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Post subject: Tube Amp Specialist in Maryland or surrounding?
Posted: Sat Feb 05, 2011 1:35 am
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Hello,

After pulling my '65 Princeton Reverb Amp out of the storage closet today I have come to realize that it will need a little more work than I had originally thought for it to be right. This amp has been pretty heavily modded from what I can tell and was done so by a man named Ernie Falcon back in '70. Im looking for someone local and professional with a great rep. to clean it up a bit and do whatever minor repairs/tweaking that are need to get it back to 100%. Im located in Baltimore and would love for someone to point me in the right direction, this amp is an heirloom and has a great deal of sentimental value to me and Im in no way looking to restore or replace any parts, I just want to get it cleaned up a bit(interior/electronics, not outside) currently there is a good bit of crackling when adjusting the volume/intensity/push/pull mod dial and when a chord is ringing out it will crackle and the volume will fade in and out and I just want it to be crisp again and scream like it used to.

Thanks in advance for any help

Jeff


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Post subject: Re: Tube Amp Specialist in Maryland or surrounding?
Posted: Sat Feb 05, 2011 11:50 pm
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I oved from there in 78 so I can't be too much help. You can try Just Audio in Baltimore or Amps and More in Westminster. Both are authorized service centers.

Try this link and select the state from the Electronic Service Centers list
http://www.fender.com/dealers/service_centers.php


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Post subject: Re: Tube Amp Specialist in Maryland or surrounding?
Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 2:14 am
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Jeff1981 wrote:
this amp is an heirloom and has a great deal of sentimental value to me and Im in no way looking to restore or replace any parts


I hate to rain on your parade but just what do you think is involved in repairing a vintage piece of electronics?

Parts get tired, wear out, die -- it's the nature of the technology. If your amp hasn't had any routine maintenance or servicing since 1970 it's a good bet that it's ready for tubes, caps, cathode resistors, perhaps a pot or two, who knows. And since it's been heavily modded, a Fender service center may or may not be able to restore the amp to health......it depends upon how well the technicians understand tube-amp architecture and how sharp they are at discerning what mods have been performed and how they function.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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Post subject: Re: Tube Amp Specialist in Maryland or surrounding?
Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 3:31 am
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Maybe if you could get a photo of the chassis/circuit... it MAY help a bit. I've looked under the hood of enough Princetons and Deluxes (which is what a LOT of ppl try to hot-rod their Princetons into), to kinda guess at mods.


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Post subject: Re: Tube Amp Specialist in Maryland or surrounding?
Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 9:23 am
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Retroverbial wrote:
Jeff1981 wrote:
this amp is an heirloom and has a great deal of sentimental value to me and Im in no way looking to restore or replace any parts


I hate to rain on your parade but just what do you think is involved in repairing a vintage piece of electronics?

Parts get tired, wear out, die -- it's the nature of the technology. If your amp hasn't had any routine maintenance or servicing since 1970 it's a good bet that it's ready for tubes, caps, cathode resistors, perhaps a pot or two, who knows. And since it's been heavily modded, a Fender service center may or may not be able to restore the amp to health......it depends upon how well the technicians understand tube-amp architecture and how sharp they are at discerning what mods have been performed and how they function.

Arjay


Maybe I was missunderstood, this amp was owned by a wealthy musucian friend of my fathers and was played regularly in the studio and on tour and maitnanced up until the late 80's when he passed. After he passed his wife got most everything and the band split, she did pass a few items along to his brother including the amp I aquired once the other brother had passed. I kept up on the amp pretty well once I recieved it around '91 and I played it daily up until 5-6 years ago when I kinda just faded out of playing.

I now have pulled it out of the closet and Im working to get back into playing again, the amp still rips pretty good but just has a little crackling in the added master volume and intensity push/pull controls and as a note rings out the sound will fade in and out, I believe it needs more of a thorough cleaning than anything and I would do it myself but because this amp has alot of sentimental value I don't wnat to take a chance but I also don't want my amp stripped of it's original parts and be replaced with modern junk like alot of the horror stories Ive read about online so a gentle home cleaning may be in order. My father is contacting his friends that were in the band along with some of their tech friends that worked with the band back in the 70's so Im hoping he can get ahold of one of the fellows that worked on this thing back in the day and knows exactly what their looking at.

Thanks for the input guys

Jeff


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Post subject: Re: Tube Amp Specialist in Maryland or surrounding?
Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 7:09 pm
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May want to buy a can of Deoxit D5 and spray the sockets/pins, contacts, and pots with just a touch of cleaner. This maybe all you need to do.


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Post subject: Re: Tube Amp Specialist in Maryland or surrounding?
Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 8:26 pm
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"maitnanced up until the late 80's"

BMW2002Ti wrote:
May want to buy a can of Deoxit D5 and spray the sockets/pins, contacts, and pots with just a touch of cleaner. This maybe all you need to do.


Doubtful but worth a try I suppose.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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Post subject: Re: Tube Amp Specialist in Maryland or surrounding?
Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 6:20 am
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At least it would need the filter caps replaced,that would be routine maintenance...it's happens to the best of us who own vintage amps...in other words,a fact of life.


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Post subject: Re: Tube Amp Specialist in Maryland or surrounding?
Posted: Sun Feb 20, 2011 11:51 am
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Hey man, I'm in B-more too. I've used these guys before for Fender amps, and they've done good work: InvisibleSoundStudios.com. Ask for Joe, they're in Greektown.


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Post subject: Re: Tube Amp Specialist in Maryland or surrounding?
Posted: Sun Feb 20, 2011 4:23 pm
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Highlandtown? I'll have to look them up in april when I get up there.


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