clean channel gone on my little Fender Champ 30 - fixable?

[sandbox]

Hello everyone! I asked this question over at the strat-talk forum and someone recommended you guys, so I'm here asking for a little advice...

I have a 10 year old Fender Champion 30 that really hasn't been played very hard or very much.

At some point, the clean channel quit working alltogether. I took it to a tech a few months ago, and was told that Fender no longer stocked the parts needed to fix it. I asked him if he could rig it up or something... improvise a little to get the clean channel going again but he indicated that he couldn't make it happen.

I realize now that I might have taken it to the wrong guy. I paid 200 bucks for the amp 10 years ago, so I don't want to spend 200 bucks on a fix, but I would really like to use the clean channel on this puppy.

Any advice for the technically challenged (me) on this one? My location is central Alabama just in case anyone can be recommended. Thanks and happy new year!

[Jazz P Bass]

Fender Champ 30

Find a new tech.

Does the indicator light change when you switch from clean to OD?
There is a bevy of test voltages labeled on the schematic.
Should not be too difficult to track down the problem.

[sandbox]

amp behavior

Find a new tech.
Here is the schematic.
Does the indicator light change when you switch from clean to OD?
There is a bevy of test voltages labeled on the schematic.
Should not be too difficult to track down the problem.

Thanks for your help Jazz. I really do appreciate it.

The indicator light does change when I switch from clean to overdrive, but the amps behavior does not change. When I turn the amp on, it's in overdrive, even without depressing the channel selector and without the indicator light shining. When I press the channel selector, the indicator light shines and the amp stays in overdrive. The volume on the overdrive channel is responsive whether selected or not, and the regular volume is never responsive in any way.

Thanks again! I did not see a link for the schematic you mentioned unless I missed it. Sorry to be so needy man! Later.....

[User Name]

here you go:

http://www.fender.com/support/amp_sc...matic_-61F.pdf

[Jazz P Bass]

Fender Champ 30 FtSw

Do you have the footswitch?
Does it behave different with it?
The switch jack may be screwy.
Insert an instrument cable (not connected to anything) in the footswitch jack. See if that helps.
Ground the tip to ring on the cord with a jumper cable. See if that helps.
We are trying things that do not involve disassembly first.

[sandbox]

footswitch

Have never used the footswitch on this amp. I did plug a cable in there just now, while not connected to anything but it didn't change anything.

Jumper cable?! LOL. I think mine are in my girfriends car! It will be tomorrow before I can get my hands on those. What exactly did you mean by "ground the tip to ring on the cord".... just lay the tip of the cord on the cord itself and hold together with the jumber cable?

I found one local guy that is an electrician and works on amps, but seems only tube amps. I might give him a call anyway. Initially I took it to one of the chain stores but the only thing that happened was me giving them 20 bucks for a bench fee so that they could call Fender to learn that the amp was discontinued.

Anyway, thanks again for the help!

Sandbox (a technical genius-NOT)

[Jazz P Bass]

Jumper cord

What I meant by a jumper cord was a small gauge wire with alligator clips on it.
I did not mean to imply a battery jumper cable. Sorry.
Tip to ring. On a 1/4" plug the tip is the top, conical part.
The ring is the long part.
By jumpering these two points together you a simulating the footswitch.
My gut reaction is IC U5B is bad.
There are test voltages clearly marked right at it.
Find another tech.
Give him the schematic.

[sandbox]

Mr. Jazz you've been very kind to share your knowledge and get me pointed in the right direction. It's much appreciated!