Fender Champion II 50 Guitar Amp, 50 Watts, with 2-Year Warranty, Features 12 Built-In Effects Models

This thing ROCKS! I strongly recommend purchasing the additional / optional foot switch, but otherwise this thing is 100% ready to rock right out of the box.FIrst, it's a great looking amp with contemporary black-on-black styling.Second, all channels sound great - clean, muddy, dirty, crunchy - whatever you're after, this amp can do it.Operation goes something like this: Basically you have two channels and one mini effects rack. Call Channel 1 "Clean" - no modulation, no overdrive, just some voltage and a speaker. Call Channel 2 "Modded" - this is where the fun starts. Channel 2 has a gain control, independent volume from channel 1, and several presets to help you lock in your tone. Basically it's an amp emulator with a combination of amp "voicings" and effects from fuzz to distortion. You can get that neat, warm Vox tone, a really crunchy sort of Marshall sound, and more. It's not the most sophisticated sound mixer in the world, but if you're playing at home as a hobbyist, it's plenty.Then you've got the "Effects" selector. Here's a two-channel EQ (bass & treble) plus a host of effects like you'd get from various stomp boxes: Reverb, Tremolo, Chorus, Delay, and also a "timer" control for the Wah, Tremolo, and Delay effects. It takes a little getting used to, but once you get the knack it's simple. The level of effect can be adjusted from light to very, very heavy.For my part: I don't mess around with the effects too much - I have stomp boxes for that. I do like to put Channel 2 on full distortion because it gives me a toothier crunch than my Big Muff can. The reverb is excellent, so I take advantage of that, but personally I only use the tremolo, delay, chorus (etc) when I want to sort of experiment with the sound. in other words, it helps me make up my mind if I want to buy another stomp box or not (ie "wow, this sounds really cool with tremolo on...maybe I should buy a trem peddle...).It's got an auxiliar input if you have a drum machine, emulator, or if you just want to jam a long to tracks on another device that you want to hear through the amp. It also has a headphone jack (my neighbors are grateful for that one).I have yet to turn this thing up to 11. Frankly it shakes my teeth at about 5. Given the wattage and speaker, this is probably a fine amp for smaller gigs as well as home practice.Now just between you, me, and the wall: I am a pretty low-tech sort of dude. The newer amps with all sorts of digital emulation, downoadable presets, direct-to-USB porting for computer play...it's neat, but it's not necessary, and I frankly don't want to spend the time learning something I'm never gonna use. I just want to plug in and rock out - this is the right amp for that.VERDICT: BUY. It's an excellent home practice amp, solid effects sampler, and perfectly capable small-gig amp.ALSO: Get the foot switch!

This amplifier is a powerhouse. It sounds great! I love the channel switching capability and the on-board fx are fantastic. Careful with the volume and gain knobs because this amp will surprise you with it's clear sound at high volume. Perfect size for practice and also if you need to transport it. This amp will cut through in a group session.

After using the amplifier for a few months and reading up on the new digital modeling amps, I think the best way to describe the Champion 40 is that it's a modeling amplifier for people who don't want to connect their guitar amp to their phone or the Internet. Instead of dozens/hundreds of amp sounds and effects and configurations, the Champion series gives you a fixed number of solid amp sounds through an interface that looks, feels, and works just like a regular old-school amplifier. It makes the newer tech in solid-state amplifier much more accessible. I'll also add that I've since picked up a small tube amp which I love, but I have one favorite guitar where I still prefer running it through the Champion's Deluxe or Princeton Reverb voices.Rest of the original write-up follows.I'm mostly a hobby player, playing for fun and to accompany/supervise my son during his music practice. I've never owned a "real" amp, playing through an early-1990's vintage Crate practice amp and a Pignose. Both were functional: I'd play through them so I could hear my Strat, but I never loved how my guitar sounded through either of them. The pandemic has led to me playing a lot more, so I finally decided to splurge on a better practice amp. I don't have a lot of experience with amps, and the pandemic meant I couldn't try any in person before buying something. I settled on the Champion 40 one based on comments and videos of recent Fender solid-state amps. The other amp I considered was a Bugera v5 tube amp, but I went with the Champion 40 for its versatility and to avoid the maintenance that I know tube amps require.The best thing I can say about this amp is that I feel like my guitar suddenly has tone, whether through the clean channel or through the voice channel. I play more than I did before because I like hearing my guitar talking through it. It's a simple amp that's easy to operate and doesn't have as much complexity as something like the Fender Mustang line, but you can still get plenty of versatility with the amp voices and effects provided. A lot of the built-in effects are gimmicky, but I like the way the reverb effects sound and I'm not into effects anyway. The marketing says the clean channel is modeled after a classic Twin blackface sound, and I'd agree based on how close it is to the Twin voice on the other channel with the gain turned down.Finally, while looks are the least important aspect of an amp, I love the classic Fender blackface look of the Champion 40. I also like the usability of the blackface angled front panel over top-mounted controls (as on the Fender tweed amps or the Mustang line), so it's not just about the looks.I am sure there are lots of amps in this price range that would satisfy my needs, and which would sound as good or better. I'm also sure I could spend 2-5 times as much money a tube amp to get better tone. The bottom line is that I love the way this amp looks, works, and sounds, and I feel like I got a whole lot of amplifier for the money. It's an amp I can grow with for quite a while.