NAD.. Fender Princeton bad news day....

Joined: 30 Apr 2010 Posts: 894

Just received the following email from my amp tech....

The princeton has a few issues.

The bias supply is gone which would cause the power tubes to melt down.

It's been heavily modded ... the Trem circuit is gone and everything replaced with a high gain circuit. It looks a little like Marshall "Jose" mod and the workmanship was pretty awful. See the pics.

I'll give a ring with more info.

Wonder if it can be put back to OEM..
Stupid people and their 80's mods...

Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 2:05 am

Good Find Paul. No I really can't comment on those amps, because I never had a vintage Fender. But Randall Smith used that amp as a model for the first Mesa Boogies.

A Little History
Introduced in 1970, the Boogies proved to be absolute giant killers (in
more ways than one) and began to re-define forever what a guitar amp could be and do. A small company working closely with leading players and fiercely dedicated to innovation and quality made a successful end-run around the sleeping giants of the industry.

The first Boogie was built as a practical joke (How far out can I boost
this little amp?)...but was in fact so practical in the real sense that top
players saw it, heard it, and began demanding their own. They also liked
the wolf-in-sheeps-clothing approach. Built inside a deceitfully stock
looking Fender Princeton was a hot-rodded circuit based on the 4x10 tweed Bassman.

Joined: 28 Apr 2011 Posts: 1739 Location: in the past

dude that is a sweet amp. ive been wanting a vintage fender lately but i cant really afford one

Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 7:01 am

Vintage Guitars 2012 Book value on these brown box are between $1225 and $1475

Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 11:46 am

Cool amp Paul but the wrong speaker is in it, should be a square magnet IIRC. What else has been changed in it by chance?

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 10203 Location: New Jersey USA

There is an extra knob in the back too. Is that a master volume or some other kind of tone shaping pot? Nice score. If you dont mind, would you share what you paid for it?

Joined: 30 Apr 2010 Posts: 894

BradWorld wrote:

There is an extra knob in the back too. Is that a master volume or some other kind of tone shaping pot? Nice score. If you dont mind, would you share what you paid for it?

I have not plugged it in yet, I am going to have a tech I know look at it first.

I have no idea what the extra knob is for

It was a gift from a friend...

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 10203 Location: New Jersey USA

Sweet gift. Why would you not try it out? Did the friend tell you it was not working, or that sparks flew out the last time he tried it?

Joined: 30 Apr 2010 Posts: 894

The thing has not been fired up since the 80's...

I am just paranoid about turning it on without having some one look at it first

Joined: 30 Apr 2010 Posts: 894

I am thinking about replacing the speaker, any suggestions?

Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 2:08 am

pcozby wrote:

I am thinking about replacing the speaker, any suggestions?

Cannibis Rex.

If you don't like the sound..., you can always smoke it and be left with a nice big fridge magnet.

Joined: 10 Feb 2006 Posts: 1371 Location: Lutz, Fl.

pcozby wrote:

I am thinking about replacing the speaker, any suggestions?

I have a 4 X 12 with the Vintage Carvin Series Speakers.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Carvin-VL12-8-70W-12-Inch-Vintage-Guitar-Cabinet-Cab-Speaker-8-Ohm-/150880869135?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2321335b0f

They just nail that vintage Fender sound. And the funny thing is, they are not overly expensive. I know a lot of speakers need that "break-in" time. Well, these sounded great out of the box.

I use that cab with my Univox Amp that is a copy of a Fender Bassman. It's perfect. When I play my Fender guitars through it, they sound almost magicial. The only time I've heard single coils sound that good was through one of Fender's $2000 amps. (Not mine, but a friends.)

So the short version is, I would absolutely reccomend the Carvin Vintage Speakers.

Joined: 30 Apr 2010 Posts: 894

The tech has my amp, and he will let me know if I need a new speaker.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 10203 Location: New Jersey USA

I have a vintage vibro champ and replaced the speaker with a Weber Signatuer alnico. Its a great replacement for old fender amps. A lot of my amp buddies use that one. It made mine sound way better, even though there was absolutely nothing wrong with the original speaker.

Edit... and despite the fact that the weber is essentially a USA Made boutique speaker, it is very inexpensive. I think they range from $44 depending on magnet type, etc for the Princeton replacement sizes.

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 11:52 am

I personally would look for an old Jensen C10R or Oxford 10J4 to keep it stock

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 10203 Location: New Jersey USA

Northwinds wrote:

I personally would look for an old Jensen C10R or Oxford 10J4 to keep it stock

Joined: 13 Feb 2004 Posts: 5603 Location: phoenix az.

you can beat it!1 dollar!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8m8fbnShPcw

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 10203 Location: New Jersey USA

Funny story, I was talking to a guy on another forum about the same exact topic, except he was working on a late 70's Champ. I got confused between the two conversations and accidentally posted above about the Weber 8s speaker for the Champ. Then I realized what I did and edited the above posts. But I still say that if you are going to replace the speaker, and dont want to hunt down and pay the juice for an original Jensen, you should consider the Weber 10s. It costs $44 for a Made in USA boutique Alnico speaker, and they sound terrific in these small fenders.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessories/weber-speakers-signature-series-alnico-10s-15w-10-speaker

Joined: 30 Apr 2010 Posts: 894

Thanks for the info Brad.. I will make a decision as soonas my tech lets me know if I need a speaker or not.

Joined: 30 Apr 2010 Posts: 894

Bad news... see original post....

Crying or Very sad

Joined: 28 Jan 2009 Posts: 6298 Location: Jacksonville, TX.

Sorry bro. Some people should not be allowed to own soldering tools. This is what keeps me from buying vintage or older amps as you never know what has been done to them. Cool

Hope it works out for you though. Cool

Joined: 07 Aug 2007 Posts: 2740 Location: Southeast MI

That's a shitty job, but they're not overly complicated amps. Get it put back to stock and rock out.

Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2012 3:54 pm

pcozby wrote:

Bad news... see original post....

Crying or Very sad

What did I tell you? Somebody wanted to probably wanted a cheap alternative to a boogie.

Joined: 09 Jan 2005 Posts: 1827 Location: KY

'Hey, I just bought a case of beer, a soldering gun, and a spool of green wire. Let's take a look at that amp."

Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2012 4:45 pm

GuitarGoat wrote:

That's a shitty job, but they're not overly complicated amps. Get it put back to stock and rock out.

Exactly, you can probably do it yourself for less then $25

Joined: 30 Apr 2010 Posts: 894

Estimate... 300-400 to put it back to factory stock..
100 to get it working

Joined: 28 Jan 2009 Posts: 6298 Location: Jacksonville, TX.

pcozby wrote:

Estimate... 300-400 to put it back to factory stock..
100 to get it working

3 to 4 hundred is not too bad considering. But alas it would be what you want out of the amp.

Joined: 05 Apr 2010 Posts: 3283 Location: Jersey

pcozby wrote:

dude. sorry your amp is filled with

that really sucks

Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2012 6:49 pm

pcozby wrote:

Estimate... 300-400 to put it back to factory stock..
100 to get it working

For what? That sounds more like inflated labor then actually what needs to be done. Sorry, I don't see that kind of money unless a Jensen was included in that price

Here is the schematic

http://ampedia.redbeartrading.com/data/schem_layout/princeton_6g2_schem.gif

Looks like you have most of what you need

Here is the layout

http://ampedia.redbeartrading.com/data/schem_layout/princeton_6g2_layout.gif

Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2012 8:07 pm

I would be curious to find out how that thing sounds with the mods in it.

Joined: 04 Jun 2012 Posts: 350 Location: South-West Ohio

I could be wrong, but it looks like a gain mod. It might have been really cool, if the guy had done a better job of doing the mod itself [a lot of those soldering points look weak and the condition of the pots/wires themselves - ew]. A good quality speaker and some retoration who knows - might be an amazing mod.

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 3:15 pm

If you're not comfy soldering...,

I'd go for the 100 bux "get it working" option, and then plug it into a few different speaker cabs.

It might sound good!!!