Fender Vibro Champ Amp Silverface, 1980

Based on the well established Champ amp, the Fender Vibro Champ Amp was built from 1964 to 1982. In addition to the Vibrato circuit and its speed and intensity controls, this model gained Treble and Bass tone controls.

Seen here is a Fender Vibro Champ amp in ‘Silver face’ dress, built during 1980 in Fullerton, California. It is in very good, clean original condition with only light wear, and has its stock 3-prong grounded AC power cable. It will accept a single-button footswitch with RCA style jack to switch the vibrato on and off.

These are great amps for lower volume use. The addition of Treble and Bass controls adds quite a bit of tonal flexibility particularly compared to the lone volume control on the Champ, and the Fender vibrato circuit really sounds good.

When first released, Fender Vibro Champ Amp had the ‘Black Panel’ appearance. In 1967, Fender updated the appearance (and for some amps, circuitry) with what’s known as ‘Silver face’ and this appearance continued to 1981. For 1981, the appearance changed to another ‘Black Panel’ influenced by Paul Rivera. The Vibro Champ’s circuitry was unchanged, and the model was dropped in 1982, replaced by the Super Champ.