Glowing reviews are rarely warranted and too often and easily given. However, this sets out to do something simple - recreate the classic Champ 600 - and accomplishes it perfectly. If you're an aficionado who demands hand-craftsmanship then I suppose this isn't for you, since it's built on PCB, but for those of us who don't care what path the electrons take (and, for that matter, the electrons themselves, who don't care whether they're zooming down a conductor on a printed circuit board or on the surface of a traditional wire); for those of us who know exactly what we're looking for in this amp, it's a 10/10.

Sound
10/10 in this context is really easy to give it because it's an incredibly simple circuit put together in a way that I believe will last. You can build a Champ yourself for less money, but putting one in an enclosure and covering it to match would probably cost you more than buying this little guy. It sounds like a Fender Champ 600! They were originally made as practice amps, then got famous thanks to their great, squawking overdrive sound and simplicity. Miking up a Champ 600 couldn't be easier, and they take overdrive and fuzz pedals really well, too. You won't really get convincing BRUTAL DISTORTION out of one, but come on, it's a 5W tube amp. If you run a high-gain pedal through it, turn the bass down or you're likely to flub out the bottom end. And, also, you're doing it wrong. :)

Features
It recreates… read more what was good about the later runs of the Fender Champs back when they were first made. This is the later model of the circuit, and it includes a new somewhat boosted "High" input now (in addition to the regular input) to make it easier to get that rippin' crunch that it can do when you really push it, but it's a more or less faithful recreation of the 12AX7 preamp based Champ 600. There were other preamp tube based Champs, some say they sounded better. Most of those tubes are only available as NOS these days, hardly amenable to mass production, so it makes sense for them to have gone with the 12AX7 type instead. The original didn't have tone controls or anything really fancy, and it would be silly for this to have them. You're not buying this because you want a super duper sophisticated tone machine. The farther it gets from the original, the lower a score it would have here, as far as I'm concerned.

Ease of Use
It has two inputs, one that has a boost. It has an on switch. It has a volume knob. Heck, most PEDALS have more control than this. If you can't figure out how a Fender Champ works, you're probably not ever going to be in a position to read this review. Just plug and play - and enjoy, because it sounds lovely.

Quality
Well, it is mass produced in China, but I don't know if that's necessarily a mark against it. The outward construction is good, and its innards are also well put together. It's so simple, I don't think there's a lot of room to screw it up, really. This is my second Champ 600 Reissue, and the other one lasted through a lot of moving around. Never gave me the slightest bit of trouble. I expect the same from this... But, I can't say with certainty that it'll last as long as the most robustly constructed amps. Frankly, though, you're not paying as much as you would have to pay to afford that kind of quality. So I'm going to compromise and give this amp an 8/10 on the quality scale, due to good experiences with one I had for a few years but with the knowledge that it is made in a factory where they're mostly concerned with cranking them out as quickly as possible to satisfy demand and sometimes corners get cut.

Value
You can build a Fender Champ 600 circuit for around $60, give or take... But getting a speaker, getting a box to put it in, covering the box in an attractive material (let alone pretty good and visually "period correct" material), you can easily run higher than the purchase price of the amp. Of course, if you especially value your own hand-wiring over a PCB construction amp imported from China, then your idea of its value might be different, but the fact that they are selling them for less than you can make one even though it's a very simple amp speaks well of its value to me.

Manufacturer Support
No experience with Fender beyond buying their products. I guess that's a mark toward reliability in itself, but it does mean I don't have any clue about their support.

The Wow Factor
How many reviews have to mention the stupidity of asking about the, and I quote, "'sex appeal' of the product" before Zzounds re-words this criteria? Sigh. To the point, though, it is a good looking little amp, very vintage vibe and sound. It's simple, easy to use, fun to use. I don't know if, uh, amp fetishists rank it against other amps in terms of how much it excites them, as the question seems to imply, but from an ordinary perspective I think it looks great!

Musical Background:
Active Musician and Recording Engineer

Musical Style:
Various read less