Quote:
Originally Posted by crackle
In my experience if you want something which sounds like a Fender Champ then you want to buy a Fender champ.
What the OP is going to end up with here is a cheap sounding valve amp, which is likely to be no better than a second hand cheap transistor amp designed for the job.
What did Brian May use, wasn't it a one watt transistor amp?
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I am not suggesting that a valve radio is going to make the perfect guitar amp but not quite sure what you mean when you say "cheap sounding valve amp". Most of the old valve guitar amps that are so desirable now, Fender Champ included, were built as cheaply as possible at the time and often used under-specced components and used the same components as valve radios of the time (they were readily available and cheap). As I said in an earlier post I have tried playing guitar through the gram inputs of several valve radios in the past and the results have been quite good. The gain will be much less than a typical guitar amp circuit so not much in the way of distortion but it was a nice "warm valve sound" and to my my ears better than many of the cheap transistor practice amps I have heard. If the OP is looking for a dedicated guitar amp with built in effects etc then yes, that is what he should buy (but please avoid the very cheap things - they really do sound awful). However if the OP wants something a bit different and quirky then there is no reason why a valve radio could not be easily re-purposed into a good sounding guitar amp.
As for the amp that Brian May used that was built by John Deacon from a transistor radio circuit board so apparently radios can make good guitar amps!