ever passes soon! (shameless plug) But yeah I like the simpler amps and the tones that they produce. Tweeds really do float my boat. Probably my faves are of course The Tweed Champ, Tweed Princeton and Tweed Bassman (lol! pretty much covered all the basic circuits huh?) The Blackface Amps hands down is the Deluxe Reverb! As for SF ???? Maybe a dripedge Twin. Marshall is the JTM 45 and the 69 or 70 metalfaced superlead. I havent done alot of VOX stuff but I did repair a few AC30's and can kinda get it, but havent slipped down that hole. Most esoteric amp to pass my bench? A Deluxe 46 Woody. Yeah I love tinkering with this stuff for sure! I love tone and love electric guitar music whether it is rock, blues or jazz , I just love great tone and performance!
Cool story! Yeah we have a lot of similarities I think we’re around the same age and I went to high school in California Southern California. I played bass for about 20 years but I took guitar lessons on the side and practiced guitar. In the early 90s I got mesa boogie studio preamp and a bunch of Rack gear and that was fun. I also learned how to become a studio engineer so I could use that rack equipment not only with my guitar but in the studio. About five years ago I got bit by the boutique bug and went on a long journey of trying all the classic amplifiers. The Marshall hand wired clones, Vintage Fender Blackface and silverface, I like the clean sounds but the distorted tones I thought sounded really horrible. The bass got loose and flubby just didn’t like it. I would read about certain amps buy them used play them record them then sell or trade for something else just as a way to educate and train my ear and it was a lot of fun. Some of my favorites were: Matchless independence, Vox AC30, TopHat Emplexador, Budda Stringmaster Hiwatt, BRay modified Marshall. I always wanted to try a tweed bassman and I’ve never played through one yet so I envy you there. I’m also really getting into analog synthesizers which is something I always wanted to be into as a kid but couldn’t afford it. Now they are having a retro resurgence similar to the tube boutique guitar world. I think my favorite was the VOX AC 30. It got really distorted but you had to turn it all the way up no master volume, the cleans were great but the edge of break up and touch sensitivity was out of this world. Cool story about your Bassman! Got any clips? Stay in touch!
Pioneer Town is a great place and the people are totally cool. It is not some dirt poor village, either. It is a retirement community for people who want to live a little ways away from the city, but not too far away. BTW I do believe the amp has provenance. It would have been better to also have seen his other equipment and Das's photos.
I had a single speaker Fender Vibro-Verb that I lent to a friend to try it out. He supposedly had his garage broken into and it was stolen. Now I see them on ebay for 7 grand...yikes
I disconnected the speaker cord from the Champ and ran a cable directly from the Champ speaker outlet into the Showman input of the vibrato channel. Probably not the way it should be done, but it worked for me for quite a while. I would keep the Showman quite a ways behind me and have my guitar cord going into the Champ much further out front, and watch the people marvel at the big sound I was getting from that little amp. The days of innocence....
When you are in the grips of heroin addiction you will sell your mother for another fix. So with that in mind , finding a 1962 Fender Tweed Champ in mint condition with a corresponding story is plausible. So some guy in Hong Kong bought it.
I had one since '64 as a kid. It came out of San Francisco. Traded it about 5 years ago to Guitar Center. Bass amp, but worked well with guitar. Mike Bloomfield? Oooops.
Next time maybe play the amp some more; because we want to hear it' then if you really want to sell the story. play some Clapton, or any of his groups like some Cream so at least we can hear his sound coming through that little guy.."!"
Sounds like a right decent Champ alright. Though on the surface the whole set-up seemed like something right out of a Pawn Stars story line, if you look at it from the viewpoint of it just being an amp they made a ton of (they did), possibly having been owned by a guy who often used them (he did), and then how it all came about (he was a mess back then, and junkies will trade anything for a hit) then the idea that Eric might have been that guy really isn't so hard to imagine. I thought it was a fair trade, and I'd swap a 100w head for it in a heartbeat (unless it's an early JTM or Plexi, then I'd need the guy's hat as well...) but really, I think it's pretty cool story. I've had many fine times in JT myself...now whatever happened to that dentist's chair someone hauled up to the nest?
I guess some people might think I staged it, but I didn't. My son went with me and we both work in production and he shot it on an iPhone 6, the Marc Ford and end wrap up were real cameras. I stayed in touch with Ricky and last time I spoke with him he hadn't turned the Marshall on, but he cleaned it...
George Terry would of been the guy did the mod But that would of been a few years later Jeff Beck did it first Like everything He even started Led Zep Becks Bolaro Truth LP And also FZappa did it to a Pignose amp in1971
The only question is; Did you pay a price that is fair for a 62 champ that has been altered? Without solid provenance that it is Claptons amp, (and the LAST person to ask for verification is E.C., considering his state of mind back then, unless if he still has the sales receipt) all that you have is a '62 tweed champ that has been modified. So long as the price was right, then everything is good. Without the paperwork, I'd be careful making the claim that this is Eric's amp.
That is your standard “line out” mod to a tube amp. Basically, you run a voltage divider (two resistors) from speaker output to, in this case, the 2nd input jack - which now becomes the “line out”! Clapton used a small Fender tube amp like this one when recording the album, “Layla” but I always thought he used the more common method of miking the amp? Unfortunately, carbon comp resistors don’t have date code markings which could indicate the timeframe the mod was done? Maybe, some carbon composition manufacturer might be able to analyse the resistors in their laboratory in order to date them from raw materials used, dye in colour code, etc. But then again those old Death Valley gurus might have a stash of NOS carbon comps from late 60s early 70s ;-)
Hi Tim, Mic’ing a big amp in a studio would have sound engineers running for cover and ear defenders as to get overdriven sound they would need to be played flat out. Have a look at this link… www.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Features/en-us/10-huge-sounds-recorded-521.aspx
I guess then we'd know if there was an annual ad on CL in that area for 1952 Champ or 1954 Champ, or whatever - owned by Neil Young, or owned by Keith Richards or whomever, and handed down by the roadie, etc ; )
I think the idea was the Champ went in front of his bigger amp like a glorified tube stomp box and then they mic'd the big amp. It's cool you know what it is. I never tried to hook it up.
The only reason I mention it is that it was a 1962 Fender all original and mint and the serials prove it. I have no idea if it was Eric's amp but it might have been.
If this really belonged to Eric Clapton and I would own it, I would NEVER sell or trade it.........Ooh, by the way I have a handkerchief that belonged to Elvis Presley (funnily it has an "A" initial on it...like my name) and willing to trade it for a Ferrari 250 GTO. anyone interested ?
Alain Van Brussel You should probably keep the hankie, but you do have solid taste in cars. That said, if it were MY ‘King’s hankie’, I would be looking for a 250 LM rather than the GTO. The GTO is just so pedestrian compared to the LM, don’t you think?
But wait wasnt the Kings name actually Aaron!?! WHoa SHIT! I BELIEVE YA MAN..... Hey I know this little washed out road just beyond Cabazon. Bring the hanky with ya man..... I got a friend that will meet ya there, he wants to check it out.
Dude, you should have heard the stuff I left out. Roaring Ghost lions, Aliens, all in Joshua Tree. Classic. You never know who you'll meet on Craigslist.
No, fairly sane. I talked with him for a week on and off on the phone and He seemed cool. I traded him a Marshall and the night I picked up the Marshall he wanted me to drive right over, but it was like midnight so I said "look lets wait until tomorrow" I ended up playing it for him over the phone. LOL.
@@drwhiteguru Herzog's interested in "truth" but not fact, and in the mythological dimensions of story. His subjects often seem odd and out of place compared to our expectations about how the world generally presents itself. Joshua Tree's stark landscape I feel really added to the sense of that unreality.
Oh very good. I can see that. You should I have heard the stuff I left out like the ghost lion that roams around Joshua tree roaring at night people hear it but no one has ever seen it and a lot of other tall tales. All true of course.
Sorry dude you got ripped off.... Im the real owner of claptons champ amp, Ive got pictures of him giving it to my Dad for a six pack of A&W Root beer.
I boughta tweed original '59 champ and a early '60 guild starfire about 20yearsago like a idiot I took it to rosebowl and sold the amp and the guitar to Norman SMMFH BTW the champ was DEAD MINT nobodycouldbelieveit the guy bought the amp but for some reason never played it
Thanks Trevor, it was my introduction to Tweed amps. I had no idea they had that much gain. I've since gotten a Louis Electric Tornado which is a Tweed Deluxe with EL34's (6CA7's) There is a whole world of tone with these Tweed amps. But yes it is a weird story. It was even weirder but I left out a bunch of that from the video.
wasn't clapton's champ a blackface? at least thats what most people seem to think for the derek and the dominoes era recordings. he probably had tweeds too, but the reason people want that sound is because of that record...
I'm pretty sure it was a Tweed Champ not Blackface. Look it up, there isn't tons of info on it but everything I've read supports the Tweed Champ on Layla.
Mojave Desert my ass. That's the Coachella Valley, more specifically the Yucca Valley area, Pioneer Town. By the way, I have a 1963 Tweed Champ amp: 5F1circuit in excellent condition. I bought from a guy who used it for blues harmonica for 800 bucks. By the way, a lot of old rock guys frequent Pioneer Town; Robert Plant to name one.
Technically "Southern Mojave" But yes near Pioneer Town where my electronics go haywire every time I'm near that Integratron which makes a brief appearance in the video. So you almost have the same amp as this one. Lot's of guys run synth bass, and drum loops through them in the Studio. Dude I have heard some crazy stories about that area, even my Dad and Mom had a ghostly/spirit experience at their place in 29 Palms.
I traded him that for some smack I am not Eric Clapton. I stole it from the old man up the street. Now you got it. Lol 😆 I got bridge that used to belong to warhol you want to buy that.
It is actually... I double-checked just to be sure. It's part of the Southern Mojave in the Morongo Basin, the High Desert Region of Southern California. The Mojave is huge! Thanks for writing me! I got to look at some maps which is always fun!
I worked the area for years. Nobody I ever met considers Pioneer town in the Mojave. Everyone refers to the area as Morongo/Yucca Valley/Joshua Tree. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneertown,_California
Tim White: Using that logic, why not say; California? Or United States? Or Notth America? Or planet Earth? Or how about the friggin’ Milky Way? Because, you see, “technically” it’s in those places too. That doesn’t help though, does it? It’s Pioneertown, CA 92268.
@Flattop box NO MY EARS ARE IN EXCELLENT SHAPE. I HAVE TONS OF VINTAGE AND NEWER GEAR I REPLICATE ANY TONE YOU WANT THAT'S WHAT I WAS DOING FOR A LIVING AS A SESSION GUITARIST ETC UNTIL MY ACCIDENT.
Not even! Shot as it happened. The first shot of him and I talking down the road is me asking permission for it to be filmed and having him sign a video release form. It's legit.
Now why would anyone help you authenticate that amp... To me Eric Clapton has more integrity than somebody looking to make some money while having no respect for the guy at all. Good luck in your sale.
I've got Robert Johnson's Marshall stack from the early 30's. Damn near mint.
😭😭😭😭😭
That’s about the only truth here The Tweed Champ would Not be 1962 well I wanna know is where Clapton‘s 1959 beano Les Paul Is Gibson try to make a copy of it and sell it for $15,000 in all there is is like two or three pictures of Clapton using it on anything to make a buck with the biggest joke is that $25,000 Eddie Van Halen Frankenstein guitar is the biggest joke I’ve ever seen
I'll give you 50 bucks for it.
Dumb asp lol just kiddin
I bought that very same amp from Elvis in Iraq in March 2019. Still works great.
I edited a podcast of Marc Ford from this interview, he plays guitar and talks about his favorite gear. soundcloud.com/user-868907257/marc-ford-rollercoaster-podcast
Poor man, he has spent too many years in the desert eating chicken wings.
“in order to get the amp I had to agree to meet him on the side of a dirt road.“ That doesn’t sound sketchy at all. 😂. Great story though man, doesn’t matter if it’s Clapton’s or not. Sounds amazing! I got to interview Marc about 10 years ago for my old website. Talked to him for over two hours, and he was the most gracious and humble rockstar I ever met. Super nice guy. I still use one of his quotes as my email signature to this day. He said “music is a bizarre thing in the first place. You can’t see it. You can’t touch it. I think it’s as close to spiritual as any of the art forms, really. It’s the universal language and it evokes emotion more instantaneously and more easily than any other medium.“ Beautiful stuff!
That's great! Yeah he is a cool guy! Yeah he played every amp I had in my house just because he wanted to check them out. He's been playing with my buddy Chris Lizotte for years. I just uploaded a ten minute audio podcast of Marc from that same day to my page if you're interested.
Tim White Very cool. I will check it out. Cheers 🎶
Well, we know it is documented that Clapton and Duane Allman used teed Champs to record "Layla". I think he used Music Man amps live in the 1970's though.
I bet he used alot of equipment in the studio that belonged to the studio or the producer. In fact I am sure most artists do
But I believe those Champs were owned by Criteria Studios. I did a session in Studio B in the late 70s and used their blackface Vibro champ.
I found a Jimi Hendrix Marshall stack near Stonehendge ......LOL
Man,I jammed with those guys, man
I've got an amp that once belonged to Spinal Tap and it goes up to 11.
Holy fuck 😂 it had a mile of cabinet buried into the Earth's mantle haha
It was 110 degrees and the buzzards were circling. I caught a glance at the sun which made a raspy metallic sound. Then I looked down and the wind was blowing sand off a little mound on the desert floor revealing a Tweed Fender Champ. Fortunately I had just found two stratocasters. But really I just needed some water.
I bought the same amp off Mozart back in the day.
Cool story. Fun video man. Thanks for the upload. The Champ sounds killer!
Sounds freakin' great regardless of who owned it!
Sounds incredible.
I hope he doesn't get cancer from all those wind turbines!
He won't. What he will get is rolling blackouts.
Same voltage that's in lines feeding your house, and they don't cause rolling blackouts they help prevent them
@@68macun my house uses 100% "fossil fuels." Wind turbines and solar panels are a scam. Might as well be using unicorn farts and happy thoughts to power your house
@@AdolfFauci that must be expensive just powering your house on a gas or diesel generator
@@68macun not as expensive as you think compared to how much it costs to get enough windmills or solar panels installed on your property to equal the amount of power one decent sized diesel generator puts off. Plus, as long as I keep my generator fueled up it will operate continuously through rain or shine or snow or ice or any other bad weather that would render windmills and solar panels useless. Until a better solution than "fossil fuels" comes along I'm gonna stick with what's more economical and consistent to power my home. You can stick to unicorn farts and happy thoughts to power yours little buddy.
So what 100 watt amp did you trade ? Was really interested in that end Thanks
My 2015 Fender EC (Eric Clapton model) Vibro Champ has the two inputs, a high and a low. Once you plug into both of them, one a guitar line connected to your guitar and the other input can be used as a line out to a second amp. I know because I do it all the time. Also either jack can be used as a line out into a second amp, it doesn't matter which-the hi, or the low.. Mine also has tube vibrato, hence the name Vibro Champ. Just sayin! The line out is standard on the new one's
Can't that hurt your other amp of it's not the same ohms? The champ I believe is 4 ohms and most are 8 or 16 I think. Just curious. Also the line out mod on the champ in the video is for the purpose of going from the low watt amp to a bigger speaker. What you are talking about seems to be more like an ABY thing. You are still running through the other amp I believe.
@@richj4305 4 ohms can't hurt anything higher-up on the oh deal
Some guy wants to trade for my Marshall JCM 60, he has both of Duane Allman’s Marshall 50 watt Bass heads, what do you think?
Do it.
SWOOSH Like Nike Mo Man! (JUST DO IT)
OK, so what do you think ? Fender Bronco (or Champ) into an original '64 Blackface Vibroverb with one 15" CTS speaker ?
AsFewFalseThingsAsPossible Haha!! Is this a real question? Champ is way better then the bronco.
+ Tim White. Cool video. How much did you sell this amp for? Did you ever try to get in touch with any of Clapton's people to see if there is any truth to this story?
A Lot! I tried but no I never got in touch with Clapton's people.
Not so sure it was Claptons, I would want to see the strats too. The output with the transformer would be the pro guitar tech way to do that on the fly when out on the road during the 70's....... But it is indeed a hack none the less. Regardless it is a very clean Tweed. Did you re-cap it. Too bad you didnt have more gut shots of the board.
Two Questions I must ask..... Did you trade the Marshall or not? What did you get it for and how much did ya sell it for?
Pioneer Town is Great!
Hi... I didn't re-cap it. I contacted everyone including Sotheby's auction house and sent pics to their rock-n-roll expert. He didn't know and said Clapton auctioned off so many things it isn't that big of a deal and I couldn't get an answer. I couldn't see the Strats or the other Champ because the guys brother had them and was very protective of them. Yes I traded the Marshall JCM 100 watt head which cost me $500 and I sold it within 24 hours of listing it on Reverb to a man in Hong Kong.
I kept it for about six months before selling it. It sounded great little class A amps sound awesome. I may have gut shots of it somewhere. It sold for more than similar amps from the same year 3X. I bought some other boutique tweed amps from Louis Electric and they never sounded even close.
Are you into Tweed amps?
@@drwhiteguru That's such a far out story! Well was it Clapton's Amp? We can believe whatever we want to be believe. The fact of the matter is it was an exceptional Tweed! You enjoyed it and were able to also flip it for top dollar! Congrats! Am I into Tweeds? I am into to vintage guitar amplification and have kinda been working my way backwards through the historic gear.
The stuff that was used to craft what I would call the soundtrack of my life.
I am on the very end of the baby boomer generation or actually on the cusp of boomers and kinda the lost bastard generation that was a teen in the mid 70's.
Album Oriented Rock Music or Classic Rock as it is called today.
I am strongly influenced by all the guitar gods and of course the big holy trilogy that arose from the British Blues Explosion .... Clapton, Beck & Page!
I have been into professional style gear for awhile now. Love to tinker and have gone thru numerous phases, since I had first started working on amps and chasing the tone.
First it was the big stuff like 100 watt Plexi's . First the JMP 1959 Superlead stuff , then The 2203 JCM modified high gain and various ungodly modified monster gain circuits. Basically it was anything EL34! Later I started to appreciate maybe less was more and looked towards the 18watt circuits and the relatively cheap EL 84 circuitry. So intially it was The British stacked amps.
After going for the High Gain heavy rock, I started to really appreciate the Fender amps and that american sound and shimmer.
Got very much into the blackface amps and the 6L6 ..... I have had BF Twins and Deluxe Reverbs mostly.
Soon did alot of SF to BF mods and got into the Vibrolux, next was Princeton and built many flavors of my own Champ circuits.
Doing Champs really git me into the territory of the tweed amps. Tweed Champ, Tweed Princeton ,Tweed Deluxe and back into the big amps again with the Bandmaster and of course the Bassman.
My current favorite Amp right now is my orig 1959 Bassman .
I had winning bid of $400 dollars during an online estate sale auction. Unfortunately the shipper did a substandard job of shipping that amp along with another old amp and I recieved it damaged!
I was so pissed off!
The dumbass shipper offered to refund my shipping charges and pay my auction cost and let me keep the amp!
So I scored a free but damaged but all orig '59 F5-6 chassis that needed a little tweeking to bend the chassis back into shape. I bought an manufacturer "2nd" R.I. cabinet from the Fender Charity Kids Rock Free parking lot sale when the Fender Museum was shut down here in Corona . The cab was used as a prop next to the stage in their private lounge and housed a plastic Passport PA speaker . Next thing I hooked up with a guy on Craigslist in Oceanside who was liquidating a large hoard of various speakers from Joe Bonomassa's inventory. (turned out to be a great contact too) I bought a quad of brand new reissue Jenson P10Q that were once owned by JB.
The whole amp just really all came together and fell into my lap.
It fully worked with minimal issues but the all original caps were like a ticking time bomb!
I did spend alot of time on the variac, the recto tube jumpered with diodes to slowly ramp the voltage and reform the caps. I am sure this worked as the amp fired up first try!
I just recently replaced all the electrolytics by removing the old caps guts and restuffing new modern caps inside. No more time bombs and the amp has its minty vintage good looks and appeal. Right now I am running all RCA Blackplates including an RCA recto tube. It sounds very good. It even sounds better with the backup set of tubes which are a AT7 mullard and ecc83 telefunkens a pair of tungsol 5881's and a mullard gz34. I might sell this or maybe entertain trades for a Burst if this epidemic ever passes soon! (shameless plug)
But yeah I like the simpler amps and the tones that they produce. Tweeds really do float my boat. Probably my faves are of course The Tweed Champ, Tweed Princeton and Tweed Bassman (lol! pretty much covered all the basic circuits huh?) The Blackface Amps hands down is the Deluxe Reverb! As for SF ???? Maybe a dripedge Twin. Marshall is the JTM 45 and the 69 or 70 metalfaced superlead. I havent done alot of VOX stuff but I did repair a few AC30's and can kinda get it, but havent slipped down that hole.
Most esoteric amp to pass my bench? A Deluxe 46 Woody. Yeah I love tinkering with this stuff for sure! I love tone and love electric guitar music whether it is rock, blues or jazz , I just love great tone and performance!
Cool story! Yeah we have a lot of similarities I think we’re around the same age and I went to high school in California Southern California.
I played bass for about 20 years but I took guitar lessons on the side and practiced guitar. In the early 90s I got mesa boogie studio preamp and a bunch of Rack gear and that was fun. I also learned how to become a studio engineer so I could use that rack equipment not only with my guitar but in the studio.
About five years ago I got bit by the boutique bug and went on a long journey of trying all the classic amplifiers. The Marshall hand wired clones,
Vintage Fender Blackface and silverface, I like the clean sounds but the distorted tones I thought sounded really horrible. The bass got loose and flubby just didn’t like it. I would read about certain amps buy them used play them record them then sell or trade for something else just as a way to educate and train my ear and it was a lot of fun.
Some of my favorites were: Matchless independence, Vox AC30, TopHat Emplexador, Budda Stringmaster Hiwatt, BRay modified Marshall.
I always wanted to try a tweed bassman and I’ve never played through one yet so I envy you there.
I’m also really getting into analog synthesizers which is something I always wanted to be into as a kid but couldn’t afford it. Now they are having a retro resurgence similar to the tube boutique guitar world.
I think my favorite was the VOX AC 30. It got really distorted but you had to turn it all the way up no master volume, the cleans were great but the edge of break up and touch sensitivity was out of this world.
Cool story about your Bassman! Got any clips?
Stay in touch!
Yes I traded him the Marshall, and I sold the Champ on Reverb.
The setup was a total "no way" for me. Side of the road in the desert? No thanks.
I like to live on the edge! It worked out well.
In retrospect it was a little "out there" He originally wanted to meet me at midnight!
Well it worked out for you THIS time ;)
Such a killer amp.
This right here...this is where EC snorted a line off the top of it!
He was an H man!
Yeah but he always snorted it. Claimed he never injected.
Regardless of who owned it, it's still a Champ. Not any better, not any worse.
Pioneer Town is a great place and the people are totally cool. It is not some dirt poor village, either. It is a retirement community for people who want to live a little ways away from the city, but not too far away. BTW I do believe the amp has provenance. It would have been better to also have seen his other equipment and Das's photos.
Yes it is a cool place a lot of artists there. Apparently he has more stuff somewhere. I should give him a call.
I had a single speaker Fender Vibro-Verb that I lent to a friend to try it out. He supposedly had his garage broken into and it was stolen. Now I see them on ebay for 7 grand...yikes
Ouch! If we only knew then how much these old amps would be worth...
I'm Eric Clapton, and I recorded Layla on a line 6 spider, set to emulate a Peavey bandmaster.
I'm Eric Clapton , and I recorded Layla with a 20 watt Gorilla amp and a Boss Metal Zone .
Haha! Line 6 and Peavey amps suck!!
I am Eric Clapton, and mine Champ was a silverface virbochamp, I think.
at last we can reach you , Eric!!
tell us more things...
i'm Sparatcus... champ
Wrong
There are about half a dozen gibson es 295 guitars all claimed to be owned by scottie moore, he only had one .
Back in the late 60's I did exactly the same thing with a Blackface Champ...into a Single Showman. Sounded great.
A lot of people were doing whatever they could to get a little more gain. Now we have too much! LOL
How do you do that mod?
How do you link the amps together?
I disconnected the speaker cord from the Champ and ran a cable directly from the Champ speaker outlet into the Showman input of the vibrato channel. Probably not the way it should be done, but it worked for me for quite a while. I would keep the Showman quite a ways behind me and have my guitar cord going into the Champ much further out front, and watch the people marvel at the big sound I was getting from that little amp. The days of innocence....
When you are in the grips of heroin addiction you will sell your mother for another fix. So with that in mind , finding a 1962 Fender Tweed Champ in mint condition with a corresponding story is plausible. So some guy in Hong Kong bought it.
Yes... Supposedly there is another Champ and a Black Strat that his brother has, I guess Slowhand ran out a few times...
How many owners of a mid 60's Ampeg Gemini 2 have bought their amp believing it was the actual amp used by mike bloomfield on the Highway 61 album?
I had one since '64 as a kid. It came out of San Francisco. Traded it about 5 years ago to Guitar Center. Bass amp, but worked well with guitar. Mike Bloomfield? Oooops.
Dan Auerbach used one on early black keys recordings
I have Bloomfields Drip Edge Twin Reverb!
JK!
Great amp, great find…whether it's Clap's or not, it does have [The Tone].
Thank you! It was just too weird to pass up...
Next time maybe play the amp some more; because we want to hear it' then if you really want to sell the story. play some Clapton, or any of his groups like some Cream so at least we can hear his sound coming through that little guy.."!"
Sounds like a right decent Champ alright. Though on the surface the whole set-up seemed like something right out of a Pawn Stars story line, if you look at it from the viewpoint of it just being an amp they made a ton of (they did), possibly having been owned by a guy who often used them (he did), and then how it all came about (he was a mess back then, and junkies will trade anything for a hit) then the idea that Eric might have been that guy really isn't so hard to imagine.
I thought it was a fair trade, and I'd swap a 100w head for it in a heartbeat (unless it's an early JTM or Plexi, then I'd need the guy's hat as well...) but really, I think it's pretty cool story. I've had many fine times in JT myself...now whatever happened to that dentist's chair someone hauled up to the nest?
I guess some people might think I staged it, but I didn't. My son went with me and we both work in production and he shot it on an iPhone 6, the Marc Ford and end wrap up were real cameras. I stayed in touch with Ricky and last time I spoke with him he hadn't turned the Marshall on, but he cleaned it...
George Terry would of been the guy did the mod But that would of been a few years later Jeff Beck did it first Like everything He even started Led Zep Becks Bolaro Truth LP And also FZappa did it to a Pignose amp in1971
Thanks for the info!
Wish you would've opened it up and got the date codes off the tubes, transformers and speaker.
I did and I have pictures. I just didn't put it in the video.
Ask Bobby Whitlock, he should know, he's on facebook
Whitlock is cool; but, he's a nutter
I once bought a 72 tele from a high desert wizard it was a sketchy kind of deal too...it was a legit tele
If you’re willing to take a risk you never know what you can find!
Nah. It's Benny Goodman's Clarinet amp.
The only question is; Did you pay a price that is fair for a 62 champ that has been altered? Without solid provenance that it is Claptons amp, (and the LAST person to ask for verification is E.C., considering his state of mind back then, unless if he still has the sales receipt) all that you have is a '62 tweed champ that has been modified. So long as the price was right, then everything is good. Without the paperwork, I'd be careful making the claim that this is Eric's amp.
First answer: below market price and it was a trade... and I used a question mark 0:11 (?)
I found a tweed bassman played by elvin bishop in a dumpster in Napal
That is your standard “line out” mod to a tube amp. Basically, you run a voltage divider (two resistors) from speaker output to, in this case, the 2nd input jack - which now becomes the “line out”! Clapton used a small Fender tube amp like this one when recording the album, “Layla” but I always thought he used the more common method of miking the amp? Unfortunately, carbon comp resistors don’t have date code markings which could indicate the timeframe the mod was done? Maybe, some carbon composition manufacturer might be able to analyse the resistors in their laboratory in order to date them from raw materials used, dye in colour code, etc. But then again those old Death Valley gurus might have a stash of NOS carbon comps from late 60s early 70s ;-)
I'm sure he mic'd the big amp. I guess people used the Champ as some kind of tube overdrive. I think Blackmore did the same thing.
Hi Tim,
Mic’ing a big amp in a studio would have sound engineers running for cover and ear defenders as to get overdriven sound they would need to be played flat out. Have a look at this link…
www.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Features/en-us/10-huge-sounds-recorded-521.aspx
I guess then we'd know if there was an annual ad on CL in that area for 1952 Champ or 1954 Champ, or whatever - owned by Neil Young, or owned by Keith Richards or whomever, and handed down by the roadie, etc ; )
I think the idea was the Champ went in front of his bigger amp like a glorified tube stomp box and then they mic'd the big amp. It's cool you know what it is. I never tried to hook it up.
Tim White I think Neil Young did that too
Is this amp still for sale?
one born every minute lol
If Marc Ford likes it, who cares if it's legit or not
Taking offers! Are you nuts?🤯
Mescaline much?
cool video!!!
That dude's one soul patch away from being remotely credible.
Theres a sucker born every minute. And your click bait title, just found 30k more of them!
I very much doubt Eric Clapton knew the serial number of the Tweed champ he used on that album...lol...I doubt he even remembers being there ... lol 😵
The only reason I mention it is that it was a 1962 Fender all original and mint and the serials prove it. I have no idea if it was Eric's amp but it might have been.
If this really belonged to Eric Clapton and I would own it, I would NEVER sell or trade it.........Ooh, by the way I have a handkerchief that belonged to Elvis Presley (funnily it has an "A" initial on it...like my name) and willing to trade it for a Ferrari 250 GTO. anyone interested ?
Alain Van Brussel You should probably keep the hankie, but you do have solid taste in cars. That said, if it were MY ‘King’s hankie’, I would be looking for a 250 LM rather than the GTO. The GTO is just so pedestrian compared to the LM, don’t you think?
Huh what a weird coincidence
But wait wasnt the Kings name actually Aaron!?! WHoa SHIT! I BELIEVE YA MAN..... Hey I know this little washed out road just beyond Cabazon. Bring the hanky with ya man..... I got a friend that will meet ya there, he wants to check it out.
non original output.
Eric wants his amp back
cool.thanks!
My god that amp sounds amazing super excited to see what comes of it !
Yeah! I never authenticated it and I sold it to a gentleman overseas.
That a story crazy enough too believe
Dude, you should have heard the stuff I left out. Roaring Ghost lions, Aliens, all in Joshua Tree. Classic. You never know who you'll meet on Craigslist.
He looked like he was tripping balls!! He's one crazy cat
No, fairly sane. I talked with him for a week on and off on the phone and He seemed cool. I traded him a Marshall and the night I picked up the Marshall he wanted me to drive right over, but it was like midnight so I said "look lets wait until tomorrow" I ended up playing it for him over the phone. LOL.
Really wow if I where you I would go Twitter Clapton himself get in contact with him and get a interview on RUclips with him about it
I believe this!!
Try a Stratocaster
Shades of Werner Herzog.
Really? In what way?
@@drwhiteguru Herzog's interested in "truth" but not fact, and in the mythological dimensions of story. His subjects often seem odd and out of place compared to our expectations about how the world generally presents itself. Joshua Tree's stark landscape I feel really added to the sense of that unreality.
Oh very good. I can see that.
You should I have heard the stuff I left out like the ghost lion that roams around Joshua tree roaring at night people hear it but no one has ever seen it and a lot of other tall tales. All true of course.
best amor youtube ever!!!!!
Thank you! I'm glad you liked it!
I have fingernail clippings and nose hair that belonged to Elvis. I will trade for a late 60's era Marshall Plexi.....any takers ???
man I have this HP gibson les paul model that belongs to me
Sorry dude you got ripped off....
Im the real owner of claptons champ amp, Ive got pictures of him giving it to my Dad for a six pack of A&W Root beer.
Really?! I wish I knew A&W Root beer took away took away the jones... Damn!
@@drwhiteguru all junkies are also sugar junkies.
@@ninerrider536 You're not wrong.
ninerrider5 lets see the photos.
@@michaelhoward7009 I guess everyone but you got it......
I boughta tweed original '59 champ and a early '60 guild starfire about 20yearsago like a idiot I took it to rosebowl and sold the amp and the guitar to Norman SMMFH BTW the champ was DEAD MINT nobodycouldbelieveit the guy bought the amp but for some reason never played it
Oh sure what a great weird story
Thanks Trevor, it was my introduction to Tweed amps. I had no idea they had that much gain. I've since gotten a Louis Electric Tornado which is a Tweed Deluxe with EL34's (6CA7's) There is a whole world of tone with these Tweed amps.
But yes it is a weird story. It was even weirder but I left out a bunch of that from the video.
wasn't clapton's champ a blackface? at least thats what most people seem to think for the derek and the dominoes era recordings. he probably had tweeds too, but the reason people want that sound is because of that record...
I'm pretty sure it was a Tweed Champ not Blackface. Look it up, there isn't tons of info on it but everything I've read supports the Tweed Champ on Layla.
It was a tweed!!!!
Mojave Desert my ass. That's the Coachella Valley, more specifically the Yucca Valley area, Pioneer Town. By the way, I have a 1963 Tweed Champ amp: 5F1circuit in excellent condition. I bought from a guy who used it for blues harmonica for 800 bucks. By the way, a lot of old rock guys frequent Pioneer Town; Robert Plant to name one.
Technically "Southern Mojave" But yes near Pioneer Town where my electronics go haywire every time I'm near that Integratron which makes a brief appearance in the video.
So you almost have the same amp as this one. Lot's of guys run synth bass, and drum loops through them in the Studio. Dude I have heard some crazy stories about that area, even my Dad and Mom had a ghostly/spirit experience at their place in 29 Palms.
Could have ended up as an C.S.I. episode!!
Yeah, I had a good gut feeling about the guy, I talked to him for a week on the phone before we met. But Yeah...
John Forgarty had a champ .. SRV had a champ ..Buddy Holly had a champ .
Kool! 🔊 😵
Ask the clap.....
I traded him that for some smack I am not Eric Clapton. I stole it from the old man up the street. Now you got it. Lol 😆 I got bridge that used to belong to warhol you want to buy that.
Rip my ears
Buncha bloody nonsense lol
You could build a 60s champ for $200 which has better filtering and less hum than the originals. Jeez
So what's your point? The bad filtering is part of the sound.
Tweed amps aren't what you would describe as hifi...
Agreed, It's not the same. These line6 kids talk, talk and talk.
Don’t know about the amp. I can tell you though that Joshua Tree is not Mojave... just sayin’
It is actually... I double-checked just to be sure. It's part of the Southern Mojave in the Morongo Basin, the High Desert Region of Southern California. The Mojave is huge! Thanks for writing me! I got to look at some maps which is always fun!
I worked the area for years. Nobody I ever met considers Pioneer town in the Mojave. Everyone refers to the area as Morongo/Yucca Valley/Joshua Tree.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneertown,_California
You're right. But since it is technically.
Tim White: Using that logic, why not say; California? Or United States? Or Notth America? Or planet Earth? Or how about the friggin’ Milky Way? Because, you see, “technically” it’s in those places too. That doesn’t help though, does it? It’s Pioneertown, CA 92268.
BTW... Eric’s clean now and thinking clearly... he wants his amp back.
One word ..... Bullshit.
SOUNDS LIKE A BUNCH OF VOODO TO ME ,BUT I HAVE 2 EARLY TWEED PRO JRS THAT GET THE SAME TONE PERIOD ,CHEERS.
deniel edwards WRONG!!! Just because you wish your jrs sounded like that doesn’t mean they do.
@@Panic42000 NO I'M A PRO PLAYER AND YES THEY DO SOUND THE SAME I HAVE BOTH... SORRY TO DISAPPOINT YOU, CHEERS.
@Flattop box NO MY EARS ARE IN EXCELLENT SHAPE. I HAVE TONS OF VINTAGE AND NEWER GEAR I REPLICATE ANY TONE YOU WANT THAT'S WHAT I WAS DOING FOR A LIVING AS A SESSION GUITARIST ETC UNTIL MY ACCIDENT.
@Flattop box NO AGAIN MY EARS ARE IN FANTASTIC SHAPE I'M A SESSION PLAYER I CAN GET GREAT TONE OUT OF A GARBAGE CAN PERIOD.
Sooooo staged
Not even! Shot as it happened. The first shot of him and I talking down the road is me asking permission for it to be filmed and having him sign a video release form. It's legit.
lier
Snake oil sales guy... lol 😵
Hey it checked out, all the serial numbers on everything, and it was mint!
Lay off the pot. I can't even see ur eyes in the first clip. Squinting
That's funny! I pass on grass. Geez, I'm in one of the windiest places on earth and staring into the sunset.
Now why would anyone help you authenticate that amp... To me Eric Clapton has more integrity than somebody looking to make some money while having no respect for the guy at all. Good luck in your sale.
Because it's an interesting part of Rock history. There rest of your comment is nonsense, a logical fallacy.