1961 Fender Princeton

The short-lived Brown-Panel/Blonde era of Fender amps were produced from 1959 through 1963. They are often considered tonally right in-between the more famous Tweed and Black-Panel circuits we are all familiar with. The Brown/Blonde era was the first time Tolex would be applied to Fender amps, cosmetically appearing closer to the often re-issued Black-Panel and Silver-Panel models. The changes to the circuitry included the move to cleaner more hi-fi sounding tone, two preamp channels with individual tone stacks, Fixed Bias output stages, Long-Tailed Pair Phase Inverters, and the increased use of Negative Feedback. These circuit advancements are true for most Fender Brown-Panel amplifiers, but smaller lower wattage amps like the Princeton, Harvard, and Champ, retained some of the earlier Tweed style engineering. For instance the Princeton we have here still has just one channel, and it uses a simpler cathodyne phase inverter that is more suited to a low wattage amp and was developed earlier on in the history of audio engineering. The Brown-Panel Princeton clocks in at 12 Watts and comes with a single 10” speaker. It has a killer sounding Bias Modulated Tremolo and is powered by a pair of 6V6GT’s in its output section. Notable users include: Chris Stapleton.

This amp came in to my shop in completely original condition. This one needed a full restoration including a cap job, new power/plate/misc. resistors, cleaning, 3 prong AC cord conversion, and a new speaker. The customer wants to gig this amp so putting a modern high quality Eminence brand speaker in it will help with reliability.

Amp was completely restored. The electrolytic cap can was replaced with a new USA made CE brand (30/30/30uf x @ 525v) unit for the filter section. All other bias/bypass caps were replaced with upgraded voltage and temperature rated MOD/Vishay brand electrolytics. New 5 Watt Cement/2 Watt Metal Oxide power dropping resistors were installed for better reliability and lower noise floor. All plate resistors were replaced with 2 Watt Reduced Mass Metal Film type units for preventative maintenance and reliability. An upgraded 1N4007 1000v Diode was installed for the bias circuit. A new 3 Prong AC cord was installed to replace original 2 Prong unit present and the death cap was removed. A brand new correctly sized 3AG 250V fuse was installed as the one in place was the wrong value. A new Fender style leather handle was installed to replace the missing original. A reproduction jewel lamp cover and #47 bulb were installed for the indicator lamp as both were missing.

The customer wanted the speaker changed to a model that was going to provide more reliability for everyday playing and strike a nice balance between vintage and modern tones. A new Eminenece GA10-SC64 10" Ceramic speaker (8 Ohm, 20 Watt) was installed. These George Alessandro signature speakers sound great in everything I have heard them in and the same was true for this Princeton. All new speaker wiring/harness and 1/4” plug was installed as well.

The original tubes almost all tested good, but the power tubes did not and needed to be replaced. Final tube lineup: V1 = NOS TUNGSOL 12AX7, V2= NOS PHILLIPS 12AX7, V3-V4 = JJ 6V6S Matched Pair, V5 = NOS RCA 5Y3GT. These tubes were picked for best tone and reliability. The 6V6S’s Fixed Bias was set to a conservative %50 Class AB Plate Dissipation with a B+ of 417VDC. The tube sockets were re-tensioned to stop the tubes from jiggling or falling out while they hang upside down and they were all treated with De-Oxit to remove/prevent corrosion. The pots were sprayed out and the amp was cleaned inside and out. New hardware for the input jacks were installed as the original nuts were gone. Amp now functions perfectly.