Champ 600 with MM upgrade kit

[g1]

The Fender spec for the new 600 is 366VDC B+. Standard 20% over that allows for the 420V plate you are seeing. It also guarantees some amount of power/volume increase. Studies have shown louder is almost always perceived as better. Most of the reviews of their 600 upgrade mention "louder" or "bigger".
Perhaps part of the MM secret formula is just some power increase due to upping the supply voltage to the high side of the tolerance. (the rest of the formula being hype and marketing )

[Justin Thomas]

But... but... the Champion 600 says voltages +\- 10%! I get loose tolerances, but there comes a point where I have to wonder... For a tube that is already running at max, that would allow oh, 620V on the 6L6s in a Super Twin? I have to draw the line somewhere! About all I can say is pop in a JJ or NOS 6V6GTA & have at it! Personally I fault the speaker in these more than anything else... mine did sound good through a 2x15... but they were $100 new. I think MM is just truing to Silverface it. I don&t know what one of the Upgrade Trannies costs, but $100 + Tranny has got to be close to the price of a real SF Champ...

Justin

[trem]

Leo
g-one

I am glad I am not the only one.
Perhaps even more than their high prices...I think what really Grates On My Nerves where Merc Mag is concerned ...has always been their advertising. Not sure I have ever seen another tranny company do that.
More than just ads...full page ads that make all kinds of promises...and claims of vast improvement I guess.
These guys have succeeded in selling 300 bux worth of transformer, to guys with 100-400 dollars worth of amp (Epi Valve Jr for one example)

Edcor
Mag Comp
Heyboer
and sometimes Hammond have been the main companies I buy trannies from.

I think Merc Mag has been pretty successful with convincing players and builders that all the other tranny companies are a few notches below them in quality.....and that MM is privy to information about how to wind a superior PT and OT.
I can not really put my finger on it I guess.....just that every time somebody mentions Merc Mag... my blood pressure spikes.

[potatofarmer]

Wow, for an amp running that hot you really should pay a bajillion dollars for a mercury magnetics power cord: Mercury Magnetics

It cools your amp down! It's got electrolytes - that's what amps crave.

[trem]

Wow, for an amp running that hot you really should pay a bajillion dollars for a mercury magnetics power cord: Mercury Magnetics

It cools your amp down! It's got electrolytes - that's what amps crave.

SEE...SEE what I mean...?? ^^^^^^^^^
Blood pressure holding steady at 157/96.

[Justin Thomas]

All to have to pass thru that skinny-ass little fuse, those corset-like power switches, then that thread-thin wire (by comparison) on that new $400 MM PT you just bought... and have you seen the puny resistors they put in that power supply? And check out them little rectifier diodes - how am I supposed to get my massive bottom end through THOSE?

Remember when... everything was tryong to make electronics as tiny as possible? Seems we have found out that miniaturization was wrong all along. So get out your bricks - your cellphone will soon weigh az much!

Sheesh.

Justin

[Leo_Gnardo]

Leo
g-one

I am glad I am not the only one.
Perhaps even more than their high prices...I think what really Grates On My Nerves where Merc Mag is concerned ...has always been their advertising. Not sure I have ever seen another tranny company do that.
More than just ads...full page ads that make all kinds of promises...and claims of vast improvement I guess.
These guys have succeeded in selling 300 bux worth of transformer, to guys with 100-400 dollars worth of amp (Epi Valve Jr for one example)

Edcor
Mag Comp
Heyboer
and sometimes Hammond have been the main companies I buy trannies from.

I think Merc Mag has been pretty successful with convincing players and builders that all the other tranny companies are a few notches below them in quality.....and that MM is privy to information about how to wind a superior PT and OT.
I can not really put my finger on it I guess.....just that every time somebody mentions Merc Mag... my blood pressure spikes.

The carnival barkers at Mercury advise those of us with collectible, excellent sounding old Marshalls, Fenders, Voxes and the like to pry the crappy old transformers out of our amps and replace with theirs. Step right this way, see the bearded lady, the boy who crawls on his belly like a snake, and make sure you go see the egress as soon as possible.

Mercury was OK before they started the hype ads. Many old SWR amps have Mercury power transformers. They could not have marketed their amps at affordable prices if they had paid gold dust prices. I'm sure they got an excellent quantity discount. Mercury knew they were in competition with plenty of other transformer winders, also not in the habit of making extraordinary claims back then.

[Tom Phillips]

...I don&t know what one of the Upgrade Trannies costs, but $100 + Tranny has got to be close to the price of a real SF Champ...

Sold as an "Upgrade Kit" only for $249. Separate transformers are not offered.

[Wes]

Wes, there is another thread going on where the OP cannot get the amp to 'breakup' at high volume settings.

Does your amp 'breakup'?

Yes, it does. I'll check that other thread.

Also:

Mercury Magnetics

Trying not to use expletives......

[eschertron]

Sold as an "Upgrade Kit" only for $249. Separate transformers are not offered.

When I picked up a C600 a few years ago, I did some internet research to see what others were doing with the amps. Yeah, not only did I see the kits, but I hit a lot of pages of those flogging - er, I mean blogging - about how the kit made the amp sound so much better. I really couldn't see why I'd rush out and spend another US$350 or so just to make my US$100 amp playable. I mean really, I couldn't. But they talked a mean story.