Fender 57 Custom Champ Guitar Amplifier

I bought this amp to use at home and if needed, to mic up for smaller gigs. While very expensive, I think that it is worth it. Time will tell, but if this amp can hold up over time like the original Champs, then this will be worth every penny.Pros:- The amp is exactly what I wanted in terms of a very small amp that is very light weight and still produces great tone.- While it could go either way, I like that the amp only has one knob which takes some of the complication out of finding the right tone. On other amps you can cut mids, highs, etc. on the guitar or the amp, or further down the chain in the mixer, but for me (I'm my own sound guy) I can dial everything in from the guitar.- The finish and look of the amp is totally classic and just looks right in your guitar room. From the leather strap to the tweed, and the inclusion of the canvas cover make this amp feel like it's worth the price you paid.- The cleans are crystal clear and chime like a bell with my strat. You can also crank the amp and find really nice distorted tones if you don't mind the volume.- Nobody really talks about it, but this thing takes pedals well. I've used delays and reverbs (because there's no reverb on this amp), and both sound great. In addition, before I had the attenuator, I used drive pedals with some success (Fulltone OCD). But trust me, something special happens when you cook the tubes without any drive pedals. Either use your volume knob on the guitar, or a clean boost to push the amp and that distortion is better than any pedal.Cons:- There is only one con here... This amp is really LOUD! It has to be said that while this is a 5 watt amp, it is very loud. So those dirty, driven tones that I talked about before. Well, depending on where you're playing, you might not be able to get them. I didn't expect this to be an issue, because 5 watts, but I needed to buy an attenuator from Weber (Micromass model shown in the pictures) in order to drive the tubes at an acceptable volume level for my home.Conclusion:The only complaints are that it is loud, and expensive for such a small amp, but I'm sure it's loud enough to gig with (for most people) and the build quality lives up to expectations, so the premium price is forgiven. The tone is pure from your guitar and there are no knobs to adjust anything, but I argue that it allows you to focus on playing and getting to know how to coax tones out of your guitar. If you plan on practicing at home and don't want to wake the neighbors, get yourself an attenuator like the one pictured. If you will only be playing totally clean, or with pedals, then you can get away without it around 3 or 4 on the volume knob. But it really starts cooking around 7 or so, but even that is really loud, so keep that in mind.

Love the amp...l know it needs to broken in and only sound better over time. It does get loud for such a small size. Still playing with petals to tweak the tone.

Sounds great, but one of my tubes went out about two weeks into it. The seller was great and they sent me a replacement amp within a couple of days, which has been working fine so far. I have absolutely no complaint about the seller.This is my first tube amp, so maybe this is par for the course, but it was kind of a pain. I wonder if the tubes don’t hold up well to shipping in the winter way up here in MN? It could also just be a qc issue. I really don’t know.All of that said, this is a fantastic amp and I’m glad I bought it. It sounds great, it’s simple to use, it’s small but loud, and it looks good enough to stay in the living room.

I’ve been looking for a bluesbreaker Clapton/Green tone for too many years, bought a silverface that sounds absolutely amazing, a tube screamer and an overrated special, Weber, Marshall speakers... all sounded great, but still not the tone I was looking for and then I said ok it’s my birthday and this is my dream amp and I’m tired of reading reviews of how good this amp is, so I bought it and I can tell you it’s absolutely fantastic, it’s worth every penny and never before have I felt this way with guitars and amps, I play a Les Paul and Teles and this is the sound that you love and it’s just pure happiness

The small cab makes it sound a bit boxy but put a tube screamer in front of it and it sounds amazing. Great for recording.

Love the tone and size of this amp. It is small, but can still go from buttery smooth to rockin hard. Plenty of volume loudness wise and sounds wonderful. For my use in my home studio it really is perfect. Paired it with my hollow body guitar and a nice strymon tremelo and I’m in vintage sounding guitar heavenly bliss.

Arrived well packaged and sounds wonderful. It was a demo, so I had a feeling something would be off. Third day the on/off light went out for good. I think it really is just that the amp was so expensive that I was hoping it would be without any issue, especially from Sweetwater.Nothing bad to say about the performance otherwise.

My first job was in a music store in Seattle. I was shown one of these by the manager. I have needed one ever since. Sounds… perfect. Like the first Zepplin album tone wise.