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Vintage threads from the first ten years

Fender princeton

4/16/2005 9:15 PM
add69	Fender princeton I just got a fender princeton I dont have any experience with tube amp repair. I have built a few fuzz boxes though.I did find the schematic,but My question is what do I do to get this guy up and running. whats frist? Any tips would be grate. thanks in avance.

4/17/2005 7:18 AM
mark h	Fire it up and see how it sounds. If you like what you hear, you're done. If it doesn't behave properly, start by verifying the tubes are all good and strong. After that, the electrolytic caps may need replacing but I wouldn't touch them unless you were trying to fix somthing you didn't like or you were going on the road for 6 months and this was your only amp. Post back with specifics when you test it out and have questions about what you find. Good luck...M

4/17/2005 7:18 AM

mark h

Fire it up and see how it sounds. If you like what you hear, you're done. If it doesn't behave properly, start by verifying the tubes are all good and strong. After that, the electrolytic caps may need replacing but I wouldn't touch them unless you were trying to fix somthing you didn't like or you were going on the road for 6 months and this was your only amp. Post back with specifics when you test it out and have questions about what you find. Good luck...M

Thursday

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4/17/2005 8:55 AM
Don Symes	In general, the tube amp debug guide at http://www.geofex.com is a valuable resource. Also, when you are mucking about inside the chassis, put the guitar where you can't reach it and keep at least one hand in a pocket at all times. A 300V shock backed by 40uF of capacitance going from one hand to the other is pretty likely to STOP YOUR HEART.

4/17/2005 10:27 AM
add69	Ok I did fire it up and it does play seems a bit on the weak side but it is only 5 watts, not sure what kind of punch 5 watts should have? The sound seems ok exsept if you turn down the the tone POT or whatever that is? the marking is rubbed off but it's the pot that has the (on off) switch and on the schematic seems to be some kind of tone control, pot cap and shunt to ground? So anyway if you turn this down it gets real fizzed out and wimppy. also the speaker that came with it was blown so I used an old 10 I had laying around and not knowing what ohm of speaker you should hook to this amp I did not play it too long. I think I heard some place that some of the old amps used 16 ohm speakers? Also the tolex is pulling off in a few spots and it needs some cosmedic tlc so any articles you can point me to on that kind of thing. would real cool, and thanks for everything.

4/17/2005 10:27 AM

add69

Ok I did fire it up and it does play seems a bit on the weak side but it is only 5 watts, not sure what kind of punch 5 watts should have? The sound seems ok exsept if you turn down the the tone POT or whatever that is? the marking is rubbed off but it's the pot that has the (on off) switch and on the schematic seems to be some kind of tone control, pot cap and shunt to ground? So anyway if you turn this down it gets real fizzed out and wimppy. also the speaker that came with it was blown so I used an old 10 I had laying around and not knowing what ohm of speaker you should hook to this amp I did not play it too long. I think I heard some place that some of the old amps used 16 ohm speakers? Also the tolex is pulling off in a few spots and it needs some cosmedic tlc so any articles you can point me to on that kind of thing. would real cool, and thanks for everything.

4/17/2005 1:09 PM
mark h	This sounds like a tweed princeton at 5 watts? The speaker should be 8 ohms and a light weight low power type would be appropriate for a tweed princeton. Again, the tubes should be verified. Good strong tubes could make a world of difference if what's in there now are weak. Good luck...M

4/17/2005 1:47 PM
add69	yes it's tweed princeton tv front it was my grandfathers then uncles now its mine my grand father bought it some time after ww2 so i gueuss it to be 1947-1950 so you think a weak tube would make the tone pot fizz out when you turn it down?

4/17/2005 7:12 PM
mark h	Well. The tone pot may be dirty and could be improved by spraying lightly with a cleaner. If all the electronics (caps resistors transformers etc.) are original, I would be very hesitant to change or replace anything as doing so may reduce the value of the piece. The tubes being the exception. It's a tough call when it comes to messing with a vintage amp like this. If you go through it and replace everything that is out of tolerance, the amp may perform better but it's no longer an original piece. If it were mine, I would change as little as possible but that's just my $.02 Good luck...M

4/17/2005 7:12 PM

mark h

Well. The tone pot may be dirty and could be improved by spraying lightly with a cleaner. If all the electronics (caps resistors transformers etc.) are original, I would be very hesitant to change or replace anything as doing so may reduce the value of the piece. The tubes being the exception. It's a tough call when it comes to messing with a vintage amp like this. If you go through it and replace everything that is out of tolerance, the amp may perform better but it's no longer an original piece. If it were mine, I would change as little as possible but that's just my $.02 Good luck...M

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