1980 Fender Princeton Reverb

A very late model Princeton Reverb, this one came to me in “Museum Quality” condition - meaning it had never been opened, touched, had a tube changed, or ever been played more than a handful of times. No scratches, stains, or wear whatsoever. One of the nicest examples of a Silver-Panel Fender I have ever seen.

That being said the amp was still 40+ years old, and as such it needed a complete restoration. All caps were replaced with upgraded voltage and temperature rated MOD brand electrolytic’s. The cap can was replaced with a new vintage spec CE brand multi-section 20/20/20/20uf 475v type unit. New 2 Watt Metal Oxide power dropping/screen resistors were installed for better reliability. The death cap was deleted for safety reasons rendering the ground switch non-functional. The chassis screws/nuts were replaced as well because the old ones had tolex glue that had dripped down the threads, making the chassis almost impossible to remove.

The original tubes did not all test good and were partially replaced. It had a 12AT7 that was oscillating badly when the master volume boost feature was turned on. All the tubes were original GE and Sylvania made, Fender branded type that all tested good with exception of that 12AT7, which just didn’t jive well with the boost circuit. I believe it would work just fine in the same type of Princeton amps that did not have this feature. Final tube lineup was: V1 = Fender/GE 7025, V2 = JJ 12AT7, V3-V4 = Fender/GE 12AX7A, V5-V6 = Fender/GE 6V6GTA Matched Pair, V7 = Fender/Sylvania 5U4GB. These tubes were picked for best tone, and reliability. The non-adjustable fixed bias was cooled down with a parallel resistor network to bring the Plate Dissipation to a correct %62 with a B+ of 424 VDC. The tube sockets were all re-tensioned and were then treated with De-Oxit to remove/prevent corrosion. The pots were sprayed out and the amp was cleaned inside and out. Amp now sounds great.