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Post subject: Slightly Charred 1966 Princeton Reverb
Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 10:58 pm
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I picked up a (cheap) '66 PR (chassis A-13157) some time ago as a project. I always wanted one, but prices got a little nutty. I thought about getting a PRRI, then this one came along. It one was nearly (partially?) destroyed in a club fire, so it will henceforth be named Smoky Mojo. The tolex melted and wrinkled, but not bad enough to recover and no big rips or tears. The transformer was replaced. The caps were replaced. The handle was melted. Knobs were melted and replaced with new ones. The speaker cloth was toast and then redone badly. The speaker was fried and replaced with a too powerful (60w) Celestion. The feet were gone. The tube chart is totally charred and looks like an old wanted poster and not readable anymore except for AA764. Reverb bag is a little charred. The 2-pronger was burned and has to go. The jewel light is a little fried, but I like it. The faceplate paint bubbled up and peeled off. The chassis is charred black. The amp fired up okay, but was really noisy. I knew it needed all kinds of help, so it went in the closet... until now. I had hoped to get it close to stock again so I've been picking up used parts over the last year (speaker, some tubes, handle, knobs, cloth, feet etc.). The only new parts will be on the board, the (aged) grill cloth and the feet. I used the larger glides instead of the hammer-in feet and aged them a bit so they won't look too out of place. Since I'm not willing to pay $30 ea for 'snowman 8' knobs, those took forever to find. I finally got the the last piece, a re-coned '66 Jensen. Today I took it to the shop to have it completely gone through. It won't ever be pretty, but I don't care. I'm hoping it will be the last amp I ever buy. It might end up costing me more than a brand new PRRI, but I thought this was the way to go. Unfortunately, I didn't take 'before' pictures, but I will definitely post some 'after' shots when I get it back next week. If anyone has a similar amp, please chime in and let me know your thoughts and experiences. I don't know much about old amps, so I'm trying to learn whatever I can. I just invested in a (used) copy of The Soul of Tone, but there's not a whole lot about the PRs in there. I look forward to finding out more about those amps in this forum from any of you fine folks who are willing to share your experiences. Thanks in advance for info.


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Post subject: Re: Slightly Charred 1966 Princeton Reverb
Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2014 12:01 am
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I have a '65 Princeton Reverb but nobody ever stuck it into a pizza oven.

:lol:

Actually, it's about a 9.5/10 and I'm its third owner.

Most parts (vintage or repro) can still be found, including cap cans, trannies, speakers, pots, hardware, etc. The majority of Princetons from this era came OEM with an Oxford 10J4 speaker so your vintage Jensen should be a significant sonic improvement. I put an alnico CTS ten from a '67 Super Reverb in mine and it sounds superb. My PR also has a standby switch -- actually the original ground switch was recycled since with a modern 3-conductor power cable it's no longer needed.

Post some pics of yours if you get a chance.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Slightly Charred 1966 Princeton Reverb
Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2014 6:00 am
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Please post pics I gotta see this.


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Post subject: Re: Slightly Charred 1966 Princeton Reverb
Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2014 4:02 pm
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cool story and good luck getting it back to health tone wise..
one suggestion is adding a bias adjust. I did it to my 68PR and didn't drill any holes or spoil the chassis in anyway. Makes it easier to drop a matched set of tubes in when you have to...


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Post subject: Re: Slightly Charred 1966 Princeton Reverb
Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2014 4:53 pm
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tbazzone wrote:
Please post pics I gotta see this.



+1K!

T2

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Post subject: Re: Slightly Charred 1966 Princeton Reverb
Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2014 6:26 pm
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T2Stratman wrote:
tbazzone wrote:
Please post pics I gotta see this.



+1K!

T2



+2 :D


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Post subject: Re: Slightly Charred 1966 Princeton Reverb
Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 11:48 am
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klunkerbill wrote:
The amp fired up okay


Sorry unofficial-official moderator bluesky636, but that's funny. :lol:

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Post subject: Re: Slightly Charred 1966 Princeton Reverb
Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 10:37 pm
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Missed that Strings, excellent !!! Klunker, guess Fender used to scrub their chassis with Pepsodent tooth paste. Don't know how bad the soot condition is in your amp. But the mechanical ground connections( ie. pots & jacks)need a good clean contact to the chassis. Contact cleaner might be a good idea for the tube sockets, pots, and jacks. Otherwise, crank it up to toast and Rawk-On!! Seriously, that is a great amp and well worth a thorough effort to restore. JMO, Art

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Post subject: Re: Slightly Charred 1966 Princeton Reverb
Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2014 10:30 am
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The waiting is driving me crazy. I've been noodling on my '76 Vibro Champ to bide my time. I've also got the little brother, a '66 Vibro Champ, that needs a new speaker. The original Oxford cone is ripped. A speaker just came up on Craig's List here, so I went for it. It's a 1965 Jensen C8R in great shape. Can't wait to have both these BFs up and running the way God (and Leo) intended. Here's the VCs. I'll post pics of the PR as soon as I get it back.
Image[/URL][/img]


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Post subject: Re: Slightly Charred 1966 Princeton Reverb
Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2014 10:34 am
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Nice Vibro Champ stack!

The "Eddie Wilson" Strat in black is cool too.

8)

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Slightly Charred 1966 Princeton Reverb
Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2014 10:35 am
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The C8R is actually this exact speaker from a forum member here.
http://forums.fender.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=91150&hilit=Vibro+Champ


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Post subject: Re: Slightly Charred 1966 Princeton Reverb
Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2014 10:42 am
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Ha! That was the best role Michael Pare ever had. I forgot he played a black Strat. That '62 took me years to get together and was ready for the wood pile, sort of like this PR.


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Post subject: Re: Slightly Charred 1966 Princeton Reverb
Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2014 10:52 am
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Indeed......

Image

Note Eddie's amp rig -- a brownface 6G5 with a matching 6G15 reverb tank.

♫ "ON THE DARK SIDE......!" ♫

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Slightly Charred 1966 Princeton Reverb
Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2014 11:18 am
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I wonder how many crew members served up a healthy portion of pentatonic noodles between shots?


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Post subject: Re: Slightly Charred 1966 Princeton Reverb
Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2014 10:24 am
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Here's the original handle that got scorched to give you an idea of the amp's condition. It got mighty hot in there.
Image


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