No menus, no apps, just a familiar and intuitive interface that makes dialing in tones easy”: Fender has rebooted its top-selling Champion modeling amp family.
The Champion lineage can be traced all the way back to the late 1940s, when the original Champion 800 – which preceded the now-legendary Fender Champ – first arrived. However, when Fender revived the Champion design over a decade ago, it did so with plenty of modern twists. (Guita World)
These included onboard effects and multiple built-in amp voices, which helped position the Champions as some of the more versatile affordable combo amps on the market.
And they proved to be a hit: the Champion family has since been established as a force in the entry-level modeling amp world, and an early precursor to Fender’s more sophisticated modeling developments as seen in the Tone Master range.
Now, Fender has revisited and expanded the tried-and-trusted line with a trio of Champion II amps, which offer 24, 50 or 100 watts of output.
Naturally, there are a host of amp-specific specs (more on those in a bit), but across the board each Champion II unit offers built-in reverb, delay/echo, chorus, tremolo and Vibratone effects, which can be accessed and sculpted using the universal FX knob.
In operation, the delay times and tremolo speeds can be set using an easy-to-access, if slightly inconveniently placed, front-mounted TAP button, while a one-size-fits-all Voice parameter navigates between Classic, Modern British and Hi Gain amp modes.
