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Post subject: Help! Sick brand new 65 Reissue Princeton Reverb Amp
Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 5:34 am
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I played a new Limited edition Orange 65 Reissue Princeton Reverb Amp at Just Music in Berlin. Loved it and bought the amp. I brought to home plugged my Tele and whops! the sound was crap. Low Volume, no bass, lots of hiss, very very thin. So I dialed the bass knob to 10 and there was no change in sound, fiddled with treble and no change whatsoever. Volume knob was acting strangely, thru 1-9 volume was working but at 10 the volume dropped severly and barely hearing the amp. At the shop I've played volume at 4 and the amp was loud enough to attract customers outside sound proofed amp room. At home volume 9 is like volume 2 at the shop. Reverb and tremolo is working.

I thought it was the preamp tube damaged due to transportation and bought a new GT 12AX7, plugged the new tube to v1 but nothing changed.
I decided to dissemble the printboard to inspect some shorts, cold solder and off sockets. I pushed the sockets referring volume, bass, treble knobs and assemble the amp. Voila, it was back again with full volume and bass, tone controls were working. I thought it was the sockets got off during transport.

I played ten minutes, change guitars and cables and it was sick again. Exactly the same illness. I dissembled again push the sockets again but it was firm enough. Didn't know what else to do and assembled the amp. Tried one last time hopefully and it worked again. But as you guess, it did it again after some time.

Summary

- Crappy sound, Low volume, no bass, hiss
- Bass and treble knobs not working
- Volume 1-9 looks to be working but a very low volume
- Volume at 10 volume drops like hell, it is like 0,5 ( hey but volume at 10 tone controls seems to be working but barely hear the tone changes because of very low volume)
-Reverb and Tremolo always working.
- the problem doesn't seem to be from the tubes


Do you have any ideas to cure this illness?

Thanks in advance.


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Post subject: Re: Help! Sick brand new 65 Reissue Princeton Reverb Amp
Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 5:38 am
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I suggest returning the amp to the store and getting a new one. Sounds like a persistent problem to me and not worth taking the chance on.
Good luck!


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Post subject: Re: Help! Sick brand new 65 Reissue Princeton Reverb Amp
Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 6:19 am
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Good advice Es11 but unfortunately, returning the amp is not an option because I bought it from Berlin and I live in Istanbul. Because, here, the same amp's price is 1600 euros, well I paid 800 euros tax free. And the other half was more than enough to amble the beautiful city of Berlin for a week.


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Post subject: Re: Help! Sick brand new 65 Reissue Princeton Reverb Amp
Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 7:15 am
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Hi ThinmanTeleVerb,

You have an intermittent problem, which usually means bad solder joints, or some other loose connection. Inspect all of the solder joints with a magnifier, sometimes the bad ones are hard to find. You should re-solder all of the tube socket circuit board connections anyway. You should also try the new 12AX7 in V3 and V4 to be sure.

What do you mean when you say that you "pushed the sockets"? If you mean that you physically pushed on the tubes or sockets with your hand, then the amp worked, that almost certainly indicates bad solder joints on the tube sockets connections on the circuit board. :idea:

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Post subject: Re: Help! Sick brand new 65 Reissue Princeton Reverb Amp
Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 8:00 am
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Thanks for your response Shimmilou,

Well, the problem might not be sockets or bad solder joints because this is fifth time that I disassembled the amp, last four time I didn't even touch them, just at the first run I checked the sockets(push them with my fingers).

I tried all tube combinations with my new tube (except V2 reverb send tube which is always working) with no success.

When I disassembled the rack from the amp the problem solves automatically, when I put the rack inside the cabinet and screwed it, it plays well for sometime then suddenly at one point it goes that ill state(no tone control, low volume, thin sound).


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Post subject: Re: Help! Sick brand new 65 Reissue Princeton Reverb Amp
Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 8:15 am
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Sound like "the rack" (you have photo of this contraption?--thanks) is causing some instability or parasitic oscillation in the amp. Is its inclusion neccesary for the operation of the amp? Just a WAG.


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Post subject: Re: Help! Sick brand new 65 Reissue Princeton Reverb Amp
Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 8:36 am
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for ''rack'' I mean the blackface box, the amp section of the combo amp which can be taken off with four screws. And yes it has to be in the cabinet.

Another experience:
While the amp is not an ill state, I plugged a overdrive pedal and it goes bad again as soon as I plugged it. it concerns me that adding another cable and/or unplugging/plugging the amp and guitar causing this? But that's not making sense to me. And the cables are $50 Cordial CSI with Neutrik jacks brand new again.


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Post subject: Re: Help! Sick brand new 65 Reissue Princeton Reverb Amp
Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 8:50 am
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I think it may be a language difference BMW2002Ti, "rack" may mean "chassis". :idea:

Your indications are that the preamp tubes are good ThinmanTeleVerb, OK. Are you simply taking the amp apart and visually inspecting/poking around, or have you soldered? You really should touch up the solder joints thoroughly before trying anything else, at least it would eliminate this a a possible problem. A close visual inspection of all tube sockets to be sure that the pins look good, would be a good idea also (tubes should feel tight in the socket). Use a magnifier and get really close. Just going with the odds here, high probability of poor joints. Solder joints around the tube sockets, screen grid resistors, and components close to the tubes, should all be inspected closely with a magnifier while "pushing" the component. It is just as easy to re-solder the joints as it is to inspect them closely. If you still have the problem after soldering we can look elsewhere. You likely have a poor connection somewhere, could be joints, sockets, even a rectifier or output tube.

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Post subject: Re: Help! Sick brand new 65 Reissue Princeton Reverb Amp
Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 9:44 am
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shimmilou wrote:
even a rectifier or output tube.


I'm thinking that one of the 6V6's has flaked out.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Help! Sick brand new 65 Reissue Princeton Reverb Amp
Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 9:57 am
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Good possibility. Or something along that same line of thinking, like a screen grid resistor connection.

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Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.


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Post subject: Re: Help! Sick brand new 65 Reissue Princeton Reverb Amp
Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 10:13 am
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Ayup!

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Help! Sick brand new 65 Reissue Princeton Reverb Amp
Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 10:43 am
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Thanks, the ''chassis'' word that I was looking for. I will definitely looking for loose joints. But isnt it strange that the amp works perfectly chassis outside the cabinet? If there is a loose joint it shouldn't work outside the cab either. I tested the amp on volume 1 or 2 that did not cause enough vibrations to stress the joints. And outside or inside the chassis is parallel to the floor (when outside, I have to put the cabinet/speaker facing down on the floor in order to put the chassis on the rear of the cabinet hanging on side walls because of the short speaker cable and tube protection. Well, good to my neighbors's stress joints. :oops:


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Post subject: Re: Help! Sick brand new 65 Reissue Princeton Reverb Amp
Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 2:47 pm
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I would just ship the puppy back. if it's brand new it's unacceptable especially in that amps price range.

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