Bogen Challenger 35a: The BEST vintage PA for conversion to guitar amp??
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- Опубліковано 31 тра 2023
- Walkthrough and brief demo of a 1968 Bogen Challenger CHB35a with stock circuit.
Cheap, versatile, and easy to work on...what not to like (other than how it looks)?
Skip to 3:36 to see what I like about it
Skip to 9:10 to hear it
It was 1979 and I was 16 years old. I helped a friend install a phone system over a weekend. This was when there was just Ma Bell. This other company, National Telephone was the first to compete against Bell. Long story short, they hired me full time with a new fully stocked van and two helpers. No drivers license, no problem; they gave me their Lawyers business card. I did an install at a Ford dealer and the Bogen was King when it came time for a PA amp. That amp was bullet proof. I had to layout all of the speakers ahead of time in order to get a balanced load. I would mount the amp at the cut down blocks and then test from each station. If I recall, the dealer wanted louder PA in the service bays so I had to build an attenuator for the speakers that were elsewhere in the building. Bogen amps can do it all. Of course we were using solid state amps but I've heard a few older tube Bogens.
That old grandpa amp sounds amazing! Nice job on the conversion.now I wanna build one...
I have the chb35a converted to a guitar 🎸 amp, the 7868 output tubes have a great clean tone until turned up to 7 and it has a nice overdriven tone, I use a Electro-Harmonix lpb 1 for crunch tone. 👍👌😃
Very cool. I like your thinking and amp sounds great. Thanks for posting
I converted a CHB-50, and loved your video and tone. Thank you!
Underrated amps for sure, the 100w version will contend with a bassman in many ways. I kinda like the dated look but hey it’s all in eye of the beholder.
Cheers for a great run down video and some solid advice !
I’ve had one since 2001 that I converted to a combo amp 2009. Other than a few tubes and a few capacitors I’ve had no issues with it in that time. It’s a great little amp that I paid $35 for on eBay in 2001, if you can believe it!
Thanks for the video! I've been tinkering with it's little brother, CHB-20A. Like your, it works as is but I am making changes here and there. It's been a fun intro to learning about tube amps.
Got one myself. What changes you trying to make?
Sounds great as is! I may pick one up. Nice demo. 🙂
His luck. Only place I've seen them readily available is eBay. Most for parts only. But if I have some extra coin they have ones ready to go
I got one of these but find it to be cold sounding, like a solid state amp. But as a bass amp I feel it really shines; plenty of power to move a bass cab.
Well how much you selling it to me for?
Would you be willing to sell? To a good home....I like ugly amps. Serious, let me know. Thanks, Nick
:o
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